The just ended 21st February Movement gala held over the weekend was yet another opportunity to ponder over media reforms in the country and commitments made in the GPA about this and other issues pertaining to easing the stranglehold on media plurality. For starters, it recalled the abuse of the national broadcaster by political elites who remain the same people who made commitments under the GPA to ensure equal representation. The gala “pungwe” which stretched well into Sunday midday indeed rekindled the debate over where does Zimbabwe draw the line between State/public media?  Then Deputy Minister of Information Jameson Timba is on record saying Zimbabwe has the capacity to have more than 10 broadcast stations at the least, and this is exactly the same stuff that gives relevance to complaints why viewers who are expected to pay licences have to endure watching the gala when in fact they can switch channels. And not SABC channels as presently is the case with many who cannot afford DSTV but their own. It is no wonder then that MISA-Zimbabwe is being taken to task about its programmes concerning community broadcasting: the media czars know too well that this is a sector they cannot “forfeit” to the masses as this just what the democratic processes demand, and as one of their own said not so long ago, it would be equal to legislating oneself out of power!

About the gala, someone asked who finances these pseudo-Woodstocks, if space is bought from ZBC, how much the Machesos are paid, how much the organisers sell a pint of lager, and just how this whole business works for viewers to be subjected to that mass buffoonery as adults both on and off the stage play make believe singing songs of praise when everyone knows better. But these are questions that have been rationalised into the psyche of many here, and a wisecrack actually noted that the naivety of doctors of spin knows no bounds: the numbers of these gyrating gala guests do not necessarily translate into votes! If only. And this in light of the President’s speech reminding the people from that region that it was time to claim the vote lost to the MDC-T in previous polls.

Also worth mentioning were these stupendous promotions being run alongside the gala and an interesting caveat apparently betrayed the whole farce: the promoters had the right to suspend the competition without warning, meaning they could take the money and run, after all this was the military running the show, so hey, they could do as they pleased! We will obviously watch the space to follow-up on the winners of those holidays for two and incredible spending money.

Thanks to Flora Veit-Wild for a tremendously beautiful rendition of her relationship with Dambudzo Marachera.

Dambudzo Marechera unlocked many doors for me and let me peek into the marvellous world beyond. He gave me intimations of hell, but also the strength to resist.

Read the whole piece on the Mail & Guardian.

Source: Dangerous Minds

“The first thing John Updike used to do when he received a new book was to smell it. To run his hands over it. Try experiencing that on a Kindle.”
- Chipp Kidd (book cover designer)

Day 3 of TED2012.

11.53am:

Sherry Turkle up now with a profoundly interesting but disturbing talk. She’s one of the most influential theorists of the online world, whose 1996 book Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet put her onto the cover of Wired magazine.

“I’m still excited about technology,” she says. “But my new book isn’t going to put me on the cover of Wired magazine.”

The devices in our pockets, she says, are removing us from our own lives. Are impacting upon our most meaningful relationships. And actually changing who we are.

As a psychologist, she studies people’s relationships with technology, how people will now text in board meetings, in classrooms, while having breakfast with their children. “Even at funerals, I’ve studied people texting. They are taking themselves out of their grief and into their phones.”

“Human relationships are rich and they’re messy and they’re demanding. And we clean them up with technology. We sacrifice conversation for mere connection.”

Technology appeals to us where we’re most vulnerable, says Turkle. “It gives us the illusion of companionship without the means of friendship.

“It feeds the fantasy that we will always be heard, and we will never be alone.”

Couldn’t agree more. Ever had a lover text over your shoulder whilst in a clinch? I haven’t. Yet.

The need for more profitable land use is not in dispute. Half a billion rural Africans want this more than outsiders. It doesn’t take rocket science to devise routes that enable communities to own and lease land themselves, bringing to bear transformation that for once includes, rather than excludes, the majority poor. This, not just property reform, is capitalism’s biggest challenge.

More from the Guardian here