cafebabel.com

Ouagadougou correspondent: no Arab spring in Burkina Faso either

('ManxMan',) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:30:00 -0000

Whilst Burkina Faso offered Muammar Gaddafi asylum on 25 August, they recognised the national transitional council in early September. August also saw the jailing of three policemen for their part in the death of student Justin Zongo in custody in February. Yet why did the country's mutinies not lead to the same dramatic changes as we are now seeing in Libya?

Chelas: not such a dodgy neighbourhood of Lisbon

('Filip Jurzyk',) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 19:02:48 -0000

‘You were in Chelas? I’ve lived in Lisbon for eight years and I have never risked going there,’ says Melinda, a 23-year old student who moved to Portugal with her family from Cape Verde. Melinda isn’t the only one who knows of the bad reputation of this district

Denmark 2011 Oscar for In A Better World - but not a very Danish movie

('Juliane Dybkj\xc3\xa6r',) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 12:55:15 -0000

Susanne Bier’s ‘Hævnen’ is a story about blood, thirst and justice and the hard realities of life. But how did a movie about such dark subjects come out of Denmark, the country with the happiest people on earth?

Tiken Jah Fakoly: ‘Africa has to overcome its ethnic and religious issues’

('English language version of cafebabel.com',) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 17:15:00 -0000

The Ivorian roots-reggae singer is in Paris to promote an upcoming African solidarity week in June, but also to create an echo of the Tunisian people’s fight across the rest of the African continent

Global entrepreneurs at Brussels green summit

('Alexandra Belopolsky',) — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 13:14:02 -0000

Three years ago the Greek-Dane Nike Kondakis found a used parachute lying on the ground and decided it would make great material for a dress. Now, at the age of 28, she is the owner of her own small fashion company making used-parachute couture and dead-wood jewellery in Kenya

Madagascar, Haiti, Congo: what European development days show

('Laura',) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 12:10:00 -0000

Where do the millions of euros that are sent from European homes to the four corners of the earth through development programs actually go? The ‘It’s our money; it’s their future’ project sees several young Europeans, accompanied by a Belgian film crew, travelling to five countries to observe the work of NGOs in order to find out

Uruguay vs Europe: what world cup identity?

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 18:41:44 -0000

28 countries out, four left. Uruguay aside, the football championship final will definitely feature either Germany or Spain, one of whom could be facing the Netherlands to contend for a title currently held by Italy. It's not about football anymore though – does this bridge a stronger European identity for those of us on the continent, supporters or not?

Young African footballers thrive in Europe

('Nicola Potter',) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:30:00 -0000

There may be football academies and Fifa regulations aplenty in Europe, but talented African minors haven't always had the best experiences in the promised land

Getting to grips with djembe, tro-tro and obronis in Ghana

('Elaine Jordan',) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:45:00 -0000

I was told before I arrived in Ghana that everyone wants to speak to the foreigner or the obroni (‘white person’) as they say in Twi, one of the main dialects of the forty spoken in Ghana. I had several on the spot marriage proposals; but that’s Ghana and its people for you

Niang Mor: story of a Senegalese 'near-extradition' from Italy

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:45:00 -0000

You'd hardly believe that he was 57 if you saw his papers. Mor moved to France in 1982, then Germany four years later, to finally settle in Ravenna in 1990. He has a regular trading licence, has always been in work and has never had any trouble with the law. The story of his incredible 'near- extradition'

Kinshasa Symphony: why is Mozart in Africa an alien concept?

('Annie Rutherford',) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:18:39 -0000

People passionately making music is always good film fodder. This German documentary offers a contrast to the conflicts and states of mind dealt with its 2008 predecessor 'Trip to Asia', which followed the Berlin philharmonic

Visit Marrakech

('theroxbox',) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:00:00 -0000

One of the most cosmopolitan cities in North Africa has almost a million inhabitants, large numbers of whom are condemned to poverty, but the former imperial city is a convincing modern city at the foot of the Atlas mountains

Staff Benda Bilili, voice of the voiceless in Congo

('Sofia Verzbolovskis',) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 11:34:29 -0000

‘We're all handicapped people, ain't we?’ runs their myspace byline. After more than a month of touring through Europe, this group of paraplegic street musicians from Kinshasa left crowds elated and bewildered almost a year after releasing their debut album Très Très Fort, courtesy of Belgian producer Vincent Kenis of Congotronics fame. A French documentary on the group has been underway for seven years

Dear Reader via Johannesburg and Berlin: 'We’re all just geeks really'

('Andrew Christie',) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:00:00 -0000

Cherilyn MacNeil, 24, the charismatic singer and pianist of South African indie trio Dear Reader, speaks to us from the fringes of the Berlin Festival about her home country’s mix of danger and new beginnings, faith and spirituality, broken hearts and summer in Berlin

Migrants keep coming to Seville, Spain and the rest of Europe

('Thomas Gam Nielsen',) — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:00:04 -0000

But their rights as workers and humans are at stake, while the status of illegal or legal are being sorted out

Buraka Som Sistema: 'We never wanted the African flag thing in our music'

('Nabeelah Shabbir',) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:53:18 -0000

As four men from Lisbon and Luanda set Angolan disturbances to breakbeat music, the European press scrams to box the sound. We have a shot too when we meet the band on one of their tour legs in Paris. After all, they have been on a gradual rise in Europe over the last couple of years

Gonçalo M. Tavares: 'I hate the idea that everything you do is new'

('Kristina Bozic',) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 01:45:00 -0000

The Luanda-born epistemology professor at Lisbon University, 38, talks his award-winning novel 'Jerusalem', and why it took him so long to get published already

Fair trade with Germany's 'Sukuma initiative'

('Aatish Pattni',) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:00:00 -0000

What do mobile phones have to do with the war in Congo? Why do we, when thinking about coffee, think Starbucks before Colombia? The Germany-based Sukuma initiative is campaigning at an EU level to enforce targets for developing countries, as set out by theUN

'Foreigners' in Europe: the real eurogeneration?

('Soili Semkina',) — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:00:00 -0000

More and more young people around the world are setting their feet on European soil, and seem to fit in well despite bureaucratic complications. We hear from Russian, Angolan and Peruvian students living in Italy and France on their idea of Europe

Didier Awadi: 'Artists too often have big egos'

('Christopher Hall',) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0000

The Senegalese hip hop pioneer, 38, invites his fellow rappers to speak out and campaign for a harmonious continent with his latest album 'Presidents of Africa'. Plus an exclusive video interview from Dakar

Video cringe: Chavez, Brown, Rath

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 12:00:00 -0000

Be it a Czech clip around the ear, a King telling a naughty Venezuelan socialist to zip it or a British prime minister playing it cool - we track Europe's chiefs losing it

Nuruddin Farah: 'Even hunchbacks learn to live with their discomfort'

Mon, 28 May 2007 12:00:00 -0000

The Somali writer, 62, is an important figure in African literature. A committed defender of women’s rights, he chronicles Somalia’s trip to chaos and back

Pie Tshibanda: ‘crazy black man in a white man’s country’

Fri, 11 May 2007 12:00:00 -0000

The Congolese writer and storyteller, 55, in exile in Belgium, feels that Europeans 'don’t want to take a long hard look at themselves'

Working abroad - necessity or Easyjet pleasure?

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 12:00:00 -0000

The concept of working abroad has changed hugely - two generations explain why they left their countries. Third in our 'Crossed Portraits' series, marking 50 years of Europe

Jorge Sampaio: ‘Europe has dropped a beat'

('Daniel G. Ross',) — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0000

Jorge Sampaio, former President of Portugal, on the European dream, a constitution revival and feeling Portugese

You can take the European out of Africa...

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 12:00:00 -0000

When the European Council meet on December 13 in Brussels, Africa and immigration issues will undoubtedly be high on the agenda

Breaking barriers: Making EuroMed mobility work

Tue, 21 Nov 2006 12:00:00 -0000

From 22 to 23 November, the Libyan capital Tripoli hosts the EU-Africa Ministerial Conference on Migration and Development. On the agenda: formal measures in favour of EuroMed mobility

Tahar Ben Jelloun, bridging the gap

Sat, 28 Jan 2006 05:41:00 -0000

Tahar Ben Jelloun, the celebrated Moroccan writer, explains how the children of Europe are spoilt and why his native country should be able join the EU.

Sudan: Between Amnesia and Snobbery

Mon, 26 Jul 2004 02:00:00 -0000

Ethnic cleansing is taking hold in the region of Darfur. But Europe is distracted: it is more ‘chic’ to talk about Iraq… Brussels ought to assume its responsibilities.