The first real conversation I had in London was unsurprisingly about the weather at the Airport. After waiting for a good 2 hours for the Uber in a mix up, I remarked to some passengers in the car park that it was quite cold. They emphatically said no. Gosh, how sensitive can you be about the English weather. Just by wishing it is warm doesn't make it warm, no?
During my brother's wedding reception, I was told by one of my brother's friends about the government's plan to dump asylum seekers in Rwanda which he didn't agree with. You miss watching/reading news for a bit and miss so much.
This really makes me start questioning the adoration and adulation we have for Paul Kagame, as a strong man who result Rwanda after a horrific civil war and genocide. I've personally seem him as a great leader who brought stability, unity, a national vision, and real economic growth with a couple of decades. Compare that to Liberia which has been ruled by an international projection of democracy and beholden to donors. Liberia has achieved nothing in the 2 decades since the end of the civil war and pretty much stands where it 'started' in 2003. The liberal market democracy pushed by neoliberalism has resulted in a hollowed out state that depends on international NGOs to deliver social services. They were hoping for an economic boom that would start funnelling rents to another small elite with reopening the country to global capital but they fell flat on their faces when mining companies pulled out when global commodity prices tanked and palm oil plantations too have not been able to grab as much land as they could. For all these reasons, I've been watching Rwanda's economic progress, stability with interest and combined with my lived and academic understanding, it's clear that national vision and growth are not dependent on the mockery of changing presidents through the election cycle.
I met with with a SOAS classmate after a long time. She hails from Argentina and her father was in politics, leftist politics I believe. She is an activist her self so you can imagine how rich my conversations with her are. This time, I shared with her what I learned from grassroots feminism in Pakistan. These are some highlights of our talk:
"How many women were in the Aurat Azadi March"?
"About 1000 in Islamabad and may be 4000 or 5000 in the bigger cities."
"What, we get millions on the streets in Latin American. Our network is much stronger."
"I am not very clear about why socialist feminists idealise communism when it has failed. "
"Communism may have failed in Cuba because people are very poor but it has been successful in China. China is a successful communist state which lifted people out of poverty and has created prosperity. Moreover, foreign companies have only 50% ownership in China and the other 50% has to be locally held."
This conversation stayed with me for long. Why are feminist movements bigger and stronger in Latin America? Is it because liberation politics has had a longer time to breathe there? After all, Latin America decolonised earlier and has been through civil wars, Cold War proxy wars and military dictatorships. Also, I think the way we are conditioned to see China is too far entrenched in Western liberal ideas.
What else? I'll list snippets here in bullet form:
- Very little recycling is done in London and most of the garbage gets shipped away to other countries
- There is a worker shortage in the UK (Brexit)
- The Tories are awful
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