arterialnetwork

A happy Monday Meeting: Cato Litangen MIMETA

2012-02-22T23:51:00.000-08:00

A happy Monday Meeting: Cato Litangen MIMETA

It is six years since we created the idea, the seed, of Mimeta. ARTerial did not exist then, except as a name on our Monday meeting held at our offices. We started our work with a spring of assessments: What did the other European states do? Which networks existed? Which organizations were involved and how were they founded? What is culture and devel...opment, actually, and what are the needs?

We were already anchored in the Norwegian Strategy for sport and culture development, which had been launched some few months earlier. Human Rights were the basis! Cultural production and participation is a human right covered in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights... we figured out here in the snow white north.

In late summer we visited Morten Paulsen at the Danish Center for Culture and Development. He had just been in conversation with Paul van Paashen from Hivos. They had agreed to organize a conference related to the spread of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. We decided to make a joint venture, with Hivos in their planned initiative as a bookkeeper and programmer. Ideas evolved and a conference on Revitalising African Cultural Asserts was organised in March 2007 on Goree, not in February, not in Ouagadougou!

The original focus on the convention was left for an extensive, three days planning session on the development of an African cultural sector. A full, three year development document being driven by an elected Task Team was the first result, then a secretariat and a steering committee. In some months a number of project proposals were put on our desks. Please Let us do it Now!! - was an ultimatum that came from Cape Town to our first joint donor-meeting in Amsterdam.

The name of our dull Monday meeting has turned into something totally different - to ARTerial Network - and five intense and engaging years of discussions, strategic partnerships, sparring and collaboration, with the ARTerial representatives, but also with Hivos, Doen Foundation and Africalia. Through these dialogues our own mission has become clearer, and our perspectives on culture and development have emerged through these conversations. And our seed finally became our flower in 2009: Mimeta, a Norwegian center for culture and development.

So, thanks ARTerial Network, for the progress you made for the independent arts- and culture sector on the continent. And not to forget the many resources, individuals and organizations, that you have attracted through these five years. Without it our work would have seemed like a continuous Monday.

But sometimes in life you are struck by luck!

The Answer is ‘Yes’. Now, what’s the question?

2012-02-13T00:21:00.000-08:00

by Ade Solange

The best part of the African Creative Economy Conference? Being in the company of some of the most energetic and inspiring movers and shakers in the arts I’ve ever met.

Arterial Network, the conference organisers, brought together 120 artists, arts managers and policy makers from 36 African countries for its first African Creative Economy conference in Nairobi last month. We packed into the Desmond Tutu Conference Centre in Westlands for four days, addressing an equally packed agenda.

Building regional and international markets for African creative goods and services, reducing dependency, the challenges of north-south collaboration, intellectual property rights, creative economy research in Africa ... just some of the topics covered. The bottom line: how to develop and maximise the economic potential of African creativity.

Movers and shakers? People like Kenyan Joy Mboya, Executive Director of Nairobi’s renowned GoDown Arts Centre, who presented the Keynote session on the creative economy and Africa, looking at the current global picture (in which Africa’s current share of the global economy is less than 1%) and looking forward to the day when “we are ourselves our own market and our work is globally appreciated and sought.”

Who’ll help make that great leap forward? To mention just a few: Thabiso Mashaba, still in his early twenties and the dynamic entrepreneur behind Black Audio Fire Investments, a music and arts development business in Botswana; Sauda Simba, director of Trinity promotions, Tanzania, a musician and arts management consultant, and one of the driving forces behind Tanzania’s newly-launched, state-of-the-art venue, House of Culture.

Equally inspiring was Korkor Amarteifio from Ghana, Director of the Institute for Music and Development, Accra, who shared her ambitious vision for an African creative cities network.

She’s just taken over as Chairperson of Arterial and is moving full steam ahead with her plans to revitalise a low-income part of Accra. Other West African dynamos were Deji Olatoye, of Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) in Lagos, and Tade Adekunle, an entreprenur and actor, both Nigerian.

I took part in the event as a member of the British Council delegation, (along with Makeda Coaston and Carly Frey from the UK). Our contingent was made up of colleagues from British Council offices and associated projects around the continent, including the above-mentioned Deji and Sauda, David Muriithi from Kenya, Mustapha Khogali and Mewahib Mohammed from Sudan, Juliet Amoah and Samuel Appiah Kubi from Ghana, and Erica Elk and Avril Joffe from South Africa.

My mission? To contribute a diaspora perspective and to form partnerships and build bridges for British-African work in Africa. And the response? Well, Oliver Twist would have been jealous. If Dickens’ hungry waif had asked his famous ‘please, sir, can I have some more?’’ question here, he’d been buried by the word ‘yes’.

“I have a play about diaspora Africans. Do you think people in your country might be interested?” I asked the man behind me in the tea queue at morning break on the first day. “ Oh, yes,” he said. “My name Daniel Maposa. I work in theatre in Zimbabwe.” He immediately beckoned a large, smiling teddy-bear of a man a few feet away. “Have you spoken to Josh? Josh, JOSH! Come over here a minute ... there’s some-one you must meet.”

Josh Nyapimbi, Chairman of the Zimbabwe Theatre Association and director of the Nhimbe theatre project in Zimababwe, joined us, in turn calling over Bjorn Maes, a former actor/director from Belgium and now Africalia’s Southern Africa officer. His funding body supports Josh’s project. ”Sounds interesting,’ they all agreed. Before long we were scribbling ideas on serviettes. “Have you met Elvas Mari, director of the Zimababwe National Arts Council? He’s here too. Make sure you talk to him, ” they advised, as we were called back to the conference room.

Others were just as enthusiastic. “Any good theatres in Nairobi?” I asked the woman in front of me as we queued for lunch a few hours later. “Oh, I have a theatre,” she said, passing me the rice and her business card. Marion van Dijck, Director of the Sarakasi Trust. “Call me.”

And this was just on the first day. Exhilarating! I’d come hoping to generate some interest in my play, ‘Pandora’s Box,’ a family drama about choosing whether to send kids back to Africa from the diaspora. Before I knew it, I was planning a tour. “We have the same tensions and struggles about living on the continent or elsewhere all over Africa,” said one person. “You’ve hit on a universal theme.” The friendliness, openness and eagerness to do business were quite staggering. During breaks, on the bus to and from the hotel, at the evening social events ... “that sounds great” ... “ why don’t you speak to ” ...“come visit us” ...”I’d love to help.”

I’d felt a bit nervous about presenting my paper, on the role of people like me, living outside Africa. ‘But what are you, British or African?” Farai Mpfunya of Zimbabwe’s Culture Fund, had asked me, baffled, one day. Gulp!

How can ‘Africans abroad’ connect and contribute to African creativity? How can the ‘55^th African state’ – the African diaspora – help develop and sell African and African-heritage culture in Europe, America and Africa, and elsewhere? Can the diaspora voice and experience, often a rival to home-grown art and culture, be marketed in a way in Africa that both serves, and benefits from, African creative expression generally?

Yes, was the answer. With open minds and open arms we discussed some of the roles diaspora artists might play, and what approaches, relationships and structures would help maximise our potential contribution.

Four days passed too quickly. Final high point? Ethiopian singer Munit Mesfin’s heart-felt rendition of Bob Marley’s ‘Africa Unite,’ as we ate and danced our farewells at a delicious dinner and party on the last night. (Arterial’s hospitality was superb throughout). I cried (not the only one) as she sang the song: it summed up what we were doing.

The gracious and unflappable Mulenga Kapwepwe, a Zambian writer and Arterial’s (outgoing) Chairperson, and South African Mike van Graan, Arterial’s industrious Secretary General, led a team delivering an excellent conference.

Arterial is poised to make an even bigger impact on the global cultural landscape. The organisation is growing, currently advertising for a new Secretary General and a Sustainability Manager to take it forward.

There are chapters in most African countries, and Regional Secretariats throughout Africa. They’re also setting up discipline-specific networks and are interested in exploring setting up a diaspora chapter.

Contact

Ade Solanke

Writer/Producer

Spora Stories

+ 44 (0)7796 151 845

www.sporastories.com

Artists and Politics

2012-01-30T07:20:00.001-08:00

Background

One of the suggestions that came out of the African creative economy conference’s round table on the African Union and its Plan of Action on cultural industries was that artists should also join politics and get appointed to senior government positions so that they protect the interest of the artist and implement policies that promote the development of the creative industries. This is because most of the Ministers and government officials appointed by governments to lead arts and culture ministries are usually politicians who know very little, if any, about the cultural industries, hence they end up doing nothing for the industry.

For sometime now, I have been following the hot topic of Youssou N’Dour, a prominent musician from Senegal’s political ambitions. He has set out to challenge President Abdoulaye Wade in the forthcoming presidential elections. If N’Dour wins the elections could this be a breakthrough for the Senegalese cultural industries? The article below explores the issue of N’Dour’s ambitions at length.

Youssou N'dour - President?

By Bram Posthumus,

"Who will Youssou sing for?" That was the question a national daily asked on its front page on January 2. On the same day, he gave the answer: Youssou N'Dour will be singing for himself.

The contrast could not have been greater. On New Year's Eve, Senegal's state television showed the country's geriatric president Abdoulaye Wade struggling through a national address, hollow-eyed, his voice faltering. Two days later, a fresh and sprightly Youssou N'Dour used his own television station TFM to announce his candidacy for the presidential elections, to be held at the end of February.

An extraordinary life

The announcement did not come entirely as a surprise. Politics is the next stage in the extraordinary life of a man who was born in 1959 in Medina, a poor suburb on the doorstep of the city's business and administration centre.

His voice was the gift that sent him to the stage at a very young age. In the 1970s this boy soprano belted out Latin-tinged repertoire, just like the Orchestre Baobab, the leading band in those days. But Youssou N'Dour was about to wipe out that music and replace it with a new, fast and furious dance style.

With his band Le Super Étoile de Dakar he first conquered his own country - and then the world. And at an early stage, he put his music to use for good causes. He took part in the Human Rights Now mega concerts Amnesty International organised in 1988 (I saw him perform that year in Harare, Zimbabwe, next door to the apartheid regime). Twenty years later, he was a guest star at the African alternative to Live Aid, organised by his good friend Peter Gabriel. But his mainstay remained mbalax, Senegal's frenetic national pulse.

Citizen's movement

A night club, a studio - nothing was stopping Youssou N'Dour. He founded Future Media and now owns a radio station, Senegal's best selling newspaper L'OBS (a racy mix of sleaze, journalism and sport) and TFM. And he was eyeing the political kingdom. He was in good books with Abdoulaye Wade for quite a while - but that was before he had an almighty row with the government over the endless delays for his television station.

And now N'Dour is pulling the strands of his extra-musical activities together, using his television station and a brand new citizen's movement he launched at the end of last year as platforms for his presidential bid.

Advantages

He has a few advantages. First, he is self-made. Second, he is a bona fide patriot. This is what he said announcing his candidacy: 'I do not have two passports and have no possessions outside Senegal. Everything I have gained I have invested here.' A none-too-subtle dig at those who feign national loyalty while siphoning off their wealth to offshore bank accounts. Third, he is no professional politician; he does not belong to that class of people who transit from one political party to another for personal gain.

Rap

The big question for N'Dour is: will his fan-base translate into "votes"? The first crop of reactions on the popular website Seneweb suggests: not necessarily. At 52, he himself is gradually replaced by another generation of musicians who wield political influence. The opposition against president Wade's highly controversial bid for a third term in office is led by rap artists from areas even poorer than Medina. They are the basis of the new youth movements M23 and Y'en a marre (We're fed up). Whenever they hold a rally, Youssou N'Dour is careful to show up.

Your comments…..

Gambia: Globalization and Culture

2012-01-18T00:24:00.000-08:00

Article by Sanna Jawara17 January 2012

Ramifications of globalization in all aspects of human life across the world are visible, especially on our rich traditional and cultural norms and values. Our lives and ways of living are no longer what they used to be centuries ago, when people hardly travel beyond their immediate environment or settlements, contrary to the current trend as exhibited in mass migration both internal and external.

Globalization has made the world became a thin global village. We don't have to go that far to see the economic theories relating to globalization and its impacts on our lives either individually or collectively. Our lives have now been inundated with introduction of different products and services; ranging from computers, sophisticated laptops, micro phones, mobile phones, wireless internet connections and so on, all of which help in the rapid transformation of our lives.

However, we must acknowledge that everything on this planet has its own merits and demerits and globalization is not an exception to this reality. In as much as we speak about its importance, we must also not lose sight of its side effects, especially where our traditional and cultural norms and values are concerned.

However, the motivation to come up with this issue stems from a day-long debate on the subject by the University of The Gambia and De Montfort University of UK, held last Friday in the main hall of the UTG at the Brikama Campus. At the said debate, the concept of globalization was delved into by many eminent scholars and academics who all acknowledged the importance and side effects of the subject.

Prominent developments such as the dvent of science and technology in the 21st century, the introduction of some major economic policies by the world's most powerful financial institutions; such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB); as well as the 9/11th 2001 terror attack on the US, the reactions of the US to the said inhumane action among other global issues greatly affected international relations and the ordinary business of life.

We must appreciate and acknowledge the speed and scope that globalization has gone Âºbeyond the imagination of an ordinary person, because it cuts across all sectors of life including our cultural norms and values. Its impact is felt and affects virtually everything we do and say in this world. What life used to be in our traditional settings has now been greatly shaped and directed by aculturation through the influences of globalization.

Rapid industrialization accompanied by rapid migrations at local, national, sub-regional, regional and global levels are evidences of globalization, where in people could travel thousands of miles within minutes and hours contrary to when people used to travel on either foot or other primitive tools to far distance places.

The world of tourism stands out as a typical example about the effects of globalization to which our little Gambia is not an exception. The Gambia like other African countries has rich traditional cultural values, but with the world coming together as one big village, with such a speed and scope, things are no longer what they used to be as far as promotion, protection and preservation of our cherished cultures are concerned.

We have seen and felt the effects of tourism on our education, skills, labour force, brain drains among others. The unprecedented attitudinal change in our youths towards national development, which contrasted the way and manner an ideal Gambian or African child is brought up and prepared to take his or her rightful place in societal development and welfare of the family, community and nation at large. The short skirts, high shoes and other unusual forms of dresses exposing our bodies to the hazards of our immediate environment among others attest to this fact.

The way forward

To balance the impacts of globalization, as highlighted at the recent UTG De Monfort lecture Africa must adapt to the changing circumstances brought about by globalization. It was further argued that the world is no longer what it used to be when it comes to advancement in science and technology and as such the continent must either join the trend of globalization or be left behind for the worst consequences.

The only way out as others will call it, is 'thinking out of the box'; for Africa to build on its development sectors to cope with the spirit of globalization. We must build on our educational systems, health, agriculture, infrastructure among others. The youths must be ready and willing to embrace change and make effective and efficient use of latest scientific equipment at their disposal, while at the same time striving to promote our culture at all times. We cannot ignore the importance of science and technology brought to our door steps by globalization, all what is expected of us is the total change of attitude accompanied with a deep sense of self awareness.

Cultural cooperation: Is it beneficial to Uganda?

2012-01-10T21:40:00.000-08:00

By Nsaba Buturo

In October last year, in one of the leading newspapers, Ambassador Thorbjorn Gaustadsaether wrote an article entitled: ‘UMOJA using culture as a development tool’. I was interested in the article for two main reasons: The first is that the writer is his country’s ambassador to Uganda. The second was his view that culture can be used as a ‘development’ tool.

Concerning the first reason, something rarely seen in most other nations is happening in Uganda. The world over, diplomats who are accredited to represent their countries are guided by international diplomatic practices. One of those practices is that a diplomat should never engage openly in governance matters of their host nations.

This means that they are not expected to issue press statements or write their views in the local press on policy (economic, social and political) matters of the host nation. Such matters are the preserve of national governments.

When foreign diplomats happen to have concerns, they privately and not publicly discuss them with host governments through the Foreign Affairs ministry.

What is happening in Uganda is not normal practice! Some foreign diplomats are in the habit of violating international diplomatic practices by regularly making statements on policy issues that should be the preserve of the government of Uganda.

Ugandans who have seen this happen with increasing frequency will be excused to think that some of these foreign diplomats are now Ugandan officials! If our government does not chide them for conducting themselves undiplomatically, Ugandans will become more confused!

The second reason for my interest in the article was the ambassador’s opinion that culture can be a development tool. Unfortunately, he was not specific about how culture can be such a tool. The world over, nations have different cultures or value standards.

For example, in Ugandan societies, polygamy is an accepted practice. In European societies, it is frowned upon. In some nations, sodomy and bestiality, for example, are ‘human rights’ issues whereas in Uganda, they are not!

Mr Ambassador, when nations have such divergent value standards, how does cultural cooperation work? Any such cooperation should never be used by one society as a smokescreen for introduction of practices which others regard as inimical to their interests.

The ambassador also opined in the article that the overriding objective of cultural cooperation is to strengthen both the cultural sector and civil society in the South so that the latter become change agents in favour of good governance.

This objective is loaded with a condescending attitude! In this sense, what the ambassador appears to call cultural cooperation is not a two-way exchange! By asserting that the cultural sector in the South, which includes Uganda, is weak and needs strengthening, the ambassador is falling into the familiar syndrome of ‘we know what they want better than they do themselves’! If this is what the ambassador calls cultural cooperation, then it is a sanitised version of cultural imperialism!

In order to impose their cultural order on weaker countries, stronger nations are now using different tactics. For example, Ugandan rural societies are being introduced to practices that they would gladly as well as bravely resist were it not for the fact that such introduction is often accompanied with promises of much needed services such as schools and water.

In other cases, non-governmental organisations, writers, television personalities, academicians, musicians, media and the Internet literature are being used to spread foreign cultural values.

No, what Uganda really needs is not cultural cooperation that paves way for entry of values that undermine ours. She needs respect! She also needs demonstrable willingness by wealthy nations to give her space to industrialise her economy for self-sufficiency.

The type of development cooperation which Uganda needs is one that also respects both her sovereignty and national values. To our government, a nation is strong when its culture and values are not adulterated or imposed from elsewhere.

Africa challenged to come up with indigenous philosophy of development

2011-11-15T00:36:00.000-08:00

Africa needs to come up with an indigenous philosophy of development determined and influenced by the mores of traditional values derived from its own linguistic and cultural repertoire, a university lecturer from the department of African Languages and Literature, University of Zimbabwe, has said.

Angeline Masowa, who spoke on Friday at a Conference on African Renaissance, Integration, Unity and Development in Pretoria, South Africa noted that the western model of development posed as the benchmark, which every nation wishing to be regarded as developed, had to follow, with the requirements of development dictated by the west.

She said development, just like any other aspect of society like philosophy, the arts, religion among others, was culture-relative.

“Development that is holistic is what is needed in Africa, development that covers the whole person, cultural development, social development, economic development as well as political development. All these have to be drawn and linked to our own values and principles we celebrate as Africans,” Masowa stated in her paper, “African philosophy of development as expressed in Shona proverbs” which she presented at the conference which ended on Friday.

The paper examined indigenous knowledge systems, particularly proverbs, in order to understand African perspective about development. It also analysed the African peoples' perspectives with regard to the question of development as expressed in their arts and beliefs.

Masowa explained that because of multi-ethnic and linguistic structure of Africa, it was impossible in her paper to examine and exhaust African philosophy of development as expressed in all African proverbs and that was why the Shona proverbial lore was used as illustrative example.

“Our understanding of development is anchored in our own culture, philosophy of development and traditional experience,” Masowa said.

She arguing that Africa had its own philosophy of development which was clearly outlined and embedded in its proverbial lore and if Africans were to go on with development, there was great need to go back to the source (our own oral art forms), to find tried and tested solutions to our problems.

Masowa cited a Shona adage, “Zano pangwa uine rako,” (It is better to get advice from someone when you also have got yours), saying this proverb rightly pointed out the importance of formulating Africa’s own models of development rather than simply borrowing ideas, information and models from foreigners because the ideas might not suit the situation in Africa.

“It is highly imperative for Africa to work towards the formulation of its own development plans because past experiences have shown that models and theories we have borrowed from the North have done us more harm than good. African nations have not been formulating their own models and this has had serious implications and reparations.”

“This conference’s main theme is African renaissance, integrity, unity and Development, which means that Africans have realised that for long they have been cheated and bribed by the north through copying and borrowing models wholesale, without thorough evaluation and assessment and these models have proved to be of not much use so now it is high time we need to formulate our own models of development that suit the African ways of life and that place Africans at the centre,” she said.

Masowa, stressed the need for Africa to draw from its rich indigenous knowledge systems, lessons of sustainable development and desist from the idea of merely borrowing foreign theories which had proved to be detrimental to the development of Africa.

The conference, attended by scholars and practitioners, was organised by the African Union’s African Academy of Languages, in collaboration with the Institute for African Renaissance Studies, University of South and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance ( IDEA).

Pana 01/10/2011

Culture and Development Issues

2011-11-14T01:14:00.000-08:00

Culture and Development Issues

One of the round table discussions at the Creative Economy Conference is entitled Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): development, culture and the creative industries: friends or foes? This is such an interesting topic which comes at a time when Africa is battling with MDGs. I just thought it important to share with you an extract from a detailed report prepared for the INCD by Burama K. Sagnia (2005) on that issue.Below is the extract.

Until recently, most development agencies regarded cultural factors as of no concern or serious impact to social and economic development. This lack of concern has often led to failures in reaching the poor. This is what eventually created interest in the need to take cultural issues into account in development frameworks and processes. If development plans, programmes and projects cannot move forward because of the failure of taking cultural issues into account in the implementation process, it becomes imperative that the planning process take this aspect into consideration.

In any local situation, there are cultural values and institutions that can support, constrain or even completely frustrate well-meant development programmes and projects. Examples of development interventions failing to promote quality of life and overall well-being because of their incompatibility with the cultural values and institutions of the populations concerned are numerous and well-documented. The attempt here is to organise a brief discussion around some of the key development concerns and the cultural issues involved.

The international community crafted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) from the Millennium Declarations, which has set out specific and quantifiable goals for human development by the year 2015. The eradication of extreme poverty and hunger is recognised by these goals as among the most central challenges before human society. For some time, the dominant view was that poverty could be addressed by raising economic standards through the “trickle down effects” of economic growth. Obviously, economic growth creates the capacity to reduce poverty and, given enough time, it may actually do so. But, experience across many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa for example (UNECA, 2005), has raised growing doubts as to whether it is feasible to attain the MDGs without mobilising more fully the under-utilised capacities of the poor, notably their culture. This makes it imperative that the issue of poverty is addressed from a broad-based and holistic perspective, taking into account the role of women, children and young people, the traditional cultural institutions and values and related problems such as environmental degradation, social stability and the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Developing a clear understanding of who are the poor has often been crowded with myths and misconceptions that have come in the way of developing effective strategic responses to take advantage of their dormant and under-utilized capacities and competences. UNCTAD (2004) maintains that “poverty is associated with unexploited productive potential, inequalities within countries and in the global economy, and also non-inclusive national development processes”. As if to buttress the UNCTAD conceptual point of view, the United Nations Global Monitoring Report (2004) for the Millennium Development Goals, did admonish that in order to achieve the MDGs there is an urgent need to implement the “global bargain” whereby developing countries will seriously integrate these goals, and in particular the poverty reduction objectives, into their national development strategies, and the developed countries provide a fair and just enabling framework and the necessary resources.

The “global bargain” implies work on multiple fronts, including market access and debt relief, increased and more effective development assistance, better governance and the full and effective engagement of all stakeholders, including the private sector and civil society. While developing countries themselves have the primary responsibility for poverty reduction, there is an upper limit to how much they can achieve without appropriate international policies, development funding and the dismantling of oppressive barriers.

Read the full report here http://www.incd.net/docs/Sagnia%20Report%20-%20Strengthening%20Local%20Creative%20Industries.pd

Revival of kenyan cultural community festival

2011-11-10T02:50:00.000-08:00

Bomas of Kenya has revived community cultural festivals to identify cultural ambassadors for all Kenyan Community and create awareness on what culture is all about and why it should be marketed to tourism markets to complement the usual repertoire of wild animals , mountains, beaches and the like.

‘’Culture has for long been misunderstood by many people a showcase of people’s backwardeness, primitivity and other negative aspects,’’ says Bomas of Kenya General Manager Quresh Ahmed . But this is far from the case and a complete fallacy, says the General Manager of Bomas of Kenya one of the Kenya’s leading cultural centre which is based in Nairobi. Culture ,, he says, is about a people’ s way of life, their heritage and language ,pride and uniqueness as a people . Everyone , he says, has a cultural heritage that shapes their view of life and their individual identity.

To create awareness about the important of culture , as an important tourism attraction and peoples identity . Bomas of Kenya and the Ministry of Tourism started the Community Cultural Festival in 2006. That year a festival for the Turkana Community was held at the banks of Lake Turkana. It was meant, like all the others that followed, to help Kenyans, the world and the Turkana themselves who they were , where they were coming from, their lifestyle and other social aspects of that community.

‘’It was a great beginning and success and those involved now understood the Turkana better, says Bwire Ojiambo, Bomas Production Manager.

The following year Mijikenda cultural festival was held in Mombasa and a Meru Cultural Festival was held at Kinooru Stadium, in Meru Town. After that, there were some hiccups and the event became dormant, until this year when it was revived with a Samburu and Ilchamus Cultural Festival at the Bomas of Kenya two weeks ago.

The organizers say that there is no going back this time until all cultural festivals are held for all Kenyan Communities.

During the festivals, the participants showcase their cultural dances, foods, cultural rites, artfacts, musical instruments, dress and other things that define who are . In the Samburu festival fir example, all these were showcased, and the pupils marveled, asked and were answered on all cultural aspects of the Samburu..

The events are also used to identify cultural ambassadors , who promote their cultures ambassadors in many forums both local and abroad. One such ambassadors is Senan Kanana, 22 years old who has been a Meru Cultural ambassadors in many forums including the International tourism bourse in Berlin, Germany .’’I have finished my bachelors of commerce degree in Marketing, as I look for a job, I am currently involving in organizing charity events to promote peace and unity and education through my foundation called Speaking for Good Foundation’’ she said.

Another ambassador, Jecinta Engolan of the Turkana has immersed herself in cultural affairs and has started a Turkana dress and artifact shop in Lodwar. She attends the shop when she is not travelling to preach the cultural gospel. Another ambassador is Tony Bahati of the Mijikenda in the Coast.

The next festival will feature the Teso people and will be held in Bomas of Kenya, followed by Somali and Kalenjin.

Participants are chosen by organizers at the grassroots level, with practicing ones being guven priority. It is a tall order to organize successful events for all Kenyan communities, and it will be interesting to see how the organizers will measure the impact of their initiative.

By ANTHONY NJAGI

tonyjagi@hotmail.com

African Creative Cities Network where are we missing the point?

2011-10-14T02:51:00.000-07:00

African Creative Cities Network where are we missing the point?

by Florence Mukanga

The views expressed in this article are entirely of the author

UNESCO, the Korean National Commission for UNESCO and Seoul Metropolitan Government will be hosting an International Conference of UNESCO Creative Cities Network from 16 to 18 November, 2011. The UNESCO Creative Cities Network, which was launched by UNESCO in 2004, aims to enhance the creative, social, and economic potential of cities by fostering their creative industries. Structured around the seven themes of literature, cinema, music, design, media arts, gastronomy, and folk art and crafts, the Creative Cities Network encourages cities to utilise their cultural assets in developing specific creative industries.[1]

Just by examining the main aim of this network one can see enormous opportunities that such a network presents to subscribing cities.

The Creative Economy Report published in 2010 says an increasing number of cities are using the concept of “creative cities” to design urban development strategies for re-invigorating growth with focus on culture and creative activities.

What disturbs me is the extent to which Africa has embraced these new ideas. I am not saying that Africa must copy all ideas that originate from other continents…but there are some ideas which are certainly worth emulating!

While it is encouraging to note that in March 2010 there was a Forum in Accra from to discuss the creation of an African Creative Cities Network and the modalities for the advancement of the African Cultural Capital project; with the meeting elaborating the minimal criteria that a city is expected to meet when applying to become affiliated to the African Creative Cities Network, it is disheartening to see that nothing much has come out of this conversation.

I may not be informed as to whether there have been follow-up meetings to this forum or whether something finally materialised from process. As a young cultural practitioner, it worries me that such brilliant ideas might end up dying a natural death or getting shelved, with no course of action.

In Africa we are tired of talk shows that do not yield to something tangible. I am eagerly waiting to hear about the final establishment of the network and to see our mother body- the African Union playing an active role just to ensure that the network takes off and flies high.

There are many positive aspects of having such kind of a network it helps our cities to collectively market themselves and their creative industries, it boosts cultural tourism around our cities, creates good names for our cities and attracts more investments in the cultural infrastructure.

Imagine a network linking the magnificent African cities of Maputo, Bulawayo, Johannesburg, Accra, Dakar, Nairobi, Kampala, Lagos, Port Louis, Cairo, Casablanca, Kigali and Yauonde; a network collectively celebrating the diversity of creative expressions of East, West, Central, North and Southern Africans; a network facilitating greater cultural collaboration even between local organisations within these cities; a network that will link the beautiful arts festivals and great African cultural events that take place in these cities! What an awesome network it can be!

Is Local Art Safe On the Internet?

2011-10-05T00:34:00.000-07:00

By Tony Monda

Gone are the halcyon days of contemporary Zimbabwean stone sculpture of the 1980s and 1990s, when over 1 860 cultural visitors per season chose Zimbabwe as a prime tourist destination.

Art galleries could boast of having a minimum (at the least), of 20 visitors per month each. International art patrons, scholars, business people and cultural tourists marvelled at our rich local culture immortalised in stone sculpture. They bought and bartered the art and carried out research of our culture. Zimbabwean artists lived well, fed and educated their families and contributed meaningfully to their respective communities - as is the norm in Shona tradition.

Some of the top artists even invested in real estate, agricultural projects and small-holder farming enterprises.

A good example of philanthropy was Springstone International Art Gallery of Avondale, which opened in the early 1990s, run by a local interior design consultant, art collector and cultural activist Michelina Andreucci. It was a trail blazing art gallery with an archival collection of stone sculpture dating back to its beginnings in 1956.

History of Cyber Marketing of Zimbabwean Art;

The gallery introduced the first Zimbabwean sculpture cyber marketing concept in the early 1990s, with Zimtrade. It boasted of the best designed websites of monumental and cabinet sculpture produced in Zimbabwe to date.

Chronological categories of art and artists were collated with cutting edge academic cultural research and analysis of the works, state of the art analogue and digital photography and captivating biographer that recorded the essence of the work and their artists. The gallery advocated for local connoisseurship of the arts and introduced fair international pricing for sculpture. It also offered education and scholarships for the artists and upheld the protection of the artist's rights.

Outstanding "new signatures" emerging artists were promoted and nurtured to ensure a continuity of the genre. As a result many top sculptors such as Nicholas Mukomberanwa, Lazarus Takawira, Sylvester Mubayi, Fanizani Akuda , Henry Munyaradzi, Boira and Richard Mteki, Peter Mandala, Joram Mariga, Joseph Ndandarika, Zachariah Njobo, Bernard Matemera, Edward Chiwawa and sons, Maxwell Gochera, Albert Mamvura, Anderson Mukomberanwa, victor Mtongwizo, Dereck Macheka, Bernard and John Takawira, Paul Gwichiri, Stanford Derere, Harry Mutasa, Moses Masaya, and others supported the enterprise and had their works flighted on the internet for the first time. The images on the net were internationally protected and copyrighted which was an adequate measure for the time.

Website Art Alert

Fifteen years on, the gallery ran its course and tourism slumped and many veteran artists passed on. Today, young Zimbabwean artists are creating their own websites as information and publicity mechanisms for self-promotion. But how safe are the images and information from hackers, conmen and most of all the Chinese, American, Belgian and Dutch forgers who have made the Internet a new frontier for the exploitation, replication, colonisation and ownership of Indigenous African culture and art?

This writer has been approached by several prominent Zimbabwean artists with complaints of seeing replicas of their work on the Internet on Euro-American websites. My work on the net is being widely plagiarised and forged. I have since vowed never to have an image of my art on the Internet.

e-Commerce and Colonisation

Is this reaction to the Internet not the same as the proverbial "ostrich burying its head in the sand"? Yes, but as the world shrinks to the size of an iPhone, smaller than the palm of one's hand, even the sand is not deep enough to protect one from the cyber gaze and fraud.

Western and Eastern computer technology can steal, plunder, re-credit and subsume indigenous intellectual property at the click of a button. What mechanisms do we have at our disposal for the defence and protection of our intellectual property?

This new ramification calls for our immediate attention. Can Zimbabwean artists tender a protective body to safeguard their works of art on the Internet? Have the local legislation, patent and copyright laws been amend to include the international protection of Zimbabwean cyber-images on the Internet? Who will monitor or marshal these international cyber felons and the colonial looters? What punishment can be meted out to these invisible, virtual, foreign gorgons?

These new implications call for national intervention. If we as artists and Zimbabweans can dare to dream and create world-class-word-coveted art, then we must have the self-determination to protect it. We need to protect our artistic innovations from colonial cyber domination and neo-colonisation. We need to be vigilant and guard our Post-Colonial heritage from potential ethnocide. The fourth Chimurenga should be protecting the arts, indigenous intelligence, tangible and intangible heritage, and re-claiming our rightful space in the International Cyber World.

Icho Chimurenga che dande mutande ne chi vitiviti - computer wars!

l Dr Tony Monda holds a PhD in Art Theory and Philosophy and a Doctorate in business Administration (DBA) in PostColonial Heritage Studies. He is an author, art critic and practising visual artist.

Top Ten pirates in Africa

2011-09-27T01:05:00.000-07:00

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has released the figures of their latest findings into piracy across the globe, and some statistics are shocking.

The global piracy rate has dropped to 42%. The global piracy rate dropped by 1 point from 2009 to 42%, meaning that 42% of the all the software in the world is pirated. Half of the 116 economies studied in the 2010 report noted that they had a piracy rating of 62% or higher, costing billions each year.

While Georgia, close to Russia, has the highest piracy rate in the world with 93%, Zimbabwe is second on the list, with 91% of all the software in the country pirated. The Top Ten African countries with the highest piracy rates are:

1. Zimbabwe (91%)

2. Libya (88%)

3. Algeria (83%)

4. Zambia (82%)

5. Nigeria (82%)

6. Cameroon (82%)

7. Kenya (79%)

8. Ivory Coast (79)

9. Botswana (79%)

10. Senegal (78%)

South Africa has been fortunate enough to have had a low piracy rate of around 35% for the last five years, and is also the country with the lowest piracy rate in Africa. But that doesn’t put South Africa in the clear.

Although SA has a low piracy rate of 35%, the commercial value of the pirated software is enough to push the country into the 25th spot on the list of highest commercial value of pirated software for 2010, valued at $513 million. South Africa is also the only African country on the list.

The nation with the highest value of pirated software is to no surprise the USA with $9.5 billion, followed by China with $7.7 billion, Russia with $2.8 billion, India with $2.7 billion and Brazil with $2.6 billion. It’s rather worrying that China, Russia, India and Brazil make up the BRICS nations with South Africa.

Source: http://www.itnewsafrica.com/2011/09/top-ten-highest-piracy-rates-in-africa/

What could Chinese expansion into Africa mean for the African creative economy?

2011-09-13T03:05:00.001-07:00

What could Chinese expansion into Africa mean for the African creative economy?

By Florence Mukanga

The views expressed in this article are entirely of the author

China is one of the BRICS countries alongside Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa. These countries are grouped together because while they are not yet economic powerhouses, they have the potential to become the world’s most dominant economies in the next few decades. They also account for almost three billion people, or just under half of the total population of the world. In recent times, the BRICS have also contributed to the majority of world GDP growth. My article will focus on the effects of the Chinese expansion into Africa on African creative economy.

China’s arts and culture budget has considerably grown over the years. According to the Daily Telegraph, ‘its cultural budget was 444 million RMB in 1978; 1.074 billion RMB in 1986; 1.728 billion RMB in 1991; 5.078 billion RMB in 1998; and 24.804 billion RMB in 2008. State support is likely to continue to grow above the national GDP growth in the future as China makes headway in developing a knowledge economy as well as an industrial economy: in recent years, the annual growth rate of the creative industries across China is more than 17%, 6-8% above concurrent GDP growth rates.’[1]

Its creative arts and crafts continue to increase in terms of quantity as well as quality, benefitting from the subsidies and creative platforms that the Ministry of Culture is committed to provide to further foster cultural growth.

The Chinese have made effort to encourage the acquisition of Chinese languages and culture in Africa through Confucius Institutes. In 2009 there were about 19 Confucius institutes in Africa. Numerous cultural agreements have been signed between the Chinese government and governments of African countries such as Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Egypt and South Africa among many others.

In order to strengthen its position in Africa, China established close ties with South Africa. This was done through inviting South Africa to join the BRIC in 2011. This move has triggered a lot of debate among economists with many of them arguing that South Africa does not quite belong to the group because it has a very small economy. According to O’Neill South Africa’s economy is only a quarter of the size of Russia’s, the next-smallest of the group. South Africa also has a relatively small population of about 50 million, an economy worth $286 billion and growth of only about 3 percent in 2010.

This move was more about forging strong political connections with the African continent, with South Africa as its most valuable trading partner and an increasingly important political ally. Given that South Africa plays a major role in the African creative economy it is interesting to explore how its relationship with China will ultimately affect the African creative economy.

Recently I had an opportunity to listen to a heated debate on the relationship between Chinese artists and Zimbabwean artists. One visual artist raised an issue that really striked my mind. Chinese people come to Zimbabwe and buy our artworks for close to nothing but when they go back to China they make fortunes out of those artworks. The proceeds are not channeled back to the Artists in Zimbabwe who continue to drown in poverty.

Another artist noted that the Chinese people come and buy one quality artistic product (such as stone sculptures) from Zimbabwe and go back to China where they produce a lot of pirated copies of that product and make a lot of money selling those artworks.

Whether or not these allegations are true is food for our thoughts. Of course the Chinese have reputation of making fake products and copying! The Independent (Europe) of 18 June 2011carried an article entitled: ‘Chinese copy of Austrian village stirs emotions.’[2] The article captures a story of Chinese architects who are planning to rebuild the Upper Austrian town of Hallstatt in one of their provinces.

As I read and write about all these moves by the Chinese the major questions that I ask myself are:

Is this a new form of colonialism? If it is new colonialism will it not awaken a new scramble for Africa and with what results? How many African countries can afford to implement the terms of cultural agreements between themselves and the Chinese? What will be the impact of these cultural ties with Africa on the individual cultures of African countries?

[1] The creative industries and cultural arts in China, Daily Telegragh of 1 October 2009: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/6255561/The-creative-industries-and-cultural-arts-in-China.html (This article formed part of a sponsored supplement: the Chinese Embassy in the UK in association with The Daily Telegraph).

[2] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/chinese-copy-of-austrian-village-stirs-emotions-2299516.html

Cultural Tourism: Does it Help or Exploit Local Communities?

2011-08-31T05:21:00.000-07:00

Cultural Tourism: Does it Help or Exploit Local Communities?

By JoAnna Haugen

On our towns and traditions tour, I couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy about the fact that catering to tourists required additional buildings to be built and modern plumbing to be installed even though the locals themselves did not appear to take advantage of either. Their homesteads felt like living history museums more than homes, with their spotless kitchens, bench seating and tables of goods spread out for purchase. Though we were experiencing traditional cooking, crafts and gardening, I felt like we were doing so in the context of tourism, not culture.

And yet, as we bounced along the road, passing small houses made of adobe where children and chickens ran freely, I began weighing the merits of cultural tourism in the context of sustainability. Satisfying tourists’ interests in order to provide economic stability is not the answer to responsible cultural tourism. Every van that drives down the dirt road and traveler who visits the homesteads leaves behind waste, traces of their own cultures and a carbon footprint. This kind of travel requires delicate planning so that sustainability and authenticity are maintained and local traditions, cultures and ways of life are protected.

But if cultural tourism helps a particular tribe or indigenous group maintain its traditions, isn’t that a form of sustainability? Without cultural tourism in the hills outside of Huatulco, would the local communities have been able to afford to build a dispensary and playground? Would they have running water and electricity?

If the vans of cruise passengers weren’t passed from homestead to homestead by van, would the farmers who grew cacti and coffee be able to afford to grow their crops without a captive audience interested in buying? If the women weaving hats and fans weren’t able to sell their products to out-of-town patrons several times a week, would they continue to make fiber dyes and weave, and would they find any reason to teach their children how to do the same?

Pushing that idea even further, if the people living in yurts in Mongolia, mud huts in the Kenyan desert and adobe homes in Oaxaca weren’t able to make a living off their land, would they give it all up and move to the closest big city, where they would be more likely to find mainstream jobs? A changing indigenous culture starts with one generation and slowly seeps through time until tribal languages are lost and traditional recipes are commercialized and turned into quick-eat microwave meals.

So were the stops of the towns and traditions tour really people’s homes? Yes, but with modifications to please the wayward traveler. Did we learn about authentic traditions? Yes, but with mass market appeal. With that in mind, is there a way to balance authentic cultural practices with outsiders’ interests in exploring them in a manner that is mutually—and equally—beneficial? That’s the question I don’t know how to answer.

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* Cultural Tourism is the subset of tourism concerned with culture, especially its arts, heritage and cultural events. It generally focuses on traditional communities who have diverse customs, unique form of art and distinct social practices, which basically distinguishes it from other types/forms of culture.

Culture and creative industries are increasingly being used to promote destinations and enhance their competitiveness and attractiveness. Many locations are now actively developing their tangible and intangible cultural assets as a means of developing comparative advantages in an increasingly competitive tourism marketplace, and to create local distinctiveness in the face of globalisation.

The creative economy: which way for Africa's future By: Titus Kaloki

2011-08-24T06:45:00.000-07:00

The creative economy: which way for Africa's future

By: Titus Kaloki

Many have always wondered what is creativity and how can it be measured. How can one tell creativity from the norm and how can one tell what has been creatively done or not. A respected panel of experts who worked on the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report, provided their definition of the term.
From their definition, creativity refers to the formulation of new ideas and to the application of these ideas to produce original works of art and cultural products, functional creations, scientific inventions and technological innovations. Also one has to keep in mind that originality involves even reworking old ideas into new ways of implementing them. The term “creative economy” appeared in 2001 in John Howkins' book about the relationship between creativity and economics. However, the term ‘creative economy' is a subjective concept that is still being shaped.

With this in mind we could discuss the various types of creativity. We have artistic creativity which involves imagination and a capacity to generate original ideas and novel ways of interpreting the world, expressed in text, sound and image. Scientific creativity involves curiosity and a willingness to experiment and make new connections in problem solving. Economic creativity is a dynamic process leading towards innovation in technology, business practices, marketing, etc., and is closely linked to gaining a competitive advantage in the economy.

The creative economy is an evolving concept based on creative assets potentially generating economic growth and development. It can foster income generation, job creation and export earnings while promoting social inclusion, cultural diversity and human development, it embraces economic, cultural and social aspects interacting with technology, intellectual property and tourism objectives, it is a set of knowledge-based economic activities with a development dimension and cross-cutting linkages at macro and micro levels to the overall economy, it is a feasible development option calling for innovative multidisciplinary policy responses and inter-ministerial action at the heart of the creative economy are the creative industries.

The creative industries that comprise the creative economy include: advertising, architecture, art and antiques market, crafts, design, fashion, film and video, music, performing arts, publishing, software, television and radio, and video and computer games. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the creative class represented almost one third of the workforce in the United States of America and the creative sector accounted for nearly half of all wage and salary income in the country, about US$1.7 trillion, as much as the manufacturing and service sectors combined.

To achieve this kind of success the main drivers of the creative economy; technology, demand and tourism have to be fostered. The convergence of telecommunications and multimedia has enabled creative content to be easily created and distributed to the widest numbers possible. Most people are open to enjoy other cultural products driving demand and cultural interaction through tourism. In 2004 alone Europe had 417 million tourists while Africa had only 33 million. This disparity is largely because of the creative cities and products found in Europe teeming with museums, art and fashion centres and many more creative goods and services.

What should be done for Africa to achieve the same? Let's borrow a leaf from those economies that have been able to achieve the fathomed success. China saw the establishment of creative districts e.g. the Kowloon creative district measuring over 40 acres and dedicated to inventiveness and production. It has attracted the best of creative minds and companies.

The creative sector due to its cultural connection gets more commitment and skill from its workers as they feel especially attached and achieve the greatest satisfaction. It has enabled the promotion of gender equality as women can be involved in making of crafts and other products empowering them economically. Therefore, the combination of government and civil society efforts greatly foster this sector. To compete globally, our technology should be up to par with the best; not a tall order considering how ‘wealthy' most African countries are. Tolerance for individuality and openness of minds are important for creative innovations and services to achieve economic gains. Without a receptive population selling creativity is difficult. This means education to involve creativity in content and evaluation.

It isn't a gloomy picture for Africa which in 2004 contributed only 1% to the global creative economy, as evidenced by a few initiatives e.g. Lake Victoria and Nyanza Creative Arts Association (LAVINCA.) Created in 1999, the objective of LAVINCA is to promote and create awareness of Kenyan arts and culture. Its program includes projects that aim to bring poor artists together and offer an opportunity to share ideas and experiences. The association was also created to tackle social issues that affect the youth of Kenya such as dropping out of school and poverty, and it intends to put in place mechanisms that will improve their quality of life. The NGO itself specialises in batik work, visual arts, sculpture (carving) and ornaments.

Therefore, an inter-ministerial approach by African governments is needed to foster this economic vista that is eco-friendly, sustainable, socially and culturally uplifting creating unlimited wealth and job creation. It is important for the small players and individuals to look at creating new ideas, goods and services and to slowly abandon the false security offered by traditional destructive economies that plunder natural resources such as mining, lumbering, etc.

With the right political and social will we are destined for a brighter future.

Failing To Call The Tune

2011-08-18T05:47:00.000-07:00

Artists and creative people in Africa continue to miss out on the wider opportunities provided by the emergent global economic sector, the “creative economy”.

A report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) shows that despite registering some of the highest percentage growths in such fields as arts and crafts, music and design, the continent earns the least from its creative people.

“Despite the richness of their cultural diversity and the abundance of creative talent, the great majority of developing countries are not yet fully benefiting from the enormous potential of their creative economies to improve development gains,” the report says.

The comprehensive report, titled Creative Economy 2008, puts into facts and figures, the contributions made to global economic growth by artists, musicians, architects, designers, creators of software among others.
The term “creative economy” has been steadily gaining wide usage within government and artistic circles. On the one hand it’s seen as a useful bridge linking the arts with the wider, mainstream sectors of the economy.
But on the other hand, critics say it provides nothing new and is merely a repackaging of creativity that has always been present.

The report defines “Creative industries” “as the cycles of creation, production and distribution of goods and services that use creativity and intellectual capital as primary inputs.

They comprise a set of knowledge-based activities that produce tangible goods and intangible intellectual or artistic services with creative content, economic value and market objectives.”

UNCTAD points out that the growth in information technology has for the first time pushed creativity to the fore as a possible leading growth area in the future. The organisation adds that the imperative is for governments to strengthen intellectual property protection laws to enable creative people benefit from their output.
The report shows that the sector grew by 8.7 per cent from 2000 to 2005 – the period which the report is based on.

Over all, trade in creative goods contributed US$424.4 billion in 2005, representing 3.4 per cent of total world trade. 2005 is the latest year UNCTAD uses in this report, released at the close of 2008.
However, the bulk of this money was made by the OECD countries, followed by emergent economies in Southeast Asia.

In the same year, the entire African continent made US$ 1.7 billion only, up from a paltry US$0.9 billion in 2000.
In comparison, in the year 2000, Japan alone is estimated to have exported “creative goods” worth US$ 4.8 billion.
However, the figures by themselves do not tell the whole story, for the African continent is the third fasted growing producer of creative products behind Asia:
While in 2005 – the latest date at which UNCTAD collated the figures – Japan exported creative products worth US$ 5.5 billion, and Africa, only US$ 1.7 billion, the Japanese increase was a 15 per cent growth compared to Africa’s, 82 per cent.

A number of factors play here: while the humble African figures are a reflection of poor data collection, meaning there might in actual fact be more production of creative products than is recorded. Crucially, the bulk of products in the “creative economy” depend on possession of hi-tech production, an area Africa lags behind in.

Lack of supportive public policies, poor integration into global economy and lack of investments in the sectors are some of the other factors keeping African “creative workers” from earning as much as their compatriots elsewhere.

“For the moment, African creative products are very under-represented in world markets despite the abundance of creative talent on the continent,” says the report.

It also highlights lack of copy right protection as a virulent enemy of creative industries which “destroys the ability of African artists to have a viable career as an artist or, in fact, the creative industry to become viable.
There is some evidence to suggest that in the music industry at least, pirate operators have a competitive advantage since their costs are lower and they have minimal capital investment requirements.”
It goes on to say that Africa as well as the rest of the developing world “[has] been facing domestic and international obstacles that need to be fully understood and overcome through cross-cutting institutional mechanisms and multidisciplinary policies.

In this scenario, development strategies must be updated to cope with the far-reaching cultural, economic and technological shifts that are reshaping society.” However, the situation in Africa is not even. Countries within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have a much better infrastructure and benefit the most from the creative sectors, with bigger and better run museums and galleries supporting the crafts and visual arts.

South Africa is the biggest exporter of creative products on the continent, followed by Namibia, Tunisia, Morocco and Kenya. Public policy in the SADC region is also more supportive than elsewhere on the continent. The report makes note of the emergence of musical traditions like Congolese rumba, Zaïroise Moderne, Afropop, gospel; new sounds like from “urbanized youth,” like the South African Kwaito and Tanzanian Bongo Flava.

The main centres for music production the report points out are in East Africa - Kenya and Tanzania; West Africa - Ivory Coast , Mali , Nigeria and Senegal and; Southern Africa - South Africa and Zimbabwe,
It points out as noteworthy, the support political leadership has provided in countries like Congo and Tanzania.
“The realization of value from the creative content of Africa is often in the hands of foreign distributors such that income leaves the countries where the content is created and produced,” the report says, adding that “in Africa, however, because the artists expect to receive little or no royalty from record sales partly owing to piracy and partly to the inadequate collection of copyrights, they negotiate a bigger share of an up-front payment that essentially signs away their rights to the music.”

The report highlights the emerging infrastructure helping to raise the profile of artists:
“The Biennale of Contemporary African Art of Dakar undoubtedly makes a critical contribution to ensuring the promotion of artists and the diffusion of contemporary creative works within and beyond the continent.”
Also known as Dak’Art, the Senegalese Biennale has become a large expo for African art, drawing in as many as 289 artists from 34 countries including a contingent from the African Diaspora and artists from the rest of the world.

Despite the hurdles it outlines, the report notes that artists on the continent are increasingly coming up with creative solutions, pointing at the runaway success of the Nigerian film industry, "Nollywood", as a good example:
“The emergence and rise of the Nigerian video-based film industry, the so-called “Nollywood”, is a creative response to satisfy the cultural needs of modern African society Nonetheless, developing countries are lagging behind in the film industry, since on average, they produce 1.2 films per million inhabitants compared with 6.3 films in developed countries.”

Africa has put together measures to try and harness the creative sectors. The Nairobi Plan of Action 2005 attempts to create legal and institutional infrastructure to support the cultural industries. The report advises the continent to “integrate into the global economy by nurturing…creative capacities and enhancing the competitiveness of [its their creative goods and services in world markets, provided that appropriate public policies are in place at the national level and market imbalances can be redressed at the international level.

In this respect, support for domestic creative industries should be seen as an integral part of the promotion and protection of cultural diversity.”

Artericle First published on the African Colours Website: http://www.africancolours.com/african-art-editorials/425/international/failing_to_call_the_tune.htm

Understanding Gender Relations, Culture and Development in Africa

2011-08-15T08:08:00.001-07:00

Understanding Gender Relations, Culture and Development in Africa

Florence Mukanga

The views expressed in this article are entirely of the author.

Gender imbalances have existed in most African cultures for a long time now. In most African countries women constitute a greater number compared to men but they remain underrepresented in many areas of socio, economic and political activities. This is mainly due to long-standing traditional beliefs concerning gender roles, which are mostly based on the premise that women are less important, or less deserving of power, than men.

These long standing cultural values have often led to domestic violence and abuse of women. According to a report produced by Musasa Project (Zimbabwe) in 2006 domestic violence accounted for 60 percent of all murder cases heard in Zimbabwean courts in 2006.

In a 2005 study on women’s health and domestic violence, the WHO found that 50 per cent of women in Tanzania and 71 per cent of women in Ethiopia’s rural areas reported beatings or other forms of violence by husbands or other intimate partners.

In Mali, Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa (to mention but a few) women do the bulk of the farm work, provide for the livelihood of their families, but are barred from owning the land they work. This again is a practice that is deeply rooted in culture which considers the man the head of household and therefore the rightful authority over land. I am aware of the fact that there are African countries like Mozambique where there are pieces of legislation enacted to facilitate the acquisition of land by women but most of these pieces of legislation are just ceremonial- they are not effectively implemented.

The issue of gender relations does not affect men and women only. In most African countries homosexuality is illegal. Homosexuals are seen as a minority group and regularly experience discrimination and stigmatisation. Due to that stigmatisation many struggle with defining their own gender identity and the subsequent disclosure thereof. I believe this is because in pre-colonial African traditional culture there was no homosexuality. In states like Buganga homosexuality begun with the coming of Arab traders hence most African nations still uphold the view that homosexuality is not culturally acceptable.

Whilst the situation is like this there is a lot of preaching around integrating culture into development programmes but how do we effectively integrate culture and some of its aspects like the ones mentioned above into development programmes that equally benefit all citizens of a country?

Culture is that which makes us who we are. It shapes the way we think, walk, talk and relate to each other. It affects our decision making process.

United Nations organs are some of the organisations that have come to an understanding of the pivotal role that culture plays in development. I am especially interested in an approach to integrate culture in development that is being used by UNFPA. It is called ‘culture lens’ and its purpose is to advance the goals of programming effectively and efficiently with strong community acceptance and ownership. It is an analytical and programming tool that helps policy makers and development practitioners to analyse, understand and utilise positive cultural values, assets and structures in their planning and programming processes, so as to reduce resistance to the ICPD Programme of Action, strengthen programming effectiveness and create conditions for ownership and sustainability of UNFPA programmes, especially in the areas of women's empowerment and promotion of reproductive health and rights.

This programme is very interesting but what I do not understand in this approach is the aspect of positive cultural values. Who decides on what is positive or negative about an aspect of culture? Which instrument is used to measure the positivity or negativity of cultural values? What if that which one views as positive is considered negative by the community practicing that culture?

In this age of globalisation are we not running a risk of having powerful cultures dominating and deciding on positive and negative aspects of culture? This observation is affirmed by James D. Wolfensohn, World Bank President, who says that, "In this time of globalisation, with all its advantages, the poor are the most vulnerable to having their traditions, relationships and knowledge and skills ignored and denigrated, and experiencing development with a great sense of trauma, loss and social disconnectedness."

As long as people talk of positive and negative aspects of certain cultures without clearly defining the criteria which they use to classify those aspects then the discriminatory tendency will continue to exist and that means a risk for developmental programmes.

2011-07-07T07:46:00.000-07:00

Time for African governments to take culture seriously

Florence Mukanga

The views expressed in this article are entirely of the writer.

Recently the relationship that exists between culture and development has generated a lot of interest across the whole world. There has been a lot of lobbying towards recognising the special role and the importance of culture and to give culture a more prominent place in development. In Africa we have embraced these developments with enthusiasm.

Some African countries have developed well defined cultural policies that govern arts and culture though it pains to note that many African countries still do not have well defined national cultural policies which articulate common vision. I know that these countries do have legislation that governs some aspects of arts and culture such as copyright laws and provisions from various common policies that have an impact on culture, including both policies that refer specifically to culture and those that have a more indirect impact on culture. Due to this lack of coherent cultural policies culture has found itself in a compromised position. I personally think that well defined holistic cultural policies are important especially because they help to tackle cross cutting iissues such as mobility of artists and cultural professionals, regulation of markets for cultural goods and services and fighting piracy.

Last year the African Union launched a Campaign for African Cultural Renaissance with the aim to promote Pan Africanism, cultural renewal and identity as forming part of the shared values in the Continent. In the same year African Union also organised a conference on financing of arts and culture.

All these developments point to the observation that culture should be put on the forefront of all development. However I would like to see culture occupying a prominent position in the African agenda in terms of resource allocation. Indeed conferences are important but at this stage African Union has to encourage member states to commit resources towards cultural development. To continue operating, African artists and their organisations always turn to foreign partners. George Ngwane, in his open letter to the AU Commission President notes that these partners undeniably have their own prisms of the definition and implementation of art and culture agendas in Africa which leads to a clash in civilisations and conflict of perceptions. He adds that national governments need to provide a cultural stimulus package to art organisations in order to flower the abundance of cultural heritage still lying fallow and latent in our creative backyard. I would like to emphasise the same thing by saying that as long African governments continue to turn a blind eye to arts and culture in terms of their priorities when it comes to budgeting then the chances of succeeding in this campaign will remain very slim.

In some cases it is not even about budgets only. It is about showing commitment to the development of arts and culture. Regional Economic Communities such as the Southern African Development Community for example, do not have desks dedicated to Arts and Culture. In a recent telephone conversation with the SADC secretariat in Botswana I was informed that the cultural desk was removed because ‘it is no longer a priority area for SADC.’ I could not believe my ears!!!! Culture….the fourth pillar of sustainable development…the fabric of society…our identity…our past, present and future…being neglected just like that. I then visited the website of SADC and then I was shocked by the vision of the body which is of a common future, a future within a regional community that will ensure economic well-being, improvement of the standards of living and quality of life, freedom and social justice and peace and security for the people of Southern Africa. This shared vision is anchored on the common values and principles and the historical and cultural affinities that exist between the people of Southern Africa. To me this is all about arts and culture so there is no way through which culture has become irrelevant to SADC.

Let us just stop being hypocrites who talk left and walk right. Our governments should start prioritising culture by allocating enough resources towards the sector.

How can the arts contribute to freedom of expression?

2011-05-04T02:48:00.001-07:00

by Mike van Graan

The programme for the PEN World Voices Festival taking place in New York at this time states that a key mission of the Festival “is to encourage people to speak out against censorship and condemn the suppression of freedom of expression everywhere”. The three signatories to this introduction – Laszlo Jakab Orsos, the Director of the Festival; Salman Rushdie, the chairperson of the festival steering committee and K. Anthony Appiah, the President of the PEN American Centre that hosts the Festival - further state “we firmly believe in literature as a key weapon in fighting this battle.”

South Africa celebrates 17 years of democracy this week, 17 years of the abolition of censorship boards, 17 years of freedom of expression guaranteed in the country’s Constitution which states: “everyone has the right to freedom of expression which includes a. freedom of the press and other media b. freedom to receive and impact information or ideas c. freedom of artistic creativity and d. academic freedom and freedom of scientific research.”

As part of the PEN Festival, an excerpt of my play Green Man Flashing was staged as a reading at the Martin E. Segal Theatre and was followed by a discussion.

The play is set six weeks before South Africa’s second elections in 1999. Gabby Anderson, a one-time political activist now working in government, alleges she has been raped by her boss, a high-profile government minister with an impeccable anti-apartheid struggle record and who plays a key role in quelling violence between the African National Congress (ANC) and the Inkatha Freedom Party in his native KwaZulu Natal. If the allegations go public, it could hurt the ruling party in the elections, lead to a high number of deaths in election-related violence and compromise international investment. The ANC sends a two-person delegation to Anderson to convince her not to go through with the charges.

Rather than the stark us-them, black-white, goodies and baddies binary oppositions of much of the theatre staged in the apartheid era, Green Man Flashing seeks to explore some of the moral contradictions, the racial ironies and the political complexities of a society in transition. It juxtaposes individual human rights against the greater good (albeit as defined by those in power) and the pandemic of gender violence against political violence, challenging the audience to think about their moral positions in a society struggling with political and moral ambivalences.

When the play was first produced in 2004 with subsequent seasons in 2005 (some time before Jacob Zuma - now South Africa's president - was charged with rape), I placed books in the foyers of the theatres so that audience members could articulate their responses to the play. The most recurring – and for me, disturbing – comment was that this was a “brave play”, “a courageous work”, the implication being that dealing with such themes in post-apartheid South Africa was somehow considered to be daring, edgy and even dangerous.

Why would this be the case, I wondered, when we were ten years into our democracy; when, in the apartheid era, some of us were arrested for staging a piece of street theatre that constituted “an illegal gathering”, others had their works banned and still others had been detained without trial for challenging the apartheid state through their artistic creativity. Why should writers be considered “brave” in exercising freedom of creative expression under a democratically elected government that had sworn to uphold a Constitution guaranteeing human rights?

At that time of course, Thabo Mbeki was president of the country and it was a period when the ruling party was very sensitive to any kind of criticism, where those who dared to criticise – no matter how legitimate the criticism - were dismissed as racists (or ultra-leftists if they were not white), as people who simply could not accept a black government. It was a time when self-censorship was rife.

Often, international focus is on those countries where conditions are so repressive that we marvel at and celebrate those artists and writers who challenge the status quo at great financial, personal and even physical costs to themselves. This is as it should be. But sometimes, even within democratic countries, there is a need for writers, artists and musicians to speak truth to power, to challenge new political dogmas, to provide a voice for those on the underside of history.

Democracies are generally works-in-progress and there will always be attempts to restrict freedom of expression whether through overt political censorship, withdrawal of economic resources, intimidation or other means by political authorities or those who occupy positions of leadership in some institution, community or cause.

While the general view is that the arts require conditions for freedom of expression, literature, theatre, music, film, visual arts, etc are also means for creating and expanding such conditions where they do not exist or are under threat. The best way to ensure artistic freedom may simply be to practice it.

NOTES
1. The views expressed in this column are entirely those of the writer and are not necessarily representative of any of the organisations in which he is involved.
2. This column may be forwarded by the recipient to any other interested party, and may be reproduced by any publication or website at no charge, provided that writer is acknowledged.
3. To engage with the content of this column or to provide feedback, go to www.mikevangraan.wordpress.com

Mike van Graan is the Secretary General of Arterial Network, a continent-wide network of artists, activists and creative enterprises active in the African creative sector and its contribution to development, human rights and democracy on the continent. He is also the Executive Director of the African Arts Institute (AFAI), a South African NGO based in Cape Town that harnesses local expertise, resources and markets in the service of Africa’s creative sector. He is considered to be one of his country’s leading contemporary playwrights.

For further information, see www.arterialnetwork.org, www.africanartsinstitute.org.za and www.mikevangraan.co.za

Is democracy all it’s cracked up to be?

2011-04-20T23:26:00.001-07:00

The Kigali Memorial Centre was opened in 2004, built on a site that also houses the graves of some 250 000 people slaughtered in the Rwandan genocide that took place a decade earlier. As I took in the permanent exhibition that can only hint at the story of how 800 000 people were killed in a hundred day period, I was at a complete loss in trying to understand how neighbours could turn on each other so quickly, so violently. I wondered about the much vaunted African principle of Ubuntu, our human interconnectedness: is this simply a mythical ideal that we sprout with hollow pride and nostalgia but in essence, we’re as selfish, atomised and disconnected as those in western societies?

The world ignored Rwanda from April to June 1994 when the genocide took place, focusing much more on the miracle nation down south which was hosting its first non-racial democratic elections in April too. By June 1994, Nelson Mandela had been inaugurated as President and his euphoric speech was still ringing around the globe:

The time for healing of the wounds has come. The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come. The time to build is upon us….We must therefore act together as a united people for national reconciliation, for nation-building, for the birth of a new world.

While ethnic groups were literally hacking each other to death in Rwanda, at the very same time, the reconciliation project unifying people across racial and ethnic divides had just begun in post-apartheid South Africa.

South Africa is about to celebrate its 17th Freedom Day marking the first elections on 27 April 1994, having been through a further three national elections in that time, and about to undergo its fourth local government elections in May. A Constitution has been adopted that guarantees freedom of association, freedom of expression and freedom of the media. Yet, at this very moment, there is a court case about whether the “struggle song”, Shoot the Boer, constitutes hate speech against Afrikaners. It has been given prominence by the leader of the ANC Youth League who was 8-years-old at the time of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison and so hardly a veteran of the struggle against apartheid! In this week too, six policemen have been charged with the murder of an unarmed man protesting against the lack of service delivery, his beating, shooting and subsequent death being broadcast around the world at a time when similar images are emanating from the non-democracies of Yemen and Syria. And while protests against the lack of service delivery take place around the country, a South African cabinet minister is exposed to have spent large amounts of public funds on a trip to his drug mule girlfriend in a Swiss prison and on stays in top Cape Town hotels, and is now also building a mansion for himself in an impoverished town in the Eastern Cape.

These three issues demonstrate just how little the national reconciliation project has progressed in South Africa, how far the country still has to go in transferring constitutional rights into reality and how high up greed and corruption go. But at least we’re having an election soon…!

In a December 2010 article by Andrew Mwenda of The Independent in Uganda, he states “The ANC in South Africa inherited a strong bureaucratic state with a well-developed and modern industrial economy, properly developed infrastructure, the best human resource pool on the continent and great international goodwill. The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) inherited a backward economy that had collapsed, and a nation without a functional state. The pre-existing institutions of state had been dismembered, as over 90% of its human resources were dead, in jail or in exile. There was little international goodwill.”

Rwanda has hosted two Presidential elections since the genocide, with Paul Ngwane of the RPF winning his first seven-year term with 95% of the vote in 2003 and his second (and constitutionally final) term in 2010 with 98% of the vote. Ngwane and the RPF have been heavily criticised by local and international human rights organisations for their clampdown on the opposition, on the media and their absence of traditional democratic credentials.

According to Mwenda though, the lives of ordinary people in Rwanda have improved with 97% primary school enrolment, 75% having access to clean water and maternal mortality declining, all pointing to the effective pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals. The incidence of HIV in Rwanda has declined from 11% in 2000 to under 3% in 2010, with average life expectancy growing from 25 in 2000 to 52, ten years later. By contrast, South Africa’s average life expectancy declined from 62 before the ANC took power to around 50 last year, with a Harvard University study concluding that at least 330 000 people (nearly half of the number killed during the Rwandan genocide) died avoidable deaths during Thabo Mbeki’s reign. The study estimated that there was an average of 900 AIDS-related deaths per day in 2005, one year after the ANC was re-elected into power with more than 69% of the vote!

The point is that there is no relationship necessarily between democracy and the delivery of services to the poor, or the improvement in the lives of the majority. As Mwenda’s article also points out, India – the world’s largest democracy – has freedom indicators comparable to those of Norway and yet, in terms of public services such as access to education, health, clean water, health, etc, India is similar to failing states such as Bangladesh and Pakistan. China on the other hand, not exactly the world’s leading democracy, is the one country which according to the World Bank has made substantial gains in reducing poverty, lifting 600 million people beyond the threshold of those living on less than $1,25 per day over a 30 year period.

While best practice democracies can indeed be effective mechanisms for delivery of services and for the improvement of the lives of the majority, having the forms of democracy – free and fair elections, constitutionally protected freedoms and human rights, etc – can also be means of co-option and of quelling resistance. Where democracy essentially serves elites – as in South Africa – the masses are “voting fodder” to ensure the maintenance of the political vehicle that creates the conditions for the elite to prosper. The constant battles (literally) to be nominated for electoral positions within the ruling party in South Africa points less to a desire to serve the South African people than to the economic and lifestyle opportunities afforded to politicians given front row seats at the trough of public funds.

The pursuit of a democracy and of a democratic culture – as in North African and Middle Eastern states at the moment – is admirable and is to be encouraged, but the lessons from further south are that democracy is not a guarantee of substantial and progressive social transformation. It has to be accompanied by the nurturing of a culture that values the greater good rather than individual greed, that does not glorify crass materialism as signs of success, and that places people rather than profit or ideology or narrow political interests at the centre of the transformation programme.

New societies require new cultures.

NOTES
1. The views expressed in this column are entirely those of the writer and are not necessarily representative of any of the organisations in which he is involved.
2. This column may be forwarded by the recipient to any other interested party, and may be reproduced by any publication or website at no charge, provided that writer is acknowledged.
3. To engage with the content of this column or to provide feedback, go to www.mikevangraan.wordpress.com

Mike van Graan is the Secretary General of Arterial Network, a continent-wide network of artists, activists and creative enterprises active in the African creative sector and its contribution to development, human rights and democracy on the continent. He is also the Executive Director of the African Arts Institute (AFAI), a South African NGO based in Cape Town that harnesses local expertise, resources and markets in the service of Africa’s creative sector. He is considered to be one of his country’s leading contemporary playwrights.

For further information, see www.arterialnetwork.org, www.africanartsinstitute.org.za and www.mikevangraan.co.za

The Cultural Weapon

2011-04-11T03:38:00.000-07:00

Are artists part of “the problem”?

During this week, Juliano Mer-Khamis, the founder and director of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin, Palestine, was assassinated. Shot dead in his car by masked gunmen. One tribute describes him as someone who was “totally committed to his belief that experience with art is a means to exercise freedom”.

Also this week, one of the most well-known (and outspoken) artists in China – Ai Weiwei – was detained by his government, and according to reports, like dozens of bloggers and dissidents arrested in the last few months, his name has just about been removed from the Chinese internet.

Meanwhile, in Cameroon, the musician Lapiro de Mbanga is to be released this week after serving three years in jail for his song “Constipated Constitution”, which was critical of the political status quo.

Are these artists exceptions? Or are they the ones we come to know about through international campaigns highlighting their bravery and consequent persecution?

Artists often have the image of being “other”, of not being “normal”, and are variously dismissed, marginalised or tolerated for being “creative”, for thinking differently, for not being conformist. And yet, for all the sometimes aspirational, sometimes “cool” status of being “unconventional”, artists – generally – can be pretty conservative, and, unless there is a counterhegemonic movement that has reached some kind of tipping point in which artists can find protection, we artists tend to align our interests with those of the status quo. Of course, we might think critically, we might even voice our criticisms around dinner tables, in pubs and in our dressing rooms, but when it comes to really speaking truth to power, and to acting it out in our creative work, we’re generally a cowardly lot!

Some would argue that artists are no different to other human beings and also have needs to pay the rent, put food on the table, pay school fees and deal with rising fuel costs. Why then, should artists be obliged to do and say things that could alienate those in power or those with resources or their primary middle-to-upper class audiences and markets who help to sustain their tenuous lifestyles?

No-one seeks to be a martyr for art or for freedom of expression or to go to jail or to embrace – relative - poverty by challenging those responsible for perpetuating injustices and inequities. But then, who will speak truth to power? What is the role of artists within any society? Is it any more than entertaining and giving pleasure to elites? To seek affirmation from audiences, critics, buyers and awards judges? To produce art of technical excellence, and to deliver it professionally?

The production and distribution of art does not happen in a social vacuum, nor on an island with no context. Theatre, music, dance, visual art, literature and film are created and distributed in national and global contexts characterised by vast inequities between rich and poor; by rabid discrimination on the basis of nationality, gender, sexual orientation, education, age and a host of other factors; by ongoing and massive environmental destruction and by violence – institutional, military and criminal – being wreaked on human life and dignity. Artists inhabit, and are influenced by this world. Whether we recognise it or not, our creative work, the choices we make about what we will say and how we will say it, our decisions about where our work will be shown (and thus who will have access to it) - these all contribute in some way to maintaining, reinforcing or challenging an economic, political and social status quo.

Embedded in our creative work, and in the institutions through which we distribute our work, are values, ideas, worldviews, ideological and moral assumptions that contribute (whether through silence or overt expression) in multi-layered ways to perpetuating or challenging hegemonic discourses and behaviour.

As artists we are taught that the arts are a reflection of our society, that the role of art is to hold up a mirror to our society. If we evaluate our work over the last number of years, what does our art say about our society, about the world we inhabit, about us? Whose stories do we tell? To whose music do we dance? Whose images do we put to canvas?

There are many arts-related organisations that do exemplary work: monitoring and exposing the suppression of freedom of expression; providing refuge to artists in exile; fighting for artists’ mobility against narrow nationalist economic and security concerns….But these are often led by arts managers and cultural policy activists rather than artists. My experience of artists is that they care little for matters beyond their own micro artistic practice, that they fail to read and try to understand the broader national and global context in which they work and the dialectic between their work (and the challenges they encounter) and the macro economic, political and social forces that impact directly or indirectly on the production and distribution of their work. Artists care little for cultural policies and make no effort to interrogate the international conventions and regional treaties that their governments sign, so that they have very limited understanding of both the possibilities (and responsibilities) that these bring. Artists are less likely to challenge government than to seek the blessing of political parties whom they believe will protect and advance their micro interests, even when decades of history prove otherwise.

It may seem unfair to lay a huge burden of “artivisim” on the shoulders of a sector that genuinely struggles with finding decent and regular work, but the truth is that the arts sector is a relatively privileged one.

The question is: in whose interests will we use our skills, our knowledge, our talents, our public profiles, our access to the media, our networks, our resources and our opportunities? How would the masses of people on the underside of contemporary history view artists? As part of their problem?

NOTES
1. The views expressed in this column are entirely those of the writer and are necessarily representative of any of the organisations in which he is involved.
2. This column may be forwarded by the recipient to any other interested party, and may be reproduced by any publication or website at no charge, provided that writer is acknowledged.
3. To engage with the content of this column or to provide feedback, go to www.mikevangraan.wordpress.com

Mike van Graan is the Secretary General of Arterial Network, a continent-wide network of artists, activists and creative enterprises active in the African creative sector and its contribution to development, human rights and democracy on the continent. He is also the Executive Director of the African Arts Institute (AFAI), a South African NGO based in Cape Town that harnesses local expertise, resources and markets in the service of Africa’s creative sector. He is considered to be one of his country’s leading contemporary playwrights.

For further information, see www.arterialnetwork.org, www.africanartsinstitute.org.za and www.mikevangraan.co.za

Cultural Weapon

2011-04-01T00:58:00.000-07:00

The Cultural Weapon

Mike van Graan

Development as a destroyer of Culture

The Government of Uganda has decided that the Uganda National Museum - the country’s only national museum - will be demolished to make way for a 60-storey East Africa Trade Centre. The proposed “ultramodern” building – which politicians suggest will take 3-5 years to complete but which will take closer to 30 years according to civil society activists and commentators familiar with such Ugandan projects - will house the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry, commercial retail outlets and office space. Oh, and two floors will be allocated to a new national museum.

Established in 1908, the Museum is more than one-hundred years old and is thus itself a heritage site.

This is a classic case of “development” versus “culture”, in much the same way as “development” has often destroyed the natural environment in the name of economic growth and social progress. For those who advocate “culture as a vector of development”, this particular case presents a major challenge, both philosophically and strategically.

Increasingly, “culture as a vector of development” has come to mean the catalysing and support of the creative industries as economic drivers, as job-creation mechanisms, as generators of the financial resources that will be used to address major social and human development needs in the areas of health, education and the eradication of poverty, all important in the pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals.

This is particularly relevant to Uganda whose per capita income is a mere $460 and which is ranked a lowly 143 on the Human Development Index.

What the Ugandan government is saying is that the Ugandan National Museum – a national heritage site and the primary repository of the nation’s historical artefacts - is not a vector of development in that it is poorly attended by locals and tourists; it does not generate income; it serves no real economic purpose, and, if anything, it consumes limited public resources. From their point of view then, it is a no-brainer to demolish the museum in favour of a building that will generate substantial income through more commercially viable uses, and which could then very well contribute to economic, social and human development in Uganda.

By the same logic, the Ugandan government can next make a move on the National Theatre. Why bother to have a National Theatre – even if it is better used than the National Museum – when the economy can benefit more from a shopping mall or prestigious office block or apartment building in its place?

Therein lies the philosophical challenge to the “culture as a vector of development” proponents i.e. by making the case for the arts primarily on the basis of their economic contribution, the corollary is that where cultural institutions or the arts do not make an economic contribution or make an economic contribution that is substantially less than another option, then politicians and bureaucrats feel justified in destroying culture in favour of a better “development” option.

And yet, the proposed 60-storey building does not simply represent the destruction of culture in the form of the possible demolition of the National Museum; in truth, it represents a culture that is different, even foreign to the one represented by the Museum. The 60-storey building represents a culture of materialism, an elitist culture of ostentation, a globalised culture with a building and the values that it represents that could be in any major city of the world. The National Museum on the other hand – the one destined for destruction – is about Ugandan identity; unique Ugandan history; values, traditions and worldviews that are peculiar to Uganda, a building and content that celebrates cultural diversity as envisaged by UNESCO’s Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

Uganda is not a signatory to the Convention. Not yet anyway.

And herein lies the strategic challenge to proponents of “culture as a vector of development”: to mobilise an international movement to prevent the destruction of the National Ugandan Museum, thus preserving cultural diversity in a globalised world, and contributing to a richer understanding of the relationship between culture and social, human and economic development.

NOTES

1. The views expressed in this column are entirely those of the writer and are necessarily representative of any of the organisations in which he is involved.

2. This column may be forwarded by the recipient to any other interested party, and may be reproduced by any publication or website at no charge, provided that writer is acknowledged.

3. To engage with the content of this column or to provide feedback, go to www.mikevangraan.wordpress.com

Mike van Graan is the Secretary General of Arterial Network, a continent-wide network of artists, activists and creative enterprises active in the African creative sector and its contribution to development, human rights and democracy on the continent. He is also the Executive Director of the African Arts Institute (AFAI), a South African NGO based in Cape Town that harnesses expertise, resources and markets in the service of Africa’s creative sector. He is considered to be one of his country’s leading contemporary playwrights.

For further information, see www.arterialnetwork.org, www.africanartsinstitute.org.za and www.mikevangraan.co.za

Is the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights worth the paper it’s written on?

2011-03-22T05:12:00.000-07:00

The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, an official normative charter of the African Union, recalls the Charter of the Organisation of African Unity which stipulates that “freedom, equality, justice and dignity are essential objectives for the achievement of the legitimate aspirations of the African peoples”. The Human Rights Charter’s preamble states that signatories to this Charter – members of the African Union – are “firmly convinced of their duty to promote and protect human and people’s rights and freedoms, taking into account the importance traditionally attached to these rights and freedoms in Africa”.

Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights states “Human beings are inviolable. Every human being shall be entitled to respect for his (sic) life and the integrity of his (sic) person. No one may be arbitrarily deprived of this right.”

Article 5 states that “all forms of exploitation and degradation, particularly slavery, slave trade, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment shall be prohibited”.

“Every individual shall have the right to express and disseminate his (sic) opinions within the law”, stipulates Article 9.

The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR), based in Banjul, in The Gambia, recently issued a strong statement on the human rights situation in North Africa, condemning “the violence and use of force against civilians and suppression of peaceful demonstrators” and calling upon the “Government of the Great Socialist Peoples’ Libyan Arab Jamahiriya to immediately end the violence against its citizens and take necessary steps to ensure that the human rights of its citizens and all its inhabitants are respected”. It further calls on the Libyan regime “to uphold the right to freedom of expression, assembly, the right to peaceful protest and ensure the security of its citizens, as provided by the African Charter.”

While the ACHPR is to be credited for this call, one cannot help but wonder about its efficacy given the ongoing – daily - abuse of human rights on the African continent (despite the self-righteous statement about “the importance traditionally attached to these rights and freedoms in Africa” embedded in the preamble of the Charter). Article 62 of the Human Rights Charter requires each State Party to submit – every two years – a report on the legislative or other measures taken with a view to giving effect to the rights and freedoms recognised and guaranteed by the Charter. Yet, some countries such as Comoros, Cote D’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Liberia and Malawi have never submitted reports.

The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights entered into force on 21 October 1986 (and has been marked by 21 October being set aside as “African Human Rights Day”), with 53 African countries having ratified the Charter. Technically, since 1986, and in terms of Article 62, State Parties to the Charter should have submitted 12 reports, yet the most reports submitted to date by any country have been four by Rwanda. Seventeen countries have submitted only one report, 15 have submitted 2 reports, seven have submitted three and only one has submitted four reports, while 13 have not submitted any reports on the measures they have taken to promote and protect human rights.

In the last week, reports have been received of a Zimbabwean theatre company who are due to appear in the Mutare Magistrate’s Court on 17 March, after having been detained for two nights on 5 January. They are being charged with “intentionally and unlawfully making noise or disturbance and beating drums in a public place, performing drama reminiscent of political disturbances of the June 2008 elections. The drama incited the affected members of the public to revive their differences".

The play – Rituals – was ironically seen by Zimbabwe’s Organ on National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration, was approved by the censorship board and was nominated for the National Arts Merits Awards in 2010 as an outstanding theatrical production. It was written by Stephen Chifunyise, recently appointed by the EU and UNESCO to its group of 30 cultural experts to assist governments with developing cultural policies, and was performed by the Rooftop Zimbabwe Theatre under the direction of Daves Guzha.

Last week, Human Rights Watch issued a media release accusing the Angolan government of carrying out “an intimidation campaign in connection with an announced anti-government demonstration that was inspired by events in Egypt and Tunisia.”

According to the release, the Angolan government “warned in the weeks leading up to the protest, which was announced for March 7 2011, that anyone who joined would be punished for inciting violence and attempting to return the country to civil war. Police arrested several demonstrators and journalists the night before the event. The announced demonstration did not take place.”

Journalists have been heavily harrassed and some have received death threats with Human Rights Watch further indicating that a group of 17 rap musicians were arrested while reading poems and distributing pamphlets and were released the following day without explanation.

The point is that human rights are under severe threat in Africa, and African institutions appear to be generally powerless – or unwilling, but at least hopelessly ineffectual – in promoting and protecting the human rights and freedoms of African people. The right to freedom of expression is the premise for artistic creation and distribution, and is a fundamental principle enshrined in UNESCO’s Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions as well as the African Union’s Plan of Action on Cultural Industries.

Clearly, on their recent and contemporary records, African governments – and multilateral African institutions such as the African Union and the bodies they establish such as the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights as well as the policy instruments that they create or subscribe to – simply cannot be trusted to advance and protect the human rights and freedoms of Africans.

If the revolutions in North Africa show anything, it is that democracy and human rights are best advanced by the people themselves, rather than their governments. It is imperative therefore that civil society organisations be empowered with the organisational, infrastructural, leadership and financial resources in order to advance and defend the rights of citizens, and to hold accountable their governments for their failures to abide by the Human Rights Charter and the institutions that they have created.

For the African arts sector, it is time to institute an African Arts Watch programme, among other things, to monitor the suppression of freedom of creative expression in all African countries, and to alert fellow Africans, and the international community in order to bring appropriate pressure to bear on the relevant regimes, and to act in solidarity with artists working in repressive conditions.

Mike van Graan is the Secretary General of Arterial Network, a continent-wide network of artists, activists and creative enterprises active in the African creative sector and its contribution to development, human rights and democracy on the continent. He is also the Executive Director of the African Arts Institute (AFAI), a South African NGO based in Cape Town that harnesses local expertise, resources and markets in the service of Africa’s creative sector. He is considered to be one of his country’s leading contemporary playwrights.

For further information, see www.arterialnetwork.org, www.africanartsinstitute.org and www.mikevangraan.co.za

The Cultural Weapon

2011-03-06T23:06:00.001-08:00

The Cultural Weapon

Mike van Graan

In the last few years, there has been much talk, conferencing, seminars, papers about and celebration of the mantra that “culture is a vector of development”. For example, in Brussels in 2009, the European Union together with the African Caribbean Pacific (ACP) Secretariat hosted an international conference on this theme. This was followed up with another conference in Girona in May 2010 reinforcing the same theme. Then at the end of last year, with global leaders meeting to evaluate progress made towards the achievement of the 2015 Millennium Development Goals, a resolution was passed at the United Nations that emphasised “the important contribution of culture for sustainable development and the achievement of national development objectives and internationally agreed development goals including the Millennium Development Goals”.

It is ironic that culture is now seen as a vector of development when in the post-colonial era, culture was viewed as the chief obstacle to development. One development theorist summarised this view thus:

Basically…so-called traditional societies…are underdeveloped because of a lack of important propellants of development, including a work ethic, morals, innovative and entrepreneurial capacity, free market mechanisms, a propensity for taking risks and organisational acumen. The absence of these factors, according to the theory, is itself a function of flaws in the culture, customs and social mores of traditional societies. Particularly noteworthy in this latter respect is the fact that the theory considers the leading cause of underdevelopment in so-called traditional societies as the fact that such societies tend to place a lot of emphasis on kinship and family rather than on individual success and little or no emphasis on sophisticated technology and the acquisition of material wealth.

Those subscribing to this theory concluded that it was impossible for Africa to develop without abandoning its traditional practices and assuming Eurocentric cultural values, beliefs and ideology.

The implications were that Africans should banish notions of kinship and family in favour of individual success and individual pursuit of wealth, adopt the morals associated with these and become more entrepreneurial in their orientation.

The more progressive view that emerged at this time was that development strategies – to be effective – had to respect and take cognisance of the worldviews, values and social forms of organisation – i.e. the culture - of the supposed beneficiaries of development, and not simply impose models that worked in other contexts, onto such communities. This was the background against which the notion of “culture as an integral factor of development” was initially born in the sixties.

I am not sure that this historically progressive view is what is meant in contemporary times by proponents of “culture as a vector of development”. The latter implies a more active contribution by culture to development so that mostly, this mantra (culture as a vector of development) nowadays refers to the creative industries, and more specifically, to those areas of artistic activity that potentially create jobs, generate income and contribute to the tax base. With the growth and economic contribution of the creative industries in industrialised economies over the last thirty years, there is the belief that – with Africa’s share of the global creative economy standing at less than 1% - there is huge potential to develop Africa’s creative industries and in the process, contribute to economic growth, raise people out of poverty and help to realise the Millennium Development Goals that resonate so pertinently with African conditions.

There is such momentum behind (and resources attached to) “culture as a vector of development” at the moment, and anything that helps to make the case for the arts in some way should be welcomed, surely? And yet, there are disquieting questions. Like, are creative industries really sustainable in Africa where most people live on less than $2 per day? Is there the disposable income to grow the creative industries in Africa on the same scale as in the global north, or is this again – ironically – yet another model that works elsewhere but is inappropriate to much of the African context?

Another, more important question is, even if the creative industries do contribute substantially to economic growth, is that a guarantee that they will contribute to development on the continent? The problem here has not been, and is not with economic growth. The African continent has seen substantial and consistent economic growth in many countries since the 1990s, given the demand for oil, coal and other natural resources to be found in abundance here. The major problem has been the maldistribution of the generated wealth with the repeated pattern of an elite becoming extremely rich and the masses of people increasingly poor, a pattern common to Angola, Egypt, Gabon, Tunisia, Mozambique and indeed, South Africa.

At a forum hosted by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation which monitors and rewards good governance in Africa in November last year, the question was raised “why is Africa poor in spite of having plenty of resources?” and the answer articulated by Ibrahim himself was “poor governance and the lack of leadership”. Moeletsi Mbeki, brother of the former South African President, writes in his book, Architects of Poverty:

Half a century after its liberation from colonialism, Africa has dropped so far down the development scale that (they) can only get out of this hole they have dug for themselves through intervention by the rest of the world; what has gone wrong has been the massive mismanagement by Africa’s ruling political elites, with the help of Western powers, of the economic surplus generated in Africa in the past 40 years.

The third troubling question that arises from culture – or the creative industries – as a vector of development is that with the concentration on those creative industries that more obviously contribute to economic growth (contemporary music, publishing, film and television, cultural tourism), the arts generally lose value in their own right and are deemed important only if they have value in the marketplace. Thus, the broader role of the arts for human enjoyment, catharsis, intellectual stimulation, and emotional engagement is potentially compromised by the emphasis on their capacity to generate income so that the fundamental human right “everyone shall have the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community and to enjoy the arts” has come to have the additional small print “but only for those who can afford it”.

A final question has to do not so much with culture as a vector of development, but rather with development as a vector of culture. Development – however it is understood or practiced and particularly within a neo-liberal economic paradigm with the emphasis on profitability, free trade, competition, maximisation of individual wealth - is both an act of culture as it is premised on particular worldviews, values and ideological assumptions, and it acts on culture, particularly on the culture of the supposed beneficiaries of development, rupturing or reshaping local beliefs, customs, moral values, worldviews, behaviour, social forms of organisation, etc. We do not have to look very far to see how former anti-apartheid struggle heroes of the people have had their values, worldviews and ideology radically altered to pursue their own individual interests, even at the expense of “the people” they once were part of.

All of which brings one to the question of how to define “development”? Recent history – including the popular revolutions taking place in North Africa and the Arab world - shows that development cannot simply be about economic growth, or about “culture as a vector of development” in narrow economist terms, but rather needs to integrate human, social, economic and political development.

Which is why I like Arterial Network’s definition of development as “the ongoing generation and application of financial, human and other resources to create the optimal political, economic and social conditions in which human beings enjoy the full range of human rights and freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”.

These rights and freedoms include: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights; No-one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile; Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state; Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of herself and her family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, or lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control, and, significantly, Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realised.

“Development” is not neutral; it is premised on ideological assumptions, worldviews, values, beliefs and it serves particular interests. “Culture as a vector of development” then cannot be neutral either. The creative sector thus needs to be fully engaged in defining and giving practical content both to development and to the role that culture and the arts play in development. To do otherwise, is to allow those with narrow interests to use the arts to serve their selfish agenda.

Mike van Graan is the Secretary General of Arterial Network, a continent-wide network of artists, activists and creative enterprises active in the African creative sector and its contribution to development, human rights and democracy on the continent. He is also the Executive Director of the African Arts Institute (AFAI), a South African NGO based in Cape Town that harnesses local expertise, resources and markets in the service of Africa’s creative sector. He is considered to be one of his country’s leading contemporary playwrights.