What did Aremu Do to you?

A government that delivers a home grown reform that increases GDP from average 2.5% till 1997 to an average 6% in 2007 including 10.2% growth in 2003. A three fold increase in Per Capita GDP at Purchasing Power Parity $1,800 . An average growth of Non oil sector of the economy at average 9% . Total eradication of Debt stock of about $38 billion dollars, both current account and trade surplus. The second fastest growing telecoms market in the world. A capital market that is reputed to yield returns up to 400%. Inflation reduced from over 20% to about 12 %. In any country someone who oversaw such a radical change in Macro- economic condition will be feted as an hero. Never mind that this same man was there to sign the peace agreement to end the Biafra war and oversaw the last time the country Nigeria had similar macro- economic direction. Many will say this is just good fortune nd a fluke for some of us people make their own fortune. Historians will look back at Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo and they will see a true Hero, a Nigerian Hero. Mrs Okonjo Iweala agrees with me in the video below.

The Blag Matrix 'Bye Blair'

For those of us who live here in the United Kingdom we are going through a changing of the guards like has just gone on in Nigeria only we do not get to have a say on who rules us. Never mind about flawed elections in Gidi how about no election at all. Talk of corruption after nearly eight years since applying to the British government for the Abacha millions, Nigeria has yet had its stolen money returned. The city of London remains the money laundering capital of the world. Add to it that the government that takes 40% of my income as basic taxes stopped prosecution of BAE Systems for bribery in the Al Yammemah defence contract with Saudi Arabia. In fact Bribes were tax refundable if they were paid abroad until 2002. The same Government has continued to keep the people of the Chaigos of their Island even though the House of Lords had ruled in their favour.

My point, what is it that makes the average Nigerian elite take all the stolen and earned money to send their children to be indoctrinated in this environment? As I got on my flight from Lagos to london on the 3rd of June I was amazed how full the flight was with teenagers apparently going back to school accompanied or unaccompanied, spread across the upper class premium economy and the rare economy occupant. Good old blighty seems able to blag its way into being considered world class even though it is a country which looks to its past for its best moments, where innovation is ridiculed, excellence despised and victimhood crowned. A country that continues to run a scam on the rest of the world by putting the word Great in front of its name because it manages to bluff others to think they are somehow inferior. If only the world did not buy into this bullshit but everyone does. Life is just a confidence trick.

Step in the greatest fraud of the lot, Tony Blair Esq. My son reminded me I was his greatest fan and surely some time ago I truly believed Mr toothy grin was really committed to helping this country get beyond its overdose of insecurity and reposition itself for the unique challenges of the 21st century. No he was only committed to retaining Power so he always changed structure of things so that it appeared new even if the inside was decaying. On any given day when it is either too hot or too cold our transport infrastructure here completely shuts down. Mr Man manages to claim things that are not even his success. Take Sierra Leone where Nigerian army died in abundance to protect the country guess who claims being saviour yes, Toothy Tony. Have you not noticed that he only speaks 'truth' to the weak or down trodden like the Palestinians never challenges the Israelis or his buddy George W.

Never mind Tony they will be singing your praises in Ajegunle and Gugulethu when you tell them you are going to be tough on poverty and the causes.poverty. I hope they have the good sense to look outside before you leave. God save us from those who seek to help us.

Join us

Yaw the writer and producer of this play is a Renaissance man, co-traveller who brings Africa alive in her majesty anywhere he goes. Lets support him as he opens a new path for others to follow with this project. If you can get to Milton Keynes, England join us at this celebration of life. More postings soon.

Election is not democracy.

"At this juncture one is tempted to ask, who is the Nigerian? My answer will not be for your comfort because I see the Nigerian as a materialist with yearnings for spiritual uplifment; a capitalist with socialist pretentions; a democrat with dictatorial traits of insufferable guile and intolerance, a welfarist with traits of sado-masochistic junketing who has raised philandering to an art form; he is a guru who dines with the devil, he is an intellectual with fear of flying beyond the horizon of mediocre intellectual aspirations; he is proud but has a sickening awareness of his inadequacies. He is, in short, a very normal person and a personality all of his own, which makes him stand out anywhere in the world as a Nigerian, regardless of his ethnic background".

by Phillip Effiong in Re-integration True or False.

A successful election is primarily a truimph of organisation and management not strictly speaking a moral process. The recent Nigerian elections were an honest reflection of the true organisational capacity of the country as a whole (not just government). Too much credit gets given to the the ruling party and the outgoing government for rigging the election while quite honestly they could not have organised it so well that the effort was that blantant. The questions critics never answer is that were they responsible for the many lives of Police officers lost? Did they organise the attempt to bomb their so called 'allies' in the INEC? A good friend once said to me when things fail in human affairs your character is reflected in your choice of the two options or explanation whether you choose, the Conspiracy or the Cock up. I see unfailingly that this was a traditional Nigerian cock up, fashioned by incompetence, grown by hyper competition and crowned by corruption. When you read the foriegn press especially the economist you read a lazy analysis and editorial that seems to equate successful elections with demoocracy. By that very token Iraq had a successful election which by all iintents and purpose was free and fair but so what? The only exception was the recent New York Times article that acknowledges that the institutional progress from the Supreme Court to the Military they all suggest that there are independent organizations that do not fold towards the creation or coronation of individuals. Successful countries are not just democracies but places where institutions represent the spirit of the people, protect their aspirations and embody their energies at its most productive. For many of us China has shown that success is not only western but it is actually about authenticity. In Nigeria as much as I dislike them the almost forever hysterical and incoherent Nigerian press which seems to have decided against the Obasanjo regime at any cost and gave so much free space to any innuendo or gossip, is an example of the health of the emerging country.

Nigerians made a choice even if they did not vote it. We all signed up for stability at any cost if not things would have been different. The many middle class people who did not register to vote, the many elites who jumped ship going abroad for premature summer holidays. Those who just could not be bothered to cast their vote at all. Many were tired of the hyper competition of the win at any cost political classes. Nothing in the election is different in fundamental nature from how election happens in many countries across the world even in Scotland where over 100,000 ballots were spoiled. The matrix for disorganisation was already in place from the hyper competitive politicos;the neopythe electorate; delayed list of candidates; the extreme lack of logistics, project and management capacity ; culture of owambe optmism or unrealistic last minute hopefulness; the fear of CIA break up prediction. It is in this cocktail of melodrama and incomptenece that many expected a open and free election? I often wonder where such expectations spring from. So is it as the Economist says it is or as the Chicage Tribune describes that Obasanjo is a disappointment and Nigeria an embarrasment?

In the 1960s India was all the hallmark of a failing state and would fall apart according to western press. The same people now cannot stop praising but then they used similar descriptions as they use for Nigeria. My view of Nigeria is as a work in progress. In some things we are worse than even our worst critics think, for one the failure to have a serious Vocational eduction regime and the fact that about 56 million young people have disappeared out of any education development after secondary and primary schools. On the other hand we wiped out nearly all of National debts, Per capita GDP growth of three folds passing the $1000 mark for the first time in over two decades, growth of GDP over 6% in the last two years, the fastest growing telecoms market in Africa, more than tripling of foriegn reserves and doubling of the record levels of Foriegn Direct Investment. In fact the remittances of Nigerian Diaspora far exceeded the levels of FDI and probably for the first time is rivalling the levels of Capital flight from the country. If that is not a vote of confidence then I wonder what is?

Something has changed forever and it might not show in the ballot but it shows in people getting motgages for the first time ever, safe enough to take money from cash points in the middle of the night, Nigerian businesses in aquisitions across West Africa , the middle class re emerging and the fastest growth of the non oil sector in nearly three decades.

So elections were not up to International standards so sue me. Lets get our country truly working through building capacity to truly organize and manage then eventually elections will be deliverered to the same international standards where rigging will be more sophisticated. Then we will debate hanging chards and computer glitches and not killing police officer and stealing ballot boxes. Then we would have achieved the international standards to the satisfaction of the Economist and its Nigerian acolytes.

Intellectual Laziness of tradition

Another quick note as I watch the Don Imus Lynching here in USA. The posse is out and their prey is quite deserving of the punishment that is coming his way. However the embarassing thing is that the same script of protest and boycott are being played out through the usual suspects whose civil rights successes make them prisoners of this one trick pony show. There is one thing that is true Imus must face the consequences of his choices part of that might well being losing his show on both MSNBC and CBS. Is Imus a racist and sexist? Mute point he disrespected people who in no way deserved it and stereotyped them in ways that open them to indignities. He is from a racialised society and could not imagine him being immune from that orientation. There is often this mistake that 'Good people' cannot be racist. Take our own Prime Minister Tony Blair an all round good egg who continues to base policy on stereotypes from different communities that are not indegenuously English. He uses the excuse of challenging Political correctness to tar Muslims with terrorist disposition and now we are back to black boys and a culture of gangster mentality. Never mind that when he was on his war against yobs their ethnicity was never mentioned. This is not as a result of being good or bad but intellectual laziness. People label because of traditions of viewing things or solving things a particular way. This leads to constant rendering of positions that are outdated, inappropraite and even downright unjust. When so called African American leaders question Senator Obamas identity as a 'true black' , when British government meets with certain nominees as community leaders, when the New York Times labels the Nigerian elections in a derogatory way and positions the president as another 'African Big man' do these truly address the complexity of the situation? The desire for simplicity and demand for the tried as well as tested are all poor excuse for unsustainable or ineffective positions and choices.

In this vein the real issue is what does it say when the only time African Americans are given so much coverage is when they shout victimhood? Why should anyone persons respect for us be more important that the respect we give ourselves? Is the civil rights approach of protest and boycott not now so predictable that it has no transformative value? If so called leaders are trapped in this cycle of response are there no other alternative approaches? What is the systemic change that can be achieved as a result of sacking Imus? What is the likely effect of this sacking on his main audience of white males especially if they view him as victimized?

In Nigeria people like Wole Soyinka, Gani Fawehimi et al play the same role over and over again with little transformative effect. They are addicted to one response and servants of a particular tradition and indifferent to the many possible solutions that life can provide. It is time to seek fit for purpose solutions rather that perpetuate setiment and be paralysed by addiction to a prefered approach.

Vacancy for Heroes, Saints need not apply.

Stuck in Reno, Nevada in pursuit of subsistence. The past few weeks have been very challenging what with huge tax bills, slowing business and regular diet of cynics. I fantasize about writing one of my long epistles about the many black boys dying in England from acts of gratitous violence. On the other hand issues raised by the vibrant candidacy of Barack Obama, Senator and an Omoluwabi if I ever saw one. There is also exciting stuff from my Sensei, Zeth Moberg about a concept called Fudoshin which emerges from Budo training. Here in the Plains and cold of Nevada the only topic is Don Imus and his now over exposed 'Nappy Head Hoes ' comment about the Rutgers University womens basketball team which is mostly African American. It raises issues of whether being a bad person is a prerequisite for being racist. Never mind there will be hopefully a lot of chances to come back to this.

This week many people I grew up with and know are running for political office in Nigeria. This week someone I dearly love and respect is aiming to become the next Govenor of Ekiti State in the heart of the green rain forest in South West Nigeria. Dr Kayode Fayemi is a man of many parts and in fact a global citizen. A little shy but a Policy wonk, an ideas man. A genuine hero who stands up for the things that matter. A man of immense moral courage and great affection for the Nigerian populace. He is thankfully not a saint, he is flawed in ways that make him quite a special human one who evolves himself in his effort to serve other people. A genuine Nigerian hero. As all Nigerians go to the post they need to ignore the cynical amongst them whose fear paralyse us, who make good the enemy of excellent, who are fixated by how others might not have met the standard. Nigerians need to seek those who flawed as they might be would fight for them and their children with every ounce of their imperfection as well as passion. The time has come to stand for heroes again.

There are isome heroes n this outgoing government who have helped raised GDP per head from $400 dollars in the 1990s to $1000 today , not enough but in the right direction. They have also wiped out all foriegn debt and built a platform for the next group of heros. I applaud them and anticipate the next group.

In the meantime vote your dreams not your fears.

Reminisce 2001

For many 2001 was a seminal year and so it was for me too. In my case there was two reasons, the performance and tour of my first play Abyssinia and the consequences of the World Conference Against Racism in Durban South Africa. Both came to critical eruption in September that year . This year one of those seeds showed shoots again. The issue of slavery is abroad again. In the UK we focus on 200 years of legislation to stop the traficking of Africans. I commend a related article written to honour the complexity of the issue but simplifying the process to achieve the prescribed balm of reparations. I am not really sure anymore where I stand but present a view from that time.

September 2001 , Bristol, United Kingdom

REPARATION FOR SLAVERY AND COLONISATION

“ We acknowledge that slavery and the slave trade, including the transatlantic slave trade, were appalling tragedies in the history of humanity not only because of their abhorrent barbarism but also in terms of their magnitude, organized nature and especially their negation of the essence of the victim, and further acknowledge that slavery and the slave trade are a crime against humanity and should always have been so, especially the transatlantic slave trade and are among the major sources and manifestation of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and that African s and people of African descent, Asians and people of Asian descent and indigenous peoples were victims of these acts and continue to be victims of their consequences…”

WCAR Durban 2001 Para 13 Declaration

The world met in Durban to explore through common humanity how we have and intend to respond to our cultural differences. I packed my bag a pragmatic Diversity consultant; sceptical of activists and mindful that the press had declared the Durban conference a non starter as the powerful queued up to punch holes in the two balloons up in the air i.e. Reparations and Zionism as a form of Racism. I wondered about reparations and thought it to be a pie in the sky. Certain that it did not matter since in my head it was an excuse for those who did not want to accept responsibility of how Africans have squandered opportunities. As the United States threatened boycott it seemed that Durban was destined to become a fruitless exercise of left wing windbags’ self indulgence, maybe I should not bother I thought.

In Durban, my world view changed as I came to understand on a physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual level what reparation means. At the very least recognising the dialogue that it will generate is a much needed form of catharsis for our collective humanity. Perhaps more profoundly, it represents an opportunity to fundamentally change the relationship of African peoples and their descendants to a more sustainable and healthy one. This process is essential to improving our collective self esteem and prompting a more assertive and interdependent relationship with other cultures. Whilst the media focused on the walkout by the United States and Israel, the issue of reparation started to generate disequilibrium especially for the EU delegations. It brought home how little consideration is ever given to the collective pain and suffering engendered by the transatlantic slave trade, its legacy of European cultural supremacy and its pervasive by-product, institutionalized racism.

So lets talk Reparations, many of you probably come from the Condeleeza Rice School of thought, reparation she says “Given the fact that there is plenty blame to go round for slavery, plenty of blame to go around among African and Arab states and plenty of blame to go around among Western states, we are better to look forward and not point fingers backward”. Yes Condi and all those who have a bit of Condi in them, there is blame to go to all but the degrees are different. Heck this no simple blame game, I wonder how we can go forward when a substantial population of the world carry around a gaping sociopychic wound.

The wounds are deep and personal yet we want to gloss over it and move on. Those who were sold, abused and killed are not anonymous. For nearly four centuries, the Ibo, Oyo, Madinka, Benin, Ashanti, Hausa, Angola, Krahn, Wolof, Kalabari, Ibibio, Calabar, Ijaw, Itshekiri, Nupe, Igbira, amongst many other nations were thorn apart and institutions destroyed because of the transatlantic slave trade. Many individuals where subdued through sheer brutality and a few rose out of the adversity, Equanoh Oludah, Toussaint L’overture, Fredrick Douglas, Denmark Vessey, Soujourner Truth. These people’s lives were sacrificed to build great wealth from Tobacco, cotton, Sugar et al which greased the wheels of Global commerce and fuelled the industrial revolution. Whilst the Europeans used free African labour to accelerate their development , African societies were being weakened by depopulation, corrupted through its role in the wholesale dehumanization of its own people, damaged its institutions credibility and its long term viability . The spiritual structure was being laid for Colonization of the entire continent the seeds for the Berlin conference of 1885 was planted in the triangular trade.

There is no doubt there is blame to be shared and Africa holds a big share of that. I cannot absolve my ancestors from their complicity in this tragedy and its continuing consequences. As a proud Oyo man, I know the wars my people fought and their ascendancy in the 17th Century helped fuel the transatlantic Slave trade. We sold our people in a short sighted and greedy endeavour. Slavery existed from antiquity and was used in civilizations from Eygpt, Rome, Greece to Axum and Kush. It is also true that slavery in the African, Continent as it was in Europe was a benign and redemptive process. In Africa it meant slaves married into families and became Kings. Whilst all these mitigates African culpability there was enough learnt in the first century of the Triangular slave trade to have prevented any well meaning African from being involved in the trade. There is no doubt that the wealth from human sales generated greed and corruption which kept this trade going for the next 200 years. Many Kings rebelled and fought the trade but very serious consequences befell them from forced abdication and exile to coup d’etats. Every effort was made to stop the trade by the many who were against it including amongst my people the facial disfigurement that became so called ‘ tribal marks ‘ which still persists today. The many stories of disappeared family members that become the mythical stories of being carried off by the whirlwind. Yes in celebrating my ancestors I must agree their complicity in the triangular trade this means we are also culpable for reparations and the need to give account for the role of African nations in the dehumanisation of our own people. The transatlantic slave trade is unique in the human experience not only in its brutality but the systematic, institutional and efficient subjugation of humanity for generating great wealth and industrial growth. The work of slaves gave their masters space to pursue political, cultural, intellectual and scientific development to accelerate their socio economic expansion which they used to affirm their supposed superiority.
Take the much celebrated Thomas Jefferson whose words embodied in The American constitution are a source of great pride to every American. His words should be juxtaposed with his book on the Notes on the State of Virginia. This great American on art , science, beauty thought the African so inferior he comments “ Add to these , flowing hair, a more elegant symmetry of form, their judgement in favour of whites, declared their preference of them, as uniformly as is the preference of the Oran-ootan for the black woman over those of his own species. This heartfelt analysis of a man who will father children through Sally Hemming his slave. If we must celebrate his industry in nation building we must acknowledge how minute his humanity was and how underdeveloped his morality was even for those times.

The gaping wound on the soul of the world is the lack of conscience exhibited by European and American nations for the callousness with which their civilisation and development exploited Africans and their descendants as the labourers for their economic growth and expansion. While in Durban we heard the EU countries argue that Transatlantic Slave Trade cannot be a crime against humanity because such a principle did not exist during the period of its practice. I am sure Hugo Grotius the father of International Law would do a twist in his grave. Does this mean the principles of Jus Cogens the customary laws of nations can now be ignored? The fact that many accepted slavery to be a crime against humanity even then for example Lord Palmerston said

“If all the crimes which the human race has committed from the creation down to the present day were added together in one vast aggregate they would scarcely equal the amount of guilt which has been incurred by mankind in connection with this diabolical slave trade"

Let me be direct, the perpetrators knew the moral repugnance of their trade and were very calculating to maintain the economic advantage that slavery gave them. Even the Queen Elizabeth 1 who started with a strong anti-slavery position sold her soul to the economic riches which it brought. The grand design of what we call racism was laid, piloted and perfected as propaganda to defend the benefits of slavery. In fact from the building of cities, railroads to rearing of husbandry, cash crops, domestic and child rearing amongst many other slaves built the USA for free. In recognition of their economic importance, many insurance companies including Lloyds of London and Aetna of the USA issued slaves policies. There are many modern companies and institution which have the foundation of their wealth and greatness on the blood of slaves, the many newspapers Gannett publishers of USA Today, Tribune and Knight Rider. The likes of Fleet Boston descended from Browns bank owned by Mr Brown an active slave trader and founder. The Cotton trade financers such as Barings Bank and Rosthchilds which compensated slave owners after the abolition of slavery in England. What ensured both brutality and longetivity of Slavery were the economic benefits it provided.

It is against this backdrop the walkout of the USA government is particularly galling. An amazing disrespect for 13 million or more African Americans on the pretext that the walkout was in solidarity with Israel. So the interest of a foreign ally and a net recipient of national handout are prioritised over those of millions of taxpayers? It is obvious who has more influence. In spite contributions that started as early Jamestown 1619 if the dead could talk the thoughts of Antonio the Negro belatedly Anthony Johnson who worked his indenture with his white colleagues. In spite of achieving freedom and owning 230 acres of land and the respect of his community how Massachusetts’s legalisation of slavery in 1641 must have been a cruel joke. Unlike the white indentured servants who would have achieved respectability, tenure and social status probably as founding pioneers for Anthony and his people their way was strewn with severe adversity, constitutionally 3/5 of a human by 1787. The 1857 Supreme Courts finding in Dred Scott “we have come to the decision that the African race….. was not intended to be included in the constitution for enjoyment of any personal rights”. His pain must reach a high point at the disappointment that emancipation, promises of 40 acres and a mule and reconstruction were replaced with vilification and death, Jim Crow and segregation. The blood, sweat, bravery and assassination of the civil rights era till today’s mandatory incarceration. It is enough pain to drive anyone mad.

Over the years the seeds planted in the transatlantic slave trade have survived in many poisonous guises especially in the wholesale partition and colonisation of the African continent. The pain of subjugation was whitewashed into alleged efforts at civilisation and development. The structure and finishing touches were being put to the greatest and most enduring con job in the history of the world, the myth of African inferiority. Ancient and effective institutions were replaced by administrative shells for processing raw materials for European economic expansion. Africans were actively brainwashed to view anything African as a primitive and unsophisticated expression of underdeveloped minds. Those who rebelled were killed or expelled; genocide was practised as part of the process of keeping the natives in check. The Colonial administration was in effect the overseers of the Great African plantation project and it worked a treat. By the end of colonisation all the Institutions that were left standing were cheap European imitation guided by pseudo-European elites clamouring for the same unearned luxury with the brutal exercise of unchecked power. From European laws, education and clothing which are ill fitting clothes metaphorically and literarily. As ever we come cap in hand to the front door of the Worlds Institutions like the IMF and World Bank seeking handouts and occasionally throwing pebbles at windows. A once proud people reduced in meaning and ideas of self.

This is not just about history but about how these dynamics underpin how Africa and her dependants are understood and treated in all parts of the world. In many ways the world is viewed from European eyes and meaning making system. Let’s borrow African eyes for a few moments and see the world through another perspective. In the Worlds most successful economy in spite of notable exceptions the descendants of those people whose unrewarded efforts built the nation are randomly vilified and treated with worst indignities even by the most recent immigrants. Take the disparity of sentencing in death penalty to differences in crack and powder cocaine mandatory sentencing they are subject to disproportionate incarceration in privately owned and run prisons. Major American corporations making profits out of their humiliation and exploitation. The G8 industrialised nations contains 4 major benefactors from the transatlantic slave trade and 34 of the 48 least developed countries are those forged out of the ravages of slavery and colonialism in Africa. The relations have scarcely changed the largest single destination for African exports is the EU and it is mainly primary products and few Europeans know that most if not all Francophone African countries use a cheap imitation of the Euro in the revised CFA as their currency. The brutal wars fought in Liberia and Sierra Leone two nations created for repatriated slaves seems to have their root cause in the enduring strength of the dynamics unleashed through the triangular trade. We relive the legacy of slavery and colonialism not because of the failure to blame but because of the disdain with which we treat its consequences.

The most remarkable aspect of the sorry process is the majesty of spirit and grace of slaves and their descendants so far. There is a remarkable ability to rise against adversity, to deal with daily and insipid injustices and ignorance rising to the challenge, often excelling when given the limited opportunities. This story disappears in a media industry that thrives on simple stereotypes and jaundiced self expression. All over the world every people are allowed the space to express anger, despair before translating into ambivalence and finally hope. For Africans the world worries and fears any attempt to have real catharsis we are so used to it that we give lessons through Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Martin Luther King et al on forgiveness and getting over pain. Compare the grinding humiliation, subjugation and murder that was Apartheid and explore how it would be received by any European country.
Reparations is about us exploring our pain, legitimising our anger, dignifying our ancestors and learning to build a new future. It is about sharpening our humanity and education posterity.

Whilst this not been about money, what made slavery endure to my mind is the economic advantages. I think there should be some financial restitution, allow me to suggest how any agreement of restitution can work. The first point is that African, European and American countries should give restitution. Africans should have a system of dual nationality for any person of African descent whose ancestors were sold or kidnapped. African countries should prioritise their limited International investments and partnerships with communities and organisations of such descendants Africans sold into Slavery.
Europeans should return all African cultural treasures and documents taken as part of their colonial pillage. Europeans and Americans should develop school curriculum that explore the issues of racism, its roots and consequences especially the primacy of the transatlantic slave trade. A major museum and monument be built on the Western Coast of Africa with sister structures in the Caribbean naming as far as possible those taken and telling their story as human beings possibly housing African treasures to celebrate their achievements and civilisation. Education Trust be set up for a free university education programme for anyone who is descended from those sold and kidnapped. Most importantly all interests paid on current African debts be used to develop economic plans for any area in the African Diaspora that needs long term development.

The first step will be that all Great powers were involved in the transatlantic slave trade should follow the brave lead of the French Parliament which in May 2000 stated
“We recognise that slavery and the slave trade have contributed to the existence of contemporary forms of racism and racial discrimination. They have also contributed to poverty, under- development, marginalisation, social exclusion, economic disparities, instability and insecurity which affect many people of the world.”

In Durban we stood children of Africa three and four deep candlelight burning, song in our throats, we spoke Spanish, French, English, Portuguese and Dutch officially as we translated bullhorn song intermingled. It was a beautiful sight our diversity in full display in honour of our ancestors. Of course this was the only demonstration that will be officially stopped. In spite of that and how little we knew of the tragedy to come in a few days, one thing was certain, the time for reparation is here and it is no longer whether it is possible it is how it will be fully achieved.