Poverty and governments

It was heart warming to have listened to Wen Jiabao's (chinese premier) speech at the UN moreso because I believed he sounded truthful and believing that the other developed countries will follow suit in his charge to them. He listed how far China had come, how much it had invested in developing countries and what its intention is by way of assistance to the developing and under developed countries. It is mind blowing how far China has come since Mao's revolution even though what China is today might not be exactly what he had in mind just like Lenin might be wondering how a mad man like Stalin ruled Russia.I have always believed that communism or welfarism of some sort is the mode of government that can ensure equitable development in developing or under developed countries. You do not have to do it like China or Russia. China oppressed and silenced her people for decades; there were imprisonments, killings with no regard to world views, compulsory birth control and the people were voiceless. Can we say that all those atrocities were a necessary price to pay for their achievements today? Those things were horrendous and that is why I call my idea Communism of some sort, something different and peculiar to us.Communism is all about affording equal opportunities to everyone and the burden is on the government to provide all the infrastructures but for how long can a government carry such a burden? This is where slowly but surely China is opening its doors to the international market and allowing its citizens to participate in free enterprise, challenging international conglomerates and at the same time allowing foreign investments in China. A communist country can go bust if it does not know when to call it quits and this is where China has excelled. Castro overthrew the very debauched and corrupt government of Batiste and introduced communism. He has done well for his people but he has failed to see the sign for change even when his allies have moved on. Never the less, he has been a great leader and he gave his people an identity. No matter how good you are, you must have opponents. In our country we say we have a democracy but considering all that has happened, there is no difference between our democracy, communism and dictatorship. Journalists are molested, the police belongs to the powerful and justice is hardly seen to be done. The minority is the majority that has bought the hungry real majority for a pittiance. Do not believe the government stats but the divide is growing wider and wider; street urchins are a threat to motorists; beggars are our decoration at major street junctions; mothers carrying their babies begging for alms to buy food so that they may in turn produce sufficient milk for their infants. Armed robbery and prostitution are on the rise. In communism, who do you want to rob or sell sex to when you are more or less equal in each and every way.The present system assures us that there is a government of the rich, by the rich and for the rich; that the chances of a have not infiltrating the system is next to nil. I asked my former driver who had 6 kids with one more on the way why it was so and he said that one of them might grow up to be an Abiola and bail them out of their poverty. I did not know how to give him the percentage or odds of one of his kids being an Abiola or Obasanjo(if he accepts). If there was a government that assured him of his tomorrow he would not think that breeding like a rabbit was the way out. One other yard stick by which we can measure poverty is the prevalence of religion. Believe it or not, a majority that goes to church is seeking financial salvation but more often than not comes out poorer while the bishops , pastors or whatever names they go by extort every kobo from them.Remember Argentina and what they did to all those generals; remember Rawlings in Ghana, Kenyatta, kaunda, Nyerere and Mandela who could have caused chaos in South Africa.Let us ask about our country: who will bell the cat; who is ready to grab that mad tiger by the tail or the raging bull by the horn? We do not suffer from natural disasters but our leaders are tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes and monsoons.

patrick hornblower: Judas did not betray Jesus

patrick hornblower: Judas did not betray Jesus: "Sometime ago a character named Judas Iscariot who was one of the disciples of Jesus Christ was shamed & ostracised because, according to the..."

FOOD: EVERYBODY'S FOOD IS BEST

I sit down today, watch television with disgust, disbelief, and sometimes with nausea as people consume all sorts of living things ranging from insects, bugs, slugs, maggots, grubs, spiders, scorpions, etc, etc.
These culinary dishes which were once confined to the tribes in the jungles of Asia, Africa, Australia, Central and South America have not only found their way to the cities and prime time television but are also being considered as delicacies and tabled as haute cuisine.
The patrons of these weird dishes are Europeans and European Americans; the same people who many years ago condemned the foods of their local hosts and imported all their foods. They snubbed the local foods and sometimes made unsavoury remarks and these impacted negatively on the locals.
The educated and enlightened locals, some of whom had studied abroad, on achieving status in government or in the big prevalent European companies, decided that the best way to live was the way the colonial masters did. They dressed like them, went ballroom dancing, had tea in the hot African sun but to top it all, employed cooks who knew or supposedly knew how to prepare European dishes. Things like steak with potatoes and mushy peas served with some not very exciting gravy. Come dinner time and they would put on their jackets and ties. Just imagine that; going to put on a suit or even a tie to have dinner in my home!!!. Children were not exempt from these rules; I must say we were not at all impressed.
Time was when eating a good Nigerian meal outside of your home was confined to the bukas or mama put as they are called today. In the 50s, 60s and probably in the 70s you could not get a decent Nigerian meal in any hotel or top class restaurant and even at parties, food was restricted to rice, chicken & dodo(fried plantain) which was thought to look presentable unlike the not so eye catching but very tasty amala & ewedu with fresh fish(Yoruba dishes of Oyo state).
As they say there are always exemptions to the rule and I recall in the mid to late 70s, I had a hand full of European friends of which the Italians stood out. Every Saturday, they came over to my flat for ogbono, okro and egusi soup served with either pounded yam or eba. In return, I was constantly a guest in one home or the other sampling great Italian dishes beyond spaghetti & macaroni; a far cry from British food of those days.
Today, Africans are proudly dishing out their national dishes out of New York, Dublin, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Rome, Chicago, LA etc etc & the natives of these cities are enjoying them. British food is no longer bland because they, like most other Europeans & North Americans are incorporating Asian, Caribbean, African and Latin American flavours to their dishes. African recipes are all over the internet and the varieties are expanding daily because we also are adding some foreign touches to our recipes.
I also recall how the colonial masters thought eating with your fingers was an abomination; eating with one’s fingers is not restricted to Africans & Asians; check out the Mediterranean countries of Europe & the Middle East ; these are places where food and the preparation is like religion; fingers come first. Due to certain exigencies, the cutlery has become an advantage.




I love cooking; to me it is an art where you can let your imagination run wild like Picasso or Michelangelo would do. It is a science when you know that your concoction is going to cause a delightful explosion of your taste buds. You can cook like mummy cooked and that would be okay for the unadventurous.
I eat almost anything presented to me but I do not think am ready for insects, bugs, worms etcetc. I have had goats’ balls, brain omelette, raw meat and lots of other animal parts and am willing to try more but not insects and bugs.
Today, the middle class menu is international from, Indian curries, Chinese stir fries, Italian pasta sauces, Japanese sushi to Mexican chilies etc, etc. If you cannot prepare it, just check round the corner and some restaurant somewhere must have it on its menu. Regardless of these varieties one must long for those foods that one grew up with; it is your comfort food that soothes and satisfies you through and through.
My favourite foreign foods are Arab foods of North Africa to the Middle east. These people are prolific at cooking lamb & goat. They have a very wide varieties of kebabs, kaftas, & kebays; Their salads are aromatic especially Tabouleh, a parsley based herby salad. There is hommous which has become an international dip; vine leafs stuffed with rice and mince and cooked with a good chunk of lamb attached to the bone. Yummy.
Bon appetite and always remember that everybody's mother is the best cook.