The Capitalist Nigger!

The Capitalist Nigger!

FOR SOME WHO HAVENT READ THE BOOK HERES A SHORT DESCRIPTION:The author asserts that the Black Race is a consumer race dependent on other communities for its culture, its language, its feeding, and its clothing. Despite enormous natural resources, Blacks are economic slaves because they lack the "devil-may-care" attitude and the "killer-instinct" of the Caucasian, as well as the spider web economic mentality of the Asian.

WORDS FROM THE BOOK "CAPITALIST NIGGER":"There is nothing like State of Black Economy. It does not exist in Africa. Neither does it exist in any other part of the world. It is an illusion to think there is such a situation called State of Black Economy. Blacks are economic slaves. There is no group of people in this world who have abandoned any ambition of being economically independent from the grip of others as the Black race - whether Africans from the continent, or Africans from the Diaspora - Black Americans, Caribbean or migratory Africans. We are more slaves now than when the Caucasian conquered us and sold us into slavery. The word slave means we are serfs, chattels, paupers, peons or vassals.

There is nothing in Africa that is owned by the people. We are owned stock and barrel by people of European-origin, Japanese, Chinese, the Indians and any other people that has decided to become economically viable. In fact, I believe that the only possession in the world that the Black race could lay ownership to is the free air we breathe, and that might be in question and jeopardy if the present trend of consolidation of our conquerors continue. There is no Black entity that is economically independent in any part of the world. Africa is the second largest continent in the world. It has been established that it was the cradle of humanity and civilization. Africa possesses the largest percentage of the world's natural resources - gold, diamonds, silver, uranium, plutonium, manganese, coal, oil. But unfortunately, Africa is today economically under occupation although I would have preferred to use the word militarily than economically.

The fact is that none of the natural resources Africa is blessed with is under African control. We don't even understand the value of the natural resources we possess; otherwise, we would know how to cultivate them. If we did, we would own the avenues through which these products are brought to be utilized in the world. The United Nations has year in, year out, declared Africa as the world's poorest continent, despite its enormous natural resources. The fact is that the world is moving so fast that Black people stand the chance of being wiped off the face of the earth by a Hitler or Mussolini - could you just imagine what would happen if a David Duke were to become the President of the United States of America, the country with the most weapons of mass destruction. Imagine!

Oil has become one of the most important products in the world. It is what created the fortunes of people like the Rockefellers; it is what created companies like Standard Oil which was broken up to become the juggernauts like Exxon, Mobil, Texaco, etc. A lot of the African countries possess oil in abundance, including countries like Nigeria, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Libya, Equatorial Guinea and others. In fact, it has become the economic life blood of most African countries.But, we as Africans don't have an iota of knowledge of the process of finding the oil and bringing it to use.

To discover the oil, a Caucasian has to bring in his equipment to survey our land or shores. If there is oil, he estimates the amount of oil located in that area. We award him the contract of drilling for the oil. He brings his own men. Unlike in his own country, whatever environmental damage the drilling does is none of his concerns. All he wants is that oil. When the oil comes out from the ground, we also award him the contract to take the oil from us. He brings his tanker, loads the oil and brings it to his own country where he refines it. He pays less than $12 per barrel for the crude oil. He refines the crude into several different products, which are then sent back to us at more than $65 per barrel. In the l998 year,

Exxon generated revenues of $100 billion, Mobil $47 billion, Texaco $32 billion and Chevron $27 billion. The revenues of these four companies almost outstripped the revenues of all the 50 Black African countries south of the Sahara combined. Let's take a country like Nigeria for instance. It is the so-called giant of Africa, the leader of the Black world. Nigeria is the seventh largest oil producing country in the world. Nigerians pride themselves as one of the most educated people in the world. It has all kinds of engineers, including petroleum and geological engineers. Oil was discovered in Nigeria in 1948. But you know what? Nigeria still imports refined oil at exorbitant rates. It does not have engineers who prospect for the oil; it does not have engineers who drill for the oil; it does not have engineers who refine the oil. It imports the oil. Nigeria has two oil refineries - all built by foreigners.

To maintain these refineries they must import the experts (Caucasians) who built the refineries to repair any minor problems. When one of the refineries was out of production for a long time in 1998, over $475 million was awarded to repair it. Despite the fact that the refinery has been in existence for more than 15 years, Nigerians had not learned to repair the refinery. That contract of $475 million would have gone a long way in spreading the wealth of that huge amount across all strata of the society. It would have created over $10 billion of wealth in the country, which similarly was the amount which has been created in the country that received this award. As we enter the 21st century, Africans don't have the capacity to discover oil; they don't have the capacity to drill for the oil; they don't have the capability to refine the oil; they don't have the capacity to transport the oil to the destination where it would be refined; they don't have the vessel to transport the oil back to us for consumption.

At a time when Indians and the Pakistanis have both detonated the atom bomb, when China is providing the technology for quick acceleration of launching satellites into orbit, Africans still don't have the capacity even to refine the oil for themselves. In Black America today, the situation is the same as in Africa. Blacks make up the second largest group of Americans. Economically, Black American communities are under occupation by others.

I have been spending a lot of time lately in Harlem - the so-called capital of Black America. Boasting about such a place as a capital of Black America is one of the greatest insults that could be bestowed on African-Americans. It is an insult. From the hub of Harlem, 125th Street, you can understand what I am saying. Here is a so-called capital of 36 million people. Going from one establishment to another in Harlem, all the people I saw behind the counter were not people of my color. Approximately 95% of the people who live in Harlem are blacks. Conversely, only 10% of the buildings in Harlem are owned by Blacks. If you are a slave, you cannot be independent and distinct from the whims and caprices or dictates of your conquerors.

The present generation of Africans has mortgaged the future of the following generation of Africans by the huge debt they have accumulated. Africa owes the world $375 billion. It means that the average African - man, woman, or child - will have to repay upwards of $5,000 in their present life time. This is not a $500 question or debt. We are talking of $5,000 for every African living to repay the $375 billion in debt. Yet, all we do is ask for more debts. We beg all the time for the West to come in and take more control of the iron hand they have already clasped on us. But travel from one end of Africa to another. Go from one country to another.

The story is the same. $375 billion, and there is nothing to show for it. Africa spends more money servicing its debt, in other words paying interest to the Western world, than it spends on infrastructural development. If you are talking of a state of Black economy, you have to talk about a people who are able to create products from its inception to market. You cannot talk of an economy where the people are mere consumers. Take a walk through the theaters of the marketplace. When you wake up in the morning, what is the first thing you do? Of course, you turn on the light - electricity. There is no electric utility company owned by Blacks either in Africa or the Diaspora.

Even the lanterns which are still used in most African villages, are imported. You shower. You show me a water company owned by Blacks. Though Africans have water companies, they invariably still have to be built and maintained for them by Europeans. In the Black community, all the products they use are produced by other people. That is not an economy. This is a lesson we should learn. When the Caucasian needed slaves to work in their farms, they made Blacks their machines. They found these machines much slower when they invented the horse-drawn plough and they became superfluous. When they found the cold unbearable, they invented heating systems.

When they found summer heat unbearable, they invented the air conditioner. When they needed a way of talking to one another without visiting each other, they invented the telephone. When they stopped the practice of town-crier, they invented the radio. When they found writing with pens too slow, they first invented the typewriter and now the computer. When they needed to get to a destination faster than riding on the horse, they invented the automobile. They invented the ship to be able to cross wide expanses of water. When the need arose to get somewhere even faster, the Wright brothers came to the rescue and invented the airplane.

Every other people of "color," the Japanese, Chinese, the Indians - assuming white is not a color - have appropriated all the technology and made them their own. In fact, they have learned so well that they produce these products better than the people who orginally invented them. That is the mark of intelligence.

There is the reality check for a Capitalist Nigger. He is not in the habit of deluding himself about the grandeur of his ancestors. He acknowledges it. He does not live on it. His reality check is that the strong must inherit the earth. He understands that the world is a jungle. It is kill or be killed.

He understands that if you don't produce what you eat; if you don't manufacture what you use; and if you don't understand how to articulate and conceptualize your concerns to your people, there cannot be a solution. He understands that the State of Black Economy can only be created when a group of young Black men and women decide to dare to be successful. Yes, we have to dare to be successful. When there was segreation, there was an Black economy. There were thriving Black banks, insurance companies, hotels, convention centers, stores catering to Blacks. The Black economy thrived.

Blacks were forced to buy from Blacks. The meager salaries that they earned stayed in the Black community and created jobs and a stabilized community. All that is gone. Blacks knew how to patronize one another. Segregation does not have to rear its ugly head again for Blacks to know it is time that they started patronizing Black businesses again. There has to be a parallel to Citigroup; there has to be a parallel to MCIWorldcom; there has to be parallel to Apple Computer. All these are attainable goals. It would be foolhardy to talk of creating another Microsoft, a General Motors, an AT&T. The largest black bank - the Carver Bancorp Inc. - had assets of $420 million; while its Caucasian counterpart, the Citigroup had assets of $668 billion - that's $168 billion more than the combined revenues of all Blacks in 1998. Yet, out of the $500 billion that Blacks generated, the total assets of the largest 25 Black banks amounted to only $4.5 billion. If you cannot buy African, there is absolutely no way you are going to create a Black economy.

We must have to learn from East Indians, who have done so well in integrating their economy in this country. In another section of this book, we discussed how the East Indians had taken over the newsstand business in New York City, and its taxi and limousine business. Apart from these, they have also taken over the motel and medium sized hotel business through the country, as well as most of the gas stations. They have been able to do so through combining their assets and creating a totally integrated community.

From the food he easts to the shoes, and any other thing he needs, he can get it from another Indian. In this way, they keep the money they make from others circulating only within their community. It is what I call the "Spider-Web Economic Doctrine."In economic terms, when you invest a dollar in another community, you have immediately created $8.000 for that community; and that $8.00 will eventually result in creating $164 for that community through the multiplier effect. You can calculate this and see why the East Indians who have recently made America their home, have been able to accumulate money and wealth so quickly to become a force in the economic and political playing field. East Indians control their community economically.

They own the houses they live in. The money they used to buy those homes was either generated independently or borrowed from an Indian mortgage lender. All the businesses conducted within East Indian communities are totally owned by Indians. They have learned the lesson of never allowing their money to get out of their community. They found a niche, and they seized it. They took over businesses which were already running successfully. They didn't have to build a new mouse trap. They found a way to use an already existing mouse trap.

Through the absolute control of their economy and the "Spider-Web Economic Doctrine", they are now playing in the bigger leagues by taking over existing major companies just as they had done with the small ones. A Capitalist Nigger understands that for the Black economy to be created, he must have to create a niche for himself. The movement to restart the Black economy must be planned with absolute focus, with each individual focusing on how he can contribute to making it a reality. There are some Capitalist Niggers who have already begun the movement. One night, I was watching Jay Leno of NBC's Late Night with Jay Leno. One of his guests that night was Michael Jordan. Leno wanted to know why Jordan did not proceed with his purchase of the NBA franchise Charlotte Hornets. Jordan replied that the owners had a different understanding of what he wanted his investment in the club to do. "I cannot put my money where I don't have total control," said Jordan. Michael Jordan, in this case, understood what it means to be a Capitalist Nigger. This war to restart the Black Economy must be fought by educated consumers and capitalists.

Take a moment to take cognizance of your surrounding. Make a mental note of all the things within that surrounding. Calculate how much those things cost you. Remember from whom and where you purchased the products. In purchasing those products did you enhance or deter the creation of Black wealth? If you had to do it all over again, how would you change what you did earlier? The Mercedes-Benz or Lexus or Jaguar you have parked outside. Where did you get it from? What exactly did the purchase of such a luxury car do for you? If it was a necessary purchase, would it have served your interest and the interest of the community better if you had checked throughout the country to find out which Black automobile dealerships carried the brand. Was it necessary to have purchased a brand from a company which has consistently shown disrespect and insult to you and your community? If you answered no, then you have it within your power to change things around next time you have to make such a purchase or any purchase at all.

Whether it is a dollar purchase or a million dollar purchase, the thought process must be focused on maximizing the interest of the community. We must assess every option. The re-education of our people is the first step in the Capitalist Nigger's arsenal to begin to reclaim and rebuild a State of Black Economy. We must start individually, conquer the urge for frivolous purchasing without first applying the litmus test. The whole of the African race is under economic occupation. You cannot achieve a true political independence without at the same time achieving economic independence.

The so-called political independence we think we have now is merely an illusion. It is meaningless. It is not supported by any solid foundation. A house without solid foundation is bound to crumple sooner or later. Without economic independence, sooner or later, we will be recolonized politically."WHETHER BLACK OR WHITE YOUR POINT OF VIEW IS APPRECIATED IN THIS MATTERI personally think it is shit but it is a wake up call for black people just accept and move on and make a change the way you think.

This is a brilliant book though..

APPEAL TO AFRICAN ELITES

I am working for rural development internationally particularly for African countries. I have visited Africa four times and moved in several countries and I am trying to understand African people with a keen interest.

I am very much distressed to see dangerous disparity in all the African countries i.e. only a handful of people having captured most of the wealth of the country and millions of masses remaining hand to mouth. I have also observed that most of the races of Africa have inner spirit and good capabilities to come up in line with so called civilised and developed countries.

So I am very much optimistic that Africa is competent enough to come out as the strongest continent of the world in a very short period of 10 to 20 years and can provide alternative to the western life style which has no future as it is based on exploitation of the entire world. I am humbly describing myself as real friend and real well wisher of African people because I have burning desire to remove their merciless exploitation being done through various multinational and big companies. I want to humbly show real path of happiness for common masses. I am carrying in my heart certain BASIC CONVICTIONS which force me to suggest that if the path which I am recommending is followed by African people, it will bring economic revolution in Africa and also in the world in one or two decades through which Africa will come out as the strongest continent.

But I have painfully observed that most of the elite class of every African country is under illusion that model of development and progress imposed on them by developed countries is correct and path of development and progress shown by developed countries is real path. So all the Governments of Africa follow the same pattern of development as Europe and U.S.A. followed. So every African country is trying to establish big industries, is trying to develop highways, cities, power stations, ports, airports and infrastructure required by giant industries. I VENTURE TO ASSERT THAT THIS IS NOT THE PATH OF HAPPINESS BUT THIS IS THE PATH OF EXPLOITATION AND PERMANENT SLAVERY OF AFRICAN PEOPLE

If you want homogenious development and progress of entire society of millions of masses,you have to evolve your own economic strategy based on local self reliance atleast for primary needs of people i.e. for food, cloth and shelter. Very evidently this type of local self reliance can be achieved through cottage scale family size industries based on small and simple technology. When I came to know about big maize mills purchasing maize from hundreds of villages, I was really shocked. Tremendious amount of exploitation can be eliminated simply by establishing tiny tiny maize mills everywhere where ever necessary. Maize milling is the simplest technology. A very ordinary workshop can manufacture maize mills. But it is a painful wonder that throughout Africa, big big maize mills are working resulting in to heavy exploitation of common masses. Nature of technology is such that complicated machinery makes simple thing also complicated.

Primary needs such as maize flour, wheat flour, rice, cooking oil, sugar, jaggery, tea coffee, soap, cloth, bricks, tiles and building materials etc. are all simple things and all these things must be manufactured at cottage scale level with very simple and cheap technology. THIS IS THE PATH OF HAPPINESS. BIG COMPLICATED MACHINERY HAS NO PLACE IN MANUFACTURING PRIMARY NEEDS OF PEOPLE. WHENEVER AND WHERE EVER YOU VIOLATE THIS PRINCIPLE, YOU GIVE RISE TO EXPLOITION, ANY COUNTRY OR SOCIETY WHICH IS BEING EXPLOITED FOR PRIMARY NEEDS OF PEOPLE, CAN NEVER COME UP AND IS DESTINED TO RUIN.

Many people raise doubts that how all the primary needs can be fulfilled through cottage industries. How cloth and sugar can be produced at cottage scale. I know that number of such questions can be raised. I must admit that I have no ready made solution for every such question. But I do have strong faith and conviction that every such question can be transformed in to a pleasant solution if dedicated efforts are made to develop small and simple technology for every kind of primary needs. You must know that previously world best quality cloth was produced in millions of houses of India since centuries with very simple tools and equipments not costing even 100 dollars. It can be still produced in millions of houses if controls imposed on cottage industries for favouring giant centralised economy are abolished.

A very fine quality of jaggery (hygenically better than sugar) is still produced at cottage scale practically at every sugarcane farm in spite of strict controls of our government to abolish this farm level industry for favouring giant sugar factories. Bricks and lime is still a cottage industry througout India. There are atleast 500 tiny flour mills in my city alone (population 9,00,000). Oil milling was also cottage industry throughout India since centuries. Our Government made foolish blunder to abolish it.

So my most sincere advice to African elite class is that "You should immediately return from the dangerous path which leads to exploitation, ruin and perish. You should evolve your own path based on decentralised, small and simple machinery which will have no exploitative capacity. Only such machinery will be blessing to the mankind. Through such simple technology only, you will be able to create homogeniously happy society and such happy society will be right answer, right solution and right alternative to the western type wasteful and exploitative civilisation. THOSE WHO WORK FOR THIS CAUSE ARE REAL FRIENDS OF HUMANITY.

One most common doubt is raised against such tiny industries is that whether such tiny units are economically viable and can compete to big units ? It is really strange that such question is asked from every part of the world. So it seems that entire world is under illusion that big heavy industries are more viable. This is absolutely wrong. In fact tiny units are always more viable than big centralised industries. One can imagine that tiny units enjoy four distinct advantages over big centralised units. i.e. (1) Transport is eliminated or minimized (2) Packaging is eliminated or people use their own tins, bins, jars etc. (3) Middlemen are eliminated. (4) Marketing is eliminated or minimized and hence all evils of marketing such as profiteering, hoarding, speculation, aldulteration, deception, shortage etc. are automatically eliminated. Tiny units for basic needs will work for local consumption with local raw materials. So all the four advantages will go to tiny units. So they are bound to be far strongly more viable than big centralised units. I have proved this contention beyond doubt by establishing 900 tiny cooking oil mills which are running most successfully, most profitably and most satisfactorily in India and 20 African countries. What is true for tiny oil mills can be proved true for other industries of basic needs also.

So I sincerely appeal to all AFRICAN ELITES to come out from false illusions of development, to throw away present theory of development, to ponder over the alarming situation of present age and seriously adopt this pious work of rural development through tiny scale industries with strong faith that entire Africa can be got rid of entire exploitation and entire continent can be made happy without any big industry. I am absolutely confident that one who will determine to work in this direction, will definately meet with great success and he will earn the credit for making great revolutionary changes in Africa through small deeds

RAJKOT
1st, May 1999

C/O http://ata.co.zw/viewinfo.cfm?linkcategoryid=1&linkid=12

A simple recipe for xenophobia

SHOCKING: Police move in to help an unidentified man who was set alight in Reiger Park, south of Johannesburg, Sunday May 18, 2008. The man was rushed to hospital, his present condition is unknown. (AP Photo/Shayne Robinson)

By Justice Malala
PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki and his ANC successor Jacob Zuma were refugees in London, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Nigeria, Swaziland and Mozambique, among other places, between 1962 and 1990.

I mention this for those of my countrymen and women who have short memories. We should be ashamed that it is us who are today raping, looting and killing foreigners apparently because they “steal” our houses and “our women”.
What caused the terrible scenes unfolding in our country today: children beaten and displaced, women raped and men left with pieces of flesh hanging from their faces, homeless and hungry and desperate?

What led to a situation where young men were unashamed to stand in front of television cameras and say they will kill foreigners?

We should not be surprised. For the ANC, led by Zuma and Mbeki, the chickens are coming home to roost.

A cocktail of factors, mixed by the ANC over the past 10 years, is responsible for the barbarism.
These people are behaving like barbarians because the ANC has failed — despite numerous warnings — to act on burning issues that are well known for having sparked similar eruptions across the globe.

This cocktail is made up of stubborn denialism on Zimbabwe, an increasingly incompetent and corrupt police service, poor service delivery and corruption in government departments.
The crime-does-pay culture fostered by the ANC — criminals such as the Travelgate fraudsters walk away scot-free — is a central ingredient of the cocktail.

But the bulk of the cocktail comprises the failed state that is Zimbabwe. The country’s economy has collapsed. Its political leaders, security services and agents are looting the treasury. Zimbabweans are fleeing.

When a state fails, crime goes through the roof. Corruption, characterised by bribery at every turn, becomes the norm. Crucially, crime is exported across the borders of the failed state to neighbouring states.

The Mbeki government’s refusal to even acknowledge the crisis in Zimbabwe has resulted in as many as 3-million Zimbabweans walking the streets of South Africa.

If Mbeki and his deputy president, Zuma, had acted decisively on Zimbabwe nine years ago, when they were told repeatedly by fellow leaders at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Durban to do so, these Zimbabweans would not be here today.

Mbeki’s resolute refusal to address the crisis in Zimbabwe — and his friendship with President Robert Mugabe — has brought them here. His block-headedness is directly responsible for the eruption of xenophobia.

Add to the cocktail the fact that the SA Police Service has become so incompetent and overstretched there is no way that any of the perpetrators of the past week’s atrocities will be brought to book.

Ordinary citizens predicted last week that these riots would spread to the Joburg CBD. When violence erupted downtown on Saturday night, the police were unprepared.

The police have no intelligence- gathering capacity and can hardly explain what is happening today, let alone contain it.

Their failure is rooted in the fact that many of them are taking bribes from foreign refugees anxious to avoid being deported.

Their incompetence is also responsible for the culture — entrenched during the Mbeki-Zuma regime — that crime goes unpunished. After all, these marauding hordes know that Mbeki protected his crony, Jackie Selebi, for years.

There is no respect for the law. These hordes can rape and loot without fear of arrest, let alone prosecution.

The endemic corruption among government officials is an integral part of the cocktail. There is so much corruption in the construction and allocation of government housing that resentment, misplaced or not, is inevitable.

There are no quick fixes to this mess. The removal of Mbeki, as suggested by Mathews Phosa, is not a solution. The problem is that the ANC’s policies have failed.

In the short term it would be an idea for the incompetent minister of safety and security, Charles Nqakula, to get his charges to come down harder on perpetrators. Better intelligence-gathering, including the early identification of potential trouble-makers, would help.

Government leaders such as Mbeki should visit the communities afflicted by this xenophobia, instead of issuing condemnations from Mozambique.

In the long term, some cool heads, efficiency and moral fibre would help. But asking that of the ANC today is asking a little bit too much. These are the same people who are disbanding the Scorpions. Asking them to act in the interests of the country, and not their own narrow interests, is useless. - Sunday Times (SA)

You are what you EAT!

MOTIVATION FOR SUCCESS By Milton Kamwendo.

It is easy to just get anything and pop it into our mouths without thinking about the significance of what we are doing. For some people eating is a form of recreation or hobby. Just because food happens to be there does not mean that it should be eaten. Just because we have been served a certain portion does not always mean the food has to be finished. While it is true that there are people who are starving, there are others whose problem is compulsive eating.

There are people who complain about their weight but never take time to think about the foods they eat, how and when they eat. Unfortunately there are so many items that are promoted as food when they are simply junk — they will amuse our palate but have little nutritional value. There is a difference between feeding and nutrition. We can literally feed on anything but it may not have the right nutritional value we require to fuel and repair our bodies. We become what we eat — one wishes there was a more complicated formula. It is true that we are not all the same genetically and we process food differently but this does not change this basic rule.

What is true for the body is also true for the spirit and for the mind. Greatness is a product of what and how we feed. A starving body is a weak and sick body. A starving mind negative, small thinking and abused too. A starving spirit characterises a life that is not vibrant, inspired and purposeful.

Nutrition for the body

There are so many diseases today that are associated with our eating habits. These include a variety of cancers, stomach illnesses and heart diseases. Most of the fashion fast foods and additive substances are not good for our health. They drip with fat, are not balanced and contain many artificial preservatives, and colorants. While these foods may fill our tummies they do not do a lot of good for our bodies. Their manufacturers would care no less. Before we pop anything into our mouths it is important for us to pause and think what it is and what it will ultimately do to our bodies. We are personally responsible for caring for our bodies — they are the temples that we carry around. Poor eating habits can be likened to dumping junk into the most sacred of temples.

What then should we be eating, drinking and inhaling? Water is the most important part of any diet. Drinking water is very beneficial. Some people would prefer to just take a fizzy drink instead of water. Fizzy drinks are laden with sugar, preservatives and other chemicals.

Water, plain and simple, is the best drink we can ever take. Fresh fruit and vegetables have great nutritional value and are a wonderful source of vitamins. Roots, nuts, bulbs and tubers like peanuts, potatoes are also useful. Grains and cereals are useful as energy foods and roughage. Salads are great sans their dressing which usually offsets their benefits.

Much has been talked about red meat. If one decides to eat it smaller quantities would help. The general rule is that food that is as close as possible to its natural state is best.

There is enough literature on good nutrition and I will now turn to mental and spiritual nutrition.

Mental nutrition

Parents would do anything possible to ensure that their homes have food for their children. However, it is unfortunate that a home that does not have any good books is a starved mental environment. What we feed our minds determines our attitudes, knowledge, beliefs and execution. We think with what we know. The more we feed our minds the more resources we make available for our minds to use for creation and problem solving. When we feed our minds with junk we become mentally obese — full of mere words but devoid of wisdom.

There are times when we work under pressure and have very little time in our hands for reading and personal study. This should never be an excuse for failing to feed mentally. Mobile learning is a very wonderful opportunity that modern technology has made even more convenient and accessible. I have found that an iPod is a wonderful little tool in this regard. It is easy for one to get virtually free a myriad podcasts in one’s area of interest. Besides one could also record audio books and other programmes on this little gadget. What I find amazing is just how much one can store and carry around to listen in the gym, at a doctor’s appointment or in the traffic. For those who are conservative the traditional tape or CD Walkman can be useful. Listening to audio books and presentations turns our cars from being mere vehicles into learning laboratories and universities.

Nothing however beats the charisma of a good book. Anyone who does not read has no real advantage over anyone who cannot read. Books are to the soul what fuel is to a motor vehicle. Apart from books attending seminars, workshops and conferences is a brilliant way to feed the mind with new ideas, thoughts and trends. Certain community groups like Toastmasters, Rotary, and BNI have small segments in their meetings where various speakers are invited make presentations. These can be very useful mental "snacks".

The Internet is a powerful engine for mental nutrition.

The Internet provides an ocean of knowledge on virtually any known subject and an opportunity to interact with like-minded people from every known place in the world. Frequent surfing of subjects of interest is a useful exercise. The Internet carries good, junk and poisonous mental food. It is useful to think about what we are surfing.

Spiritual Nutrition

Spiritual nutrition is an important if not the most important form of nutrition. Being part of an inspiring group of believers in the context of a Church is an important vehicle to continued spiritual nutrition and growth. It is also important to develop personal spiritual practices like prayer, study and reading of the Bible and consistent fellowship. Some people have found that they grow faster spiritually under the guidance of some mentor, teacher or pastor. Spiritually we become like that which we are feeding on.

Life is not just about eating but without eating there can be no life. We need our spirits to be awake and agile in our pursuit of greatness. We need our minds to be alert and prepared. We need our bodies to be healthy and fuelled for the greatness journey.

What we choose to feed the spirit, mind or body determines what we eventually become.

Please note Milton Kamwendo is the Managing Consultant of Innov8 – The Motivation Company. He is a motivational speaker and author of three motivational books: It’s Time to Unleash Your Greatness, Dance and Pursue Your Dreams and Let the Lion in You Roar. For more information visit: www.innov8motivation.com Email: info@innov8.co.zw. Or write to: P.O. Box CY 1993, Harare. Tel: 739867. Blog: http://innov8motivation.blogspot.com

Young Zimbabwean Debators A shining star in the world

THE Zimbabwean debate team, represented by Prince Edward, comprising Leroy Nyarhi, Tashinga Gomera and Paul Kaseke, left Harare on April 27 2008 to compete at the World Schools debate.

They returned as bronze medalists.The PE team were national runners-up in the 2007 Nugget Debate League and they organised themselves during the April holidays to go to Romania to compete in the 2008 edition of FIAT "Let there be" debate competitions. Upon arrival in Romania, the team competed in the preliminary round on the topic, "This house should stand against Nationalism".

There were four more rounds to follow but in this particular level Zimbabwe, who were opposing the motion, were impressive and successfully defended their motion. Leroy and Paul earned the best speakers’ accolades in this round.

The second round had the motion "This house stands against video games" and Zimbabwe stood for the motion and, again, they were victors with Paul being voted the best speaker for the session.The team was then called up to defend the motion, "This house regrets the influence of the USA after World War 2" in the third round. Although they lost, Tashinga still came out as the session’s best speaker.

The fourth round was the last disappointment for the Zim team when they had to support the motion, "This house would justify corporal punishment". But Leroy and Paul were again best speakers in the lost debate.The fifth and final round had the motion "This house believes only democracies should vote in the UN General Assembly" and Zim were against the motion.Leroy and Tashinga were the best speakers in this enticing encounter.

The Zim team’s speakers were voted the most powerful and convincing speakers of the competition. This was because in all its debates, the best speaker award came to the Zim team regardless of the team’s result.After calculating the overall points, Leroy was voted third best speaker internationally while his team mates, Paul and Tashinga, came fourth and sixth respectively.

They each received US$1 000 and PE was invited to Botswana by popular hip-hop artiste Scar who was taken aback by their performance to train debators in his country.

Mr Tawona Zvongouya accompanied the Zim team to Romania and was recognised as both an international adjudicator and debating coach.He was invited to train local teachers in Romania to coach and adjudicate.Overally the trip was a resounding success and this was confirmed by the standing ovation that the team received aboard the return flight to Zimbabwe from passengers.

In Romania the team saw the second largest building in the world, which is the Parliament Building in Bucharest, and also had a chance to visit Brasov and Sinaia.There was an amazing exchange of culture and ideas and all the 80 participating teams had a lot to learn from each other. It was a great tour.

The writer, Tashinga Gomera, is a Lower Six student at Prince Edward High School.

Double life for Zimbabweans in the Diaspora

By Norah Spie

ALLOW me to interrupt your normal reading and introduce myself, and my new self-titled column on New Zimbabwe.com.

My name, as you have gathered from the above, is Norah Spie, a journalist from Harare now based in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Oh, Spie is my maiden name and yes I am Zimbabwean!
So how did I end up having a strange name (at least that's what I have been told)? Well, its a long story but the short of it, is that we used our grandfather's first name, who was called Spie Murindagomo. If you are interested in the long version then its all in my book, Parallel Lines.
Some of you will remember me from my days at The Herald in Zimbabwe (just to be clear because I later worked for the Herald and Post in Luton). I had a daily task of reporting on the government diary and once a week I had my very own a lifestyle page.

Since moving abroad, I have been freelancing for various newspapers including the The Voice (London) and The Independent. I have also moved into broadcasting which I find very interesting, but writing will remain my passion.

In this brand new column for New Zimbabwe.com, I will be writing about life matters. The stories that affect our every day lives, but with a light-hearted approach.
The world we live in now is so busy that it is easy to forget about the little things that really matter. The news from home is distressing, but I want you to read this column and hopefully laugh..........................................................Do you ever stop and think who you are? Where you came from and where you are going?

We often hear that phrase, 'don't forget where you came from', but what does it mean? How does one balance between knowing your past and not being stuck in the past?
Lately, I have been having difficulties in accepting that I might spend the rest of my life in a foreign country. Everywhere you look there is something reminding you that you don't belong. Is it all in the head or are these signs for real?

As an individual, that choice might be the one to make or break you.
Then there is the issue of having a 'double life'. I'm talking about how Zimbabweans have to take care of themselves here and families back home. That is no easy task but for many years now, this has been the order of the day.

This 'double life' existence has given some people in the diaspora a reputation for not 'taking care' of themselves here compared to other Africans because we send all our money home.
Zimbabwean women are often accused of not spending enough on hair, make-up and clothes while the men are laughed at by their African counterparts for just wearing the same old baggy jeans and hideous American T-shirts.

Have we got our priorities wrong or is it a matter of "not forgetting where we came from"?
What I find curious is that on the other hand, they say Zimbabweans are too westernised, referring to the fact that we do not have a national dress or lavish African dishes and how most of us thought plantain was some funny-looking banana, but these very people have given up on Africa because they don't run two families like most of us do, they don't invest in their own land like us. So who is westernised there?

What our fellow African brothers and sisters don't realise is, unlike other Africans in the diaspora, Zimbabweans dream of the day they will go back home. Nobody knows if this dream will come true but it is better to be prepared for it so that if it does come true, you have fixed assets in your own land.

I often wonder if that dream is stopping people from making sound developments where they live today. How long are we going to live in a temporary state of mind? Isn't it time to let go of the past and start living the present?

Some people still work very hard like they did in the first six months of entering a foreign country. There is nothing wrong with working hard but we need to be smart about it. People are neglecting their well-being in the name of money. Yes we live in a capitalised world but it is up to us to balance the act. Love yourself, be proud, stop and think about what is really important. It is quite easy to get stuck in a rote.

Everyday life is a battle with an invisible enemy. Sometimes we create the enemy among ourselves. If you speak to anyone in the diaspora who has visited home recently, they will tell you it was no holiday. After working extremely hard, one often looks forward to going home for a break but often they come back even more stressed out because everyone home expects the one living abroad to pay for everything.

That is one end, the other end is when you see your friends who never left doing much better than you and you start to wonder if moving was a smart idea in the first place. I think it is time to put it right.

Zimbabweans in the UK are partly to blame. Remember about five or six years ago when UK banks were dishing out loans like food about to go bad? People back home were seeing UK based Zimbabweans purchasing properties within a few months of being here and it looked easy. But things that are too good to be true usually are. Its like a salesman that offers you a free pen after you have signed your life away!

It is not easy to have been born and brought up in one culture and then spend adult life in a totally different society, a society that promotes individualism. What we have to do is keep the good aspects of our culture and adopt other good aspects of the new cultures we are now encountering because of our lives.

So where-ever life has taken you, be it Malaysia, Estonia, Qatar, Cuba, Finland or the more common places like Canada, USA, New Zealand, Australia, Mozambique, the United Kingdom or Europe, remember to keep your head up and say a prayer for our beloved Zimbabwe.

Norah Spie's new weekly column appears here every Wednesday. You can e-mail her at n_spie@hotmail.com. Her new book, Parallel Lines, is available at many good bookshops and you can also order it online from AMAZON