Obama, the African Colonial

American Thinker ^ | June 25, 2009 | L.E. Ikenga

[neverdem]

Had Americans been able to stop obsessing over the color of Barack Obama's skin and instead paid more attention to his cultural identity, maybe he would not be in the White House today. The key to understanding him lies with his identification with his father, and his adoption of a cultural and political mindset rooted in postcolonial Africa.

Like many educated intellectuals in postcolonial Africa, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. was enraged at the transformation of his native land by its colonial conqueror. But instead of embracing the traditional values of his own tribal cultural past, he embraced an imported Western ideology, Marxism. I call such frustrated and angry modern Africans who embrace various foreign "isms", instead of looking homeward for repair of societies that are broken, African Colonials. They are Africans who serve foreign ideas.

The tropes of America's racial history as a way of understanding all things black are useless in understanding the man who got his dreams from his father, a Kenyan exemplar of the African Colonial.

Before I continue, I need to say this: I am a first generation born West African-American woman whose parents emigrated to the U.S. in the 1970's from the country now called Nigeria. I travel to Nigeria frequently. I see myself as both a proud American and as a proud Igbo (the tribe that we come from -- also sometimes spelled Ibo). Politically, I have always been conservative (though it took this past election for me to commit to this once and for all!); my conservative values come from my Igbo heritage and my place of birth. Of course, none of this qualifies me to say what I am about to -- but at the same time it does.

My friends, despite what CNN and the rest are telling you, Barack Obama is nothing more than an old school African Colonial who is on his way to turning this country into one of the developing nations that you learn about on the National Geographic Channel. Many conservative (East, West, South, North) African-Americans like myself -- those of us who know our history -- have seen this movie before. Here are two main reasons why many Americans allowed Obama to slip through the cracks despite all of his glaring inconsistencies:

First, Obama has been living on American soil for most of his adult life. Therefore, he has been able to masquerade as one who understands and believes in American democratic ideals. But he does not. Barack Obama is intrinsically undemocratic and as his presidency plays out, this will become more obvious. Second, and most importantly, too many Americans know very little about Africa. The one-size-fits-all understanding that many Americans (both black and white) continue to have of Africa might end up bringing dire consequences for this country.

Contrary to the way it continues to be portrayed in mainstream Western culture, Africa is not a continent that can be solely defined by AIDS, ethnic rivalries, poverty and safaris. Africa, like any other continent, has an immense history defined by much diversity and complexity. Africa's long-standing relationship with Europe speaks especially to some of these complexities -- particularly the relationship that has existed between the two continents over the past two centuries. Europe's complete colonization of Africa during the nineteenth century, also known as the Scramble for Africa, produced many unfortunate consequences, the African colonial being one of them.

The African colonial (AC) is a person who by means of their birth or lineage has a direct connection with Africa. However, unlike Africans like me, their worldviews have been largely shaped not by the indigenous beliefs of a specific African tribe but by the ideals of the European imperialism that overwhelmed and dominated Africa during the colonial period. AC's have no real regard for their specific African traditions or histories.  AC's use aspects of their African culture as one would use pieces of costume jewelry: things of little or no value that can be thoughtlessly discarded when they become a negative distraction, or used on a whim to decorate oneself in order to seem exotic. (Hint: Obama's Muslim heritage).

On the other hand, AC's strive to be the best at the culture that they inherited from Europe. Throughout the West, they are tops in their professions as lawyers, doctors, engineers, Ivy League professors and business moguls; this is all well and good. It's when they decide to engage us as politicians that things become messy and convoluted.

The African colonial politician (ACP) feigns repulsion towards the hegemonic paradigms of Western civilization. But at the same time, he is completely enamored of the trappings of its aristocracy or elite culture. The ACP blames and caricatures whitey to no end for all that has gone wrong in the world. He convinces the masses that various forms of African socialism are the best way for redressing the problems that European colonialism motivated in Africa. However, as opposed to really being a hard-core African Leftist who actually believes in something, the ACP uses socialist themes as a way to disguise his true ambitions: a complete power grab whereby the "will of the people" becomes completely irrelevant.

Barack Obama is all of the above. The only difference is that he is here playing (colonial) African politics as usual.  

In his 1995 memoir, Dreams From My Father -- an eloquent piece of political propaganda -- Obama styles himself as a misunderstood intellectual who is deeply affected by the sufferings of black people, especially in America and Africa. In the book, Obama clearly sees himself as an African, not as a black American. And to prove this, he goes on a quest to understand his Kenyan roots. He is extremely thoughtful of his deceased father's legacy; this provides the main clue for understanding Barack Obama.

Barack Obama Sr. was an African colonial to the core; in his case, the apple did not fall far from the tree. All of the telltale signs of Obama's African colonialist attitudes are on full display in the book -- from his feigned antipathy towards Europeans to his view of African tribal associations as distracting elements that get in the way of "progress".  (On p. 308 of Dreams From My Father, Obama says that African tribes should be viewed as an "ancient loyalties".)

Like imperialists of Old World Europe, the ACP sees their constituents not as free thinking individuals who best know how to go about achieving and creating their own means for success. Instead, the ACP sees his constituents as a flock of ignorant sheep that need to be led -- oftentimes to their own slaughter.

Like the European imperialist who spawned him, the ACP is a destroyer of all forms of democracy.

Here are a few examples of what the British did in order to create (in 1914) what is now called Nigeria and what Obama is doing to you: 

1. Convince the people that "clinging" to any aspect of their cultural (tribal) identity or history is bad and regresses the process of "unity". British Imperialists deeply feared people who were loyal to anything other than the state. "Tribalism" made the imperialists have to work harder to get people to just fall in line. Imperialists pitted tribes against each other in order to create chaos that they then blamed on ethnic rivalry. Today many "educated" Nigerians, having believed that their traditions were irrelevant, remain completely ignorant of their ancestry and the history of their own tribes.
2. Confiscate the wealth and resources of the area that you govern by any means necessary in order to redistribute wealth. The British used this tactic to present themselves as empathetic and benevolent leaders who wanted everyone to have a "fair shake". Imperialists are not interested in equality for all. They are interested in controlling all.  
3. Convince the masses that your upper-crust university education naturally puts you on an intellectual plane from which to understand everything even when you understand nothing. Imperialists were able to convince the people that their elite university educations allowed them to understand what Africa needed. Many of today's Nigerians-having followed that lead-hold all sorts of degrees and certificates-but what good are they if you can't find a job?   
4. Lie to the people and tell them that progress is being made even though things are clearly becoming worse.  One thing that the British forgot to mention to their Nigerian constituents was that one day, the resources that were being used to engineer "progress" (which the British had confiscated from the Africans to begin with!) would eventually run out. After WWII, Western Europe could no longer afford to hold on to their African colonies. So all of the counterfeit countries that the Europeans created were then left high-and-dry to fend for themselves. This was the main reason behind the African independence movements of the1950 and 60's. What will a post-Obama America look like?
5. Use every available media outlet to perpetuate the belief that you and your followers are the enlightened ones-and that those who refuse to support you are just barbaric, uncivilized, ignorant curmudgeons.  This speaks for itself.

America, don't be fooled. The Igbos were once made up of a confederacy of clans that ascribed to various forms of democratic government. They took their eyes off the ball and before they knew it, the British were upon them. Also, understand this: the African colonial who is given too much political power can only become one thing: a despot.

L.E. Ikenga can be reached at leikenga@gmail.com.

[LucyT]

. . . . While we're on the subject of Roman 0bama v Barack 0bama, check out # 501 - (there's more throughout the thread.)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2278969/posts?page=501#501

[Thanks Fred Nerks and thouworm.]

[Brown Deer]

ping

[hoosiermama]

Ask FARS to verify the translation.

[Fred Nerks]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2479793/posts?page=676#676

FARS, maybe I could ask you if you would check the translation of this article?

Mojitojoe, thanks for the suggestion, the dates are interesting, aren’t they?

[hoosiermama]

BP look at this post by Fred.

[Fred Nerks]

Equatorial Guinea was a Spanish Colony - the dates would have been written DAY MONTH YEAR:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2479793/posts?page=683#683

[Fred Nerks]

date unknown

[LucyT]

"The mother of American Presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, Mrs. Ann Dunham lived in Pakistan for five years. During this time, Barack Obama also visited his mother and stayed for a few month. Mrs. Ann Dunham was hired as a consultant by the Asian Development Bank for Pakistan Agricultural Development Bank’s Gujranwalla Agricultural Development Program. This program began in 1987 and ended in 1992.

"Mrs. Ann Dunham monitored the funds received for this program from the Asian Development Bank and trained the Mobile Credit Officers of the Agricultural Bank. This program was controlled from the Gujranwalla Regional Office. She stayed for five years in the Hilton International Hotel (now Avari Hotel), Lahore. She travelled daily from Lahore to Gujranwalla. When Barack Obama visited Pakistan, he stayed in the same hotel."

Wonder why is she Mrs. Ann Dunham? Dunham was her maiden name, not her married name. Everything about that family is strange/weird/odd.

[Fred Nerks]

By Aamir Latif, IOL Correspondent

Many Pakistanis remain grateful to the assistance of Mrs Ann. (Google photo)

LAHORE — Most Pakistanis are angry with White House hopeful Barak Obama's adventurous intentions to mount attacks inside their country, yet many of them feel otherwise about his mother who spent five years in the eastern Punjab province. "Obama is the son of an honorable lady, who has served for Pakistan. I am sure he will not turn out to be a dangerous person for our country," Jamal Hassan, a student of Ann Dunham, told Islamonline.net.

When Ann came to Pakistan in October 1987 to serve as an Asian Development Bank consultant she used her full name, Ann Dunham Sudoro, because by the time she had divorced Obama's father and married an Indonesian.

She supervised the implementation of an ADB project for developing the agriculture and cottage industry in the rural areas of Punjab, the most populous province of Pakistan, through micro-financing.

Her additional responsibility was to train the mobile credit officers of Pakistan’s agriculture development bank.

She stayed in Lahore’s Avari towers hotel and used to out-back daily from Lahore, the capital of Punjab, to the northeastern city of Gujranwala, some 70 kilometers away.

"I had never thought that the son of my teacher would become such an important figure," said Hassan, who was one of 30 mobile credit officers trained by Mrs Dunham Ann in Gujranwala.

He has been in touch with Senator Obama.

"When I introduced myself to him (through email) as a student of his mother, he thought that I was an American. But when I introduced myself as a Pakistani citizen, he expressed his happiness and thanked me for remembering him and his mother."

Obama's mother died of ovarian cancer in 1995 at the age of 52.

Helpful

Mohammad Aslam, who served as a peon at Mrs Ann’s office from 1987 to 1992, shares many happy memories.

"She was a wonderful lady. She never misbehaved with us," he told IOL.

"The best thing I found in her was her punctuality. She used to travel 70 Kilometers every day, but during five years, she had never been late," Aslam remembers.

"We still miss her."

Mrs Ann’s had to convince the people residing in villages to borrow micro-finance loans and establish their own businesses.

"Though, she didn’t know much about the local language, she had a great communication skill," Hassan remembers.

"She convinced scores of women (belonging to cottage industry) to establish their own businesses and earn while sitting at home. They (women) otherwise could have never thought about establishing and running a business in a feudal society."

Mohammed Arif, whose parents borrowed a micro-finance loan through Mrs Ann and established their own businesses, remains thankful to her.

"She convinced my mother and father to borrow loans and buy sewing machines and a buffalo respectively," he told IOL.

"Many years have passed but we still remember that lady because it was she who played a major role in changing our lifestyle.

"She sincerely wanted to alleviate poverty from the area," says a grateful Arif.

Rakhi, a 70-year-old local woman who too borrowed a loan under the ADP project and established a small cottage industry at her home in Gujranwala, recalls some interesting habits of Mrs Ann.

"She turned out to be very fond of Pakistani spicy food. Initially, she felt hard to digest the spicy food, but soon she got used to it."

Rakhi says Mrs Ann knew how to make friends.

"Many of us observed Pardah (veil), and were shy to meet a Gori (white) modern woman. But believe me, we became good friends soon though we didn’t know each other’s language."

Peaceful Obama

The Pakistanis who have been touched by Mrs Ann are very hopeful her son will not do any harm to their country.

"We exchange emails on and off. He has always been very polite and humble in line with his mother," says Hassan.

Although a recent survey by the Washington Times shows that a majority of Pakistanis consider Obama a danger man, he disagrees.

"Obama has been cherished by his mother, who is so kind and polite. I am sure, she has instill that kindness and humbleness in him.

"I am sure, he will cause no harm to us. He will think and do for the betterment of humanity."

Arif, whose parents borrowed a micro-finance loan through Mrs Ann, agrees.

"I wish him all the best. I am sure he will take care of our interest while keeping his mother’s relationship with Pakistan in view."

Rakhi, the elder woman helped by his mother, wants Obama to win the US presidential elections.

"Though, I have never seen him, he is the son of my friend and benefactor. My wishes are with him."

SOURCE

[Fred Nerks]

Obama is no stranger to Pakistan

Thursday, November 06, 2008
By Amir Mir

LAHORE: The 44th president-elect of the United States of America Barack Hussain Obama is no stranger to Pakistan as he had travelled to Karachi in 1981 as a college student at the age of 20 and stayed in the Sindh province for full three weeks.

Obama’s mother had also worked as a consultant to the Asian Development Bank for five long years in one of the least developed cities of PunjabóGujranwala—considered one of the biggest slums of South Asia.

Addressing a fundraiser at San Francisco on April 5, 2008, Obama, an African-American, had referred to a 1981 trip he made to Pakistan during his college years. A New York Times report of April 6, 2008 quoted Obama as having said in his speech that he actually came to know of the disparity between Sunnis and Shias only after his Pakistan visit.

The paper said his mentioning of Pakistan was apparently aimed at boosting his foreign policy credentials to offset those of his contenders Senator John McCain and Senator Hillary Clinton. “Foreign policy is the area where I am probably most confident that I know more and understand the world better than Senator Clinton or Senator McCain,” the newspaper quoted Obama as having said in his April 5, 2008 speech.

His campaign press secretary Bill Burton subsequently gave inquiring journalists more details of Obama’s Pakistan visit. US Today of April 10, 2008 quoted Bill as saying: “Mr Obama had visited Pakistan for three weeks after visiting his mother Mrs Ann Dunham and half-sister, Maya Soetoro, in Indonesia.

He had travelled with a college friend whose family used to live in Karachi.” As a matter of fact, Obama had travelled to Pakistan after leaving Occidental College in Los Angeles in 1981 to transfer to the Columbia University in New York.

The Afghan war was at its peak at that time and the US State Department had already issued a warning for Americans travelling to Pakistan.An August 14, 2008 report by the Associated Press even alleged that Obama had actually travelled to Pakistan under his Muslim name—Barry Soetero—while using an Indonesian passport.

As a matter of fact, Barack Obama Junior was born to Barack Obama Senior, a black Kenyan, and Ann Dunham, a white American. Barack Obama Senior and Mrs Ann Dunham were divorced when their son Obama was two.

Obama Senior, who had died in a car accident in 1982, met his son only once after the divorce. Ann Dunham later married Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian Muslim.

A news report carried by a US-based website www.pakistaniat.com http://www.pakistaniat.com/ in Sept 2008 stated while quoting the US media that Barack Obama had many Pakistani friends during his college days, and it was friendship that brought him to Pakistan. In his memoir, Dreams from My Father, Obama talks of having a Pakistani roommate when he moved to New York, a man he calls Sadik (his 1982 roommate at an apartment at a sixth-floor walkup on East 94th Street). Obama describes Sadik as a short, well-built Pakistani who smoked marijuana, snorted cocaine and liked to party. During his years at the Occidental College, Barack befriended Wahid Hamid, a fellow student and an immigrant from Pakistan. Wahid Hamid is now a vice president at Pepsico in New York. His third Pakistani friend was Imad Husain, a Pakistani, who is now a Boston-based banker.

According to www.pakistaniat.com , during his Pakistan visit, Obama stayed in Karachi with the family of his college friend Hassan Chandeo. Now a self employed financial consultant living in Armonk in Westchester County of New York, Hassan Chandeo took his African-American college friend on traditional partridge hunting trips to Hyderabad, Larkana, Shikarpur and Jacobabad districts. Partridge hunting is considered a symbol of good hospitality in Sindh. Barack Obama made friends with a Sindhi politician Muhammadmian Soomro as well, who hails from the Shikarpur district of Sindh and is Senate Chairman. The newly elected American president reportedly lived at Muhammad Ali Society residence of Ahmad Mian Soomro, the father of Muhammadmian Soomro.

Another US-based website www.freerepublic.com quoted Time Magazine on September 1, 2008, stating that Obama may have visited Pakistan again in the second half of 1980 and stayed there for a month with his mother who was an employee of the Ford Foundation and posted in Gujranwala as a microfinance consultant for an Asian Development Bank micro-credit finance project that ran from 1987 to 1992.

The report said Mrs Dunham, who died in Hawaii—Obama’s birth place—in 1995 from ovarian cancer, used to stay at Hilton International Hotel in Lahore. She travelled daily from Lahore to Gujranwala and Obama stayed with her in the same hotel which has been already renamed as Avari Hotel, the report added.

http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:OSWpexQzsuoJ:www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp%3Fid%3D145123+http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp%3Fid%3D145123&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk

[Fred Nerks]

[Fred Nerks]

On Surviving against the Odds: Teaching and Editing S. Ann Dunham Posted on 03 February 2010 by Theresa Navarro

Thursday, 4 February 2010 12:00 p.m. – Center for Biographical Research

Stanley Ann Dunham earned a BA in anthropology from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, and soon after moved with her husband, Lolo Soetoro, and her six-year old son, Barack Obama, from Honolulu to Soetoro’s home in Jakarta, Indonesia, where her daughter, Maya Soetoro, was born. From the 1970s through the 1980s, Ann Dunham conducted field research in the Yogyakarta area of Central Java, centering on a village known as Kajar. Her focus was on the nonagricultural enterprises of rural Indonesia, and particularly blacksmithing and other small metalworking industries. This research became the basis for her thousand-plus page PhD dissertation at the University of Hawai‘i, written under the supervision of anthropologist Alice Dewey.

source

Background: B.A. (1950), M.A. (1955) and Ph.D. (1959) from Racliffe College, Harvard University.

I did my doctoral research in Java, Indonesia, in 1952-1954 and have been studying Javanese society ever since, with additional field work among the Maori of New Zealand (1959-60) and among the Javanese community in New Caldonia (1963-64).

I joined the anthropology faculty at the University of Hawai'i in 1963 and have been here ever since.

Research Interests: Economic Anthropology, especially markets; social structure; peasant societies; social change; kinship; Javanese culture.

Selected Writings: In preparation Traditional Powers for a Modern King: The Investiture of Sultan Hamengku Buwono X.

1993 Past Experiences and Problems in Implementing Programs in Poverty Alleviation. In A Review of Poverty Alleviation Efforts in Indonesia, with Michael Dove, N. Dwi Retnandari, and Loekman Soetrisno, for BAPPENAS, Indonesia, pp. 103-135.

1988 Competition, Reciprocity and the Olympic Games. In The Olympics and East/West and South/North Exchange, edited by Kang Shin-pyo, John MacAloon and Roberto DaMatto. The Institute for Ethnological Studies, Hanyang University, pp. 529-537.

1985 Boundary and Batik: A Study of Ambiguous Categories. In Cultural Values and Human Ecology in Southeast Asia, edited by Karl L. Hutterer, A. Terry Rambo and George Lovelace. Michigan Papers on South and Southeast Asia, No. 27, University of Michigan Press.

1970 Ritual as a Mechanism for Urban Adaptation. Man 5:438-448.

1962 Trade and Social Control. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 92:177-190.

1962 Peasant Marketing in Java. N.Y.: Free Press.

SOURCE

[Fred Nerks]

HONOLULU ADVERTISER link

Obama's mother's work focus of UH seminar

By Dan Nakaso Advertiser Staff Writer

excerpts:

UH professor emeritus Alice G. Dewey, Dunham's graduate anthropology adviser, who will be speaking in today's program, said Dunham "made it clear that you had to understand what they (the people you hope to help) are doing and for what. The implication for Sen. Obama is that if you're going to do something intended to help somebody, you better understand the implications and whether it's suited to the economics of that place. Just throwing money at a problem doesn't do it. You really have to understand what you're doing in order to help people."

The implications are profound for potential U.S. policies around the world, Dewey said.

"Here is a woman who not only did a spectacular job as an academic but as a mother of the man who would be president," she said.

She was fascinated by Indonesian textiles and other handicraft and learned to speak Indonesian and some Javanese at UH "because in anthropology you have to talk to people who don't speak English," Dewey said.

"Her husband was off and away to interesting and exotic places and she was adventurous," Dewey said. "The people are charming and the food is great, rather like Hawai'i. She fit in very quickly."

She learned the intricacies of Indonesian crafts and helped arrange loans as small as $50 for artisans to bring in innovations such as electricity and machinery, which revolutionized the way they did business, Dewey said...

Dewey later traveled with Dunham to the same village in Kenya where Obama's father came from and — decades later — saw a video of Obama in the same village near a building that arranged micro loans.

[bgill]

The Pakistanis who have been touched by Mrs Ann are very hopeful her son will not do any harm to their country. "We exchange emails on and off. He has always been very polite and humble in line with his mother," says Hassan.

Any connection with Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan?

[bgill]

Dewey later traveled with Dunham to the same village in Kenya where Obama's father came from

Wonder when "later" was and why.

[Fred Nerks]

I doubt there is any connection.

[Fred Nerks]

Something a little deeper than teacher/student relationship, perhaps?

[bgill]

Dewey’s preface is not posted. Wonder what she wrote.

http://www.dukeupress.edu/books.php3?isbn=978-0-8223-4687-6

Notice people still remember Ann fondly after passing away 15 years ago, but I don’t recall any, not one, friend or acquaintance coming forth about Madelyn who died just a year ago.

[Running On Empty]

marking

[Fred Nerks]

There’ll be a statue in Hawaii of Stanley Ann Dunham...soon. She’s being elevated to sainthood as we speak...