AFRICANEWS
SENEGALA memorial for slave trade's victimsby a correspondent (760words)
More than a century after the trade in human beings (slave trade) was officially abolished, its effects are still being felt far and wide. The Africans in the Diaspora, for instance, have had to live with the permanent scar of losing their identity. Many Africans in the Caribbean, North and South America and other parts of the world are yet to come to terms with that part of their history that saw their ancestors transclocated from their familiar backgrounds and transplanted into foreign lands across the Atlantic Ocean. The permanent sense of loss that many in the Diaspora feel is poignantly captured in the protest literature by Caribbean and Afro-American writers like George Lamming, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Malcom X and the celebrated civil rights crusader, Martin Luther King. Perhaps more than anyone else this century, Mr King galvanised the attention of the world to the plight of the African Americans. And he paid the ultimate prize for his crusade: his life was snuffed out by racists unable to stand his selfless commitment to the liberation of blacks not only in America, but the world over. But that now is a lot of water under the bridge. The international community seemingly is now alive to the socio-economic disparities that slave trade occasioned. And it is perhaps for this reason that important landmarks of the slave trade era are being identified, marked out and preserved as historical sites. The latest site to be marked and declared a world historical site is the Goree Island in the Atlantic Ocean- off the shores of Senegal's coastline. The Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Federico Mayor, says the island has been declared a world historical site where a complex anthropological facility will be constructed in honour of the thousands of Africans who were victims of the slave trade. Goree Island was a popular centre for slave traders where they collected, organised and offered the safe passage of slaves from West Africa across the Atlantic Ocean. Mr Mayor says various artifacts symbolising slave trade and Africans in Diaspora will be collected and preserved at the historical complex. He told an international news conference in Dakar, Senegal, recently that about US$100, 000 has been earmarked for the project, unique in this part of the world. An international committee had been formed to judge various architectural designs for the historical site, he added. A meeting of anthropologists, historians, economists architects and other social scientists was held at the Goree Island in March under the auspices of UNESCO to map out strategies for establishing the facility. The meeting's recommendations are yet to be made public and are awaiting perusal and adoption by UNESCO's high command. Mr Mayor, who was in Senegal to officiate at a Pan-African Conference on Higher Education, said the historical facility will have an information centre and research institute, besides preserving historical artifacts. "Everything will be done to ensure that the historical facility at Goree Island takes root immediately, " said the UNESCO chief. "While we abhor the slave trade and the trauma it visited on many, it is only fair that we establish a centre to mark this period in history." But Mr Mayor said extensive consultations will be done before the facility is established to ensure that it receives full approval of all interested bodies. Among others, the facility is targeted to be a key tourist feature in the vast Atlantic Ocean. Goree Island, about 30 minutes' sail from Dakar, the Senegalese capital, is a site to behold. Inhabited by about 1,200 people, Goree strikes you as one big gaol, barricaded with big walls. Most houses are underground and the inhabitants depend on art - painting, sculpture, weaving and singing - for a living. The inhabitants seemingly live as one big family - with shared aspirations and pre-occupations. The island is complete with facilities like school, post office, police station and market. But the one big question that remains unanswered yet is what will happen to the inhabitants when the facility is put in place. As it is now, establishing the facility will require translocation of the inhabitants - hopefully in a fashion kinder than was used on their forefathers - to create some space. It is also important to note that turning the island into a tourist site will certainly alter the sociological, cultural and economic set-up of the island. Overall, it is credit-worthy that UNESCO, has finally deemed it fit to recognise the central role of Goree Island in the history of the continent.
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