Inside The African Democrats Call For The Repatriation Of Zimbabwe’s Sacred Bird

The more you know your history, the more liberated you are: Maya Angelou By Chitsara TM While I was contemplating on quoting Maya Angelou who noted the importance of the interlink between history, culture and development, when I was exploring the British colonial disrespect and distortion of the African cultural heritage of the Shona people by defaming the sacredness of the Zimbabwe bird, I made a realisation. I realised that, the defamation, repatriation and unrecompensation of the Shona, I feel motivated and reinforced to carry the 'The African Democrats' flag to continue challenge the legacies of the colonial regime that affected the country enormously. Since the early years of the Great Zimbabwe, in the 11th century, the originally carved soapstone birds at the site, which were a representation of the most venerated African bateleur fish eagle, had political and cultural symbolism of the Shona people's social, religious, cultural and economic life in the kingdom. The bird among the Shona used and still carries a critical and important meanings.