I felt a bit guilty leaving M7’s attempt at a musical career as my most recent post all weekend. To make up for it: two songs by Sylvester & Abramz, a Ugandan hip-hop duo who also run Breakdance Project Uganda.
M7 Launches Campaign, Rap Career
I somehow missed this, though it’s all over the New Vision, as well as the BBC, Reuters, NPR, and the Washington Post:
For those of you not hip to the East African political scene, that’s Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who apparently also goes by M7 Cent. It’s surprisingly catchy, no?
Linda Raftree on “Activism vs. slacktivism”
Still wrapping my head around Malcolm Gladwell’s recent New Yorker piece on Twitter, Facebook and social activism. In the meantime, Linda Raftree’s response — “Activism vs slacktivism: it’s about context not tools” — offers some good bits to chew on:
US-based ‘activism’ campaigns are often more about cause marketing or branding an organization or collecting emails than they are about changing a serious social issue at home or abroad. This is not the fault of the social media tools or of ‘digital activism’, it’s a reflection of US culture, our current values, the organizers behind the causes, and the sociopolitical moment we are living in.
I think there is a risk of a US-centric critique of all digital activism as ‘slactivism’, when that is not always the case. Should we call out the US media and those people who are hyping up social media as the key factor in social and opposition movements such as recent ones in Iran or Moldova? Yes. Should we in the US take a closer look at and question what’s behind our shallowness and cultural propensity towards ‘slactivism?’ Definitely.
But we should also be careful about projecting our weaknesses and cultural frameworks on all use of social media tools in activism.
Crowdsourcing a list of Africa’s best musicians
My friend and Global Voices colleague Lova Rakotomalala is crowdsourcing a list of the 15 most influential musicians in Africa:
There is a list from 2006 on the Independent of the 50 greatest African artists, encompassing all type of arts chosen by a selected panel that also left a lot to be desired as far as representation of the whole continent (this might be a byproduct of deep cultural and lingual boundaries between regions).
Making a list for such a large, heterogeneous continent is bound to be flawed. But the purpose here is to celebrate and discover artists that do not get to receive the exposure that their western counterparts receive.
Top contenders so far: Nigeria’s Fela Kuti and Cameroon’s Manu Dibango. You can add your choices by commenting on Lova’s blog.
Jumble.
Two weekends ago I moved out of my summer sublet and into an attic apartment the new roommate and I have dubbed the Sky Parlor. I’ve yet to unpack, partially because I’m overwhelmed by all the boxes and partially because roommate and I have half-formed plans to build this in our kitchen:
Want. Via Hindsvik.
What’s the use of unpacking and putting things on shelves, really, if we’re just going to have to move them all again?
The Sky Parlor is lovely, full of light and breeze, except I can’t figure out how to turn the oven on. I grew up with electric kitchen appliances, and I’m terrified that too much messing around might result in a flaming ball of natural gas.
What I’m trying to say is that if I don’t show up to my new job tomorrow, you should probably call the gas company and see if there have been any explosions.