Toyin Agbetu

Last updated

Toyin Agbetu, also known as Oluwatoyin Agbetu [1] is a British Nigerian social rights activist, community educator and filmmaker, who founded in 2000 the Pan-African group Ligali.

Contents

Westminster Abbey protest

On 27 March 2007, Agbetu staged a protest at a Westminster Abbey church service held to recognize the 200th anniversary of Great Britain's Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807. Queen Elizabeth II was in attendance at the commemorative event, which marked the British government's decision to end the Atlantic Slave Trade. [2] [3]

Agbetu slipped past security guards at the 2007 service and strode into the open area in front of the church altar, standing three metres away from the queen and shouting that the service was an insult to those of African heritage. In subsequent interviews he called the service a self-congratulatory exercise for those who promote oppression and those who continued to prevent the social and intellectual freedom of oppressed peoples. He shouted at the queen: "You should be ashamed. We should not be here. This is an insult to us. I want all the Christians who are Africans to walk out of here with me!" [4] He threatened officials who were attempting to escort him away from the Queen shouting "I'll punch you out!" as he was removed from the church.

The Crown Prosecution Service advised that no charges be brought against him. [5]

Career

From late 2007, Agbetu wrote a weekly column called "Nyansapo" for the New Nation newspaper, and in 2009 started a weekly interactive community radio program called the Pan African Drum. [6] He is also the author of publications that include Ukweli - A Political and Spiritual Basis for Pan Africanism (2010), Revoetry - Poems from an African British Perspective (2010) and The Manual: The Rules for Men (2002). [6]

Having founded in 2000 the Ligali Organisation, with the aim of challenging negative media representations of the African British community, Agbetu in 2010 resigned as the head of Ligali to become its curator-administrator. [6] while continuing to strive for a Pan-African voice for the oppressed. As described on its website (ligali.org), Ligali is "a Pan African, human rights focused, non-profit voluntary organisation. We work for the socio-political and spiritual empowerment of African people with heritage direct from Africa or indirectly via African diasporic communities, such as those in the Caribbean and South America."

Among Agbetu's additional initiatives are "The Stuff You Should Know", a project aimed at informing young people of their rights, the "No N Word" campaign (focusing on stopping the rampant use and negative reclamation of the "n word" in media and social institutions), [7] and support for establishing a national "African Remembrance Day". [6]

In 2014 he made the film Beauty Is..., [1] [8] which discusses answers to the question "What is beauty?" from an African perspective. [9] [10] [11]

In February 2021, Agbetu was appointed to the Mayor of London's Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm. His resignation from the commission was announced on 25 February following accusations of antisemitism in previous statements. [12] [13] Agbetu was reported as stating: "I voluntarily decided to step back from the post before being asked, to help reduce the attacks on the important work of the commission, but I have no intention of letting such outrageous lies stand against me." [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in the British and French Caribbean</span> Slavery in British and French possessions in the Caribbean

Slavery in the British and French Caribbean refers to slavery in the parts of the Caribbean dominated by France or the British Empire.

Black theology, or black liberation theology, refers to a theological perspective which originated among African-American seminarians and scholars, and in some black churches in the United States and later in other parts of the world. It contextualizes Christianity in an attempt to help those of African descent overcome oppression. It especially focuses on the injustices committed against African Americans and black South Africans during American segregation and apartheid, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Africa Squadron</span> Military unit

The West Africa Squadron, also known as the Preventative Squadron, was a squadron of the British Royal Navy whose goal was to suppress the Atlantic slave trade by patrolling the coast of West Africa. Formed in 1808 after the British Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act 1807 and based out of Portsmouth, England, it remained an independent command until 1856 and then again from 1866 to 1867.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buxton Memorial Fountain</span>

The Buxton Memorial Fountain is a memorial and drinking fountain in London, the United Kingdom, that commemorates the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, and in particular, the role of British parliamentarians in the abolition campaign.

<i>500 Years Later</i> 2005 US/UK documentary film by Owen Alik Shahadah

500 Years Later is a 2005 independent documentary film directed by Owen 'Alik Shahadah and written by M. K. Asante, Jr. It has won five international film festival awards in the category of Best Documentary, including the UNESCO "Breaking the Chains" award. It has won other awards including Best Documentary at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, Best Documentary at the Bridgetown Film Festival in Barbados, Best Film at the International Black Cinema Film Festival in Berlin, and Best International Documentary at the Harlem International Film Festival in New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hakim Adi</span> British historian and scholar

Hakim Adi is a British historian and scholar who specializes in African affairs. He is the first African-British historian to become a professor of history in the UK. He has written widely on Pan-Africanism and the modern political history of Africa and the African diaspora, including the 2018 book Pan-Africanism: A History. Currently a professor at the University of Chichester, Adi is an advocate of the education curriculum including the history of Africa and its diaspora.

Woodberry Down Comprehensive School was a secondary school located off the Seven Sisters Road in the Manor House area of North London. The now defunct school verges on three London boroughs: Hackney, Haringey and Islington. The school was opened in 1955, and closed in 1981 when it was amalgamated with Clissold School and renamed Stoke Newington School. The new school was founded in 1982 in the building of the former Clissold School.

Racism in the Arab world covers an array of forms of intolerance against non-Arabs and the expat majority of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf coming from South Asian groups as well as Black, European, and Asian groups that are Muslim; non-Arab ethnic minorities such as Armenians, Africans, the Saqaliba, Southeast Asians, Jews, Kurds, and Coptic Christians, Assyrians, Persians, Turks, and other Turkic peoples, and South Asians living in Arab countries of the Middle East.

Black nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that black people are a race, and seeks to develop and maintain a black racial and national identity. Black nationalist activism revolves around the social, political, and economic empowerment of black communities and people, especially to resist their cultural assimilation into white culture, and maintain a distinct black identity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reparations for slavery</span> Political justice concept

Reparations for slavery is the application of the concept of reparations to victims of slavery and/or their descendants. There are concepts for reparations in legal philosophy and reparations in transitional justice. Reparations can take many forms, including practical assistance to the descendants of enslaved people, acknowledgements or apologies to peoples or nations negatively affected by slavery, or honouring the memories of people who were enslaved by naming things after them.

Marika Sherwood is a Hungarian-born historian, researcher, educator and author based in England. She is a co-founder of the Black and Asian Studies Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gus John</span> British writer (born 1945)

Augustine John is a Grenadian-born writer, education campaigner, consultant, lecturer and researcher, who moved to the UK in 1964. He has worked in the fields of education policy, management and international development. As a social analyst he specialises in social audits, change management, policy formulation and review, and programme evaluation and development. Since the 1960s he has been active in issues of education and schooling in Britain's inner cities such as Manchester, Birmingham and London, and was the first black Director of Education and Leisure Services in Britain. He has also worked in a number of university settings, including as visiting Faculty Professor of Education at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, as an associate professor of education and honorary fellow of the London Centre for Leadership in Learning at the UCL Institute of Education, University of London, and visiting professor at Coventry University. A respected public speaker and media commentator, he works internationally as an executive coach and a management and social investment consultant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Busby</span> Publisher, writer and editor (born 1944)

Margaret Yvonne Busby,, Hon. FRSL, also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisher when she and Clive Allison (1944–2011) co-founded the London-based publishing house Allison and Busby in the 1960s. She edited the anthology Daughters of Africa (1992), and its 2019 follow-up New Daughters of Africa. She is a recipient of the Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature. In 2020 she was voted one of the "100 Great Black Britons". In 2021, she was honoured with the London Book Fair Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2023, Busby was named as president of English PEN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campaign Against Antisemitism</span> British non-governmental organisation

Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) is a British non-governmental organisation established in August 2014 by members of the Anglo-Jewish community. It publishes research, organises rallies and petitions, and conducts litigation.

Patrick Philip Vernon is a British social commentator and political activist of Jamaican heritage, who works in the voluntary and public sector. He is a former Labour councillor in the London Borough of Hackney. His career has been involved with developing and managing health and social care services, including mental health, public health, regeneration and employment projects. Also a film maker and amateur cultural historian, he runs his own social enterprise promoting the history of diverse communities, as founder of Every Generation and the "100 Great Black Britons" campaign. He is also an expert on African and Caribbean genealogy in the UK. He was appointed a Clore Fellow in 2007, an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for "services to the Reduction of Health Inequalities for Ethnic Minorities", and in 2018 was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Wolverhampton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Robert Milligan</span> Sculpture by Richard Westmacott

A statue of Robert Milligan was installed at the West India Docks in London, in 1813. Milligan was a merchant, and was largely responsible for the construction of the West India Docks. After being put in storage in 1943, it was re-erected by the London Docklands Development Corporation in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of John Cass</span> Sculpture by Louis-François Roubelard

The statue of John Cass is a lead figure by Louis-François Roubiliac of John Cass (1661–1718), the English merchant and Member of Parliament. The original statue of 1751 now stands in the Guildhall in London. There is also a fibreglass replica at the School of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University in Jewry Street, installed in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Actions against memorials in Great Britain during the George Floyd protests</span> Protest-related actions

A number of statues and memorials have been the subject of protests and petitions during the George Floyd protests in the United Kingdom in 2020.

Terry Jervis is a British media producer, entrepreneur and business executive, working for more than three decades across the entertainment industry in film, music and television, having begun his career as a broadcast journalist. Jervis has worked with many high-profile musicians, including Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Madonna and Elton John. After being employed by the BBC for 20 years he set up his independent venture Jervis Media Entertainment.

References

  1. 1 2 "Beauty Is..." website.
  2. ↑ Amanda Kirton, "Discontent voiced over slavery events", BBC News, 3 April 2007.
  3. ↑ "Protest disrupts slavery service", BBC News, 27 March 2007.
  4. ↑ David Smith, "You, the Queen, should be ashamed!" The Guardian , 27 March 2007.
  5. ↑ "No charges for slavery protester", BBC News, 30 May 2007.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "The Ligali Founder", biography on Ligali website.
  7. ↑ Agbetu, "The N-Word & Insidious Racism Debate Position by Toyin Agbetu", britishblackmusic.com, 17 October 2006.
  8. ↑ "Beauty Is... (2014)" at BFI.
  9. ↑ "Beauty Is...", British Films Directory, British Council.
  10. ↑ "Documentary explores beauty debate from African perspective", BBC News, 24 April 2014.
  11. ↑ "‘Beauty Is…’ Defying Desirability Standards for Women", The British Black List.
  12. 1 2 Berry, Franki (25 February 2021). "Hackney activist denies racism but resigns from diversity commission". Hackney Gazette. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  13. ↑ "London mayor's diversity champion resigns over antisemitism claims". jewishnews.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.