Morning Meditation

Blacknotes Libation: In Praise of Oshun

Full Title: Electronic Waste Dumping in Africa
Presenters: Lauren Johnson
Advised by: Steven Frysinger
Abstract: European countries such as Germany, Norway, and the UK along with the United States, China and Japan are creating more electronic waste than ever before. When electronics break or are replaced with a newer model, they are shipped by E-waste recycling companies to Africa and resold in markets at a discounted price. Unfortunately, many of the products arrive broken beyond repair and must be discarded. The electronics end up in countries like Agbogbloshie in Accra, Ghana where huge dumps of e-waste accumulate. The e-waste dumps are then scavenged by locals who hope to make money from the precious metals contained within the electronics. Sadly, this electronic waste is accompanied by a number of health and environmental problems due to the toxic chemicals present in many of the devices. The research conducted regarding electronic waste dumping in Africa involves analyzing current legislation dealing with the import and export of electronic waste as well as a life cycle analysis of electronics. It will be used to determine what steps can be taken to remediate electronic waste sites and prevent future electronic waste dumps.

7 Impressive Benefits of Baobab

A few of the most important health benefits of baobab include its ability to boost the immune system, build bone strength, soothe the gastrointestinal system, prevent chronic disease, lower inflammation, reduce blood pressure, and stimulate growth and repair.

Baobab Trees

Some of the oldest and most majestic trees in the world fall into a very special genus named Adansonia, more commonly known as baobab trees. While there are nine different species of these trees scattered across Madagascar, Africa, Australia, and other parts of South Asia, they are all closely related and share very similar characteristics. They are massive angiosperm trees, with radii exceeding 150 feet and at times, standing more than 50 feet in height. The baobab fruit, however, often gets less attention than it should, as this fruit has been considered a superfruit by some cultures for generations. The popularity of baobab fruit and its constituent powder has grown in recent years, due to the high concentrations of nutrients and minerals that it contains.

The baobab powder may be consumed as a supplement, but is also used as a thickener in certain culinary preparations, while the leaves, which are also quite nutrient-rich, are considered a leafy vegetable and are sometimes harvested for their essential oils. Baobab fruit is roughly 3 lbs and resembled a coconut, with a tart taste. This has made it popular as a natural food product for thousands of years. That being said, let’s take a closer look at some of the many known medical uses and health benefits of baobab.
Health Benefits of Baobab
Improves Circulatory Health

One of the reasons baobab has been dubbed a superfruit is due to its concentration of certain minerals, including iron. This mineral is a key component in hemoglobin, which transports oxygenated blood throughout our body. This can prevent anemia and provide us with a major energy boost, so baobab fruit in any form can be enjoyed for a quick pick me up!
Lowers Blood Pressure

Potassium is another important mineral constituent of baobab fruit, which is known to be beneficial for heart health. As a vasodilator, potassium is able to ease the strain on the cardiovascular system by dilating the blood vessels and arteries, thus increasing blood flow and keeping the heart from working too hard. Lowering blood pressure can also help fight against atherosclerosis, strokes, heart attacks, and other cardiovascular complications.

Increases Bone Strength

The dried powder of baobab fruit is particularly concentrated with minerals, and two of these, calcium and magnesium, are important minerals for bone strength. If you are worried about bone mineral density loss as you age, or are already suffering from some of the effects of age-related degradation, adding a baobab supplement to your health regimen is never a bad idea to keep your bones strong and durable into your old age!
Relieves Gastrointestinal Issues

Two types of fiber, soluble and insoluble, are present in baobab, which is why this fruit has been trusted as a gastrointestinal aid for generations. These types of dietary fiber can do wonders for the system; in addition to optimizing the digestive process and reducing inflammation in the gut, dietary fiber also helps to regulate glucose and insulin levels in the blood, and even lowers negative cholesterol, thus boosting heart health! There are also certain prebiotic properties of baobab fruit that can improve the bacteria levels in your gut and optimize digestion.
Treats Chronic Diseases

Antioxidants have been a recent buzzword in natural health, and baobab fruit is packed with these free radical-neutralizing compounds. Antioxidant levels can be measured based on the amount of oxygen radicals a fruit or food is able to absorb, and baobab does very well in an ORAC test (measuring antioxidant strength). This means that baobab is able to help prevent a wide range of chronic diseases, including some forms of cancer that develop when free radicals cause healthy cells to mutate.
Boosts Immunity

Vitamin C is always one of the first compounds noted in a newly discovered fruit, and the immune system-boosting potential of this ancient fruit is definitely a result of the high ascorbic content. Baobab is good for increasing white blood cell count and stimulating the immune system to fight off foreign pathogens, in addition to vitamin C’s antioxidant behavior.

Promotes Growth and Repair

Vitamin C is also a key component of collagen, which we need for the repair and growth of tissues, cells, blood vessels, cartilage, and bone. High levels of ascorbic acid don’t just protect our immune system, but also ensure normal development and appropriate healing times after injuries, illnesses, and surgeries.

A grass-roots campaign has started in Uganda against the increasing numbers of sexual assaults on women. According to one rights group, 90 percent of Ugandan women have experienced sexual harassment of some sort. Women are now fighting back by using social media and the courts.

Al Jazeera's Anna Cavell reports from Kampala.



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The program focuses on the impact of Malcolm X on Black political and intellectual leadership in the United States. Host Topper Carew speaks with Dr. John H. Clarke (historian and Cornell University professor), Owusu Sadauki (National Chairman of the African Liberation Day Committee) and Bobby Seale (co-founder of the Black Panthers) about the impact of Malcolm X's work on their personal ideologies, the opinions of Black Americans, and their struggle for Black rights in the United States. Interviews are separated by segments of archival news footage featuring Malcolm X talking about his political philosophies.

The way we learn and share experiences is changing. INBAR’s themed online webinar series brings bamboo and rattan experts from all over the world together to educate, inspire and discuss, without the need for travel.

This is session 1 of the series 'Bamboo: A Very Sustainable Construction Material'. These webinar sessions aim to build greater awareness about bamboo’s potential to alleviate the world’s acute housing crisis, as a low-cost form of construction and as part of the development of zero-emission, ‘green’ cities.

Speaker: Mauricio Cardenas Laverde, Founder of Studio Cardenas Conscious Design

Topic: Conscious design bamboo architecture

Speaker: Song Yehao, Tenure Professor of School of Architecture at Tsinghua University, Deputy Chief Architect of THAD, Co-founder and Principal of SUP Atelier

Topic: Sustainable design of bamboo architecture in China

Speaker: Christian Salandanan, Principal Architect of Sangay Architects

Topic: Bamboo Architecture and Construction

The International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation, or INBAR, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to promoting the use of bamboo and rattan for inclusive, green development. We research and strengthen the global knowledge base for bamboo and rattan and raise awareness of their use for:

♣Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation
♣Land Restoration
♣Poverty Alleviation
♣South-South Cooperation
♣Sustainable, Affordable Construction
♣Accessible, Green Energy.

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Follow our Youtube channel for practical tips for growing, processing and marketing bamboo and rattan products as well as interviews, speeches and more from our work around the world.

⁣Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan: Black Male and Female Relationship

PBS Documentary Titled - Egalite for All: Toussaint Louverture & The Haitian Revolution

The Haitian Revolution (French: Révolution haïtienne [ʁevɔlysjɔ̃ ajisjɛ̃n]), was a successful anti-slavery and anti-colonial insurrection that took place in the former French colony of Saint-Domingue that lasted from 1791 until 1804. It affected the institution of slavery throughout the Americas. Self-liberated slaves destroyed slavery at home, fought to preserve their freedom, and with the collaboration of mulattoes, founded the sovereign state of Haiti. It led to the greatest slave uprising since Spartacus's unsuccessful revolt against the Roman Republic nearly 1,900 years prior.

The Haitian Revolution was the only slave uprising that led to the founding of a state free from slavery and ruled by non-whites and former captives. With the increasing number of Haitian Revolutionary Studies in the last few decades, it has become clear that the event was a defining moment in the racial histories of the Atlantic World. The legacy of the Revolution was that it challenged long-held beliefs about black inferiority and of the enslaved person's capacity to achieve and maintain freedom. The rebels' organizational capacity and tenacity under pressure became the source of stories that shocked and frightened slave owners.

François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture (French: [fʁɑ̃swa dɔminik tusɛ̃ luvɛʁtyʁ] 20 May 1743 – 7 April 1803), also known as Toussaint L'Ouverture or Toussaint Bréda, was the best-known leader of the Haitian Revolution. His military and political acumen saved the gains of the first Black insurrection in November 1791. He first fought for the Spanish against the French; then for France against Spain and Britain; and finally, for Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti)'s colonial sovereignty against Napoleonic France. He then helped transform the insurgency into a revolutionary movement, which by 1800 had turned Saint-Domingue, the most prosperous slave colony of the time, into the first free colonial society to have explicitly rejected race as the basis of social ranking.

Though Toussaint did not sever ties with France, his actions in 1800 constituted a de facto autonomous colony. The colony's constitution proclaimed him governor for life even against Napoleon Bonaparte's wishes. He died betrayed before the final and most violent stage of the armed conflict. However, his achievements set the grounds for the Black army's absolute victory and for Jean-Jacques Dessalines to declare the sovereign state of Haiti in January 1804. Toussaint's prominent role in the Haitian success over colonialism and slavery had earned him the admiration of friends and detractors alike.

Toussaint Louverture began his military career as a leader of the 1791 slave rebellion in the French colony of Saint-Domingue; he was by then a free black man and a Jacobin. Initially allied with the Spaniards of neighboring Santo Domingo (modern Dominican Republic), Toussaint switched allegiance to the French when they abolished slavery. He gradually established control over the whole island and used political and military tactics to gain dominance over his rivals. Throughout his years in power, he worked to improve the economy and security of Saint-Domingue. He restored the plantation system using paid labour, negotiated trade treaties with Britain and the United States, and maintained a large and well-disciplined army.

In 1801, he promulgated an autonomist constitution for the colony, with himself as Governor-General for Life. In 1802 he was forced to resign by forces sent by Napoleon Bonaparte to restore French authority in the former colony. He was deported to France, where he died in 1803. The Haitian Revolution continued under his lieutenant, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who declared independence on January 1, 1804. The French had lost two-thirds of forces sent to the island in an attempt to suppress the revolution; most died of yellow fever.

Afrikan Development Studies 2012 11 28 LECTURE 5

Topic:

Power, Impoverishment, Poverty Assessment, Alleviation and Social Reconstruction

• Power
• Poverty or Impoverishment
• Maldevelopment
• Concepts, Types and Definitions of Poverty
• Poverty Causes and Dynamics of Assessment
• Poverty Alleviation Policies and Strategies
• Social Reconstruction

Readings:

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa [Walter Rodney]

Maldevelopment [Samir Amin]

Chapter 1 -- Africa's Economic Backwardness
Chapter 2 -- The Decade of Drift 1975 -- 1985
Chapter 3 -- The Crisis of State

Black Power: A Moral and Political Imperative [Dr. Amos N. Wilson]

Why are they so poor? [Rudolf Staham]

Dr. Ambakisye-Okang Olatunde Dukuzumurenyi

Lecturer, Faculty of Business and Economics
Associate Director, Research & Publication
Editor-in-Chief/Managing Editor East Afrikan Journal of Research
Tumaini University Iringa University College
Tanzania, East Afrika



Dr. Ambakisye-Okang Olatunde Dukuzumurenyi a citizen of the United States of America and expatriate resident of the United Republic of Tanzania. Dr. Dukuzumurenyi is a graduate of Grambling State University, Grambling, LA with a Bachelors of Arts in History and Masters of Public Administration in Public Administration with emphasis in Health Service Administration and of Southern University A & M College with an earned Doctorate of Philosophy in Public Policy Analysis from the Nelson Mandela School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs. Dr. Dukuzumurenyi is an Afrikan-centered educator, public policy analyst, public administration scholar, political scientist, and public lecturer on Afrikan education, history, economics, politics and spirituality emphasizing systems design and strategic planning in the development of Afrikan political, military, social and economic agency. He has served the Afrikan community as an Afrikan American Studies, Geography and Economics teacher in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System of the United States for nine years, as an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Southern University A & M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana for one year and as Associate Director of Research and Publication, Editor of the Journal of East Afrikan Research and Lecturer on the Faculties of Education, Cultural Anthropology and Tourism, Business and Development Studies at the University of Iringa in the United Republic of Tanzania, East Afrika for two years. The guiding influences for Dr. Dukuzumurenyi have been the works of Dr. Amos N. Wilson, Dr. Asa Hilliard, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochanan, Dr. Marimba Ani, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, Minister Malcolm X, Stephen Biko, Shaka Zulu, Mangaliso Sobukwe & Ptahhotep to name only a select few.

In 1959, Martin Luther King Jr was known chiefly for his role in the successful Montgomery bus boycott. It was years before his "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington. Long thought lost, the interview was found and rebroadcast in 2009. In it, King sat down for his KTCA interview with L. Howard Bennett, a civil rights leader and the first African-American judge in Minnesota.

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