PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Congolese academic says Africa needs to be respected
Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – Africa does not need to be loved but respected, Congolese historian and linguist, Théophile Obenga, said on Monday in Dakar, the Senegalese capital.
Speaking at a forum on the topic “Were former Egyptians blacks, yes or no?” held during the Third World Festival of Black Arts, he said African renaissance was supposed to break with the colonial past.
“No Frenchman is interested in Francophonie. Even General de Gaulle did not love it since, he said, this was neo-colonialism. We should emancipate ourselves to achieve African renaissance. We are the safe of humanity,” Obenga said.
“The West is in decline because of demography and inflation. The arrogance and omnipresence of Europe is over. China will change the world,” he said, and called on Africa to “open its eyes”.
‘The only solution I propose is to be patriotic and to work for one’s country,” the Congolese academic said.
-0- PANA SIL/AAS/MSA/MA 13Dec2010
Speaking at a forum on the topic “Were former Egyptians blacks, yes or no?” held during the Third World Festival of Black Arts, he said African renaissance was supposed to break with the colonial past.
“No Frenchman is interested in Francophonie. Even General de Gaulle did not love it since, he said, this was neo-colonialism. We should emancipate ourselves to achieve African renaissance. We are the safe of humanity,” Obenga said.
“The West is in decline because of demography and inflation. The arrogance and omnipresence of Europe is over. China will change the world,” he said, and called on Africa to “open its eyes”.
‘The only solution I propose is to be patriotic and to work for one’s country,” the Congolese academic said.
-0- PANA SIL/AAS/MSA/MA 13Dec2010
