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__________ From: [log in to unmask] NEW CENTURY BLACK BRITAIN : Despatches on the Black Experience from street protests, culture and politics to cyberpower. By Thomas L Blair © 20.09.10 Holiday Black Londoners “Play Mas”, but need resources to defeat cultural racism Now is the time for “We t’ing!” No, I don’t mean the “rum and rhythm” street party that attracts a million revellers every August to Notting Hill, the iconic Black district in London. Now is the time to refute what many think but dare not say: that Black people in Britain have “No-culture, no-history and hence no-worth, no power, no-chance” The dispiriting fact is that carnival leaders are in a double-bind in the fight against cultural racism. They must campaign against drastic cuts in public arts funding. In addition, generate the resources to keep Black cultural opportunities alive and local. Militant cultural activist, Kwesi Owusu, sees carnival arts as a vital weapon against dominant Western elite culture and its art forms. “What can we consider better than freedom”, he asked in /The Struggle for Black Arts in Britain/. CAMPAIGN AGAINST CUTS First, community leaders must question the English Arts Council’s average cuts of £2-£10,000 that threaten carnival small enterprises. The well-heeled Royal Opera House and the Royal Shakespeare Company can weather the cuts, but Black organisations that serve children and young people, are at risk, say leaders. The UK Centre for Carnival Arts based in Luton is on the barely-surviving list. Tiny groups such as the Notting Hill Mas Bands Association and the Elimu Carnival Club may have to close their costume making, music, stagecraft, and performance workshops. Under threat, too, are cultural guru Prof Stuart Hall’s Institute of International Visual Arts and the Yaa Asantewaa Arts and Community Centre. “Many jobs will disappear and programmes ended, if carnival organisations don’t fight back. It’s a challenge for survival of the icon of Black British culture”, said Alex Pascall, educator and “ambassador” of Caribbean culture in Britain. GENERATE RESOURCES Second, in today’s savage economic climate, cash-strapped carnival leaders need to attract support from a range of social groups. Top African/Caribbean sports and entertainment are obvious fundraisers. Rank-and-file support from the small Black elite and middle class, just starting to grow strong, is urgent. Fraternal, trade and professional associations could rally their members in a burst of philanthropic zeal. The “new Black metro-elites” in government, politics, business, banking, media and information technology have a duty to promote the arts and culture in Black communities, it is said. This new “tithing” principle is linked to the emerging view that the major property-owning and wealthy Black churches should support the Notting Hill Carnival community arts. London’s mega-African religious charity, Kingsway International Christian Centre's (KICC), could set a standard for creating cultural capital: the vital elements are arts, business and philanthropy. FIGHT CULTURAL RACISM WITH ACTION/KNOWLEDGE Third, Black intellectuals should refute the stereotypes and slander that limit the creative potential of Black communities. They can produce the books, articles and lectures that nourish the fragile roots of Black British cultural heritage, of which Carnival is an important part. Furthermore, beating the “pan” for Black culture and expression, they can encourage British African/Caribbean people to: · Formulate a mission statement, syllabus and structure of the first University of Black Studies and the Arts in Britain. · Create the first Black Digital Centres of cultural production that are user-friendly and linked to digital reservoirs of knowledge and cultural action. · Write the first Black British intellectual journals and Black-authored histories of Black Britain in print, eBook formats and Internet web sites. · Launch the first training projects in cultural production and tourism highlighting maps of African/Caribbean markets, heritage and cultural sites · Set standards for integrating Black culture into core academic subjects and supplementary community centres for schoolchildren and students at crucial stages in their lives. BUILD VIBRANT ARTS COMMUNITIES Creative endeavours like this will prove the slanderers wrong. The financial climate is tough, but frontline Black arts organisations are a compelling case for public and private investment. Renascent Black communities can build on the cultural arts they produce. They can plough their financial and intellectual resources into community development. Thereby, they can raise their status and power to compete with other minority ethnic groups. Moreover, it should be recognised that carnival was meant to symbolise an enduring truth of the Black cultural experience in Britain. As Claudia Jones, “Mother of the Notting Hill carnival” proclaimed: “A people’s art is the genesis of their freedom.” Prof Thomas L Blair is author of The Audacity of Cyberspace: The struggle for Internet power in the Editions Blair series. Available in print and e-book format at http://www.thomblair.org.uk. To keep your Black British and Afro-Europe research/study interests blooming, follow my commentaries on http://www.chronicleworld.org, and http://chronicleworld.wordpresss.com ‘Til next time. Contact e-mail: [log in to unmask]