When Toyin Agbetu challenged the Queen, the incident was widely reported as the act of a madman, a security threat in the heart of the establishment. There is a degree of irony to this, since Agbetu is the founder of African human rights organization Ligali, which works to challenge the misrepresentation of African people in the mainstream media. When he welcomes me into his family home in Hackney, his point becomes clear. Far from being an angry man with a chip on his shoulder, as the tabloids would have him, he is reasonable and comes across as warm and compassionate.
Does he regret the fact that his protest might have added to that misrepresentation?
‘I don’t call it a protest,’ he explains. ‘I prefer the word "objection". Protest has that connotation of banners, T-shirts, something premeditated. I’m not saying that what I did wasn’t political, but it was a much more natural response – I saw something I felt was wrong and objected to it. I have no regrets.’
Had he always planned to make a stand against what he calls the ‘Wilberfest’?
‘For three years beforehand we’d been writing articles, talking to ministers and councils. There was a continuous dialog, with us saying: "Don’t do it in this way, you’re not being respectful." I didn’t intend to go to the service, but as an organization we were invited, and I took the view that it was the first time in 500 years that you’re going to have the monarchy, the church and the government – the three institutions that created the Maafa [a Kiswahili term for the collective atrocities against Africa] – all together, so it could be positive and there might be an apology. I felt I should go and report to our community. But then it got to a point where I thought: "This is a facade, this is the same arrogance that created these problems," and something in my spirit just said, "No, you can’t be here." I’ve got children – when they say, "Daddy, why were you there?" I need to be able to look at them and tell them that I walked out.’
Since then, Agbetu has been invited to give lectures all over the world and is glad to have raised the profile of the issues. ‘I’ve learned from all the messages of support that these feelings are shared not just by millions of Africans but by Amerindians, Irish – a whole lot of people have historic grievances against atrocities carried out by the British, who have never made any moves to apologize or atone. The solidarity has been beautiful.’
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