User:Struggletrouble/sandbox

"NOT TO BE INCLUDED IN FINAL EDIT" MCOM202 Digital Skills 1 "NOT TO BE INCLUDED IN FINAL EDIT"

Summary

After some editing, (if it gets approved) the article will have an extra picture which is a close up of the top of the statue, showing the glass windows of the panoramic room in the head of the center statue. It will also include additional information, such as details on the gender controversy the monument generated, the financial controversy and the artistic controversy. The bulk of the information added will be relevant to the different controversies the building of the statue generated.

I hope to add much more information, specifically from an academic source written by a graduate of the SIT Graduate Institute, Justin Wayne Ritter. His analysis is thorough and of high quality. The wikipedia article is fairly empty, which should be rectified as the monument strives to become a major cultural hotspot, not just in Senegal but all of Africa. In total 5 sources should be added.

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The African Renaissance Monument (Le Monument de la Renaissance africaine) is a 49m tall bronze statue located on top of one of the twin hills known as Collines des Mamelles, outside of Dakar, Senegal. Built overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in the Ouakam suburb, the statue was designed by the Senegalese architect Pierre Goudiaby after an idea presented by president Abdoulaye Wade and built by a company from North Korea. Site preparation on top of the 100-meter high hill began in 2006, and construction of the bronze statue began 3 April 2008. Originally scheduled for completion in December 2009, delays stretched into early 2010, and the formal dedication occurred on 4 April 2010, Senegal's "National Day", commemorating the 50th anniversary of the country's independence from France. It is the tallest statue in Africa.

Construction
The monument is made of 3-centimetre thick metal sheets and depicts a family group emerging from a mountaintop: a full-length statue of a young woman, a man, and held aloft on the man's raised left arm, a child resolutely pointing west towards the sea. Construction of the bronze statue group was carried out by the North Korean firm Mansudae Overseas Project Group of Companies.

The project was launched by then Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade who considered it part of Senegal's prestige projects, aimed at providing monuments to herald a new era of African Renaissance.

Unveiling
On 3 April 2010, the African Renaissance Monument was unveiled in Dakar in front of 19 African heads of state, including President of Malawi and the African Union Bingu wa Mutharika, Jean Ping of the African Union Commission and the Presidents of Benin, Cape Verde, Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania and Zimbabwe, as well as representatives from North Korea, and Jesse Jackson and musician Akon, both from the United States. Everyone was given a tour.

President Wade said "It brings to life our common destiny. Africa has arrived in the 21st century standing tall and more ready than ever to take its destiny into its hands". President Bingu said "This monument does not belong to Senegal. It belongs to the African people wherever we are". Reverend Jackson said "This renaissance statue is a powerful idea from a powerful mind. This is dedicated to the journey of our ancestors, enslaved but not slaves".

Expense
Thousands of people protested against "all the failures of [President] Wade's regime, the least of which is this horrible statue" on the city's streets beforehand, with riot police deployed to maintain control. Deputy leader of the opposition Ndeye Fatou Toure described the monument as an "economic monster and a financial scandal in the context of the current [economic] crisis".

The colossal statue has been criticized for its cost at US$ 27 million (£16.6m). The payment was made in kind, with 30 to 40 hectares of land that will be sponsored by a Senegalese businessman.

According to the official publication from the Government of Senegal, the monument cost nothing. Instead the monument was built in exchange for Government owned land. President Wade informed the North Korean company in charge of the project that the country could not afford to pay for the project, thus the aforementioned deal was devised as a compromise. The cost of the monument comes from the calculated value that the land had, which the Government had to give away which is estimated at $27 million (Ritter, 2011).

The monument has been seen by some as a "presidential vanity project and waste of money"(Walker, 2010). Indeed, the creation of the monument will have its intellectual creator, President Wade, honored for it as an inaugural member of the Hall of Fame at the African Diaspora World Tourism Awards Ceremony in Atlanta on March 23rd,2013 (Pope, 2012).

Style
Senegalese opposition leaders have also questioned the style of the project, labelling it "Stalinist", while others have made wild claims that the body shapes are not African. Local imams argue that a statue depicting a human figure is idolatrous, and object to the perceived immodesty of the semi-nude male and female figures.

In December 2009, president Abdoulaye Wade apologised to Senegal's Christian minority for comparing the statue to Jesus Christ.

Gender Issue
Some have found the monument's portrayal of women to be less than flattering. The center of attention is the man raising the baby with his left arm while dragging the woman with his right arm. She is seems incredulous and in awe towards him. She is barely clothed and thrusts her chest forward. The symbolism is clearly that of the African family.

However, the man is portrayed to be at the center of the family, physically holding it together, while the woman and the child are merely appendages meant as homages to his strength (Knutsen, 2012).

Revenue
The project has also attracted controversy due to Wade's claim to the intellectual property rights of the statue, and insisting that he is entitled to 35 percent of the profits raised. Opposition figures have sharply criticised Wade's plan to claim intellectual property rights, insisting that the president cannot claim copyright over ideas conceived as function of his public office.

Nonetheless, the monument has an impact on the image of Africa. Tourists that come to Senegal add it to their travel plans, going inside the statue and climbing to the top to take in the panorama. It is placed in a strategic location, being seen easily when planes are on landing, allowing tourists to take a picture of it from inside the plane.

As with all controversies, the monument has its supporters and most of the population tends to agree that even if at the moment it does not fulfill its role as a symbol in Africa, given enough time it will be.

Local artists
Ousmane Sow, a world-renowned Senegalese sculptor, also objected to the use of North Korean builders, saying it was anything but a symbol of African renaissance and nothing to do with art.

Miscellaneous
The monument was part of the BBC's January 2012 "World's Most Controversial Monuments" Travel webpage list.

Incidents
In 1982, Mark Thatcher, son of then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, along with his French co-driver Anne-Charlotte Verney and their mechanic, disappeared for six days. On January 9, the trio were separated from a convoy of vehicles after they stopped for repairs on a faulty steering arm. They were declared missing on January 12. Following a large-scale search, a Lockheed L100 search plane from the Algerian military spotted their white Peugeot 504 some 50 km (30 mi) off course. Thatcher, Verney and the mechanic were all unharmed.

The organiser of the rally, Thierry Sabine, died when his Ecureuil helicopter crashed at 07:30 p.m. on Tuesday 14 January 1986, into a sand dune in Mali during a sudden sand-storm. Also killed onboard were singer-songwriter Daniel Balavoine, helicopter pilot François-Xavier Bagnoud, journalist Nathalie Odent and Jean-Paul Lefur a radiophonic engineer for RTL.

Six people died during the 1988 race, among which three participants and three local residents. One incident involved, Baye Sibi, a 10-year-old Malian girl, killed by a racer while she was crossing a road. A film crew's vehicle killed a mother and daughter in Mauritania on the last day of the race. As for the race participants, they died on three separate crashes; Dutch navigator on the DAF Trucks team, a French privateer, and a French rider. Racers were also blamed for starting a wildfire that caused a panic on a train running between Dakar and Bamako, where three more people died.

In 2003 French driver Daniel Nebot both rolled and crashed his Toyota heavily at high speed killing his co-driver Bruno Cauvy. In 2005, Spanish motorcyclist José Manuel Pérez died in a Spanish hospital on Monday, January 10 after crashing the week prior on the 7th stage. Italian motorcyclist Fabrizio Meoni, a two-time winner of the event, became the second Dakar Rally rider to die in two days, following Pérez on January 11 on stage 11. Meoni was the 11th motorcyclist and the 45th person overall to die in the history of the race. On January 13, a five-year-old Senegalese girl was hit and killed by a service lorry after wandering onto a main road, bringing the total deaths to five.

In 2006, 41-year-old Australian KTM motorcyclist Andy Caldecott, in his third time in the Dakar, died January 9 as a result of neck injuries sustained in a crash approximately 250 km (155 mi) into stage 9, between Nouakchott and Kiffa, only a few kilometers from the location where Meoni had his fatal wreck the year before. He won the third stage of the 2006 event between Nador and Er Rachidia only a few days before his death. The death occurred despite efforts by the event organisers to improve competitor safety, including limiting speed, mandatory rest at fuel stops, and reduced fuel capacity requirements for the bike classes. On January 13, a 10-year-old boy died while crossing the course after being hit by a car driven by Latvian Māris Saukāns, while on January 14 a 12-year-old boy was killed after being hit by a support lorry.

In 2007, 29-year-old South African motor racer Elmer Symons died of injuries sustained in a crash during the fourth stage of the Rally. Symons crashed with his bike in the desert between Er Rachidia and Ouarzazate, Morocco. Another death occurred on January 20, the night before the race's finish, when 42-year-old motorcyclist Eric Aubijoux died suddenly. The cause of death was initially believed to be a heart attack, however it was later suggested that Aubijoux died of internal injuries sustained in a crash earlier that day while competing in the 14th stage of the race.

The 2008 Dakar Rally was cancelled due to security concerns after al-Qaeda's murder of four French tourists on Christmas Eve in December 2007 in Mauritania (a country in which the rally spends eight days), accusations against the rally calling it "neo-colonialist," and accusations against Mauritania calling it a supporter of "crusaders, apostates and infidels". The French-based Amaury Sport Organisation in charge of the 6000 km rally said in a statement that they had been advised by the French government to cancel the race which had been due to begin on January 5, 2008 from Lisbon. They said direct threats had also been made against the event by al-Qaeda related organisations.

Omar Osama bin Laden, son of Osama bin Laden, attracted news coverage in 2008 by promoting himself as an "ambassador of peace" and proposing a 3000 mi horse race across North Africa as a replacement to the Dakar Rally, with sponsors' money going to support child victims of war, saying "I heard the rally was stopped because of al-Qaida. I don't think they are going to stop me."

On 7 January 2009, the body of 49-year-old motorcyclist Pascal Terry from France was found. He had been missing for three days and his body lay on a remote part of the second stage between Santa Rosa de la Pampa and Puerto Madryn.

On 4 January 2010, a woman watching the Dakar Rally was killed when a vehicle taking part in the race veered off the course and hit her during the opening stage.

On 1 January 2012, motorcyclist Jorge Martinez Boero of Argentina died after suffering a cardiac arrest after a fall. He was treated by medical staff within five minutes of the accident, but died on the way to hospital.

On 10 January 2013, a car part of an official convoy with three British nationals, hit a local car. The British suffered numerous injuries and were airlifted back to a hospital in Lima. They survived their injuries, but two of the occupants of the local car died due to their injuries.

Overall about 60 people, including 25 competitors, have died in the Dakar Rally.

"References"