Day: December 25, 2007

The Only Two Year-End Reviews That Matter

by matttbastard

JJ Hippie drops the 2007 Wingnut Roundup, while the Buffalo Beast unloads its annual list of the 50 Most Loathsome People In America. Ahh, sooo much undiluted pith, snark and naked vitriol–am finally starting to get into the proper holiday spirit.

Bonus vid (just for the hell of it):

Shannon Wright – Portray (live)

Recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers

Al Jazeera: Tribalism At Centre Of Kenya Election

by matttbastard

More on what is “predicted to be the closest contest in Kenya’s history and possibly the greatest test yet of this young, multiparty democracy” from The New York Times, The Washington Post, Dr. Wangui Wa Goro and allAfrica.com editor Brian Kennedy, who provides an extensive round up of US and British coverage of the election. [Update: Let me echo Kennedy’s recommendation of this lengthy, utterly compelling piece by Joshua Hammer, former Africa Bureau Chief for Newsweek Magazine.]

Related: Two must-read articles published by Pambazuka News on Kenyan women and the 2007 general elections:

  • Juliana Omale-Atemi and Rosemary Okello note that “the electoral landscape mirrors that of the Kenyan society at large, a reason therefore for the struggle of women empowerment to continue after the elections.”
  • Dr. Penninah Ogada examines “the social, political and economic factors…impeding the full participation of Kenyan women in this year’s general election,” including “physical beatings and rape, abductions, and even deliberate delay and hijacking of the nomination exercises”.

Recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers