Welcome to the 26th issue of The Funambulist. This issue is a particular one as it not only concludes our 2019 series examining various dimensions of political struggles and their relationships to space (issue 21), publications (issue 22), architectures (issue 23), futurisms (issue 24), and self-defense (issue 25). This is also the very first issue in our four years of existence as a magazine in which we decided to dedicate it to kids around the world.

We are very excited to present an issue that collaboratively put together with brave teenagers and activists aims at engaging the younger generation. Kids of the World, Unite! takes on a difficult task to pedagogically depicting various facets of, in many cases ever-existing, political discussions with a main dossier that presents a broad variety of struggles experienced by children. Whether it be how a cat saved Patricia’s mother’s life during the Vietnam war (Patricia Nguyen & Hai Minh Thi Nguyen), growing up as a black child in a racist system (Cathryn Moodley & Boniswa Khumalo), the story of the Indigenous queen of Ayiti (Paula Anacaona & Claudia Amaral), the notion of gender from a child’s perspective (Adel Tincelin & Charlie Tincelin-Perrier), the existence across roots and cultures (Yiling Changues), the banner as a political tool (Aram Han Sifuentes), or being black and adopted (Amandine Gay & Natacha Nze Ndong).

As usual, our News from the Fronts section that opens each issue and complements the main dossier, includes articles reflecting on ongoing struggles. This time, we asked five 18 to 20 year old activists to share with us stories from their fronts in Hong Kong (Rachel Wong), Britain (Rosamund Zipporah), Ecuador (Erika), Martinique (Alexane Ozier-Lafontaine), and the U.S (Rooha Haghar).

 

ditor-in-Chief: Léopold Lambert
Editorial assistant: Caroline Honorien
Head of Strategic Outreach: Margarida Nzuzi Waco
Contributing Copy Editors: Carol Que, Noelle Geller, and Minh-Ha T. Pham
Contributing translator: Ana María León

 

CONTENTS ///

COVER | KIDS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!
Lisolomzi Pikoli for The Funambulist

— NEWS FROM THE FRONTS (BY 18-21 YEAR OLD ACTIVISTS) ///
2 | IN HONG KONG, THE YOUTH IS LEADING THE MOVEMENT
Rachel Wong

4 | VOICES THAT SHAKE! NOTES FROM THE FRONT
Rosamund Zipporah

6 | FIGHTING FOR YOUTH RIGHTS AND GENDER EQUALITY AS AN INDIGENOUS TEEN IN ECUADOR
Erika

8 | DECOLONIZING HIGH-SCHOOL EDUCATION IN MARTINIQUE
Alexane Ozier-Lafontaine

11 | EXISTING AS BAHA’I IN IRAN, FIGHTING AS REFUGEE IN THE UNITED STATES
Rooha Haghar

— MAIN /// KIDS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!

15 | INTRODUCTION
Léopold Lambert

16 | IN THE YEAR OF THE CAT
Mimi Thi Nguyen

22 | BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS: BLACK SELF-LOVE AND EMANCIPATION MOVEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA
Cathryn Moodley & Boniswa Khumalo

28 | 1492, ANACAONA THE INSURGENT OF THE CARRIBEAN
Paula Anacaona & Claudia Amaral

34 | MARLEY THE FROG TELLS YOU ABOUT GENDER; HOLLY TOAD!
Adel Tincelin & Charlie Tincelin-Perrier

40 | BETWEEN ROOTS AND RHIZOMES
Yiling Changues

46 | BE BOLD! THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION. LEARN TO MAKE YOUR OWN PROTEST BANNER
Aram Han Sifuentes

52 | WHO IS CLAIMING US? ON BEING BLAK AND ADOPTED
Amandine Gay & Natacha Nze Ndong

58 | CONTRIBUTOR BIOS