MEDIATHEK

In seiner neuen Arbeit, einem Reenactment der Berliner Konferenz von 1884, versetzt Adham Hafez das historische Geschehen ins Jahr 2065. Die Welt taumelt ihrem Ende zu und wird noch immer von Gewalt und Armut erschüttert, Jahrzehnte nach einem Dritten Weltkrieg, dessen nukleare Überreste die Erde verseuchen. Es gibt nur eine Lösung: Die politische Macht muss neu verteilt werden, um zu retten, was noch zu retten ist. Auf einer Konferenz in Berlin verkünden afrikanische Wissenschaftler eine neue Weltordnung und die Errichtung neuer Kolonien. // ENGLISH // Adham Hafez's new work is a displaced and revisited reenactment of the Berlin Conference, taking place in the future year of 2065. By then the world is coming to an end, decades after a third world war. There is only one solution: to redistribute political powers in the world to save what remains. A conference of African scientists, politicians and diplomats gather in Berlin to announce the new world order, giving birth to a series of new colonies. 2065BC Libretto by Adham Hafez, in collaboration with Otto Von Bismarck, the Queen of the United Kingdom, King of Portugal and others In the Name of God Almighty. Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India; His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia; His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, etc, and Apostolic King of Hungary; His Majesty the King of the Belgians; His Majesty the King of Denmark; His Majesty the King of Spain; the President of the United States of America; the President of the French Republic; His Majesty the King of Italy; His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxemburg, etc; His Majesty the King of Portugal and the Algarves, etc; His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias; His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway, etc; and His Majesty the Emperor of the Ottomans, WISHING, in a spirit of good and mutual accord, to regulate the conditions most favourable to the development of trade and civilization in certain regions of Africa, and to assure to all nations the advantages of free navigation on the two chief rivers of Africa flowing into the Atlantic Ocean Article 2 All flags, without distinction of nationality, shall have free access to the whole of the coastline of the territories above enumerated, to the rivers there running into the sea, to all the waters of the Congo and its affluents, including the lakes, and to all the ports situate on the banks of these waters, as well as to all canals which may in future be constructed with intent to unite the watercourses or lakes within the entire area of the territories described in Article 1. Those trading under such flags may engage in all sorts of transport, and carry on the coasting trade by sea and river, as well as boat traffic, on the same footing as if they were subjects. Article 5 Foreigners, without distinction, shall enjoy protection of their persons and property, as well as the right of acquiring and transferring movable and immovable possessions; and national rights and treatment in the exercise of their professions. Article 6 All the Powers exercising sovereign rights or influence in the aforesaid territories bind themselves to watch over the preservation of the native tribes, and to care for the improvement of the conditions of their moral and material well-being, and to help in suppressing slavery, and especially the slave trade. They shall, without distinction of creed or nation, protect and favour all religious, scientific or charitable institutions and undertakings created and organized for the above ends, or which aim at instructing the natives and bringing home to them the blessings of civilization. Christian missionaries, scientists and explorers, with their followers, property and collections, shall likewise be the objects of especial protection. Freedom of conscience and religious toleration are expressly guaranteed to the natives, no less than to subjects and to foreigners. The free and public exercise of all forms of divine worship, and the right to build edifices for religious purposes, and to organize religious missions belonging to all creeds, shall not be limited or fettered in any way whatsoever. Article 34 Any Power which henceforth takes possession of a tract of land on the coasts of the African continent outside of its present possessions, or which, being hitherto without such possessions, shall acquire them, as well as the Power which assumes a Protectorate there, shall accompany the respective act with a notification thereof, addressed to the other Signatory Powers of the present Act, in order to enable them, if need be, to make good any claims of their own. Article 35 The Signatory Powers of the present Act recognize the obligation to insure the establishment of authority in the regions occupied by them on the coasts of the African continent sufficient to protect existing rights, and, as the case may be, freedom of trade and of transit under the conditions agreed upon. "Excerpts from the General Act, signed at the Berlin Conference, 1884'1885" jup Abendzettel | http://english.hebbel-am-ufer.de/programme/schedule/hafez-2065-bc/