“Three generations of white South African men were bound together at that table. Vermuelen was the first generation. He defined Africa, made it safe for Basson to defile. I was the last generation, the last to grow up in segregated neighborhoods. Between us was the silent photograph of Wouter Basson. Like a distant father, Basson was absent at the dining table.” – Henk Rossouw (Hole in the White ‘Hood). Also Mahmood Mamdani on Bantu Education at UCT, Gael Reagon on sisterhood, Binyavanga Wainaina on dis-covering Kenya, Gaston Zossou on African intellectuals and more…
Cover:
Strange Fruit by Lewis Allen
How to Remember Your Dreams by Amr Ezzat, in Arabic (Kayfa ta, 2019)
Do you really want to remember your dreams? I often wish I could forget my dreams, perhaps because I sometimes remember them so much that I get angry at people for what they did to me. I feel sad about what happened as if it happened all over again last night, or I feel the unfortunate joy of having a moment that fascinated me, of thinking I actually answered some work emails or finally sent my clothes to the dry cleaners. I remember in detail how my death happened more than once, when perhaps the only benefit of dying, whether we go to heaven or hell, or nowhere, is that we won't have to worry about it anymore. Until then, what I sometimes want, as I get into bed and remember my day, is to suddenly discover that it's nothing but dreams. I think about how I'd like to write them down, and then open my eyes to the world and to other dreams.
Amr Ezzat is an Egyptian writer who studied engineering and philosophy. He worked as an engineer, then a journalist, then a legal researcher, and as an article writer for several newspapers and periodicals. He remembers his dreams well.