Postcard from Home: Je suis...

Hawley Road, NW1

What happened to the list? And... Je ne suis pas Charlie/Ahmed/personne

Thanks to Facebook's automatic photo generator, I was slow to post the promised arbitrary list of good things last year brought in, aka "highlights". It felt a little cheesy...

And then when I did start to compile it, I realised that I've written about most of the stuff extensively... or had done the year before (FLUPP festival, Capturing Fire, filming Gay Poem, Royal Festival Organ Project, the Unwriteables) so perhaps it was not worth expending vast amounts of energy trying to summarise these major events in one bitesize piece.

Je suis pas Charlie... et je ne suis pas offensé: a week of changing opinion.

And then of course, halfway through my compiling activities on Wednesday, I heard about attacks in Paris (via Daily Politics). Immediately, people were calling for solidarity for those killed to take the form of printing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. My immediate response was, firstly, shock and horror at the attacks (that should go without saying but, there, I've said it) and my second response was a sinking feeling in my stomach that this might create some sort of racist backlash. The images I searched for online that Charlie Hebdo had printed seemed to me, at first glance, wholly insensitive and, yes, racist. Hook-nosed Arab types, for the most part... And the image of the Boko Haram kidnapees - and yes, of the Prophet Muhammad. I was incensed that the only way some people could think of reacting to the shootings was by encouraging journalists across the world to offend whole sections of their own societies. Way to go!

Then, after 'Je suis Charlie', the 'Je suis Ahmed' meme arose and I was glad to see (some) people at least recognise that solidarity doesn't need to mean agreeing completely with everything someone stands for. We get into so much trouble if we try to be cut and dry about things. The simplified news tells us that some journalists sacrificed their lives for freedom of speech - which is threatened by Islamic fundamentalism - in a heroic act of defiance; that trope then allows a disparate bunch of leaders - many of them enemies of 'free speech' in so many different ways - to march in 'solidarity' with smug faces and an air of piety. It's not as simple as that.

At least, through 'Je suis Ahmed', another narrative sprung up: Muslims often bear the brunt of 'Islamist' terrorism, so it can't be seen as a them vs us situation. Reprinting images of the Prophet in order to piss off 'intolerant' Muslims (many, but not all) as if it were a 'V' salute is not helpful. This is not a simple case of fighting for freedom of speech in the West. This was never about freedom of speech!

But, of course, some things easily fit the narrative the powers that be want to deliver. I've struggled to find any extensive reporting of the Boko Haram massacre in Nigeria. At least 150 (official figures) and as many as 2,000 people have been killed this month, and the suicide attack by a girl reported to be about 10 years old is terrifying. I haven't heard it on the news - but, then again, Nigeria doesn't seem to get into news broadcasts much, despite having a lot going on in the last year. There are terrifying things going on much further afield and they cannot all be explained simply.

Back to the weekly magazine in Paris and my A-level French served me very little in trying to understand some of the cartoons. Every online comment by French people that I read emphasised the point that a lot has been lost in translation; Charlie Hebdo isn't some right-wing outrage but often printed offensive things in the name of liberalism, equality, anti-racism... etc. If we rely on image alone, if we decontextualise it, we will get the wrong end of the stick.

I went to an exhibition at Camden Arts Centre last Saturday, after going to a talk. Two women were pacing around the room where flashing neon "bruise" and "blues" signs hung from the ceiling, just as I was leaving. They were a bit miffed by it, and vocally so; if they hadn't read the extensive explanation on the plaque outside, before entering the room, it would have made no sense to them at all. How could someone design a piece that would not stand up on its own without the explanation? The questions around police violence, around race, around the speaker's language (it comes from a man's account of trying to get hospital care while in police custody, and opening up a bruise) are all invisible in this hanging artwork. I ended up chatting with them for a couple of minutes and disagreeing. The whole point, I argued, was to put everything out of context, to focus on minute details (in another bit of the exhibition, a statement is repeated across a wall, mostly out of focus and illegible, thousands of times) and take away the sense of meaning, an absurdist response, if you will. 

Back to the magazine and, as I read more, I realise it is not my place to be offended on anyone's behalf. I'm not Muslim, I have no say on whether depiction of the Prophet Muhammad is entirely offensive or not; for many people - including friends of mine - it is hugely so, while for others, less. But the context is everything. This article was helpful about some of that. I now have more information about what was printed and why; that information makes me more certain than ever that simply reprinting something that makes sense in a French context is highly misguided.  There are things I find distasteful - and yes, racist - based on what I've seen… but I'm not invested enough in the workings of French media to say much further than that. The amount I am willing to comment must be proportional to the amount I am willing to learn about the situation. I am NOT Charlie Hebdo… but, as a fellow European citizen, I can express my sympathy and solidarity up to a point. I am NOT Ahmed, but I can show my solidarity by remembering to think before I open my mouth (unlike the historian David Starkey, a sorry excuse for a human being, who was rolled out to offer his two cents worth last night - at the expense of TV license payers). 

Likewise, the greater context of these attacks bears thinking about. This was never about freedom of speech, but it will be a convenient little number if politicians start talking about it in those terms. (If anyone truly thinks that this kind of terrorism will disappear the minute people stop printing cartoons, then they're mistaken… so calling this a battle of freedom of speech is ridiculous and cheap… The journalists were just an easy target in the minds of the people who did this). 

On that note, I need to head off to work. 

I'll be posting upcoming gigs in the next 24 hours. Some interesting events ahead!

   

5 things: watching (and none of them is a poetry video! shocking!)

5 things I've been watching lately...

So it's been a mix 'n' match few weeks. This is also an overdue post, so I've replaced a couple of older videos with a couple of newer ones. 

1) 2014 Wipe

Ok, so this is a really long one - and a bit grim in places - but succinctly sums up the mood of the year 2014. Here's hoping this year will be more... hopeful.

(If you don't have time... at 25m38s it gets a little depressing. And at 28m33s onwards it's chilling - worth watching just those five minutes alone... and then it gets a little more playful again)




2) The Siddi people in India

This first video below comes from a Facebook profile of a great guy and author I know. Someone had posted this on his page... and then another person posted a link to the second one. If you have time to watch a couple of minutes of the second one, a very different video filmed by another group about the same people tells a very different story. The contrasts speak for themselves.


and



3) Reverse Racism

A term I've heard bandied about quite a lot recently: reverse racism. Events in Ferguson and the latest killings of black people in America (and unresolved cases back here in the UK) have all brought a lot of publicity* about institutional racism. I've personally got into uncomfortable conversations with people who just don't get it. Racism isn't about taking minor offence when some ignorant fool says something dodgy, but about the systematic demeaning and oppression of non-dominant races. This can come in bicycle form, through the assertion of 'white privilege'; it can also come in more nastier ways. So when people talk of 'reverse racism' - like it's a thing - I laugh.  




*on that note, I don't believe the police choked Eric Garner simply because he was black; Mike Brown isn't dead simply because he was black; nor Jimmy Mubenga. That's not how racism works; power structures create circumstances that mean, when you look at the bigger picture, an extremely disproportionate amount of black men and women on both sides of the Atlantic are incarcerated or killed by police compared to other ethnicities; underneath those extremes are inequalities in justice, education, housing, media... and beneath that, everyday slurs, lack of communication, subtler prejudices that go unchallenged. Sure, there are a host of other factors in these outcomes - class, chiefly, among them - but that doesn't take away from the fact that racism is very much a problem (and reverse racism isn't).


4) Cultural Collision - Woman in the Supermarket

I shared this video with a family member a couple of months ago... and said I'd post it. I also said my post might be a little controversial but, to be honest, I don't have time now to go right in deep with my thought processes. What strikes me isn't so much the woman being filmed but the reaction to this and, more bizarre still, the online reaction this has received.

5) Show Me the Money

Finally, something that cracked me up no end. This is for anyone who's ever had to fill out a funding application, uploaded by Paula Varjack a couple of days ago. Funding bodies, take note:

show me the money from paula varjack on Vimeo.

5 things: Reading

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I'm back to work finally and posting again.

Been a while since I've done one of these posts, so here is…

5 things I've read over the Xmas break

1) Edwidge Danticat: Krik? Krak / The Farming of Bones

I'm now officially in love with this Haitian-American writer's work... It took me several days to pick up Krik? Krak! after the first story though; heartbreaking. The Farming of Bones, deals with the massacre of Haitians in the Dominican Republic, under dictator Trujillo's orders. I've studied this terrible part of history before, and stories like this need retelling... It shouldn't have been an easy read but the writing was so clear, I couldn't put it down.



2) Culture is Our Weapon: AfroReggae in the favelas of Rio - Patrick Neate and Damian Platt

I started this before my trip to Rio. It gave me a lot of insight into how grassroots projects can work; it was great being able to recognise some of the places mentioned in the book - and to see the effects people can have in an oppressive system. (After finishing it, I really want to go back to Rio right about now!)



3) More than Opium/ Jamaica Genesis... 

 

Both of these are pretty academic, heavy-going anthropological studies of Pentecostalism in the Caribbean and Latin America. I've officially begun to continue researching my novel, and it's leading me in unexpected places. I'm also busy using up the last of my Senate House library membership, now I'm no longer a student.

I haven't finished either of these yet... I have till Monday evening to return them!

4) Milena, and other Social Reforms



This, I'm taking my time to enjoy! Please watch out for more of Olja this year...

5) Ten - the New Wave (ed. Karen McCarthy Woolf)



Here are poems from the Complete Works II crew! Among them, some of my favourite poets, and also a couple of poets I'd not been aware of before. (And yes, I need to return it to the Poetry Library by Monday... I'll be buying a copy when I do)

***


So, I'm not sure if I'm going to do another list of 2014 highlights, as I have done for the past couple of years... If I decide not to break with this tradition, expect another post on Wednesday. Either way, I'll be updating a little, and posting upcoming gigs next week. Until then, happy reading!

Part 2/2: How to win an international slam and have a bit of a complex

(links/pics to follow)

Reading my post last Monday, you might think "he doth protest too much". I say my slam win was the "icing on the cake" and wasn't the most important thing about my Rio trip, then I go into more detail and post a picture of me holding said icing, grinning from ear to ear.

1: Not embellishing.
The thing is… most people who regularly take part in, or even attend, slams knows that they have very little to do with who's the best poet in the world or even, let's be honest, the best poet in the competition. I'm certainly not the best poet in the UK, nor the best performer (but I'm working on upping my game, so watch this space!) so the title 'Poetry Slam Champion' can sound a bit grand for what it actually is.

Winning a slam usually means, at one given point, a poetry performance has managed to capture the attention of an audience/ judging panel. It could be a poem written years ago that's done the rounds several times; it could be something written on a scrap of paper on the bus journey to the slam (although not in this case, as we had to email 6 poems in advance, to be translated and inputted into the computer for surtitling) Often, the poet nearest the end wins (and I've written about "score creep" before), especially if they're able to "catch the vibe" of the audience.

Each country is different: my experience of American slams is that louder, tougher poems about important issues do well; my experience of the London slam scene is that political satire, self-deprecating humour - and sometimes hard-hitting (but not too loud!) poems do well. There are regional patterns in cadence, in rhythm and in body movement too. From what I gather, the Dutch and the Swiss nearly always read from the page and use little body movement; irony works well. In any case, there isn't a set standard - either nationally or internationally - and there isn't meant to be. The whole reason slams were created was to shake up the poetry open mic scene. Now it's all about the exchange of ideas and rhymes. Those in the slam scene know all this - and this knowledge, generally, helps keep the scene convivial.

2: Personal Context
I think, after Rio, I experienced the feeling I had when I won the Farrago UK slam championship, almost exactly five years ago to the day. Hardly anyone had even heard of me… I had 25 friends on Myspace (bonus points if you remember how popular Myspace was; double that bonus if you still have an account) and I was expected to go and represent the country in a World Cup slam the following June! I knew performers who, for one reason or another, refused to go to Farrago slams; I also had some knowing comments from other poets. Standing next to David Jay at another poetry event, someone greeted me by my name. David Jay then turned to me. "Ah, you're the Keith Jarrett I've heard about!" There I was, next to an incredible performer who had spent years honing his style; any pride I'd had in my new title disappeared pretty quickly!

That win did take me to Paris; subsequently, I got to know some Polish poets and ended up in Warsaw for a festival. And then I kept going… It encouraged me to write more and start taking spoken word seriously. I doubt I'd still be performing if it weren't for the boost of winning slams. Slams were what brought me to the London poetry scene in the first place. You get to hear a variety of voices and be one of those voices in any given night. Anyone who absolutely decries their merit without having been to at least half a dozen is, frankly, disingenuous. (And those who have sometimes have ulterior motives)

I get that some poets can feel intimidated by slams. The name conjures up rap battles and wrestling contests, the epitome of macho culture you wouldn't normally ascribe to poetry (although it's useful when you're trying to sell the idea of writing poetry to stereotypical teenage boys). And, yes, in more than a few instances, the influence of hip-hop can be seen in slam delivery.

I deeply respect Kei Miller's readiness to admit being "ashamed of being ashamed" at having won slams. As the Guardian - and some of Kei's essays (particularly on dub poetry) - suggest, conflict does exist between 'respectable' poetry and 'establishment' literature. That's all fine. Without repeating many of my past posts, I know slams can be problematic. I know they can be unfair. And then so too can other poetry worlds.

3: The Great white/male divide
Back to Rio, and the Swiss poet Hazel Brugger, takes to the stage again after receiving a low score (the judges are averaging about 9.4 for everything! And Hazel's last score average was about 8… out of 10). She'd read the last one from the page; it was short and quiet and reading the surtitles required a lot of concentration from the audience considering there were three languages up on the screen. The next piece she delivers has a great energy to it and is, frankly, hilarious, with a very serious point about feminism sitting prominently behind it. She is describing what she would do with her newly-acquired penis. The audience is in uproar. Some of us - including me - are following the English above her head; the majority are manoeuvring their bodies to follow the Portuguese words disappearing behind her neck while laughing and applauding.

(As an aside, Hazel is the woman who I met a couple of days before at a planned trip for the slammers on a rooftop bar in a favela overlooking the city. She introduced a group of us to the new dance craze she is trying to introduce to the world: "the snail, who is having her eyes touched." Picture five or six poets on a roof terrace, trying not to choke on caipirinhas while mimicking the dance and laughing our guts out… )

This time, all five judges rewarded her efforts with high 9s. But she was still eliminated... That's just how things go. In an ideal world, she - or one of the other female poets from Colombia, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Spain or USA - would have helped make it become not another all-male final. I've been to too many of those - and, perhaps that's another aside. Perhaps not... because where slams are overwhelmingly more racially representative than the poetry publishing scene (not difficult.... although the trend in publishing is changing, according to this post), the gender balance has some way to go in certain places.

It seems when one battle is won, another presents itself.

4: Old stuff
Back to my own heat and, as I went up to the stage, I struggled to decide what to deliver to the audience. At some point, I would have to perform "Tell Me What You Believe", which I'd sent to the translators early on - it's a poem with a simple theme and message, and a catchy refrain. But the twenty-three/four year old who wrote that poem has a few more layers on now. I simply wouldn't write that poem in the same way, if the idea were to have come to me this year. So, oddly, it feels like cheating, or plagiarising myself; 'current me' is not the author of that poem.

I did manage to include stuff that I've written months, not years ago… but my newest poem, written the day before I flew out, didn't make it onto that list. Instead, I made do with one I'd written in response to a pupil asking me to write something back in the summer. That, and a poem about hip-hop felt most real to me on stage.

The only way I could bring myself to perform 'Gay Poem' again was to practice one section of the poem in Portuguese. Earlier this year, I wrote that I was sick of the poem; it's close to complete retirement. I now only make a habit of performing it in spaces where I can give it something new... where I feel I can give it new meaning or relevance.

5: Competition

The finals are tenser than I thought they would be. My competitive spirit has all but disappeared, but it is coming back as the scores are coming in. Of course, I want to win, but...

1) I'm in Rio
2) it's a lovely day outside
3) I've just finished leading a really satisfying writing and performance workshop and I'm thinking about that
4) I want to say a proper goodbye to colleagues Chris Redmond and Hannah Walker before they run off to catch their plane home
5) I want to process everything after what has been a very busy week and I simultaneously want to make this slam last longer... after this, the whole festival will soon come to an end.

So yes, when the scores are read out and my ears ring with applause, of course I feel good, but I also now it signals the end of something.

***

NEXT UP: THE LAST (ever) UTTER! @ Amersham Arms in New Cross (where I'll be taking part in a final Slam, ironically enough)

Before I get steamy-eyed, here are some comments from Richard Tyrone Jones and here's the official blurb:

Tues 16th DECEMBER: ULTIMATE ‘UTTER!’ FINAL FINAL:
2012-14’s PAID GIG CONTEST WINNERS inc Keith Jarrett, laurie bolger, jamie d huxley & danni antagonist BATTLE each other & Prev. champs  ALI BRUMFITT & GEORGE CHOPPING
for £300 TOTAL PRIZE MONEY in the last London ‘Utter!’
7pm, £7.50 door/5adv, Amersham Arms, new cross SE14 6TY

 For the last 10 years now ‘Utter!’ spoken word has brought quality established spoken word acts like John Hegley, Zena Edwards, Tim Key, Kate Tempest and Baba Brinkman, and five-star solo shows to stages in London, Luton, Edinburgh, across the UK and even Canada. Supporting stars of tomorrow who actually have become stars, like Harry Baker, Keith Jarrett and Rob Auton, and with the ever-popular ‘Paid Gig contest,’ we have done hundreds of original, themed shows such as ‘Utter!’ Cats, Agony, Evolution and Funeral to thousands, established spoken word at Edinburgh’s Free Fringe – not to mention bringing the first ever spoken word sitcom, ‘Big Heart’, to Radio 4. Yeah, we’re not bad.

“prepare to be left speechless by the tongues of these talented bards” – **** ThreeWeeks.

Last word on Rio, part 1 (in pictures)

I promised to blog again yesterday but got carried away with a post about slams (see pic below)… If I get the huge chunk of text down to a easy blog-worthy size in the time I have free tomorrow morning, I'll put it up. If not, then I'll just post about next week's gig… the final UTTER! (There are still tickets left, so come along!

So, in ten pictures:

1. Here's the famous samba school in Rio, which Mangueira is famous for. 

2. (And this is what it's like inside… at the beginning of the night)

And, not much more than 100m away, workshops and slams were taking place...

3. Workshop led by Chris Redmond

4. Early slam heat

5. And this is what O Globo newspaper had to say about the poetry (if you can read Portuguese, have a look here …or Google Translate):

6. Among other things, a rap battle, after discussion panels and other activities...

 And then… a few mornings later….

       
7. going up into the Complex de Alemão favela in the new controversial cable cars
8. it was rainy

 9. Some of the poetry family… from Mexico, Argentina, Ivory Coast, Netherlands, (me), UK and Spain.

10. attention - this could be a poem… apparently

I'm back!!! And Never Mind the Fullstops...

FLUPP festival took me to Rio and I still haven't shaken Rio from my shorts.

(Cue surprised face)

Decompression time: approx 2 weeks… and counting. 

Highlights weren't necessarily the expected ones - you know, like winning the Rio International Poetry Slam. Ok, I won't deny that was a pretty big one: the competition was fierce; the poets were numerous; the event was live streamed on the internet and reported in national press so, yes, it did send my adrenaline pumping way up there. 

But, away from the fast and furious poetry battle, I managed to run workshops with simultaneous interpretation, perform with a samba band at a Rio version of Tongue Fu (btw, Tongue Fu is on again on Thursday, and is looking good… and tickets are selling fast #justsaying) and write on-the-spot poems for visitors with various requests, in an event similar to The Poetry Takeaway. I also got to see some of Mangueira and dance in the samba school, as well as shaking my stuff at a funk event in the now-famous City of God. Plus all that other stuff, like hanging around with various authors and slam poets from around the world… maybe you'll start to get the idea why winning the slam was really just the icing on the cake.

(Cue pic of me smiling with the trophy #evidence)

Happy people from the British Council!

I'll be posting a few more snippets from the trip, starting tomorrow. And I'll be updating other stuff on this blog, too. So stay tuned.

NEVER MIND….

Speaking of tomorrow, it's time again for Never Mind the Fullstops, the poetry gameshow that's the talk of the East End. I'll be on #TeamVarjack, doing a bit of poetry larkin' on a winter's Tuesday evening. Plenty of laughs, and reinterpretations of pop classics are in store in this Xmas special. More details on the Hackney Picturehouse website. Come along!

 

Ok, signing out till tomorrow. (Cue peace sign)