Journalist Kani Tuyala was interviewed in a German news program about the film of German reporter Günter Wallraff, the film where Walfraff wanted to see what it’s like living as black man in Germany.
In the interview Tuyala says: I find the film a very good idea. I shows that this problem still exits. Racism in German is not being addressed, not even in the media.
Before the interview a shot is shown where Walraff wants to get into a disco in Rosendahl. He asks the doorman: “I want to go to the disco, why don’t let me in?” The doorman replies: “Africa is for Africa, Europe is for whites.” Interesting detail. The interviewer says: “We as a German society are know for our “Weltoffenheit”. Weltoffenheit is a German concept that is meant to symbolise inclusiveness, multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism. I can only say: let others be the judge of that!
What is it like being black in Germany? "It's like being with a woman who you love, but who doesn't give you any attention," says the Nigerian/German musician Adé Bantu in an interview with qantara.
"Whenever Germany rejected me", he continues, "or gave me the feeling I don't belong here, and Germany has done that more than once, then I've said – phhhhfff. Then you say to yourself – hey, I'm not ugly, I'm not stupid and my heart's in the right place. That means there must be someone else out there who loves me. And I had that someone: Nigeria."
Adé Bantu is a musician and an activist. Back in 1994, he made the video and the song "Afro German", Adé was rapping about the Afro-German identity as a member of the hip-hop group "Weep not Child", and taking part in demonstrations against right-wing radicalism.
The video "Weep not Child" (1994) deals with not being accepted as a German.
When Neo Nazis in Dessau murdered 39-year-old Alberto Adriano from Mozambique in June 2000, Adé called all Afro-German artists in Cologne together "to finally break the silence." Soon after the The Brothers Keepers were born: a merger of mainly Afro-German soul, hip-hop and reggae artists, who fight against racism and right-wing extremism.
The clip "Bereit" (2005) deals with wanting to take on the fight against racism.
The Brothers Keepers is not just a musical project, but also a charitable association to which more than 90 artists now belong, among them numerous well-known musicians such as Samy Deluxe, Afrob, D-Flame, Toni L., Torch, Tyron Ricketts, Don Abi, Patrice, Xavier Naidoo, and many others.
Photo and copyright: Ken Mckay - Leona Lewis with her parentsat the X Factor UK (2006) Spotted on Madnews Singer Leona Lewis talks about experiencing racism in a trendy London store. An experience that left her devastated and angry.
‘I went into a shop while my dad waited outside because he was on the phone,’ she says. ‘I picked out a few photo frames, put them on the side to buy them and asked the lady who worked there about some other stuff in the shop.
‘She was incredibly stand-offish with me and I couldn’t understand why. I went up to the till and, at that point, my dad came in and started looking around. He picked something up and said, “What about this?”
‘I asked how much it was, but the woman told us to get out of the shop. I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing and said, “Excuse me?” She said, “Get out of my store right now.” ‘I looked at her and asked, “Are you joking?” She said, “No, I want both of you to remove yourselves from my store.” I asked her what she meant, and why, and she said, “I don’t like the look of him.”
Pointing at my dad, she said, “I want him to go right now.” Stunned, I asked her, “What do you mean, you don’t like the look of him?” She said, “You know exactly what I mean. He’s been standing outside my shop and I want him to go. I know why you’re coming in here.”
‘She was implying that we were trying to steal stuff. She came up to my face, this close.’ Leona holds her hand a few inches from her face. ‘She was so loud, shouting, “Get out right now or I’m going to call the police.”
‘It was so shocking and disgusting. I couldn’t believe someone was shouting at me in front of so many people. I can’t stand confrontation anyway, but she was so rude. I completely lost it. I was crying and bawling. My dad said, “Come on, let’s go.” I said, “No. I’m not going. I’m going to call the police. This is racism.”
‘I was so angry. My dad had to drag me out of the shop. Afterwards, I sat in the car for ten minutes and was so upset. My dad was trying to calm me down but I was furious. What happened was awful – absolutely awful.
‘I’d never experienced anything like that, and I would never wish anyone else to. Being judged by the colour of your skin is horrible. My dad is really laid-back. He said, “Don’t worry about it. I’ve experienced stuff like that many times, especially when I was younger, so don’t be upset for me. I’m fine.”
‘Do you know what he did? He got my CD, went back in the shop and said, “You’ve just offended a really nice young lady. I just want to leave you this, so you can look and see who it is. This is my daughter. I’m not trying to cause trouble, but I wanted you to see that.”‘
I understand her father’s reaction, he wanted to show that his daughter is a famous singer. But this is racism, period. It's good Lewis talked about it, but they should really make a case of this and name the store.
German reporter Günter Wallraff spent over a year travelling through Germany disguised as fictional Somalian man Kwami Ogonno for the film Schwarz auf Weiss ( Black on White ). His goal was to experience racisme at first hand, so he put on a blackface for the occasion.
And he succeeded. In East-Germany – of course - he was attacked by drunken youth. Read the full story here.
But Afro-German Noah Sow, author of Deutschland Black & White, criticised Walraff: “A painted white person is not a black person and cannot have the same experiences even if he thinks he can,” said Noah Sow, author of Everyday Racism in Germany . “Wallraff is earning money and respect on the backs of oppressed minorities.” If you're not acquainted with Germany this film may seem as an eye opener, but racism in Germany doesn't need to be uncovered. Long before the 2006 FIFA World cup football tournament even the FIFA warned people of colour to stay away from the “rural areas” in East German Berlin.
And Günter? I think he wanted to be on the news again, but this time with a racism show with hidden cameras. If he really wanted to expose racism he could have used the black guy in the film. But I think the sole purpose of this black man was just to legitimate his blackface.
What if all the Moroccans in the Netherlands were to pack up and leave? This is the question posed by an internet video.
In the video A man cycles in his dressing gown to collect his own newspaper from a pile in the street – the Moroccan delivery man has left the country. Streets are strewn with litter, buildings fall into disrepair. Stranded commuters queue for taxis, with no one left to drive them. “Last Moroccan leaves today,” reads the newspaper headline, as a plane overhead flies south. “Last Moroccan leaves the Netherlands” Moroccans tend to feature in the Dutch media as young criminals, causing nuisance in the street, hurling abuse at gays and women, and carrying out muggings and robberies. Or indeed as Muslims struggling to integrate, in a debate driven by anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right Freedom Party. Mr Wilders has said he would not hesitate to deport Muslims who commit crimes or fail to integrate into Dutch society – and his party is riding high in the polls.
An interesting video of a minority group under pressure. But for a community who has been in the Netherlands since the sixties, it is very one sided view. It seems that they will only be missed if the newspaper is not being delivered anymore.
Although their unemployment rate is the highest of all minority groups the Netherlands, there is a large group of young and ambitious Moroccans who are successfully entering the professional sector. This video is more a street view.
I wonder how a video entitled "Last black person leaves Europe" would look like.
An interview with Spike Lee and BBC Newsnight’s Jeremy Paxman on changing race relations in America since Lee made "Do The Right Thing". In the interview which aired a month ago, the two argue about the impact of Barack Obama’s election on modern day racism.
A very interesting interview, the idea that racism is something of the past seems to infuriate him.
Sandra Laing was a black baby born to white parents at the height of apartheid in South Africa. The hatred, rejection and heartache she suffered at the hands of the authorities, her teachers and her family sent shock waves across the world.
On the timesonline a story was published about her life, the racial implications of being stuck in the racial middle during the apartheid in South Africa, and about the movie Skin. "The story goes beyond race. It’s about a need to belong, a need to be loved and accepted. There’s a moment when her father lovingly puts skin-bleaching cream on her face to lighten her skin. It burns and he blows on it. Fabian (Producer and director of the film Skin) describes Laing as like a peach. “The skin easily bruises, but there is a hard core, a big stone of strength. The one thing that haunts Laing is her relationship with her brothers. Neither of them speaks to her. When Adriaan was a baby she used to cradle him and feed him. “Leon told me that if Adriaan’s wife finds out that he has been talking to me she is going to divorce him.” Is it because Adriaan, himself quite dark-coloured, is ashamed of his even darker sister and the way it might interrupt his nice white life? “I don’t know what colour his children turned out to be. People say they are white. He must remember me, how close we were. Maybe he is scared of his wife.” Read the full story here.
In a book review bi-racial author Rebecca Walker wrote about laing's story. " Laing's story is similar to that of many who straddle racial designations that have more to do with social engineering than with actual differences among human beings. Shame, alienation from family members, memory loss and difficulty in sustaining a stable home are a few of the possible effects of belonging to more than one racial category. Ironically, Laing eventually seems to have found some peace with help from members of the same media that once took part in her objectification. Two journalists in particular helped to fit the pieces of Laing's life together, and as a result of their work to reunite Laing with her estranged mother, she finally felt unburdened. In a moving passage, one of those journalists, Judith Stone, tells of Laing dreaming that she was "laughing and laughing"; she felt "a new space open up in her heart."
The sad part is that one her parents has black roots, but ended up being a pro-white nationalist.
The Europa Passage shopping centre in Hamburg. A black British man has been beaten up in the city A black British man is recovering after being attacked in front of his wife and child by neo-Nazi thugs in Germany. The incident took place on Saturday the 24th of August.
The 46-year-old unidentified man, believed to be from London, was in a baker’s shop in the port city of Hamburg on Saturday when thugs from the National Democratic Party approached him with leaflets calling for a ban on immigration.
'Here, take one of these with you back where you belong,' they said to him as he stood with his wife and four-year-old son.
They say the man ripped the pamphlet up and the men then pushed the Briton against a glass window. One man punched him while another sprayed pepper spray in his eyes.
Three suspects were apprehended later and prosecutors are now investigating them on suspicion of causing bodily harm.
The British man , who has not been named, was treated in a hospital and released. An eyewitness said: 'The wife was screaming for them to leave her husband alone but they just heaped more racial abuse on her as her little boy screamed ‘leave my daddy alone!’ It was vicious and unprovoked.' Read the full article here
In the German newspaper Sueddeutsche this was written about the attack: "The 46-year-old victim lived, according to the police in Hamburg, but has British citizenship. The man was standing with his wife and his little son at a bakery stand, where at that moment tree men in age of 23, 33, 43 were handing out flyers of the NDP.
When the Britton tore up the paper, it first came to a quiet conversation. Then however, the trio, according to police pushed him against the glass window of the bakery stand.
One of the suspects repeatedly struck him with his fist on his chest, another repeatedly sprayed pepper spray into his eyes.
After the attack, the men fled. But shortly after the attack the police arrested the men in the vicinity of the crime scene. After the police took their id, there were set free. A special German crime investigation department will determine bodily harm."
It's very strange that the attackers, according to the German newspaper, were set free after the attack. But also strange is the fact that German Neo-Nazis can flyer in a private mall without being kicked out. Is this 2009 or 1935?
For more information also see the post on the German blog: Black in NRW blog
On the blog is a video of Mo Asumang, an Afro-German moderator and author, who for her the documentary Roots Germania interviewed an NDP front man. She made an appointment for the interview, but she didn’t say she was black.
Beware: In this article I will use the word 'mulatto'. I know that some people are sensitive about the use of this word due to its ethymology. The reason I use it is not because I like it but because I will tackle an issue about mixed race people and want to describe things clearly. If this shocks anyone please accept my appologies before starting to read this.
In the following days after Michael Jackson’s death we have heard a lot of speculation about MJ’s fatherhood. During the ceremony we saw his children for the first time and many people were surprised to see that MJ’s children looked so white/Caucasian. Tom Vandyck, US correspondent for the progressive newspaper De Morgen (Belgium) expressed his doubts about MJ being the real biological father of these children. His doubts were based on Paris’s appearance. For him, biologically, she couldn’t be part of the Jackson family.
I was shocked as it reflected the fact that race is still perceived as a hard evidence. But my experience among mixed race people is that whether the parents look black or not, once there is some racial mixing in your background, the racial features of your children is a lottery.
According to an article in The Observer two years ago, nearly all African Americans have some white ancestors. This is the reason many African Americans do actually look like mixed race people with an African and European parent. Look at Colin Powell, Jeremiah Wright, Beyoncé Knowles, … and many more. They all identify as black and have a black identified mother and father. Therefore they are black in the US American context. But these people have white ancestors too and could have children with blond straight hair and blue eyes, certainly if they would choose a white partner.
When you are 'real mulatto', that is first generation black African & white European mixture, your children will generally look white if your partner is white, and black if your partner is black.
Below is a picture of Victoria Rowell, an actrice who has one white and one black parent. on this picture you can see her with her two kids. The white girl's father is white, the black boy's father is black.
Although we can’t really make a rule out of this. Different exceptions are just as common as the rule. My sister, who is half white half black has two daughters with a white Belgian man. The first girl looks white: bleu eyes, light brown hair. The second girl looks mulatto, but still with blue eyes. A good friend of mine who is half white half black has two children with an African man. They both look mulatto. One of my best friends has a mulatto mother and white father, he looks mulatto although his brother is blond and has blue eyes. Still, if you see them together you can see they are brothers.
When you look mulatto Africans can see you are not black and Europeans can see you are not white. Africans in East-Africa will call any white person ‘muzungu’, also someone looking like Obama will be called ‘muzungu’. It’s the same thing to them.
Europeans call light skinned blacks and mulattos also black. To most Europeans whether you are mulatto are not, you are just black. This means that a mulatto is ‘white’ or ‘black’ depending on the place where he is. Race is a relative thing.
I once asked a black street boy in Kenia whether he thought Beyoncé was white or black. He said without hesitating he thought she was white. He had a point, don’t you think so?
The only places on earth I know where people perceive the difference between black, mulatto and white is in Cuba and South Africa. Two places where many people of mixed race of all shades live. I have never been to Brazil, but there too, I heard it’s not just black and white, there is a whole world in between and people are very much aware of it.
My point is that based on the racial appearance of MJ’s children we can’t see if MJ is their real biological father or not. It’s pure guess work and it is wrong to say ‘they look white so therefore they can’t be his children’. Maybe they aren’t but that’s not for certain because of their skin colour. You can look white and still resemble you black father a lot.
Michael Jackson (before getting vitiligo) was a brown skinned black man, with the features of a mulatto. If you look at him, the ‘real black man’ (because having 2 black American parents) and the 'real mulatto' Obama; honestly they are the same type of black man, aren’t they?
Paris and Prince, if mixed race, are not the only mixed race children who look like white people. There are actually many. I will list some famous American ones.
This however doesn't prove that 'mulatto' people look white, this just proves that mixed people have all colours and shapes, and that they prove that race is just an illusion.
Mariah Carey, singer, father black (Afro-Venezuelan), mother white
Jason Kidd, basketball player, father black, mother white
And then last but not least: a little youtube video about biracial twins, one white, the other biracial as the world expects it (although called 'black' by the journalists). As twins this is rather special, but even then, brothers and sisters one white and one 'black' will become more and more common in interracial families.
Don't listen to what these journalists say nor the doctor they quote. The father might be 'black', he is certainly not a black African. He has clearly some white ancestors somewhere in his family tree. He looks mixed race.
The girls are not white or black, they are both mixed race. One looks white and is blond, the other looks dark and brown skinned.
If you keep on looking around you will find out that this phenomenon -maybe not twins but brothers and sisters having a totally different racial make up- is not a One in A Million case.
Zeca Schall is a black immigrant politician in Chancellor Angela Merkel's party (CDU). He is running a election campaign for the state elections due in September. Lately he has been harassed with racism and been told to leave the country. The NPD (National Democratic Party) described him as CDU’s ‘token nigger’.
Despite suffering hostility and racial abuse from far-right opponents he decided to keep on going. He has expressed some fear but he sees the far-right campaign against him as just electioneering.
Zeca Schall, immigrated from Angola in 1988, and has been living for more than 20 years in Thüringen/Thuringia, and former part of East-Germany. He is featured on campaign posters for Merkel's Christian Democratic Union.
The far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) has damaged posters with racist statements and branded a big poster stating 'Have a good trip home Zeca Schall'. In the meantime Schall is receiving police protection in his hometown of Hildburghausen. Members of far-right movements tried to approach his house but were turned away by the police. The Christian Democrats say they want an investigation to stop extremists for inciting hatred.
Yesterday the public prosecutor announced having launched an investigation into NPD’s actions, on suspicion of racial hatred, defamation and attempted coercion. Schall is responsible for issues of integration -- that is, issues involving immigration and multi-culturalism -- for the CDU in Thuringia.
In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE, Schall spoke of his shock at the incident and described it as an attack on German democracy.
For those of you who understand German, check the little video on youtube.
"The only reason to vote black", the poster states. In German: "Der Einzige Grund Schwartz zu wahlen." The image of two white hands on the buttocks of a black woman complete the statement. Is this the poster of some right wing German organisation? Is it an awareness campaign , or is it a joke?
It is a local political campaign pamphlet of the Green Party in Germany. Because black is the colour of the German Conservative party, the poster is used - according to the party – to break the absolute majority of the Conservative party CDU in the region. So it just means, don't vote conservative?
But why use the image of black woman in this way? Black German organisations call the poster racist and sexist, but the German party sees no harm in it. They even see it as provocative. In a press release they state: "The Green Party in particular have politics which stand out for their commitment to tolerance, *Weltoffenheit *and equality." Weltoffenheit is a German concept that is meant to symbolise inclusiveness, multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism. And, "Indeed, this poster could be seen to be "anti-racist" since we have received exactly this feedback from people with a migration background." See the full translated press statement here. On their blogs Afro-Germans express their grief about the poster. On the blog of the black media watch organisation ‘der braune mob’ most people see it as blatant racism. Others see the fact that party stated “people with a migration background” as a sign that the party makes a sharp distinction between ‘Germans’ and others.
Unfortunately the German Green party still doesn't see that that their multicultural awareness is in sharp contrast to the awareness to other Green parties. At least those who claim to embrace multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism. I don't think that similar parties in the Netherlands, France, the UK or in the US would see such a poster as an expression of diversity.
But it’s clear that the Green party in Germany knows how to connect to ‘its own people’ to achieve its goals. I’ am afraid that my biased Dutch opinion about Germany may even be true.
But what does "the only reason to vote black" really mean. In my view the Green Party probably meant to say, that conservative voters are only interested in foreigners if it has to do with sex. The word "black" refers to the colour of German Conservative party, and the image of a black woman might refer to foreigners. But the offical explanation is, that the poster is meant to highlight the Greens' support for same-sex partnerships. But why use a black woman?
The Greens actually think the poster can be seen as anti-racist. But the reality is that they without any shame exploit racial stereotypes of black women for political goals. I don’t think the party would even consider of using racial stereotypes of Jewish people. But the image of naked black woman is in their world view something they can use without serious consequences.
The Notting Hill Carnival is now a showcase of London’s multicultural society, but in 1976 the Carnival turned into a race riot. See the interesting post of the history of black British people in West London, on the French blog Caraïbes et z'Antilles
In about two weeks, the streets of Notting Hill in West London, will be flooded for two days by more than one million people who come to attend the second largest street parade in the world after that of Rio de Janeiro. The Notting Hill Carnival is so immense popular that it allows the British government today to extol the virtues of its model of integration.
But its success was not obvious if you look at the early years of the Notting Hill Carnival. In the summer of 1976 racial tensions between the police and the Caribbean community sparked a riot after the arrest of two black men. The riot turned Notting hill into a battlefield.
In the compelling documentary 'The Long Hot Summer of 1976' the build up to the riot and the clash with police is told through interviews and visuals. Among the interviewed are black British filmmaker Don letts, singer Eddy Amoo and many others. Official website Notting Hill Carnival Read: Remembering the Notting Hill riot
The video ‘racism in the elevator’ from Reckless Tortuga is a humorous video about an irritating situation. The video is about the situation where a white woman is clutching her purse when a black man is around.
The other video is about black racism. It’s about the situation where a black man who wears a suite is seen as a white man, an uncle tom or an ‘elitist’ by an other black person. The best part of the video is the end.
Remember the old world war II pictures of the liberation of Paris in 1944, and troops marching on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées Paris? There were no black soldiers there. They should have marched in Paris, but papers unearthed by the BBC reveal that British and American commanders ensured that the liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944 was seen as a "whites only" victory.
It’s the story Tirailleurs Senegalais (Senegalees Riflemen). The BBC's Document programme has seen evidence that black colonial soldiers - who made up around two-thirds of Free French forces - were deliberately removed from the unit that led the Allied advance into the French capital.
By the time France fell in June 1940, 17,000 of its black, mainly Tirailleurs Senegalais lay dead. Many of them were simply shot where they stood soon after surrendering to German troops who often regarded them as sub-human savages. Their chance for revenge came in August 1944 as Allied troops prepared to retake Paris. But despite their overwhelming numbers, they were not to get it.
The leader of the Free French forces, Charles de Gaulle, made it clear that he wanted his Frenchmen to lead the liberation of Paris.
American General Frederick Morgan Allied High Command agreed, but only on one condition: De Gaulle's division must not contain any black soldiers.
Because the French couldn’t form an all white division, they filled the gaps with soldiers from parts of North Africa and the Middle East.
Leopold Sedar Senghor, who in 1960 became the first President of independent Senegal, had served in the Tirailleurs Senegalais and was a POW during WWII. He wrote the poem "Slam par Manu", which is cited in video below
The Tirailleurs Senegalais also occupied the German Rhineland after World war I. Their mixed German children, known as the Rhineland children, fell victim to the Nazi regime.
The story of the Tirailleurs Senegalais is a constant reminder that black history is everywhere.
Oguchi Onyewu is an American soccerplayer who plays for the Belgian prime league club Standard Liège. Jelle Van Damme is a Belgian player who plays for the other big Belgian club, RSC Anderlecht. Oguchi Onyewu lodged a complaint against Jelle Van Damme for racial insults on the soccer field. This a sad first one for Belgium. On the 21sty of May during a match between RSC Anderlecht and Standard Liège Jelle Van damme called Onyewu ‘dirty monkey’ a first time, ‘monkey’ a second time and ‘keep crying monkey’ a third time during the competition.
Although Onyewu brought it to the attention of the referee, the referee decided not to react and asked Onyewu to keep on playing. After the match Onyewu said that since he has been playing in Belgiulm it was the first time he was confronted with such blatant racism. He told journalists he wouldn’t let it happen again. Eventually Oguchi Onyewu lodged a complaint against Jelle Van Damme.
According to Jelle Van Damme Onyewu also insulted him by several times repeating ‘sale Flamand’ (this means literally ‘dirty Fleming’ , hence has an insulting connotation in Belgian French). However, Jelle Van Damme didn’t want to confirm what he said on the soccer field and commented that it didn’t matter. According to Van damme during a match worse things may be said as emotions run high, players should be able to handle this things and put them behind them once the game is over.
Onyewu is going further anyway. According to Belgian law racist insults are illegal and therefore a penal offence. Onyewu says he is not lodging a complaint for himself alone but for all black players who may be confronted with racism on the soccer field. He wants to show a strong signal against the banality of racism in soccer competitions.
Van Damme risks a fine of maximum 2500 euros and even an effective imprisonment from 8 days to 2 months. For Onyewu public excuses are good enough. If Jelle Van Damme publicly apologizes for his racist comments Onyewu says not to go further with a trial.
In France, recently a soccer player from an amateur team in Northern France has been convicted for racism. This was a first time in France. On the 23rd of February 23 year old Maxence Cavalcante made racist comments against Senegalese player Makam Traoré. The judge convicted him to 100 hours of forced labour, a fine of 1500 euros to pay to the victim and 200 euros to pay to the League against Racism.
For months Belgium has been covered with video’s, posters, flyers and other promotion for 'The magical circus adventure from the amazing continent' Afrika!Afrika!. Other countries all over the world will follow. The Afrika!Afrika! Circus has been touring the world for several years now and reached an audience of millions. I am actually happy that this problematic show has finally left my country.
The show has had some very positive media attention and has been presented as an example of open mindedness and diversity. But it is, from a social and cultural point of view, a scandal that Africa can be depicted this way in 2009. This show just confirms all over again the existing exoticism about Africa while pretending to be an example of nuance and political correctness.
The show pretends to bring you Africa as a continent of great richness and cultural traditions, sprawling of creativity. But it is totally problematic. The show doesn’t tell you anything, doesn’t even express any feelings except for the stereotype idea of ‘the happy dancing negro’. It doesn’t go any step further than Josephine Baker's banana-skirt-dance, generations ago. The worst is its pretence of authenticity because the dancers are ‘real’ Africans and the costumes are authentic. But the meaning of costumes, dances, songs, … is totally lost. Afrika!Afrika! just presents you a superficial image of smiling dancing black acrobats playing ‘Africa’.
Of course a circus doesn’t have to be anything else but spectacle, but this time Afrika!Afrika! presents itself as a positive force that tries to bring a better image of Africa.
After a first scene with dancing girls in straw skirts, a duo of basketball players comes on stage. They make impressive stunts with a basketball while hip hop beats blast out of the speakers. The fact that basketball and hip hop is presented next to tribal dances without any explanation proves that anything ‘black’ goes. It’s a ‘black thang’, thus African, thus whatever.
The acrobats are impressive and the life band is great. But the show doesn’t go any deeper and doesn’t tell us anything about Africa. It just keeps on showing stereotypes of black people all over the world.
Again, I didn’t expect anything more from a circus, but Afrika!Afrika! wants to be more than just that. Therefore it is a depressing circus attraction. The whole show doesn’t lead you to what it pretends on its website: not any insight or knowledge about Africa, not any understanding of African diversity.
I wonder how people would react if an African circus producer would bring a show called Europe!Europe! with smiling dancers from the Balkan to Scandinavia and Russia and acrobats disguised as cowboys from the Wild West, all brought together. Will it be a testimony of the great richness and cultural traditions of Europe? It may be a vibrant and esthetically great show, but pretending to be more would be scandalous. Not for Afrika!Afrika! it seems.
It looks like Europe only has three ways to describe Africa. Most of the time it is total silence. When a war, epidemic or famine breaks out the media will convince us of the impossible and tragic reality of Africa. And to compensate this bad news there will be once in a while great enthusiasm for a thing like Afrika!Afrika!.
The worst thing is that this show gets the support from some top diplomats within the UN. Not the least from Kofi Annan himself, whose comment is printed on the program booklet for every visitor. This way people who don’t know anything about Africa get the illusion that they are actually learning something about Africa (and black people?) through this populist show.
After I had seen the show I was very troubled but couldn't find the words to express it. I thought I may be just over sensitive about Africa and the way black people are depicted. Everybody seemed to love the show. Kofi Annan's words made it untouchable. But at the same time I knew there was something thoroughly wrong about this spectacle. Thanks to Jan Goosens, artistic director of the Royal Flemish Theater in Brussels (KVS), who wrote a column in De Morgen I could find the right inspiration and terms to express my dissapointment. I owe much to this column. For those who read Dutch please go and read his column.
For more info about the show go to their website: afrika!afrika!
