Darwin’s Nightmare

A 2004 documentary film written and directed by Hubert Sauper — dealing with the environmental and social effects of the fishing industry around Lake Victoria in Tanzania.

Quote from the Darwin Nightmare’s website:

“Some time in the 1960’s, in the heart of Africa, a new animal was introduced into Lake Victoria as a little scientific experiment. The Nile Perch, a voracious predator, extinguished almost the entire stock of the native fish species. However, the new fish multiplied so fast, that its white fillets are today exported all around the world.

“Huge hulking ex-Soviet cargo planes come daily to collect the latest catch in exchange for their southbound cargo… Kalashnikovs and ammunitions for the uncounted wars in the dark center of the continent…”

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Steven was born and raised in Dar es Salaam, and moved to Germany for his studies. He graduated with a BSc. in Physics (Jacobs University Bremen), and then a MSc. in Engineering Physics (Technische Universität München). Steven is currently pursuing a PhD in Physics (growth of coatings/multilayers for next generation lithography reflective optics) in the Netherlands. He’s thinking about starting his own business in a few years; something high-tech related. At Vijana FM, Steven discusses issues critical to youths in Tanzania, music, sport and a host of other angles. He’s also helping Vijana FM with a Swahili translation project.

This post has 5 Comments

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  1. I watched this film when it first came out and remember hearing that it caused havoc in the country and that it was in fact banned. But as a journalist, years after watching it, I realize just how passive our media is. Kwa kweli, why do we not discuss these issues so we can try our best to solve such problems. Not to say that our leaders don’t know exactly what is going on, they do, that is why they would ban such a movie to be shown lakini when are we going to wake up and actually protect what lies within our borders!? When are we going to say no to random scientific experiments for the wellbeing of our nations? This is really sad, and I feel completely powerless.

  2. If something in the documentary film was wrong or misleading, why didn’t they just refute and prove to the world that there is nothing ‘fishy’ going on in Mwanza? Why ban it; while infact the film is all over the internet?

    If I were a politician, I think I would have come up with a smarter move — coz ppl see these things. They just don’t talk about them OPENLY and come up with solutions (which is d%$b on our part!).

    Kama kudanganya na kuwatishia watu, nadhani wangekuja na PR stunt nyingine (mfano.. hii ni isolated incident and cr#p like that).

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