First declaration of human rights in 1948? Not at all! 1222, In Mali Empire!

The Manden Charter (also called the Charter of Kouroukan Foura) is a declaration of human rights with universal value that was proclaimed in 1222. It is attributed to a group of malinke hunters, that used to be a traditional and initiatory African society. It was passed on by oral tradition and transcribed by the anthropologist and historian Youssouf Tata Cissé in the 1960s. The declaration is said to have officially been proclaimed in Mali in 1236, coinciding with the accession to power of the emperor Soundiata Keita, who founded the Mali empire, and whose successor is the famous Mansa Moussa; whom we will visit in the future flights of the Sankofa bird.

Neo-conservative historians, including the French Francis Simonis, have negated the charter’s authenticity. Yet, in 2009, UNESCO declared it intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

My African cliché of the day is a question: an African society/people proclaimed this declaration many centuries before the acknowledgement of values that the West now defends (at least as long as there are none of their financial interests involved). How could the same people be treated as savage; primitive, uncivilized and ignorant?  Is it because the declaration is too problematic in the eyes of those that want to prove intellectual and moral inferiority of Africans and their descendants that allegedly are so attached to slavery?