'Kwakoe' festival is a weekend event that takes place every Saturday and Sunday, 10am – 8pm, from July 3rd to August 8th in the Bijlmerpark in Amsterdam South East.
The festival is one of the biggest multicultural festivals in the Netherlands, and it's free.
From July till August it's weekends of pure dancing, eating and anything else in between. Wind down on a hot summers day with theatre, music, film, literature, sport and everything on offer at this very buzzing multicultural and family-oriented festival.
The 9th edition of the "Carnaval Tropical de Paris 2010" will be weaving its way through streets of Paris on July 3th. The carnaval will start on 14:00h at the Place de la Nation.
“Kinderen uit de Maasstad”: Surinamese children celebrating in traditional dress Keti Koti (Breaking the Chains) is the annual celebration and commemoration (since 2002) of the abolition of slavery in the former Dutch colonies on July 1st. It will be celebrated in the City of Amsterdam in the Oosterpark on July 1st 2010.
With performances of Surinamese, Antillean en Dutch music groups, the Keti Koti festival will again contribute to the broadening of the celebration and commemoration of the abolition of slavery. After the resounding success of last year it is expected that the festival will attract more then 20,000 people.
A Native Surinamese and Creole group playing Creole music on Keti Koti 2009 in Amsterdam
The Keti Koti Festival begins with a large-scale parade, the “Bigi Spikri” ("Big Mirror"), with orchestras and brass bands. The parade starts at 12:00 from the Stopera (City Hall) and will end in the Ooster Park, where the national commemoration takes place at the National Slavery Monument.
Honoured guests will be Dutch Minister Andre Rouvoet, the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, the ambassadors of Suriname, Ghana and South Africa and the mayor of Amsterdam.
Controversy There is some controversy between the mayor black communities in the Netherlands about the commemoration date. For the Surinamese community the 1ste of July is also official commemoration day in Surinam, while for the Antillean community on the Dutch Antilles the official commemoration is held on August 17th. And also the name is different, on the Antilles it's called the " Tula commoration" and not "Keti Koti".
Today the RD of Congo celebrates its 50 years of independence. Many wonder if there is anything to celebrate at all. I won’t go deeper into that argument, we all know how difficult the last 5 centuries have been for Africa. It seems that the colonial, industrial, technological and economical successes of Europe and the West were all at a cost, fully paid by the black people of this planet.
But I'd rather draw the attention to something interesting that came out of this tragical history: a new generation of Belgian artists of Congolese descent creating refreshing music with roots in hip hop, electro and Africa.
Below I will tell you more about three fresh AfroBelgian producers and musicians: Baloji, Dr. Kwest and Esa Biyo
Baloji
The most famous one is Baloji, former rapper in the Belgian Hip Hop group Starflam. He came to live in Belgium as a 3 year old and grew up here. He says he is actually more European than African, a thing he realized when he traveled back to his motherland last year. Starflam was succesful in Belgium and France with tracks such as ‘Ce Plat Pays’ and ‘Amnesie International ‘ (feat. Zap Mama). But Baloji reached maturity with his second solo album (Kinshasa Succursale) released this year. He is now touring all over Europe with his Congolese band. He mixes hip hop and poetry with original African and Congolese sounds, always keeping in mind a deeper message to his music. Below I post a video of his latest single ‘Karibu ya Bintou’. This track features Konono nr. 1, a grouped based in Kinshasa that combines the traditional Likembe with electronics. You can find more on youtube on Konono nr. 1 and Baloji.
Dr. Kwest
Another artist you have to keep an eye on is mystery figure Dr. Kwest. Just like Baloji Dr. Kwest is of Congolese origin although he was raised in Belgium. Today Dr. Kwest is based in Brussels and mixes eclectic electronic hip hop soul with anything that fits with it. Dr. Kwest is a musical innovator who spoils his fans with regular mixes on mixcloud and produces instrumental music which is hard to define (I’ll give it a try with electronic soul noise hop …).
Last but not least I want to present you another AfroBelgian producer of Congolese origin: Esa Biyo. This producer opted for a mix of old skool Congolese rumba tracks and dub. Slowing down the Congolese Rumba Esa Biyo created a sad version of the famous rumba tracks produced in the 60’s and 70’s by famous artist like Rochereau, Franco & OK jazz, Mbelia Bel, … below I post a video for one of his latest productions, featuring footage from a documentary of the then Zaïre national footbalteam in the 70’s.
King Albert II of Belgium and Queen Paola arrived in Congo yesterday. They are on an official visit for Congo’s 50 years of independence ceremony, tomorrow 30 June. Congo is a former Belgian colony and since independence both countries have kept a ‘special’ relationship. Still, it has been 25 years since the last official visit of a Belgian monarch in Congo. Last time it was King Baudoin who visited Congo when ruled by Mobutu. King Baudoin is also the king who handed independence to the Congolese in 1960, when then prime minister Lumumba made his (in)famous speech.
Kabila invited the Belgian King. This invitation stirred the opinion of Belgian politicians about Belgium’s relationship with Congo. Some thought the King shouldn’t go because Congo is still not a democratic country. Other thought he should go as this was an opportunity to reconfirm Belgium’s relationship with Congo, and to give a sign to the Congolese government about the things that should be done. But the King has decided for the middle: he will be at the ceremony but he will make no public statement.
Many among the Congolese people are disappointed about this. They think that a King’s statement could make a difference. Although Belgium is the former colonizer, to many Congolese the Belgians are still the ones who created Congo (even if it was a cruel and terrible creation). Belgians in Congo are treated with respect, they are Congo’s uncles as the Congolese say themselves. To them the words of a King could have a heavy symbolic meaning. Therefore they hope that his words can change the hardship the Congolese masses are going through. But that is according to me wishful thinking. And besides, the King decided to say no more.
Relations between Belgium and Congo have been difficult lately. President Kabila chose to sign contracts with Chinese and Indian investors while the Belgians refused to invest as long as there were no more signs of democratic change. This is a complicated argument.
Kabila was elected democratically a few years ago. While I know that corruption and oppression still control much of Congolese life, and that the vast majority of Congolese live in too much poverty without education or health care, I also see and hear that things are changing (a bit). Roads are rebuild (by Chinese contractors though) and parliament has never spoken so freely about the things the government should do better or does wrong. Still, last week the most important human rights activist, Floribert Chebeya, was killed in very suspicious circumstances and this is just one murder among others.
It is hard to judge Kabila now, I wonder sometimes how much he himself controls the situation or that he gets manipulated by the powerful people around him, much of whom or former Mobutu collaborators. I just wonder how he will handle the next elections. Joseph Kabila is not his father and not Mobutu. He is much calmer and controlled. He keeps on the background while it is he who has the final say about important decisions, or so I think.
Next to the Belgian King there will be many other head of states tomorrow in Kinshasa. Most notably: Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni and Rwandan president Paul Kagame. They were both enemies during the Congolese wars (1998-2003) as they supported rebel groups in Congo against the Congolese army. But relationships between Congo and these countries has been smoothed out recently as they fight together now against the ‘bad guys’ (the rebels). My cousin who lives and works in Eastern Congo assures me that it hasn’t been so peaceful in many years. Still, army troops with guns but no salary is a dangerous feat. And last but not least, Mugabe, president of what is left of Zimbabwe, will ‘honor’ the ceremony with his presence.
Below a videoshoot of King Albert II's arrival in Kinshasa - No Comment
Noah Sow is the author of the book "Deutschland Schwarz weiss - der alltägliche Rassismus" ("Deutschland Black & white. Everyday Racism"). And front woman of her Punk Rock band NOISEAUX . And she is also the founder of the anti-racist media watch dog "Der Braune mob". And if that's not enough she also appears on television as a moderator.
In an interview she talks about the media watch dog and the racial issues in Germany. "Der braune mob is Germany's first and as far as I know only media watchdog that's concerned with issues of discriminatory and politically incorrect language, content or pictures, mainly in media and advertising. Our focus lies on educating about what public racial discrimination actually is.
We have a lot to do, as Germany is a developing country in terms of racism. Most of the time the newspapers don't even know that for example referring to Obama as 'the coloured candidate' is wrong, so when we write to them they argue a lot. Plus, in Germany, the word racism is taboo.
If you accuse someone of having used a racist expression, they will deny that it's racist even when the term the N-Word is said."
Music
The Punk Rock band NOISEAUX
Book
In the book Deutschland Black & white she write about racism, but not about being black in Germany. "My book isn't about being black," explains Sow in an interview. "It's a mix between humour, education, how racism was 'invented' and what it serves for. It also about structural racism, like in sports, government, police and media. And its about modern and new racist strategies and how to beat them, and also - what I thought was very important - ideas how to help end racism, for the future.
So it's not a book about being black. Actually it's almost the opposite. It's about the role of whiteness in perpetuating racism. Can be used for self-medication. From the feedback so far, white readers learned something new about themselves and black readers had a good time with the humour chapters, like 'List of stupid phrases we never want to hear again - and according answers."
Although the book is written in German, there is a interesting English section with large outline of her book, and her 'List of stupid phrases'. One of those stupid phrases is "I cannot be a racist, I have a Black wife / Black children.” See her website for the answer here.
Joy Maureen Denalane (South African/German) known as Joy Denalane, is a German singer-songwriter, known for her mixture of soul, R&B, and African folk music with lyrics in German and English.
In 2002 she released the album 'Mamani' (2002) with the song "Im Ghetto von Soweto" featuring Hugh Masekela.
Hans J. Massaquoi, former Managing editor of Ebony Magazine, tells of growing up Black in Nazi Germany in his book, 'Desitined To Witness'.
This very powerful story was brought to the German Television in a two part docu-drama in 2006.
In his autobiography, Destined to Witness, Massaquoi describes his childhood and youth in Hamburg during the Nazi rise to power. His biography provides a unique point of view: he was one of very few German-born mulattoes in all of Nazi Germany, shunned, but not persecuted by the Nazis. This dichotomy remained a key theme throughout his whole life.
Massaquoi lived a simple, but happy childhood with his mother, Bertha Nikodijevic. His father, Al-Haj Massaquoi, was a law student in Dublin who only occasionally lived with the family at the consul general home in Hamburg. Eventually, the consul general was recalled to Liberia, and Hans Massaquoi and his mother remained in Germany. (Click on the picture to enlarge.)
The daily life of the young Massaquoi was remarkable. He was one of the few mixed race children in Nazi Germany, and like most of the other children his age, he dreamed of joining the Hitler Youth. Increasingly, however, he realized the true nature of Nazism. His skin color made him a target for racist abuse.
See more videos here However, in contrast to German Jews or German Roma, Massaquoi—as a German Negro—was not persecuted. He was "just" a second-class citizen, which was actually a blessing in disguise. During World War II, his "impurity" spared him from being drafted into the German army. As unemployment, hunger and poverty grew rampant, he even tried to enlist, but he was rejected by the officers. In this time, he befriended the family of Ralph Giordano, a half-Jewish acquaintance of their swing kid age, who survived the war by hiding and ended up being a journalist as well. (source wikipedia)
Update:
Hans Massaquoi has died Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, on his 87th birthday in Jacksonville USA. See the post here.
Like every year this weekend (sa 26 & su 27/06) the ‘Matongé en Couleur’ (Matongé in Colours) Festival takes place in Brussels. This is a yearly event with music and animation in the streets of Matongé.
Matongé is a commercial neighbourhood in Ixelles/Elsene, a southern borough of Brussels. The area is located close to metrostation Porte de Namur/Naamse Poort. It’s full of afroshops and African barbershop and salons. If you need anything African in Brussels it’s in Matongé you have to be.
Matongé’s name comes from the Matongé market in Kinshasa (D.R. of Congo). Most Africans in Belgium are of Congolese descent. But you will also find a lot of people from all parts of Africa, as well as shops with all kinds of African and Caribbean products.
An impression of the street ambience during Matongé en Couleur
Matongé is first of all an African commercial area. It is not a predominantly black neighborhood. Although many people of African descent live in Brussels they do not live in a separate neighborhoods but are scattered all around the city. Brussels has some boroughs that are rather posh and others that are much poorer, but the city lacks the social ghetto’s or banlieus such as in French cities. You can find more info on Matongé, Brussels in this article by Mpho Mfenyana
Matongé Mural
Detail from the Matongé Mural: "I traveled all over the world, never have I seen a city like Brussels and a neighborhood like Ixelles’s Matongé where everybody mixes (more than 100 nationalities in this neighborhood alone). Hard to describe in a word what Matongé is or the city of Brussels itself. Bruxelles is a mythical city, Brussels is a paradise."
Adegoke Odukoya, better known as Adé Bantu (born July 13, 1971 in Wembley, London) is a Nigerian-German musician, producer and activist. He is best known as the founder of the Afro-German musical collective and NGO Brothers Keepers and as the front man of Bantu & Afrobeat Academy Band. He received the Kora Award (the Pan-African equivalent of the Grammy) for his album "Fuji Satisfaction" in 2005.
Adé Bantu was born in Wembley, London. He is biracial, being the son of a German mother and a Nigerian father. In 1973 he relocated to Lagos, Nigeria with his parents Adeleke Odukoya and Barbara Odukoya. After the death of his father in 1986 he moved with his mother and 3 siblings to Germany. (source wikipedia)
Mo Asumang (Ghanaian/German) is a well known German filmmaker, actress and moderator. She received wide acclaim with the film "Roots Germania" (2007).
About the film she writes on her website: " Mo was able to solve a trauma caused by racism; She undertakes a journey to discover her roots and her identity, facing her African father in Ghana, her White German Mother in German, and Jürgen Rieger, the head of the neonaziparty NPD. The catalyst of this journey, a threat over her life received by the NeoNazi Band "White Aryan Rebels", becomes a poignant tool for self discovery and a sharp reflection to matters of racism in Germans society of today. "
But critics say the film is not so much about racism, but more about Mo's personal journey.
In the video she meets Jürgen Rieger, the head of the Neo-Nazi party NPD. She interviews him about his plan to "breed" Germans.
A short English translation
I have got an appointment with him, but I didn't say I was black.
(1:12) MA: [outside in the garden] You made a attempt to “breed” Germans?
Jürgen Rieger (JR): No, I didn’t made a attempt
(1:25) MO: But you were looking for a family who would be willing to go Sweden and would over there breed Germanic people. That what you said.
JR: No.
(1:45) JR: The Nordic race is relatively objective and other races are most of the time not objective. I also see that in you.
I was searching for a German couple who wanted to live in a settlement in Sweden, without world influences. Free of drugs
I didn't say I was searching for a family for racial breeding. That a big difference.
(2:21) MO: Can I apply?
JR: No.
MA: Why not?
JR: You are not from Germanic descent.
MA: Why not?
JR: Look in the mirror.
(2: 27) MA: You could ostracize your daughter from the family because she married someone with different skin colour.
JR:I would totally break with my daughter. She couldn’t enter the house anymore. It is clear, I am totally against it It would be the same as cutting of the roots. It would be the worst thing.
(3: 03) JR: In my opinion I don't think Germans, in about 200 years , should look like you. They should look like the other four [pointing at the camera team].
MR: Are you racially pure?
JR: He is more racially pure. The camera man
I wonder why you surround yourself with Nordic persons. There is more Nordic substance
here then you usually see in the German population.
It’s really remarkable. The moderator is half afro, African ..
Jean Ping, African Union Commission Chairperson, with Louis Michel, then European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid
Next week (30/06/2010) the Democratic Republic of Congo will celebrate its 50 years of independence. As the former colonizer of the area Belgium is going through a real Congo hype this year. Media and politicians can’t stop to talk about Congo, the historical relation with Belgium and the current situation in Congo. In many cases I think this is good. Many Belgians want to come clear with their past. It is late to do so, but better late than never. Unfortunately some grab this opportunity to rehabilitate the colonial atrocities committed in the name of civilization and Christianity.
Tuesday Louis Michel, former Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs (1999-2002), EU commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Development (2002-2009), and nowadays member of the European parliament, claimed that Leopold II is a Belgian hero and talked in positive terms about all the good Belgian colonization brought to Congo. This is unbelievable, considering the amounts of historical research that already proved that king Leopold II’s colonial project was cruel and unnecessarily harsh. Although Stalin, who wasn’t much less cruel and demagogue than Hitler, gets a heroic role in current Russian historical literature, I wouldn’t recommend Belgian historians to claim that its most ruthless former ruler was a hero …
A result of Leopold's colonialism, adults and children had their hands amputated when they did not meet demands for rubber.
Leopold II was the founder and owner of the Congo Free State, which was his private colonial project. The European powers agreed on Leopold II’s undertaking on the condition that it was as a civilizing mission to bring civilization and modernization to the peoples of Congo.
Of course just as all colonial projects, it was presented as a civilizing mission, but was all about the money. When the car and bike industry boomed and the need for rubber increased dramatically everything was permitted to get as much rubber as possible. Adam Hochschild wrote a very interesting book about the atrocities committed in Congo during its exploitation (King Leopold’s Ghost). If you want to know more about it a quick search in google of “Leopold II, King of the Belgians” will enlighten you in the big role he played during the African colonization.
Of course King Leopold II is not the only sinner of his age. His endeavor is comparable to most European colonial projects, whether it is the British Empire, France or Germany. There were no saints in this story, and the civilizing mission was just a cover up to make a lot of money. I believe the Belgian story is best known because Belgium is a small and insignificant country which is easier to criticize than the bigger nations of Europe. Furthermore the Belgian colonial project didn’t start as a political national project but a private endeavor of one man, therefore easier to single out. But, believe me, all European nations were guilty of comparable crimes.
Today a respected Belgian politician is rewriting history. In a interview in P-Magazine Louis Michel felt the need to defend Leopold II’s legacy. He said that the king was “an ambitious visionary” and that he instinctively feels that “Leopold II was a hero, a hero with ambition for a small country such as Belgium”. According to him “Leopold II doesn’t deserve the accusation he has been subjected to”. He said that the Belgians built railways, roads, hospitals, schools and increased the economical growth. Economical growth? As if all peoples of the earth were waiting for being part of the big capitalistic world? Concerning the railway and roads, they were build for European economical purposes only. The towns were build for the colonizers, not the colonized (except as work force). Only after World War 2 the European nations started to invest in schools and hospitals for the Africans, but never enough to educate all anyway. Ten years later they realized that the colonial endeavor wasn't lucrative any more for the state, certainly not if they had to follow their own humanist logic of 'same rights for all people'. But having privatised the major companies, these private European companies could keep on making money in an independent (but controlled) African state. Thus started the wave of independece in Africa.
When Louis Michel was confronted with the fact that people were ruthlessly forced to work in mines and plantations during colonization he waved this argument away saying that this was the way things happened then.
This is too easy. So we can’t judge things that happened in the past because they were considered normal at the time? That means that we can’t judge the lynching of blacks in the southern US, we can’t judge the killings of Jews, we can’t judge racial discrimination, we can't even judge slavery … because this is the way things were in those days? Please! This is total bullshit! With his argumentation the peoples of the world should be grateful to Europe for having colonized them.
Louis Michel is also saying that it is unacceptable to use the world ‘genocide’ to name what happened to the Congolese people in the first 30 years of colonization. Research showed that the population dropped dramatically during that period, due to forced labor, terror policy and illnesses. But I can agree with Louis Michel on this point, I don’t think it was genocide. A genocide is the organization of mass murder, with the will to exterminate another group of human beings. I doubt the colonizers wanted to exterminate the peoples of Africa, they needed them as a labor force. But if they killed so many so unscrupulously it is because they didn’t even consider black people human beings. This is the way things were done in those days, and according to Louis Michel we can’t judge this, because the only thing the colonizer wanted, was for the greater good and the benefit of all.
Drawing such a conclusions is child like, immature, scandalous and shocking. That such a respected politician who doesn’t even have an infamous past as a racist or imperialist, makes such statements, makes it even more scary. Does this show the state of mind of mainstream European politics? If so, we better be prepared for the worst.
'Kwakoe' festival is a weekend event that takes place every Saturday and Sunday, 10am – 8pm, from July 3rd to August 8th in the Bijlmerpark in Amsterdam South East. 
