Akon

Akon biography
Akon Lyrics
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akon

Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam, often going by the shorter Aliaune Thiam (born 14 October 1981 in St. Louis, Missouri; raised in Dakar, Senegal), and better known by stage name Akon, is a Grammy Award-nominated Senegalese hip-hop and R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. He is the founder of both Konvict Muzik and Kon Live Distribution. Other sources have his name as Alioune Badara Thiam.

Akon is the son of jazz percussionist Mor Thiam. He grew up in Senegal until he was seven, split time between Senegal and the U.S. until he was fifteen, then his family permantently moved to Jersey City, New Jersey and as such he speaks English, French, and Wolof. In Jersey City he attended Snyder High School,[citation needed] where he discovered hip hop music. His first song was entitled "Operations of Nature," which he recorded at age 15. However, he was jailed for armed robbery and drug distribution charges, and used his time in prison to work on his music. Upon release, Akon began writing and recording tracks in his home studio. The tapes found their way to SRC/Universal, which released Akon's debut LP Trouble in June 2004. The album is a hybrid of Akon's silky, West African-styled vocals mixed with East Coast and Southern beats.


Akon's solo debut album, Trouble was released on June 29, 2004. It spawned the hit singles "Locked Up" and "Lonely," as well as "Belly Dancer (Bananza)," "Pot Of Gold," and "Ghetto." "Locked Up" reached the top 10 in the U.S. and the top five in the UK, and was written after Akon served time in jail for grand theft auto. His manager Robert Montanez was shot to death following a dispute in New Jersey in December 2005. "Ghetto" became a radio hit when it was remixed to include verses from legendary rappers 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. In 2005, he released the single "Lonely" (which samples Bobby Vinton's "Mr. Lonely"). The song reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100, and topped the charts in Australia, the UK and Germany. His album also climbed to number one in the UK in April, 2005. When music channel The Box had a top ten weekly chart, which was calculated by the amount of video requests, Akon's "Lonely" became the longest running single on the top of the chart, spanning over 15 weeks. In 2005, Akon gained more popularity after being featured on Young Jeezy's debut album, Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101, on the song "Soul Survivor" which became a top five hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Akon served a three-year jail sentence for grand theft auto, an experience that inspired his Locked Up.

Akon's sophomore album, entitled Konvicted, was released on November 14, 2006. Konvicted included collaborations with Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Styles P. Late August 2006, Akon released the single "Smack That" featuring Eminem, from the album. This single peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained there for five weeks. The music video for "Smack That" was directed by Raymond Garced. "I Wanna Love You", the second single off Konvicted, was released in September 2006. It is a collaboration between Akon and Snoop Dogg. This single earned Akon his first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, and Snoop's second. "I Wanna Love You" topped the U.S. charts for two consecutive weeks. In January 2007, Akon released his third single "Don't Matter" which so far has reached five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Konvicted debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 285,000 copies in its first week. After only six weeks, Konvicted sold more than one million records in the U.S. and more than 1.3 million worldwide. Konvicted has continued to stay in the top twenty of the Billboard 200 after 14 weeks, and it peaked on three consecutive weeks, not including its debut. Currently it has sold more than 1.5 million records in the U.S. and 2.2 million worldwide.

On the week of October 5, Akon broke a record on the Hot 100, as he achieved the largest climb in the chart's 48-year-history with "Smack That" jumping from number 95 to number seven. The song's monstrous leap is fueled by its number six debut on Hot Digital Songs with 67,000 downloads sold.

In 2006, Akon started his new record label Kon Live Distribution under Interscope Records. The first artist to sign was Chilli from TLC. Her debut solo album Point of View will be released under Kon Live. Earl Ray has also been signed to the label.

In December 2006, Akon's "Smack That" was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards.

He was featured on Gwen Stefani's latest album, The Sweet Escape. He made an appearance on the title track and second single, "The Sweet Escape". The song was produced by him. On December 10, 2006 both Akon and Stefani appeared as musical guests on Saturday Night Live, however they did not perform the song as Stefani had not yet learned the lyrics. "The Sweet Escape" has reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Akon collaborated with Chamillionaire on his latest mixtape entitled, Mixtape Messiah 2. He is featured on "Ridin' Overseas", which Akon also produced. The mixtape became available for download on Chamillionaire's website as of December 24, 2006.

There is a strong rumor going around that a collaborative album between Akon and Young Jeezy is in the works. It may be released later this year or possibly next year. After their 2005 Akon-produced single, "Soul Survivor", the duo says that there is a lot more to expect from them in the future. Jeezy has stated that the album will be somewhat similar to Jay-Z and R. Kelly's The Best of Both Worlds or Unfinished Business collaborative albums.

Akon is set to embark on a world tour in 2007. Starting in Africa, he'll swing through Europe and then segue to the United States. There is no word yet on supporting acts, but Akon told Billboard.com, "We'll probably get the hottest act in whatever region we're in." When asked about strong rumors that he'll be collaborating with Michael Jackson, Akon just laughed, saying only, "Right now that's in the air. I can't talk about it." He offers up the same laugh and vague response when queried about working on Elton John's next album. Akon was also effusive about another upcoming collaboration: Whitney Houston. "I'm working on more uptempo records for her," he says. "She's been through a lot and has a dark history. So we've got to make the album brighter because she's come out of the cave now. She wants a celebration. She needs to come back to the old Whitney we remember."

Akon is rumored to make an appearance on Papoose's major label debut album, The Nacirema Dream. Currently the track, "Go to War (Ghetto Soldier)" on which Akon is featured, is tentative. The Nacirema Dream is slated to be released March 2007.

Akon is scheduled to appear on Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's upcoming album Strength and Loyalty. He will be featured on the album's lead single entitled "I Tried", which will be released in February, 2007. He is also rumoured to be featured on the second single as well, which is "Never Forget Me". The album will be released on April 17, 2007.

Not for Sale, Kardinal Offishall's fourth solo album, and his first as a member of Konvict Muzik, is scheduled for release in early 2007. The Toronto-based rapper's album will feature established artists such as Lil' Wayne, De La Soul, Clipse, Rihanna and Stat Quo. It is confirmed that Akon will be the executive producer of the album.

Three 6 Mafia's eight studio album, Da Last 2 Walk is expected to feature guest appearances by Akon in addition to appearances from T.I., Paul Wall, Lil' Scrappy, Young Buck and more. It will be released Spring 2007.

T.I.'s 5th album, T.I. vs. T.I.P., is scheduled for release in the summer of 2007. It will boast production from high profile producers such as Dr. Dre, Eminem, Lil Jon, Just Blaze, Timbaland, as well as Akon. Akon is also expected to make a guest appearance on the album.

We The Best is the upcoming sophomore album from DJ Khaled, scheduled for release in the summer of 2007. The lead single, "We Takin' Over" will feature T.I., Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Lil Wayne and Birdman as well as Akon.

Akon is rumoured to be featured on Juvenile's upcoming album, entitled Diary of a Soulja. "The Verdict" and "I'm So Fly" are two tracks that Akon is featured on and may make the album. The album is schelduled to be released during the third quarter of 2007.

Epiphany, the sophomore album by T-Pain will be executively produced by Akon. The album is expected to be released sometime 2007.

Upcoming Aftermath rapper, G.A.G.E. will release his debut solo album, The Soundtrack To My Life sometime in 2007 and is expected to feature production from Dr. Dre, Scott Storch, Cool & Dre and others. The album can expect to have appearances from Akon, Busta Rhymes, The Game, Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, T.I., and many more.




AKON LYRICS

"Ghetto"

Ghetto, Ghetto, Ghetto, Ghetto livin

[Verse one]

These streets remind me of quicksand (quicksand)
When your on it you'll keep goin down (goin down)
And there's noone to hold on too
And there's noone to pull you out
You keep on fallin (falling)
And noone can here you callin
So you end up self destructing
On the corner with the tuli on the waist line just got outta the bing doin state time
Teeth marks on my back from the canine
Dark Memories of when there was no sunshine
Cause they said that I wouldn't make it
(I remember like yesterday)
Holdin on to what god gave me

[Chorus]

Cause thats the life when ur
Living in the (ghetto)and
Eating in the (ghetto)or
Sleeping in the (ghetto) (ghetto)
Cause thats the life when ur
Living in the (ghetto)and
Eating in the (ghetto)or
Sleeping in the (ghetto, ghetto, ghetto)

[Verse two]

No need to cherish luxuries (cause everythin' come and go)
Even the life that you have is borrowed
(Cause your not promised tomorrow)
So live your life as if everydays' gon be your last
Once you move forward can't go back
Best prepare to remove your past

Cause ya gotta be willin to pray
Yea There gotta be (there gotta be) a better way oh
Yea ya gotta be willing to pray
Cause there gotta be (there gotta be) a better day (ay)

Whoever said that this struggle would stop today
A lot of niggas dead or locked away
Teenage Women growing up with aids

[Chorus]

Cause thats the life when your
Living in the (ghetto) oh
Eating in the (ghetto) or
Sleeping in the (ghetto, ghetto)
Thats the life when ur
Living in the (ghetto)oh
Eating in the (ghetto) or
Sleeping in the (ghetto, ghetto, ghetto)

[Bridge]

Gun shots every night in the (ghetto)
Crooked cops on sight in the (ghetto)
Every day is a fight in the (ghetto)
(oh oh oh oh oh) (ghetto)
Got kids to feed in the (ghetto)
Selling coke and weed in the (ghetto)
Every day somebody bleed in the (ghetto)
(oh oh oh oh oh) (ghetto)

[Chorus]

Thats the life when your
Living in the (ghetto)oh
Living by the (ghetto)oh
Eating in the (ghetto, ghetto)
Thats the life when your
Living in the (ghetto)oh
Sleeping in the (ghetto)
Living in the (ghetto, ghetto, ghetto)

(wooohhoohh)

Akon

AKON LYRICS

"Ghetto"

Ghetto, Ghetto, Ghetto, Ghetto livin

[Verse one]

These streets remind me of quicksand (quicksand)
When your on it you'll keep goin down (goin down)
And there's noone to hold on too
And there's noone to pull you out
You keep on fallin (falling)
And noone can here you callin
So you end up self destructing
On the corner with the tuli on the waist line just got outta the bing doin state time
Teeth marks on my back from the canine
Dark Memories of when there was no sunshine
Cause they said that I wouldn't make it
(I remember like yesterday)
Holdin on to what god gave me

[Chorus]

Cause thats the life when ur
Living in the (ghetto)and
Eating in the (ghetto)or
Sleeping in the (ghetto) (ghetto)
Cause thats the life when ur
Living in the (ghetto)and
Eating in the (ghetto)or
Sleeping in the (ghetto, ghetto, ghetto)

[Verse two]

No need to cherish luxuries (cause everythin' come and go)
Even the life that you have is borrowed
(Cause your not promised tomorrow)
So live your life as if everydays' gon be your last
Once you move forward can't go back
Best prepare to remove your past

Cause ya gotta be willin to pray
Yea There gotta be (there gotta be) a better way oh
Yea ya gotta be willing to pray
Cause there gotta be (there gotta be) a better day (ay)

Whoever said that this struggle would stop today
A lot of niggas dead or locked away
Teenage Women growing up with aids

[Chorus]

Cause thats the life when your
Living in the (ghetto) oh
Eating in the (ghetto) or
Sleeping in the (ghetto, ghetto)
Thats the life when ur
Living in the (ghetto)oh
Eating in the (ghetto) or
Sleeping in the (ghetto, ghetto, ghetto)

[Bridge]

Gun shots every night in the (ghetto)
Crooked cops on sight in the (ghetto)
Every day is a fight in the (ghetto)
(oh oh oh oh oh) (ghetto)
Got kids to feed in the (ghetto)
Selling coke and weed in the (ghetto)
Every day somebody bleed in the (ghetto)
(oh oh oh oh oh) (ghetto)

[Chorus]

Thats the life when your
Living in the (ghetto)oh
Living by the (ghetto)oh
Eating in the (ghetto, ghetto)
Thats the life when your
Living in the (ghetto)oh
Sleeping in the (ghetto)
Living in the (ghetto, ghetto, ghetto)

if you want peace work for justice as MARTIN LUTTER KING

In 1950's America, the equality of man envisioned by the Declaration of Independence was far from a reality. People of color — blacks, Hispanics, Asians — were discriminated against in many ways, both overt and covert. The 1950's were a turbulent time in America, when racial barriers began to come down due to Supreme Court decisions, like Brown v. Board of Education; and due to an increase in the activism of blacks, fighting for equal rights.

Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister, was a driving force in the push for racial equality in the 1950's and the 1960's. In 1963, King and his staff focused on Birmingham, Alabama. They marched and protested non-violently, raising the ire of local officials who sicced water cannon and police dogs on the marchers, whose ranks included teenagers and children. The bad publicity and break-down of business forced the white leaders of Birmingham to concede to some anti-segregation demands.

Thrust into the national spotlight in Birmingham, where he was arrested and jailed, King organized a massive march on Washington, DC, on August 28, 1963. On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he evoked the name of Lincoln in his "I Have a Dream" speech, which is credited with mobilizing supporters of desegregation and prompted the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The next year, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The following is the exact text of the spoken speech, transcribed from recordings.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.


Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

the history of Rwandan genocide

The Rwandan Genocide was the systematic murder of members of Rwanda's Tutsi minority and the moderates of its Hutu majority, in 1994. This was both the bloodiest period of the Rwandan Civil War and the worst genocide of the 1990s. With the preliminary implementation of the Arusha Accords, the Tutsi rebels and Hutu regime were able to agree to a cease-fire, and further negotiations were underway. The diplomatic efforts to end the conflict were at first thought to be successful, yet even with the MRND and RPF (political wing of the RPA) in talks, certain Hutu factions, like the CDR, were against any agreement for cooperation between the regime, and the rebels, to end Rwanda's ethnic and economic troubles and progress towards a stable nationhood. The genocide was primarily the action of two extremist Hutu militias, the Interahamwe (military wing of the MRND) and the Impuzamugambi (military wing of the CDR), against dissenters to their Hutu extremism. Over the course of about 100 days, from April 6 to mid-July, at least 500,000 Tutsis and thousands of Hutus were killed during the genocide.[1] Some estimates put the death toll around the 800,000 and 1,000,000 marks.[2]

With the genocide, and the resurgence in the civil war, Rwanda's conflict was thought by the United Nations to be too difficult and volatile for it to handle. Eventually, the Tutsi rebels successfully brought the country under their control and overthrew the Hutu regime. Hundreds of thousands of Hutu refugees fled across the borders, mainly west to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The presence of the extreme Hutu factions on the border with Rwanda was the cause for the First and Second Congo Wars, with clashes between these groups and the RPF's RPA, now part of a coalition force, even until today.[1] Rivalry between the Hutus and Tutsis is also central to the Burundian Civil War.

The UN's neglect of the Rwandan Genocide, under comprehensive media coverage, drew severe criticism. France, Belgium, and the United States in particular, received negative attention for their complacency towards the extreme Hutu regime's oppressions. Canada, Ghana, and the Netherlands, did continue to provide a force on the ground, under the command of Roméo Dallaire of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), but this mission had little actual power without support from the UN Security Council. Despite specific demands from UNAMIR's commanders in Rwanda, before and throughout the genocide, its requests for authorization to intervene were refused, and its capacity was even reduced.

Rwanda a country victim of a genocie

rwadan a country of thousand hills and exceptianal beauty faced a genocide

Even the queen Diana died early do not fear to die

That's the way we do things in this country, quietly, with dignity.”- Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II
The death of Princess Diana is one of the most memorable tragedies in recent history. The Queen explores the private story behind the royal family's lack of public appearance after her death. The film takes the subtle approach of exploring the Diana story from the viewpoint of the royal family unlike any other film based on tragic events in history. The Queen is historical storytelling at its best. Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II delivers an uncannily realistic portrayal and provides one of the greatest performances of 2006.

At the time of Diana's death she had been divorced from Prince Charles (played by Alex Jennings) and was not popularly associated with the royal family. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip (James Cromwell) were not very fond of Diana and her celebrity status, as the royal family is typically very private. The Queen touches briefly on Diana's background and includes a vignette about Tony Blair's (Michael Sheen) election as Prime Minister and his first nervous encounter with the queen. When news of Diana's death arrived, the entire royal family was in residence at Balmoral Castle, a rather secluded residence of the royal family. The consensus held by the queen and her family is that Diana's death is a private affair, and therefore they spend most of the remaining days in privacy on the castle grounds as the world grieves. Although The Queen does tell quite a bit of Tony Blair's story, the focus is primarily on the personal emotions and actions (or lack thereof) of Elizabeth II and the royal family members close to her.



The reason why The Queen deserves such a high rating is the fact that I went in not expecting much and came out greatly surprised. I credit the film's story, editing and, above all, Helen Mirren's performance. It's her undoubtedly genuine acting that makes The Queen as fantastic and enjoyable as it is. Michael Sheen as Tony Blair also delivers a "revolutionary" character that has some great comedic moments. It is Blair who eventually persuades Elizabeth II to finally come out and give her speech to the public. Sheen had to be in a very convincing role and he fulfilled it perfectly. These two truly lead the way in creating the experience that The Queen is and making it into something that it would not have been without them.

The Queen is a rare film questioning the reactions of the British Royal Family that has reached American cinemas. In the end, I felt quite a bit of remorse while still harboring plenty of respect for Elizabeth II. Although the movie is heavy-hearted with sadness for the deceased Princess Diana, it is still a rather lightly-flowing story relying much on Elizabeth II's personality. The film emphasizes the queen's speech as the climactic breakthrough moment, a decision with which I emphatically agree. Her emotions at that point were fascinating. Right before the speech while Elizabeth II is putting on her necklace and looking at herself in the mirror, it is her facial expression alone that exudes so much emotion. This personal story of both Queen Elizabeth II and Tony Blair is an exquisite outlook on the Princess Diana tragedy and is fit into an enjoyable and emotional film.

Last Word:
The Queen has surpassed my expectations by leaps and bounds. It brings together great performances and an amazing story into what is not only enjoyable but also respectful. This movie will touch the hearts of all those who felt moved by the events following Princess Diana's death in 1997. It opened my eyes to a great story told in a compelling manner by an accomplished filmmaker. The Queen is one of the most passionate biographic films that I have ever seen and Helen Mirren delivers a certainly Oscar-worthy performance.

untold story

This is a story of a young girl from a rich family who fallen in love with me without taking into consideration anything.Our story begins when i was in 5th year secondary school, at this time the girl was in senior four and she loved me unfortunately she didin't told me any thing abouut it.I finished the secondary school and i was registered to the university and one day while i was crossing in kigali i met her at kicukiro and she greeted me , the second time we met at remera near by prince house and she proposed me to go with her at her home and i accepted.from that time we entered in serious relationship but because i consired her not being in the same social class with me I feared to be her lover and the time arrived when she left rwanda to Canada where she lives now. I will not regret why i was not asked her to be my lover because i am still cinviced of the inequality that is between us. All i may wish her is the best life and i will forever think and thank her for the true love that she showed to me. MAY GOD BLESS HER, HER LOVE AND HIS LOVER.

ghandi the hero

Mahatma Gandhi (First of 5 pages)


Copyright: Vithalbhai Jhaveri/ GandhiServe
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in the town of Porbander in the state of what is now Gujarat on 2 October 1869. He had his schooling in nearby Rajkot, where his father served as the adviser or prime minister to the local ruler. Though India was then under British rule, over 500 kingdoms, principalities, and states were allowed autonomy in domestic and internal affairs: these were the so-called 'native states'. Rajkot was one such state.

Gandhi later recorded the early years of his life in his extraordinary autobiography, The Story of My Experimentswith Truth. His father died before Gandhi could finish his schooling, and at thirteen he was married to Kasturba [or Kasturbai], who was even younger. In 1888 Gandhi set sail for England, where he had decided to pursue a degree in law. Though his elders objected, Gandhi could not be prevented from leaving; and it is said that his mother, a devout woman, made him promise that he would keep away from wine, women, and meat during his stay abroad. Gandhi left behind his son Harilal, then a few months old.

In London, Gandhi encountered theosophists, vegetarians, and others who were disenchanted not only with industrialism, but with the legacy of Enlightenment thought. They themselves represented the fringe elements of English society. Gandhi was powerfully attracted to them, as he was to the texts of the major religious traditions; and ironically it is in London that he was introduced to the Bhagavad Gita. Here, too, Gandhi showed determination and single-minded pursuit of his purpose, and accomplished his objective of finishing his degree from the Inner Temple. He was called to the bar in 1891, and even enrolled in the High Court of London; but later that year he left for India.

Gandhi (next page)

byamukama Alcade allias richard

page: Select Article Afro-American Lit. Notes on Novels Wikipedia Best of Web Citations --------------- Or search: - The Web - Images - News - Blogs - Shopping



African American Literature: Black Boy
Richard Wright's 1945 autobiography Black Boy covers his life from four years of age to the moment of his departure from the South (Memphis, Tennessee, where he had earlier migrated from Mississippi) to the North (Chicago) at nineteen. Its subject and title place it in the tradition of African American autobiography, beginning with the nineteenth-century slave narrative, a genre in which the autobiographer describes the particularities of his own life in order to speak of the situation and condition of the race in general. While presenting the details of one life, Black Boy is intended to reveal the horrors, cruelties, and privations undergone by the masses of African Americans living in the South (and in the United States as a whole) during the first decades of the twentieth century.

Originally Wright's Black Boy was the first section of a much longer work titled American Hunger and divided into two parts: “Southern Night”, detailing Wright's early life in the South, and “The Horror and the Glory”, treating his life in Chicago and describing racism northern style. After Harper & Brothers received the manuscript from Wright, they submitted it to the Book-of-the-Month Club for consideration as a monthly selection. The club agreed to accept it on condition that its first section alone, later titled by Wright Black Boy, be published. The complete text of the second section of American Hunger was first published in 1977 by Harper & Row. The entire work, composed of both sections, as Wright originally wrote it, was published for the first time in 1992 by the Library of America.

One of the primary themes of Wright's autobiographical narrative involves the influence of racism on the personal interrelations not only among the individuals of the oppressed group but within the family itself. The first episode of the narrative, in which Wright at four years of age innocently burns down the family home, has no racial implications per se, but the response of his mother does. As punishment Wright is so severely beaten with a tree limb that he lapses into semi-consciousness and requires the attention of a physician. The mother's response is in direct correlation to the family's economic circumstance. They are poor because they are black, and the harshness of his punishment reflects the degree of the family's economic loss. On another occasion, when Wright is badly cut behind the ear by a broken bottle in a fight between black and white boys, his mother, instead of extending the comfort and sympathy ordinarily expected of a parent toward a wounded child, beats him to warn him of the dangers of fighting whites.

Black Boy's historical significance lies in its recapitulation of the thrust of black autobiography in its use of the form as a means of righting social wrong. Other African American writers have used literature to perform this function, but none before Wright had been as outspoken. In episode after episode Wright describes through his own experience of racial repression that was undergone by millions of his brothers and sisters. At the same time, he relates the story of his own growth.

Bibliography

Michel Fabre, The Unfinished Quest of Richard Wright, 1973
Donald B. Gibson

WebNewsImagesShoppingPage Tools
▼ Print this page Send to friend Translate this pagePersonalize Library
Arts

Business

Entertainment

Food

Government

Health

Legal

Leisure

Military

People

Reference

Religion

Science

Shopping

Sports

Travel

Words

Zoology

More...

Notes on Novels: Black Boy
Contents:

Author Biography
Plot Summary
Characters
Themes
Style
Historical Context
Critical Overview
Criticism
Sources
For Further Study




Richard Wright made a masterful recording of his own life in the form of the novel Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth. The work earned him a place as "father" of the post-WWII black novel and precursor of the Black Arts movements of the 1960s. Published in 1945 as a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, Black Boy was received enthusiastically by the reading public and topped the best-seller lists, with 400,000 copies sold. The commercial success of this novel secured for Wright what his acclaimed novel of 1940, Native Son, had demanded. With these two works, Richard Wright is correctly said to be one of the most powerful forces in twentieth-century American literature. Without doubt, he is the most powerful influence on modern African American writing due to his impact on James Baldwin (Another Country, 1962), and Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man, 1953).

Black Boy is an autobiographical work in which Wright adapted formative episodes from his own life into a "coming of age" plot. In the novel, Richard is a boy in the Jim Crow American South. This was a system of racial segregation practiced in some states of the U.S., which treated blacks as second-class citizens. In his novel, Wright emphasizes two environmental forces of this system: hunger and language. He shows how hunger drives the already oppressed to even more desperate acts, and his emphasis on language explains how he managed to survive Jim Crow: by developing an attention to language as a coping mechanism for the surface world of life. Meanwhile, literature offered him internal release from the tensions of living without the freedom to express his dignity as a human being. Thus, Wright's novel is a powerful story of the individual struggle for the freedom of expression.

Rwanda is committed to the radication of any kind of genocide

As the sun set over this desert camp, Pvt. Lambert Sendegeya, an African Union soldier from Rwanda, popped in a tape of music from his country and launched into a series of leg bends. Lt. Eugene Ruzianda peered from his canvas tent and, removing his green beret, joined the evening exercises.

As they stretched, they lamented their daunting task: protecting 80 African Union military observers who are charged with monitoring a rarely observed cease-fire in Sudan's strife-torn region of Darfur, an area about the size of France.

A Rwandan officer and his troops prepared last month to leave for Darfur, where they now make up part of an African Unity force. (Finbarr O'reilly -- Reuters)

_____Crisis in Sudan_____
• Washington Post foreign correspondent Emily Wax has reported on the dire situation facing the people of Darfur in western Sudan.
• Sudan's Ragtag Rebels (The Washington Post, Sep 7, 2004)
• Wells of Life Run Dry for Sudanese (The Washington Post, Aug 22, 2004)
• Targeting the Teachers of Darfur (The Washington Post, Aug 18, 2004)
• In Sudan, 'a Big Sheik' Roams Free (The Washington Post, Jul 18, 2004)
• Refugees Moved Before Annan Visit (The Washington Post, Jul 2, 2004)
• 'We Want to Make a Light Baby' (The Washington Post, Jun 30, 2004)
• In Sudan, Death and Denial (The Washington Post, Jun 27, 2004)
• Chad Broken by Strain of Suffering (The Washington Post, Mar 11, 2004)
• Bittersweet Homecomings in War-Weary Sudan (The Washington Post, Jan 5, 2004)
Free E-mail Newsletters

* Today's Headlines & Columnists
See a Sample | Sign Up Now
* Breaking News Alerts
See a Sample | Sign Up Now

They rattled off the reports of violence they had heard and the instances in which victims had handed them handwritten notes about fighting and rapes. But neither the monitors nor the protection forces have enough vehicles or manpower to investigate, the soldiers said.

"Every night you go to sleep thinking, 'I could do more. We could do more with a better mandate,' " said Ruzianda, also a Rwandan, whose family fled to Congo during a civil war in his country in the 1990s. "I hate it, to see people living like this. There are some things that remind me of our country when people were fleeing. It can be a shock to see it all again. This time, the only comfort is that at least we are here. At least there is something."

These men are part of the generation that survived the 1994 Rwandan genocide, 100 days of violence in which 800,000 people were slaughtered. The Organization of African Unity, since replaced by the African Union, stood by silently while the carnage unfolded. The United Nations, which had a small force on the ground during the bloodshed, also did not intervene.

Now 155 Rwandans, part of a 305-member African Union force, are being asked to demonstrate that Africans can stop African wars. The United Nations, backed by the United States and the European Union, called for the group's involvement in Darfur, its first serious test.

Burned villages smolder across the region. About 1.4 million Africans who were driven from their farms now live in squalid tent cities that continue to swell. Thousands of people have died in the crisis, which the United States has termed a genocide.

The violence erupted in February 2003, when African tribes rebelled against the Arab-led government. The government responded by bombing villages and arming and supporting an Arab militia known as the Janjaweed to put down the rebellion, according to the United Nations and human rights groups. The government has said the Janjaweed is not under its control.

The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution this month that threatens sanctions against Sudan unless it stops the violence and establishes a commission to investigate atrocities. The council has also threatened to send 3,000 more African Union troops to Darfur if security does not improve.

The monitors and their protectors are key to ending the conflict. Their job is to track violations of the cease-fire by the government and by the African rebels and report them to the union's political wing, which is conducting peace talks between the two sides in Nigeria.

Aid groups say the force's mandate is vague and are pressing for more explicit orders that would allow the soldiers to use force to stop the attacks on civilians.

Sudan's government has said it would reject any role for the force beyond monitoring. In Khartoum, government-owned newspapers are filled with fiery editorials accusing the troops, who represent 12 countries, of bringing HIV/AIDS to Sudan. Other stories have likened the mission to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

But Sudan's government may not have a choice. Attacks are continuing in villages and around camps, which refugees describe as "prisons without walls," said Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, who recently visited the region.

"People cannot return home because they do not trust the government to protect them," Arbour said. "It's clear they need an increased international presence on the ground."

WHY WARS

The Progressive" -- - - I suggest there is something important to be learned from the recent experience of the United States and Israel in the Middle East: that massive military attacks are not only morally reprehensible but useless in achieving the stated aims of those who carry them out.

In the three years of the Iraq War, which began with shock-and-awe bombardment and goes on with day-to-day violence and chaos, the United States has failed utterly in its claimed objective of bringing democracy and stability to Iraq. American soldiers and civilians, fearful of going into the neighborhoods of Baghdad, are huddled inside the Green Zone, where the largest embassy in the world is being built, covering 104 acres and closed off from the world outside its walls.

I remember John Hersey's novel The War Lover, in which a macho American pilot, who loves to drop bombs on people, and also to boast about his sexual conquests, turns out to be impotent. George Bush, strutting in his flight jacket on an aircraft carrier, and announcing victory in Iraq, has turned out to be an embodiment of the Hersey character, his words equally boastful, his military machine equally impotent.

The Israeli invasion and bombing of Lebanon has not brought security to Israel. Indeed, it has increased the number of its enemies, whether in Hezbollah or Hamas, or among Arabs who belong to neither of those groups.

That failure of massive force goes so deep into history that Israeli leaders must have been extraordinarily obtuse, or blindly fanatic, to miss it. The memory is not lost to Professor Ze'ev Maoz at Tel Aviv University, writing recently in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz about a previous Israeli invasion of Lebanon: "Approximately 14,000 civilians were killed between June and September of 1982, according to a conservative estimate." The result, aside from the physical and human devastation, was the rise of Hezbollah, whose rockets provoked another desperate exercise of massive force.

The history of wars fought since the end of World War II reveals the futility of large-scale violence. The United States and the Soviet Union, despite their enormous firepower, were unable to defeat resistance movements in small, weak nations. Even though the United States dropped more bombs in the Vietnam War than in all of World War II, it was still forced to withdraw. The Soviet Union, trying for a decade to conquer Afghanistan, in a war that caused a million deaths, became bogged down and also finally withdrew.

Even the supposed triumphs of great military powers turn out to be elusive. After attacking and invading Afghanistan, President Bush boasted that the Taliban were defeated. But five years later, Afghanistan is rife with violence, and the Taliban are active in much of the country. Last May, there were riots in Kabul, after a runaway American military truck killed five Afghans. When U.S. soldiers fired into the crowd, four more people were killed.

After the brief, apparently victorious war against Iraq in 1991, George Bush Sr. declared (in a moment of rare eloquence): "The specter of Vietnam has been buried forever in the desert sands of the Arabian peninsula." Those sands are bloody once more.

The same George Bush presided over the military attack on Panama in 1989, which killed thousands and destroyed entire neighborhoods, justified by the "war on drugs." Another victory, but in a few years, the drug trade in Panama was thriving as before.

The nations of Eastern Europe, despite Soviet occupation, developed resistance movements that eventually compelled the Soviet military to leave. The United States, which had its way in Latin America for a hundred years, has been unable, despite a long history of military interventions, to control events in Cuba, or Venezuela, or Brazil, or Bolivia.

Overwhelming Israeli military power, while occupying the West Bank and Gaza, has not been able to stop the resistance movement of Palestinians. Israel has not made itself more secure by its continued use of massive force. The United States, despite two successive wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, is not more secure.

More important than the futility of armed force, and ultimately more important, is the fact that war in our time always results in the indiscriminate killing of large numbers of people. To put it more bluntly, war is terrorism. That is why a "war on terrorism" is a contradiction in terms.

The repeated excuse for war, and its toll on civilians-and this has been uttered by Pentagon spokespersons as well as by Israeli officials-is that terrorists hide among civilians. Therefore the killing of innocent people (in Iraq, in Lebanon) is "accidental" whereas the deaths caused by terrorists (9/11, Hezbollah rockets) are deliberate.

This is a false distinction. If a bomb is deliberately dropped on a house or a vehicle on the ground that a "suspected terrorist" is inside (note the frequent use of the word "suspected" as evidence of the uncertainty surrounding targets), it is argued that the resulting deaths of women and children is not intended, therefore "accidental." The deaths of innocent people in bombing may not be intentional. Neither are they accidental. The proper description is "inevitable."

So if an action will inevitably kill innocent people, it is as immoral as a "deliberate" attack on civilians. And when you consider that the number of people dying inevitably in "accidental" events has been far greater than all the deaths of innocent people deliberately caused by terrorists, one must reconsider the morality of war, any war in our time.

It is a supreme irony that the "war on terrorism" has brought a higher death toll among innocent civilians than the hijackings of 9/11, which killed up to 3,000 people. The United States reacted to 9/11 by invading and bombing Afghanistan. In that operation, at least 3,000 civilians were killed, and hundreds of thousands were forced to flee their homes and villages, terrorized by what was supposed to be a war on terror. Bush's Iraq War, which he keeps linking to the "war on terror," has killed between 40,000 and 140,000 civilians.

More than a million civilians in Vietnam were killed by U.S. bombs, presumably by "accident." Add up all the terrorist attacks throughout the world in the twentieth century and they do not equal that awful toll.

If reacting to terrorist attacks by war is inevitably immoral, then we must look for ways other than war to end terrorism.

And if military retaliation for terrorism is not only immoral but futile, then political leaders, however cold-blooded their calculations, must reconsider their policies. When such practical considerations are joined to a rising popular revulsion against war, perhaps the long era of mass murder may be brought to an end.

ARSENAL FIRST TEAM

MARTIN LUTTER KING

Martin Luther King (1929 - 1968)

Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King ©
King was an American clergymen, Nobel Peace Prize winner and one of the principal leaders of the American civil rights movements.

King was born on 15 January 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. His father was a Baptist minister, his mother a schoolteacher. Originally named Michael, he was later renamed Martin. He entered Morehouse College in 1944 and then went to Crozer Religious Seminary to undertake postgraduate study, receiving his doctorate in 1955.

Returning to the South to become pastor of a Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, King first achieved national renown when he helped mobilise the black boycott of the Montgomery bus system in 1955. This was organised after Rosa Parks, a black woman, refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man - in the segregated south, black people could only sit at the back of the bus. The 382-day boycott led the bus company to change its regulations, and the supreme court declared such segregation unconstitutional.

In 1957 King was active in the organisation of the Southern Leadership Christian Conference (SCLC), formed to co-ordinate protests against discrimination. He advocated non-violent direct action based on the methods of Gandhi, who led protests against British rule in India culminating in India's independence in 1947.

In 1963, King led mass protests against discriminatory practices in Birmingham, Alabama where the white population were violently resisting desegregation. The city was dubbed 'Bombingham' as attacks against civil rights protesters increased, and King was arrested and jailed for his part in the protests.

After his release, King participated in the enormous civil rights march on Washington in August 1963, and delivered his famous 'I have a dream' speech, predicting a day when the promise of freedom and equality for all would become a reality in America. In 1964 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1965, he led a campaign to register blacks to vote. The same year the US Congress passed the Voting Rights Act outlawing the discriminatory practices that had barred blacks from voting in the south.

As the civil rights movement became increasingly radicalised, King found that his message of peaceful protest was not shared by many in the younger generation. King began to protest against the Vietnam war and poverty levels in the US. He was assassinated on 4 April 1968 during a visit to Memphis, Tennessee.