“The upcoming French animated feature film is titled "Adama," and it hails from directors Simon Rouby and Julien Lilti, produced by Naia Productions, and is scheduled for an October 21, 2015 theatrical debut - in France.
In development for three years, the film, set in 1916, in colonized West Africa, tells the story of a young boy named Adama, who goes in search of his brother, a rifleman with the French army during the First World War. His journey (by truck, ship, and train) takes him to Verdun, a small city in north-eastern France, and the site of a major battle during the First World War - one of the costliest battles of the war. It's a trip into the unknown, to an entirely different world the boy knows nothing about, putting him face-to-face with the horrors of war.
Starring in the film, providing voice for the 12-year-old boy is Azize Diabaté, who co-starred in 2013's "La Cite Rose" - a drama profiled on this blog, directed by Julien Abraham. He's joined by Pascal Nzonzi and Oxmo Puccino.
Lewis “Loulou” Harcourt (1863-1922), Colonial Secretary 1910-1915. Loulou was widely known to be an inveterate sexual predator. Dorothy Brett, later known to be one of his victims, wrote: “it is so tiresome that Loulou is such an old roué. He is as bad with boys as with girls … he is...
A 1910 German depiction of the Hermann von Wissmann, with colonialist attitudes in full display.
May 30 1915, Sphinxhaven–Unlike South-West Africa, German East Africa was still almost entirely under German control. Attacks had been made along the frontiers and the seacoast, ending...
The much celebrated (not by us) #WWIAfrica General Von Lettow Vorbeck's amidst a quick transit stop back in the former German East African colony in 1952 makes a ‘touching’ request of his former askaris to embrace their new rulers, the British "Continue to till the soil as you've always done and obey the laws of our brothers who are now your rulers. We are their friends."
"It blooms graves, it warms the Unknown Soldier. You, my brothers obscure, nobody called you. " For the Senegalese Tirailleurs died for France, Leopold Sedar Senghor, Black Hosts (Tours, 1938)
Landed, humiliated, forgotten, 70 years later, they have erased you from their memories. Landed, swept, censored, your sacrifice does not seem worthy of their commemoration. Be the docile child, loyal, committed, they'll have wiped out the celebrations. Your sacrifice and your contributions are soon forgotten. You sent your son you who defend the one you considered at the time as the bitter homeland, they have you humiliated, robbed, clear.
The world leaders welcomed, embraced fanfare, celebrating the return of peace to remember. They wanted to burn in the collective memory of the horrors of war and its outcome. So that never in history from repeating itself. They celebrated their heroes, their allies; they talk about history, integrity, and a symbol of remembrance. They invited the former enemies, those have become friends today. They exchanged hugs and kind words amid trumpets and drums. They remembered the common effort. But you no one remembers your contribution. You are transparent, insignificant, nonexistent.
I watched them twirl, twirl, bragging and my heart is filled with anger and revolt before bleeding pain. They simply ignored you; not once thy name was uttered at any time your sacrifice has been mentioned or suggested. You simply disappeared from their collective memory. You my mother, my roots, my native land, thou that You sent your children to war, you who immolas your most valiant son on the altar of the common good, they had no word to yourself, not a murmur , nothing, nothing. They'll spit silence shouting their ingratitude and contempt in the face.
While I watched strutting in their regalia, the same questions were turning over and over in my mind. Where is l`hommage visited my brother sharpshooters? -t When we celebrate their bravery and devotion? Were they not men and soldiers like the others? How have they been able to finish the rank of forgotten soldiers? Are they not also heroes?
Ingratitude is insult added to the injury of indifference. 70 years after laundering and the massacre of Thiaroye , almost nothing has changed, your dedication is swept out of hand, your sacrifice has been plunged into thick darkness. They landed you, despised cleared. You who are yet so proud to have helped restore peace.
You're perhaps not their dear eyes Africa but know that we your children, we know and we are grateful. We tell our son and daughters as the man entered the African story several times even though some want to ignore it. We will talk to them about their ancestors proud riflemen parties in battle and died as heroes for the Republic. We will tell them to stand tall, be proud because their ancestors fought at the front and they too have shed their blood to end a war that was not theirs.
This sacrifice will never be vain for us; we will never forget that it is also thanks to you skirmishers yesterday they have won and built the peace they so cherish today.
Reblogged from Gaou’s blog with permission. https://lesgaousatoronto.wordpress.com/2014/06/20/schwarzen-soldaten/
MV Liemba still plies on Lake Tanganyika even at 100 years
Once a feared gunship defending the African lake for Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany during World War I, the legendary vessel has been sunk and refloated twice, renamed and repurposed as a ferry.
On Lake Tanganyika, a century-old relic of World War I that became the stuff of Hollywood legend still plies the slate-grey waters - but it is not clear for how much longer.
Once a feared gunship defending the African lake for Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, the legendary vessel - which inspired the 1951 classic “The African Queen” - has been sunk and refloated twice, renamed and repurposed as a ferry.
As it marks 100 years of service, the MV Liemba, originally a symbol of colonial power, is now an essential lifeline for the people who live along the lakeshore. “Liemba is the only safe means of transport along the lake,” said Mathew Mathia Mwanjisi, the ship’s captain.
“Historically, it’s very important to Tanzania as a country, but again it’s very important for the people along the coast of Lake Tanganyika.” The tale of the warship and the battle for Lake Tanganyika inspired British novelist C.S. Forester to write his 1935 novel “The African Queen”, later adapted by Hollywood in the movie of the same name starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. Piled high with pineapples, maize and rice - as well as up to 600 passengers - the MV Liemba navigates the world’s longest lake every two weeks, from Kigoma, Tanzania, in the north to Mpulungu, Zambia, in the south.
The journey of some 600 kilometres is meant to take some three days, but is often longer as the ship hops from village to village, transforming into a lively aquatic carnival at each stop. Children in leaky canoes paddle alongside to sell fresh mangos.
‘History of the country’
Lai Bakari Kiunguti is a ship-bound trader with a makeshift stall below the deck to serve the ship’s passengers. Like many others, her livelihood depends on the boat, and as the MV Liemba ages she worries for the future. “When MV Liemba stops travelling I will stay at home. That would make me poor because it means I wouldn’t work,” she said.
The MV Liemba requires constant maintenance, and may not stay afloat much longer without a complete overhaul. Tanzania asked the German government for help repairing or replacing the vessel in 2011 and KfW, a German government-owned development bank, is assessing whether rehabilitation might be possible.
But it may be cheaper to simply replace the MV Liemba with a new ferry, ending a century of fascinating history. “It is carrying the history of the country,” said Bertram Mapunda, a professor of history at Tanzania’s University of Dar es Salaam.
Mapunda said the ship should be celebrated, and preserved, just as German colonial-era buildings and railway lines are throughout the country. The MV Liemba began its life in a shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, in 1913 where it was named the Graf von Götzen after German East Africa’s former governor.
Before setting sail, the steamer was taken apart, packed into 5,000 numbered crates, and shipped to Dar es Salaam.
Then it was taken by railway and porter to the shore of Lake Tanganyika where it was reassembled in 1915, armed with cannon, and put to work defending the waters against Belgian and British soldiers.
Measuring 70 metres long and weighing 1,200 tonnes the Graf von Götzen dominated the lake for nearly a year, dwarfing all other ships.
But when the outnumbered German land forces retreated the warship was filled with cement and scuttled. The Belgians salvaged the Graf von Götzen, towing her to Kigoma harbour after the war but she sank again during a storm.
In 1921, Winston Churchill ordered the ship raised once more. Despite the years submerged the Graf von Gotzen was still useable because the German crew, hoping to see the ship sail again, had coated the engines in thick protective grease before sinking her.
Rechristened the MV Liemba, after the local name for the lake, it was put into service as a cargo and passenger ferry in 1927.
The original steam engines continued to operate until the mid-1970s when they were replaced with diesel. Subsequent books, such as Giles Foden’s “Mimi and Toutou Go Forth”, have also explored the ship’s history and its role in the Great War’s East African Campaign.
The MV Liemba has also seen the effects of more recent conflicts in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 1997, she was used by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) to carry more than 75,000 refugees returning home to DR Congo after fleeing war.
Today captain Mwanjisi and his crew say they are proud to work aboard this storied vessel and of the vital service the MV Liemba provides as the unlikely lifeblood of the lake’s economy and society. (AFP)
MV Liemba has been operating almost non-stop since 1927. In 1948 the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation (EAR&H) took over running the ferry, allowing it to link services with the Central Line from Kigoma to Dar es Salaam. From 1976 till 1979 the ship was overhauled. At this time twin diesel engines replaced the original steam engines.
The driving force behind this renovation was Patrick “Paddy” Dougherty. He was born on March 18, 1918 in Downpatrick and did an apprenticeship at Harland & Wolff in Belfast. Subsequently, he served during the Second World War in the Royal Navy and became a ship’s engineer.
In the sixties and seventies, he worked for the EAR&H in Kisumu, Kenya as first engineer, and later as chief engineer on the ferries of Lake Victoria. After the renovation of MV Liemba he left Tanzania.
In 1977 the EAR&H was dissolved and the new Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) took over operation of MV Liemba. In 1993 the TRC gave Liemba an overhaul managed by the Danish shipyard OSK ShipTech A/S, sponsored by the Danish International Development Agency.
The rebuild included the deck house, the electronic system, and the pipes, renovation of the cabins of the passengers and crew, new MAN engines of 460 kW each from MAN, installation of a hydraulic crane on the foredeck, and conversion of the rear cargo hull into a passenger room (capacity increase to 600 passengers.
To improve safety MV Liemba received a double bottom in the area of the forward cargo compartment. The ship was re-measured and the Danish engineers found that Liemba was 71.40 metres long and 10 metres wide.
With the new machines, the ship can achieve a speed of 11 knots. MV Liemba now has ten first-class passenger cabins (double bed) and two VIP cabins. Eighteen second-class cabins (six double and 12 quad-beds) are also available.
In 1997 the UNHCR used MV Liemba and MV Mwongozo to repatriate more than 75,000 refugees who had fled Zaire during the First Congo War, following the overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko.
MV Liemba made 22 trips between Kigoma and Uvira during this five month operation. In 1997 TRC’s inland shipping division became a separate company, the Marine Services Company Ltd.
In 2011, TRC wrote to the Federal Government of Germany, requesting assistance in either renovating or replacing the vessel. The German authorities undertook a study that it is thought concluded that it would be cheaper to build a new ship than renovate Liemba.
The final request for financial help fell between the governments of Lower Saxony, where the ship was built, and the federal government in Berlin, with the then President of Germany Christian Wulff stating that the vessel had a “singular history” and performed an “indispensable service” to the people of East Africa.
Black Transnational Movement for Representation and Land
Ramla Bandele, Article Author
The 1919 Pan-African Congress was held in Paris to coincide with the Paris Peace Conference ending World War One. It was held to develop a plan for lasting peace between the European states and the United States of America after the devastation of World War I. Africans and African-descended activists tried to influence the political agenda of the Paris Peace Conference as it related to the political and economic location of all African and Caribbean colonies, as well as African descended peoples of the Americas. The Allied Powers did not encourage such organization because the rebuilding of the international economy depended upon the continued control and exploitation of all of their colonies, including Africa and its people. As a result, very few marginalized groups from Asia and Africa were able to negotiate or meet with the Allied Powers during the Conference. Given these obstacles, it is impressive that the Pan-African Congress came to fruition, and eventually presented resolutions to the new League of Nations. The U.S. government refused to issue passports to African-Americans. It took the combined efforts of Blaise Diagne and W.E.B. Du Bois to navigate around the obstacles and organize the Pan-African Congress in Paris in February 1919. Diagne's role was crucial to the convening of the Congress. A Senegalese, Diagne was the highest-ranking African in French politics, having assisted France in recruiting African soldiers. As a Senegalese deputy to the French Parliament, French Prime Minister Clemenceau approved the Congress; nonetheless he disapproved widespread publicity for it. Du Bois was instrumental in assembling delegates from various African, American and European organizations. There were at least 57 delegates representing 15 countries and colonies, including Haiti, Liberia, the British West Indies, West African colonies and the United States. At least 19 delegates were from Africa. Although it is often referred to as the 1st Pan-African Congress, it actually was patterned after the Pan-African Conference, convened in 1900 by Henry Sylvester Williams. Du Bois had been a delegate at the 1900 conference. The Congress petitioned Allied nations to take specific actions to address oppressive political and economic conditions prevailing throughout predominately black colonies and throughout the Americas.
The Congress requested numerous changes in colonial policy, including the following critical areas:
1) Land ownership and equitable economic development which would allow Africans to profit from the sale of their natural resources. They also wanted a portion of European profits to be committed to the economic development of the colonies.
2) Educational opportunity and accessible health care were highlighted. To insure that Africans would acquire effective knowledge to compete in the international economy, the delegates lobbied for educational programming, not only in industrial fields, but also in language and Western governance. Health care was considered a vital component of effective development as well.
3) African participation in local government and the decolonization of the mandated colonies were primary concerns. The delegates were concerned about the plight of the African colonies that the defeated Germany had to relinquish. The PAC delegates called for the League of Nations to administer these so-called "mandated" colonies, insuring that the European powers could not absorb them and also to make it possible for diaspora Africans to migrate and settle within these mandated areas. The Congress participants envisioned the establishment of a Bureau within the League to develop and implement these resolutions. Though Du Bois did get the opportunity to discuss these resolutions with U.S. officials and over a thousand copies of the resolutions were distributed, no delegates were authorized to address the Peace Conference and ultimately their resolutions were not instituted.
Undeterred, the Pan-African Congress delegates established an Executive Committee toward the development of a worldwide body to lobby for these goals, and they agreed to hold congresses biennially. The next Congress was to meet in 1921.
A short production video on MV Liemba, a German warship during World War I turned into a passenger and goods ferrying ship, making it the oldest working in the world.
Would have been interesting to focus more on the intensive labor and conditions that bore this, additionally would have been excellent to learn how the ship has stayed afloat for 100 years.
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