Great Quotes
I have always had more dread of a pen, a bottle of ink, and a sheet of paper than of a sword or pistol. - Alexandre Dumas
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Visions of prejudice and hatred – noughts and crosses -Malorie Blackman
04/04/2020
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portrait Blackman

This series by BBC based on novellas by Malorie Backman is an interesting challenge. There are those who may feel that  heavy analysis of this work is more than it deserves, that it is in fact light entertainment. I seriously disagree.  One must address the issue of production, context and reception for artistic creation as Stuart hall so well educated us. A fundamental issue is that the perspective on life presented here turns the political into the personal. To…

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An interesting question about the Cold War(s)
02/04/2020
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image of dominos falling

There is an interesting question that is seldom asked. After the collapse fo the Cold War there should have been a peace dividend, winding up of NATO and a reduction in armed conflict in the world. In fact armed expenditure by US has increased and wars have expanded. Conflict with China has been described as a ‘new’ cold war. However the obvious question is: if the consequences of the collapse of Soviet Union and end of ‘cold war’ were…

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Western philosophy … MIA
01/04/2020
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| General, literature

Where were Western philosophers when the following questions were asked? Should we torture to save many lives? Which cricket/sports team should you support? One of the fundamental tasks of philosophy has been to identify the correct question. If the correct question is asked often the bias of the incorrect question is exposed. Norman Tebbit posed the ‘cricket test’ complaining that many immigrant communities still support their country of origin in sports against England. This is simply the wrong question….

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Dawkins and the dogs that did not bark
16/02/2020
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Richard Dawkins and the Western philosophy establishment Why is there such silence from the western philosophy establishment about Dawkins ridiculous arguments?  Philosophers know how trash Dawkins arguments in minutes but remain silent? Is this because they are  in the main followers of Kant who made just the same recommendations as Dawkins is espousing and they feel conflicted?  We have discussed this elsewhere. See: (https://african-century.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Charles-W-Mills-on-Kant%e2%80%99s-Untermenschen-b-revisited-Part-2_.pdf)

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Richard Dawkins and the Prince of Darkness
16/02/2020
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Every Prince deserves a courtier or schlepper to scrape and bow at their every whim. We can only endorse Richard Dawkins application for the role of courtier to the Prince of Darkness. Seldom has such a well qualified candidate presented themselves for such a post. Richard Dawkins tweeted on 16 Feb 2020: ‘It’s one thing to deplore eugenics on ideological, political, moral grounds. It’s quite another to conclude that it wouldn’t work in practice. Of course it would. It…

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Larry Amponsah’s latest exhibition at 50 Goldbourne
06/10/2019
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larry speaking

exhibition title:  “when a stone cracks we don’t stitch.” -5 Oct 19 artist: larry amponsah gallery: 50 Goldbourne Went to Larry Amponsah’s latest exhibition at 50 Goldbourne on Saturday 5 Oct 2019. This exhibition covered works done in the past year which show considerable development in his  artistic trajectory or his practice as he prefers to call it. His command of visual language has increased remarkably. What we have now is  beautiful, layered images suffused with a quality of…

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‘Get Up Stand Up now’ – Zak Ove’s- ‘homage to my father’ – an act of travesty
16/09/2019
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portrait fo Zak Ove

Strolled along to Zak Ove’s exhibition at Somerset House. It was advertised as ‘A major new exhibition celebrating the past 50 years of Black creativity in Britain and beyond.’ Zak who curated the exhibition described  it as: ‘a review and a celebration of our Caribbean and African culture that has permeated and contributed to British society”. His publicist describes it as:  ‘taking its starting point as the radical work of his father Horace Ové,’ Somerset House wrote:” Beginning with the…

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Update on Boston MFA – good news!
24/07/2019
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director fo MFA Boston

We have received, dated 12 July, a warm reply from  the director of Boston MFA, Matthew Teitelbaum. A clear and concise explanation of the appropriate steps being taken to remedy matters and a clear statement that the  audio track was unacceptable. It is not always we can say an effort was worthwhile but also a great thank you to Matthew for taking these matters seriously.

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Phyllis Wheatley – blue plaque unveiling 16 July 2019
16/07/2019
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mpment of unveiling

Attended the unveiling of a blue plaque to Phyllis Wheatley. This famous African poet had to come to London from the US in 1773 to find a publisher for her poetry. She was born in The Gambia  and by the age of 15 was fluent in Latin, Greek and English and was publishing her poetry in her teens. No publishing house in US would touch her work. She met Granville Sharp among many British dignitaries and also Benjamin Franklin….

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Michelle I Goa & Mussolini – Getting it quite wrong
08/06/2019
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Michelle Goa writes in Harvard Crimson: ‘It bemuses me that some absolve non-white people of racism. They declare point-blank, “It’s literally impossible to be racist to a white person.” “Racism against white people doesn’t exist.” “Because there’s no scenario in which racism is not a bad thing. If some extremists won’t engage in good faith, we can’t force them. But at least among the rest of us, we can do better. We shouldn’t need to compare how a possible…

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