Nubiart review of 2007 (6248)

 

Obituaries
James Brown; Lucky Dube; Cyprian Ekwensi; Dr Asa Hilliard; Lester Lewis; Oscar Peterson; Max Roach; Ousmane Sembene; Adelaide Tambo; Tyrone Taylor; Ike Turner; Carlos ‘Patato’ Valdes; all the other Afrikans known and unknown who joined the ancestors over the past 12 months

Event of the Year
Toyin Agbetu standing up at Westminster Abbey during the phoney “slave trade” abolition commemoration declaring, ‘Not in our name!’, and shaming the ‘Four Estates’ of the British imperial regime.

Ten Important UK Events
The increasing death rate of young Afrikans; deaths in custody; the rise of intrusive technology and the inability and unwillingness of the UK government to keep public information safe; the police / army escaping any real punishment for the slaughter of Jean Charles de Menezes in July 2005; the raid and closure of the Ethiopian World Federation (EWF) Tabernacle after over 35 years at St Agnes’s Place; the continued sale of bleaching creams and the prosecution of those engaged in those destructive practices; the 30th anniversary of the fight against the National Front in Lewisham; the 30th anniversary of the screening of ‘Roots’ on British TV; Chagossians defeat the UK government in the High Court and win the right to return home to their islands; and the continuing demonisation of ‘migrants’ / foreigners / non-European looking people.

Ten Important World Events
Ethiopian Millennium celebrations; Darfur; Jena 6 arrests and harassment of the local Afrikan-American community and activists; Europeans kidnapping 103 Afrikan children in Chad; German apology to the Herero for the 1904 genocide; the ‘credit crunch / sub-prime crisis’ adversely affecting Afrikan-Americans while Jews, like Goldman Sachs, profited; Talks on Western Sahara; uprising and strikes in France; the deaths of thousands of Afrikans leaving Afrika for a better life abroad; and Aboriginal life in Australia.

Nubiart Interviews of the Year
- Tunde Kelani. The Nigerian master filmmaker broke down the whole Nigerian film industry for us.
- Ahmed Gaas. Explaining the history and current circumstances of the Afar in the Horn of Afrika.
- Nabi Lukombo. On the killing of over 100 members of Bundu dia Kongo by the DRC government.

Nubiart Book of the Year
‘Under the Tree of Talking: Leadership for Change in Afrika’ - Ed by Onyekachi Wambu. [Counterpoint] The book looked at various aspects of leadership and management in Afrika. It stimulated a lot of thought and analysis and we have to thank Onyekachi for a very open and honest interview on the various themes covered in the book.

Nubiart Album of the Year
‘Junction Series’ - Bunny Lye Lye and Anthony Que [World Sounds] won for the return to form of the foundation dancehall singer closely followed by ‘Parables’ by Tarrus Riley [Cannon / VP Records].

Nubiart DVD of the Year
‘Maafa: Truth 2007’ [Ligali] No contest. Frank exploration and dismantling of the so-called 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the British involvement in slave trafficking.

Nubiart Exhibitions of the Year
- ‘Tapping Into the Known’ - Obi Okigbo [Brunei Gallery] Tribute to poet and soldier Christopher Okigbo by his daughter on the 40th anniversary of his death in the Biafran War.
- ‘Popular Painting from Kinshasa’ [Tate Modern] Powerful friezes addressing the life in DRC.

Broadcaster of the Year
Robert Beckford for keeping it as real as possible in primetime national media and asking some of the questions we want answered.

‘Afrikan’ Sellout of the Year
Rev John Sentamu, Bishop of York. Now we know why he was jailed by ex-Ugandan President Idi Amin.

Futures
We need to stop the youth in Britain from engaging in area postal code wars. If they really want to control ‘endz’ then they should be looking to set up businesses and projects that allow the Afrikan community to diversify away from an over-reliance on hair and ‘patty’ shops, which we may need but not to the exclusion of everything else in the food distribution and services chain.

We should be moving as much trade as possible out of the western economic system. ‘Delinking’ from the dollar is where the Gulf countries and China have now got themselves to and they are currently developing much faster than most of Afrika. This should also be seen as a ‘punishment’ for the exploitation and profit-taking of financial companies in the credit crunch / sub-prime crisis which has left many Afrikan-Americans homeless and deep in debt. The third reason for moving away from the dollar is the war economy and money laundering wrapped up in that currency. It was because Saddam Hussein wanted to start selling oil in euros that the Americans invaded in 2003 and had him killed but we should have taken that as an example to all people who have been on the wrong side of American foreign socio-economic policies. Finally, this will be a big show of solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe who have been on the receiving end of US and UK-inspired sanctions.

As Afrikans, we are good at analysis of our economic and political crisis in Afrika and the diaspora. But we need to try and institute solutions that have a real impact improving people’s lives on the ground. We at Nubiart are considering bringing back the ‘boycott list’ – naming and shaming companies whose business practices are detrimental to the welfare of Afrikans anywhere in the world. We ran such a list in the 1980’s covering the military-industrial complex; those companies who exploit and kill indigenous people and destroy their land; and food and health companies who ignore local economic benefits and health and safety standards.

Kubara Zamani