MF GALAXY

CJSR FM88 http://www.cjsr.com/ 6 PM Mountain Time Tonight on the show, we’re beginning a new regular feature: The Brotherhood Council . The Brotherhood Council will meet at least four times this year to discuss international, national and local issues of concern to the Afrikan community, in the realms of the political, economic and social, to the personal, interpersonal and psychological. And yes, before you can say “Gender bias!”, don’t worry, we’ll also be meeting with the Sisterhood Council an equal number of times. Tonight’s council is made of three Brothers, plus myself: Young Mav is the leader of Politic Live , E-Town’s premiere hip hop band. As DJ Arlo Maverick, Young Mav is also a long-time CJSR broadcaster on his highly popular Saturday night hip hop show, Urban Hang Suite. He’s a journalist, the city’s leading historian of the local hip hop scene, a music promoter, a mentor to many local musicians, and the founder of Hip Hop for Hunger, which for six years has raised mon...

The same day that the coiffed, bipedal, venereal diseases at CNN blathered on for hours about the death of actor Heath Ledger, we learned that according to a new report: 5.4 million dead from the conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo. Doesn't have anything to do with you ? Guess again .

Mukoma Wa Ngugi writes: "One cannot fully grasp what is happening in Kenya and Africa without considering the changing nature of opposition movements and the differences between a people powered movement, or a democratic revolution, and a plethora of movements that consolidate democratic institutions for international capital while flying under the radar of democracy "In Kenya, both the sitting Government and the opposition exchange members fluidly as they position and reposition themselves, eyes on the national cake. "Even though here below I am mainly speaking about Raila Odinga and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), I could just as easily be speaking about Mwai Kibaki and the Party of National Unity (PNU). "It is only because ODM has actively courted the image of being a people powered movement engaged in a democratic revolution that I draw your attention to it. Amilcar Cabral once said ‘tell no lies, claim no small victories.’ It is in that spirit t...

SCI FI Wire writes: "SF author Minister Faust, whose novel From the Notebooks of Doctor Brain is a finalist for this year's Philip K. Dick Award, told SCI FI Wire that he wrote the book to satirize self-help books, psychoanalysis and the Bush administration . "'Maybe because each of those sources is either telling u s how to live or forcing us to live a certain way,' Faust said in an interview. 'Am I satirizing superheroes? Sure, but they were just col lateral damage for the larger satire.' "On the surface, From the Notebooks of Doctor Brain is presented as if it is actually a self-help book for superheroes, Faust said. 'It's o ne analyst's take on the world's mightiest super-team, the F*O*O*J, after they've defeated all their enemies,' he said. 'Without external enemies, the federally funded F*O*O*Jsters turn on themselves, inadvertently revealing all their kinks , issues and aggression. Ordered [to enter] group therapy ...

Many thanks to Jef Catapang for this fine profile in Urbanology Magazine.

Br. Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report writes: "Finally, the most accomplished slickster in presidential history, Bill Clinton , was compelled to expose Barack Obama's 'fairy tale' anti-war history - some truth for a 'change.' Black Agenda Report knows the story very well, after more than four years of observing Obama's descent from vaguely progressive rhetoric to shameless pandering (to whites) and vapid 'Change!' mantra nonsense. Only the rich can win this game." Ralph Nader's Nader.org carries this "Obama Fable": "Guy number four—'You’re one of those smart Haavard lawyers, Barack. You were a constitutional law teacher. You were against the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq. So, why aren’t you putting two and two together—impeachment of the war criminals in the White House followed by conviction in the Senate?' "Obama—'You don’t understand (testily), impeachment talk is just more of the same old Washi...

I'm grateful to announce that my second novel, From the Notebooks of Doctor Brain , has been shortlisted for the 2008 Philip K. Dick Award . My first novel, The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad , was also a finalist, in 2004.

CJSR FM88 http://www.cjsr.com/ 6 PM Mountain Time Few violations of human rights and human dignity are more profound t han that of life-long forced labour. People forced to work for others without pay and without libe rty or rights are denied all the opportunities for joy, peace, personal relationships, education and social action that middle class and affluent people throughout the world take for granted. Over the course of centuries, the European Holocaust against the civilisations of West Afrika forced at least 12 million people into life-long, inherited enslavement; but as G. Stavrianos argues in Global Rift, an additional 36 million people were killed or died due to abuse, disease and deprivation during capture, forced marches to the coast, and the Atlantic middle passage, before landing on a gulag which stretched across two continents and the Caribbean. This European holocaust against Afrika, called the Maafa by some Pan-Afrikanists, therefore claimed the lives of, at mi...

Check out these two new audio interviews with me about From the Notebooks of Doctor Brain . The first is from those crazy cats at The Dragon Page . The second is from the delightful Mur Lafferty at I Should Be Writing . In both cases, the interview with me is a ways into the podcast, so don't worry, you did link to the correct place. For The Dragon Page , it's at least eleven minutes in. And for the sake of print, the solid dogs over at Urbanology Magazine have done a nice profile on the book, too. The ish isn't on their website, but it's on the stands (right up top above the title of the mag, you'll see the name "Minister Faust").

Onyango Oloo, a Kenyan political activist and ex political prisoner, writes: "The culpability rests solely with President Kibaki. From the fascist diktats of Michuki, Muthaura, Murage and Co. we know that the ODM leadership has NOT had a chance to publicly address their followers and therefore cannot be accused of "orchestrating" or "instigating" anything. "Yes, the blood of innocents is flowing freely with mobs setting alight a church full of women and children and targeting innocent wananchi based on their ethnicity and regional origins. "But who is talking about the orgy of POLICE and PARA-MILITARY EXTRA-JUDICIAL EXECUTIONS? "By yesterday, there were over ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY BULLET RIDDLED BODIES in the New Nyanza Hospital including corpses of INFANTS. Who shot to death those innocent unarmed civilians? The police have been executing ghetto youth in Kibera, Kawangware and elsewhere. Who employs and commands these killers in uniform? "Re...

Editorial from Kenya's Daily Nation: "The strength of any economy is its political stability, practice of the rule of law, and its human resources. Unlike most countries that have achieved development equal to that of Kenya, the country does not possess any significant reserves of natural resources. "Unfortunately, these key pillars of the economy have been shaken profoundly by the current stalemate over the elections. If the issue has eluded chest-thumping politicians, the business environment that has powered the economy to admirable levels in the last five years is about to be rolled back. "Retail business, a key pillar of growth under existing development blueprints, lies mortally wounded by looters. Employees are marooned by violence and casual workers are starving. Industries are unable to distribute their products. "Financing deals are being rescheduled, and the country’s political-risk rating may go up. At this rate, it will only be a matter of tim...