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‘Hidden in plain sight’: the European city tours of slavery and colonialism
(www.theguardian.com)
This is the best summary I could come up with:
From Barcelona to Brussels, London to Lisbon, a cohort of guides has trained its lens on Black and African history, laying bare how the continent has been shaped by colonialism and slavery as they reshape the stories that Europe tells about itself.
While California debates reparation bills aimed at compensating for generations of discriminatory policies, and the UK takes down tributes to slave traders and colonialists, similar conversations have been conspicuously absent across much of the continent.
As she geared up to tour visitors and locals past the gable stones that include the image of a servile, Black child and the dark-skinned figureheads with exaggerated features once used to signal pharmacies, the idea was initially met with scepticism by Dutch people of colour.
The initiative went ahead despite widespread protests by anti-discrimination groups, Mvemba says, hinting at how Germany – a country often lauded for its efforts to deal with its more-recent past – had failed to meaningfully reckon with its history of colonialism.
In Madrid, Ondo’s walking tour begins to wrap up after crossing a crowded plaza where people were once sold to the highest bidder and visiting a church teeming with tourists seemingly oblivious to the symbols linked to enslavement carved into its stone walls.
It’s an ending with a dual purpose: showcasing the vibrant clutch of restaurants, including Senegalese and Equatorial Guinean, that have sprung up in recent years, and reinforcing how the stories of the past continue to colour life in Madrid today.
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