African-Italian stiker Mario Balotelli (19) has a lot to endure in Italy. Read the very interesting post on the blog Myafroitalianlife (M.A.I.L)
Football player Mario Balotelli (19) aka Super Mario for the great Inter fans, was born on 12 August 1990 to Ghanaian immigrants Thomas and Rose Barwuah in the Italian city of Palermo. Up to here the story is boring without much adventure. However years passed, Mario has become a young man gifted with the ball on his foot. Great, he is a Ghanaian football hero now. Wrong, because he is the controversy of the Italian soccer game these days. Let's go back few years.
In 1993 at the age of three Mario's parents entrusted the child to a white Italian family, the Balotelli. Mario remained with them and still sees them as his parents. For Italian bureaucracy he was not allowed an Italian citizenship until the age of eighteen, just less than two years ago.
Now he is an African-Italian, who has the desire to play for his beloved country Italy. However since last month (December 2009) he is in the Italian national news due to the racial abuse he receives whilst on the field.
Many spectators will agree that he is a good, excellent young footballer, but others blame the abuses on his arrogance and completely uncontrollable behaviour. For another party he is abused due to his colour. Read the full story here
Yele is a song from the hip hop Album (1997) entitled "Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival Featuring Refugee All Stars", or more simply The Carnival. It was Wyclef Jean's first solo album
The album features guest artists such as including Celia Cruz, The Neville Brothers and Jean's bandmates from The Fugees, Lauryn Hill and Pras.
The album features skits between many of its songs, most of them set in a fictional trial for Wyclef Jean, in which he is accused of being "a player and a bad influence".
The final three songs are sung in Haitian Creole.
The album sold over 5 million copies worldwide, and was RIAA certified 2x Platinum (source wikipedia)
It's sad to see that Wyclef now has to defend himself against allegations of misappropriated funds from his Yéle Haiti Foundation. The charity foundation is used to raise money for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. See the full story on all Hip hop.
Meaning of Style Exhibition. Black British Style, and the underlying political and social environment. An exhibition created by New Art Exchange.
Dates: Saturday 16 January - Saturday 10 April 2010 in Nottingham (UK)
New Art Exchange presents an exhibition exploring the presence of young African Caribbean men in Britain over the last 40 years, and how Black music, fashion and culture have influenced mainstream society.
Young African Caribbean men have often been portrayed as low achievers and perpetrators of crime in British society. But now, with Barack Obama winning the presidency of the biggest superpower in the world, will we see these same young men portrayed in a different light; as a source of huge potential for the future? Will the achievement of black youth in Britain over the last 40 years be recognised and honoured?
The presence of young 'Black' men in the UK started to be felt in the mainstream media in the 1970’s. Often portrayed negatively, this was a period of hope for the ‘African Caribbean’ community, a period of ‘Pan African’ and ‘Back to Africa’ ideology. This was also a period of oppression for many young Black men, due in part to the political climate of Thatcherism, Police harassment and institutionalised racism.
The African Caribbean youth of the late 1970’s/early 1980’s were the first generation in the UK to confront society and demand change on mass. This ‘rebel’ generation in the UK were reflected in the visibility of sub-cultures like the ‘Natty Dreads / Rastas’ and the rise of reggae music with politically aware artists like Bob Marley and, in the UK, Steel Pulse. Young men developed a ‘Rebel’ style that influenced young people from all backgrounds, around the world.
Style, fashion, ideology and the ‘Black’ Diaspora may have changed over the years, but young ‘Black’ men in the UK have made their presence felt ever since. In modern society many of the legacy of this 'rebel' style is seen in the fashion of young people from all backgrounds, ethnicity and geographical locations around the world. Ultimately, this exhibition will ask questions of all of us.
‘The Meaning of Style’ will bring together artists that have created portraits of young people using different mediums and create a dialogue and polemic which cross reference the work in the exhibition .
Skinder Hundal, Chief Executive - New Art Exchange said:
“New Art Exchange is extremely proud to be hosting this extremely important exhibition, which explores some of our seminal artists documenting ‘British Black culture’ from past decades, and highlighting how this has helped influence fashion, music and mainstream culture. It was a time of change, awareness and finally empowerment for many migrant communities in the UK, and the exhibition explores this through various artforms.”
The exhibition and accompanying events and educational programme will explore young African Caribbean men’s style and fashion over the last 40 years, and the underlying political, social environment.
Photo: Michelle and Barack Obama The venue Jahrhunderthalle in Frankfurt (Germany) will experience a sound it has never heard before: formed to a huge percussion ensemble, the audience accompanies US president Barack Obama on his successful way into the White House. The event organizer MOVE GmbH promises a double world premiere: at the premiere of "HOPE – the Obama Musical Story" on Sunday, 17 January at 8:00 pm, the audience will rhythmically participate on specially developed percussion chairs - for the first time ever worldwide. "Hope is the first interactive musical of a new generation", says musical producer Roberto Emmanuele, CEO and creative director of Move GmbH based in Bad Soden. "This is an enormous sound and a great musical experience for the audience."
Translation: The woman is speaking French, saying: There was an earthquake, she's not injured, but a few things in her house have been broken... she's pointing to a fire (we can only see the smoke) and she repeats she is OK and the other girl is too... in English she says, "The world is coming to an end."
Photo Andrea Naica-loebel: Speakers, and members of the organisation The 2nd Pan-Africanism congress was held on October 24th 2009 at the Goethe-Forum in Munich Germany. Approximately 500 persons attended the Congress.
Why a congress? Many African countries will soon be celebrating the 50th anniversary of independence and freedom from Colonialism. However the hopes of true independence and freedom have remained mostly unrealised. Expectations of Economic, Social and Political growth are still mostly unfulfilled.Therefore the 2nd Pan-Africanism Congress intends to strengthen and to connect the African Diaspora. Ideas and visions for the sustainable shaping of Africa’s future will be discussed and further developed.
What is Pan-Africanism? Pan-Africanism is a sociopolitical world view, philosophy, and movement which seeks to unify native Africans and those of African heritage into a "global African community". Pan-Africanism calls for a politically united Africa, according to wikipedia.
One of the important figures of the Pan-African movement was the first president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah. In the video he speaks about his vision for Africa at the All African peoples congress, held in Ghana in 1958
Who were the speakers at congress? Guest of honour was former President of Ghana Jerry Rawlings. Rawlings confirmed that Africa is still under the burden of politicians and other individuals who are pursuing personal goals with international assistance. "The key principles of good governance," said Rawlings, "is that the will of the people in all government decisions is paramount, and not the rules of a political party."
Bob Brown, Pan-Africanist and Nkrumahist-Toureist, pointed out that the black Howard University is the only university in the United States that uses the book by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah: "Consciencism: Philosophy and Ideology for Decolonization" as teaching material. "The tragedy is," said Brown, "that Nkrumah’s work is not used in Ghana nor other countries in Africa."
Dr. Grada Kilomba, psychologist, writer and author of the book "Plantation Memories" named her speech, "The Mask – Remembering Colonialism, Understanding Trauma". She explained that the politics of the colonial powers was full of sadism and brutality, and that it was used in order to the silence the black subjects.
Munich? In 1918 the former German Empire lost World War I and also its colonies in Africa (Cameroon, Togo, German East Africa, now Tanzania, and German Southwest Africa, now Namibia). In 1932 as a form of political protest close to 30 street names in Munich were named after events in the colonial history. But some streets were also named after notorious killers, like Lothar von Trotha. Now, thanks to the Munich City Counsel, four streets are renamed.
Msnbc PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Haitians piled bodies along the devastated streets of their capital Wednesday after the strongest earthquake to hit the poor Caribbean nation in more than 200 years crushed thousands of structures, from schools and shacks to the National Palace and the U.N. peacekeeping headquarters. Untold numbers were still trapped.
The devastation was so complete that it seemed likely the death toll from Tuesday afternoon's magnitude-7.0 quake would run into the thousands.
International Red Cross spokesman Paul Conneally said an estimated 3 million people may have been affected by the quake and that it would take a day or two for a clear picture of the damage to emerge.
From: Repeatingislands.com The head of the returned residents group is reporting that the British Government has made a major decision in respect of Jamaicans convicted in the United Kingdom. Percival LaTouche says Britain has committed to providing cash incentives for Jamaicans serving sentences for crimes, if they agree to leave the UK before the end of their detention. According to Mr. LaTouche, the convicts could be given up to $5,000 British pounds, much less than it would cost to keep the convicts in British prisons. He would like other countries to implement an incentive system for Jamaican convicts facing deportation. The deportation of Jamaican prisoners in the UK and their transfer to Jamaica has been going on for years. In 2007 Prime Minister Gordon Brown told Parliament that there were 1,400 Jamaican prisoners in British penal facilities, the highest number of all foreign nationals, adding that the UK would sign agreements with various countries “so that we can return prisoners from our cells as expeditiously as possible.” Read the full story here
Being black in Spain is different from being black in the UK, France or The Netherlands. In an interesting article five black people from Spain share their experience about living in Spain (short translation). You can read the full article (in French) on the blog Noirs d'Amérique Latine
Among the interviewed is television reporter Lucía Asué Mbomio. In the video for the website Live unchained she talks about her her documentary and about being black in Spain.
Short translation
Marcia Santacruz is chocolate coloured. Black like her father and her mother. Black as her grandparents. But apparently, in Spain, clothing, education and money determine the level of melanin. They nuance skin tone. The Afro-Colombian, who came to Madrid to complete a Masters in Public Administration, said: "In the Spanish mind Black is synonymous to domestic work, poverty and lawlessness. In their subconsciousness, they can’t believe that there can be a Black latina who speaks about Sartre.
Spain is not an openly racist country. There is no xenophobic party with parliamentary representation. The country does not represent a clear rejection of Black people, except for marginal extreme right groups. But there is subtle everyday racism, manifested in the way home. It is installed in the eye. You find it in the classic statement: "I am not racist, but ..." Or it’s the shop salesman who rushes to serve a black person, just so that person can leave the shop quickly. It’s racism in a country where blacks have gone from singular exotic elements, to being put all in the same bag, which is perceived with some concern: immigrants.
Here, there is neither Barack Obama or Oprah Winfrey. There are not many symbols of success. The Black presence is recent, an explosion which occurred in the late nineties.
Spain has about 683,000 African descent. 1.5% of the population, just over 10% of foreigners according to the High Council of Black Communities (Alto Consejo de las Comunidades Negras). This exponential growth is most striking: in 1998 they were no more than 77,000. And just last year, about 7,500 descendants of Africans were born in the Spanish territory.
According to the association that advocates the visibility of the black community, these figures are approximate. First, they counted the foreigners residing in Spain from countries with Black people, and mixed the result with the percentage of African descendants from these countries. These figures have a margin of error. Unfortunately we have no ethnic census, the racial difference does not appear on the national identity card. But the quantification of a minority can be seen through another lens, especially if the initiative comes from the minority itself.
There are data that say: "We are a growing community. We are here. Take us into consideration."
For there was a time when the Spaniards (white) rubbed their eyes in seeing them. Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo, writer and minister of the self-declared government of Equatorial Guinea in exile, based in Madrid, arrived in Spain when his country was still a Spanish colony. A province on the African continent, one hundred percent black. In a recent article entitled Una nueva realidad: los afroespañoles (A new reality: afro-Spanish), the Equatorial Guinean wrote several anecdotes of his early years in the white territory.
For example: "Older women who, at Christmas 1965, ran, terrified and scared to see me in a city within the Levantine region, laying hands on her head and cried a black, black, My God, a negro! "[...] My classmates had scratched his head and hands with their fingers and were surprised they were not stained black.
Guineans in the former colony were the first to arrive. Today, there are a little over 23,000 people. This is the third African country with the biggest contingent of Blacks, after Senegal (47,000) and Nigeria (35,000). But migration has been very different. They came to study in the metropolis. Today, they perhaps represent the most integrated Black community of African descent, with a second and a third generation.
Lucía Asue Mbomio reporter for Españoles por el mundo (TVE1) is one of them. She speaks with an accent of the district when she wants. She says it is her vulgar side. Born to a white mother and a father of Equatorial Guinea, she grew up in Alcorcón, a municipality south of Madrid. She's 28, and her room in a shared appartment, is filled with pride of her race. From "I Have a Dream" Martin Luther King, to the "Yes we can," Obama.
Afroféminas
Antoinette Torres Soler and Lucia Asue Mbomio Rubio are two black women who created the digital magazine Afroféminas. A space for women of African descent. "I saw there was a problem in the media on how black women were portrayed," says its founder, Cuban born Torres Soler, who arrived in Spain in 2007. She fights against the collective image that always boils down to portray women of African descent as "foreign, vulnerable and poor." Read Racismos cotidianos: “Para ser negra, eres muy guapa”
In the video Antoinette Torres Soler talks about her motivation
Documentary
The new documentary Gurumbé, Forgotten Music speaks of a very unfamiliar subject, the black African population who lived in Andalusia in the centuries XV to XIX. The documentary highlights the role of slavery, the accumulation of wealth by many merchant families in Seville and Cádiz, and the influence of Afro-Andalusians in Andalusian history and culture.
In the video Gurumbé, London born flamenco dancer Yinka Graves performs the Andalusian flamenco dance La caña. See the interview 'Meet La Morena: Yinka Esi Graves' at Las Morenas De España.
Expat
Also see Black travel expert Nelson George of BlackAtlas talking to Black British Judi Oshowole, who has lived in Barcelona for 18 years. See more information about her and the community BIBS (Barcelona International Black Sisters) here.
Leroy (17) is German – and black. He lives in Berlin, wears a big afro, but prefers Mozart to Hip Hop. Leroy’s friends are outsiders as well, Dimi is Greek and Achmed is Palestinian. However they all have girlfriends except Leroy. When cute Eva falls in love with him, nobody is as surprised and confused as Leroy himself.
But first love is not always sweet. Eva’s family turns out to be right wing extremists. They even named their Australian parrots after two of Hitler’s generals and Eva’s five skinhead brothers are longing to kick Leroy’s butt asap.
However, Leroy does not give up easily. He assembles his friends, fights for his love and, in his own style, revives the black power movement of the 70s. His motto: Funk not Fascism.
Leroy (Alain Morel) lives in Berlin-Schöneberg, and is the son of a black eccentric inventor (Günther Kaufmann) and a progressive white mother (Eva Mannschott) who works for the local government
“Director Armin Völckers takes a gently humorous look at otherness and xenophobia in modern day Germany.” www.spill.com
A black guy who is in love with a girl from a right wing extremist family? It's as if the German director tried to mix German Neo-Nazi culture and black exploitation culture with bi-racial love. I wonder if a black director would have made a flick like that. Germany keeps surprising me.
The London Borough of Brent, or Brent, had the highest gun crime rate in London. Of course there is more to this multicultural area then crime, where black, white and Asian people seemingly live peacefully together. In two videos both sides are shown.
In the documentary Love In The City (LITC) a group of young people highlight the positives of Brent, as they were tired about hearing the negatives, and anti-knife and gun crime initiatives. LITC was an inter-generational summer 2009 youth project for young people to engage with their peers and different generations to find out mostly positive things about leaving in their areas, and some history.
In the video ‘Gun Crime in Brent’ the residents talk about the cause of the gun crimes.
Although it's interesting to see both sides, I still wonder why having "nothing do to" always seems to have the same effect in our communities.
The countdown for Nneka's new album "Concrete Jungle" has started. On February 2, 2010 her new Album Concrete Jungle will be in the US stores. But as an introduction to her new album the Nigerian/Afro-German singer/songwriter has released the clip "The Uncomfortable Truth".
But there is more. She also collaborated with Brooklyn-based Mixtape DJ, remixer and hip-hop producer J .Period to put together a mixtape entitled: The Madness (Onye-Ala). You can download it free here.
African-Italian stiker Mario Balotelli (19) has a lot to endure in Italy. Read the very interesting post on the blog Myafroitalianlife (M.A.I.L)
