Malians are quite proud to say that their ancestors were the first in the history of humanity to have established a charter which could be considered as defining the fundamental rights of man in 1222 or 1236. The charter of Manden, or charter of Kouroukan Fouga would have been solemnly proclaimed on the day of the enthronement of Sundiata Keïta, emperor of Mali, at the end of the year 1236. It affirms in particular respect for human life, the right to life, the principles of equality and non-discrimination, individual freedom, justice, equity, solidarity. It was inscribed in 2009 on the representative list of intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO.
Without being Malian, the African that I am is just as proud as them to know that he belongs to this Black African people who were the first, or at least one of the first, to develop the ancestor of what is now called the Charter of Human Rights. Just as I am proud to know that ancient Egypt was Black. Yes, this Egypt which built the majestic and eternal pyramids, the Sphinx, the palaces of Luxor, which invented geometry and dug the irrigation canals along the Nile, the one with whom the wise men of Greece of era came to form, giving Europe the elements that will form its civilization, yes, that Egypt was that of my ancestors. I am proud to know that the foundations of the Bible are found in Egypt. I am proud of what I know of the empires of Ghana, Monomotapa, Zimbabwe, the splendours of Ilé Ifé, the Ashanti Empire, I am proud to know that Africans like me have crossed the Atlantic Ocean and set the feet on the continent called America before Christopher Columbus and that the traces exist. Every day, I discover on the internet everything that has been invented by Blacks or descendants of Africans. Yes I am proud to know all this. But after ?
Okay, the Mandinkas proclaimed the first Charter of Human Rights. Yes, but in what state are human rights today in the states that are in place of the old Mandinka empire? Where is Mali? Where are the peoples of Africa on this chapter? Where are the descendants of the pharaohs, those who invented monotheism and geometry? What are the descendants of the builders of pyramids, temples and sumptuous palaces building today? Banco huts where it is sometimes impossible to lie down without your feet protruding from the door? Where have the sculptors of the Sphinx and the treasures of the palaces of Luxor gone? Their descendants are now struggling to leave the slightest trace of their history and that of the humanity they pride themselves on having shaped. What has become of the descendants of the inspirers of European civilization? Ancient Egypt had dominated Europe? What happened to the descendants of these Egyptians? The slaves of this Europe. And today, dazed, have they become. Anesthetized. Amnesic, unable to think independently, unable to invent anything or even adapt what others have already invented to their needs. They are reduced to begging for their pittance from other peoples while dwelling on their past glory, without trying to shape their present and project themselves into the future. A former French president had said that the African had not made enough history. He is wrong. He entered it, but he has not yet found the exit door. And by dint of turning around this story, he came to forget it, to no longer know what to do with it. Yes Yes Yes ! Yes, we made everything we talk about, we invented everything we talk about. And after ? What do we do with it?
An elder told me recently that the shortest way to go to the future often goes through the past. Do we know how to take this path? Can we learn from our past? Do we know how to make our past the roots from which the tree of our future will grow?
People of Africa, your ancestors are not proud of you. They can't be proud of you in any way. You denied them, to go and adore the ancestors of others, those who precisely trampled on them and trampled on you after them. You have denied yourself, and you have humbled them. You sold off the brilliant civilization and all the knowledge and values they had bequeathed to you. And you see yourself what you have become. Stop quoting them because you make them feel ashamed and they cry every time they watch you play clever parrot and monkey.
By Venance Konan
*This article has been translated from French into English by Marcus Boni Teiga
