My African Clichés ( English): Recent Episodes
My African Clichés Podcast
On the back of the bird Sankofa, this mythical bird that flies forward, head turned back, carrying in its beak an egg that symbolizes the future, this podcast takes you to every episode in the glorious history of African continent. Develop your knowledge of African history to better understand the continent today.
Hello friends, I am back again, finally, after more than 5 months of a forced absence. Thank you to those who have taken news! don't worry, my prolonged absence is not due to a lack of inspiration, of topics to share with you, or a breakdown of our Sankofa, it was really a much more prosaic reason, simply professional. One must pay the bills, right? 😊…
Unfortunately, I’m sure we lost some faithful listeners along the way, but new ones joined us! I want to welcome them all. Many of you have asked me, where I went, I have been asked, is there no internet at that new place? is it so hidden? in which country? I replied jokingly many times, that I went to Fashoda! That response usually led to a bit of silence... Fashoda, is today just a lost town in the Republic of South Sudan, on the banks of the Nile. Although the name doesn’t speak to you, that place nevertheless holds an important place in the colonial, and even postcolonial imagination, to the point of having given its name to a French “complex” of inferiority towards the English, if not the Anglo-Saxons. I’m talking about the so-called “Fashoda Complex”.
This woman, Mary Thomas, a courageous 19th-century slave from St. Croix (now part of the U.S. Virgin Islands), rebelled against indignity, along with two other women leaders, Agnes and Mathilda, "the three queens," to spark the largest labour revolt in Danish colonial history, an uprising known as the "Fireburn," in which fifty plantations and most of the town of Frederiksted on St. Croix were burned. This rebellion was brutally suppressed, and the three queens were arrested, tried and convicted. They served their prison terms in Copenhagen, a little over a mile from where the statue stands today.
Join us in Part 2 to learn how the reign of the Nana Benz ended and the efforts of their daughters, ( the Nanettes) who actually went to business schools in the US and Europe to try and keep the sun shining! Enjoy!
The Nana Benz is first and foremost a collective adventure that refers to the economic mutations of an entire continent, from the early days of the colonial age to the arrival in force of China. To understand their story, we have to go back a long way, to the middle of the 19th century, and take the road to Indonesia, then under the domination of the Netherlands. During their wanderings in the island, Dutch merchants discovered cotton fabrics printed on both sides and covered with wax, a process that allows better fixing colors. The Dutch quickly had these brightly colored fabrics manufactured in Europe, renamed "Dutch wax" and intended primarily for African markets.
Who are you?
What are you the name of?
Where are you going?
and what are you looking for?
To close this third season, whose frequency of episodes has been somewhat disturbed by the writing of the book on African pioneers, I would like to tell you about an article, that was published in the New York Times in August 1923, which dealt with the movie “ The Birth of a Nation ” by D. W Griffiths released in 1915. A technically groundbreaking film, the first film shot in the White House, but terribly racist, described by some as the most racist film in the history of cinema. Incidentally a great box office success in its time.
Why did France, which was also responsible of inhuman exploitation in its colonies, ban a film that paid tribute to white superiority?
Yes, it is an African guy who was the first to perform a lap of honor in the history of the Olympics! And so logically, every time an athlete does a lap of honor, we should say they did an Akii Bua! it's not that complicated, and yet none of the Tokyo TV consultants will say it, it doesn’t matter which country you are in! bets are open!
As you know, we have been working hard on compiling in a nicely illustrated book, the lives and stories of 25 women and 25 men, who were the first to achieve feats hitherto unattainable in the African continent.
Read more about this book at
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/821165653/50-pionnieres-africaines-50-african-pioneers
If you too are SL, then tell me about the cotton tree, Bunce island, Dublin in Banana island, York, St John’s Maroon Church, Old Fourah Bay College, the Martello tower, the 3 old city boundaries guns, the Wharf steps, and old guardhouse, yes do justice to your amazing country, probably the most pan-African in Africa, if we judge by the origins of all its people!
It’s a country whose recent history was overshadowed by a brutal civil war, but with a rich history, with one of the largest natural deep-water harbor in the world; it’s the first country to appoint a woman as a cabinet minister within Sub-Saharan Africa, in 1962, the first country in the world to invent a self-adhesive stamp, , and even more important, a country where women have started voting in 1792, 120 years before those in Britain, and almost 200 years before Switzerland.
My African cliché of the day is a date. November 30, 2016. On that day that, UNESCO acknowledged Cuban rumba to the list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. And that same day, on the same list, the same honor was given to another historical monument called hahaha, Belgian beers! Don’t laugh, both of them can make you dizzy so why not! Well, Congo and Belgium's destinies are really tied forever to each other.
My African cliché of the day is that of certain Ethiopian friends, who do not hesitate to brag to other Africans, that they have never been colonized. This is obviously not true, since Mussolini's Italy well settled in Ethiopia from 1936 to 1941, avenging in the humiliating defeat40 years earlier. Of course, it was a very short colonization period compared to other African countries but it’s not the right account of history.
Anyway, I wonder, if these Ethiopians would be less proud, if they knew that this whole bragging, they owe it …… .. to a sheep, and a cow, these blessed ones without whom, they would be bragging in Russian cause that would be their official language, the same way their national dishes, served on Ethiopian Airlines flights, perhaps would be the grechka, the pirozhki, the borscht soup (made from beetroot); and, of course, the pelmeni, those Russian meat dumplings,
My African cliche of the day is a book! the first bilingual book that lists African pioneers. I didn't say heroes, and I didn't say black, I said pioneers and Africans. The combination of these 2 words suffers to appear in Google and other search engines. Why ? for many reasons, but mostly because we are failing to document our own pioneers, and expecting someone else to do it for us, just as we do for anything else!
50 little-known figures from recent African history in an illustrated book to inspire children and adults that is the promise. And for you, I will be to support an Africa that writes its own beautiful history. Will you be a pioneer? will you be part of that?
Ahmed Baba is not known to the general public. In reality, only a small number of people (mostly researchers) know of its existence. Most of them are researchers interested in the scholarly works of the so-called medieval African era that we were talking about earlier, in particular Timbuktu. But in general, this ignorance of Baba is the reflection of a greater ignorance of African intellectual history: I mean about African history as a whole. Regardless of the time, this story remains largely unknown, hardly ever being taught.
We are discussing today with Dr Luc NGOWET, a researcher, a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Paris Sorbonne. He was Program Director at the International College of Philosophy where he led, from 2013 to 2019, seminars on what he names "The theoretical foundations of African political modernity". He is a published author and is currently preparing a book on African political thought as well as an intellectual biography on the great black American philosopher, historian, sociologist, and activist WEB Du Bois, an incredible character that Luc will of course discuss with me in this podcast very soon.
Some say Africa never had philosophers. They say and preach it loud but they haven't listened yet to Dr. Luc Ngowet, an expert of the matter who speaks in this series of 3 episodes about Ahmed Baba Soudani, a great philosopher from Timbuktu, Mali in medieval African times.
If you take a close look at history books, you will certainly find examples of decisive moments where music and power crossed paths. And by now, there must be some of those examples of moments already jostling in your head? Perhaps you are thinking of the encounter between the genius of Mozart conquered by the Freemasons? Or maybe between the composer Richard Wagner, dreamed but impossible love of King Louis the Second of Bavaria? And what about the one between Russian composer Dmitry Shostakovich manhandled like a toy by Stalin? Or the one between the Italian French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully, who only lived to magnify French King Louis the Fourteen? Last but not least and perhaps the most spectacular of all, is the encounter between the incredible British talent, Ethel Smyth, and the Suffragette revolution in Great Britain.
Yes, the list is very long of this type of encounters, but as you notice, most are examples from Europe. Yet in Africa, such encounters exist, a major one that deserves mention is a crossing between a man of power, the former president of Zaire, (current DRC), President Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga, and a type of music, but can you guess which one? We will find this out soon…
On 12 January 2016, a woman died, described by the youth as “that pretty face on our MK 200 banknote”, the third powerful banknote after the MK1000 (Kamuzu Banda) and the MK500 (John Chilembwe). Three male faces come after her including, ironically, her Inkosi ya Makosi (Chief of chiefs) the late M’Mbelwa 2. In one of the last interviews she gave, ironically to a local youth radio, she lamented how freedom fighters are side-lined in key government events, highlighting the 50-Year Independence celebrations in 2014.
Who is this heroin largely ignored in democratic Malawi, until Bingu Wa Mutharika, Malawi’s third president, gave her that honour?
Dear friends, welcome aboard a Sankofa flight heading to south-east Africa, Malawi, to discover Rose Chibambo, a prominent leader in the fight against British colonialism and the first woman cabinet minister in independent Malawi, whose real name Lomathinda, means « Snatched from the grave ». And you will understand why in this episode
August 11, 1965, in the city of Watts, a suburb of Los Angeles.
Community members witnessed the police hurting a pregnant woman, which started 6-long days of civil unrest. It was the city's worst unrest until the Rodney King riots of 1992
The total toll of the crisis? 34 deaths, over $40 million in property damage and then more unexpected, a celebration. Yes, a celebration called Kwanzaa, directly inspired by this crisis. Didn’t Winston Churchill himself advise to Never let a good crisis go to waste?
Kwanzaa is paradoxically located somewhere:
- between some African deepest values and strong stereotypes,
- between rituals, evidence and reason,
- between the current Black lives struggles of the past and BLM fights today
- and finally, because I find it quite interesting to know and celebrate.
Dr Quinta is an African traveller and adventurer. Hailing from Nigeria, Cameroon, and Zambia, she has travelled to all 7 continents and 60 countries, with 21 of them in Africa. Her favourite experiences include climbing to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, bungee jumping in South Africa, and hang-gliding in Rio de Janeiro. In addition to travelling, she enjoys learning about history, especially African history.
She regularly promotes African culture and provides opportunities for other Africans to do the same. Our pilot Dr Quinta recently published a collection of African fables titled “The Hare and Baboon and Other Stories”. Both books are available on Amazon or on SquintiBooks.com and a book about her travel adventures titled “From Antarctica to Zimbabwe: How I hit the reset button on my life”.
Dr Quinta is an African traveller and adventurer. Hailing from Nigeria, Cameroon, and Zambia, she has travelled to all 7 continents and 60 countries, with 21 of them in Africa. Her favourite experiences include climbing to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, bungee jumping in South Africa, and hang-gliding in Rio de Janeiro. In addition to travelling, she enjoys learning about history, especially African history.
She regularly promotes African culture and provides opportunities for other Africans to do the same. Dr Quinta recently published a collection of African fables titled “The Hare and Baboon and Other Stories”, and a book about her travel adventures titled “From Antarctica to Zimbabwe: How I hit the reset button on my life”.
Both books are available on Amazon or on SquintiBooks.com
My African cliché of the day is a question “How many? ". How many generations of tourists from all over the world had seen “El Negro”? How many have left this museum with the simplistic association at the head of "Black or African = barbaric?" ". did I just say Barbaric? Who is really is the barbaric here? Is it the Bechuana? or rather those who stole a dead buried body, who stuffed it, those who sold it, bought and exhibited it, those who took a picture of him without batting an eyelid, those who posed in front of it and shrugged their shoulders before going to taste tapas, those who refused to send him back home, in short, all those who failed to see an anomaly of their culture and history, to acknowledge human suffering. Come on, we are talking about the end of the 1990s, it was like yesterday! And yet since 1947, Birago Diop, the great Senegalese poet, already said it, in his sublime poem titled Spirits, which I allow myself to slightly change hoping the purists will forgive me.
In contemporary African history, most narratives revolve around the year 1960. But what if I say, 1957? what do you say? Independence of the first sub Saharan African country, Ghana? Yes, that’s right. Anything else? Let’s listen to the answers by Prof. Elisa Prosperetti, History professor, specializing in modern African and world history, and currently a visiting assistant professor at Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, United States, where she teaches a range of courses on African history. Her research focuses on the connected narratives of development, education and citizenship.
In contemporary African history, most narratives revolve around the year 1960. But what if I say, 1957? what do you say? Independence of the first sub-Saharan African country, Ghana? Yes, that’s right. Anything else? Let’s listen to the answers by Prof. Elisa Prosperetti, History professor, specializing in modern African and world history, and currently a visiting assistant professor at Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, United States, where she teaches a range of courses on African history. Her research focuses on the connected narratives of development, education and citizenship.
Hello, you, yes you, hello to you. You, who are still listening to me after 2 seasons of this podcast. This is a special episode to start this new season.
An episode to ask you my listener; How are you doing? Did you have a good summer? Is everything around you fine despite the current pandemic?
A special episode for you my dearest listener;
You who wrote to me during this summer just to say THANK YOU.
You who sent words of encouragement to keep up with the PODCAST
You who asked for a third season – And here we are.
You who sent suggestions for topics to be covered in future episodes.
You who offered to co-write in future episodes.
And you two Mina and Jean, who asked questions so simple and yet so difficult to answer, questions that made me put my thinking cap on. And today, I wanted to share the questions and the responses I sent to you, with all the Sankofa passengers.
My African Cliché of the day is a British man, called Lawrence. No no, not Lwrence of Arabia, but Lawrence Westgaph, a young British political activist, from Nigerian and Jamaican descents, who has set up a fundraising campaign to finally erect a statue in Liverpool to honor African slaves’s role in building the UK economy. He also produced the BBC program "Read the signs» that examines the history of Liverpool street names. Now let’s remind ourselves that statues just like street and cities’ names are meant to celebrate a person, and sometimes horrible persons in history. And we now know that France will not remove statues of slavers and colonial settlers who killed many in the colonies. President Macron said they don’t want to re-write history. He probably forgot that France did re-write its history, when all streets and places named after Marechal Petain, an army guy who did so well during World war 1 but then messed up during the second. France was so ashamed of his attitude that all those streets were renamed, the last one in 2013.
But while France is hiding behind excuses, isn’t the real question we the Africans? What are our leaders’ positions, in this debate about the representation of history in public space? Shouldn’t we be questioning why so many cities (Brazzaville, Port Harcourt, Fort Portal, Francistown and Monrovia for example, are still named after settlers and weirdos involved in the scramble for Africa and its enslavement?
Dear friends, in 2020, how many avenues cities, hospitals, squares and schools are still named after British Queen Victoria, after French General Charles de Gaulle? Or after Portuguese missionaries?
Malcolm X's words sound even better in 2020: "Their problem is our problem”. Ask Mrs. Kadiatou Diallo, the mother of the young Guinean Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old boy, who had just announced to his mother who stayed in Guinea, that he had now worked enough to finally pay for his expensive university studies in America. Outside his home, unarmed, he was shot dead by New York police, riddled with 41 bullets. His death provoked violent protests in the United States. A year later, the 4 police officers who allegedly took his wallet for a firearm were acquitted.
20 years later, here we go again, an unarmed man is killed by police, again demonstrations across the country, but the oppressors are united, they already paid to bail the murderers of George Floyd out.
It’s about time to ask ourselves: When? When will the African States submit in absolute unity a special motion to the United Nations General Assembly against the police brutality regularly inflicted on Black people in the US? When will all of humanity rise to end the closed-door killings of black people in the US? In Brazil? in many Arab countries? In Africa itself?
When? Not as long as the green US dollar can make our leaders red with pleasure.
EPISODE 30: Great Britain abolished slavery: Autopsy of a British delusion
On the list of people who ended slavery, the British government does not appear high up on the list, if at all it appears. The people who ended slavery, the real heroes of abolition, were first and foremost, the slaves themselves who revolted countless times everywhere in multiple slavery locations. That was the case of Mulato Solitude and Louis Delgres in French Caribbean, Toussaint Louverture in Haiti, Carlota Lucimi known as La Carlota Negra in Cuba, the Ghanain slave lady called Breffu in the Danish West Indies, etc...the list goes on and must include of course, the great Samuel Sharpe, who led the well-known Jamaican slave rebellion, in 1831, which had a direct impact in the voting of the British abolition Act 2 years later.
If names of white heroes were to be cited, then it would be those of the members of the “Religious Society of Friends” also known as Quakers. As opposed to other religions, they were convinced that slave-owning was not consistent with Christian doctrine, they were among the first ones to fight slavery.
My African cliché of the day is a tribute to Repats, these African men and women of the diaspora who, like these valiant captives of the Amistad, sometimes give up a very a comfortable life, to return to Africa. According to a study by Inspir Afrika Magazine, their 3 main reasons are: the desire to have an impact on the continent - interesting professional opportunities and family and social pressure; But once back, the adaptation process can be brutal, so that around 15% leave. Many of those who remain, ultimately find their way, create jobs, and have a real impact. This is the case of the talented Kenyan writer Binyanvanga wainaina, who left us exactly one year ago. Binyavanga made a revolutionary impact on literature from and about the African continent. He became an LGBT activitist in 2014, in response to a wave of anti-gay laws passed in Africa. This same year, Time magazine recognized Binyavanga as one of the "Most Influential People in the World” in its annual Time 100 series.
This episode is therefore a tribute to Binyavanga and many more like him, to the Nigerian Nneka Ezeigwe, Guinean Khadija Bah, and Malian Fatou Sow. What about you, what’s your opinion about this wave of returns to a continent which is certainly difficult in many respects, but which remains the only and greatest legacy that belongs to us.
In the short list of Africans who have significantly impacted the United Nations, today I am featuring an Egyptian giant, giant way before Mohammed Salah, but largely unknown to the African public, despite having influenced the creation and transformation of several UN agencies such as UNECA, IFAD, UNTAD, all of which still exist today. The creation of these agencies symbolises a silent revolution that changed the very philosophy of the United Nations system today.
To find out more about him, the Sankofa takes you today inside the head of one of the most intelligent men the Earth has seen, a prominent African economist whose work on capitalism, colonialism and underdevelopment should haunt us, all, especially in all the temples of today's wild capitalism.
Hello and please salute Professor Samir Amin.
From Amadou Mbow ( UNESCO) to Tedros Gebreyesus ( WHO): Same battle?
My African cliché of the day is a vision, M’Bow’s vision of UNESCO. He saw UNESCO as a means to create a world order based on justice, dignity for all, equity, respect for diversity and the preservation of culture heritage. How many African leaders today still have a vision and stand for it?
Mbow’s life’s work has won him widespread acclaim and over 70 awards, medals and honorary degrees and citizenships from around the world.
Today from Morocco where he retired and still resides, at the age of 99, what do you think is his reading of this WHO vs USA situation? I keep wondering what they would tell each other if Dr Tedros was to talk to Mbow, or to the late Kofi Anan and Boutros Boutros Ghali. Deja-vu? Don’t give up and change the world? I guess I will never know.
As for you, if you want to change the fate of this podcast, keep spreading the word, and rate it as much as possible. Thank you and goodbye.
What is your definition of beauty? “Is it a combination of qualities, such as shape, colour, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight” as defined the oxford dictionary?
Obviously, definitions of beauty vary across countries, cultures, religions and language. Some are more introspective, others based on physical aesthetics and others on social status. When we impart this oxford definition of beauty into an African context, it takes on a more complex meaning, particularly with regard to history, specifically colonialism and slave trade interacting with patriarchy to perpetuate white western standards of beauty, by socially and economically rewarding those closest to this standard.
This is known as colourism, ‘Africa’s colonial hangover, “shadism”, skin tone bias, pigmentocracy or the colour complex, describing the system of discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, among people of the same ethnic group.
Good morning dear passengers, I’m happy to welcome you to a flight, or rather a promise, a promise to begin unpacking colourism; a concept that has historically been constructed across gender to inform the currency of African women’s lives.
“The United States government did something that was wrong — deeply, profoundly, morally wrong, it was an outrage to our commitment to integrity and equality for all our citizens. To the survivors, to the wives and family members, the children and the grandchildren, I say what you know: No power on Earth can give you back the lives lost, the pain suffered, the years of internal torment and anguish. What was done cannot be undone. But we can end the silence. We can stop turning our heads away. We can look at you in the eye and finally say on behalf of the American people, what the United States government did was shameful, and I am sorry.”
President Bill Clinton, issuing an apology, on May 16, 1997, to the eight remaining survivors of one of the biggest denial of humanity, one of the highest demonstration of racism, an unforgettable crime in the history of black people, that destroyed for long the trust that many African Americans held for medical institutions.
Hello and welcome onboard to revisit together the infamous Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male.”
FOR AFRICAN FEMALE WRITERS..
” You need to read to open up your world” is a phrase I often heard when I was a child. But in the era of so-called social networks, the supremacy of WhatsApp, fake news and Facebook pages, it seems that fewer and fewer adults are reading books. And this observation is even more striking for the younger generation. Do young Africans still read books? What do they read? Which African authors do they read? Where do they read or find the books?
Want the answers? Then it’s good you are embarking with us on this 4th Sankofa takeoff piloted by a heroine of this month of March, Prof Cécile, who takes us in a dive in the head and the readings of our young people, a journey in search of answers, in a flight to the heart of African feminine literature.
FOR AFRICAN FEMALE WRITERS
My African cliche of the day is a Bantu saying which says I quote: "Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu",which means in French: "A human is human because of other humans".It essentially means that Our humanity depends on the humanity of our fellow humans. No individual, no group can be human all alone. We rise together above the animal, or not at all. This saying is one of the favorites of an African writer, a great African intellectual, Prof Chinua Achebe, who left us almost 7 years ago. He is considered in the English-speaking world as the father of the African novel. He was convinced that the mission of the African intellectuals is to rehabilitate the image of Africa, tarnished by colonization and the stereotypes which a certain colonial literature carried for decades. And since it is impossible to talk about him in a few seconds, an entire episode will be devoted to him soon, but in the meantime, only one word is needed: THANKS Professor Achebe.
After having explored the history of this African accessory, the turban, here we are now ready to experience a concrete use of it, thanks to our captain, she, who made it a way of life for the last 10 years, and who shares her experience through her brand and her fabulous headwraps on Instagram.
Hello everyone and welcome to this headwrap workshop
YOUR WRAP, YOUR STYLE, YOUR IDENTITY
My African cliché of the day is question to you: do you think that if a White American white lady chooses to wear a headwrap, it is cultural appropriation? Is it paying tribute? Is it respect? Is it free advert for that culture?
Cultural appropriation refers to when a dominant culture appropriates the codes of a dominated culture, either the colonized peoples or the oppressed minorities.
- Is it respect when it’s done for fun, and money, while erasing the cultural side of it? Like wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh patterns without ever mentioning the pain of the people?
- Is it tribute when it’s all about everything but the burden, when it is like entering and leaving a culture without bearing the burden and using the codes without suffering while retaining one’s privileges?
- Isn’t a stealing when big brands use those cultures materials and symbols to produce gadgets and goodies to enrich themselves and their advertising icons?
My African cliche of the day is a quote from our captain, about her favorite black heroine, Harriet Tubman.
What can I say after the powerful words of a woman as impressive as Harriet Tubman? NOTHING.
And nothing is already much like Jacques Brel said. See you next Monday on Sankofa for our third heroine of the month of March.
My African cliche of the day is a duty, what I could call "the duty of curiosity", a kind of minimum service that each African and Afro-descendant must perform, to help himself, and help to to make known a counter history of Africa. Being curious about Africa, for example, is going to visit a pretty beach in Mozambique, rather than Ireland; it is trying to understand pre-colonial African spiritualities before treating them as fetishes, a term which is justly colonial…. This is why I enjoy the afro-curiosities distilled by Abenafrica every day. And I invite you to be afro-curious too, because as Martin Luther King said "In the end we will not remember the words of our enemies, but rather the silences of our friends". See you tomorrow in the second part of this fascinating interview with Abenafrica.
If I had to choose a quote to summarize our heroine of this day, I would choose like French resistant Lucie Aubrac, to say that The verb "To Resist" must always conjugate in the present tense" because, Odiri, this UK-born daughter of Africa, of Nigerian origin, does not spare no effort to connect ethically, Africa and its diaspora, for the benefit of both parties.
Support her by supporting her different projects:
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Kori Youth Charity ( www.kori.org.uk)
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Daughters of Africa ( www.daughtersofafrica.info)
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The Vessel UK
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The Daigo project
If I had to choose a quote to summarize our heroine of this day, I would choose like French resistant Lucie Aubrac, to say that The verb "To Resist" must always conjugate in the present tense" because, Odiri, this UK-born daughter of Africa, of Nigerian origin, does not spare no effort to connect ethically, Africa and its diaspora, for the benefit of both parties.
Support her by supporting her different projects:
-
Kori Youth Charity ( www.kori.org.uk)
-
Daughters of Africa ( www.daughtersofafrica.info)
-
The Vessel UK
-
The Daigo project
My African cliché of the day is a symbolic reparation, of the amount of $ 1 that each American citizen and each French citizen could pay into a fund for Haiti. Some will respond promptly, that the West is already providing development assistance. Is this aid really benefiting the children of the Haiti Heroes? True reparation is what the Australian aborigines have just obtained for the destruction of their culture by the British colonists.
My African cliche of the day is a word, a myth, which is called “The West”. If hearing this word did not make you blink during this episode, it is because you consider this word as the name of a precise geographical space, which represents a more progressive part of the world. And the evil is so deep, that it would take a kind of collective purging to make people, , aware that the West does not designate the same part of the world, depending on whether one is in Japan, in Pakistan or Cape Town.
Hello everyone, and welcome aboard the Sankofa for the last flight of 2019. A somewhat special flight which will reflect on the past 10 months of flying the Sankofa, going through your messages, your reflections and suggestions, your plans, in short, in this flight you are in the spotlight!
To all of you, May the new year bring you peace and confidence in yourself, in ourselves, because, as you just heard in all the messages, YOU ARE NOT ALONE, WE ARE NOT ALONE, IN YOUR LOVE FOR AFRICA.
01 December 1944. We are a few kilometers away from Dakar. The surrounding villages are encircled. It is 5.30 in the morning in a French military camp. Tanks are put in place. Horses too. And finally, a group of armed soldiers is getting ready. Looks like a firing squad.
A first burst leaves. Then another one... totally disarmed soldiers fall by tens, by the hundreds even.
This is not a Ridley Scott movie. No, it is the story of a group of soldiers, Senegalese skirmishers who had just returned from the second world war. What exactly happened that morning?
Hello and welcome to a Sankofa which is celebrating with the families of these unidentifed skirmishers, the 75th anniversary of a massacre whose circumstances and statistics are kept well hidden by french army since 1944. Here is the story of the Thiaroye colonial massacre.
"Africa has cost us heaps of gold, thousands of soldiers and streams of blood; gold we do not think to ask them. But the men and the blood, it must pay us back "these are words from Adolphe Messimy in the daily newspaper Le Matin, September 3, 1910. This French parliament member was expressing his support to the project of French army General Charles Mangin, to make Africa, the reservoir of a great "Black army" for the future, a project developed in his book The Black Force. This book, considered the pinnacle of military racism at the beginning of the 19th century, is responsible for a still tenacious cliché about the physical strength of Africans. It justified one of the most intense demographic reduction of the African population in the French colonies, sometimes exceeding those during the slave trade.
Hello and welcome to this Sankofa flight, which is following in the footsteps of a real west African myth, that of the so-called Senegalese rifleman, seen to be a clown more than a soldier, a guy not adapted to modern wars , a ridiculous guy, whose evocation was making us rather laugh as children. Who were these skirmishers? where do they come from? and why?
My African cliché of the day is an incredible book, titled White Negroes of America, a classic Canadian literature that draws an astonishing parallel between the situation of African Americans in the 1960s and that of French Canadians at the same time.
When Pierres Vallières wrote this book in 1960 while in prison in New York, had he imagined that 60 years later, the situation of French Canadians will be significantly improved, while that of African Americans would remain unsustainable in many respects?
Did he imagine that his book would be so full of similarities on the situation of millions of marginalized Africans in their own countries, by their own leaders, marginalized in education, health care, decent food, housing?
And you then, do you speak white? what do you think of the fact that Africans today have languages to speak with the old masters but not to talk to each other? what do you say about African states that speak white to an African Union that has taken a resolution asking them to teach Swahili in all African schools?
From the book White Negroes of America to the poem Speak White, from Pierres Vallieres to Michele Lalonde, from Bamako to Mbabane, as well put by Thomas Sankara, all right causes always come together.
As for me, it is time to say Kaidenawan, meaning goodbye in Otjiherero language of Namibia.
Welcome to the second part of this fascinating conversation about the mothers of independence in Guinea, a story telling by a heroine, witness and expert of African history, Mrs. Nantenin Camara Barry, who speaks in this episode of the situation of Guinean women after independence, the need to connect African younger generations to their history, a connection that materialized well in this episode, with Tabara Barry being the English voice of her grandmother, our sankofa pilot of the day.
Expressions such as "the fathers of independence" and "One man, one vote" have become commonly used in African history. These expressions imply that only men liberated Africa from its settlers, and they relegated in anonymity, the thousands of women who fought nobly. To talk about this role of women, Sankofa is honored today to have a pioneer, a Guinean, a historian, who will pilot the next two episodes. Mrs. Barry Nantenin Camara, the first woman registered at the Polytechnic Institute of Conakry, a former minister, whose contribution to her country was recognized through the national Medal of Honor. Having retired, she is an active militant for the advancement of women in her country
Taytu Betul, Dulcie September, Dedan Kemathi, Djibo Bakary, Moussa Traore, Robert Mugabe, Franz Fanon, Toussaint Louverture.
The common thing between these women and men is that they are figures considered, rightly or wrongly, as occupants of the book of African Heroes. But how did they become a heroine or hero of African history? How do you get entered into this book? Through the front door or through a windy, chaotic, perverse path? or even one dug by a subtle propaganda of the masters of yesterday and today?
How many of these authorized and imposed heroes are found in this famous book?
Let us review these paths of glory, to paraphrase Stanley Kubrick's magnificent film, or rather the British poet Thomas Gray, to whom Kubrick himself borrowed it.
While the history of eradication of smallpox is now well known, one of the important figures in the fight against smallpox is much less known or even masked.
While the history of eradication of smallpox is now well known, one of the important figures in the fight against smallpox is much less known or even masked.
It’s not known if Onesimus lived long enough to see the success of this technique, since his contribution has disappeared from the history books on public health, as indeed most of the other medical contributions and knowledge of precolonial Africa, such as the making of ultra-realist prosthesesof Pharaonic Africa, or successful cesarean section under anesthesia by baNyoro people in present-day Uganda.
How many Africans today are themselves skeptical about the stories of these African technical ingenuity of the past? Could it be due to inferiority complex? brainwashing? What else?
The situation of the Somali people just after the world ward II, was a puzzle between the northern district of Kenya, the provinces of Haud and Ogaden in Ethiopia, French Somalia (now known as Djibouti), British Somalia or Somaliland (north of current Somalia) and finally Italian Somalia (south of present-day Somalia).
You would agree that another version of Somalia was possible right?
Whose fault is all this?
It's up to you to think about it, and you may want to read a nice book titled, Madre Piccola, by Italian writer from Somali descent, Cristina Ali Farah.
What kind of panafricanist are you?
What are the different forms of pan-Africanism today?
What’s your take on the question of having one african language?
Do you know the Panafrican League umoja?
Here are the responses of the historian Dr Amzat Boukari Yabara.
This trip is an invitation to you, lovers of Africa from all over the world, to take your part in the long walk to real mental emancipation, silently, just like ants that make no noise.
Is Panafricanism dead? What is Panafricanism? what is its origins? history? structures? actions and results?
This exceptional flight of Sankofa which celebrates, tomorrow, October 15, the 32nd anniversary of the assassination of a dream, the dream of an Africa truly free from its visible and invisible chains, the dream of a great President, a great African, and a great panafricanist, the late President Thomas Sankara.
Welcome to the heart of Pan-Africanism, its history, its current forms, and its future. During the next two episodes, the Sankofa welcomes a subject-matter expert, Dr. Amzat Boukari Yabara, historian, and world class specialist of panafricanism to discuss those questions.
The extraordinary story of an African kid who went from slavery to the highest ranks of Russian imperial army, and gave Russia, one of his greatest poets.
This story also emphasizes the work of African historians who are trying to re-write the established stories that bring Africa to where it belongs in the history of humanity.
How many countries in Africa sing their national anthems in their former masters' language? how many in their national languages?
What would be your ideal song for a panafrican anthem?
What if you were asked to write one?
Let me have your submissions!
My African cliché of the day is an immigration form. To enter Laos in August 2019. There was a question about my race. I logically responded HUMAN.
Then I savored the astonishment of the immigration officer, then his embarrassed smile, and his exchange with his colleague and finally this silence so eloquent. I would have so wanted to explain to him in his language, that his race is also mine, and that the term black he was hoping for comes from the racialist ideology created by the Europe of the late-Renaissance in order to legitimize his attacks on Africa.
The term black, which condemned Yannick Nihangaza, this young Burundian student in Punjab, north of India, who had 9 months of coma, after being shattered by other students. And also others like Yohan, Koumba, Daouda, Mapaga Yanis, Guiira, almost lynched by a gang of young people in 2016 in New Delhi.
What race are these aggressors obsessed with fair skin? and who are you listening to, of what race are you?
Last month, on August 2nd, I woke up and realized it has been exactly 22 years, since the world lost one of its iconic presidents, one with a sincere commitment to Africa’s underdogs. On that morning, while waiting for Phuket to wake up, and the lazy sun to shine, I started daydreaming… what does the world still remembers of him? What do the millions of African children, born after his death in 1997, know about his gift to the world? his legendary music? What would he tell them, if he was to address his people, just like any other president?
Welcome on board; we are headed to Kalakuta Republic, to listen to this imaginary speech of the Legendary musician, activist and revolutionary mind, Fela Ransome Kuti, AKA the Black President.
My African cliché of the day is a man, a French art critic, named Didier Rykner, who founded The Art Tribune, and boldly said on French TV that when Africans created those workpieces, they did not realize that they were doing art, and that these objects were supposed to disappear eventually anyway! what audacity! what condescendence, and above all, what ignorance! So, Africans only became aware of their own creativity only after the colonizers stole it? Well, let’s pay a surprise Sankofa tour to this so-called Art critic! Let’s get off and explain to him that indeed, these stolen works have never been, are not and will never be, art objects, made for the windows of Quai Branly museum, simply because most of them were made for worship, sacred objects, that should have never left the countries.
My African cliché of the day is a visa. Let’s call it the "Quai Branly Museum Visa”. This is the visa that President Macron will soon put in place, to facilitate school trips for children from villages in Benin to Paris, so that they can finally see for themselves a statuette like Kondo the shark symbolizing King Béhanzin. The Parisian museums of Quai Branly and the Orangery, strategically of course, will be able to sponsor air tickets for children, with the proceeds of their current joint exhibition titled "Felix Fénéon, and the arts from far away" which exhibit so many stolen pieces.
And while waiting for this new visa to be ready, I dared to suggest 3 quick actions to President Talon. First, popularize the proven influence of the so-called African primitive art, on Pablo Picasso and his cubism, on the Dadaists, in short, on modern European art. Secondly, invest in schools and universities, and on every sidewalks to talk about culture, because right now, if you ask about their African heritage, there is fair number of young Africans who may ask you if it is on Netflix! And finally, ask for the declassification and the digitization of all the archives of the French colonial administrations.
So what do you think the president responded? Well…I can’t really tell you dear passengers, since that lunch was purely fictional. But what is not fictional, is the very supporting messages I received from many of you, Sarah in Kampala, Holly in Canada and Tanya from….Instagram who kindly agreed that I use her photos from Quai Branly museum to illustrate this episode. I look forward to boarding you again next Monday on the Sankofa flight. Thank you and goodbye.
Hello to all of you ! Can you guess the country we are flying to ? here is a clue to help you : I am an African country, and was personal and private possession of a European king. My abundant natural wealth encouraged my owner and his companies to undertake the brutal exploitation of my population, which diminished by half between 1880 and 1926, to the point that some historians refer to this period as a "forgotten holocaust". When I became independent on June 30, 1960, unlike other French and English colonies, I didnt have senior officials capable of running the independent country, since only 16 university graduates against 600 priests were trained by the former colonizer.
welcome to the origin of the current problems of the present day DRC, former Belgian Congo
In terms of national independence, the year 1960 is a downright champion. And June 26, 1960, was the turn of another country, an island actually. First called the Saint Lawrence Island by the Portuguese in 1500, it owes its current name to an error of former geographers, including Oronce Finé, who confused it with an imaginary island described by Marco Polo. With a surface of almost 600,000 square meter, it is one of the largest islands in the world, located in eastern Africa and separated from the mainland by the Mozambique Canal
Also nicknamed the big island, the continent island, the island of biodiversity, paradise island or the red island because of its sand which is colored by iron and aluminum, the Sankofa is taking you to the heart of the history of Madagascar's fights for freedom.
In the 18th century, an African philosopher became a great advocate for slavery in Europe. For his doctorate degree in philosophy at the Univesity of Leiden in Holland, he defended a research titled "Political and theological dissertation about slavery, which is not contrary to Christian freedom".
Here are the trajectory, and the wanderings of Jacobus Eliza Capitein, enslaved african boy, who became philosopher, slave seller, pastor, businessmen and teacher
My African cliche of the day is a burden. The economic burden suffered by the African continent, because of all the struggles for independence. Historians often focus on the burden and impact that slavery imposed on Africa. What if we were to calculate the economic damage of all the independence fights and war ? what do you think should be taken into account ? What is the price of an African independence? It’s up to you to think about it, to think about your own willingness to pay for freedom.
The 18th century, or the age of lights, is certainly a great century, especially in terms of ideas and innovations.
What has been the role of Africans in this century full of upheavals?
The Sankofa attempts a response through the exploration of the life and works of Dr. Anton Wilhem Amo, aka, Amo "the Guinean", an African slave who became a great scholar in the 18th century Europe.
His remarkable works are more relevant than ever.
Welcome back in our series of trips to the ancient African states. Today, the flight of Sankofa lands in a territory limited to the North by the Sahara desert and to the south by the forest, between the upper Niger valley to Upper Senegal on the border with White Africa. The first major black empire to emerge in western Sudan, its hegemony lasted from the 4th to the 11th century AD.
Welcome to the Ghana empire, which was very different, and much larger than today's Ghana, which Kwame Nkrumah wanted to honor by choosing its name to baptize his country, the newly independent Gold coast
My African cliché of the day is a number. 1 billion. This will be the number of young people under 18 years old, on the African continent by 2050 according to the projections by the United Nations. Africa will then own 40% of the children on earth.
This number is described as a threat according to the chants of neo-Malthusianism such as the current French president. But this number is above all, an opportunity for Africa, because it represents the promise of millions of African fantastic inventors, entrepreneurs, farmers, musicians, historians, geeks and so and so... .
It’s up to you to tell me if they are, and to think about all the African geniuses who are already maker the continent happy and proud, who are honoring it around the world, such as Matthew Ncube, in London, a great friend of this podcast ; to think about those who are waiting to make their dreams come true, they will all bloom tomorrow before our eyes and deserve our support. And to you, to your own genius, which contributes in your way, to a standing and beautiful Africa. Beautiful like my 3 assistants of the day, Trevor-Jabali, Yele and Shola, they are, like millions of children here in the continent and across the planet , the inevitably magnificent future of Africa.
In the second half of the sixteenth century, with the expansion of highly profitable production of sugar cane in the large sugar cane plantations of North-East Brazil, the importation of slaves from Africa began. There will be several millions in the following three centuries to be subjected to inhuman conditions of life and work, the symbol of which is the flogging by a special whip, called the bacalhau; those who watched successful Brazilian TV series in Africa know what I am talking about. In these conditions, many slaves attempted, and sometimes succeeded, to flee. However, the hardest sometimes was not to flee, but rather not to be caught and brought back. While trying not to be caught, some of them created the first independent black republic in 1605.
Welcome aboard this Sankofa that is going to fly over the famous Republic of Palmarès
The episode earlier this week highlighted the numerous negative connotations that comes, in France with the word Noir, that translates into Black in French. One of the consequence maybe of that is that there is now a French tendency to avoid the word French "Noir" to designate a black skinned person in favor of the English term "black" This is well illustrated in a video put online in 2002 by the French association « Les Indivisibles » entitled "Do not be afraid of the Noir". For the purpose of this episode, I will continue use the french word Noir, to avoid confusions.
So our question dealt with today is whether France is afraid to say the French word NOIR
I wrote this short rap in french with french expressions that give a negative connotation to the word « Noir » which translate to Black or Dark in English depending on the context. I know in English, you have expressions such as black market, to blackmail, black sheep, but in French, there are so many of them that it becomes legitimate to ask whether they do not have a consequence on the perception of black skinned people in France. How did we get to such reality when it is well known that, from antiquity, black color was synonymous with ceremonial and prestige ?
My African cliché of the day is like a fabric. A fabric made of gossips and lies, a fabric that wraps most Africans migrating to the West, into an insulting category of trying to abuse the social benefits system whereever they live.
However, like Yasuke did before them, to surpass oneself in a foreign country, to defy isolation, xenophobia, prejudices, discrimination, and so and so , in order to reach their dreams, is a characteristic of the majority of the Africans scattered around the world !
I said majority of course, bacause, obviously, some people have abused the social safety nets in their adoption countries. But in any case, this marginal proportion shouldnt be used as an excuse, to insult the silent majority of migrants who is fighting everyday to make a living with honesty and dignity.
If today in Jamaica, the tornado of dance made in the USA, makes the legend Marley less alive, Africans still celebrate the one who defended and sung them so much. For African youth, Bob Marley has absolutely made it to the hall of fame of black icons such as Thomas Sankara, Nelson Mandela, or Malcom X. His African successors such as Alpha Blondy, Lucky Dube or Tiken Jah Fakoly, continue their way of fighting for peace and denouncing hypocrites governments from the North and the South.
Many works of Western literature retrace the exploits of magnificent military heroes. Reading them, well, I often questioned myself on the existence of exploits of African military heroes. Although post-independence African literature has paid great attention to the military phenomenon, it has had relatively little interest in the war itself. And speaking of the military, African writers have evoked the wicked more than the heroes. It is as if antagonism has developed between writers and the military, with the exception of liberation fighters in Northern and Southern Africa. Even a liberation poet like Dennis Brutus in South Africa has ambivalent feelings about "boots, bayonets and belts".
We can therefore ask ourselves two questions. Why are there so few literary works on military heroism in postcolonial Africa? And so why are there so many about their villainy?
My African cliche of the day is an answer to Thomas Jefferson.
To you who thought that blacks are a people without poetry, I would have liked to be there in 1784 to tell you that black Ethiopians wrote poems before your ancestors, in the British islands, learned from the Romans the Latin alphabet. And poetic tradition is so deeply rooted today among Kiswahili-speaking peoples in East Africa that newspapers receive letters and poems from readers almost daily.
You need to know Mr. Jefferson, that there is more than sadness and joy in African literature, more than tragedy and comedy. To paraphrase and complete the words of the excellent Sierra Leonese poet and diplomat, Davidson Abioseh Nicol:
You are not a country, Africa You are a concept [...]
You are not a concept, Africa You are a glimpse of the infinite.
Do you know the "African Brother" syndrome? It often happens when an African, in a minority context, meets another African, (in reality, anyone black-skinned is enough). Very often, these two people at least look at each other a little longer; sometimes they make a discreet sign of recognition, or even outright, begin to call each other, my brother or my sister, just before asking the fateful question, "So where are you from?
Welcome to a Sankofa journey to the heart of the provocative question "Who are the Africans?".
His country for which he took all the risks, stabbed him with a mortal wound in his heart, the most wicked wound. And he fought alone against death, until the last hour, in this infirmary of Bucharest in Romania.
Such a death is a betrayal, a denial of which Ghana and Africa as a whole were guilty, as put by a local journalist , in an article entitled "Nkrumah, the leader we never understood."
I take you today into the mazes of the abrasive history of Togo, this German colony that gained independence from France on April 27, 1960. Two days later, Sylvanus Olympio was elected as the first president of the Republic.
However, on January 13, 1963, he was assassinated during a military coup. Many saw the hand of French imperialism, that wanted to get rid of a president who wanted his total freedom from France, including his own national currency. But we may never know why and who has loosely decided the murder of Sylvanus Olympio, the first African president murdered by his own people, during his exercise of power after having freed his country from colonizers.
The flight of Sankofa this day lands so in Dakar, Senegal, where we arrive on this 22 April, in the middle of the first ever World Negro Arts Festival. Neighborhoods have been cleaned, hotels have been built, a dynamic museum has even been set up to accommodate what must be the pan-African meeting.
So welcome, take your pass and follow me in the alleys of the festival, which wants the reconquest of the dignity of black people.
Quite a program !
It took quite some time for Western researchers to finally accept evidence that these monumental ruins are of, and constitute a unique testimony to the highly developed Shona civilization in the african Middle Age.
My African cliché of the day is an exhortation, for all African tourists and the diaspora, so they take the same pleasure to visit and marvel at sites like that of Great Zimbabwe, as well as the Palace of Versailles or the wonders of the British Museum, or the Aztec ruins.
What if you were asked to rename certain African countries? thoseAfrican cities that still carry, their colonial names.. It is as if France was to bear a name chosen under German occupation during the second World war.
The small village of N'Tamo for example, renamed Brazzaville by explorer Savorgnan de Brazza, has never recovered its original name. Fortunately, its twin city on the other side of the river, recovered its real name Kinshasa (originally Nshasha) erasing from the maps, Leopoldville, which paid tribute to Leopold the secong King of Belgium, a man who never stepped his foot in Congo, but whose abuses there, have horrified his own people.
My African cliché of the day is a huge frustration. That of Dulcie's families and companions, for whom it must be so difficult to believe that no one on this planet will have managed to condemn even one evil person in this affair! I confess that I hesitate to believe that everything has been done in order to render justice to Dulcie the courageous, whose life even after being taken, has managed to thwart the interests of those who have slaughtered her cowardly.
Welcome to a new Sankofa flight that lands in the Ndongo kingdom, roughly 16th century Angola. We are going on an official visit to her Excellency, Queen Nzinga Mbandi Queen of Ndongo and Matamba, a fine diplomat, a skilled negotiator and formidable strategist, a remarkable example of women's governance, who opposed tenacious resistance to the Portuguese colonial projects and until his death in 1663, marking the history of 17th century Angola.
We are landing here in Sharpeville on a bad day, one of those days when it's not so good to be black around here. So, I advise all black-skinned people on board, to check their Pass, these identity documents, these kinds of passports used within the South African territory, which are imposed by the apartheid regime, to limit and control the movements of black people. On this day of March 21, 1960, there is a demonstration against the Pass system, an event that got brutally repressed by the police.
Get ready for a dive into the absurdity and violence of this brutal, racist and yet supported or at least tolerated for a long time by many foreign powers in the name of their economic interests.
My African cliché of the day is a reproach. To my history teacher, at whom I might be a little upset, for not having printed in my child's head, the need, the power and the importance of dreams and pursuing them. I am convinced that talking to schoolchildren about this ancestor who renounced the wealth and prestige of a king, to pursue his dream, can only do good to them especially at that young age. Would it prevent these schoolchildren, once they became heads of state, from clinging to power?
My African cliché of the day is a mark of admiration, for the people of Namibia, this beautiful country, which suffered from an unknown genocide but which enjoys a good stability as much political as economic. My admiration for being the first in the world to put the protection of the environment in its constitution, and to have the involvement of local tribes, one of the major axes of its policy, through a system fair distribution of profits from tourism
My African cliché of the day is a sentence, which repeats that X y Z colonial power has given independence to a particular colony". In the light of the history of independence, this group of words makes no sense, and without the courageous fight dof the colonized peoples, no colonial power would have left by itself. It's time to ban this type of sentence that continue to silently deny History. What do you think of this almost definitive cliché of mine? Yes, I'm waiting for yours, on our common history, and I'll see you again tomorrow aboard the Sankofa. Thank you !
My African cliche of the day is a perplexed look. In the 14th century, Mansa Musa had already understood the importance of education, and worked to make his empire a world reference point in education. Is it not terible that nowadays, African governments seem so little concerned about the quality of programs and schools? Many African capitals shine by the growing number of illegal private schools and poorly funded public schools, trapping smart but desperate students’s futures. I am really perplexed, and as says the quote in Cote d’ivoire, « guys, from Mansa Musa to our current leaders, where di dit go wrong ?
Up to you to think about this, about your own clichés on education in Africa today, about the future of our brothers and sisters in Comoros, and elsewhere in our Africa continent. And I hope to see you tomorrow for new features of African histoiry and present. Thank you
My African cliche of today is a challenge on some of your books, prof. Your novel title "Letter to Jimmy" dedicated in 2007 to the American writer James Baldwin, and then your translation from English to French, of the book "Beasts of no nation " written by the young prodigy of Nigerian-American literature, Uzodinma Iweala
These 2 works where you made the link between what I would call "the two types of blacks, not two nuances of black, but the two ways to be black in the eyes of the West/
- first, the black, American, thats the cool black, who can say without fear of being ogled "I do not speak French well"
- And then, the other black, black African, a bit basic as black, who tries to speak academic French, but stands no chance to actually being reconized for it.
So here is the challenge for you, you who disserted about the " black Parisian " , could you tell me, Is a black person different whether he lives like you in Santa Monica, or in Asmara or anywhere else in Africa ? how exactly is it different? What about you, dear listeners, what do you say? What are your own clichés on French-speaking African literature? See you tomorrow for new adventures onboard the Sankofa.
My African cliche of the day is a word, the word controversy, which comes up very often, too often, when it comes to African history, on the pretext that it has been transmitted by oral tradition. This often disqualifies whole sections of the history of the continent.
Controversy? Listen, When Francisco Pizarro in 1532 massacred Atahualpa and 20.000 Inca the 13th and last Inca emperor, to seize their gold on behalf of Spain, he is said to have needed exactly 180 men and 37 horses. Not 200 men, and not 38 or 39 horses ... Another example, stories about the life of Attila, leader of the famous Huns, nicknamed the scourge of God, died in the year 453 of a bleeding nose during his wedding night, it is certain? and better still, Alexander the Great, who is reported to have married in one go, 10,000 of these Macedonian soldiers to women of the kingdoms that he conquered , and died after seeing all his soldiers parade one by one in front of him! ! seriously, guys, everything really happened exactly like that? Are we certain? There is no controversy? It’s up to you to think about it; to reflect on your own clichés, about our African continent. See you next week, Thank you and Have good weekend !
The Manden Charter (also called the Charter of Kouroukan Foura) is a declaration of human rights with universal value that was proclaimed in 1222. It is attributed to a group of malinke hunters, that used to be a traditional and initiatory African society. It was passed on by oral tradition and transcribed by the anthropologist and historian Youssouf Tata Cissé in the 1960s. The declaration is said to have officially been proclaimed in Mali in 1236, coinciding with the accession to power of the emperor Soundiata Keita, who founded the Mali empire, and whose successor is the famous Mansa Moussa; whom we will visit in the future flights of the Sankofa bird.
Neo-conservative historians, including the French Francis Simonis, have negated the charter’s authenticity. Yet, in 2009, UNESCO declared it intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
My African cliché of the day is a question: an African society/people proclaimed this declaration many centuries before the acknowledgement of values that the West now defends (at least as long as there are none of their financial interests involved). How could the same people be treated as savage; primitive, uncivilized and ignorant? Is it because the declaration is too problematic in the eyes of those that want to prove intellectual and moral inferiority of Africans and their descendants that allegedly are so attached to slavery?
It is common to hear that Africa emerged from darkness thanks to colonization. So, the question for us, is “What exactly was there in Africa before the Berlin Conference covered in episode 1?
To answer this question, The Sankofa, announces today a long, yet exceptional journey, over several centuries with regular stops, from ancient Sudan to medieval Zimbabwe, to visit great empires, big cities and great cultures. We will go on a diplomatic mission to visit proud and powerful stateswomen and men, such as Sayyida Al Hurra, Labotsibeni Mdluli, Fatima Soudi bint Abderremane, Taitu Betul, The Kahena, Chaka King of the Zulus, the great Mansa Musa, Sonni Ali the Great, and obviously King Behanzin!
"There was no miracle, just good economic policies".
This sentence from a former minister of finance, sums up this success, which sweeps the pessimism displayed by English economist James Meade before independence, who then thought that the absence of natural resources apart from sugar, combined with a galloping population and unemployment, fueling communal tensions in an unequal society, condemned the British colony to failure. Fifty years later, another Economy Nobel Prize winner, Joseph Stiglitz, suggests to the United States to take inspiration from the miraculous fate of the island.
In the fight for Freedom, many countries had to compromise with the colonization powers on parts of their territories; For Morocco, independence was never total; since 2 islands remain with Spain until today. And those " Exiled" islands are now facing the tragic destiny of watching their own kids die trying to reach the same Spain.... Drama
Extraordinary woman. Probably one of the most known kenyan women. Her name rimes with number 1 in every aspect of her life. Won peace Nobel prize several other prizes and recognitions.
After the longest Joburg-London-Joburg trip ever, which lasted 200 years! Sarah, young South African exhibited in a Zoos in London and Paris; Died in Paris and now resting in peace at home. RIP Sarah
The Kongo's "Jeanne D'Arc" caused the inquisition, a great deal of worry, she who freed the pride of the black identify and carried an emancipatory faith on a continent in prey of oppression
All her life, Mariama BA has tried to reconcile her culture, religion and openness to other cultural horizons. Rooting and opening have thus constituted the two sometimes conflictual poles of her itinerary marked with asperities.
Zenzile Miriam Makeba, was born on March 4, 1932 in Jo'Burg, South Africa, and dead on November 10, 2008, was a famous South African Grammy award singer
Learn about the Egyptians' people fight against colonial powers and the coup against the King that revealed Gamal Abdel Nasser
In 1990, Benin Republic was facing an economic and ideological and political crisis, after 27 years of a brutal dictatorship by Président Mathieu Kerekou. When the risk of civil war at a peak, the Benin people, despite the tension, arranged a national inclusive consultation that led to the negotiations of a peaceful resolution and transition. Benin then invented the principle of a national conference that would be replicated in multiple countries in the francophone region, with more or less success. Learn more about a conference which changed the destiny of the country and set a historical example of diplomatic finesse of Africans.
On this day in 1885, the final act of the Berlin Conference was signed by European countries. It divided Africa like an apple pie, with no African at the table. While many countries got their share, the biggest winner of the conference was Leopold II, king of Belgium. This day marks the start of the systematic exploitation of colonies by the European masters.
A family podcast to share between generations the history of Africa and its implications for the world today.
We embark on short SANKOFA flights which take us to revisit the wonderful and powerful history of the African continent, Africans and Afro-descendants from around the world.
Get on board and let's travel, let's learn about Africa. let's love this continent and let's make it proud!