Racism and Courage

Spectacle Archive Project: Youth explore Racism and Courage

In the early 1990s Spectacle’s founder was in East Germany working to document the changing Germany after the Berlin Wall came down and post collapse of the Soviet Union. The purpose of this filming shifted in August 1992 when racially motivated protests and attacks in Rostock-Lichtenhagen became a flashpoint for political action. 

During the attack, 100 Vietnamese asylum seekers were left to their own devices in a large housing complex called the Sunflower House. The Neo-Nazi attackers threw stones and Molotov cocktails. They smashed windows and set fire to the house in which the people were locked. 

The Truth Lies in Rostock poster

The footage collected about this event became a film called The Truth Lies in Rostock. Read more blogs about the film.  

In Germany, every school child learns about the legacy of the Berlin Wall. There is an ongoing effort to keep asking hard questions about what the divisions with German society meant at that time, and what they mean today. One such project is Aus Mut gemacht – 30 Jahre Mauerfall, “Made out of courage – thirty years after the fall of the Berlin wall”, an open call for films made by young people that gave their perspective on this history.

The project asked people to look at the questions: What does courage mean? Are we brave today differently than 30 years ago? Where are the walls still standing today? What courage does it take to brace yourself against walls and change something?

School classes and groups from Berlin dealt with these questions, discussed, researched and expressed their thoughts in short films.


Collage art: WAS GEHT?! Magazin youth media workshops (Berlin)

One of the films was created for this project by WAS GEHT?! Magazine,
a multimedia program for young refugee and immigrant media makers.
Filmmakers Hani Schehel, Noura Ben Belgacem and Hadi Ahmadi chose to
focus on the legacy of the Rostock-Lichtenhagen Pogrom, supported by
workshop facilitators Duc Vu Manh, Ganesha Küppers and Özgür Akgül, as
well as educational team Mohsen Hassani, Katja Heinemann and Jenifa
Simon.

They chose to focus on the legacy of the Rostock-Lichtenhagen Pogrom. 


Collage art: WAS GEHT?! Magazin youth media workshops (Berlin)

Their film deals artistically with the events in 1991 and refers to the current situation of refugees who are again exposed to racist attacks in accommodation by using images and voices from The Truth Lies in Rostock.  They wondered what happened to the migrants who, like the Germans, experienced the fall of the Wall. In the 80s, thousands of Vietnamese guest workers came to Germany. Instead of just looking for an answer, the young filmmakers dealt artistically with the topic. Their research led them to the attacks carried out on the Vietnamese asylum seekers dormitories in the early 1990s. A dark chapter of the Federal Republic, which has almost been forgotten.

As part of their preparation to delve into this history of violence, the group worked with images from the documentary as part of their film workshops, cutting, pasting and highlighting images they felt were speaking to them.

As they discussed this history, it became clear to them that this chapter has unfortunately not yet come to an end. In recent years there have been more attacks on dormitories of refugees. Their films point to the continuity of violence against immigrants and those seeking protection. 


Collage art: WAS GEHT?! Magazin youth media workshops (Berlin)

The films they created as a result of their workshop process were presented during the festival week for the Aus Mut gemacht project at Alexanderplatz. The films can be viewed here, or here with English subtitles. All the films made as part of the Aus Mut gemacht project can be watched here.

The wall is no longer made of stone, but it is in the soul. 

–Walid Alastah
The WWII Nazis aren't just gone - racism is passed on from generation
to generation.
–Kinda Muhsen

Collage art: WAS GEHT?! Magazin youth media workshops (Berlin)

The Truth Lies in Rostock, and the large archive of footage filmed at the same time has become increasingly important. Ongoing archive based activities are in the works for the 30th anniversary of the Rostock-Lichtenhagen pogrom in August 2021. 


Collage art: WAS GEHT?! Magazin youth media workshops (Berlin)

Collage art by WAS GEHT?! Magazin, using still images from “The Truth lies in Rostock” 

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Demo against the Killing of Ruhullah Aramesh in Thornton Heath in 1992

Ruhullah Aramesh was a 24 year old refugee from Afghanistan. He was attacked in Thornton Heath on 31st July, 1992, by a gang of twenty yelling racist epithets. They beat him with iron bars and wood planks until his skull was crushed.

Sampler from Spectacle’s Archive


He died on August 2, 1992. Barry Hannon (17), his brother, Paul Hannon(18), and Joseph Curtin (17), were sentenced to life for murder. Richard Turner, (19), and Jamie Ware (19), were acquitted of manslaughter and murder. Another boy, seventeen years old, whose name was not released, was acquitted for attacking Mr. Aramesh but convicted for assault for having previously attacked a friend of Mr. Aramesh. Barry Hannon and Joseph Curtin had also attacked an Asian family only an hour before killing Mr. Aramesh, hitting a man, sixty-five years old, on the head with a bottle. 


It was recorded as racially motivated. Barry Hannon, Paul Hannon, Joseph Curtin were given life for murder. One other was convicted of manslaughter through diminished responsibility, and three were acquitted. Curtin was freed on appeal after 3 years, due to the judges’ failure to summarise the police interview.

His death was just one of multiple killings that happened near to the BNP headquarters, as well as Stephen Lawrence and Rohit Duggal.

We have footage of the march and speakers representing:

Croydon Race and Equality Council ,

Refugees Ad-hoc Committee f0r Asylum Rights RACAR ,

Rohit Duggal Family Campaign

Weyman Bennett Anti-Nazi League

Labour Councillor from Croydon North West.

Can you help?

The speakers are announced but it is difficult to work out exactly their names or how to spell them, so if you have any idea of who they are please let us know at archive@spectacle.co.uk or comment below.



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Refugee Week at Spectacle

This week is Refugee Week, a UK-wide festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary. Founded in 1998, Refugee week is held every year around World Refugee Day, which is on the 20th of June.

Across the country hundreds of organisations host programmes of arts, cultural, sports and educational events. At Spectacle we have been working with refugees in a variety of countries for many years, and this week we invite you to watch our films about refugees. 

Micronomics Refugee Youth Interviews

The Micronomics Project investigated an understanding of small scale self-organised (micro-)initiatives and whether the economy has room for them. The film considers their potential to challenge the dominant definition of ‘the economy’ and implication, when the value created and exchanged is of social nature

Interviews and footage from Spectacle’s Micronomics Project is now available through our Archive.

Quand le Papier Arrive 


Make yourself comfortable. Give yourself a few minutes to listen to what these people would like to tell us. This film is a succession of portraits of ‘Paperless’ people.

Filmed in Brussels and released in 2007.

The ‘Paperless’, the ex-‘Paperless’  and also their Belgian loved-ones answer the main question- “When the papers arrive, what would change in your lives? ” All of them reveal their hopes, wishes and plans. What would change in relation to the world or their relationships with others? What impact would that have on the image that these people have made for themselves and our society? Some of them original, some moving, their answers call out to us.

The Truth Lies In Rostock

In August 1992 Lichtenhagen estate, Rostock, in the former East Germany Police withdrew as fascists petrol bombed a refugee centre and the home of Vietnamese guest workers while 3000 spectators stood by and clapped. Using material filmed from inside the attacked houses and interviews with anti-fascists, the Vietnamese guest workers, police, bureaucrats, neo-nazis and residents, a story of political collusion and fear unfolds.

Refugee Week’s vision is for refugees and asylum seekers to be able to live safely within inclusive and resilient communities, where they can continue to make a valuable contribution.

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Antifa Saar Screening of The Truth Lies in Rostock

The Antifa Saar group are organising a screening of the new German version of the Truth Lies in Rostock on  Thursday July 7th as part of a campaign to commemorate the murder of Samuel Yeboah, a refugee from Ghana, in 1991 in the Saarbruecken area. There will also be a talk and discussion about the murder and the lack of an official remembrance.

For more details contact: AntifaSaar

antifasaar@yahoo.de

Filmvorführung: „Die Wahrheit liegt/lügt in Rostock“ – mit Kurzvortrag zum Mord an Samuel Yeboah
Donnerstag, 7. Juli 2011
20 Uhr im Kino achteinhalb
Nauwieserstraße 19, Saarbrücken

Am 19. September 1991 wurde der Flüchtling Samuel Yeboah bei einem rassistischen Brandanschlag in Saarlouis ermordet. Diese Tat ist bis heute nicht aufgeklärt, bis heute erinnert nichts in Saarlouis an den gewaltsamen Tod Yeboahs. Im Rahmen einer Kampagne anlässlich seines 20. Todestages zeigen wir den Film „The truth lies in Rostock“.

Zum Film:
Im August 1992 griff ein Mob aus Anwohner_innen und Nazis vier Tage lang die ?Zentrale Aufnahmestelle für Asylbewerber? (ZaST) im Rostocker Stadtteil Lichtenhagen an. Begeisterte und applaudierende Deutsche machten aus dem brutalen Pogrom ein rassistisches Volksfest, auf dem sie weitgehend ungestört von der Polizei den Wahn eines ?Deutschlands nur für Deutsche? realisieren konnten. Verhaftet werden vor allem Antifaschist_innen die gekommen waren um zu tun was die Polizei nicht Willens war: Die Nazis zu vertreiben. Rostock ist nur ein Beispiel für eine ganze Reihe von Anschlägen zu Beginn der 90er Jahre. Die Politik reagiert auf Rostock, Mölln, Solingen, Hoyerswerda und andere, indem sie der Straße nachgibt: Das Asylrecht wird 1993 faktisch abgeschafft.
Die Videoproduktion ?The Truth lies in Rostock? entstand 1993 unter maßgeblicher Beteiligung von Menschen, die sich zum Zeitpunkt der Geschehnisse im attackierten Wohnheim befanden. Deshalb zeichnet sich die Produktion nicht nur durch einen authentischen Charakter aus, sondern versteht sich auch Jahre danach als schonungslose Kritik an einer Grundstimmung in der bundesrepublikanischen Gesellschaft, die Pogrome gegen Migrant_innen oder einfach nur ?anders aussehende? überhaupt erst möglich macht.
Eine Montage von Videomaterial, gedreht aus den angegriffenen Häusern heraus, Interviews mit Antifaschist_innen, den vietnamesischen Vertragsarbeiter_innen, der Polizei, mit Bürokraten, Neonazis und Anwohnern. Eine Dokumentation über das heimliche Einverständnis der Politik und über die verbreitete Angst.

Diese Aufführung wurde ermöglicht durch www.Spectacle.co.uk

To order The truth lies in Rostock DVD in English, French, Spanish or German

Micronomics

New to the Spectacle Archive

Interviews from the Waffle Bank shoot with Refugee Youth are now available via the Spectacle Archive.

Waffle Bank Investment Bank is a skill exchange programme using Belgian waffles as currency.  The process encourages participants to consider what  skills they bring to the table and find ways to connect and share these.

Watch the interviews now.

Details about the Micronomics project are now available, visit the Project Page for more details.

Watch all Micronomics clips.

Learn about the group Bicycology which features in the project. Watch the Bicycology interviews.

Information about Cycle Training UK and watch the interviews.