Relaxing Friday Music Video, But First Some Links

I wanted to include a few links with this week's music video, but the links grew in number and my commentary grew in wordiness, so now there is a pretty long post! So check out 1) General Links, 2) Links on the famine in East Africa, 3) Madagascar links... or just skip ahead to 4) Samoela music video. Happy Weekend!

1) General Links:
Lil' Miss FDR?

The trustworthiness of beards. I'd like to point out that, in the last 3+ years, I have run the gamut from Very Trustworthy to Unsavory/Threatening...

Australian Broadcasting's 1986 satire on Colonialism

2) Links on the Famine in East Africa

How bad is the famine in the Horn of Africa? Check out theEconomist’s video/map

Whose fault is it?

Jeffrey Sachs(*) places at least some of the blame on thewest, and paints the issue as more than a humanitarian crisis – it is also a security crisis, and in order to ensure the region’s short-term survival and long-term stability, investment in sustainable development is needed.

On the other hand, Ken Opalo places much of the blame on thepoor leadership of the countries affected by the famine. As he says: “Blaming western colonialism, neocolonialism, climate change, etc are nothing but distractions. This problem and many other African problems are for the most part just that, African problems.”

Want to do something? Here is a list of the charitiesworking in the area 

(*) = Full disclosure: I will be studying under Sachs in my graduate program beginning this fall

3) Madagascar Links
Is it time to lift the economic sanctions imposed on the Malagasy transitional regime? A UN expert warns that the sanctions are worsening hunger (and not affecting the regime) -

"The result is that Madagascar today has one of the highest levels of child malnutrition in the world, with levels comparable to those of Afghanistan or Yemen." 

Check out the article, especially the last few paragraphs which point out the promising developments prior to the crisis (foreign investment, land certification, and an SRI shout-out!) and how they have been stunted by the never-ending "transition." And as I was speaking of my Professor-to-be and his article above (section 2), I want to quote him on economic sanctions (from his book The End of Poverty): "These sanctions may aim to weaken or topple a despicable regime, but often they simply impoverish the population of the targeted country without toppling the regime."

Is Madagascar at risk of becoming a major drugs hub? 

And a few interesting links from Tananews (note: their site is in French, but you can paste the links in Google Translate) -
Eyewitnesses in Tulear say the students at the University of Tulear are on strike. They demand the departure of the President of the University, and (translated via google) -

So this morning the students took hostage:
1) the DAF at the University
2) the cashier of the University
Later, accompanied by two people, they are routed to the home of vice president of the university. Where they have taken hostage the wife and children of the latter.

I do want to point out that I expect that episode to end peacefully, as Malagasy do not (usually) condone violence to meet their demands. But for updates check out Tananews (since I do not see any reports of it from other sources)
Tananews also has obtained a report (apparently from a World Bank-sponsored CAI report, although I cannot find the report online yet) detailing the extent of the rosewood trafficking: how much has been smuggled out and where it is going (98% to China).

4) Samoela Music Video: Samoela's "Hafaliana" was one of the biggest songs over the past year; you heard it everywhere. It's a nice laid back jam. The main line, "Hafaliana foana tsiky lava ny miaraka aminao" means basically: "I always have a big smile / am happy whenever I am with you"

Friday Music Video - Oladad, Part Two

This week, another video from Oladad. This is their remix of Afindrafindrao, the popular (traditional) Malagasy dance song.

My Thoughts on Planting Popular Cash Crops in Madagascar

My friend Ryan wrote a great post about the Camphor tree-planting fad in Madagascar. He talks about the dangers and rewards of planting an invasive exotic species:

Birds like the fruits and spread the seeds, and the tree is allelopathic, like eucalyptus, meaning that its leaves when they fall are toxic to the seeds of other plants, turning it into a monocrop even if it wasn’t planted as such. In Australia, it not only outcompetes rainforest, it will outcompete native eucalyptus which is the primary food of Koalas (oh the irony). Guess its probably not a good species for integrated agroforestry systems, huh?

It can, however, be a lucrative cash-crop and thats what these forest managment groups are banking on as they struggle to find projects that will provide them the income to pay their forest patrollers and keep their groups running.

You should read the whole piece, as Ryan does a good job looking at the issue from all the sides. I just wanted to add my own thoughts here (as my comment reply to his post got a little long).

I too found Camphor to be the new fad in agroforestry in Madagascar. Ryan touches upon this, but I just want to emphasize the main reason people are planting it (in my experience) is because outsiders (foreign companies, government officials, NGO workers, PCVs) are telling them to plant it. These outsiders talk about how great the tree is and how much money can be made from it, and the local farmers decide they cannot plant anything but camphor! I think there are a few things that need to be considered when talking about planting Camphor trees:

-New trees gain popularity every few years in the development world. For instance, when I first got to Madagascar (in 2008) it was Jatropha which was the popular tree for income-generation and reforestation. This tree, exotic to Madagascar, was supposed to produce massive amounts of oil that could be used as a bio-fuel. But in reality, it needed far more water than originally believed, produced less seeds/oil than originally believed, and also had alleopathic effects on the soil. Check out some of the other negatives here.There have been many other trees promoted by foreign investors and/or aid agencies (as anyone who has read my blog knows), and they go in-and-out of style regularly. So we must be cautious in championing new species.

-Excitement to plant new trees often leads to small farmers giving up their subsistence agriculture to plant entire plantations of the "cash crop." Then, when the market collapses, these farmers are left without food from their farming and without money from their cash crop. Indeed this is true of any cash crop... (more on the market issues below). As Ryan points out, monoculture is a major danger to subsistence farmers (and the surrounding environment).

-The impetus to plant Camphor trees is based on economic gain, but these gains are grossly misrepresented. Those that promote planting these trees usually cite the high prices of Camphor oil and the chances to export to Europe and the United States. But there are two problems with this: 

1) Camphor trees, like all trees, take time to produce. With prices high now, many new plantations are going into production. That means in a few years' time, the market will likely be over-saturated with Camphor. In other words, supply and demand rule. Even if there is still demand, the prices will likely have dropped greatly... I recently read a book about Coffee that noted a cycle in its price: when prices were high, everyone planted more coffee; then a few years later when that coffee matured, the price plummeted; then people gave up planting coffee, so supply decreased, and prices rose again, and... You see where this is going. You also might think we would have learned something from all of this, but as this 2010 article points out in the case of Madagascar Vanilla, the cycle perpetuates (as all cycles do!) - here's the money quote: "Ironically, it was vanilla's inflated prices in 2003, when farmers profited the most from the sweet-smelling spice, which have spelt disaster for Madagascar's vanilla industry." Actually, CNN, there is nothing ironic about it - that's how the market works!

2) exporting from Madagascar is itself a costly and time-consuming process, full of unforeseen headaches, and that is without even factoring in the costs of certifying the product (Ryan does touch on this too).These costs are rarely explained to new farmers, and when they are, often misunderstood.

These are a few of the considerations when presenting new "miracle" trees / crops in developing countries. I actually think most PCVs and NGO workers do consider these issues, and probably explain them to the small farmers. But there is a communication and cultural gap: for instance, many Malagasy see foreign NGO workers, PCVs, and businessmen as experts, and therefore the Malagasy do not believe foreign ideas could have negative consequences. Also, small farmers in Madagascar often listen more to the tone of your words then to the meaning of them, and the excitement these Camphor tree proponents relate in explaining the pros (MoneyMoneyMoney, MONEY!) greatly outweighs the fine print of the cons (offer not valid to all participants, rules and restrictions may apply, ask your doctor about possible side effects, prices may vary).

Mandela and Friends, Monsanto and Gates, and Other Interesting Links

A few interesting links to start the week, and then I should be back later this week with a write-up on my Ethiopian adventure (finally!)

First, today (Monday) was Nelson Mandela's 93rd birthday. There are a few ways to celebrate the occasion:
-Jam with some songs for Mandela
-Rent Invictus (Damon and Freeman in a movie about Mandela, rugby, race, and reconciliation? It is safe to say that it was my kind of film...)
-Check out Dear Mandela, the upcoming documentary of three young South Africans "putting the promises of democracy to the test."



Other links:

-Interactive map / history of Africa

-Ok, this is the most interesting article to me: the Gates Foundation is working with Monsanto to bring genetically engineered crops to Africa. You may recognize Monsanto as the villain in a number of food-related documentaries (like this one, or this one, or this one) and for suing people for growing their own crops. Now the article says that "biosafety activists in South Africa are calling a program funded by the Gates Foundation a "Trojan horse" to open the door for private agribusiness and genetically engineered (GE) seeds..." There are so many complicated issues involved in this, and I am not at all qualified to jump into the debate. But here's one question to get you riled up: If GE crops produce more food for drought-stricken regions, will the ends justify the means? (You should be able to find most of those documentaries online; on the flip side, here is Monsanto's response to claims made in Food, Inc.)

Most of the above is courtesy of the blog Africa is a Country. The below are via the aid blog From Poverty to Power...

-Good news out of Africa: Ghana and Zambia have officially been reclassified as middle-income countries

-"Big businesses are taking advantage of a scheme that was originally designed for small-scale producers and now compete with those producers..." That's one of the glaring lines in an interesting article on Fair Trade and who it benefits. But two parts that really resonated with me were:

Even from within the movement itself, there were calls to address standards. Merlin Preza, coordinator of Fairtrade Small Producers in Latin America and the Caribbean, said “the problem lies not in meeting standards — of course producers can meet them — the problem is verification”. She explained that poor farmers, who are often illiterate and live in isolated rural areas, often find it very difficult to navigate all the ‘red tape’ involved in registering products and proving where and how products are grown.

and

The room generally agreed that fair trade can’t just be about certification or about getting a fair price. It must include other elements that build capacity and empower small-scale farmers to take control of their lives. That means investing in local communities, supporting education, improving product quality and, above all else, enabling organisation so that poor farmers can gain a stronger position in the market, widen their choices and negotiate better deals.

In my experience, free trade certification (and organic certification) requires so much monitoring, reporting and minutiae that it is unlikely the small farmers it is supposed to help can ever legitimately obtain it. Furthermore, many farmers I knew thought they could just show up to a meeting with a certifying agent and/or pay a large sum, and they would be certified (part of the blame for this goes towards the government bureaucracy, and part toward aid handout programs). The required "investment" in communities was not something that resonated at all with the small farmers I worked with in Madagascar (who, I should note, were already among the wealthiest farmers in the area... which makes sense because in order to take the risk of exporting rice abroad, they had to be otherwise financially stable... ah the Catch-22's...)

Friday Music Video - Oladad!

This week's video features one of my favorite Malagasy groups, Oladad. This song has a bit of a Bollywood influence, which is pretty cool. Check out 5 Tsindrina 5 -

Draftee Jets, BBC Frets, Religion Mock, Mada Doc... Random Links to Wrap Up Your Week!

Before we get to Friday's Music Video, here are a few things I found interesting over the past few days (ok, more than a few...) It's a random collection, but I think there is something here for everyone!

-This post from a departing New York sports fan on what she will miss gets me excited to move to NYC next month (mostly I am also just nostalgic for Mike and the Mad Dog on the FAN)

- Interesting story on the last Vietnam-era draftee to retire from the Army

- A democracy prize for Putin! Congratulations to Germany's Quadriga Prize, you just took the "Really?" title away from the UN (for North Korea chairing a conference on disarmament)...

- A victory in Austria for Pastafarians!

- American English infects Her Majesty's Kingdom

- Is the AU in need of radical restructuring?

- Interesting and well-done Trouble in Lemur Land documentary video (hat tip - spotlight madagascar) Check out the great footage of harvesting rosewood (and the cute baby silky sifakas)

- Need a theme for your wedding in South Africa? There has to be a better choice than Colonial Africa .... More context here:

Of course, not surprisingly, some white South Africans are defending the couple. Although one commenter to the Jezebel post did write the truth: “Most white folks’ weddings in [South Africa] are colonial not by design, but by default.”
Which is why we’re surprised so few are asking...what makes venues like the Cow Shed... think it is okay to throw colonial/Apartheid throwback weddings for white South African and European couples. The Cow Shed has since issued a lame press statement to still defend its decision to host the party.
At least they can’t blame Julius Malema for this. 

-Speaking of Julius Malema...when not perusing the internet I tend to spend time at the local public library (that's the place where old folks spend their days!) and read the print version of the Economist (yes they still print periodicals!)... but back to Malema, I came across a fascinating profile of the leader of the leader of the Youth League of South Africa's ruling African National Congress, who is . One of the reasons I love the Economist is the little touch they add to a story, like the last sentence in the closing paragraph:

Young JuJu, as he is familiarly known, has the wind in his sails. His ego is huge. He is tough, clever and has a disarming cheeky grin. Among his heroes, he counts Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi. President Jacob Zuma might once have been included in his list but is now the unnamed butt of much of Mr Malema’s stinging criticism about a lack of leadership. Many believe he is now preparing to topple the very man he helped make king. They may be forgetting that the wily Mr Zuma can be ruthless too.

 - Finally, to end on an awkward / fun note, here is this video (hat tip to Deadspin)

For Whom the Bell Totos

This is too good not to share:
"Toto's 'Africa'" by Ernest Hemingway

I am a fan of the song (did this blog's title give it away?) AND the author. Here's an excerpt:

The man thought the dogs sounded desperate, perhaps having grown restless and longing for some company. He knew the feeling. The crying of the dogs reminded him that he would need to do what he knew was right now that she was here.

In Hemingway's typical autobiographical style, I expect the next chapter to feature the protagonist downing another large whiskey and heading out onto the savannah to shoot some large animals. Speaking of Hemingway, drinking and hunting, here is a bit from How to Drink, the Hemingway Way| (Which is itself an excerpt from "The Heming Way: How to Unleash the Booze-Inhaling, Animal-Slaughtering, War-Glorifying, Hairy-Chested, Retro-Sexual Legend Within... Just Like Papa!") -

A man works up quite a thirst while massacring ferocious beasts such as lions, tigers, and chipmunks with his personal arsenal of firearms and traps and machetes and blowtorches. On safari Hemingway often "drank a whiskey … to take the edge off so I would not be nervous" ("Green Hills of Africa") and got "too drunk to shoot straight." Like Dick Cheney, he probably scared away more hunting partners than wives.

Lazy Sunday Look at Africa-Related Links

3 African-related news/links, with a slight Malagasy flavor:

1) The biggest news out of Africa is the newly independent country of South Sudan. The people of South Sudan have a lot of difficulties ahead, but rather than focus on those (you can find out more on the challenges with a simple google search) let's bask in the pure joy of the independence ceremonies.

The government of South Sudan has a nice play-by-play of the ceremonies. I think a lot of people will be rooting for South Sudan, especially with its president's cowboy look:

and words like this:

"We are far behind, we must now commit all our energies to socio-economic development of our country. Our lives are now in our own hands." - President Salva Kiir Mayardit

What is the Madagascar connection here? Well, I spent a long time trying to search for information regarding whether or not Madagascar was represented at the independence ceremony. Early reports had claimed that 80% of African countries would be represented, but after much Google-ing, it seems Madagascar was part of the other 20%. Indeed, according the the "authoritative" Wikipedia entry, Madagascar does not yet recognize South Sudan... which males sense since very few countries recognize Madagascar's current government!


2) Okay, this isn't "news," but NPR did a list of 5 New African Bands that Ruled in 2010, and included amongst some jamming musicians is a Malagasy artist, Razia Said. I had never heard her in Madagascar, perhaps because she lives "any andafy" (abroad). Still, here is a link to her site, where she is raising money to protect the Masoala forest in Madagascar. A few of my RPCV friends have seen her play in America and enjoyed it, so here is a video sampling!

Hat Tip: Africa is a Country

3) Here is an interesting list of comparisons: Country v. Company.

We've found 25 major American corporations whose 2010 revenues surpass the 2010 Gross Domestic Product of entire countries, often with a few billion to spare.

Here is the Madagascar comparison: eBay!

eBay is bigger than Madagascar

Madagascar's GDP: $8.35 billion eBay's Revenue: $9.16 billion
eBay would rank as the world's 129th biggest country.

Hat Tip: A View from the Cave

Friday Music Video

Continuing with the "most popular Malagasy artists from the past two years" videos, here is rapper Big MJ with "Tsinjaka Triatria" (or as it is better known to Peace Corps Volunteers, the Yo Yo Yo Yo song) -



And here is a fun video from some Oxfam workers that takes the international aid advertising in a new direction (hat tip: From Poverty to Power) -

Madagascar: World's Worst Economy?

Good news / Bad news time:
Good News: An article making the internet rounds today is about Madagascar!
Bad News: The article is from Forbes and ranks the ten worst economies, with Madagascar ranked as the worst.  Here's a link to the article: Madagascar World's Worst Economy

First, I should point out that the author admits that there are far worse countries, such as Somalia, but these countries are not included in the ranking because the IMF does not have complete economic data for them. So Madagascar is the worst out of 177 economies.(As a comparison, last year Forbes had ranked Madagascar number 10 on this list). While this ranking may be welcome news to the critics of self-declared Malagasy President Andry Rajoelina (and I am, at times, a critic myself), I find it hard to support this ranking with my experiences in Madagascar. Despite all of the dire warning of the international community that Madagascar was headed for economic disaster in 2009-2010, it somehow survived. Those doom-and-gloom predictions continue today, as most observers think the economy should have collapsed by now. I am sure that these predictions, and the Forbes article, are strongly supported by economic data and other quantitative indicators. Yet the reality in Madagascar is far from dire, as my anecdotal experiences from 2008-2011 taught me. Here are a few of the non-qualitative economic indicators I noticed:

-Many people expected the 2009 coup d'etat to scare off foreign investors in Madagascar. But I noticed a drastic increase in foreign businessmen, projects and investments. This should not be surprising to anyone, as businesses rarely care about the human rights issues or political legitimacy associated with a particular government.
-I saw major road improvements throughout the country. The central government spent some money in this area (as part of their populist appeals), but because their coffers were nearly empty and foreign aid limited, I expect most of this construction was financed by foreign companies.
-There are many major construction projects that began in the past two years. This is especially true in the capital of Antananarivo where office buildings and hotels have shot up in very little time.
-In my region of Alaotra Mangoro, I saw far more French workers in Ambatondrazaka in 2010 than I had in 2008. Meanwhile the city of Moramanga had expanded drastically to accommodate the mining interests in the area, and foreign workers from South Africa, India and China were everywhere.
-A huge influx of Chinese business interests. Chinese traders were rare in remote regions of Madagascar until a few years ago. By 2011, my villages had seen many traders come through searching for minerals and other natural resources.
-Investments in tourism, mining operations, and business creation. These investments from foreigners come despite the continuing international isolation of the current Madagascar government.

The final "indicator" I will mention is the plight of the common people, and it has not really changed very much. People in small villages have lost access to some excellent NGO-funded programs, but they are continuing to survive and sometimes prosper. To these people, the events in the capital do not really effect daily life. One assertion in the Forbes article particularly surprised me: "Much of the country has descended to a barter economy, according to the U.S. State Dept." While I do not know the basis of the State Department's study, I had not seen any such descent. Many people do barter for goods, paying for work with rice or exchanging vegetables, but they have always done this. The statement makes it seem as though Madagascar no longer has a monetary economy, and that is simply not true.

While I think the plight of Madagascar is difficult, I do not think it earns the country the title of World's Worst Economy. The government has been near-bankrupt for almost two years, and continually has had to delay payments to public sector workers(*). Yet I was very surprised to see that in many areas, the change of government did not affect day-to-day economic life too drastically. Even more surprising, some business interests seemed to flourish in the past few years. So, as someone who saw the country in 2008 (pre-coup, when Madagascar was considered one of Africa's rising stars) and in 2009-2011 (post-coup, when it was an international pariah), I have seen little change in the lives of the average people and really the economy as a whole. I guess this is just a case of the numbers and the images painting differing pictures...



On a happier Madagascar note, there is a nice travel article in the New York Times. Scientist John Sparks captures the thrills of travels by ox-cart, and also touches upon the dangers of assuming the western traveller knows better than the local villager:

When the team finally trudges into the village of Tsaratanana, on the north bank of Lake Tseny, at 11:30 p.m., dusty and exhausted, having walked for more than seven hours, its members have gained a number of important insights. First is that a villager’s estimate of 40 kilometers for the journey, which they had thought to be a gross overstatement, may well have been accurate. Second, although zebus pulling a cart appear lethargic in the hottest part of the day, they are capable of surprising liveliness after dark. Thus, reminded of the old line about “mad dogs and Englishmen,” the team members now fully comprehend the reluctance of oxcart drivers to begin this journey at high noon.

 Sparks is writing regularly as he studies the freshwater fish of Madagascar. Here is a link to his full article history (thanks to Ryan Marsh for originally tipping me off to him!)



(*) = The government likely earned revenue from illegal rosewood logging and other activities shunned by the international community. This revenue was probably used to fund the military (which has seen numerous officer promotions and salaries raises), provide some public goods (such as cheaper commodities at specific markets), and eventually pay some of their public-sector salaries. It is also likely that any such "black market" revenues obtained by the government would not be included in the IMF's economic indicators, and would explain how the government has continued to operate despite the lack of traceable funds...

July Fourth Odds and Ends, and Friday Music Video!

Before getting to this week's Friday Music Video, a few things:

First, this weekend I am headed to DC to see some Peace Corps friends and check out the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. The Festival is highlighting the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps. Check out their website for some of the cool events planned, and if you're in the area then stop by to get a taste of the Peace Corps experience!

Second, the Peace Corps friends I am visiting just arrived from Madagascar with their Malagasy counterpart for the Santa Fe International Folk Art Festival next week. The Malagasy woman is a silk weaver who will be displaying her (and her cooperative's) wares at the festival next weekend (July 8-10). Check out her profile here and stop by the festival if you live in that area!

Also, a bit off topic, check out this brief video (animated!), which does a nice job introducing the importance of transparency in aid (see this blog post for more detail on the subject) -



Finally, this week's music video again comes from the great Jerry Marcoss. This time it is a collaboration with Farah John's, who has gotten pretty popular in her own right over the last few years. The song is called "Tsy Kivy," and it was huge last summer. Baically it is about the girl, Farah, being tired of Jerry's BS, and Jerry trying to explain himself (note the excellent dance moves of the girls listening to his explanations at 0:45). Farah then goes into the chorus "Zah tsy kivy", which basically means, "I'm not discouraged." It is a goofy and fun song to start the holiday weekend! (My favorite parts are Jerry's "Yah yahs" which means the same in Gasy as in English)...