From Foreign Policy Magazine:

In his classic essay Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell describes an experience he had as a colonial police officer in Burma. Under public pressure from a crowd of townspeople, he puts down an out-of-control elephant against his own wishes, describing it as the moment he “first grasped the hollowness, the futility of the white man’s dominion in the East.” As the people of the town debate the merits and legality of his actions, he wonders “whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool.”

It’s tempting to wonder if any similarly penetrating insights or self-reflections have come to Spanish King Juan Carlos as he lies in the hospital, having injured his hip on an elephant shooting trip in Botswana that has ignited a firestorm of controversy.

In addition to being about the least politically correct way to spend your vacation (was the baby seal-clubbing junket all booked up?) the optics of this were pretty terrible at a time when more than half of young Spaniards are out of work and Spanish banks are facing yet another downgrade. Plus, it turns out that the king — who is Spain’s official head of state — didn’t inform the government that he was leaving the country and might have used public funds in the process.

Some leftist parties are calling for the king to abdicate or hold a referendum on returning to a republic. That doesn’t seem to likely at the moment, but the king may still want to stick to the beach next time if he doesnt want to join his country’s surging ranks of unemployed.

ADZT Statement on the Death of its Chairman Walter Lambert Mparutsa
13 April 2012

Renowned artist, theatre practitioner and Artists for Democracy in Zimbabwe Trust (ADZT) Chairman, Walter Lambert Mparutsa has died. He was 72. Mparutsa died late on Thursday evening after he developed complications during a blood transfusion process. He was suffering from a cancer ailment. Mparutsa will be remembered for his artistic prowess which earned him many accolades and praise locally and internationally. He belonged to a special group of Zimbabwean artists better known as protest artists. He was a great believer in freedom of expression, human rights and democracy. At the time of his death he was running his Global Arts Theatre Association and was Chairperson of Artists for Democracy in Zimbabwe Trust (ADZT). He was also in process of putting together the annual Chimanimani Arts Festival.

In 2003 he was part of a group of artists who fought censorship of the arts by taking the government to court following the banning of the play Super Patriots and Morons. The play was a sad reflection of the state of the country’s human rights, lawlessness, and murder of President Robert Mugabe’s opposition activists, economic meltdown, unemployment, starvation, corruption and endless shortages of virtually all basic necessities. It was banned on suspicion that was it lampooning the then 83-year-old President Robert Mugabe who at the time had clocked 27 straight years in power. For us at ADZT it is a great loss which can never be quantified. He was a mentor, a steward, adviser and above all a great pillar of strength. We will forever miss him with his great sense of humour which made him a friend of both the young and the old. His fearlessness was a great virtue which we will forever cherish. May his family be strengthened in this time of mourning knowing fully well that his life was one which was greatly lived.

The theatre guru at one time produced a play that depicted him as a cancer patient and ironically it is the same disease which led to his death.

Apart from his theatre work he was also also known for his talent in film. He acted in films such as Yellow Card in 2000, Everyone’s Child in 1996, Cry Freedom in 1987 and Play Warriors in 2011. May his soul rest in eternal peace.

Mourners are gathered at his house at Number 29 Pollet Drive Belvedere in Harare. Pollet Drive is off Mutley Avenue which is opposite the National Sports Stadium on the side where a Chinese hotel is under construction. Details of his burial are yet to be announced by the family.

Letter to the librarian

You are the heart where arteries of knowledge congregate
The root that binds fibres of worldly wisdom
A rock where intellectual imbibers chisel and curve their creative granules
Bring me, the IPAD to connect to the universe

Bring the search engine to sieve juices of life
You are the nutrition of psyche.

Bring books from Tolstoy, DH Lawrence, Jon Donne, Maya Angelou
The poetic, the academic, the scholarly

Mr and Mrs Librarian where minds meet
Mrs and Mr Librarian my mental fodder
Mr and Mrs Librarian my intellectual drumstick

My soapstone for my wisdom sculptor
My oozing oasis for my PhD
My running river for my dissertation
My rich spring for my Communications assignment.

Your womb vomited, presidents, poets,
Ministers, medics, bishops, engineers, mothers
Your womb vomited our past, our today and our future

You are the inspiration that break with sun
To the world, let our guns and swords be books

Mr and Mrs Librarian, This is my letter to you

You are cemetery with live skulls of knowledge

Mbizo Chirasha aka The Black Poet

The American Resource Centre (ARC) celebrated National Library Week on Wednesday. The commemoration included other libraries and information centres in Zimbabwe as they together with the US Embassy’s ARC took time to showcase some of their latest developments.  According to the ALA (American Libraries Association), the idea for National Library Week was based on the idea that once people were motivated to read, they would use and support libraries.

The US Embassy’s work in the dissemination of information through its resource centre is greatly appreciated in the information and technology fraternity. Technology is ever changing and they continue to adapt their services to suit current trends and user needs at the same time setting a guide for other resource centres in Zimbabwe to follow suit and remain functional in this technological era. ARC has corners in at the Bulawayo Public Library, Gweru Memorial Library and recently added Mutare to the list. These centres engage people who are not based in Harare to enjoy similar opportunities being rendered to students and researchers in Harare. The resource centre offers various library services to users being pod casts, kindles and their recent launch, elibrary. The elibrary, which is a collection of databases and journals, can be accessed through http://elibraryusa.state.gov/. It’s free but one needs to register to be able to access it.

The Research Council of Zimbabwe (RCS) also took time to showcase their latest ‘baby’, a research database that seeks to promote research and publicise Zimbabwean research on a global scale. The research database is an integrated collection of research work done on Zimbabwe and by Zimbabweans. It is accessible through this portal http://researchdatabase.ac.zw/

This is a great way to document research work electronically as the National Archives which is mandated to document these, is still doing so using hard copies. The database is accessible for free and one is required to register in order to do so.

The mother body for libraries in Zimbabwe, ZIMLA (Zimbabwe Library Association) held a separate meeting for librarians who were present at this National Library Week commemoration. ZIMLA is back on board on IFLA (International Federation of Libraries Association) and will share information on the 46th Conference and AGM to be held in Kadoma next month.

These efforts by librarians cannot go without acknowledging the work of writers, publishers and IT specialists in Zimbabwe who make it possible for such tools and programmes to be available for use in Zimbabwe.

Life on campus were the days when one would wish they were at home in the care of mum and dad. Especially when one got sick. I remember my final year at university; I developed a sore throat and went to the university clinic. The nurse there was totally convinced without a benefit of a doubt that I had contracted a terrible flu. I was hoping she was going to give me a prescription but instead she advised; “eat three square meals a day, get plenty of rest and don’t drink alcohol.”

When I told my roommate, she was amazed and perplexed. She asked in astonishment, “which world is she living in, doesn’t she realize you’re at university?”