News & Events

On 28 May, the Dutch parliamentarian Martin Bosma published a book entitled Minderheid in eigen land: Hoe progressieve strijd ontaardt in genocide en ANC-apartheid (Bibliotheca Africana Formicae, Amsterdam). Mr Bosma’s book draws heavily on work by senior researcher Prof. Stephen Ellis of the African Studies Centre, including his prize-winning 2012 book External Mission: The ANC in exile, 1960-1990 (C. Hurst & Co., London). Prof. Ellis says many of these references are bizarre and some invented. Ellis: ‘More than once Martin Bosma attributes to me the statement that “het ANC is een criminele organisatie” (in English: “the ANC is a criminal organisation”), which I am said to have made at a meeting in January 2013. In fact I have never made such a statement and it is not my opinion. Anyone who wants to know my views on the ANC should read my book’, Prof. Ellis says.

In 2013, one of Lampedusa's beaches was rated the most beautiful in the world. It is also the place where more than 500 Eritreans drowned. The island's link to migration from Africa reflects African and European political decisions; media consistently link the island with tragedy. Local people launch new tourism ventures. During the ASC seminar on 2 July, Anna Arnone (SOAS, London) will reveal that the encounter of different types of movement creates new openings for solidarity between people.

Sixty years ago, delegations from 29 Asian and African countries convened in Bandung, Indonesia, for a major diplomatic conference. The intention was to outline the shared futures of Asia and Africa. This Asian-African Conference brought together leaders that sought to participate in the making of an emerging Third World. On 18 June, several Leiden based institutes will co-organize a conference that examines how the 1955 Bandung Conference may inform us on the current interactions between the two continents, and on the continuing aspirations for an alternative ‘southern’ development model.