In Black America; Pan-African Festival of Arts and Culture

You Recently, a group of blank journalists attend the Pan-African Festival of Arts and Culture hailed in Dakar, Senegal. I'm John A.L. Hanson, Jr. Join me this week on in Black America. What we'll be doing is representing the feelings and the views of other frontline states on the situation of our partite. Is it a sex or a child? The Pan-African Festival of Arts and Culture this week on in Black America. This is in Black America, reflections of the Black experience in American society.

Last January, when we met for the first time, we tried to clarify what we might do both at this symposium and what might follow for the festival in 1988, so that a committee was established during which time we developed themes, which we are to explore at this particular symposium. The symposium is seen primarily as an effort on a part of intellectuals from across the world to spell out some of the key issues and the program which you will see will explore those various issues. My role is kind of dual in the sense that the first presentation will be on the scope of the African world. I want to say a good deal about that except to say that it's very important, I think,

as a basic theme of the whole activity, to see to it that as participation is possible comes about both in the symposium and in the festival itself for next year. Professor Joseph Harris of Howard University in Washington, D.C., recently a group of Black journalists from the National Association of Black Journalists attended the Pan-African Festival of Arts and Culture held in Dakar, Senegal. The festival provided an opportunity for leading Africans and Black intellectuals to exchange ideas on key issues affecting the peoples of Africa and the Black diaspora, as well as map out strategies for the future development and progress of Africans and African descendants. The festival focuses on literature, history, social science, science, and technology. I'm John A.O. Hanson, Jr.

This week the Pan-African Festival of Arts and Culture in Dakar, Senegal, in Black America. As you know, we have with UNICEF and Harry Barafonte, very strong links, to see at what extent we can help, to contribute to mobilize the intellectual in all this project dealing with young people and so on, because I think if you want to build the future, you have to build it with these people, and as he said it right now, the situation is very difficult and very bad. I cannot add anything else on what he said. You can wonder what links you can have between a festival and UNICEF and all those things like that. You know, the festival is for us, the opportunity in fact, the occasion, to deal with very serious problem.

In our tradition, when we have a festival, that means you build a new type of philosophy, you build a new type of mask, you build a new type of society, you chant, that is festival is a revolution in fact, and it's why in fact we call what we are doing a festival. Festival will be gathering, will be creation, and will be also celebration, but we want to deal with our main problems. I think Africa and other countries, developed or not, are confronted in fact, to a scientific and technical revolution, which is very important and very strong. Africa is maybe very backward at this level, but we can maybe jump from the mechanical industry to electrical industry and solve our problem. Tegin, Secretary-General of FESPA, Indicare Senegal, in March of 1987, the United Nations Children's Fund, sponsored a symposium in Dicare Senegal for intellectuals and artists to discuss how they could contribute to the survival and development of African children.

Following that symposium, the participants issued the Dicare Plan of Action, indicating various ways in which African intellectuals can make use of their knowledge, talent, and communication skills to help increase the level of awareness regarding the technologies and programs available to ensure child survival, as well as to contribute to the wider sociological goal of ensuring a better future for African children. Professor Joseph Harris in the History Department of Howard University was one of our representatives to the Pan-African Festival of Arts and Culture, Professor Harris. This particular meeting, I think, will solidify all of us in our zones, in our regions, so that I now have been identified as one of those in the United States. My task, as I understand it, now then, will be to return to the United States and to organize ourselves in a way that will allow the broadest participation.

Now, depending upon meetings here, I'll get more specific, depending upon what the Secretary here might want to say, but I would see this as an effort designed to establish regional groups, perhaps various city groups here, and the reason I say I see this as, because I'll present this, and I'll have to get some guidance from those of us who are here. And at the same time, lay out a plan which will involve a variety of people, although most of the people you'll see here at this symposium are likely to have some academic grounding, spelling out things that might be followed through in 1988. The 1988 conference, we hope, will have a broad spectrum of people, so that we'd want to involve people at all walks of life, community groups.

For example, I've already received a number of names in the United States, people have called, even before we got to this particular stage, to see how they could be involved. Church groups, some of these sororities, for example, high school groups, and so on, so that we want to cover the whole spectrum, so obviously that's going to take a good deal of planning. I would anticipate having a committee that would help us to identify these various groups. The other thing that is planned is that quite a part from any formal group, that there will be informal opportunities so that journalists from the diaspora, as we say, will have an opportunity to interact with journalists from Africa. Businessmen from the diaspora will interact with businessmen from the continent and so on, scientists and so on. So that ultimately, as I understand Pate Dion, we would hope that this symposium and the

festival collectively will represent a major step beyond previous efforts at festivals. We want to celebrate our heritage, we want to have a good time, and all of that. But same time, we want to solidify linkage, and linkage is not just at academic level where frequently this can be done. I've been doing this about 25 or 30 years, and yet, I'm not sure how deep the roots are among the masses, so to speak, is not just really the masses because there are other intellectuals and so forth, we're not a part of the process, so that if we can have counterparts meet and discuss and exchange ideas and come up with proposals, perhaps, when the whole thing is over, 1988, 89, there will be a basis for cooperation in the future. These are periodic festivals, so that the next one will be able to build on the kind of

linkage that we established. One other thing I would like to say, there are all kinds of regional meetings on these issues. We in the United States meet from time to time on pan-African issues, brothers and sisters down in South America meet, and sometimes we're not even involved in those meetings. We would hope to be able to identify all of the leaders of these different groups so that we would be able to have a schedule of where these people are meeting, what they're meeting for, and there be some kind of continuity. And sure that you know as journalists frequently, we do some of the same things over again 20 years ago when the conference met here. This whole discussion of collaboration, cooperation was discussed. Now we need an assessment of where we are on that, and I think we, particularly in the diaspora, need to have an ongoing assessment of that because over a period of time, I

think there's been a kind of shift of emphasis, and Africans on the continent now are coming up with a kind of power, kind of influence that we don't have. And so we like to assess what that means in terms of the black world. Now I don't want to go on about this, but just to give you a flavor of some of the key issues that we hope to develop as we establish our regional groups in the United States. Currently, although African Americans from the United States figure prominently throughout this, a serious effort has been made to involve blacks from other parts of the world, not just the Americas. Now I say that because on the one hand, my role is to help organize in the United States. My research emphasis has been in other parts of the world, so I play a role there in trying to get, for example, persons of African descent from Asia.

That was my first research area, and from the Pacific. Because all too often, although we stress pan-Africanism, we don't really make a serious effort to bring in people from other parts of the world. So that's another kind of theme, a dimension of what I would do. Professor Joseph Harris of Howard University. Among other things, the Pan-African Festival of Arts and Culture renewed the original tradition of entrusting a major role to a committee of independent intellectuals and artists, both in order to reduce overall cost and to ensure greater flexibility at the organizational level. The principal coordinator, Oregon for FESPA, is through the International Nine Government Association, based in the Carstenaghal, and headed by Patigin, a highly-reputed singonese linguist and scholar. Mr. Patigin. In fact, we have three main preoccupations for this meeting.

The first one is the Pan-African Conference. Why a Pan-African Conference? We think that Pan-Africanism has played a very important role. But maybe it changed his goals, his philosophy, and his objective. I think for a long period that was dealing with ethnicity, with racial problem, with civil rights and so on, with the need to be independent country and so on. But for 25 years in Africa, we have political sovereignty. And now we have to deal with a very serious problem. Because the draft and all they sing, we are responsible of that. Because just within 100, our own country is the right way, maybe. So it will be interesting, in fact, with this festival, to deal with this very serious matters. At the cultural level, the problem of Pan-Africanism rise a lot of problems and point of view, in fact, we think that we are not more in a ghetto, black or African culture and so on.

And the world is split. And we are in a multirational, multirational, multotechnical society or world. And we have to handle that so that people may manage what is different and be respectful of what is different. And that is what we call our pluralistic approach of Pan-Africanism. This is very important. I don't think that was very relevant in the first Pan-African conferences. Just because they were dealing with a type of problem is very different. I don't think we have no problem of blackness. Black is beautiful and everybody can deal with that and accept it. We don't have problems with cultural rehabilitation, anyone know the black culture and so on. Even if our films are not very good sometimes, this is because we don't have the techniques, we can deal with that.

So I don't think that is the mental realm. The main problem of African or black and so on is how to handle their own society or to build it or to be responsible and just not to spoil all the change they have, what we have maybe done for 25 years. So that is one of the reason why we want to deal with Pan-Africanism because we have to be linked in fact. We have some common problem, historical problem, cultural problem and so on. But in the same time, we are in different contexts and maybe if we stay together and discuss about that, maybe we can build strategy to see how to solve this problem. That is one of the main objective of this meeting. We are also dealing with our history, Gory, problem. You know, Gory is an Islam which is quite like, which is not very easy to compare to anything. That was one of the main point from where a lot of slaves were sent to the Americas and so on.

And it is a whole town which is there and we would like just to link it to all the diaspora history. And I think that may be done because if some people have their statue of freedom or liberty, the black diaspora may have Gory or something like that. And there is another project in fact which is called the memorial to Africa and to the diaspora. This is also at the historical and cultural level a way in fact to link our history. Problem is not just, okay, we are black and we are split or we are African, we are split, we are known in multicultural society. But even if we are in multicultural society, we have our story, we have our specificity, we can be linked together and maybe a memorial or Gory can help to do that. It is why in fact we initiate all these two projects which are very deeply linked. We will try in fact to show during these pre-festival that black or African or southern culture

is playing a very important role in modern artistic evolution, in music, in choreography, in other fields like that. And it is why in fact we will try not to give demonstration as we would like to do it maybe in 1988, December when we will deal with the first part. But just to initiate in fact at artistic level some show you may appreciate just for entertainment and things like that. I would be very sure, that was the main problem I wanted to talk with you. But as I told you, we are in touch, we have a very concrete problem. One of our main problem is the problem of use. And it is why we have to deal with this question. And UNICEF help us in fact link the first part to the use problem. We would like people to discuss about, in plain realization, about very precise fields

to discuss about black or African world, historical or cultural, what this means today. A lot of people like to be called black or say we don't like these colors, African. We will discuss that with Joseph Harris to know what is the best concept we may use at the level. That is one of our main problem. One other hand, people say, well, African culture is very original. It has always been pluralistic, open to the difference and so on. Maybe we can get from there a lesson for all the world, even know if the industrial society are much more open, much more democratic or much more classic, we can say that was our tradition. Maybe the colonial experience put it in another side and so on. But we can discuss about that, that may be very interesting.

We think also that the scientific and technological revolution is very important. But we cannot go on doing just with science and technology per se. You have to say, okay, if you want to deal with that, you have maybe to build regional and multinational, regional, scientific and technological multinational, but you have to gather and to have economical space, which can allow to have big multinational. You have to deal with the problem of human resources, to train and also to bring technology and to naturalizing. This is a very important problem in East Africa, in Central Africa, in North Africa, in West Africa and so on. So we have to deal with this kind of problem. If we want also to be effective, we have maybe to break, to break violence or tradition, you know, from for 25 years, we just try to build Senegalese administration, I will not say nation, Evorian administration and so on.

Maybe we have to go beyond that now, to be able to solve problems. Are we going to have a West African parliament, to have the people discuss about very conflict problem, are we going to have West African trade union, these can be say West Africa or East Africa or Central Africa or North Africa, all very big problem we have to, 200 to discuss about that. There is also another aspect, which is a cultural one. We think that spirituality, religion is very important, not only for black people, but for everybody in fact. And maybe the African tradition is always living at this level and maybe we can mobilize around that and to see what at this level we can do for ourselves. I think even for the different social category like women, relation of generation and so on, the African tradition used to solve problems in a way, maybe that is a very oppressive way to solve problems.

Maybe we can have some lesson about that. I think we will discuss about the women for instance. Usually in Europe there is, in Indo-European tradition I think, there is a conflict. I think originally in Africa the woman is something different, she has its own world. And even if in the power they organize in their own terms, society in economics, they use organizations in their own terms. But we are no more African in this way. We are involved in European society, European state and so on. And I think there is a lot of problem and we have to under this kind of problem. Just not to rise problem in the European term, but to see, okay, we have transformed our society, but at what level we can be just these society in which the women go on playing a role or these can be discussed in front. For the use, that's quite the same question. We have problem of education of use. That's very important. That's the question of the use. But you cannot protect the use.

You cannot give them to eat. You can give them health if you are in poverty. And this is, as you said, it's a very fundamental problem. That's the kind of question the interrogation we will have to discuss tomorrow, starting for tomorrow. And we would like to avoid, in fact, you know, all this general assembly in which everybody to come with is communication, is research, and talk about that, no. We know all that there is a lot of meeting dealing with this problem. From this meeting, what can we do more than what was done before? Can we be more effective or are we just to do what the federal meeting asks us to do because they have seen the real problems? That is one of our particular questions. The pan-African symposium brought together intellectuals and artists to discuss how they could contribute to the survival and development of African children. The following is a discussion on the Dakar Plan of Action.

Now, as a follow-up, do that Dakar symposium, which was held here in March. There is the Harada symposium, which Simomu Movie is going to talk to you about now. Thank you. I think more into what Comrade Jalu just said, in Zimbabwe, in the front-line states, we have a particular problem. When people talk about southern Africa, the tendency is to concentrate very specifically on South Africa itself. And not too much attention is placed on the destabilizing impact of apartheid on the surrounding states. I mean, the extent of destabilization is so bad that in Angola, and some of the highest infant mortality rates in the world, and these are facts that are very, rarely talked about. In my own country, in Zimbabwe, we have a situation where to protect the birecord of from the incursions from the South African MNR, we spend one million US dollars per day

protecting this vital route to the sea. And as a consequence, this diversion of wealth into military expenditure takes away from child welfare and health programs. And so we have a specific program, a specific problem in the front-line states. Now, Zimbabwe hosting this symposium is a forum. It could have been in Zambio or Mozambique in any other country, but I guess logistically, it was felt that it was best to do it in Zimbabwe. But what we'll be doing is representing the feelings and the views of other front-line states on the situation of apartheid, as it affects our children. Briefly, the aim of the people holding the virus symposium is to focus the attention of international community on the plight of children, front-line states, and South African. To enlist international support to strengthen the capacity for front-line states to withstand the adverse effects of destabilization, and to mobilize a support of artists, intellectual workers for projects designed to ensure child survival and development, especially in

destabilized areas on front-line states and South African. I think Jalu mentioned briefly this aspect of intellectual workers and artists. Now, the reason now we chose these brand of communicators is because they're influential. And normally, the situation of child welfare has been the designated responsibility of certain specialists like doctors or even politicians and nurses, but this was trying to mobilize other communicators, influential people, who, by their very unique skills of communication, can spread a message of destabilization of the situation or even disseminate information about things that are happening. Now, the participants, have you having various official delegates from the front-line states and people in the region? There'll be 19 countries, mostly, and we'll have participants from the international community and we'll have participants from the rest of Africa. The representatives from Zimbabwe will include health workers, representatives of women groups

from rural areas, susceptible to attack with Africa and affected by the drought, writers and journalists, intellectual workers, artists, and children. There is a wave of the children, the first youth of the growth curve, and also the function of maternal breastfeeding and another series of measures which enable our children to be good health and to develop harmoniously. Thank you very much. I would just like to say before I ask if there are some questions that some of you might have for the panelists. The question, the problem of malnutrition, of course, in Africa, it has been made clear that the problem of malnutrition, go far beyond the physical manifestation, the physical

manifestation, that for the most part, the physical manifestation are symptoms of deeper political, economic, and social processes. I think clearly the situation of southern Africa and the front-line states give good examples of the kinds of political processes that can be... No, you can't hear? Okay, that can precipitate malnutrition. I think that it is important and we all are aware that, of course, the human resources of the future are represented by the children.

The request for a multidisciplinary and multidimensional approach to the problem, I think, is one that is a very good challenge for this gathering and I would urge you when we discuss the organizational aspects of FESPAC, that some of you please bring up suggestions on quick suggestions as to how intellectuals and artists and other creative people can best use their skills in communication and expression to launch a campaign against malnutrition and the physical deterioration of our children, which in fact means our future. The Pan-African Symposium on Arts and Culture hailed in Dakar, Senegal. I would like to acknowledge your braille jello, senior information officer with United Nations Children Fund for his assistance in the production of this program. If you have a comment or would like to approach as they could set copy of this program, write

us. The address is in Black America, Longhorn, Radio Network, UT Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712. For in Black America's technical producer, Cliff Hardgrove, I'm John L. Hansen, Jr., please join us again next week. You've been listening to In Black America, Reflections of the Black Experience in American Society. In Black America is produced and distributed by the Center for Telecommunication Services at UT Austin and does not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Texas at Austin or this station. This is the Longhorn Radio Network.