The jury for the “Anglicism of the Year” has chosen “blackfacing” as the defining loanword of 2014. Little by little, an understanding is thus also emerging in Germany that racist caricaturing of black people has a tradition in this country. Especially at carnival time. Tahir Della, Jamie Schearer and Hadija Haruna – active with the Initiative Black People in Germany – have published an article on this in MiGAZIN.
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Black Studies in Bremen
On February 6, there was a community statement by Black scholars and organizations in which a radical critique of Black Studies Bremen was voiced.
“We, the undersigned here, condemn the manner in which Black Studies is being mobilized and pressed into service at the University of Bremen. Our critique is specifically directed at the organization, handling, and planned implementation of a Creative UnitNew Black Diaspora Studies: Ethical and Aesthetic Challenges of the 21st Century. […]
Apart from an antiquated understanding of gender that certainly cannot be called intersectional, current hiring practices constitute blatant affirmative action for white academics, while the German academic enterprise systematically excludes Black scholars and scholars of color and can continue to do so due to nonexistent legal mechanisms that would ensure equal participation of underrepresented/marginalized groups in university life as students and as faculty members.”
As a first consequence to the demands, the research group Black Knowledges (formerly Black Studies) disbanded yesterday. The group writes that it accepts the criticism, stating, “It has become clear to us that the Black Knowledges research group is part of the problem of racism rather than part of its solution.”
queer_postcolonial_development_critical
This week in Vienna the website of the exciting project feminIEsta went online. From their self-description:
feminIEsta gathers work results, projects and initiatives that have crossed and crossed the Institute for International Development of the University of Vienna (IE for short, hence: feminIEsta); that took one of their origins at IE, converge there, branch out and network further from IE, or even distance themselves a bit.
feminIEsta intervenes both scientifically and politically in international development (politics) and takes a stand on its dilemmas, its promises, its violence.
feminIEsta applies feminist critique to theories and practices throughout, even if it may and should be argued what this means in detail.
feminIEsta wants to arouse curiosity about strategies that have already been tried and tested and about strategies that are still unrealized and desirable for bringing together development-critical and feminist approaches.
In this sense: Stay rebel and feminIEsta!
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Mall of Shame – Migrant workers fight against exploitation
The construction of the “Mall of Berlin” is said to have cost about one billion euros and now, in the pre-Christmas period, it is becoming a symbol of the exploitation of migrant workers from other EU countries that has become commonplace. A group of Romanian workers has been fighting for weeks for the payment of their already low wages. More info here.
All that glitters is not gold. The Rusty Radiator Awards have a bitter aftertaste
While campaigns such as the Golden and Rusty Radiator Awards raise awareness of Western development organizations’ unjust views of the global South, they do not go far enough. Critiques of cliche media representation must be coupled with critiques of fundamentally unbalanced power structures. For an analysis of the mentioned awards as well as video clips such as “Who wants to be a volunteer”, see our essay on pambazuka.
We are tomorrow @Ballhaus Naunynstraße
With an exciting and very extensive program, Berlin’s Ballhaus Naunynstraße theater is devoting itself until February 2015 to visions and memories on the occasion of the Berlin Conference of 1884/1885. The following trailer provides an introduction to “We are tomorrow”. Click here for the program.
Ethnic settlers in rural areas
The Amadeo Antonio Foundation, with its current brochure “Völkische Siedler/innen im ländlichen Raum. Basic knowledge and action strategies” published an important publication on the subject of right-wing extremism and ecology.
“The present brochure is a tool in the sense of the promoting federal program “Cohesion through Participation”: it gives an overview of the activities of Völkische Siedler, their argumentations and identifying features. By explaining the background of Völkische Siedler, describing examples and everyday situations, and offering approaches to strategies for action, the brochure provides local activists with assistance in their efforts to combat anti-democratic tendencies.”
For further discussion we can recommend the two books, “Rechte Ökologie” by Oliver Geden (unfortunately only available second-hand) and “Globalisierung aus Sicht der extremen Rechten” by Anton Maegerle.
“The (German) One-World Work from a Single Source?”
The Berlin-based association for migrant-diasporic organizations in One World, moveglobal e.V., has published a policy article on the relationship between development NGOs and migrant organizations in its latest publication. In the detailed article, Lucía Muriel discusses, for example, the functionalization of migrants and current challenges in cooperation. In doing so, she finds courageous words and, for example, in the chapter “Attempting a Paradigm Shift,” makes clear demands on the development policy scene:
“We will not continue to tolerate the conditions of a colonial reality that is over 500 years old. This applies to all current discourses and practices, to theories, to debates and to the practice of work. We will no longer allow governmental and non-governmental representatives, full-time and voluntary actors, established or newly emerging sponsors to dictate our perspective on the field of migration and development. In concrete terms, this means that none of the various forms of sole power to shape, define and decide are permissible any longer. Rather, all actors, including those who have been successfully excluded so far, must set out and engage in new forms of cooperation, distribution of resources, and power to shape.” (S.17)
The article is rounded off by an epilogue “How I stand on the bridge-builders’ discourse” and a glossary, and is supplemented in the appendix by a contribution from Andreas Rosen of the Stiftung Nord-Süd Brücken.
The publication can be ordered from moveglobal e.V. for 9 euros.
Experiences of discrimination through textbooks
At 22. and 23 September 2014, the international workshop Diversity Education and Textbooks: International Perspectives, organized by the Center for Educational Integration at the University of Hildesheim and the Georg Eckert Leibnitz Institute for International Textbook Research in Braunschweig, took place. The researchers come to the conclusion that, in addition to differentiated portrayals, clichés and prejudices in particular also appear in the books. According to Viola B. Georgi, professor of diversity education at the University of Hildesheim, the content of the books can be divisive and contribute to experiences of discrimination. As soon as we have more information available, we will put it online here.