Issued on: 14/10/2020 -
French lawmakers voted to return prized artefacts to Benin and Senegal
GERARD JULIEN AFP/File
Paris (AFP)
A Congolese activist who snatched an African artefact from a French museum to protest the looting of art during colonial times received a 1,000-euro fine for theft from a Paris court on Wednesday.
Emery Mwazulu Diyabanza grabbed a 19th century Chadian funerary post during a tour of the Quai Branly museum in Paris on June 12
Shouting "we're bringing it home" he then made for the exit with four other members of an association that campaigns for the return of stolen African art before being stopped by guards.
The protest, which one of the activists filmed and live-streamed on Facebook, was the first in a series by Diyabanza who has since snatched African artefacts in museums in the Netherlands and in the French port of Marseille.
He faces court cases in those cities too.
Wednesday's hearing came a week after French lawmakers voted to return prized artefacts to Benin and Senegal more than a century after they were looted by colonial forces and hauled back to Paris to be displayed in museums.
Benin will recover the throne of its 19th-century King Glele -- a centrepiece of the 70,000-odd African items held at the Quai Branly museum, which showcases indigenous art.
Senegal, meanwhile, will get back a sword and scabbard said to have belonged to Omar Saidou Tall, an important 19th century military and religious figure.
African leaders and activists have called on President Emmanuel Macron's government to go further and return more items.
Announcing plans to appeal his fine, Diyabanza told reporters after Wednesday's hearing that the "judges of a corrupt government" had no moral right to prevent him "going to get what belongs to us".
"We will continue the fight with whatever means we have," he said.
Three of the activists who accompanied him to Quai Branly museum received suspended fines of 250 euros ($294), 750 euros ($589) and 1,000 euros ($1,177).
A fourth was cleared of the charges.
- 90,000 African objects -
The judge acknowledged that their actions were "activist" in nature but said he was fining them to "discourage" further such stunts.
"You have other ways of drawing the attention of politicians and the public" to the issue of colonial cultural theft, he said.
An expert report commissioned by Macron in 2018 counted some 90,000 African works in French museums, most of them at the Quai Branly.
Britain has also faced calls to return artefacts, notably the Elgin Marbles to Greece and the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria.
Museums in Belgium and Austria also house tens of thousands of African pieces.
© 2020 AFP
Paris (AFP)
A Congolese activist who snatched an African artefact from a French museum to protest the looting of art during colonial times received a 1,000-euro fine for theft from a Paris court on Wednesday.
Emery Mwazulu Diyabanza grabbed a 19th century Chadian funerary post during a tour of the Quai Branly museum in Paris on June 12
Shouting "we're bringing it home" he then made for the exit with four other members of an association that campaigns for the return of stolen African art before being stopped by guards.
The protest, which one of the activists filmed and live-streamed on Facebook, was the first in a series by Diyabanza who has since snatched African artefacts in museums in the Netherlands and in the French port of Marseille.
He faces court cases in those cities too.
Wednesday's hearing came a week after French lawmakers voted to return prized artefacts to Benin and Senegal more than a century after they were looted by colonial forces and hauled back to Paris to be displayed in museums.
Benin will recover the throne of its 19th-century King Glele -- a centrepiece of the 70,000-odd African items held at the Quai Branly museum, which showcases indigenous art.
Senegal, meanwhile, will get back a sword and scabbard said to have belonged to Omar Saidou Tall, an important 19th century military and religious figure.
African leaders and activists have called on President Emmanuel Macron's government to go further and return more items.
Announcing plans to appeal his fine, Diyabanza told reporters after Wednesday's hearing that the "judges of a corrupt government" had no moral right to prevent him "going to get what belongs to us".
"We will continue the fight with whatever means we have," he said.
Three of the activists who accompanied him to Quai Branly museum received suspended fines of 250 euros ($294), 750 euros ($589) and 1,000 euros ($1,177).
A fourth was cleared of the charges.
- 90,000 African objects -
The judge acknowledged that their actions were "activist" in nature but said he was fining them to "discourage" further such stunts.
"You have other ways of drawing the attention of politicians and the public" to the issue of colonial cultural theft, he said.
An expert report commissioned by Macron in 2018 counted some 90,000 African works in French museums, most of them at the Quai Branly.
Britain has also faced calls to return artefacts, notably the Elgin Marbles to Greece and the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria.
Museums in Belgium and Austria also house tens of thousands of African pieces.
© 2020 AFP
Activist fined for dislodging African art from Paris museum
today
Congolese activist Mwazulu Diyabanza arrives at the Palais de Justice courthouse, in Paris, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020. The controversial Congolese activist and four others are going on trial Wednesday on aggravated theft charges for trying to remove a 19th century African funeral pole from a Paris museum, in a protest against colonial-era plundering of African art. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
PARIS (AP) — A Congolese activist was fined 2,000 euros ($2,320) Wednesday for trying to take a 19th-century African funeral pole from a Paris museum in a protest against colonial-era injustice that he streamed online.
The Paris court convicted Emery Mwazulu Diyabanza and two other activists of attempted theft, but the sentence stopped far short of what they potentially faced for their actions at the Quai Branly Museum: 10 years in prison and 150,000 euros in fines.
Activists and defense lawyers viewed the case as a trial about how former empires should atone for past crimes. Diyabanza’s museum action took place in June, amid global protests against racial injustice and colonial-era wrongs unleashed by George Floyd’s death on May 25 in the U.S. at the knee of a white policeman.
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In the Quai Branly protest, Diyabanza and other activists dislodged the funeral pole from its perch while he gave a livestreamed speech about plundered African art. Guards quickly stopped them. The activists argue that they never planned to steal the work but just wanted to call attention to its origins.
The presiding judge insisted the trial should focus on the specific funeral pole incident and that his court wasn’t competent to judge France’s colonial era.
French officials denounced the Quai Branly incident, saying it threatens ongoing negotiations with African countries launched by French President Emmanuel Macron in 2018 for legal, organized restitution efforts.
Diyabanza has staged similar actions in the Netherlands and the southern French city of Marseille. He accuses European museums of making millions on artworks taken from now-impoverished countries like his native Congo, and said the funeral pole, which came from current-day Chad, should be among the works returned to Africa.
today
Congolese activist Mwazulu Diyabanza arrives at the Palais de Justice courthouse, in Paris, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020. The controversial Congolese activist and four others are going on trial Wednesday on aggravated theft charges for trying to remove a 19th century African funeral pole from a Paris museum, in a protest against colonial-era plundering of African art. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
PARIS (AP) — A Congolese activist was fined 2,000 euros ($2,320) Wednesday for trying to take a 19th-century African funeral pole from a Paris museum in a protest against colonial-era injustice that he streamed online.
The Paris court convicted Emery Mwazulu Diyabanza and two other activists of attempted theft, but the sentence stopped far short of what they potentially faced for their actions at the Quai Branly Museum: 10 years in prison and 150,000 euros in fines.
Activists and defense lawyers viewed the case as a trial about how former empires should atone for past crimes. Diyabanza’s museum action took place in June, amid global protests against racial injustice and colonial-era wrongs unleashed by George Floyd’s death on May 25 in the U.S. at the knee of a white policeman.
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In the Quai Branly protest, Diyabanza and other activists dislodged the funeral pole from its perch while he gave a livestreamed speech about plundered African art. Guards quickly stopped them. The activists argue that they never planned to steal the work but just wanted to call attention to its origins.
The presiding judge insisted the trial should focus on the specific funeral pole incident and that his court wasn’t competent to judge France’s colonial era.
French officials denounced the Quai Branly incident, saying it threatens ongoing negotiations with African countries launched by French President Emmanuel Macron in 2018 for legal, organized restitution efforts.
Diyabanza has staged similar actions in the Netherlands and the southern French city of Marseille. He accuses European museums of making millions on artworks taken from now-impoverished countries like his native Congo, and said the funeral pole, which came from current-day Chad, should be among the works returned to Africa.
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