Published: 24th Sept – http://www.thebritishblacklist.com/shakara-speaks-it-boycott-won-the-people-vs-exhibit-b-human-zoo/
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It was a monumental evening. The masses gathered at all three exits of Waterloo station as stewards were there to greet them. At approximately 17:50, all three congregations moved towards “The Vaults” – chosen venue for the so called art display named “Exhibit B:Human Zoo”.
Ancestral Drums beat driving the energy of the people to a fever pitch as they chanted “NO MORE HUMAN ZOO”. For a while it appeared like a calm flowing river, Barbican, The Vaults and Police probably thought the show was going to go on without too much of a challenge as those who came to feast their eyes on the specimens therein rolled past protesters seamlessly, some smirking as they did.
But then the tide changed. No one quite knows what happened. It was as if some unknown force unified the focus of the people in a single moment that could not have been executed better if it were the result of months of delicate planning. A section of the gathered strong moved for the entrance lead by the drummers. Simultaneously railings that had been carefully placed to contain the demonstration began to be shifted with a swiftness, moved to the side as the people converged and formed a blockade at the entrance.
As disciplined as could be, once the entrance was secure the crowd separated, leaving a walk way as the drummers and those assigned to protect them held the fort at the door. News came that “The Babylon have called for reinforcements”. A decision was made regarding whether to disperse or stand firm. In light of the decision a chant rose over the Nyahbinghi drum “WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED” and as the bully van approached, the demonstrators posted up, ready to stand firm in peaceful defiance against what all knew was an insult to the memory of their ancestors.
The chant was only called to a pause by the voice of sister Sara Myers, initiator of the campaign and organiser of the demonstration. She informed the Gathered Strong that the “exhibition” had been shut down for the day. A session of inquiry began as seasoned minds were alert to the fact that this may be a rouse designed simply to disperse the masses before the job was complete. Following confirmation, Sister Sara asked to the people to disperse – the people dispersed.
But not before announcing, that not only had they locked off the evening’s “performance”, but the performance for the entire duration. The Vaults wrote:
“To whom it may concern, this evening’s performance has been cancelled. Further subsequent performances up to, and including Saturday 27th September have also been cancelled. “
As was declared “THE SHOW MUST NOT GO ON!”, So said, so done. The People left triumphant having achieved the mission set out by the determination of their own will.
SO…NOW WHAT?
Well as always, demonstrations are often the outward manifestation of a pre-existing movement. This movement takes on many forms. Prior to this demonstration a meeting was held at Stratford Theatre Royal, supposedly for the purpose of airing concerns about the exhibit. Among the cacophony of confusion coming from Barbican representative Louise Jefferys in particular, a Sister artist from South Africa who was sitting in the audience crystallised all that was wrong with “Exhibit B”, by placing it in critical context. She spoke of the fact that after decades of white minority rule in South Africa, that same white minority is now waxing itself RICH through the manufacturing of“racial art” essentially still benefiting form the suffering of Afrikan people.
So it is clear that South African Brett Bailey’s The Human Zoo exhibition experiment is a sign of a much deeper systematic issue calling into question the entire economics and culture of art in the UK. Furthermore, the remains of Afrikans continue to be on display in the British Museum and others like it around Europe. Not to mention the untold wealth and stolen artifacts from Ancient Egypt, Benin and Ile Ife that remain mere entertainment exhibits for Europeans all over the world. Therefore the Human AND Cultural Zoo remains very much in tact in today’s world.
All these issues and more will be expounded upon at the next public meeting in the series of #BoycottTheHumanZoo events this coming Saturday. Entitled “Reparations, Psycho-Spiritual Terrorism & The Human”, the event hosted by the interim National Afrikan Peoples Parliament aims to place this issue in the wider context of Afrikan Reparations and the importance of Afrikans developing our own art that tells our story, from our own perspective. Speakers including Sara Myers herself, will assist a discussion on the pro-active steps that can be taken from here in that we channel the energies galvanised in the campaign to a forward matching organized effort for self-smpowerment.
As always the British Blacklist will be there, keeping its finger on the pulse of Black arts in this country, ensuring that our voices, our faces and our minds are ever prominent and present in the telling of our story.
article by Tafadzwa ShakaRa Mbandaka / @ShakaRaBKS for the british blacklist
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