I must apologize for having a mind of my own and choosing this blog as one way to share how I see and understand the world. Sorry, if I am not content to watch “reality TV”, accept all the lines that mass media and our governments are feeding us and live just to get my own “almighty dollars”. I have tried to balance my geopolitical persuasion (perversion to some) and view on socioeconomic conditions faced by people around the world with updates on my work in South Africa and photos of friends and happenings but it is high time I get back to sharing what I know and learning more through the process of this information exchange.
I am not afraid to say that in US American political terms I am a very left leaning Democrat bordering on being a Socialist. I think it is only fair to give you a general sense of where I stand so that you can read or not read what I write with this in mind. That said I don’t think it is fair to try and categorize people like I just did to myself but for simplicity's sake I chose to do so in this instance.
I just wanted to share a few websites with you that I think offer a good alternative to the mainstream and “alternative” media that many of you might be logging on to, tuning in to or turning on. The first is Dissident Voice which I came across while researching a blog entry that I will post in a few days. The word dissident is almost dangerous here in South Africa and for some brings up negative reactions due to Thabo Mbeki’s stance and approach to dealing with the huge and growing HIV and AIDS problem . Interestingly enough I found an article at the Dissident Voice on “The New South Africa…” which talks about “post apartheid” South Africa and the governments embracing of Neo Liberalism and the negative impact on everyday South Africans.
Also as previously mentioned I plan on attending the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya from the 20th to 25th of January. The World Social Forum (WSF) was started in Porto Alegre, Brasil in January of 2001. It has been held in various locations in South America, Africa and Asia but this is the first time that the entire conference will be held solely in Africa. The two main websites for the forum are http://www.africansocialforum.org/english/index.htm and http://www.socialforum.or.ke/ Both have valuable info to find out more about the history of the World Social Forums and the one coming up in January. Last January a dozen or so of my colleagues at SIT (http://www.sit.edu/) went to the WSF in Caracas, Venezuela which was particularly interesting due to Venezuela’s political situation with Hugo Chavez as president. Two interesting articles one from each of the main WSF sites are worth looking at and they are “Globalization of Civil Society” and WSF 2007 in Africa must build a mass movement against Capitalism. I hope you find these articles interesting and I will surely write more about the WSF in the coming weeks and months and give a full report when I go.
2 comments:
Blake. Please don't ever apologize for your thoughts, feelings or beliefs (political or otherwise) again. Personally, I have found them to be enjoyable food for thought! Keep writing and don't let anyone censor your corner of the world!
Hi Blake, I'm glad you're shameless about what you write in the blog. I had to tone it down because my co-workers were reading it, so I couldn't rant about school if I wanted to. Also, I try to support "righteous government" and pray for our leaders however much I don't agree with them. They're in charge, so God help 'em or we're all smudged. I'll look for you on skype. Meanwhile, walk good. Your friend, Jeff PS - I'm not sure I'm changing the world but do you think that you could change the "world" to "word" in the link to my blog?;)
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