REPORT: African Voices Forum launch and UNESCO day, August 23 2008

Moving Beyond the Legacy of Slavery and Slave Trade    

“This is a national day and I could have been anywhere and so it is a great honour and privilege to be here under this great photo of Malcolm X, an extraordinary guy. I wonder what Malcolm X would make of a world now where we could be, we could be just a few months away from having a Blackman in the White House as president of the United States of America (thunderous applause)”, This was the way Parmjit Dhanda, Labour MP for Gloucester, and Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government opened his presentation as Honorary Guest Speaker at the Malcolm X community centre in Bristol where he officially launched the African Voices Forum (AVF) as part of the UNESCO day August 23 commemoration. 

The minister, a British-born of Indian origin, said it is indeed quite something to have a black man in the White House just after 200 years after the abolition of the slave trade. But he asked rhetorically whether slavery is really dead as he said it is still with us in many respects, and in many respects it is still in our minds. He recalled when he first became MP a local newspaper column said the people of Gloucester would not accept a foreigner as their local MP.

“I remember when I was first elected MP and walked into the House of Commons …a security guy looked at me and said ‘my goodness! What the hell you think you are doing here?’ I just took out my green and white badge which means I am a member of the British Parliament and the shock on his face! I nearly used a line from an Eddie Murphy movie, I nearly said ‘on your worst nightmare with a Blackman with a badge’ but I didn’t say that” , said Dhanda, amidst thunderous applause.

He said the day “is a great occasion across the country particularly in the port cities that earned most of their wealth on the back of the slave trade” He expressed satisfaction  that there is now increasing awareness of the legacy of slavery especially now that the teaching of slavery in all primary schools is expected to start this autumn. “There is however still a lot of work to be done but I believe that with more determination we can bring about the required change, yes we can”, the minister said. 

In his welcome address earlier, AVF Chair Abu Sheriff said it is a long way that we have come to make this a reality. He said all African people have always wanted to be one people, to speak with one voice, and if possible eat from the same bowl. “This is the kind of atmosphere we want to create; this is the kind of organisation we have put together so that what we call in our own way community cohesion there is nothing better than asking our people to come together to share our culture, our values and those things that we have in common on a day like this that UNESCO declares as a day of emancipation”.

Paul Stephenson, chair of the Bristol Legacy Commission that funded the event said it is nice to be at such a historical occasion with the African Voices Forum “launching today because it is a day that UNESCO has set aside as a special day in the life of Africa and the remembering of slavery and the abolition marking the anniversary of the famous slave revolt in the island of Santo Domingo.

In his Memorial Lecture on the topic ‘Resistance, emancipation, and moving beyond the legacy of enslavement’ community activist Dr William Lez Henry said those who have read Walter Rodney’s ‘How Europe underdeveloped Africa’ should know that Europeans enslaved Africans purely for economic reasons. “There would have been no new world without cheap African labour provided by the slave trade. The shackling of the African slaves was clearly informed by racism. This was what slavery was all about. The power of the master must be absolute to render the submission of the slave first. You remember what the minister said a while ago about how people are still being enslaved here in the mind; yes it is true that people here find it very difficult to believe that guys like Dr Ibrahim and I can qualify and have PhDs or become MPs”, said Dr Henry, author of ‘Whiteness Made Simple’.

The memorial lecturer called for the unshackling of the mind “to finally put the racist legacy of slavery behind us”. He lamented that Africans are sometimes to blame; he recalled when some school children in Barbados were asked to explain how they got there, they said they did not know. “Malcolm X said they colonised our mind, our inner life at the same time they colonised our society. I think it would have been better if what actually happened to the African people is actually told, accepted and acknowledged word for word.” He said the teaching of slavery in schools will be a complete waste of time if they (children—black/white) are not taught what African slave labour contributed to the advancement of Europe and the North America’s. “We should remember that African slaves transported across the Atlantic to the New World were shackled slaves, and I can say for sure that what happened to Africans during this inhuman trade is absolutely different from any other form of slavery that came before or after, and that is the legacy we are talking about today”.

Cllr Peter Hammond, Deputy leader of the Bristol City Council and Cabinet Member for Cohesion and Raising Achievement  opened his civic presentation by congratulating members of the African Voices Forum for the pace and efficiency in putting it together since the African Voices conference in March, “in particular my friend Ibrahim who has worked tirelessly to make this happen.” Praising the Dr Lez Henry’s memorial lecture for his down to heart and balanced analysis, Cllr Hammond said he agrees with his view that mental slavery is the worst legacy of the slave trade. “By celebrating today as the UNESCO slavery remembrance day we are not only recognising the government’s initiative but in fact we are recognising the commitment the Council made in December 2006 to recognise the abolition of slavery. The Councillor said Africans have a proud history and are proud people, adding that the history of slavery is very much linked to the history of colonialism and imperialism in Africa. He said that for instance what is happening currently in Zimbabwe is the result of “slavery, colonialism and imperialism, and indeed the failure of successive British governments to recognise this (thunderous applause)”.

He stressed that for both the Bristol Legacy Commission and for Bristol City Council, August 23rd 2008 is another great opportunity for all communities in Bristol to take part in the continuing dialogue about Community and Equality. “Bristol was already committed to marking the event before it was made a national focus. We feel that the revolutionaries of that day should be celebrated – it is a history of struggle, revolution, and ultimately of the triumph of the human spirit.” said Cllr Hammond, who has a Zimbabwean wife. .. “We at the City Council  are looking forward to developing  dialogue –a rightful dialogue— with the African Voices Forum as the rightful voice of African communities in Bristol”, he concluded.

In his presentation, AVF Secretary General Dr Ibrahim Seaga Shaw said “ the tying of the official launch of the African Voices Forum with the UNESCO Slavery Remembrance Day is symbolic in a way since the forum will be more or less focusing on ‘moving beyond the legacy of enslavement’ which forms an integral part of the memorial lecture delivered few minutes ago.” This he said includes combating mental slavery, racism, xenophobia, and above all empowering African and African-Caribbean communities to reach their full potential. “The timing of the official launch of the forum is right as we hope to use it to raise its profile and boost membership recruitment, and at the same time celebrate the resistance that our fore-fathers put up against slavery and the slave trade”.

The historic Santo Domingo (an Island in modern Haiti and Dominican Republic) revolt on 23rd August 1791 marked the first decisive victory of slaves against their oppressors. The revolt was crucial in the fight against slavery. UNESCO chose this date as a reminder that enslaved Africans were the main agents of their own liberation. “This debunks the humanitarian argument often advanced by mainstream historians that the abolition movement led by church leaders and liberal politicians largely accounted for the victory over slavery and the slave trade,” said Dr Seaga Shaw, also a University of the West of England Research Fellow in politics and journalism. 

The event was punctuated with light entertainment such as poetry, dance and musical performances by well known artists from diverse African and African-Caribbean communities such as Celestine Walcott-Gordon (Jamaica), Bunny Mack (Sierra Leone), Gogo Arts (Zimbabwe), Akumapa (Ghana), and Zigou Dam (Cameroon). There were also community stalls promoting the services and businesses of local African and African-Caribbean groups, and other organisations, such as advice, signposting, arts, crafts & clothing etc. Popular radio presenters Marvin Rees and Hilary Banks, also Vice Chair of the AVF,  ran the show of the day. The event opened with a traditional pouring of libation at the entrance of the hall by Pax Productions Managing Director David Dravie-John. 

This event, which attracted about 300 guests, was an ideal opportunity for socialising, networking, and sharing some of the elegant cuisine from different African countries and Caribbean Islands participating in the African community food feast. First, second, and third prizes of the poetry competition depicting the theme of the Memorial lecture: Resistance to, and emancipation from, slavery, were presented to deserving winners Lipton Lindsay, Steven Watts, and Lynsey Ruth Mansfield, respectively by Cllr Jon Rogers of the Bristol City Council.

The forum is a Bristol-based network of African and African-Caribbean community associations/organisations, other community organisations working to empower Africans and African-Caribbeans to take active part in policies and initiatives that concern them, as well as other organisations that share and support the forum’s values, principles and objectives. It was set up on 18th March 2008 by African and African-Caribbean community groups following their participation in the African Voices Conference organised at the Bristol City Council on 1st March jointly by them and the Bristol-based social justice organisation, African Initiatives.  

The forum’s aims include providing support services to its members; set up a data base of African experts; promote Africa in the curriculum, and African voices in schools etc; foster links among its members and others; and represent its constituency locally, nationally and internationally. “We must build on the progress we have made so far and continue to work hard otherwise we will remain relegated to that downtrodden league of ‘irrelevant minority’,” said AVF Chair Abu Sheriff.

The forum’s event was part of four activities that took place on the same day as part of the commemoration of the UNESCO Day. In Bristol, in June 2008, a new Bristol Legacy Commission (supported by Bristol City Council) was set up to build on the successes of Abolition 200 and oversee a three year programme of work. The events on that day (August 23) were part of that work.