The Powers Of Mourning

Shango in a trance Ifanhin, Benin | © Pierre Verger

Morocco’s ‘My name is not Negro’ campaign

According to an AlJazeera report Sub-Saharan Africans are most vulnerable to attacks in North African countries not just because of their skin colour but also because being black is associated with being undocumented and hence being a threat to people’s safety. In people’s minds, black skin equals undocumented. We see it with the case of Toussaint Mianzoukouta, a Congolese teacher who had his papers and was arrested by accident and then killed while being transported by the authorities. Activist Dhoruba Bin-Wahad had this to say about the current relationship between Sub-Saharan Africans and North African Arabs.

"Much of North Africa’s Arab population exhibit anti-Black and anti-Sub-Sahara African prejudice and behave in a condescending and arrogant fashion when dealing with Black Africans - even though many of them are of darker complexion than those they’re hating on! This is true in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, and especially true of the Wahabi Saudis. Which tell you that "skin" color is really not the basis for Arab ignorance but history and the geopolitics of conquests and empire. The attitudes exhibited by Arab Morrocans toward Black Africans is also alive and well right here in the US among the immigrant Muslim Arab population, who’s leaders, mostly from well off or educated backgrounds back in their country of origin, redly congregate in exclusive enclaves that wholly identify with the institutional racism of Law enforcement, and Businesses that exploit poor working class communities of color. Their contempt for Africans is thinly veiled but rears is ugly face whenever African-Americans challenge racism and the violence of the Police State, and often times their distain is barely detectable until there is a crisis that threatens their position in White supremacist America’s hierarchy of Racial worth, i.e., "Rag-heads" and "camel-jockeys" are barely a step up from "Niggers" and "Wetback" Mexicans. Nonetheless, in the US the economic, racial, and cultural division and class struggles that permeate the America’s Muslim population, (a minority of whom are actually of North African Arab origin) are papered over with an almost satis and subservient Islamic facade that does not engage America’s institutional racism - in fact encourage collaboration with and respect of "those in power over you". A principle that would have never served Africa’s enslaved in America well - but which suits institutional racism and the Rich"

A Moroccan campaign that denounces racism against black people has stirred significant controversy about the integration of migrants into the North African country.

Last month, the anti-racism collective, Papers for All launched a traditional- and social-media blitz, with photos, banners and T-shirts reading “Massmytich Azzi” (“My name is not Negro,” in Moroccan Arabic). The campaign came just a few months after the Moroccan government, which has been widely criticised over its treatment of sub-Saharan Africans, launched an initiative to document migrants.

Last year, a number of migrants died after being subjected to police brutality or racist acts, prompting human rights groups to intensify their efforts to force the government to act and sensitise Moroccans to the issue.

Photo-A.P

Read more- www.aljazeera.com/english

What is exactly is African Electronics?

What is exactly is African Electronics?

Artist Serge Attukwei Clottey views ‘African Electronics’ as a call for African empowerment, and a celebration of the innovation and energy which has been flowing through the continent for centuries. This film follows Serge in his studio and at Chale Wote street art festival as he explores how creative young Africans are taking charge of their future by embracing the cultural and natural richness…

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How do you know I’m real? I’m not real; I’m just like you. You don’t exist in this society; if you did, your people wouldn’t be seeking equal rights. You’re not real; if you were, you’d have some status among the nations of the world. So we’re both myths. I do not come to you as the reality, I come to you as the myth because that’s what black people are, myths… I’m actually a present sent to you by your ancestors.

Sun Ra, Space is the Place (1974)  (via lordsofsoundandlesserthings)

West African Inventor Makes a $100 3D Printer From E-Waste

Kodjo Afate Gnikou, a resourceful inventor from Togo in West Africa, has made a $100 3D printer which he constructed from parts he scrounged from broken scanners, computers, printers and other e-waste. The fully functional DIY printer cost a fraction of those currently on the market, and saves environmentally damaging waste from reaching landfill sites.

Discarded electronic equipment is one of the world’s fastest-growing sources of waste, as consumers frequently replace “old” models that become more obsolete each year. However instead of letting e-waste sit them on the scrap pile or head to the landfill, Kodjo Afate Gnikou decided to utilize spare parts in order to create a cheap, DIY 3D printer.

Gnikou is part of WoeLab, a hackerspace in the city of Lomé, and has big plans for his recycling project. According to his crowd funding page, he is working with FacLab-France in the WAFATE to Mars project, which aims to make machines from recycled e-waste to prepare for missions on Mars. Systems like the 3D printer could become a crucial part of missions on the Red Planet should they ever go ahead.

Gnikou’s 3D printer was mostly made from materials he obtained from a junk yard in Lomé, though he did have to buy a few parts. The entire system cost about $100 which is a bargain considering current models on the market can cost thousands of dollars.

According to his fundraising page, Gnikou aims that with his project, he will “put technology into needy hands and give Africa the opportunity to not only be a spectator but to play the first role in a more virtuous industrial revolution.”

Participer c'est prendre part, apporter une part et bénéficier, nous dit Joelle Zask dans Participer. C'est la philosophie de Dieuf Dieul - faire et prendre, en wolof- un des groupes qui a fait la musique sénégalaise des années 1970-1980. 

Kerry James Marshall, Black Artist (Studio View), 2002

Etrange scénario que celui des prochaines élections au Burkina Faso : comme au Sénégal il y a 2 ans, 1 Chef d'État tente de modifier via référendum l'article 37 de la Constitution pour pouvoir se représenter, sur fond de contestation sociale. La société civile s'organise, les rappeurs sénégalais Thiat et Kilifeu qui avaient initié la médiatisation du mouvement d'opposition qui devait aboutir au départ de l'ancien Président au Sénégal prêtent main forte au mouvement le Balai Citoyen qui en mixant rap et participation à la vie de la Cité, lui ressemble étrangement. A voir le reportage réalisé par Droit Libre TV sur cette rencontre et à suivre l'actualité du Burkina Faso. Elections présidentielles en 2015.

Before Tattoos and piercings, the Amasunzu hairstyle was the epitome of individuality in Rwanda. Mother always scolded my brothers into cutting off their hair once their beautiful coils started to sprout from the scalp. I think as a child, I bought into the ill-education that ‘’real men’’ should not grow out their hair. Dreadlocks were for the ‘’no good-doers’’ and one millimetre hair peaking on bold were for the ‘’focused’’, goal achievers. Guys, hair is really political. Why do we call our own hairstyles/customs pagan while giving foreigners the holy badge? Even though this look was worn during the pre-colonial times in Africa, to me, this look also reverberates into afro-futuristic elements that I completely adore.

Henry Taylor, The Times They Ain’t A Changin’, Fast Enough, 2017