Fesman - Général
Général
BCA RSS Syndicator
| Senghor's Africa |
|
The champion of African dignity and of the dialogue between civilisations, a master of poetry, a statesman for Senegal, a visionary for Africa, a friend for France, the universal Ambassador of the black African culture, the universal guide of francophonie…These different qualifications granted to Leopold Sédar Senghor (1906-2001) by eminent political personalities such as Kofi Annan or Jacques Chirac are not enough to describe him. The first President-poet of Independent Senegal (1960-1980) but also the first African who was granted a seat in the Académie Française and the initiator of the World festival of Black Arts -FESMAN-, this exceptional man, in his long background of 95 years, did not only change the destiny of his country but also that of Africa. Léopold Sédar Senghor died in 2001, leaving behind him many followers but also detractors like every eminent man. According to the President Bongo, “for Africa, it is a voice, the voice of a statesman, the voice of a poet, the voice of a humanist, which disappeared”. But in fact, this voice has never disappeared. It is still present in Sengor’s poems and continues to resonate. « To think and to act by ourselves and for ourselves, as Negros…, to achieve modernity without trampling on our authenticity”. According to Senghor, one should recognise his identity without being assimilated. He was a perfect example of this statement: born in an ethnic minority in Senegal, Senghor spent all his life between his native country and France but “achieved modernity without trampling on his authenticity”. After living the first twenty-two years of his life in Senegal (1906-1928), he was engaged in a grand adventure in France. During his “sixteen years of wandering”, as he puts it, he progressively constructed the beginning of a career which started to shine by 1945: aggregation in grammar in 1935, instruction of letters and grammar in Descartes high school in Tours (1935-1938), supervision of the Chair of languages and Negro-African civilization in the French National Overseas School from 1944 until the independence of Senegal. The year 1945 was not only a turning point in the history of humanity but also in Senghor’s history: it was the beginning of a political carrier which lasted close to 40 years (1945-1981), the first fifteen in France and the rest in Senegal. Different titles were granted to Senghor: deputy of Senegal-Mauritania district at the French National Assembly, Secretary of State during the Presidency of the Council in Edgar Faure’s government (1955-1966), Mayor of Thiès in Senegal (November 1956), Minister Councillor of Michel Debré’s government (1959-1961), General Councillor of Senegal, member of the Grand Council of French West Africa and member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe… However, it is on September 5th 1960, date that will forever stay engraved in the collective memory of the Senegalese people, that Senghor was elected for the first time President of the Republic of Senegal. During the twenty years of his tenure, Senghor strongly contributed to the development of his country, mainly by establishing a multi-party system and a performing educational system. Being doctor honoris causa of thirty-seven universities, Senghor is a “multidimensional” statesman, as some people qualify him. His tremendous sensibility for literature earned him international recognition and allowed him to gain a seat in the Académie Française in June 1983: gold medal of the French language; international Grand Prix of poetry granted by the Society of French Poets and Artists and of the French Language (1963); gold medal of poetical virtue of international prize of Dag Hammarskjoeld (1965); International Prize of the Book, granted by the International Committee of the Book (World Community of the Book, UNESCO, 1979); prizes for his cultural activities in Africa and his works for peace, attributed by the President Sadate (1980), are just some examples illustrating the exceptionality of this eminent Senegalese figure. For Senghor, art should serve as a means to debate on the position of Africa and the African Diaspora in the world. One of the first people who referred to the concept of “negritude”, which he describes as “a set of cultural values of the Black world, as they are expressed in life, institutions and works of the Black people”, Senghor inaugurated the first FESMAN in Dakar in 1966 in order to “prove to the rest of the universe the richness, the vivacity and the variety of the cultural values inherent to negritude”. Before dying, Senghor “dreamed of a world of sun in the fraternity of his blue-eyed brothers” by proclaiming synergy and equality between Blacks and Whites. His dream was concretised in these following verses: “My Negritude is no slumber of race but the sun of soul, my Negritude, vision and life (…) My duty is to awake my people of flaming future My joy of creating images to nourish them, oh rhythmic lights of the Word!” . Eight years after Senghor’s death, 80 countries are getting ready today to participate in the third edition of the FESMAN in order to make his dream come true. |
