mangoes & bullets is for anyone wishing to engage with racism and other systems of domination, and looking for inspiration for resistance and alternatives. It offers, inter alia, films, songs and poems, and, as well, information on campaigns and political activism. These materials challenge injustice from different perspectives and in manifold ways.
The idea to assemble and make available critical, emancipatory materials was born in the context of our educational work. We urge anyone making use of these materials in educational or other settings to take into account the particularities of the setting and reflect on how they could be used appropriately. For instance, some might not feel included or be critical of certain aspects. To give an example: A song might very well represent people’s experience with racism, but at the same time advertise the neoliberal principal that “if you try hard enough, you can make it”, thus disregarding the complex interrelations of racism and capitalism/neoliberalism. We would like to encourage anyone making use of these materials to engage with them in a critical manner and be aware of their pitfalls.
mangoes & bullets is the title of a collection of poems by John Agard. The title embraces many of the aspects we intend to present in our collection of materials: bullets as a symbol of oppression, but also of resistance against colonialism, racism and exploitation; mangoes as so called southern fruit, as products of exploitative labour conditions and capitalist economic structures in the context of global trade; fruits as the sweetness of empowerment; fruits whose sweetness turns into bitter taste when we have to put on a sweet smile in the face of racism, while we would actually love to explode like a bullet; family ties to the places where mangoes grow, while we ourselves live in the land of the bullets; bullets, manufactured in Germany, which kill in faraway places, and people who come from Europe or beyond to arrive in this country, only to be welcomed by anything but sweet and tasty mangoes.
What you find in mangoes & bullets is not exhaustive by far. We have researched many more materials and shall put them online by and by. There is, however, much more out there, from which we can learn and find inspiration for our political and educational work. mangoes & bullets is the work of seven people from glokal e.V. with diverse social positioning with regards to racism, classism, gender etc. as well as different biographies, political socialisation, and backgrounds in academia and activism. This introduces manifold perspectives, yet only those of these seven people. We would therefore be grateful if you could provide us with materials that you consider important and suitable (e.g. on anti-Romanyism and empowerment of Romnja, anti-Semitism and Jewish resistance, Asian diaspora in Germany, and on disability/empowerment). Given that our capacities are limited, we ask for your appreciation that – provided we consider them suitable – it might take some time for your recommendations to be online.
Contact: please visit our glokal.org site for contact details