With stirring
tributes to the late Nelson Mandela, the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO
launched celebrations on Oct. 31 to mark its 70th anniversary.
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| Nelson Mandela, "Papa Africa". Visual by J. Abinibi |
The agency’s
director-general, Irina Bokova, said that Mandela “embodied UNESCO’s ideals,
our faith in human dignity, our belief in the ability of every woman and man to
change society through tolerance and peace.”
The celebrations
in Paris included a colloquium featuring the prickly Nigerian writer and Nobel
Prize-winner Wole Soyinka, who examined Mandela’s legacy and his impact on the
world, in a sometimes uncomfortable lecture.
Soyinka, himself a former prisoner of conscience and long-standing critic of oppression, said there might be
various reasons behind the universal love of the South African icon -
including the desire to feel adulation for a legend - but the main cause stems
from the human need for freedom.
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| Wole Soyinka. © McKenzie |
“Mandela was
the protagonist of a universal humanity,” the writer said, explaining that
dialogue and reconciliation were not means of appeasement but higher goals toward peace and forgiveness, following human rights violations.
Haiti’s president
Michel Martelly, the guest of honour at the ceremony, added his voice to the tributes,
saying that the world needs another Mandela to “help us overcome extremism and
fanaticism, before it’s too late”.
Mandela was
appointed a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador during his lifetime, and was also awarded
the agency’s Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize in 1991, along with Frederik de
Klerk, the last apartheid-era president of South Africa. Both men received the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
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| Irina Bokova. © McKenzie |
According to
Bokova, Mandela always supported UNESCO’s “values”. The agency was founded in
1945 and has grown from 20 member states to a current 195. Its mandate in the
post-World War II period was to develop the "intellectual and moral
solidarity of mankind" with a view to promoting lasting peace.
"Today
the world faces new and steep challenges, and we need to respond with the same courage, the same audacity the same vision - because violence today is directed
against schools, against cultural diversity, against freedom and human rights,”
Bokova said.
The 70th
anniversary celebrations will continue through 2015, as UNESCO reflects on its
history, which has been one of ups and downs.
The United
States withdrew from the organization between 1984 and 2003, for instance, and UNESCO
recently faced a financial crisis when the US government withheld its dues
after the agency’s member states decided to grant Palestine full membership in 2011.
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| Singer Sally Nyolo, backstage. © McKenzie |
Bokova’s
exhortation of “long live UNESCO” at the anniversary launch may have been a
reference to such upheavals, but the evening was mostly about celebration, with the plethora of speeches interspersed with artistic performances.
The Mahotella
Queens group from South Africa had the audience laughing and cheering to their
skits, dances and songs. They were followed by singer Sally Nyolo of Cameroon, who brought soul and style
to the stage, accompanied by two musicians and sand-art artist David Myriam.
Choreographer
Sam Tshabalala and his Gumboot Dancers later stomped in unison, recalling the
tradition of black miners who used their feet to provide percussion as they
sang. And the celebrated Guinean singer Mory Kanté performed his 1988 hit “Yé
ké yé ké”, which made spectators and UNESCO officials get up and dance.
During his
performance, Kante also paid tribute to Mandela, praising all that the freedom
fighter and statesman did for Africa and the world.
The public can learn more about
Mandela’s life and work in an exhibition that runs until Dec. 31, 2014, at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters. Titled Nelson Mandela, from Prisoner to President, the
exhibition was curated by South Africa’s Apartheid Museum and has been shown in
various countries.
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| The Mohotella Queens. © McKenzie |
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| Sam Tshabalala and his Gumboot Dancers. © McKenzie |
