Black Looks

• Western media and lazy African reporting

  Posted: November 30, 2008, 10:52 pm by Sokari

  We very rarely hear about Hausa writers let alone Hausa women writers. Here Hausa novelist Sa’adatu Baba is interviewed on CNN. However Talatu-Carmen tells us the translations leave much to be desired and once again assumptions are made about religion and traditions. It’s so easy for CNN and other media to [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Western media and lazy African reporting", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/western_media_and_lazy_african_reporting.html" });

• Zimbabwe rape surviors

  Posted: November 30, 2008, 1:13 pm by Sokari

  Sexual violence in Zimbabwe dates back to the liberation war in the 1980s when women were used as sex objects serving Zimbabwean soldiers. There has been a silence around the rapes and other acts of sexual abuse which took place at that time. Now following more systematic sexual violence by the state - rape [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Zimbabwe rape surviors ", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/zimbabwe_rape_surviors_.html" });

• Between non-violent resistance and armed struggle

  Posted: November 29, 2008, 2:55 pm by Sokari

  Tags: Strategies of Resistance Forms of Resistance Social movements SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Between non-violent resistance and armed struggle", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/between_non-violent_resistance_and_armed_struggle.html" });

• [Abahlali] A Place in the City - new film on Abahlali baseMjondolo

  Posted: November 28, 2008, 1:23 pm by Sokari

  A Place in the City is a powerful film documenting the land rights movement through the lives of members of Durban shackdwellers, Abahlali baseMjondolo. Nearly 15 years since apartheid ended, millions of black South Africans still live in self-built shacks – without sanitation, adequate water supplies, or electricity. But A Place in the City will overturn all [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "[Abahlali] A Place in the City - new film on Abahlali baseMjondolo", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/abahlali_a_place_in_the_city_-_new_film_on_abahlali_basemjondolo.html" });

• Mapping world piracy

  Posted: November 27, 2008, 11:34 am by Sokari

  It seems piracy is not just a Somali phenomena. This live piracy map shows details of piracy attacks across the world. There are three main cluster regions - the Horn of Africa, West Africa and the seas between north west India and Indonesia. An amazingly detailed map of piracy off the [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Mapping world piracy", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/mapping_world_piracy.html" });

• 16 Days Against Violence Against Women: Day 2

  Posted: November 26, 2008, 3:24 pm by Sokari

  Press Statement from Black Women’s Rape Action Project Please sign the ASYLUM FROM RAPE PETITION HERE On 25 November 2008, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we demand that the UK government meet its international obligations to provide protection to women seeking asylum from rape and other sexual torture. In June 2006, Black Women’s Rape [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "16 Days Against Violence Against Women: Day 2", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/16_days_against_violence_against_women_day_2.html" });

• 16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women: Day 1

  Posted: November 25, 2008, 2:12 pm by Sokari

  Tags: 16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women Liberia + Women Pray the Devil Back to Hell SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women: Day 1", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/16_days_of_activism_against_violence_against_women_day_1.html" });

• Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus: A Ghost Story and a Biography

  Posted: November 25, 2008, 1:23 pm by Sokari

  Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus: A Ghost Story and a Biography by Clifton Crais and Pamela Scully From the publishers: Displayed on European stages from 1810 to 1815 as the Hottentot Venus, Sara Baartman was one of the most famous women of her day, and also one of the least known. As the Hottentot [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Sara Baartman and the Hottentot Venus: A Ghost Story and a Biography", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/sara_baartman_and_the_hottentot_venus_a_ghost_story_and_a_biography.html" });

• Quick Links

  Posted: November 23, 2008, 4:34 pm by Sokari

  ***Disturbing but not so surprising news from South Africa’s “Social Attitudes Survey” shows that 80% of the population are against same-sex marriage. The very real possibility of ANC President, Jacob Zuma, who embodies some of the worst manifestations of macho nationalism and a man whose disdain for women was evident in [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Quick Links", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/quick_links-16.html" });

• Something fishy about Somali pirates

  Posted: November 21, 2008, 4:09 pm by Sokari

  All the media hype around the $100 million crude oil tanker seajacked by Somalia “pirates” - I just cannot find anything within me to remotely sympathise with the cargo, it’s owner and owners and the crew are just as much victims of exploitation as workers everywhere if not more. Knowing there is a [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Something fishy about Somali pirates", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/something_fishy_about_somali_pirates.html" });

• Transgender Day of Remembrance - Africa

  Posted: November 20, 2008, 7:10 pm by Sokari

  20th November 2008 marks the 10th annual International Transgender Day Of Remembrance, commemorating those who were killed due to anti transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honour Rita Hester whose murder on November 28th 1998 inspired the “Remembering our Dead”. This year the Trans Africa movement is remembering not only [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Transgender Day of Remembrance - Africa", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/transgender_day_of_remembrance_-_africa.html" });

• Thoughts on DRC confict

  Posted: November 20, 2008, 6:03 pm by Sokari

  Trying to understand and give some context to the renewal of conflict in the DRC is extremely difficult. I recently spoke briefly with Dieudonné Wedi who is a DRC national and a human rights defender who has written on the violence perpetrated on women and children, for his thoughts on the [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Thoughts on DRC confict", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/thoughts_on_drc_confict.html" });

• Nepal - full rights to LGBT

  Posted: November 19, 2008, 3:56 pm by Sokari

  “Nepal Equal marriage and civil rights based on sexual orientation and gender identity” ………….. A summary decision was issued in December 2007, when the court issued directive orders to the Nepal government to ensure the right to life according to their own identities and introduce laws providing equal rights to LGBTIs and amend all the discriminatory [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Nepal - full rights to LGBT", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/nepal_-_full_rights_to_lgbt.html" });

• Personal story from the DRC

  Posted: November 19, 2008, 10:00 am by Sokari

  Park Ranger, Benjamin Mujinya from the Virunga National Park recounts how the rebels killed his father. DRC; Virunga National Park; SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Personal story from the DRC", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/personal_story_from_the_drc.html" });

• The aid game - laundering the profits of exploitation

  Posted: November 18, 2008, 10:57 am by Sokari

  Aid agencies, NGO’s are being outed for their role as agents of Western financial captial at any cost who feed of the misery caused by their masters. Christian Aid is one such example. Following the 2004 coup against President Aristide of Haiti, Christian Aid issued a position statement in which it colluded [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "The aid game - laundering the profits of exploitation ", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/the_aid_game_-_laundering_the_profits_of_exploitation_.html" });

• Transgender 101

  Posted: November 16, 2008, 3:54 pm by Mia Nikasimo

  Although transgenderism is an umbrella term for a cross section of identities, I want to use a series of articles to illustrate what this means in a sort of transgender 101 sense; basic transgenderism, if you like. This is also an attempt to dispel some of the myths around gender ambiguity or variance in order [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Transgender 101", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/transgender_101.html" });

• Duanna Johnson murdered in Memphis

  Posted: November 14, 2008, 8:38 pm by Sokari

  Last Sunday, Duanna Johnson, a transgender woman was found murdered in Memphis. Back in February she was brutally beaten by a Memphis police officer for refusing to respond to his transphobic taunting. The report in Angry Brown Butch points out the discrepancy between the attention given to Duanna Johnson and that of Prop [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Duanna Johnson murdered in Memphis", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/duanna_johnson_murdered_in_memphis.html" });

• Bush cleans his hands after greeting Obama

  Posted: November 10, 2008, 9:11 pm by Rethabile

  “Obama!”Bush exclaimed… “Come here and meet Laura. Laura, you remember Obama. We saw him on TV during election night. Beautiful family. And that wife of yours — that’s one impressive lady.” The two men shook hands and then, according to Obama, Bush turned to an aide, “who squirted a big dollop of hand sanitizer in the [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Bush cleans his hands after greeting Obama", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/bush_cleans_his_hands_after_greeting_obama.html" });

• RIP Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 - 10 November 2008)

  Posted: November 10, 2008, 12:38 pm by Rethabile

  Miriam Makeba, the world-renowned South African singer, has died at the age of 76 after being taken ill near the southern Italian town of Caserta. Makeba died on Monday after taking part in a concert for Roberto Saviano, a writer threatened with death by the mafia, an Italian news agency said. “I’m not yet absolutely certain of [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "RIP Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 - 10 November 2008)", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/rip_miriam_makeba_4_march_1932_-_10_november_2008.html" });

• Miriam Makeba - Mama Afrika: March 4, 1932 - November 9, 2008)

  Posted: November 10, 2008, 10:43 am by Sokari

  Early this morning, we lost one of our Mothers, Mama Afrika. I once had the privilege and pleasure of seeing Miriam Makeba at an open air concert here in London and she was everything beautiful and more. Activist and singer, Miriam Makeba brought us all so much with her music and [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Miriam Makeba - Mama Afrika: March 4, 1932 - November 9, 2008)", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/miriam_makeba_-_mama_afrika_march_4_1932_-_november_9_2008.html" });

• 12th Anniversary: Remembering the Ogoni 9

  Posted: November 10, 2008, 8:46 am by Sokari

  On the 10th November, 1995 Ken Saro-Wiwa, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine were executed by the then Head of State, General Sani Abachi. The Ogoni nine were murdered because they exposed the systematic ecological destruction of Ogoniland by successive Nigerian governments [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "12th Anniversary: Remembering the Ogoni 9", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/12th_anniversary_remembering_the_ogoni_9.html" });

• Military punishment on Lagos street

  Posted: November 9, 2008, 8:10 pm by Sokari

  This used to happen with regular occurrence back in the military heyday of the 80s and 90s. It’s still happening in 2008 under the leadership of ex Supreme Military Council member - President Yar’adua. “On the third of november 2008 on Muhri Okunola Street, victoria Island Lagos, the traffic was chaotic. A young lady [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Military punishment on Lagos street", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/military_punishment_on_lagos_street.html" });

• Afro Descendants: Brazil “Quilombo Country”

  Posted: November 9, 2008, 7:52 pm by Sokari

  The Afro-Brazilian film “Quilombo Country” is now available to watch on line for 94p or $1.49 I haven’t watched it yet but I have watched some of the short video clips on history, dance and and land rights. Quilombo Country,” a documentary film shot in digital video, provides a portrait of rural communities in [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Afro Descendants: Brazil \"Quilombo Country\"", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/afro_descendants_brazil_quilombo_country.html" });

• Ushahidi mapping DRC confict

  Posted: November 8, 2008, 10:24 am by Sokari

  “Half-baked software” or not Ushahidi makes a timely deployment to map the conflict in the DRC The mobile number to send SMS reports to is +243992592111. For more on the “fight for DRC resources” see this piece by Mandisi Majavu It is reported that the cutback on tin production, which has forced tin buyers to rely [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Ushahidi mapping DRC confict", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/ushahidi_mapping_drc_confict.html" });

• Indawo Yami - Thru Camera Lenses (stories from Cape Town)

  Posted: November 8, 2008, 9:48 am by Sokari

  A group of young lesbians particularly from the disadvantaged communities in Cape Town, SA are telling their own stories through the lenses of a camera. Most of them are coming from the poverty stricken areas like Gugulethu and Nyanga and where the unemployment is very high. And they’ve never set a finger on a [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Indawo Yami - Thru Camera Lenses (stories from Cape Town)", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/indawo_yami_-_thru_camera_lenses_stories_from_cape_town.html" });

• Historically Black Hysterical Homophobia - We are not OK!

  Posted: November 7, 2008, 1:59 pm by Sokari

  Anyone regularly reading this blog will by now have a fairly good idea of the long hard struggle faced by the African LGBTI community against homophobic bigots, even in South African where LGBTI rights are enshrined in the constitution and where same-sex marriage became a reality in 2006. However we often imagine that things [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Historically Black Hysterical Homophobia - We are not OK!", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/historically_black_hysterical_homophobia_-_we_are_not_ok.html" });

• Surving Zimbabwe just gets harder and harder

  Posted: November 7, 2008, 11:52 am by Sokari

  3 weeks after being arrested WOZA activists, Jenni Williams and Magodonga have finally been released from Mlondolozi Prison.. They report some horrific conditions such as having to share cells with mental health patients and being subjected to body searches everyday whilst male prison guards are free to wonder around. The extreme hunger [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Surving Zimbabwe just gets harder and harder", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/surving_zimbabwe_just_gets_harder_and_harder.html" });

• Ada

  Posted: November 6, 2008, 11:16 am by Chinwe

  In the Igbo language, Ada is the name given to the first born daughter. Often a suffix is included in the name such as Adanna, Adaaku, Adaeze, Adanma, Adaure. This poem gives praises to the first daughter and the position she plays within the Igbo family and community. Ada All over the [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Ada", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/ada.html" });

• Congratulations Obama

  Posted: November 5, 2008, 12:45 pm by Sokari

  America has it’s first Black Democrat President and I have no doubt the country will be a better place for it. Beyond that I don’t know. Barack Obama’s win unleashes a tsunami of aspirations and expectations not to speak of the rhetoric which has reached new heights of super hyper reality. It is [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Congratulations Obama", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/2121.html" });

• EsKia Mphahlele - Writer & Activist: 17-12-1919 - 27-10-2008

  Posted: November 4, 2008, 4:13 am by Sokari

  In 1957 EsKia Mphahele left his home in South Africa for what became 20 years in exile. First to Nigeria and then on to England, Kenya, Zambia and the US before finally returning home in 1977. He became the first Black man to to be offered a chair at the Wits [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "EsKia Mphahlele - Writer & Activist: 17-12-1919 - 27-10-2008", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/eskia_mphahlele_-_writer_activist_17-12-1919_-_27-10-2008.html" });

• Cynthia McKinney & Rosa Clemente represent the kind of politics we all need to see in our own countries

  Posted: November 2, 2008, 11:30 am by Sokari

  “I cant cast a vote but I will feel the consequences” therefore I need to speak my piece. I read the other day that Toni Morrison will be voting for Obama. A couple of weeks ago it was Alice Walker writing what I described as “driveling bullshit.” and one more example of the mainstreaming of [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Cynthia McKinney & Rosa Clemente represent the kind of politics we all need to see in our own countries", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/cynthia_mckinney_rosa_clemente_represent_the_kind_of_politics_we_all_need_to_see_in_our_own_countries.html" });

• For Humanity’s sake?

  Posted: November 2, 2008, 10:12 am by Mia Nikasimo

  Putting the human back into humanity is something worth exploring especially if you happen to be of the LGBTI and have at one time or the other suffered the indignity of having your very humanity questioned. I remember some of the comments one of my posts provoked especially one that came with the suggestion that [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "For Humanity's sake? ", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/for_humanitys_sake_.html" });

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes