March 29th, 2012
sassational

In Africa and its diaspora the mask transforms mortals into gods and makes a political point. 

Tangible Spirits | NG

In the realm of the spirit world, the mask is more than mere facade. It is utterly transformative. The man in the mask—and it is nearly always a man—may speak in a different voice, move differently, behave differently, because he is a different being. The mask is put on. The line between reality and illusion, god and man, life and death blurs. The masked man is not playing a role. He becomes the role.

HRMM. American political masks are much less interesting. C’mon guys, maybe beef up your colors and dangly-things, make the circus more fun to watch this election year? 

Reblogged from kateoplis
129 notes·
mask culture africa diaspora political theatre critical thinking inspiration color globalization the art of a culture reflects the passion of the species human nature the psychology of communication
March 16th, 2012
sassational
The UN is warning of a looming famine and mass starvation in the Nuba Mountain region of Sudan. About 200,000 people on the Sudanese side of the border are at immediate risk of starvation.
So, the “demand” that George Clooney and the other protesters made to the Government of Sudan was to let humanitarian agencies access vulnerable people in the Nuba region. Blocking food aid is a tactic that the Sudanese government used to destroy populations in Darfur, and now it is repeating that same tactic in the Nuba mountains.
George and the others got themselves sent to the slammer to draw attention to this very urgent humanitarian emergency.

 - Why George Clooney got himself arrested
By Mark Leon Goldberg, UN Dispatch

The border region between South Sudan and Sudan is called the Nuba mountains. This area is largely populated by ethnic groups that supported the South during the civil war, but now find themselves living on the north side of the border. For several months, the Sudanese military has been trying to purge their former adversaries and disarm rebel groups.  Some of the tactics the Sudanese government has used are very reminiscent of Darfur: namely, targeting the civilian populations to get at the militias.

The Sudanese government has basically won. Now, they are punishing the civilians who still live in the Nuba Mountain border regions by blocking humanitarian access to the region.  The Sudanese government is not letting groups like the World Food Program, UN Refugee Agency, or Red Cross/Red Crescent bring food or medicine to people in the region.  

George and the others got themselves sent to the slammer to draw attention to this very urgent humanitarian emergency.  Hopefully, people will take notice of the underlying reason why Clooney is spending his Friday afternoon in a DC jail cell.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mark Leon Goldberg.

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human rights george clooney sudan nuba region un things that make you go WTF africa
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Sassational is the weblog repository of Andrea (Pegg) Eaken, aka "Sassy". Find me on Twitter, @_WordGirl. It's
fun being Creative Director
for Kinetic Consulting, too
(but the views expressed
here are wholly my own and are not those of my employer, cool?).

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I am a gutsy critical thinker,
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