The Power in the Writer

George Ngwane

Description

The book examines the creative industries of Cameroon and Africa and makes bold the cultural triumphant assertion that Africa is home to some of the most diverse cultural patrimony and the most versatile creative professionals. It also discusses indigenous development models and questions the rationale for Eurocentric democratic paradigms which have partly contributed to the demise of a concrete democratic development entitlement in most African countries. Ngwane weaves both the cultural and political strands into a search for a homegrown development web which he calls 'glocalisation'. Ngwane's essays, most of which have animated debate and discourse in national newspapers, online blogs and International journals are lucid in their arguments, poignant in their ideological focus, rich in their non-fiction craftsmanship and urgent in their message delivery. The essays will make good reading for students of Africa studies, Development studies, Politics and Culture.

Sujets

• African Studies

Informations

• Publié par: Langaa RPCIG
• Date de parution: 15 mai 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789956717965
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 11 Mo

Extrait

Africa and Africa is home to some of the most diverse cultural patrimony and the most versatile creative professionals. It also discusses indigenous development models and questions the rationale for Eurocentric democratic paradigms which have partly contributed to the demise of a concrete democratic development African countries. Ngwane weaves both the cultural and political strands into a search for a homegrown development web

s essays, most of which have animated debate and discourse in national newspapers, online blogs and International journals are lucid in their arguments, poignant in their ideological focus, rich in their non- The essays Africa studies, Development

is author of seven books and feature essayist in national and international newspapers, Chairman of the National Book Advisory Board of African Book Publishing Record- Columbia, U.S.A. Recipient, Scholar at African

The Power in the Writer

Mwalimu George Ngwane

Francis B Nyamnjoh Stories from Abakwa Mind Searching The Disillusioned African The Convert Souls Forgotten

Dibussi Tande No Turning Back. Poems of Freedom 19901993

Kangsen Feka Wakai Fragmented Melodies

Ntemfac Ofege Namondo. Child of the Water Spirits

Emmanuel Fru Doh Not Yet Damascus The Fire Within

Thomas Jing Tale of an African Woman

Peter Wuteh Vakunta Grassfields Stories from Cameroon

Ba'bila Mutia Coils of Mortal Flesh

Kehbuma Langmia Titabet and The Takumbeng

Other Titles byL an gaaRPCIG

Ngessimo Mathe Mutaka Building Capacity: Using TEFL and African languages as developmentoriented literacy tools

Milton Krieger Cameroon's Social Democratic Front: Its History and Prospects as an Opposition Polit ical party, 19902011

Sammy Oke Akombi The Raped Amulet The Woman Who Ate Python

Susan Nkwentie Nde Precipice

Francis B Nyamnjoh & Richard Fonteh Akum The Cameroon GCE Crisis: A Test of Anglophone Solidarity

Joyce Ashuntantang & Dibussi Tande Their Champagne Party Will End! Poems in Honor of Bate Besong

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T h e Po w e r I n T h e W r it e r Collected Essays On Culture, Democracy & Development in Africa

Mwalimu George Ngwane

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LangaaResearch & Publishing CIG Mankon, Bamenda Publisher: LangaaRPCIG (LangaaResearch & Publishing Common Initiative Group) P.O. Box 902 Mankon Bamenda North West Province Cameroon [e-mail] www.langaapublisher.com

ISBN:9956558370

© George Ngwane 2008 First Published 2008

DISCLAIMER All views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Langaa RPCIG.

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Content Prefacevi Introducing Mwalimu George Ngwaneviii Part One: Cultue1 Chapter One: The Power in the writer & the Writer in power2 Chapter Two: The Cameroon Book Industry – challenges and11 changes Chapter Three: Creative industries, Cultural entrepreneurship and18 Political statehood Chapter Four: From Environmental waste to Artistic wealth23 Chapter Five: Towards an Arts and Culture market in Africa(In 27 memory of Nzante Spee (Cameroonian Artist) and Yvonne Vera (Zimbabwean writer) Chapter Six: Cameroonian Cultural Industries: Potentials and32 Promises Chapter Seven: Mongo Beti, The Gadfly37 Chapter Eight: Spectrum Television (STV): The Dream and the40 Drift Part Two: Pan African Democracy46 Chapter Nine: Alternative Democratic models in Africa47 Chapter Ten: The Military and African politics56 Chapter Eleven:Deconstructing liberal Democracy in Africa61 Chapter Twelve: Benin: From Liberal to Social Democracy66 Chapter Thirteen: A Memorandum to the President of the Republic71 of Cameroon Chapter Fourteen: The Opposition and their performance of81 electoral power in Cameroon (1992 – 2007) Chapter Fifteen: What Powers for the Chairman of the African96 Union Commission? Chapter Sixteen: Democracy never dies101 Chapter Seventeen: The September Sirte Summit-cradle of African104 Union Chapter Eighteen: Cameroon’s new twist in pan African solidarity108 Chapter Nineteen: Because we were involved (Reflections on the112 All Anglophone Conference ten years after) Chapter Twenty: Cameroon's Democratic Process: Vision 2020117 Chapter Twenty One: Threshing the Togolese Tangle135 Part Three: Afrocentric Development137 Chapter Twenty Two: Africa’s Development Problematique (The case138 of NEPAD) iv

Chapter Twenty Three: Africa and the Neocolonial Development143 Mirage Chapter Twenty Four: Going Global148 Chapter Twenty Five: The African Woman152 Chapter Twenty Six: Gender-based violence in Africa154 Part Four: Interviews159 Chapter Twenty Seven: Cultural Unification Identified as Instrument of160 African Unity -Interviewed by Walter Wilson Nana (The Post Newspaper) Chapter Twenty Eight: George Ngwane: The Independent163 Intelectual - (Original published in PostNewsmagazine) Chapter Twenty Nine: There is a loss of faith in the Party System in168 Cameroon -Interviewed by Nforngwa Ndiboti Eugene (The Herald) Chapter Thirty: The United States of Africa is a Matter of Urgency -172 Originally published in Panafrican Visions magazine Chapter Thirty One: The Causes of Conflicts in Africa179

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Preface

The House on the anthill (for Mwalimu George Ngwane)

The Party makes aluminium crowns And puts them on the Heads of Toad-eaters, in tyranised, robotic space

Their minds now work like a Cart wheel, going Round and round In circles. Our body decays while we are alive.

When armed robbers in the guise of Provincial Governors cover their eyes with dark glasses And shout big, meretricious Slogans;

WE ARE A DEMOCRATIC AND UNITED COUNTRY

Don’t worry Gluttony has been the death of those Who make good appear evil, Who find fault with the Noblest actions

And plough The ground to sow seeds of Injustice

Don’t be jealous of a Festering, carrion’s success, you Do not know what disaster awaits him

Idols are

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Dressed in purple robes

Like Emperor Bedel Bokassa, but They Cannot keep themselves From

Being tarnished Or protect themselves From Termites. See how useless they are! They can’t walk on their own feet, but must be carried around.

Even if you suffer humiliation, Be Patient Great things often have small And humble beginnings; but they

Survive, grow steadily, and Flower

By Bate Besong th Source:www.batebesong.com2006)(11 August

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Introducing Mwalimu George Ngwane

I have known George Ngwane in both aprofessional andpersonal capacity for close to 15 years, duringwhich we have been comrades in arms in the search forpossible solutions to Cameroon's socio- political challenges. In the 1990s, we both were regular contributors to leading English language newspapers and magazines in Cameroon such asCameroon Life Magazine,Le Messager, and the Cameroon Post. We were also at the frontline of the struggle to protect the rights of Cameroon's Anglophone minority through events and organizations such as theAll Anglophone Conference(AAC) of April 1993. For over a decade now, George Ngwane has stood out as one of Cameroon's foremost political analyst and social activist. An unapologetic and uncompromising drum major for peace and democracy in Cameroon, Ngwane, unlike many of his contemporaries, has sacrificed hispersonal comfort and professional ambitions to take up causes - respect for human rights, implementation of true democratic reform,protection of minority rights, etc., - that have earned him the opprobrium of the Government of Cameroon. One of the brightest and most enterprising of his generation, Ngwane could easily have become a keymember of Cameroon's rulingpartyif onlyhe had been willing to discard his deeply-held convictions on the altar ofpersonal ambition. This has not been the case. And, after a decade-long attempt to co-opt him into the ruling party, the Cameroon regime has finally concluded that he is an enemyof the State who cannot be redeemed.

Ngwane, a rare intellectual Even more than hispolitical activism, what has separated Ngwane from most Cameroonian intellectuals is his willingness and ability to go beyond his "natural comfort zone" to expertly write and speak about a large range of public issues, not necessarily directly connected to his original field of expertise. The holder of agraduate degree in English Literature from the University of Yaounde, Ngwane is best known not for his literary prowess, which is impressive in its own right, but for his immense contributions to the understanding of the complexities of viii