World Cup 2010 Analysis
The Vuvuzela
This instrument, which is claimed by the African Methodist church as their invention (invented in early 1900s) will definitely remain with the African cheering squads for a very long time. There is only one secret about it: Blow your own, and the one from the person standing next to you will cease to be a nuisance.
The best tuned national anthem
If there was one national anthem that I didn’t want to miss (other than the S.A one, of which I know by rote, including the Tanzanian version) was Uruguay’s national anthem. Unlike these other boring anthems, theirs was lively and interesting, and their entire team sang along. As for the other teams, you’d wonder whether those players were really Nationals of the countries that they played for.
Goal of the Tournament
Maicon’s goal against Korea was the goal of the just the GOAL, it was an impossible goal,,,,,,well,,,,,until he made it possible. People are still arguing on whether it was a cross or a shot. I’m sure he was also shocked (going by his calm celebration of that goal)
Miss of the Tournament
Alone, totally unmanned, no goal keeper, between the two goal posts, less than three yards from the goal line and Yakubu misses. Again, just like Maicon’s goal, this was impossible, until Yakubu made it possible. Such are the events that make people believe in witchcraft. And with that, the Nigerians were bungled out of the games by South Korea.
The most interesting coach
Even non-Argentinean supporters had to like Diego Maradonna. At one point, he is being given instructions by one of his players at the start of a game. The next minute (and for the rest of the games) he acts as the ball boy, and does some interesting tricks with the ball. And finally, he promises to pull an “Archimedes”by running naked should Argentina lift the cup.
I guess he would have spiced up the world cup final…..hope he’ll still be there come 2014!
Best Player
Arjen Robben was the best player in my eyes. Football is not just about passing the ball around and scoring goals, no, football is about flicks, flares, going through four defenders alone, beating a defender by passing the ball in between his legs (Choboo) and passing the other one by hitting it over his head (Kanzu.) That’s exactly what Robben did. Surely, the best palyer.
I could add here that the second best player was Germany’s Ozel.
The most disappointing player
Who else other than Didier Drogba! The guy goes into the tournament FAKING a shoulder injury. Wastes several clear chances against Portugal and Brazil. Insists on playing (due to his influence on public opinion back at home) and thus keeps good players eg Keita and Kalu on the bench, and also fails to coordinate with Gervinho, who was Cote d’ivoire’s best player.
Best African team
Going into the world cup, my favorite team was the Black Stars, with Steven Appiah as my favorite player. But after the games began, all this changed. Appiah was denied most of the play by that Coach of theirs (and ironically addressed the crowds on behalf of the team when they landed in Accra,,,kwani where was that team captain of theirs? Ama he doesn’t speak English?) Futhermore, Ghana just survived through the matches, with free kicks and penalties. (Though they played well in their two last games.)
With that, the best African team was ALGERIA. These guys were fast, very professional, and they didn’t care a rap about the perceived big teams, and their defense was just superb. Were it not for the poor officiating during their qualifying matches, those boys would have taken the cup. Just look at how they played England, Rooney was almost crying on the field. The Algerians made them play like high school kids. As for the Americans, luck (or was it Paul the Octopus?) was just on their side.
Kudos Algeria, you just proved that you were there by right (of course we all missed Egypt, but they should have come in for CAMEROUN, not Algeria.)
Best team, overall
The best overall team was North Korea (DPRK).
This Communist country last qualified for the world cup in the 60’s, and still made my day. Of course, they lost all their matches, but what would you expect when you put such a team in the same group as Brazil, Portugal and Ivory Coast? Had they been spared the group of death, they probably would have made it to the quarters. And the guys were extremely patriotic, just the sound of their anthem made their captain shed tears (unlike Kenyans who play for the cash, and for the European scouts.)
Worst Team
France.
The stadiums
Speaking of Communists, South Africans seemingly had two names for each stadium. The second best being named after Moses Mabhida, a former sec-gen of South African Communist Party, killed by S.A mercenaries in the mid 80’s in their Mozambique camp. We had Chris Hani Stadium (which had three other names!) who was also a sec-gen of SACP, and commander of Umkhonto we Sizwe(MK), killed by some white fellow just before the end of apartheid. Another interesting name was that of Peter Mokaba, the ANC youth league leader who made the “kill the Boer” song popular, and of course, Nelson Mandela Bay, a great man who has strong Communistic leanings(and the old man is still strong, eh?). In Kenya, we would have had MOI kasarani stad, NYAYO stad, Kenyatta stad, Jommo stad, Toroitich grounds, Kenyatta grounds……….
Women
It could be the effects of where I grew up, but I don’t remember women having interest in football dem days. These days we have them in the Premiere league, Champions league, and now in the world cup.
But going by what I saw at some pub the other day, some of them just do it for their guys, which is not veeerry bad.
One woman who was serious though, was the one on Spain’s technical bench No wonder they won, you can imagine being psyched up by a woman!(for the men, that is.)
The world cup songs
The person who chose those songs knew what they were doing. Listening to K’naan’s original waving flag song was very inspiring, especially as an African, and so was Shakira’s Waka Waka, just look at these rylics, quite proggressive:
Wavin' Flag lyrics
When i get older, they'll call me freedom
Just like a Waving Flag.
[Chorus]
When I get older, I will be stronger,
They'll call me freedom, just like a Waving Flag,
And then it goes back, and then it goes back,
And then it goes back
Born to a throne, stronger than Rome
but Violent prone, poor people zone,
But it's my home, all I have known,
Where I got grown, streets we would roam.
But out of the darkness, I came the farthest,
Among the hardest survival.
Learn from these streets, it can be bleak,
Except no defeat, surrender retreat,
So we struggling, fighting to eat and
We wondering when we'll be free,
So we patiently wait, for that fateful day,
It's not far away, so for now we say
[Chorus]
So many wars, settling scores,
Bringing us promises, leaving us poor,
I heard them say, love is the way,
Love is the answer, that's what they say,
But look how they treat us, Make us believers,
We fight their battles, then they deceive us,
Try to control us, they couldn't hold us,
Cause we just move forward like Buffalo Soldiers.
But we struggling, fighting to eat,
And we wondering, when we'll be free
So we patiently wait, for that faithful day,
It's not far away, but for now we say,
[Chorus] 2x
(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And everybody will be singing it
(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And you and I will be singing it
(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And we all will be singing it
(Ohhh Ohh Ohh Ohh)
[Chorus] 2x
When I get older, when I get older
I will be stronger, just like a Waving Flag,
Just like a Waving Flag, just like a Waving flag
Flag, flag, Just like a Waving Flag
Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)"
Oooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehh
You're a good soldier
Choosing your battles
Pick yourself up
And dust yourself off
Get back in the saddle
You're on the front line
Everyone's watching
You know it's serious
We are getting closer
This isn't over
The pressure is on
You feel it
But you got it all
Believe it
When you fall get up, oh oh
If you fall get up, eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
Cuz this is Africa
Tsamina mina, eh eh
Waka waka, eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
This time for Africa
Listen to your God
This is our motto
Your time to shine
Don't wait in line
Y vamos por todo
People are raising
Their expectations
Go on and feed them
This is your moment
No hesitations
Today's your day
I feel it
You paved the way
Beleive it
If you get down get up, oh oh
When you get down get up, eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
This time for Africa
Tsamina mina, eh eh
Waka waka, eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
Anawa a a
Tsamina mina, eh eh
Waka waka, eh eh
This time for Africa
[2x]
Django eh eh [2x]
Tsamina mina zangalewa
Anawa a a
Benedict Wachira
12 July 2010
4:07pm
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds (Marcus Garvey*)
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds (Marcus Garvey*)
In line with the theme “Afreeka is the wealthiest, Afreekans are the poorest,” I think that the problems that the African people have is mental slavery, just as Garvey put it many years ago. This has been brought about by years of condemnation and deliberate lies, that have affected our self respect and self confidence. Our history has been deliberately changed, so that it may be seen as if the African knew nothing, before the white man came. Once we change our mode of thought, then everything else is bound to change.
Unfortunately, our education system does nothing to change this, it in fact entrenches it in to the minds of young Africans, and hence making the process of mental emancipation very very difficult.
Some of the things that I have over time come to be aware of over time, and have really captured my attention and interest have been:
3Zs
Hunger is synonymous with Africa. Every year, hundreds of Africans die of hunger, and thousands suffer from malnutrition. But what is interesting is that Africa can more than sufficiently feed itself. Numerous studies have shown that Zaire(DRC,) Zambia and Zimbabwe can comfortably, safely and strategically feed the whole of Africa and beyond. By comfortably I mean that the Zambians will continue mining copper, exporting cash crops and doing all the other things that they are doing today. By safely I mean, the farmers will continue using the normal seeds and natural manure, without involving GMOs and heavy fertilizer. By strategically I mean, the cost of transporting the food to the whole of Africa will be low, since these countries are positioned somewhere in the middle of the continent.
But the question is, what is it that prevents us from making use of the 3Zs? And the simple answers are the artificial boundaries that were erected by the colonialists over a hundred years ago. The other factor is the imperialist involvement in these three countries.
Let us emancipate ourselves from mental slavery, Africa can feed itself, only if we unite, and after we kick the imperialists out.
The Congo River
The Congo river is a massive river, deep in the DRC, that towards the end pours into the Atlantic, and interestingly divides two capital cities of two different countries, Kinshasa and Brazaville.
Africa is known to have a big big energy problem. There are constant electricity shortages from Jo’burg to Nairobi, from Addis to Dakar and all over Africa.
Again, numerous studies have shown that the Congo River alone can generate electricity for every household in Africa and beyond. This can be done cheaply, strategically and with almost absolute environmental safety.
Unfortunately, this cannot be done, because of the imperialist interests, who have managed to destabilize DRC since 1962, and are currently harvesting timber, mining the rare minerals from that rich country. And that is why we must honor those who over the years have tried to liberate DRC, from the days of Che Guevara and the Cubans and Nyerere, to the days of Mugabe.
Let us emancipate ourselves from mental slavery, and save the Congo before they milk it off completely.
The size of Africa
We all know the USA, the superpower of the world, let us picture it in our minds, let’s picture China, that big, populous and emerging economic superpower. Let’s take India, with a population of over one billion people and finally take Europe (without Russia, of course.)
What most people do not know is that Africa is bigger than USA, Europe, China and India combined.(you can even include more countries of you remove the territorial waters.)
But the world map is intentionally drawn to make Africa appear small, so that Africans will not have a “big continent mentality.” In earlier maps, the error was genuine, but since the discovery of the error many years ago, the maps have never been changed.
Given that kids learn maps at a relatively early age, these diagrams stick to their heads, and denies them the confidence that comes with “bigness.” The effects are so deep, that even an adult who is hearing this for the first time will dismiss it as a big lie.
I would also like to relate this to population.
Africans are always told that they are too many, and the must bring control their population growth. That is not true, Africa is the most under populated continent in the world, vis a vis its size. According to the recent census result, USA, whose size is 9.6 million sqkms, has a population that is approaching half-a-billion, while Africa, which is more than three times the size of USA (and with a bigger percentage of habitable land), has a population of just under a billion. Yet we never hear of population control in America.
Some people will argue that the African governments cannot handle the ever increasing population, so we must control our productivity. This is a very dangerous way of reasoning, what needs to change are our incompetent governments, not our sex lives. (It is like the police telling us not to use a certain street, because it has many thieves,,,,,,,,,,,,,it is the thieves who should be removed from that street and not vice versa!)
But could there be a hidden agenda? Especially given that Africa is the continent of the future? We all know what they did with the red Indians in the Americas, and thanks to their syphilis, Gonorrhea, and smallpox, red Indians are a minority in America.
Let us emancipate ourselves from mental slavery, Africa is the continent of the future, let us populate it.
The Pyramids
The technology that was used to built the pyramids over 6000 years ago was so advanced, that it even today, it would be very difficult to built such pyramids. For a long time, it was naturally thought the it is the Semitic Egyptians who built the pyramids, but scientific evidence in the 20th century shown that the black Africans were involved in the making of the pyramids, but since nobody would believe that the black man could build such a wonder, it was decided that it was built by black slaves, under the Semitic leadership. But as we jumped into the 21st century, it was conclusively discovered that by the time the pyramids were being built, the lighter colored Egyptians had not occupied the area, and hence the pyramids were built by black Africans, with black leadership.
This hasn’t gone down well with some people, and they are now trying to bring in lies about Extraterrestrial involvement in the building of the pyramids.
Let us emancipate ourselves from mental slavery: If our forefathers had such technology over 6000 years ago, what is my potential today, 6000 years later?
Gicandi
Coming home now, it is said that Kenyans didn’t know how to read and write until the missionaries came, and taught them how to do this. This is not true.
The Kikuyus knew how to read and write, many many years before the Europeans appeared. In fact, it was these Europeans who came and completely destroyed the kikuyu writing, so that it would be said that the peoples of sub Saharan Africa knew not how to read and write. To the Kikuyus, this was just a game, so the missionaries had an easy time destroying it.
This writing was called; Gicandi. It was a form of writing using a style similar to that the Egyptian writing. One village would write a piece of story on a gourd, and pass the gourd to the next village, the next village would try to decipher (read) the information on the gourd, and once they succeeded, they would sing that information to the other village.
Unfortunately, what remains of Gicandi today is the song aspect of it, not the writing. I am told that only one gourd is known to exist in the world, and it is in the museum of Turin, complete with info of its origin.
Let us emancipate ourselves from mental slavery, we knew how to read and write, and ours was much better.
Neurosurgery and medicine
Though neurosurgery is a very ancient art, it is still one of the most sophisticated branch of medicine. In Kenya, many people die of brain diseases, and the lucky ones get specialized treatment in the developd world.
What many people do not know is that we have brain surgeons, right here in Kenya, who have never stepped into formal schools. They are to be found among the Kisii people, and their success rates are very very high. They will open your scalp, sort out the brain, and stitch it back in just a few hours,,,,at a extremely affordable fees.
My fear is that 15-20 years from today, these people will be long gone and forgotten. They will die with their art. Fifty years later, people will be told that such doctors existed, and that will be dismissed as a lie.
Today, many women die because of birth related complications. Others give birth to dead babies. Those who are lucky undergo the caesarean operation, which is not only expensive, but puts a limit to the number of births one may have after that.
Among the Mijikenda, there are women who can assess the development of a baby in the womb, and without the use of surgery, can correct the positioning of a baby who’s bound to come out legs first. They can even position the baby in a manner that reduces the pain at child birth.
Unfortunately, these old women will also die with their skill, and Kenyan women will be condemned to unnecessary surgeries and pain for the rest of the ages.
Traditional herbal medicine is still dismissed as non dependable medicine, some even consider it evil, this is despite numerous research done by some African professors.
There are many other examples of people (mostly very old men and women) who can cure many conditions which are otherwise fatal, but our leadership, which has the capacity and machinery to ensure that these arts do not die, and are instead improved and spread all over the world, is just not interested at all.
Let us emancipate ourselves from mental slavery, lets us save our traditional medicinal practices.
But we must not forget that with the emancipation from mental slavery, there is need for the physical and visible emancipation. This can only come through a revolutionary process, since the bad leaders, the artificial boundaries and the imperialists will not just fade away. And their roots are deeply entrenched into our society. An African revolution is the answer.
In my opinion, the revolution will sweep across Africa, just as the “winds of change” did over 40 years ago. My bet is that it will begin either in Kenya, or in South Africa, and will sweep over the whole continent. As for us, we now need to study revolutionary theory, since there can never be a revolution, without revolutionary theory.
Benedict Wachira Mamluki
24th May 2010
11:50pm
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Why Magoha must go (as drawn from my experiences.)
Today, Police are all over the University. The administration police have surrounded Kikuyu campus. The GSU are baying for innocent students’ blood, across the Kabetes.
A combination of anti-riot, AP, and GSU police have cordoned off the statehouse road, and all they are waiting for is the whistle, the whistle to allow then to maim, maim male students. The whistle that allows them to rape, rape female students. And the whistle that will allow them to kill, kill anybody who runs away from them.
The media, the Kenyan media, has decided to give the situation of national importance a total black out, or give a one sided story, on the turn of events.
The media is trying to make this issue of national importance, to look like a simple politico-goonship story. The media wants to make the students look like barbarians, and that all they want is to stone cars and cause disruptions.
The media is part of the problem.
It all began in 2006. April, 2006. A group of former expelled students came to the University, they came as “revolutionaries” who had been kicked out because of fighting for students rights. They came and made promises, they came and excited students, they came and played with students’ emotions, but all they wanted to do was to fuck the students up.
Unknown to the University Comrades, Magoha had made a deal with these returned expellees, a deal to help him steal money, a deal to help him stay on his seat for longer, and a deal, to feed them with the cramps that fell.
In 2006, April, 2006, Magoha and his accomplices succeeded very well, and took almost all the executive posts.
Come 2007, May, 4th, 2007, Magoha wanted more, he wanted a tribally balanced SONU. He wanted arse-lickers, who could do whatever he wanted. And he had prepared well for it. Very well indeed.
In the course of 2006, he instigated for the changing of the SONU constitution, so that the outgoing office, would serve as the incoming electoral commission, this he did by: And I quote him “massaging the backs of the then student leaders.” Bribing through stealing from the students’ fund no longer had the common name of corruption, no, it now had been given a new name: Massage.
Come May 4th, 2007 Susan Chege, won the chairperson’s seat with a landslide majority. But Magoha could not allow that. He wanted the chairperson’s seat to go to a person who understood how “The system works,” not a novice whom he could not trust. Furthermore, he wanted a tribally balanced SONU, and given that there was no Luo vying for the SecGen’s post, he had to get a Luo for the chairman’s post. This was against the wish of the majority of Luo students, who didn’t like Adinda, Magoha’s candidate, due to his poor performance as a sports secretary the previous year.
Those who had tried to stop the rigging were instead beaten up by the riggers, and the University security.
Not only was Adinda, a person who had been booed and dismissed all through his campaigns given the seat, but so was a whole lot of others students vying for other seats.
We mobilized students to oppose those fake results and tension was all over the university. Even two former student leaders, the late Oulu GPO and Fwamba NC, could not just sit aside and watch, they came to our aid. The University students wanted to take to the streets, but we told them to wait. To wait until we tried out the other channels. We went to all the offices that one could think of, from the ministry of justice, to the ministry of education, from well known lawyers, to river road lawyers, we did letters to the University Council and we finally met the VC himself. All he did was plead with us, not to cause chaos in the University. He instead blamed the constitution. But what he seemingly could not remember was that HIS constitution (new) was never passed by an AGM, and it was thus ILLEGAL. All we wanted was a repeat election of the elections, with neutral electoral commissioners. The talks failed and we settled for our last option: Leading the students to the streets with two agenda only.
1. Magoha must go.
2. Yote yawezekana bila SONU.
It was the only option that we had been left with, everybody else, the government, the Council, the Judiciary had given us a blind ear.
Oblivious to some of us, Magoha had already begun clandestine talks with some of the people we were together with, and by the date of the demo, only three people had remained. Demoralized and disoriented.
How did this happen? Was the only question in our minds. Magoha had proved that he was not only a master tribalist, but a master in the world of bribing. Some of the fellows had been given money, lots of money, others had been given imaginary posts, and others were merely threatened. (Here I can’t help but remember how I had a very progressive meeting with one Mr.Kibore, on how he would mobilize guys from Upper Kabete, drop with them in Chiromo, and head on to main campus. then 20minutes later, I meet Dann Mwangi, who shows me an sms from Kibore, who was already campaigning for the speaker’s post! A post that he had been assured of by Magoha himself!,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,of which needless to say, he never got. )
*Interestingly, the same rigging tactics that were used by Magoha’s men, were the same rigging tactics that Kibaki used in the presidential elections later that year (lack of ballot papers in some areas, changing of results at the summation halls, the use of security persons to protect the riggmasters etc etc)
But this was just the beginning of of Magoha’s successes.
That year, millions of shillings were stolen, by the SONU leaders in conjunction with Magoha’s administration. By the way, the SONU leaders had given the stealing a nicer name: Jackpotting.
Adinda had no decency whatsoever. His lowest point being when he led his goons to beat and maim around 60 Biomedical students, who had sought the University’s intervention for the recognition of their degree, by the Kenya Biomedics registration Board.
Instead of the goons, who had used metal pipes and whips to beat up the peaceful and innocent young women and men from Upper Kabete being suspended and facing disciplinary action, it was the victims who were suspended, and some even expelled from the university. It was hence quite clear, who was behind all this.
After a year of stealing, stealing and more stealing the elections were here again. This time round, I decided that I was not going to vie for the Secretary General’s post, but not under the conditions that were there.
Comrade Amuke and I (and later joined by Onchari) formed the reformist movement. And our call was >>no reforms no elections<<
All we wanted was one thing and one thing alone: THAT THE ELECTIONS BE SUPERVISED BY A NUETRAL BODY other than THE OUTGOING OFFICE. We had proposed the University religious student leaders, or NGOs like CMD, ford foundation and even the ECK, all of whom were ready to run the SONU elections.
Since when did the outgoing president of a country, chair the country’s electoral commission at the end of his term?
But Magoha could hear none of it. He instead told his commissioners (the outgoing exec.) that they should do everything in their power to ensure that one Mr. Mamluki does not get any post that he will be vying for.
I had forgotten who what we were dealing with, and I organised a meeting with the V.C, to try and prevent any trouble, and to promote conditions favorable for a fair vote. We attended the meeting with Che Ndumia, and Marvin Sissey. We had planned that Sissey would put our case up, and the rest of us would react later, the meeting lasted for around 10 minutes and Marvin managed to make our point very clear to the VC. As usual, the VC had to cut him short, but Sissey tried to push on (with reason,)
But reason seemingly doesn’t go well with him, so I intervened, and told him that all those things about security and supervision were useless, if we had the outgoing office overseeing the election. He then retorted something to the effect that he wouldn’t allow me to abuse him in his office, and this is roughly how he finished:
Magoha: Mamluki, if you think that you are a man, you will know that I am also a man, and you (Sissey) leave these people and go back to class!
Ndumia: Professor, when I was coming to this office, I thought that we could reason, but all we have had was a waste of time!
I went out of that meeting a very happy man, the battle horn had already been blown. When Sissey, Ndumia and I passed the info to Amuke and GPO, who were waiting for us outside JKML, they were both happy, not happy because now there would be a struggle ahead, no, they were happy to confirm that Magoha was just evil, we now not only knew, but we confirmed what we were fighting.
But 2008 was not a good year to stage a struggle in the University. The tribal tensions were still very high, due the effects of the PEV.
By the time we hit the road for our >>No reforms no elections/SONU must go campaign<<, the SONU election date had been announced, and it was so near.
All this time we were doing quiet sensitization, some comrades could not imagine a UoN without SONU. Here are some of the questions that they would ask:
Question: Without the congressman, where will we be getting our bulbs from once they burn?
Answer: From the Custodian.That is where you get it even now.
Question: Won’t the admin misuse our SONU money once SONU is not there?
Answer: If SONU goes, then the subscription to SONU also goes, so there will be no money to misuse, but with these bad leaders, they will continue misusing the fund together, and that is why the admin insists on rigging guys in.
Question: Who will fight for our rights once SONU is not there?
Answer: The vacuum will be filled, by genuine people, since they won’t get paid to represent you, they won’t use or misuse your fund. As at now, SONU doesn’t fight for anyone’s right, it is actually used to pacify students, by giving them an illusion of representation,,,,,Kwani didn’t you see what they did to the Biomedical students? Didn’t you see how they raised the subscription fee from kshs100 to kshs500? Are those the rights that you are speaking about?
Our first place to hold a meeting was hall 5.
There we met a full house that thought we were looking for seats. That was until Onchari, who was acting as the MC took to the floor. Onchari didn’t know how to shout, but the guy was perfect when it came to passing of rebellion messages. As for my part, I would express my fears to them, which were their fears, and finally charge the crowd through songs and chants, Amuke would then kill it by telling them on the way forward. At the end of the meeting, all the freshmen who were vying for whatever posts stepped down, and we went chanting>>No reforms, no elections/SONU must go<<
But of all the meetings we held, the most memorable is the HALL 10 Kamukunji. Hall 10 hosts senior students only, and in most cases, they are never interested in politics, in fact, 4th years always hope for a smooth running of the uni so that they can finish up their studies. But this time round, even they had decided that they had had enough. Sisqo, Ndumia, Moraa, Musonye and I took the whistles and asked guys out.
On hearing the whistles, some guys from hall 11 also joined in.
As usual, Onchari cleverly introduced what we were pushing for, then Ndumia (I think) addressed the crowds, I charged the comrades through songs and chants, and Amuke finally killed it. In that Kamukunji, students were baying for Adinda’s blood, somebody within the crowd would shout that we go to his room and burn it(since he himself resided in hall 10) and the crowd would show their readiness but I remember Onchari telling them that if we did that, we would lose our objectivity, since it was Magoha that we wanted, others would ask us to take them to the road, but Onchari, almost overwhelmed by the crowds, told them to wait for proper mobilization. Adinda tried to mobilize his goons, but by the chants that they heard from afar, they could not dare come near.
I will never forget those comrades.
As I have noted, 2008 was a tribally tense year, but from hall 5, we had Kisii, Kikuyu, Luo and many other candidates stepping down. Truth had managed to remove the tribal veils from their eyes. In hall 10, I could see Mutiga, Onyancha, Fred&Poly, Onguka, Limo and many other people in solidarity with us. For them, they already knew the truth, since they had been at the university for a long time, all they now wanted was action.
But in the prefabs, we were met with serious resistance, some freshmen had been bought for alcohol, they came to disrupt our message, there was some physical tussle, and we knew that the system had begun retaliating.
Amuke, believed that it was Atemo DFO who had sent these people, since they were chanting his name (in fact, I had thought that there would be a fist fight once they meet, but that didn’t happen, they just exchanged some words)
(Some of the guys would later apologize, and wish they had supported us)
I then went ahead to a meeting in hall 7, and a few rooms in hall 8. But one thing that was very clear, was that the tribal divisions would not allow people to reason, and it would have been extremely difficult to holds more meetings in such conditions. Magoha was well aware of this, as we could see his bootlickers going round, polarizing the students, so that they could not support the third way. They had well oiled pockets for that job.
I didn’t really care for the outcome. Since the elections were held on an illegality (even the dates it was held were not constitutional>both in the Magoha and the legal documents<)
When elections are held under such conditions, there is bound to be complains. Even those who lose fairly are bound to claim victory, since the process itself is flawed. Whatever has been happening in SONU elections since 2007 has been pure madness, thanks to the machinations of the mad Prof.
That is why I am so happy today, two years later, to see that the students have risen, one and all, to fight this corrupt Tribalist.
That is why I support the methods that they are using, since we had tried all the other methods and failed.
But above all, that is why I am optimistic that, this country too, will rise from the oppression, exploitation and tribalism and the petty nationalism that the larger Magohas have used to suppress and divide us for over 40 years.
Wachira Mamluki
17th May 2010
1:39pm.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Religion
Setting
On the slopes of Mount Kenya, at the home of mzee Marekia. The home frontage faces the mountain peak.
Participants
Mzee Marekia- An old strong man, who was once a Kenyan freedom fighter, never been to school, but can read, write and do some basic arithmetic.
Mamluks- A fresh college graduate, and a Christian too.
Sonko- An argumentative and not so reasonable middle aged farmer.
Shosho/Mama- Mzee Marekia’s wife.
(Mamluks arrives at Marekia’s holding his bible, wearing a bright yellow suit, white shoes, and a belt with a large buckle.)
Mamluks: Hodi hodi?
Marekia: Ah karibu sana, we’ve been waiting for you the whole day, mama had even begun doubting that today is Sunday, welcome welcome…………..otherwise?
Mamluks: I’m good, I’m good. You have very good weather here, eh?
Marekia: Yah, we do not have excess sun or excess rain, we are very lucky here.
Mamluks: Yah, God has really blessed you guys.
Marekia: I can see that you are from the church,
Mamluks: Oh yes, and we had a beautiful sermon there, in fact, the reason as to why I am late today is because Father Tommy had invited me for lunch after the mass,,,but I left some space for some sweet Githeri from Shosho (says jokingly)
(After some long pause)
Marekia: What did God say today?
Mamluks: He said that he was sent so that he would save all humanity, and…..
Marekia: My son, you have read quite a lot, and we hear that at the University you studied to be a doctor,
Mamluks: No no, I did bachelor of science, Mathematics and Chemistry.
Marekia: Ah, so you can teach mathematics to our girls at the school across?
Mamluks: No, not exactly, to teach, you need a Bachelor of education, what I am right now is a scientist, if I continue with my study, I can make medicine, paints, fertilizer, bombs (lol) etc, I can also do some statistical work, and other calculatory jobs.
Marekia:Oh, I see. But how comes you are a scientist,, yet you go to church? I thought that scientists are non believers?
Mamluks: Well, those scientists are clever, but being clever doesn’t mean that you are wise.
Marekia: You now, you are catholic, right?
Mamluks: Yes I am.
Marekia: Why are you catholic?
Mamluks: It is just my choice.
Marekia: Eh?
Mamluks: It is my choice. (augments his voice a bit)
Marekia: No, it is not your choice. Are your parents catholic?
Mamluks: Yes.
Marekia: Could we then say that you are catholic because your parents are catholic?
Mamluks: No. I have a friend whose parents are catholic but he is Presbyterian.
Marekia: Still a Christian, right?
Mamluks: Yes, still a Christian.
Marekia: If your parents were Hindus, we could say that you would be Hindu today, right?
Mamluks: Most likely yes.
Marekia: If your parents were Muslim, you would probably be a Muslim today, right?
Mamluks: most likely, yes.
Marekia: We could hence conclude that the religion that a person follows is largely determined by the person’s parents, isn’t it?
Mamluks: Mmmmh……..yah, we could say that.
Marekia: Thus in most cases, guys do not have a choice on which religion, and in some cases denomination that one follows, right?
Mamluks: Well, kinda.
Marekia: But why do we have all these Gods of all these denominations and religions?
Mamluks: We have one God. Only that people choose different ways of worshiping this one God. Otherwise all denominations and religions lead to this one God.
Mamluks: By the way, which path do you follow, the old Gikuyu way?
(Mzee Adjusts his seat, spits some heavy yellow stuff and continues talking)
Marekia: You see, back in the early 40s, I was in Burma, fighting in the 2nd world war. And while in Burma, I saw a very strange path of worshiping this “one” God. They had many visible and physical Gods, I do not know how they become one Gods, but they used to be very dedicated to these God(s). They even revered cows….
Mamluks: …..those are idols, there, the oneness of God is not there, we do not believe in idols.
Marekia: So, Where will those Hindus go after they die? To God or to Satan?
Mamluks: I do not know, it is not up to me to judge, it’s up to God.
Marekia: Which God? The one God, or these many Gods that they worship?
Mamluks: The one God. The creator of everything on the universe.
Marekia: Don’t you think that it is then unfair, for the Hindus to be judged by a God that they do not know, leave alone recognise?
Ok then. Let’s jump to a territory that you are more familiar to, Christianity.
Mamluks: That’s much better. What about Christianity?
Marekia: Well I think Christianity means follower of Christ, yes?
Mamluks: Yes.
Marekia: And Christ is the son of God, yes?
Mamluks: Yes yes. Begotten and not made.
Marekia: Says who?
Mamluks: Says God.
Marekia: God?
Mamluks: Yes God. As you can see, it is written here?
(Begins looking for a verse)
Marekia: So you are saying that what is written in the bible is the word of God?
Mamluks: Yes of course. I thought everybody knew that?
Marekia: Is it the word of God from genesis to revelation?
Mamluks: Yes, the people who wrote the books were inspired by God the spirit.
Marekia: And as a Christian, can I add some stuff, remove some stuff?
Mamluks: NO.
Marekia: Can I choose what to follow and what not to follow?
Mamluks: NO! This (banging his bible) is the word of God and it is taken as it is, in fact, it is written that you should not do all these things that you are saying, god himself says so.
(Sonko appears on the scene, wearing a shinny sky blue suit, a bright yellow shirt, a light green tie, a very big bible, black shoes with metallic soles, and a matching blue god papa hat.)
Sonko: Hey men, mbona kelele namna hii? I could hear you guys from miles away, and from what I have heard, I think mzee Marekia you are now becoming senile.
Marekia: Well, you can abuse me all you want, I know very well that you just want an argument, but here we are having a very sober discussion, so you can stay, or as well leave.
Sonko: Is there some Gatheri? You know today we have been overfed with the spiritual food, what I now need is the bodily food! But pastor Muriu can really preach bwana……. until you forget that it is past 2pm!
Sonko: Now back into the topic that the two of you were discussing, YOU CANNOT ADD OR REMOVE anything from the bible, and the word of God is right, it was right yesterday, it is right today and it will be right tomorrow!
Mamluks: Now you are speaking. Mzee had also asked me where Hindus will go after death?
Sonko: Hindus? They will burn and rot in hell, the Muslims too and all those other people who do not believe in Christ!
Mamluks: But won’t we wait for judgement day?
Sonko: No. theirs is a special case. They have already being judged. In fact, reading John 3:18, it says that those buggers have already being judged.
Marekia: Do you guys really read the bible? Do you really read this word of God?
Mamluks,Sonko :(In unison) Yes.
Marekia: The two of you are Kikuyu, right?
Mamluks,Sonko: (in unison)Yes we are.
Marekia: And where did the Kikuyus come from? Sonko?
Sonko: Well, an old myth says that God created some fellow called Gikuyu, and Mumbi, who went ahead to give birth to nine girls…..
Marekia: Ten.
Sonko: No nine!
Mamluks: It is ten Sonko, it is said that the last one wasn’t counted since she couldn’t give birth, what’s even more interesting is where the nine guys came from.
Sonko: Where?
Mamluks: That’s a long story.
Sonko: Okay, whatever, and Ngai gave them some nine guys, who went ahead to fill the earth.
Marekia: And why should you believe in what the bible tells you, forgetting who you are? Mhm? By the way Gentlemen, do you know that almost all peoples in the world have their own formation theory. For instance, do you know that there are people who believe that they just fell off from the sky? Do you know there are people who believe that they came from a hole on the ground? Do you know that there are people who believe that they came from the fart of some strange creature? And there are others here in Kenya who believe that they came from someone’s knee?
(By now the two guys are holding their stomachs, falling with laughter.)
Marekia: You guys, how comes you laugh at other peoples creation stories, yet do not question the one in the bible, the one in the bible is even more outrageous! Ati God took some mud, used it to model the man, then breathe life into what he had made! What nonsense is that?! And as if that is not enough, it goes ahead to say that God pulled a rib from this man, after making him go into a deep sleep, and from the rib made the woman! Good grief! And you don’t find that funny? Yet you find the knee story funny? And you go ahead to dismiss the Gikuyu theory, whose absurdity is actually less, and you go ahead to take the mud thing?
Sonko: But the mud story is the real one, you know,,,,,,,it is from God himself.
Marekia: Don’t be stupid. The mud story is just from the Jews, who are just a people like anyone else!
That is one part of the bible that really pisses me off! And they dare put it on the first pages of the “holy” book! That is just a stupid myth, just like all those other funny myths all over. And what’s more, it surbonates women from the word go! Why couldn’t that God create Eve just as he had created Adam? Did he have to create man first then woman second, and from a rib in that case? And why is it that it is the woman who had to be cheated by the serpent, so that she could then mislead man? Do you people know the effect that this has had over Christian women all over the world? And it even says that child bearing pain will be a curse upon women, and that since then, man shall rule over woman! What kind of chauvinist crap is that? I’d prefer if the bible would have advanced the fart story, at least both man and woman would be equal, since they were just farted from the same arse, and at the same time!
Sonko: Okay, enough of the farting stories, any Githeri around?
(Mzee Marekia, now furious and on fire, stands up, and lifts his walking stick up)
Marekia: You people, you Christians, do you read the bible? Or do you just walk over it? Sonko, you are saved, eh? But do you read the bible, do you know what you are following?
Do you know that the god of the Christians advocates for slavery, plunder rape and murder?
Mamluks: No bwana, you you seemingly read your own version of the bible bwana!
Marekia: I can see that both of you have bibles, even though the one with Mamluks has more books than the one with Sonko!
Mamluks: What’s your point?
Marekia: Open the book of Numbers, chapter 31:13-18 and 31-35. Mamluks, can you read it out loud? You can just begin from verse 15.
Mamluks: “and Moses asked them ’why have you kept all the women alive? Remember it was the women who followed Balaam’s instructions and at Peor led the people to be unfaithful to God? So now kill every boy and every woman who is not a virgin. But keep for yourselves all the girls and women who are virgins…..
Marekia: Just stop there! You can continue at your own time, what kind of God gives such orders to Moses to give to his humane soldiers?
Mamluks: Hey, that’s just one verse, you need not translate it directly.
Marekia: Just one verse? Can you read it again? Just one verse, where are your senses Mamluks? Nkt!
Marekia: Can you open the book of Joshua chapter 6 verses 17-19 and verse 21? Read it Sonko,,,,,just one verse,,,,nkt!
(Sonko begins searching for the book of Joshua, but he is on the last pages of the bible, definitely in the New Testament)
Marekia: You fool! You don’t even know where the book of Joshua is!
Marekia: Gentlemen, do you people watch the news, did you see what happened in Rwanda, Angola, and Liberia? Did you hear that the Hutu’s would bash the heads of children on trees? Eh? Did you hear that the Tutsi’s also did the same?
Mamluks: What has that to do with our topic of today?
Marekia: Do you know that before the genocide, Rwanda was the most Catholic country in Africa?
Mamluks: So?
Marekia: You want to know where they learnt of this killing “technique?” eh?
Just go home and read Isaiah chapters 12 to 14. Read also one of the most famous psalms, psalms 137. Just read verses 8 and 9. In fact you can do that right now.
Mamluks: Psalms 137:8-9.”Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy are those who pay you back for what you have done to us, those who take your babies and smash them against rocks.”
Marekia: What kind of a person even conceives, let alone write, such ideas? I have been in the great war, and we never used to kill non-soldiers, in fact, we would not even kill soldiers whom we had imprisoned! In the Kenya Land Freedom Army, we never killed white kids, and they were quite an easy prey! But what does the Christian God order? Eh? When I was in the army, we used to use quick killing techniques, but what does god say? He advocates for impaling! Even in our kikuyu culture, we ensure that we kill our animals quickly, with minimal suffering! You know what I would say about such a God? F*ck him!
And by the way, you Christians, those are just the few parts that I have time to share with you, the bible is filled with such crap all over.
Just look at the 10th commandment, ati do not covert, among other things, your neighbour’s slaves.
Instead of discouraging slavery itself, it discouraging stealing of other people’s slaves! Crap!
Mamluks: Cool down Mzee Marekia, you know, we also have the New Testament, and it is what we now largely follow……….
Marekia: You fake Christians, who do you think you are, to go about choosing what of God’s words to follow and what not to follow? Do you think that you are greater than that God of yours? You should either take all that is in the bible, or throw all of it out. Don’t come telling me that there are parts that you follow “largely,” take such hypocritical crap away from me!
Sonko: Mamluks you have defeated him there, he knows nothing wrong with the new testament, and that is why he is trying to divert the story.
Marekia: Divert the story? You buggers, do you read your bibles?
Then this new God of the new testament is a very confused fellow. How could not even show consistency while telling the same fake story to two different people.
Mamluks: Where?
Sonko: Yes where?
Mamluks: Go and read Mathew 1. Then read Luke 3:23-28. In that story of who begat who until Jesus was begat. It contradicts itself big time! Or was God a bit tired, until he confused some parts?
Mamluks: Ala! Let me read it,
Marekia: No, just go and read it at your own time. And by the way, do you know that if we were to follow that begat story, whichever version, then Jesus wouldn’t be the savior that those fellows were waiting for?
Mamluks: Why?
Marekia: It is obvious that Jesus was not begat of Joseph (whose lineage is from Abraham, David and so on). Joseph’s sperm had never touch Mary, hence Jesus was not begat of Joseph, but from another man,,, oh sorry, male Angel who actually did the “you know what”
Marekia: Do you see what Jesus says about divorce? Just go and read Luke 16:18, read also Mathew 5:31-32. This Jesus is just crazy! He doesn’t know anything about adultery (by the way, is it true that he used to do the ‘you know what’ with Martha?). Do you know how much harm and suffering these verses have caused women who are beaten and mistreated daily by their husbands?
Sonko: You see, a woman, even if she is beaten up, she should persevere, and pray for the husband, so that he may change. Running away doesn’t help, in fact Jesus preached LOVE, and if the woman continues showing love to her husband, then the husband may actually change.
Marekia: You are very stupid.
The second testament is also full of crap, only that it has less crap than the first part. Jesus was just a mortal, but he was a very bright and extremely revolutionary mortal.
Sonko? Prove that he was a mortal!
Marekia: The fellow died man! He died. The rest of the resurrection story is just that,,,a story.
By the way, are you guys waiting for the second return of Jesus?
Mamluks/sonko: (In unison) yes.
Marekia: Is it written in the second testament?
Mamluks&Sonko: (In unison) Yes.
Marekia: Have you read Mathew 16:27-28? Your son-God predicted that he will come back for the second time, and some fellows who were alive at that time would see his second coming. Thus there are only three options here: One, Jesus’ second coming has already happened, two, there are some people who were alive then, and are still alive now, or three, Jesus was just wrong.
Mamluks: Kwani which bible do you read?
(Mama Marekia walks in with three calabashes of traditional porridge, greets everyone, goes back to hermud kitchen, and comes back with three plates of Githeri ya Murugarugio, and finally brings her own plate and calabash)
Shosho: (in Kikuyu) What are you telling my grandsons?
Marekia: (in kikuyu also) I am just educating them about God.
Shosho: Ha ha ha! (still in Kikuyu) Young men, leave this mzee alone, ask him to tell you Abyssinia stories, or the Maumau war, this religion talk is too complicated for you, but you’ll come to understand it when you get more dialectical, and a bit older. (looking at Mamluks)How are thing in Nairobi?
Mamluks: (in Kikuyu) We were doing good. I will went back next week. But I will bring greeting from mum, dad, and everyone who will be in Nairobi. How about you, how will you be doing?
Shosho: Hahaha, I can see that you can now speak a sentence in Kikuyu, but you now need to work on your tenses, and that’s not a very difficult thing, especially for a quick learner like you.
Marekia: He is a good boy, he can’t speak the language, but knows more about our culture than some fellows here who only know how to cram some old sayings…
Sonko: Hey old man, don’t try dis me, between him that knows the culture but can’t speak, and me who can speak fluently, who’s more Kikuyu?
Shosho: None. You do not become Kikuyu by speaking the language, neither do you become by knowing the culture. You are kikuyu by blood.
Mamluks: Mzee Marekia, you said that the religion that one follows is mostly taken after the parents religion,,,your neighbour across the fence is an SDA, but his parents were not Christians. So will you say that he is not Christian by choice? And doesn’t that disapprove your hypothesis?
Marekia: (gives a deep sigh, looks into the sky) My son, when the white man came, he came with a superior technology and he was thus revered for that. He could for instance build a big stone house, he could wear big coats in the months of July, he had bicycles and many other superior technologies. In order for you to share in this technology, you had to follow him, and learn his ways, this included his religion. Some people began following him, and they became very powerful, and together they began forcing us into their ways.
Mamluks: But you should have resisted?!
Marekia: We tried, but the spear was no match for the bullet.
The white man had two branches of oppression. The first one was the church, and the second was the administration. The administration would protect the church, collect taxes and force people into hard labour. The church would give people white education, and at the same time appease the people, telling them that they should persevere this suffering, for God would help them at his own time. In the meantime, a government order was given that all children must attend religious teachings. This was a brilliant idea for the whites, because they knew very well that something that has been pumped into you as a kid becomes very difficult to renegade against in your lifetime.
And this tactic was used over the years, for instance, after the Maumau war, we were taken to the infamous pipeline, where we were indoctrinated with Christianity, and only the priests could give a person permission to be released from that torture camp. Only converts were released.
Does that help answer your question?
Mamluks: Yes it does. But now, with all this information, what is the way forward?
Sonko: stop asking for the way forward, you are already in the way forward. Christianity is not a religion, it is man who turned it into a religion!
Marekia: this is the problem with illiteracy, sonko, find sometime and look up for the definition of religion.
Mamluks: Should we convert into Islam?
Marekia: Young man, what do you know about Islam? Islam is all about oppression, slavery, extreme male chauvinism, exploitation…….just read the Cow, there the inferiority of women is upheld and insisted, look at the Bee, slavery is encouraged, look at Believer, light, and the Clan, slavery and inferiority of women is upheld. In the beneficent, virgin women will be rewards of men in heaven! I the ornaments of gold, Inequality and exploitation is actually justified!
Let’s leave Islam alone, it is as bad as Christianity.
Sonko: If there is so much male chauvinism in Islam, why do we have many women following it?
Marekia: I think we have answered that question. But I find Islam a favorable religion if you are a male, and if you are rich.
Mamluks: Should we follow Hinduism?
Marekia: In my opinion, I find Hinduism a bit more developed that the first two religions. It is more human, more realistic, and encourages people to be good. But it also has a lot of setbacks.
Mamluks: Should we follow the old Gikuyu way?
Sonko: And if this the religion that we should follow, how will we know their modes of worship, now that the early Kikuyu didn’t know how to write?
Marekia: Sonko, who told you that the Gikuyu didn’t know how to write?
Sonko: No, you didn’t get me right, the Kikuyus didn’t know how to write before the white man came.
Marekia: Young man, the Kikuyus knew how to write.
Sonko: No they didn’t!
Mamluks: Yes they did. Their form of writing was very complicated, and people would draw symbols, which other people would try to decipher. It was not like the roman letter method, it was more like the Egyptian writing. It was called the Gicandi.
Sonko: But the Gicandi is a song?!
Mamluks: The song is what remained with us, the Gicandi idea itself was destroyed by the whites and people were forced to forget it. Unfortunately, the Gikuyu people took it as a game, rather than something serious, hence there was little effort to try and save it.
Sonko: How did it operate?
Shosho: Different clans would write on guards the symbols that they knew, and then they would meet other people from other villages and exchange the guards, and then they would try to decipher what the symbols meant. In the meantime, people would drink Muratina, and sing what is now known as the Gicandi. If a village failed to decipher the messages, the guard would move on to the next village. The winners would be respected bigtime. It had its basic formations, combining these formations was the difficult thing, and deciphering it was even more difficult.
Sonko: Wow!
Marekia: Back to the God of the mountains,,,you see, I hear people say that the people would pray and it would rain, right?
Sonko: Right.
Marekia: That is just crap. If the God of the Gikuyu would listen to the people soo much, why would he allow famine in the first place? And why would the people wait for animals and people to die so that they would pray to their God? Why didn’t this God protect them from the Whiteman’s invasion?
Sonko: What about the rains?
Marekia: Isn’t it obvious that a famine cannot last forever?
Mamluks: Mzee what is the correct religion then?
Marekia: None.
Mamluks: How do we worship God without religions?
Marekia: We do not need to worship God,,,,,,he doesn’t exist.
Mamluks: What?!
Marekia: There is no God.
Mamluks: If there is no God, how comes people all over the world worship him/her/them?
Marekia: You see, back in dem days, there were many things that man all over the world could not understand, for instance, where the rains come from, the causes of thunders and lightning, tremors and stuff. So man decided that some superior being was controlling these things. And hence we cannot blame them for coming up with the different ways of trying to get to this God. But with time, man began understanding why some of these things happen. We now know how lightning and thunders occur, we know why rains come, we know why tremors occur. We even know that God of Joshua didn’t stop the sun, since the sun doesn’t move, it is the earth that rotates! By the way, if he was all powerful, he would have known this, and stopped the earth from rotating, so that people could continue butchering each other(adds this with a sarcastic tone).
Mamluks: What about the source of man, and what happens after death?
Marekia: Different cultures, different religions have their own different theories to answer this question. As for me, I do not know where man came from, and I do not know what happens after death, and in my opinion, nobody really knows.There are many other questions that man doesn’t have an answer to today. But it is a matter of time. Maybe 100 years,1000 years, 10, 000 years, the fact is that if humanity continues, man will continue getting answers to these many unknowns.
(The two guys are just seated, speechless and motionless.)
Mamluks: What about these people who pray, and what they pray for actually happens?
Marekia: You see, man is a very powerful being, and you can influence very many things, as long as you can control your power. Some people master this through religion, others through witchcraft and others do it consciously.
Sonko: Hee! You are beginning to put fear into me, so you are dismissing the bible creation story, and you are also dismissing the Gikuyu creation story?
Marekia: Yes. By the way, do you know that that Gikuyu story is just a story? In our history, there is nothing like God creating Gikuyu or Mumbi, and there is nothing like God taking man to the top of Mt Kirinyaga.
Sonko: So where did the Gikuyu come from?
Marekia: They came from what is presently Ethiopia.
Infact, when we were young, my grandfather used to tell us that we came from Abania, what came to be known as Abyssinia and is now Ethiopia.
Sonko: So they were not formed at Mukuru wa Nyagathanga?
Marekia: No they were not, Mukuru wa Nyagathanga was just one of the three dispersal points, once they had arrived at the mountain.
Sonko: And how comes I do not know these things?
Shosho: Sonko, it is already late and these roads are not safe at night, him answering that question will take at least 5 hours, so let’s postpone that for tomorrow.
Mamluks: Mzee, you are making me begin to question my faith. But you won’t, let me go and consult my friends and my priest. I will raise all these issues that you have raised, and I am sure that they will help me.
Shosho: My grandson, if somebody can rationally and conclusively answer all those issues, then you will become very strong in your faith. You will become a true Christian. A Christian who knows what he is doing. A Christian by choice.
Mamluks: Thanks you all, I beg to leave now.
Shosho: (Standing up and going torwards the kitchen) No no no, there is some more uji left, let’s drink it so that you can have the strength to walk to your place.
Mamluks: No no, please no, it is getting dark, I will come for the Uji next time.
Shosho: There is nothing like that, you cannot leave this home on an empty stomach. I will give you just one calabash.
Sonko: Ok, if you insist.
Mamluks: Now that I will be staying here for another 10 minutes, let me ask you (looking at Mzee) a
question, you gave me reasons as to why early people were religious, but why are people still religious today?
Marekia: You see, the premiere reason is that religion is introduced to you when you are a kid, it is indoctrinated into you in your early years, it thus becomes very difficult to unshackle yourself from it.
In this relation, there are four kinds of people in religion.
One, foolish people. People who do not question what the find. They are just Muslims because they found themselves there.
Two, corwards. These are people who think about these things, they question religion, but they fear moving away from it, since they think that bad things might happen to them if they cease being religious. They hence say to themselves, “Hiyo ni mambo ya Mungu, hauwezi elewa.”
Three, religious leaders. These are the priests, pastors, imams diviners, etc. these people make a living of religion. They thus propagate this religious crap, so that they can survive. Most of them actually know the truth, but they prefer cheating the sheep(an animal known for its foolishness).Haven’t you noticed that all these religions have the Tithe factor? No pastor forgets to ask for sadaka and tithe. In Islam it is actually a pillar.
Four, confused and greedy people. These are the people who will jump from one religion to another, looking for the light, they do not see the similarity in all the nonsense. Some of them, like these Mungiki buggers, will even try to go back to the Kirinyaga God. For the greedy, they will go to the church that helps them economically. Others will convert to Islam so that they can marry a beautiful Somali or arab girl. Some will go to a religion that allows them to marry several women.
Mamluks: Shush! Let me go and consult, and then I will come back to you.
Sonko: Do not come back, you know Satan works in many ways, and through different people, it is
actually the devil that is talking through this Mzee.
Marekia: Satan too doesn’t exist.
My children, as you go, go knowing that, God did not make man, It was man who made God.
Shosho: Kwaherini wajukuu wangu.
Mamluks&Sonko: Haya kwa heri.
Benedict Wachira
14th April 2010
10:39am
*Some Qoran and Bible verses from Bob Avakian
On the slopes of Mount Kenya, at the home of mzee Marekia. The home frontage faces the mountain peak.
Participants
Mzee Marekia- An old strong man, who was once a Kenyan freedom fighter, never been to school, but can read, write and do some basic arithmetic.
Mamluks- A fresh college graduate, and a Christian too.
Sonko- An argumentative and not so reasonable middle aged farmer.
Shosho/Mama- Mzee Marekia’s wife.
(Mamluks arrives at Marekia’s holding his bible, wearing a bright yellow suit, white shoes, and a belt with a large buckle.)
Mamluks: Hodi hodi?
Marekia: Ah karibu sana, we’ve been waiting for you the whole day, mama had even begun doubting that today is Sunday, welcome welcome…………..otherwise?
Mamluks: I’m good, I’m good. You have very good weather here, eh?
Marekia: Yah, we do not have excess sun or excess rain, we are very lucky here.
Mamluks: Yah, God has really blessed you guys.
Marekia: I can see that you are from the church,
Mamluks: Oh yes, and we had a beautiful sermon there, in fact, the reason as to why I am late today is because Father Tommy had invited me for lunch after the mass,,,but I left some space for some sweet Githeri from Shosho (says jokingly)
(After some long pause)
Marekia: What did God say today?
Mamluks: He said that he was sent so that he would save all humanity, and…..
Marekia: My son, you have read quite a lot, and we hear that at the University you studied to be a doctor,
Mamluks: No no, I did bachelor of science, Mathematics and Chemistry.
Marekia: Ah, so you can teach mathematics to our girls at the school across?
Mamluks: No, not exactly, to teach, you need a Bachelor of education, what I am right now is a scientist, if I continue with my study, I can make medicine, paints, fertilizer, bombs (lol) etc, I can also do some statistical work, and other calculatory jobs.
Marekia:Oh, I see. But how comes you are a scientist,, yet you go to church? I thought that scientists are non believers?
Mamluks: Well, those scientists are clever, but being clever doesn’t mean that you are wise.
Marekia: You now, you are catholic, right?
Mamluks: Yes I am.
Marekia: Why are you catholic?
Mamluks: It is just my choice.
Marekia: Eh?
Mamluks: It is my choice. (augments his voice a bit)
Marekia: No, it is not your choice. Are your parents catholic?
Mamluks: Yes.
Marekia: Could we then say that you are catholic because your parents are catholic?
Mamluks: No. I have a friend whose parents are catholic but he is Presbyterian.
Marekia: Still a Christian, right?
Mamluks: Yes, still a Christian.
Marekia: If your parents were Hindus, we could say that you would be Hindu today, right?
Mamluks: Most likely yes.
Marekia: If your parents were Muslim, you would probably be a Muslim today, right?
Mamluks: most likely, yes.
Marekia: We could hence conclude that the religion that a person follows is largely determined by the person’s parents, isn’t it?
Mamluks: Mmmmh……..yah, we could say that.
Marekia: Thus in most cases, guys do not have a choice on which religion, and in some cases denomination that one follows, right?
Mamluks: Well, kinda.
Marekia: But why do we have all these Gods of all these denominations and religions?
Mamluks: We have one God. Only that people choose different ways of worshiping this one God. Otherwise all denominations and religions lead to this one God.
Mamluks: By the way, which path do you follow, the old Gikuyu way?
(Mzee Adjusts his seat, spits some heavy yellow stuff and continues talking)
Marekia: You see, back in the early 40s, I was in Burma, fighting in the 2nd world war. And while in Burma, I saw a very strange path of worshiping this “one” God. They had many visible and physical Gods, I do not know how they become one Gods, but they used to be very dedicated to these God(s). They even revered cows….
Mamluks: …..those are idols, there, the oneness of God is not there, we do not believe in idols.
Marekia: So, Where will those Hindus go after they die? To God or to Satan?
Mamluks: I do not know, it is not up to me to judge, it’s up to God.
Marekia: Which God? The one God, or these many Gods that they worship?
Mamluks: The one God. The creator of everything on the universe.
Marekia: Don’t you think that it is then unfair, for the Hindus to be judged by a God that they do not know, leave alone recognise?
Ok then. Let’s jump to a territory that you are more familiar to, Christianity.
Mamluks: That’s much better. What about Christianity?
Marekia: Well I think Christianity means follower of Christ, yes?
Mamluks: Yes.
Marekia: And Christ is the son of God, yes?
Mamluks: Yes yes. Begotten and not made.
Marekia: Says who?
Mamluks: Says God.
Marekia: God?
Mamluks: Yes God. As you can see, it is written here?
(Begins looking for a verse)
Marekia: So you are saying that what is written in the bible is the word of God?
Mamluks: Yes of course. I thought everybody knew that?
Marekia: Is it the word of God from genesis to revelation?
Mamluks: Yes, the people who wrote the books were inspired by God the spirit.
Marekia: And as a Christian, can I add some stuff, remove some stuff?
Mamluks: NO.
Marekia: Can I choose what to follow and what not to follow?
Mamluks: NO! This (banging his bible) is the word of God and it is taken as it is, in fact, it is written that you should not do all these things that you are saying, god himself says so.
(Sonko appears on the scene, wearing a shinny sky blue suit, a bright yellow shirt, a light green tie, a very big bible, black shoes with metallic soles, and a matching blue god papa hat.)
Sonko: Hey men, mbona kelele namna hii? I could hear you guys from miles away, and from what I have heard, I think mzee Marekia you are now becoming senile.
Marekia: Well, you can abuse me all you want, I know very well that you just want an argument, but here we are having a very sober discussion, so you can stay, or as well leave.
Sonko: Is there some Gatheri? You know today we have been overfed with the spiritual food, what I now need is the bodily food! But pastor Muriu can really preach bwana……. until you forget that it is past 2pm!
Sonko: Now back into the topic that the two of you were discussing, YOU CANNOT ADD OR REMOVE anything from the bible, and the word of God is right, it was right yesterday, it is right today and it will be right tomorrow!
Mamluks: Now you are speaking. Mzee had also asked me where Hindus will go after death?
Sonko: Hindus? They will burn and rot in hell, the Muslims too and all those other people who do not believe in Christ!
Mamluks: But won’t we wait for judgement day?
Sonko: No. theirs is a special case. They have already being judged. In fact, reading John 3:18, it says that those buggers have already being judged.
Marekia: Do you guys really read the bible? Do you really read this word of God?
Mamluks,Sonko :(In unison) Yes.
Marekia: The two of you are Kikuyu, right?
Mamluks,Sonko: (in unison)Yes we are.
Marekia: And where did the Kikuyus come from? Sonko?
Sonko: Well, an old myth says that God created some fellow called Gikuyu, and Mumbi, who went ahead to give birth to nine girls…..
Marekia: Ten.
Sonko: No nine!
Mamluks: It is ten Sonko, it is said that the last one wasn’t counted since she couldn’t give birth, what’s even more interesting is where the nine guys came from.
Sonko: Where?
Mamluks: That’s a long story.
Sonko: Okay, whatever, and Ngai gave them some nine guys, who went ahead to fill the earth.
Marekia: And why should you believe in what the bible tells you, forgetting who you are? Mhm? By the way Gentlemen, do you know that almost all peoples in the world have their own formation theory. For instance, do you know that there are people who believe that they just fell off from the sky? Do you know there are people who believe that they came from a hole on the ground? Do you know that there are people who believe that they came from the fart of some strange creature? And there are others here in Kenya who believe that they came from someone’s knee?
(By now the two guys are holding their stomachs, falling with laughter.)
Marekia: You guys, how comes you laugh at other peoples creation stories, yet do not question the one in the bible, the one in the bible is even more outrageous! Ati God took some mud, used it to model the man, then breathe life into what he had made! What nonsense is that?! And as if that is not enough, it goes ahead to say that God pulled a rib from this man, after making him go into a deep sleep, and from the rib made the woman! Good grief! And you don’t find that funny? Yet you find the knee story funny? And you go ahead to dismiss the Gikuyu theory, whose absurdity is actually less, and you go ahead to take the mud thing?
Sonko: But the mud story is the real one, you know,,,,,,,it is from God himself.
Marekia: Don’t be stupid. The mud story is just from the Jews, who are just a people like anyone else!
That is one part of the bible that really pisses me off! And they dare put it on the first pages of the “holy” book! That is just a stupid myth, just like all those other funny myths all over. And what’s more, it surbonates women from the word go! Why couldn’t that God create Eve just as he had created Adam? Did he have to create man first then woman second, and from a rib in that case? And why is it that it is the woman who had to be cheated by the serpent, so that she could then mislead man? Do you people know the effect that this has had over Christian women all over the world? And it even says that child bearing pain will be a curse upon women, and that since then, man shall rule over woman! What kind of chauvinist crap is that? I’d prefer if the bible would have advanced the fart story, at least both man and woman would be equal, since they were just farted from the same arse, and at the same time!
Sonko: Okay, enough of the farting stories, any Githeri around?
(Mzee Marekia, now furious and on fire, stands up, and lifts his walking stick up)
Marekia: You people, you Christians, do you read the bible? Or do you just walk over it? Sonko, you are saved, eh? But do you read the bible, do you know what you are following?
Do you know that the god of the Christians advocates for slavery, plunder rape and murder?
Mamluks: No bwana, you you seemingly read your own version of the bible bwana!
Marekia: I can see that both of you have bibles, even though the one with Mamluks has more books than the one with Sonko!
Mamluks: What’s your point?
Marekia: Open the book of Numbers, chapter 31:13-18 and 31-35. Mamluks, can you read it out loud? You can just begin from verse 15.
Mamluks: “and Moses asked them ’why have you kept all the women alive? Remember it was the women who followed Balaam’s instructions and at Peor led the people to be unfaithful to God? So now kill every boy and every woman who is not a virgin. But keep for yourselves all the girls and women who are virgins…..
Marekia: Just stop there! You can continue at your own time, what kind of God gives such orders to Moses to give to his humane soldiers?
Mamluks: Hey, that’s just one verse, you need not translate it directly.
Marekia: Just one verse? Can you read it again? Just one verse, where are your senses Mamluks? Nkt!
Marekia: Can you open the book of Joshua chapter 6 verses 17-19 and verse 21? Read it Sonko,,,,,just one verse,,,,nkt!
(Sonko begins searching for the book of Joshua, but he is on the last pages of the bible, definitely in the New Testament)
Marekia: You fool! You don’t even know where the book of Joshua is!
Marekia: Gentlemen, do you people watch the news, did you see what happened in Rwanda, Angola, and Liberia? Did you hear that the Hutu’s would bash the heads of children on trees? Eh? Did you hear that the Tutsi’s also did the same?
Mamluks: What has that to do with our topic of today?
Marekia: Do you know that before the genocide, Rwanda was the most Catholic country in Africa?
Mamluks: So?
Marekia: You want to know where they learnt of this killing “technique?” eh?
Just go home and read Isaiah chapters 12 to 14. Read also one of the most famous psalms, psalms 137. Just read verses 8 and 9. In fact you can do that right now.
Mamluks: Psalms 137:8-9.”Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy are those who pay you back for what you have done to us, those who take your babies and smash them against rocks.”
Marekia: What kind of a person even conceives, let alone write, such ideas? I have been in the great war, and we never used to kill non-soldiers, in fact, we would not even kill soldiers whom we had imprisoned! In the Kenya Land Freedom Army, we never killed white kids, and they were quite an easy prey! But what does the Christian God order? Eh? When I was in the army, we used to use quick killing techniques, but what does god say? He advocates for impaling! Even in our kikuyu culture, we ensure that we kill our animals quickly, with minimal suffering! You know what I would say about such a God? F*ck him!
And by the way, you Christians, those are just the few parts that I have time to share with you, the bible is filled with such crap all over.
Just look at the 10th commandment, ati do not covert, among other things, your neighbour’s slaves.
Instead of discouraging slavery itself, it discouraging stealing of other people’s slaves! Crap!
Mamluks: Cool down Mzee Marekia, you know, we also have the New Testament, and it is what we now largely follow……….
Marekia: You fake Christians, who do you think you are, to go about choosing what of God’s words to follow and what not to follow? Do you think that you are greater than that God of yours? You should either take all that is in the bible, or throw all of it out. Don’t come telling me that there are parts that you follow “largely,” take such hypocritical crap away from me!
Sonko: Mamluks you have defeated him there, he knows nothing wrong with the new testament, and that is why he is trying to divert the story.
Marekia: Divert the story? You buggers, do you read your bibles?
Then this new God of the new testament is a very confused fellow. How could not even show consistency while telling the same fake story to two different people.
Mamluks: Where?
Sonko: Yes where?
Mamluks: Go and read Mathew 1. Then read Luke 3:23-28. In that story of who begat who until Jesus was begat. It contradicts itself big time! Or was God a bit tired, until he confused some parts?
Mamluks: Ala! Let me read it,
Marekia: No, just go and read it at your own time. And by the way, do you know that if we were to follow that begat story, whichever version, then Jesus wouldn’t be the savior that those fellows were waiting for?
Mamluks: Why?
Marekia: It is obvious that Jesus was not begat of Joseph (whose lineage is from Abraham, David and so on). Joseph’s sperm had never touch Mary, hence Jesus was not begat of Joseph, but from another man,,, oh sorry, male Angel who actually did the “you know what”
Marekia: Do you see what Jesus says about divorce? Just go and read Luke 16:18, read also Mathew 5:31-32. This Jesus is just crazy! He doesn’t know anything about adultery (by the way, is it true that he used to do the ‘you know what’ with Martha?). Do you know how much harm and suffering these verses have caused women who are beaten and mistreated daily by their husbands?
Sonko: You see, a woman, even if she is beaten up, she should persevere, and pray for the husband, so that he may change. Running away doesn’t help, in fact Jesus preached LOVE, and if the woman continues showing love to her husband, then the husband may actually change.
Marekia: You are very stupid.
The second testament is also full of crap, only that it has less crap than the first part. Jesus was just a mortal, but he was a very bright and extremely revolutionary mortal.
Sonko? Prove that he was a mortal!
Marekia: The fellow died man! He died. The rest of the resurrection story is just that,,,a story.
By the way, are you guys waiting for the second return of Jesus?
Mamluks/sonko: (In unison) yes.
Marekia: Is it written in the second testament?
Mamluks&Sonko: (In unison) Yes.
Marekia: Have you read Mathew 16:27-28? Your son-God predicted that he will come back for the second time, and some fellows who were alive at that time would see his second coming. Thus there are only three options here: One, Jesus’ second coming has already happened, two, there are some people who were alive then, and are still alive now, or three, Jesus was just wrong.
Mamluks: Kwani which bible do you read?
(Mama Marekia walks in with three calabashes of traditional porridge, greets everyone, goes back to hermud kitchen, and comes back with three plates of Githeri ya Murugarugio, and finally brings her own plate and calabash)
Shosho: (in Kikuyu) What are you telling my grandsons?
Marekia: (in kikuyu also) I am just educating them about God.
Shosho: Ha ha ha! (still in Kikuyu) Young men, leave this mzee alone, ask him to tell you Abyssinia stories, or the Maumau war, this religion talk is too complicated for you, but you’ll come to understand it when you get more dialectical, and a bit older. (looking at Mamluks)How are thing in Nairobi?
Mamluks: (in Kikuyu) We were doing good. I will went back next week. But I will bring greeting from mum, dad, and everyone who will be in Nairobi. How about you, how will you be doing?
Shosho: Hahaha, I can see that you can now speak a sentence in Kikuyu, but you now need to work on your tenses, and that’s not a very difficult thing, especially for a quick learner like you.
Marekia: He is a good boy, he can’t speak the language, but knows more about our culture than some fellows here who only know how to cram some old sayings…
Sonko: Hey old man, don’t try dis me, between him that knows the culture but can’t speak, and me who can speak fluently, who’s more Kikuyu?
Shosho: None. You do not become Kikuyu by speaking the language, neither do you become by knowing the culture. You are kikuyu by blood.
Mamluks: Mzee Marekia, you said that the religion that one follows is mostly taken after the parents religion,,,your neighbour across the fence is an SDA, but his parents were not Christians. So will you say that he is not Christian by choice? And doesn’t that disapprove your hypothesis?
Marekia: (gives a deep sigh, looks into the sky) My son, when the white man came, he came with a superior technology and he was thus revered for that. He could for instance build a big stone house, he could wear big coats in the months of July, he had bicycles and many other superior technologies. In order for you to share in this technology, you had to follow him, and learn his ways, this included his religion. Some people began following him, and they became very powerful, and together they began forcing us into their ways.
Mamluks: But you should have resisted?!
Marekia: We tried, but the spear was no match for the bullet.
The white man had two branches of oppression. The first one was the church, and the second was the administration. The administration would protect the church, collect taxes and force people into hard labour. The church would give people white education, and at the same time appease the people, telling them that they should persevere this suffering, for God would help them at his own time. In the meantime, a government order was given that all children must attend religious teachings. This was a brilliant idea for the whites, because they knew very well that something that has been pumped into you as a kid becomes very difficult to renegade against in your lifetime.
And this tactic was used over the years, for instance, after the Maumau war, we were taken to the infamous pipeline, where we were indoctrinated with Christianity, and only the priests could give a person permission to be released from that torture camp. Only converts were released.
Does that help answer your question?
Mamluks: Yes it does. But now, with all this information, what is the way forward?
Sonko: stop asking for the way forward, you are already in the way forward. Christianity is not a religion, it is man who turned it into a religion!
Marekia: this is the problem with illiteracy, sonko, find sometime and look up for the definition of religion.
Mamluks: Should we convert into Islam?
Marekia: Young man, what do you know about Islam? Islam is all about oppression, slavery, extreme male chauvinism, exploitation…….just read the Cow, there the inferiority of women is upheld and insisted, look at the Bee, slavery is encouraged, look at Believer, light, and the Clan, slavery and inferiority of women is upheld. In the beneficent, virgin women will be rewards of men in heaven! I the ornaments of gold, Inequality and exploitation is actually justified!
Let’s leave Islam alone, it is as bad as Christianity.
Sonko: If there is so much male chauvinism in Islam, why do we have many women following it?
Marekia: I think we have answered that question. But I find Islam a favorable religion if you are a male, and if you are rich.
Mamluks: Should we follow Hinduism?
Marekia: In my opinion, I find Hinduism a bit more developed that the first two religions. It is more human, more realistic, and encourages people to be good. But it also has a lot of setbacks.
Mamluks: Should we follow the old Gikuyu way?
Sonko: And if this the religion that we should follow, how will we know their modes of worship, now that the early Kikuyu didn’t know how to write?
Marekia: Sonko, who told you that the Gikuyu didn’t know how to write?
Sonko: No, you didn’t get me right, the Kikuyus didn’t know how to write before the white man came.
Marekia: Young man, the Kikuyus knew how to write.
Sonko: No they didn’t!
Mamluks: Yes they did. Their form of writing was very complicated, and people would draw symbols, which other people would try to decipher. It was not like the roman letter method, it was more like the Egyptian writing. It was called the Gicandi.
Sonko: But the Gicandi is a song?!
Mamluks: The song is what remained with us, the Gicandi idea itself was destroyed by the whites and people were forced to forget it. Unfortunately, the Gikuyu people took it as a game, rather than something serious, hence there was little effort to try and save it.
Sonko: How did it operate?
Shosho: Different clans would write on guards the symbols that they knew, and then they would meet other people from other villages and exchange the guards, and then they would try to decipher what the symbols meant. In the meantime, people would drink Muratina, and sing what is now known as the Gicandi. If a village failed to decipher the messages, the guard would move on to the next village. The winners would be respected bigtime. It had its basic formations, combining these formations was the difficult thing, and deciphering it was even more difficult.
Sonko: Wow!
Marekia: Back to the God of the mountains,,,you see, I hear people say that the people would pray and it would rain, right?
Sonko: Right.
Marekia: That is just crap. If the God of the Gikuyu would listen to the people soo much, why would he allow famine in the first place? And why would the people wait for animals and people to die so that they would pray to their God? Why didn’t this God protect them from the Whiteman’s invasion?
Sonko: What about the rains?
Marekia: Isn’t it obvious that a famine cannot last forever?
Mamluks: Mzee what is the correct religion then?
Marekia: None.
Mamluks: How do we worship God without religions?
Marekia: We do not need to worship God,,,,,,he doesn’t exist.
Mamluks: What?!
Marekia: There is no God.
Mamluks: If there is no God, how comes people all over the world worship him/her/them?
Marekia: You see, back in dem days, there were many things that man all over the world could not understand, for instance, where the rains come from, the causes of thunders and lightning, tremors and stuff. So man decided that some superior being was controlling these things. And hence we cannot blame them for coming up with the different ways of trying to get to this God. But with time, man began understanding why some of these things happen. We now know how lightning and thunders occur, we know why rains come, we know why tremors occur. We even know that God of Joshua didn’t stop the sun, since the sun doesn’t move, it is the earth that rotates! By the way, if he was all powerful, he would have known this, and stopped the earth from rotating, so that people could continue butchering each other(adds this with a sarcastic tone).
Mamluks: What about the source of man, and what happens after death?
Marekia: Different cultures, different religions have their own different theories to answer this question. As for me, I do not know where man came from, and I do not know what happens after death, and in my opinion, nobody really knows.There are many other questions that man doesn’t have an answer to today. But it is a matter of time. Maybe 100 years,1000 years, 10, 000 years, the fact is that if humanity continues, man will continue getting answers to these many unknowns.
(The two guys are just seated, speechless and motionless.)
Mamluks: What about these people who pray, and what they pray for actually happens?
Marekia: You see, man is a very powerful being, and you can influence very many things, as long as you can control your power. Some people master this through religion, others through witchcraft and others do it consciously.
Sonko: Hee! You are beginning to put fear into me, so you are dismissing the bible creation story, and you are also dismissing the Gikuyu creation story?
Marekia: Yes. By the way, do you know that that Gikuyu story is just a story? In our history, there is nothing like God creating Gikuyu or Mumbi, and there is nothing like God taking man to the top of Mt Kirinyaga.
Sonko: So where did the Gikuyu come from?
Marekia: They came from what is presently Ethiopia.
Infact, when we were young, my grandfather used to tell us that we came from Abania, what came to be known as Abyssinia and is now Ethiopia.
Sonko: So they were not formed at Mukuru wa Nyagathanga?
Marekia: No they were not, Mukuru wa Nyagathanga was just one of the three dispersal points, once they had arrived at the mountain.
Sonko: And how comes I do not know these things?
Shosho: Sonko, it is already late and these roads are not safe at night, him answering that question will take at least 5 hours, so let’s postpone that for tomorrow.
Mamluks: Mzee, you are making me begin to question my faith. But you won’t, let me go and consult my friends and my priest. I will raise all these issues that you have raised, and I am sure that they will help me.
Shosho: My grandson, if somebody can rationally and conclusively answer all those issues, then you will become very strong in your faith. You will become a true Christian. A Christian who knows what he is doing. A Christian by choice.
Mamluks: Thanks you all, I beg to leave now.
Shosho: (Standing up and going torwards the kitchen) No no no, there is some more uji left, let’s drink it so that you can have the strength to walk to your place.
Mamluks: No no, please no, it is getting dark, I will come for the Uji next time.
Shosho: There is nothing like that, you cannot leave this home on an empty stomach. I will give you just one calabash.
Sonko: Ok, if you insist.
Mamluks: Now that I will be staying here for another 10 minutes, let me ask you (looking at Mzee) a
question, you gave me reasons as to why early people were religious, but why are people still religious today?
Marekia: You see, the premiere reason is that religion is introduced to you when you are a kid, it is indoctrinated into you in your early years, it thus becomes very difficult to unshackle yourself from it.
In this relation, there are four kinds of people in religion.
One, foolish people. People who do not question what the find. They are just Muslims because they found themselves there.
Two, corwards. These are people who think about these things, they question religion, but they fear moving away from it, since they think that bad things might happen to them if they cease being religious. They hence say to themselves, “Hiyo ni mambo ya Mungu, hauwezi elewa.”
Three, religious leaders. These are the priests, pastors, imams diviners, etc. these people make a living of religion. They thus propagate this religious crap, so that they can survive. Most of them actually know the truth, but they prefer cheating the sheep(an animal known for its foolishness).Haven’t you noticed that all these religions have the Tithe factor? No pastor forgets to ask for sadaka and tithe. In Islam it is actually a pillar.
Four, confused and greedy people. These are the people who will jump from one religion to another, looking for the light, they do not see the similarity in all the nonsense. Some of them, like these Mungiki buggers, will even try to go back to the Kirinyaga God. For the greedy, they will go to the church that helps them economically. Others will convert to Islam so that they can marry a beautiful Somali or arab girl. Some will go to a religion that allows them to marry several women.
Mamluks: Shush! Let me go and consult, and then I will come back to you.
Sonko: Do not come back, you know Satan works in many ways, and through different people, it is
actually the devil that is talking through this Mzee.
Marekia: Satan too doesn’t exist.
My children, as you go, go knowing that, God did not make man, It was man who made God.
Shosho: Kwaherini wajukuu wangu.
Mamluks&Sonko: Haya kwa heri.
Benedict Wachira
14th April 2010
10:39am
*Some Qoran and Bible verses from Bob Avakian
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Shall forever be remembered.
Man of the people
Friend of Ernesto
Oh my leader
Comrade Castro
Once an outlaw
Friend of Oliver
Now we love you so
Comrade Madiba
You liberated men
Friend of Ho
You unshackled women
Comrade Mao
You fought for Wiyathi
‘Friend’ of Mathenge
Still buried in Kamiti
Comrade Kimathi
They lied about you
Friend of Kaggia
Now I understand you
Comrade Oginga
Down with the British
Friend of Samora
Fight to the finish
Comrade Mugabe
Mwanga wa Africa
Rafiki ya Amilcar
Tumeanza kuamka
Ndugu Nyerere
Thanks for redemption song
Friend of Garvey
One day the fight will be won
Ras Marley
Yes to United Africa
Friend of Nasser
Rise rise Africa
Comrade Muammar
Y con militantes te decimos
Amigo di Bolivar
Amigo di Bolivar
Seguiremos adelante
Camarade Chavez
By all means I wish you were,
Friends to each other
For the dream wouldn’t be far
Comrade X and Luther
And Yasser Arafat
One day you’ll get your land back
All this could not end without MK Gandhi
Who told me about the deadly sins.
Benedict Wachira
2010
In the fashion Saad Ahmed's 'My Dear Leader'
Benedict Wachira
2010
In the fashion Saad Ahmed's 'My Dear Leader'
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Could Reverend Pat Robinson be right on SATAN's involvement in Haiti?
As the whole world mourns the Haiti earthquake, some people are terming this tragedy as ‘a punishment from God, to the Haitians.’ The most pronounced being evangelist Pat Robinson's comments that they had actually made a pact with the devil, and according to this ‘man of God’, the devil said "well, we have a deal!" Where he got this info from, only him knows.
But assuming that he communicates with the devil, and assuming also that the devil told him the truth, Haitians might go into deeper shit. But wait a minute, could it be that we also know this devil, and that we see his manifestations every day, all over the world and even right here in Kenya?
Let us first look at what the media is not telling us:
1. At the time of this 'punishment from God,' Haiti had no legit government, their popularly elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide had been overthrown in 2004,or, rather, he was forced to resign and flee, after numerous demos organised by very violent rebels, believed to have the support the U.S and France.
2. Since then, Haiti has been under U.N (read U.S) military control, with some involvement of Brazil and other developed countries.
3. Very little effort has been made to bring democracy back to that country.
4. Due to the fall of their agricultural sector, the population in port-au-prince has increased in hundreds of thousands since the ouster of President Aristide.
5. Most of the deaths witnessed in Haiti, didn’t occur in the less than one minute tremor, no, they happened in the subsequent days, due to lack of emergency machinery, food and water.
So, who’s this Satan that attracted the wrath of God?
It is quite obvious that in this governmentless country, it was the role of the U.N (U.S), to co-ordinate all the rescue operations, but America, the most powerful country in the world, the country with the best disaster response machinery In the world, sent its first aid five days from the day disaster struck. This is despite the fact that they had been allowed permission to use their neighbors’ air space and airports, including that of Cuba.
Other countries like, Israel, Cuba, countries of the E.U, south American countries and even African countries, had began sending their medics, military, and food aid within 48hrs of the disaster. Now, what’s shocking is that, when the American govt, through its military sent its aid five days later, they began by blocking the airport at port-au-prince, which they then used as their base for the evacuation of its citizens, and citizens of the developed world, including some who had arrived for the rescue missions (some Belgian doctors were actually ordered by U.N to evacuate, thanks to the instructions of the U.S who had the ‘intelligence’ that violence was going to erupt in that region.)
A UNICEF plane full of medical kits, blankets and tents was turned back, and forced to land in Panama.
A MSF (doctors without borders) plane carrying inflatable hospitals was directed to Dominican Republic, and it was the same story for Red Cross and planes from other countries.
Even individual Americans who had privately contributed millions through churches and other organisations were not being allowed to land in Haiti.
The U.S went further to impose a curfew in the city, in the guise of preventing looting. These ‘looters’ are in real sense the same fellows who should benefit from the aid, which was being withheld at the U.N grounds and other places. Furthermore, how do you impose a curfew on such a traumatized people?
In the meantime, the American govt, through its propaganda machineries (in the form of international media ), kept on, and keeps on relaying news of how the American govt has done this, done that, giving the picture that all the other countries have been playing the secondary roles. These international media are even using this disaster to further their hate campaigns to the countries that they consider to be enemies of the U.S. by omitting their contribution. News of Chinese, Iranian, Libyan, Venezuelan among many other nations is not relayed at all.
Even a country like Cuba, which even before the quake had over 400 volunteer doctors working in the slums of Haiti, and numerous social workers does not appear in the news. This is even after Cuba lost some of its doctors in the quake! We are not even told that some of the survivors are being evacuated to Cuban hospitals!
From this analysis, it is clear, that the Obama govt is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths, due to errors of omission and commission.
Now, back to reverend Pats’ comment; and we ask ourselves this question- who could this devil, who made a pact with Haiti 100 years ago be??
This can be found only out by quickly going back the history of Haiti.
Haiti was the first independent nation in Latin America, the first post-colonial independent black-led nation in the world, and the only nation whose independence was gained as part of a successful slave rebellion. The country was crippled by years of war, its agriculture devastated, its formal commerce nonexistent, and the people uneducated and mostly unskilled.
But no sooner had they acquired their new status than the French began their post independence colonialization, forcing the country to compensate slave owners among many other dubious stuff.
This continued until the Americans decided to take over from France, and even shamelessly invading the country in 1915, and occupying the island for the next 20 years! On their usual pretext of promoting democracy.
After they that the time for their occupation was up, they decided to put up a puppet govt, something that they were doing all over the Americas.
This gave rise to brutal dictators like Francois ‘Papa Doc’, whose brutality the U.S didn’t see, as long as the U.S fruit companies continued farming freely.
There was even a time when Cuba, through Che Guevara, organised and trained guerrillas so that they could overthrow these dictators, including Papa Doc (who was a great supporter of fellow dictator Fulgencio Batista) but he failed.
Oppression of this kind would continue for decades to come, until in the late 1980s, when Jean-Bertrand Aristide would lead the famous ‘Lavala’ revolution.
At this juncture, it is important to study the life of this revolutionary, and this we shall do by having a short looking at his biography.
{The following short biography I have taken from the black bio website}
>>>>Jean-Bertrand Aristide was born on July 15, 1953, in Douyon, a small town along Haiti's southern arm. Orphaned as an infant, he was raised by priests of the Society of St. Francis de Sales of the Roman Catholic Church. The Salesian Order, with European and American houses and members, focused in Haiti on the spiritual instruction of poor and orphaned children. As a dependent of the Salesians, Aristide received his early education in their parochial schools and later attended their seminary in Haiti and the University of Haiti. He was sent to Israel, Egypt, Britain, and Canada for biblical and other learning.
Aristide was ordained a priest in 1982. He also earned a graduate degree in psychology at the University of Montreal. He learned to read and speak French, Spanish, English, Hebrew, Italian, German, and Portuguese in addition to his native Creole. Aristide wrote poetry and composed hymns on his guitar.
In 1988 Aristide was expelled from the Salesian order for preaching too politically and for what Aristide called his "fidelity to the poor." He had been warned by the Vatican and by his local bishop to preach less radically and to cease inflaming his parishioners against the Haitian state. From his ordination, Aristide had condemned Haiti's absence of democracy, arguing from his pulpit in the Church of St. Jean Bosco in the poorest part of Port-au-Prince that only a spiritual and political cleansing could save the country.
For all but the first five years of Aristide's life, Haiti had been ruled by the harsh family dictatorship of Francois (Papa Doc) Duvalier and by Jean-Paul (Baby Doc) Duvalier, his son. Human rights violations were legion. Ordinary Haitians were ceaselessly intimidated by paramilitary thugs known as the tonton macoutes. The ruling family and the state were synonymous and preyed viciously on the people. Corruption was rife.
Aristide's antagonism to the dictatorship grew out of his religious convictions and his empathy with the sufferings of the Haitian people. He may have foreseen that the Duvalier dictatorship was crumbling; after months of popular protest, some of which was stimulated by Aristide's preachings, in early 1986 Baby Doc and his entourage fled Haiti for France.
The military juntas that succeeded Baby Doc also oppressed the poor. The regimes of both General Prosper Avril and Lieutenant General Henri Namphy were criticized from Aristide's pulpit. In retaliation, the tonton macoutes attacked the Church of St. Jean Bosco, killing 13 members of Aristide's congregation in 1988, two weeks before he was expelled from the Salesian order. The Roman Catholic Church ordered Aristide to Rome. But that "transfer" resulted in one of the largest street demonstrations in Haitian history, with tens of thousands of Haitians angrily blocking Aristide's departure by air.
Aristide had not been defrocked, despite his expulsion from the order. After 1988 he continued to work with the desperately poor of Port-au-Prince by running a halfway house for street children and by opening a medical clinic.
When the United Nations, the United States, and the Organization of American States finally persuaded the military men of Haiti to hold elections, Aristide was neither an early nor an expected candidate. The front runner was Marc Bazin, an experienced international civil servant, but there were many other well-known men of substance, as well as a leader of the macoutes, who also tendered their candidacies.
The character of the race for the presidency changed dramatically, however, when Aristide decided to run, only a few months before the poll in December 1990. His act was widely regarded as quixotic and sacrificial. But his messianic pledges of redemptive justice for victims of dictatorship and violence struck a responsive chord among the poor, nearly all of whom would be voting for the first time in the nation's only full and free election. He also spoke harshly against the United States, both as a supporter of the Duvaliers and as an exploitative force in the world.
A slight, wispy person, Aristide overwhelmingly vanquished his electoral foes. He won 67% of the popular vote, but his Lavalas (Avalanche) Party, which had had little time to organize, took only a comparatively small percentage of the seats in the Haitian parliament. Before Aristide was ousted by military men led by General Raoul Cedras on September 30, 1991, the new president had alarmed the commercial and old-line ruling classes of Haiti by preaching violence against macoutes and leading purges of persons suspected of being secret Duvalierists. His constructive accomplishments in office had been few, particularly since his hold on parliament had been ineffectual.
In the immediate aftermath of the coup the United States, the Organization of American States, and the United Nations embargoed Haitian exports and attempted to bar petroleum and other imports. But those efforts were only partially successful, and the masses suffered from economic sanctions much more than the military junta.
All three groups attempted to broker a settlement between Aristide, living first in Venezuela and later in the United States, and Cedras and his accomplices. Several agreements unraveled when Aristide changed his mind; others fell apart because the military leaders were endlessly suspicious of Aristide's real intentions.
In mid-1993 the Clinton administration and the United Nations persuaded Aristide and Cedras to meet near New York and to conclude an agreement that would return Aristide to the Haitian presidency for the final 27 months of his single, non-renewable term and provide an amnesty for the military. But Haiti's power elite refused to implement the agreement. President Clinton had over 23,000 U.S. troops sent to Haiti in what was termed "Restore Democracy." <<<<<
To cut the long story short, elections were held in 1995, an election in which he was barred from vying, and Rene Preval won 85%, in an election which had a turnout of only 25%.
He would later vie in 2001, where he had a landslide win garnering 92%. The turnout was 60%.
In 2004, fearing for the creation of another Castro, he was again overthrown and kidnapped out of the country by the U.S and France.
He exiled himself in South Africa, where he was given an official red carpet state welcome by the ANC govt.
Back to Pat Robinson;,,, this man of God could be right on one thing, the involvement of Satan in all this>> Imperialist Satans have been dealing with Haiti for over 100 years now.<<
Benedict Wachira Mamluki
2nd February 2010
7: 20pm
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