We face the history

Farmers working in the fields, taken by Anna Wuhrmann between 1911 and 1915. Photo from the archive of the Basel Mission, BMA-E-30.40.010

In the context of the Black Lives Matter movement, the public in many parts of the world is concerned with the origins of racism and discrimination. In particular, the transatlantic slave trade and the historical legacy of colonialism have come into focus. The role of missionary societies is also a recurring theme. Mission 21 has set itself the goal of contributing to the current debates with its own events and creating a forum for them. We expressly welcome the critical reappraisal of history - including our own - and would like to
driving them forward. Behind this is also the question of what we can learn from the past for our current dealings with racism, discrimination and the history of slavery.

Great interest in webinars
In April and May 2021, we held two webinars on the topics of "Mission and Slavery" and "Mission and Colonialism" under the title "Mission - Slavery - Colonialism Revisited". With internal and external speakers from Switzerland and abroad, we addressed a broad public and not only a specialized audience.
More than 100 interested people took part in each of the two webinars. This great response is very pleasing. It shows that the topics are of concern to many people and that they want to learn more about them. From the presentations and the subsequent lively discussions, it became clear that terms such as "slavery" or "colonialism" have to be considered in a very differentiated way and from the respective historical context. There were connections between missionary societies and colonial powers that were marked by tensions and contradictions. For example in Cameroon, where the picture for this article comes from. Here the Basel mission was in closer contact with the natives than the colonial government. Conflicts arose when the colonial power planned land expropriations. The missionaries also sided with the natives.
The webinars and the positive feedback have prompted us to plan further events. The online event "between racism and respect" brought interested people from all over the world into conversation with experts in four continents during three days. In addition, you will find in our Online dossier Video recordings of the webinars and additional information.

Text: Patrick Moser and Claudia Buess, Mission 21

â–ºwww.mission-21.org/mission-revisited

Hope thanks to your support

Mission 21
Protestant Mission Basel

PO Box 270
Missionsstrasse 21
4009 Basel, Switzerland
Tel.: +41 (0)61 260 21 20
info@mission-21.org

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IBAN: CH58 0900 0000 4072 6233 2
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Savings Bank Lörrach-Rheinfelden
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Account No. : 1032333

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