While interviewing Wouter Van Bellingen, a black Flemish politician here in Belgium, I discovered that in april 2009 there was a Black European Summit held in Brussels. I missed this event completely and had never heard about it.
Still when doing a search in google I couldn’t find much about it. The Summit's declaration and an article on www.the-latest.com (just two references). That article gave me more insight in the meaning and purpose of that summit.
More than 30 Afro-European and ethnic minority parliamentarians, experts and policy-makers came together with Black American policy makers to share ideas on fiscal and racial matters that continue to divide societies on both sides of the Atlantic. The article on the-latest.com states that recent statistics show that in Britain and Europe the unemployment rates of African Caribbeans are nearly double that of white people. British reports say the rates are three times that for Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, and civil rights groups say they are off the charts for Romas on the continent.
Editor of The-Latest Marc Wadsworth said: "For me the most important thing about the event will be the opportunity for black and minority ethnic politicians and activists from America and Europe to meet, share ideas and make concrete plans for how we are going to tackle the major challenges facing our people." The Black European Summit's initiative reflects according to The Latest a common transcontinental fear, among public intellectuals, writers, artists, scholars, educators and students, media journalists, policy-makers in human and civil rights, and leaders of heritage and workers' organisations.
Today I want to write something about Côte d’Ivoire. Why is this relevant on an Afro-European blog? Because the current situation in Côte d’Ivoire is about conflicting interest between Africa and Europe. Because the Ivoirian community of France is clearly expressing its frustration in the way France (and generally the West) is involved in local issues in Africa (see video's below). In this post I will try to clarify what is exactly going on as I think this story is relevant for most ex-colonies in relation to their past and Europe, this story is relevant for all Europeans of ex-colonial origin.
Rich but poor
Côte d’Ivoire is on the brink of a civil war. Again. People disappear, others are threatened. Côte d’Ivoire has long been considered an example of how it should be. But while being the greatest cocoa exporter in the world, while being a economically prosper country, Côte d’Ivoire still has its majority population living in utter poverty. Many countries in Africa have the poorest populations in the world while they often are very rich countries. The reason for this is complex. There is the colonial heritage, there are Western financial interests, there are disloyal and corrupt leaders, demographic explosion, … Côte d’Ivoire is today another victim of all these elements. Big boys with different interests are using the African people to gain their advantage, whether black or white, Ivoirian or French. Côte d’Ivoire has long been a prosperous country. It is the world’s lead cocoa exporter and Africa’s biggest palm oil producer (palm oil is an important raw material in the manufacture of soaps, washing powder and other hygiene and personal care products, besides biodiesel).
Even before independence Côte d’Ivoire was economically the most important region of French West Africa (which was administered as one colonial entity, only divided by France during the independence struggle). Many people from all over French West Africa migrated there for work. After independence this trend didn’t stop. These migrations have been going on for decades now, and many people who are born and raised in Côte d’Ivoire have foreign roots in other formerly French West African countries. Many live in the north and urban areas, with a concentration in the economical center of the country: Abidjan (the capital being Yamoussoukro).
Not only Africans moved to Côte d’Ivoire for work. In contrast to many African nations, the presence of French people more than doubled after independence while many other Europeans also came to work in Côte d’Ivoire. Today the white elite is fleeing the country.
Côte d’Ivoire is not just another African republic. Western nations, France first, have many financial and economical interests there. This is why they are getting involved so much. Below I will go deeper into Côte d’Ivoire’s history and the meaning of last elections for the international community.
Félix Houphouët-Boigny Félix Houphouët-Boigny was Côte d’Ivoire’s first president and he stayed in power until his death in 1993. Although having spend large amounts of public money for megalomaniac projects, he was and still is a very much respected and loved figure for the Ivoirian people. Félix Houphouët-Boigny has been instrumental in keeping the Ivoirian nation united, avoiding ethnic tensions and accepting Ivoirians of foreign origin as fellow nationals and Ivoirians.
Félix Houphouët-Boigny is a giant of the African emancipation. He is a name stated next to Senghor and Césaire. He left a stable and relatively prosper country behind him. Things would start to change dramatically after that.
Ivoirité
Bédié followed him up. He succeeded to divide his rivals and held on to power. To do that he emphasized the concept of ‘Ivoirité’, or Ivoirian identity, excluding his main political rival Allassane Ouattara, Houphouët-Boigny’s last prime minister. Although Ouattara was born in Côte d’Ivoire from parents who were also born in Côte d’Ivoire, he has roots from Burkina Faso, which made him in Bédié’s concept of Ivoirité a foreigner.
This excluded Ouattara from presenting himself for the presidential elections of 2000, but also excluded a great many people in Côte d’Ivoire from the Ivoirian nationality. Consequently the relationship between various ethnic groups became strained and a fire was sparked which is still burning today.
Bédié also tried to exclude potential opponents from the army. This led to a military coup in 1999 and the organization of new elections in 2000. That’s when Gbagbo got elected. Still, the concept of Ivoirité persisted in post-Bédié Côte d’Ivoire. Excluding Ouattara from the 2000 presidential election led to the civil unrest during the elections and eventually to a civil war in 2002.
Rebellion in 2002
The rebels controlled much of northern Côte d’Ivoire, where many Ivoirians lived who were excluded from Ivoirian nationality due to the Ivoirité policy. The rebels threatened to seize Abidjan, the economical center, but then France came into the picture. Under the official stance that French soldiers were sent to protect French citizens living there, many consider they were there to protect their financial and economical position. For many Ivoirians today the French actions worsened the situation in the long term. France didn’t learn from what happened then.
Alassane Ouattara took refuge in the French embassy, his home in Abidjan burned down. President Gbagbo stated, in a television address, that some of the rebels were hiding in the shanty towns of Abidjan where ‘foreign migrant workers’ lived. The police forces bulldozed and burned homes by the thousands, attacking the residents.
Transition under Gbagbo Eventually a few months later in 2003, Gbagbo and some rebel leaders signed accords creating a government of national unity. But that government prooved unstable. UN peacekeepers and French troops still controlled areas of the country and violent clashes occurred often. When the time for presidential elections came in 2005, it was deemed impossible to hold an election due to the lack of disarmament.
The 2005 elections were postponed until last month, november 2010. This time Ouattara was not excluded because of his so called Burkinabe origins.
The preliminary results announced by the Electoral Commission showed a loss for Gbagbo in favour of Alassane Ouattara who won with 54% of the vote (having received most votes from the Northern departments and the city of Abidjan). Gbagbo’s ruling FPI contested the results before the Constitutional Council, charging massive fraud in the northern departments. These charges were contradicted by international observers.
The Constitutional Council, which consists of Gbagbo supporters, declared the results of seven northern departments unlawful and that Gbagbo had won the elections with 51% of the vote. After the inauguration of Gbagbo, Ouattara, recognized as the winner by most countries and the United Nations, organized an alternative inauguration. These events raised fears of a resurgence of the civil war.
When I heard this news I was tempted to compare Gbagbo’s succes with the re-election of George W. Bush. But I couldn’t remember any official foreign reaction or support for Al Gore at the time.
I am not a Gbagbo fan. Since he came to power he has always used the ethnic card to gain popularity. Besides that he has questioned the French presence and economical interests in his sovereign country. This has led to ethnic tensions and to a worsening of the economical situation.
The first who suffer are the poorest, not the political elite. But Gbagbo blames the ‘foreign immigrants’ and the French. Ouattara represents both at the same time. Considering the election’s official results (51% for Gbagbo) I would think that Gbagbo’s discourse is not that convincing for the Ivoirian masses. Still, considering all this I wonder if it is a good idea to try to oust him from power right now. Certainly, I don’t think that it is the West’s role to do so. Sadam Hussein may have been a ruthless dictator, ousting him from power hasn’t improved the lifes of Iraqi’s. More on the contrary.
Ouattara Ouattara is considered by Gbagbo as a representative of foreign and Western interests. And he actually is. Ouattara was educated in the US and earned a PhD in economics from the University of Pennsylvania. He worked for the IMF and the BCEAO (central bank for the east African states) in Paris which makes him an advocate of the Franc CFA.
The Franc CFA is the common currency of most former French colonies. It is pegged to the Euro and according to many critics the cause of many economical problems and the economic dependency of these African states towards Europe. The Franc CFA is controlled and managed from Paris. Ouattara worked for the BCEAO in Paris until becoming its governor in 1988.
During the last years of Houphouët-Boigny’s rule from 1990, he was Côte d’Ivoire’s prime minister and actual leader once Félix Houphouët-Boigny got too ill. Ouattara was the one who announced Félix Houphouët-Boigny’s death to the nation.
After a brief power struggle bewteen Bédié en Outtara, Bédié became president en Ouattara resigned as prime minster. He went back working for the IMF as Deputy Managing Director and stayed there until 1999. After that he re-entered the political arena in Côte d’Ivoire leading up to the elections of last month.
Because of his career and marriage to a French woman (Dominique he often is considered by his critics as a representative of French and Western interests, and considered due to his northern roots and white wife, as not a real Ivoirian.
All these are false arguments of course. While understanding the critique against Western economical interests in Africa I don’t think that confrontation is the best tactic to improve the live of the Africans. It might get you elected, but then?
French Ivoirians and the Ivorian issue
Ivoirians in Paris supporting Gbagbo and protesting against French involvement (nr1):
One of the interviewees says: “Gbagbo is contested because he annoys the Western world, because he wants the wealth of Africa to be for the Africans … He is the man who can raise up Africa.”
Ivoirians in Paris supporting Gbagbo and protesting against French involvement (nr2):
Ivoirians in Paris protesting against Gbagbo in favor of Outtara(nr1):
Ivoirians in Paris protesting against Gbagbo in favor of Outtara(nr2):
Considering the reactions of Ivoirians in France it is clear that even if Gbagbo stole the elections it is not the role of foreign nations to intervene in local matters. According to Ivoirians this can only worsen the situation and divide the nation even more. The Ivoirians have to solve their own problems.
As you can see in the video’s above the Ivoirians are divided, but they areready to talk. Most voices of whatever side are against war and violence and have a peaceful message.
According to me Ouattara should accept his unfair defeat and go into opposition. From there he should teach Gbagbo what is democracy and from there he can either trap him (blame Gbagbo for all problems or show that he doesn’t do what he says) and make himself popular to an even larger electorate.
Gbagbo plays the role of the ‘real African’, fighting against the Western interests and therefore ‘for the African people’. But at the same time he is throwing oil on the ethnic fire that is burning since Bédié’s presidency. Côte d’Ivoire is devided between North and South, between Muslim and Christian, between ‘foreigner’ and ‘autochtones’. But it is a false division that is hiding the deeper laying problems of a rich country with too many poor people, of a rich country where foreigners, big companies and corrupt politician are getting richer, while the masses are living in dire poverty. It sometimes seems to me that Gbagbo is copying French political style, where Frenchness is questioned (refering to Sarlozy’s ‘débat sur l’identité française’) next to the so called ‘immigrant Muslims’.
Today the country has been sealed off from the outside world by Gbagbo. Gbagbo is not considered a lawfull head of state by the UN, EU and US. They only recognize Ouattara as the lawfull president. But a president without power, and the West’s reactions is only worsening the local situation. Everybody is holding their breath.
Guinea
All this happens today in so exemplary Côte d’Ivoire while Guinea-Conakry, the bad boy of former French colonies (who rejected the Franc CFA and has its own currency), a country with difficult diplomatic relations with France, just had its first free and fair elections since independence (without France or the UN getting involved). The transition from dictatorship to military rule and then elections didn’t happen without problems of course. But it was a transition done by and for the Africans themselves. Let’s now wait and see what freshly elected president Alpha Condé will do for his country and its people.
The UK Hip Hop scene is not amused with Jay Z’s visit to the White House. Wasn't Hip Hop about fighting the power? Apparently things have changed according to British rappers Akala and Lowkey. "Is Hip Hop serving power, or is Hip Hop challenging power," that is question. And, "if the US government loves the same rappers as you love, you have to question whose interests are those rappers serving. “ In a conversations three British minds (Akala, Lowkey and Saul Williams) discuss the current state of hip-hop and it's misguided use by the youth of today. They underline the various struggles in making music as an independent artist.
I posted a press release of the European Union regarding the Sakharov Prize which was given to Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas. The 48-year-old doctor of psychology was invited to receive the €50,000 prize in Strasbourg on 15 December.
But as always there are of two sides of a story. I received a comment which sheds some light on the Cuban perspective. Main critique about the press release regarding Cuban Guillermo Fariñas was that is was misinformation in both North America and Europe. From the Cuban point of view the press release ignored and distorted the truth on purpose to bring up these individuals as advocates of alleged human rights violations, when they are actually paid agents of a foreign power to subvert the Constitution of a sovereign country.
Poland has its first black politician in parliament. John Godson, 40, is originally from Nigeria but moved to Poland in the early 90’s. He lives in the town of Lodz, is married to a local woman and served for several years in the city council. He is a university lecturer teaching at several universities and institutions in Poland and the president of the African Institute in Poland.
John Godson is a member of the leading Civic Platform party of which prime minister Donald Tusk is also a member. He took up a seat in the Polish lower house of parliament following the resignation of a party colleague.
Next parliament elections are due next yeat (2011). Godson is a very popular politician in his hometown Lodz, but it will be a different to keep his seat in parliament after the 2011 elections.
Poland is an ethnically very homogenous country with very few minorities. According to the 2002 census only a couple of thousand people of non-European origin live in Poland.
The country is also notorious for experiencing racist violence although racist crimes have dropped significantly since the early 90’s. Still it sometimes occurs, often combined with hooliganism after football matches.
John Godson will become one of just a handful of black politicians in central Europe
Below I post a little Youtube video about John Godson's private life. You can meet his wife and kids and he tells about his personal issues. It is in Polish only though, and although Youtube features many video's with John Godson, they are all in Polish only. If you understand what is told in this video, feel free to tell us in a comment.
The French government has become more white and more rightwing in a reshuffle that has included the sacking of two ministers handpicked by Nicolas Sarkozy to bring ethnic diversity to the cabinet, wrote the Guardian
Senegalese-born Rama Yade, the sports minister, and Fadéla Amara, the minister for urban policies, lost their jobs in the shake-up that also signalled an end to the French president's policy of "openness" to his political opponents and to racial minorities. Patrick Lozés, president of the Representative Council for Black Associations, expressed his disappointment on his Blog. "November 14, 2010 is a sad day for the diversity in the Republic. Nicolas Sarkozy, announced December 17, 2008: The diversity at the bottom of the country must be illustrated by diversity at the head of the country. This is not a choice, this is an obligation." He added, "I note barely two years later that the commitment was not kept."
About Rama Yade Lozés wrote, “I particularly regret the departure of Rama Yade from the government. Her leaving is a heavy symbol for all French from visible minorities."
Slovenia has its first black mayor. Dr. Peter Bossman, a Ghana-born physician known as the "Obama of Piran," has made history.
Bossman settled in this tiny nation just south of the Alps, in the 1970s to study medicine in what was then known as Yugoslavia.
Bossman, 54, is a member of Slovenia's governing Social Democrats. He won a runoff election in the town of Piran with 51.4 percent of votes.
Bossman runs a private practice and was previously a member of the Piran City Council. Following the vote, Bossman said he was "happy and proud." "The Obama effect" is worldwide. It could be that Peter Bossman is also the first black Mayor in Eastern Europe.
As he said on BBC World Service this morning, "It will take some time to see if there will be any real change.
All who know me, know that I'm not holding my breath. I'm just celebrating."
Strasbourg Oct 21 2010 - Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas has been declared the winner of the 2010 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. The announcement was made on Thursday by European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek following a decision by the EP's political group leaders. Mr Fariñas will be invited to attend the award ceremony on 15 December in Strasbourg.
"Guillermo Fariñas was ready to sacrifice and risk his own health and life as a means of pressure to achieve change in Cuba", said Mr Buzek when announcing the winner today in plenary.
"I hope to hand over the award to him in person, here in Strasbourg, in December, which would be a tremendous moment for the European Parliament and for all Cuban prisoners of conscience. I sincerely hope that, together with Guillermo Fariñas, the Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco), another Cuban Sakharov laureate from 2005, will also be able to collect their Sakharov Prize in person". The president repeatedly calls, on behalf of the European Parliament, for the immediate release of all political prisoners in Cuba.
Guillermo Fariñas, aged 48, was nominated in the name of all those who fight in Cuba for freedom and human rights. He is a doctor of psychology, an independent journalist and a political dissident. He has conducted 23 hunger strikes over the years "not in his own favour but in order to defend his compatriots" said José Ignacio Salafranca (EPP, ES). Mr Fariñas ended his 135 day hunger strike on 8 July 2010 after the Havana government announced the release of 52 political prisoners following mediation by the Catholic Church.
A supporter of non-violence and someone who dared to denounce the Castro regime, "Guillermo Fariñas is a symbol in the struggle against the imprisonment of political opponents", according to the MEPs who nominated him. "Because he is defending dignity and democracy in his country, he is the ideal candidate for the Sakharov Prize", they argue.
Mr Fariñas was nominated by Joseph Daul, José Ignacio Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra, Jaime Mayor Oreja, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, Jarosław Leszek Wałęsa and Francisco José Millán Mon on behalf of the Group of the European People's Party (EPP), by the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) and by Edvard Kožušník and 91 other MEPs.
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, named after Soviet scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, was established in December 1988 by the European Parliament as a means to honour individuals or organisations who dedicate their lives to the defence of human rights and freedoms, particularly the right to freedom of expression.
Jesse Jackson is starting a group in the U.K. to oppose what he calls the abuse of police powers to stop and search people.
On Monday October 18th he lanched the group called StopWatch, the group wants to stop police from disproportionately stopping and searching ethnic minorities.
Last week, Britain's Equality and Human Rights Commission published figures saying 15 per cent of those stopped and searched by police were black. Black people comprise 2 to 3 per cent of the population.
Members of StopWatch, including activists and academics, aim to work with government to ensure that recently announced policing reforms are fair.
In an interview with Guardian Rev Jesse Jackson has said that Britain's moral authority is being damaged by the government's failure to stop the police discriminating against ethnic minorities. See video on BBC
The Ghanaian doctor Peter Bossman is running for mayor of Slovenian seaside town of Piran. According Slovenia-based Blogger Camille Acey of the Blog Adventures in Wheelville who is following the story, Peter Bossman was in the lead with over 30% of votes after the election on Sunday October 10th.
The next round of elections will be up in up in 2 weeks on October 24th and it all seems like Slovenia will get its first black mayor then.
The race will now go into run-offs against the current sitting mayor (who had just over 20%) of the vote. Here's hoping Dr. Bossman makes it all the way through and becomes the first black* mayor in Slovenia! Let's goooooo! In further news, journalist Vlado Miheljak puts forth a more ambitious proposition..."Peter Bossman For President" and much mudslinging in the comments ensues! (Slovenian only)
*yes, say BLACK/črn not temnopolt/ "dark-skinned". Black comes in many shades (from light to dark) and is an experience, not just a state of melanin."
She is called a dissident, has been accused of political murder and treason, and has been threatened to be thrown out of the Parliament Fraction if she doesn’t follow party rules.
Dutch Member of Parliament Kathleen Ferrier has been under fire ever since she and an other Member of Parliament told their party leader that they are against any deal with the far-right party of Geert Wilders because of his strong anti-Islamic and anti-immigration views.
Ferrier is a black Dutch Surinamese woman and Member of Parliament for the Christian Democrats (CDA) in the Netherlands. She is also the daughter of the late first president of Suriname. Suriname is a former colony of the Netherlands which gained independence in 1975.
Ferrier is being pressured by the party leaders to give up her seat in Parliament because her protest may cause majority problems in the future. But untill now she had refused to step down. After the elections the party of Wilders has become third-largest party in Holland, and has been part of the negotiations between Ferrier’s party (CDA) and the centre-right Liberal Party (VVD) to form a new Government.
Ferrier said in an interview that the views of Wilders of the multicultural society are not the ones that she has been brought up with.
Important aspects of Surinamese culture are cultural and religious tolerance. Suriname is the only country in the world where are an Islamic mosque and a Jewish synagogue reside next to each other.
Geert Wilders will not be a part of any government, he will just tolerate a government that is willing to support his views about immigration and Islam. He has been part of the negotiations to set the terms.
The next few days will be crucial for Ferrier. The political parties just recently reached a final agreement and this weekend it will be up to the Congress of her party to decide whether or not they will to block the political agreement. There is a lot of opposition within her party and one prominent party member has already left the party.
The other colleague in Parliament who is also against a deal with the PVV has said today that he will accept the decision of the Congress.
Ferrier is now the only "dissident" left. She has told the media that she will take the mood and voting of the Congress into consideration.
"Nowadays in France, like in Africa, when politicians need a boost in popularity or want to cast a wider political net, they make an appeal into the most primal instincts of the voters: ethnic identity", writes Global Voice contributor Abdoulaye Bah about French president Sarkozy.
In a very interesting post he analyses the situation of ethnic minorities in France, and the response to the recent riots in Grenoble.
In his story Bah quotes The blog lalignegenerale about Sarkozy's proposol that the nationality be revoked for the people of foreign origins when attempting to take the lives of a policeman, gendarme or any representative of the public authority.
« I won't dwell on the ubuesque notion of ”of foreign origin”. Because when exactly does “foreign origin” start? In the spirit of this measure, how many generations have to had passed on before one is protected from losing its citizenship? Does the president have criteria he'd like offer? Maybe a (DNA) Test ? And if by any chance the members of the Constitutional Council, State Coucil or the parliament were to approve of this inane proposition, what would then become of the no-longer citizens? Since they don't have a substitute nationality, what kind of legal vacuum would then fall into ? Former Frenchmen? Stateless people? As the president put it, since the “machine that provides nationality no longer works”, will it now produce stateless citizens?
The worst part is that at the end of the day, if this proposal is a serious one and not just some political fronting to win back some votes from Marine Le Pen ( ed. note: far right leader), then it would contradict three sacred axioms engraved in the founding texts of our republic: the Program of the National Council of the Resistance in May 15 1944, the Declaration of the Human Rights in 1948 and the Constitution of 1958.
As soon as those measures were announced, the daily newspaper le Figaro published an opinion poll conducted by IFOP that proclaimed the results he was hoping to see: that the majority of the French people shared his views on domestic security.
From the US political blog Booker Rising. A translation of Rama Yade's comments about the overrepresentation of black players in the national French football team.
The French Secretary of State for Sport and moderate-conservative is uncomfortable with the high numbers of blacks and Arabs in French sport, arguing that it demonstrates lack of opportunity in France:
(commentary in French): "This week I participated in 'Diversity In Action,' a magnificent operation organized each year in Lyon with my friends Ali and Faisal Kismoune Douhane to promote diversity in French society. Around the debate 'Sport and Diversity"' which brought together Pascal Boniface, Olivia Cattan and Jean-Michel Aulas, everyone, including me, was extolling the virtue of inclusive sports. It is true that Marcel Cerdan (French Algerian origin) and Michel Platini (of Italian origin) Yannick Noah (from Cameroon), Mehdi Baala (of North African origin), and the black-white-Arab team players of the 1998 French soccer team, are all children of immigrants who passed through sport and show our young people today who identify themselves, they can escape through sport." She continues her commentary: "At a point in the debate, I felt a slight discomfort. This relentless promotion of sport as a means of social success struck me as suspicious. Is it not somewhere a symptom of a failed society? As if sport is asked to manage those it no longer wants or has failed to integrate at school or the workforce. As if other than sports, these young immigrant could not do anything else. The legs yes, but not the head. They run so fast....But our young people from immigrant backgrounds would to become a Zidane or Noah, given a high chance of failure because not everyone has the capacity to become a world champion or to win Roland Garros! In short, these young people, could they not also entitled to medical professions, journalists or lawyers? However, it is as if these trades are considered inaccessible, we choose to ghettoize youth of immigrant origin. Without solving the problems of access to the labor market because one cannot remain a top sportsman all his life, who must think of a time or another in his retraining. The labor market always eventually catches up with you, with its problems of discrimination that thought away, turning to the sport."
Secretary Yade brings up Alain Finkielkraut, a conservative French essayist who in 2005 commented that the French soccer team was "black, black, black" (as opposed to black, white, Arab: "Result: young aspiring athletes have never been numerous. Moreover, there is no problem of diversity on the field and in stadiums (in leadership, however, it's tragic!). Quite the reverse. The France soccer team, they say, has eventually become....black, black, black! Damn, is it possible that Alain Finkielkraut has been misunderstood?"
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
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.
Picture: "In IJsselstein we speak Dutch." A sign in a city near Utrecht where a lot of Moroccan people live.
BBC: A Dutch anti-Islam party has more than doubled its seats in parliament in a national vote, though it is unclear if it will take part in a coalition.
Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders said he wanted to be part of government.
The election saw the centre-right Liberal Party (VVD) emerging as the largest party, one seat ahead of the centre-left Labour Party. The Christian Democrat party of outgoing Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende suffered a big defeat.
Weeks of coalition negotiations are expected to follow the election. With more than 99% of votes counted, the VVD had 31 of 150 seats, while Labour had 30.
As the party with the most seats, VVD leader Mark Rutte could now become the first prime minister from his political camp since World War I. Read more here
The PVV is the party of Geert Wilders, the one who toured the world with the Anti-Islam film “Fitna”. The slogan of the PVV: Less immigration, less crime, less Islam:
But who are the voters of the PVV? It seems that most voters are from the South of the Netherlands (which is a part of the bible belt). And also that a lot of voters are from small towns where there is hardly any "diversity".
Some facts about the PVV
- The party is a foundation, and not a normal political party with members. You can’t vote in this party. Wilders is the one and only chairman of the foundation. - Some Black people have voted for the PVV. They believe that Wilders is anti-Islam and not anti-immigrant or anti-Black. In the Netherlands Moroccans are not seen as “black community”, but as an "Arab" community. - A black Antillean man will also be elected for parliament for the PVV.
My opinion
I've seen The Netherlands transform from a tolerant country into an intolerant country. I really hope it will change some day.
copyright: Régis Durand de Girard: in the middle Davy Sicart and Christiane Taubira
Yesterday May 10th was the official French ceremony of the ‘Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition’. The ceremony was held in the 'jardin du Luxembourg" in Paris, and was only open for invites. See the pictures of the ceremony on the blog fxgpariscaraibe here.
According to the blog FXG, the ceremony didn't had the grandeur of previous commemorations because of the absence of president Sarkozy. It appeared that he was in middle of the crisis meeting about the Euro.
One of the invites was of course Christiane Taubira, MP for overseas region French Guiana. Taubira gave her name to the 21 May 2001 law, "la Loi Taubira", which recognizes the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as a crime against humanity. But in the speech of the minister of interior about recognition, her name wasn't mentioned. Also present was ex-football player and anti-racism activist Lilian Thuram. Thuram is president of the Lilian Thuram Foundation, an anti-racism foundation that combats racism trough education. Just recently he published his book ‘Mes Etoiles Noirs’, a book about important black personalities and stars.
On the blog there are some interesting interviews with Christiane Taubira and Lilian Thuram.
Among the invites were, Marie-Luce Penchard (Secretary of State for Overseas Territories), Françoise Vergès (chairman of the ‘comité pour la mémoire et l'histoire de l'esclavage’), Davy Sicart (Musician), Marijosée Alie (head of television), Pierre Saintons (Musician), and Nathalie Coualy (comedian).
British Black politics successful at the elections. With a record voter turnout from the African, Asian and Caribbean electorate and a record number of candidates winning seats at Westminster, black politics in the UK has finally come to age
The blog Operation Black Vote reports: As Britain makes sense of the new political landscape let’s not forget the record breaking numbers of African, Asian and Caribbean candidates elected to Parliament. Overall the number has nearly doubled from 14 to 27, the greatest number and percentage increase ever seen in British politics. And within those historic figures individual firsts have illuminated this election. Women did particularly well. Helen Grant becomes the first woman of African descent to represent the Conservatives at Westminster. Priti Patel became the first Conservative Asian female. The Labour candidate Shabana Mahmood becomes the first Muslim woman to be elected to Westminster. The Labour Party’s Chi Onwurah became the first women of African descent to win a parliamentary seat.
OBV Director, Simon Woolley: “Black politics came of age last night. A record voter turnout from the African, Asian and Caribbean electorate and a record number of candidates winning seats at Westminster will dramatically change how we see our governing class and how it operates. Greater representation, and greater involvement from our communities will undoubtedly enhance our democracy.”
* The term ‘Black’ is a political term. It refers to African, Asian, Caribbean and other ethnic minorities.
There are many nurses, teachers and business professionals from Africa who are welcomed with open arms in Europe. I wanted to say this because of my previous post about illegal Africans in Europe.
So two videos. The first video is about a Ghanaian nurse in Sheffield UK, the other one is about a Nigerian business professional from the UK who returned to Nigeria. I saw both videos on Shadow And Act
“Witness – A Nurse’s Tale” (The Brain Drain) In Ghana, Lydia Kwashie is a highly trained midwife, but with a family of eight to support, she can barely make ends meet. The 48 year old mother left behind family and friends in Ghana to seek work as a nurse in the UK. Witness joins Lydia on her first trip back home to Ghana to share the conflicting emotions of pride, joy, guilt and hope.
Nigeria's brain gain - Nigerian expats repatriating to take advantage of opportunities in Nigeria and Africa's growth despite global economic downturn.
The BBC-documentary “Living with Illegals” is one of the most compelling documentaries I have seen in years. I have seen it on the blog NEO•GRIOT. (Update March 26: because the video is removed, you can read the story and see the trailer here.
It’s a documentary of the experiences of British journalist Sorious Samura about Africans who are trying to get into Europe illegally. It’s a story about people who sometimes try to get in for years. Some of them live in woods, try to get over barbwire or try to swim to Europe.
Once they are on the mainland they head for the UK, because they feel they will get a better treatment there then in most other European countries. Smuggled in trucks, or hanging underneath trucks they try to reach the UK. Sometimes I see them in the Amsterdam metro. Unfortunately it is so obvious there are illegal: broken sneakers and summer clothes in the winter.
Sometimes you read in the papers of illegal Africans jumping out of an apartment building because they didn’t want to be caught by the police. Some die, or have very severe injuries.
