Where Are the Universal African Worlds Fairs and Expos? In the year 2014, the centennial year of the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey’s (b. August 17, 1887-d. June 10, 1940) founding of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League in 1914 Africans at home and abroad we should be mindful that Marcus Garvey held the first International Convention of the Negro Peoples of the World. On the other hands whites, and foreigners have been holding International World Fairs and World Expos for 160 years, starting with “The French Industrial Exposition of 1844, held in a temporary structure on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, was one in a series of eleven French national industrial expositions held to encourage improvements in progressive agriculture and in technology, that had their origins in 1798.” Where are the African and African Diasporas World Fairs and Expos that showcase our contributions to civilizations, and bring about developments in the infrastructure of host countries? Where is our African “International Exhibitions Bureau (Bureau International des Expositions/BIE) coordinates the organization of modern world’s fair events, making decisions on which country will host the next major international exposition.”? Below are articles published in various internet sources; Afropop Worldwide, Wikepedia, and QS and compiled by Shaka Barak, President, The Marcus Garvey Institute, shakabarak1@yahoo, or 708-613-5132 “The World Festival of Black Arts was first held in 1966 in Dakar, Senegal. The festival was conceived by then president, Leopold Sédar Senghor. Senghor was a foundational member of the Negritude movement that sought to affirm and elevate the achievements of Black people and African culture throughout the world. A perfect expression of this mission, the first Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres was attended by people from 37 countries, and hosted many of the greatest Black cultural emissaries of the day including Duke Ellington, Aimé Césaire, and Josephine Baker. The second, called FESTAC, was held in 1977 in Lagos, Nigeria. It was the stuff of legend. By then, most African countries had gained their independence, freeing themselves from degrading colonial control only 25-30 years ago. New African countries were eager to send their best cultural ambassadors to the festival. FESTAC ’77 was attended by thousands of people from Africa and the Diaspora. Artists included Stevie Wonder, The Sun Ra Arkestra, and Donald Byrd from the US, Tabu Ley and Franco from the Congo, Gilberto Gil from Brazil, Bembeya Jazz National from Guinea, and Louis Maholo, Dudu Pukwana, and Miriam Makeba from South Africa. The core of the festival from the organizers’ perspective was a two-week long colloquium where more than 200 leading Black scholars presented papers and discussed topics related to everything from arts and languages, philosophy and religion, to science and technology. After a 33 year gap, the World Festival of Black Arts and Culture (sometimes referred to as FESMAN) was revived by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, and given the go ahead by the African Union, to mark the renaissance and legacy of Africa in the 21st century. 2010 marked the 50th anniversary of independence for 18 African nations, as well as being the year that South Africa hosted the World Cup Soccer Tournament. The guest of honor at the Black Arts Festival was Brazil, who brought a 400 strong delegation of artists and intellectuals. Featured musicians included, Salif Keita of Mali, Angelique Kidjo from Benin, Omar Pene from Senegal, Marcus Miller from the US, the Mahotella Queens from South Africa, and Wyclef-Jean from the US/Haiti. Intellectuals participated in a full slate of panel discussions on everything from the African Renaissance (Wade’s signature theme) to the role of the Diaspora in Africa today to Egyptology to the role of culture in the fight against HIV/AIDS (Baaba Maal was a featured speaker.) Visitors also enjoyed after-hours concerts at hip downtown venues including a local favorite, Just 4 You Dakar that featured veteran artists like Orchestra Baobab, Souleymane Faye, and Cheikh Lo.” Whites International World Fairs “The first world’s fair – A Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations – took place in London’s famous Hyde Park, 163 years ago and was a great success. More than 6 million guests visited this first international exposition in 20 weeks – about twice as many as the resident population of London at that time.” There are two main types of world’s fair: international specialized expositions and world expositions. The first is a three-month long event, taking place in the period between two world expositions, which are held once every five years and usually last half a year. Could you imagine that the computer, car, telephone, IMAX, condensed milk and hundreds of other substantial inventions were first presented at an international exposition, or ‘world’s fair’? The light bulb was demonstrated at the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris; then came radio (1893 in Chicago), ice tea (1904 in San Luis), ice-cream in waffle cups (1905 in Louisiana), TV, color photo and air conditioner (1939 in New York City)… Clearly world’s fair or ‘international exposition’ events have a long history of being launch pads for inventions and innovations – but just what is an exposition? The 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition was held at the current Piedmont Park in Atlanta, Georgia. Nearly 800,000 visitors attended the event. The exposition was designed to promote the region to the world and showcase products and new technologies as well as to encourage trade with Latin America. The Cotton States and International Exposition featured exhibits from several states including various innovations in agriculture and technology. President Grover Cleveland presided over the opening of the exposition. But the event is best remembered for the both hailed and criticized Atlanta Compromise speech given by Booker T. Washington on September 18, promoting racial cooperation. The Exposition was open for 100 days, beginning on September 18, 1895 and ending December 31, 1895, attracted visitors from the U.S. and 13 countries.[1] Over $2,000,000 was spent on the transformation of Piedmont Park.[2] The government allocated $250,000 for the construction of a government building and many states and countries such as Argentina also had their own buildings.[3] Also constructed for the fair were the Tropical gardens, now known as the Atlanta Botanical Garden, and Lake Clara Meer which was originally a pond but was expanded to 11.5 acres (47,000 m2) for the event.[4] Today, the stone balustrades scattered around the park are the only part of the enormous main building.[4] The park remains largely as Joseph Forsyth Johnson designed it for the exposition. The supervising architect for the entire fair was Bradford Gilbert. Expo 1998, Lisbon: International specialized exposition – “The oceans, a heritage for the future” Europe’s smallest capital city, with just half a million citizens, Lisbon managed to host more than 10 million guests from all over the globe in four months at Expo 1998. This specialized exhibition brought not only fiscal profit, but also left a number of useful and practical facilities to the city. Among these are a new metro line, a new bridge (the longest in Europe, by the way), a funicular, a new terminal for buses and trains, an Oceanarium (again, the largest in Europe), the Park of the Nations and a huge shopping mall named after a famous discoverer, Vasco da Gama. The whole of Expo 1998 was dedicated to the great ‘century of discoveries’, the golden age of Portugal, and celebrated the 500 year anniversary since Vasco da Gama`s discovery of a sea route to India in 1498. Asians International World Fair At the end of the Expo 2010, Shanghai: World exposition, whose theme was “Better city-better life” A whole series of innovative and futuristic construction projects included six new metro lines, a new airport terminal, new entertainment venues and the renovation of the central ‘Bund’ area, which with its skyscrapers and iconic TV tower is the symbol of Shanghai. The city is aiming to become an international financial center by 2020, and Expo 2010 was a clear checkpoint in that journey, providing the catalyst for Shanghai to solve fundamental environmental problems and push through a flurry or redevelopment works. Students and alumni of Shanghai’s Tongji University were among those who worked on the construction of the six new metro lines, and were also counted among the 600 experts and engineers involved in building the longest sea bridge in the world, Hangzhou Bay Bridge, which shortened the distance between Shanghai and Ningbo port by 120km. Europe International Worlds Fair Expo 2015, Milan: World exposition – “Feeding the planet, energy for life” The topic of this world exposition seems to be pretty clear from the headline. However, the topic of food sustainability is very complex and interdisciplinary. Milan’s Expo 2015 will concentrate on problems of both quantity and quality of the food in diverse parts of the world. Areas such as agriculture, education, business, food security and innovations in food production will be discussed. The purpose is to raise awareness attention, gather ideas and increase efforts in order to prevent hunger. Expo 2017, Astana: International specialized exposition – “Future energy” To be held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, EXPO 2017 takes a creative approach to the issue of theme. Organizers have decided to take US economist Jeremy Rifkin’s idea of a ‘third industrial revolution’ based on internet technology and renewable energy. The plan is to make the Astana expo area a model of a sustainable city, sustainable from all aspects and particularly in terms of energy. Buildings capable of generating and even transmitting energy to other buildings, smart houses and offices, electric cars, vehicles run on biofuels, and new ways of preserving and storing energy – all of these will be discussed and presented between June and September in 2017.” African International Worlds Fair Will we have to wait another 33 years, for the next World Festival of Black Arts that started out being held every 10 years? What will we do on the Centennial of the first International Convention of the Negro Peoples of the World, held by the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, August 1, 1920, on August 1, 2020? Will new accomplishments be on display to show our contributions to the past and presently? Join us on The Marcus Garvey Institute telephone conference call Wednesday, March 5, 2014, 8:00pm, cst. Call 605-562-3000, access pin number 1052837#.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 09:02:21 +0000
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