Black International Cinema May 2004

Black International Cinema

AN ASPECT OF HISTORY:

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION

Interdisciplinary / Intercultural Film/Video, Dance, Theatre, Music, Seminar & Gallery Presentations Berlin/Germany & U.S.A.

From November 15, 1884 through February 26, 1885, an international conference, the first Berlin Conference was convened in Berlin/Germany, represented by Fürst Otto von Bismarck.

France supported the German convening of the conference, with a clear diplomatic agenda: to resist the British and Portuguese attempts to control the Congo Basin.

The conference’s goal was to create an agreement, so as to restrain the existing tensions between the colonial powers and to rule Africa, by dividing the continent among the European states. David Livingston said, the mission of the Europeans in Africa had four purposes: Commerce, Christianity, Civilization and Conquest.

14 Nations participated in the Berlin Conference: Germany, Britain, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Italy. Also involved were Russia, Turkey, Austria/Hungary, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway/Sweden and the U.S.A..

Though it is widely thought the conference averted a European war, the occasion for Africa, resulted in the injustice and exploitation of African nations by European powers in the short term. Bitterness, disunity, wars and genocide were the results for Europe and Africa until the present.

Seminars for May 2004:

An Aspect Of History: Truth And Reconciliation November 15, 1884 – February 26, 1885 Berlin Conference Dr. Christophe C. Kougniazonde, Jurist/Benin

The seminar will encompass an analysis of the historical period, leading to the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 and the subsequent political, psycho-social and economic ramifications of this history, to the present. The seminar will further pursue the issue of rapprochement between the colonized and colonizers since the end of World War I & II and whose undertakings may have led or will lead to a more constructive future.

This will be an exciting event, to gain more information on seminars avaliable click here For booking your accomodation whislt in Berlin see: hostelscentral