The African Renaissance Monument. Some thoughts.

In April of this year the big monument of African Renaissance was inaugurated in Dakar, Senegal with the presence of many African leaders. Although this is not an AfroEuropean issue as such I’d like to express my opinion on this.

According to Senegalese President Wade, the initiative taker of this project, this is not just a Senegalese or African monument, but it also represents the people of the African diaspora all over the world. This means that this monument is symbol uniting all peoples of African descent.

The statue is 49m high set on a 100m high hill in the Ouakam suburb of Dakar. Thus being bigger and higher than New York’s statue of Liberty (46m high on a pedestal of 47m, total 93m) it now dominates Dakar’s skyline. Of course the building of such a huge monument in a poor country erases doubt and criticism. Even the way how the project took off makes one wonder who will really profit of this massive monument.

It was first and for all build for the 50th anniversary of independence of most African nations. The inauguration was set during Senegal’s independence ceremony but was meant as reaching to the whole continent. Many African leaders were present, and even Jesse Jackson came to give a speech (I wonder how much he got paid for this). Senegal is one of black Africa’s nations to have been first in touch with the European and Arab worlds and was a main contributor of slaves during the 5 centuries of AfroEuropean colonial ‘exchange’. In this sense Dakar may be the right place for such a monument. Below I will go deeper into the meaning of and the criticisms surrounding this monument.

Design
The monument was officially designed by President Wade himself. But Ousmane Sow (Link in French), a famous Senegales sculptor, pretends to have designed it. Wade admitted that ‘an artist’ came up with the idea but that he worked it out. He states he cannot remember who that artist was, but that he is the final and genuine producer of the concept.

It depicts an African family. A gigantic father holding his child on his left arm and behind him a woman, his right arm around her waist. The child (a boy?) is resolutely pointing his finger West. This pointing is a pointing to the future and pointing to the African diaspora. I don’t want to speculate about the meaning of art, or the meaning of the child who points West. I’ll leave this for personal discussions and thoughts.

From a gender perspective the whole statue is rather problematic. It is obviously male-centered and depicts women as secondary to men. I think that this is a lost chance, considering that women in many post-war African countries play a central role in the rebuilding and future of their country. Apparently not for Wade.
Another detail that bothers me is the woman’s hair. She has straight hair in the wind. While many African women straighten their hair with chemicals it is an illusion to have it waving in the wind such as seen here. Straightened hair is too dry to move like that in the wind. Having put a woman with cornrows or other braids or even an afro would have been much more African I think. It’s true that her hair could be interpreted as thin dreadlocks, a hair style very uncommon among African women in Africa, but becoming more and more normal in the African diaspora.

Intellectual profit and financial profit
President Wade, as conceiver of the monument, will get 35% of all profits that this monument generates. This is highly problematic because he didn’t conceive this monument in his free time as a private person, but as a president. A president cannot claim copyright over ideas conceived as function of his public office. In this sense all he produces for the nation is property of the state and not his personal property. Let’s compare it to what every employee produces within a company; it is owned by the company and not by the person who produced it.

Furthermore Wade is not the benefactor of this project, it was financed by the Senegalese state and sponsored by a private businessman. The building of the statue would have cost around US$ 27 million, and was paid in kind with land. Wade seems to not only want to put a monument that will outlast his life, not financed with his money he still wants to get money out of it.

Construction
The construction of the monument was carried out by a North Korean construction company, Mansudae Overseas Project Group of Companies. Even without taking into consideration the problematic reputation of North Korea and its leaders, I think it is a shame that the work hasn’t been carried out by Africans themselves. The African continent is full of able and unemployed people who would have loved to contribute to such a project. Instead North-Korean workers and engineers (underpaid?) were imported to Dakar to build it. I think this is another lost chance.

Conclusion
In a way I am happy that this monument has been build. Half a century after the major wave of independence on the African continent such a symbolic statement might be not really necessary but certainly welcome. I don’t really care that it looks like a Stalinist monument, that’s not really the matter here. It is also without any doubt that this monument will contribute to tourism in Senegal and West-Africa, many ambulant merchants, taxi drivers and local stores will benefit of it.

Still, I am sad that so many chances have been missed and that it is strained with financial scandal. It’s true that any big project, in any country in the world would have been a point of controversy. Even New York’s Statue of Liberty was not void of controversy when planned and build. I just hope that the African Renaissance Monument can be a symbol of African unity rather than political greed and that it will get a bright future in the history of Africa and its diaspora. Only the future will tell.

Curaçao North Sea Jazz Festival - September 3- 4 2010

For the first time the North Sea Jazz Festival will have an edition on the island of Curaçao, the Curaçao North Sea Jazz Festival

The International Dutch version of the festival is held annually in the city of Rotterdam, and is also the largest indoor jazz festival in the World.

The Curaçao North Sea Jazz Festival will be held on September 3 and 4 2010 in the World Trade Center on the island. According to the newspaper AD, the Caribbean version of the jazz festival must become the biggest musical and tourist event of the island’s history.

The program includes, among others, Lionel Richie, John Legend, Sergio Mendes George Benson and Luis Enrique.



http://www.curacaonorthseajazz.com

France: Racism and Politics

"Nowadays in France, like in Africa, when politicians need a boost in popularity or want to cast a wider political net, they make an appeal into the most primal instincts of the voters: ethnic identity", writes Global Voice contributor Abdoulaye Bah about French president Sarkozy.

In a very interesting post he analyses the situation of ethnic minorities in France, and the response to the recent riots in Grenoble.

In his story Bah quotes The blog lalignegenerale about Sarkozy's proposol that the nationality be revoked for the people of foreign origins when attempting to take the lives of a policeman, gendarme or any representative of the public authority.

« I won't dwell on the ubuesque notion of ”of foreign origin”. Because when exactly does “foreign origin” start? In the spirit of this measure, how many generations have to had passed on before one is protected from losing its citizenship? Does the president have criteria he'd like offer? Maybe a (DNA) Test ? And if by any chance the members of the Constitutional Council, State Coucil or the parliament were to approve of this inane proposition, what would then become of the no-longer citizens? Since they don't have a substitute nationality, what kind of legal vacuum would then fall into ? Former Frenchmen? Stateless people? As the president put it, since the “machine that provides nationality no longer works”, will it now produce stateless citizens?

The worst part is that at the end of the day, if this proposal is a serious one and not just some political fronting to win back some votes from Marine Le Pen ( ed. note: far right leader), then it would contradict three sacred axioms engraved in the founding texts of our republic: the Program of the National Council of the Resistance in May 15 1944, the Declaration of the Human Rights in 1948 and the Constitution of 1958.

As soon as those measures were announced, the daily newspaper le Figaro published an opinion poll conducted by IFOP that proclaimed the results he was hoping to see: that the majority of the French people shared his views on domestic security.

Read full story here

Staged Reading: The Most Unsatisfied Town - A play based on the Oury Jalloh Case (Germany)

H/t Tina Bach
The following video has been produced by Thabo Thindi, of http://jozi.tv about the staged reading of Amy Evan's play "The most unsatisfied Town", premiered on Tuesday, 27 April 2010 at the Institute for Cultural Inquiry (ICI). The play is based on the widely mediatised case of the Sierra Leonean refugee Oury Jalloh who burned to death while shackled to the floor of a Dessau (Germany) jail cell. (Source: Africavenir)

Theatre: HUID! (SKIN!) – “ We are not black, we are brown” (Netherlands)

HUID! (SKIN!) is the title of the latest play of Dutch Antillean director/actor Raymi Sambo.

Premiere on Saterday October 2nd 2010 in Theater aan het Spui, The Hague (Netherlands), 8.30 pm.

It’s a play about discrimination (or Colourism) among Antilleans. Because what if you don’t have the good nose, the good hair and if you have not inherited the lightest skin colour of the family? SKIN! is also about the universal quest of what's beneath your skin. Who you are regardless of your colour, origin and gender. But, how do you address the issue?

“ We are not black, we are brown”



Synopsis: On his twenty-first birthday Steve, the loved one of a Dutch Antillean family, rebels against the norms of the family. For his dominating mother black is equal to weak, lazy, poor, ugly and aggressive. Steve no longer wants to deny his colour and background. He invites, as a surprise, a guest for the traditional family dinner on his birthday. Thus forcing all his family members to show their colours. His action unleashes more emotions than he had imagined.

HUID! With Raymi Sambo, Everon Jackson Hooi, John Serkei, Urmie Plein, Jaike Belfor, and Naomi Mac-Donald

More information: www.mojotheater.nl/

I must admit that in my Creole family skin colour and “good” hair is hardly debated. Maybe I will drop the bomb at my family diner next time, and ask some family members: “How does it feel to be light-skinned? And drop the we-are-all-from-Africa nonsense.”

Video: Wyclef Jean performing "Immigrant" on Def Poetry

Today Wyclef Jean wants to be the President of Haiti, but in 1983 Wyclef came to the US as Haitian immigrant. In a wonderful performance in the show Def Poetry in 2005 he talks about this experience and about his love for his country Haiti. To quote him "To live for yourself is to live selfishly to live for others is to live eternally."

So I hope that he will get a change to become the President of Haiti.

Video: Floetry performing Say Yes - Marsha Ambrosius (UK)

Floetry was an English R&B duo comprising Marsha Ambrosius and Natalie Stewart. The group recorded two studio albums, one live album, and sold over 800,000 records worldwide. The song "Say Yes" was one of the tracks of their first album in 2002.

But Marsha Ambrosius returns with a debut Solo Album which is set on October 26th 2010. Just recently she released her single 'Hope She Cheats on You (With a Basketball Player)'. Read more here.

New project: Blackgermany.org

H/t Black in NRW.

Black Germany is a new art project which will be a extension to the existing structure of forums, blogs and journals. Main goal is to present the AfroGerman culture from different perspectives.

It's a very new project, so it's in the start-up phase. Interesting detail is their brainstorm session of black Germany, see it here

But there is more good news. They are also planning an English site for non-German readers.
www.blackgermany.org/

Notting Hill Carnival 2010 - August 29 -30

This weekend the Notting Hill Carnival, Sunday 29 August 2010 to Monday 30 August 2010 in West london.

Held each August Bank Holiday since 1966, the Notting Hill Carnival is the largest festival celebration of its kind in Europe. Every year the streets of West London come alive, with the sounds and smells of Europe's biggest street festival. Twenty miles of vibrant colourful costumes surround over 40 static sound systems, hundreds of Caribbean food stalls, over 40,000 volunteers and over 1 million Notting Hill carnival revellers.

WinkBall at The Notting Hill Carnival 2009


More information http://www.nottinghill-carnival.co.uk/

And more videos on http://www.winkballcarnival.com/

Slavery Remembrance Day (UNESCO) - 23 August 2010

Video of the opening of the exhibit at the South Gallery of the UN Headquarters in New York on March 24 2010
Slavery Remembrance Day - 23 August 2010 (UNESCO)

This year the United Nations celebrated the third commemoration of the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. This year's commemoration included an art exhibit and was dedicated to the people of Haiti. The video is of the Commemoration of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade of the UN on 25 March.

Slavery Remembrance Day falls on the anniversary of an uprising of enslaved Africans on the island of Saint Domingue (modern Haiti) on 23 August 1791.

The date has been designated by UNESCO as Slavery Remembrance Day, a reminder that enslaved Africans were the main agents of their own liberation.

For more information http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ism/

A History of Black people in Europe

It is generally known that black people have been residing in European countries since the early colonial times. But even before the 15th century and during Roman times, a time when colour of skin still wasn’t a racist stigma but just another physical feature, black people lived in Europe. Remains of a man with black African features were found in England recently, dating his life back to the 13th century. Read this article for more info.

Besides that, facts have been found of black people living in different parts of Europe, although I don’t want to overstate their presence or influence. But it is generally known that during the Muslim era of the Iberian Peninsula (from the 8th century AD until the 15th century AD) people with dark skin were part of daily live. The Muslims who invaded Spain and Portugal around 700 AD were a mixture of black and dark people from North-Africa. They were often referred to as Maures, wrote about and painted, way before the dehumanization of black people started.

I added above Jan Mostaert's portrait of a nobleman, guest of the Queen of Austria. This painting dates back to the early 1500's in what we now call Belgium, then part of the Duchy of Brabant. There is no doubt this man has African roots while being a respected member of European culture. We can only guess that this man is of Maure origin, i.e. a Muslim having converted to Christianity or even the second or third generation of converts.

Below I will go deeper into the subject. I will give you some internet links, book references and a list of early Europeans of African descent, each time linked to their wiki page. If you know more about the subject I invite you to add information in a comment.


Al Andalus

Many blacks who were Muslims converted to Christianity after the emirate of Al Andalus was abolished (end of 15th century). But the Reconquista took centuries (8th-15th century) and during those times black people gradually integrated the Christian and Northern European world. Among them were noble men and scholars. The negative image of blacks, as natural slaves, only gained prominence in the 18th century when the transatlantic slave trade became a central piece of European economical activity and later when European nation-states were being established.

Slavery and racism

Of course slavery existed before racism. In the 15th century blacks and whites were enslaved indiscriminately. Blacks in the America’s could become free men and own their own slaves and land (which was rather common in colonial Brazil for instance). It is only in later years that being black made you a slave forever and by birth, or at least a kind of human always inferior to white people. This racial perspective on identity and humanity only gained authority in later modern times. Read more on the subject here.

Coat of Arms

Black people were part of European imagination and reality from very early times. Read more here and here. We can say with certainty that there were black people in Europe before that white people reached the area south of the Sahara. North Africa, Iberia and the Middle East were the crossroad where black and white intermingled. In Europe references to blacks was a positive sign of strength and military power. Still today you can find many blacks in coat of arms for towns all over Europe, central, south and north, dating back to the middle ages.



Some Literature

After the 15th century, Portugal entered an intense relationship with African kingdoms in the Gulf of Guinea and the Congo coasts. Slave trade (although not based on race) and exchange between the kings led to the presence of Europeans on the West- and Central African shores, just as Africans in Portugal. Accounts from those days tell us that the sight of black people in the streets of Lisbon wasn’t a rarity during the Middle Ages, more on the contrary. I want to refer to following books for those who want to know more about this topic:
Black Africans in Renaissance Europe, Thomas Foster Earle,K. J. P. Lowe(eds.)
Africa's discovery of Europe, David Northrup

As a consequence of the slave trade free blacks also arrived in Europe between the 16th and 19th century. Blacks lived in London, Liverpool, Lisbon, Seville, … during the 17th and 18th century. Other historical books with scientific authority give you in depth knowledge of this:
Hugh Thomas’s ‘The Slave Trade’
Ivan Van Sertima’s ‘African Presence in Early Europe’
All this publications teach us something about this hidden part of European history.

Leo Africanus

Leo Africanus is often stated as one of these black and European noble men and scholars. But it is rather speculation to state if he was black or white. He was definitely a Maure but as racism, whiteness and blackness were unknown concepts as we know it today, we can’t know his ‘race’ for sure. This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Even very common socio-cultural concepts of today such as ‘French’, ‘German’ or ‘English’ didn’t exist in those days such that it would be silly to argue whether historical figures of those days were German or French. Same thing is valid for the white and black race as defined today.

Famous Europeans with African ancestry (1500-1900)

Below I will list some of the most famous figures of European modern history (after 1500) who happened to be black or have African ancestry, but were integral parts of European (high) society. Most of the time the African ancestry of these people is ignored by history books although acknowledged and accepted by most history scholars. I think it throws a new light on the concepts of race and the meaning of blackness in the 21st century.

Alessandro ‘il Moro’ de Medici 1510-1537
Duke of Florence


Abram Petrovich Ganibal 1696-1781
Major-general, military engineer, governor of Reval and nobleman of the Russian Empire


Anton Wilhelm Amo 1700-1775
German Philosopher


Ignatius Sancho 1729–1780
Author and abolitionist, UK

Olaudah Equiano a.k.a. Gustavus Vassa 1745-1797 Author and abolitionist, UK

Chevalier de Saint Georges 1745-1799 A famous musican, composer and swardsman of his times
Listen to his music here.

Thomas Alexandre Dumas 1762-1806 A general of the French Revolution

George Polgreen Bridgetower 1780-1860 Musician and composer
Listen and watch here


Alexandre Pushkin 1799-1837
Famous author, great-grandson of Abraham Petrovich Ganibal


Update

On  Pushkin’s Blackness

Morgan Jerkins writes on 'Alexander Pushkin’s Blackness', "Pushkin was born in 1799 and although he was an aristocrat, he was proud of his Blackness. In ‘Eugene Onegin’, he writes."

    It’s time to drop astern the shape
    of the dull shores of my disfavour,
    and there, beneath your noonday sky,
    my Africa, where waves break high,
    to mourn for Russia’s gloomy savour,
    land where I learned to love and weep,
    land where my heart is buried deep. "

For more on Pushkin see Afrorepublic 



Alexandre Dumas 1802-1870
French author of the world famous tale of ‘The Three Musketeers’, Thomas Alexandre Dumas’s son

John Archer 1863-1931
Presumably UK’s first black mayor, political activist

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor 1875-1912 Musician and composer
Listen to his music here

New

If you're interested in Black Europe today, see the stories of young Afro-Europeans in the UK, France, The Netherlands and Italy

Afrikanische Kultur Fest (African Culture Festival) in Frankfurt - 20 - 22 August

Afrikanische Kulturfest (African Culture Festival) in Solmspark Rödelheim in Frankfurt Germany - August 20 – 22. Free entrance!

In Commemoration of Enslavement and Colonialism and Their Impact on People of African descent

On the coming weekend, from August 20-22, the 5th African Cultural Festival is going to take place in Frankfurt. The event has – like every year - been organized by the Senegalese Association (www.senegal-verein.de). At the center of the 2010 event is the commemoration of the impact enslavement and colonialism had on the African continent.

Considering that already in February 2010 a historic tribunal had taken place in Berlin to address the 125th Berlin Afrika Konferenz and the subject of reparations (http://www.tribunal-afrikakonferenz-berlin.org/), it can be said that Germany in this year has seen more events – organized by the African Diaspora - than ever before that deal with the subject matters of enslavement and colonialism and its relevancy in Black history.

The Senegalese Association in Frankfurt chose the statement „Forgive but don’t forget“ for the festival to underline the importance they see in speaking and informing about the impact hundreds of years of enslavement and the related policies of Europe had and still have on Africa and its Diaspora.

Therefore, at the end of the opening day on Friday, a discussion round with special guests will look at the question what 50 years of ‘Independence’ mean for African countries today and how it is related to the long journey from enslavement to political emancipation. Participants will discuss how the African – European relationship has developed over time and which topics concerning those two continents are at the forefront today.

The island Gorée, located at the coast of Senegal, is a worldwide known place which is representative for the cruel experiences African people went through when they were enslaved and taken from the African continent to the Americas or Europe. Goree Island is on the west coast of Africa at the nearest point on the continent to the Americas.

Today, the island is a famous tourist attraction which attracts every year many visitors wanting to inform themselves about the history and realities of African people’s enslavement. The organizers of the African Festival in Frankfurt invited Eloy Coly, the curator of Gorée, to Frankfurt to introduce to the audience the history of the place via a multimedia presentation.

The opening ceremony of the African Festival takes place on Friday, 18:30 p.m., at Alexanderstraße 37, 60489 Frankfurt am Main.
On Saturday and Sunday the program will continue at the nearby Solmspark close to Alexanderstrasse.

For more information
www.manga-event.com
www.senegal-verein.de/

Sharing the AfroEuropean Experience. My visit to the 25th yearly Bundestreffen in Germany.

Last weekend I was in Germany. ISD (Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland – Intiative Black People in Germany) organized the Bundestreffen for the 25th time in a row. This means 25 years of black German coming together, 25 years of theater, dance, workshops, debates, presentations, films, music, knowledge sharing, book selling and more. All focused around the black German experience, and actually by extension, the experience of being black in the Western world. The Bundestreffen doesn’t seem to be on its way out, it is alive and kicking and apparently there to stay.

After knowing it for years I wanted to experience it for myself and took off to Helmarshausen, a little village in Hessen, in the geographical heart of Germany. I am not German but I felt that I could relate to this community being African and European at the same time. And checking googlemaps I realized it wasn’t even that far, just a 4.30 hours drive.