Notre Dame and the Olympics of Outrage (and the Sympathy Sweepstakes)

The Cathedral of Notre Dame burned yesterday, almost to the ground. At the very least, the inside was completely gutted, and the famous spire collapsed live on television (eerily reminiscent of the collapse of the World Trade Centre towers in 2001). It’s an event of global proportions, especially seeing as it happened the week before Easter (known as Holy Week to many Christians). It was sure to be a topic of intense conversation. What was equally sure, as sure as day follows night, was what this would mean to Africans. Was Notre Dame a cultural and architectural landmark, or an irrelevance to us? If Africans mourned the destruction of the cathedral, were we being sincere, or simply hypocritical and trying too hard? Difficult questions, but let’s attempt some thoughts.

First, Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral was constructed, between 1160 and 1260, at a time when most of Africa was still being settled. Particularly for Kenya, the cathedral was built when almost none of Kenya’s peoples were settled in their current areas. Except for perhaps the Il Torobo groups, the rest of our ancestors were busy migrating through the heart of Africa, only settling in their current domains two or three centuries after Notre Dame was completed. However, this does not mean that Africa was empty, or that somehow Notre Dame’s antiquity should be juxtaposed against African primitivity. As many people admirably posted on the web today, West African kingdoms and empires, including the Mali Empire (Mansa Musa, the wealthiest man who ever lived, was contemporaneous with the construction of the cathedral) and ancient Ghana (which had already been and gone). Soon after were to come the Mali and Songhai Empires (which reached its peak under Askia Muhammad) and others in Sahelian Africa. 

Ah, but I hear the doubters say. The French built a cathedral - the Africans only left legends behind. Not only is that inaccurate (Africans themselves chronicled their empires faithfully, but also invited scholars from far afield to do the same), but at the time Notre Dame was being built, Lusvingo (better known as the Great Zimbabwe) was already near completion. This was no small building - it was an entire city spanning a couple of thousand acres. And don’t forget that the Great Zimbabwe was only settled after the decline of the Kingdom of Mapungubwe. We could also talk about the conquest of Spain by the Moors (who were from modern-day Mauritania), and who built the Alhambra in Granada, Andalusia, in Spain. 

I tell you all this ancient history not to denigrate the magnificent Cathedral at Notre Dame, but to put to rest some of the self-loathing nonsense I have seen through the day today. But moving on, there’s more.

Should we mourn the destruction of a building in far-off Europe when there’s so much else going on in the world? Africa is the site of its own tragedies (many sadly of our own authorship). What business do we have to lament that fire? First, here’s news: the human mind has the capacity to carry more than one thought in it at the same time. I can be annoyed at the performance of AFC Leopards while celebrating Arsenal. As a matter of fact, the human mind can carry multiple, conflicting thoughts simultaneously. It also has no limits on how much expertise one can have. I can be a savant on American presidential politics while being an expert on Kenyan politics. There is no Olympics of Outrage, where one performs only for the home team. There are no Sadness Sweepstakes, where mourning one event depletes the capacity to commiserate with another. 

UNESCO, the world heritage body, designates certain physical and cultural objects as ‘World Heritage’. They are of value to all of humanity, and must be preserved. Notre Dame was one such, as are the rock-hewn churches in Lalibela, Ethiopia (as well as the sacred Kaya Forests of the Mijikenda and Thimlich Ohinga, the ruins in Migori dating back 550 years). We are human, and capable of joining other humans in owning that which our ancestors created, wherever these ancestors are to be found. 

But what are the other lessons we can carry away? Even as we defend ourselves as Africans, let’s not forget to be a bit hard on ourselves. We not only need to tell our stories better, but we also need to restore our capacity for great things. We have decided to be a small minded people, expending great energies on the ephemeral. We chase money so that we can buy the latest toys and show off to our fellow Africans, while refusing to accept the responsibilities that come with wealth and power. We seem unable to think beyond a generation or two. All countries have corrupt people, even corrupt leaders, but ours seem particularly unimaginative, in the sense that the corruption in countries like South Korea built world-bestriding global companies, while ours cannot even bother building an architecturally sound edifice. France’s billionaires have pledged (as of now) more than KSh 70 billion to rebuild and restore Notre Dame, less than twenty four hours after the fire. Even those with little to give still came together in song. At least, even if they couldn’t open their wallets, they could open their hearts and mouths to offer that of themselves. We also do the same on occasion, but we must do more to own our culture and showcase this to ourselves and the world. 

We have to hold our own feet to the fire to aspire to excellence. We must restore ourselves, and our reputations, to greatness. We must imagine great things, and then make them happen. We must do better. We must leave a positive mark that we were here. We owe it, not just to our children and to generations to come, but also to ourselves.