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<johnfrancesco@yahoo.co.uk> African Cinema Conference presents... I have read with great interest the differing views recounted re the new film by Mr Mbala. As I know him, he is unlikely to have been pandering to the West. No one wants to admit to complicity in so vile a practice as enslaving other human beings. Thus Arabs react violently when their alleged complicity in the Zanzabari slave trade (to my knowledge a matter of historical record) is highlighted and so do Africans (like some of those at the screening in Abidjan), with relation to the West African trade. The fact is, most historical occurences are seldom so clear-cut: "only Whites" or "only Blacks ..." The actual facts are seldom spelled-out fully, although an African film like Roger Gnoan M'Bala's stands more chance of telling it like it is than, say, a Hollywood epic like Spielberg's "Amistad" (which is supposed to have missed out the fact that Cinque went back and became a slave trader himself! But I do not know the real truth of this). The fact that slavery still exists is well-known: just now, in London, there is a much publicised case of a young Sudanese girl who was sold in the Sudan and ended up as a slave with diplomats in London. (The Anti-Slavery League has all the facts about these and many other cases). But in the final analysis, we have to allow for whites, blacks, Arabs et al being slave traders; it is simplistic to suppose that anyone is exempt from evil practice. Only independent historical record can put the record straight. On a personal note, I am happy to say that my own film on slavery at the Cape in the 18th century ("Slavery of Love", 1999) is featuring at the University of Cape Town's Summer School on Slavery, being screened at 18:30 on Wednesday, February 18. And before anyone jumps on me, the "Love" bit refers to a personal storyline; the actual slavery was brutal and, until quite recently, largely undocumented. JOHN BADENHORST
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