Dit weekend: Inwijding van de ZAD van…

Posted on 2014-12-12 by Princess

Dit weekend: Inwijding van de ZAD van de Keelbeek te Haren – http://haren.luttespaysannes.be/evenement/inwijding-van-de-zad-van-de

Na de Aardappelen, de cabane en haar buren, een feest en ontmoetingen, werven, tenten, een yourt en een bezoek voor een nakende uitzetting…. Nog steeds geen gevangenis ! We lossen niks ! Kom ons vervoegen op 13 en 14 december. Voor een avond, enkele uren, voor een tijdje, voor een lange tijd !

Waar is het? – Hoe geraak ik er? – Meer weten

#ZAD #Keelbeek #Haren #Brussel #België #PataZAD #occupy #resist

Watching “Miners Shot Down”

Posted on 2014-08-18 by Princess

Watching Miners Shot Down and it’s giving me goosebumps. After spending 7 months in South Africa I feel I’ve only scratched at the surface, only started to understand this country in all it’s complexity. It is not black and white, it is much more intricate than that. The role of Cyril Ramaphosa in the Marikana story is but one example of this. It is strange to notice how much I feel for South Africa and hope the people can overcome the great challenges of inequality, poverty, violence, corruption. Even in this documentary about one of the darkest and saddest episodes in South Africa’s recent history, somehow I see glimpses of hope that South Africans can overcome these problems.

The gentrification of Woodstock

Posted on 2014-08-14 by Princess

As a European who lived in Woodstock and wrote with so much praise about it, I guess I am also part of the gentrification process. I don’t have the money to buy a house there, not even with my Euro’s, but I’ll probably still be able to afford rent, unlike families who have lived there for generations and are thrown out because they cannot pay the higher rents and are forced to live in Blikkiesdorp or other settlements. Or how gentrification is extra harsh in South Africa, compared to in Europe

The gentrification of Woodstock: from rundown suburb to hipster heaven (article on theguardian.com)
The gentrification of Woodstock and why I am moving out… (blog post by quietriotgirl)
Making a Place for the Rich? Urban Poor Evictions and Gentrification in Woodstock, South Africa (academic paper at Andrew Fleming, 2011)
Inner city gentrification in South Africa: the case of Woodstock, Cape Town (academic paper from 1993)

Protected: Heaven

Posted on 2014-07-30 by Princess

It’s Been Oh So Quiet

Posted on 2014-06-01 by Princess

It has been exactly 2 months since my last blog post. So much for writing a post per week. So much has happened that I couldn’t even begin to write it down. Well, maybe I should try:

I left Cape Town for the Tankwa semi desert and helped build and build and build and build and then build some more, the biggest thing they’d ever seen at AfrikaBurn. Subterrafuge surpassed everyone’s imagination, even the people who helped build it. Building only finished on Friday and it was supposed to burned the next day. Supposed as the wind decided otherwise. Minutes before midnight, when it was going to be lit, the wind picked up, as it does in the Tankwa Karoo. For safety reasons the burn had to be postponed, more than a few downwind tents would have caught fire. The disillusion amongst the build crew was huge, we had all been working for weeks or months towards this moment and were ready to see the sorceress completed and the towers burned.

Sunday morning everyone in Subterrafuge camp seemed to feel lost, not knowing what to think of seeing the towers still there, while we all expected without their iconic silhouettes on the horizon. By the time a decision had to be made whether they would burn that night, everyone seemed to have come to terms with the reality of it and felt it wouldn’t feel right to burn them Sunday night. So they are still standing there and probably will until next AfrikaBurn, the decision hasn’t been made, but it seems that just like The Earth Pods and Reflections, Subterrafuge will stand on the Tankwa for a year to be burned at the next AfrikaBurn…

And than there was the rest of AfrikaBurn 2014. How can words describe a burn? It was in fact my first real burn, since Nowhere is kind of a non-burn because strict Spanish fire laws forbid any burning. There was definitely a lot of fire, whether it was to keep you warm during the night, to cook on or one of the many artworks being burned. I’ve heard people who’ve been to that thing in the Nevada desert that they love how wild AfrikaBurn is. It did feel like AfrikaBurn is still potentially fatal or that you could at least lose a limb. On the other hand it felt like a real family affair. I saw a lot of kids and even full three generation families. And being part of the Subterrafuge build crew, which became my family, I felt like a lot of the people who have been building AfrikaBurn for 8 years now are my extended family.

Coming back from a burn is always kind of a shock, especially since it also meant my stay in South Africa and Cape Town was almost coming to an end. It turned out that I hid behind the lentil curtain (the exact opposite of the boereworst curtain) hiding in the green South part of the Cape Peninsula near Cape Point, where supposedly all the hippies live. Those last weeks passed by almost unnoticed, still in this out-of-time mode and before I knew it I was on the train to Jo’burg and then on the plane back to Belgium.

Being back in Europe, I am confronted with a bit of a “reverse culture shock” as a friend called it. The differences between South Africa or more specifically Cape Town and Europe are small, but those little things that are different are all the more striking because of that. I hope I can find the motivation and more importantly words to write a post about that, but that will be for a later date.

Right now my focus is on sorting out admin stuff, of which there seems to be a lot more in Europe than in South Africa (one of those differences). Preparing for Nowhere, for building a new structure with Werkhaus and building our Wonderever barrio once more. And figuring out what I want to do next, come back to grey Belgium to sort out going back to South Africa as soon as possible or staying in Spain and enjoying the European summer…

Here are some of the prettiest pictures I have found of Subterrafuge (copyright to respective owners):

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Coming home to Tankwa

Posted on 2014-04-01 by Princess

I’m just back in Cape Town from a four-day working trip to the Tankwa Karoo to help build Subterrafuge. Arriving around midnight Wednesday night, driving through mud puddles from the couple of rainy days, pitching my tent in the rocky soil, it didn’t register yet but I was coming home. The last few years my home has been everywhere and nowhere. In the same way I came home driving my van onto the Monegros desert for the first time in 2012, Tankwa is one of those special places that instantly feel like home.

Arriving in what will become Tankwa Town even before DPW rock up is such a privilege. Being able to see it grow organically from the few people at our Subterrafuge camp to the thousands that will be for the burn. It doesn’t feel like work, but there is still lot to do and less than 4 weeks to do it. Those cones won’t build themselves!

Being back in Cape Town for a couple of days I already miss Tankwa. Waking up in my little tent in the desert before sunrise, hearing the jackals howl, cooking water for coffee on a wood fire. Getting to work, cutting wood into smaller pieces for cladding of the cones, painting them, putting them on the structure using a kick-ass nail gun, standing on 4 meter scaffolding above the desert. Life doesn’t get better than that.

So I’m off to Tankwa again now, back home. I will be back in Cape Town (my home for the last 6 months) a month and a half from now, only for a couple of weeks before I’m flying back to Brussels (my first home). See you at the Burn or somewhere along the way!

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Bye bye Woodstock

Posted on 2014-03-26 by Princess

In my relentless quest for couches in Cape Town to crash on, I have arrived in Table View, which for most living in the City Bowl sounds like the end of the road. Wood MyCiTi station used to be the end of the T01 bus line, and it will be one of my last stops before returning to Europe. I’ve bought my Shosholoza Meyl train ticket to Joburg yesterday for less than 2 months from now. These last months will be about AfrikaBurn and Subterrafuge so I probably will spend more time in Tankwa than in Table View.

As a farewell to Woodstock dinner I went to Jamaica Me Crazy for a Jack Black and a Trinidad Roti. The clouds were covering Devil’s Peak, but in the other direction the harbour was still visible. I’ve liked this place since first moving to the dodgiest part of lower Woodstock and have grown to love it, even more than Obz. Probably because it isn’t as hip as Kloof Nek, not as fancy as Bo Kaap and more diverse than Obz. And that it is dirtier and has more of an edge than these places, a bit like my home town Brussels.

A part of Woodstock I only discovered recently is Sit Lowery Roadtowards CBD, whit some very interesting galleries like Stevenson, Blank Projects and Goodman Gallery. Be sure to check out Wim Botha’s Linear Perspectives at Stevenson before 5 April and across the road James Webb’s The Two Insomnias at Blank Projects. Both are extremely talented South African artists. James Webb bringing two captivation sound installations: Children of the Revolution and Untitled (Al Madat). And Wim Botha with three jaw dropping installations, especially his sculptures in marble, wood, cardboard, polystyrene and a range of materials blew me away.

With the Cape Town winter knocking on the door, the weather turning wet and cold and the South-Easter Cape Doctor giving way to the north-west winds of winter. I’ve noticed I recognize faces of people back in Belgium here in Cape Town, maybe I’m subconsciously preparing myself to go back. Before that however there is a lot of building, partying and picking up MOOP in the Tankwa Karoo. The clan burns in 37 days!

MyCiTi

Time flies

Posted on 2014-03-20 by Princess

Another Wednesday has come and gone without me posting anything here. I know, it’s becoming embarrassing. All I can say is that time is flying, in little over 2 months I’ll be flying back to Europe. And before that there is of course AfrikaBurn, one of the big reasons I’m here in South Africa. I’ve hooked up with Subterrafuge, in the words of Travis & the AfrikaBurn Comms team: “The biggest artwork ever to grace Tankwa Town’s skyline, subterrafuge is an artistic statement against fracking and will blow your mind when you set eyes on it.” You can bet I’m excited about this and hopefully a crew will go up to the Karoo the next week and I can join them, which will be the first time on the holy Tankwa land. Subterrafuge still needs a lot of cash so if you’ve got any to spare (even as little as 7 Euro), chip in at https://www.thundafund.com/subterrafuge

Last weekend was a blast of another kind, going on a two day surf trip to the Overberg with Papa G and his band of crazy Afrikaans boys. Had some nice surf, breathtaking views, tons of talking kak (and piele), some local craft beers and general good times. If you’re into surfing and located near Cape Town, keep an eye on Slow Tours for the next trip: https://www.facebook.com/slowdrivejourneys Also check out stock. skate co. a Woodstock based skateboarding outfit bringing out some nice skate vids: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFaMMIy4Wg-aP9UAXUVD3NA

So much else has happened, but I can’t even remember what and it’s history now anyway. So yeah, that’s it for now. If you’re going to the Old Biscuit Mill on Saturday, drop by in The Bello Studio where Subterrafuge will be raising funds by selling planks, well not really we’re keeping the planks but you can write your name or message on it and it will become part of the sculpture and raffle tickets for an AfrikaBurn ticket draw: https://www.facebook.com/events/637321312972286/?fref=ts

District Six

Posted on 2014-02-07 by Princess

Today i went to the District Six Museum. If you have seen the film District Nine, this is the story of District Six but with non-humans instead of non-whites and in Johannesburg, not Cape Town. The people living in District Six were forcibly removed from 1966 onwards and most of the buildings destroyed. Until today most of the land is left undeveloped and is a wasteland, in the city bowl close to the Central Business District, the centre of Cape Town.

What struck me most in the stories of District Six and its residents is their defiance and the vibrant community in this working class neighbourhood close to the harbour. First in the beginning of the 20th century, after an outbreak of the bubonic plague for which the black population was falsely blamed, they were forced to move to their ‘homelands”. In 1966 District Six was declared a white area under the Group Areas Act of 1950, and by 1982 more than 60 000 people were forcibly removed to the Cape Flats. District Six was razed to the ground except for a places of worship, today still standing in the barren land.

The stories, told by former District Six residents in interviews, are personal accounts of life under Apartheid, with pass laws limiting where people could go. But also the resistance against this, like people burning their passes. The struggle of unions and political organisations, like the Non-European Unity Movement rejecting coöperation with the government. But also the stories recalling the vibrant culture, the two cinema’s, the coon carnival, Hanover street running trough the district like its artery.

While District Six itself isn’t much more than a wasteland with a few churches and the CPUT campus on it, it is worth to drive trough, for instance with MyCiTi bus 102. The museum is definitely worth a visit to give an insight in this part of South Africa’s history. And if you are in town beginning of January, the coon festival is a part of the vibrant culture of District Six that is still alive today.

Ocean love

Posted on 2014-02-05 by Princess

I love the ocean and for ocean lovers there is probably no better place then the Cape Peninsula, it has two*. I’ve been in my happy space the last two days. Yesterday at Cape of Good Hope, the Atlantic side, for my first open water freedive. And this morning surfing at Muizenberg, False Bay side, the birthplace of South African surfing.

Learning to freedive has been on my to-do list for a couple of years, and it was only last week, hearing about Trevor Hutton’s courses that I realized Cape Town would be the place to do it. I only found out he has held two world records talking to him during the course.

Monday was spent in the lovely Sea Point Swimming Pool learning to breathe (I’ve done it wrong the whole time), about free diving equipment (not that much, but pretty important) and equalizing (getting the pressure in your ear and in the water equalized, like when you’re in an airplane) and putting it to practice in the water. It turned out I have a good static apnea (almost 3 minutes), but some trouble with equalizing.

Yesterday was the real deal, diving in open water, after driving around to find reasonably clear water (a common effort for divers here), we (Trevor and his spear fishing buddy Craig) got into the water in the Cape Point national park (crossing hartebeest, bontebok, ostriches, baboons, turtles) and in the water at Cape of Good Hope.

Freediving here is not the “yoga freediving” (as Trevor calls it) in its birthplace the Mediterranean, you have to face the elements (Cape of Storms), fauna (sharks) and flora (kelp forest). This being the spot for my first dive at the same time spoiled me, since it’s an amazing place. Swimming under the kelp forest is both amazing and claustrophobic scary. And even though there was only about 1.5 meter swell, I got quite seasick after an hour, which was a first for me.

Despite the seasickness and my equalizing problems keeping me from diving deeper then 5 meters, I have found a new passion, that might come on par with surfing. I will make the best of the 3 months until I fly back to Europe and get as much time as I can under and on the water.

* Any Capetonian will tell you the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet at Cape Point, and not at Cape Agulhas, no matter what Wikipedia says.