All moves in cycles

“Because we are denied knowledge of our history, we are deprived of
standing upon each other's shoulders and building upon each other's hard earned
accomplishments. Instead we are condemned to repeat what others have done before
us and thus we continually reinvent the wheel. The goal of The Dinner Party is
to break this cycle.” Judy Chicago

This quotation describes something that has struck me very hard in the last few months I have been back in school and reconnecting with the world of knowledge that we are sometimes disconnected from when we start working and are consumed by the demands of jobs, friends, family and budgets.

It seems that while I have been symbolically sleeping and disconnected a bot a great shift in the world that ovbiously has been forming for a long time now has surfaced. One of the greatest shifts in world history and culture involved the physically voluntary and forced migration of people from the Old World of Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia to form the citizens of the countries that now make up the Americas. However, this diversity in roots and origins and this amalgamation of so many different peoples, many not of their own will seems to be contributing to the new shifts occurring.

I will use two examples of things I have noticed that may characterise a bit of this global shift and give us something to think about.

The first one is on the minds of most businessmen, politicians, students etc. and that is the focus on China, India, Brazil, some areas of Africa and the Middle East, but especially the first three in the list. It interesting that in the history of the world as we know it, the cultural dominance of Europe, which faciliated dominance in most other spheres of life, has only taken place in the last 500-1000 years. The world has been subject culturallty and otherwise to empires based in the same said countries that are now coming back into world focus - China, India, empires of Arabia and Africa. These empires were the seats of civilization, knowledge and culture in the Ancient years and their technological, economic, academic and cultural skills and developments were the basis for the growth and rise of Europe from the Ice Age. Then history took a different turn as Europe sought to expand its empires and dominate the world and this allowed for growth, development and the amelioration of life in Europe primarily and the rest of the world. However, many of the seats of former empires were subjugated, crippled psycholigically, economically and culturally and so were relegated to being the 3rd World, the developing and underdeveloped world of our time - to be helped, assisted and in some cases looked down on. However, as all is cyclical, they are rising to preeminence again and it will be interesting to see how the world and cultures will eveolve to deal and cope with this change.

The second thing that I have noticed is that the displacement and large number of diasporas that exist in the Western Hempishere (and have created numerous forms of art, culture etc.) are now linking with other peoples who have been subject to similar experiences of colonisation and subjugation and are sharing experiences and art forms. One I was looking at recently is zouk. Zouk was created in the French Antilles\Caribbean and is a syncretic art form with influences from Europe, Africa, Latin America and elsewhere. However, now you can find a dance form caled zouk, people in Cape Verde and other parts of Africa and Latin America who are now singing zouk and I was surprised to find zouk rhythms and melodies performed with different language lyrics.

The world and theuniverse had its own logic and no matter how much we try to dominate and direct if we do not live in harmony with each other and share our differences without prejudice or discrimination. the universe will conspire to ensure that we do..Some stuff to think about

Where, why and how?

The world we live in today, with its advances in technology and knowledge is empowering us as young people and the future leaders of mankind to open our eyes and remove the misconceptions and misunderstandings of the past and I believe it is our duty to do the best at this.
Two of the examples I would like to illustrate how sometimes in the history of the world so far things have been skewed or covered up and if we take the time to explore and have a good appreciation for the signifcance of these types of issues it can help us to make better decisions.

The first was recently, I visited a Christmas market at the Kalmar Castle here in Sweden and all over the market there were products being sold which touted the key ingredient which seems to be popular at christmas here called - Spanish Saffron. Of course, I was a bit interested by this because I do not know the history of saffron, the spice, very well but I do know a bit about history and that fact that South Asia was known as the origin of many of the spices we use today. So I did a bit of research and found that saffron did originate in South Asia. According to Wikipedia "The history of saffron cultivation and usage reaches back more than 3,000 years and spans many cultures, continents, and civilisations. Saffron, a spice derived from the dried stigmas of the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus), has remained among the world's most costly substances throughout history. With its bitter taste, hay-like fragrance, and slight metallic notes, saffron has been used as a seasoning, fragrance, dye, and medicine. Saffron is native to Southwest Asia but was first cultivated in Greece." I also asked a Spanish classmate of mine if it is known as Spanish saffron in Spain and she said no. How odd then that the Swedish would call it Spanish saffron. It gives us some indication of how history and names can be so easily skewed and minterpreted. So I was not satisfied with this explanation and did some more research and found some really interesting facts about the origin of this name. We all know that the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) were for many years under the rule and signifcant influence of Arabs(Moors as they are sometimes known) and they are attributed for bringing the spice and methods for its cultivation from another country which is was part of the Arab Empire at the time and is still a significant producer of saffron - Iran. It is also interesting to note according to Saffronspecialist.co.uk that "Today Spain is the biggest exporter of saffron in the world. Though they only produce about 4 tons each year, or 2% of the global production - down from 80 tons in the 1930's. Spain is the world's largest exporter, because, along with selling its own saffron, it imports saffron from Iran, Greece and Morocco, to supply its internal and the international market." So basically the spice, saffron is being called Spanish saffron when its neither its origin nor domininat source today is Spain - really interesting development and use of labels. Can this happen with other things and commodities as well like culture, ideas and technology?

The instance of history being subverted is with regards to the Haitian Revolution. What is this? Many have not heard about it and may not recognise the signficance it has for many and most of the African descendants of slaves in the western hemisphere - Many of the citizens of the Americas today.

The Haitian Revolution cannot be discussed in short terms but I will try my best to put a summary of the events here. The Western Hemisphere became officially connected to Europe, Africa and Asia in the 15th century with the voyages of Europeans like Christopher Columbus, re-discoveries of territories and colonization. The settlements and claiming of these terriorities by now developing Europe was significant for many reasons but mainly because the natural resources found and cultured here would fuel the development and be the base of many thinks considered European today. In order for the economies of this bout of colonisation to work a cheap or in this case free source of labour was needed and so the roots of many social problems today and the biggest atrocity and genocide the world has ever seen began - African slavery.

No Western European nation can say that they were opposed to this as most from the UK to the the Netherlands was involved in practices and trade involving and based on slavery and even those countries who may not have had colonies like Germany etc. benefitted and gained indirectly from one or more elements of subindustries based on these colonies and slavery. It may sound harsh but the wealth and development of the developed countries in our world today was based on an unethical, inhumane practice and ideas and has physcially, culturally, socially and psychologically scarred generations of humans, even today.

One of the biggest colonial powers at the time was France. France through a series of negotiations and maneuvers had managed to wrest about half of the island of Hispaniola (the other half is now called the Dominican Republic), the second largest island in the Caribbean and named the colony St. Domingue, the French complementor to the Spanish side which was called Santo Domingo. This colony was reknowned to be the 'Pearl of the Antilles' because of the immense wealth generated from the numerous sugar plantations on the island. It was also notoriously known for the vicious and cruel slavery practices for the over 500,000 slaves on the island.

Bacchus And Ariadne By Kimathi Donkor

So what caused the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804)?

1. The terrible cruelties, high mortality rate and practice of slavery to a fierce group of slaves who outnumbered the Europeans, managed to retain their cultural and religious practices and organise

2.The divisions and problems between between the European colonists, the gens de couleur a group of free people who were mixed race (African and European mostly) and the African slaves

3. The recent events of the French Revolution in 1789 which promoted the ideas of Fraternitie, Liberte et Egalite which the slaves felt should apply to them also

4. Much more.... it was a complex time when all of Europe was trying to get their hands on as many resources as possible in the New World

So what happened? It was the most successful slave rebellion in the New World with it starting at a religious ceremony and spreading from plantation to plantation until most of the European colonists were either dead (as it was a very bloody war) or left the island. Napoleon sent troops several times to quell the rebellion but each time they failed due to many factors including malaria. This faliure of the French to regain Haiti has a significant connection with the United States because this led to Napoleon's decision to sell the United States New Orleans and the entire middle of the United States then known as Louisiana - allowing expansion westwards. I even found some interesting information about Polish and German soldiers being sent to Haiti to fight in the War and some settling there afterwards and being allowed to own land (even though no Europeans were allowed to) to in the Haitian Constitution at the time. Some other interesting facts - La Citadelle is considered one of the eight wonders of the world. Built by Henri Christophe, it is the largest fortress in the Carribean. It was built to defend the northern part of the island from European invasion. This mammoth structure has walls measuring 46 feet thick and is large enough to hold 10,000 people; it was constructed over the course of 15 years.( see picture below)

Following the rebellion and successful expulsion of the French. Haiti was chosen as the name for the country and is the original name used by the Native Indian tries that inhabited the island, meaning "land of many hills". It was the first Black Republic in the world and a shining beacon for slaves in the western hemisphere. Because of this it was viewed as a threat, preposterous and therefore should be punished for its insubordination. Haiti's punishment? Embargoes from the USA and many European slave holding nations like France and Spain, isolation from many of its neighbours like Venezuela, all of which had paralyzed the nation's healthy development up to this day.

Haiti celebreated its bicentennial of the revolution in 2004, a signifcant moment for the Caribbean region as a whole as it symbolises pride, power, respect and the ancestors who gave their lives and were strong enough to fight for their human rights. We should never forget names like Toussaint L'Ouverture, Jean Jacques Dessalines, Henri Christophe and more.

So why is Haiti one of the world's poorest countries today? Could revenge and damaged ethnocentric pride have anything to with it? No wonder according to BBC late in 2005 an article reported, "The law, which was quietly passed earlier this year by the conservative-controlled parliament, requires history textbooks to show the "positive role" France played in its former colonies. The law has prompted protests in Martinique and Guadeloupe, former colonies now departments of France." I wonder what would motivate them to pass such a law....look above and below

Revenge Taken by the Black Army." Engraving by J. Barlow from the Marcus Rainsford's An Historical Account of the Black Empire of Hayti, 1805.

For some more views look at the following:
C. L. R. James, The Black Jacobins (1938, 2d ed. 1963)

You can see a song in commemoration of the Revolution by the Welfare Poets here
An interesting short clip on Haiti for some sights and sounds of the island here

My 27th Birthday in Kalmar, Sweden

Hey, another gruelling week in Kalmar and just dropping a note to tell a little about my birthday fete. I invited my classmates and some of the other international students who frequent our gatherings. Estela and Rodrigo assisted me with going to ICA Maxi(a big hypermarket) and we bought some food supplies for the recipes I collected and decided would be the evening's treats. It was raining cats and dogs but we walked back to the party basement in Estela's building, Smålandsgatan 4a. It is a really big room with comfortable sofas and adequate space for dancing etc. Rodrigo and Estela helped me prep some of the food items, arrange the room and set out the candles as we wanted a 'chilled' environment with no lights except for candle light.
Then I began to prepare the food which was a lot more than I anticipated...quesadillas, deviled eggs, vegetable sticks with a dip concoction of peanut butter, cream cheese, garlic etc., cheeses, crackers, cuban fried pork and Lord alone knows what else...lol
It continued to rain all night and so people came little by little a bit later than invited but that was no problem as I was busy cooking and Trini time = late so I am accustomed. The biggest surprise for me was that when people arrived they brought gifts...something that I did not expect at all. Catherine brought lovely chocolate treats and Lisanne a great banana bread. The next day we had class at 8 am so I knew it would not last very long so before it got too late I did what I have done on many birthdays past and is becoming a tradition - when I studied in Brazil in 1999 one of the things I brought back with me is the love of the Axe (means positive energy in an African language) music. There is one dance I remember in totality taht I learned while I was there "Rala no Pezinho" by Patrulha de Samba. So I taught everuone the dance and they seemd to all enjoy it and called for an encore even. Overall, the evening was really well spent and I ended by heading home in a taxi with lots of food stuff, pots and pans in the pouring rain...blessings I guess. Thanks to all who made it aa special evening. Seee some pictures on the link in the "Sean's links" section below

My first Swedish Intercultural experience

Today, on the advent of the due date for our team project delivery, when almost everyone in class is busy working and writing their parts of the 40 page paper due bu each group, the professor for our next course, Intercultural Communication, organised an Intercultural Lunch for our class and one of her Swedish classes.

About 15 of us decided to go , to honour the efforst put in by the Swedish class to prepare the food for this lunch. I have been in Sweden for close to 3 months and because my class is 100% international , I have had very limited interaction with Swedish students in my age group and as a result a very derivative view of the Swedes, their behaviour and their way of life.

This was my first organised opportunity to interact with Swedes and not just Swedes but Swedes who are in my age bracket and also study at the same university as myself. They prepared a banquet made of traditional or commonly found dishes on Swedish dinner tables such as the renowned "köttbullar" or swedish meatballs, potatoes, salmon, red beet salad, swedish bread, sausages, a dish made of fish and potato called Johanssen's something, herring and much more for dessert and drink such as Julmust, and strawberry cake.

In addition to the spread prepared for us the company was also very enjoyable. All of the students sat with us and were very freidly, talkative and made genuine efforts to get to know us better and talk with us about what we liked, observed and thought about all things Swedish.

It most definitely was one of the highlights for me in terms of my experiences in Sweden thus far. I am looking forward to a few more like this.

"If you cannot find your heart's desire in your own backyard, you never lost it to begin with" Angels in America

Recently while searching on Swedish local television for a programme in English that I could watch and be able to have some understanding of what was occuring, I encountered an American miniseries called "Angels in America". The series, produced by HBO, the famous US movie channel. At the time that I saw this show on Swedish TV they showed 3 episodes back to back and I thought that it was very interesting. For more info see the link peovided. Subsequently, I managed to borrow a copy of the full series and I am in the process of watching all the episodes. The other night I was not feeling well and woke up after midnight. Unable to go back to sleep I decided to watch some more. I was watching the 5th chapter I think, when the angel\messenger (played by Emma Thompson) visits one of the main characters, Prior, who is dying from AIDS, and she tells him the reason for her visits and his supposed purpose and role as a modern day prophet of sorts.

During their discussion, there was one line that jumped out and me and is the basis of my blog today.

"If you cannot find your heart's desire in your own backyard, you never lost it to begin with" Angels in America

To me this line in a long conversation stuck out because it seems to hold a quality of infinite wisdom but at the same time is a bit mysterious and calls us to ask and interpret for ourselves how this translates into our lives. I'd like to take the quote piece by piece and give my take on it. "If you cannot find your heart's desire in your own backyard..."- what does this mean....why would our heart's desire be in our backyard and not in the house with us? Does this suggest that our hearts' desires are usually buried, not in plain sight and requires some energy and sweat to uncover?... the second part "...you never lost it to begin with" the addition of this part of the sentence complicates it a bit for me to be honest. Maybe the idea is that a person may be looking for his\her heart's desire and their first instinct is to think that it is buried somewhere and they need to look for it in the proverbial 'backyard' but after we search through the backyard and spend time and energy trying our best to locate our desires if we don't find them they were never lost, they always resided in the very place they should be in our hearts. The statement could be a call to us to recognise that all the we need and we look for in life is usually resident in our hearts and if we take the time and energy to search in the chambers of our hearts before our 'backyards' we may find the journey towards discovering our desires much more productive and pleasurable.

Views from Kalmar and the Masters Class in Leadership and Management in International Contexts

My trip to Amsterdam

Listening to: Say it right by Nelly Furtado

My trip to the Netherlands was above and beyond excellent. Never before have I ever considered visiting the Netherlands or thought about Amsterdam as a 'must see' city, but to my pleasant surprise, the people, energy and atmosphere of the country was one that I enjoyed tremendously. Holland is without doubt a very cosmopolitan country with incredible diversity and a buzzing energy that makes it a dynamic and engaging place to visit. Hopefully, I will be visiting a lot more soon.

"He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

Photo of some classmates at the student pub - October 2006

Interesting passage sent to me and I think is very profound - based in spirituality

"He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work.

She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver."

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"

He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy - when I see my image in it"

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has His eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

The differences between one and one - life lessons

Life and the universe, I have realised, work in conjunction to ensure that we are exposed to exactly the quality and quantity of experiences we require to help us further along our desired or required path.
Last night I attended a birthday party that I will never forget for a variety of reasons. The party was to celebrate the birthday of one of my classmates. She decided that she wanted to have a special theme for the party and chose a "Tropical\beach party" theme. It was an interesting idea and definitely a change from the run of the mill parties that are thrown. Most of the class turned up after 9 and the birthday girl had asked some of us to provide the party with some of our Latin music to give the authentic feel of a 'tropical' party, which we did.
During the night, other people kept changing the music and putting on music, which in their opinion must have been more amenable to the party but included the likes of the Beach Boys and such ....in a party in 2006.
The most interesting part was the behaviours surrounding the party. There was a group of students from Spain, which in some people's minds can also be lumped with Latin America (to their amusement) and they along with one or two other open minded people enjoyed the diversity of the music and the difference to what is commonly known.

Overall, many people did not want to dance and most preferred to stand around engaging in peripheral conversations and sampling the delicacies and vituals that were either provided by the host or that they brought. It was an absolutely fantastic experience to see how some are rhythmically oriented, open and possess an idea of social interaction which involves heightened social activities (e.g. dance, games etc.) versus the other group that is more conservative and seems to be afraid of expression and social interaction at significant levels. Very interesting and I look forward to learning more about this phenomenon - needless to say they are all in the same age group more or less and one group in southern oriented vs. northern oriented...guess which is which...we are in 2006 but when will people make an effort to understand and extend their boundaries from what is comfortable?

Where the sun sets at 3

Artist I'm listening to now: Nelly Furtado (songs from "Loose")

Today was an interesting day to say the least. I woke up and was filled with a spirit of contentment and for that I am grateful. Contrary to yesterday the sun was out and although the temperature was frigid it felt healthier and better
Maybe it is because we have some free days coming up and no stress to read or do anything and I head to Holland to meet Rinus for the first time. It could be the trip of trips.
It amazes me how the sun rises at 7 am and sets at 3 pm here. It is unbeliveable how the sun, which I have taken for granted all my life and sometimes cursed and ran away from is now something that I welcome and view as the one item that can make a big difference in the day and the way everyone feels. Tonight is Franziska's birthday party and it is a tropical theme so we are putting together some music from the Caribbean and Latin America and it promises to be nice.

The snow has arrived
Thought for the day and song: Se Le Ve ft. Daddy Yankee and Andy Montañez

This morning I awoke at 6 am and my tonsil pain had stopped, Gracias a Dios! So I got dressed and for some reason the time seems to disappear. So I open the fron door to see a torrent of snow falling and stopped in shock. Today is the 1st of November and snow was falling this morning and continued to fall all day. I have lived in 2 other temperate countries . the US and the UK and this is the first time that snow has begun falling this early. It is a scary thought what else we will face in the months to come. Oh well! Today we continued a class with Professor Michel Glais about the competition policies and competitive environment in Europe especially. It has been very interesting but the change in the weather makes it a bit hard for some to endure the long hours.

The end of October

Today is the last day in October 2006 and my 33rd day in Kalmar, Sweden. What can be said about my experience so far - INTENSE and interesting. I arrived to my Masters programme a bit late so I had to dive right into the coursework and adapt to the new living situation, dynamics of the class and much much more.My class in entirely international with no Swedish participants and my exposure to them thus far has been very limited. Those who have taken the time and energy to extend themselves to us, international students here have been very warm and hospitable but generally that is the scenario. There is a certain chilliness about the young Swedes that roam the same school halls with us. Maybe things will change in the months to come. Generally, Kalmar is a small city so I will not attempt to judge Sweden by what I experience here but so far it is an interesting experience because the behaviours and perspectives of the Swedes and many of our classmates which are Northern European are so very strange to me - a great opportunity to experience the diversity of humankind

The end of October

Today is the last day in October 2006 and my 33rd day in Kalmar, Sweden. What can be said about my experience so far - INTENSE and interesting. I arrived to my Masters programme a bit late so I had to dive right into the coursework and adapt to the new living situation, dynamics of the class and much much more.My class in entirely international with no Swedish participants and my exposure to them thus far has been very limited. Those who have taken the time and energy to extend themselves to us, international students here have been very warm and hospitable but generally that is the scenario. There is a certain chilliness about the young Swedes that roam the same school halls with us. Maybe things will change in the months to come. Generally, Kalmar is a small city so I will not attempt to judge Sweden by what I experience here but so far it is an interesting experience because the behaviours and perspectives of the Swedes and many of our classmates which are Northern European are so very strange to me - a great opportunity to experience the diversity of humankind

The Universal laws per Iyanla Vanzant's Acts of Faith

1.The law of forgiveness - infuses the mind with natural, healthy ideas that take away the darkness and bring in the light

2. The law of obedience - requiring that we act in order and harmony

3. The law of sacrifice - everything we give must be returned, a sacrifice never goes unnoticed.

4. The law of increase - requires that we give praise and thanks for all that we have

5. The law of receiving - we get exactly what we expect

6. The law of attraction - brings us the desires and thoughts we hold in our minds

7. The law of supply - all our needs and desires are provided based on our belief in its existence

If these things do not occur it may be possible we are breaking the law

Good thinking material

Welcome to my new blog

check out Glow by Nelly Furtado

Hi all, I used to have a lovely blog site with lots of entries while I lived in the UK on blogger.com and unfortunately it has just disappeared. So here I go, starting all over again.Once again, I have started a new chapter in my life. A year ago it was a new life in London, UK and now I am pursuing my Masters in Leadership and Management in International Contexts at the Baltic Business School, University of Kalmar, Sweden.I hope you join me on this journey and tune in regularly for updates on what is happening here. Take care