Thoughts with a Rastafari Brejrin from Kenya

KI. What about reparations for yourself?
GM. If black people received some form of reparations then I as an individual black person would also benefit.
KI. Do you feel your brethren no matter where they hail from (Europe, Africa, elsewhere) should repatriate to Africa?
GM. The Bible says that the earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof. Marcus Garvey said Africa for the Africans at home and abroad. Repatriation therefore is an individual thing.
KI. If you are repatriating, when and to where does the I expect to do so?
GM. I have done this already and Jah has brought I to Kenya for the present.
KI. Is the I actively working towards repatriating? Does the I send monies to others who are in Shashamane?
GM. From time to time I support a cause. Currently I am assisting 7 Kenyan youths to secure scholarships to go and study Theology in Ethiopia.
KI. Is the I a member of any organized Movement, which is working to further Rastafari or the Rastafari people, and would the I care to briefly explain the works?
GM. I am not currently a member of any particular Movement other than being a Rastafari. I work with individuals to realize their goals within Rastafari. IN the early days I along with some brethrens and sistrens established a Movement called Rastafarian Advancement Society in London England. The association worked in bringing the message of Rastafari to the masses and with the local authorities such as police, prison, hospitals and so one. We secured legal representation on be half of the Rastafari Community to the Lord Scarman enquiry into the UK riots, which started in Brixton. Whilst the Enquiry concluded that the Rastafari community was not responsible for ignigting the riots the movement was a new emerging religion in the 20th Century a statement InI did not agree with. I have worked with the Ethiopian World Federation in particular Ras Seymour Mclean and Lidj Mulugeta Aserrate in bringing to plight the issue of the Magdala Collection. I have also worked with Ambassador Wolde Selassie King of EWF Inc Shashamane in developing the concept of the model city for Shashamane. I continue to work with various groups so long as they are instrumental in bringing about a closer unity amongst InI
KI. What is the I current occupation?
GM. I am a director and shareholder of a Telecommunications company based in Kenya. I also act a consultant to business in the food and entertainment industry.
KI. What is the I Sabbath practice?
GM. According the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Saturday as the Sabbath has not changed. Sunday is truly the day of the Resurrection and InI should rejoice in it being the day that the Lord made. The Sabbath in Orthodox tradition is a day of relaxation and preparation for celebrating the day of the Resurrection of our Lord the centre of which should be the partaking of the blessed sacrament of the Eucharist.
KI. What is the I view of the Sacrament, considered Hola to some houses ands mansions? Is it necessary to partake of the Sacrament?
GM. I understand this question to relate to the taking of herbs as a sacrament. Again each person is free to follow whatever discipline he desires but to say InI is united in the spiritual sense would mean InI see the sacrament is essential which it is not. Anything taking into the body such as smoke cannot be good for the body. I have personally seen my dear Bingi brothers pass away after both his lungs collapsed because of the continual smoking of the herbs as the Hola Sacrament. The Hola Sacrament that InI King partook of is the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist which is onfiltered=of the seven Pillars of Mysteries of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The bible clearly states that if InI do not take this particular sacrament InI will have no life, as it is life i.e. the body and blood of Eyesus Kristos symbolized as bread and wine. His Imperial Majesty never failed to partake of this Sacrament so how can InI who follow him replace it for herbs?

KI. How does the I keep an Ital diet? Since there are some differing diets kept, what is your view of those who do not keep vegan?
GM. First the bible says that InI should not condemn InI brothers because of what he eats as it is not what goes into the body that defiles it but the words that come out of ones mouth. As a consequence the bible is also clear on what meats InI can eat. As a follower of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church one has an opportunity to fast for nearly half of the year. During this fasting period one eats nothing from the animal – the diet is completely vegan- all forms of animal products (meat, eggs, butter, milk, cheese etc.) are strictly prohibited. As the bible does not forbid one from eating meat and it also specifically request that InI should not do anything to cause thy brother to stumble, the periods of fasting gives the body time to cleans its self and it serves to weaken the force of the body so that the body may obey the soul which is of the Father.
KI. How does the I view Haile Selassie teachments, his major tenants from speeches you have read?
GM. Robert Nesta Marley (Berhane Selassie) sang, “Give us the teachings of His Majesty….” His Imperial Majesty is the central personality in Rastafari. The name Rastafari derives from his names Ras Teferi Makonen. In his various Utterances and Selected Speeches one can find the solution for InI development, the growth of the African Continent and the world at large in terms of collective security. His works in developing Ethiopia and his encouragement to Education is unsurpassing. His comments on his love of the Creator and Eyesus Kristos brings InI into some form of contradiction at least those who claim him to be God or the Son of God in the sense of the second person of the Holy Trinity. For this reason I follow Bob’s advice and not the tradition of men. I accept Him as he has told who and me who he is his lord and Savior is whom I also follow with all my heart and soul.
KI. How does the I see Reggae music (Roots) in the present time?
GM. Reggae music from its inception has always been the medium of the masses. An inspirational tool to uplift the people and it will always be that. It is for me the real classical music.
KI. Any feeling about Gospel Reggae or what they call Christian Reggae such as Judy Mowatt, Sis Carlene Davis, Papa San foe Isample?
GM. We all know that reggae music was seen as unsuitable for a Christian. It was shunned by the masses only InI relied on it for both spiritual and social inspiration. Now it is being used to promote mainstream Christianity. Jah is marvelous and he takes the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. Reggae music will permeate throughout the world and InI will use it as the medium to spread the true gospel of the Father Son and Holy Spirit. Let them spread to those who first denied it – in time InI will use it for the true works.


Adapted from http://www.alumbo.com/cgi-bin/article/14568

Insurance Cost of the WestGate incident; Kenya

An Extract from the Insurance Insider:

 The Lloyd's market is the insurer of the Nairobi Westgate shopping mall attacked by armed Somali militants on Saturday (21 September), but the total sum insured is a relatively modest $76mn, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Emerging markets political violence specialist Chaucer heads the political violence placement that was taken out by the mall's owner, the Kenyan company Sony Holdings.

Chaucer is supported by a list of blue-chip Lloyd's markets including QBE, Liberty Syndicates, Hiscox, Novae and Canopius.

However, the total sum insured for property damage and business interruption, covered on a full-value basis, is understood to be some 6.7bn Kenyan shillings, or $76mn.

The political violence cover includes terrorism and carries a deductible of $50,000 for property damage and seven days for business interruption, with a 24-month indemnity period.

However, the property cover is believed to exclude contents. The business interruption cover will respond to loss of rent receivable from individual mall tenants, but will avoid tenants' loss of profits, which are either insured separately or uninsured.

Sources suggest it is too early to estimate the total claims burden, although initial evidence gives grounds for optimism that the mall is unlikely to be a total loss.

Lloyd's has a strong trading relationship with Kenya, and the market for political risk insurance has grown significantly in the East African nation since it suffered months of widespread political rioting following the disputed December 2007 presidential elections.

NB: The extent of loss is expected to approach total loss owing to the recent developments of the collapse of three floors.

Further information........ http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Westgate-insurer-faces-Sh6-6-billion-compensation-bill/-/539546/2007294/-/item/1/-/p7982l/-/index.html

IF the poem

IF.....

---

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

---

Aiding the Farmer- Words Of HIM Haile Selassie I

For those of you who possess the land and labor but lack capital, we have made credit available at low interest. For those of you who have the necessary finance but do not possess land to work on, We have, in accordance with Our proclamation which entitled every Ethiopian to ownership of land, established offices in every province through which you may be able to acquire land. Those who have neither land nor money will be granted land and a financial loan at low interest. For those of you who possess the land, who have financial resources and manpower We have made experts available to furnish you with the necessary guidance and advice in your various undertakings. With the knowledge that unity and cooperation are themselves strength, take advantage of the possibilities that We have opened to you.

adapted from
http://shirikiorganization.blogspot.com

Words of HIM Haile Selassie I

INAUGURATING THE IMPERIAL ETHIOPIAN COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE & MECHANICAL ARTS [Alem-Maya, Harar :: Thur. Jan. 16^th 1958]

A country and a people that become self-sufficient by the development of Agriculture can look forward with confidence to the future. Agriculture is not only the chief among those fundamental and ancient tasks which have been essential to the survival of mankind, but also ranks first among the prerequisites to industrial and other developments.

History can afford us ample evidence that mankind abandoned its nomadic way of life and developed a settled, communal economy only when man became skilled and competent in agricultural techniques. From the beginnings of recorded history, right up to the Middle Ages, and even as late as the beginning of the Industrial Age in which we now live, agriculture has always constituted the fundamental source of wealth for the human race.

Only when a solid agricultural base has been laid for our country’s commercial and industrial growth can we ensure the attainment of the ultimate goal of Our development program, namely, a high standard of living for our people.

Commerce and industry, being concerned in the main with development and distribution, can only develop and profit from existing resources, but cannot actually create things which did not exist before.

Even in this nuclear age, in spite of the revolutionary changes in man’s way of life which science has brought about, the problem of further improving and perfecting agricultural methods continues to hold a position of high priority for the human race. 

It is hard to believe that a substitute can be found for the occupation of agriculture – a sacred task graciously conferred upon man by JAH to serve as the source of his wellbeing and basis of his wealth.

Agriculture and industry are indispensable one to the other. Only close cooperation between these two branches of knowledge can guarantee the fulfillment of Our program of economic development for Our country.

As we have already made it clear to you in Our previous statement, capital is an essential prerequisite for initiating all undertakings, whatever their nature. We have, therefore, made credit available for you which, when properly used, would enable you to achieve your development objective in the fields of agriculture, forestry, stock breeding, health services, and in the sphere of other development programmes.

http://shirikiorganization.blogspot.com

The Nations Poor - Tailgating

The Nations Poor - Tailgating 

It's a hard pill to swallow
When the laws you follow
Are enforced on land your ancestors are wrongfully conquered on
And the very principles this country's founded on 
Can’t be counted on
In times of crisis and confusion.
What an illusion they've pulled off on us
Misused and lost our trust
Too many times but
Ain’t too many rhymes been written about this
So I'm pissed
Cuz for some odd reason
We think it's best the less that is said
But for God's sake people they left us for dead,
Dying.

And there is no denying
Those fathers crying 
With their family's sidewalk written
What was so cleverly hidden 
Is now in plain vision
For all to see
We want you all to see how this country does it's poor and down trotted 
This is an instance that must not be forgotten
It’s for keeps
Long after the media sleeps
Political name calling and lying

Send them photography to desensitize 
The eyes so we won't cry 
No more when we see people dying,
In despair.
We don't care
We just change the station
We live in a nation
Where the poor have nothing but time to spend
So we left waiting…………… Tailgating 

Home no more
Show no more love
Than them countries them white boys take over
This is the real rape over
And this ain't young boy frustrated emotion
This is grown man rationale
Hard to admit my national 
Don’t give a fuck about its own
But the evidence is clear we can stack it up
K- shaka made a statement
heich here to back it up
It's true
We live in a beautiful world where
Ugly souls push the buttons
The gluttons of society
Top priority
Make sure the rich folk stay rich folk

This ain't a new issue
The nations poor been the tissue
That the city's wipes its’ ass with
relief and disaster, corporate kick backs
like how Halliburton is contracted to restore back the order
They use black bodies to hold back the water…..tailgaiting
Such disorder in the country that makes so much money
I'm telling you learn so much money 
When you just open up a book and look inside
That’s where they hide the evidence
These fucked up politicians
And their constituents
Pitch you against your own mind here
Fuck up your mind here yeah
They got opportunities and jobs for the poor
It’s called 'prison life' and 'warfare' 
that's ur share of the national pie
But you gotta lie, steal and cheat to get it,
Step on somebody's feet to get it 
Knock toes that been swollen for so long
They do us so wrong 
But we just stand there and take it
Nature rips the mask off so they can't take it
We stand here butt naked
This is your nation's poor
But you still stand here and ask us for our kids for war,

And for our right to vote
What the fuck can you possibly say to them kids
When they learn that their parents died
Casualties of the war in poverty?

big up Black Ice

A PICKPOCKET’S TALE: The spectacular thefts of Apollo Robbins.

.........................And he asked Robbins for a demonstration, ready to be unimpressed. Robbins demurred, claiming that he felt uncomfortable working in front of other magicians. He pointed out that, since Jillette was wearing only shorts and a sports shirt, he wouldn’t have much to work with.

“Come on,” Jillette said. “Steal something from me.”

Again, Robbins begged off, but he offered to do a trick instead. He instructed Jillette to place a ring that he was wearing on a piece of paper and trace its outline with a pen. By now, a small crowd had gathered. Jillette removed his ring, put it down on the paper, unclipped a pen from his shirt, and leaned forward, preparing to draw. After a moment, he froze and looked up. His face was pale.

“Fuck. You,” he said, and slumped into a chair.

Robbins held up a thin, cylindrical object: the cartridge from Jillette’s pen.

Robbins, who is thirty-eight and lives in Las Vegas, is a peculiar variety-arts hybrid, known in the trade as a theatrical pickpocket. Among his peers, he is widely considered the best in the world at what he does, which is taking things from people’s jackets, pants, purses, wrists, fingers, and necks, then returning them in amusing and mind-boggling ways. Robbins works smoothly and invisibly, with a diffident charm that belies his talent for larceny. One senses that he would prosper on the other side of the law. “You have to ask yourself one question,” he often says as he holds up a wallet or a watch that he has just swiped. “Am I being paid enough to give it back?”
He is probably best known for an encounter with Jimmy Carter’s Secret Service detail in 2001. While Carter was at dinner, Robbins struck up a conversation with several of his Secret Service men. Within a few minutes, he had emptied the agents’ pockets of pretty much everything but their guns. Robbins brandished a copy of Carter’s itinerary, and when an agent snatched it back he said, “You don’t have the authorization to see that!” When the agent felt for his badge, Robbins produced it and handed it back. Then he turned to the head of the detail and handed him his watch, his badge, and the keys to the Carter motorcade.

At the Rio, Robbins took in the scene with the appraising gaze of a jeweller. A few dozen middle-aged men and women, a group of advertising-sales representatives and their clients, were drinking and eating shrimp on a patio in the late-afternoon sun. Robbins had been told that they would be dressed in “business casual.” Most of the women had on colorful low-cut tops, tight white pants, and mules. Only a few of the men wore jackets. “This is going to be interesting,” Robbins said. “O.K. Time to go shopping.”

Robbins strolled through the crowd, smiling and nodding, resting a hand on a shoulder here, lightly touching an elbow there. From time to time, he let his fingertips graze someone’s pocket, a technique called “fanning.” “He’s got a cell phone, keys, and maybe some cash in that right front pocket,” Robbins whispered to me, indicating one man. “What I’m doing is taking inventory and making sight maps and getting a feel for who these people are and what I’m going to do with them. I’m a jazz performer—I have to improvise with what I’m given.”

Robbins began by striking up a conversation with a pair of sales executives named Suzanne and Josh.

“What do you do?” Suzanne asked.

“I specialize in future used goods—goods that used to belong to you. I’m a pickpocket.”

Josh and Suzanne chuckled nervously.

“Don’t worry, I give everything back—it’s one of the conditions of my parole. Now, you said your name was Josh?”

“That’s right.”

“I believe you. Josh, would you come stand right here next to me?”

Robbins guided Josh by the elbow to stand on his right, and, as a few other people gathered to watch, he put his arm around him.

“Don’t be nervous,” Robbins went on. “I’m not actually going to put my hand in your pocket—I’m not ready for that kind of commitment. That’s because, at my last show, a guy had a hole in his pocket, and that was rather traumatizing to me.” Robbins cocked his left eyebrow and produced a silver dollar from his pocket. “Now, I’m going to give you this silver coin to hold on to, and we’ll see if I can steal it back.” Robbins positioned Josh’s left hand at shoulder level, palm up.

“O.K., I put this in your hand, and you close it. Would you be impressed if I could take it out of your hand? Say yes.”

“Yes.”

“So would I. O.K., open your hand.” Josh opened his hand, and Robbins snatched the coin from his palm and said, “Thankyouverymuch.” He smiled. “O.K., one more time.”

Robbins closed the coin in his own hand and had Josh grab his wrist. When he opened his hand, the coin was gone. Josh laughed.

“The coin’s not in my hand—it couldn’t be. You know why? It’s on your left shoulder.”

Josh grew increasingly befuddled, as Robbins continued to make the coin vanish and reappear—on his shoulder, in his pocket, under his watchband. In the middle of this, Robbins started stealing Josh’s stuff. Josh’s watch seemed to melt off his wrist, and Robbins held it up behind his back for everyone to see. Then he took Josh’s wallet, his sunglasses, and his phone. Robbins dances around his victims, gently guiding them into place, floating in and out of their personal space. By the time they comprehend what has happened, Robbins is waiting with a look that says, “I understand what you must be feeling.” Robbins’s simplest improvisations have the dreamlike quality of a casual encounter gone subtly awry. He struck up a conversation with a young man, who told him, “We’re going to Penn and Teller after this.”

“Oh, then you’ll probably want these,” Robbins said, handing over a pair of tickets that had recently been in the young man’s wallet.

In pursuit of his craft, Robbins has ended up incorporating principles from such disparate fields as aikido, sales, and Latin ballroom dancing. He is a devotee of books like Robert B. Cialdini’s “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion,” and has also immersed himself in the literature of criminal lore. The book that made the greatest impression on him was a paperback, published in 1964, called “Whiz Mob: A Correlation of the Technical Argot of Pickpockets with Their Behavior Patterns,” by David W. Maurer, a professor of English who devoted his life to the study of raffish subcultures, before apparently killing himself, in 1981. Robbins loved the vivid trade lingo in “Whiz Mob,” and he continues to pepper his conversation with such terms as “pit” (inside jacket pocket) and “prat” (side pant pocket), “skinning the poke” (removing the cash from a stolen wallet and wiping it off before tossing it) and “kissing the dog” (the mistake of letting a victim see your face). Reading about how street pickpockets operated, Robbins was gratified to discover that he had arrived at similar methods intuitively.

Street pickpockets generally work in teams, known as whiz mobs or wire mobs. The “steer” chooses the victim, who is referred to generically as the “mark,” the “vic,” or the “chump,” but can also be categorized into various subspecies, among them “Mr. Bates” (businessman) and “pappy” (senior citizen). The “stall,” or “stick,” maneuvers the mark into position and holds him there, distracting his attention, perhaps by stumbling in his path, asking him for directions, or spilling something on him. The “shade” blocks the mark’s view of what’s about to happen, either with his body or with an object such as a newspaper. And the “tool” (also known as the “wire,” the “dip,” or the “mechanic”) lifts his wallet and hands it off to the “duke man,” who hustles away, leaving the rest of the mob clean. Robbins explained to me that, in practice, the process is more fluid—team members often play several positions—and that it unfolds less as a linear sequence of events than as what he calls a “synchronized convergence,” like a well-executed offensive play on the gridiron.

Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/01/07/130107fa_fact_green#ixzz2H0CTmqeP