A man wears a face mask with a message on that reads "stop coronavirus"
written inside a map of Africa, on April 24, 2020 in a street of Abobo, a
district of Abidjan. PHOTO | SIA KAMBOU | AFP
Sometimes, I kind of miss Robert Mugabe because of his rather enjoyable invectives against the British.
Sure,
he was a frustrated Anglophile, but from the perspective of this
frustrated Africanist at least he gave me the comfort of being a man who
refused to put the “developed world” on a pedestal. Without being as
dramatically insane about it as Idi Amin Dada.
And if
we’re going to go down that suspect road of acknowledging the ‘good’
part of the legacies of our dead dictators, I might as well tip my hat
to Mobutu Sese Seko too.
He was a bad man. Also, he was
supremely stylish and accomplished at crafting this Congolese aesthetic
that we all enjoy so much.
His insistence on banning
Western clothing in favour of African styles is a complete contrast. To
this day everybody knows the best Kitenge are made in Europe and based
on Indonesian textile craft and design.
But the Congolese appropriated this gorgeous material and made it into art. Bine sappe is a thing.
And that art has in turn given other Africans the opportunity to
wear our loud bright colours and tailor-made styles with a unique
pride. We are gorgeous, and we show it.
You see, my
frustration as an Africanist has been our unending obsession with this
artificial divide between Africa and the rest of the world. I refuse to
bow down to the idea that we are underdeveloped. We have problems, but
who doesn’t?
Do you know that America the Great was
built on the labour of African slaves? They wouldn’t be where they are
without us. Do you know that Africa is actually a net exporter of
resources to the world? With this self-empowerment in mind, we can aim
to develop Africa for Africans.
The current Covid-19
epidemic is upending the world as we know it. As Africans, we might
finally embrace the fact that we are human beings on this earth, no
better and no lesser than anyone else.
The new
dispensation will demand that we question the development narrative and
finally get off our knees. And ask difficult questions, like: Why is the
whole world ghoulishly obsessed with the anticipation of mass African
deaths from Covid-19? Out of every trial, every tribulation, every evil,
good can emerge.
At the end of the epidemic, should it
pass, I think Africans should finally take our rightful place as fellow
equal humans on this one world we all share. We are magnificent.
Let
us take what works for us and spend no time entertaining that which
doesn’t. I dedicate this to the formidable (though not infallible) #KoT
movement. Reminding the American ambassador to watch his tongue and
speak to Kenyans like his mama raised him right was a nice little step
in that direction.
Y’all done learned his ignorant self a lesson about disrespect.
It is time for Africans to claim our place —once more again but for real this time, maybe.
Elsies Eyakuze is a consultant and blogger for The Mikocheni Report: E-mail: elsieeyakuze@gmail.com
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