If Anyone Goes Against Colonial Sculpture Before Black Lives Matter, It Is Andre Blaise Essama

Andre Blaise Essama (Twitter / @sulesoyer)

JAKARTA - Long before the echo of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) solidarity action, a Cameroonian activity, Andre Blaise Essama, destroyed a statue that perpetuated colonialism and racism in his city. Interestingly, this action was not done just once, but many times.

Launching Reuters, Essama argued that statues celebrating the French colonial period do not deserve to exist and must be replaced with national heroes. Because of this, Essama has repeatedly destroyed statues left by the colonialists by beheading and dropping them.

Not infrequently his actions resulted in him being arrested, fined and jailed on charges of vandalism. However, that did not deter him. Because, then he continued the action. To the extent that Essema chose the one statue that was most often damaged. The statue is none other than the statue of a French second world war general, Philippe Leclerc.

“I have beheaded General Leclerc seven times. I buried the head of the statue in my village, "said former Computer engineering student Essama.

Cameroon'da aktivist Andre Blaise Essama Fransız, Alman ve İngiliz sömürgecilerin heykellerini yıkarak, bazılarını başını gövdesinden ayırarak, ülkesini sömürge simgelerinden kurtarmaya çalışıyorı gövdesinden ayırarak, ülkesini sömürge simgelerinden kurtarmaya çalışıygelerınınının ayırarak. pic.twitter.com/288C5uXVtf

- sule soyer (@sulesoyer) July 3, 2020

According to Essama, the place where the French general is only suitable is in a museum. He doesn't want to erase history. It's just that Essama didn't want the statues of Leclerc and other colonial administrators to be in public spaces, let alone to be remembered by Cameroonians.

Therefore, he appealed to local authorities to replace the remaining colonial statues with those who became national figures. "The national monument is important. They influence national memories and evoke national pride, ”Essama said as he dusted a statue of Cameroonian football legend Samuel Mbappe Leppe.

“Mbappe Leppe is a great player. He makes you dream. He paved the way for many soccer players. Mbappe Leppe is a true hero, ”shouted Essama, raising his fists towards the sky as the audience applauded.

Uniquely, when Essama started his campaign a decade ago by destroying colonial statues and voicing national figures, people found him a bit eccentric. Amazingly, Essama has since created an association that includes artists who have sculpted 30 works of art in honor of Cameroonian heroes.

Because of their enthusiasm, Essama and his friends tried to erect a statue of one of the Cameroonian leaders at the main roundabout in Douala last year. Unfortunately, the statue was later taken down by the police. Later, when BLM began to expand, support for it gradually began to increase.

Meanwhile, Cameroon itself was a German colony. However, after the end of the first world war, Cameroon was under the leadership of France and slowly, the Miniature African country gained independence in 1960.