Without Plastic

Surgery

Without Plastic

Surgery

Robert Atangana

Copyright © 2019 Robert Atangana

Published by Robert Atangana Publishing at Smashwords

First edition 2018

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without permission from the copyright holder.

The Author has made every effort to trace and acknowledge sources/resources/individuals. In the event that any images/information have been incorrectly attributed or credited, the Author will be pleased to rectify these omissions at the earliest opportunity.

Author’s Address: P.o.box 634 Aah Cbd

Gaborone, Botswana

Published by the Author using Reach Publishers’ services,

P O Box 1384, Wandsbeck, South Africa, 3631

Edited by Gil Harper for Reach Publishers

Cover designed by Reach Publishers

Website: www.reachpublishers.co.za

E-mail: reach@webstorm.co.za

Cover illustration : Robert Atangana.

The original of this oil painting is at the Evangelical student´s community (ESG) in Kassel, Germany

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prologue

1. 01.

Once There and Then Back

2. 02.

Manuscript in the Dustbin

3. 03.

Esg Community

4. 04.

Neighbourhood

5. 05.

Who Does it Itch?

6. 06.

A Job as Janitor

7. 07.

Fukushima

8. 08.

Business for Beginners

9. 09.Claim against my Accusers

for Defamation

10. 10.

Large African family

11. 11.

Refugee Stream and Pegida

12. 12.

Africa for Beginners

Epilogue

Glossary

Prologue

There is a military saying that goes: who rules the air can rule the ground. This wisdom seems to be well understood by the birds of prey in general and by the eagle, in particular. In a merciless duel between the snake and the eagle, the latter would do anything to lift the former up in the air so that it loses traction.

Likewise, in a conflict of interest between a citizen and an immigrant, the first will always apply both economic and legal coercive means. This fighting technique is called the ‘emergency brake’. The financial and the judicial systems show up the vulnerability of migrants, as they are difficult to access during their integration process.

Confident and sure of victory like the German football team in a game against Faroe Island, I appeared at the district court in the company of my legal adviser. That was the first legal process of my entire life. The charge was rent arrears amounting to 5,009.62 euros. Mathematically, and purely mathematically, I knew that this sum was wrong. The plaintiff, my landlord, who had been in business since his early childhood, could have spared himself this trouble by looking at the proof of payment.

After the one-hour trial, the interim result was clear: in the first half, the German football team was clearly ahead. The court pointed out that the claim asserted by the plaintiff in the amount of 30,569.12 euros (for the past seven years) is incomprehensible... The Appellant’s representative is given the opportunity to respond once again to the statement of the Defendant dated 15 April 2013 in so far as the plaintiff himself acknowledged the payments.

In the second trial, however, the judge was replaced, and I lost the process not for the facts that were reproached to me at first but for having scratched a wall! "Being right and getting the right are two different things" says the vernacular.

As logical consequences, the entries in the debt collection registers were followed by poor job prospects and, above all, loss of my acquired local political mandate. The Municipal Code (MC) determines who is eligible to vote: Section 212, Paragraph 1, Sentence 1 states: Eligible as a municipal representative is the voter who has completed his eighteenth year of age on election day and at least his first year of life in the community since.

If my political career depended, according to this law, on my place of residence, then I was surely delivered from now to my landlord. The time of the slogan ‘Blood and Soil’ in the nineteenth-century defined national body (blood) united with a settlement area (soil) was distant but I had the impression that I had just attacked the establishment from behind. I would not be surprised if we have here soon a coloured Mayor, said Mr Werner, one of the elders of the district who had come to ensure himself that the news of my election was not a rumour.

As well as the financial areas, I realised that the rug was being pulled from under my feet: On 15 May 2013, I hosted the cultural association Heimat Verein’s Kirchditmold Einst und Jetz exhibition in my animation and illustration studio in the context of the city’s 1100th anniversary celebration. I was subject to many acts of sabotage. Donations for the use of the lavatory were taken before the very eyes of the visitors by some lady. You do not deserve the money, she said.

A year later, we opened the first International Film Festival for Children in the City Hall. Since my team and I did not find any sponsors, we decided to sell food during the evening to cover the costs, and Mrs Bernadette, a wealthy lady who volunteered for charity, got her food but refused to pay. She said I had eaten her food during my studies, so now we were quits.

In order to better understand the entirety of these things, I had to look deep into myself, with this sentence from Franz Kafka’s The Trial in mind: The court does not want anything from you. It catches you when you come and releases you when you go.

Dear Robert, you should not just consider yourself as a victim, I heard, among other things. I do not know but I cannot believe that everyone else is guilty; you certainly have contributed to your situation.

The goal for me is not to provoke but to arouse dialogue, to work on my past. To finally get rid of a burden of the soul. For worried friends, I have to make clear that this book is not about unveiling state secrets a-la-Snowden, but about disclosing public secrets. Many names have been changed to avoid other unnecessary trials, but the story is true. This is my story... without plastic surgery.

01.

Once There and Then Back

A childhood dream finally came true in August 2001. I sat on a plane to Germany with a three-month visa to take part in an entrance exam at the art school of the University of Kassel. I ignored the warning from Mrs Barbara Sinoli regarding the difficulty of passing this exam. Fully motivated, I was convinced that I had the competence for it. In primary school, I’d had many fans who thought I was a genius. Titorelli and Picasso among others,