AFRICA AND LATIN AMERICA: THE SLAVE CONNECTION?
| Although Africa and Latin America have so much in common, as a result of more than
three centuries of slavery and the slave trade, little interaction and cooperation has
existed among people on both sides of the Atlantic. The presence of Africans in Latin America dates back to the beginning of the 16th Century, when the French, Portuguese and Spanish colonised many countries of that part of the American continent. Initially, the three colonial powers depended on the natives for a cheap source of labour. However, as this source of labour became increasingly unreliable due to the large number of deaths sustained by the natives as a result of various diseases brought in by the Europeans, and also due to domestic pressure to abolish the enslavement of the 'Indians', the colonial authorities looked at Africa as an alternative source. It has not been easy to determine the exact number of Africans enslaved in Latin America, partly because most of the colonial records either have been destroyed or do not contain sufficient information, and due to the fact that many slave traders used to smuggle in slaves in order to avoid paying import duty. But historians are unanimous on the significant role played by Africans in the political, cultural, social and economic development of Latin America. "African cultures, languages and customs impacted on the development of Latin America's cultural, linguistic and customary characteristics," says Dr. Alois Mlambo, of the University of Zimbabwe's history department. He observes, however, that unlike Africans in the British Caribbean, Brazil, Cuba, Europe and the United States, those in Latin America have not developed "any meaningful intellectual, cultural and economic links" with the African continent. Part of the problem lies in the fact that of the very little research that has been done on the subject of Africa-Latin America relations, most of it has been Eurocentric, with the tendency to neglect the role of Africans in the political, economic, cultural and social development of societies in Latin America. Dr. Mlambo insists that as Africa and Latin America share a characteristic of being part of the Developing World, the two continents stand a greater chance of succeeding if they were to undertake more collaborative approaches in all spheres of life. This is a view echoed by participants at a one-day colloquium of the Latin Union Group in Harare, held on May 28 at the Africa University in Mutare. "We can continue to academically contemplate this reality or we can act to develop it consciously into a powerful political, economic integrative tool based on history and solidarity that will unite two brotherly continents in this merciless, globalised world in the beginning of the next millennium," says Rodolfo Sarracino, Cuba's ambassador to Zimbabwe. Highlighting some of the benefits resulting from relations between Africa and Latin America, with particular reference to Zimbabwe, higher education and technology minister Ignatius Chombo points to the fact that more than 2 000 Zimbabwean professionals trained in Cuba are now working at various schools, colleges, health centres and rural development projects. "What other evidence do we need to demonstrate the gaminess and mutual benefit between Zimbabwe and the Latin countries?" he asks. Chombo was the guest of honour at the Mutare meeting, which brought together diplomats (including ambassadors) of Angola, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, France, the Holy See, Italy, Mozambique, Portugal, Romania and Spain, as well as local academics and business representatives. All these countries share Latin as the root of their respective official languages. In a message sent to the meeting, Unesco's director general, Spain's Frederico Mayor, said it was necessary to break down the silence around the transatlantic slave trade. This fits in the objectives of the organisation's own 'Slave Route' project launched in 1994, which seeks to study the root causes and modalities of a system which uprooted millions of Africans, and to bring to light the various interactions that it generated in the Americas and the Caribbeans. The movement towards the institutionalisation of Africa-Latin America relations has its roots in resolution 329 of the 27th General Conference of Unesco, in 1993, which triggered off a sequence of events that highlighted the notion that African people, together with the Native Americans and Europeans, had contributed to the development of America and created the foundation for new forms of solidarity. This led to the First International Symposium on Afro-Iberoamerican Studies in 1994 in Spain. The second symposium, held in December last year in Cote d'Ivoire, reaffirmed the position of Africa as an integral part of the world culture, while recognising its contribution to the world's cultural heritage. Some of the projects adopted in Cote d'Ivoire included the establishment of an Afro-Iberoamerican documentation centre at the University of Alcala, in Spain, whose objective is to facilitate the study of African culture. But strengthening relations between Africa and Latin America will take more than conferences and declarations. Dr. Mlambo argues that it requires both sides of the Atlantic to engage in an effort aimed at encouraging cultural and intellectual contacts. African and Latin American education institutions need to incorporate studies about each other into their respective curricula, he says. "Such interaction can only enrich both sides and promote greater mutual understansding". This will require a change of attitudes. Dr. Mlambo says more intense collaboration between the two continents has been hampered not because of lack of willingness on the part of individuals, but because of little appreciation and enthusiasm for such linkages by the respective governments. (SARDC) |
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