2024-04-23 14:11:23
The speakers at this meeting on the theme “Our diversity, our commons” insisted on the role of African writers and artists, through their literary and artistic works, in denouncing the excesses of colonialism in the past and its repercussions in the present, while confronting the waves of intolerance and hatred currently affecting different regions of the world.
“In fact, we are still colonized, our history is written by others. It is time that we appropriate our collective space and recover our stolen archives”, by resisting through storytelling and writing, noted the Haitian poet , Rodney Saint-Eloi.
For him, the story “constitutes a kind of resistance against the system of manipulation and lies which wants to impose itself on the world, and a means of cultivating hope to ensure, we Africans, a better place in the world. future”.
Same story with the Moroccan writer and journalist established in the Netherlands, Abdelkader Benali, who focused on the rise in power of the extreme right in today’s world, particularly in countries Westerners, insisting on the duty of African writers to defend their identities with discretion and to be proud of their roots.
In this regard, Benali stressed the need to establish a “serious reconciliation” between Europe and Africa based on shared history and archives, noting, on the other hand, the importance of literature as being “our common memory and our means of pleasure and expression of unity”.
According to Franco-Ivorian novelist Véronique Tadjo, today’s world is full of incitements to intolerance. “Our bet is to recognize the importance of listening to the Other, by promoting the image and contributions of migrants in their host countries, rather than rejecting them,” she said, while by recognizing the burden of African collective memory, burdened by the legacy of colonialism and stories of genocide, on personal memory, which struggles to express itself.
For her part, the Jamaican writer based in Niger, Antoinette Tidjani Alou, estimated that “colonial history does not only refer to the domination of the white man over the black man, but also over the white man “.
“We need to breathe through the pages of books, photographs and paintings to open up to the world, and to take responsibility for passing on our history to our children,” she said.
A true meeting bringing together writers, thinkers and intellectuals from Africa, its diasporas and its descendants, the FLAM was founded by Mahi Binebine (writer and visual artist), Fatimata Wane-Sagna (journalist), Hanane Essaydi (academic) and Younès Ajarraï (cultural entrepreneur).
Supported by the “We Art Africains” association, FLAM aims to be an eloquent celebration of African literature and culture.
Open to all audiences and all ages, this festival, which continues until February 11 in the Ocher City, is free to enter, in all reception sites. The aim is to bring culture and art closer to both enthusiasts and those who feel distant from it.
2024-04-23 14:11:23