Jn Pierre Bemba is a man who wears many hats:
Senator, former VP, political party founder, presidential candidate.........oh, wait, I forgot to mention mafia man and militia leader. His political party maintained(s) a militant wing from the civil war at the start of the decade, the MLC. The armed MLC engaged government forces three times in Kinshasa during the 2006 general and presidential elections. Bemba stood for president and narrowly lost in a run-off vote. He then went on to win the senatorial elections. After the third battle in Kinshasa in April 2007, which left over 600 dead, Bemba fled to Portugal for "medical treatment" to escape charges of treason.
Bemba was arrested last weekend in Belgium by the International Criminal Court at the Hague for crimes against humanity in the Central African Republic. (Haiti watchers will remember the CAR is the country Aristide was dumped in after fleeing the uprisings in 2004 before moving on the Jamaica.) Bemba is accused of ordering his militia, the MLC, to assist then-President Patasse fight a military coup. The MLC is alleged to have stayed after the coup was put down in order to terrorize opposition supporters in the countryside of the CAR.
Click on the BBC link to read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7418932.stm
- reportedly Bemba was gearing up to return to Kinshasa has the "microphone" for the MLC
- Belgium's foriegn minister recently criticized Kabila's govt of corruption and human rights abuses
- the MLC is planning to hold protests in Kinshsa today and "as long as it takes" http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L27385005.htm
- the MLC (now a political party) is directly implicated as the perpetrators of the human rights abuses, but is not being called to trial. Bemba is standing on his own
- there are no reports of the MLC denying that it assisted Patasse to defend against the coup attempt. The allegations are reported to stem from after Patasse was restored, the MLC went through terrorizing the countryside
- the bulk of the allegations are sexual abuses, particularly against children
- Both coups in CAR against Patasse, including the first failed one where Bemba ordered the MLC to support Patasse, were reportedly led supported by France
- I have not read anything about Bemba and the MLC supporting Patasse in the successful second coup in 2003
Back to main blog site M&M in Africa
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Up the Duff (3): My anger towards pregnancy manuals
We found out we were pregnant immediately after moving to a foreign country where we don’t know anyone and don’t speak the language. We found a great doctor and health care, but support groups and classes are non-existent here. So until we become integrated enough to have a circle of acquaintances/friends, I’m desperately looking for books on pregnancy and going into online chat rooms looking to share worries, discuss issues, and get reassurance from other women.
But pregnancy, I’ve discovered, is a big business, and one that is based more around an idealized myth of what it’s supposed to be like rather than on honest and practical realism. This is why I usually shy away from the self-help section of the bookstore: it seems to perpetuate some pop-media created ideal of what type of humans we are supposed to be. Not climbing the corporate ladder fast enough? Here’s what you’re doing wrong. Can’t communicate with your parents? Here’s why your family is messed up. Having problems conceiving? Here’s why it’s your fault.
Because of pop culture, I’ve always believed pregnancy was this beautiful time of graceful womanhood, and a time when your body is beautiful and glowing. Celebrity twits keep this up by proclaiming how “empowered” they feel. I understand that they need the public to see that they are happy to be pregnant, but let’s call a spade a spade. For most women, pregnancy is not empowering. Actually, it’s the pits. To say one is in a “delicate condition” is far more accurate. Delicate is exactly what I would call myself these days, in every sense.
At the bookstore, the first manual I picked up was Dr. Spock because it’s sort of a requirement. It was too thick, small print, and not at all something my ADD hormone addled mind is capable of focusing on. No humor, no real discussions about the “discomfort” of pregnancy. Discomfort? Discomfort?! It’s a non-stop migraine popping puke fest. Bloody men. In the first section, Dr. Spock wants to know my goals for my child. What goals, I don’t have any goals? A healthy baby is about it, the rest is up to the kid. Then he asks what my aim is. You’ve got to be kidding me. This book goes back on the shelf. I don’t want some stupid manual making me feel badly because I don’t have colleges picked out, and I don’t want a manual that gives me homework.
Next up, I pick up The Rough Guide to Pregnancy, which claims to give the lowdown on “blokes, bosoms, and busybodies.” Yep, this is more up my ally. Into the basket.
Next to that is Deepak Chopra, which I just put in the basket because, well, it’s Deepak and I usually fall for his whole mind/body medicine, plus the cover looks peaceful and text type inside is nice and big. Big mistake. I get home and really look at the title: Magical Beginnings. Chapter Six is actually called “partners in love” and the conclusion is titled “healing the world one child at a time.” I don’t want to sound like a big hater, but given my whole anger at the world for misrepresenting the truth about pregnancy, Deepak can take his lovey-dovey outlook and shove it you know where.
The fourth book, beautifully entitled “Wiped: Life with a pint-size dictator” is actually more about the third trimester and life after birth, but I love it. The first line of the preface says “here’s the thing: you could say I didn’t exactly enjoy being pregnant.” Bingo! The author goes on to admit she can’t figure out the diaper genie and ponders why, if she hasn’t had a drink in nearly a year, she still looks worse than she ever did with a hangover. I want to know exactly the same thing! And Spock doesn’t even cover it. Doesn’t he know what’s important?
I find it interesting that the horrible “pregnancy is a time of graceful empowerment and the opportunity to better yourself” kind of books are written by men. As if they would know! The totally realistic, filled with love and practicality books, are written by women who have actually been pregnant. It’s like, if I have an issue, I can always go to my doctor for an answer. But when I go into the chatrooms and find 100’s of other women wondering about the same thing, I feel so much better. These books do the same thing. Reassurance is all I’m really looking for, along with humor and realism. Deepak and Dr. Spock just doesn’t compare.
Back to main blog site M&M in Africa
But pregnancy, I’ve discovered, is a big business, and one that is based more around an idealized myth of what it’s supposed to be like rather than on honest and practical realism. This is why I usually shy away from the self-help section of the bookstore: it seems to perpetuate some pop-media created ideal of what type of humans we are supposed to be. Not climbing the corporate ladder fast enough? Here’s what you’re doing wrong. Can’t communicate with your parents? Here’s why your family is messed up. Having problems conceiving? Here’s why it’s your fault.
Because of pop culture, I’ve always believed pregnancy was this beautiful time of graceful womanhood, and a time when your body is beautiful and glowing. Celebrity twits keep this up by proclaiming how “empowered” they feel. I understand that they need the public to see that they are happy to be pregnant, but let’s call a spade a spade. For most women, pregnancy is not empowering. Actually, it’s the pits. To say one is in a “delicate condition” is far more accurate. Delicate is exactly what I would call myself these days, in every sense.
At the bookstore, the first manual I picked up was Dr. Spock because it’s sort of a requirement. It was too thick, small print, and not at all something my ADD hormone addled mind is capable of focusing on. No humor, no real discussions about the “discomfort” of pregnancy. Discomfort? Discomfort?! It’s a non-stop migraine popping puke fest. Bloody men. In the first section, Dr. Spock wants to know my goals for my child. What goals, I don’t have any goals? A healthy baby is about it, the rest is up to the kid. Then he asks what my aim is. You’ve got to be kidding me. This book goes back on the shelf. I don’t want some stupid manual making me feel badly because I don’t have colleges picked out, and I don’t want a manual that gives me homework.
Next up, I pick up The Rough Guide to Pregnancy, which claims to give the lowdown on “blokes, bosoms, and busybodies.” Yep, this is more up my ally. Into the basket.
Next to that is Deepak Chopra, which I just put in the basket because, well, it’s Deepak and I usually fall for his whole mind/body medicine, plus the cover looks peaceful and text type inside is nice and big. Big mistake. I get home and really look at the title: Magical Beginnings. Chapter Six is actually called “partners in love” and the conclusion is titled “healing the world one child at a time.” I don’t want to sound like a big hater, but given my whole anger at the world for misrepresenting the truth about pregnancy, Deepak can take his lovey-dovey outlook and shove it you know where.
The fourth book, beautifully entitled “Wiped: Life with a pint-size dictator” is actually more about the third trimester and life after birth, but I love it. The first line of the preface says “here’s the thing: you could say I didn’t exactly enjoy being pregnant.” Bingo! The author goes on to admit she can’t figure out the diaper genie and ponders why, if she hasn’t had a drink in nearly a year, she still looks worse than she ever did with a hangover. I want to know exactly the same thing! And Spock doesn’t even cover it. Doesn’t he know what’s important?
I find it interesting that the horrible “pregnancy is a time of graceful empowerment and the opportunity to better yourself” kind of books are written by men. As if they would know! The totally realistic, filled with love and practicality books, are written by women who have actually been pregnant. It’s like, if I have an issue, I can always go to my doctor for an answer. But when I go into the chatrooms and find 100’s of other women wondering about the same thing, I feel so much better. These books do the same thing. Reassurance is all I’m really looking for, along with humor and realism. Deepak and Dr. Spock just doesn’t compare.
Back to main blog site M&M in Africa
Visit to Morogoro (university town) & Dodoma (capital City)
We took a road trip to Morogoro (3 hours west of Dar, and the home of Tanzania ’s most prestigious university) where FINCA TZ hosted a managerial training. We ended up taking our new car, a 1992 Pajero, and found it to be not so rugged. The battery had some wierd wiring default and broke down on us twice on the road.
The road was very nice the whole way, and we followed a beautiful mountain range. An hour after we arrived I came down with a flu bug that FINCA agents from different country programs across the continent were passing on to one another (we know colleagues in Tanzania, Uganda, and Malawi who had it!) I ended up holed up in the hotel room, with a television that The Simpsons, the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, ER, 24, then Friends, on a loop non-stop, 24 hours a day.
Mike decided at the last minute that he needed to continue on to Dodoma to oversee the construction of a new office there, so we left Morogoro and drove another 3 hours west. Along the way we ran out of gas, and easily flagged down another car on the road. The couple in the car was Muslim, and the lady was alllll decked out in colorful pink lace covering her head and body. They were super friendly. They were also running on empty, and drove Mike to a mud house about a kilometer down the road where a man sold diesel in containers. He gave Mike a container to take back to our car, and we split the diesel with the couple that had picked us up.
Then we picked up a jolly old market lady who’d been watching the whole thing and took her to her home down the road. She gave me a natural loofah (the kind that grow on trees) and peanuts as thanks. That was really cool.
We stayed in Dodoma in the very comfortable New Dodoma hotel but then learned that they'd pulled a fast one on us and gave us the most expensive room in the hotel! The standard rooms were less than half the price but it still nice and clean. Dodoma is the capital city of Tanzania and the Tanzanian parliament is there. It’s clean and planned well. We really liked both Morogoro and Dodoma, both of which are more like towns than cities. They are not tourist destinations: Morogoro sees a lot of students and Dodoma sees people on government business, so the towns represent a slice of real life. The weather was nice and cool, and a nice respite from the heat in Dar.
Tanzanians are generally very friendly and open to foreigners, and are in fact quite neighborly. When you have a problem, sympathetic assistance is usually offered without asking, and no one requests a tip or payment. On the other hand, never ask a Tanzanian for directions, you’ll end up going in circles! A Ugandan colleague said you can be standing right in front of a building, and a Tanzanian wouldn’t know where he is. (I love hearing all the Africans compare their countries, it’s such a unique perspective.) All in all, apart from car issues, the flu and the hotel trying to rip us off, we had a good, easy road trip.
Back to main blog site M&M in Africa
The road was very nice the whole way, and we followed a beautiful mountain range. An hour after we arrived I came down with a flu bug that FINCA agents from different country programs across the continent were passing on to one another (we know colleagues in Tanzania, Uganda, and Malawi who had it!) I ended up holed up in the hotel room, with a television that The Simpsons, the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, ER, 24, then Friends, on a loop non-stop, 24 hours a day.
Mike decided at the last minute that he needed to continue on to Dodoma to oversee the construction of a new office there, so we left Morogoro and drove another 3 hours west. Along the way we ran out of gas, and easily flagged down another car on the road. The couple in the car was Muslim, and the lady was alllll decked out in colorful pink lace covering her head and body. They were super friendly. They were also running on empty, and drove Mike to a mud house about a kilometer down the road where a man sold diesel in containers. He gave Mike a container to take back to our car, and we split the diesel with the couple that had picked us up.
Then we picked up a jolly old market lady who’d been watching the whole thing and took her to her home down the road. She gave me a natural loofah (the kind that grow on trees) and peanuts as thanks. That was really cool.
We stayed in Dodoma in the very comfortable New Dodoma hotel but then learned that they'd pulled a fast one on us and gave us the most expensive room in the hotel! The standard rooms were less than half the price but it still nice and clean. Dodoma is the capital city of Tanzania and the Tanzanian parliament is there. It’s clean and planned well. We really liked both Morogoro and Dodoma, both of which are more like towns than cities. They are not tourist destinations: Morogoro sees a lot of students and Dodoma sees people on government business, so the towns represent a slice of real life. The weather was nice and cool, and a nice respite from the heat in Dar.
Tanzanians are generally very friendly and open to foreigners, and are in fact quite neighborly. When you have a problem, sympathetic assistance is usually offered without asking, and no one requests a tip or payment. On the other hand, never ask a Tanzanian for directions, you’ll end up going in circles! A Ugandan colleague said you can be standing right in front of a building, and a Tanzanian wouldn’t know where he is. (I love hearing all the Africans compare their countries, it’s such a unique perspective.) All in all, apart from car issues, the flu and the hotel trying to rip us off, we had a good, easy road trip.
Back to main blog site M&M in Africa
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