Etheldreda D. Nanfa: Thank you Mr. Femi Awoniyi for accepting our interview. Regarding the terms Afro-German, African diaspora, and Black people, how do you position yourself in the ongoing debate about identity and self-identification? Do these labels matter to you? What challenges have you faced due to your racial identity, and how have these experiences shaped your views on identity politics?

Femi Awoniyi: Thank you for that. My experience with these different terminologies as a journalist is that you want to frame a story in a way that you identify exactly who you are referring to. The Black community is diverse. You have Africans like me who migrated as adults to Germany, who study and live here. You have those born here to African parents, and those born in Europe with one African and one German or European parent. Because of our diversity, we also have diverse views. For example, a Black German born and bred in Germany will see things differently from someone who migrated from Africa.

Etheldreda D. Nanfa: How do you see the evolution of these terms in the future, considering the changing social and political landscapes?

Femi Awoniyi: I don’t see any negativity in these different terms. For example, when we started The African Courier, we wondered if we should call it a newspaper for the African community in Germany or for Africans and friends of Africa in Germany. We settled for the latter. It was narrowly defined because we didn’t know better at that time. However, it was also a newspaper for other Black people of African origin in Germany, and I’m happy that they understood and supported us and didn’t feel left out. They didn’t say, “We are not Africans”; they identified with the broader community and backed the newspaper. 

It’s hard for people to understand, but it shouldn’t be considered negative. There are Black people who are not Africans and don’t have the experiences that Africans have. Instead, we come from different cultural environments, whether we like it or not. And, it is exactly that. For example, if I talk with a Black brother or a Black sister in Berlin who maybe comes from the Caribbean or a Black German, we don’t see many cultural issues the same way. But we have learned to understand each other. The most important thing is our common experiences as Black people. 

So, Black people in a particular context could be defined as Africans; in another context as Afro-Germans and in another as diaspora Africans. Depending on the context, we can be specific about who we are talking about. If we are discussing EU residency rights, it concerns Black people who migrated to Germany, not those born and bred in Germany. We have to be specific so that people can understand who we are talking about, and this is the way I see it. I have a very rational approach to it. It doesn’t weaken our common identity. 

Etheldreda D. Nanfa: What could be the intersectionality of all these segmented Black groups? How do they belong together without being separated?

Femi Awoniyi: When we talk about racism, it affects all Black people. So, in that case, we just say Black people or people of African heritage. Whether you are Afro-German or African, we are all affected. As someone who has attended many anti-racism public protests, I think everybody comes together. In Berlin, for instance, all Black people come together because we are fighting against racism. We are potential victims of racism. This overarching identity as Black people is determined by our common experience of racism and discrimination. It doesn’t weaken our common identity to talk about Africans, Afro-Germans, or diaspora Africans. It doesn’t take anything away from our common identity as Black people. 

Etheldreda D. Nanfa: The African Courier is a significant platform for those interested in Africa and the African diaspora in Europe. Can you share more about the vision, mission and success of The African Courier? What have been some of the major challenges you’ve faced in maintaining and growing the publication in this digital age? 

Femi Awoniyi: Well, the motivation at that time was to create a media or, if you will, a press organ for the African community. At that time, we didn’t have any. We didn’t have a paper that regularly appeared where Africans were reported about or could talk about their lives — issues that mattered to Africans. We lacked spatial concentration. We were scattered all over the country, but we were a community. So, The African Courier tried to bring this community together through the instrumentality of a press organ.

In 1997, I noticed there were many people coming in from Africa. I’m from Nigeria. Many people from Ghana, Guinea, and Gambia were coming to find a space for one reason or another. We would meet each other, maybe at the train station, and talk. “You’re my brother. Where are you from? Lagos.” Then we realized there was a need for a paper that talked about this community. This became my challenge. So, I gave it a shot. At the beginning of November or December 1997, I started working on it. I called a couple of my friends who had some experience with journalism, and they all said they were going to be part of it. “Let’s give it a shot.” And so, we brought out the first edition on February 15, 1998.

We knew what our people were concerned about — residency, asylum, and integration into society. These were the challenges people faced settling down in this society. We needed to report on these issues. Since most newcomers at that time didn’t speak German, I spoke German, read German newspapers, and had access to the German media. I read German newspapers and magazines, so I knew what was going on in the public debate about migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, and the rest. We reported this regularly in English so that people could understand what was going on.

We provided explainers on how to apply for asylum or for a residence permit. We interviewed lawyers who explained everything to our people. Through the newspaper, sub-communities started forming. We noticed there were Nigerians in Mannheim, and people in Berlin connected with people in Mannheim. We were then able to act as a catalyst for increased communication within the African community. You must understand, at that time, the Internet was still in its infancy.

The  African Courier provided an outlet for Africans to talk about their concerns and themselves. We also used it to report on cultural activities. We covered concerts, exhibitions about Africans that were being held, and most Africans didn’t know about these events. We acted as an interface between the mainstream and our diverse African communities.

Etheldreda D. Nanfa: Did The African Courier face significant resistance from the government, from your own people? How was it welcomed?

Femi Awoniyi: Oh, I think it was warmly welcomed by the community, and there wasn’t any resistance from the State. The only time we felt that certain elements were not happy with us was when we reported on cases of police brutality. The very first protest against police brutality organized by the community happened just about the time we started The African Courier, sometime in February or March 1998. A Nigerian gentleman got killed in the process of being controlled on suspicion of possession of drugs in the street of Frankfurt.

I happened to know him because he used to live in Mannheim, so I knew him personally. He was suspected of peddling drugs. The police, I think, held his neck or something because they wanted to prevent him from swallowing something, and in the process, he died. So, there was a protest march through the streets of Frankfurt, probably in early March 1998, if my memory serves me right. We did a big report about it. The African Courier was available across Germany, from Hamburg to Freiburg, from Munich to Berlin. The African community became aware of the protest in Frankfurt. When something similar happened in Hamburg against a Black person, the people protested as well, taking a cue from the protest in Frankfurt that we reported about. The same thing happened in Berlin, and the newspaper acted as a catalyst for these protests. 

There was the case of Mariama Sarr, a woman involved in a domestic dispute with her German husband. The police came, and while she was in the kitchen, they claimed she drew a kitchen knife, and she was shot and killed. We protested and reported on it repeatedly. Some people wanted to talk about these issues. Despite the challenges, there wasn’t any attempt to muzzle what we were doing because we were protected by press freedom and freedom of expression. We only reported facts.

Many of our German readers were not happy about our focus on these stories. They felt focusing on these stories was not good; but how else could we have done it? A woman was shot by the police because they said she drew a kitchen knife! You wonder that a police officer can’t handle a woman with a bread knife. And they need to shoot her? Unfortunately, the same issue persists today, with police using deadly force against Black people.

You probably heard about the case of the Gambian shot a week or so ago in Hamburg. These are the issues we talked about that might have upset some people, but it was our duty. The African community gave us strong support. They loved what we were doing, and soon, we had a network of volunteer journalists. Those who worked as journalists in Africa and had come  to Germany without the opportunity to work as journalists saw this as their chance and contributed their efforts.

I did engineering. I was just an idealist. We engineers are very arrogant; we think there’s nothing we can’t do. But people with professional training supported me, and I am eternally grateful to them.

Etheldreda D. Nanfa: Considering The African Courier‘s dedication to a balanced and authentic portrayal of Africa, what recommendations would you have for other media, especially European Media aiming to report on Africa responsibly and accurately? What actions should be taken to leverage media as an instrument for fighting racism and fostering the integration and representation of the diverse narratives of people of African descent?

Femi Awoniyi: One of our objectives has  always been to provide a balanced picture of Africa, as opposed to the one-sided portrayal in mainstream media. Of course, our own media operation is small, but I think because of agitation by the African diaspora over the past two decades, many responsible media houses in Europe have become more self-critical in their reporting. We also have an increasing trend, starting from the UK, for example, of Black people now working in newsrooms. Black journalists. That helps. In Germany, we have an organization called Neue Deutsche Medienmacher. We are German journalists with a migration background, and we do a lot of advocacy. We criticize the media’s portrayal of Africa or Asia and the way they report on issues of migration, racism, and discrimination in Germany.

We also advocate for a more diverse newsroom and encourage young people with a migration background to take an interest in journalism so they can participate. It’s about participation. I think because of the technologies available today, only very unprofessional media houses would trash-talk about Africa. Any serious media house has access to professional news agencies across Accra, Nairobi, Lagos, Johannesburg, and Cairo. These agencies can provide reliable information from these regions. However, there are still some mischievous media outlets who believe they can better entertain their audiences with negative portrayals of Africa.

But this approach is now working against them. They weren’t doing it only to Africa; they did it to India until not long ago. They realized that India is now an economic power and important for trade, so Germans must have a realistic view of India. They started changing the way the mainstream media reported on India. Same process is happening with Africa. People now know that Africa is a big market and that their citizens need to understand there are opportunities in Africa. There are not just poor people in Africa. There is enormous economic potential in Africa. We have a young generation that is self-confident and leading change in Africa. Most African countries are actually democratically governed under the rule of law. Changes occur slowly, but I think there are already changes, even though we are still criticizing those who insist on entertaining their audiences at Africa’s expense.

Etheldreda D. Nanfa: African countries are currently experiencing various crises and power shifts, alongside debates on decolonization and breaking away from former colonial powers, how does this affect the African diaspora in Europe? What are your recommendations for the Black diaspora in Germany? 

Femi Awoniyi: In my opinion, we need to explain what is happening to those outside. I think most of these processes, because I call them processes… I’m talking to you now from Lagos. The way the Western media reports about most of this, it’s like Africans are never tired of troubles, but this is not the case. Most of what we’ve gone through since the early 1960s was sort of pre-programmed. They have controlled Africa for hundreds of years, starting from the transatlantic slave trade, even from the Arab trans-Saharan slave trade, down to colonial occupation. Then you have this so-called ‘independence’, and of which they were still trying to control those they put in power, neocolonialism.

For us as Africans, it can be very discouraging. We think we have made progress, and suddenly there’s a coup or something else somewhere. But what I think is required, of course, is to understand all these processes. Democracy is not practiced in Africa the way we would like it to be. It doesn’t necessarily have to do with bad leaders. Even we Africans ourselves, for example in Nigeria, see the failure of civil society to hold people in authority accountable. People don’t think they have the right to hold those in authority to account. The only way democracy can work is if the people ensure that those who are governing them are doing the right thing all the time.

There are many factors. People lived under military rule for so long. Even though democracy has been around since 1999, which is 25 years, you would think that is a long time. It is a long time, but in terms of political evolution, it’s not that long. We see many efforts being made on ground by young people to create a culture of democratic participation. Young people should take an interest in how they are being governed and make input. Europeans can’t understand all of this. A journalist sitting in Frankfurt, Berlin, or Hamburg doesn’t understand what’s going on.

Our economy is not different from how it was structured in the 1960s. Today, Nigeria makes most of its foreign exchange earnings from the export of oil, gas, and cocoa. This is very sad. In Ghana, they export oil, cocoa, and gold. It’s the same structure. How can you modernize an economy and create wealth for the people with this structure? All of these issues are complex, and it is now up to us, the African diaspora, to explain it. They always want to write Africa off, saying reforms weren’t done well. It’s not easy to do. The IMF and other Western banks tell Nigerian leaders to remove subsidies here and there. The people have to survive.

Europeans don’t do this to their own people and  they subsidize many things for them. When they ask our leaders to remove subsidies on petroleum products, electricity and other essentials, and then there are mass protests, they only show the protests. They don’t show the role they played. They say there’s a crisis of cost of living, inflation, and that people are fed up with their government, but they never tell you that the IMF put pressure on the government. When the IMF loans money, it’s like they declare you creditworthy for private lenders in the West. These are all complex issues that we must understand so we can explain and participate. For example, we in the diaspora should be more actively engaged in the politics of our countries. If the IMF is asking the Nigerian government to remove subsidies, the Nigerian community in Germany or the UK should be able to tell their government not to do it because there are subsidies for citizens here.

If subsidies are removed, what will happen? The minimum wage here is not up to $30 a month. If you remove subsidies, a man earning the minimum wage won’t have enough to pay his transport costs to work every month. These are complex issues. It has to do with the structure of our economy. How do we restructure to have producing economies where our people can better participate in economic activities, generate wealth for themselves, and fight poverty? No foreign government can help us fight poverty. We must create opportunities for our people to engage in gainful economic activities so they can earn decent wages, have decent incomes, and live decent and dignified lives.

Etheldreda D. Nanfa: We are eager to honour your achievements in a more profound way. What notable dates, along with any experiences, quotes, or images you’d like to be featured in our calendar series for the wider audience to appreciate?

Femi Awoniyi: Thank you so much for your kind offer. Actually, on 15 February 1998, The African Courier was born. I’ll be satisfied with that. There are so many of our brothers and sisters in Germany making enormous efforts to support the less privileged members of the Black community, and I salute their courage.

So many,  in their silent ways, are doing so much to support people. I’m proud of what the Black community has been able to achieve because I’ve seen so much in the last 25 years. I’ve seen how this community has become more organized. We have our churches, mosques, and different NGOs that are concerned with integration. We also have organizations that are political and try to influence German public policy in favour of Africa. I’m very happy about that. I think the African community has done marvelously well within such a short period of time.

I’m so proud of what the Black Academy is doing. We are happy because the older generation is witnessing the capabilities of younger generations who have picked up the mantle of struggle. So, thank you so much. Besides the previous date, I can’t pinpoint a single date; almost every day is significant. The 6th, I think. Was it 6 June 2020, when we had the big George Floyd protest? The anti-racism protest in Berlin was massive. It took place at Alexanderplatz, and simultaneously, we had protests in other parts of Germany, like Munich. It was very massive. I think it should be 6 June 2020. That was a significant date. That was the biggest anti-racism protest in recent times in Germany.