THE five-day international colloquium on the theme; Teaching and Propagating African History and Culture to the Diaspora and Teaching Diaspora History and Culture to Africa opened at the State University of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, last Monday with over twenty-five scholars from across the globe in attendance.

It was a busy day as scholars converged in their numbers in an atmosphere of camaraderie and scholarly euphoria in their attempt to define and deliberate on the ways forward for blacks both at home and in the diaspora. Declaring the five-day international colloquium open, African Union ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Amina Ali said that history is now on the side of Africa.

History, according to her, was what brought people into the Diaspora and therefore, Africans have no choice than to know their history.

Praising the Centre for Black African Arts and Civilization, CBAAC, for her noble role in organising the programme and also, extending her hand of fellowship to the university authorities of the State University of Rio De Janeiro, Ambassador Ali said that "If we as Africans know where we are coming from, we should know what our history and culture portray, but if we fail to know our history, we can't stand proudly to face the challenges of life."

Also, in his opening remark, Nigeria's retired General Isola Williams, secretary of Pan- African and Strategic and Policy and Research Group, PANAFSTRAG, challenged Africans to come to the front burner of world affairs. In his words, "there is nothing like Africans in the diaspora, what we have instead is non- resident Africans and Africans in Africa."

He reminded Africans abroad to always be conscious of where they are coming from and see all Africans all over the world as one.

Speaking in the same vein, Dudley Thompson, a well known pan-Africanist and former Jamaican ambassador to Nigeria, first paid tribute to the memory to South Africa's popular musician, Mariam Makeba, whom he said spent all her time fighting inequality not only in South Africa but globally.

He pointed out that Mariam Makeba and others like Dubois, Martin Luther King Jnr, Malcom X, Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta have all contributed to the emergence of the recently elected Barack Obama as the first African-American president in the United States of America. According to him, "it is a great euphoria for Africa to lead the world now. Africans must not be complacent now. It is time to keep moving on."

Prof. Abdias Do Nasmento of Brazil lamented that the Brazilian society for which the blacks laboured to build in the days past has not adequately acknowledged the blacks' contributions to society. In a long speech delivered in Portuguese, he called on the Brazilian government to now come out of the shell to acknowledge the role of black Brazilians in building a modern Brazilian society, which is still being appreciated by the world.

He not only thanked Nigeria and reminded her of her many cultural values that must be tapped for humanity, but also reminded the entire world that African mode of religions are still practised in Brazil today. "Africans came with their religion, they came with creativity and abundance of human resources, and today, Brazil is the better for it. We as black Brazilians are proud of all these."

In his welcome address, director of CBAAC, Professor Tunde Babawale, who also stood in for Nigeria's minister of culture and tourism, Adetokunbo Kayode first thanked the vice-chancellor of State University of Rio de Janeiro, Ricardo De Castro for his love to host the colloquium and also for his positive attitude to African ideas, history and culture. He recalled how Africa was raped, tortured and enslaved by other peoples in the world and how today's events in the diaspora have proved the resilience and love of Africans for new ideas, creativity and ideals.

"Brazil is a true demonstration of this development and Barak Obama is that symbol. CBACC is equal to the task and we will continue to play the role in uplifting African spirit," he said. The five-day colloquium will have scholars from across the globe: Europe, America, the Caribbean, Asia and Africa coming together to discuss diverse issues concerning the black race.