Black Looks

• The Banjo Lesson (1893)

  Posted: October 27, 2009, 4:25 pm by Rethabile

• Maseru Man

  Posted: October 26, 2009, 3:21 am by Rethabile

  I’ll be your life when spring arrives. And I’ll want to touch your black face again, see your arms hoist work onto the belt like a behemoth tossing things to outer space. Our thoughts will meet in the middle, melt. We shall drift to Kingsway where men smell soap and honey, and mothers sell fruit, a spring in our heel and [...]

• Ugandan Civil Society statement on Anti-Homosexuality Bill

  Posted: October 24, 2009, 6:25 pm by Sokari

  The following Statement from the Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law, The Coalition’s first press release entitled ‘Anti-Homosexuality or Anti-Human Rights Bill?’, will be published in today’s (24 October 2009) editions of Uganda Dailies The New Vision; The Independent , The Monitor – and a local vernacular daily Bukedde Newspaper. It [...]

• Philp reading from “Who’s Your Daddy?”

  Posted: October 24, 2009, 2:13 pm by Rethabile

• Disability and desire – the dance of the heart

  Posted: October 23, 2009, 4:26 pm by Sokari

  In 1996 at the age of 24, South African lesbian film maker, Shelly Barry was shot through the spine and was paralysed from the chest down. In this courageous and powerful essay she tells of her journey to reclaim and once again love her body. She writes about society’s perceptions of [...]

• Harare South to Harare North

  Posted: October 22, 2009, 5:37 pm by Sokari

  Last Saturday I listened to a reading of Harare North by Brian Chikwava [winner of the 2004 Caine Prize] and was hooked after the first sentence. This is bad timing, I have too much to do to be reading novels but I cant help myself and keep snatching 10 minutes here and [...]

• George Osodi: The Real People of the Delta

  Posted: October 21, 2009, 6:04 pm by Sokari

  George Osodi is a photographer and activist who has been documenting life in the Niger Delta for the past 8 years.   With so many western photographers, researchers, writers and film makers documenting the Niger Delta,  George’s work [he is from Delta State] work is especially important. Far away from the politics [...]

• Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill: What you can do

  Posted: October 19, 2009, 5:53 pm by Sokari

  UPDATE US Evangelists are involved in the Homophobia Bill – as per this report Sadly, this witch-hunt has the blood stained fingerprints of leading American evangelicals. The Fellowship, (aka The Family) one of America’s most powerful and secretive fundamentalist organization’s, converted Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni (pictured top) to its anti-gay brand of Christianity, which is the [...]

• “Eater of Death”

  Posted: October 19, 2009, 12:09 pm by Sokari

  Powerful performance by Kenyan poet and activist Shailja Patel calling for an end to the US war against the people of Afghanistan and Iraq.

• Quote: Emile Griffith

  Posted: October 17, 2009, 8:16 pm by Rethabile

  “I like men and women both. But I don’t like that word: homosexual, gay or faggot. I don’t know what I am. I love men and women the same, but if you ask me which is better … I like women. I keep thinking how strange it is … I kill a man and most [...]

• Uganda homophobia bill

  Posted: October 17, 2009, 2:51 pm by Sokari

  A new Private Members Bill – Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 – has been tabled in the Uganda Parliament which would allow for the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”. The Bill also carries a sentence of life imprisonment for being or committing the offense of homosexuality, 7 years for attempted [...]

• Violence against women & indecent dressing codes

  Posted: October 17, 2009, 1:55 pm by Sokari

  There is much silence around gendered violence in Nigeria particularly in the Niger Delta region.   Whilst the Nigerian government, military and militants act out various layers of theatre around amnesty, bunkering and continued militarisation, women continue to face daily violence. No one knows the numbers of women and girls  raped and sexually assaulted [...]

• Out of Place, Out of Print On the censorship of the first queerness/raciality collection in Britain

  Posted: October 16, 2009, 12:47 pm by Johanna Rothe

  In their article “Gay Imperialism: Gender and Sexuality Discourse in the ‘War on Terror’” (2008),   Jin Haritaworn, Tamsila Tauqir and Esra Erdem critique white gay discourses in Germany and Britain that trade in Islamophobic constructions of a gay-friendly, sexually liberated ‘West’ and a homophobic, sexually oppressive ‘Islam’ as the West’s [...]

• Victory for Abahlali against the Slums Act

  Posted: October 14, 2009, 9:02 pm by Sokari

  Congratulations to Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement (AbM) for their perseverance and belief in their rights and non-violence. After being subjected to “political violence and shameless slander” over the last two weeks, there is reason to celebrate. The Constitutional Court (CC) of South Africa have today declared the provincial KwaZulu-Natal Elimination and Prevention [...]

• Grand theft Congo – who are the plunderers?

  Posted: October 12, 2009, 5:12 pm by Sokari

  Most of us probably havent even heard of cassiterite – the mineral used in electronics especially laptops.  There was a time when laptops used to be hugely expensive. Now you can pick up one for a couple of hundred pounds.  I dont know whether there is a relationship between the cheap price of laptops and [...]

• The danger of the single story

  Posted: October 11, 2009, 1:48 pm by Sokari

• We have stories to tell & we dont need to pray to God to tell them

  Posted: October 9, 2009, 4:34 pm by Sokari

  Two months ago the Hunger Coalition was formed to protest against the SABC broadcaster’s decision to cut local content and by doing so marginalise South African languages, art and cultures. Last Tuesday actor Sello Maake ka-Ncube joined the hunger strike [replacing Zamambo Tshabalala, a 24 year old industry novice who completed [...]

• The Women of Networth Conference – Zimbabwe

  Posted: October 9, 2009, 1:12 pm by Sokari

  Graca Machel said “These are exciting times to be a woman, of any age – mothers, grandmothers, daughters. But we must be reminded that every leader is a product of a collective, a community and a generation. Now the question is, what footprint will you leave for future generations?” The Women of Networth Conference is [...]

• Chris Abani on humanity and the sometimes lack of it

  Posted: October 8, 2009, 7:27 pm by Sokari

  I was at an arts festival in Gratz Austria over the past weekend. The part of the event I attended was called “Real Energy World” and the theme was the Niger Delta. The whole of the first day passed without a single mention of women. Thank god for the final event of [...]

• Silencing transsexual women

  Posted: October 8, 2009, 2:00 pm by Sokari

  UPDATE: It’s good to speak – following complaints changes have been made! Feminism in London conference was not open to transgendered women, read the Bird of Paradox blog to get a better understanding of the implications and problems with this. However, today, a statement has been released and an amendment to the FIL front page to make [...]

• Fighting Oppression 3

  Posted: October 7, 2009, 9:38 pm by Mia Nikasimo

  Recently, I remembered helping a friend, Susan Giwa, work on a piece about activism, oppression and separatism amongst women’s groups. I found myself pondering the backlash that could arise as a result of criticising the work of such reactionary enclaves. Susan, a citizen of Mushin Oloosha is a photo-journalist, transgender rights [...]

• Reclaim

  Posted: October 3, 2009, 5:26 pm by Sokari

  By Mahaliyah part of the Brave New Voices series of spoken word poetry.

• Statement by Abahlali baseMjondolo President S’bu Zikode

  Posted: October 1, 2009, 2:20 pm by Sokari

  Following the mob attacks on Kennedy Rd settlement, S’bu and his family and other members of KRDC are now refugees as Kennedy Rd is now being run by the local ANC. The movement is still under attack in Kennedy Road and the police are still failing to protect us. The settlement is now [...]

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

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

The end of the fish cakes