... 'I'm moving past the feeling... again..."

 

 

No Man Is an Island

No man is an island,

Entire of itself;

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less,

As well as if a promontory were:

As well as if a manor of thy friend's

Or of thine own were.

Any man's death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind.

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee.

'A Simple Song'

 

Khalid Abdalla - 'A Simple Song'

A simple song’ is a debut song by Khalid Abdalla. It is dedicated to the children of Palestine, past, present and future. And to all children of genocide. Khalid says the song came to him when, ‘in the middle of an ongoing genocide, Trump and Netanyahu proposed ethnically cleansing Gaza and turning it into a Riviera’. It was first released on his social media and received over half a million views in 24 hours. Khalid is a multidisciplinary artist, known as an actor for his roles in The Crown and The Kite Runner, amongst others, and for his commitment to breaking silence on Palestine. Written by Khalid Abdalla Produced by Martin Terefe and Dave Okumu Recorded by Liam Larking, Oskar Winberg and George Murphy at Eastcote Studios, London. Assisted by Ed Clay. Mixed by Martin Terefe and George Murphy Khalid Abdalla - Vocals and Piano Dave Okumu - Electric Guitar Martin Terefe - Wurlitzer and Electronics Nikolaj Torp Larsen - Accordion Dan See - Drums Backing vocals by: Jodie Shanahan, Siobhan Elouise; Shamime Ibrahim, Suzanne Ghadban, Bryant Akanmu Mastered by Dyre Gormsen at Eastcote Mastering Recording administration by Annie Benson Music Video Credits Directed by Khalid Abdalla with Led by Donkeys Bournemouth Beach footage courtesy of Led by Donkeys

Interview on Frantz Fanon with film director Rico Speight, from Harlem

 

This week, I spoke with film and theatre director Rico Speight, on the line from Harlem, about his ne documentary film 'Rediscovering Fanon', screened in Paris on 5 July 2025.

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More in my newsletter:

A hundred years of fortitude...

From a new film on Fanon to the boom of book industry in Africa, this week I bring some optimism and anti-oppression rebellion to your inboxes in these times of wars, heat, and terrible crimes...

Melissa Chemam

Jul 03, 2025

Read from Substack:

A hundred years of fortitude...

Another song: 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood'

 

You look for a song by Nina Simone one YouTube, and have to sit through 1 min of useless, infuriating advert... So very 21st century...

'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood', by the amazing and unique Nina Simone.

A song

 

Music used to make me so happy... 

But these days are challenging...

Still today, back to one of my favourite bands from Bristol, another blast for the past no longer to exist in the current possibilities for a future.

The Desert - 'Cloudbusting' - Kate Bush COVER

Glastonbury vs Gaza

 

The main reason why I don't post about my book anymore... is materialising on steroids this week in the UK.
Read comments about #Glastonbury? Well... voilà...

After the events in #Gaza in 2014 and my experience with the UN in Central #Africa, I had this idea that it could be powerful to team up with #artists who support the oppressed, and voice their opinions for human rights.

Now, we see how weaponised this is by mainstream media...

One of the #artists I interviewed told me the day I met him in# Bristol: 'What can we do, really? What can artists and #musicians do? #Palestinians and other people at war need #lawyers and #journalists..." He was right from the start.

I loved coming to Bristol, it was among the best years of my life, but today, after the Covid crisis, the Cambridge Analytica scandal, with wars in Ukraine, Sudan, Gaza, DRC... music and art are not the story, #people are the story.

https://melissa.substack.com/

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Photos from a 2016 concert, in Paris Le Zénith:

 

More protests in Kenya against police violence: Can they help change the system?

 

Can Kenya's protests against police violence help change the system?

A year on from landmark protests over taxes and corruption, many in Kenya are gathering today to take part in remembrance marches for those killed in police violence since June 2024. The recent death of a teacher and blogger in prison has sparked new demonstrations. As Kenyans hope for change, I asked a Kenyan policy analyst how police violence became so extreme and if youth protests denouncing it can foster improvement.

Kenyans started walking out from Monday, in cities like Nairobi, Nakuru, Mombasa and beyond. 

In June 2024, the protests erupted across Kenya against a new bill that would mean a sharp rise in taxes, which culminated on 25 June. They were met with a high level of violence in the police response.

This year, the country's youth are protesting directly against the latter.

If the government had called for calm since last summer, the death of Albert Ojwang in police custody, arrested for posting on his blog a text criticising a police officer, sparked a new wave of protests, early June this year.

"I was not surprised because that is how our police officers operate in this country," Douglas Kivoi, a policy analyst at the Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA), told me.

The analyst has been studying the role and behaviour of the police in Kenya for years.

"They are used to settling political scores and silencing any dissent that the powers are not comfortable with. So that is just one of the few that made it to the public domain. Many of those cases hardly make it to the media. If the family keeps quiet or is threatened with dire consequences."

"We have a progressive constitution but our police officers have refused to change and transform themselves and align themselves with the best international practices," Kivoi continued.

Counter-protesters are also marching and supporting the police, raising fears of new violence, especially in Nairobi.

"How on earth do you shoot someone at point blank range like the one we witnessed recently?" Kivoi asked. "Someone who is just selling masks in the streets and then is shot at point blank range? I mean, how on earth would anybody do that knowing that the institution that they work for is under scrutiny for another murder of an individual who was arrested for a misdemeanour offense and then tortured to death in the police detention facilities? So this tells you that the impunity in our police service and policing agencies runs deeper than the public eye can see."

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Listen to my latest podcast episode:

Spotlight on Africa podcast - Justice and art: Kenya’s fight against police brutality; Africa’s bold new art fair in Basel

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Colonial roots of violence

Kivoi reckons that the violence in Kenya's police has been a foundation issue from the very beginning, and actually stems from colonial times.

"Kenya’s police institution was established as a colonial instrument of oppression," he penned. "Police reforms since independence in 1963 have had little impact in changing this. Instead, successive governments have used the police to suppress dissent. This has cemented a culture of violence and police impunity."

Even the best recommendations raised in police reflections and his own studies have not been applied yet.

"We take one step forward and then we take five steps backwards," Kivoi added. "Since independence in 1963, the first president, Jomo Kenyatta, used police to silence any dissent. And when the second president (Daniel arap Moi) took over, it was the same story. Assassinations, torture, detention. Later, when Mwai Kibaki took over the presidency (in 2002), he tried to reform the police. But then the 2007-2008 post-election violence was a tipping point where many accusations were made against the police officers' actions and most of the victims died because of police bullets or police inaction."

In 2010, Kenya implemented a new constitution, which is progressive according to many including Kivoi, "if well implemented and adhered to".

The country also put in place institutions like the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, and an attempt to delink police from the office of the president.

But Kivoi thinks "it never bore much fruit".

"I believe the problem lies in our policing agencies. It's not the resources. So, if you carry out reforms in the name of changing institutions' names and changing uniforms from the Kenya Police Force to National Police Service, that doesn't change the attitude of these officers as they approach their work and in the way they interact with communities.

He thinks the training of police officer must change.

"We need to change the way our officers are trained, because I believe that is where the problem is, the training of these officers, after they are recruited, and then the management of personnel, because promotions are done through tokenism, through who you know. And I hear they must give a bribe to get promoted. And then we need to depoliticise the policing, because police officers, since independence, have been used by the government of the day to settle political scores, arrest people without any justifiable reason, like Ojwang, who was tortured and killed in a police facility." 

System change

Kenya's Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said on Monday they approved murder charges against six people, including three police officers, for their role in killing Ojwang. The six suspects were arraigned on Tuesday.

So, can we hope for an end to impunity?

Kivoi thinks that it is still difficult to flag out the issues of police excesses and punitive actions because the media in Kenya "sometimes goes to bed with the government", and don't denounce police brutality.

"But the fact that we have got social media, and then we have got a young population that has embraced technology, makes it more difficult for police to think that they will behave the way they have been behaving and get away with it."

The protests, and the technology helping reporting them, are playing a critical role in trying to bring down cases of police excesses when they are interacting with the civilians.  

Journalism featured

 

My work has been feature by Journalist.Net on their social media:

 

Here is my profile on their site:

https://journalist.net/melissa.chemam

New podcast episode: Kenya / Africa Basel

 

Spotlight on Africa

New wave of protests in Kenyan / Africa at Art Basel

In this episode, Spotlight on Africa reviews the origins and causes of protests in Kenya against police brutality. And you'll also hear from the co-founders of the Africa Basel contemporary art fair, in Switzerland, the newest event of its kind. 

Coming up on Tuesday 24 June 2024: 

Spotlight on Africa

This week, we go to East Africa as Kenyans are protesting to denounce police brutality, exactly a year after a wave of protests organised against an unjust tax, that led tO lots of police violence.

This year's protests were triggered by the killing by the police of a blogger in his cell, Albert Ojwang, 31, arrested for criticising a policeman online.

To uncover the roots of the problem, we speak with Douglas Lucas Kivoi, Principal Policy Analyst, Governance Department, Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA).

Africa Basel 

And we also head to Switzerland for a new artistic event.

Africa Basel is the first edition of a contemporary African art fair created to coincide with the largest fair in the world, Art Basel, in Switzerland. It was held from 17 to 22 June, with over 30 galleries and dozens of artists.

Spotlight on Africa spoke with the two co-founders of the event, as they opened the first days of the event in Basel:

-Benjamin Füglister, artist and cultural entrepreneur born in Switzerland, and now the director of the Africa Basel,

-and Sarah Hachi-Duchêne, curator at unx.art.

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Listen to it from here; from Tuesday:

Spotlight on Africa

Justice and art: Kenya’s fight against police brutality; Africa’s bold new art fair in Basel