@naijaguru
thats what i'm talking about, about time we start embracing our culture and religion.

@Mongue
Spot on.
Like i've said before 'people have outsourced their life to God, unfortunately God doesn't do consultancy work'

for those who enjoyed soul train while growing up, check out some classic clips here
http://www.youtube.com/results?search=soul+train&search_type=search_videos

ibonics
and there was i thinking it was some sort of ibo language 

oasis:

The only reason that the carribean is visited so much is that the crime rate is lower than say in Nigeria, and also because they're an island. White people love the water. As soon as crime rate begins to rise, tourists would flee from the carribean.

not too sure about that

Jamaica has had one of the highest murder rates in the world for years--ranking third after South Africa and Brazil in the latest U.N. estimates--despite its reputation as a happy-go-lucky island of sun, sand and reggae. But the latest spasm is viewed as a particularly acute symptom of the seemingly intractable problems that darken the future of this nation of 2.6 million people.

http://www.nisat.org/murder%20madness%20in%20jamaica.htm

Any kind of discrimination creates resentment but i do appreciate why affirmative action is needed in the US. It was an intentional policy after slavery was abolished to segregate black people and deny them many opportunities, which included access to good education. This went on for over a 100 years.

So the issue here is, if government policy intentionally discriminates against a certain group in society for over 100 years. How do you correct it?

@WesleyanA
your white friends complaining about affirmative action should read a bit of history

The story of nine African-American students who were prevented from attending High School in Arkansas in 1957.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine

Brown vs. Board of Education
This is how the Brown vs. Board of Education lawsuit was started in 1951. Linda’s father, Oliver Brown, and thirteen other parents tried to enroll their children in the local "white schools" in the summer of 1950, but were turned down because they were African Americans. They were told they must attend one of the four schools in the city for African American children. These parents filed suit against the Topeka Board of Education for their children. Oliver Brown was the first parent listed in the lawsuit, so the case was named after him. At the time of the lawsuit, Blacks everywhere were not treated fairly. For every $150.00 spent on white children at the "white schools" only $50.00 was spent on African American children at the "black schools." The  parents of the African American children thought that their school was not treated as fairly because they were colored. They did not have the most current textbooks, not enough school supplies, and overcrowded classrooms.
http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112391/brown_v__board_of_education.htm

The fight for equal education
http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112391/the_fight_for_equal_education.htm

gbade. x:

please someone tell me, when will the next solar eclipse take place?

It'll be a looong time before you see another total eclipse in that neck of the woods.

future eclipses
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse#Past_and_future_eclipses

Seun:

It's very high. I was told that the HIV virus can survive on an infected clipper for 2 weeks.

HIV can not survive outside the body for more than a few seconds. If it could survive longer we'll all be in a lot of trouble as you would get infected from toilet seats and other inanimate objects.

HIV can only be transmitted where there is direct contact with/or exchange of bodily fluids.

In the words of Martin Luther King "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends"

We all have a role to play in doing all we can to stop the genocide in Darfur

@SIBLI_06
Kindly read this thread from the start to understand the context of this argument

allonym:

Oh. . .so you are restricting your talk about "aid" to that given by foreign government.

Ok. . .fine. . I'll go along.

Because that is what "Foreign aid" is.
If you don't understand the definition i suggest you check out wikipedia.

Foreign aid (also international aid or overseas aid) is a situation in which one country helps another country through some form of donation. The main recipients of foreign aid are developing countries (ie. "the Third World", and the main contributors are developed countries (ie. "the First World".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_aid

allonym:

Explain this though: Why should a foreign nation be expected to give "aid" without strings attached? Chances are, unless my country was doing so well, that we could live on our own, without ever having to require anything from any other country, I would not ever consider giving out aid just for the heck of it. It would always be designed to benefit my country. It is immature to expect otherwise, . it doesn't make sense to expect otherwise.

Exactly and that is why Africa does not need "Foreign Aid" as it hardly provides any benefit to us

Hope you now understand where all those "billions in USD that african countries get in AID" you mentioned in a previous post is going

allonym:
Paltry sums huh. . .the billions in USD that african countries get in AID every single year is paltry. This either shows just how bad the problem is in africa, or suggests to some ignorance on your part.

allonym:

Perhaps that is what confuses me most about your posts.

If you go back to the start of the thread i clearly stated i was against foreign aid in response to an earlier poster using it to justify the negative portrayal of Africa.
The reason you're confused is because you assume foreign aid (provided by governments) and humanitarian assistance provided by charities is the same. One has conditions attached the other doesn't.

nightrider:

seun there again. that was G.U.Y.S that automatically changed to boys

yeah noticed it too and it seems to have changed the context of many previous posts now that "g.u.y.s" automatically changes to "boys". (some posts seem to have taken on a gay slant, which i think the new law frowns on )

@seun
I don't understand why you've made this change. Here's the definition of "g.u.y.s" According to dictionary.com

Informal. A man; a fellow.
'g.u.y.s' Informal. Persons of either sex.
Chiefly British. A person of odd or grotesque appearance or dress.
often G.u.y An effigy of G.u.y Fawkes paraded through the streets of English towns and burned on G.u.y Fawkes Day.

Its really ridiculous as if i typed 'G.u.y' Fawkes Day (it would default to boy Fawkes Day )

slimnike:

If states Government control their resources,the norths will just suffer.Because they have no better resource they can lay back on.

The only reason why the north will suffer in such a scenario will be a lack of foresight and good leadership. The tourist potential of the north is an infinite resource that can transform the whole region and provide economic development. But it seems everyone is blinded by oil money as if it will last forever.

Seun:

Unlike Yorubas, Igbos and Hausas, most white Americans don't spend hours inventing new ways to divide themselves unecessarily.

actually they do, its called 'Class' 

davidylan:

i wonder when africans will begin to stand up for africa and realise that no matter how long they stay in Western countries, the westerners will still view them as "one of the diseased folks from the dark continent".

sad but true my brother

"british americans" now i have to admit i have never heard that before

can anyone answer my last question i did ask nicely

ijebuman:

Regarding multilinks, my younger sis is visiting Lagos soon and needs a dial up account while she's there. My folks have a multilinks line, so what else does she need apart from her Laptop. Would multilinks provide the modem or does she need one from here?
Any info will be greatly appreciated

allonym:

@ ijebuman,

you are confusing aid given by a country's government with aid given by organizations or private citizens. I'm not surprised that government aid mostly translates into reducing the debt owed by other countries. Perhaps you've never bought anything on credit or taken out loans. . . but there is a HUGE benefit when you reduce the principal amount of your loan. It does nigeria no good if it owes the us $100 million which grows at 5% interest per year if nigeria only produces $10 million in gdp. (for this example, I'm making up numbers). In this case, the 20% of the GDP would go towards paying the INTEREST on the debt alone . . . there is probably very little opportunity for many African nations to actually reduce their debt other than the aid your so despise.

Foreign aid is money provided by governments and thats the only 'Aid' i'm talking about. Charity Organisations do not give aid in monetary terms, they may finance a project but they do not give money to any government, same with private individuals. They can only give money to other NGOs in that country.

allonym:

However, many times, aid is specifically designated for food, healthcare, clothing, housing. Guess what happens to it when it winds up in Nigeria. . . . somehow, it evaporates. . . its kind of hard to take your argument seriously when the african nations themselves are a significant problem unto themselves.

Just to clarify here a lot of the major charities are not working in Nigeria (e.g Plan, Save the children etc) as Nigeria is not regarded as a 'poor' country. They tend to work in places like Niger, Mali, Sudan etc.
They are a 'significant problem unto themselves' but who compounds it by selling them weapons or by supporting dictatorships (see my earlier post on my alternatives to "Aid"

allonym:

private citizens give plenty of aid to organizations which work towards funneling money to the country or actually work housing, feeding, clothing, people, among other things. So, even if you discount the aid from foreign governments, what say you about this?

Like i said earlier charities do not give monetary aid, they provide humanitarian assistance when there's a disaster (like famine, drought and other natural disasters etc). They don't give money to governments. Charities like Red cross and Save the children, provide relief materials directly to the people affected. Once they finish they move on to the next emergency, they do not stay their indefinitely and they do this all over the world not just in Africa.

allonym:

Until african goverments stop leaking money like a water tank that has been struck by a missile. . . i don't think you'd see that much of a difference. . . .and blaming the people who are doing the most to help. . .probably doesn't help your case either.

If you read my earlier post at no point did i blame charities, how can i? when i actively support many of them working in Africa. It was "Foreign Aid" i was against.

I've only pointed out that the so called "Aid" the earlier poster talked about is not really "Aid" as it comes with a lot of strings attached. And the so called 'billions' spent is for their companies and consultants. Look at Iraq where all the juicy contracts for "rebuilding the country" was shared out amongst Bush and Cheney's cronies. All the billions [url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,1052186,00.html]spent in Iraq[/url] is going back to American firms like Halliburton (a company Cheney used to run before he became VP). And then they wonder why the Iraqis are pissed off.

Back to the negative western media portrayal, if you don't see anything wrong with the way things are then there's no point anyone complaining if European football supporters throw bananas at our football players or 'make monkey sounds' when they are on the pitch.
There's no point complaining if all Africans are seen as 'disease carriers'.
There's no point complaining if our ethnic groups are regarded as 'Tribes' (Even the BBC still uses this word to describe African ethnic groups despite repeated protests from African scholars to stop using it) or if ethnic rivalry in Africa is described as 'Tribal warfare' but in Europe its called something else.
There's no point complaining if foreign airlines fumigate their planes (while passengers are inside the plane) on African routes but never do the same on other routes.

There's no point complaining if the UK Guardian reports that 419 is now Nigeria's main source of foreign income after Oil and Cocoa (when any intelligent person will tell you it is money sent by Nigerians working abroad unless that is what they meant by 419  .US officials claim Nigerians remit back over $3b annually through 'official' channels like Western Union, while through unofficial channels it could be as high as $12b)

If you think we deserve all the coverage we get and this coverage is truly 'Fair' then there's no point complaining if anyone treats us 'differently' from other people.

Regarding multilinks, my younger sis is visiting Lagos soon and needs a dial up account while she's there. My folks have a multilinks line, so what else does she need apart from her Laptop. Would multilinks provide the modem or does she need one from here?
Any info will be greatly appreciated

finally found the New African article from 2001 that covered a seminar on how western media report events in Africa.

European journalists now accept that there is more to their reporting of Africa.
And it was all revealed, voluntarily, at a recent media seminar organised in London by the Conflict and Peace Forum’s ?Reporting The World? project, under the theme: ?Is coverage of Africa racist?? The seminar looked specifically at the reporting of the current war in Congo and the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
<snip>

Speaking at the seminar, Baffour said from personal experience, he had ?isolated five main factors that drive the Western media?. These were:

(1) National interest, this determines whether a story is published or rejected, and how big or small it is played;

(2) Government lead, which decides who is a good boy or a bad boy to be praised or demonised;

(3) Ideological leaning, of the various papers and broadcasters — leftwing or rightwing — determining sympathetic treatment of stories;

(4) Advertisers and readers power, in influencing coverage and selection of stories;

(5) Historical baggage — the Western media still seeing Africa through the eyes of the explorers of the 16th and 17th centuries.

<snip>
When it comes to reporting Aids in Africa, Baffour said the Western media resort to the use of black and white photos because black and white photos have the ability to convey ghoulishness and scariness?.

He showed the seminar hard examples of this — copies of Newsweek, Time, Fortune, The Economist, and The Guardian’s (weekend colour magazine) which all had everything in colour, except the section on Aids in Africa.

What is the message here,? Baffour asked. ?Are they out to frighten the Africans into submission or help them to understand what is Aids and its consequences??

Anne Koch, executive editor of current affairs of BBC radio, said ?, when people think of Congo, they think ?heart of darkness’, they’re not right but that is the case?.

To which, Baffour said the Western media had the responsibility to educate their people rather than perpetuate those prejudices and misconceptions. ?It is the responsibility of the media,? he said, ?to tell the people that the sun shines more in Congo than in the UK, and thus Congo cannot be the heart of any darkness.?

full article here:
Home truths by European journalists
http://www.africasia.com/archive/na/01_0708/cover2.htm

according to the ActionAid report: Real aid - An Agenda for Making Aid Work, released in June last year. Aid in many countries has not done an effective job of reducing poverty or protecting basic rights. According to the report, the world's richest nations greatly exaggerate their aid to poor countries. Some donor countries are known for conditioning aid, which inhibits its effectiveness to the beneficiaries.

About 60 percent of the money donated by G8 countries is phantom aid, that is, it does not represent a real resource transfer to the recipient. Phantom aid is defined as aid diverted from economically poor nations for other purposes. Much of the debt relief, for instance, provided to poor countries simply closes the gap between what countries were scheduled to repay and what they actually were able to repay, and has often done little to relieve budgetary pressure on poor countries.
<snip>
In 2003, $18b (Shs32b) of donor money, or more than a quarter of total aid, was allocated to technical assistance. However, more often, aid has failed to reduce poverty because it has never reached the recipient country, but has instead been paid to donor country companies and consultants, often for overpriced and inappropriate goods and services that have few sustainable benefits. Technical assistance pays for consultants, either long or short term, to support and advise recipient governments on policy issues. In Africa alone, donors employ an estimated 100,000 technical experts.

read full article at globalpolicy.org
http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/develop/oda/2006/0121morethanaid.htm

allonym:

Paltry sums huh. . .the billions in USD that african countries get in AID every single year is paltry. This either shows just how bad the problem is in africa, or suggests to some ignorance on your part.

Actually your statement is exactly what the western media will say about Africa as par the billions sent to Africa
You want to know how the money is spent. Let me give you a quick break down on "foreign aid politics"

Furthermore, foreign aid sometimes has more benefits for donors than recipients. In a report released by Action Aid in June 2005, the organization claims that two-thirds of donor money goes back to donor countries and, thus, is not available for poverty reduction in developing countries. In addition to a large portion of funds going to Western consultants, the report argues that donor governments often require money to be spent in certain ways--having only American pharmaceutical companies provide drugs used in HIV/AIDS programs, for example.

A new U.N. study on African economies also claims that donor money that comes with strings attached cuts the value of aid to recipient countries 25-40%, because it obliges them to purchase uncompetitive imports from richer nations. Njoki Njoroge Njehu, director of a coalition of over 200 grassroots NGOs called 50 Years Is Enough, notes that such conditional aid raises project costs. She cites Eritrea's recent decision to build a more cost effective network of railways with local expertise and resources rather than using foreign consultants, experts, architects, and engineers imposed on the country as a condition of development assistance.
Is Aid Working for the Poor?
http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/develop/oda/2005/0919aidpoor.htm

Using the US as an example, Here's a recap of what US foreign aid is about
The major objectives of U.S. foreign aid have been to assist the American government in implementing its foreign policy goals around the globe. They tend to concentrate on achieving the following objectives:
1. Enhancing the U.S.'s national security and its international role and prestige;
2. Facilitating U.S. access to the world's major markets, energy resources, and strategic minerals;
<snip>
http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=94457839

Like i've said before there's no free lunch in life

segun06:

Ijebuman, u should think about running for presidency. You definitely have my vote.

Thanks for the vote. Unfortunately i have no political plans

segun06:

However, u said:God forbid but, what if something bad was to happen to you, then what will happen to the child you are sponsoring? I do not think money is the best answer to the problems in Africa. I think what we all need is the right type of knowledge and its apllication. Because knowledge is much more easier to pass on than money, and being that we are in the "information age" you can get the right type of knowlegde and its application, through the internet. If you can pass the knowlegde and its right apllication to those less fortunate, then it wouldn't matter what happens to u, because the child would have the knowlegde to succeed. I'm not saying u shouldn't sponsor a child or a whole tribe, i just don't see where it will lead like what will happen when the child grows up and he/she is still hungry and homeless, will u still b there?

I do agree with you
The worst thing one can do is to feed a man fish instead of teaching him how to fish. However the whole point of charities like Plan is to break the cycle of poverty in these communities by providing money for education and training of Africans kids. Most of the parents are so poor that educating their kids is not a priority, which means the next generation is stuck in that vicious cycle of poverty.

romeo:

the only thing i agree with you here is about the trade agreements so that we can sell at fair prices and compete with others
you should know that those arms they use in conflicts are mostly smuggled arms

Smuggled arms??. The Rwandan Hutu leadership was heavily armed by the French government (they even had French military officers helping them), there are loads of books on that conflict if you want to know more about it. What about Sudan? who is secretly selling arms to the south via Uganda. Angola - Jonas Savimbi and co, who was selling them arms for more than 20 years.
Nearer home, Who is currently training the Nigerian military and selling them weapons to use in the Niger delta? (Answer: the US)

romeo:

banks in western world are private institutions and they accept money from everybody and they are not govt. controlled

I suggest you test that theory out and take a large amount of money to a western bank and see if they won't ask you where you got it from. Banks are subject to money laundering laws and must report any large deposits to the authorities.
In the past they turned a blind eye to it because they couldn't really care but now that they've realised terrorist organisations are using their banking systems for money laundering, all the western countries have come out with tough money laundering laws.
The knock on effect is that it’s more difficult to deposit stolen African money in their banks (as the Alams episode proved)

romeo:

and on about supporting dictators, we Africans are to be blamed on that because ethnicity plays a lot on this.

Yes we Africans play our own part. But wait a minute, when most African countries got their "independence" and elected visionary and forward thinking leaders, who ensured these leaders were removed from power. I'll give you some easy examples - Ghana (Nkrumah) and Congo (Lumumba). If you know your African history i'm sure you know what happened to them and why it happened.

romeo:

and in Nigeria a new dictator is being created by the lawmakers

This topic is not about Nigeria, its about Africa, I only used Lagos as an example in an earlier post. The issue is about the overall portrayal of Africa (not Nigeria alone). I'm really not interested in arguing about the political situation in Nigeria on this thread.

romeo:

why are we waiting for the western media houses to give us good image?

No one is expecting them to give us a 'good image'. providing balanced reports will be fine. Look at the whole controversy over Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera is doing exactly what western media has been doing to the rest of the world, providing news from their own point of view. But the US doesn't like it and keeps complaining that it's an Al Qaeda mouthpiece. To show you how hypocritical they are, they "accidentally" bombed Al Jazeera's studios in Afghanistan and Iraq even though the station provided its location and coordinates to the US military.

And just to throw in a bit of irony, who helped in setting up Al Jazeera? The BBC

romeo:

can't we promote our own image with our own media?

That’s why its important for us to continue to support our own stations like AIT, BEN TV (in the UK) as its the only way we can counter the negative portrayal of Africa.

romeo:

sorry my friend i am sponsoring families and not just one kid in Nigeria, 5 families depend on me

well you're doing your part (sorry i have no cookies to give out  ) however the African kids we're talking about here are not in Nigeria and they have no family to help them.
It's a true act of charity to African kids that you don't even know. The money they get makes a difference between life and death. One of the kids i sponsor is somewhere in Burkina Faso, its a small price to pay every month to make a difference in the life of a kid who would not have had any chance at all.

I'll get off my soap box for now 

Seun:

I am a slob. Everybody that knows me knows that. I would rather be celibate and sleep on the roof of my house than live with a woman who can't tolerate that. Heck, I can't even go on a simple date with such a person. I can't work in the same office with such a person.

I can't stand people who make a big deal over "trivial" things. I'm a super-slob.

relationship 101 - the woman will put up with it in the hope she will change you when you get married.

Don't be fooled you'll just be swapping one set of problems for another. Even Nigeria self is wonderful if you're on holiday there for just 2 weeks.

Return to Nigeria, if you really don't want to stay there then look for other legal ways to emigrate and it doesn't have to be to the US.

I think people don't understand the point i was trying to make apart from Pearl2. All i'm asking for is balance, you hardly hear anything positive reported about Africa. The whole continent is tarred with the same brush despite the fact that there a lot of positive things happening in many African countries.
Countries like Ghana, Botswana, Namibia, SA etc are making a lot of progress but no one hears about them. Only the negative is portrayed. The average viewer in a western country has no idea about what Africa is really like apart from what he keeps seeing on TV.
Its so sad that even Africans born outside the continent associate Africa with only poverty and disease. I know Nigerian kids scared of visiting Nigeria because of all the stuff they "hear about Africa"

romeo:

show the whole world this in news and tell me where the hell we will get our much needed foreign aid to run our nations,

This is such a sad statement to make, how much foreign "aid" are we talking about here. How many African countries do you think gets foreign aid (which is quite different from loans). If this is the basis for supporting the negative portrayal of Africa then i'm sorry brother, you're playing the "victim". 
You think the paltry sums they throw our way to ease their consciences is because of the sad scenes politicians see on TV. For all the foreign aid sent to Africa there are always conditions attached to it, nothing is free my brother.
Its like here's some aid but you need to remove all restrictions to imports from our country or here's some money but we need to set up a military base in your country.
The amount of aid provided to Israel alone is far more than what the US spends in the whole of Africa. Does the US give money to Israel because the israelis are starving?

As Africans we don't need aid from these countries, what we need is for them to stop interfering in the affairs of the continent
- by allowing fair trade agreements so African raw materials are sold at fair prices not at prices determined in western countries.
- by not encouraging conflicts by selling weapons to both sides of a conflict (e.g Sudan, Congo, Rwanda)
- allowing their multinationals to pollute and degrade our environment
- allowing our corrupt politicians to stash money in their banks and providing them safe havens
- Supporting dictators that end up destroying their countries (e.g Mobutu in Zaire supported by US et al throughout his tyrannical reign, Rwandan Hutu leadership that carried out the Tutsi genocide was supported by France etc)

I could go on, hope you get the gist.
It's hypocritical, because western governments and their multinationals are part of the problems in Africa yet their media will highlight the problems without providing a proper historical analysis of why the problems are happening.

Oh and another thing that is becoming prevalent in western countries is 'donor fatigue'. This is a situation where people are so tired of seeing negative images from Africa that it doesn't prick their consciences anymore.

romeo:

and talking about good image in my motherland naija!! VI is filthy and Abuja too, when your living outside nigeria you'll come to find out that there is nothing good bout our nation to be shown abroad and boys are really hiding there nationality these days concerning naija

Well the people i know (myself included) are proud of our Nigerian heritage and we're constantly working to improve things and change perceptions. If you're so ashamed of your country/continent you can do something about it by supporting African charities. You can start by sponsoring an African child at Plan - http://www.plan-uk.org/becomeasponsor/

Actually these are not pictures from New Orleans, these are pictures i took while travelling around California in 03. Every single part of the world i've been to has its good side and bad side. Pictures of Lagos in the western media will be areas like Ajegunle, mushin etc not Marina or VI. While pictures of their cities will gloss over their slums and only show the good side.
There's a word for it, hypocrisy

Seun:

That's the same reason why they tend to show more of the bad side of Africa. If they didn't, they would be accused of insensitivity to the needs of Africa. They wouild be accused of pretending that Africa doesn't have problems.

oh dear. By portraying it as "Africa's problem", it overlooks all positive development happening in a lot of African countries. Are people dying of hunger in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia etc.
The western media portrays Africa as if it's one country suffering from war, poverty, Aids etc. No other continent in the world is portrayed this way, yet every single continent has its own problems.

Its double standards which is only applied to Africa.
Here's an example, Los Angeles with thousands of homeless people in the downtown area. Out of the images i've posted which one do you think the media will use to portray LA ?