madge on the BEEB
Just watched Kirsty wark interview madge on david banda! What i can't understand at this point is why most still witch hunt this woman. Accessory or not, that boy will not die of hunger or AIDS. Malawi's situation is dire and until the baby david issue came up, most hadn't heard of malawi. Even I hadn't thought of malawi as that bad!
Regardless of the way we look at it, the positives out weigh the negetives however crass they may be. The boy will grow to adulthood, that for me is the most important thing!
posted by internationalhome @ 11:00 pm
8 comments
8 Comments:
i think your love for madonna (the hideous man-bore) has obliterated your critical thinking skills.
reading this, one would think the choice really is between Starvation+HIV/AIDS!!!! VS being Madonna's rich blackkid...hmmm, which one do i choose? You say "most had never heard of malawi" but don't you mean most Britons/Americans (basically white ppl) had never heard of Malawi??? Malawians had heard of themselves, so had Africans. Why is it so important that white ppl "hear about" us?
You're Nigerian, you've seen the way the media/general public perception is that we're scheming theiving and backwards (we are to a certain extent...but so are they, the murderous racist thieves). Do you really think that life in Malawi for this little boy would have been soooo horrendous, that he would benefit from being brought up by a woman who views black ppl (particularly black men) in the same sexualized, exotic way that anti-racists are trying to debunk?
Would you like to be Madonna's adopted son? Kiss all your passionate and intelligent african friends goodbye. Ppl often forget that parents teach their children their worldview. Honestly, I am less concerned about how much money he would inherit (or even about him being taken away from his home) than about his identity as an african and a black person as he grows up. What do you think he will learn about Malawi? Will he grow up around people who look like him, so he has some sense of his being normal and not "the african one"? Will he be able to gain a positive uplifting sense of himself and his people, despite all the problems we have? I'm assuming you grew up in naija, even if you didn't, you grew up around nigerians/africans. You've seen achieving africans and lowlife africans. You saw smart articulate visionary nigerians and feckless corrupt rapist ones too. You received a whole exprience and view of yourself and your people that whatsisname will not get (I guarantee you) from Madonna and Guy. Madonna said she wants this boy to be a spokesperson for Malawi. How cool would it be for you to adopt a conservative biblebelt white american child and train him to be a spokesperson for the sorry plight of America? It must be fun playing god.
For the record, I dislike Madonna. You like her. Maybe that's why you're supporting CULTURAL GENOCIDE!!! Just playing!
Fantastic!! Everchange you should post that reply you know, really good. That said, let me say my own.
THIS exactly is the problem with the African continent in it's entirety. At the moment, Africa in most part by our own doing is at the bottom rungs of global society. the west is rich and africa is poor, so when THEY(as you so kindly interpreted the westerners who have not till now heard of malawi)do not know where it is, IT WILL MATTER!
Everchange, i grew up in Nigeria and only recently moved abroad. The Nigeria i grew up to know and i am guessing from details of your blog, the one you knew too is very different to the ones experienced by a larger percentage of the African continent. PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING AND DYING. When the BBC shows images of children with flies coming out of their mouths, you must remember that the images are not graphics produced in Bristol.Whilst the media is known to embellish, logic screams that there needs to be something to embellish.
Whilst David banda's life may not be all that great with reference to his social construction, odds are he will grow to the age when he can make choices and get opportunities. The truth is we Africans think with our hearts and not our heads and refuse to deal with issues accordingly.
This has nothing to do with my maddonnaness (i am drawn towards the concept of madonna as a survivor), but rather the underlying mechanics of the situation. It has brought about debate and THAT, is a triumph if anything else!!
Although I'm not on the Madonna bashing bandwagon or the other side...I care little either way about her, even I can see that this is not as simple as you make out....try reading Hannah Pool's article. She was transracially adopted from Ethiopia or Eritrea and grew up privileged in England and yet still wishes she was never adopted. We might call her ungrateful but you and I will never know what it feels like...bottom line is who knows what David Banda will feel...but then you can say that of pretty much any child...we can only speculate about the what ifs
You def. have a point uknaija. I on the other hand is staunchly not on the bashing side. I mainatain my stand on good out of the bad. Besides, should we African's not be asking ourselves how we got to this situation in the first place?
Will try to catch up on the hannah pool article you are talking about, do you know what day it was published?
P.s I'm more an indie reader than a guardian!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1888996,00.html
here...I read a longer version in the Evening Standard but the gist is the same...
thaanks Uknaija, will read it now!!
uknaija makes a good point: the fact that this is a transracial adoption. I've met people (all asian) who were adopted by white families, and it is very very rare to find one who is politically aware and involved in whatever ethnic/racial community she came from. One of my acquaintances (who was adopted) says "transracial adoptions are evil" because of her experience with that sense of racial disconnect, and sometimes they experience racist and prejudiced attitudes from their adopted parents.
on another note, i know of one american couple who adopted a zimbabwean baby. The husband is a washingtonpost correspondent. But, his wife is african-american, involved in development work, and is very rooted in the black community. Both of them were working in Zimbabwean orphanages before they decided to adopt. I've met the woman and she is a lovely person, one I feel would make a good culturally and racially-aware mother for an african child. And there's the fact that they actually went through due process and struggled with the zim govt so they could adopt the child. I think that is one case of transnational adoption (excluding the fact that the man wrote a book about it) that could work well.
Interesting view-points around this one. But one key question, hinted at previously: What will the child feel? This begs the main question: What did the child want? One reason for people adopting babies is that this question does not get asked: no rights to a view-point. If Madonna had adopted an older child--say, 11 years--who had expressed their acceptance...that would be a different matter. I am on the opposed side and don't acept this any publicity is good publicity for Africa line because it is just too easy to say and becomes a justification for all kinds of activities.
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