Archive for the ‘Activism’ Category
The alleged power of one
Tom over at aviewfromthecave offers a critique of a recent Washington Post article about a couple, the Hughses, who went on safari in Tanzania and then decided to start a bike charity for residents of Karatu, a village near the safari site where the couple stopped at a local school and learned the kinds of things [...]
Why Enough will always get Congo “wrong” — and why we should maybe thank them for it
I’m going to go straight to it: Because advocacy is politics.
Advocacy is aspirational; it is rhetorical; and it is manipulative. And none of those things is prima facie bad (though there are better and worse ways to do them).
It seems to me we should no more expect advocates to offer a nuanced and complex [...]
Things that are worth your time
Adam Hocschild’s article from Congo, about mining, which I blogged about earlier, is online. Read it. Amazing.
“Africa to Appalachia,” Jayme Stone’s collaboration with kora player Mansa Sissoko. I’ve been listening to it on and off since it came out, but in the past few weeks, I’ve been really listening to it. It’s incredible. (So, too, [...]
Obama names Director of War Atrocities, croons to advocates, “Baby, it’s not how it sounds, I swear!”
It’s a mini-round up of the two most recent things I’ve read:
One, Obama now has a war atrocities czar — formally known as the Director of War Atrocities and Civilian Protection. At least that’s what the Daily Beast is calling David Pressman’s new job, in an article that I found pretty confusing.
Let’s [...]
Creepiest Google searcher ever, and a confidentiality conundrum
Like a lot of bloggers, weird Google search terms will send people my way. I used the word “thighs” in a blog headline once, and now every week I get a few people who I’m pretty sure are just looking for porn. Awesome.
But here’s a Google search term that’s also a reminder of how important [...]
(Eat) Fast for Darfur
In February, when I was in Kigali, a Rwandan friend came over for dinner, and he was surprised that I was eating. He was earlier at a home where a woman turned down a Fanta and some food. “You’re a good eater,” he told her, confused. “What’s going on?” She told [...]
I am a freelance journalist and multimedia producer who covers human rights, Africa and foreign affairs. [