Ripple of Hope - Bobby Kennedy Quote Print

Ripple of Hope - Bobby Kennedy Quote Print

Holiday Special
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A single ripple emanates outward on Mendums Pond in Durham, NH in this mixed media image. In this color image the sky has been painted with watercolors giving the image a very etherial feeling. The image brought to mind Robert Kennedy's famous Affirmation Day speech in South Africa in 1966. RFK had been warned not to go to South Africa and told that his presence would only cause trouble. He went anyway and gave the most beautiful and powerful speech of his life and one of the most eloquent speeches in history to my mind. I have added a portion of the speech to the original image which is also available without the speech. People like me who long for a leader who is fiercely brave and reaches out to the forgotten and dispossessed as well as the working man and woman and the one percent with a message that we are all in this together will find this image one of your most cherished possessions. It is available in both a signed edition as well as an inexpensive open edition. The signed originals are printed on fine art rag paper with archival inks, the open edition on your choice of stock.

Quote from Robert F. Kennedy's famous "Ripple of Hope" Speech delivered in South Africa in 1966 when South Africa was deep in the throes of Apartheid. In a courageous act, and against all the advice of almost all those who were grooming RFK for the Presidency, he delivered this speech calling people worldwide to the cause of freedom and equality.

"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
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Special Offer

Ripple of Hope - Limited Edition Print

19" x 30" Signed limited Edition of 250 prints

Was $125

Special Price $99.00

A Ripple of Hope:

Signed limited edition poster created from an image of the same name inspired by the famed

courageous speech of Robert F. Kennedy in 1966 in South Africa where he spoke out against the Apartheid system and for hope.

"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped.

Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

Open Edition Poster and Cards

Listen to the speech here.

US Not Too Late to the Table of Economic Opportunity in Africa

Success will hinge on one simple question: Will the approach be Afro-centric or Anglo-centric?

In 2008 I wrote a blog posting entitled US Missing the Boat on Development in Africa.

The national, soon-to-be-international economic meltdown had already started and my brief post asked why, in the largest english speaking region outside of the North America, US businesses were letting China and other countries get a huge economic head start on business development in West Africa. It predicted that we would continue to do little or nothing and the foothold of China and Europe would continue to expand while we twiddled our economic thumbs - though I must admit I was tempted to use a far more colorful description regarding thumbs.

I was not the only one writing about this in 2008, but there were few enough of us that I could have counted them on two hands, and none of them included the US Ambassadors, or other State Department personnel, who seem to consider West African posts as either punishment or preamble and in either case spend far more time grumbling about the posting than trying to serve a useful purpose.

Yet despite this, I view the conference held at the White House on African development last week as a promising development and more important I believe that it is  - surprisingly - not too late.

Why?

How is it that more than half a decade could go by with burgeoning foreign investment in Africa and yet there is still opportunity for the US to not only compete in Africa but to lead. The answer is that Africa is crying out for African solution and so far they have been presented with neocolonialism from the Chinese and most of the other serious players. The Chinese and gulf countries have made huge investments in Africa but they have built an infrastructure of expatriates, ignoring the brainpower and industriousness of the people of Africa. When the investments made could have yielded solid profits and also bolstered the middle class of nations like Ghana and Nigeria and Tanzania, they have chosen to play a game of post-modern colonial capitalism and blatant cultural nepotism.

It is the opening in the field for the US Government as fullback to open the hole wider and the private sector, acting as the American economic quarterback, to power through and take the lead. Gobbling up those college students who languish at the gates and desks of hotels and a thousand other sites of underemployment, and crafting an afrocentric investment strategy. This is a strategy that not only asserts us as the economic co-generator of the African economy but that wins hearts and minds in the process.

Amazingly, the opportunity to lead in Africa still exists. The question remaining is will we have the foresight to see it and the wisdom to share the wealth and benefits.


Wayne King is a recovering politician and former CEO of MOP Environmental Solutions. As a social entrepreneur he is now engaged in economic development and poverty alleviation in  West Africa.

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What Happened to a West African Common Currency?

The first step towards the economic integration of West Africa was the establishment of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in 1975. Under the ECOWAS treaty, it was envisaged that the 16 member-nations would form a common market. Subsequently, the heads of state and government adopted the ECOWAS Monetary Cooperation Program (EMCP) IN 1987. Under the initiative, it was envisaged that all the countries would come together to form a single monetary one by 2000, from the eight currencies in the sub-region, one of which is the CFA franc.

“By integrating the economies in west Africa, monetary integration will lead to the creation of a single regional market,” said Oladimeji Alo, director general of the Financial Institutions Training Center (FITC) based in Lagos, Nigeria. “This new unified market of over 210 million people spread over 16 member countries with a GDP of over $100billion is an enormous market, when compared with the otherwise fragmented markets of individual countries,” he noted.

To achieve the ultimate objective of a single currency, member countries are required to implement a number of measures including: adoption of a market based exchange rate system.

At present, 15 West African countries use the CFA as their common currency. Notably, the CFA has been linked to the French franc but switched its link to the Euro recently. With this development, it is very unlikely that the West African members of the CFA zone will be too keen to abandon their attachment to their colonial masters (France) and start using the nigeria_note“ECOI”. Countries like Liberia and Cape Verde have already expressed their reservations about plans for a new common currency. Other (relatively smaller) ECOWAS member-states also do not foresee any significant advantage for themselves with the introduction of the ECOI.

Therefore, according to several well placed sources, while the establishment of a single currency in a region usually strengthens economic stability via increased trade exchanges and new opportunities for external investment, it is quite doubtful whether the ECOI would be able to realise such benefits in the initial stages.

The International Monetary Fund, the European Union, the Economic Community of Africa, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England are continuing to back a proposal for the West African common currency. What happens next is anyones guess.

Ghana and Guinea Conakry Offer Contrasting Views

The juxtaposition of the success of Ghana's recent elections and the "basket case" that is Guinea Conakry demonstrates the promise vs. peril equation of Democracy in Africa.

Both countries achieved independence nearly contemporaneously Ghana in 1957 and Guinea in 1958 and both had their share of early stops and starts with coups and counter-coups punctuated by an occasional period of seeming stability, but Ghana seems to have figured out this democracy thing and is on its way to becoming an African powerhouse while Guinea Conakry is not much further along than it was in the early years.

Ghana has recently experienced its fifth democratic election and Guinea is once again in the hands of a petty dictator - promising to hold free elections in a few years (just long enough to loot what little treasure is available in this one of Africa's poorest nations).

Jacob Zuma gives way to taxis over World Cup

Search: guardian.co.uk World news Web

Jacob Zuma gives way to taxis over World Cup in final South African election push

• Man expected to be next president charms unions
• Lack of public transport could cripple World Cup

• David Smith in Johannesburg
• The Guardian, Tuesday 21 April 2009
• Article history

Jacob Zuma sings his trademark song Umshini wami during a taxi summit held in Johannesburg Photograph: STR/EPA

Jacob Zuma, expected to be elected president in tomorrow's South African elections, has yielded to the demands of a powerful union in a dispute that threatens to cripple next year's football World Cup.

The leader of the African National Congress (ANC) told taxi owners yesterday that he would agree to suspend a controversial plan to replace their vehicles with buses.

Mali Becomes Touchstone for World Music

If you have listened to non-commercial radio at all lately: the BBC, National Public Radio, APR, and more, you will no doubt agree that music from Mali seems to garner more attention than its modest size would indicate.

Oumou Sangare (born February 25, 1968, in Bamako, Mali) is a Malian Wassoulou musician, sometimes referred to as "The Songbird of Wassoulou." Wassoulou is a historic region south of the Niger River, and the music there is descended from traditional hunting songs, and is accompanied by a calabash. Her mother was the singer Aminata Diakité.

Mali has produced some of the great superstars of modern African music: kora player Toumani Diabaté, golden voiced singers Salif Keita and Oumou Sangare, dancebands like the Super Rail Band, and the great river-bluesman Ali Farka Touré. Lucy Duran, presenter of Radio 3's World Routes, has spent years in Mali researching the music of its flamboyant divas, and has worked as a producer with some of Mali's leading musicians.
Oumou Sangare

Radio 3 Guide to World Music - Mali
Wikipedia - Oumou Sangare

3407 Flight Crash Stills Vital Voices

The crash of Flight 3407 on the evening of February 12, 2009 has stilled 50 voices, all of them important, all of them loved. Four of those voices are among the many who have used their lives in areas that have affected me personally.

For those who, like myself, find themselves inexorably drawn to the joy and tragedy of the African experience, the death of Dr. Alison Des Forges is a terrible blow. Des Forges was a leading authority on the Rwanda genocide and has been a Senior Advisor to, and board member of, the world's foremost human right organization, Human Rights Watch, for nearly twenty years. Dr. Des Forges' example and wisdom have served to help us to better understand the triumphs and failing of the human condition and to see broadly the complexities of relationships between countries and ethnic groups. More


"A Sea of Boys"


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D-Link Uwaje Appointment Smart Choice

The appointment by D-Link of Chris Uwaje represents a smart step forward for the company and a positive development for the region. Few, if any, better understand the underlying IT challenges and opportunities faced by the countries of West Africa. Chris Uwaje's optimistic, "can-do" temperment and vision bode well for the future of IT development in the Region.

D-Link appoints Uwaje Regional Director for West Africa
Vanguard Online Edition - Thursday, 15 January 2009

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"Cultural Drumming, Ghana"

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Ghana Proves Its Readiness to Claim the Mantle - Economic Gateway to Africa

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The torch has been passed to a new generation of leadership in the West African nation of Ghana and all signs point to a very bright future for this nation. At a time when so much attention has been, understandably, focused on the historic transition taking place in the United States, we would do well to take a moment to herald the small country that has a very big story to tell - and the potential to lead an African renaissance in the coming years.

Just 50 years from its independence in 1958, Ghana has proven to be the "wise elder" of Africa in its fierce commitment to democracy, liberty and economic opportunity.

"Landing the Fishing Boat, Cape Coast, Ghana"
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While the day and Ghana's near-term future are in the hands of Professor John Evans Atta Mills, it should be said that defeated candidate Nana Akufo Addo deserves the praise and thanks of Ghana and the world for his leadership and example in defeat. History will remember that while other nations in Africa took the dark road in this historic year, Nana Akufo Addo, in yielding peacefully to the will of the people, has played a role no less important to the future of the country than that of the winner, Prof Mills. Future generations of Ghanaians will praise his name for this act alone.

And now Ghana has proven itself ready to lead Africa on all of the major fronts in the never ending struggle for the welfare of humanity: as a bulwark against terrorism on the continent; as an economic powerhouse with the legal infrastructure to truly open Africa to world trade and to secure the economic future of its own citizens; as a shining example of the power of ballots over bullets.

And the Winner is . . . Ghana!

While none of the eight candidates for President of Ghana won a majority of the votes in Sunday's election, the results have already yielded one big winner - Ghana itself.

Unlike other recent elections on the African continent, marred by violence, the Ghanain election has been lauded by international observers as free, fair and transparent.

This is Ghana's fifth election since becoming a multi-party democracy in 1992 and a clear sign to investors and observers that Ghana is indeed positioned to become the economic gateway to West Africa and perhaps the continent as a whole by virtue of its political stability and growing legal and business infrastructure.

A runoff between the top two contenders for the Presidency has been scheduled for December 28. The contenders, Nana Akufo-Addo of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and John Atta Mills of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), each finished with over 45% of the vote ( Akufo-Addo had 49.13 percent and Mills 47.92) and Ghanain law requires a majority.

American businesses would do well to recognize the necessity to look to Ghana as a base for operations that will provide entree into the largest english speaking market outside of North America.