Ojogbon Globalization

It's important to keep our girls on the agenda.  Lacking huge resources and robust participation by people who are still sitting on the fence on this issue, I believe it's important to stand up and be counted.  The US-Africa Summit brought most of Africa's heads of state to the US to discuss US-Africa trade. The Young African Leaders Initiative was also combined with the events for the trade talks.  I have no doubt that the trade will benefit the US and will have underwhelming impact on Africa.  It is also most unfortunate that the neoliberal model of trade is being pursued.  This means that in the US, the trade will benefit the large corporations like Bloomberg, Monsanto, Dow, General Electric and the like, to the detriment of small and medium scale enterprises. It is also curious that African American businesses are not privileged in these deliberations.  Neither are businesses owned by new African immigrants to the US, who could be a bridge between ...

This paper was presented in a panel discussion in 2004, for a conference organized by women writers of African descent, "Yari Yari Pamberi: Conference of Black Women Writers from all over the Globe" (October 12-16).  The venue was New York University.  I was invited to participate by one of my aunties, Dr. Rashidah Ismaili AbuBakr .   I was as usual, very much embroiled in the "busyness" of everyday life, but given that I love and respect Aunty Rashidah, I agreed--with trepidation.  Why trepidation?  I am not what an old, good friend calls a "Lit Crit", her shorthand for literary critic and creative writer.  The panel discussion was to center around " The cultural interaction and adjustments of writers in exile and writers who have immigrated to other locations. "  I felt therefore obliged to channel "Lit Crit" type energy and write a short story.  This is not a true story but a pure fictional treatment derived from imaginative stor...