Count Down to New York

Next week I’ll be packing my bags and heading across the atlantic to New York, which means The Real Gist (TRG) moves from England to the States for the next six months!

I’ll be covering the primary US presidential elections and working with some of the political and community organisations out there.

Ok, so what to expect on TRG? Well I’ll still be talking about my London habits whether it be political, social or otherwise. But inaddition to that I’ll now be focusing more on things States side, bringing together all types of subjects to create a fruitful picture of my American social and political experience. So stay RSS-ed or keep me in your favourites…

The Tories winning over who?

Read:www.newstatesman.com

I had to laugh at the New Statesman headline – “How the Tories are winning over black Britain”

Question marks completely tally the whole of this punch line in my opinion, especially considering this was written by David Matthews, the infamous journalist who loves to court controversy in the Black community. I’m not even surprised that he’s a Conservative Party member. From reading the whole piece it reads solely as Conservative propaganda.

One of the irritating parts of the feature story was his claim to associate Black middle class with the Conservative Party. Tell me why should being Black and middle class mean that you should support the Conservatives and not Labour?

In the next general election the Conservative Party have put forward nine BME candidates which I presume will bring the total of Conservative BME MPs to about seven or eight.

Whereas the Labour Party, who already have 13 sitting BME MPs, are putting forward four with one set to sit as an MP. Although the party is streaks ahead of the Tories, more still needs to be done in both parties.

If you look at how, earlier this year, the Tories (Cameron) got rid of the A-list (it enabled minorities and women to have a fair chance of being selected in winnable seats), again it begs the question as to whether the party really is what it says it wants to be – “More inclusive”?. So I do wonder from the feature story what makes the Tory party the new “Black party” as Matthews tries to insinuate.

Pushing people like Sayeeda Varsi, Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones and more recently Shaun Bailey, don’t get me wrong Shaun is a very genuine guy, but it highlights to me the Tories desperation to attract BMES by using highly talented BMEs in the party as puppets to draw others.

Tree man

This is amazing, I’ve never seen anything like this… * * Tree man clip * *

Who wants it more?

Grrrrr….

The embarrassing clash between the contenders for the Lib Dem leadership was hilarious.

Read story: www.bbc.co.uk/news

Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne arguing on live tv, it’s “good” to see the real side of politics, the politics we don’t get to see behind closed doors – Politics dirty tricks rears its head again. I guess we can presume Clegg will try to soak up every inch of publicity he can to deter Huhne’s campaign after this little stunt.

Just going off track here but I must mention Clegg’s appearance on Question Time. I know everyone’s saying it but I saw it for myself this time – Clegg’s mannerisms are a complete match for David Cameron. His hand gestures, the way he formulated his arguments, the pauses…he just looked like Conservative Cameron in another guise.

Now do we really want another Cam on our hands? And I’m so annoyed that nothing really sets all these parties apart? Their policies?, savvy wannabe leaders? They all seem interlinked in some way. And do we really want clones? Some where the interests of people have been lost and the narcissism of politicians is more apparent, and to be honest I think it has always been that way.

The question is do we even care if Clegg (shall we say calamity Clegg) or Huhne becomes the next Lib Dem leader and will it make any difference to the political climate.

Maybe it could, only if they take advantage of the frustrations people now have with both the Labour Party and Conservative Party. But are the Lib Dem’s “good enough”. And my question again – what sets them apart from the other parties? What can they offer that we want? Gosh, I’m sounding so pessimistic.

We will just have to wait for the chosen Lib Dem leader on December 17 and it’ll be interesting to see how the party turns around from there on.

Busy is the word

More juice to follow next week, plus extras considering the silence this week…

Your Vocab for Rice

The United Nations have setup up this nifty way of helping to end world hungry. All you have to do is define a word from a selected list of options. For every one word you get right 10 grains of rice are given, for five words right then 50 grains are given, and so forth.

So basically you’re developing your vocabulary while doing something for a positive cause. I’m not sure who is funding this but it’s a good idea. Especially for those who want to increase their word span and more importantly help those who are impoverished!

But I do wonder would it be better if I was actively doing something rather than sitting at a computer doing my “good deed”.

Anyway here’s the link: www.freerice.com

Former child soldier raps with substance

I went to see former child soldier Emmanuel Jal last night at the Vibe Bar on Brick Lane. Absolutely amazing!

The Sudanese rapper was passionate, got the crowd moving to his steps, was energetic and more importantly his lyrics were lyrics of substance. His tales and campaigns for justice in Africa and the atrocities he and others faced were felt through his performance.

There is definitely something very mystical about Emmanuel and you have this compelling urge to listen to every single word he utters.

It’s amazing to think that 19 years ago, at the age of eight, he was recruited to a military camp by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) to fight in Ethiopia.

Can you imagine spending several years as a child soldier? And all of that time the SPLA camp in Ethiopia fooled international aid agencies and United Nations representatives into believing that the camp was an actual school!?

To flee from that, to see other children his age at the time die and then to be rescued by an aid worker, is every reason to be grateful for how lucky some of our lives are.

He continues to spread his words of activism through his music and is one of the founders of Gua Africa, an organisation encouraging the development of local communities in Africa (Gua meaning peace in Sudanese, which was also the title of his debut album) .

www.guaafricaonline.com
www.emmanueljalonline.net

Kulture 2 Couture

Kulture2Couture promotes some of London’s most talented African and Caribbean designers. It should be a good.

www.kulture2couture.com

Time to end trade embargo against Cuba

Can you imagine what Cuba would be like today if America never imposed its trade embargo against Cuba those 40 plus years ago?

The country’s economy would be far greater than it is today and by far prosperous for the people who live there. Instead today, due to American intervention, Castro’s efforts to capitalise on foreign investments and tourism have been failures. This is why I believe the promising growth in Cuba has been blighted by the US government.

Story about the United Nations calling for US’s end to trade embargo AGAIN (16th time): www.un.org

The country is dying a slow death because the US government is throttling its development. Sometime back in the mid 1990s Bush’s administration implemented legislation controlling the amount of time Cuban-Americans can go home to Cuba (once every three years instead of every year and they can only spend $50 a day instead of $167).

What is America afraid of? It doesn’t just lie with Bush because I know Bill Clinton implemented legislations against the country also.

The US administration has been quick to say that the embargo was made to also help bring democracy to the Cuban people but we haven’t actually heard what the people living there actually believe. I wouldn’t even trust what is said in US press because I’m sure propaganda has ensured that only one side is heard. But what do the people of Cuba actually think? And perhaps they are happy under Castro despite what some papers may say?

I’m guessing the only resentment they may feel is that if it wasn’t for the trade embargo they could be a prosperous country. If the US administration hadn’t imposed this ban wouldn’t communities be affluent?

There are so many levels to the US vs Cuba saga which would be too long to write on here but I just feel it’s time to end the trade ban, apparently the embargo was imposed after Cuba stole possessions belonging to US corporations etc back in 1962.