CV AFP
A street in Berlin was officially renamed this Saturday, in honor of an eighteenth -century African philosopher, after years of controversy over his previous name, considered by many outdated and offensive.
The local council of the Mitte neighborhood, in the center of Berlin, announced in 2020 the intention to change the name of Mohrenstrasse (Rua dos Mouros) to Anton Wilhelm Amo Street, in honor of the first black philosopher that there is a record to teach at a German university.
Mohrenstrasse Metro Station also passed this Saturday, a date chosen to coincide with the International Day of Slave Trafficking, to have the new name.
Compared to the English word Moorthe German term Boring has a more direct connotation with skin colorbeing long considered pejorative and offensive.
One of the toponymic signs with the new name of the old street of Mouros was unveiled by Stefanie RemlingerPresident of the local authority, along with British writer and activist, Sharon dodua otoowhich resides in Germany.
“A Rua Anton Wilhelm Amo represents solidarity, recognition. A true appreciation of the memory of African people in 17th century Germany, ”said Otoo, cited by the AFP agency.
“It is a great victory of civil society, which Fight for over 30 years for the change of name, ”he said Tahir Dellada ONG Decolonize Berlinwhich organized celebrations to mark the change. “It is clear why the old name is so problematic for many black people in Germany.”
A Origin of designation Rua dos Mouros It’s not clear. Date of the early eighteenth century, in the height of the Atlantic Trafficking of Slaves, and there are those who suggest that it may be linked to old slaves who settled there. Another theory points to an African diplomatic delegation that would have visited the city.
Regardless of its precise origin, Della stated that the name was a “racist description for black people“.
Some local residents advanced with legal actions against the municipality, in a attempt to lock the change of name.
On Friday, a last -minute court decision He threatened briefly to block the process, even after the workers have already begun to replace the street signs. However, one Superior Court reversed the decision hours later, allowing the name change to advance.
Anton Wilhelm Amoborn around 1700 in what is currently Ghana, it will have been Sold as a slave and taken to Europe. “I love it was just a child when it was brought from West Africa” to Germany, recalls Otoo.
Later, he had the opportunity to attend the prestigious universities of Wittenberg, Halle and Jena, having become an important figure in the period of German Enlightenment.
The movement Decolonize Berlin states that the new name honors a symbol of “resistance, self -affirmation and knowledge in the African diaspora ”.
Della added that he expects the change to serve as “impulse to new discussions about public space“In reference to ongoing debates on other Berlin streets names that evoke figures from the German colonial past.
