http://dejiridoo.com/blog1 Reviews of stories about human rights. Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:49:22 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The Soccer War by Ryszard Kapuscinski Translated from the Polish by William Brand Vintage International, 1992 Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski Translated from the Polish by Klara Glowczewska Knopf, 2007 This pair of books by the late Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski brims with the creativity and insight of great fiction. The Soccer War details the ... http://dejiridoo.com/blog1/2008/08/25/two-gems-by-ryszard-kapuscinski/ What happens when human rights discourse enters political speech? Is it robbed of its meaning? An article recently posted on the BBC chronicles the difficulty in measuring human rights violations - even when the alleged perpetrator releases 'official' statistics. The unfolding conflict in the South Ossetia region of Georgia ... http://dejiridoo.com/blog1/2008/08/21/the-trouble-with-non-fiction/ Professional demands have forced me to take a break from posting reviews. I will resume again in mid to late August, with reviews of Ryszard Kapuscinski, films, and more. Also, please check back for our forthcoming fiction writing contest. --Deji Olukotun http://dejiridoo.com/blog1/2008/07/21/will-be-back-and-proud/ The Dictator Hunter A Klaartje Quirijns Film Directed by Klaartje Quirijns, Produced by Pieter van Huystee Starring Reed Brody, Souleymane Guengueng Documentary, 75 minutes. 2007. This seminal film celebrates the efforts of victims, lawyers, and activists to bring Hissène Habré, the most notorious dictator 'you've never heard of', to justice for mass atrocities. Habré ... http://dejiridoo.com/blog1/2008/06/16/film-review-the-dictatator-hunter/ Written and directed by Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg Starring John Cho, Kal Penn Comedy, 2008. 102 minutes. This film follows on the heels of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004), a slapstick comedy about two pot smoking twenty-somethings searching for adventure and good times in New Jersey. Escape from Guantánamo ... http://dejiridoo.com/blog1/2008/06/09/film-review-harold-kumar-escape-from-guantanamo-bay-78/ Here is another update from Catherine White, an HIV-AIDS activist who has been helping on the ground in Cape Town with the immigrant and refugee communities: Hello Friends, Things seem to be settling down in Cape Town in terms of violence, but there are now over 10,000 (and I think that ... http://dejiridoo.com/blog1/2008/05/31/update-on-the-killings-in-south-africa/ Author Manu Herbstein wrote FictionthatMatters with an update about his work Ama - A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: Wits PhD student Senayon Olaoluwa's "Facing Up to Horror: Of Passion, Multiple Complicity and Survival in Manu Herbstein's Ama: A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade" has been accepted ... http://dejiridoo.com/blog1/2008/05/29/update-from-author-manu-herbstein/ Here is a moving report from my friend Catherine White, an HIV-AIDS activist who has been helping on the ground in Cape Town with the immigrant and refugee communities: Hello Friends , My faith in humanity is slowly being renewed, though slowly. There are some incredible people, doing incredible things. A ... http://dejiridoo.com/blog1/2008/05/26/south-africa-report-from-the-ground/ Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin. Produced / Directed by Bennett Singer & Nancy D. Kates DVD, 2008 Quaker leader Rufus Jones once intoned that pacifism is the "fiery positive". A pacifist does not sit idly by, according to Jones, but directly engages in the affairs of the world. ... http://dejiridoo.com/blog1/2008/05/26/brother-outsider-the-life-of-bayard-rustin/ Several thousand immigrants and refugees have been the victim of anti-immigrant violence in South Africa. Owing to my background of working with the targeted community, I sent a letter to the editor of The New York Times, which was posted on May 24, 2008. The violence has now ... http://dejiridoo.com/blog1/2008/05/25/on-the-killings-in-south-africa/