Word: chameleon
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Africans have a superstitious horror of the chameleon, which in Kikuyu is pronounced kipu. It so happens that the initials of Leftist Oginga Odinga's nascent opposition party, the Kenya People's Union, have the same phonetic pronunciation-a fact that President Jomo Kenyatta's political songwriters did not overlook during the nation's three-week special election campaign. All through Kikuyuland last month, Jomo's ardent KANU party youth-wingers chanted a 20-verse warning against the abhorrent turncoats of the "chameleon party," punctuating each stanza with guttural cries of "moto, moto, moto!"-meaning...
...Like a Chameleon. It often seems that way. Durable Unilever has been a father figure in African enterprise since Lord Leverhulme, founder of the firm's British branch, in 1911 won a concession from Belgium's King Leopold II to develop a 1,875,000-acre plantation in the Congo. The company planted oil palms for its soap, later prospered by buying farm products from the Africans and selling household goods to them -pocketing a profit on both ends. Reaching out, U.A.C. also became the biggest merchandiser in the 14 former French colonies of Africa...
...company was a ready target for criticism, or, as Unilever's African Group Chairman Arthur Smith recalls: "It was so convenient for some people to stigmatize the company." U.A.C. absorbed some severe losses, notably in the Congo and Ghana, but proved to be more adaptable than an African chameleon. Rather than cut and run, it decided to stay and grow along with a yearning market. During the terrifying upheavals in the Congo, Unilever men opened new plantations even while existing ones were being overrun by the Simbas. The company also opened up more opportunities for local people. Since...
...tale of a soldier bargaining with the devil and learning better, with whimsy verging on burlesque. Lithgow himself plays the devil as a slithery eccentric who goes after souls with a butterfly net. The ubiquitous Arthur Friedman as narrator bounces in and out of the action, as does a chameleon chorus that appears as everything from peasants to sheep to a fluid landscape. Philip Heckscher, the soldier, is appropriately ingenuous but his voice often betrays uncomfortable strain. Jane Mushabac has choreographed the play. Her group dances have wit but become overly frantic when Lithgow's devil gets twitchingly carried away...
...ambassador to the U.S. Just as Talleyrand spent the Terror safely secluded in the United States, so did Thai work as a U.N. staff member in Togo, during the seven coups and dozen reshuffles since the fall of Diem. Thai's return suggests that he has mastered Talleyrand's chameleon-like ability to shift positions and survive...