Africa Day in Ireland

Why Africa Day Must Fulfill the Stated Objective of the White Paper

“Speaking for those who don't have a voice”

message displayed by one NGO on Africa Day

This is quite an incredible statement to come from an Irish NGO, especially at an event supposed to dispel “negative images” about Africa and to highlight what Africans are capable of.

A few years later, this was the message from the same NGO responsible for the message referred to above, informing visitors to the ‘Flagship’ event in Farmleigh, Irish or otherwise but mostly African, about its work: 

“Fighting hunger in Africa”

 (presumably all 54 independent countries on the continent?!)

Perhaps, whoever came up with this message should have done a bit of research?

Incidentally, the NGO’s stand has also been located next to that of an African country!

The above are just two examples of the kind of messages to be seen at an event supposed to inform the Irish public of a “comprehensive understanding of Africa”, as well as what Africa and Africans have to offer the rest of the world.

Another example worth recalling involved an interview on RTÉ’s This Week when the then head of an NGO suggested among other things that Ireland should “adopt an african country”!

This was, certainly, a suggestion outrageous enough to have warranted calls to Liveline the following week to let the great Irish public have its say! Sadly, not.

In a column devoted to Africa Day, titled “A Penny For The Black Babies”... Contributing A Nod To Imperialism, and published (on page 8) in the 1 - 15 August 2012 edition of AfricaWorld newspaper, Cork-based writer and commentator, Joe Moore, wrote about his encounter with one staff member of an NGO which had a stand at that year's Africa Day. 

This person also had her own ideas about Africa, as well as having the answers to the continent’s perceived problems and shortcomings.

Africa has had a long-standing problem with how the continent is perceived by outsiders, as Nigeria’s Chinua Achebe once wrote:

When the Department of Foreign Affairs proposed the idea for events to mark Africa Day in the 2006 White Paper, “in order to promote a more positive and comprehensive understanding of Africa in Ireland”, this represented a welcome step in addressing the negative way in which Africa and its peoples are portrayed. 

For Africans living in Ireland, the 2006 White Paper’s section on Africa in Ireland was long overdue, and a declaration also expected to contribute to efforts in promoting better understanding of Africans.

The challenge, however is: what events should be presented and who decides how Africa should be presented to the outside world, in this case, to the Irish public?

The full paragraphs extracted from the 2006 White Paper on Irish Aid are as follows:

Perhaps, there had been a problem somewhere along the way with the interpretation of the White Paper's stated Africa Day objective, resulting in the examples from the NGO messages referred to earlier?

‘Africa’ Day or ‘NGOs in Africa’ Day?

Judging by the proliferation of NGOs at the ‘Flagship’ Dublin event and, especially the messages they bring along with them, one could be forgiven for thinking the event is ‘NGOs in Africa’ Day!

Well, it shouldn’t be and the next instalment of this commentary will offer suggestions as to how an Africa Day programme might look like if it is to reflect the true spirit of the 2006 White Paper.