Words cannot quite express my sadness at the loss of Africa’s greatest man, and probably one of the world’s greatest icon:Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. Just to think that this man spent27 years in jailso that we, Black people, could have rights, could have freedom, could be free to love, live, and work, is beyond amazing! Yes… almost 3 decades, and more, since he did not really lead a ‘true’ family life because he spent most of his time pursuing his cause for the freedom of Blacks in South Africa. What tribute could I possibly give for a man who spent most of his life fighting so that I, a Black child, could walk free in South Africaafter our land was taken by the Boer invader, and we were beaten under oppressive laws?What could I possibly say for a man who epitomizes true leadership, statesmanship, democracy, humility, and love… love in the face of so much hate. Because, for Nelson Mandela to make it, there were those likeSteve BikoorChris Haniwho were killed by the apartheid system. I would just like to say farewell Madiba… for you, I am a proud African child… Farewell Father Mandela, for you, I can roam the streets of South Africa free… Farewell Nelson, for you, I am free… because of you, I am a proud Black child, for you I am a proud African!
Nelson Mandela raising the freedom fist
I live you with one of his quotes: “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”Madiba, you have truly changed my life, and that of millions around the globe! The world is a better place because you stepped on it! So long… Madiba!
Is it possible to talk about Congolese music without mentioning ‘Le Seigneur’ Rochereau (Lord Rochereau)? Is it possible to talk about Africans performing at the great Olympia hall in Paris, without mentioning the first African ever to have performed there? Is it possible to talk about Rumba, without talking about the impact Tabu Ley Rochereau had on Congolese, and therefore African music?
Tabu Ley Rochereau & M’bilia Bel in ‘Loyenghe’
I remember listening to his love ballads ‘Pitié’ on the radio, while growing up. I remember watching the gorgeous M’bilia Bel singing with Tabu Ley Rochereau. Well, Tabu Ley Rochereau was one of those rare artists who have written/composed/performed/produced over 3,000 songs, and have more than 250albums in his repertoire. He is one of the few who could claim to have influenced entire generations both in music and in politics as he later became vice-governor of Kinshasa. Just listening to the interviews of the likes of Koffi Olomide, Lokua Kanza, M’Bilia Bel, Papa Wemba, tells us a lot about him. When asked about the impact of Tabu Ley Rochereau on Couleurs Tropicales, Lokua Kanza (one of my favorites) replied: “Just like an American child can say that Nat King Cole rocked his childhood, Tabu Ley Rochereau rocked mine (Lokua’s),” and that of most Congolese children. That was the impact of ‘Le Seigneur Rochereau’.
Tabu Ley Rochereau & The African Fiesta National
As Kinshasa, Congo, and Africa mourns Tabu Ley Rochereau, we will remember ‘Le Seigneur Rochereau’ by dancing and singing to his great tunes. We will celebrate his life (Rochereau even wrote the song ‘Mokolo Nakokufa’ (the day of my death) a bit like Mozart composed Requiem) and influence on all of our lives (even when he stood against Mobutu with the title ‘Trop c’est Trop’). Tabu Ley was a uniter (when Kenya banned Congolese music, he sang ‘Twende Nairobi’ with M’Bilia Bel), a decider, a crooner, a lover, an activist, a melodist, but above all, Tabu Ley Rochereau was a baobab! Listen to ‘Pitié’ below, and do not forget to read these really good articles on his life on Philly.com, AFP, RFI Musique, and the best on Radio Okapi.
On August 8th, 1914, a proclamation signed by Governor Karl Ebermaier was posted on all the principal places of the town of Douala, stating:
“People of Douala, I am here to announce thatManga (Rudolf) Bellis condemned today to death by hanging because he has betrayed the Kaiser and the empire.”
That same day, at 5PM (17:00) in the evening, the respondent was executed by hanging, with his relative and secretary Ngosso Din.
The official statement from the governor stating the charges incriminating the Bell king, continues as follows:
Adolf Ngoso Din, Assistant to Rudolf Manga Bell
“He [Manga Bell] admitted, at the last minute, that he had been led by the fear of revenge from his countrymen, from those whom you know, who, by fear, secretly remain in the background, those who brood poison and seduce the people. May the blood of Manga fall back on those who led him on the path of crime! He who does not want to become a traitor, like Duala Manga and his aids, should pull away from his seducers, who secretly remain in the background preparing poison! Whoever has fair intentions will be welcome. The government of Kaiser will always be just and grateful to the loyal aids and loyal subjects.
What we deplore is the result of machinations carried by these of men of darkness who – the governor says – have always been at work to excite the people, to maintain it in terror with their poisons and kept under the yoke to their benefit. T ear yourself from them and you will be happy. Manga himself, in his last hour, prayed his people that with his death, loyalty to the Kaiser and obedience towards the government may return into the heart of the Douala people.”
The translation to English is offered to you here by Dr. Y., www.afrolegends.com. You can find the original published in French by the Cameroonian Quotidien Mutations on Bonaberi.com. Don’t forget to read the article by Suzanne Kala-Lobé on NjanguiPress.com.
Today, I would like to talk about one of the heroes of Cameroonian history, Rudolf Douala Manga Bell, who stood against the Germans in the 1910s in Kamerun. His courage, and strong determination earned him the right of martyr and hero in the history of the Douala (or Duala) people, and thus of Cameroon.
Rudolf Douala Manga Bell was born in 1872, and studied in Cameroontown (modern-day Douala). He was the first son of King Manga Ndumbe Bell, of the Douala people. After completing his primary education and part of his secondary school in Cameroon, he went to study at the Lycée of Aalen in Bonn (Germany) finishing secondary school. He later went on to study law at the university there.
Kamerun (German Cameroon)
Manga Bell married Emily Engome Dayas, the daughter of an English trader and a Douala woman after his return home in 1896. He also became a civil servant. On 2 September 1908, he succeeded to his father as Paramount Chief (Chef Supérieur) of the Bell dynasty (founded since 1792) which encompassed the Bonamandone, Bonapriso, Bonadoumbe, all owners and inhabitants of the Plateau Joss in Douala. In those days, Douala was composed of several tribes: Bakole, Bakweri, Bamboko, Isubu (or Isuwu), Limba (or Malimba), Mungo, and Wovea. Among those chiefs, some of them including the famous King Akwa, signed a Germano-Douala treaty on 12 July 1884, which placed Cameroon under German protection. Cameroontown thus became Kamerunstadt.
Rudolf Douala Manga Bell, Leader of Douala people
In 1910, the German governor of Cameroon, Theodor Seitz, approved an urbanization project for the city of Douala (Kamerunstadt had been renamed Douala) set to turn it into one of the largest ports of Africa. The project outlined a plan to relocate the Douala people inland from the Wouri river to allow European-only settlement of the area. Neighborhoods such as Neu Bell, Neu Akwa, and Neu Deido were to be created for the indigenous people; these new allotments were going to be separated from the ‘European city’ by a barrier 1km wide (early version of apartheid!). The expropriations affected most of the Douala clans, who were angered and formed a united front behind Manga Bell. Rudolf Douala immediately refused, and told the Germans that the treaty signed in 1884 did not stipulate the removal/expulsion of the locals from their lands, and that this separation constituted a form of apartheid. Manga Bell then enlisted the help of Hellmut von Gerlach, a German journalist. Gerlach managed to secure a suspension order from the Reichstag Budget Commission in March, but the order was overturned when Colonial Secretary Wilhelm Solf convinced elements of the press, businessmen in the colony, politicians, and other groups to finally rally behind the expropriation. Manga Bell and the Douala requested permission to send envoys to Germany to plead their case, but the authorities denied them. In secret, Manga Bell sent Adolf Ngoso Din to Germany to hire a lawyer for the Douala and pursue the matter in court.
Adolf Ngoso Din, Assistant to Rudolf Manga Bell
Manga Bell then turned to other European governments and to leaders of other African ethnic groups for support. His envoys to other Cameroonian leaders reached Bali, Balong, Dschang, Foumban, Ngaoundéré, Yabassi, and Yaoundé. Charles Atangana (Karl Atangana), leader of the Ewondo and Bane peoples, kept Manga Bell’s plan secret but urged the Douala leader to reconsider. In Bulu lands on the other hand, Martin-Paul Samba agreed to contact the French for military support if Manga Bell petitioned the British. However, there is no evidence that Manga Bell ever did so. In Foumban, Ibrahim Njoya, sultan of the Bamum people, rejected the plan and informed the Basel Mission on 27 April 1914 that Manga Bell was planning a pan-Kamerun rebellion. The missionaries alerted the Germans.
Noticing the German lack of respect of the signed law, who started removing locals from their lands, Bell allied with other chiefs of Cameroon to counter the colonial plans. During the mutiny, the Germans arrested the Douala leader and Ngoso Din on 10 May 1914 accusing him of high treason. Their trial was held on 7 August 1914. World War I had just begun, and an attack by the Allied West Africa Campaign in Kamerun was imminent; accordingly, the trial was rushed. On 8 August 1914, Rudolf Douala Manga Bell and Ngoso Din were hanged.
Let us all celebrate Rudolph Douala Manga Bell, the Tét’èkombo (the king of kings in Douala), the first, the uniter of Cameroon (already reaching out to other kings), and one of Cameroon’s biggest resistant. Enjoy this old rendition by Charles Ewandje (probably recorded in the 70′s) of Tet’Ekombo an ode to resistance and to the land. The song was written in 1929 in memory of Rudolf Douala Manga Bell.
As South Africa‘s President Jacob Zuma opened an exhibition about the life of the country’s first black leader, Nelson Mandela, in Johannesburg yesterday, I thought it befitting to remind you of this great speech by Nelson Mandela where he was prepared to give his life for South Africa, and for his cause. Enjoy! The integral speech can be found here: Nelson Mandela 1964 speech_I am prepared to die.
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“I am the First Accused.
… At the outset, I want to say that the suggestion made by the State in its opening that the struggle in South Africa is under the influence of foreigners or communists is wholly incorrect. I have done whatever I did, both as an individual and as a leader of my people, because of my experience in South Africa and my own proudly felt African background, and not because of what any outsider might have said….
Nelson Mandela
Our fight is against real, and not imaginary, hardships … Basically, we fight against two features which are the hallmarks of African life in South Africa and which are entrenched by legislation which we seek to have repealed. These features are poverty and lack of human dignity, and we do not need communists or so-called ‘agitators’ to teach us about these things. …
… This struggle is a truly national one. It is a struggle of the African people, inspired by their own suffering and their own experience. It is a struggle for the right to live.
Nelson Mandela clothed in a Pathe’O shirt
During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people.I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination.I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
Today I would like to talk about the man who invented the process of pollination of vanilla when he was only 12 years of age: the Reunionese Edmond Albius. His technique allowed for the pollinating of the vanilla orchids quickly and profitably. Albius’s technique revolutionized the cultivation of vanilla and made it possible to profitably grow vanilla beans away from their native Mexico.
Vanilla flowers
Edmond Albius, at the time of his discovery was a slave, who was born in Sainte-Suzanne in 1829, on the island of Bourbon (modern-day Réunion). He was orphaned from birth, as he lost his mother and never knew his father. Later, his master sent him to work with Fereol Bellier-Beaumont who initiated him into horticulture, and then botany. Albius spent most of his time following Beaumont around the estate as tended to his plants. Beaumont later wrote about Albius, that “this young black boy became my constant companion, a favorite child always at my feet.”
Bottle of Vanilla
French colonists brought vanilla beans to Réunion in the 1820s with the hope of starting production there. However, the vines were sterile because no insect would pollinate them. In the 1830s, Charles Morren, a professor of botany at the University of Liège in Belgium, developed a method of hand-pollinating vanilla, but his technique was slow and required too much effort to make cultivating vanilla a money-making proposition. Albius discovered in 1841 the practical process for the pollination of vanilla, a process which has revolutionized the culture of this almost ubiquitous spice. He discovered how to quickly pollinate the vanilla orchid with a thin stick or blade of grass and a simple thumb gesture. With the stick or grass blade, field hands lift the rostellum, the flap that separates the male anther from the female stigma, and then, with their thumbs, smear the sticky pollen from the anther over the stigma. Albius’s manual pollination method is still used today, as nearly all vanilla is pollinated by hand. His discovery thereby allowed the Island of Reunion to become for a while, the largest world supplier of vanilla, and the cradle for the diffusion of his process.
Vanilla
Since this discovery was made by a child, who was black, and a slave, the invention was quickly contested by all the jealous people. The unscrupulous botanist Jean-Michel-Claude Richard would pretend to have taught the technique to the slave Albius three or four years earlier. The lie will reach its paroxysm when at the beginning of the 20th century, the French press will go as far as claiming that Edmond Albius was white. Albius eventually gained his freedom with the abolition of slavery in 1848, but will not get any financial benefit from his invention which made the fortune of planters and of the French economy. He died in misery in 1880.
As you enjoy vanilla aromas in cakes, perfumes, and all those delicacies, don’t forget to celebrate the genius of Edmond Albius as well, and read Voices to learn more.
Voici la video/audio de Thomas Sankara avec sa fameuse citation:
«…l’esclave qui n’est pas capable d’assumer sa révolte ne mérite pas que l’on s’apitoie sur son sort.Cet esclave répondra seul de son malheur s’il se fait des illusions sur la condescendance suspecte d’un maître qui prétend l’affranchir.Seule la lutte libère … » [… the slave who is not capable of assuming his rebellion does not deserve that we feel sorry for himself. This slave will respond only to his misfortune if he is deluding himself about the suspect condescension of a master who claims to free him. Only struggle liberates …] Discours de Sankara à l’ONU le 4 octobre 1984 (texte intégral)
15 October 1987 was the day Africa lost one of his greatest sons: Thomas Sankara. Words cannot express the loss we’ve felt, and the loss Africa and the world suffered on that day. I would like to share with you some of Thomas Sankara’s famous declarations.
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« Une jeunesse mobilisée est dangereuse, une jeunesse mobilisée est une puissance qui effraye même les bombes atomiques. Il y en a qui possède les bombes atomiques et qui ont des problèmes avec d’autres peuples qui, eux, ne possèdent pas la bombe atomique, mais pourquoi ils n’osent pas l’utiliser ? Parce qu’ils savent très bien, parce qu’ils savent très bien, que dans ces peuples que osent les attaquer, ils trouvent une jeunesse mobilisée, une jeunesse à mourir.» [A youth mobilized is dangerous, a youth mobilized is a power which scares even atomic bombs. There are those who own atomic bombs, and who have problems with other nations who do not own the atomic bomb, but why don’t they dare using it? Because they know very well, that in these people who they want to attack, they find a mobilized youth, a youth ready to die.] 14 mai 1983s’adressant aux jeunes de Bobo Dioulasso
« Nos ancêtres en Afrique avaient engagé une certaine forme de développement. Nous ne voulons pas qu’on assassine ces grands savants africains. » [Our ancestors in Africa were actively committed to a certain form of development. We do not want these great African wisemen to be assassinated.] 2 octobre 1984 à Harlem
Burkina Faso
«Il faut que l’école nouvelle et l’enseignement nouveau concourent à la naissance de patriotes et non d’apatrides.Mettre un enfant à l’école doit cesser d’être perçu comme un simple placement comptable, si tant est vrai que la transformation continue des sociétés qui incombe aux générations successives comporte des éléments quantifiables et non quantifiables. »[We need the new school and the new teaching concur with the birth of patriots and not stateless people. Putting a child in school should stop being conceived as a simple accounting investment, if indeed the ongoing transformation of societies which fall on successive generations has quantifiable elements and non-quantifiable.] 17 octobre 1986Appel de Gaouasur la qualité de l’enseignement.
« Il n’y a pas de révolution sociale véritable que lorsque la femme est libérée. Que jamais mes yeux ne voient une société où la moitié du peuple est maintenue dans le silence. J’entends le vacarme de ce silence des femmes, je pressens le grondement de leur bourrasque, je sens la furie de leur révolte. J’attends et espère l’irruption féconde de la révolution dont elles traduiront la force et la rigoureuse justesse sorties de leurs entrailles d’opprimées. » [There are no true social revolution until the woman is liberated. May my eyes never see a society where half of the people is maintained under silence. I hear the racket of this silence of women, I suspect the roar of their storm, I feel the fury of their revolt. I wait and hope for the fertile irruption of the revolution for which they will translate the force and rigorous righteousness coming from their oppressed bowels.] 8 mars 1987, Ouagadougou
«La Révolution démocratique et populaire a besoin d’un peuple de convaincus et non d’un peuple de vaincus, d’un peuple de convaincus et non d’un peuple de soumis qui subissent leur destin. » [The people’s democratic revolution needs a people that is confident and not defeated, a people of conviction and not a subjected people who suffer their fate.] 4 août 1987
African Venus, a sculpture by Charles-Henri Joseph Cordier 1851 (Source: Walters Art Museum)
«Je parle au nom des femmes du monde entier, qui souffrent d’un système d’exploitation imposé par les mâles.Pour ce qui nous concerne, nous sommes prêts à accueillir toutes les suggestions du monde entier, nous permettant de parvenir à l’épanouissement total de la femme burkinabè. En retour, nous donnons en partage à tous les pays, l’expérience positive que nous entreprenons avec des femmes désormais présentes à tous les échelons de l’appareil de l’État et de la vie sociale au Burkina Faso. Des femmes qui luttent et proclament avec nous, que l’esclave qui n’est pas capable d’assumer sa révolte ne mérite pas que l’on s’apitoie sur son sort.Cet esclave répondra seul de son malheur s’il se fait des illusions sur la condescendance suspecte d’un maître qui prétend l’affranchir.Seule la lutte libère et nous en appelons à toutes nos sœurs de toutes les races pour qu’elles montent à l’assaut pour la conquête de leurs droits. » [I speak on behalf of women from around the world, who suffer from an exploitation system imposed by the males. As far as we are concerned, we are ready to welcome all the suggestions from around the world, which will enable us to achieve the full development of the Burkinabe woman. In return, we will share with all the countries, the positive experience that we start with women now present at all levels of the state and the social life of Burkina Faso. Women who fight and proclaim with us, that the slave who is not capable of assuming his rebellion does not deserve that we feel sorry for himself. This slave will respond only to his misfortune if he is deluding himself about the suspect condescension of a master who claims to free him. Only fighting liberates and we call on all our sisters of all races so that they rise up to conquer their rights.] Discours de Sankara à l’ONU le 4 octobre 1984 (texte intégral)
The group “Y’en a Marre” with their shirts “Faux pas Force”
Today, I would like to talk about the “Y’en a Marre” (“Fed Up“), a Senegalese group which influenced change in the presidential election of 2012 in Senegal, by forcing President Abdoulaye Wade (and his son, Karim Wade) out of office. Y’en a Marre decided to stop complaining and to start acting, to make the changes they wanted implemented. It is a group of Senegalese rappers and journalists, created in January 2011, to protest ineffective government and register youth to vote. They are credited with helping to mobilize Senegal’s youth vote and oust incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade, though the group claims no affiliation with Macky Sall, Senegal’s current president, or with any political party.
Map of Senegal
The group was founded by rappers Fou Malade (“Crazy Sick Guy“, real name: Malal Talla), Thiat (“Junior“, real name: Cheikh Oumar Cyrille Touré), Kilifeu (both from celebrated rap crew “Keur Gui of Kaolack“) and journalists Sheikh Fadel Barro, Aliou Sane and Denise Sow. The movement was originally started in reaction to Dakar‘s frequent power cuts, but the group quickly concluded that they were “fed up” with an array of problems in Senegalese society. “One day, there was 20 hours of cuts,” said Fadel Barro, whose dimly lit apartment served as the place where the movement took shape. “I said: ‘Guys, everyone knows you. But you’re not doing anything to change the country.’ ”[from NYT interview – see link below]. Those words energized the musicians.
Flag of Senegal
Their goal was to incite Senegalese to vote, to renew the political personnel, to fight against corruption and to promote a sense of civic responsibility. Their most famous quote is: « L’heure n’est plus aux lamentations de salon et aux complaintes fatalistes face aux coupures d’électricité. Nous refusons le rationnement systématique imposé à nos foyers dans l’alimentation en électricité. La coupe est pleine. » [The hour is no longer to ballroom lamentations and fatalistic complaints in the face of power cuts. We refuse the systematic rationing imposed on our homes in the power supply. Our cup is full to the rim.]
Through recordings, rallies and a network of regional affiliates, called “the spirit of Y’en a Marre“, the group advocates for youth to embrace a new type of thinking and living termed “The New Type of Senegalese” or NTS. In late 2011, the collective released a compilation titled “Y’en A Marre“, from which the single “Faux! Pas Forcé” (“Don’t force it”) emerged as a rallying cry for youth frustrated with President Wade and his son and presumed successor. They followed with a single, “Doggali” (“Let’s finish”), which advocated for cleansing the country of Wade and son.
“Y’en a Marre” at a public demonstration in 2012
From April to August 2011, the group and their members campaigned door to door to register young Senegalese to vote at the Presidential election of 2012, and they claimed more than 300,000voters registered. During 2011, they organized manifestations, called “foires aux problèmes” (“problem fairs”), and sit-ins in Dakar’s Obelisk Square. On 15 February 2012, these manifestations were prohibited by Wade’s government, leading to 3 members of Y’en a Marre’s arrest on the 16th. This did not stop the group which continued manifesting until the election of Macky Sall as President. Today, even though Macky Sall has been elected president, Y’en a Marre remains active, hosting meetings, and shows, urging the new government to implement all the promised reforms.
So we can all choose to be the change we want to see, stop complaining, and start acting like Y’en a Marre. If there is anything wrong bothering you in your community, it is possible to work at it, to act upon it, and change it the way you want it to be. Our countries all need it, our continent needs it. Read the article the New York Times did on Y’en a Marre, as well as the UNRIC, and the article on NPR. So let’s us be “fed up” like the Y’en a Marre, and let us act and be the change we want to see.
The Gaza empire after migration in 1889 (Source: Les Africains, Vol 3, P. 181, C. Julien, Ed. J.A., 1977)The Gaza empire at its heights around 1860s
Following up on Gungunyane, the Lion of Gaza, I propose here maps of his kingdom before and after the migration. I found a map of Gungunyane‘s kingdom, the Gaza empire, after migration from Mount Selinda, in ‘Les Africains,’ Vol. 3, P. 181, C. Julien, Editions J.A., 1977. I also made an approximative map of what would have been the Gaza empire at its heights in 1860s, before migration, using the well-known boundaries of the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers, and Mount Selinda (in modern day Zimbabwe) as well as the city of Mossurize in Mozambique. Enjoy!
African Heritage 