Forced assimilation and the eradication of local culture.
Speech delivered on March 29, 2025, in Baku (Azerbaijan) during the conference entitled "Colonialism: An Erasure of National and Religious Identities"
Good morning everyone, peace be upon you.
Thanks to Almighty God for allowing us to be present today. God is great.
Thank you to the GIB (Baku Initiative Group) for the invitation and for its daily and relentless work in favor of territories to be decolonized.
We have chosen to address the issue of forced assimilation and the eradication of local culture.
First, let us define the terms "local culture" and "assimilation."
Local culture encompasses all the behaviors, beliefs, customs, and traditions of a people.
Local culture is the wealth of a people and constitutes its specificity.
Assimilation is the process by which individuals are absorbed by the dominant culture of a society.
To elaborate on this subject, we will quote Jules Ferry, who revolutionized education.
Jules Ferry said this:
"Superior races have a duty to civilize inferior races."
It is therefore no coincidence that the process of forced assimilation begins at school. Indeed, in the French colonies, we are taught French history, French geography, French language, but nothing about ourselves, our culture, our language, African kingdoms, African science, culture, tradition, and African spirituality.
For our countries, French is valued and our languages devalued. This is one of the characteristics of colonialism.
In Réunion Island, the "Maloya" was prohibited until 1981. In Guadeloupe, it was the "Gwo Ka" that was forbidden until the 1960s. This means that even when we became "French departments" in 1946, our traditional music and dances were repressed by the colonial system. People could be imprisoned for playing "Maloya" or "Gwo Ka".
This forced assimilation has contributed to demonizing our spirituality. Even today in Réunion, the Service Kabaré, which is the cult of the ancestors, is seen as witchcraft, just like Voodoo in the Antilles.
In conclusion, we can say that the very essence of French colonialism is forced assimilation and the eradication of local culture.
Its purpose is to imbue us with the culture and identity of the dominant, to better dominate us.
To free ourselves from its yoke, we must reclaim our culture, our history, our language.
To free ourselves from its yoke, we must reclaim our culture, our history, our language.
Marcus Garvey said:
"A people without knowledge of their history is like a tree without roots."
For all these reasons, with Ka-Ubuntu, we are developing a media project that aims to promote Réunion's culture, Réunion's history, and its language.
This project will include, among other things, a multimedia platform as well as a free and independent video hosting service.
Our productions will be available under a free license, called Creative Commons. This will allow for wider dissemination.
This project, which is very important to us, is part of our struggle for emancipation.
With God's help, we will successfully complete this project, which is essential for raising awareness among an entire people.
Thank you for your attention.
This article was written by Cédric Famibelle-Pronzola and is available under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 license (Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike)