₦airaland Forum

I will always have respect for Professor Achebe, not simply because of his novel, Things Fall Apart, but for his criticism of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

I had to read that humiliating book, "Heart of Darkness," in my freshman year of college and I must say that I felt degraded as someone being of African descent. To make matters worse, I was the only black person in the class!

That is why I was happy to read Chinua Achebe's An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness." It restored the dignity of Africans and people of African descent that Joseph Conrad took away in his novel.

bittyend: Calling him an Igbo/Biafran icon doesn't mean he wasn't an African icon. I was writing in the Nigerian context and how he chose to see himself before his untimely demise. At the end of the day, MLK was a universal hero because the civil rights movement paved the way for most of the equality and liberalism we're enjoying in the world today. However, he saw himself as an African-America/black hero hence why people see him as that.

You're also committing the same gaffe you accused me of by pigeonholing his writings into "African Literature." What's African literature?

I'm not from Nigeria as well but I did read some of his books. He was a great writer and I admire his simplified approach of writing

I see the point you are trying to make with the Igbo icon. I do slightly disagree, but your argument still can be made.

Concerning the "pigeonholing" accusation, I disagree. In the literary world, authors from around the globe are associated with their geography. We have European literature, American literature, Asian literature, Latin American literature and African literature. Professor Achebe's novels falls into the category African literature and I see nothing wrong with that. His novels illustrate Africa's unique cultures. You may call it "pigeonholing" but I see it as bringing diversity to the world of literature.

Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist. That this simple truth is glossed over in criticisms of his work is due to the fact that white racism against Africa is such a normal way of thinking that its manifestations go completely unremarked.
– Chinua Achebe

From An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'

"There were several... instant rejections. Some did not even bother to read it, jaundiced by their impression that a book with an African backdrop had no "marketability." Some of the responders found the concept of an African novel amusing."
– Chinua Achebe

On sending Things Fall Apart to publishers (From There Was A Country)

"You cannot plant greatness as you plant yams or maize. Who ever planted an iroko tree — the greatest tree in the forest? You may collect all the iroko seeds in the world, open the soil and put them there. It will be in vain. The great tree chooses where to grow and we find it there, so it is with the greatness in men."
– Chinua Achebe

From No Longer At Ease

bittyend: Let's just celebrate the life and times of the great Igbo/Biafran icon. He wasn't perfect but he achieved a lot.

To be honest, I do not think he was simply an Igbo/Biafran icon. He is an AFRICAN ICON. There is a reason why people around the world consider him the "Father of African Literature." And to say anything less about this man is simply disrespectful.

I was not even born in Africa, but he opened my eyes to African literature. Keep in mind I was required to read Things Fall Apart back when I was in high school in the United States. It was part of the English Literature curriculum and I do not think much has changed.

https://specials-images.forbes.com/imageserve/0ejG6Kb7UM4l1/0x600.jpg?fit=scale&background=000000


1. Chinua Achebe, 80, Nigerian, Novelist

The father of African literature authored the 1958 classic, Things Fall Apart which has been translated into over 50 languages and has sold over 10 million copies internationally. In September, Achebe made headlines when he turned down a $1million offer from American Hip-Hop act, Curtis Jackson (A.K.A 50 Cent) for permission to use the Things Fall Apart title for an upcoming movie. The renowned novelist is also an essayist, political critic and currently serves as Professor of African studies at Brown University, Rhode Island.

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/ehed45mef/chinua-achebe/

"There is that great proverb—that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter... Once I realized that, I had to be a writer."
– Chinua Achebe

From The Paris Review

Chinua Achebe, African Literary Titan, Dies at 82

https://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/03/23/books/23achebe_337/23achebe_337-articleLarge.jpg

Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian writer who was black Africa’s most widely read novelist and one of the continent’s towering men of letters, has died after a brief illness, his publisher and agent said in London on Friday. He was 82.

Few details were immediately available.

Besides novels, Mr. Achebe’s works included powerful essays and poignant short stories and poems rooted in the countryside and cities of his native Nigeria, before and after independence from British colonial rule. His most memorable fictional characters were buffeted and bewildered by the conflicting pulls of traditional African culture and invasive Western values.

For inspiration, Mr. Achebe drew on his own family history as part of the Igbo nation of southeastern Nigeria, a people victimized by the racism of British colonial administrators and then by the brutality of military dictators from other Nigerian ethnic groups.

Mr. Achebe burst onto the world literary scene with the publication in 1958 of his first novel, “Things Fall Apart,” which sold millions of copies and was translated into 45 different languages.

Set in the Igbo countryside in the late 19th century, the novel tells the story of Okonkwo, who rises from poverty to become an affluent farmer and village leader. But with the advent of British colonial rule and cultural values, Okonkwo’s life is thrown into turmoil. In the end, unable to adapt to the new status quo, he explodes in frustration, killing an African in the employ of the British and then committing suicide.

The novel, which is also compelling for its descriptions of traditional Ibo society and rituals, went on to become a classic of world literature and was often listed as required reading in university courses in Europe and the United States.

But when it was first published, “Things Fall Apart” did not receive unanimous acclaim. Some British critics thought it idealized pre-colonial African culture at the expense of the former empire.

“An offended and highly critical English reviewer in a London Sunday paper titled her piece cleverly, I must admit Hurray to Mere Anarchy!” wrote Mr. Achebe in “Home and Exile,” a collection of autobiographical essays that appeared in 2000. A few other novels by Mr. Achebe early in his career were occasionally criticized by reviewers as being stronger on ideology than on narrative interest.

But over the years, Mr. Achebe’s stature grew until he was considered a literary and political beacon.

“In all Achebe’s writing there is an intense moral energy,” [/b]observed Kwame Anthony Appiah, professor of Afro-American studies and philosophy at Princeton, in a commentary written in 2000. “He speaks about the task of the writer in language that captures the sense of threat and loss that must have faced many Africans as empire invaded and disrupted their lives.”

In a 1998 New York Times book review, the novelist Nadine Gordimer hailed Mr. Achebe as [b]“a novelist who makes you laugh and then catch your breath in horror — a writer who has no illusions but is not disillusioned.”

Mr. Achebe’s political thinking evolved from blaming colonial rule for Africa’s woes to frank criticism of African rulers and of citizens who tolerated their corruption and violence.

Forced abroad by Nigeria’s bloody civil war in the 1960s and then by military dictatorship in the 1980s and 1990s, Mr. Achebe had lived for many years in the United States, where he was a university professor. But he continued to believe that writers and storytellers ultimately held more power than army strongmen.

“Only the story can continue beyond the war and the warrior,” an old soothsayer observes in Mr. Achebe’s 1988 novel, “Anthills of the Savannah.” “It is the story that saves our progeny from blundering like blind beggars into the spikes of the cactus fence. The story is our escort; without it, we are blind.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/world/africa/chinua-achebe-nigerian-writer-dies-at-82.html?hp

Such myopic thinking that I am seeing echoed in this thread is simply astounding.

While the rest of the world is celebrating this man's greatness, you have people going back and forth and bringing slander to this man's name.

Have you no sense of decency?

"The triumph of the written word is often attained when the writer achieves union and trust with the reader, who then becomes ready to be drawn deep into unfamiliar territory, walking in borrowed literary shoes so to speak, toward a deeper understanding of self or society, or of foreign peoples, cultures, and situations."
– Chinua Achebe

From There Was A Country.

I feel that this quote rings true for Nigerians and Africans in general in this day and age.

"Every generation must recognize and embrace the task it is peculiarly designed by history and by providence to perform."
– Chinua Achebe

"A proud heart can survive general failure because such a failure does not prick its pride. It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone."
– Chinua Achebe

"We shall all live. We pray for life, children, a good harvest and happiness. You will have what is good for you and I will have what is good for me. Let the kite perch and let the egret perch too. If one says no to the other, let his wing break."
– Chinua Achebe

Is it me or has anyone noticed that many people from Professor Achebe's generation are passing away?

The Pre-Independence generation are dying at an alarming rate. We need to cherish them before it is too late.

"There is no moral obligation to write in a particular way. But there is a moral obligation, I think, not to ally oneself with power against the powerless."
– Chinua Achebe

The world has truly lost a literary giant.

Rest in peace Professor Chinua Achebe.

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Thank you for creating this thread odumchi.

I was very interested in seeing the "A Gateway into Kano" documentary. It really shows that there is humanity in all of us.

It doesn't matter what religion, language, or our ethnicity, we are still part of the human race.

https://media.economist.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/full-width/images/print-edition/20130316_WBD001_0.jpg

The Lebanese diaspora
A tale of two traders

Business people from Lebanon fare better abroad than at home
Mar 16th 2013 | BEIRUT AND ISTANBUL

ON A recent flight from Beirut to Addis Ababa, Lebanese businessmen were swapping stories. “Business is excellent in Angola,” declared one. “I hear it’s good in Ghana?” inquired another. Flights out of Lebanon buzz with optimism. For Lebanese businessfolk, the juiciest opportunities are abroad.

More people of Lebanese origin live outside Lebanon than in it (perhaps 15m-20m, compared with 4.3m). Many have done well. Carlos Slim, a Lebanese-Mexican telecoms tycoon, is the richest man in the world. Carlos Ghosn, a French-Lebanese-Brazilian, is the boss of both Renault (a French carmaker) and Nissan (a Japanese one). Nick Hayek, a Swiss-Lebanese, runs Swatch, the biggest maker of Swiss watches.

Lebanese people have long had wanderlust. Ancient Phoenician merchants roamed the Mediterranean, setting up cities such as Carthage and Cadiz. In the past century and a half, waves of Lebanese have left for the Americas and west Africa. Lebanon’s long civil war prompted many more to pack. Some 7m Lebanese and their descendants now live in Brazil, 3m in the United States and at least 250,000 in west Africa. They do everything from running restaurants to dealing in diamonds. By and large, they find business easier elsewhere than back in their fragile motherland.

Fadi Nahas, for example, has lived in Turkey since the late 1980s, when Lebanon’s war was still smouldering. He runs 15 companies that store and transport fruit and other perishables. Like many Lebanese, he is multilingual, speaking Arabic, Turkish, English, Italian, Spanish and French. “We’re like the Swiss with the number of languages we speak,” says Mr Nahas. “But tell me the last time they had to deal with a bomb or a power cut?”

Mr Nahas began by moving bananas from Ecuador (a Latin American country with a hefty Lebanese population) to Turkey when the Turks opened their economy, later expanding across the Levant and the Caucasus. He reckons the head of Chiquita, an American fruit producer, gave him the deal to transport its bananas in the 1980s, when he was in his 20s, partly because he is good at schmoozing. “You have a great time with the Lebanese: you eat well with them and have fun doing business,” he says. “That is helping the country’s products find a market too.”

Coming from a nation that can go from peace to war in a couple of hours, Lebanese entrepreneurs have learned to be flexible and resilient. Once, when Mr Nahas was doing business in Azerbaijan, a dozen “taxmen” armed with Kalashnikovs came to audit his books. Mr Nahas calmly carried on with his work as they rifled through his papers. After a couple of weeks they went. Mr Nahas calls this “a Lebanese reaction”.

Wherever they are, Lebanese traders typically remain in touch with their kin. Belonging to a global diaspora allows them to swap information and learn about new opportunities. Zeinab Fawaz, the author of a book on Lebanese business owners in America, argues that “good education, adaptability and networks” are the keys to their success. The median Lebanese household in America makes $67,000, comfortably above the norm.

Back in Lebanon, however, making money is harder. Take Christine Sfeir, a businesswoman who runs 35 restaurants: the American Dunkin’ Donuts franchise and two of her own local restaurant chains. She cites two advantages of working in Lebanon—well-educated employees and a central location—before reeling off a list of difficulties.

Small, costly and overregulated

First, the market is tiny. Lebanon’s GDP is about $42 billion, less than Rhode Island’s. Second, it is unstable. Conflict with Israel in 2006 temporarily shut down many of Ms Sfeir’s restaurants; the takeover of parts of Beirut by Hizbullah militants in 2008 disrupted them once more. Today, the civil war in neighbouring Syria scares tourists away from Lebanon, too. “I honestly can’t remember a six-month stretch without a problem here,” she says.

Third, Beirut is expensive. A survey last year by Mercer, a consultancy, ranked it as the second-costliest city in the Middle East. Rents can be as much as $1,200 per square metre. Frequent power cuts force firms to fork out for generators. Yet local purchasing power is modest. At Green Falafel, Ms Sfeir’s new eco-friendly themed fast-food restaurant, sandwiches sell for $2.

As if that were not enough, the Lebanese government chokes businesses with red tape. On average it takes 219 days to obtain a construction permit—assuming nothing goes wrong—and 721 days to enforce a contract in a Lebanese court, according to the World Bank. Patronage is pervasive and the internet is sluggish.

Last year Ms Sfeir decided to expand outside Lebanon. Today a fifth of her 500 employees are abroad; by the end of the year she hopes to have 200 manning new restaurants in northern Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. “I looked at conditions at home and realised it was time to focus outside,” she says. “It’s not always easy to work in those places either, but rents are cheaper and people have more money so the returns are bigger.” Lebanon is not the only small nation in the region with a successful diaspora, but its people’s resilience is nonetheless impressive.

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21573584-business-people-lebanon-fare-better-abroad-home-tale-two-traders

donedy: So, from your Bible quotation you've convinced me that Saint Peter was the first Pope? Please analyze the quotation and give me the answer.

If he was the first Pope, what about the leaders of the early christian domination in Ethiopia, Greece, and most of the mediterranean that existed before Roman Catholic?

I am talking about Catholic doctrine teaches us that Saint Peter was the first Pope. Is it that hard to comprehend?

Btw, you do know that Saint Peter was one of the Twelve Disciples of Jesus?

He was there from the beginning, way before there was any Christian communities in Ethiopia, Greece or the rest of the Mediterranean.

Abrantie: What difference does it make to you a BLACK African whether he's from Europe or Agentina? The last time I checked, Agentinians looked oyibo to me. Just look at his name -- he might as well be a mafioso from Sicily, Italy.

The Catholic Church is much bigger than your parochial interest. I could care less if the Pope was from Asia, Latin America, Europe or Africa. As long as he leads the Church to greater heights.

donedy: For goodness sake, learn to articulate your utterances: Saint Peter was not the first pope.

I see you do not know history, but Saint Peter was the first Pope according to the Catholic Church.

"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." ~ Matthew 16:18

Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of grace.
Our Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

The world is definitely progressing.

Pope Francis is the first Pope not from Europe since the first Pope, Saint Peter.

God bless Pope Francis!

A time for rebirth within the Catholic Church.

ndu_chucks: una good morning o.

Are you not the PDP Champion who is supposed to answer that question. Please don't play games with us, the whole world knows of GEJ's incompetence and if he is the best you guys can come up with, so be it. It is difficult to understand how people like you believe that there is no one more competent to rule Nigeria, within PDP, than GEJ.

The point remains that GEJ did not get to where he is on merit - I maintain that you guys are hypocritical. Shi kena.

PDP champion? I have no dog in this race.

You said that there are more competent people within PDP, and I said name them.

I can already name the more competent people than Buhari in APC and one of them includes Governor Fashola.

emiye: Did i hear you say merit ?

Easier said than done, the structure of the country makes it difficult, the electorates also makes it more difficult, they will vote for a mediocre over a performer for flimsy reasons like religion, region, looks, name, beauty of his wife bla bla bla, I put it to you, that A buhari will garner more votes across Nigeria as a Pres, candidate.than a Fashola would. If APC appoints you as a political advisor, this is how you will be singing merit, and tell them to field a candidate, who will flop.

Yes, I said merit. I know it is an illusive word in Nigeria, but it should be the chant.

You said picking Governor Fashola as the APC presidential candidate will be a flop, but I feel it is better to pick him, than Buhari who continues to lose in every election.

Buhari already favors one region over the other. Why should people elect a man who is considered by some segments of the population as a bigot?

emiye: In 1998, concession was made by the political juggernauts to allow power go to the south west, . In the light of that, it meant power was to rotate from South to the North, after 8years, it followed that trend, when a northerner in the person of late yaradua came on board as president in 2007, fate had a different plan, with less than 3 years in to his tenure, he died, Goodluck was to serve out his boss tenure, and hand over in 2011 to a northern man ideally, this did not happen, he decided to contest in 2011, he won. By the time he serves out his mandate in 2015, Nigeria would have had uninterrupted 16years of new democracy,

(1) the south would have being at the helm of affairs for 14 years out of the 16 years.

(2) The gentle man agreement of power rotation between the North and south seriously breached.(at least by the ruling party)[b]

What you just illustrated is not what democracy is all about.

Nigeria's democratic governance should not be determined by some gentleman's agreement, it should be determined by merit.

How do you expect Nigeria to progress if Nigerians do not elect leaders based on merit? You are correct that it should not matter if the person is from the North or South, but it should matter if the person deserves the position based on merit.

Governor Fashola should be the presidential nominee, not some VP nominee. He has proved that he is a leader capable of leading Nigeria. Just look at what he has done in Lagos.

Having a rotational system is simply backwards in this day and age. Nigeria needs its brightest to lead the way.

ndu_chucks: You people are a tad hypocritical. If you apply your own standard to PDP, you will need to replace GEJ because we all know that he is not the best man for the job among PDP members.

Interesting point.

So who would you recommend among the PDP politicians as the best man for the job?

Personally, I think GEJ has done well with the hand that he was dealt. Even though there is more that needs to be done. But I recognize an old adage, "that Rome was not built in a day."

Onlytruth: If I talk am now, dem go say Eze Ndigbo na bigot. But you spoke the truth.

I am highly disturbed by this "born to rule" mentality that seems to be prevalent in the North.

No one has yet to articulate a reason why a Northern politician should be a presidential nominee for any party. They have not earned that right.

APC should not be taken serious if they do not have Governor Fashola as the flag bearer. It is simply an insult to Governor Fashola, Oshiomhole and Okorocha to be "tipped" as VP nominees.

It is either Governor Fashola aka "Eko oni baje o!" or President Jonathan.

Why should the North produce the next Presidential nominee?

This question has been confusing me for quite a while. The North has not shown any signs of economic progress, development or any educational progress. What right do these Northern politicians have to lead Nigeria? All we see in Northern Nigeria is terrorist acts, no development, retrogression etc.

If APC wants to be taken seriously that they support Nigeria's economic development, they should pick a leader who is well known throughout the country as a true leader.

I cannot think of ANY Northern politician who can lead to Nigeria to greater heights.

Governor Fashola should be the flag bearer, and if not him, at least Oshiomhole or even Okorocha.

Bee Venom Kills HIV: Nanoparticles Carrying Toxin Shown To Destroy Human Immunodeficiency Virus

A new study has shown that bee venom can kill the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have demonstrated that a toxin called melittin found in bee venom can destroy HIV by poking holes in the envelope surrounding the virus, according to a news release sent out by Washington University.

Nanoparticles smaller than HIV were infused with the bee venom toxin, explains U.S. News & World Report. A "protective bumper" was added to the nanoparticle's surface, allowing it to bounce off normal cells and leave them intact. Normal cells are larger than HIV, so the nanoparticles target HIV, which is so small it fits between the bumpers.

“Melittin on the nanoparticles fuses with the viral envelope,” said research instructor Joshua L. Hood, MD, PhD, via the news release. “The melittin forms little pore-like attack complexes and ruptures the envelope, stripping it off the virus.” Adding, “We are attacking an inherent physical property of HIV. Theoretically, there isn’t any way for the virus to adapt to that. The virus has to have a protective coat, a double-layered membrane that covers the virus.”

This revelation can lead to the development of a vaginal gel to prevent the spread of HIV and, it seems, an intravenous treatment to help those already infected. “Our hope is that in places where HIV is running rampant, people could use this gel as a preventive measure to stop the initial infection,” said Hood.

The bee venom HIV study was published on Thursday in the journal Antiviral Therapy, according to U.S. News & World Report.

This study comes on the heels of news that a Mississippi baby with HIV has apparently been cured. The mother was diagnosed with HIV during labor and the baby received a three-drug treatment just 30 hours after birth, before tests confirmed the infant was infected. The child, now 2 years old, has been off medication for about a year and shows no sign of infection.

More than 34 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, according to amFAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research. Of these, 3.3 million are under the age of 15 years old. Each day, almost 7,000 people contract HIV around the globe.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/09/bee-venom-kills-hiv-cells_n_2843743.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular