Some Crazy Moments in History

 The Great Calendar Robbery!

Raw deal: A vintage cartoon showing protesters against the new calendar

The Gregorian calendar, which was introduced in most European countries after 1582, was adopted in Great Britain and Ireland in 1752 and what followed was a broad daylight robbery.

In the year 1752 the Roman calendar, which Britain and Ireland were using, was behind the Gregorian calendar by eleven days. The change over that occurred meant 2 September in 1752 was immediately followed by 14 September. This led to massive protests as people felt swindled out of the missing days. The protesters shouted: "Give us back our eleven days!".

Feliz Navidad Ethiopians!

An Ethiopian Christmas postcard

 

Ethiopians observe their own ancient calendar, which has more in common with the Coptic Egyptian calendar. Both the Ethiopian and Coptic calendars have thirteen months: twelve of thirty days each and an intercalary month at the end of the year of five or six days depending on whether the year is a leap year or not. Like the Egyptian Coptic calendar, the Ethiopian calendar has a year of thirteen months, 365 days and 366 days in a normal and leap year respectively. The Ethiopian calendar is much influenced by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, which follows its ancient calendar and beliefs.

The Ethiopian year starts on 11th September of the Gregorian calendar, which is followed by the rest of the world. In Gregorian leap years, the Ethiopian year starts on 12th September. The Coptic Leap Year follows the same rules as the Gregorian calendar so that the extra month always has six days in a Gregorian leap year.

The difference between the Ethiopian and the Coptic calendars is 276 years. But despite this difference, the Ethiopian calendar is closely associated with the rules and the different calculations influenced by both the Coptic Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church. Based upon the ancient Coptic calendar, the Ethiopian calendar is seven to eight years behind the Gregorian calendar, as a result of alternate calculations in determining the date of the annunciation of the birth of Jesus. Consequently, the Ethiopian Christmas falls on 7th January as on the Orthodox calendar while Epiphany falls on the 19th of January. Feliz Navidad Ethiopians! We are proud of you for you have never sold your sovereignty to the capitalist scavengers.

For the racist Liverpool and unapologetic Suarez

Liverpool players warming-up in Suarez T-shirts before the Wigan game

Honestly speaking, I never wanted to comment on the Suarez - Evra controversy because I am black hence I could have been very subjective in my approach to the issue.  Initially, I thought that the whole saga will be settled professionally just like any other incidence of racism rocking our beautiful game. But I was wrong, the issue has refused to die and has been blown out of proportion, thanks to Liverpool's "You will never walk alone" mentality. In the end I have been greatly disappointed with the way Mr Kenny Dalglish and the entire Liverpool fraternity have chosen to handle this embarrassing saga. I have therefore been forced by circumstances to come out of my cocoon and voice my concern.

At first we saw the T-shirts, which Liverpool players and their manager Mr. Dalglish wore in total support of their racist player before their 0-0 draw at Wigan Athletic. The Liverpool players were greatly angered and saddened by the 8-match ban imposed on their player for racially abusing Patrice Evra.  Luis Suarez was assured that he "will never walk alone" as per Anfield anthem. I was greatly disturbed and was at pains to explain to my five year old nephew who asked me why Liverpool players were wearing the Luis Suarez T-shirts. My nephew remembers Suarez for the Ghana World Cup goal that was never to be. My explanation forced me to go into the origins of racism where I had to handle fragile topics like slave trade, colonialism and lynching in order to paint a good picture of the negro for my nephew to decipher the whole saga. It was bad, emotional and hectic.

What happened then was that instead of watching my beautiful game, I ended up giving a lecture on racism as everyone around curiously asked me questions whose answers required long explanations. There were few points of disagreements with my impromptu class on the racist conduct of Liverpool.  This forced me to take my lap top, which is always handy, and mount a power point presentation on the racial question in English football in general before zeroing in on Liverpool.  I traced the history of black players at Liverpool from a forgotten South African in the 1950s through Howard Gayle and the great John Barnes up to the latest generation which has just been purged from the club by Mr. Kenny Dalglish.

Now the saga continues to take various twists. Luis Suarez has issued what he calls an apology in which he makes no mention of the player he wronged: Patrice Evra. In his miserable apology he argues that he "admitted to the Commission that he said a word once and only once". He continues: "I never used this word in a derogatory way and if it offends anyone then I want to apologise for that." Here the racist gentleman refuse to apologise directly to Mr Evra, a clear sign that he has no regard for black people. In fact, the the Commission found that he used the term "negro" seven times in a space of two minutes. You can judge yourself if this was derogatory or not. And to add insult to injury, Mr. Suarez says without remorse that he will face the punishment with the resignation of someone who has done nothing wrong. Sometimes it helps to admit that you are wrong when you are told that what you have done is wrong.

Liverpool is even making matters worse by suggesting peace talks with Manchester United in an attempt to reduce offensive chants against Suarez in his first match after the ban on 11th February at the Old Trafford. Here it clearly shows that Liverpool are more concerned with the welfare of their racist player and do not feel sorry for Mr Evra whose integrity was greatly hurt. I hereby applaud Sir Alex Fergusson who has played down the importance of such peace talks. To add insult to injury, the mother of the racist player is even worried not with the behaviour of her son but rather that black players will aim at sorting him out in order to settle the scores. Going by such sentiments, one is left doubting if the racial orientation of the mother is straight. And now what is this I hear that Liverpool fans today have just racially abused Tom Adeyemi, a 20 year old black Oldham Athletic defender in a third round FA Cup match at the Anfield? For your information, Adeyemi is a British citizen.

Now I have had enough of this racist Liverpool. Here I just want to remind the world that Liverpool has to a greater extent been a racist football team. It is true that some black players like Howard Gayle, John Barnes Emile Heskey and Ryan Babel have made a name for themselves at Liverpool, but a racism is not a new phenomenon at Anfield. For instance, the great John Barnes who played for the club in the 1980s was nicknamed "Tarmac" and "Digger". This is a man who alongside other great Liverpool players was featured in the 1988 Anfield Rap in commemoration of Liverpool's participation in the FA Cup final of that year. If this is not racism then you will tell me what it is. It is quite absurd that despite his selfless contribution at Liverpool, John Barnes was viewed not as a mere person just like any other but rather as a person with a colour problem.

The racist mentality at Liverpool has even been cemented by their manager, Mr. Kenny Mathieson Dalglish, MBE.  This gentleman who was once a great Liverpool player has always been racist to a great extent if his treatment of black players is anything to go by. Since he came to Liverpool as manager, he has old almost every black player there: Babel, Plessis, el Zhar you name them. Today you will hardly see a black man in Liverpool's first team. This even explains why the team had no trouble in wearing the Suarez T-shirts in total support of his racist conduct. When he was Newcastle he did the same. He sold Ferdinand, Hislop and Asprilla. Should we trust people like Mr Dalglish and the other guys in corridors of power at Liverpool with the responsibility of kicking out racism in football? Liverpool has disappointed me big time.

Origins of Black Americans: a response to Thandi Chunga

A badly whipped slave showing his horrible scars

Thandi Chunga is a young protege of mine who has never ceased to amaze me. The little boy is still doing his primary school education in Mzuzu but his passion for history even surpasses mine. It is true that I read the biographies of Shaka, Hannibal, Haile Selassie, Hitler, Erwin Rommel, Stalin, Charles de Gaulle, Walter Rodney, Guevarra, Napoleone Bonaparte, Karl Marx Olaudah Equiano and Toussaint L'overture while still in primary school. But believe me, Thandi might even have read more biographies than the my thirteen listed above. The little Thandi always has something historical to tell me. In fact, this little boy approaches issues with the mentality of a professional historian. The last time we met he wanted to find out if the presence of blacks in America is owed to slave trade as per what was taught to him at school. This is an attempt to assist my protege.

It is true that native African Americans are a product of slave trade. We might therefore conclude that while all other races went to America as free people, only black men went there as captives in chains. But you may be interested to know that the African continent experienced two major systems of slave trade: West African or Trans Atlantic Slave Trade and East African or Arab Slave Trade. Native blacks in the western diaspora including those in America are those whose forefathers were captures during the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. These were mainly captured from countries presently known as: Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon and Northern Angola. The east African slave trade on the other hand targeted east African countries like Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. Captives from the east African region were mainly sold in the Indian sub-continent and the far east although some crossed the Atlantic ocean went as far as Brazil in  South America.

Although the first African slave was bought 1441 by the Portuguese explorer Antao Goncalves in the Guinea region, African slaves did not arrive in America until the 1660s. The first African slaves arrived at Jamestown in 1619 when a Dutch trader exchanged his contraband of African slaves for food. Initially the African slaves became servants and held a legal position similar to some poor white people who traded several years' labour in exchange for passage to the Americas. But things changed in the 1880s when a racial based slave system was adopted. Henceforth, the African slaves were dehumanised and forced to live in sub-human bondage.

From 1619 to the 1830s cargoes of African slaves were shipped to the Americas by various merchants. It has been suggested that about 20 million slaves were shipped across the Atlantic ocean during the notorious Trans Atlantic Slave trade. The conditions of travel in the middle passage, as the Atlantic ocean was referred to during the Trans Atlantic slave trade, were barbaric and inhumane. Slaves were chained and packed like spoons on various decks of the slave ships. Little wonder therefore that many did not make it to America since they died in transit. Such "unfortunate" people were just thrown into the Atlantic Ocean. It is estimated that about 4 million people died within the middle passage. So when the Atlantic ocean will run dry one day, expect to see millions of skeletons of black people who died on these ill-fated journeys.

In America slaves were badly treated just like anywhere in the world. They never had any rights at all since they were never considered as people in the first place. Sometimes biblical verses were used to support and justify enslavement of black people. This only worsened the treatment of the slaves. Women got raped in broad daylight, right before their own children, by lusty whites. Men and boys were beaten to death often times for no apparent reason. Many tried to escape but once they were caught the punishment they underwent was horrible beyond imagination. Blacks had embraced Christianity after their encounter with whites but they were forbidden from attending any christian gatherings even amongst themselves. Some were given up to 200 lashes for disobeying this order. Just look at the image above to understand what those lashes could do to people. The slaves were even forbidden from calling out the name Jesus or Lord when ever they were being beaten by their masters.

Slaves in the United States of America were officially freed on 1st January 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln issued an Emancipation Proclamation granting slaves freedom although the American Civil War was not yet over. These people did not return to Africa, they stayed in America. However there were some who returned to countries like Liberia and Sierra Leone with backing from the United States government. So the origins of blacks in the USA and other parts of America can be traced back to the Trans Atlantic slave trade. But not every black person in the USA is a descendant of a slave, there are many people who went to settle in America after the emancipation of slaves in the federation.