Black Europeans - Special issue of The African Courier

The magazine The African Courier has published a special issue about Black Europeans.

The intro: "Black Europeans. 2011 is the UN’s International Year for People of African Descent. In the spirit of the Year, we focus on Black Europeans in this issue, presenting them as an entity by themselves and not as an extension of the colonialist or post-colonialist dynamics."

The issue starts with an essay of African American poet, playwright and journalist Gyavira Lasana, who was also appointed as an editor for this special issue.

He makes a historical excursion and a voyage into the future of Black Europe. And he writes on the history of African Americans in Europe and points out the essential difference between their experience and that of their compatriots from the African continent.

And a story of Dutch author Furaha Kensmil, who explains why she feels like a foreigner in both Suriname and the Netherlands, which prides itself as a colour-blind nation while advancing anti-immigrant policies.

But there is much more, so read about more about this issue at http://www.theafricancourier.de

The styles of “Jeunes Parisiens” (Young Parisians) - Photo book by Hugues Lawson-Body

“Jeunes Parisiens” (Young Parisians) is the first book of Parisian photographer Hugues Lawson. In his book he tried to caputure the different styles of the Parisian youth. It took him 3 years to complete his project and his photo book was released in December 2010.

Hugues Lawson also worked for various companies such as Nike, Ikea, Orange, Kinder Bueno and collaborates with various magazines like Time, L'Equipe Magazine, GQ and Elle. Lawson is born in Togo and lives and works in Paris France.

According to the lifestyle magazine Mail Movement, Hugues Lawson was interested in today's youngster, totally different from those of his generation.

Those that we pass everyday, that we stare, we're trying to understand the attitude, the codes, forgetting that each of us have been there before Hugues Lawson put himself in our place and tried to know more, to do a portrait without scratchs of this new generation, which mixes, tangled and often stay in groups.



"I was surprised by these teens, dancing on African music in their hall, in a city of the 20th district, and obviously, I'm getting old," he explains. "I wanted to learn more about this generation and my work forced me to document myself. Some meetings have resulted in others, some funny ones, crazy, rich... And my one-day models were interested in my approach, and have often seen me as one of their own.



Despite my limited slang and my age, they never treated me as an intruder. I wasn't expecting much naturalness and spontaneity from them. My city, Paris, is cosmopolitan and contrary to popular belief, all the Parisians are not white!

I tried to capture this reality," he continues. "In these tribes, I tried to identify: the leader, the origin, the appurtenance to a movement, the style, and then the details: the fringe in common, metal objects, tattoos, piercings, religious symbols, pointy-toed shoes and some platforms of some of them..."



Published by 19/80 Editions, "Jeunes Parisiens" (Young Parisians) isn't a collection of photos, or one of those famous books compiling the fashion outfits of foreigners crossed in the street. "The fashion balance exists in this book, but it doesn't thunder like on the fashion blogs or magazines.



This book is not a "Fashion" dictionary, it's a book about today's "Young Parisian" concludes Hugues Lawson. Indeed, the book contains some notes and texts by Mark Beauge, William Klein and Oxmo Puccino." (Source: Mail Movement)

An interview with Hugues Lawson


Some links:
http://jeunes-parisiens.tumblr.com
http://next.liberation.fr
http://www.ideabooks.nl

Video: 25 Years of ISD: Initiative Black People in Germany (update)

Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD-Initiative Black Germans) celebrated their 25 years of existence in 2010 and made a little video (with English subtitles) to commemorate this event.

I am happy to post their video now so that people all over the world can experience how ISD keeps on moving, producing and organizing for the benefit of the black community in Germany and will keep on doing this in the future.

I want to thank them again for the great welcoming they gave me when visiting their annual meeting last summer. See my post about the visit here.

Video of 25 years ISD (2010)


For more information about ISD and the annual meeting ('Bundestreffen') go to Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD) at http://www.isdonline.de

25 Years of ISD: Initiative Black People in Germany

The year 2010 is nearly over. Another few weeks and it’s 2011. I didn’t post much lately but thanks to my blog partner and founder of this website Afro-Europe International Blog is still alive and kicking.

Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD-Initiative Black Germans) celebrated their 25 years of existence this year and made a little video to commemorate this event. Before the end of this festive year I am happy to post their video now so that people all over the world can experience how ISD keeps on moving, producing and organizing for the benefit of the black community in Germany and will keep on doing this in the future.

I want to thank them again for the great welcoming they gave me when visiting their annual meeting last summer.

25. Years ISD with engl. subtitles from BlackMediaGermany on Vimeo.

Also see the post: Sharing the AfroEuropean Experience. My visit to the 25th yearly Bundestreffen in Germany.

Must See Video: "Influencers" - A webdoc about New York influential creatives

INFLUENCERS is a short documentary that explores what it means to be an influencer and how trends and creativity become contagious today in music, fashion and entertainment.

The film attempts to understand the essence of influence, what makes a person influential without taking a statistical or metric approach.

Written and Directed by Paul Rojanathara and Davis Johnson, the film is a Polaroid snapshot of New York influential creatives (advertising, design, fashion and entertainment) who are shaping today's pop culture.



"Influencers" belongs to the new generation of short films, webdocs, which combine the documentary style and the online experience.

The music in the beginning of the video is from the Robert Glasper Trio.

Henry Bonsu - Colourful Radio Director - about diversity in Britain

@Glenyearwoodgroup: Henry Bonsu interviewing Debra Lee President of BET

An interview with Colourful Radio Director Henry Bonsu about discrimination and diversity in Britain. Listen to British Colourful Radio here.

Bonsu has worked for the BCC, has written for The Times, The Mail on Sunday, Daily Express, The Voice and New Nation. Read more about Bonsu here

The interview with Bonsu was part of the "Speak out against discrimination" campaign of the Counsil Of Europe

23 March 2009
1. How do you assess the level of discrimination in Britain?

It depends on who you are, your level of education, where you live, how old you are and how long you have been in the country.

For someone like me, born and raised in Manchester with a decent level of education and with a middle class lifestyle living in a diverse part of London , I get very little overt discrimination. I travel around the country fairly fearlessly.

If I was a much younger person in an area of greater disadvantage and under-educated, I might be more at the sharp end.

I would echo in broad terms what Trevor Phillips, leader of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission said: It's probably better to be a person of colour in this country than anywhere else in Europe .

2. How would you asses the level of national acceptance of cultural diversity?

There are lots and lots of people who are very uncomfortable with this trend towards diversity in advertising, in popular television and in the mainstream news. The picture is one of increasing diversity in some areas but lots of blind spots. If you listen to BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4, you would think that much of Britain was living as it did in the 1950's.

3. How have cultural organisations and political groups responded to the challenges of diversity?

Some cultural organisations have responded very powerfully indeed. The Arts Council has run a range of programmes to try and support African – Caribbean and Asian work. It's not faultless and they have made major errors but efforts have been made.

The Victoria & Albert Museum , the Museum of London and the Natural History Museum are running outreach programmes to get more African-Caribbean people and Asians through the door. But these schemes tend to be sporadic. There isn't much of a long term or consistent strategy. It's ad-hoc. They will bring in a cross –cultural curator and their job is to present work that will attract a broader range of people. Usually, that person is working in isolation, is under-funded and is not necessarily working in an integrated way with the rest of the institution. That has to stop. It has to be about making sure the whole organisation is on board and realises that cultural diversity is not an add-on and is part of the whole organisation. Institutions, especially if they are accepting public money will have to accept this and respond to it.

All the political parties are scrambling to find their Barack Obama. Both of the main parties are trying to put people of colour into more serious seats.

If you look at many of the uniformed services, where the pamphlets speak very well of diversity and the need to make their organisation more representative of the general population , many of the rank and file are sick of all this stuff. They say ‘best man or woman for the job without any tokenism.'

What they don't realise is that there was already a tokenism of sorts before all of this started. It placed individuals from the ethnic majority in posts where they were unqualified but because they were white, it was not seen. It was invisible.

4. What role can the media play in promoting diversity?

The media has an enormous amount of power with the responsibility to use it wisely and carefully. The media can change the mood of a country on important public maters like race, diversity, tolerance and relations between men and women.

There was one poll I saw in which the majority of the people thought that 30% of the country was African-Caribbean and Asian when it is about 6%. That's because of distortion and the undue prominence given to certain stories.

5. Does the media's professional culture make it difficult for black and ethnic minority employees to sustain careers?

The brightest and best of the African-Caribbean community often steer clear of media. They do not take it seriously. They go into law, banking, finance and medicine where it is more meritocratic.

Print media is eons behind broadcast media. National newspapers look like 1960's Britain . The culture is years behind television because broadcasters are under so much pressure.

The vast majority of jobs in the media are not advertised. Where there is a vacancy, it is normally filled internally. That's why you don't get the throughput that you need to change an organisation.

6. What advice would you give to a young black graduate interested in a television career?

They need to watch the news, read the serious bits of the newspapers, read political biographies and they need to write so they know what is required. Otherwise they will not understand what they are letting themselves in for and why they are not progressing.

Media is not as much of a meritocracy as other professions. When you are a person of colour, you often do not get a second chance in this industry. People say ‘they are not ready, not experienced enough, don't have enough pulling power or the audience will switch off.' Even though it wont be said openly, behind the scenes, this is what people are saying and thinking.

It's unfair but complaining about it is like complaining about the weather. If you get into this industry, you've got to learn to collaborate, get out of your comfort zone and develop as many strings to your bow as possible.

It helps if you want to enter the TV industry to know which part you want to go into. You can waste huge amounts of time by not doing enough research. Do as much work experience as you can as early as you can. That way you can decide if you think working on a BBC costume drama is really more exciting than producing on Channel 4 News, or presenting on Childrens TV. You also need to demistify the industry. TV is not rocket science, no matter how much people try to pretend it is. There are a number of highly skilled technicians, but most of the rest of us dream up ideas, then call on others to try and make them happen! You've just got to decide which one of those you are...then network like mad!

7. What can Europe learn from the British experience?

We've been at this for some time in this country and we've made some progress. MP's , public officials dare not say things that are foolish and wildly untrue in the way that they would have done some years ago, whereas in some European countries, it's not the case.

Britain has been more willing to listen and respond to the shouts and protestations of visible minorities whereas other countries have been more stubborn.

No apologies should be offered for pushing through legislation which is aimed at fairness. A lot of the ethnic trouble that exists is because the ethnic majority think its about giving favours to people who don't deserve them. Europe should be honest about who gets what in terms of resources.

Legislation has to be backed up by monitoring. There should be full enforcement of the law so that everyone understands that the government is serious and will use its power.

Sporting institutions and football in particular have helped to take the message of difference to corners of the country that politicians have failed to reach.

8. What are the prospects for an improvement of community relations in Britain?

There is every prospect. We are becoming more intolerant of people who set out to cause offence. We have come too far to say multi-culturalism is over. People are working alongside each other, making children together and forging alliances when it comes to culture and creativity. There's more and more interaction.

Black Dutch people in the media

There are many positive examples of the portrayal of black people in the Dutch media, but some of them are a bit questionable. One example is the recently launched sexual awareness campaign.

The purple text box reads: Your child And Sex, which is also the name of the site. On the left banner there is information about Aids and SOA, Dutch for Sexually transmitted diseases. The site your child and sex is for parents and teachers.

The site is part of the social media campaign “Maak sex lekker duidelijk“ (Make sex clear), which is launched on November 1st and is aimed to empower young people to protect themselves against unwanted sexual behavior.

It is the first Dutch campaign to promote the sexual health of young people. It’s initiated by the Dutch Ministry of Health and Education.

Good initiative. But why are there so many images of black people in the campaign? In the big cities in the Netherlands black young people unfortunately are an at risk group when it comes to sexually transmitted diseases, but this campaign is not specifically targeted at black young people.

The picture with the black boy and the white girl looks more like a wake-up call for parents and teachers.

The reality is that on the site the black boy, and other young people, give advice to parents and teachers on how to deal with these problems and dilemmas. But somehow the image of a young black male seems to be used to trigger the attention about the problems of Aids and sexually transmitted diseases.

To end, the promotional picture of the campaign with the boy and his tongue sticking out. The text on booklet reads, I'm ready for more, but you are the boss.

Black Community Northern Ireland promotes positive images of Africa

The Afro-Community Support Organisation of Northern Ireland (ACSONI) has celebrated the launch of its European Commission funded project, 'Images and Messages of Africa from an African Perspective'.

This programme is a joint initiative between the Africa Centre, Slovenia and the Africa Centre in Dublin. It is aimed at building the capacity of Africans and raising awareness of issues fuelling the migration of Africans to Europe and recognises that Northern Ireland also faces the challenges of an emerging intercultural society, there are pockets of the population which struggle with accepting people from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

The Afro-Community is one of the largest Minority Ethnic Communities in Northern Ireland (1,126 people, 2001 Census, that today is estimated in excess of 6,000) while information on the life and experiences of African, Caribbean and other Afro-descendants in Northern Ireland is virtually non-existent. (Source: 4n.co.uk)

See website for more information: http://www.acsoni.org/

World Cup: What happened to the Black Dutch “beer babe”?

Photo: Cheering Black girl on the right
Dozens of Dutch female football fans in Bavaria "Dutchdress" were in the international spotlight after they were arrested at the World Cup stadium because they violated FIFA sponsorship rules.

But where was the cheering black girl in the Bavaria commercial which is aired in the Netherlands? See video commercial here.

The scene in South Africa at the World Cup.



It reminds of the international poster of the film Couples Retreat, where the black actors got deleted from the poster to "simplify" it for a European audience.

Maybe sponsor Bavaria was simplifying “Holland” for the world.

Black Europeans and the media (Netherlands)

It is always interesting to see how black people in Europe are portrayed in the media, since there are many stories and pictures where black people are portrayed in a stereotype way. Today I stumbled upon a remarkable example.

In the Dutch free newspaper Depers I saw a picture of Rox, the new singer songwriter from South London.

The front page (above) had the following headline: “We are really proud of Europe.” And in the byline: "And that’s why we advise Rox and four other singers."

And there is more


The headline: “New, good, female and European”

I thought great for Rox that she is featured like this. But I had mixed feelings about the by-line.

“An ailing eurozone survives only by substantial investment in the own economy. So buy European products, starting with music.“

When I read the byline it felt as if they are using a black girl on the cover to make protectionisme look a bit friendly. As if they where saying that this appeal is not an anti-foreigner thing.

But maybe I am wrong, and this is just a story of an editor who likes the music of Rox.

Euromight - Guide to multicultural Europe

Euromight celebrates Europe's multicultural residents, telling their stories, discussing their concerns and marking the events that are important to their everyday lives.

Whether you are a European of black or brown descent, belong to an ethnic group not commonly recognized as European, or are simply interested in these unique Europeans, Euromight provides a vehicle that reflects Europe's diversity both in the region and beyond.

Euromight was founded by London-born journalist, writer, editor and professor Olive Vassell. Being born to parents of Caribbean origin, Olive was keenly aware from an early age that her family and other immigrant families were rarely represented in the social, cultural and political landscapes around them.

Read more on http://www.euromight.com/

Afro-Europe is featured on Ebonyjet Online

Afro-Europe International Blog is the editor's pick of the African-American online magazine Ebonyjet Online.

See more on http://www.ebonyjet.com/

Update: Afro-Europe was featured on the main site of Ebony for two weeks.

A.C. Global Voices - Black media starting guide (UK)

The website A.C. Global Voices is an online directory of all of the African Caribbean community information/talk/debate shows across the world.

Though the main emphasis is on radio programmes, the website also promotes other current affairs based media such as TV stations, magazines, newspapers and newsletters.

In an interview with Ligali the founder Chigbo John-Paul Ibe explaines why he created the site. "I would hear people ring into shows complaining about;
‘How there aren’t enough forums out there for Black people to have discussion’,
‘Community organisation not knowing how to promote their events to the wider community’

This triggered me to think about ways of getting the information to the wider community. I originally thought about publishing a directory in paper format. However I found it too expensive.

The only option was to create a website. I did procrastinate over the idea for a while, but after encouragement from some friends I decided to push on with it last October."

Read the full interview on Ligali

Website: A.C. Global Voices

Video: The live of a black street musician in Paris

Always wanted to know what it’s like being a street musician in Paris, but were afraid to ask? You'll get the answer from guitar player Nikerson from Haiti. In the video he talks about his live in Paris, about his frustration, and about his dreams. An interesting video with scenes from the streets of Paris. See part two here

The video is from a very interesting blog called Beta Bahil. Beta Bahil wants to develop, market and distribute African cultural media and products worldwide. African, in this case, means anyone of African descent in or out of the continent.

TV/Social Media: New lives (Nouvelles vies) – Eight people decided to change their life (France)

New Lives is the new French TV and social media reality show on RFO. Eight people who live in, or have roots in the overseas French territories embark on a journey to change their lives by following their dreams. The show is aired on TV, but people can also participate by posting advice on the social media site. Go to Nouvelles Vies (New Lives) here



See the profile videos here

The profiles:

Corinne, originally from Martinique, is a professional dancer. Her specialty is the limbo. She is the mother of 3 boys. At 40 she dreams of starting a dance school. New Lives proposed to accompany her with the steps she undertook, supported by her relatives. Corinne was one of the singers of the eighties disco group Bony M.

Dominique (Guadeloupe) made her living as financial advisor, and is is 30 years old. She has lived all her youth in the Paris, but has decided to leave everything behind to start a new live from scratch on Guadeloupe. Is she not going to miss the city?

Gwénaelle, 18, arrived in Fort-de-France and entered the prestigious school 'école de Sciences-Po Paris'. A real change of life for this young girl who has left her family and friends, and is preparing for a difficult course. The show follows her career, and her first few weeks of adjustment in the capital Paris.

Samuel , 31, lives in Réunion. He practices organic farming and wants to share his beliefs with other farmers in the region. He is preparing to organise the first eco festival of Réunion. His wife will take the opportunity to give bio cooking classes. We'll see if this pair manages to pass on this new lifestyle.

Nathalie is an expectant mother of twins and her life is not easy. This Martiniquaise 33 years will become a single mother, but she must find a new home, repair her car and organize her life. Preparing for the childbirth, and to her new life as a mother, we follow the change of life.

Audrey, 31, originally from Martinique, dropped her job as legal officer and wants to start a new career in producing films. But the path to the cinema is full of pitfalls.

Fabrice (Réunion) is a foreman in a garage during week and skipper in the weekend: his dream is to participate in the sailing contest Round Créolia. He must train and find a teammate, but parallel to its preparation, he was to inherit a land where he plans to mount lodgings. Arrive there at any juggle? Will he participate in the race?

Tiya earns his living by making Theatre and film costumes, but wants to record an album and pursue a singing career. She has already filmed the first clip and tries to make a name for herself.

For more information see: fxgpariscaraibe (French)

Black media organisation AFROTAK wins second prize in competition “RESPEKT GEWINNT!“ (Germany)

The Afro-German media organisation AFROTAK cyberNomads has been awarded second place for its contribution in the competition „RESPEKT GEWINNT!“ of the “Berlin counsel for Democracy”.

The award ceremony of the Berlin counsel for Democracy will be held 02/12/2009 at 18.30h in HEIMATHAFEN in Neukölln.
More information at: www.berlinerratschlagfuerdemokratie.de

AFROTAK cybernomads was awarded second prize for the spoken word video, were black German, Afro German and blacks in Germany were invited to perform a spoken word piece about respect, tolerance and humanity.



After been awarded as BEST MEDIA Projekt 2005 by the African Youth Foundation, and as BEST MEDIA Projekt 2008 by Foundation for Democracy and Tolerance of the federal government, this new price will be added to the list.

AFROTAK cyberNomads

Dutch television host criticised for impersonating a black woman

Is it blackface or not, that is the question. Dutch television host Wendy van Dijk transformed herself into a stereotype black Antillean woman to fool Dutch Celebs. She called her Lucretia Martine, the weather woman from Curaçao. It was a transformation like Eddy Murphy did in the Nutty Professor. But there is one big difference, Wendy van Dijk is a white woman.

The television show is a big hit in Holland, already 2 million viewers watched the first show. But not everyone is happy with Van Dijk's creation. Surinam Actress and Singer Lucretia van der Vloot and and Author Clarck called it ridiculous.



Within the Surinamese and Antillean community there is criticism that Van Dijk stereotyped Antillean women: thick lips, fat ass, lazy, and always talking about sex.

But the criticism of Van der Vloot and Accord is not about the fact that she impersonated a black woman, but that she played an Antillean woman, but talked as Surinam woman. Which is the same as playing an American woman, but talking like a Jamaican. Writer Accord feels that Van Dijk should have known better, because she went to a black urban school in Amsterdam Bijlmer.

Wendy van Dijk’s act also sparked criticism on the media in general. At this moment Van Dijk’s Antillean woman is the only 'black' woman on Dutch television. Black people aren't underrepresented they have become totally absent on Dutch television.

Van Dijk says she doesn't understand the criticism: "I am only trying to play a funny, independent and well spoken woman."

The marketing agency of the Dutch Antillean island Curacao is happy with Van Dijk’s Curaçao woman act. They have offered her a contract to promote the Island.

Van Dijk also played a Japanese woman called Ushi, Lucreatia Martina, the weather woman from Curaçao, is her latest creation.

Update: see the interesting discussion on Shadowandact about blackface and and the Dutch Antillean character here

KINGSMEAD EYES: black children documented their world (UK)

Spotted on Africa is a country
Kingsmead Eyes is the result of a unique collaboration between photographer Gideon Mendel and 28 pupils from Kingsmead School in 
Hackney. The children documented their world over six months, photographing their friends, families, community and school to create an accomplished and vibrant body of work. At the same time, Mendel, working in parallel to the children made portraits of every child in the school as well as also documenting the life of the area.

This video installation is part of the Kingsmead Eyes exhibition on display at the V&A Museum of Childhood from 7 November 2009 till 7 February 2010.

The Kingsmead Estate, home to many of the pupils, is recognised as among the highest 4% for deprivation in the UK. The estate has suffered from a negative reputation in the past but conditions have improved in recent years and regeneration initiatives have encouraged a stronger sense of community. The school has played a major role in this turnaround, striving to achieve the highest standards with academic achievement above the national average – all the more impressive considering that 85% of pupils speak English as a second language. The success and creativity of the school has long been a source of local pride. For this project the ten year-old pupils were trained in the use of digital cameras in a series of workshops led by photographer, Crispin Hughes.

Kingsmead Eyes

A very interesting view in the lives of young black European children.