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By Kasabez, on June 16th, 2010
 To regain independence from colonial powers, we will first have to learn how to survive without their help.
In today’s world of super-fast computers, airplanes and the global economy, it’s sometimes hard to imagine a life of simplicity. It’s interesting that the more technology we develop, supposedly for the purpose of making our lives easier, the more energy we have to put into maintaining these technologies. We then have less and less time to devote to providing ourselves with the basics of life. Our society promotes the idea that people who are providing us with our necessities – our farmers, our seamstresses, our cooks, our housewives, our teachers and our garbage men - are less respectable than people who provide things that are absolutely useless like athletes, entertainers, and lawyers.
Let’s take it back to the most basic level. What if we all woke up tomorrow with nothing? What if our money wasn’t worth anything and there was no food in the grocery stores? What if the electricity and gas were suddenly turned off; who would be the most useful to us? Would it be the person who could design a computer program and hook up a whole building with internet or would it be the one who could grow food and build a house? When we look at it from this perspective, there’s not even a question. However, we take on the mentality that we will never find ourselves in this situation. The truth is that we may already be much closer to this than any of us care to admit.
Continue reading Suvivor’s Notebook : Planning Our Escape
By Baashu, on June 16th, 2010
Tradition to the Rescue
 The wetlands of the Inner Niger Delta in Mali is home to over 1 million people due to the natural irrigation from the annual flood waters. Wherever you may live, a healthy ecosystem is good in every way. In Mali, which is in the center of Western Meritah (colonial Africa), a rich cultural heritage runs through the region, just as the Djoliba (Niger) river does. The Djoliba is such a massive river that it creates an inland delta (flooded plain or marshland) within the Sahara Desert. The villagers of the interior delta are capable of many things: boat building, navigation, fishing, farming, construction of mud-brick structures and even building pyramids. Restoring the ecosystem can be added to the list. These villagers are working to reestablish regional wetland-forests. These forests serve as a refuge for plant and animal species during the dry season. Seven forests have been restored out of twenty that have perished, according to Mory Diallo, a research assistant at the local office of Wetlands International.
This is good news for the local economy because many fisheries have been restored, leading to income for local communities. Under the canopy of these forests, the water is kept from drying up entirely because of the shade that the trees provide. Small bodies of water remain throughout the dry season, which provides spawning ponds for fish. These submerged forests have recovered since being placed under the protection of traditional leaders. According to an article on Allafrica.com, much of the forests in this delta region were lost to drought in the 1970’s and 1980’s. However, beginning in the 1960’s, the increased usage of chemical agricultural inputs and exploitative farming practices of the so-called Green Revolution were implemented wherever colonial governments had influence. Because of its rice producing capacity, this region in Mali was exploited. The result, as we have seen wherever industrial agriculture has been adopted, is an environmental imbalance that forces the ecosystem to change.
Continue reading What Is News?
By Bikbaye, on June 16th, 2010
 The only way to know where to step is by knowing not only which path to follow, but also who set the path for you. If survival is your goal, then you will do things that lead to survival… it’s that simple. I can imagine that this statement is a very simple one to understand. There is no hidden meaning behind these words. There is no hidden agenda behind me writing these words. The purpose is to show the reader how simple it is to comprehend this logic regarding survival. Even the most closed minded individual cannot deny this logic even if he chooses to involve his emotions as a way of trying to complicate it. Now comes the difficult part that I will put here for you in the form of a question… Is survival your goal?
This may appear to be a simple question, but really it is not if you choose to answer it honestly. Because if you say yes to this question, you will be forced to first look into your life, to look at your lifestyle, to look at your habits, to look at the vices you are attached to, to look at your health and so on and so on… Only then will you be able to answer this question honestly. Even after this self inventory is done, many of us will find it difficult to admit that we are not doing things that will lead to survival individually or as a people. It is a sort of mental defense mechanism that will keep one in a state of denial concerning this topic, as if admitting this failure will leave a scar on the image we feel the need to portray to the world, a world that does not care whether you exist or not, a world that sees you only as an object to be exploited and thrown away when you are no longer useful in carrying out the plan it had for you since your birth. Ironically, it is because of this same “plan” that we were not taught or exposed to the things, ways, and means that will ensure our survival. This is another aspect that makes my initial question difficult to answer, even honestly, because if we only know what we are exposed to and we have not been exposed to what will allow us to have a future, then how can we know whether we are doing things that will lead to our survival?
The only way to know where to step is by knowing not only which path to follow, but also who set the path for you. In other words, the way to know if you are doing things that will lead to your survival is by first learning the ways, wisdom, and knowledge of your ancestors and compare that to the lifestyle and goals that were set for you by the society in which you now live. When we look back at the history of people of color, we will not find most of the societal ills that plague the world today. You will find the difference, by comparison, shocking if nothing else. Our history does not reveal that hundreds of thousands of our people were dying from heart disease, diabetes, or cancer. Our history does not reveal that we were committing massive acts of suicide. Our history does not reveal that we were killing our unborn children because we were not willing to do whatever it took to raise them. Neither does our history reveal that we murdered and slaughtered others to steal the resources of their lands. Additionally, although many of the drugs that are destroying the lives of millions are naturally grown around the world (heroine, cocaine, marijuana), I have yet to discover a history of drug addiction, being that most of these “drugs” are considered to be medicines that were used ceremoniously by our ancestors. These are just some aspects of our culture that clearly show the difference between what we have become now and what we come from. The determining factor simply relies on the goal that the society sets for us.
So what is the goal of this current society here in America? Is it set for its people to survive? The implications are truly staggering. But what is even more profound is the fact that we, as a people, can clearly see the traps that have been set for us, but we still choose to take the bait. Basically, we have a reactionary tendency to justify our own destruction. Although this behavior can honestly be seen as a mental retardation, it stems from the absence of a culture that was suppressed many generations ago by the hands of colonialism.
To say we have been lucky to survive all that has been aimed at us to bring our demise will be an insult to our ancestors, because it is only the powers of the ancestral spirit that has allowed us to endure these atrocities that we face. We cannot take credit for our lives, being that we are being made weaker on a daily basis by our society. I can only imagine then the effect it would have on our lives and what it would mean for our future survival if we acknowledged and honored our ancestors for the role they have played in our survival. Through building and strengthening our relationships with the ancestors, we are then able to give our children and grandchildren the opportunity to be survivors as well. This concept of the ancestral spirit is a very real one. If you, the reader, are unaware of this aspect of your culture, then you will not know how to benefit from the same blood that is flowing through your veins. Take the time to investigate the content within these words. Doing so may entail going outside of what your current values are, but unless it is the same values of your ancestors, you truly have nothing to lose. But if you choose not to investigate… you have already lost.
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The Sidereal Calendar
Year 410
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Philosphy Podium
Volume 1:
A Dogon Perspective
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