A statue of freedom fighter John Chilembwe, christened Antelope, has been shortlisted for the honour of being erected in Trafalgar Square in London, United Kingdom (UK).

Done by Professor Samson Kambalu, a Malawian based in Oxford, UK, the statue is in the race to occupy the Fourth Plinth of the historical site earmarked to bring contemporary art and debate to millions.

Made up of two figures, the bronze statue reminds people, especially Malawians, of their colonial history.

“It is based on the last known photograph taken of John Chilembwe from 1914, months before his death by colonial police following a failed uprising in 1915.

“Chilembwe is the towering ghostly figure while his friend, the British missionary John Chorley is the life size figure. Both men wear hats in defiance of the colonial law that forbade Africans from wearing hats in front of white people,” said Kambalu in an interview.

On the inspiration behind the statue, he expressed belief that that is how Chilembwe would have wanted it to be.

“I think that’s how Chilembwe would have wanted it for this particular event, built around the hat. He distributed the photograph widely before going to his death,” said Kambalu.

The statue also shows Chilembwe carrying a book, while Chorley holds reading glasses, both behind them.

Said Kambalu: “The statue, like the photograph, is performative. The two figures tango for recognition on the plinth, due to their disproportionate sizes, like a film vignette or some esoteric dance.”

He said the name antelope is derived from the meaning of Chilembwe in English.

“Chilembwe always had international partners for his cause, from his early mentor Joseph Booth, to his various connections with the Black American churches and missionaries such as Rev. Landon N. Cheek and Emma B. DeLany. Plus, he was a cosmopolitan, a mzinda minister. And you know, the antelope has four legs and dances round and round,” said Kambalu.

For the statue to be at Trafalgar Square, a public vote currently underway will decide.

However, Kambalu did not express how he looks at his chances of making it considering that not many Malawians have access to the Internet.

“Well, fingers crossed,” he said.

According to the Mayor of London’s website, www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/arts-and-culture/current-culture-projects/fourth-plinth-trafalgar-square/your-fourth-plinth-vote, voting closes on June 16.

“Six of the world’s most exciting contemporary artists present their ideas for the next fourth Plinth commissions in 2022 and 2024.

“You can also see the models of each artist’s ideas at the National Gallery from May 24 until July 4. It is free to visit the Fourth Plinth Shortlist Exhibition,” reads the website.

Source

Africans all over the world  celebrated Africa Day. The Day was first observed in 1963 in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa when 32 African countries formed the Organisation of Africa Unity (OAU). Since then, 21 more countries have joined the OAU. South Africa was the last to join in 1994 after the end of Apartheid.

The original mission of the OAU was to help ensure freedom in African countries that were still under colonial rule in the 1960s, uphold their human rights and defend their sovereignty. The OAU would in 2002 become the African Union (AU), which to date supports political and economic integration among its 54 member nations.

Africa Day, which is widely commemorated on May 25, is a national holiday in some countries. This year’s celebration comes amid new challenges including the Covid-19 pandemic. The Day is on the theme: Arts, Culture And Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want.

Africa Day, which is widely commemorated on May 25, is a national holiday in some countries. This year’s celebration comes amid new challenges including the Covid-19 pandemic. The Day is on the theme: Arts, Culture And Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want.

To celebrate Africa Day, here are seven interesting facts about Africa you should know.

Africa is not a country

You probably know this, but it must be repeated — Africa is not a country. To those who think Africa has similar histories, cultures and challenges, kindly note that the continent is made up of 54 sovereign states (plus the disputed territory of Western Sahara) that are diverse culturally and geographically.

Africa is not all about famine and poverty

It is documented that about 40% of the continent’s people live on less than $1.90 a day, but things have been improving. In 2011, it was found that one in three Africans is now middle class. Researchers discovered that record numbers of people in Africa own cars, houses, send their kids to private schools and foreign universities while using mobile phones and the internet. “There is a middle class that is driven by specific factors such as education and we should change our view and work with this group to create a new Africa and make sure Africa realises its full potential,” Mthuli Ncube of the African Development Bank said at the time.

In fact, six of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world are African — Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Benin. In 2015, Ethiopia was the world’s fastest-growing economy. The country’s real GDP grew by 10.2%, IMF said.

And if you thought the region was all savannah and wild animals, please take note that Africa has gorgeous cities, historic ancient sites, and beautiful beaches as well.

Every African country has English, Portuguese, French or Arabic as one of their official languages, except Ethiopia

Over 25% of the world’s languages are spoken only in Africa. Around 2,000 languages are in use in the continent. Europe colonized all of Africa except Ethiopia and Liberia. After those colonized gained their independence, they still kept the language of their colonizer as one of their official languages. At the time, Liberia, having been founded by African-American settlers in 1847, already had English as its official language. Ethiopia was not colonized, though it was briefly conquered by Italy ahead of World War II. Thus, to date, its official language is Amharic. Many students however study English as a foreign language in school. Curiously, more people speak French in Africa than those in France do.

The earliest stages of human evolution are believed to have begun in Africa

This was about seven million years ago as a population of African apes evolved into three different species: gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans. From prehistoric Africa, humans would spread to populate much of the world by 10,000 B.C.E. Then came some of the world’s first great kingdoms, with the most famous being Egypt, which existed from roughly 3,150 to 332 B.C.E. Other ancient kingdoms were Carthage in Tunisia, Axum in Ethiopia, and Kush-Meroe in present-day Sudan, all of which lasted for many years. Kingdoms of Mali (c.1230-1600) and Great Zimbabwe (c. 1200-1450), which were involved in intercontinental trade, became famous for being wealthy states. Before European colonization, all of the above states, apart from being powerful, prospered in Africa.

Africa’s population will triple by the end of the century

Even as the world shrinks by the end of the century, Africa’s population will triple in the same period. A Lancet report says that Nigeria, already Africa’s most populous country, will see an expected population of 790.7 million by 2100. Nigeria will become the second biggest country globally by 2100, behind only India. Other countries in Africa are expected to have populations higher than 100 million by 2100, including Niger and Chad. The expected population growth will be due to Africa’s young population and the current high fertility rates across the region, the report says. It has already been reported that over 50% of Africans are under the age of 20, compared to a global median age of 30. By the year 2100, 40% of the global population will be African.

South Africa produces almost half of all the gold mined in Africa

South Africa is well known for its rich deposits of gold, a majority of which comes from the Witwatersrand Basin, which hosts the largest known gold repository on Earth. It is estimated that 40 to 50 percent of all the world’s gold ever mined has come from Witwatersrand. The Witwatersrand Basin is an underground geological formation that was then “the floor of a prehistoric sea where rivers deposited their sediments, forming gold and other minerals.”

A small town in Kenya is where the best distance runners in the world are trained

In Western Kenya near the Rift Valley is Iten, a small Kenyan town which is now a mecca for runners from around the world. Thousands come from around the world to train and be discovered in the town that it’s known as “the city of champions.” Some of the world champions from the community include Eliud Kipchoge, who is referred to as “the greatest marathoner of the modern era”; Wilson Kipsang, who has run under 2 hours 4 minutes for the marathon on four separate occasions; and Vivian Cheruiyot, who won the 2018 London Marathon. An increasing number of international top athletes like British Olympic champion Mo Farah have traveled to train in the Rift Valley.

Follow Us on Instagram Source

Although Africa continues to face challenges like the pandemic, terrorism, and poverty, the Biden administration understands that “we need to focus on the opportunities” in working with the continent, said US Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

Thomas-Greenfield spoke about US President Joe Biden’s outlook on Africa with Ambassador Rama Yade, director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center, at an event celebrating Africa Day and introducing the Africa Center’s new team and mission. She added that while Africa hosts many of the world’s fastest-growing economies, COVID-19 has caused an alarming crisis.

“In order for those countries to come back, they need to diversify their economies, they need to rebuild their capacity, and they need to harness the extraordinary opportunity that their youth provide for them,” Thomas-Greenfield said. It will be important to encourage that young population, she added, as they can help “build this continent into a place that we can all be proud of being a part of.”

So where should US foreign policy on Africa begin? Here are key takeaways from the conversation.

Where there’s success—and where there’s concern

• Thomas-Greenfield singled out Liberia for its transformation after civil wars that, together, lasted from 1989 to 2003 and killed up to 250,000 people: “Liberia eventually came out of that war electing the first woman ever to be elected a president on the continent of Africa… and she came with a firm commitment to helping Liberia become normal again and helping children find a future that was not marred by the sound of gunfire.” Thomas-Greenfield, who served as US ambassador to Liberia from 2008 to 2012, recalled her experience working with then-Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on that rebuilding effort.

• Ethiopia had been considered “on the rise” under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, which makes the crisis in Tigray “extraordinarily disappointing,” Thomas-Greenfield said. She maintained that the United States has “been engaged diplomatically—and aggressively diplomatically” in Ethiopia, including by sending Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) to secure commitments from Abiy to address the crisis in March. She noted that while “some of those commitments were honored; others were not,” like one requiring Eritrean troops who had committed atrocities to leave Tigray. Those troops entered the region in November after Abiy sent Ethiopian forces there. The US State Department also recently announced restrictions on US economic and security assistance to Ethiopia, plus visa restrictions for some Ethiopian and Eritrean government officials and security-force members.

• The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), beset by violence, displacement, disease, and poverty, is an overlooked humanitarian crisis, Thomas-Greenfield said. In May, the Allied Democratic Forces militia attacked the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC, killing one Malawian peacekeeper. She added that the United States will need “to impress upon [DRC leaders] the importance of how they should address the needs of the people of the DRC.”

Reaching across the Atlantic

• Marking the anniversary of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, Thomas-Greenfield said the event “was traumatizing” to African Americans and even resonated across the Atlantic Ocean. “For the first time, I actually heard African countries and African leaders issue statements on” what happened to Floyd, after she had previously wondered “where were the voices of Africans when events taking place in the United States were affecting their descendants in this country.”

• But US strife can also serve as a model of resilience, Thomas-Greenfield said. The January 6 riots at the US Capitol “showed our imperfections for the entire world to see” but also proved that the United States’ “strong institutions can stand against any attack.” While Africans have already “affirmed that democracy is the best way forward for the continent,” Thomas-Greenfield noted that leadership is lacking. “Leadership that is committed to the people: That’s something that is a work in progress across the continent.”

• Thomas-Greenfield said that there is a missed opportunity between the African diaspora community and those who live in Africa “to really harness our relationships [and] to empower each other.” She added that there are African Americans who feel a close emotional connection to Africa, but they don’t always feel as though Africans share that connection. “I think the next step… is for the African continent to fully embrace their relatives in the United States,” she advised.

Katherine Walla is assistant director of editorial at the Atlantic Council.

Further reading

Related Experts: Rama Yade and Katherine Walla

Image: New US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, holds a news conference to mark the start of the US presidency of the UN Security Council for March, at UN headquarters in New York on March 1, 2021. Photo via REUTERS/Mike Segar.

Source