Sean Jacobs's Blog, page 397

Black Europe and Body Politics

BE.BOP (Black Europe & Body Politics) presents yet another important edition titled Spiritual Revolutions & “The Scramble for Africa” this year. For those not familiar with this groundbreaking project, BE.BOP is a curatorial project, in co-production with Ballhaus Naunynstrasse, that includes exhibitions, presentations, screenings and roundtables by artists (amongst others) from the Black European Diaspora. This project seeks to fill a gap when it comes to deconstructing the coloniality of western art and aesthetics in Europe.  It provides a space to discuss and create a dialogue around (collective) self-liberation and healing.

Through this project a certain decolonial way of thinking about the visual arts has been introduced in Europe and Africa. In the Decolonial Aesthetics Manifesto 2011, curator Alanna Lockward and other BE.BOP affiliated members such as Walter Mignolo write that,

The goal of decolonial thinking and doing is to continue re-inscribing, embodying and dignifying those ways of living, thinking and sensing that were violently devalued or demonized by colonial, imperial and interventionist agendas as well as by postmodern and altermodern internal critiques.

In this edition, healing and healing through drawing the spiritual map of Pan-Africanism before and after the so-called “Scramble for Africa” are central. Through various artworks and performances (more below) the various meanings of healing are explored.

Recently Framer Framed, an initiative to discuss the politics of representation and curatorial practices in the 21st century, hosted BE.BOP in Amsterdam for a special five-hour event. A range of documentaries and performances were presented during these five hours that clearly showcased ways in which artists deal with the theme of spirituality and healing. Check out some of the inspiring and beautiful results of BE.BOP participants below:

* Patricia Kaersenhout, Stitches of Power. Stitches of Sorrow

During slavery and the colonial period embroidery was a passtime for white women of higher social rank, while in the colonies black women were facing daily horrors like rape, being separated from husbands and children and hard labour. White women were embroidering innocent images on white fabric. The needle symbolizes literally the penetration of a Black female body. Filling in the ‘empty image’ emphasizes the historical non position and neglect of Black women in West European written history. Embroidering a gun is a paradox in itself. Embroidering as an re- enactment of innocence symbolizing an act of violence.

* Alanna Lockward, The Allen Report: Retracing Transnational African Methodism

An interesting account of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and their role in the liberation of Namibia from South Africa. The whole film will be out in July 2015, read more about this great project http://allenreportdocumentary.wordpress.com” target=”_blank”>here.

* Anika Gibbons, Journey to Liberation: The Legacy of Womanist Theology and Womanist Ethics at Union Theological Seminary, 2013

Filmmaker Anika Gibbons has created a moving and inspiring documentary that tells the radical spiritual story of four Womanist scholars. The stories give insight in the scholarship of Womanist theology and Womanist ethics through interviews with Dr. Emilie Townes, Dr. Jacquelyn Grant, Dr. Kelly Brown and Dr. Katie Cannon and current Union students. The interviews are beautiful and give plenty food for thought on issues related to social justice, spirituality and womanism.

* All images by Nikolaj Recke, courtesy of the artist and Art Labour Archives.

Thank You, Associated Press

We published “Neymar and the Disappearing Donkey” (to coincide with the World Cup in Brazil) on June 17th. The story included a list of race-colors from a 1976 study done in Brazil. On June 22 the big-time news agency AP published a “story” which basically consisted of the list. That story’s been repeated /shared / published / syndicated in a lot of places. Here’s the problem: the AP list is our list: it was originally translated by Lilia Moritz Schwarcz from University of Sao Paulo (who has done lots of work on race in Brazil) and edited by Achal Prabhala (who wrote our piece) and published by AIAC. It’s the same list, down to the last word, including Lilia’s very specific language (‘burro quando foge’ translated as disappearing donkey, for instance) and Achal’s editing–he changed some of the original entries for brevity and clarity. So it’s interesting the AP’s editors think they can turn an AIAC essay into an “original” AP article without any attribution whatsoever. We’re just a small website that runs on zero money, and we guess AP thinks it’s fine to take our stuff. Though, of course, it’s not at all fine if you take their stuff (reference: Shepard Fairey).

* Image Credit: Screengrab from CBF video of Neymar after he was injured. That’s what we feel like right now.

Some young Danes thought they’d have some fun with colonialism

At this year’s edition of Roskilde Festival outside Copenhagen in Denmark, guests were invited to join a group of brave, self-declared, male Imperialists from Denmark on an African Expedition, circa 1814. The themed festival camp entitled Afrika-Expeditionen was set up by a group Danish of experts in various scientific fields, such as (French) Security, Medicine, Ethnography, Anthropology, Ornithology, and offered festivalgoers the opportunity to join their journey of ‘scientific’ inquiry into local customs, rituals and dancing. As with all great “explorers,” the Danish Imperialists set out to explore the Dark Continent with a suitably re-drawn and re-named map of Africa.

On Tuesday, July 1st, the brave men of Afrika-Expeditionen hosted a “Lion Hunt.” After several months of exhausting exploration the Danish Imperialists claimed not to have the strength to conquer the beast they have discovered near to their camp. Hence they appealed to Natives for assistance (because we all know that these large feral felines are a real hazard in the Danish countryside…).  In exchange, generous bounties will be awarded to the best hunter, followed by a real ‘hunting party’ to ‘hot African beats.’

Continuing the perverse collapse of festival revelry with ‘scientific’ inquiry of the African territories of Gongo and Jongo, Afrika-Expeditionen appeal to Danish saviour complexes and offer festival-goers with humanitarian inclinations a ‘Malaria Party.’ On this night, Danes determined to conquer the dangerous disease plaguing Natives and Imperialists alike, will administer a special medicinal concoction of Gin and Tonic to those in need.

In a Scandinavian context shaped by notions of humanitarianism and multiculturalism, supposedly humorous endeavours such as Africa-Expeditionen sustain claims to colonial innocence and non-participation in colonial projects in Africa. These kinds of ‘artistic’ and ‘creative’ projects close down the possibility of meaningful engagements with historical and present reality of Scandinavian- African relations.

Here’s their Facebook page and the WordPress blog.

Does Israel provide asylum seekers with fake documents to deport them?

When Israeli activist Dafna Lichtamn got home from Mozambique two months ago, she had a layover in Addis Ababa airport. Walking around the main Ethiopian airport she suddenly ran into an old friend, Sadik Alsadik, an asylum seeker from Darfur who had spent the past five years in Israel. When Lichtman met him it was his sixth day wondering around the airport. 

A few days earlier Alsadik was facing a very difficult decision: he was given the choice to either go to Holot, the new “open” detention facility in the Israeli desert, or to an unnamed “African country”–one of those Israel refers to as “third countries” (meaning not the country of origin nor Israel). Even though never officially confirmed, these “third countries” are well known amongst asylum seekers as referring to Uganda and Rwanda, countries with which Israel keeps cozy relationships. Knowing just how open Holot is really is, Alsadik chose the second option, thinking that means freedom.

When Alsadik found himself on a plane to Ethiopia he assumed that to be the third country. But when he tried to leave the airport he was told by Ethiopian officials that he was scheduled to fly on the next flight to Sudan, the same country he escaped from. Alsadik refused to board the flight that he was told was booked for him in Israel. His luggage in fact, they told him, is already in Khartoum.

For Alsadik going back to Sudan means a death sentence. The danger for him in Sudan is double: not only as a Darfurian but also as someone who came from Israel and can be suspected as an Israeli collaborator. He wanted to leave the airport but wasn’t allowed to, since he didn’t the required documents to enter the country.

Lichtman posted the story on Facebook and Israeli media picked it up. After two more days in Addis Ababa Alsadik was forced to go back to Israel: straight to detention.

Since then, human rights organizations in Israel have been trying to assist Alsadik to find a new solution that wouldn’t include him being imprisoned. What made the procedures even more complicated was the fact that since being taken to the airport Alsadik was given a different identity. According to Alsadik, whose own passport was taken from him when he first arrived in Israel, Israeli immigration authority gave him a passport of someone named Ahmed Ibrahim, with which he left Israel. When different activists and journalists, including Galei Zahal radio station, tried to reach Alsadik, while he’s being transferred and detained, they have been told by the immigration authority that there is no such name on its records. They were, however, able to find Alsadik under the name Ahmed Ibrahim.

A month later, another Israeli activist, named Rami Gudovitch, landed in Addis Ababa airport on his way to Uganda. There he met nine Eritreans asylum seekers that had just arrived from Israel. They, too, were told in Addis (against what they knew when they left Israel) that they need to fly to Khartoum. They refused, fearing that from Khartoum they would be deported back to Asmara. They were also accused that they are carrying fake documents. The head of the immigration department at the airport was determined to arrest them. As far as we know, they are still detained in Ethiopia.

As for Alsadik, while spending the last two months in Holot, his lawyers petitioned for his release, basing their argument on the fact Israel is the one that brought him in this time — therefore he is no longer an “infiltrator” under the infiltration law definition.

Alsadik’s hearing took place a week ago in the newly founded appeals tribunal for immigration issues, originally named “the foreigners’ court”. The verdict that was given on Thursday determined that Alsadik is still an infiltrator and he will stay in Holot indefinitely.

Immigration activists who were present in the hearing on Monday report that in response to Alsadik’s lawyer persistence to get an answer to the fake passport question the judge said: “We live in a world of fluid identities.”

Image Credit: Activestills.

Does Israel provide its asylum seekers with fake documents in order to sneak them into African countries?

When Israeli activist Dafna Lichtamn got home from Mozambique two months ago, she had a layover in Addis Ababa airport. Walking around the main Ethiopian airport she suddenly ran into an old friend, Sadik Alsadik, an asylum seeker from Darfur who had spent the past five years in Israel. When Lichtman met him it was his sixth day wondering around the airport. 

A few days earlier Alsadik was facing a very difficult decision: he was given the choice to either go to Holot, the new “open” detention facility in the Israeli desert, or to an unnamed “African country”–one of those Israel refers to as “third countries” (meaning not the country of origin nor Israel). Even though never officially confirmed, these “third countries” are well known amongst asylum seekers as referring to Uganda and Rwanda, countries with which Israel keeps cozy relationships. Knowing just how open Holot is really is, Alsadik chose the second option, thinking that means freedom.

When Alsadik found himself on a plane to Ethiopia he assumed that to be the third country. But when he tried to leave the airport he was told by Ethiopian officials that he was scheduled to fly on the next flight to Sudan, the same country he escaped from. Alsadik refused to board the flight that he was told was booked for him in Israel. His luggage in fact, they told him, is already in Khartoum.

For Alsadik going back to Sudan means a death sentence. The danger for him in Sudan is double: not only as a Darfurian but also as someone who came from Israel and can be suspected as an Israeli collaborator. He wanted to leave the airport but wasn’t allowed to, since he didn’t the required documents to enter the country.

Lichtman posted the story on Facebook and Israeli media picked it up. After two more days in Addis Ababa Alsadik was forced to go back to Israel: straight to detention.

Since then, human rights organizations in Israel have been trying to assist Alsadik to find a new solution that wouldn’t include him being imprisoned. What made the procedures even more complicated was the fact that since being taken to the airport Alsadik was given a different identity. According to Alsadik, whose own passport was taken from him when he first arrived in Israel, Israeli immigration authority gave him a passport of someone named Ahmed Ibrahim, with which he left Israel. When different activists and journalists, including Galei Zahal radio station, tried to reach Alsadik, while he’s being transferred and detained, they have been told by the immigration authority that there is no such name on its records. They were, however, able to find Alsadik under the name Ahmed Ibrahim.

A month later, another Israeli activist, named Rami Gudovitch, landed in Addis Ababa airport on his way to Uganda. There he met nine Eritreans asylum seekers that had just arrived from Israel. They, too, were told in Addis (against what they knew when they left Israel) that they need to fly to Khartoum. They refused, fearing that from Khartoum they would be deported back to Asmara. They were also accused that they are carrying fake documents. The head of the immigration department at the airport was determined to arrest them. As far as we know, they are still detained in Ethiopia.

As for Alsadik, while spending the last two months in Holot, his lawyers petitioned for his release, basing their argument on the fact Israel is the one that brought him in this time — therefore he is no longer an “infiltrator” under the infiltration law definition.

Alsadik’s hearing took place a week ago in the newly founded appeals tribunal for immigration issues, originally named “the foreigners’ court”. The verdict that was given on Thursday determined that Alsadik is still an infiltrator and he will stay in Holot indefinitely.

Immigration activists who were present in the hearing on Monday report that in response to Alsadik’s lawyer persistence to get an answer to the fake passport question the judge said: “We live in a world of fluid identities.”

Image Credit: Activestills.

Music: Mauritanian singer Noura Mint Seymali goes global

Listening to Mauritanian singer Noura Mint Seymali’s newest album Tzenni is like enjoying a complex and meticulously prepared meal. Like an aromatic spice, her striking voice adds richness to each song, combining gorgeously with guitar, bass, drums and the ardine – a Mauritanian string instrument. Some of the songs are even named for types of food, like El Mougalmen – a Mauritanian dish which mixes spices and flowers. The song’s lyrics blend many unrelated themes, reflecting the amalgamated nature of her work.

Noura Mint Seymali grew up in a family of musicians and says she is deeply influenced by their work. This lineage gives her album a sense of historical depth, as if the listener is enjoying something that took decades to prepare. And such tradition is important to Seymali – she says that she wants “the music of Mauritania to be known around the world” – however, one of her trademarks is also fusion. She combines the traditions of her country with a litany of genres that include Tuareg guitar rock, blues, hip-hop, flamenco, reggae and funk.Yet, of course such fusion is not something completely new. Seymali’s father, Seymali Ould Mouhamed Vall, brought Arab musical traditions together with Mauritanian ones when he studied in Iraq many decades ago.

An interesting local versus international dynamic has arisen with Seymali’s career. Seymali and her husband Jeiche Ould Chighaly (who plays guitar with her, and also has his own musical career) tour internationally, yet they also still play at weddings and baptisms in Mauritania. Speaking about such local performances the two are modest. They say that such shows are easy for people like them, people who grew up in families of griots where music is ubiquitous. They joke that if someone called right at that moment and asked them to do a concert, they could go do it right away without any rehearsal.  “Griots,” Jeiche Ould Chighaly says, “do not need to practice for marriages.” Yet, it is clear that playing at concerts and baptisms requires a high amount of technical skill and local social savvy.  Mauritanian music has its own tonal scale and a complex system of five musical modes – performing at a wedding means moving through all of them. Weddings in Mauritania, explains manager and band drummer Matthew Tinari, can get particularly rowdy; some families hire security guards for crowd control.

Translating the traditions of a Mauritanian griot to the international stage isn’t always a straight forward task either. Seymali and her band have already toured Africa, Asia and Europe and are just starting to tour in the United States. Touring internationally requires mastering a different set of social and technical skills from that of the Mauritanian wedding scene. The days before concerts, Seymali explained, are full of “rehearsals, rehearsals.” Playing in so many settings, explains her husband, requires knowing “how to find the taste of the public.” Of course, like any good performer, they make their craft seem effortless on stage.

Her lyrics, beautiful enough to be enjoyed with or without the music, reflect her constantly changing, complicated musical skills and context. The title song, “Tzenni,” makes this clear:

Everything turns, everything changes. Nothing in this life is stable; everything can change at a moment’s notice. Sometimes life brings happiness and sometimes sadness.  What real decisions can be made, what course can be taken in a world that’s always changing?

There’s a dynamic contemporary culture of poetry in Mauritania, and Seymali both writes her own words, and draws on the work of the poetry community of her home country. Matthew Tinari calls the work of this community an “open source” body of work which many artists draw on. “Tzenni” also reflects the work and stamina required for their lifestyle: “We joke around about it,” explains Tinari, “running around like crazy, trying to hustle.”

Though Noura Mint Seymali says she sings to show Mauritanian music to the world, she also just likes making audiences happy. The richness of her music ultimately comes from Seymali’s meticulous engagement with her country’s history, with the current global music landscape, and with her own personal journey as a musician. Turn it up and let it fill the nooks and crannies of your room.

The Noura Mint Seymali band will be performing in New York today alongside Teddy Afro at Summerstage in Central Park.

Photo Credit: Joe Penny

What the Dutch court ruling against blackface figure Zwarte Piet means

The Amsterdam court ruling on Dutch blackface hero Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) yesterday quickly went viral. But what does the ruling really mean. In a nutshell: an Amsterdam judge did not forbid the figure of Black Pete, but ruled that Zwarte Piet “is a negative stereotype of black people and the city must rethink its involvement in holiday celebrations involving him.”  Amsterdam mayor Eberhard van der Laan should review the license given for the parade last year. This ruling is an important outcome of years of protesting and activism by those opposed to Zwarte Piet.

Note here, how the stereotype is seen as insulting to black people specifically and not to society as whole. There is an important difference between the idea that you need to be felt discriminated upon and seeing that something is just blatantly racist. In the ruling we read that a “fair balance” should be found between the interests of the claimants and the Dutch national interests. This follows from Article 8, a so-called qualified right, which means that in certain cases public authorities can interfere with private and family life of an individual. This “fair balance” suggests that black face and promoting racist stereotypes affects the private life of black people, but (again) not society as a whole. Of course we also need to realize, as many activists have pointed out as well, that Black Pete is a product of a society that is inherently racist. Racism will obviously not disappear with the figure of Zwarte Piet.

The ruling is not national and only states that reconsideration must take place for the city of Amsterdam. The decision might influence the upcoming parade in the fall, but it doesn’t mean that Zwarte Piet will totally disappear. The UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent who have been here for five days have made it very clear that Black Pete is racist and that education should play a crucial role in making people aware of this. The chair of the committee, Mireille Fanon-Mendes-France said, “We are surprised to see that many people don’t see the problem.” 

We asked Patricia Schor, an anti-racism activist and affiliated with Utrecht University, her opinion on the significance of the court case:

I am thoroughly surprised with the court decision, given the history of denial of racism in the Netherlands and lack of routes to counter it. We are all elated by the decision however limited and problematic it is, as it does not recognise that racism is more than a matter of hurt feelings on the part of racialised and marginalised groups, in this case the Black Dutch. Still, this is a major victory for those who endured in a very long struggle. Furthermore it might serve as a precedent to the festivities outside Amsterdam as well. The court has signalled to the Dutch white establishment that Black people, who are otherwise deemed and treated as second category citizens, do have rights. However obvious it might seem, it is a novelty to the majority of Dutch society.

It will be interesting to see if Amsterdam mayor Eberhard van der Laan (that’s him in the image above welcoming Sinterklaas and one of his Pieten last November) will finally wise up and listen for a change.

Brazilians are used to this

The Mexican writer Alma Guillermoprieto declared this World Cup “the best ever.” Few can disagree. A total of 136 goals were scored in 48 group matches and another 18 in the 8 matches of the last round.  Not everything is surprising: with the exception of Costa Rica, all the top seeds made it to the quarterfinals. The big hit is Colombia; everyone’s favorite team with its stars James Rodriguez and Juan Quadrado in every fantasy team. Los Cafeteros is seen as the new France 1998 (but with its own racial baggage) . Colombia may still upset Brazil’s coronation later today. Off the field, the South American fans have stolen the show. Boima Tucker’s on the ground World Cup Diaries are very good on all this. But there’s also been some off-key notes. Some Neo-Nazi Croatian fans, homophobic Mexican supporters,  French and German fans in blackface (and FIFA’s tepid response to this racism), as well as–what has been a major talking point–the strange site of overwhelmingly white crowds in the stadiums whenever Brazil play.  FIFA is partly too blame (ticket prices) and so is the harsh reality of Brazil: the most unequal country in the world where race and class divides coincides to a large degree. The Brazilian blogosphere has been good on this. There’s also been a few excellent pieces in English language media this; go read them: Alex Bellos in The Independent, Musa Okwonga on Monocle (he gets profiled by cops too) and Stephanie Nolan in The Globe & Mail, among others. Outside the stadiums, at public viewing areas things are better.  But then none of this should be surprising:

It’s worth noting what happened in the lead-up to the Cup, which is perhaps more illuminating about the ordinariness of racism in Brazil. For the official tournament draw in November, the organizers decided to change the two main presenters at the last minute. Some defenders of FIFA’s decision suggested it had to do “with sponsorships” and “standards of English.” But Brazilians, especially black Brazilians used to this kind of thing, could not help noticing that the original presenters—two well-known soap actors—happened to be black and mixed race. Their replacements happened to be white and blond.

More here at The Medium.

 

Africa is a Radio: Episode #4 (World Cup Special!)

I’m shortening the name of Africa is a Country Radio. From now on (save for when I slip up) the show will be known as Africa is a Radio!

This month’s show dives fully (rather than the toe dip of last month) into World Cup fever with a show that features 16 songs for the 16 teams from 16 countries that made it to the tournament’s knock out stages (we’re down to 8 today).  Enjoy the music and read my updates from Rio on the blog!

Africa is a Radio: Episode #4 by Africasacountry on Mixcloud

Film: Guerilla-Core or Militant Image? On Göran Olsson’s ‘Concerning Violence’

How do you tell a story about African liberation through the lens of an outsider? Concerning Violence: Nine Scenes from the Anti-Imperialistic Self-Defense, the 2014 documentary by Swedish filmmaker Göran Olsson, attempts to answer this question through presenting a sequence of episodes in the struggle for liberation in colonial Africa. Consisting exclusively of footage drawn from Swedish film and television archives, the film traffics in our nostalgia for a time when media were simpler – analog, bounded by national and territorial borders. The footage is frequently brilliant; the images, at times, visually lush.

Here’s the trailer.

The first chapter opens with a dramatic march through the jungle as the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) rebels from Angola as prepare for a pre-dawn attack on a Portuguese base in Cabinda. The footage, shot in 1977, is reminiscent of reportage from the Vietnam War – or Apocalypse Now – and seems quaintly retro when compared with the images of conflict that we now consume, from Iraq or Syria, where the targets, and heroes, are more elusive. Elsewhere, we see and hear the women of the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO), reciting Marxist doctrine with precision. This is vintage guerilla-core, a look and feel aided by the film’s deliberate focus on armed struggles in settler colonies (those where Europeans moved in) in the 1970s and 1980s.

The footage from Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), organized by a single, perversely lucid, interview, is a tour de force. An embittered white man abuses his black servants while discussing his plans for emigration on the eve of race war. “They want our cars, can you believe it?” Few treatises on colonialism expose more eloquently than this clip the entanglement of capitalist and white supremacist ideologies at the heart of Europe’s colonial projects in Africa.

But the seeming simplicity of these alliances, in which class struggle takes the form of race war–as it did in a handful of African countries for a few fleeting decades (longer in South Africa)–is deceptive. The film’s focus on these late armed conflicts does little to illuminate subtler and more enduring complexities in the struggle for liberation in Africa. Struggles over labor, oil wealth, foreign aid, the legacy of the Cold War and of US-sponsored assassinations surface only briefly in the footage, and sit uncomfortably within the larger narrative frame.

The first thing Olsson might rethink is his approach to Fanon, to whom the film is a cinematic homage. Dense theoretical passages from The Wretched of the Earth unspool across the images–in type so large that it obscures them. The pairing of text and image can be provocative, but when Fanon’s text is intended as a commentary on the images, both are shortchanged. Fanon was deeply engaged in revolution, but at a point much earlier than any of the struggles we see depicted here. To reduce his legacy to one of prophecy is to truncate it radically. It is also to deprive viewers of the more nuanced analysis of decolonization that this footage cries out for.

The second is his decision to confine his research to the Swedish archives. Among the many distinctive qualities of African freedom fighters in this period was their appreciation of cinema as a weapon of revolution. FRELIMO in Mozambique and Amílcar Cabral in Guinea-Bissau famously invited film teams from Soviet-aligned countries to train local cinematographers. The projects that emerged from these collaborations transcended propaganda to become radical explorations of the political potential of avant-garde cinema. In the 1970s and 1980s, African cinema became a veritable lab for the production of “militant images.” These materials have become increasingly available in recent years, but they are absent here.

A more ambitious treatment of African struggles for liberation would have expanded our perspective beyond that of a single European archive. Without any mention or consideration of the militant images produced by Africans precisely in the context of these same revolutions, the film stops short of its promise, to show us “scenes from the anti-imperialistic self-defense.”

* The film recently screened at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. The images are stills from the film. In the final image, the filmmaker poses with the actor Danny Glover.)