Panel Discussion: Envisioning New Institutions
September 4, 2021, 14:30 - 16:00
Lakenhal
€3,50
Envisioning New Institutions | EVENT
Panel discussion with Seada Nourhussen, Malique Mohamud and Saud Jama moderated by Michael Ghebreab and Beylula Yosef (Afrispectives).
Since the BLM demonstrations in 2020 diversity and inclusion have been a hot topic in many institutional circles. Conversations and debates about “D&I” are being held in board rooms, parliament, media outlets and universities. What do these concepts actually mean? And who is it for? What if this isn’t actually what black and brown people are fighting for? What if there is a more radical end goal? Namely, Freedom.
Discussing institutional racism often results in talks about a seat at the table. However, time has shown us that it’s not about the seats or tables but about who owns the room. During this panel, Afrispectives takes it a step further by exploring and envisioning new institutions in the Netherlands. Black imagination means recognizing and looking beyond the shaped reality we live in, by envisioning a present and future that centers our healing, joy, love and dreams. It is as the late John Henry Clarke stated:
“Every single thing that touches your life, religious, socially and politically, must be an instrument of your liberation or you must throw it into the ashcan of history.”

Beylula Yosef & Michael Ghebreab
Moderator & Curator
Founders of Afrispectives. Afrispectives is a Dutch-based organisation for and by people of African and Afro-Caribbean descent. We create interactive spaces where (young) people from all over the world can meet, find and support each other. By exchanging stories, creativity, knowledge and businesses, people are inspiring each other and laying the groundwork for future generations. Our work focuses on three inherently intertwined pillars: Arts & Culture, Education, and Entrepreneurship. By facilitating meaningful connections and collaborations, we aim to celebrate, highlight and amplify the many talents that contribute to our collective growth.

Malique Mohamud
Panelist
Writer, director, artist and program maker Malique Mohamud became interested in the relationship between city life and street culture in his youth when he secretly took a few cassette tapes from the Wu-Tang Clan, Tupac and Outkast from his brother’s room. The son of a Somali poet and a general, he advocates and searches for meaning in cultural production from the perspective of the African diaspora. Autonomy, rebelliousness and (skewed) power relations are recurring themes in his work.

Saud Jama
Panelist
Saud Jama is the owner of the clothing store ‘The Other Guys‘ in Amsterdam. He started the store in 2016 because he couldn’t get a job. He was paralyzed on one side after two brain haemorrhages. After being constantly rejected by employers, he decided to create his own work and do what he likes. That is how the store was born. He always liked different things to his friends, which is why the store is called ‘The Other Guys’. Be different, because it’s not weird to be different. And that’s his personal story too.

Seada Nourhussen
Panelist
Seada Nourhussen (Gondar, Ethiopia 1978) is chief editor of OneWorld, the Amsterdam based online and print magazine that focuses on journalism for justice. She is the only black, woman chief editor and license holder of a national magazine in the Netherlands. She is also a writer, moderator and opinionist on racism, media transparency and the image of Africa(ns).