In the Grandiose Parlor…

Hat-tip to Ndesanjo for the blog round-up on slavery and reparations. What the round-up left out are the conversations on Naijablog and Modal Minority (and other blogs) that discussed the interruption of the commemorative service marking the 200th anniversary of end of slavery in London by Toyin Agbetu, a human rights activist and founder of Ligali – an “African Human Rights Organisation that challenge the misrepresentation of African people and culture in the British media”.

Toyin Agbetu did challenge the misrepresentation, or better still, the mistreatment of Africans that were forcefully seized and sold into slavery by stopping the commemorative ceremony and asking the British Prime Minister and the Queen to apologize for the misdeed of their ancestors.

“We, who are the heirs of the slave-owning and slave-trading nations of the past, have to face the fact that our historic prosperity was built in large part on this atrocity. Those who are the heirs of the communities ravaged by the slave trade know very well that much of their present suffering and struggling is the result of centuries of abuse.” — Toyin Agbetu.

While there is a lot of sense in Mr Agbetu’s statement above, I doubt if his action can be seen in that regard. Short of the obvious gusto and effrontery Toyin displayed, his two-minutes of fame at the Abbey is a perfect reflection of the classic radical idiosyncrasies – which unfortunately have come to characterize the attitudes of several human rights activists worldwide – activism devoid of meaningful and actionable objectives. Thank goodness for freedom of speech.
Toyin’s bravado is not really the subject of this post; the sleuth of postings on slavery and reparation covered in Ndesanjo’ round-up is.

Given the current state of the African continent – where sadist rulers ( I dare not call them leaders) and usurpers like Bob Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan, and Yahya Jammeh of Gambia abound in dozens; where man-created tragedies have become the order of the day; a region that appears hell-bent on regressing and incapable of frog-leaping technologically even if it means playing ‘copycats’ of other regions that have done so – I wonder if there’s much sense in discussing an event that has little of no relevance to our collective future.

Well, maybe if Africa and Africans are restituted for slavery via reparations. Reparations for an event long-gone African tribal and war lords helped facilitate. Yet some are talking of reparations that will help cement the hold of shortsighted elites that have held Africa in bondage for decades. Very absurd! Africa needs to look forward, not backwards!!!