Dear Rolling Stone Magazine South Africa
ROCK N ROLL WILL SAVE HUMANITY FROM HUMANITY
Rock n Roll will resolve the land issue in South Africa, corruption in Malawi, Conflict in Congo and Sudan and everywhere else. Rock n Roll will fix the global economy and bring peace,prosperity, food security, racial harmony and environmental responsibility to all.
WELCOME TO THE N2 REVOLUTION!!!!
The change will begin in South Africa, because South Africa posseses every necessary ingredient to influence the world in the best possible way. A South African solution is a global solution….with a little help from DENMARK…..of course.,,,
In August 2015, just weeks after my mother died in Malawi, and I had to leave South Africa, Noelline van Loggenberg put me up one last time. This time it was at Homebase Backpackers Johannesburg. I had come there from Jeffreys Bay where I had received the sad news.
At that time, everything about J Bay was wierd. The surfing competition was cut short at the quarter finals and the first prize was divided between four people .
A female Great White of about 64 years had swum up to Mick Fanning. It didnt attack him. It just scared everyone enough to call it a day. To this day I believe it was the spirit of my Mother somehow reaching out to me, as she lay unconscious on her deathbed. She was 64,
Homebase Backpackers was in the Johannesburg neighbourhood of Observatory.
Two years prior, just around the corner, the Managing Director of SAMRO, Andre Le Roux, had hosted me for dinner. So much happened since then, yet the prevailing anxiety of what I had yet to face gave no room for reflection on my time in SA.
On my way to Oliver Tambo International Airport, by a cab that Noelline paid for, as she stuffed another 8 hundred Rand in my hand, it never occured to me that my mission had come full circle. Not until now, almost 10 years later. I didnt know it then, but I can see clearly now that I had completed a significant phase of this great mission.
With Tom Porter of Lake Of Stars at ARTERIAL NETWORK conference held at The Goethe Institute Johannesburg on 4 February 2013
The treatment I got from Noelline was the exact opposite of what I experienced at Brown Sugar Backpackers on my first evening in Joburg, two years before .
Back then,on my very first day in South Africa straight from Malawi, I had been shown the door and I walked out the backpacker gates uncertain of whether I would survive the night..However thats another story. I will tell it on video. Its better that way.
I survived the night. The story is on video.My hand was made strong, by the hand of the Almighty and I forwarded in this generation triumphantly.
Weeks after my Brown Sugar exit, I was attending a conference held at The Goethe Institute by Arterial Network. Held on the 4th of February, it was an excellent and timely opportunity to network.
The conference discussed how far artists would go to defend Human Rights, which was just down my alley, so of course I took the mic and said I would walk as far as Cairo from Cape Town for the most basic Human Right of all…Water.
One of the panelists that night was Andre Le Reoux. A mutual friend, Simon Schaefer from Germany, had intoduced us.In fact it was Simon who brought the conference to my attention. How I met Simon in Malawi is yet another testimony to the long consistent link of synchronicities that are the hallmark of my life . Again, that belongs on video.
Simon, with his typical amused German pseudo-cynical supportiveness, told Andre of my walking and publishing plans,.Andre responded by inviting me to dinner. I met his lovely wife Kgomotso who ran IKS Consulting and their amazing gifted children.
We played Trivial Pursuit, talked about many issues and entertained each other on our musical instruments. It was a family moment that made up for something I had been missing for over 30 years. It is a treasured memory.
I was taken aback by how relevant they felt my project was. The impact and significance of my vision is only beginning to dawn on me now. In hindsight, I am also realising that every South African I met, was a gift. Life for me there, was a sequence of good souls imparting divine information, wisdom, advice, lessons and even warnings.
Every issue that caused me apprehension prior to my time in SA, was dispelled solidly day after day.I heard of crimes but I didnt experience any, I only have petty theft by a group of prostitutes and a Reggae Dollar con by a White heroin addict to report.
People of every race came to me from a place of kindness and support….well… except the owner of Brown Sugar!!! But that was definitely God’s plan and God’s plan has given me the strangest lifestory. Strange and unique enough to make me end up planning to walk 18000km to save the planet
At Andre and Kgomotso Le Roux residence in Johannesburg
My name is Jimmy Andersen aka Jimee.Through my stepfather, I am a Danish citizen.I was born in Zambia and am of Igbo, Swazi, Zambian and Malawian bloodline.
I believe in Rock n Roll. I am an Elvis Presley fan, a Bob Marley disciple and a Jimi Hendrix student. I admire Lenny Kravitz, I am in awe of Prince and I wish I could write like Lennon, McCartney, Crosby, Stills and Nash.
I love a good dose pf Guns and Roses, I revel in Slash solos and Izzy riffs. I live for rockabilly double stops, Chet Atkins tapestry, Hillbilly fiddle magic, Zydeco abandon, Big Band intricacies and Salsa stews.The Blues are a whole universe where John Henry Barbee, Otis Span, BB King, Buddy Guy,Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughn and others are my planets. Jazz to me is Oscar Peterson, Errol Garner, Ray Charles, Ella Fitgerald, Duke Ellington, Count Basie . I love all classical and Mozart and Bach are my favourite
Mbalax blows my mind, Mbaqanga brings my blood to boiling point.Soukous makes me sit back and watch the ladies gyrate. Our own Malawian Ray Phiri makes us proud amongst Mahlatini and the Mahotella Queens, Hugh Masekela, Stix Mabuse, Brenda Fassie, Yvonne Chaka Chaka and of course Miriam Makeba.
I pray fro the courage of Fela Kuti and Peter Tosh. From the country of my birth, Zambia I love PK Chishala. For my Spirituality I love Mahalia Jackson. My absolute vocalist is Nancy Wilson. Donny Hathaway, Dionne Warick, Jackie Wilson, Dolly Parton, Little Richard, Roy Hamilton,Tony Williams, Robert Plant, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrisson, Peter Tosh.
The world and the music industry need a change and that is what this letter is about. The artists I have mentioned and many others, had vision, courage and character which should be translated into global socio-economic strategy.
It is encouraging to know that some, like Paul Robeson, Nina Simone, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Lloyd Price, Sam Cooke, George Harrison, Bob Marley, Bob Geldof, Harry Belafonte, Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie and Jon Bon Jovi and others tried.
Many staged calculated projects while others were spokespersons for existing movements. However one person exploded on the scene, uniquely unaware of the revolution he was sparking. Swept away by the results of a simple inner desire of expresion, he made sense of a world trying to make sense of itself by simpy being true to himself.
ELVIS KING OF PHILANTHROPY
Elvis Presley, more than any other artist, broke cultural barriers and straddled musical styles in his own revolutionary way, setting a format for many to follow. Besides his artistic and iconc attributes, he also had a natural propensity towards philanthropy and possesed empathy worthy of emulation.
It is worth noting that rock n roll played a great role in dismantling segregation in the USA. It broke down barriers as it built bridges. It challenged prejudice and highlighted humanity and joy. Looking at our world in fast decline, it may not be a silly idea to return to the roots of Rock n Roll in the hope of guidance.
This letter will take you back and forth in time. It will take you back to 2004, when at a conference in London, I declared my intention to walk 18000 kilometeres from Cape Town To Cairo for African economic solutions.
It will skip back and forth in time, across countries and cities in order to give background and context to my work.
This letter will take you to 17 August 2025, when Im expected to be ready to begin walking from the Victoria and Albert Waterfront towards Cairo.
On that day what do I want to see? I want to see Julius Malema and Johan Rupert seeing eye to eye on a strategy that satisfies the needs of all South Africans.
Does it sound like a tall order? To me it sounds like a necessary order. I have done my part to make it plausible. I invite everyone else to do theirs. It sounds bold..but its only as bold as love.
In the video below I go back to 2014 at the Botrivier Hotel, where I stayed for months and wrote a collection of some of my most poignant songs.
On the stoep Im jamming Bob Marley’s Redemption song with Akkedis and Piet Botha, son of the Apartheid era Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pik Botha. I was told stories of his personal rebellion against his father’s government.
On the stoep, in Botrivier, like everywhere else in South Africa, I gained insight from personal stories. Regretful pasts and hopeful futures. When the time finally came, I walked on. Along the way, more insights were imparted on me, Each one of them had me spellbound. What can I say about the people? amazing is an understatement.
This willingness by people to create moments of truth is the only reason why I beleive that my vision stands a chance.Indeed its the only reason I even walked as far as I did and carried out all those projects along the way. I feel obligated to give the world this glimpse into a country that in many ways is pivotal to all humanity. Today I present the vision as the N2 REVOLUTION and it has contributions from various South African towns...not all on the N2…. but close and relevant enough.
BELOW: At Lomond Wine Estate near Gaansbaai on Heritage Day 2014.
My First Night In Johannesburg After Drama In Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe
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BUY THIS SPACE FOR THE PLANET
Contact CITIES FOR JUNGLES AGENTS on their page on this site
Knysna
Hundreds of kilometres and many footseps later from Botrivier, in Knysna, I met Charmaine Sinclair, whose organisation, CHANGES OF KNYSNA is the focal point of the N2 REVOLUTION.
In his book, LONG WALK TO FREEDOM, Nelson Mandela noted that the natural forest environment around Knysna was suitable for guerilla warfare.
I noted that the commercial, holiday and residential appeal of Knysna with all its services and amenities, complete with a Rastafarian community, made it perfect for my contribution to the Rainbow Nation-THE RAINBOW ECONOMY.
As I mentioned before, the strength of this vision is based on the efforts of remarkable and well meaning South Africans. At this point I would direct attention to the legendary economist and author Stephen Meintjes, who at the dawn of real democracy in 1994, proposed an economic structural counterpart to the new South African constitution. To this day, Stephen continues to give useful ideas
Back in 2007 when I first arrived in Cape Town, I managed to contact him and he directed me along my path towards understanding Land Value Taxation. I will elaborate a little later further down.
From the many interviews I have watched, where he continously propogates this form of state revenue, I have concluded that presenting the idea in its theoretic format cannot possibly yield the desired reaction.
People already have difficulty grasping economics as it is. It is curious that many accept that the discipline does not offer any inbuilt mechanism for guaranteed equilibrium.
Every instrument,tool and machine does…and the economy is all of these. Consequently most people fail to grasp that the no discussion can go ahead without a fundamental grasp of the paradigms in question.
When a car breaks down, the language of the driver and the mechanic is different. Most discussion on the economy are driver discussions, while those with a grasp of Land Value Taxation are like mechanics. .One such discussion is the one on land in South Africa. The stalemate is obvious for all to see and will never be resolved until LVT is understood..
As a way forward, what I would like to convey to Stephen Meintjes, is that the principles of LVT or The Single Tax can be extrapolated into a comprehensive cohesive interface of public friendly platforms. In other words other areas besides land can form the foundation for the very same principles
I am actively suggesting transposing the principles onto the music industry and thereby fast tracking the dynamics that will clearly exemplify the advantages of LVT.
Consequently , it wouldnt be long before Boers, EFF, ANC, DA,Malema and Rupert follow suit. As the Bible says..the singers and players of instruments shall go before…
The Rainbow Economy is based on revenue from music providing everything from basic needs to investment opportunities for all. These operations will be carried out under COOL MUM RECORDS which has a structure that empowers women, especially mothers. A good way of describing Cool Mum Records is as a youth club owned and run by mothers.
As such, the most important date in our calendar is the 8th of March-,International Women Day. This year, 2025, I present the paradigm in its entirety for the first time under the title REAL BROTHERS SUPPORT STRONG WOMEN here in Copenhagen.
Make it
TCharmaines registered organisation is called CHANGES OF KNYSNA. According to the NEPAD MANIFESTO ratified in Abuja in October 2001, Changes of Knysna is exactly the type of self organisation that African leaders have exhorted African people to establish
Again, none of what I am presenting is without precedence. Everything I do has been done before..just not in this context. For the most part, I am following in the footsteps of Emperor Haile Selassie , Marcus Garvey and Bob Marley.
In order to circumvent a publishing dispute between Island Records and JAD, whom he was previously signed to, Bob Marley began the practice of crediting his newly written songs to his wife, friends and aquaintances.
NO WOMAN NO CRY, a song comforting a woman burdened by thoughts and circumstances, was written by Bob but credited to his friend, Vincent Ford who ran a soup kitchen in Trenchtown. This was a double edged move that avoided a legal trap and at the same time benefitted the ghetto.
And we would cook cornmeal porridge, of which Id share with you."
That lyric is so compatible with the business arrangement behind the song. The sharing of royalty rights in order to keep a soup kitchen running is exactly our business model from Cape Town To Cairo. Publishing rights are to the music business what land is to the economy-lasting generational wealth.
No matter who covers the song, the royalties go to the owner of the publishing.Likewise, LVT would effectively make South Africans the landlords.No matter who owns the farm, the people would collect the rent. Its that simple.
This simple equation must be presented to President Trump especially because the greatest champion of this idea was his fellow New Yorker, Henry George.
So great was his popularity that 1 million people came to the funeral of this Mayor of New York and one time Presidential candidate
More about him later. For now, as I write, I have just seen on Facebook that Trump is proposing scrapping Income Tax in favour of widespread tarriffs.
It is in a way a slow process towards the equilibrium that LVT offers except, it is still imposed on something other than land and it is implemented in the spirit of competition with other countries. The single tax unites countries and eliminates war and conflict….. and hunger in rich countries.
Soup kitchens are necessary. Almost half of South Africans will go hungry in 2025. How is that possible in a country with so much land, so many resources and limitless talent?
The distribution of wealth is as central to South African politics as immigration is to European debate.
At the core of both is land and access to land. Both are aspects of the peripheral existence of a demography relegated to the fringes of opportunity. The solution to the two instances and all other examples of conflict and depravation is one and the same. Land Value Taxation (LVT) For Community Needs. .
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TCharmaines registered organisation is called CHANGES OF KNYSNA. According to the NEPAD MANIFESTO ratified in Abuja in October 2001, Changes of Knysna is exactly the type of self organisation that African leaders have exhorted African people to establish
Operating within the universally accepted Quantity Theory of Money Supply, platforms for public participation, extrapolated from the principle of LVT, offer the missing link to fair distribution of wealth.
This is not Greek but it might as well be, Not only for its democratic attributes but also as a response to the current financial crisis in that and many other countries.
This is not new thinking but is part and parcel of classical economics as expounded by Adam Smith and David Ricardo. It is also bound to ideas of social contract by the likes of John Locke.
This is important in Africa, where colonial financial ideas are in conflict with ancient cultural flows. Yet this dichotomy is not limited to Africa and sometimes it is reversed(which further affirms its validity as a tool beyond race)
In viking times, LVT was used by Danish King Svend Forkbeard when he colonised England. It was the basis of Inuit, Native American and Khoisan land tenure. It is even Biblical with verses from Leviticus and the Psalms alluding to its principles.
In more recent times, it was propogated by 19th Century journalist and Mayor of New York, Henry George, as the Single Tax.
In Denmark, after a 40 year period of comprehensive,democratic debate and nationwide consultation., it formed the basis for the 1957-1961 tripartite coalition government of the Social Democrats, the Justice Party and The Radicals.
In South Africa during apartheid, it was widely implemented in the Western Cape
According to Stephen Meintjes, it is the main reason behind the success of Hong Kong and Singapore.
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TCharmaines registered organisation is called CHANGES OF KNYSNA. According to the NEPAD MANIFESTO ratified in Abuja in October 2001, Changes of Knysna is exactly the type of self organisation that African leaders have exhorted African people to establish
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Make it
Make it
I came to know about it through a book by Proffessor Mason Gaffney of UCLA.
THE CORRUPTION OF ECONOMICS presents the argument and evidence that Neo Classical Economics came about as an intense conspiracy to refute the ideas of Henry George.
In the same manner that reknown Senegalese Scholar Of Egyptology, Cheick Anta Diop juxtaposes letters arguing for and against the African origin of civilisation, Professor Gaffney presents letters written by a string of American Professors justifying the allocation of the tax burden everywhere but on land. It is an eye opening read and it puts things in perspective when Mason Gaffney relates that Henry Georges tremendous ability to transfix a crowd through sheer logic resulted in him being banned from entering England. Meanwhile, his contemporary, Karl Marx was free to express bloody and violent ideas of revolution.
In 2007 on my first visit to South Africa, I contacted Stephen Meintjes from an internet cafe because I had read about him in that book..Stephen was in Johannesburg but he reffered me to Godfrey Dunkley who lived in Muizenberg.
Godfrey, the author of SOUTH AFRICA -A TICKING BOMB and THAT ALL MAY LIVE, recieved me at his home, which was so different from my room in Marcus Garvey Camp in Phillipi.
As his wife Yvonne served tea and cookies, a Black maid peeked in from the kitchen to get a glimpse of this rough Rastafarian who was accorded such importance. Godfrey had given me instructions on which bus to take from the terminal in Cape Town and where to get off in Muizenberg. He was parked and waiting when I alighted. This was to be my first visit to a South Africans home.
Godfrey’s house was in a large ring of houses surrounding a lake and in his garage next to his car, was a motorboat. Lush Jehovah Witness Magazine lawns decorated by an array of colourful flowers resembled paradise unperturbed other than by glistening gentle ripples on the common lake in the middle.
We started off by discussing the logistics of my walk. When I mentioned that my preffered back up vehicle would be a Land Rover, he went into gear and related stories from the Second World War.
The same vehicle brand accompanied him to Swaziland, where his own deductions led to the realisation of the necessity of a tax with in inbuilt proportionate versatility., His revelation was similar to Henry Georges during the California gold rush. George arrrived at his conclusion when he observed disparity in distribution of wealth despite equal opportunity of access to the rich gold fields of San Francisco.Godfrey’s answer came after observing the overheads that suffocate business based on marginal land.
After an informative afternoon and a stern assurance that I was a total madman to attempt walking to Cairo, Godfrey drove me all the way to Phillipi, where I found my way to the room I was renting from Jamaican Rastafarian matriarch Mamma B.
Mamma B was a legend in Rastafari circles and was revered for burning her British Passport and thereby enforcing her prolonged stay in the motherland.
Godfrey put me in touch with an LVT study group called PLAAS based at the Unversity Of Western Cape in Bellville and I attended a meeting there, which at that moment was discussing land squatting in Mpumalanga.
I marvelled at the fact that I was now on a University Campus- It is a poignant coincidence that all this came about as a result of picking up a random book in a hostel in London on the very day that Bob Geldof was hosting LIVE 8 in Hyde Park.
That was also the day that World Leaders had convened at Gleneagles for a G8 Summit. More of that later. First lets look at some recent statistics.
40 Million is the number of Africans displaced due to conflict. 342 Million are severely food insecure. 500 000 a year emigrate, leaving the continent in search of a better life. All this continues as the authors of the Millenium .Development Goals age and regurgitate objectives they have yet to manifest.
Not one to sit back, fold my hands and watch disaster unfold, I have designed my walk to take all African problems on board. The daily 25 km of walking will be meetings by stakeholders. By the end of the day we will us the back up bus as an office for whatever course of action the walking meeting may decide on.
Make it
Make it
BEYOND GELDOF
In 2005 Bob Geldof revisited LIVE AID, 20 years after the watershed original. It was renamed LIVE 8.
Half a year prior, the world witnessed a whole new generation of British pop artists reinterpret DO THEY KNOW ITS CHRISTMAS¨¨the single that started it all
By July 2005 The MAKE POVERTY HISTORY campaign hit its peak momentum as the 31st G8 Summit settled into a Gleneagle guarded against protesters.
The summit was also under pressure from within as Geldof and co stood with a mandate from an amalgamation of NGOs collectively known as MAKE POVERTY HISTORY, to demand more aid and cancellation of debt.
The scope of the movement was so impressive that one culd be forgiven for believing in it. To this day, its eventual failure is stuff for revision, contemplation and possibly soul searching for many who were involved. Articles to the tune of " ““What went wrong?” will form the core of discussion points for this project. I already have my opinions. They were formed in real time.
PROFESSOR WANGARI MATHAI AND FELIX FINKBEINER
On the day that Live 8 was held in Hyde Park, I was one of about 100 delegates who attended a conference at The London Metropolitan University, called THE AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT AND DIASPORA DAY 2005.
The Keynote Speaker was Professor Wangaari Mathai the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate who established the Green Belt Movement in Kenya.
Known for several impressive feats, perhaps her most enduring legacy will be how she inspired a 9 year old German boy.
After learning about the Professors work in Kenya, Felix Finkbeiner chose her example as his school project. Today in his mid 20s, his PLANT FOR PLANET project has taken over the UN goal of planting 1 trillion trees!
At our conference, led by the professor´s phenomenal spirit, the entire affair was a strong African voice determined to solve our problems ourselves. We had a fantastic day, where we discovered so many likeminded and enthusiastic activists. We felt like we were making a dent in the prevailing narrative. We thought we would be all over the news, Why not? I mean...we had a Nobel Prize winner among us.
How wrong we were. We should have been stronger at documenting and reporting the event. We were drowned in the media. Not a single mention. Ours was nothing but a feel good excercise.
On the other hand in front of a 200 000 strong crowd at Hyde Park, Bob Geldof grabbed headlines as he paraded 20-Year-old Ethiopian famine survivor, Birhan Woldu, whom he had first held as an emaciated child in 1985. As an infant she had walked many miles with her mother as thousands died including her sister.
Make it
On the 6th of July, London erupted in euphoria over winning the bid to host the 2012 Olympics. We partied all night.
On the 7th of July, we woke up to terror as four co-ordinated suicide bombs rocked the capital and brought it to a standstill.
From party to shock and sorrow.
The Gleneagles summit suddenly had a new topic besides African poverty alleviation and climate change. That notwithstanding,the role of standing in the shadows was already established
A video where Bob Geldof, Tony Blair and Professor Wanagaari Mathai stand before journalists, portrays the diminished African voice on African issues.
The professor looks as though she might as well not have been present. A far cry from the dominating figure who had lit our conference afire, she was mute as Bob Geldof intimidated the world with a declaration of the mandate that justified his demands.
Impressive numbers, but working from my desk at the 1990 Trust at The Oval, I can assure you that no Black person in my vicinity had heard of the petition, let alone submitted a signature.
The dichotomy of Black and African affairs in London is extremely disturbing and I have to say it is one of the main reasons for my walk. Breaching the mentality gaps is crucial if issues like xenophobia in South Africa and Post Code wars in Harlesden must be eliminated.
Gleneagles was for the most part an exercise in seeking validity, even where it was not merited. Alliances, proposals and subsequent evaluation all missed the mark, because the real premise for African inclusion in the summit was not alleviation of poverty but the reinvention of Tony Blair´s Labour Party after the Iraq invasion.
When no weapons of mass destruction had been found, the PM was under public scrutiny. At the subsquent convention after the war, Blair spoke of many tasks ahead for Labour including the alleviation of African poverty.
Before we could blink, Blair was full speed ahead establishing the Commission For Africa, irrespective of the inroads made by African leaders with NEPAD.
It is indeed a curious fact that it has so far been impossible for me to locate a single video or article featuring a conversation between Tony Blair and Thabo Mbeki discussing any step by step co ordination between the two initiatives.
I don't for a second doubt that this fact was lost on them because they are both highly intelligent strategists, and so I'm keen to discover what informed the choice not to do what I naturally would have done. Therefore I confidently volunteer that the absence of that particular dialogue in the process, led to the subsequent widespread dissatisfaction expressed by many who took part in Make Poverty History.
Gleneagles ended with much praise from Bono, Geldof, Kofi. Anan, Olesogu Obasanjo and others.
" Mission accomplished"
"10 out of 10"
Such were the declarations of victory.
However, almost immediately the dissent began. By September. The Guardian took Geldof to task in an article that highlighted several discrepancies. By December the same publication gave him virtually free rein to defend his positions. Here he expressed, contrary to some unnamed critics, that an intellectual underpinning to debt relief was not necessary.
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My own journey towards an intellectual underpinning for my walk began at a conference I attended in Chelsea, in October 2004. It would eventually lead to homelessness, a trip to Berlin and 4 years hustling on the streets of Barcelona beginning in April 2006.
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Here, I came face to face with the reality of African economic refugees. Something which I didnt experience in London were I had grown accustomed to impressing strangers with my intention to walk the continent. The tactic continued in Barcelona until one morning a sullen dejected young man replied
"I walked from Nigeria to Libya".
The young people I observed on the streets were those who had made it. Many drown at sea, while others die in disease infested dungeons.
Those I saw were vendors, displaying their fashion accesory goods on sheets with strings attached. At the sound of an alarm they jerk the strings, which pull the four corners of the sheet into a duffel bag and they take off at olympic record breaking speed before immigration police catch them.
My Danish passport meant that I could observe the entire scene at ease.The only place I have passport problems is in Africa. However barclon was to me always a mixture of the challenges of Africa and Europe for me. I
rony came calling one day. The By Laws in Barcelona had just changed and I was unable to busk with my electric guitar. Days of hunger soon ensued and one young African refugee took pity on me. He told me of a place where an organisation gave free food to Africans, I stood in line and when it was finally my turn I produced my Danish passport for ID.I was asked to leave and never return.
CHELSEA 2023
Rewind. Back to Chelsea. October 2004. Via a Malawian delegate, the African Union praised itself for including the African diaspora as the 6th region of Africa. Evidence or news of that, was nowhere to be seen on the streets of Peckham, Brixton, Harlesden or Hackney. I doubt that its was the case in Kingston, Port Of Spain, Brooklyn, Copenhagen or Berlin.
The Malawian lady's claim was promptly shot down by a Zimbabwean Civil Society activist who informed us that the AU was taking credit for something grassroots pressure groups had initiated. In my absolute ignorance, prior to that conference, I did not know what a civil society was, let alone that Africa had one.
Our Conference was piggybacking the European Social Forum and was chaired by Lee Jasper, a legendary man of the UK Black Community, and at that time, Race Advisor to London Mayor Ken Livingstone. It was at this conference that I, for the first time announced my intention to walk from Cape to Cairo for economic solutions.
It was a radical idea which cut through a lot of the agenda stalemate that characterizes conferences. The immediate response was the exact opposite to what I got from my family.
I immediately gained adherents and invitations to platforms. With just one announcement, I carved my own niche of validation. I began to make serious plans,weigh the risks, imagine the costs and look for litterature by people who had done similar projects.
The first book I read was Dark Star Safari by Louis Theroux. It is by large a cynical excercise which fails to justify its declared premise of genuine concern for why the continent was still performing dismally. I think it was more of a ploy to cash in on the prevailing interest at that time. Why would I say that?
A friend of mine, an activist from the Congo had invited me to a lecture by Patrick Smith, the editor of Africa Confidential at SOAS.
The experience was an eye opener, not just because of the demography of the students taking African studies, but also by their refusal to even look at the photos of proxy war terror victims that Lokongo, my friend, had brought along to make his point at question time.
Therouxs treatment of Africa did not challenge its geoploitcal predicaments but hovered over the individual performances of the Africans he came across. Sobering revelations of exploitative dynamics are not as sexy as character depictions. This was high end intellectual tabloid.
One could say the same of the other two books I bought. Both written by the same person,and both about the same project except that the latter was an honest tell-all review of the formatted product that was the former.
Ffyonna Campbells WALK ACROSS AFRICA was made of the very stuff that makes Geldof, Tarzan, Karen Blixen sell.Im okay with it. In my profession as socio economic strategist, all dynamics are valid for objective study.
The market is the law.Just look at Elvis and Eminem. Its all good.
The greatest take-away from that book was the method of having a support vehicle. This of course increased the costs as I would have to find at least 35,000 Dollars for fuel alone.
The other book, THE WHOLE STORY, revealed all the behind the scenes dynamics that included the childhood trauma that led to the very first walk by 16 year old FFyona from John O Groats to Lands End in England.
This was followed by a walk across the USA which actually kicked off in Philadelphia at the LIVE AID concert. She then walked across Australia.The Walk in Africa was the second last and the final one was across Europe from the Mediterenean to the UK.By this time she was a celebrity but she was harbouring secrets that would lead to drug abuse.
The necessity of the second book was simply a deep-felt and commendable desire to come clean. If Across Africa was the hit single, The Whole Story was the album,the lawsuit the ego trips…and yes the sex scandals and the drugs.Total rock n roll.
I had ordered all the books from a bookshop at Old Street Station where I busked regularly- I took my hard-earned money and spent it on books.
At the London Underground gate I regularly stopped to chat with a Nigerian ticket guard who happened to be the older sister to singing sensation Lemar. Later in an interview by Lester Holloway for online publication BLINK, I wondered why Lemar hadn't made the line-up at Live 8. But first.....how did I get on BLINK?
Emboldened by the Chelsea conference, I called up Lester Holloway, who I thought was still editor of NEW NATION, a Black weekly newspaper. Intrigued,Lester offered me office space to get my campaign underway and thus began my existence as a homeless busker working at a desk in Londons most important Black platform- The 1990 Trust.
Several weeks later,,sharing views with Lester on the up coming LIVE 8 concert, we highlighted the absence of Black artists on the line up. Wouldn't Lemar and Ziggy Marley And The Melody Makers have been plausible inclusions, given their affiliation with Africa?
ROCK ROOTS
This letter is an appeal to rock journalism to stay true to its roots. It must never be forgotten that Rock is the voice that breaks barriers in old societies and sets the foundation for new paradigms.
400 years ago, African slaves were transported to America. Years later, a White infant boy absorbed slave songs as his mother worked alongside black cotton pickers. His father was in prison alongside Blues singer Bukka White a cousin to BB King. The boy was Elvis
BB and Elvis became friends while recording for Sam Phillips Sun Records. They bled the same blues blood like Millions of Americans of all races. From their dirt poor beginnings in Mississippi they would one day conquer the world.
Like everywhere else, it's the poor who are in jail for minor offences and down in the mines for below minimum pay. Rock journalism must never forget the rocks that prisoners break and miners drill.
The expression of the poor as they contemplate their poverty is what binds the foundation of all popular genres together and strikes a chord in our souls. Staying true to rock n roll requires staying true to the poor. And staying true to the poor is the only guarantee for World Peace and environmental responsibility.
THE 10 BILLION DOLLAR PLAN
10 years after Gleneagels, I arrived in Knysna by foot from Cape Town. Already an honorary member of the Rastafarian Judah Square community from visits beginning in 2007, I was enrolled to play guitar in a band that would perform at THE LOUNGE, a venue that had just been taken over by a Coloured woman. The venue was previously owned by Derek Krieger a rock drummer whom I had met through Paul Zeman.at Blu Bistro.
Around Christmas our band from Judah Square made it to The Lounge.The first thing I see is a large mural of Elvis. My hero. I'm flabbergasted. Overjoyed. I do a great performance and Charmaine is impressed. We make plans for collaboration.
She fits perfectly into my ideas of a 10 Billion Dollar plan. Over the following weeks I sit by the mural of the King and make plans that will connect Charmaine's philanthropy to the world.
Elvis was the worlds first rock star and a consummate philanthropist. Money from fans flowed systematically through him to charities and worthy causes, with as careful application as his recording sessions, and with as little discrimination as his musical influences.
Elvis exploded on the scene and one thing led to another. The Beatles came along. Hendrix erupted. Woodstock was born. Heirs of affluence influenced by rock n roll culture used their privilege to establish alternative mainstream establishments.
No matter the White extrapolations, and with due respect to preceeding Black expression, the snowball effect began with a boy from Tupelo Mississippi who one day would reached billions of people by satellite.
A publication Like Rolling Stone and a brand like Hard Rock Café is not something poor people establish. However through music they share some common ground. Music connects brands, departments institutions and so forth. For some reason they both decided to set up shop in South Africa. But WHY?
Could it be for righting wrongs of the past? Thats what we all hope. And what better way to do so than by celebrating the miracles of creativity? Could it be for dissolving the political and racial impasse that threatens to deprive a country as unique and as wonderful as South Africa of ITSELF?
I
SOUTH AFRICA TREATED ME WELL
South Africa treated me well. The 1000 kilometers I walked between Cape Town and Jeffrey's bay contain more stories than there is space for here… and they will be told.
Almost every South African I met was a powerhouse unto themself. I think all South Africans have one common trait. They are influential. One such was Noellline Claasen van Loggenberg owner of Penthouse on Long Backpackers.
That was my home beginning in February 2013. For 9 months I was in the belly of the Mother City as I lay the foundations for the 10 Billion Dollar Plan to end African poverty. N
oticing my talent, dedication and virtually scandal free hard-working and focused nature, Noelline soon overlooked my growing debt. Besides there was reason to believe that I would eventually be succesful and pay what I owed
My online networking was going brilliantly. Donations for my cause came in from as far as New Zealand and the USA.
When I began walking She contacted her network and organized accomodation along the way. In Knysna she had opened Homebase Knysna Backpacker and my stay there led to acquaintances that eventually led to meeting Charmaine Sinclair.
THE PORTAL OF PRINCIPLES
Botrivier Hotel. I would argue that on the N2,Botrivier Hotel is a portal to a mystic dimension. Just as a desk at the 1990 Trust in london had given me access to the movers and shakers of the Black community, Botrivier Hotel gave me opportunities to meet some of SA s celebrities.
I met Valiant Schwart, Albert Frost, Akkedis, The Cat And The Jackal, Auriol Hays, Lewellyn Adonis, Ross Rayners and I even jammed Redemption Song with Piet Botha.
On the stoep I took in story after story from the locals and visitors. Herman still loves the Blues, and we visited the Blues festival in Kleinmond where I experienced Dan Platanski
I was invited to perform at Wildekrans Wine Farm for my biggest paycheck yet. However most of all, Herman made me understand the important difference between principle and opinion, rugby and football. Old money and wannabe money.
I did not know it then, but I know now that everything I learned at the hotel would be everything I would ever need to perfect the 10 Billion Dollar plan. By the time I reached Knysna and met Charmaine, I had a clear vision of what needed to be done.
It must be said that a detailed book is necessary for the lessons learned in Observatory,Langa, Khayelitsha, Phillipi Muizenberg Sommerset West,Marcassa Gordon Bay Grabouw Botrivier Hermanus Greyton Riviersonderen Stanford Gansbaai Platbos Bardskeerdesbos Struisbaai, Cape Agulhas Bredasdor,Napier Swellendam Riversdale Albertinia Mosselbaai,George, Wilderness, Sedgefield, Knysna Willowmore Harkerville Plettenber Bay, The Crags, Tsitsikamma Stormsriver Humansdorp,Jeffreys Bay. When I return It will be to implement CCSR
In all these places and spread out wherever possible and necessary. The method will be to
1.Pinpoint the root cause of a given local problem
2. Walk and talk with the stakeholders. Starting at 6 am we will have a walking meeting
3. Round off the meeting with conclusions and solutions
4 Present the solutions in media format from the office in one of our two support buses.
5 Plan and create local events and townhall meetings. All the way from Cape to Cairo.Rock n Roll Philanthropy……..THE N2 REVOLUTION.
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