Oh how paper-writing time is so great for procrastinatory ventures into other forms of learning... like learning how to put music on my website, and then learning how to make it work for everyone!

So, I have a new embedded mp3 player, after many complaints about the last one not working unless you were using firefox (seriously people, I don't know why anyone would use Internet Explorer, it's only the number one reason the internet is considered dangerous. anyways, I'm just saying, you might want to consider it, that's all).

The new player, still tucked (now even more) neatly at the top of the left-hand column, also offers me the possibility of lining up multiple songs in a playlist... (*snickers to self... I'll let you figure out what that means). AND, it will remember where you left off last time you visited, and whether or not you left the song playing or stopped it because your boss was coming around the corner. ah technology, how can you not love it (today)?

-joel

Finally, after much time, I've learned how to embed music files in my web page... well, kind of... for whatever reason, the plugin I found doesn't always work on Internet explorer (just one more reason you should be using Firefox).

I hope you like it. The song curently hosted is a little unfinished instrumental piece I put together, probably while procrastinating doing some studying. It fits with my regular writing style of "this is what I'd like to listen to." Lo and behold, other people like to listen to it too.

I've been playing with a few different instrumentals of a similar sort quite a bit lately. it's probably from all that Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, and Paco DeLucia stuff I've been listening to.

It's really a guilty pleasure to be able to record at my leasure, and multitrack as much or as little as I want. The ability to lay down a simple, repeating section and be able to play with it over and over (and over) again really has changed the way I play. At the same time, I have to fight the temptation to over-produce a piece, especially before it's even finished! So, as a part of my effortst to "release" the songwriting process, I'm venturing out and sharing this song, another "unfinished thought" on my guitar.

For those of you who already know some of my music, don't worry, I haven't given up on the basic "four chords and pained lyrics" songwriting style just yet, but I have been toying with this new development along side. In a pefect world I'd figure out how to mesh the two together, but for that I would need another guitar player with similar tastes -- something I have yet to find.

As many readers of my blog are aware, I was trying to return to the Congo two weeks ago for the presidential runoff. Despite a few generous offers, time restraints and other commitments kept me in Canada. Despite this, I have been following the situation daily, including regular email updates from people in Kinshasa. There are also many fairly mainstream news agencies following the story...

At present, we are awaiting the results of the runoff to decide on the Congo's first democratically elected president. As expected, the rhetoric between the two candidates has been less than helpful to the process. Recent accusations from the Bemba camp are that results are being systematically manipulated in favour of Kabila.

This morning I received a piece from a group called "les Patriotes Congolais," calling for the arrest of Kabila, and imposition of Bemba as president, based on a list of shaky and somewhat unprovable accusations. To be certain, this is no red herring. The amount of distrust for Kabila in the capital is tangible in every conversation, and lines most news reports and stories not coming directly out of the president's ring of propaganda media.

Partial results have been released by the Electoral Commission (CEI) in the hopes of preventing the kind of violence that erupted in late August, though it hasn't worked out that way. Last week Bemba's camp made accusations of results being consistantly slanted towards Kabila in comparison with official polling station reports collected on election day.

Though pledging to following the legal appeal process, Bemba has not proven able to control his supporters, nor has he shown any interest or attempt to do so, despite promising after the August violence to abstain from further fighting. Already a handful of people have died from this recent spate of street battles, at least two victims being innocent civilians hit by stray bullets.

The UN is present, along with EUFOR, should things get out of hand, but has left this apparent lack of law and order to the local authorities.

As with any democratic struggle, the question at hand is one of political accountability and responsibility, and ultimately comes down to the ability of the public to trust both political candidates and the process itself. Clearly these qualities are seriously lacking at many levels.

The striking difference at present is that the Kabila camp is keeping quiet. Recent results (though released with warnings not to be used for projection purposes), show Kabila leading with around 60% of the counted ballots. Despite CEI caution, the trend is unmistakeable.

It is also very telling, in light of this, that the Bemba camp is stepping up their offensive, challenging the results, the process, and in the case of "les Patriotes Congolais," challenging the legitimacy of the opponent and the head of the electoral commission, Abbé Malu-Malu.

The Kinshasa ceasefire signed after the August violence is of little comfort. Unless the CEI can adequately and openly address Bemba's claims of vote manipulation, Bemba will not be able to control his supporters, and there will be significantly more bloodshed on the streets of Kinshasa. Moreover, the resulting political climate in the capital city could tarnish the incoming administration to the degree that the capital region simply becomes ungovernable.

As the UN and EUFOR start packing their bags they would be well advised to keep an eye on the power shift as the new government comes to power. Those few days of changes may make all the difference.

Why Building Democracy is So Difficult
Posted on October 1st, 2006
by Francis Fukuyama

"While people have focused on the difficulty of building democracy in the Middle East, they should not assume its gains are consolidated elsewhere in the world. Asia was the model for how rising incomes and a growing middle class would support democratic consolidation, but Thailand’s Sept. 19 military coup shows how stable democracy needs more than wealth and a middle class..."

[read the whole article at the American Interest Online]

Many generous thanks to Ms. Wedgewood for helping me with that pesky CSS problem that was making the blog layout mess up on Internet Explorer. Hopefully now everyone can see the page properly. She was also kind enough to contribute to the javascript error we've been getting, but I haven't gotten around to fixing that part yet.
If you are still experiencing problems viewing the page please email me about it with as much detail as possible, and I'll try to get this new layout to work nicely for everyone.
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In other news... I have a full update coming soon for those of you who have been following my Congo election experience...

thank you for your patience.

-joel