Aardklop kunstefees program

Seeing Babbel again in a different setting. Every other evening at Snowflake. Seeing young talent producing creative theatre. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account.

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Like this: Like Loading Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here According to its website, the aim of the festival is to host a sustainable festival, of the highest standards, and so to make a constructive contribution to the celebration and development of local arts in a universal context as well as providing a platform for the creative talents of South African artists.

Though its focus is primarily on artistic output in Afrikaans and the promotion of the Afrikaans language, the festival is part of the multilingual national and international community and committed to the idea that Afrikaans forms part of a wider world of artistic endeavour.

However, it remains simply Aardklop to most artists and the general public. Return to South African Festivals. Also referred to more formally as the Aardklop Nasionale Kunstefees or alternatively as the Aardklop Kunstefees Contents.

Just as the Americans were not satisfied with being colonies, they must know that the people of the world, especially the global south, will not tolerate their continuous interference in our domestic issues. Like them, we will rise and reject American imperialism as they, and my grandparents, rejected British colonialism. US president Joe Biden is set to host a virtual democracy summit from December 9 to Over leaders from different parts of the world have been invited to attend the summit.

In Africa, 17 countries have been invited to attend. Uganda is not on the list of the 17 countries invited which has prompted discussion on social media with some claiming Uganda was left out because of alleged anti-democracy practices. On April 16, , U. S is not a good ambassador to be lecturing the world about democracy.

While they accuse some African countries of undermining democratic practices, facts on the ground show that Washington continuously practices the same. S presidential elections. For example, money is said to have played a major role during the U.

Congressional and presidential campaigns saw nearly 14 billion U. S dollars, more than double of what was spent in ! Also, undisclosed campaign contributions and dark money increased during the polls increased. S elections over million dollars. Such practices monetize elections which has been cited as a major setback affecting democracy in Africa. Wall Street Journal of November 9, commentary noted that the U. Arguably, it is not a surprise that November 3, polls were disputed which culminated into an open attack on the so-called beacon of democracy capitol building attack on 6th January Capitol building violence we have seen are the result of lies and more lies, of division and contempt for democracy, of hatred and rabble-rousing — even from the very highest levels.

All the above shows that democracy is not a preserve of the U. However, this should not be interpreted that I am blind to tell the difference between liberal democracy and authoritarian regimes, I of course do and if asked, yes, I have a strong preference! On human rights which the U. S and some other countries base to attack others branding them abusers of human rights, the U. S still is not the best to lecture the world on human rights or equality.

We have all witnessed acts of racism in the West and some analysts argue it is systematic. In June , Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights twice addressed the media stressing that protests which were triggered by the death of Floyd painted not just police brutality against people of colour but also raised issues of inequality and racial discrimination in the U.

S should not segregate on who attends it. It is such summits where people meet, listen to each other, and maybe learn from each other. We ought to know that democracy is not an exclusive practice of one country. Rather, it should be about the people ruling and the ruled in a given country. With skyrocketing monetization of politics as a study by Brennan Centre for Justice at New York University observed, like in many undemocratic countries, the U.

The summit comes at a time when democracy in the States has undergone a litmus test in recent times. This tragedy was filmed by pedestrians, spread on social networks and subsequently triggered a round of protests across the world. The incident and the aftermath of the recent US election where former president Donald Trump disputed the results with unverified accusations of election fraud, produced a strong response in American politics and social life, allowing us to understand the political and economic plight of contemporary American society.

Law enforcement is a mirror of any democracy. With some law enforcement actions coming under close scrutiny and considered excessive by many human rights movement organizations in the United States, the same is mirrored in our Kenyan context. The said challenges that have faced the United States — largely seen as the model democracy present learning ground for young democracies like Kenya. They send a strong message that even with the adoption of perceived modern self-governing practices, the so called democracy is a process rather than a destination.

Much remains to be done therefore in transforming public perception on the application of the law towards making the quest for justice a service available to the majority while firm on the minority who opt to go against stipulated laws. Some signs of democracy are emerging in Africa with several elections setting the pace for peaceful transfer of power. Zambia where opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema defeated incumbent Edgar Lungu in the presidential election is a classic example, Ghana is also a good case where the long term opposition leader is now the president after beating the ruling party.

In Malawi the Supreme Court cancelled the election results and declared the opposition leader the winner. The ground is now shifting which explains why many here were surprised by the storming of the US Capitol building in January and former President Donald Trump questioning the legitimacy of the election results in the United States without substantiating his allegations.

This was followed by a series of deliberate efforts to misinform the public while undermining fundamental trust in the electoral process. Such actions caught many by surprise and soiled the image of the United States as we know it. Kenya has one of the most progressive constitutions in Africa but implementation remains elusive. The culture of electoral violence and win at any cost is still firmly entrenched in our politics.

The role of state supporting one side is also a threat. Our electoral laws need reforms to limit the use of money to buy votes and make cash handouts illegal. But besides all these, with the prevailing economic challenges exacerbated by the pandemic in the country makes it difficult to have smooth and just election outcomes.

The writer is Dr. It is only hoped that the platform would be one of mutual learning and experience-sharing and not of hectoring, lecturing and posturing. However, the following brief discourse is an uninvited memo to the platform. Broad human aspirations for peace, security, sustainable development, and even prosperity is absolutely no doubt, universal and pointedly connects to the enduring collective human yearnings for happiness and better life. However, the mechanisms, organisations and processes to attain them must give due diligence and context to specific circumstances, historical conditions, and other factors that shape the social outlook of a given people and also give proper effect to the conditions of their developmental stage.

Without adequate understanding of the historical process which poses the question of the existential reality and its challenges in the way, it actually exists and unfolds, gaining substantive leverage over the process and drive transformative agenda that opens the path of sustainable and inclusive development would be deprived of the refreshing tonic of historical far sight and foresight.

In the real and practical sense, democracy which is the broad spectrum of people-centered political organisation and process, must find context out of its generalised concept to the specific nature of the different challenges, circumstances, and reality in which a given people find nurture their respective experiences. Without this concrete expression in a particular context, democracy in the developing nations and Africa in particular would function as mere rhetorical flourish or at best, a philosophical abstraction, irrelevant to the routine strivings of the majority of the people.

Democracy is served best when it engages and resolves practical questions regarding the improvement in the quality of lives of the people. It is even consolidated on a firmer ground if it delivers the human security and guarantees better life which poverty and extreme material deprivations are the greatest threats. In contemporary times, the debate about democracy, especially in the West focuses on procedures and rules, with very little about the people, which is the real substance of democracy.

In the new context of re-emerging cold war thinking and outlook in the West, democracy has fallen victim again as mere ideological tool to further the purpose of hegemonic and power politics.

It is no gain saying that while the high tempo of human aspirations is universal, the democratic temperament of procuring and processing its feasibility is local and it is in the local application of the democratic process that its results are best maximised and its effects on people made more tangible and practical. However, it is not difficult to understand that America would hardly see the platform of this type as mutual learning and experience sharing process which will feed into various efforts by different nations to nurture and consolidate their democratic practices against the background of their respective unique national conditions and histories.

Democracy and its implications for mutual learning and experience-sharing cannot be discriminatory but would rather integrate the experiences of all countries with different outlooks as a totality of collective human heritage and put them on offer for objective and honest interrogations.

Designating some values as democratic and others as authoritarian can hardly fit into any serious definition of democratic temperament and ethos. The United States, whose democratic practices are hardly measurable to its professed democratic values nonetheless deliberately, weaponises its ideals as foreign policy instrument to project and secure its national interest. From what the U. Despite the surge in gun violence and the usual national grief and outcry that follow each incident of deadly gun violence, politicians and government can hardly reach a consensus on modest gun control measures that can address the perennial and vicious circle of gun violence.

If any democracy does not address issues that are of concerns to the majority of its people, how then does it conform to the practice of democracy and in tandem with its values and ideals? S has revealed not only inbuilt exclusion of minorities, especially of blacks, Latinos and Asians but outright hostility to them. Broad and inclusive democratic practice can narrow the gap and blunt the sharp edges of racial tensions, but since American democracy is not broadly inclusive enough, it is yet to be enriched by the beauty of the different colours of its own people.

The U. S democracy remained fundamentally challenged by inclusive social process in which the fruits of its high scientific and technological achievements can translate to broadly shared prosperity. Like the presidential aspirant of the Democratic Party, Senator Bernie Sanders always said, the situation where the national wealth is owned by less than one percent of the American population is not acceptable.

From the outlines of U. S summit on democracy, which Africa is expected to participate, issues most critical to the region especially building the necessary framework for sustainable and inclusive development would be conspicuously missing. No meaningful construction of democracy in Africa would be possible without taking issues of extreme poverty into account and how best to raise people from extreme material deprivations.

The way to enable millions of Africans overcome poverty through massive investment in infrastructures like efficient transportation network featuring sea and air ports, railways and highways. Additionally, power and low carbon or clean energy is a basis on which Africa social stability and democracy can thrive and survive.

Unfortunately such key issues that are strategic to securing in democracy in Africa does not feature in U. S engagement with the continent. Democracy beyond abstractions needs tangible and practical measures to establish and consequently internalise and diffuse its values to the broadest section of the population.