RKS African Literature: Take the Communist Nonsense to China or the Soviet Union! (Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o)

Those who want to awaken the masses should be shown the whip-detention or prison- just like the fellows you all know about. But I normally send around my thugs round to those who are obstinate-after plying them or course, with drugs and alcohol and money-and then they cart their bodies along to the hyenas on Ngong Hill or to the crocodiles in the Athi River to continue their work for the masses inside the belly of a hyena or crocodile (like the fellows you all know about). I don’t believe in this democracy nonsense. In the morning the topic is democracy. In the evening the topic is democracy. Is democracy food and drink? If I could get hold of those kids at the university together with their pygmy sized teachers, Wangenijuta….I would load them on an airplane and request them to take their communist nonsense to China or the Soviet Union.

Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o, “Devil on the Cross”, 1982

Photo: R. Kennedy Stephen

RKS African Literature: Theft and Robbery the Cornerstones of American and Western Civilization (Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o)

I think there is no one who does not know that theft and robbery are the cornerstones of America and Western civilization. Money is the heart that beats to keep the Western world on the move. If you want people to build a great civilization like ours then kneel down before the god of money. Ignore the beautiful faces of your children, of your parents, of your brothers and sisters. Look only at the splendid face of money, and you’ll never go wrong. It’s far better to drink the blood of your people, and to eat their flesh than  to retreat a step.

Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o, “Devil on the Cross”, 1982

RKS African Literature: From Slaves to Servants to Friends: Colonialism in Transition: The Master Speaks (Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o)

As for you, from now on I shall no longer call you slaves or servants in public. Now you are truly my friends. Why? Because even after I had given you back the keys to your country, you continued to fulfill my commandments and to protect my property, making my capital yield a higher rate of profit than was the case when I myself used to carry the keys. Therefore I shall not call you servants again. For a servant does not know the aims and thoughts of his master. But I call you my friends because you know-and I shall continue to let you know-all my plans for this country, and I shall give you some of what I acquire, so that you will have the strength and motivation to break the skulls of those who talk about the “masses” with any measure of seriousness.

Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o, “Devil on the Cross”, 1982

Photo: R. Kennedy Stephen

RKS African Literature: Theft and Robbery are the Measure of a Country’s Progress (Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o)

Believe me when I say that theft and robbery are the measures of a country’s progress. Because in order for theft and robbery to flourish, there must be things to be stolen. And in order that the robbed may acquire possessions to be stolen and still be left with a few, they must work harder to produce wealth. History shows us there has never been any civilization that was not built on the foundations of theft and robbery. Where would America be today without theft and robbery? What about England? France? Germany? Japan? It’s theft and robbery that have made possible the development of the Western world. Let’s not be fooled by socialist cant. To banish theft and robbery from a country is to stifle progress.

Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o, “Devil on the Cross”, 1982

2026 GREEK TRAVEL ADVENTURE: Short Attention Span Version:16September2026: Stop the Welcoming Verbal Onslaught, I’m Tired! Athens

Easy peasy 45-minute turbo prop flight on Sky Express from Samos to Athens. A very small airport and as flight departures are few no passengers ahead of us at security so through that in a flash. As this was a domestic flight no need to suffer passport control at Athens Eleftherios Airport. Our baggage was out in a flash.

Traffic once at the outskirts of Athens begins to build and once you enter Athens centre the traffic is mega congested! Am I in New Delhi?

Our hotel Anthology of Athens describes itself as a “five-star cultural boutique hotel”. It faces the Temple of Zeus and is a stone’s throw away from the Plaka and a short walk to the Acropolis and the Acropolis Museum. It is under the banner of The Leading Hotels of the World. It is a green hotel and uses a grey water system (the first urban hotel in Greece to do so).

Temple of Zeus in Athens

All this emphasis on green and sustainable at the hotel yet to the left of the hotel entrance by some 15 feet is an enormous public garbage bin piled over the top with bags grouped around it on the sidewalk oozing some foul-smelling liquid at its base. The hotel staff contribute to this garbage bin so they may be a part of this less than five-star eyesore!. There is a man in tattery clothing rummaging through the bin daily.

Outside the entrance of the hotel; Photo R. Kennedy Stephen

We are given a too lengthy and too rapid welcome blurb by the lady at the reception desk but not one of those huge reception desks you find at many hotels…factory like. This is simply a beautiful stand-alone desk.

We paid a princely sum for the Panorama Suite with a Temple View so when I stick my head in the door I say what a living room! No separate bedroom in sight! And they call this a suite? Very small and compact. There are only 9 rooms in the hotel with three more under construction.

Being a starving fellow, I attack the almond cookies in the mini bar area. Delicious!

We head out via taxi to our friend’s flat “for a bite to eat”. The hotel arranges a taxi for us from a company used by the hotel as they have a close trusting relationship with. The traffic is a huge series of twists and turns with inches to spare now and then. The taxi driver swears like sailor and his unmetered fare is 20 Euros. The taxi ride returning to the hotel was 6 Euros…” a close trusting relationship”.

We have known P and T for over a decade. We met them in Samos and became friends. They have a home in the mountain town of Mytilini in Samos and a flat in Athens.

P has laid out a delicious feast, as she always does so much for “a bite to eat”! There are roasted carrots in a balsamic reduction sauce with roasted chickpeas, meatballs, chips and butterflied chicken drumsticks with some Samian rosé wine I had picked at the airport in Samos earlier in the day. A delicious meal and time to catch up.

Most of what I have seen in Athens so far is a collection of neighbourhoods with vibrant nightlife throughout.

2026 GREEK TRAVEL ADVENTURE: Short Attention Span Version: 15September2026: Pythagorio, Samos: Doryssa Seaside Resort to be Saved by the Bell of Renovation?

Hotels, no matter their greatness, take a battering through age and careless guests. You’ve seen it previously I am certain. Failure to renovate and the reputation of a hotel may plummet when word of deterioration hits the market. Yesterday’s darling may be tomorrow’s enfant terrible.

One can’t fail to take note of the battering the main building particularly the hallways with a very “mature” carpet. Quite frankly the hallways are dingy and musty smelling.

As for my room;

  • Rattling air-conditioning
  • Wallpaper separating from the walls
  • Stained dirty carpet and furniture
  • Bumps and ridges in the carpet
  • Crack in sliding glass door leading to veranda
  • Missing stopper in bathtub
  • Stopper in bathroom sink not working
  • Crumbling caulking throughout

Now you see why I asked the manager about a room change of which he promised he would follow up with me the following morning of which he failed to do.

I understand the main building will be undergoing an extensive renovation in the off season when the resort is closed. Once a five star and now?

No hands up baby hands up baby at the Doryssa Seaside Resort this visit.

RKS African Literature: Mistaking Foreign S*** for a Delicious National Dish (Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o)

Where are our national languages now? Where are the books written in the alphabets of our national languages? Where is our own literature now? Where is the wisdom and knowledge of our fathers now? Where is the philosophy of our fathers now? The centres of wisdom that used to guard the entrance to our national homestead have been demolished, the fire of wisdom has been allowed to die; the seats around the fireside have been thrown to a rubbish heap, the guard posts have been destroyed; and the youth of the nation has hung up its shields and spears. It is a tragedy that there is nowhere we can go to learn the history of our country. A child without parents to counsel him-what is to prevent him from mistaking foreign shit for a delicious national dish?

Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o, “Devil on the Cross”, 1982

RKS African Literature: English Cultural Imperialism (Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o)

“You talk as if you knew I came from the university, and it is true. I am from there. I’m a kind of research student in culture. I’m a junior research fellow in African culture. Our culture…sorry I mean our culture. That is what I call English cultural imperialism. Cultural imperialism is mother to the slavery of the mind and body. It is cultural imperialism that gives birth to the mental blindness and deafness that persuades people to allow foreigners to tell them what to do in their own country, to make foreigners the ears and mouths of their national affairs, forgetting the saying: Only he who lives in the wilderness knows what it is like. Hence a foreigner can never become the true guide of another people. It is about our generation that the singer sang:

The deaf man, the deaf man

The deaf man is he who can’t hear for the nation!

The blind man, the blind man,

The blind man is he who can’t see for the nation!

Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o, “Devil on the Cross”, 1982

Photo R. Kennedy Stephen

RKS INTERNATIONAL FILM: “No Paradise if You Are Killed by a Woman”

Surely a typical misogynist ISIS saying. I suppose it means if a woman kills an ISIS warrior that unfortunate might as well forget about paradise and the seven virgins! Moralistic greed with seven and misogynist fussiness demanding they be virgins!

Vyan (Avan Jamal) is a sniper for the Peshmerga Kurdish security forces in Northern Iraq fighting ISIS including supporting NATO forces. It is 2016 and she has over 100 kills.

A Kurdish immigrant to Norway with her younger sister Helina and her parents. On vacation in Northern Iraq the parents are murdered by ISIS and both her and Helina are kidnapped by sex slavers and sold at auction to ISIS men.

Vyan escapes by murdering her abusive captor, joins the Peshmerga and starts her search for Helina.

After assassinating an ISIS soldier who had chained young teen Dlvin to his bed, Dlvin informs Vyan her sister Helina is the “wife” of the “Swedish Sniper”.

Vyan is injured while valiantly destroying an ISIS armoured car and evacuated back to a hospital in Norway.

The PST (Norwegian Police Security Service) offers Vyan a new identity and a promise to not prosecute her for contravening Norwegian law preventing its citizens in participating in foreign conflicts. If she fails to take the deal she will be prosecuted.

Vyan returns to Northern Iraq for the Peshmerga and laboriously hunts down the Swedish Sniper to rescue her younger sister.

Vyan’s philosophy is to track down one sniper and you’ll find the rest of them.

Perched high atop a building overlooking Old Mosul she locates an ISIS sniper and liquidates him overhearing references to the Swedish Sniper being nearby.

The ISIS snipers in Old Mosul help secure the imprisonment of some 300,000 city residents more or less starving them to death. Any movement in the open draws sniper fire. A veritable turkey shoot.

An exact locate of the Swedish Sniper invigorates Vyan on a daring escape mission crawling out in the open under a tarp centimeters at a time to the “Green Hotel” where the Swedish Sniper is firing away. After being wounded and killing three ISIS soldiers pursuing her she confronts the Swedish Sniper.

Vyan is not simply a sniper firing from rooftops but a brave and skilled soldier in close combat situations not to be be underestimated. ISIS had put a bounty on her head for a million dollars.

An interesting foray into the life and mind of snipers, the sex slave trade catering to ISIS soldiers, the presence of foreign converts in ISIS and the sheer vicious misogyny of ISIS.

While the violence and rampant ISIS misogyny might be difficult for some to view the performance of Avan Jamal as Vyan is remarkable.

A classic revenge genre film.

Directed by Halkawt Mustafa.

Official screening at the Venice Film Festival 7September2026.

RKS INTERNATIONAL FILM RATING: 93/100

This Norwegian, Iraqi, UAE and Swedish film is directed by Halkawt Mustafa.

RKS African Literature: The Effects of American Experts on the Kenyan Economy (Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o)

“Nairobi is large, soulless and corrupt.” He moved nearer to Warĩĩnga, leaned against the wall and went on: “But it is not Nairobi alone that is afflicted in this way. The same is true of all the cities in every country that has recently slipped the noose of colonialism. These countries are finding it difficult to stave off poverty for the simple reason that they have taken it upon themselves to learn how to run their economies from American experts. So they have been taught the principle and system of self-interest and have been told to forget the ancient songs that glorify the notion of collective good. They have been taught new songs, new hymns that celebrate the acquisition of money. That’s why today Nairobi teaches:

Crookedness to the upright

Meanness to the kind

Hatred to the loving,

 Evil to the good

Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o, “Devil on the Cross”, 1982

Photo R. Kennedy Stephen