Tag: Carifiesta

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Reflections On Carifiesta 2014

REFLECTIONS ON CARIFIESTA 2014

By N Oji Mzilikazi

Originally published in the Montreal Community Contact Volume 24, Number 14 July 10, 2014

The 39th staging of the Carifiesta Parade on July 5th was one of the best in years.

While my heart welled with pride for the thousands of community members that were participants — revellers as well as on-lookers — I couldn’t help but weigh the power of their presence, the financial and voting power they collectively constitute in their hands against community laissez faire attitudes, divisiveness, paralysis, and other shortcomings.

I couldn’t but weigh the potential power in our numbers against the continuous underfunding of Carifiesta by City Hall, the absence of funding from the Quebec government and the Montreal Tourist Board, and that Carifiesta is without a corporate sponsor…

 

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Sense & Sensibilities

Sense & Sensibilities

By N Oji Mzilikazi

July 12, 2012

(Originally published in the Montreal Community Contact Volume 22, Number 13)

Ti m’ba r’oto ma so, o le panu mi de
Je’nwi temi o, o le panu mi de
Otito ko ro, o le panu mi de
Bo ti mi mo’le o, o le panu mi de
Otito ko ro o, omo araiye o fe
Be fe, befe o, mi a wi temi

(If I see the truth, I will say it, you can’t shut me up
Let me say mine, you can’t close my mouth
Truth is bitter, you can’t shut me up
You can imprison me, but you can’t close my mouth
The truth is bitter, the world hates it
Like it or not, I will say mine)

– “Je’nwi temi”

— Fela Kuti

 

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More Musings on Carifiesta

More Musings on Carifiesta

By N Oji Mzilikazi

May 3, 2012

(Originally published in the Montreal Community Contact Volume 22, Number 08)

A young lady accused me of being unfair to CCFA with the article, “CCFA, You Made A Boo Boo” (C.C. Volume 22, Number 07), of trying to score brownie points, staying on the sidelines to criticize, and criticizing for the sake of criticizing. Far from standing on the side, I’ve always been active.  It’s just like many others; I’ve always been contented to do so quietly and invisibly.

Just as light dispels darkness, criticism and derivative exposure forces and ensures transparency and accountability. Healthy societies are self-critical. Failure to be openly critical continues to feed the recycling of dysfunction and is a community millstone.

The invoking of not “washing our dirty linen in public” is disingenuous to say the least, and only serves vultures, incompetents, conmen, smart-men, and smart-women. For then, they can continue with their parasitic feeding…