An Op-Ed at the New York Times by a former resident of Kenya’s most notorious slum - Kibera raises light on the controversial hot topic of Slum Tourism. The piece questions not only the ethics of …

Can we talk about poverty in a way that doesn’t exoticise it? Is this possible anymore? When we talk about elitism and about golf courses and convertibles, can we admit that conversations about privilege are also about government housing, about skipped school fieldtrips, and the way roaches will scatter in swarms across tile floors when you flip the kitchen switch at midnight?

Slums, townships, shantytowns. Living at the edge of society but being in the centre of resourceful entrepreneurship and coulorful life amid dire circumstance. This isn’t always the common association made with slum life (except of course, the simplistic glamorization of shantytown life thanks to Slumdog Millionaire and the like), but it’s well captured in this Foreign Policy Photo Essay. The photos from slums in Venezuela, India, Kenya and Indonesia resonate with a sense of ethereal beauty over anguish.

We trawl the news media so you don’t have to.

Facing the Kool-Aid Recovery with Columbia U. Prof. Dorian Warren [VIDEO]
RaceWire, The Colorlines Blog :: Watch the Video here

“Lebanon is beautiful, it is my home… but here, I cannot be free. My view from here is blocked and the Lebanese are asleep to all the beautiful things they have to see.”

My appreciation of Lebanon begins with recognizing its style, its ability to meld renegade culture and art, the behind the scenes political discussions, the sporadic displays of cosmopolitanism amidst mental and physical rubble, and even the excesses of the luxurious jet set that lend to its enduring cool. But there are things about Lebanon that are tainted and easily eclipse the joie de vivre the Lebanese purport to specialize in. The things about this country that frustrate are not simply disruptions to my personal comforts – daily electricity outages, ubiquitously slow Internet, dismal public transport, heavy noise pollution and sticky smog. The things that create more discomfort about Lebanon’s mentality as a society is the blatant segregtion of outsiders.

We trawl the news media so you don’t have to.

Full Text of Barack Obama, President of the USA in Ghana :: Al-Jazeera English

Obama in Ghana: War a ‘millstone around Africa’s neck’ :: CNN.com

Why Africa Depends on Handouts : A contradictory message from Obama :: Al-Jazeera English

Barack Obama tells Africa to stop blaming colonialism for problems :: London Telegraph

Obama in Africa: A Major Disappointment :: The Nation

More than 5,000 Africans text message Obama :: Alternet, from Agence France Presse

I keep waiting for the moment when I say: “yes, this is where I’m from, this is what my culture means, this is a connection I’ve been waiting for all this time. Everyone I meet keeps saying, “yes you are Canadian, but you belong to India” – which just heightens the disconnect between what I want to feel and how I actually feel.

These are my people, and yet there is an unreality about being here that occupies most moments. I feel as though time and place are suspended. I never know what time it is, either here or at home, and my head spins from the difference in time – day feels like night, and my stomach growls while I sleep.