Piracy might have good consequences but in the end a lot of people would be better of if there would be a better system of protecting consumers against these natural mechanisms of making income differences smaller in this continent. Such a system would at least contribute to the trust people would have in their own government their own systems. Trust is one of the most important things that a lot of African societies are lacking. It might even one of the main reasons that a lot of countries are still
Don’t misunderstand me: I am not supporting piracy. But wandering through the streets of Nairobi I wondered if piracy is really so bad as some research suggest. Kenya was singled out as one of the number one piracy countries in the world. Imagine: 30 percent of al the books you find in Kenya are pirated and 90(!!!) percent of al music is pirated. The entertainment industry tends to complain about this, which is understandable, but on the other hand: hundreds of fathers are coming home every night to feed their
As journalists we are constantly dealing with the changing media environment. Just wanted to share this article about the future of newspapers:  http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1004/p09s01-cojh.html?s=hns Coming up I got a posting on music piracy and what it brings to developing countries. Have a wonderful day and enjoy my mobile morning view! (And please don’t blame me if you fall asleep).  Â
US-Senator Obama visited Kenya. The media were full about his visit. What surprised me most, was that Obama spoke out about a lot of things and that his ideas were taken just as if he was a veteran statesman. But he wasn’t, It felt just as if he was hired to do so. But is a US-senator supposed to criticize the government of the country where his father was born? Obama’s only connection with Kenya is, that his father migrated to the United States long time ago, but he was
Just back from exploring East Africa, Tanzania. For the second time in a few weeks I visited Spice Island Zanzibar. Poetry: The starting point of Livingstones Travels. But also politics: although not in the open. A lot of poverty, people are not happy because a lot of tourism money is going into the pockets of freshly elected local politicians. Ok, thats is nothing new. What struck me was the mountains of garbage, left by hotels and lodges just outside Stonetown, the capital on the west coast of this beautiful island. Also: tension under the
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Dear visitor, due to travelling and moving from one hosting service to the other, I have not been able to do any postings. From now on, you are welcome on this completely renewed Blog. It’s still heavily under construction, sorry for that inconvenience. Please also visit the links above. It shows where ‘things’ are going. Newspapers, magazines and feature-bureaus: Please contact me the usual way for assigments. And: Comments are welcome.
Back in Nairobi after a few week trip overland from Johannesburg, South Africa to Nairobi, Kenya. Observations bring the dilemma’s and always the question: why does development not get through onto this continent and: should development get through here anyway? The dualism in the answers on the question why? It’s people’s own fault, it’s ‘the West’, it’s their leaders, it’s people’s own mentality, it’s past leaders, it’s culture, it’s development aid that made people lazy. But I realized: there are no clear answers. Observations while traveling overland go so many
One of the things travelling overland from Johannesburg to Nairobi is the fact that people in most countries I travelled spend a lot of time waiting: waiting for electricity, to be connected to the water network, waiting for a better future, waiting for that one customer (like the people of the small family hotel in Dar es Salaam where I’m staying). It’s an art. I made this impression of the Lilongwe busstation (capital of Malawi).. Days ago while i waited for a bus up North. And it came… finally after
