Simon Mol

Tackling Racism

By Simon Mol (Warsaw Voice, 8 November 2006)

Actors from Warsaw-based Migrator Theater, African soccer players in Poland led by Legia Warsaw’s Zimbabwean defenders Dickson Choto and Herbert Dick, and dozens of Polish supporters gathered in front of the City Council on Bankowy Square Oct. 25 for a street event described as “a theatrical football demonstration.”

The participants were all dressed in the red-and-white colors of the Polish national soccer team. The event was spiced up by a spectacular performance by a Capoeira group led by João Carlos do Nascimento, a Brazilian expert in the martial art, and his Polish students.

Gospel

By Rebecca Steel 

Hidden among the bleak tower blocks of Bielany is a little cultural oasis - Bielański Ośrodek Kultury (Bielany Cultural Centre). I made my way there last night to see the Migrator Theatre perform a gospel concert.

Migrator Theatre is a group of young artists - some asylum seekers, some refugees, some Poles - who try to bring a bit of multicultural life to Warsaw, and Poland as a whole.

People of Stamps and Seals

By Aleksandra Krzyzaniak-Gumowska (Gazeta Wyborcza)

- “F…! - A tall man in a Muslim head cover is walking in circles and cursing out.
- “F…!, F…!, F…! When are they finally going to give me this fucking decision!? An Arab, Mustafa who’s waiting for a decision to his application for asylum, fumes during a rehearsal by Migrator theatre at the Ethnographic Museum yesterday:


Actors during the rehearsal of the "Race of Stamps"

Simon Mol's Race of Stamps Premiers in Warsaw, Poland

Simon Mol’s play Race of Stamps, directed by Polish director Mariusz Orski, shall be premiered on January 22nd at 18:00 at the National Ethnographic Museum, ul. Kredytowa 1.,  in Warsaw.

A Word with Hollywood Star-maker SYD Field

By Simon Mol

‘Film is the future’. Beneath this single simple phrase prowls the entire screenwriting philosophy of Syd Field. Ardent faith in his self-style doctrine and diligence in sorting details both in scripts and life, added up to project Field as a leading authority in screenwriting along the comfy corridors of Hollywood. For this reason and others, the organizers of the Hartley-Merril International Screenwriting Prize had Field fly to Warsaw to address a group of aspiring screenwriters drawn from across the globe (except Africa) in a 2hr workshop, to mark the 2005 Eastern European Screenwriting Lab. This was how I met the sturdy soft-spoken humanistic artist whose sentiments could be felt in his words and works. To him film is serious business.

"Standstill Moment" at the Bielañski Cultural Centre

The Bielañski Cultural Centre shall host the play Standstill Moment on Wednesday October 26., at 6p.m. The play shall be staged by the Migrator Theatre. We shall have a unique opportunity to encounter a cultural melting pot of African as well as European countries and learn more about the situation, problems and feelings of the actors living in Poland. In view of this coming event, Gazeta Bielañski requested a conversation with the organizer of the whole affair— writer, poet, journalist and Secretary General of the Association of Exiles in Poland – the Cameroonian Simon Mol.

On Justice and Tolerance

By Moleke Mo-Njie (Simon Mol)
Paper presented at the World Forum of Ciphermatics (Tolerance in the third millennium: The other, time, difference, Villa San Carlo Borromeo, Senago, Milan: 10th-12th June 2005)

Justice is irreproachable moral balance; — an essential lacking constituent in day. It is simply what you and I need. Justice in our today’s world epitomises  a captured beautiful, cultured and shy mistress who is under totalitarian custody. Her captor allows her, at his whims and caprices, to be seen by the public only occasionally and partially. Whenever he does allow her to be seen, he does so for the purpose of coaxing the masses in order to galvanise more support to his advantage.

Obituary: DJ Daniel Feist

News of Daniel’s Death robbed me of strength. A dear Friend, seasoned journalist, collector of African music and artifacts, DJ Daniel Feist retired last February 11 in his native city of Montreal of cancer. The sad news reached me only today. I met Daniel 2 years ago at the South African Ambassador’s residence in Warsaw during a reception. Though we were introduced to each, nothing immediately clicked. Just as we were about to part he asked ‘Are you Simon Mol?’ I replied yes.

Press Release: Racial Attack at the KFC Rotunda

Sunday May 22 at 7.30 p.m. A Cameroonian refugee Emmanuel Bianda was rushed to the hospital in Lindleya Street for an urgent x-ray of his head after being attacked by a racist in KFC Rotunda (Warsaw) as he was about to order food. Bianda was swimming in a sea of his own blood flowing from his nose after a lethal punch from the attacker.

KFC Attack Aftermath: A Diplomatic Apology

An article titled "How Foreigners Are Doing in the Mazowiecki Province" appeared in Gazeta Wyborcza last Wednesday May 25. The article opened with the following sentence:

A Cameroonian, Emmanuel Bianda has opened a telecommunication firm in partnership with three other refugees. The Firm, LOCO international, has employed three Poles. Emmanuel spend over three years in the UK working for Amnesty International as a fundraiser and decided to return to Poland to start a business.