What do you do when you’re a West African state struggling with an economic crisis?
Why, import North Korean artists to build you a 160-foot-high bronze statue, of course!
Towering on a hilltop overlooking the Atlantic, the 160-foot-high bronze statue depicting a family rising triumphantly from a volcano is supposed to symbolize Africa’s renaissance.
But on a rutted trash-strewn path below, the old Africa is still in view: one where a poverty-stricken population endures incessant power blackouts and flooding — and considers the $27 million monument just another outrageous example of wasteful government spending.
“Senegal is going through a profound crisis,” said Djiby Diakhate, a sociologist at Dakar’s Cheikh Anta Diop University. “Our economy is dying. People are struggling to eat. We should be spending money helping people survive.”
[...]
Nearly 50 North Korean workers from the state-run Mansudae Art Studio in Pyongyang were brought in to build the statue because of their expertise with bronze art, and some Senegalese have complained of its communist-era design.Abdoulaye Elimane Kane, a former culture minister and spokesman for the main opposition Socialist Party, said it reminds him of statues in North Korea — which he visited while a Cabinet member — and not of African art.
I must confess, it puts my mind at rest knowing that after unification, there will be at least somewhere I can go to see North Korean artistic monstrosities. The thing is apparently taller than the Statue of Liberty.
Oh, speaking of, in case anyone asks, the third largest copper statue in the United States is the Hermann Heights Monument — a.k.a. Hermann the German —- in New Ulm, Minnesota.
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I’m at a loss. Usually, it’s firms from developed countries who benefit from this sort of government-sanctioned embezzlement. I’m not sure if involving North Korea makes it better or worse.
Until I make up my mind, let’s just go ahead and say worse.
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