The killing of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer in the United States has triggered huge protests against racist violence and police brutality in some 70 countries across the globe.
On the African continent, demonstrations have been mainly in English-speaking countries such as South Africa, Kenya and Ghana.
In Senegal, three artists have launched the #AfricaForBlackLives collective to mobilise public opinion across West Africa and show that despite restrictions on gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic, the region has a voice.
Nathalie Vairac, Antoine Tempé and Wise Bayano formed the collective on 3 June, posting photos on its Instagram account. It follows an open letter from 105 African writers.
Malian signer Fatoumata Diawara is one of many to take up the challenge, posting a photo of herself with a clenched fist.
'Why are we not mobilising?'
Vairac, a Dakar-based actress of Guadeloupean and Indian descent felt pushed to take action after seeing the video of George Floyd in which he is held down for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
“I clicked on it without really knowing what I was going to see,” she told RFI. “And then it became a complete nightmare, I couldn’t get the image out of my mind.
“We’ve spent the last three months fighting a deadly virus and a now human being was doing the killing,” she continued.
“We’d seen these demonstrations around the world and I said to myself, ‘How is it that we on the African continent are not mobilising?’ The health emergency means we can’t gather in groups of more than 50, so we had this idea of creating a black wall with the #AfricaForBlackLives” hashtag."
Silence is not an option
The wall is on the roof of Antoine Tempé’s studio in Dakar.
“We had the idea of photographing yourself using a strong gesture which allows you to identify with the movement," said French-American photographer Tempé. "So for example taking a knee or raising your fist.
“Immediately a flood of African-American friends said how touched they were to see the movement was taking root in Africa too.”
For the moment, the movement is very much citizen-led.
Wise Bayano, a Senegalese activist and member of the collective, regrets that West African leaders have been slow to react to the anti-racist movement following George Floyd’s death.
“At the time no officials raised their voices to denounce the crime. We are calling on all African leaders to react. It is time that Africa made its voice heard.
“There are a lot of George Floyds outside of the US,” he added. “We need to put a stop to this brutality.”
The collective is bringing in a wide range of people from the world of culture: musicians, photographers, graffiti-artists, actors. Using the slogan “Silence is not an option” they hope to broaden their message via graffiti and street art.
