http://babakfakhamzadeh.com/site/index.php?c=18&k=0&t=0&d=0 Welcome to the websites of Babak Fakhamzadeh. Get book, movie, game and audio reviews, travelogues, photologues and much more. For the latest from each category, check the menu above. en-en http://babakfakhamzadeh.com/site/images/fb-thumb.jpg http://babakfakhamzadeh.com/site/index.php?c=18&k=0&t=0&d=0 http://babakfakhamzadeh.com/site/index.php?c=12&i=5347 http://babakfakhamzadeh.com/site/index.php?c=12&i=5347
Total: 3 images.GOAL decided to go ahead, just before christmas, with a complete overhaul of their DCYP, Disadvantaged Children and Youth Program. The paper based workflow is to be completely moved online. And I'm supposed to have this finished when? Before the end of January of course.

Then, the National Auditer's Office of Tanzania also needs a new website. Why not. When do they want to be finished? Well, not later than February, of course.

SACSIS is wrapping up moving to a new server, with a completely overhauled content management system. This week.

And culture, too! The Irish pub O'Casey is now having rather superb open mic and live music nights on Wednesdays. Thursday, they are still home to quiznights. On Friday I had my exhibition Once Salone, and on Saturday there was a photo scavenger hunt organized by a few friends.
With mediocre internet at home, it's almost like being in a real city!

Well, if it weren't for having had electricity for only two days since the start of the new year. But water on most.

The exhibition was a success. Most works were sold before the opening of the show. But I had to also cut the show short. I wasn't able to get the prints framed, as there doesn't seem to be a framer in town, and was too worried about the prints getting damaged.

The scavenger hunt was fun. Tom and I, the only team of two, where everyone else had four-man teams, came in second. It was my first scavenger hunt. Nice, but not as much fun as a photomarathon. For one, in a scavenger hunt, the quality of the photos doesn't matter. Also, the winning team split up to check more items off their list. Of course totally allowed and possible, but it also means that, in effect, they were two teams pooling their scores. Wouldn't it be more fun to keep the whole team together at all times?
One way to resolve this would be to only allow submissions from one camera, I suppose.

The winning team's prize was a case of PBR. The pool party afterwards was a killer. The Star on tap ran out early. The braai was well stocked.]]> Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100 8.4893 -13.2504 http://babakfakhamzadeh.com/site/index.php?c=2&i=5346 http://babakfakhamzadeh.com/site/index.php?c=2&i=5346 I was intrigued when I saw Mann's book on sale at ORT, so I immediately bought a digital copy through Amazon for nearly half the price.

Mann, of course, was the Brit who lead the planned Wonga coup on Equatorial Guinea back in 2004, right when I was living in Zimbabwe, where Mann was arrested with 69 of his men, about to pick up weapons for the last leg of their journey to overthrow Obiang.
After a few years in jail in Zim, Mann was traded for oil and shipped out to Equatorial Guinea, where he was pardoned after another 18 months, after first being convicted for some 35 years, then turning in as much evidence as possible.

The second half of the book, detailing the time from his capture up to his release, is readable, but only barely. Mann's style is horrid, reads like a pretentious adventure story written by an incapable 12 year old. Apparently, Mann already had an editor shaving off tens of thousands of words from his manuscript. If only the man had done some actual editing.

Then, there are the factual mistakes, particularly in the first half of the book, where Mann tells of his military escapades before the 2004 attempted coup, which is a painful exercise and test of endurance to get through. And a map where the DRC is still called Zaire? Really?
Only the first chapter of the book is interesting enough and sets a tone and expectation that's not met anywhere else in the account. Here, Mann tells of the events directly leading up to the arrests.

Perhaps the worst, specifically during the first half of the book, is Mann's continuous attempts to exonerate himself from the veneer of his life as a glorified mercenary, pretending, and claiming over and over, that the wars he fought with his Executive Outcomes were for the good of the people they were fighting for, with Obiang almost being the messenger of death himself.

Sadly, in the end, there is hopelessly little that can be gleaned from this book on the politics and dealings of a modern coup. Mann rambles a lot, but says very little.]]> Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100 http://babakfakhamzadeh.com/site/index.php?c=4&i=5345 http://babakfakhamzadeh.com/site/index.php?c=4&i=5345 Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100 http://babakfakhamzadeh.com/site/index.php?c=6&i=5343 http://babakfakhamzadeh.com/site/index.php?c=6&i=5343
Total: 1 images.All the best for the new year, anyway!]]> Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100 http://babakfakhamzadeh.com/site/index.php?c=6&i=5342 http://babakfakhamzadeh.com/site/index.php?c=6&i=5342
Total: 1 images.All exotic symbols from all flags of all countries in the 'South'. Duplicate symbols are ignored.]]> Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100 http://babakfakhamzadeh.com/site/index.php?c=12&i=5344 http://babakfakhamzadeh.com/site/index.php?c=12&i=5344
Total: 15 images.For Christmas, we camped out under the stars on one of Sierra Leone's Turtle Islands, a hundred kilometers or so due south of Freetown, and really only reachable by canoe, a good eight hour sail from River No. 2, itself a good hour south of Freetown by car.

With the nearest proper shops being in Freetown itself, we had to bring all our supplies, which primarily meant water, beer and liquor. And some food. And we had to bring in camping gear. In which we nearly succeeded, Niamh and I missing a mattress, which resulted in some sleep-challenged nights and painful backs in the morning.

Fish were caught, though not speared, bottles with messages were posted, the name game was played, and good times were had by all. One bottle came back on the same day, dropped off by two young fishermen. How did they know the bottle came from us? It's customary to check in with the local chief, asking for permission to camp on his grounds, even if it's an island away. The chief will then 'donate' some useful items, in our case a table, some eggs (many of which contained young chicks), firewood and a guard, upon which we were supposed to 'donate' some money.

We camped on two islands, the first night staying close to a village, where we were full blown entertainment for hours, villagers standing on the edge of our camp, or just walking in, checking out to see what we were doing, in the evening for a while even taking over our cozy little campfire.

Amazingly, in the 30 to 35 degree heat, some have no problem wearing fur winter coats and snow hats. None of us ended up getting seriously burnt. A surprise, particularly as, during the long boat ride, we had to regularly jump in the water to 'swim', typically losing liberal latherings of sunscreen in the process.]]> Mon, 26 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100 7.5929 -13.0114 http://babakfakhamzadeh.com/site/index.php?c=2&i=5341 http://babakfakhamzadeh.com/site/index.php?c=2&i=5341 A history of The Congo, the DRC, as a colonial entity. Identified by the Belgian King Leopold II as the only viable area on the globe to claim as his own, in the middle of the 19th century, Leopold controlled the area, his private fiefdom, as a very malevolent dictator, under the guise of humanitarianism.
First providing the king with ample funds through the export of ivory, The Congo later became a huge source of rubber, extremely harsh working conditions, essentially sanctioned slavery, resulting in the deaths of perhaps 10 million Congolese.

Has an excellent review of Henry Morton Stanley's early years. Stanley, born John Rowlands, was abandoned by his mother and, after a few years with relatives, put in a British 'workhouse' at the age of six, before jumping on a ship at the age of 17, when he sailed to New Orleans, where he got off and slowly obtained the identity we know him for.
What's less known is Stanley acting as a proxy for Leopold after bumping into Livingstone. First, on the king's account, traveling from the east to west coast of Africa, effectively staking out a claim for the king's Congo and, afterwards, campaigning for the King's actions for most of Stanley's life.

Though the book somewhat drags on, at times, it's a surprisingly easy, and often grueling, but eye opening, read.

It's amazing to realise to what extent Leopold's inhuman control of his territory, over 100 years ago, still has repercussions today. After The Congo was handed over to the Belgian state and, in the 1960s, gained its independence, it was Mobutu who ended up with control of the country, having come of age under harsh conditions, watered down versions of those deployed under the King.
Mobutu himself copied Leopold's style of government, deploying not only inhuman tactics, but ruled the country as his own personal source of money.
Of course it was that behavior which sparked Africa's world war, a game changer for several African leaders, not the least for Museveni, Kagame and Kabila.]]> Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0100