Eileen Perrier, a thousand small stories
It was a relief to note that most media in the Netherlands managed relatively quickly to move from outrage about what some called a “tribal clash” or a “foreign conflict” between Eritreans in The Hague to the more sensible understanding that the violent protests had targeted the even more violent Eritrean regime, whose agents and militants had assembled in that city to celebrate a special festive day for the dictatorship. It was even better to receive input from expert academics and actual Eritrean...
It was a relief to note that most media in the Netherlands managed relatively quickly to move from outrage about what some called a “tribal clash” or a “foreign conflict” between Eritreans in The Hague to the more sensible understanding that the violent protests had targeted the...
Who could have thought that a world polluted by colonial exploitation would present such a wealth of creative expression? Well, meet Nigerian artist Wilfred Ukpong. Utilising aspects of Afrofuturism and mysticism, this Nigerian artist creates compelling and poetic reflections on the crisis of environmental degradation and exploitation in the Niger Delta. Drawing on historical and personal archives, ecology politics and indigenous environmentalism, his work demonstrates how artmaking can be used as...
Who could have thought that a world polluted by colonial exploitation would present such a wealth of creative expression? Well, meet Nigerian artist Wilfred Ukpong. Utilising aspects of Afrofuturism and mysticism, this Nigerian artist creates compelling and poetic reflections on the...
How the ‘tobacco system’ keeps farmers in poverty During a check on multinationals who pay tax in various locations, we come across a Malawian tobacco company, Alliance One Tobacco Malawi (AOTM). It belongs to an American multinational corporate chain and boasts of being one of the chain’s top revenue providers . The company makes its profits from raw tobacco exported from the small African country, whose population of 20 million is not much bigger than that of the Netherlands. Yet, it pays...
How the ‘tobacco system’ keeps farmers in poverty During a check on multinationals who pay tax in various locations, we come across a Malawian tobacco company, Alliance One Tobacco Malawi (AOTM). It belongs to an American multinational corporate chain and boasts of being one of the...
From March 20 to 24, Cinedans FEST celebrates 20 years of daring, beautiful and fascinating dance films. Join Cinedans in Eye to experience films in which artists playfully reframe existing meanings, uplifting and reminding us of the power of dance! In this celebratory edition, we take you on a captivating journey through lively perspectives of our ever-changing world, with more than 100 films that are bold, inspiring, striking and hit home with their humor, vulnerability and urgency. The central...
From March 20 to 24, Cinedans FEST celebrates 20 years of daring, beautiful and fascinating dance films. Join Cinedans in Eye to experience films in which artists playfully reframe existing meanings, uplifting and reminding us of the power of dance! In this celebratory edition, we...
Embark on an eye-opening journey with four fearless African investigative journalists as they unravel the truth behind the uprising against kleptocratic regimes. In 2023, Emmanuel Mutaizibwa, Ngina Kirori, Theophilus Abbah, and Elizabeth BanyiTabi visited the Netherlands to shed light on the tumultuous protest movements sweeping across Africa. Their groundbreaking 'Cry Freedom' investigation unveiled gripping accounts of citizens rallying for change in the face of oppression. You can now join their...
Embark on an eye-opening journey with four fearless African investigative journalists as they unravel the truth behind the uprising against kleptocratic regimes. In 2023, Emmanuel Mutaizibwa, Ngina Kirori, Theophilus Abbah, and Elizabeth BanyiTabi visited the Netherlands to shed...
Moving from Tate Modern in London to the Rotterdam Wereldmuseum, a celebration of the varied landscape of contemporary African photography. With Aida Muluneh, Samsom Kambalu, Santu Mofokeng, Atong Atem amongst many others. Aida Muluneh, Star Shine Moon Glow, Water Life 2018. Commisioned by WaterAid. Wereldmuseum Rotterdam, A World in Common Exhibition. 2024. Bringing together a group of artists from different generations, this exhibition will address how photography, film, audio, and more have been...
Moving from Tate Modern in London to the Rotterdam Wereldmuseum, a celebration of the varied landscape of contemporary African photography. With Aida Muluneh, Samsom Kambalu, Santu Mofokeng, Atong Atem amongst many others. Aida Muluneh, Star Shine Moon Glow, Water Life 2018....
Benoit Collombat and Grégrory Mardon revive the investigation into the murder of a South African anti-apartheidactivist in Paris in 1988. An activist killed not so much for the stories she might tell in the present, but for what she might reveal in the future, writes Leonard Cortana in a review of a recently published graphic novel on the assassination of South African anti-apartheid fighter Dulcie September. Thirty-five years after the murder of Dulcie September on 29 March 1988, and following the...
Benoit Collombat and Grégrory Mardon revive the investigation into the murder of a South African anti-apartheidactivist in Paris in 1988. An activist killed not so much for the stories she might tell in the present, but for what she might reveal in the future, writes Leonard Cortana...
How an investigative editor continues his work while on the run Gregory Gondwe, founder and editor of Malawi’s Platform for Investigative Journalism, and currently on the run from the Malawian military, still cannot figure out how his country’s president, once-vocal opposition and anti-corruption activist Lazarus Chakwera, is now seemingly unable or unwilling to reign in the bloodhounds. “You ask yourself: who is this person? Is this the same person that I met when he was on the campaign trail and...
How an investigative editor continues his work while on the run Gregory Gondwe, founder and editor of Malawi’s Platform for Investigative Journalism, and currently on the run from the Malawian military, still cannot figure out how his country’s president, once-vocal opposition and...
South Africa has, again, approached the International Court of Justice and instructed Israel not to attack Rafah and its 1,5 million Palestinian inhabitants. The significance of South Africa's case before the International Court of Justice extends even beyond the court's clear and urgent judgment to moderate the acts of war and come to the aid of Gaza's residents with medication and food supplies. With this legal intervention, South Africa reclaimed the authority of international law, of...
South Africa has, again, approached the International Court of Justice and instructed Israel not to attack Rafah and its 1,5 million Palestinian inhabitants. The significance of South Africa's case before the International Court of Justice extends even beyond the court's clear and...
Hage Gottfried Geingob served as the third persident of Namibia from 2015 until his death on February 4 2024. He was Namibia’s first prime minister from 1990 to 2002, and served as prime minister again from 2012 to 2015. Geingob was born on 3 August 1941. He joined the ranks of the national liberation movement South West African People’s Organisation (Swapo) during its formation in 1960. As the official statement declared: “The Namibian nation has lost a distinguished servant of the people, a...
Hage Gottfried Geingob served as the third persident of Namibia from 2015 until his death on February 4 2024. He was Namibia’s first prime minister from 1990 to 2002, and served as prime minister again from 2012 to 2015. Geingob was born on 3 August 1941. He joined the ranks of the...
African investigative journalists call out misrule on continent The Network of African Investigative Reporters and Editors, NAIRE, has issued a New Year’s statement that is simultaneously a call to action by democratic forces, both on the African continent and globally, to support its efforts to expose regimes consisting of “kleptocrats who sell out resources, promote incompetence and nepotism, and oppress civil society.” Noting that these same regimes harass, imprison, and even kill credible...
African investigative journalists call out misrule on continent The Network of African Investigative Reporters and Editors, NAIRE, has issued a New Year’s statement that is simultaneously a call to action by democratic forces, both on the African continent and globally, to support...
It is time to celebrate the elders of African literature. Time to exchange memories of our first reading experiences. To take a look at our bookshelves or at those in public libraries: where can we find those orange coloured, cheap paperbacks of the African Writers Series? Which book was it again that impressed me most? Write to us. On this site of the ZAM Boekenclub van lezers en schrijvers (ZAM Bookclub of readers and writers) and during live events we will pitch our favorites from the series....
It is time to celebrate the elders of African literature. Time to exchange memories of our first reading experiences. To take a look at our bookshelves or at those in public libraries: where can we find those orange coloured, cheap paperbacks of the African Writers Series? Which...
On 31 January, the same day that the Network of African Investigative Reporters and Editors called out Africa’s oppressive kleptocrat regimes , Malawian investigative editor Gregory Gondwe received note that the Military Police in that country were looking for him. The reason why the security forces had set out to take him in ‘for a chat’ at military barracks, he heard, was an article he had published two days before, on January 29th. The article had published documents showing that the military...
On 31 January, the same day that the Network of African Investigative Reporters and Editors called out Africa’s oppressive kleptocrat regimes , Malawian investigative editor Gregory Gondwe received note that the Military Police in that country were looking for him. The reason why...
Was het toeval dat Nelson Mandela de Nederlandse regering niet bedankte voor de solidariteit met de strijd tegen apartheid bij zijn eerste bezoek aan Amsterdam in juni 1990? "Toen ik opgroeide in Deventer, vond ik het vaak verrassend dat er beperkt bewustzijn was van de historische verbinding tussen Zuid-Afrika en Nederland. Mijn doel met de podcast was om deze kloof te overbruggen en te benadrukken wat voor significante invloed beide landen hebben gehad op mijn kijk op politiek, identiteit en...
Was het toeval dat Nelson Mandela de Nederlandse regering niet bedankte voor de solidariteit met de strijd tegen apartheid bij zijn eerste bezoek aan Amsterdam in juni 1990? "Toen ik opgroeide in Deventer, vond ik het vaak verrassend dat er beperkt bewustzijn was van de historische...
Stevenson Amsterdam hosts an exhibition ‘as a gesture of protest.’ Rooted in South Africa, the organising gallery is ‘particularly familiar’ with rising ‘nativist and xenophobic’ tendencies. On 22 November, a political party that compares the Quran to Mein Kampf, and would like to ban the construction of mosques, won the Dutch elections. They propose to strip people with dual citizenship of their Dutch nationality if convicted of a crime, and, using vulgar slurs, have floated a tax on the wearing...
Stevenson Amsterdam hosts an exhibition ‘as a gesture of protest.’ Rooted in South Africa, the organising gallery is ‘particularly familiar’ with rising ‘nativist and xenophobic’ tendencies. On 22 November, a political party that compares the Quran to Mein Kampf, and would like to...
The singer and guitarist grew up in the Eastern Cape of South Africa but later moved to Johannesburg to pursue his career. Despite this change, he continued to sing and write in Xhosa, his mother tongue. He has since released three albums and has won multiple South African Music Awards (SAMAs). With his refreshing approach to African music, Bongeziwe Mabandla is now heard worldwide and has also appeared on the latest single ‘Apho’ by Alfa Mist. Last year, Mabandla drew huge audiences to Dutch music...
The singer and guitarist grew up in the Eastern Cape of South Africa but later moved to Johannesburg to pursue his career. Despite this change, he continued to sing and write in Xhosa, his mother tongue. He has since released three albums and has won multiple South African Music...
30 record sleeves by Fela Kuti’s cover designer have been brought together in a spectacular catalogue. The King of Covers is the concluding part of the month long Lemi Ghariokwu exhibition that ran at the Amsterdam Rush Hour store between 1 and 28 November, 2023. The exhibition was an initiative by Afrodelic in collaboration with ZAM. The 30 sleeves that were at display are now nicely bundled into this full colour 70 page booklet. Each sleeve comes with a story by Saffa Khalil, who analysed the...
30 record sleeves by Fela Kuti’s cover designer have been brought together in a spectacular catalogue. The King of Covers is the concluding part of the month long Lemi Ghariokwu exhibition that ran at the Amsterdam Rush Hour store between 1 and 28 November, 2023. The exhibition was...
In response to a public outcry New York auction house Guernsey had suspended the sale of 70 personal items belonging to South Africa’s anti-apartheid hero. His identity book and prison letters, his famous Madiba shirts, his walking stick and gifts from US President Barack Obama are some of Nelson Mandela’s personal items that were set to be auctioned om 22 February, 2024. But Guernsey has now suspended the sale without an explanation. In an interview with South Africa’s online platform Daily...
In response to a public outcry New York auction house Guernsey had suspended the sale of 70 personal items belonging to South Africa’s anti-apartheid hero. His identity book and prison letters, his famous Madiba shirts, his walking stick and gifts from US President Barack Obama are...
Narnia Bohler-Muller, an international law and human rights law expert, says the South African legal team argued soundly that Israel’s actions in Gaza are genocidal, and tells us who is who in the team. John Dugard Professor John Dugard is an internationally renowned expert in international law and has been cited by academics, practitioners and courts alike nationally and internationally. His experience of sitting on the bench of the ICJ as an acting judge and as a member of a Rapporteur of the...
Narnia Bohler-Muller, an international law and human rights law expert, says the South African legal team argued soundly that Israel’s actions in Gaza are genocidal, and tells us who is who in the team. John Dugard Professor John Dugard is an internationally renowned expert in...
Where Kinkerstraat 96 Amsterdam Artists Martin Toloku & Ayomide Tejuoso (Plantation) Curator Musoke Nalwoga A STATE OF GRACE? seeks to use the exhibition as a space for transformative ritual where it will locate itself in the past, the now and actively rejecting any projection into any future. It draws inspiration from witches, cults, occultism, voodoo, and other marginalized spiritual sciences from various communities in the diaspora. Dissociations like instances of trance, speaking in tongues,...
Where Kinkerstraat 96 Amsterdam Artists Martin Toloku & Ayomide Tejuoso (Plantation) Curator Musoke Nalwoga A STATE OF GRACE? seeks to use the exhibition as a space for transformative ritual where it will locate itself in the past, the now and actively rejecting any projection into...
A tribute to the late Kenyan poet, playwright and activist. I remember that morning with Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo. It was in the corridors of the New Department of Literature at Nairobi University, which was born out of the abolition of the English Department. We lamented the fact that Jomo Kenyatta, the erstwhile hero of the Independence struggle, had surrounded himself with anglophiles and colonial loyalists like Charles Njonjo. Dedan Kĩmathi and the heroes and heroines of Kenya Land and Freedom were...
A tribute to the late Kenyan poet, playwright and activist. I remember that morning with Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo. It was in the corridors of the New Department of Literature at Nairobi University, which was born out of the abolition of the English Department. We lamented the fact that...
