FAO Quotables

"But being right, even morally right, isn't everything. It is also important to be competent, to be consistent, and to be knowledgeable. It's important for your soldiers and diplomats to speak the language of the people you want to influence. It's important to understand the ethnic and tribal divisions of the place you hope to assist."
-Anne Applebaum

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

A Poem for my daughters about Madiba: I want you to know

I wanted to include a poem I wrote for daughters on the passing on Madiba (i.e., Nelson Mandela).   I maintain a family blog with my wife that captures our experiences while living in Madagascar.  I am shifting to post more personal things there now and leave blog posts here for the more general.

The passing of such a giant, though, elevates above all categories and deserves widest recognition, rememberance and celebration.

Here is the original post:
 http://kruzoo.blogspot.com/2013/12/Nelsonmandela.madiba.deathandizindisaquala.poem.daughters.fao.html

I Want You To Know--A Poem On the Passing of Madiba

I want you to know sweet daughters
That a man lived, loved, sacrificed and forgave for his people.
I want you to know these words
Ndiwelimilambo enamagama
Let these foreign syllables roll in your mouth like marbles
Know that this saying was embodied by a man:
I have crossed famous rivers.

I want you to know that the world you see was not always this way
Just when our country had defeated the evils of the Nazi Germany
Another hateful plague descended that we did not stop
From the streets of Johannesburg to the rolling countryside of the Transkei
African, Coloured, Indians and white were set apart
—separated
Men, women, and babies
graded and annotated like animals on
pieces of paper according to the shade of their skin.

No my sweet daughters,
This did not happen 150 years ago
but 60 years ago. 
I want you to know that this evil was defeated
Not by armies, guns or atomic bombs—
But by bludgeoned bloody sacrifice
By generations
                                    of gut-wrenching perseverance
And finally dealt its death blow by a forgiveness so
deep                                                                              and                                                                                                  wide
that it baptized an entire nation.

My sweet daughters,
I want you to know the story a man called
Madiba (his clan name),
and Tatomkhulu (grandfather),
Rolihlahla (the troublemaker),
(Nelson was just an English name his teacher gave him because she couldn’t pronounce his African one)
who walked this earth for 95 years.

Of those years, eighteen he endured breaking limestone
rocks on Robben Island
his eyes burned out
hollowed by the sun’s fired reflection.

It is not enough, though, to simply observe and remember
That he spent twenty-seven long years imprisoned.

My sweet daughters, we must count the years together out LOUD
For I want you to feel the weight of those decades on your tongues:

One year
Two years
Three years
Four years
Five years
Six years
Seven years
Eight Years
Nine Years
Ten Years
Eleven Years
Twelve years
Thirteen years
Fourteen years
Fifteen years
Sixteen years
Seventeen years
Eighteen years
Nineteen years
Twenty years
Twenty one years
Twenty two years
Twenty three years
Twenty four years
Twenty five years
Twenty six years
Twenty

Seven

Years.

As those years wore on him like so many boulders
As the goliath death beckoned and demanded him

Madiba struck back and answered with the call of his proud father
Andizi, ndisaquala: I will not come, I am still girding for battle.

I want you to know,
That this man walked out of that prison
And left his hatred with his chains

I want you to know sweet girls
That the grace of love is more powerful than hate
But far more costly
And I want you to know
the most incredible thing:
Madiba’s long walk to freedom
was not just for those shackled but also for the oppressor.
His sacrifice liberated a nation

I want you to know this:
Forgiveness trumps evil and trounces hatred
In the end it was forgiveness that tore down apartheid
and built up a nation.

Finally my dear sweet Macee and Betty
I want you to know that on the 5th of December 2013
A mountain of man’s battle ended
And Madiba lay down his weapons

and crossed one last famous river.




Tuesday, October 1, 2013

On the fallacies of the $2 a day argument: 90% of Madagascar lives on $2 day

On the fallacies of the $2 a day argument: 90% of Madagascar lives on $2 day

There' a dearth of well-written academic articles on Madagascar so I am always eager to pass on any that I find.  This post includes two such articles.  The first one talks about the source of Madagascar's economic woes and references the second article--actually a paper--about the influence of census efforts (or lack of efforts) in Madagascar on the political and economic landscape.  The second one is written in French (and posted below)--once I write out the translation I will post it here.

   Anyway, the title of the article "90% of Madagascar Lives on Less Than Two Dollars a Day" is a little misleading because that's not really the point of the article.  The Global Voices Online Website publishes has a great bullpen of independent writers and they also have people who translate articles into other languages.  In this case, the title of the original French article was called "The Causes of Economic Decline in Madagascar."

    This whole idea of measuring and evaluating a country's economy by how many dollars a day its people live on is deeply flawed--namely when it comes to evaluating states whose populations are largely subsistence farmers.  A subsistence farmers $2 a day is much better off (in reality) than a country with a large urban population.

     But that point is just an aside--a pet peeve of mine.  The article itself is great look at some possible causes for Madagascar economic lethargy and struggles--although I wish it delved deeper into the deleterious effects of the revolutionary socialist policies under Ratsiraka.  The best part about the article, though, was that I found a Madagascar research facebook group through reading the article!  This has turned out to be a cool academic resource and you should check it out!  The article also has some links to some other useful sources.

LINKS:
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/09/19/90-of-madagascar-lives-less-than-two-dollars-a-day-why/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/158712627482575/


Thursday, August 22, 2013

Ma Maison a l'avenir


Amazigh-State Relations in Morocco and Algeria

Amazigh-State Relations in Morocco and Algeria

Finally getting around to posting my thesis.  I've posted it as PDF below.


ABSTRACT:

As some of North Africa’s original inhabitants, the indigenous Amazigh population in
Morocco and Algeria has withstood waves of invaders to retain a distinct cultural and
linguistic identity that has persisted within—and despite—nearly fourteen centuries of
Arab rule. The emergence of Morocco and Algeria as modern nation-states following
their independence marked the beginning of an ongoing tension between each state and
its ethnic Amazigh minorities. With one state (i.e., Morocco) more inclusive and
progressive and the other more repressive and exclusionary (i.e., Algeria), what are the
factors that explain the different outcomes in both states?

This study compares the two movements in Algeria and Morocco by investigating
the relative salience of two central variables—that of each state’s institutions and the
behavior of its movements—on the outcomes for the Amazigh community. The major
finding is that state institutions stand as the most potent variable due to their ability to
channel movement strategies towards either militancy or accommodation. This power is
largely illustrated through Morocco’s reliance on cooptation as an initial response to
expressions of grievance that has produced a milder form of activism. In contrast, Algeria
has defaulted to a more repressive approach (to any dissent) that has produced a strident
activism with radical offshoots. Movement behavior continues to play a secondary role
that largely hinges on its ability to use globalization as an amplifying and mobilizing
instrument for international pressure.


https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4BE1_xKfeEUTDlQc2c5UHRkVmc/edit?usp=sharing

Happy Birthday to My Love! (a new stanza)

You, My Love
I.

You inhabit me my love
Grow deep and young inside me
Like a sapling
You sink your roots
They wander
and wonderfully
entangle me my love.

You transfuse me my love
My blood is no longer my blood
For you are present even there
Flowing
Ebbing
Beating
Searching out
my innermost places my love.

You have taken up residence my love
In the furthest reaches
Of the slumber of my sleep
You run with me
Your hand in mine
In impossible places
In surreal dimensions
of my dreams my love.

You come to me my love
A smile that creases my face
An echo of your joy
Surprising me
In the midst of my day
Memories of you
Flash and burn
Images of you
flickering and searing
across my mind my love.


II.

You, like a spirit my love
Like the inside of my soul
That I never knew
Before you
Who pulses now always
Inside of me my love.

You, embodiment of answered prayers
my love
Extension of grace
Shining down upon me
Soaking into me
Seeping into my every thought
The crown upon my head my love.

III.

You are there in the morning light
my love
In my waking moments
I reach for you
I am drawn by the immeasurable gravity
Of your love my love
Against you
Amaranthine rock my love.

You infuse laughter in my life
my love
You peal
And beckon me
Your song dances
Your voice
Clarion
Notes floating
And leaping
Whirling
And washing over me my love.

You abide restlessly in my heart my love
Always increasing
Pushing me further
Multiplying passion
Never ceasing
Insatiable hunter
Of my heart my love.

Always always always my love
You will remain the lover of my youth
As we grow old and everything around us
decays and rusts
For you and I my love—nothing alters
For you my love
Are Beauty, eternally defined
Tattooed kisses accumulating
overlapping everlasting
Across the story of my life my love.

IV.

You: the radiant carrier of life my love
Your belly swollen and growing
Your face beaming and golden
You, emerging and evolving
Into an even higher form of beauty
Me, falling deeper and deeper into you
You, Possessor of generations, my love.

You: succor, nourisher and protector,
Our babies cling to you
Like vines they surround and grow to you.
Pillar of strength and zenith of grace
Your love refuses to ebb and only grows
Washing over, sustaining, and imbuing protection
You are the sun and your gravity immense
Pulling us deeper into the chasms—of your love,
Mother and lover of our children my love.

You: a beauty infinitely transcendent.
With the dawn of each day
I open my eyes to see:
Your eyes sparkling
Ever richer and deeper sapphires and emeralds.
A smile that launches my heart aloft
A kiss that arrests my very soul
Fingertips whose winding paths
Smolder and singe and ignite
My lover, my wife, my muse
for whom my love today eclipses yesterday’s
but which falls immeasurable short,
of my love with each day’s dawn.

You my love
Are me
And I
am you.
We.
my love.
We.



Thursday, June 20, 2013

Abstract for my thesis: Amazigh-State Relations in Algeria in Morocco

25 SEP 2013 Update: Here's a link to my full thesis: 


Abstract for my thesis: Amazigh-State Relations in Algeria in Morocco

As some of the original inhabitants of North Africa, the indigenous Amazigh population in Morocco and Algeria has withstood waves of invaders to retain a distinct cultural and linguistic identity that has persisted within—and despite—nearly fourteen centuries of Arab rule. The emergence of Morocco and Algeria as modern nation-states following their independence from French colonial masters marked the beginning of a tension still apparent today between each state and its ethnic Amazigh minorities. With one state (i.e., Morocco) more inclusive and progressive and the other more repressive and exclusionary (i.e., Algeria), what are the factors that explain the different outcomes in both states?   



This study compares the two movements in Algeria and Morocco by investigating the relative salience of two central variables—that of each state’s institutions  (to include its political system) and the behavior of its movements—on the outcomes for the Amazigh community. The major finding is that state institutions stand as the most potent variable due to their ability to channel movement strategies towards either militancy or accommodation. This power is largely illustrated through Morocco’s reliance on cooptation as an initial response to expressions of grievance that has produced a milder form of activism. In contrast, the Algerian state has defaulted to a more repressive approach (to dissent of any kind) that has produced a strident activism with radical offshoots. Movement behavior continues to play a secondary supporting role that largely hinges on its ability to use globalization as an amplifying and mobilizing instrument for international pressure.  

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

An excerpt from "Death Before Dying"--Sufi poetry from the 17th century

My Granny Nanny Darling (yes–that is the name by which my grandmother prefers to be addressed) and I exchange letters, books and poems from time to time.  I shared with her some Bedouin poetry that I had come across in my grad school research and she shared the below excerpt from The Sufi Poems of Sultan Bahu 1628-1658.  Sultan Bahu was a Sufi saint and prolific writer.  I love the poem below--it captures beautifully many aspects of Sufism but also the prospect of facing death at the end of life.  He remains one of the most popular poets in India and Pakistan today.




















Neither am I Sunni nor am I Shi’a–my heart is bitter with both
of them.
All long, dry marches came to an end when I entered the sea
of mercy.
Many nonswimmers tried and lost; a few climbed the other bank.
They made it across safe and sound, Bahu, who clung to the
guide’s hem.

From “Death Before Dying” 



More links:
Sufi Poetry Blog

Some of my favorite poetry books: