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China. A Third Term for Xi Jinping.

Thursday, 1 December 2022 8:00

The reconfirmation of Xi Jinping as Secretary General of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) opens an unprecedented season for China and the world, as no one before him had been reconfirmed for the third time for this position.

This undoubtedly constitutes a signal of internal strengthening of the current leadership, which has managed to prevail over internal competition and to act as the only point of reference from both an ideological-political and economic point of view, despite the difficulties that the Chinese economy has encountered in recent years.

This reconfirmation could indicate a certain continuity with respect to the two previous mandates, suggesting that China in the coming years will continue the path it took during the first two mandates of Xi Jinping.

If on the one hand this scenario of predictability, which for the European partners can be a reassuring element, can be realized on most of the dossiers, on the other hand, the complexity of the current global economic and political relations will bring an element of novelty to the leadership of Xi Jinping, thus weakening certainties
and long-term forecasts.

The major critical issue that Xi Jinping faces has to do with the growth rates of the Chinese economy which, although high compared to other economies, are actually disappointing for Beijing’s ambitious projects, which aim to overtake the United States as a global economic power. Indeed, in the second quarter of 2022, the country’s GDP grew by just 0.4%, well below the forecast of 1%, and slowing sharply from 4.8% in the first quarter, thus registering the second lowest level since 1992.

The situation has improved in the third quarter of 2022, although the figures are also below expectations. From July to September, China’s GDP grew by 3.9% compared to the previous year, but this makes it significantly more complicated for Beijing to achieve the economic targets set at the beginning of 2022 by the Chinese government, which expected to close the year with a growth rate of 5.5%.

That the economic context is not particularly favourable is confirmed by the fact that the publication of economic data has been postponed due to the concomitance with the XX National Congress of the CCP, precisely to avoid a scenario where the not rather doubtful forecasts should weaken Xi Jinping’s position on the eve of his reconfirmation.

Another sign is represented by the black day recorded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which, following the publication of data from the Statistics Office, recorded negative -4.22% and slipped to the lowest level for the last 13 years.

In this particularly critical context, it seems that Xi Jinping wants to continue a policy inspired by creating an increasingly self-sufficient economy, especially in the technology and food security sectors, favouring decoupling from the United States in critical sectors and promoting driven growth from domestic demand rather
than from exports.

In fact, the Chinese authorities, in line with the fourteenth five-year plan in which the country’s guidelines were decided up to 2025, aim to promote economic growth based on the revival of domestic demand, progressively moving away from the growth structure followed until recently, which focused on exports and attracting foreign investments. China aims to strengthen the expansion of domestic consumption while remaining open to international trade and investment.

Strategically, therefore, China under Xi Jinping’s third term will continue to pursue the goal of making domestic demand the first economic pillar of growth and maintaining openness to the outside without, however, being excessively dependent on it, so as to decrease the vulnerability of the Chinese economy to exogenous shocks.

In this context, it is therefore foreseeable that Beijing will continue with fiscal stimuli, also through tax incentives, to better support Chinese entrepreneurs. Infrastructure development plans will also continue to be financed, above all to connect the megalopolis with rural China.

From this point of view, therefore, Beijing seeks to overcome the previously prevalent approach of financing large infrastructure projects, to instead devote greater attention to the development of the domestic productive fabric.

It will be a priority for Beijing to maintain high consumer confidence and therefore support consumption, as a significant component of Chinese aggregate demand, also in light of trade tensions with Washington and the breakdown of global value chains.

Another factor of continuity seems to be that of the ‘Zero Covid’ policy that Xi Jinping intends to continue, despite the considerable impact it has had on the Chinese economy.

This picture had already emerged from the ‘two sessions’ – the plenary meetings of the National People’s Congress (CNP) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPCPC) – which were held in March 2022 with the aim of outlining the strategic lines of China’s economic, trade, environmental, and industrial development policy area.

In fact, in the two sessions, the image of China aware of its potential and determined not to give up its strategic objectives was outlined, despite the challenges ahead.

In this context of continuity, Xi Jinping will nevertheless have to deal with a profoundly changed international context due to the war in Ukraine, given that China, which has not yet taken a clear-cut position on the conflict, finds itself in the complex situation of not being able to abandon Russia with the risk that this might further compromise the already troubled relations with Washington.

While Europe is struggling to find new partnerships, Beijing will seek to exploit the reorganization of international relations to find new markets and new ‘entry points’. German Chancellor Olaf Sholz’s trip to China on 3 and 4 November indicated that Germany is ready to offer itself as a partner for Beijing, despite the criticisms that this approach has raised, especially with reference to the sale of the port of Hamburg
to a Chinese logistics company.

In general, therefore, the third historic mandate of Xi Jinping begins with multiple difficulties and with an underlying continuity, aimed at pursuing the ambitious agenda of Beijing through the strengthening of internal stability and the achievement of such a level of self-sufficiency and resilience as to enable it to continue its growth policy without being overwhelmed by the sudden earthquakes that are shaking the international political and economic system.

However, this is countered by the need to rethink international strategies in view of the repositioning of countries due to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, a necessity that requires a novelty component with respect to an economic policy that cannot fail to take into account the market reactions and the prospects of a global recession. (Photo:Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

Carlo Palleschi/CeSI

Africa. Death as a Rite of Passage.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

The meaning of the rites of passage in Africa culture. ‘The funeral rites express the solidarity of the living with their dead relative; in some way, the relatives and the whole village accompany the dead and help them reach their destination’.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, during funeral rites those who lift the coffin in order to carry it to the graveyard do it three times. They lift it and put it back on the ground three times before they carry it. This is a clear résumé of the life of an adult: birth, initiation into adulthood, and death. All these stages of life are accompanied by practices, which anthropologists call rites of passage.
A rite of passage, which can also be called a process of initiation, is a series of ceremonies aimed at changing the status of a person: from childhood to adulthood, from an ordinary person to a chief, from a prince to a king, from a bachelor to a married person, etc. In the case of death, it is from a living person to an ancestor.

Usually, there are three main stages in a rite of passage: separation, seclusion and aggregation or re-integration into society. Separation is often solemn and dramatic. The future initiate leaves their family or village. They do not belong anymore to it until the whole process is concluded. They are torn or snatched from culture (village) to nature (bush or forest) in a movement which can be called regressive because it takes them symbolically to the foetal state preparing for a kind of re-birth.In funerals, this separation takes place immediately after the death announcement. It takes the form of very loud wailing and confusion. It is repeated every time the dead body is lifted from one place to another for different funeral rites. The deceased is removed from the world of the living and starts the journey to the domain of the ancestors. All the funeral rites are meant to help them attain the status of an ancestor.
Whoever is acquainted with African funerals knows that there is a time when the wailing dies down.
This is the second stage of the rite of passage, namely, seclusion. This is when the dead body is being washed, dressed, and prepared for exposition. The members of the mourning family also observe a period of seclusion until the mourning days are over. They are not allowed to leave the home. Like the dead person, they are in seclusion. For some tribes, they neither bathe nor lie on beds in solidarity with the dead person who will never bathe nor lie on a bed again.

In other rites of passage, the group of initiates undergoes this phase as a group accompanied only by the initiators but in the case of death, the deceased has to be joined by the immediate members of the family. Notice that the word ‘rite’ comes from the Sanskrit ‘rita’ which means ‘order’. One of the aims of the rites of passage is to bring order in the individual who is changing physically and psychologically and in the society in which that change takes place. This explains why funeral rites are followed to the letter. While for the dead failure to carry them out well will prevent them from becoming an ancestor (in which case they will become a dangerous wandering spirit that will haunt especially their family), for society, it can end in chaos.
For the deceased, burial is part of seclusion or marginalization which corresponds to staying in the bush, forest, or house for initiation into adulthood. Some societies have modernized the end of this seclusion by creating what is called the unveiling of the tombstone. It is a kind of symbolic resurrection.
The last stage is the one of aggregation or reintegration into society. It is marked by feasting. The initiate is reborn and transformed. They were symbolically killed; so, they symbolically resurrect to a new life with a new name and a new social status. In the case of death, the process of death is ended and it is believed that the departed has reached the domain of the ancestors, thanks to the funeral rites and to the good life they lived before death. They are now being called back to their people as a life-giving spirit.

Remember that at death, the living said goodbye to them, bidding them to go; now they have to come back.
People gather once again, they eat, drink, dance and in some tribes, they install an heir for them if they had children in life.
Towards the end of this so-called second funeral, all the signs of death are removed, and no one should weep anymore for the deceased. This is why in Luganda (Baganda people – Uganda) this kind of aggregation is called kwabya lumbe, meaning ‘to destroy death’.
In Africa, after death, the human person remains for some time among his people and when they are buried, the journey to the land of the ancestors begins concretely by the process of decomposition until they become a skeleton. This is what we call ‘physical death’. Parallel to that process which on the spiritual level leads them to the spiritual world, is the ‘social death’ operated by the living. The family of the deceased associates itself to the mysterious journey which they undertake in order to join the community of the ancestors.
The funeral rites express the solidarity of the living with their dead relative; in some way, the relatives and the whole village accompany the dead and help them reach their destination. (Photo: 123rf.com)

Edward Kanyike

Do the current protests against the hijab in Iran threaten the stability of the Islamic Republic?

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

Protests in Iran continue but, despite the brutal repression by the state, the determination of young people in the streets could mark a definitive break between the population and the ruling class which, after having arrested and imprisoned activists who have been demanding gradual reforms for years appears to be paying the price of its recalcitrance.

On September 20, the 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini died in Tehran after three days in a coma in hospital. She was tortured and beaten by the ‘moral police’ (gasht-e ershad).
Recent video evidence shows that Ms. Amini suffered from an illness during custody, suggesting that the Iranian authorities’ claim that she had not been beaten is not without merit. Nevertheless, Gasht-e ershad patrols public spaces, searching for people, women in particular, who violate the norms of public ‘decency’ with their clothing and overall appearance (or behavior). Ça va sans dire that the mandatory headscarf is the most common reason for patrols to take action.

Jina Mahsa Amini died in Tehran after three days in a coma in hospital. She was tortured and beaten by the ‘moral police’. (Twitter)

After taking Mahsa back because according to them she was not properly veiled, they forcefully loaded her into a van and took her to the barracks. This summer, Gasht-e ershad has already been the subject of violence that have caused public outrage. And not just against women. They have targeted fed up men such as professional boxer Reza Moradkhani who has been partially paralyzed after being shot by the morality police in the course of defending his wife from their attentions.
There were other episodes as well, marking a decided increase in state violence against the population. The Raisi (known for his loyalty to the Islamic Republic and strict application of its morality laws) government came to power and thanks to the tense international and regional situation – wars, assassinations of scientists and generals, conflicts and diplomatic tensions, it has tightened security, showing ever less tolerance for dissent and ‘resistance’ no matter how minor, or random and intentionally politicized. An example are the dozens, if not hundreds, of young women who are seen around Tehran, and beyond, without a veil. This is a new and disruptive phenomenon for the regime, and in some way, it suggests that the US policy of sanctions – aided and abetted by disruptive actions from Washington’s regional allies – may finally be producing its fruits. What kind of fruits is yet to be determined. One wonders, then, whether a policy of diplomacy might have favored the reformist political camp – starting with that of President Khatami (1997-2002, 2002-2005) – leading to a natural and more democratic evolution of the Islamic Republic.

The present protests
There is are elements of novelty in the present protests. While women have always been at the heart of organized demonstrations against the violence of the Iranian state and with the aim of claiming more rights, there had been a tacit willingness to collaborate with the institutions and accept compromise; especially, when the government had shown a willingness of its own to accept change, as happened under Khatami’s first term (1997-2002). What has changed now – since the 2019 protests in particular – is a realization that the other side, the government, has no predisposition to listen. Therefore, the present protests are more radical and harder to quell. Indeed, both young men and women – part of a generation that has known no political reality other than the Islamic Republic (unlike the previous generation, which could also remember the violence of the Shah’s regime).

Uprising in Tehran. CC BY-SA 4.0/ Darafsh

Over the past weeks, protesters have administered violence of their own. They have chased and beaten Gasht-e ershad officers, attacking police vehicles and there have been reports of some police officers having been killed. It’s a bit like Syria in 2011. But unlike Syria, there’s far more ethnic and especially religious unity in Iran. The protests have also persisted despite heavy government crackdowns. Moreover, while slogans such as ‘death to the dictator’ were seldom heard in previous protests, even in 2009 during the Green Movement period, in 2022 it has been present since the beginning: Marg- ba-diktator. This carried great symbolic significance, given that the main slogans of the 1979 Revolution were marg ba Shah and marg ba Amrika: respectively, death to the Shah and death to America. The protesters also cut across class boundaries. Once they were led mainly by poor workers and proletariat. Today’s protestors have also attracted the well –to-do from the elegant neighborhoods of the educated middle classes, suggesting a more transversal consensus.

Students of Amir Kabir university protests. CC BY-SA 4.0/ Darafsh

Today, the protests are celebrated and encouraged by all even if they fail to express precise leadership. Unlike, some protest movements led and inspired by university students or bazaar shopkeepers (as also happened in 1978-79), the current protest lacks any coordination. This is where the regime can find some respite if Lenin’s revolutionary theories are correct. The protests remain the first act of individuals who have taken to the streets to express their anger and dissent but they still struggle to establish themselves as a collective entity that thinks and acts politically and in accordance with a strategy. That is not to say that if the Iranian leadership fails to adopt a strategy of its own, and one that goes far beyond the blunt instrument of violence, the movement can’t become more politically relevant – and therefore threatening.

The protests are of great importance to the future, and the Supreme Leadership.
The scale of the protests is enormous because it could indicate a definitive breaking point between the political class and the population. The Iranian government has become ever more authoritarian in the context of economic turmoil and few if any prospect of recovery. The uncertainty over the succession to Khamenei and what that means for the future of the Islamic Republic itself. The negotiations for a new nuclear deal are all but dead, and therefore there’s no sanctions respite in sight. This means that Iran’s goal of establishing itself as an alternative source of gas (as sanctions and damage to both Nord Stream 1 and 2 keep the prospect of Russian gas exports to Europe ever more distant) same time is quickly fading.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. CC BY 4.0/ Khamenei.ir

In the Islamic Republic the president is in office but not in power, because the general orientation – and above all important issues such as foreign policy and nuclear power – is decided by the Rahbar, that is the Commander-in-chief of the regular armed forces, of the Pasdaran and of the Basij paramilitary militias, he is the supreme leader to exercise power on earth on behalf of the Mahdi, the messiah expected by the Shiites.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has held this role since he replaced Imam Khomeini in 1989. He was elected by the Assembly of Experts composed of 88 ayatollahs, who will also be in charge of his succession.
From the institutional point of view, Ayatollah Khamenei represents the head of state of the Islamic Republic, sitting atop of a complex institutional system that intertwines popular legitimacy with religious legitimacy. The dual nature of the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic is today summarized in the figure of Khamenei, who, has played an even more influential role than (post-revolution) Ayatollah Khomeini.
He represents the highest political and religious authority
of the Islamic Republic.
Khamenei’s first government post was as Deputy Defense Minister in Mehdi Bazargan’s interim revolutionary government in spring 1979. This position allowed Khamenei to gain familiarity and experience with the Armed Forces. Khamenei then exercised the role of commander in chief of the armed forces himself once he ascended to the role of Supreme Leader, unlike his predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who, while technically holding this power, preferred to delegate it to others. In 1981, Khamenei to the role of President of the Republic, becoming the first Shiite clergyman to occupy a position in the executive branch. In 1989, upon Khomeini’s death, he was elevated to the rank of Supreme Leader. This move was technically made possible through a constitutional change, favored by President Hashemi Rafsanjani. He was betting on Khamenei’s relative political weakness and lack of charisma in order to weaken the role of the Supreme Leader with the aim of carving out a more powerful role for himself.

In a secondary school in Teheran. “Woman, life, freedom”; One of the main slogans of the protesters. CC BY-SA 4.0/ Farzan44

Rafsanjani wanted to embark on a kind of Perestrojka to maneuver Iran into a new phase, characterized by a relaxation of revolutionary rhetoric and a gradual reintegration into the international system.
From the moment of his inauguration, however, Khamenei has dedicated himself to the construction of a personal network that allowed him to increase his political weight exponentially. This strategy was mainly implemented through two instruments: an extremely loyal political elite, and a flexible policy, facilitating the juggling of different political factions; most importantly, preventing any of these from acquiring excessive power – or sufficient power to threaten his role. According to media hostile to Iran, he suffers from all manner of illnesses – though prostate cancer is the most frequent ‘prognosis,’ even as heart and respiratory problems are also mentioned often. His death was announced several times by the enemies of the Islamic Republic, only to be denied. Still, Khamenei is 83 years old, and sooner or later the problems of his succession and what direction Iran will take will
need to be confronted.

Women in Melbourne, Australia, cutting off their hair in solidarity with Iranian Protests. CC BY 2.0/ Matt Hrkac

And this is where the real struggle for power is taking place: with double-digit inflation and skyrocketing prices, the moderate President Rohani had no chance; the grandson of Imam Khomeini has pedigree but does not have a large following and, above all, seems faithful to the indications of his grandfather who did not want his involvement in politics; the Larijani brothers have held various positions, but over the years they have lost their luster also because many of their collaborators are involved in corruption scandals; linked to the pasdaran, the ultraconservative Ebrahimi Raisi could have some chance.
Indeed, Khamenei was the President when Khomeini died, and acceded to the latter’s role. There are also well-informed observers (in interventionist Washington think-tanks it should be stressed) like Ali Alfoneh, of the Arab Gulf States Institute, who believes that the Revolutionary Guards (IGRC) will lead a military coup removing the very role of Rahbar. In other words, Iran would shift from theocracy to military dictatorship. (Open Photo: Iranian women on the frontlines of protest. via Social Media)

Alessandro Bruno

Nigeria.Oil theft is sinking Africa’s first economy.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

Whereas other oil producers are boasting from substantial revenues as a result of high crude prices triggered by the Ukraine war; theft, shut-ins and lack of investment are hitting badly a sector which represents, 89 percent of Nigeria’s export revenues and more than 50 percent of the national budget.

Last August, Nigeria faced a record low production of only 980,000 barrels a day, well below its OPEC quota of 1,55 m b/d. The figure calculated by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries corresponds to half of Nigeria’s export capacity of 2 million bpd.
As a result, Nigeria once Africa’s first producer dropped to the fourth rank, behind Angola, Algeria and Libya.
On the 9 September, President Muhammadu Buhari said such decline was putting the economy in a precarious situation. Crude oil exports accounted indeed in 2021 for 89 percent of Nigeria’s export revenues and for more than 50 percent of the national budget.

Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari. CC BY-SA 4.0/Bayo Omoboriowo

According to Nigerian officials, the main cause for this decline is theft which is carried out at an industrial-scale. It poses an “existential” threat to the sector, claims a Shell executive. Theft and the related sabotage of pipelines by criminal gangs to siphon the crude are causing a loss of more than 200,000 barrels per day, according to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).
In August 2022, the NNPC claimed that up to 700,0000 bpd were missing from its exports as a result of theft and of the decision by oil companies operating locally to shut operations to avoid the thieves. Some companies reported even that 80 percent of the oil they put into pipelines was stolen. And the situation can still deteriorate since oil workers unions threaten to call for a strike if the government does not take action against the oil bunkering gangs.
The NNPC estimated in early September that losses may reach up to US $ 700 million per month which represents the equivalent of $ 8.4 billion per year. The Nigerian Extractive Industries and Transparency Initiative estimated that Nigeria lost, between 2009 and 2018, $ 42 billion owing to oil theft and its consequences; The figure is higher than Nigeria’s external debt estimated at $ 39 bn by March 2022.

Headquarters of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. It is government oil company. CC BY-SA 4.0/ Simoniwodi

In an interview with the French daily Le Monde, Alexander Sewell, researcher for the Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN), which supports local populations affected by the extractive industries, describes two methods to steal oil.
The first consists in diverting oil from a pipeline to convey it by smaller pipes to barges which in turn, can either supply local refineries or bring the crude to larger vessels which can head out to the sea in order to refuel a tanker that can sail directly to South America, Europe or Asia or transfer its cargo to other vessels on the high seas.
The authorities claim to clamp down on perpetrators. In June 2022, the Special Anti-Vandal Unit of the National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) arrested 88 people accused of having caused pollution and health hazards posed by illegal refining. But sources in the Niger Delta say that bunkering cannot stop because the military, the police and even the NSDC are involved. Some speak of a “sophisticated mafia of powerful Nigerians and foreigners”, including government officials, retired oil industry personnel, politicians and businessmen. In 2019, the governor of Rivers state himself, Nyesom Wike confirmed that top military officers were involved and sponsoring oil bunkering. The damage inflicted by small-time oil bunkers in Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa and other states, is peanuts compared with the havoc caused by the cartels that own giant vessels and equipment.

Woman walking on the Shell oil pipelines.

The second technique of stealing, called “topping”, is far more difficult to detect and even more damaging. It consists in adding undeclared crude to a shipment for which the export permits have been issued, allowing traffickers to resell the extra oil without being noticed. International oil companies involved in this business pay no royalties on the crude illegally bunkered, says a report from the British Chatham House Institute. Perpetrators benefit from official protections. According to Sewell, sometimes, the ships transporting this stolen oil through the Niger Delta are even escorted by the military.On top of that, the bunkering cartels have huge means. On the 25 August 2022, President Buhari’s Special Assistant on Digital & New Media, Tolu Ogunlesi reported that the MT Heroic Idun, a very large crude carrier registered in the Marshall Islands, owned by the Norwegian company Hunter Tankers AS and operated by the Dutch-based company Trafigura, with a capacity of 3 million barrels of crude, entered Nigerian waters a fortnight before with “the obvious intention of lifting crude illegally.”
The tanker was then asked to follow a Nigerian Navy ship to Bonny anchorage pending when she would be cleared for loading. But the tanker “refused to cooperate” and fled southwards in a bid to evade arrest. Moreover, the tanker made a false broadcast to the International Maritime Bureau alleging it was under attack by pirates. Eventually, the vessel was seized in the Equatorial Guinea waters.

Motor Tanker (MT) Heroic Idun. Photo: af24news

This failed attempt is just one example of the large-scale theft orchestrated by Nigerian and foreign big players. According oil firms and Ministry of Petroleum estimates 90 percent of the oil snatched is sold on world markets while only 10 percent is refined locally by gangs operating in the creeks and swamps of the Delta.
This high scale theft has led the NNPC to raise the issue with the European Union. In July 2022, the EU promised to work with Nigeria to help tackle oil theft and the illegal refining menace after a fact-finding mission in the Niger Delta of the European Commission Deputy Director General on Mobility and Transport, Mathew Baldwin. According to former presidential advisor, Dele Cole, the main buyers of Nigerian stolen oil are organised criminal networks in the Balkans and refiners in Singapore.
In a report entitled “Nigeria’s Criminal Crude”, the London-based Chatham House policy institute estimated that much of the proceeds of Nigeria’s stolen oil were laundered in Britain, United States, Dubai, Indonesia, India and Switzerland. The US, Brazil, China, Thailand and Indonesia are the other likely destination of the stolen crude.
The stolen oil which goes to local refineries operated by local gangs is being processed in extremely poor safety conditions. In April 2022, more than 100 people were burned alive in the explosion of an illegal refinery in the Abaezi forest between Imo and Rivers, in South-eastern Nigeria.

However, observers on the spot don’t believe this trend will end anytime soon since there are social and political reasons behind the importance of the illegal bunkering and refining, despite the industrial accidents and the pollution caused by these activities in farmlands, swamps and rivers. Some communities even justify their practices. A local oil refiner told the SDN that “the government and oil companies are collecting our oil, and we don’t have jobs, no money, so we have to collect the oil and refine our own”. Such industry fills an economic vacuum where local communities suffer the negative impacts of oil extraction but see none of the economic benefits since the Federal State fails to provide basic public services and security.
Yet, the sharp decline of Nigeria’s crude oil production and exports is not only owed to theft, argues Nigeria’s Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo who disputes NNPC’s oil theft figures of 200,000 to 400,000 barrels per day. According to Gambo, the government makes the mistake of calculating losses due to force majeure as well as shut-ins as part of oil being stolen.

François Misser

Jamaica. ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

This year Jamaica is celebrating 60 years of independence from the United Kingdom. A country that is constantly living in a political and economic crisis. High crime rate. It is one of the most important cannabis producers. Reggae music.

The island of Jamaica, located in the Caribbean Sea, belongs to the Greater Antilles Archipelago. The location gives the island great strategic importance: its northern coast is 145 km from Cuba and the eastern coast about 190 km from Haiti; from the capital, Kingston, across the Caribbean Sea, to the mouth of the Panama Canal, is a distance of 938 km. Its territory is mainly mountainous while not exceeding 1,000 meters above sea level. An exception to this is the chain of the Blue Mountains, located on the eastern side of the island, whose peaks reach 2,256m in height and extend for about 50 km. The few plains present on the island can be found in the southern coastal strip, while the coasts of the northern strip are more rugged and elevated. Small islands located in the southern coastal strip also belong to the territory of the country, the dimensions of which, however, are quite modest.

123rf.com

There are numerous water sources on the island and, in the opinion of some scholars, the name Jamaica derives from a corruption of the name ‘Arawak Xaymaca’ alluding to them. Furthermore, the island is crossed by a hundred rivers whose length, due to the arrangement of the mountain ranges, does not exceed 100 km. Among these is the Rio Minho which, at 93 km, is the longest river in Jamaica. It rises near the geographic centre of the island, flows generally south-southwest and reaches the Caribbean Sea at Carlisle Bay on the south-central coast, west of the island’s southernmost point, Portland Point. While the Black River, whose name refers to the darkness of its bed caused by thick layers of decaying vegetation, flows for about 53 km west and then flows into the Caribbean Sea, near Negril.

The climate is tropical and is generally hot and humid. With the exception of the higher and temperate areas, temperatures undergo decidedly limited seasonal variations and the average maximums in the capital vary from 30 ° to 33 ° C, with minimums from 21 ° to 24 ° C. Precipitation is quite consistent in the hinterland and, in particular, in mountainous areas where it reaches peaks of 5,000-6,000 mm every year. On the other hand, it is less in the coastal strip and, in particular, in the southern one, where it may reach as little as 800 mm per year. The country is also in an area frequently struck by hurricanes.
The discovery of the island took place on May 3, 1494 by Christopher Columbus who called it Santiago. At that time the island was already inhabited by the Arawaks, a population originally from South America who had settled there between 1000 and 400 BC. They died out at the end of the sixteenth century due both to the hard work imposed by the colonists and the European ill-treatment and diseases against which they had no defence.

In fact, the Spanish colonists, who arrived on the island beginning in 1510, introduced slavery together with the cultivation of sugar cane, thus modifying the layout of the island.In 1597 the English raids began though they managed to obtain effective control only in 1654. Under English domination, Jamaica became the first nation in the world for sugar exports thanks to the massive use of slaves imported from Africa. The insurrections of the latter, however, were constantly transforming, with the passage of time, into actions by guerrillas whose attacks forced the British to grant them a greater degree of autonomy in 1739. But, despite these concessions, the struggles continued in a very bloody manner even in the following decades. In particular, at Christmas 1831 an action of passive resistance infused by Daddy ‘Sam’ Scarpe, an educated slave and lay preacher, took on the character of extreme violence resulting in the destruction of the landowners’ plantations which ended with the hanging of about 400 rioters. This caused a wave of outrage in England itself that eventually forced parliament to abolish slavery on August 1, 1834.

@KhosroKalbasi 123rf.com

Although this system was abolished, the government of the rich, who were the only ones with the right to vote, maintained its political weight. The slaves freed from slavery at that point abandoned the work of the plantations and settled on the island and this, in addition to causing economic decline due to lack of manpower, generated new struggles with the ancient masters that persisted over time.
In the history of the country, an undoubtedly important date was 1958, the year in which the island acquired its first independence from the United Kingdom, becoming a province belonging to the Federation of West Indies, that is, an organization in which all the British West Indies took part. However, full independence came on August 6, 1962 with the separation from the Federation of West Indies and the United Kingdom while remaining within the Commonwealth and joining the UN and the OAS. In the years that followed there was a policy of alternating between Labour and Nationalists, the latter led by M. Manley. The economic and social conditions of the country recorded continuous and constant worsening with organized crime acquiring ever greater room for manoeuvre thanks also to collusion between the political class and the various gangs that faced each other and were duly armed by Kingston.
Jamaica, which today has 2,961,000 inhabitants, is the third most populous English-speaking country in the Americas, after the USA and Canada. Its population is mainly composed of descendants of populations from the sub-Saharan area and enslaved by the British.(Photo: 123rf.com) – (F.R.)

Ethiopia. The Circus, Art that Gives Dignity.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

Through circus art, Kine Circus helps boys and girls in danger of exclusion to find themselves and have a life plan.

“Kine in Amharic has several meanings, including ‘secret’. With our art, we try to convey a message. We talk about the problems that surround us and how to solve them, using the language of the circus, which acts as a social transformer. This is the ‘secret’ of this art”, explains Shimelis Getachew, actor, director, clown and founder of Kine Circus, together with Eyob Teshom. He continues: “Kine Circus was started two years ago in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) to give a concrete response to the many boys and girls in danger of exclusion. For them, we used a department store inside the Zoma Museum complex, an open space on the outskirts of the city frequented by minors interested in the circus, with special needs or with no fixed abode”.

Shimelis Getachew, actor, director, clown and founder of Kine Circus. (Photo: Javier Sánchez Salcedo).

Getachew points out: “We want it to be a home for them. The intention is not for children to simply learn coordination, balance, and expressiveness through circus techniques, but for them to have a protected space where they can talk about things that happen to them”.
Kine Circus is the result of a previous project, Fekat Circus, which brought together nearly 600 children. After 17 years, Fekat disbanded, partly because some of its artists became professionals and went to work in countries like France or Germany, and partly because local authorities took away its spaces because they wanted to create an area for commercial and industrial activities. Consequently, some former Fekat members decided to find a new place and start a new project.

Kine Circus members. (Photo: Javier Sánchez Salcedo)

We ask Shimelis how the circus can possibly change someone’s life. “In Addis Ababa, there are no activities for children who are on the street or live in broken families and have problems such as the use of khat or glue”, Shimelis replies.
“The circus has many things that can benefit them. They learn to care for each other, to trust, to communicate, to develop mental and physical skills and to stay safe from addictive substances”.
Kine Circus members also work with children admitted to the hospital in Addis Ababa. “With the ‘Doctors with Smile project’ we help children to laugh and have fun and forget their illness for a while”, says Shimelis.
Recently some members of the circus have been working a lot with children with autism. “We had no experience of working with autistic children. We started and saw that the effect the circus has on them is wonderful. Children with autism are integrated and participate in the activities together with the rest of the children. Each has their own challenges, and everyone forms an equal part of the project, under the motto ‘I help you and you help me’.

“We want it to be a home for them” (Photo Kine Circus)

With some of them, what is being worked on is overcoming the trauma. There are boys and girls who have gone through terrible experiences living on the street and who express hysterical emotions when they are in a group”.Shimelis and the rest of the performers know how to accompany them. They tell us: “To do a stunt I have to count on you being by my side and helping me. For a child used to living in distrust, the idea that ‘you will not let me fall’ is something new. Furthermore, they also realise that they deserve a better life. They deserve to be taken to the doctor. They deserve to be on tour. There are boys and girls who, when they enter the project at the age of eight or nine, are full of emotions. But there they find a group of people who help them break free, they start going to class and taking care of themselves.
They wash their hands, sit, and take their food and talk about their problems. They make a great effort to succeed in a place where they feel protected and safe and know they can make it. A transformation takes place in their lives”.

“They learn to care for each other, to trust, to communicate, to develop mental and physical skills” (Photo Kine Circus)

In Ethiopia, the circus is not highly regarded and receives no government support, Shimelis complains. “In football, Ethiopia always loses, but it is a sport that is supported. On the other hand, there are very good circus artists all over the world, and they are not appreciated”.
Shimelis recalls that Fekat Circus once performed in 2018 at the last edition of the Rototom festival, in Benicasim. They had their show on the big stage in front of more than 10,000 people, but it had no repercussions in the Ethiopian media. Instead, the media talked about an Ethiopian singer performing at the same festival, on a small stage, in front of 500 spectators. “The Ethiopian Ministry of Tourism does not believe that our culture can be expressed through the circus. There is still a lot to do”, adds the artist.
Shimelis concludes: “The circus is my life. As a child, my dream was to make films. I worked as an actor and directed two films. But the circus always calls me. And now I have left everything to dedicate myself to this project. Because what I want is to help, and through the circus, it is very easy to reach people”. (Open Photo: Javier Sánchez Salcedo)

Javier Sánchez Salcedo

Ethiopia. Churches join hands to promote a deal on the Nile Waters sharing.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

The Coptic Church of Egypt and the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia are joining hands to incite the leaders of both countries to find a consensus on a fair settlement that preserves the interest of all riparian countries.

On the 4 September, the patriarch of the Egyptian Coptic Church, Tawadros II received a large delegation from the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church led by Pope Abuna Yosef, the archbishop of Bale, including heads of monasteries, deacons, monks and nuns.
The aim of the meeting was to mend the gap between the governments of both countries about the construction of the 6000 MW and US $ 4.5 billion worth Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the blue Nile, which was started in 2011 by the Italian company Salini and which is the largest hydropower project in Africa.
The meeting follows the announcement, last August, by the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of the completion of the third phase of the filling of the GERD’s reservoir. According to the Ethiopian authorities, the dam is now holding 22 billion cubic meters of water, which represents about 30 percent of the planned capacity of 74 bn cubic meters which should provide a 6000 MW capacity of electricity by 2027.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile River in Guba,Ethiopia. AFP

However, the two downstream countries, Sudan and Egypt are complaining that these filling plans are implemented without their prior consent and continue their diplomatic efforts to get Ethiopia to sign a binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam.
Egypt stresses that the Renaissance Dam could lead to a permanent lowering of the water level in Lake Nasser if floods are stored instead in Ethiopia. Accordingly, the filling of the Renaissance dam reservoir could mean also a 100 MW loss of the generating capacity of the Aswan Dam hydropower plant. Egyptian officials stress that the Nile River provides 97 percent of its edible water supply and that the filling of the GERD reservoir would affect considerably its supply since 85 percent of the waters of the Nile River come from the Blue Nile whose source is
on the Abyssinia highlands.
The Cairo authorities also point out that Ethiopia is ignoring the colonial agreements of 1929 and 1959 between Egypt and Britain. Egypt and Sudan consider that Ethiopia’s decision to proceed with filling the GERD reservoir is posing an ‘existential threat’.
The matter was taken in July 2021 to the UN Security Council which encouraged the three riparian states to negotiate and to reach an agreement under the aegis of the African Union.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed pressing the start button to generate power from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam s (GERD) second turbine during a ceremony held on August 11, 2022. Photo courtesy of Ethiopian Prime Minister s official Twitter account

Ethiopia rejects the colonial Anglo-Egyptian deals since they did not take her interests into account. Ethiopia engineers and geographers also argue that the filling of the GERD reservoir on the temperate Ethiopian Highlands would have positive consequences since it will experience much less evaporation than downstream reservoirs such as Lake Nasser in Egypt, which loses 12% of its water flow annually due to evaporation as the water sits in the lake for 10 months. The controlled release of water from the GERD reservoir to downstream, would even facilitate an increase of up to 5% in Egypt’s water supply, and presumably that of Sudan as well, argue Ethiopian engineers and geographers.
Moreover, since the Renaissance dam will also retain substantial amounts of silt, it will increase the useful lifetime of the Roseires, Sennar and Merowe dams in Sudan and of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt,
say Ethiopian officials.
It is in such context that the Egyptian Coptic Church Pope Tawadros II welcomed the Ethiopian Orthodox Church delegation. “We pray for the Nile water and for the rain that falls in Ethiopia as it brings good to many countries,” Pope Tawadros said. “In Egypt, we consider the Nile our father and the land around it our mother”, he pursued.
During the meeting, Tawadros reminded the tight historical, and spiritual links between both churches, since indeed Ethiopia’s Orthodox Church remained under the umbrella of the Coptic Patriarchate of Alexandria until 1959. For Pope Tawadros, the Nile water is a gift from God, which should not be disputed which is why he called on several occasions the parties in the GERD dispute to seek a consensual solution that ensures development for their peoples.

The High Dam in Aswan for hydroelectric power generation, Nubia, Egypt. Photo: 123rf.com

This is not the first attempt of mediation by the churches of both countries. In September 2015, Ethiopian Patriarch Mathias I of Ethiopia’s Tewahedo Church received Pope Tawadros at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa. Just before, Mathias I paid a visit to Egypt where he met with President Abd-el Fattah Al Sissi who told him that while Egypt cannot hinder the right to development of the Ethiopian people, it is a source of life, not just development, for Egyptians.
In 2010, the then Egyptian Coptic Church said its leader, Pope Shenouda III, prayed together with Ethiopian Bishop Boules during the latter’s visit to Egypt in an effort to help resolve the dispute. Egypt is seeking to improve bilateral ties, drawing on historical relations that have linked both churches since the 14th century until their separation in 1959. This comes as part of Egypt’s penchant of using soft power in order to improve also the perception in upstream countries that depicts Egypt as stealing Nile water.

Felucca boats on Nile River at sunset. Photo: 123rf.com

The opinion of politicians and Copts in Egypt on the role that the church can play to resolve the crisis between both countries varies. Some consider it an undesirable overlap between politics and religion. But Coptic thinker Kamal Zakher begs to differ.
In an interview with the American news website Al-Monitor, he commented that “The Egyptian Church believes in the principle of not intervening in politics. However, it cannot turn a blind eye to its national role, which goes beyond the political one”. Furthermore, Kamal Zakher said that “The role of the church as a soft power is helpful and the Egyptian government should play other roles, such as helping Ethiopians with their development needs.”
Other churches also try to promote dialogue. On the 15 August 2020, Pope Francis in a message after the Angelus prayer at the Vatican, asked the leaderships of Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan to “continue on the path of dialogue so that the Eternal River might continue to be a source of life that unites, not divides, that always nourishes friendship, prosperity, fraternity, and never enmity, misunderstanding or conflict.” In July 2021, the Protestant World Council of Churches acting general secretary, Rev. Prof. Dr. Ioan Sauca appealed to all WCC member churches around the world to pray for a peaceful solution to the problem. (Egypt’s Pope Tawadros II (R) and Abune Yosef of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Photo: Coptic Orthodox Church)

François Misser

In the Hands of Local Gangs.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

Within Kingston, gangs involved in drug trafficking, extortion, robbery, and the exploitation of prostitution have their own well-defined geography of crime which, moreover, has undergone changes and changed its structure compared to the past.

To date, in fact, the ‘Dons’ of the urban areas have disappeared from the Jamaican criminal scene, including the infamous Christopher Michael Coke, better known as ‘Dudus’, head of the Shower Posse, sentenced a few months ago to 23 years of prison by the New York Court. The Shower Posse is a group halfway between organized crime and collusion with the political world. It was formed around the 1970s to launch and support the political career of the Jamaican Labour Party, with which it still maintains relationships and ties today. Immediately distinguished from the other Jamaican gangsters, it moved from controlling the streets and the local political electorate to business in North America, starting to create a small drug trafficking circuit.

Kingston. Soldiers in the city on duty in the car. 123rf.com

The disappearance of the big bosses has given rise to a phenomenon of smaller aggregations that traffic on the local market, headed by the ‘Corner Dons’, small bosses who make the balance of power even more fluid and, consequently, less manageable.
However, some of the historical aggregations remain standing and well rooted in the territories to which they belong. Among these there is One Order, present predominantly in Spanish Town and strongly supported by the JLP which is opposed by Klansman, which is the garrison of the PNP.
In 2006, following the killing of boss Bun Man Hope, members of the organization razed the courthouse to the ground, giving a clear demonstration of their strength. The group also has branches abroad and in particular in New York, Toronto, and London.
In addition, the gangs also control the production and trafficking of drugs, thus generating an annual income of about 560 million. The country is a large cannabis producer, as well as an exporter to the US and Canadian markets. In particular, in the period between 1968 and 1980, production reached truly important figures, placing Jamaica among the top global producers. In the 1990s, the flow of cocaine and the production of marijuana constituted 7.6% of the national economy. In the early 2000s, albeit reduced compared to the period taken in question, activities related to the trafficking and production of drugs recorded important data, however, with revenues equal to 210 million dollars per year, 160 of which came from exports alone. In 2013 it was estimated that the hectares set aside for the cultivation of cannabis amounted to 15,000 distributed throughout the national territory and mainly in mountainous areas and along the tributaries of the Nera River.

Young cannabis plants. Green background of marijuana leaves. 123rf.com

Furthermore, Jamaica, together with the Bahamas, represents an important transit corridor for cocaine bound for the United States and through which approximately 40 MT per year are said to pass. The security of this corridor is entrusted to the Jamaican gangs.
In addition to cocaine and marijuana, Jamaican hashish oil is also very popular on the market, the main target market of which is Canada, where large communities of Jamaicans reside who provide for the subsequent local sorting.
However, it must be pointed out that the extensive cultivation of hemp also corresponds to a vast internal consumption since, from a cultural point of view, it is understood as a singularly accepted phenomenon. This also explains the involvement in the production of many small producers for whom the cultivation of hemp becomes an obligatory productive choice. As a cultural element, it seems that hemp was introduced by immigrant Indian labourers who came to work in the sugar cane plantations abandoned by the Africans in 1838, after the end of slavery throughout the British Empire.
In fact, it seems that it was not previously known on the island and was assimilated by the rest of the population during this time span due to the cultural contact between the two ethnic groups on the plantations and between neighbouring communities.

Young Man. Hairstyle Rasta Braids Hair (Max Pixel)

In the early 2000s, to deal with this phenomenon, the Jamaican Senate unanimously decided to set up a ‘National Commission on Ganja’ led by Professor Barry Chevannes, who in a few months developed a series of very clear recommendations, including the decriminalization of cannabis for personal and religious use, as well as the development of prevention aimed at young people and schools and, above all, the modification of the approach of the police forces. The top priority was to crack down on crack and cocaine trafficking and not persecute ganja users.
A final report was thus drawn up which was delivered to a special committee (Joint Select Committee) in charge of sifting through the proposals before presenting them to Parliament. In 2003, the committee forwarded the proposed decriminalization of hemp to Parliament but, although the majority of Parliament agreed, the examination of the project stalled due to the opposition of influential sectors of society represented by Attorney General Michael Hylton (who appealed to respect for international conventions).
That, above all, was due to pressure from the US government which interpreted this reform as a yielding to the war on drugs policy, under penalty of the threat to suspend economic aid.
Nevertheless, there is a steady commitment on the part of the institutions aimed at curbing the use of drugs among the population and in particular, among young people. In fact, it is estimated that over 187,000 Jamaicans consume hard drugs, particularly in the age group between 12 and 55 years.(Photo:123rf.com)

(F.R.)

Music. Stromae, the Master of pop.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

A heart that beats to the rhythm of Africa

Paul Van Haver was born in Etterbeek, a small town near Brussels, in 1985. Yet his story really begins only nine years later, in Rwanda, where his father, an architect of Tutsi ethnicity, was killed that year during one of the most terrible genocides of the twentieth century.
Little Paul thus grows up with his mother, who is Flemish, along with four brothers and a sister.
As a boy he began to study music, as a teenager he discovered rap, hip-hop subculture, the soul of the masters and electronics. The recording debut came in 2009 with the pseudonym destined to make him a world-famous pop star: Stromae, which in verlan means “master”.

But Rwanda and that tragedy remained indelibly marked on his heart, and well before he revealed it, in 2013, in the poignant Papaoutai (Daddy where are you?), a song dedicated to that father he had only seen a dozen times in his life. That song was part of his second album, that of consecration among the trendiest artists of European pop.
He sings mostly in French, and plays drums and piano. And this year he launches his third album Multitude: one of the most anticipated and relevant works of this year overflowing with war-founding nightmares. Also, because it comes after eight years of silence. And once again Stromae hits hard. Because he was never the type to limit himself to writing supermarket platitudes: in his records he sang about alienation from social networks, about cancer and alcoholism, about marginalization, about migrants, about the hells of the last, about racism and homophobia, and he always did it with a poetic and often autobiographical slant: “Yes, at times I have had suicidal thoughts. And I’m not proud of it. Sometimes we think it is the only way to silence them. These thoughts that make me go through hell “he sings in the brand-new L’ Enfer.

And in an interview, he explains: “This record is my journey from darkness to light, an album about healing”; from a bad disease that kept him away from the scene for years, but also from the never perfectly healed wounds of his family tragedy. This is also why he does not hesitate to judge the violence of the war that is raging in the heart of Europe as “unsustainable”. Stromae is a chansonnier with both feet in the multi-ethnic postmodernity of his Belgium, but his heart still beats to the rhythm of his Africa.
Especially among these 12 new songs. And if Rwandan roots rarely blossom into folkloric moods (little more than a few reverberations here and there), they feed the soul of all the work, especially when the sweetness of the choirs and colours of his homeland. It is no coincidence that Brussels today welcomes one of the largest Rwandan communities in the world that found refuge here from the horrors of the 1990s genocide: the one that even Paul-Stromae cannot and does not want to forget, but from which he is slowly trying to heal. (Photos: Mosaert)

Franz Coriasco

Reggae, a Jamaican soft power.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

Jamaica is a Parliamentary democracy and, as a member of the Commonwealth, it is also a constitutional monarchy. Therefore, Charles III of England is also ‘King of Jamaica’.

The internal institutional set-up is democratic, with a two-party structure and a bicameral structure composed of a House of Representatives directly elected by the people and the Senate whose 21 members are directly appointed by the prime minister. From an administrative point of view, the country is divided into 3 counties and 14 ‘parishes’ (as the administrative divisions are called).
Its economy enjoys the incalculable bauxite reserves that place the country among the largest holders globally, contributing to the formation of almost a third of the national GDP. In addition to bauxite, another important item of the Jamaican economy is represented by tourism which generates 70% of GDP, while in the agricultural sector, sugar cane, coffee, bananas, and tobacco constitute further important items among exports.

Tropical Holiday, Ochos Rios. 123rf.com

As to energy, the country lacks its own resources and, therefore, is forced to import them to satisfy its consumption. Those activities that make up the nerve centre assets of the country’s economy, infrastructure, raw material extraction and tourism, are managed by both local and foreign private sectors. The central state, in fact, due to the high public debt that has gripped it for years (117% of GDP), as well as the heavy interest it has to pay to the IMF and the World Bank, has extremely limited room for manoeuvre. This has also brought about the privatisation of the health and education sectors, to which only a few have access. Furthermore, foreign investments are discouraged by both security issues and the high costs of services and taxes.
As far as international relations are concerned, Jamaica is heavily dependent on the United States, due also to strong trade ties, for direct foreign investments, development assistance and the numerous and constant migratory flows. The country, however, has also established economic relations with China for the development of the internal infrastructural and logistic system. China has also expanded its control in the port of Kingston, which was recently dredged to start the project, supported mainly by the state, to transform the island into an important integrated logistics water, land and air hub – similar to that of Dubai or Singapore, and equipped with special economic zones, the first of which has already been activated.

Regarding relations with Great Britain, it is felt that the death of Queen Elizabeth could generate the desire of Jamaica to re-evaluate matters, placing itself in the wake of Antigua and Barbuda and Barbados which, respectively, in April 2022 and 2021 decided to break the last links, albeit formal, with London. The Caribbean peoples, in fact, have been fighting for some time to obtain an apology for the ‘horrors of slavery’, as well as compensation.
In fact, in 2014, Caricom (Caribbean Commission for Reparations), an intergovernmental organization that includes 15 Caribbean states (including Barbados, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda), issued a document asking for reparations from the governments of all the former colonial powers and the most important institutions of those countries, to the Caribbean nations and people for crimes against humanity of genocide, slavery, and trafficking on the basis of race.

Queen Elizabeth II greets Prime Minister Michael Manley during her visit to Jamaica in 1975. Queen visited Jamaica, on six occasions. Those visits came in 1953, 1966, 1975, 1983, 1994 and 2002. (Photo Jamaica Observer)

Furthermore, it should be added that in the international arena the country is always known for reggae music which is a characterizing element of the country, a sort of Jamaican soft power. Music that is an expression of the Rastafarian religious movement, which echoes African sounds transforming them into something original. Furthermore, reggae also represents a way to express a form of dissent against the harsh oppressions suffered over the centuries by these populations and therefore a request for justice against abuses. Undoubtedly the icon par excellence of this musical genre was the Jamaican Bob Marley who more than any other was a global diffuser of both reggae and Rastafarianism, two typical Afro-Jamaican elements that in the 70s became central as symbols of identity and pride. Rastafarianism, which developed in the 1930s, has become widespread since the 1980s. More precisely, it is a spiritual and cultural movement, born on the inspiration of the Ethiopian Orthodox religious faith, and in particular of ‘Ethiopianism’ preached by the leader Marcus Garvey.

The name derives from Ras Tafari, the emperor who ascended the throne of Ethiopia in 1930 with the name of Hailé Selassié I and with the title of King of Kings (Negus Neghesti). After his voluntary exile, due to the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, and his return to his homeland five years later, some believers recognized him as Christ in his ‘second coming’, being a direct descendant of the Tribe of Judah which has its roots in the meeting between King Solomon (son of David) and the queen of Sheba. For the followers of Rastafarianism, therefore, Ethiopia represents the Promised Land, the return of the black people scattered throughout the world to their homeland, and Selassie is the messiah and bearer of this message.

Filippo Romeo

Morocco. Rabat. Capital of Lights.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

‘City of Lights’, as Rabat, the administrative capital of Morocco, is called. The name is not prosaic, but full of symbolism to describe a city undergoing a complete metamorphosis that tries to show its mastery while maintaining a balance between tradition and modernity. We visit the city.

In recent years Rabat has made an effort to shake off its reputation among Moroccans for being a ‘boring’ city – ‘with inhabitants, most of them civil servants, who go to sleep early’ – unable to match the dynamic economic capital of the country, Casablanca, or Marrakech, the main tourist destination. However, this reputation is undeserved. The coastal city, founded in the 12th century by the Almohads, has much to offer by way of culture and entertainment with the creation of multiple museums, restaurants, shopping centres and entertainment venues.

Seafront and Kasbah in medina of Rabat. Photo: 123rf.com

A destination for Moroccans who have administrative issues to settle, and where they turn to solve serious health problems as it has the best hospitals, Rabat is also a social loudspeaker, especially its Mohamed V boulevard, considered a refuge for protests and a stage for performances during national holidays.
This boulevard has been for years the Mecca of Rabatís who wear their best clothes to take a stroll in the area. What has always been the busiest place in Rabat now has rivals: Fal Ould Oumeir avenue, in the Agdal district, and Mahaj, from the luxurious Riad, also called the District of Lights for its illumination at sunset. Both make up the new centre
of the Moroccan capital.

Mausoleum of Muhammed V, Rabat. Photo: 123rf.com

There is no comparison between the current situation and that of 30 years ago in Rabat. The area around the Bouregreg River, which separates Rabat from its sister city Salé, has become an important tourist destination.The famous flouka (feluccas) of river fishermen no longer exercise their former role as a means of transport for officials between Rabat and Salé. Bouregreg was also a place of recreation for young people and children from the popular districts of the old Medina – such as Melah, Boukroune or Souika – who used to swim the river to Salé
to play football.

Friends having lunch together in restaurant in Rabat. Photo: 123rf.com

The entire Bouregreg Valley has been modernized with projects such as the Grand Theatre of Rabat, designed by Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, and the Mohamed VI Tower. The two works have views of the Kasbah of the Oudayas and the Hassan tower, the most emblematic historical monuments of Rabatí, a scenario that shows the new face of modern Rabat that also wants to keep its traditions.
This development has caused an increase in the cost of living without solving the problem of public transport that has arisen in recent years due to the growth of the city. The price of real estate is one of the highest in the country, forcing much of the public administration to rent or buy in Salé. But the inhabitants of the capital adapt as best they can to these problems because Rabat continues to be an elegant, inclusive, and comfortable city to live in.(Open Photo: Traditional souvenir Moroccan lamps.123rf.com)

Fatima Zohra Bouaziz

The Dove’s Egg.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022 8:00

A dove laid an egg in the hollow of a big tree in front of the blacksmith’s house. When she flew away from her nest in search of food, the blacksmith’s wife stole the egg.

The dove came back to her nest and found the egg missing. The dove knew at once that the blacksmith’s wife must have taken it. So, she went to the woman and pleaded, “Give me back my egg, please.” The blacksmith’s wife pretended that she knew nothing about it and said, “What egg are you talking about? I didn’t see any egg.”

The dove was heartbroken and flew about looking for help. On the way she met a pig, who asked, “Why are you crying, little bird?” She said, “0h pig, can you help me? Will you dig up the yams of the blacksmith’s wife who stole my egg?” “No, not I,” grunted the pig, walking away.

She then met a hunter, who asked, “Why are you in tears, little bird?” The bird said, “Will you shoot an arrow at the pig who wouldn’t dig up the yams of the blacksmith’s wife who stole my egg?” “Why should I? Leave me out of this,” said the hunter, walking away.

The dove wept some more and flew on till she met a rat, who also asked why she was in tears. The dove said, “Will you gnaw and cut the bowstring of the hunter who wouldn’t shoot the pig who wouldn’t dig up the yams of the blacksmith’s wife who stole my egg?” The rat too said, “Not I,” and went his own way.

Next, she met a cat, who asked, “What’s the matter, little bird?” “Will you catch the rat who wouldn’t cut the bowstring of the hunter who wouldn’t shoot the pig who wouldn’t dig up the yams of the blacksmith’s wife who stole my egg?” The cat would rather mind her own business.

The poor dove was beside herself with anger and grief. Her wails attracted the attention of a passing dog, who asked her what was bothering her. She said: “Will you bite the cat who wouldn’t catch the rat who wouldn’t cut the bowstring of the hunter who wouldn’t shoot the pig who wouldn’t dig up the yams of the blacksmith’s wife who stole my egg?” “No, not I,” said the dog and ran away. The dove’s wails grew louder and louder.

An old man with a long white beard came that way and asked the crying bird what the matter was. She said: “Grandfather, will you beat the dog who wouldn’t bite the cat who wouldn’t catch the rat who wouldn’t cut the bowstring of the hunter who wouldn’t shoot the pig who wouldn’t dig up the yams of the blacksmith’s wife who stole my egg?”
The old man didn’t want to do anything of the sort and shook his head and went his way.

The dove next went to the fire for help and asked it to burn the white beard of the old man, but the fire wouldn’t do it. Next the dove went to the water and asked it to put out the fire which wouldn’t burn the beard of the old man who refused to beat the dog who wouldn’t bite the cat who wouldn’t catch the rat who wouldn’t cut the bowstring of the hunter who wouldn’t shoot the pig who wouldn’t dig up the yams of the blacksmith’s wife who stole the egg. Water too was unwilling to help.

Not long afterwards, the dove met an elephant and asked if he would stir up the water which wouldn’t put out the fire which refused to burn the beard of the old man who wouldn’t . . .The elephant said: “No, not I.” Then the dove looked about and found a black ant, who also asked her what was troubling her.

“0h ant! I know you can help me. Will you go into the elephant’s trunk and bite him for not stirring up the water which wouldn’t put out the fire which wouldn’t burn the beard of the old man who wouldn’t beat the dog who wouldn’t bite the cat who wouldn’t catch the rat who wouldn’t cut the bowstring of the hunter who wouldn’t shoot the pig who wouldn’t dig up the yams of the blacksmith’s wife who stole my egg?”

“Why not? Here I go,” said the ant and crawled inside the elephant’s trunk and bit it in the softest place, very hard. This made the elephant dash into the pool of water and stir it up. The water splashed and began to put out the fire, which went mad and burned the white beard of the old man, who beat the dog, who ran after the cat and bit her. The cat caught the rat, who gnawed the bowstring of the hunter’s bow. The hunter tied on a new one and shot an arrow at the pig, who went and dug up all the yams of the blacksmith’s wife.

The blacksmith’s wife knew at once what she had to do and carefully put the dove’s egg back in the nest in the hollow of the big tree. That’s how the dove got her egg back. (Photo Max Pixel) –

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