by clairmont chung
Nigeria won its fifth FIFA Under 17-World Cup by beating
Mali in the 2015 final held on November 8 in Viña Del Mar, Chile. Nigeria has
dominated this level of world soccer by virtue of its appearance in eight finals
of the 16 tournaments to date. As if not enough this was a repeat victory to
defend the cup won in the UAE in 2013. Repeat victories are rare and more so in
world finals of any sport. But nothing is, as it seems. I for one find more
comfort in search of a deeper wider context. The seaside host city for the
final presented an opportunity to show that deeper wider context: and how that
country and the Pacific Coast of South America intersect with African history,
art, and soccer.
 |
| Nigeria: Under 17 Soccer World Cup Champions 2015 |
Equally remarkable as Nigeria’s 5 cups, is that this was the
second all-African under-17 soccer final: Ghana and Nigeria had that honor in
Japan 1993. These victories demonstrate Nigeria’s and Africa’s superiority over
this age group in soccer. Africa is the winningest continent at this level with
7 World-Cups which is more than twice as many as Europe’s 3. Superiority here
is not some unintelligent question of brain-size and race. It’s a question
about the method of expression, the art, measured by creativity, agility, speed
and goals. The game’s agreed King, the Brazilian Edson Arantes Do Nascimento, ‘Pele’,
called this style ‘The Beautiful Game’.
Nigeria beat Mexico and Mali beat Belgium to reach the 2015 finals
in a real demonstration of the beautiful game. Those victories, Mali’s more
than Nigeria’s, resurrected aging sentiments of anti-colonials and our thinning
interest in examples of triumphs against the empires.
 |
| Pelé |
Spanish Conquistadores once overran the whole of Latin
America, including Mexico and Chile, murdered and enslaved the indigenous
populations and supplemented that labor with captive Africans whom they had
captured in a still evolving war for control over Africa. Latin America was not
always Latin or America and became so only by overwhelming military force. Mexico
and Chile were victims of this aggression: though in too many respects they
remain as neo colonial and neoliberal as any former or current empire.
Victory over Belgium better fits the anti colonial model of
Africa’s revenge against European empires, and their progeny the USA, than
victory over Mexico. These feelings remain relevant; to Europe’s conquest of
Africa, Belgium’s control of Congo under King Léopold II, and for what is
happening in Congo now. We may be over that kind of political analysis of sport.
We may have seen too many Olympic Games including Olympic soccer, with
increasing numbers of victories by African and other developing nations in all
sports that change nothing beyond the arena; except to generate more than usual
euphoria that comes when one’s teams and athletes win. Generally speaking, we
seem to have forgotten that past that gave rise to the present imbalance of
global power or are too busy surviving it to pay attention to Under 17 soccer.
Perhaps it’s the seemingly insurmountable odds against achieving
a new world order of parity among all peoples. Even as some Africans risk their
lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea and while others subdue more powerful
economies at ‘The Beautiful Game’, we should not miss the intersection of the
two things. If willingly crossing the Mediterranean could be that much hell,
imagine unwillingly crossing the Atlantic and South America.
We must stretch meaning wider and deeper so that history
will never forget how we got here even as our youth achieve against near
impossible odds. We do this by connecting everything to history itself; all
history.
There is a historical intersection with soccer and that long
ugly history of human trafficking, we erroneously label as the slave trade. And
of which we commit further error by describing as a triangular trade. It was neither
triangular nor trade, nor of slaves. As many authors have offered, the title
‘slave trade’ suggests erroneously that peoples called Slaves were waiting on
the coast of Africa, people who had earlier accepted the slave designation, for
transshipment to the Americas. This notion of a slave trade was a concoction to
absolve the trader from his crime against humanity. It was global not
triangular and affected every continent and the waters in between. The notion
of a triangle was just bad geography; another instance where, as is often the
case, an attempt at simplification shrouds rather than explains.
Being in world-cup soccer finals in Chile did not seem to
intimidate this group of young Africans. It shouldn’t have. I could be wrong,
but I doubt they knew that more than 200 years ago other groups of Africans
made that same trip from Africa to Chile under slightly different
circumstances. Conquered peoples rarely get to tell their true history. One group
in particular was forcibly taken from the Senegalese Coast, West Africa late in
1803 and brought to Buenos Aires, Argentina. They were then marched 1470 kilometers
in chains and by whip, across desert, pampas, the Andes, and down to the
seaport of Valparaiso, Chile. Valparaiso is just 12 minutes by car from Viña
del Mar, home of the 2015 finals. Valparaiso and Viña del Mar are two of the
five municipalities that make up the Valparaiso Region; like New York and its
five Boroughs.
Just for scale, the 1470 Kms from Buenos Aires to
Valparaiso, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast of South America, is less
than half the distance by car from Lagos, Nigeria to Dakar, Senegal. The same
distance from Dakar going east across Africa will only get you to Bamako in
Mali. You would only be about two thirds of the way to Mali’s Moslem center,
Timbuktu.
Many of the captives brought to the Americas like this group
had been marched as far and even further from the central parts of Africa and
from all its coasts, only to be marched across another continent. This group spoke Wolof, Mandinka, Fulani, among other African languages
and by the end of their story, Spanish.
Imagine surviving a forced walked from Central Mali, or Central
Congo, to the coast of Senegambia, placed in an underground dungeon and then boarded
into the dark hold of a stinking ship for a place you knew nothing about. These
particular men, women and children endured a further 2 months in a ship’s hold
with sub human food and water with likely stops in Brazil or Montevideo,
Uruguay; only to begin another walk that included crossing a snow covered
mountain range. It did not end there for the survivors. At Valparaiso, seventy-two
captives were placed on another ship, the Tryal,
to be brought for resale at markets in Peru and Ecuador; thirty-two men, twenty
women and twenty children aged between two and sixteen.
In December of 1804
these Africans staged a revolt and slaughtered most of the ship's crew. They
spared only those needed to bring the ship back to Africa; including its
Captain, Benito Cereño. From Cereño’s account captives were not chained
for this leg of the journey.
 |
| Revolt on the Tryal |
The revolt took a toll on the ship. It needed supplies and
repairs and was in no condition to make a trip to Africa as the revolutionaries
desired. They had earlier demanded passage to a country led by free Africans.
This is interpreted as Haiti as Haiti had months earlier won its independence
by violent revolt. Instead, the ship drifted south off Chile for three months
before it was sighted by an American seal hunting ship, the Perseverance.
The sealer’s Captain, Amasa Delano, boarded the Tryal to investigate its condition. In English the Tryal would be called the ‘Test’. Delano spent nine hours on the Tryal and though he thought its Captain
a little weird he reboarded his skiff to return to his own ship satisfied with
the order of things. But nothing was, as it seemed. It was then that the Tryal’s Captain threw himself over the
ship’s side and into the departing skiff to alert Delano that he had been fooled.
The captives were instead the capturers and deceived Delano by playing to his
stereotypes of the captive African; when in fact they had long seized control
of the ship.
The reasons that ‘triangle’ doesn’t fit ‘trade’ is because
captives were taken from every coast in Africa, taken to every coast elsewhere
and that they resisted. We do not dispute that the overwhelming majority were
brought to the Americas. But there are 3 Americas. How do North, South, Central America and the Caribbean form a triangle with Africa and Europe? Then
we have to add the Pacific Coasts of these lands. All captives did not go
overland. Some went around Cape Horn at the bottom tip of South America. That
is the route taken to the Pacific by ships like the Tryal and the Perseverance.
Other groups went partly by sailing across Lake Gaton and partly by overland march through what is now Panama, before there was a Panama or a Panama Canal, and
then down to the gold and silver mines of Peru and the rest of South America. Some
went north to mines in Mexico. Most of this Pacific exploration involved
captive Africans as the unwilling guest-laborers of the Spanish Crown.
Slavery was also alive and well in the US and captives did
the work of processing the seals and whales caught in that vast sea by ships
like the Perseverance. So ‘triangle’
and ‘trade’ are both oversimplifications at best. ‘Trade’ is gross error in my
view. Trade is not conducted with canons and forts
Simultaneously, the same was happening in Africa. Gold,
other metals and precious stones were part of the booty and, of course, people.
It is this history that intersects with the present and brought in full view
whenever teams from these countries meet in the international arena. Chile,
Argentina, most of South America, all continents, attempt to keep that African history,
that intersection, hidden, suppressed. But history has a way of repeating
itself. Culture cannot be successfully suppressed. It has a way of resurfacing,
shape shifting, transforming itself and sometimes expressing itself in
unpredictable ways and unexpected places.
What is historically regarded as African art is very
different from European Art. Again this is not an argument about superiority.
This is an argument about the differences. These differences can be attributed
to differences in; materials, tools, religion, economics, and, of course,
history, among others. Europe’s periods of high artistic production has been
credited to the influx of wealth from human trafficking and the earnings from
that and its value adding products. Its Renaissance, the Dutch enlightenment period
followed later by a broader enlightenment period in Western Europe were linked
to increased wealth and leisure made possible by captive labor from Africa initially
and later plantation economies in the west. The name Dutch Masters had more to
do with their plantations in the West Indies, and their patronage of the Arts with
those earnings rather than any superior local mastery of painting. The new
money attracted artists from the whole of Europe, first to the Netherlands and
then to capitals throughout Western Europe.
 |
| Bambara Mask, Mali |
That period of human traffic coincided with attempts to
annihilate African cultural expression. In addition to suppression of language,
ceremony and religion, Africa was itself looted of its art and artefacts;
actually and figuratively; its masks, bronzes and style. African expression in
sculpture and painting reflected an abstracted view of objects long before the
expressionism of early French painters like Monet and Manet. Perspective and
its cousin visual reality dominated Europe’s painting and sculpture, even its
music, writing and particularly poetry.
 |
| Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, by Pablo Picasso Oil on Canvas, 1907 |
This meant works were painted to scale and looked like the
subject. Poetry was set to a fixed rhythm and rhyme. Shakespeare varied little
from his popular format. Improvisation was discouraged. Then expressionism came
on the scene. It still relied on perspective but experimented with perception.
Lines became blurred. Picasso is credited with taking Europe beyond
expressionism, abandoning perspective altogether and adding abstractionism. Of
note, Picasso’s gradual break was inspired by, among others, the art of Africa
and particularly, its masks. If we understand that transformation, we can get
closer to understanding, Africa’s expressionism in other fields and away from
the canvas or sculpture table.
The soccer field is a canvas. It is governed by a set of
rules but with space for individual expression. A team’s members cooperate to
construct a way through or around the other team. The goal is to score often,
to prevent the other side from scoring against your team, and to entertain
within the rules. Mexico may not reflect it's African history in any obvious way. But it plays a very fast-paced short-passing game common
to many Latin American teams. That short passing game has come to be identified
with Brazil. But is also played in Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador, even in Spain. All
these places have enjoyed significant African presence. It is no coincidence
that this style is most associated with Brazil. Brazil was the destination of most, more than half of all, Africans brought forcibly to the Americas.
Teams from the African continent have not been able to
replicate this under-17 success at senior levels. There are a number of reasons
that may be; like the absence of local professional leagues of similar quality
to Europe; the exodus of players from Africa to professional teams in Europe.
They return with different habits and approaches and little time to readjust to
local styles. But most of us treat Brazil as if it represented Africa and
Brazil has had that level of success. It has won more Senior World cups than
any other team. It is the largest population of Africans and descendants
outside of Africa. The enslavement of Africans continued in Brazil until 1888
longer than any other colony. Though human traffic had been outlawed everywhere
else, Brazil and Cuba continued to accept ships up to the late 1850s.
This forced clash of race and culture changed many things.
It slowed Africa’s progress and quickened Europe’s. This is reflected in every
facet of life; in soccer as well as art.
African expression has found new ways of display. Africa’s
approach to Art was very evident in the game between Mali and Belgium. Mali
displayed ideas in its advance down the field that could only have been
constructed in the moment or in a dream a long time ago. It could not have been
constructed at the team meeting; and cannot be deconstructed. No one had seen
these straight lines and arcs combined this way and among boys so young.
Nigeria
against Mexico also offered similar lines and arcs and a more sustained attack
from Nigeria. Even the color commentator remarked that Nigeria seemed to have only
one game plan; to attack until the final whistle. Mexico did manage an attractive
game, but were overwhelmed by Nigeria’s variety and the unpredictability of
individual brilliance. It seemed that even the goalkeeper could run down the
field and score if he so desired. These lines and arcs were colored with that individual
brilliance that could erupt without any warning. They were quicker to the ball
and read the angles and intersections faster. This is what the artist brings to
the canvas, himself or herself.
Over 200 hundred years earlier, on December 27, 1804
believed to have been Laylat al-Qadr, Night of Power, during Ramadan, the Moslem
father and son pair of Babo and Mori successfully led the revolt that seized the
Tryal and its Captain Benito Cereño. That would have required
careful planning and much creativity like deceiving Captain Amasa Delano from
the Perseverance. Moslems believe that the Night of Power is an
opportunity to cleanse oneself of all past sins. Twenty-five 25 crewmen were killed.
Seven Africans died between the revolt and the recapture of the Tryal. The mostly American crew from the
Perseverance killed Babo, Atufal,
Dick, Natu and Quiamolo. The Tryal and its recaptured passengers were
taken into port at Talcahuano, Chile on February 26, 1805.
 |
| Amasa Delano |
On March 2, 1805, A further nine Africans would be executed
at Concepción after a trial conducted by the Royal Consulate of Spain. The nine
were Mori, Samba, Matunqui, Yan, Alasan, Yola, Malpenda, Luis, and Jaoquin. They
were not allowed to testify. They were 'property' again. But on the way to the
gallows Mori addressed the now large crowd that included priests and
parishioners. My own translation of part of what he said is,
‘…this is the inevitable conclusion of the cruelty of our
captors, who without any right, stole free men and sold them, ripping them from
their homes, women and children’.
Five were beheaded and the remaining captives forced to
watch. The judgment was that the bodies be burned to ash. But local story is
that they were thrown into a lagoon known today as the Laguna de los Negroes or
Black Lagoon. The tribunal, headed by Don Juan Martínez de Rozas, then passed
knew laws governing the security of human cargo on Chilean ships that would
punish Captain and crew if captive Africans were not under guard at all times.
 |
| Don Juan Martínez de Rozas |
The fight for ownership of the remaining captives went on
for much longer with claims from Amasa Delano, Benito Cereño and assorted investors. Don Juan Martínez, despite his pro enslavement stance, would lead the fight for
Chilean independence from Spain. Perhaps he was touched by defense counsel's
appeals to humanity and for the equal rights of all. He would engineer the
abolition of slavery by 1813 as part of that fight and which led to full
abolition by 1823.
So on a beautiful sunny, if cool, day on November 8, 2015,
Mali and Nigeria emerged from underground tunnels to contest for a cup; the
measure of supremacy in a sport administered from Europe. Names like Kelechi,
Victor, Ebere, Samuel appeared for Nigeria and Mousa, Kouyate, Mamadou and
Abdoul for Mali. At another time they could have been those men, women and
children on the Tryal. Even the TV
commentator reminded us that, based on the level of skill displayed, he
believed that the players not yet signed to European teams would be signed soon
enough. His words were they would not remain at home for long. He avoided use
of the common word for it, ‘traded’ or ‘sold’. Some use transfered.
Perhaps its best to talk about the art, music, soccer and dance; like the similarity between Sabar and Samba, rather than to talk about how they intersect. Perhaps, it’s better not to look at the deeper meanings of the faces on our streets and contemplate the places of origin and the winds and waves of arrival. Or see the spaces in between the lines and arcs of their eyes and noses, like a canvas to paint our own pictures; and add our own individual brilliance as if we didn’t know the origin of Samba, the ‘beautiful’ game, and its intersection with Art, History and Africa. We have travelled far but not far enough.
Sources:
Grandin, Greg, The Empire of Necessity, Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt & Co, LLC, 2014
Contreras, Raimundo, El motín de esclavos del “Prueba” y la “Laguna de los negros” de Concepción Website, Accessed November 18, 2015.
Campos Harriet, Fernando, Historia de Concepcion 1550-1970, Editorial Universitario, Santiago de Chile, 1979
Comments