Since a few days there is a debate on the Berlin reflect mailing list about anti-Romaism and racism in general. A person negatively affected by antiromaism had criticized the mail of a white person whose user name included “gypsy” and which was about wanting to settle in Berlin “after all the rumzigeunern”. When asked, she wrote that she had the right to use it to positively describe her attitude to life. The person who problematized this as racist was met with massive attacks (in the sense of “relax,” “white people are also discriminated against,” “scientifically speaking, it’s a completely different story,” “if you react like that, you can’t be taken seriously,” etc., i.e., classic defensive reactions that can be found in almost every book on racism). We cannot recount the exchange in the form of more than 100 emails here, but we are blogging here in a slightly modified form the email of a member of glokal, which refers to some mails. With this, we hope, you can do something even without exact knowledge of the previous mails. Continue reading
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Appeal “Genocide is Genocide!”
Following Germany’s insistence that Turkey recognize the genocide against the Armenian population, numerous public figures are also demanding that Germany officially recognize and apologize for the 1904-08 genocide against the OvaHerero and Nama people in what is now Namibia.
On the occasion of the 100th On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the end of the colony “German Southwest Africa” on July 9, 2015, more than 150 renowned representatives from politics and science, churches and culture, from the Black community and NGOs went public with the joint appeal “Genocide is genocide!
The appeal can be signed here and there is more information on the campaign website.
Non-Fest for the Berlin Palace/Humboldt Forum
NOTfest for the Berlin Palace/Humboldt Forum on 11/12.6.2015
Invitation of the campaign alliance No Humboldt 21!
While some have been robbed of everything, others present the treasures of the world.
While some are still waiting for an apology for Germany’s first genocide, others are rebuilding the palace of Prussian slave traders and genocides.
While the bones of some are still being researched today, others honor the grave robber Humboldt and praise the European Enlightenment, science and humanity.
While some die in the Mediterranean, others invite the whole world to their castle.
Thursday, 11.6. at 22:30
Schinkelplatz at the Berlin Palace/Humboldt Forum
Remember Resistance!
Event supported by transparent-lichtdesign / Ingo Stahl-Blood
Friday, 12.6. from 11 to 15:30
Pleasure garden at the Berlin Palace/Humboldt Forum
“THEY celebrate in white, WE mourn in black”.
Protest rally with speeches, poetry, spoken word art and singing
Contact: Tahir Della | 015254217327 | tahirdella@isdonline.de
Christian Kopp | 1799 100976 | buero@berlin-postkolonial.de
Fb: https://www.facebook.com/events/426502900860921/
Critical shareholders at the BAYER Annual General Meeting
The day before yesterday, different groups and individuals intervened at the shareholders’ meeting of BAYER (the “most valuable” German company) in Cologne. On the page of the Coordination against BAYER Dangers some speeches can be found, including those held on behalf of glokal e.V. on“Profit in the slipstream of a population policy revival in international development policy” and on“Hormone implants and double standards in the global contraception market“.
Bayer HealthCare’s Jadelle contraceptive implant – protest against population policy-motivated marketing offensive
On the occasion of tomorrow’s Annual Stockholders’ Meeting of Bayer, glokal e.V., together with the Gen-ethischen Netzwerk e.V., the BUKO Pharma-Kampagne and the Department of Development Policy and Postcolonial Studies at the University of Kassel, is protesting against the company’s worldwide marketing offensive with the hormone implant Jadelle.
Press Release
of the Gen-ethischen Netzwerk e.V., glokal e.V., the BUKO Pharma-Kampagne as well as the Department of Development Policy and Postcolonial Studies of the University of Kassel
Bayer HealthCare’s Jadelle contraceptive implant: protest against population policy-motivated marketing offensive
Cologne, May 27, 2015: On the occasion of Bayer’s Annual Stockholders’ Meeting, non-governmental organizations and a university department in Kassel are protesting against the company’s global marketing offensive with the hormone implant Jadelle. The organizations, which will be present at the General Assembly with their own speeches, criticize frequent side effects and a subordination of reproductive health concerns to population policy goals. They are calling for a halt to the marketing of Jadelle as part of population policy programs. Continue reading
Guide critical of racism published
Initiated by the IMAFREDU research project of Dr. Elina Marmer, last year a collective of authors, among others with the participation of glokal, developed a “Racism Critical Guide for Reflecting on Existing and Creating New Didactic Teaching and Learning Materials for School and Out-of-School Educational Work on Blackness, Africa and the African Diaspora”. It is now available digitally and will soon be available in print.
The urgency of a racism-critical revision of school educational materials was highlighted in a textbook study Migration and Integration published in March by the Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration, Minister of State Aydan Özoğuz. The study shows a great need to catch up in the production of textbooks in many areas. for example, in the representation and address of the German migration society:
“Thus, a key finding is that in the textbooks analyzed, migration is primarily problematized as conflictual as well as crisis-ridden. The approach of presenting migration-based diversity as normality is rarely found.” Continue reading
Petition concerning Hereros’ & Namas’ Genocide Reparations from Germany
Today, activists are delivering a petition to Germany Embassies and General-Consulates all over the world to support the just quest by Herero representatives for reparations from Germany for the German colonial genocide. In Berlin, the petition is handed over by the NGO alliance
“Genocide has no statute of limitations!” (see the press release). On this occasion, the German-Namibian website www.genocide-namibia.net is launched.
My Right Is Your Right! Demo 21.03.2015
“A different asylum policy in Germany and the EU is possible if we demand it together and take the changes into our own hands.” From the manifesto of the My Right Is Your Right network, which is organizing a large-scale demonstration on the Global Day Against Racism (March 21, 2015). The event starts at 1 p.m. at Spreewaldplatz. Info material as well as more information is available here.
New publication: A history with cosmopolitan intent? Postcolonial Perspectives on “weltwärts
The weltwärts voluntary service is intended to make it possible to experience a “personal
contribution to a just world”. But what ideas go hand in hand with
This service, which takes place in a context of unequal power relations, is accompanied by the
political context moves? With the help of postcolonial and feminist theories
Kristina Kontzi examines the representations and program structures. She asks
their colonial heritage and benefits for the participants. In the focus of discourse analysis
The critical examination of concepts of development is connected with the
with those of a cosmopolitanism, which as a pedagogical answer to globalization issues
applies.
The dissertation shows the entanglement of colonial history and the present of developmental engagement. It illustrates the need to develop a
to take a power-critical perspective on programs of this kind, in order to
Not to reproduce power relations, but to be able to change them.
The book is published by Nomos and available here. For event inquiries, please email the author.
Commemorative march on 28.2. in Berlin
Next Saturday, 28.2. the 9th commemorative march in memory of the African victims of enslavement, human trafficking, colonialism and racist violence will take place in Berlin, called by an alliance around the Central Council of the African Community.
In this context also the reference to the current petition of the Ovaherero and Nama with the demand for reparations for the genocide of 1904-1908.