DURBAN 400
a documentary feature film (53 min.)
IN EARLY SEPTEMBER, 2001, the United Nations World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) was held in Durban, South Africa. The DURBAN 400, a grassroots coalition of political activists, educators, and students who without any governmental support, traveled from the United States to Durban to demand reparations for crimes committed against African people through the trans-Atlantic “slave trade”, slavery and colonialism.
Through their lobbying efforts, the issue of reparations was placed squarely before an international governmental body, including countries who were directly involved in the "slave trade".
This documentary incorporates sound bites, and interviews with activists pointing to the shared frustration and anger around the West’s refusal to address these issues fairly - by, having key language included in the Final Declaration of the World Conference declaring the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and colonialism as “crimes against humanity”.
The DURBAN 400, who were a relatively small group, represented the aspirations of millions of African people around the world, seeking reparations for, as one activist from the UK expressed it, “the biggest temporal rip in the time space continuum of the development of African peoples.”
The role DURBAN 400 played, spearheaded by The December 12th Movement, International Association against Torture, and the National Black United Front, (NBUF), was to keep the pressure on, ensuring that someday soon reparations will be a reality.
DURBAN 400: THE VIEWER'S GUIDE
The Viewer's Guide provides background information about the colossal journey to the World Conference Against Racism in 2001, and offers a context for analysis of the passionate debate brewing in African communities as it pertains to Reparations.
The Viewer's Guide
Durban 400: The Viewer's Guide is a selection of primary sourced documents illustrating key discourses accredited to the Durban 400 group that have featured prominently in the months and weeks leading up to the conference.
This assemblage, though not comprehensive, gives fundamental context to the ongoing debate surrounding Reparations as a global phenomenon for people of African descent everywhere.
We have sought to present a variety of voices through essays, interventions and statements describing challenges, roadblocks, as well as victories.
These voices span from civil society members to representatives of government bodies, all of which address the historical connectivity between continental Africans and African descendants living in the Diaspora.
"Expand the civil-rights struggle to the level of human rights. Take it into the United Nations, where our African brothers can throw their weight on our side..." Malcolm X
The Viewer’s Guide is divided into five parts that are intended to navigate the viewer through the maze of United Nations and US government systems where activists efforts have placed the issue of reparations before the international community.
Part One is a collection of essays of World Conference participants and supporters of Durban 400.
Part Two features critical interventions made in preparation for the World Conference. Mainly, focusing on the issue of language and its importance to policymaking bodies.
Part Three is a compilation of statements made during the World Conference by Africans States including Cuba, Belize and Barbados that have endorsed the three point goals of the Durban 400 such as: Economics is the basis of slavery, the trans Atlantic slave trade is a crime against humanity, and Reparations are due for African people.
Part Four features World Conference documents,
Part Five includes universal human rights instruments and provides documents referred to throughout the documentary along with post-Durban reports.
Part Six Miscellaneous
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REVIEWS
“…It was wonderful to see in the Durban 400 video that people’s hearts are never on the ground no matter how long it takes to win justice.”
National Center for Human Rights Education
Durban 400 documentary provides the much neglected coverage of everyday events at the 2001 WCAR, events so important they had to be recorded for future documenting of the struggle.”
New York Amsterdam News
Durban 400 is the only feature length documentary on record, shot in cinéma vérité style that follows activists taking the issue of Reparations to the world stage at the World Conference against Racism.
This film has been made required viewing in Multi-Cultural Studies at select universities in the United States since 2005.
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PRODUCERS
Alfred J. Santana
Producer and Director
Al Santana is a visual artist, independent filmmaker, cinematographer, and still photographer. His credits over the past 40 years includes work on numerous award-winning documentaries, public affairs films and videos that have aired on both network and public television. Mr. Santana has traveled extensively throughout Africa, Asia, South America, and the Caribbean to shine a light on various groups and individuals whose stories of struggle against oppression might otherwise not get notice.
Iman Mahàwa Sesay Drammeh
Producer and Researcher.
Iman Mahàwa Sesay Drammeh is a multi-disciplined artist, researcher, and award-winning documentarian, Her primary focus is on collective memory, and cultural heritage preservation missions. She has curated premium exhibitions and historiographies addressing the global African experience for public education and private spaces.
Summary of Contents
PART ONE
ESSAYS
Pan-Africanism and its Relation to Reparation
Hon. Dudley Thompson
Reparations and Compensation for Massive and Flagrant Violations of Human Rights During Slavery, Colonialism and Wars of Conquest
Mme Ève Bazaiba Masudi
Eveil de la Femme, Congo
The Right for Development and Reparation Presented during the Strategic Conference to the UNWCAR February 12, 2001
Don Celeo Álvarez Casildo
Central American Black Organization (CABO)
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PART TWO
PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS AND INTERVENTIONS
Statement to the First UN PrepCom of the "World Conference Against Racism"
at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland
May 1-5, 2000
Roger S. Wareham, Esq.
December 12th Movement
International Association Against Torture (IAAT-AICT)
Special Session on "Tolerance and Respect" at the United Nations Commission
on Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland. Statement delivered by: Omowale Clay
December 12th Movement March 26, 2001
Hearing on the UN World Conference against Racism, United States
- Roger S. Wareham, Esq
- Dr. Raymond, Winbush
- Cynthia McKinney, United States Congresswoman
Intervention of Africans and African Descendants WCAR Plenary
4 September, 2001
AADC Statement:
Urgent Need to Have Uncompromising Language Concerning Crimes Against Humanity
Joint Statement of Africans and African Descendants Caucus and Durban 400 Regarding Final Negotiations on Issues of “Past Injustices and their Current Consequences”
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PART THREE
STATEMENTS BY GOVERNMENTS SUPPORTING REPARATIONS FOR AFRICAN PEOPLE
People's Democratic Republic of Algeria
Republic of Angola
Republic of Benin
Burkina Faso
Republic of Côte d'Ivoire
Arab Republic of Egypt
Republic of Equatorial Guinea
State of Eritrea
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Gabonese Republic
Republic of The Gambia
Republic of Guinea Kingdom of Lesotho
Republic of Liberia
Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Republic of Madagascar
Malawi Republic of Malawi
Republic of Mali
Islamic Republic of Mauritania
Republic of Mauritius
Kingdom of Morocco
Republic of Mozambique
Republic of Namibia
Republic of Niger
Federal Republic of Nigeria
Republic of the Congo
Republic of Rwanda
Republic of Senegal
Republic of Sierra Leone
Republic of South Africa
Sudan Republic of Sudan
Kingdom of Swaziland
United Republic of Tanzania
Togolese Republic
Republic of Uganda
Republic of Zambia
Republic of Zimbabwe
Barbados
Belize
Cuba
Haiti
Jamaica
Closing Statements
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PART FOUR
POST DURBAN CALLS TO ACTION
Why There is Still No Durban Declaration
International association Against Torture (IAAT-AICT) Asociacion Internacional Contra la Tortura (AICT) February 3, 2002
Urgent Note to the NGO Community to Condemn Tactics of Delay and Sabotage
by the WEO Group Led by Canada
International association Against Torture (IAAT-AICT)
Asociacion Internacional Contra la Tortura (AICT)
February 3, 2002
African and African Descendants Caucus Report
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PART FIVE
WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM DOCUMENTS
Durban Declaration and Programme of Action
Various Human Rights Instruments
PART SIX
Teaching Guide and Lesson Plan