Colour Bar - Belgian-Congolese Mixed Race in Search of his identity (interview)

Roland Gust was born to a Congolese mother and a Belgian father. He grew up in Congo, believing he was white. That is, until his family decided to return to Belgium when he was twelve. Twenty years later, in a recently released documentary, Colour Bar, we follow him in his desire to find a grammar to describe his past. 5 Questions for Roland Gust.– Tom Devriendt (from Africa is a Country)

Read this very interesting interview at Africa is a Country - The Belgian Color Bar

Gunst is a film maker and musician who spend the last 5 years making a documentary about his search for identity. He is also a friend of Afro-Europe blogger Sibo who wrote a story about his film "Colour Bar", you can read it here


For a translation in English click the "CC" button on the right.

La Batunoza ‘Xica da Silva’: The best independent hip hop release of 2011

Time for me to tell you something about the most recent musical revelation from Belgium: ‘Xica da Silva’ from La Batunoza. This project is a collaboration between MC Le Tagarel a.k.a. La Batucada, vocalist Ismael and Brussels hip hop producer Noza. Together they released their best work ever, and it stands tall among worldwide hip hop productions.

La Batunoza is hip hop defying borders. It’s hip hop the way Manu Chao might have made hip hop. It’s music crossing cultures and languages. It’s music for the world.

‘Xica da Silva’ is a 5 track EP. You can listen to it on their bandcamp and share it. Soon you’ll be able to buy their music on iTunes and their will be a limited CD and vinyl release. But as for now you can check their first video for La Macumba.

Le Tagarel has been rhyming for years, first as part of La Mezcla, than solo releasing two albums: ‘Funky Bordel Musical’ and ‘Saudade’. On Saudade he made his first musical flirtation with his roots: Brazil.

‘Xica da Silva’ goes even further in the fusion of AfroBrazilian music with hip hop. Introducing music producer Noza to the world of samba, batucadas and afrobrazilian vibes, made this latest production fresh and innovative. While the fusion of French and Portuguese lyrics contributes to the global flavor of the tracks and releases very positive energy. They will be playing live on several places in Belgium this summer, but I really think they will playing abroad soon.

Check their first single and video: La Macumba

Colour Bar: A Belgian-Congolese Mixed Race in Search of His Identity. DVD OUT NOW!

My friend Roland Gunst is a film maker and musician who spend the last 5 years making a documentary about his search for identity. His film is entitled ‘Colour Bar’ and was first screened at the Mixed 2010 expo that we organized together last year and has been screened several times in Belgium since. It will soon be scheduled on national TV here in Belgium but it is now out and for sale on DVD (with subtitles in English, French and Dutch). You can purchase it via the website www.colourbar.be
Personally I think the film is of a high esthetic and informative quality. It is bilingual French/Dutch as the voice over is in French (his mother tongue) while many interviews were done in Dutch (his ‘father tongue’). He talks to several mixed race Belgians about their search for identity.

The film is a message to his parents. He tells us how in Congo he was considered white and called ‘mundele’ while when coming to Belgium as a 12 year old he suddenly was considered black and called ‘neger’. His search for identity has been dominated by this racial perspective.

Below the official trailer (unfortunately, no English subtitles)


For those who understand some Dutch (with a Flemish/Belgian accent), check this video featuring footage which didn’t make it in the final version of the documentary. This was a pre-trailer. The central question is: ‘My name is Roland Gunst. Who am I?’ (Mijn naam is Roland Gunst. Wie ben ik?)

The Emergence of Afro-Europe from an Afro-Flemish Perspective

My interpretation of the Flag for the Flanders Region of Belgium, combined with some African colours, the 'AfroFlemish Flag' so to speak (The original flag is yellow, representing a black lion called 'The Black Lion of Flanders'. This symbol has a strong political meaning in Belgium)

I am currently working on a film about black identity within the Flemish world of Belgium. For those who do not follow the Belgian social and political situation, I live in a bilingual country with a lot of communitarian (or call it ‘ethnic’) tension between the Dutch speaking Flemish population in the northern part of the country and the French speaking south. There are no wars or fights of course (I guess you’d have heard about that) but politicians and media are constantly blaming the other side for all national problems. If white Belgians don’t even know who they are, it is an even more complex issue for those whose parents and grandparents migrated to Belgium.

However, black people of very different origin tend to stand outside this issue. As Flemish identity is currently a hot topic in Belgium I wondered how black Belgians define themselves within this discourse. I decided to start interviewing black Belgians living in the Flanders on these identity issues, using very explicit questions on identity. Generally though, we are not tempted to talk about these issues overtly.

Below I will introduce you to different books recently written on the black experience in Europe. I also featured a 10 min interview with French historian and writer Pap Ndiaye on his very intersting book 'The Black Condition'.


I planned an interview with the most famous black politician in Belgium (Flemish), a city councilor in the Flemish town of Sint-Niklaas. He introduced me to a book written by an African American professor, Allison Blakely (Boston University). The book was entitled ‘Black people in the Dutch world. The Evolution of Racial Imagery in a Modern Society’ (1993) and attracted my attention immediately. It was a very interesting interview in which I heard very good arguments about the symbiosis of black identity and European identity (in his case Flemish identity).

A quick search of Allison Blakely online made me discover he is currently working on a new project called ‘The Emergence of Afro-Europe’, i.e. he’s working on a book about us … He also wrote the first chapter of ‘Black Europe and the African Diaspora’ (2009) edited by Darlene Clark Hine, Trica Danielle Keaton and Stephen Small. I ordered it online and will read it and write about it on this blog soon. Although the introduction of ‘Black Europe’ was written by Philomena Essed, a black Dutch scholar, it is worth noting that many African American social scientists feel naturally attracted by the subject and tend to dominate it. Well, of course they have been thinking and working on racial and identity issues way before there even was a substantial presence of blacks in Europe. Allison Blakely also wrote the first chapter of this book.

Today, black people in Europe (of very different origins) tend to start analyzing their situation and identity, finding a lot of inspiration in the American world. This blog is an expression of this new trend. (Although it already started in the 1930’s with the négritude literary movement that was also inspired by the Harlem Renaissance and W.E.B. Du Bois.)

The UK were first in producing substantial work on black identity in Europe. Paul Gilroy’s ground breaking work ‘There ain’t no black in the Union Jack’ (1991) was followed by the still very influential work on the transnational black experience ‘The Black Atlantic’ (1993). As a bilingual Belgian I am naturally attracted to the French speaking world too where last year I discovered two very interesting works on the subject: ‘La condition noire. Essai sur une minorité française’ (2008) by Pap Ndiaye (only in French)(who also studied in the US, check his interview on France24 in English below) and ‘Noirs de France’ (2007) by politician Rama Yade. The former is a very detailed analyses of the black experience in France while the latter is more a short and personal overview of current racial issues concerning blacks in France. Both books emphasize the fact that black French people are not a community as such but form several communities (Africans from several parts of Africa, Caribbeans, Muslims, Christians, mixed race, …). They share a common experience though, an experience of being culturally French, being perceived as foreign, and being perceived as ‘black’ (which contains several stereotypes they are often confronted with in a predominantly white country). Recently I discovered ‘Portraits de douze noirs de France: ni éboueurs, ni sportifs, ni vigiles, ni musicien’ (2009) (Translation: Portraits of Twelve French Blacks: nor garbage men, nor sports men, nor vigils, neither musicians) by Baba Diawara, a very interesting little book. And I guess there must be tons of new literary productions of the sort all over Europe now, besides video and documentaries.

Literature and video production on blacks in Europe was virtually nonexistent in the 20th century (except for the UK and maybe France, both since the 90’s). Since the start of the new millennium it is literally booming in those countries and I guess this means that in other parts it must be growing too. I discovered interesting Spanish, German and Russian productions on Afro-Europe (all to be find on this blog) and I guess there are people all over Europe creating and working on the subject.

I would like readers of this blog to contribute their knowledge in comments below. Do you know of any important books on the black experience in Europe written in any language, whether existing in an English translation or not. Do you know of documentaries about black people in a European country? Let us know. This blog is an inventory for all this productions and is a platform to spread that knowledge gathered through all these experiences.

On an academic level there is the website afroeurop@s (bilingual English-Spanish) which brings together scholars from all over Europe who focus on the subject.
 
Pap Ndiaye on France24 (In English) talking about being black in France:

Pap Ndiaye, "The Black condition"
Geüpload door france24. - Nieuwscontent direct van de pers.

The miXed2010 Expo at Gentse Feesten 2010

During the festivities of the ‘Gentse Feesten’ (17/7-26/7/2010), a yearly 10 day music and theater festival in the city of Ghent, the miXed2010 association (website in Dutch & French) is planning an exhibition about racial identity. The exhibition contains work of black and white artists who question the concept of race through visuals, paintings, sculptures, video, installations, … The artists featured in the exhibition are Berni Searle (SA), Jean-François Boclé (F) and Gauthier Hubert (B) among others. The curator is the art critic Stef Van Bellingen who questions through this exhibition the way black people have been depicted during the whole history of Western media (commercials, Hollywood, TV, …).

(c) Gauthier Hubert

The exhibition will be opened on Friday 9th of July at 7pm, one week before the start of the Gentse Feesten and will be followed by a concert with European and African artist brought together by Tuur Florizoone. They will bring a musical show combined with visuals, telling a story of a white man who discovers his African roots (according to me a metaphor for the whole of European histroy and identity). World famous Belgian jazz artists like Laurent Blondiau (AKA Moon) en Nicolas Thys will be part of it, next to AfroBelgian singer Sabine Kabongo and polyphone vocal group Nabindibo next to African multi-instrumentalist and artist Aly Keita. You can see Sabine Kabongo performing Duke Ellingtons 'Come Sunday' with the Zawinul Syndicate via this link.

During the exhibition the documentary ‘Colour Bar’ will be screened all day long. This is a documentary of Roland Gunst, a video artist who describes his identity issues for a new generation raised in-between different cultures and racial colours. Below I post the little trailer for his documentary. It is currently only available in French though.

The New Afro Belgian Generation: Three Belgian Artists of Congolese descent

Dr. Kwest. My Beat, My Life, My Congo EP (2010)

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 …).

Especially for this 50 year of independence Dr. Kwest delivers an EP (My Beat, My Life, My Congo - 2010) with eccentric tracks that express very well the bitter aftertaste of this celebration while keeping in touch with the Congolese sound. I recommend you all to check this out on this link. You can also find mixes and productions by Dr. Kwest on mixcloud.com.

Esa Biyo

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.

A Mute Belgian King visits Congo

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 (how cruel and terrible that creation has been). 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

Matongé en Couleur 2010: Afro Festival in Brussels 26/06 - 27/06

The Matongé Mural

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."

MEP Louis Michel says: “King Leopold II was a hero.”

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.

A Silenced History from Belgian Congo: A Mixed Race History

You haven’t heard much from me lately. I was writing a book and it’s finally finished and published. The book I wrote together with Kathleen Ghequière traces back a history of Africa and Europe that has been ignored for too much time. Some of you know about the mixed race children of Australia thanks to movies such as ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’ or even Baz Luhrmann’s latest ‘Australia’. But concerning Africa this history is unknown.

It seems as if the European colonizer didn’t have intimate relationships with the African colonized. But many children were born out of relations between white Europeans and black Africans during colonization. These children undermined the racial colonial order with their existence. These children have been hidden and their stories silenced. At least for the Belgian Congo this story is now unveiled and in this book the mixed race children of Belgium and Congo express their history freely.



Through the testimony of two dozens of mixed race Belgians born in Congo we have tried to tell a story which is mostly unknown to the Belgian and Flemish public. Kathleen Ghequière interviewed them. They were all people born during colonization from one black and one white parent. Some of them grew up in their families but most of them weren’t recognized by their fathers and were taken away from their mothers at a very young age. The colonial authority separated these children from their mothers to raise them in schools only for ‘mulatto children’. At independence the colonial authorities decided to deport the younger once (between 2 and 16 years old) to Belgium to be adopted in Belgian families. The circumstances are still unknown, which children were send over and why is still a mystery. Even the exact number of children deported is hard to tell.

Kathleen Ghequière found many of them living in Belgium who were prepared to tell their side of the story. I edited these interviews, translated those done in French and tried to make of more than a thousand pages of testimony an accessible and readable book. It became a book of 250 pages full of beautiful pictures from the colonial past out of their personal archives. Filip Claus took recent pictures of the witnesses and I added with some academic assistance some social historical explanation and maps.

I am very happy with the result and hope that the book will be translated in French soon. It was mostly important to publish the book in the Flemish part of Belgium because the Flemish don’t know anything about the mixed race children of their country. In French neutral terms such as ‘metissage’ and ‘metis’ define these people in a positive way. But Dutch lacks this kind of vocabulary, mostly because the Dutch speaking people lack any knowledge about this part of their history. The Dutch language lacks emotionally and politically neutral terms for mixed race people (generally the Dutch and Flemish use English or French to express these terms for which they don’t have their own words). Journalists in progressive newspapers in Belgium refer to Barack Obama as a ‘mulat’, a word perceived by many Dutch speaking blacks as offending. We decided to take a provocative and colonial title with a more explaining subtitle in which we introduce a new word in the Dutch language: metis.

De Bastaards van onze kolonie. Verzwegen verhalen van Belgische metissen (The Bastards of our colony. Hidden stories of Belgian metis) is published by Roularta and available at all good book stores in Belgium. You can also order it online

Wednesday 16th of June is the official release at Vooruit (culture center) in Ghent, Belgium. The entrance is free

Jermaine Jackson crowns Luciano (9) in "Move Like Michael Jackson" contest

Luciano Hiwat (9) is the winner of the Dutch/Belgian "Move Like Michael" dance contest.

When I see you, I think of my brother Michael and my childhood, " said jury chairman Jermaine Jackson Saturday night to the youngest candidate and winner of the competition.

The "Move Like Michael" contest was a nationwide search to find the most talented and original dancers who could demonstrate that they have the spirit, showmanship and technical ability of Michael Jackson. The competition was only held in the UK and in the Netherlands/Belgium.

The winning act of the dance contest will perform at the official tribute concert.

The UK winner is Animaineaxs, who won the final on Sunday 20th in December 2009.

Video of Dutch winner

The Flanders (Belgium) have their first black TV-star: Uwamungu Cornelis

The Dutch speaking community of Belgium (60% of the total population) has a TV show with a black main character. This is a first timer! Uwamungu Cornelis is a Flemish actor of Rwandan descent. He has been doing the one man show ‘Mungu’ with which he was very successful throughout Dutch speaking Belgium. In this show he tackled the issues of being black and Flemish in a society that virtually ignores the existence of Flemish citizens of African descent.

He played a secondary role in the Flemish soap Kaat & Co and now is the lead actor in the new comedy soap Super8. This show started to be broadcasted a few months ago. I didn’t see this show yet, although I heard that the new digital TV station TV8, which produced it and broadcasts it, is of a good quality.

Watch the trailer:




Besides Uwamungu Cornelis there are some other famous black TV personalities in Flanders (Dutch speaking Belgium) such as Ronny Mosuse (musician) , Maya Albert (actor), Elodie Ouedraogo (athlete), Sandrine Van Handenhoven (singer), Karoline Kamosi also known as Leki (TV personality and singer).

Below you can watch the first episode's first 5 minutes:

Two Day Caribbean Festival in Belgium: Antilliaanse Feesten

Approx. 45000 people danced the night away at the Antilliaanse Feesten in the small town of Hoogstraaten, Belgium. Not like most festivals, the Antilliaanse Feesten starts when the sun goes down and keeps on going until dawn.
Music from Latin-America and the Caribbean is getting more and more popular in Belgium (as all over northern Europe). So is this festival, which has a summer and winter edition (in-door).

In contrast to ‘World’ festivals where you have a predominant white audience coming to see African, Asian and Latin artists, the Antilliaanse Feesten has a totally mixed audience of all colours. It was surprising how many mixed couples were present. Many men wore white shirts and trousers, while the ladies wore very short skirts and high heels. Not the easiest outfit for a festival in a rural grass field, but everybody wanted to look at its utmost best. And it was beautiful to see.


The most famous act this year was Carlos Vives, a Colombian superstar well known in all parts of Latin America. This was his very first gig in the Benelux (Belgium-Netherlands-Luxemburg). On Saturday the French Creole super band Kassav, from Guadeloupe, came to make the crowd dance and party. Kassav has been on stage throughout the world for 30 years now, and are very popular in the French speaking world. This was the 5th time they came to the Antillianse Feesten and they were still bringing us great Afro-Caribbean vibes .

The crowd was super enthusiastic and going crazy, all over the place you could see people branding flags from Trinidad, Jamaica, Cuba, Martinique, Surinam, …
There were cocktail and champagne bars and delicious cigars. The food was not typical Flemish festival food, i.e. French fries and hamburgers, but Caribbean Chicken grill, cornbread, rice & beans, Surinam Chicken with peanut sauce, …

Onyewu wants ‘public excuses’ from Van Damme for racist insults

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.

Why I think Afrika!Afrika! is awful.

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!

Africa Film Festival 2009 Gent, Belgium

The Afrika Filmfestival (AFF), AfricaMatters and the cinema StudioSkoop in Ghent collaborate to bring you the second edition of the 'Afrika Filmfestival' to Gent.

During the festival all screenings are in the Kinepolis Theater in Leuven/Louvain.
Furthermore screenings are repeated in cinemas in Brussels and other small towns throughout Northern Belgium.

This year screenings will also take place at the Studio Skoop in Ghent (Sint-Annaplein 63, 9000 Gent) on Thursday 7, Friday 8 and Saturday 9 May 2009.

The festival in Ghent starts with the South African film 'Skin', directed by Anthony Fabian (2008). For more information about the program go to www.afrikafilmfestival.be

The Afrika Filmfestival is the perfect opportunity in Belgium to discover the African cinematographic art. Every year they try to bring you an exclusive selection of films from different African countries and cultures. This year films from South Africa, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Tunisia are on the program.

For more information go to www.africamatters.be or www.afrikafilmfestival.be

Black people in contemporary Belgium

Belgium hosts the capital of the EU and is a small country right in between the Netherlands, France, the UK and Germany. The Netherlands, France and the UK have large black communities. There is a small but vibrant Afro German community. So what about black people in Belgium?

Although many black people live in Belgium, very little is known of Afro Belgian communities. The reason is that Belgium is a multicultural and multilingual country from its off set in 1830. The only 3 Belgian things about Belgium are its politically confused and chaotic capital (Brussels), its football team and its royalty. The people of this country are either Flemish or Francophone. The black communities too.

The Flemish people speak Dutch and the Francophone speak French. Therefore we can’t talk about the Afro Belgian communities. Belgium consists of two main ‘nations’ (or ‘tribes’ if you prefer), geographically divided and with each their own black communities: the Afro Flemish and the francophone Afro Belgian.


Brussels, Flanders & Wallonia

The flag of the Bilingual Brussels Regional Authority

The capital Brussels is a special case. The city is right on the geographical divide between Francophone Belgium and Flanders. While over half of its population is of foreign origin, the city is officially bilingual French/Dutch and all its street signs are in both languages (10% of all Belgians live in the capital). To find a job in Brussels being bilingual is an advantage, but in reality French is the predominant communication language. Dutch is important as an official language for the city administration, but only around 20% of the city population is really bilingual Dutch-French. Brussels has large minorities of North-Africans (predominantly Moroccan), Congolese, Rwandans, Burundians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, Turkish, Greeks, Poles and many more. The overall majority of these people speak fluently French next to their mother tongues.

Except for the Turkish neighborhood, there are no mono-cultural ghetto’s. More and more Belgian youth have a very mixed ancestry, whatever the language they choose to speak most commonly. However, Brussels is a Francophone city experiencing most cultural and social influence from France. French speaking Belgium tends to refer to itself more as ‘Belgian’, than Flemish/Dutch-speakers do.



Besides the capital, Belgium consists of 3 other linguistic areas (see map). The north is the Flanders and is officially Dutch speaking (Blue, 58% of all Belgians live in this area). The south is Wallonia and is officially French speaking (Green, 32% of all Belgians live in this area). Some rural eastern parts of Wallonia have German speaking populations who have their own political representation (Purple and dark green parts on the map). Some towns around Brussels and on the linguistic borders have special status as bilingual entities.

Immigrant populations in Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia either have the Flemish-Dutch or the Belgian-French culture and language to refer to. The media of both language groups is totally divided. The school system and social-cultural policies are managed by two independent governments within the state of Belgium. Therefore Belgium, as a socio-cultural reality, doesn’t exist. It’s either Flemish or Francophone-Belgian. Immigrant populations and their children have to choose sides.

Afro Flemish

The Flemish Flag

Most Africans who migrated to Belgium during the last decades came from the former Belgian colonies in Africa (Congo/Zaire, Rwanda or Burundi). For linguistic reasons most of them decided to settle in the French speaking parts of Belgium. The Belgian colonial authority had been a Francophone one. French was still the most important language in their countries of origin.

During colonization Belgium was a Francophone country. Flemish culture and language was considered as lower and insignificant. It took until the 60’s before the Flemish Dutch-speaking population felt respected and accepted in Belgium, as citizens with the same rights as the Francophone. Not only the capital and Wallonia were/are Francophone. The whole Flemish upper class bourgeoisie was Francophone too, and still is in virtually all Flemish towns. Not speaking French in Belgium before the 60’s was considered being illiterate and uncultivated. Things changed much since.

The first Africans settling in the Flanders came from Congo and Rwanda-Burundi during the late 50’s and early 60’s. Due to chaotic situations in their home country, and thanks to relations in Belgium they often came as young children and were adopted within Flemish families.

The first African families to migrate to Flanders arrived in the early eighties, and even more in the nineties. Still, today African communities in Flanders are very small, divided and scattered all over the region. The highest concentration will be found in the city of Antwerp. However, the first adult Afro Flemings, who may be born and grew up in the Flanders, are now expressing themselves through different organizations. They want to be accepted as citizens of the Flemish region.

kifkif.be

afrikaansplatform.be

minderhedenforum.be

Some found their way to the media, others into music and sports, some became intellectuals. Below I will give you a list of the best known Afro Flemings or Dutch speaking Afro Belgians in Belgian media.

Ya Kid K. She was part of Technotronic and she wrote and sang the international mega hit ‘Pump up the Jam’. The girl appearing in the video is a lip-sync-model, not her. The video of ‘Get up’ is her first public appearance. Born in Congo (1972), raised from age 11 in Flanders. She’s Leki’s older sister.

Tatiana Silva. She was Miss Belgium 2005. It is also hardly correct to say whether she’s Flemish. She would define herself as ‘Belgian of Cape-Verdean origin’. She is perfectly bilingual and born (1985) and bred in Brussels. She released a song in English, the video was shot in Ghent (Flanders).

Eric Baranyanka. TV-presentator on the children channel Ketnet and front singer of the ‘Ketnet Band’. He was born (1959) in Burundi and moved to Belgium as a 3 year old child, he grew up in the Flanders.

Maya Albert. Her grandfather was Rwandan. She is a theater actrice and was born (1975) and bred in Flanders. She is most famous for a role in Thuis (Home) from 2003 till 2008. A very popular Flemish soap serie. She played the role of Aïsha, a Morrocan teenager.

Uwamungu Cornelis. A Flemish standup comedian of Rwandan origin. Born (1981) and bred in Belgium.

Elodie Ouedraogo. She's a Flemish athlete, having won silver on the 2008 Peking Olympics with the 4 X 100m relay race (in a team with Kim Gevaert) and she won a bronze medal at the wolrd championships in Osaka 2007. These are just some of the few medals won by the Belgian Olympic Team. She is bron in Brussels and is originally from Burkina Faso.

Ronny Mosuse. Popular singer song writer and free lance actor. Born (1971) and bred in Belgium. He’s father was Congolese. Ronny Mosuse was part of the band The Radios with which he had the global hit song ‘She Goes Na Na’. He’s the bass player in The Clement Peerens Explosition a popular Flemish rock act. He sometimes appears in the comic Flemish show, In de Gloria.

Sandrine Van Handenhoven. R&B singer. She was in the finale of the Flemish Idol (2004). She released an album in 2008 and appears on different TV-shows. Born (1984) en bred in Flanders.

Kimberley Gibbs. I don’t know much about her but she’s a young rising star in the world wide R&B network. She actually grew up in Maasmechelen, Belgium. As far as I know she has roots in Curaçao. But she definitely grew up in Flanders and made her debut there.

Kay Styles. A Flemish hip hop and R&B star. He was born in 1981 in Ghana and moved to Belgium with his mother at age 5. He grew up in Leuven. Real name: Kwasi Kyasi

Leki. Real name: Karoline Kamosi. Rapper and R&B singer. VJ on TMF, the Flemish music channel, where she hosts the hip hop/R&B show Cool Sweat. Born in Congo (1978), grew up in Flanders. She’s Ya Kid K’s younger sister.

Jean-Bosco Safari. Aka Kid Safari, real name: Jean Vijdt. Singer song writer born in Rwanda (1954), raised in Flanders

Afro Flemish ‘Intelectuals’ in the media

There are very few politicians of African descent in Flanders. Most politicians of foreign origin are either of Moroccan or Turkish ancestry. There are two local black politicians I know of

Marie-Cecile Ngamp, SLP (Social Liberal Party), Brussels, chairwoman of the Afro Flemish Center (Afro Vlaams Centrum)

Wouter Van Bellingen, SLP, member of the local government in the town of Sint-Niklaas. Became famous in a rather strange way. He is the local officer who inaugurates marriages in his town. Some racist couples refused their marriage to be inaugurated by a black person. This got into the media and became a big hype. The media discovered a soft spoken well educated black man who handled the situation with humor and diplomacy. He defied all stereotypes.
Other intellectuals:

Ngo Kabuta, professor at the university of Ghent. Teaches KiSwahili and TshiLuba. Not really famous but sometimes invited on TV as a representative guest of the Afro Flemish community.

Gilbert Nyatanyi, was born in Rwanda, came as a small child to Belgium. Grew up in West-Flanders. Studied law and worked as a lawyer. He became famous as Gilberke ‘the black reporter who speaks West-Flemish dialect’. He interviewed some sports men and women while speaking West-Flemish dialect, which was perceived as hilarious for the Flemish audience. He made some more TV appearances as Gilberke in very popular Flemish shows such as ‘In de Gloria’ and ‘Alles kan beter’. He released a book in 2007, ‘Symfonie van zwart in wit. Zwarte Afrikanen in België’ (‘Symphony in Black and White. Black Africans in Belgium’). He recently moved ‘back’ to Africa, working for an international law firm in Tanzania.

Chika Unigwe. She was born and raised in Nigeria. She did a bachelor in Nigeria but did her Master’s degree at the University of Leuven and completed a PhD at the University of Leiden, in The Netherlands. She became famous after releasing her first novel, De Feniks (The Phoenix), in 2007. She was the first Belgian person of African descent releasing a book in Dutch. This is strange, because Chika wrote the book originally in English and translated it afterwards. She received quite some media attention though. She is married with a Belgian and has 4 children. She currently lives in a small town in northern Belgium. http://journal.afroeuropa.eu/index.php/afroeuropa/article/view/76/70

Zana Etambala. Professor of history at the Catholic University of Leuven, he teaches colonial history (1500-1960) and has been invited several times on TV to give his opinion about Congolese matters and Belgo-Congolese relations. He was born in Congo but came as a young child to Belgium and was adopted in a Flemish family.

French speaking Afro Belgians
Flag of Wallonia and the Francophone community of Belgium

Most Africans who migrated to Belgium after World War II came from francophone Africa. Therefore they chose to settle in the French speaking parts of Belgium. Consequently there are more black people living in Brussels and Wallonia than in the Flanders (i.e. the northern part of Belgium).

Most Belgians of African origin live in towns and cities. The biggest concentration can be found in Brussels which has a commercial and cultural black African neighborhood. This neighborhood has not to be mistaken for a ghetto. Although many Africans live there, they do not form a majority. The area is famous for shops selling African products. From vegetables to cosmetics. There are also many African barber shops and hairdressers, and several African cafés and pubs. This commercial area is called Matongé and has the same name as a vibrant neighborhood in Kinshasa, capital of Congo (ex-Zaire).

However, nowadays you can find African shops and hair dressers in every town in Belgium. Although most Afro Belgians can trace their ancestry back to Congo, Rwanda or Burundi, many other francophone Africans (from Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Cameroon, …) live in Brussels and other cities in Belgium. Many of these francophone Afro Belgians were born and raised in Belgium.

Although Morocco is technically speaking in Africa, black Belgians and Moroccan Belgians do not consider themselves to be part of the same ‘African community’. Moroccan Belgians see themselves as part of the Muslim and Arab world, even when they are ethnically Berbers. That is why I will not include Belgians of Moroccan descent in my list of famous francophone Afro Belgians below.

Just as most people of African descent in the whole world, Afro Belgians seem to be very well represented in the entertainment business. Note that the cultural world of the French speaking world is concentrated around France. A lot of francophone Belgians move to France to make it. France tends to consider ‘French’ any successful French speaking artist; whether Belgian, Swiss, Canadian, or any other. For football players I refer further down to my post about Afro Belgian Football Players. The list below is focused on the most important Afro Belgians who made it in the media: musicians, actors and other TV people, besides 2 politicians.

Viktor Lazlo. (real name Sonia Dronier) Difficult to say whether she is Belgian. She was born in Bretagne, France (1960) from Caribbean parents (Martinique-Grenada) but became the first black TV personality in Belgium. She presented the Eurosong Festival when organized in Belgium in 1987. Besides that she was a singer and had some French and English hits.

Marie Daulne. World famous with her musical project Zap Mama. Recorded several albums, collaborated with US artists Common and The Roots among others. She is a much loved artist in Belgium. She was born in Congo, and raised in Belgium by her Congolese mother (her Belgian father was killed in the first year after her birth).

Baloji. Born in 1978 in Lubumbashi, Southern Congo, he came with his father to Belgium as a 3 year old. He leaves home at the age of 16 and starts to rap in the group Malfrats Linguistiques, later Starflam. This group releases some albums and has a considerable success in Belgium and France. In 2004 he leaves the group. Last year he released his first solo album, Hotel Impala. This album is full of references to the relations between Congo and Belgium, his life story and personal quest for identity.

Soul ID. This is the name of a band, better known abroad than in Belgium. Three Belgian singers of Congolese and Rwandan origin sing together with a band of mostly Dutch musicians. This is neo soul, they call themselves Afropeans!

Dieudonné Kabongo. Actor, standup comedian, musician. He was born in Congo (1950) moved to Belgium as a young man. He became Belgian in 1970. He lives in Brussels. He became famous after winning the Festival du Rire de Rochefort in 1984. He tours the whole French speaking world with his hilarious one man shows where he confronts stereotypes of colonization, whites and blacks.

Stromae (Paul Van Haver). Hip Hop producer, singer songwriter, rapper. He's of Belgian-Rwandese descent but was born and raised in Belgium. He produced several tracks for french hip hop icon Kery James before breaking through with world wide hit "Alors On Danse" (2009).

Olivier Mukuna. Journalist and reporter. He has Congolese roots and writes polemic articles. He got the media attention with his book Egalité Zéro in which he asks direct questions concerning the case of Afro French humorist Dieudonné (has been condemned for anti-Semitism due to a sketch) and racism within French media.

Afro Belgian Politicians
Gisèle Mandaila. Born in Congo (1970). Moved to Belgium with her parents as a 11 year old. Grew up in Brussels. Studied at the Brussels University and is a politician on the local Brussels regional level in which she represents the FDF (Front Démocratique Francophone), a center right party. She’s considered by the French speaking media as a representative of the Congolese community in Brussels.

Bertin Mampaka. He was the first black person to be elected to the Brussels-City council. Today he’s member of parliament for the Brussels Region, and member of the local Brussels-City government. Born in Congo (1957), educated in Belgium. Lives and works in Brussels. One of the leading people of the CDH party, a francophone center party (was of Christian signature but has now adopted the label ‘humanist’).


Afro Belgian Football Players

Just as in all European countries, blacks or very well represented in the world of sports.

I will list you the best Afro Belgian football players of the moment. I will not make a distinction between Dutch-speaking or French-speaking blacks. Football is beyond cultural difference and language. Football players have international careers, use different languages, also within Belgium. The Belgian Football League is one of the last Belgian institutions standing.

Although Belgium exports many great international professional players who have good reputation abroad, the Belgian national team seems to lose every international competition. Most Afro Belgian football players now play in teams abroad.

Many players in Belgian teams are Africans (by nationality of their home country). I will not include them in this list. This list includes all Belgian professional players of African origin, whether they speak Dutch or French. These are the black players that can be listed for the national team.

Romelu Lukaku (1993) is just 16 years old, 1m92 tall, and plays already among the adults of RSC Anderlecht. He is a prodigy loved by the media and football fans alike. Although he's very young he is very down to earth and knows he still has to learn a lot. He plays a beautiful game! This is someone to keep an eye on. Romelu's parents are both of Congolese origin. He was born and raised in Northern Belgium and speaks Dutch.

Vincent Kompany (1986). Twice winner of the Ebony Shoe (a title given every year to the best black player of the Belgian Football League, Africans and Belgians of African origin) in 2004 and 2005. He won the Golden Shoe (Best player of the year in the BFL) in 2005. He currently plays for Manchester City. He grew up in Brussels and has a bilingual (French-Dutch) background.

Emile Mpenza (1978). Born and bred in Belgium, he’s a of Congolese origin. He recently moved from Manchester City to Plymouth Argyle. He has a French speaking background.

Axel Witsel (1989). Born and bred in Belgium. His father is from Martinique. He plays for Standard de Liège, one of the best teams in Belgium. Won the Golden Shoe 2008. He has a French speaking background.

Igor De Camargo is a Afro Brazilian who recently received the Belgian natianality and already played in the national league. Currently top player for Standard de Liège.

Gaby Mudingayi (1981). Norn in Congo, raised in Belgium. Is currently playing for FC Bologna in Italy.

Landry Mulemo (1986). Born in Congo, raised in Belgium. Has a Francophone background and plays for the Belgian top club Standard Liège.

Christian Benteke (1991). Also payer at Standard Liège. Born in Congo and raised in Belgium.

Faris Haroun (1986). Born and bred in Belgium. His father is originally from Chad. He plays with Germinal Beerschot.

Gunther Van Handenhoven (1978). Sandrine’s (R&B singer) brother. Born in Belgium, plays for KSV Roeselaere, married to Miss Belgium 2002. He has a Dutch speaking background.

Symposium on the Sub-Saharan Diaspora in Belgium

Last month, in collaboration with Afribel (United Afro Belgian Artist), Cemis (Center for Migration Studies, University of Antwerp), CGO Kasala (Afro Belgian Organisation created by Prof. Dr. Kabuta) and Cood, FOYER organized a ‘Symposium on the Sub-Saharan Diaspora in Belgium’ on 19 March 2009

FOYER is a nongovernmental organization concerned with migration and its consequences in Belgium. They do a great deal to help refugees and other immigrants to make a new home in Belgium. Multilingualism, social cohesion, refugees, women rights are some of the issues they try to tackle besides many more. They organize events, workshops, meetings, language courses, support groups etc. and help immigrants to organize themselves and be heard by the government.

This organization has been working for 40 years and therefore organized a Symposium on the Sub-Saharan Diaspora in Belgium. They invited representatives of the Afro Belgian communities and members of government to talk with each other and reflect on the presence of new communities within Belgium and its meaning for Belgium and Africa. Foyer wants to focus on the positive sides of migration, how everybody can gain something out of it, how it enriches Europe, and how it can influence Belgium’s relations with Africa.

On Foyer’s website you can see two video’s of approx. 30 minutes where you can follow the discussions tackled during that symposium. The languages in the video are Dutch and French.

The first video is about which role the African diaspora can play in Belgian and European cooperation. The second is about how to associate and motivate the African diaspora in the economical, social and political development of Africa.

Belgium Football Walllpapers

• Belgium Wallpaper #1
• Resolution : 1680 x 1050
• Author : www.widescreen-football.com