Now that I’ve finished my exams and my Winter Break has officially begun, I can begin to actually celebrate the holidays!
There’s one holiday in particular that I’ve heard mentioned countless times during this season but that I really have no knowledge about: Kwanzaa. And I’m genuinely interested in, well, what it is, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to educate both myself and you about this holiday.
Kwanzaa is a pan-African holiday, and there’s a good chance you knew that. So, being an African tradition, it must be thousands of years old, established after some great miracle occurred- kind of like Hannukah or Christmas, right?
Well, no. Kwanzaa was created in America. In the 1960s. But don’t let it loose any credibility because of that.
I guess you could say that Kwanzaa’s roots are old- the name comes from the phrase “matunda ya…
Map of transatlantic submarine cable lines as of 2014, courtesy of SubmarineCableMap.com.
I think looking at the map on the right shows how stratified the layout of communication technology is for the Atlantic Ocean region. So much up top and spilling vertically down (on both sides), but so little between the bottom.
Why are there so few submarine cables between Africa and South America? Between Nigeria/South Africa/Angola and Brazil/Argentina/Venezuela?
Surely there would be lots of historical links to share between the two continents, such as post-colonial, post-slavery histories? Or especially the large portion of slaves from West Africa heading to the Portuguese colony of Brazil? Or the histories of exploitation of labor and natural resources? Or musical and artistic commonalities?
I mean, Brazil literally faces several African countries along the same set of latitudinal lines (more so than a good portion of North America faces Europe), but yet there are maybe one or two submarine cable lines between these countries.
Why is that? Is it neglect? Is it money? Is it racial anxiety (which would be weird gives how many Europe-to-Africa lines there are)? Is it linguistics?
And what would be gained if this were changed with the building of new lines between the two regions?
I think that more equitable trade, cultural ties, freedom of expression, and all institutions which depend upon these developments would only gain in strength and viability – while shrinking only in cost barriers and administrative burdens. It would also reduce the cost of communication between other regions which go through these regions (especially South Asia, which has several cables running to East Africa).
So I’m glad to read that there are two lines currently being built between the two regions: SACS (South Atlantic Cable System) between Fortaleza/Fernando de Noronha (Brazil) and Sangano (Angola) in 2016, and SAEx (South Atlantic Express) between Fortaleza and Windhoek (Namibia)/Mtunzini/Yzerfontein (South Africa)/St. Helena in 2017.
These lines will be the first to connect the two continents directly. I hope that they will help bridge the gap between these two superactors in the Global South.
ACTION: Please write to Shnit and Olivier van der Hoeven in protest at the film festival’s decision to support homophobic informer Mona Iraqi:foundation@shnit.org
The International Short Film Festival is based, along with its director, Olivier van der Hoeven, in the placid Swiss capital of Bern. The festival has branches or “playgrounds” in Argentina, El Salvador, Japan, Russia, South Africa, and Thailand. Oh, and Cairo, Egypt. The festival goes by “Shnit” for short, a semi-acronym ugly but calculated to grab attention. As director of its Cairo playground, Shnit chose someone also skilled at doing ugly things that grab attention. Shnit’s Egypt representative is the infamous TV presenter, gay hunter, homophobe, and police informer Mona Iraqi.
Pink in some places, not in others: Olivier de Hoeven, director of Shnit
A splendid French blogger discovered this four days ago. But let’s be fair: Shnit chose Mona Iraqi before her full penchant for depredations was known. She only…
I got an email this morning telling me my e-Residency card was ready for pickup! It was written in Estonian on top and English below. I had a tip from an insider that this would be happening, so I’d already made plans to pick it up at lunch. My good friend and former Skyper (he’s now at Teleport) Karim Heredia offered me a lift and brought his fancy camera to snap some pics.
I walked in to the building, but this time it was lunch, so there was no woman standing by the machine. I pushed some buttons (English -> Documents / Pin Codes). A ticket was printed, and again I just had to wait. In less than 5 miutes, my number was on the display. Seriously, I don’t get why any Estonian would complain about this office. It’s heaven. Anyone who thinks this place has lines should drive in San…
I don’t know a great deal about online magazine The Kernel, apart from that they did a truly dismal hatchet job on Laurie Penny, and that the magazine is currently involved in complex industrial disputes with former employees claiming to be owed thousands for unpaid work. Then, a good source asked if I would consider publishing the following piece. I found the article compelling, and credible, so have shared it below. I cannot name either the author of the article or the person who recommended it to me. Apparently Mr Yiannopoulous is a man you don’t want to cross. But unpaid labour is a red light for me.
The other day, Guido scored a memorable scoop in exposing leading left-wing blogs who were relying on the labour of unpaid interns. The principle that the labourer is worthy of his hire is a good one, which all people of good will should be…
I remember Firefox being the benchmark by which other browsers were judged. Now Chrome is that benchmark. And everytime I wonder what Firefox is missing, I think of a feature that is already in Chrome (easy browser profile management, tabbed processes). Maybe Firefox can secure its position in the Chrome era by doing what Chrome can not.
