How many Kardashians?

What do we mean by «People»?
The French translation of the English term «People» designates the «Peuple», a particular group, such as a nation, a social class, a country, ordinary people...
But the word «People» refers to people belonging to an elite.
In the English-speaking world, this elite usurps the term «People» and becomes «People» instead of «People».
People like Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard have made headlines with their marital quarrels.
They occupied the media and became the media.
While Depp/Heard, West/Kardashian, Pitt/Jolie, Harry/Meghan...etc occupy the media stage, there is no room left for the people of Sudan, Gaza, Ecuador, Yemen, Afghanistan, Chile, Ethiopia, Burma, Venezuela, Sri Lanka...
In the early 2000s, actor Georges Clooney's campaign against the massacres in Darfur put the media spotlight, for a time, on the genocidal actions of Sudan's Islamist military regime, which had been rampant in Darfur since the early 90s.
How many Clooneys would it take to get the media talking about massacres around the world?
How many Kardashians do you need to bring peace to the world?
How many Pitt, to prevent Africans from drowning in the Mediterranean Sea?

Paul fall

In Sudanese oral tradition, to designate a person of knowledge and experience, we say, «He fell 7 times from the sky.»
«Falling from heaven» is an apt biblical allegory for learning, since Redemption follows the Fall.
Saul, for example, was a Jewish activist known for his hatred of Christians. Indeed, considering that Jesus, as a reformer, had violated the Law of Moses, he persecuted the followers of Christ.
But one day, on his way to Damascus to capture some of Jesus' disciples, he fell off his horse.
«I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, «Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?»
And I answered, «Who are you, Lord? - I am Jesus the Nazarene, the one you are persecuting». (Book of Acts, Acts 22.7-8) This event was decisive in Saul's life, for when he fell, he was blinded by a divine light, converted to Christianity and became known as St. Paul.
The images I found on the internet, of a rider falling from his mount, lacked any sense of tragedy.
As I continued my search, I came across the striking image of «The falling man» by photographer Richard Drew.
This photo, taken in New York on September 11, 2001, shows a man falling from one of the World Trade Center towers.
I knew at once that I had «my» fall from the St Paul.
But I was missing a horse, a biblical horse.
All the horses in the history of European art seemed too vigorous or victorious to fit St Paul's dramatic situation. In the end, I borrowed Picasso's horse neighing in pain in Guernica. St Paul's violent glare as he fell from his horse did not bring about the redemption of the leaders of the United States after September 11, 2001.
On the contrary, the United States has spread its stupid and costly wars throughout the Middle East, causing the death of millions of innocent people.
In 2021, when the Americans withdrew from Afghanistan, the whole world saw the image of this Afghan falling from an American plane evacuating Americans. This image went almost unnoticed. Redemption is not yet on this world's agenda.

A knockout in the grave

A K.O.L (Key opinion leader) is a person who takes strong action to achieve political or commercial objectives.
Social networks open up a huge platform for K.O.L. to reach as many people as possible.
As social networks cannot escape conflicts of interest, K.O.L. finds itself trapped in social conflicts.
When Jesus, history's most famous K.O.L., proposed Love to save mankind, his method was simple: «Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and render unto God the things that are God's.»
Of course, Caesar never accepted this contract. He wanted it all, what's his and what's God's. That's why love stories always end in tragedy.

The multiplication of Virgins and toucans off Lampedusa

It's a miracle to make it across the desert to the southern coast of the Mediterranean, but when you reach the Mediterranean coast, it takes another miracle to make it across the sea to Lampedusa.

And once in Lampedusa, you need all the miracles in the Bible to survive the bureaucracy and persecution of the European authorities.

The European authorities classify refugees into two categories:

• Political refugees, asylum seekers, considered as «good refugees».
• Economic refugees, who are systematically criminalized and pushed back to the southern coast by the practice of «push-back
  of the Mediterranean.

Soon, Europe will have to deal with a third category, climate refugees, to whom we won't be able to apply the practice of «push-back» to any coast.

The world belongs to everyone!

Hassan Musa, October 1, 2023