Every now and then this generic spammail floats around. It seems the son of an African Dictator has an awful lot of money he wants to share with lucky me: ----------------------------------------------------------------- Your contact was availed to me by the chamber of commerce. It was given to me because of my diplomatic status as I did not disclose the actual reasons for which I sought your contact. But I was assured That you are reputable and trustworthy if you will be of assistance. I am Laurent Mpeti Kabila (Jnr) the second son of Late President LAURENT DESIRE KABILA the immediate Past president of the DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO in Africa who was murdered by his opposition through his personal bodyguards in his bedroom on Tuesday 16th January, 2001. I have the privilege of being mandated by my father colleagues to seek your immediate and urgent co-operation to receive into your bank account the sum of US $10,000,000(ten million Dollars) and some thousands carats of Diamond.presently, i am with the nederlands government seeking for political asylum. This money and treasures was lodged in a vault with a security firm in the nederlands. SOURCES OF DIAMONDS AND FUND In August 2000, my father as a defence minister and president has a meeting with his cabinet and armychief about the defence budget for 2000 to 2001 which was US $700m. so he directed one of his best friend. Frederic Kibasa Maliba who was a minister of mines and a political party leader known as the Union Sacree de, I opposition radicale et ses allies (USORAL) to buy arms with US $200m on 5th January 2001; for him to finalized the arm s deal,my father was murdered. f.K. Maliba (FKM) and I have decided to keep the money with a foreigner after which he will use it to contest for the political election. Inspite of all this we have resolved to present your or your company for the firm to pay it into your nominated account the above sum and diamonds. This transaction should be finalized within seven (7) working days and for your co-operation and partnership, we have unanimously agreed that you will be entitled to 5.5% of the money when successfully receive it in your account. The nature of your business is not relevant to the successful execution of this transaction what we require is your total co-operation and commitment to ensure 100% risk-free transaction at both ends and to protect the persons involved in this transaction, strict confidence and utmost secrecy is required even after the successful conclusion of this transaction. If this proposal is acceptable to you, kindly provide me with your personal telephone and fax through my E-mail box for immediate commencement of the transaction. All correspondence is for the attention of my counsel: I count on your honour to keep my secret, SECRET. Looking forward for your urgent reply Thanks. Best Regards MPETI L. KABILA (Jnr) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ But if you've done your homework, you don't want anything to do with Laurent Kabila's son and his ilk. It's a messed up region of the world, that's for sure. Recommended reading: King Leopold's Ghost or Philip Gourevitch I don't want your dirty money, Kabila! And on the Activism tip: Bruce Sterling on how to make an impact: http://engaged.well.com/engaged/engaged.cgi?c=inkwell.vue&f=0&t=171&q=0- When it comes to political activism, most everybody wants to devote their attention to their own side; the good people, the decent people, the People Like Me, in other words. There is always a famine of activists who can spend a lot of time studying the enemy. Because that is disgusting, and it hurts your head. You have to actually comprehend alien ideas and revoltingly wrongheaded people who are People Unlike You. On the other hand, a good Opposition Research guy has effects that are way, way out of proportion to the scale of that endeavor. That is a rare political skill. You don't need any political charisma or organizational skill to pull that one off, either. You can become a real hornet. If you're up for it, good luck with that.

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