The 54th issue of The Funambulist examines the durability of colonial structures in western and northern European societies: Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Portugal and Italy. The colonial continuum undeniably creates bridges between geographies, temporalities and peoples. This is demonstrated by Adam Elliott-Cooper‘s colonial genealogy of the British police, which he weaves between Ireland, Palestine, Malaysia, Kenya and immigrant communities of Great Britain. It’s not easy to reclaim these bridges to solidarity. As we discuss with Lis Camelia and Fayo Said in this issue, what kind of common ground can be found between the Dutch Caribbean Black communities in the Netherlands and the Melanesian Papuans in their relationship to Dutch colonialism, anti-Blackness and Indigeneity? Could this be a common ground similar to that which the Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste found in the Algerian Revolution (Léopold Lambert)? How can the ghosts of the German genocide of the Nama and Ovaherero peoples manifest their presence in contemporary Germany (Fatou Sillah and Abdur Rehman Zafar), and how can we map these colonial and anti-colonial forces (Moses März)? What can the Italian anti-fascist movement learn from anti-colonial resistance in Libya and Ethiopia (Amalie Elfallah with Maaza Mengiste and Alessandro Spina)? How can the Spanish state pay its debts to the Sahrawi people (Inma Naïma Zanoguera)? What does the Portuguese revolution owe to the Guinean, Cape Verdean, Angolan and Mozambican anti-colonial struggles and their legacy in the diasporas (Ana Naomi de Sousa)? What archives for the anti-racist struggles of North African diasporas in Belgium (Mustapha Bentaleb and Joachim Ben Yakoub)? These are just some of the questions we pose in the pages of this issue. The cover was designed by Nidhal Chamekh for this issue.
You can read Léopold Lambert’s full introduction here.
In the News from the Fronts section, you can read a short essay on the sex workers’ struggle in Thailand (Elena Shih), a manifesto for building on the irreparability produced by colonial violence in Puerto Rico (Shellyne Rodriguez), and an architectural analysis of the “Commander’s Stage” in Taiwan (Yeh-Ting Li).
You can also order the francophone version by following this link.
Editor-in-Chief: Léopold Lambert
Head of Communications: Shivangi Mariam Raj
Advisory Board: Margarida Nzuzi Waco, Caroline Honorien, Nadia El Hakim, Flora Hergon, and Noelle Geller
Translators: Chanelle Adams (eng), Rosanna Puyol Boralevi (fr), Virginie Bobin (fr), Caroline Honorien (fr), and Léopold Lambert (fr)
Graphic Design: Adapted from a model designed by Akakir Studio
Contributing Copy Editor: Carol Que
