• Chimurenga signale sur FB

    The African Imagination of a Borderless World:

    https://www.facebook.com/BardeAmu/posts/2053819831377429?__tn__=-R

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/m2ahiylwb2rfv00/afrique%20festac%2077.pdf?dl=0

    The debate that started in Manchester 1945 when the leadership of a movement founded by “concerned black people” in the West (Garvey, du Bois, CLR etc) was taken up by Africa-born poet-philosopher-politicians like Nkrumah and Nyerere - and accelerated when these poet-philosopher-politicians took charge of independent states (or “mini-states” as Walter Rodney liked to call them) and reduced pan Africanism to OAU bureaucracy (which Mbeki subsequently re-branded AU). Not all were poets or philosophers..

    Anyway, this debate was still in full swing by the time FESTAC came around - the 2nd World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture, held in Lagos/Kaduna in 1977 (note the “Black AND African”)

    This is Kongi speaking his peace for Abibiman (his prefered name for Africa) at the FESTAC Colloquium - btw we’re working on a publication on FESTAC, soon come!

    (And this vid is courtesy of the Centre for Black Arts and Civilisations in Lagos - part the legacy of FESTAC. Check them out)

    Bright Moments!

    FESTAC’77 - the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture - YouTube
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzAIGgWNHbY

    Festac ’77, also known as the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (the first was in Dakar, 1966), was a cultural jamboree held in Lagos, Nigeria, from 15 January 1977 to 12 February 1977. The month-long event celebrated African culture and showcased to the world African music, fine art, literature, drama, dance and religion. About 16,000 participants, representing 56 African nation and countries o