The Kaddu Wasswa Archive

• Tom Devriendt

Dutch photographer Andrea Stultiens met Ugandan Kaddu Wasswa in 2008 through his grandson, photographer Arthur Kisitu. Born in 1933, Wasswa played a role in his community as a teacher and social worker. These days, Wasswa is a farmer and an HIV/AIDS activist, running an NGO from his home in the Mokono District. Throughout his life Wasswa has been documenting his activities. He started building his archive around the time Uganda was seeking its independence, writing novels, plays and essays, taking and collecting photographs. Additionally, the personal archive contains letters and newspaper clippings, often with added commentary. Stultiens and Kisitu set out to explore Wasswa's fragmented collection. She took photographs of the documents to which she added her own and Kisitu’s photos which were taken during their meetings. The resulting book is a creative postcolonial archive where both the collectors and the collection often appear within the same frame, thus avoiding an all too easy critique that inevitably comes with an outsider’s interest in dusty colonial libraries. Flipping through the photographed archive of photographs (because that is essentially what it is) it is hard not to become as curious as the two photographers in their mapping of Wasswa’s life and, through him, Uganda’s age of independence: Here's a video in which Stultiens tells us a bit more about the work: http://vimeo.com/12058132

Music Break

• Tom Devriendt

Out my window

• Tom Devriendt

Tintin in Congo

• Tom Devriendt

Earlier this year, the Congolese government declared European development commissioner Karel De Gucht persona non grata because of comments he made to the European Parliament, stating that the weakness of the Congolese state meant that EU aid had limited impact. Kinshasa dubbed De Gucht’s comments as ‘racist, disrespectful and irresponsible,’ barring him from entering the DRC. This wasn’t the first time. Six years ago he had already been called a ‘Tintin minister’. We’re almost a year later. De Gucht has swapped portfolios, now being the European trade commissioner, and the Congolese government seems to have forgotten about their earlier ban. How do we know? Some days ago, De Gucht participated in a debate on the current state of play of the Economic Partnership Agreements at the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in Kinshasa. This is how he was greeted by some street vendors: - Tom Devriendt

Independência de Angola

• Tom Devriendt

Music Break

• Tom Devriendt

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• Tom Devriendt

Gal draws Belgium and Congo

• Tom Devriendt

Belgian cartoonist GAL turned 70 this year. The relations between Belgium and Congo haven't been absent in his work. (I provided some context below each cartoon.) Happy birthday, Gal. January 2001. Belgian foreign minister Louis Michel (he famously said, "King Leopold II was a true visionary for his time, a hero") criticizes the Austrian government, calling for a boycott of its ski resorts to protest the inclusion of Jörg Haider's Freedom Party in the coalition. He attends Laurent-Désiré Kabila's funeral a week later. February 2002. The Belgian parliamentary commission investigating the death of Patrice Lumumba finds that the Belgian government carried a "moral responsibility". Louis Michel apologizes to the Congolese people. No further legal action was taken. October 2004. Belgian foreign minister Karel De Gucht visits Congo where "I have met a lot of people and I wonder if they are the people to transform this country into a democracy and seriously manage it." Kinshasa is not amused, slamming the "Tintin minister". May 2008. Karel De Gucht reiterates his 2004 claims. "If pointing out to the Congolese politicians they have to make bigger efforts meant he was a neo-colonialist," he says, "then I am a convinced neo-colonialist". July 2008. Human Rights Watch reports that the peace accord fails to end the killing and raping of civilians in Eastern Congo. In Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe cracks down on the opposition. June 2010. Weeks after the murder of Congolese human rights activist Floribert Chebeya, King Albert II of Belgium attends the ceremonies in Kinshasa to mark the 50th anniversary of Congo's independence. - Tom Devriendt

Scared dictators, pt.2

• Tom Devriendt

Music Break / Franco

• Tom Devriendt

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• Tom Devriendt

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• Tom Devriendt

Bloody Agent*

• Tom Devriendt

Achille Mbembe’s Africa

• Tom Devriendt

if Africa wants to re-imagine itself it will have to look somewhere else than to Europe which “seems to be gripped by an enormous desire for apartheid.”

Children of Kinshasa

• Tom Devriendt

Baloji Live

• Tom Devriendt