With the absence of formal statehood for Somaliland, the imagination of a state might be easily lost-and yet, hope reigns. It is true that recognition is important for the majority of Somalilanders in the Diaspora. What is forgotten is that without the will and determination to build communities or a sense of belonging, recognition and its benefits are merely peripheral to the cause. Instead, the heart of the matter is precisely that-cultivating a place and home for a people too often characterized as stateless, fragile, mired in chaos and incapable of coming together for the greater good.

MTV’s take on diaspora representation goes a little like this: show a select community, with a misnomer that sounds like a carbohydrate dish institutionalized at a Giants game, drinking, cursing and cruising (with a particular …

Contribute your story to a forthcoming volume: “Mama Says Good Girls Marry Doctors.” This book focuses on the pressures on South and East Asian women who have grown up in North America to be “good girls.”

For ‘Hypernova’, the fast rising indie rock band from Iran (Yeah, they are from Iran), politics is personal, it’s all about the music (and it’s good!) and as they navigate between the worlds of humble musicians, travelling artists and aspiring rockstars it makes for a familiar yet atypical experience.

Diaspora Youth Speak (DYS) is a project based in Toronto for youth who identify as part of a Diasporic community. DYS uses multi-media arts to explore themes of displacement and mobility to reflect on personal stories and the roles that we play in local and global contexts as Diasporic peoples– fostering leadership & participation; strengthening the voice of Diasporic youth.
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Black Filmmaker (bfm) International Film Festival (IFF) is the leading and longest running platform for Black World Cinema in the UK. The 11th bfm IFF will take place between 6th – 10th November 2009 at the BFI Southbank, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Rich Mix and Shortwave Cinema. bfm IFF 2009 will feature narratives, documentaries and short films from the UK, Africa, the Caribbean, the US, Canada and Europe.

The International Diaspora Film Festival (IDFF) provides Toronto audiences with an opportunity to experience the cultural mosaic of the present world through the medium of cinema.

Whatever the results of the election, over the course of the past five days, I have been overwhelmed by the courage of Iranians as they peacefully demonstrate across Iran in protest. It is therefore frustrating to see Iranians in the diaspora projecting their own politics onto the situation, using this moment to smear Mousavi, retreating into the battle lines of 1979, or speaking condescendingly of voiceless rural masses whose votes can be bought with a potato.

Iranians in Tehran and countless other cities are testimony; Ahmadinejad’s gamble has failed. What ever the result of the political turmoil that has unfolded in Iran, Iranians have proved to themselves – and the world – that the spirit that moved mountains 30 years ago is still living.