Paper short abstract:

Since 1972 the German NGO Informationsstelle südliches Afrika (issa) translates and publishes news pieces from the SADC-region in their journal Africa Süd. It the oldest and only German Africa-related popular-scientific journal.

Paper long abstract:

Colonialism colonized the German public space for many centuries. Decolonizing this public space is an ongoing and lengthy process. In the German Erinnerungskultur the two World Wars have played a much bigger role, than Germany's colonial past and it's ex-colonies.

When Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o rightfully demanded to 'decolonize the mind' (1986), the German NGO Informationsstelle südliches Afrika (issa) was already 15 years old and did precisely that. In the early 1970s issa was formed by members of the German Anti-Apartheid-Movement. Since mainstream media houses romanticized and distorted history and realities in many African countries, issa saw the need for creating a critical Counter-public. In a mix of activism and journalism, issa aimed for a balance between popular and scientific news coverage from and about Southern Africa/ SADC. Issa collected, translated and published news on politics, society and culture in Afrika Süd - the oldest and only German-speaking journal on the SADC region.

While issa's decolonizing agenda and strategy did not change much, the context in which our work happened, changed drastically. Since the early 2000s, the internet meant a fragmentation of German public spaces. On the one hand, freely available online content made issa's archive-feeding outdated and superfluous. On the other hand, a multitude of online sources and disinformation campaigns, made critical, informed and digital journalism more necessary. than ever. Decolonizing German public space remains a struggle - issa/ Afrika Süd hopes to continue to be a constructive part of this lengthy process.