Fogo von Slack

reminder - chad

2005-11-20T21:32:00.000Z

alex de waal bets on a civil war in chad in the next 6 months.

i think he knows what he's speaking about. let's see if he's sooooo good to see in the future.

(hoping he's wrong, of course).

fogo is back

2005-11-19T18:07:00.000Z

after recovering my password, i'm again here.

i'm writing from london. i'm studying at the school for african and oriental studies. that should be a good source of inspiration for new posts.

aloa

fighting for babylon?

2005-09-07T23:00:00.000+01:00

the relationship between is not just a matter of laicism! no way man! there is far more inside to find out and think about. you can not believe that once you have a "free church in a free state" you have solved the problem. maybe from the point of view of the political power you have, but not from the believers' one. what is making me crazy in the these day is how should a christian behave in front of gross injustice and tyranny.

think for a while to live under the bloody rule of some bloody dictator. i take for granted that i should do something. but what? should i use political violence risking my own life and the one of my enemies to free my brothers and sisters? should i provoke a revolution or be a promoting part of it? how long should i peacefully obey to my political ruler? and what if i were a poor peasant exploited by fat corrupt and merciless poiticians? if i accept to live in such a miserable condition, should i do the same for my sons and daughters?

and if i take up the weapons and lead a successful revolution, should i engage myself in building another babylon. or should i care just of the kingdom of god?

however i believe that the kingdom of god is not something which has to come soon or late. i believe it is something we already have doing the will of god. so, everything we have to do is the will of god. the trick is that it is not easy to forecast what is this will as long as we don't know the features of the situation we are linving in. i mean: sometime you should do something and sometime you should do something else, provided you do it for love. mmmhhhhh.

so we are back to the start: who i have to love more? the killer or the killed? the exploiter or the exploited? should i become a judge between them? no! i don't need it at all. at the end the killer is the one responsible for the killing and so the exploiter. he has just to stops. so i have to take side for the oppressed attempting to persuade the oppressor to change.

and if he doesn't?

the american empire and our sovereignity

2005-08-30T19:56:00.000+01:00

what is an empire? think about it, you'll see it is a tricky question. in my view empire has to do with:

1. authoritarian rule

2. over foreign people

following: empire is not a large nation state. nevertheless it is a state: it has territory, borders, subjects and sovereignity. it is not a nation, but a multinational state. it can never be a democracy, at least because not all its subjects are equal. some of them have less rights: usually foreign people are not recognized as citizens.

a vexed question in political theory is if u.s. are an empire. they have been called "imperial republic" and "empire by invitation" or have been accused of imperialism. historically they had some small colonies so they have been a little empire. what's now?

basically you should ask yourself: are u.s. sovereign over other nations? before answering you should find out what's sovereignity. and that's the VERY VEXED QUESTION of political theory. none the less i wage a answer which sounds reasonable: sovereignty is the control over force both internal (police) and external (army). therefore it is not sovereign and definitely not a state the political entity which can't declare war.

could italy wage war without american permission? and mexico? and afghanistan? and japan? and.......

i do not know the answer, so i cant' tell if the u.s. are an empire. what i can say is that many european peaceful citizens (i among them) would love a true american empire ruling over them: you don't need an army, you don't go to fight somewhere far away, you just have to blame the u.s. president.

a realistic approach to pacifism

2005-08-09T20:00:00.000+01:00

an extemist pacifist believes that he will never use violence against anybody. he refuses also to accept any kind of war. even in the case of the second world war he suggests that the resilience should have been fought throught non violent means, as in danemark or sweden.

i have full respect for him, chapeau! i can also accept not to use violence until losing my own life. but what happens if i become the non violent witness of killings, tortures, massacres, rapes, genocides? how can i stop someone to kill someone else, if the former's goal is to kill the latter and even my life is worthless to him?

these are extreme situations, but they happen. i think we should develop a realist(ic) approach to pacifism. it should sounds as following:

to make war as unnecessary as possible. start violent fighting only if there is really no other way.

so let's start with preventive international policies.

this cake of ours: underdevelping countries

2005-08-06T17:28:00.000+01:00

development is usually seen as an issue concerning poor countries. i would like to reject that view.

1. development should not be understood as a matter of growing gdp. prof. sen taught us that it is rather a matter of expanding everybody's capabilities.

everybody should be able to nurture his own human capital, his passions and interests and personality. therefore development got grounded on social, political and civil rights: education, health system, basic social services, freedom to vote, speak and meet and so on.

2. even from that point of view, development concerns mainly poor countries.

the great majority of their citizens, from the shanty town like from the barren countryside, have limited chances to exploit their personal assets and fulfill their lives because of economical, social and political costraints.

3. nevertheless development is an urgent problem in rich countries also.

even in rich societies are people who are not free to develop themselves. they are our poor: drug addicts with a story of violence and social failures on the shoulders; illegal immigrants living in the shadow of our economy gears; kids stemming from families broken up ...

4. in fact, developed countries are underdeveloping.

the number of citizens living beyond the margin of our society is growing in number. the developed world is something like a cake the sides of are being eaten away.

this cake of ours is everyday smaller.

time to repent for realist politicians

2005-08-02T21:04:00.000+01:00

in my country there are lots of faithful followers of the catholic church. some of them are powerful persons: politicians, bankers, managers.... it is quite interesting to note how the show their belief, going every morning to church or beginning speeches invoking Mary or proclaiming their selves protectors of the church and of its values.

but then.....when it gets a matter of fact, things change abruptly. you'll see faithfuls of the Virgin living with a woman out of the marriage and defenders of Christian values happily evade taxes. That's smelling like hypocrisy and seems to me a way to exploit the true faith of many people for bare personal goals. That's human: we are all sinners and we are not able to judge anyone.

far more intriguing are those catholic politicians who act immorally for political goals meddling with mafia, terrorism, corruption and even with the cia. they never think to betray their faith. they act in that way just because someone needs to do the dirty job.

behind this way of reasoning there is the old teaching of machiavelli: in order to preserve the moral order inside the political community, sometime you have to behave immorally, saving no mercy against enemies (once the communists, now maybe the islamic fundamentalists). these merciless politicians called themselves realists, because they act according to the sad reality, rather than according our wishes. at the end of the story it is not their fault if the world has been build so badly. isn't it?

i can just warn our realist friends: the realists way to defend some values is often the first way to defeat these values. you'll maybe killed your enemy, but at the same time you'll proved your enemy right in fighting you.

is it really worth of risking the hell? so repent before it's too late!

antonio fazio and the public inutility

2005-07-27T21:01:00.000+01:00

italy has a huge public debt. in order to achieve a sustainable debt development path we need to cut spendings. one of these expenses to cut could be the bank of italy. once upon a time it was an useful institution to set consistent monetary policies. but now? monetary policy is the same for the whole euroland and is set by a frenchman called trichet.

well, you could say, but we still need it as lender of last resort. yeah, right, lender of last resort! nevertheless we have one capital market now. spanish banks are owned by belgian ones which will be buyed soon by german ones. some week ago an italian insurance (generali) has bought a german bank (hypoverein). let's suppose that hypoverein fails. who will be the lender of last resort? bankitalia or bundesbank? or maybe for some secret reasons the bank of spain? that's a big mess: we need a euro-reform not a national bank!

bankitalia vs defence: nothing better to do, uh?

uhmm, there is the competition among banks to be overlooked! competition is competition and even in italy there is an authority for competition. it fits even for italian banks, don't you think?

there is no reason to mantain such a public inutility. there are even less reasons if you read from a newspaper that the governor was meddling with banks takeovers bid, taking side for an italian friend of his against the netherland's abn ambro.

we are a lucky country: a public enemy running a public inutility: that's a public adversity.

presidents and contitutions in africa

2005-07-26T21:07:00.000+01:00

in these months some eastafrican countries are undergoing constitutional reforms. the core issues are always the same: the president's powers.

1. it is about 10 years now that kenyans are struggling for a better constitution. they got the consitution conferences at bomas 1, 2, 3 and even 4. president kibaki won elections promising a brand new democratic consitution. then he changed his mind: he wanted still a new constitution, but not the one prepared at bomas. he didn't like to have a premier with more powers than him. so the parliament provided some constitution amendements and now a brand new consitution is ready for referendum. if it si democratic only time could tell.

2. the uganda case is far less tricky. there is an overly authoritarian president who is never tired to rule and changes the cositution according its needs and wishes. next year he should step out, but 61 years of life and 25 of presidency isn't enough yet. let's do another round. the youth will wait.

3. i heard rumours about a draft consitution published in zambia but i couldn't get more news about that. the king of swaziland, known also for having something like 13 wives, instead refused a draft constitution which had cutted his superpowers: no more absolute, just constitutional. i have to warn the king: with 13 wives and absolute powers your gracious head is highly at sea, her majesty.

i hope african people will finally succeed in their efforts for more democracy.

and then maybe in getting shorter constitution (with at least less than 200 articles) also. it would be easier to me to read them through.

european history x

2005-07-24T21:38:00.000+01:00

a very nice american blog kindly replied to my post on violence and Iraq war. basically she states that there is a different understanding of that war between americans and europeans: 9/11 affected u.s. citizens in a way europeans cannot understand.

what she says is true and i would like to point it out from my point of view.

1. europeans have experienced the cruelty of 2 world wars fought just in front of their houses. millions died, houses were destroyed, famines and diseases widespread. the absolute evilness of the war has become social consciousness rooted not just in history books or in ancient fascist buildings but in the memories of our grandparents. i'm living in a small town in the alps, where you could find the walls of a former concentration camp, where jews, gypsies and political opponents have been collected, killed or sent to auschwitz.

after such bloodshed "never again!" was the common outcry of european people. the refusal of every war is carved in our constitutions and even now many europeans hate their state using violence. let's add that this feelings are strongest in germany and italy, the countries which caused the IIWW.

2. europeans are used to terrorism. in the 70s left and rights terrorists blasted our towns and killed our politicians, journalists and unionists. the fight against left terrorism is italy is not over yet: 2 years ago a professor has been killed by the new red brigades. it is a never ending nightmare and, sadly, terror as usual.

3. nobody wants to deny the u.s. right to self-defense. the harsh critics towards the american foreign policy are due to the idea that bombing Iraq is not the right and most effective way to do it. the lies over the hidden wmd added further mistrust and suspects over a u.s. hidden agenda.

4. nevertheless the europeans believing that europe should challenge the american hegemony are increasing in number after the end of the cold war. they say to be sick of the "american sheriff". i think that an european challenge to the american hegemony is pure wishful thinking and i don't wish it. u.s. are taking charge of our defense (even if not in the way we would like) and allow eu to save on military and to spend in welfare.

why should we change it?

hannah arendt and regime change in irak

2005-07-22T18:42:00.000+01:00

after reading some excerpts from hannah arendt's On violence i started to question my poor brain about the logic of the iraqui war.

arendt states that there is a difference between violence and power.

1. violence is a mean by which a person forces others to obey.

2. power should be referred to a group of person, not just to one. it is the ability of a group to impose its will. the bigger the group the bigger the power.

power is sometimes violent, sometimes not. violence is not the essence of power, but there is an inverse relationship between the amount of power and the violence needed to rule. small groups need to use big amounts of violence. on the contrary widely supported governments don't need any violence. finally: it is not easy to rule for long time using much violence: soon or late the violence will be reversed against the ruler like a boomerang.

and here is my point: let's suppose that saddam had no popular support, henceforth his power should have been quiet limited. in addiction his ability to use violence should have been restricted by the international embargo. in other words his regime was wonky.

was there any need to use the huge amount of violence fired by the u.s. army to push such a wonky regime down?

Power and violence are opposites; where the one rules absolutely, the other is absent. Violence appears where power is in jeopardy, but left to its own course it ends in power's disappearance. Hannah Arendt

our beatiful eastern enemy

2005-07-21T19:26:00.000+01:00

an old terrific teacher of mine used to say that the western people has always believe to have an eastern enemy. sometimes this enemy was fictious, but often this enemy has been absolutely real. and it is a matter of fact that western people has located this eastern enemy every time a little bit farther in the east.

if you don't believe you can start counting: wild nomad german tribes, the turks, the russians, the communists. now it is china's turn.

from china are coming the most terrible fevers: asian fever, sars, chicken fever. chineses are also pursuing an unfair cost- dumping competition putting out of market our producers overloaded with production and labour costs. indeed from that country are coming the cheapest products : textiles, pcs, bicycles, toys. the cheapest prices are obtained just by exploiting workers and sucking their blood (so they can save on drinks).

chinese are so many, so polluting, so strange and in their restaurant are eating dogs.

china is even a menacing nation with lots of tanks, missiles, nukes and soldiers marching in front of the president and of huge mao-pictures. finally china is not a democracy and every autocracy is a menace for every democracy and for taiwan.

...........i think that is the summa of common italian prejudicies on china. that is a pity for all who have such negative ideas on gong lis' country. they don't know how beatiful are gong lis' sisters and what are they missing.

the most interesting issue is that china is the farthest east. following this path further you will find just the united states. are you ready to fight?

warning: that's a believing in progress blog

2005-07-20T19:45:00.000+01:00

an old teacher of mine meaned. similarly, that, after all, the middle age was not really worse than the roman one or than the ours. so don't tell the middle age dark if you don't want to be failed!

nevertheless i think that i'm freer than my grandaddy. and even he was also freer than his one! we all are freer than our fathers because we are able to exploit our capabilities almost in full. we know more, we travel more, we live more. why shouldn't we feel better off than every master of the dark middle age?

another issue is if our achievments are everlasting.

an old teacher of mine warned us students against belivieng in "historical progress". that's a dangerous idea, he said, because there are no steadfast everlasting improvements in human history: sometimes are we better off, sometimes worse off. so don't think you can't lose what you have gained.

nevertheless i see that, since pleistocene many (if not every) achievments have been someway handed down to posterity. we are just missing how to build pyramids.

so, after putting the pyramids apart, that seems to me a noteworthy steadfast and everlasting progress in the history of human beings.

if you don't mind, of course.

white man's hate

2005-07-19T20:03:00.000+01:00

there are 3 things i hate of the "third world development" discourse.

1. the words "third world".

so i suppose we are the "first world". and "first" from which point of view? are we really better? or are we simply more beatiful? or peaceful? or intelligent?

and where has the "second world" gone? has it been dropped from the list?

anywhere, it seems disappeared. so could someone explain me why the "third world" has not be advanced to "second"?

2. the international aid to development.

the third world underdevolpment has been caused by the europeans? well, if they didn't help you before, don't expect them to help you now!

it is old colonial wreck: the good face of the white men's burden: the white man puts you down, the white man puts you up: he's your master.

i think it is due time for the wretched to stop waiting santa claus and taking their future in their own hands. the world is not a nursery for tamed children, but a battlefield. so stop crying and start fighting.

3. international music stars singing "do they now it's xmas" at the live8.

i think i don't need to explain why.

‘Let us waste no time in sterile litanies and nauseating mimicry. Leave this Europe where they are never done talking of Man, yet murder men everywhere they find them, at the corner of every one of their own streets, in all the corners of the globe. For centuries they have stifled almost the whole of humanity in the name of a so-called spiritual experience.’ i got to read this book. absolutely.

linkspartei.pds and the new germany

2005-07-18T22:06:00.000+01:00

in the german political landscape a new political party has borne. it is called simply linkspartei.pds (= leftparty.pds) and it is build up by a splitter party from the spd, called wasg (and don't ask what does it mean) and the in the eastgermany rooted pds (heir of the DDR ruling party).

they are fed up with capital friendly politicies, which are promoting labour flexibility and capital movement and fiscal strictness and so on. they would like more welfare state, more subsidies, more constraints on market forces and so on.

they aim at a 2 digits electoral score, grabbing votes from the "moderate" spd and involving leftist non voters. they would like build a deep red ruling coalition together with the spd.

i think it is a major flaw of the new left parties to dream unabruptly refusing to face the crude, modern and violent reality. enterprises are fleeing from germany, which is sinking like a titanic, unemployement is raising to an all time high. gdp is stagnating. and that all after years of superficial governemnt spending

so, what's the program, mr. new left? to chain the evil entrapenuers to the soil of pomerania from now to eternity?

losing my wisdom

2005-07-17T17:25:00.000+01:00

i got a huge cartoon-like cheek, which is now decreasing in size, but it is still remarkable.

i've began an ice cream diet, because i'm not able to chew and whatever i swallow (excepting icecream of course) arrives in half cutted pieces directly to my stomach. it isn't a easy task to digest indeed. nevermind, i like ice cream soooo much!

i wake up every morning at five a.m. with swollen fucking painful gums. so i stand up, walk till the living room, sit on the couch and play the half sleeping half dreaming half weeping couch potato. the blood goes down to my toes and in an hour i'm back in my bed.

i need analgetics more than light. i've become a truly drug addicted. i don't need joints anymore.

i'm still smoking my self made cigarettes, but not so often and drinking by the way enormous ice tea glasses.

that is the life after having lost my wisdom teeth. thursdat the surgeon will take out my stitches. hoping for good.

what am i going for?

2005-07-17T11:22:00.000+01:00

what the hell is blowing? the white whale? but i don't want to catch that big fish. i'm just nosing whose beaches is she going to reach.today i'm here, tomorrow i'll be elsewhere. and that's not a whale hunter's journal!

soas doesn't blast

2005-07-16T23:42:00.000+01:00

from sempteber i'll study at the soas, london university. i got an email after 7/7. it sounds as follows:

You may by now have heard or read about the recent terrorist attacks in London.

We are grateful that no SOAS students or staff members are reported seriously injured or missing after last Thursday’s explosions (one 2nd year student experienced minor injuries but is now recuperating well - we wish him a swift recovery). We are proud of the efforts of London's emergency and security services and proud of the solidarity being demonstrated by London ’s diverse communities in the aftermath of the blasts.Life in London is, in every sense, back to normal and the area local to SOAS is again full of visitors and students from around the world and around the UK. SOAS students and staff of all nationalities can be seen in the classrooms, gardens and cafes around the campus, determined not to be diverted from their goal of building an open, tolerant, multi-racial and multi-cultural society. An institution such as SOAS has a vital role to play in improving the understanding of the world around us, particularly Asia, Africa and the Middle East. As Colin Bundy, Director and Principal of SOAS, wrote this week: “This is the most appropriate and the most lasting response the School can make to Thursday’s events.” Pro-Director, Peter Robb, added: "Danger and suffering exist in many places to a far greater degree than in London. But they were brought home to us too by last week's attacks. There is no doubt that SOAS, like London, will refuse to be changed. We still seek reason, hope, tolerance, and understanding. We continue to explore and learn from a diverse and wonderfully-talented world."Another senior faculty member, Stephen Chan, Dean of the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, contributed his own comments: “I feel inordinately proud of SOAS, as do almost all its staff and students. I am absolutely sure that there will be no backlash against any section of our mixed staff or student group; everyone here sees the importance of learning, of reasoned debate and of constructive dialogue that moves society forward.“We hope that by choosing a student experience with us you may be able to take advantage of access to the intellectual and physical resources of our staff and library and that this will have an important part to play in your future careers.SOAS graduates are leading the way to improved international harmony. Many have gone on to successful careers in foreign and British government departments and NGOs as well as in business, cultural and legal professions. We are confident that SOAS graduates make a positive difference to the world around them through a greater understanding of the diversity of global cultures and the ways in which they interact. Professor Elisabeth Croll