On April 1st 2003, Leymah Gbowee, an activist who would later win the Nobel Peace Prize, learnt that fighting was nearing Monrovia, her country’s capital. There were clashes between rebels and then president Charles Taylor, and the scheduled presidential elections seemed increasingly unlikely to take place. Distressed, Gbowee began to make calls to her colleagues at WIPNET, the…
Archives for May 2015
Oyalogy, repowerment and art talks
I am taking part in some stimulating events in the next couple of weeks that I thought I would share here. On 25 May, I’ll be giving a talk at Trinity College Dublin’s annual conference to mark Africa Day. The conference will look at key issues in gender; movements towards equality for women and girls, barriers to…
You love me, you love me not
I’m sharing some display pieces from the exhibition You Love Me, You Love Me Not showing now at the Galeria Municipal Almeida Garrett in Porto, Portugal. The exhibition is named after a piece by Kenyan artist, Wangechi Mutu (featured). You Love Me, You Love Me Not is a major exhibition – over 100 paintings, sculptures, photographs and video by 50…
Charlie Hebdo deserves the PEN courage award but not without critical discussion
It’s World Press Freedom Day today, 3 May. The motive of World Press Freedom Day is that Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. It’s a right which is hardly…