It is May 2019. In Belgium we’ve just had elections, with right-winged parties taking a strong lead. In the USA, this clown who’s been in power for over 2 years is slowly but surely changing racism into a valid point of view. I’m just disgusted with what I see happening around the world... I feel the need to speak up, to voice my opinion, to somehow counteract this wave of bigotry, prejudice and racism that seems to be flooding the world. Over the summer I meet up with and talk to a lot of people from our ska family, expressing my concerns and my urge to do something. The idea of doing a coffee table book that I have been playing with for some time starts to take shape. Although I find it a little scary I decide to just go for it, and strengthened by the encouragement and support I get from so many, I get to work. This book will happen, and we will release it at the This Is Ska Festival next year, a festival that feels like home to me. After months of sifting through all the photos I took over the years, telephone calls, messages and mails back and forth with people who agreed to join in, I get a proof print of the book done, and I am ready to do the final little touch-ups and edits. March 2020... Everything grinds to a halt. Covid emerges, sowing fear around the world and putting us all in lockdown. Uncertainty becomes king. What will happen next? Will we get sick? Is this the end of life as we’ve known it? Everyone struggles, either because they got ill, or because they’ve lost someone dear, because they are flooded at their job, or because all of a sudden they have no job left at all. Covid seems to bring out the best in some, setting up solidarity actions to try and help their fellow men, but it also brings out the worse in others, desperately trying to put the blame of all of this on ‘the others’, and further fuel their xenophobic ideas. May 2020... The death of George Floyd shocks the world, and the Black Lives Matter movement gains momentum and gets known on a larger. For a moment there I am hoping the antiracism message finally will gain some much needed ground again. Finally the issue is discussed again, and brought to attention. After a short-lived surge however things cool down again when the world redirects its attention to economical interests, but at least for a little while there it got lots of people thinking and talking about it. At least it was no longer commonplace to start a sentence with that awful “I am not a racist, but...” Meanwhile it has become obvious that there will be no This Is Ska Festival in 2020, and with a heavy heart I have to put my project on hold... indefinitely, which hurts like hell, but I remain convinced that my book and its message will still have a place in the post-Covid world. It is now January 2022, two years have passed, and to this day I am not 100% certain that there will be a This Is Ska Festival 2022 to release this book. But it needs to get out there one way or the other, and after long nights of tossing and turning, I decide to have faith and just go for it this year, no matter what happens. Fingers crossed things will finally work out and I can get together with my beloved ska family to celebrate the birth of this book. I’ve been asked several times how I came about to base this book on the contrast between racism and the ‘Ska family feeling’. Well, that’s really how I feel about our ska scene. No matter nationality, colour, gender or language, we always seem to find ample common ground in the love for ska music that we share to form a connection. Are we all the same? Gosh no! But there’s a general understanding that we have a lot in common, enough to overcome the differences. Such a contrast with the world out there, that is stuck on focussing on the things that divide... From the very first time I visited ska shows, long before I started doing photos, I encountered people who became friends for life, no matter where they came from or how they looked, and until this day, I still meet new friends every time. Even after all those years, when I get home after a festival or a gig, I still have to smile when I think back on the people I’ve met, the talks I’ve had, and in general the feeling I took home with me of being accepted just the way I am. The fact that I got welcomed into this ska scene, this family, and that I can do my thing with my photos is something that I will never take for granted. Being included in this family is pure richesse... Me, I believe in karma and paying it forward, so I will always try to help out others, and at ska shows I keep meeting people who apparently feel the same. I always find myself surrounded by people who are willing to help me out, whether it is with finding a place to sleep, or with inviting me to shows, or even when I am frontstage doing photos, there will always be someone offering me a drink, or looking out for me so I don’t get bumped into too badly when the crowd gets rougher. That never fails to amaze me... So that kinda sums up what I mean with this family feeling. We are an odd and eclectic bunch, but the connection through music is strong. Strong enough to take a united stand against racism, strong enough to be an example of how great things can be if we focus on the things that unite us, instead of focussing on superficial differences. Ska is love, and it overpowers nationality, colour, gender or language. So join us! There’s always room for one more in this family. Be Ska’d for life too.weiterlesen