Last Saturday Ronnie Brunswijk a.k.a. Romeo Bravo announced that he wants to run for president during the 2015 elections in Suriname (in northern South America). The politician is a coalition partner of Dési Bouterse, the current president. In the 1980s they had quite a different relationship. Brunswijk used to be his bodyguard, but soon led the rebels against Bouterses military regime during the Bush War (1986 – 1992).
Continue reading Politics meets Gangsta Rap
Marseille – At Babel Med Music, held in March 2013, News & Noise spoke with Dubi Lenz, broadcaster, artistic director of the Red Sea Jazz Festival, and man of many other virtues. Lenz would rather not politicize music, but as the pressure on artists who want to play in Israel is increasing, there is no way to keep out of the discussion. Instead, he prefers to think of building bridges and tries to show that music can be a peacemaker. How does Lenz deal with artists who hesitate to come to Israel and is it possible for Israeli artists to perform in Muslim countries. The interview reflects some interesting thoughts and new insights.
Continue reading “I can understand the boycott on Israel, but you have to play fair” – an interview with Dubi Lenz
Ole Reitov is the program manager of Freemuse, the World Forum on Music & Censorship. Freemuse, founded in 2000 in Denmark, acts as an information and monitoring platform. They have put in place a number of strategies in order to alert the media, politicians and the people at large of the abuses of censorship (Babel Med guide). Journalist Jaïr Tchong had an interview with Reitov during Babel Med Music conference in Marseille, March 2013.
Continue reading “We tend to forget that censorship is around us” – an interview with Ole Reitov
In Rio de Janeiro the first Museum of Brazilian Indigenous Peoples – Aldeia Maracanã is the popular name – will be demolished in order to make a parking area close to Maracanã Football Stadium for the World Cup 2014. Sergio Cabral, governor of Rio de Janeiro, justifies this as being a requirement of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC). The FIFA is denying this (BBC News).
Continue reading Aldeia Maracanã squatted
You’re probably thinking that the picture I chose for this blog post is a funny mistake. That I meant to post some dark and aggressive photo of some part of the world that is on fire – that is to say: more than other parts – and that I accidentally used a picture of harmless Ernie instead. That would have been funny indeed but sadly, no. Regrettably, it really does mean war.
Continue reading This means war!