Running Off

The recent unrest in Kenya is running off any chance a material success and prosperity the country ever had. Almost a symbol of all the good things this instability is running off is the way Kenya's world class runners are leaving the country.

Also at stake is Kenya's economy which recently was one of the most wealthy in Africa. Just a few weeks ago the news was full of good hopes from this nation, Kenya taking outsourcing jobs away from India, and Kenya getting fiber-optic cables and internet through-out the country. Kenya's strong tourism industry which had always been helped by their stability and peacefulness is shattered.

International observers seem to feel that the elections was rigged and that would offer a lot support for the opposition if they were not calling for protests at time when protest had been violent and resulted in hundreds of murders. That kind of irresponsibility is sad even if the opposition was duly elected.

I feel like what we are seeing in Kenya is a warning about the politics of identity altogether. The violence is not about who feels what path is the best for Kenya it is about which ethnic group will get control. Here in the United States we see the dark echoes of that kind of thinking. Candidates especially Barac and Hillary seem be campaigning on who they are (African American/woman) rather than what they stand for or personal qualifications. It is the politics of devision and identity and it causes chaos and poverty wherever it goes.