Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den

Creative Disruption: Citizen Voices (African Bloggers on the Cutting Edge)

Originally published in Forbes Magazine

A Kenyan blogger found a way to get information from the crowd. Now she wants to take the idea to other parts of the world in trouble.

"For us to be featured in Forbes magazine is a big deal for many reasons - it speaks to our entrepreneurial approach to social problems, it speaks to the incredible talent we have in Africa that often doesn’t receive the recognition it deserves in the international media, and it says to me that we are on to something." Ory Okolloh, Ushahidi founder.

On a recent day in November 15,000 people were pushing up against the barbed wire outside the United Nation's mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo in Goma.

2008 Black Weblog Awards - "Scribbles from the Den" Wins in Best International Blog Category

Although this year's winners were announced some seven weeks ago, it is only yesterday that I became aware that Scribbles from the Den was one of the laureates of the 2008 Black Weblog Awards.

Scribbles won the judges' vote in the Best International Blog category. This year, there were over 9,400+ nominations in 30 different categories and over 1,500 votes.

Palapala Magazine Makes a Literary Foray into the Food Crisis

After its superb second issue which focused on Cameroon literature in English, the third issue of Palapala magazine tackles the issue of food through literature. Here are some of the highlights in this issue:

• Nigerian writer Tolu Ogunlesi uses the imagination of a wandering stomach to showcase four Nigerian cities.

• Cameroonian poet and writer Viola Allo embarks on a poetic journey to a farm on Lake Awing in the Northwest province of Cameroon.

• Poet Kangsen Wakai reviews his experiences with the chicken and chicken franchises in the city of Houston.

• Poet and writer Mbella Sonne Dipoko of African Writers Series fame muses on life in exile.

Julio Barthson in his Own Words: On the Campaign Trail for Barack Obama

In 1992, he was a valiant foot soldier for the Union for Change movement which nearly brought down the Biya regime. 16 years later, Nfor Julio Barthson, former reporter for Challenge Hebdo and La Nouvelle Expression, and former Managing Editor for Cameroon Post, reminisces about his experiences as a campaigner for Barack Obama.

  I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for having worked so hard to bring change to our great country. I am so honored to be have been one of yours; I am blessed to be called one Obama Soldier among Millions like you. Thanks for anyone who supported our strategy at the Real-Time Obama Active Response (ROAR). As I prepare to deploy overseas on another active duty tour in January, I would like to share a few words from my blog with you.

I met some of the most wonderful people in America thanks to Barack Obama's campaign. I will never forget.

How The Obama Campaign Harnessed the Power of the Internet

By Matthew Fraser & Soumitra Dutta (Originally published in The Guardian)

He may be older than most Facebook users, but Barack Obama understood the potential of social media to communicate and to raise funds - and left his 72-year-old opponent floundering

As the musician Brian Eno noted on the BBC's Question Time this week, Barack Obama's triumph was the first US presidential election that was won on the internet. While most pundits focused on the question of race, one largely overlooked factor was his powerful techno-demographic appeal.

Miriam Makeba Dies in Italy

  ROME (AFP) — South African singer Miriam Makeba has died aged 76 after being taken ill near the southern Italian town of Caserta following a concert, ANSA news agency reported Monday.

  
Miriam Makeba on Sunday in Castel Volturno, Italy, during her final concert 

She died overnight after taking part in a concert for Roberto Saviano, a writer threatened with death by the Mafia, the Italian agency said.

Miriam Makeba, known as "Mama Africa", was the legendary voice of the African continent who became a symbol of the fight against apartheid in her home country.

She died just after having sung for half an hour for the young author of "Gomorrah" at Castel Volturno near Naples along with other singers and artistes.

Videos - Miriam Makeba: A Lifetime of Music

Khawuleza (1966)

Pata Pata (2007)

For more on Miriam Makeba, including interviews, visit the NPR website.

History!!!!!!!

CNN: Democrat Barack Obama wins the 2008 presidential election over John McCain, CNN projects, setting him up to become the first African-American to hold the nation's highest office.

 

OBAMARAMA, or, the 2008 US Presidential Election through Cameroonian Eyes

By Brian (PCV in Cameroon)

Lots of Cameroonians are borderline obsessed with [Obama] and his candidacy... I think it’s also about what Obama’s candidacy tells them about America. It tells them that son of an African student can rise to become leader of one of the largest and most powerful nations on earth. It reinforces the idea that somewhere in the world is a place where people can rise above the limitations imposed on them by others and make something of their lives.

If you thought I was out of touch with US politics, rest assured that’s not the case. Even if I had no internet access and no desire to follow politics, I would still be hearing about the election from all my Cameroonian friends (and some passing acquaintances and occasionally even strangers). Cameroonians have plenty of access to international news on the TV and radio. Via satellite or cable many households even have CNN, MSNBC, and Fox, not to mention the BBC, Al Jazeera, French news programs, etc.

Bref Sejour

Mimboland News Agency: President Longstay of the Republic of Mimboland returned to the country today after a 43-day visit to Europe which official media coyly described as a "bref sejour" - a brief visit. This was president Longstay's fifth bref sejour to Europe and America this year, and yet another demonstration of the Mimboland leader’s "governance by remote control" which he has perfected into a science.

Bref Sejour

It's been a lifetime since he left
for a bref sejour across the seas
In his absence the people grope for survival
like drunken sailors staggering in a dark alley
wishing they had a steady and trusted hand
to guide them through these turbulent times
But this matters little to the Prince
For he knows that upon his return
The docile and groveling masses
Shall welcome him with open hands
grateful that he deigned to return
once again to their cursed land
for yet another bref sejour

Mimboland is a (not so) fictional African country created by novelist Francis Nyamnjoh. The leader of the "land of Mimbo" is president Longstay who is clinging onto power against the wishes of Mimbolanders. Here are some of Nyamnjoh's books set in the land of Mimbo.

US Presidential Elections - An Interview with Dibussi Tande

Interviewed by Ngum Ngafor

"... the politics of division, demonization and fear which was promoted with religious zeal in the last eight years has been an abysmal and tragic failure... It is time for a fresh, inclusive, innovative and forward-looking approach to national and international politics"