Blog Page 1709
Africa’s Caesar: the paradox of Paul Kagame
In 1994 Rwanda burst into the popular imagination of the world, seared by a genocide that was for most observers so terrible and incomprehensible it beggared belief. Yet despite its seismic impact, there has been little sustained interest in the complex figure who contributed so much to the genocide’s conclusion. Paul Kagame, the current President of Rwanda and leader of the RPF army which expelled the genocidal government in 1994, stands as a towering figure in Central Africa, yet debate over his place in history and direction of Rwanda today remains vitriolic among observers of Rwanda.
For some Kagame is a visionary leader and peace bringer. His remarkable “Rubicorn”, taking over a demoralised and defeated RPF army in 1990 and rebuilding it, isolated and alone, into a force that could defeat the French backed genocidal government of Habyarimana, remains a remarkable military feat. It arguably saved thousands of lives while the UN stood idle.
In the early years of his rule, many foreign commentators declared him a “Renaissance Leader”, one of a new generation of African governors who would end endemic problems of corruption and misrule. His reforms to the business environment of post-genocide Rwanda have been met with widespread approval, with Fortune magazine running an article entitled “Why CEOs love Rwanda”. His austere style, focus on domestic order and discipline have also won him a reputation as an impassive and tireless reformer. Yet for many Rwandans it has been Kagame’s ability to secure some measure of peace and security in the troubled state that is Kagame’s greatest achievement.
However, Kagame’s drive and discipline have a darker side. Amnesty International has reported extensively on widespread human rights violations by the security forces, particularly within the judicial system and against critical journalists. Multiparty democracy within the country has largely failed. More accusations accuse Kagame of ruthless annihilation of opposition; including the murder of Seth Sendashonga, a prominent opposition figure, in 1998. All of these factors have prompted increased nervousness among Western observers. Surely their idol could not have feet of clay. Surely Kagame could not have fallen to the same curse as Caesar – the lure of ultimate power?
The most dangerous accusation for Kagame, however, has been a persistent claim from many within and without Rwanda that he favours his minority Tutsi ethnicity over the majority Hutu. The uninvestigated abuses and killing of Hutus by RPF soldiers within Rwanda and in the Democratic Republic of Congo remain a significant challenge to his reputation for upholding the rule of law. To some it appears there is one law for the Hutu and one for Kagame’s Tutsi.
Yet perhaps the most Caesaresque of Kagame’s traits is his boundless ambition. On Rwanda’s chance of achieving South Asian style growth within a generation he categorically stated, “We can and we want to. We are convinced – very very convinced. We want to do it and we will”.
Despite the monumental challenges that face Rwanda in every sphere, Kagame is driven by this desire to achieve the “impossible”. Even this ambition is tempered with a darker side. Kagame’s expeditions into the DRC from 1998 – 2003, and use of the concept of “Greater Rwanda”, a medieval kingdom incorporating parts of the DRC, have led to accusation that he longs for territorial expansion. It is difficult to assess the seriousness of these claims, yet it is certainly true that Kagame has not shied away from operations on Congolese soil where it might be in the interests of Rwandans.
Who is this man Paul Kagame? Whatever the similarities, it would be the grossest simplification to simply dismiss him as a Caesar. He has boundless ambition, determination and discipline, yet these are coupled with a deeply ruthless streak. All of these are harnessed in his pursuit of a modern Rwanda, yet a Rwanda for whom? The Tutsi elite from which he hails, or all Rwandans, regardless of ethnicity?
Perhaps the best way to understand Kagame is through a quote, made on the 10th Anniversary of the genocide which shaped a nation. “We cannot turn the clock back nor can we undo the harm we caused but we have the power to determine the future and to ensure what happened never happens again.” Within this quote, we see the twin themes that have defined Kagame’s life; the genocide and a relentless drive for a Rwanda shaped in the image of his dream. Woe betide those who stand in his way.
It is too early to make a complete judgement on Kagame’s rule of Rwanda except to say this. It is tremendously difficult to understand or quantify the changes, complexities and tragedies the 1994 genocide has caused in modern Rwanda. Kagame, at tremendous human cost, has brought a measure of stability and governance to Rwanda, which, however temporary, has not be seen in several generations. Whether this is enough to secure his legacy and his dreams only time will tell.
David Hemery: The Extended Interview
The 2011 Sports Personality of the Year award saw 400m hurdle World Champion Dai Greene limp home in ninth place, with a mere 2.64% of the vote. However, if he had won, he would slightly surprisingly not have been the first athlete to have taken the award for that event, for that accolade goes to David Hemery.
David Hemery, now 67, won the award due to just under a minute’s worth of exertion. Having erupted from the blocks in the Olympic final in Mexico an unknown, he obliterated the opposition, winning by nearly a second as well as smashing the month-old World Record, to become a household name. The race itself is a thrilling watch, an exemplary example of the 400m hurdlers art, and is made all the more exciting by the voice of David Coleman of Private Eye’s ‘Colemanballs’ fame. In fact, according to Hemery, ‘David Coleman added the colour to the race. There was one projector at a school where the sound wasn’t working and the whole thing went flat, and I realised just how much is put into that race because of Coleman’s commentary.’
Hemery had crept in under the radar due to a slightly unusual upbringing. His father moved to the US when he was 12, and before his penultimate year of school he had hardly ever gone over a hurdle, the nearest thing being ‘running down the beach over breakwaters while growing up on the east coast.’ Having moved back to England for a few years after finishing school, working in a bank, he then moved back to America for university, enrolling at Boston University at the age of 20, in hindsight a huge advantage as ‘being older my body could take more’. There, he was lucky enough to work with the two coaches, Billy Smith and septuagenarian Fred Housden, who were to shape his future athletics career, as well as his sporting philosophy.
‘I am very much a ‘why’ person’, Hemery told me, ‘and with Fred I had a coach who fully explained the mechanics of hurdling and the methods behind his coaching technique. Then, with Billy, he made sure I was involved in decision making – I think it’s very important to have a discussion as to what you think would be best for you, as well as what the coach does.’ This also inspired his interest in coaching, and following retirement he spent seven years coaching at Boston University, passing on what he had been taught, before returning to Britain in 1983.
With regards to the London Olympics, he is ‘inspired by having the games and hopes the athletes can respond to the pressure rather than be daunted by it; it’s a double-edged sword.’ His advice to any potential athlete would be to ‘aim to run a personal best at Games. You can’t guarantee that someone won’t run faster, or jump further, but you can aim to do the best you’ve ever done, and nothing more can be asked.’
In fact, in Mexico, despite being thousands of miles from home and the eyes of the nation, in Hemery’s words ‘I could not have put more pressure on myself. I had never been more terrified as I prepared, thinking ‘Could I put hundreds of hours of work into practice in the next 50 seconds?’ I had the intention to win, but I didn’t know if the time I was aiming for (incidentally, 48.4s, still well inside the then-World Record) was fast enough.’
Looking back to the Olympics and the events he is most excited about, ‘obviously I’m looking forward to watching Dai Greene (heir to his throne as the world’s premier quarter-miler hurdler) , but in reality I am looking forward to ever British performance, from the intrigue of the distance runners to the multi-eventers, and I wish them well.’
Multi-eventing is a discipline close to his heart; he took up the decathlon during the year after his Olympic victory as ‘I wanted another challenge. I loved the varied training required for every event, and although I was not quite good enough at pole vaulting and throwing to reach international standard I gained huge enjoyment from the experience.’ It was during this time he undertook a PGCE here at Oxford University, setting the university 110m and 200m hurdles records, both of which still stand to this day.
David was elected the first ever president of UKA (the UK Athletics Association) in 1998, a post he held for two consecutive two-year terms. His experience of several high-profile drugs incidents, both internationally and nationally, has left him ‘100% supportive’ of the current BOA policy. ‘It’s a selection policy, they shouldn’t select someone who has intentionally taken drugs, as it takes a place away from someone who hasn’t. I believe in the appeals process, as it ensures only those who have intentionally cheated are affected while allowing those who make genuine mistake (he brings up the famous example of British skier Alain Baxter, stripped of his 2002 bronze medal due to the differences in American asthma medication ingredients) to be welcomed back.’
Asked for one piece of advice for a budding young student athlete, he told me ‘be really clear about goals and work hard towards them, but ensure that you’re enjoying the process. If I’d broken my leg right before the Olympics I’d have been really upset not to have been able to see if I could fulfil my potential, but I would not have regretted all the effort that had gone in, because the learning was huge and I know I developed as a person through the experience.’
He ended our discussion with an inspiring little anecdote: ‘At the end of my first year at university I ran a relay leg in 50.9 (or something like that) indoors, and as my personal best had been 53.8 and this was a massive improvement I told my coach ‘I don’t think I’ll ever run faster than that’, and my coach just walked away. And when I ran a 44.6 in Mexico (three years later) in the relay it made a mockery of my statement.’
If that doesn’t give hope to any aspiring young athlete, then I don’t know what will. London may be too soon, but as he’s proved throughout his long career, if you believe in your abilities and push yourself, there’s no limit to what you can achieve.
The toughest job in world sport
There should be a support group – some kind of weekly talking-shop to discuss the trials and tribulations of lower league captaincy because it’s definitely the hardest job this town has to offer.
Sure, there’s more pressure in the Premier League or Division 1. Captaining Teddy Hall’s 1st XV means you’re never short of expectation from your college peers. But with that expectation comes hordes of over-keen players, practically beating down the selection door. Rarely will one have to contemplate turning up with twelve men and trying to work out whether to go with a six-man pack or no wings. As Worcester’s football skipper, you can be pretty sure that if you organise a training session people will come to it. As St. Anne’s thirds football skipper, there’s a real danger that without a cacophony of emails, texts and shouting you’ll barely have half a team.
The lower divisions and reserves leagues are the true test of the art of captaincy. Forget Mike Bassett, a better primer for the skills required could be a biography of Lyndon B. Johnson. Tactics and strategy can wait for when you’ve persuaded people to actually get on the pitch.
The week always starts with optimism: a cheery email on Tuesday, a few positive replies and a whole bunch of dissembling, but there are always enough vague yeses for a team to start to take shape in your head. Come the day before, though, and worry – that all too familiar companion – sets in. It often seems to be momentum at work: one person drops out, that solitary individual turns into six, and after the deluge it’s just you and that keen foreign-exchange student who first picked up a rugby ball eight days ago.
So the pressganging begins, cornering people you’ve never spoken to purely on the basis that they look like they’d be handy in a ruck and immediately and shamelessly turning the conversation to tomorrow’s match. This is, among other things, a sure-fire way to cultivate a reputation as a bore.
No matter how hard you try things inevitably seem to devolve to 1pm outside the lodge, surveying the outflow from lunch and hollering across the quad at likely-looking candidates. If you’re unlucky you won’t get a quorum (loosely defined as about eleven for rugby and around eight for football), and will have to put on your best poker-voice as you embark upon that ever-guilt-ridden game of ‘cancellation chicken’. If you’re lucky you have an hour in which to fashion something approaching a coherent side out of a ragtag bunch that would make your local pub side look like the All Blacks. Props out wide, a grumpy regular first-team flanker shoehorned in at fly-half to give a semblance of defensive strength, and something nearing negative-fitness levels.
However, the great unsaid in the above is that the entire thing is a rollicking good laugh. Matches, when they’re on, have a level of unshackled wonder that the 1st teams of this world can only dream of. Almost anything can happen – my personal favourite from last term being the beanpole football winger who was, very much against his will, forced into a rugby shirt and then left the field with a hat-trick of notable brilliance and the promise of three pitchers in Bridge. Glorious.
Interview: The Barefaced Night
The Barefaced Night opens at the Keble O’Reilly Theatre on Tuesday 21st of February at 19:30 and runs until Saturday 25th. Tickets are £5 for students and can be bought online at www.wegottickets.com/f/3918
Review: Phantasm, Magdalen College Chapel
Since their founding in 1994, Phantasm have become something of a benchmark in the viol consort genre, and this evening’s programme, comprised entirely of English consort music, demonstrated a subtlety and refinement that is no doubt a product of this long-standing relationship.
The carefully-chosen repertoire allowed for an amazing sense of freedom throughout, and the fantasias that dominated the programme sent endless threads of woven counterpoint trailing through the air. In the dark Magdalen chapel, I noticed a divide in audience members. Some closed their eyes and let the music drift around them, while others sat on the edge of their seats, or even stood, in order to capture every nuance of the individual performers. There is an argument for both methods. The music could be taken as both a passive and (dare I say it?) relaxing, experience, while at the same time being an intricate and intense mesh of passionate and often chromatic ideas that played themselves out according to the whims of long-dead composers.
The blend of sound was like that of an expert choir – it is important to remember that this repertoire was composed in an environment saturated with vocal music – and the level of communication between the performers was such that they operated as a single organism, breathing and moving with each other. Occasionally, one player projected from the sonic texture with a motif, such as the cascading figure in Gibbons’ Fantasia no. 4 a6, but never protruded too far or for too long, and would quickly be subsumed back into the ensemble. The only exception was Laurence Dreyfus, writer on historically-informed performance and director of the group, whose vibrato was often more noticeable than the other performers’, although it did little to disrupt the overall balance, and I appreciated the differentiation of character in the two treble viols.
Tempos were sufficiently varied, from the pathos-laiden and remarkably dissonant entries of Tomkins’ Fantasia XVII to the animated Aire by William Lawes that concluded his Consort Sett VIII a6 in g and the first half. Dynamics, too, were shaded with a finesse that shaped the notes in a meaningful way and made this concert an absolute pleasure from beginning to end.
One to Watch: Big Hat
The ‘Big Hat’ facebook page description (‘When Fleet Foxes had unprotected sex with Stornoway, Big Hat was born’) is (however ‘racy’) a slightly unfortunate one. It is unfortunate partly in being a little crass, but, more importantly, because it sells the quintet short. The sound and aesthetic are similar, if you squint a bit, but overall, Big Hat have so much more to offer than simply a rehashed blend of late noughties cry-cry-indie-boy bedroom fingerpicking.
These boys can play. I use the word boy with some deliberation. This is another fairly predictable trope: a gang of well-mannered ex-public schoolboys with guitars and prized sachets of Drum tobacco. In truth, I can’t really believe how young they are, a fact belied by the complexity and sophistication of their melodies.
Griping about the predictability of their set-up doesn’t really tell you much about the music, though, which is, at its best, absolutely sublime. The vocals are strong with this one, while judicious use of guitar (artfully provided by Jack Raeder of Jesus College, Oxford) adds structure to tunes that otherwise might risk being overly dreamy. For the record, I’m not the only one to think they’re great: ‘Land of Sky and Ocean’, taken from their first EP, provides the backing to the newest Canterbury Clothing advertisement.
So many sixth form all-male groups disband at the end of their first year of university, leaving a slimy trail of ‘garage soundz’ all over the Myspace wasteland. This is usually very amusing, because the vast majority of sixth form bands are usually very bad. Here, Big Hat do buck a trend: they are actually very good. Should they succeed in continuing over the next few years, I predict quite wonderful things for these boys.
(As a side note, Google informs me that there is another such band of schoolboys with guitars, billing themselves as The Big Hat Band. This is a very good example of such bands being usually very bad.)
The band have released a number of EPs, most of which can be listened to here, while the video for ‘Land of Sky and Ocean’ is here.
Press Preview: The Blind Spot
In fifth week, the Wadham Moser is to be transformed into a dimly lit boarding school bedroom within which high risk, clandestine games of poker take place among wealthy pupils flaunting daddy’s money. Such an atmosphere is skilfully created by new director Hugh Jeffery, with the stage lit by a solitary desk lamp and torches. Sections of the audience surround the poker table which is central to the play’s action throughout. One feels truly immersed in the tensions of this illicit schoolboy gambling club. As student Alexander Darby’s writing debut, the script is not bad at all, even impressive in areas, although the affair between Sasha (Fen Greatley) and Henry (Henry Hudson) appeared somewhat gratuitous and verged on cliché given the setting; there is little new or exciting in presenting ham fisted homoeroticism in such a context, and it did the rest of the script a disservice.
Nonetheless, the building of the tension between the characters is palpable, with the brief fearful outbursts of Will perfectly balancing the resilient calm of Johnson, and Jeffrey ought to be congratulated on bringing this out. However, I do question some of his directorial choices; Greatley seemed rather miscast; his performance never really took off, lacking the anarchic charisma that his character required in the exploiting of Will (Maxwell Thomas-McGenity). Hudson was more impressive, his foreboding lines regarding the dangers involved in these furtive poker games were delivered very well indeed. Some good aspects then; impressive mise en scène (especially given the rather uninspiring space) and writing that was satisfactory for the most part, showing brilliant potential in places. The acting was a similarly mixed bag, and it remains to be seen whether problems in performance will be resolved by the first night. I do hope so, as this could prove to be quite a tense, atmospheric night in the Moser.
3.5 STARS
Blagging the news: climate change
Mr Jones: With such overwhelming evidence, aside from a few naysayers, it really beggars belief that we haven’t managed to mobilise the resources of humanity to kick this climate change lark into touch once and for all.
Mrs Jones: Quite so, my dear. We put men on the moon and can connect with anyone anywhere in the world, and yet we cannot come together to rid ourselves of this debilitating addiction to greenhouse gases.
Climate Change
What:
Scientists are almost universally in agreement that the 0.7C rise in global temperatures since 1900, and future predicted rises, are largely the result of human emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases. Predictions of how much warmer the world could get range from 1.4 – 5.8C by 2100, depending on how fast we can curb our addiction to fossil fuels, and other contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.
And before you start fantasizing about sunbathing all year round in the UK, instances of extreme, unpredictable weather are set to increase too. Rainfall in the UK has got heavier and more frequent in the last century and, given that the UK’s sea level has risen 10cm in the last 100 years already, those beaches you’re dreaming about will probably be underwater soon anyway.
Who:
China has overtaken the US as the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, despite the American Right’s best attempts to convince us that human responsibility for climate change is a marxist-socialist-fascist fabrication, designed to cheat us all out of our freedoms. India is catching up too, despite emitting a paltry 17,000 metric tonnes of CO2 per person in 2010, compared to China’s 62,000 and America’s whopping 176,000.
Sound bites to wow with:
“Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius proposed that CO2 emissions would enhance the ‘greenhouse effect’ and contribute to global warming in 1896, but it took until 1988 for the UN to warn of the dangers of increased CO2 levels, and until 1992 for countries to consider actually cutting them.”
“Although the economic costs of dealing with climate change will initially be high, the Stern Report, commissioned by the UK’s Treasury in 2006, found that the costs of inaction far outweigh the costs of action.”


Don’t say:
“Why don’t we all just move to Antarctica? I hear it’s warmed up significantly.”
Who’s afraid of Big Bad Oil?
It is not often said that oil companies have a hard time of it. In the public imagination they’re somewhere up there with bankers. They make too much money, they pollute the environment, they exploit natural resources and they support continuing climate change.
The evidence is everywhere. Consider Exxon Valdez, Deepwater Horizon, or the myriad of less well-publicised spills like them. Think of the Niger Delta, the hegemonies that oil allows to flourish in countries like Saudi Arabia, the civil wars it perpetuates in areas like South Sudan. Oil is a major cause of evil, ergo oil companies are evil. But amidst all the talk about Shell or BP, what are we doing?
Fossil fuels are getting harder to reach. Twenty years ago, we didn’t need to drill so deeply or in such inhospitable areas as the Gulf of Mexico. Today, oil companies are going to fantastic technological lengths to maintain supply. The infamous Deepwater Horizon was a structure working in 4,000ft of water, drilling over 6 miles down. That is a phenomenal feat of engineering and it comes with risk. No matter what, accidents happen. There will always be another spill.
Still, we fly to far-flung places on holiday. We charge our iPads, iPods, mobiles and laptops. We complain about our heating bills and petrol prices, and also of new drilling projects nearby or in unspoilt landscapes like Alaska. We can’t have it both ways. The oil companies are the suppliers that meet our demands. If they are evil, they are our evil. The effects of Deepwater Horizon, the unrest in the Niger Delta, the building of pipelines in Alaska: these are all for our benefit. We are addicts, blaming the corner shop owner for continuing to sell to us.
The questions of energy security are big, difficult ones, without simple answers. But we are not helpless. We live in a democracy. We can email our MPs without leaving the comfort of our warm rooms. We can ask what they’re doing to support the shift away from oil. We can argue for support of renewable industries and we can call for the building of a base of green engineers and scientists to create those industries. We can demand renewable energy. We can call on the government to create a long-term plan for the fundamental shift in our energy infrastructure. We can make this an issue that does not get left behind in the rush for austerity.
Oil companies are well aware of the need to shift to renewables. Few industries know better the increasing difficulty in satisfying our demands for energy. If we create the move away from oil, they’ll still be there, just in a healthier form.
Needless to say, we’ll have to find another industry to vilify. Another round of banker-bashing, anyone?