He wanted to fight the colonialism of French museums and give back to Africa what belongs to Africa. In doing so, action artist Emery Mwazulu Diyabanza made a not insignificant mistake.

Activist did poor research

The Louvre Museum in Paris is home to one of the most important art collections in the world. In addition to European art, there are also works from all over the world. The activist Diyabanza wanted to steal one of them in order to return the alleged looted art to Africa.

To do this, he went to the Louvre with some followers, grabbed a sculpture and wanted to go out. The whole thing was filmed in order to later make it publicly available on the internet. In the end, the clip was a total disgrace.

Because the plan had a problem: the sculpture that was supposed to be “brought back” to Africa actually came from Indonesia.

Cheap excuse after embarrassing action

Before the art theft, which was barely prevented by employees, Diyabanza said: “I have come to get what was stolen from Africa.” His motive: “Millions of African children must be able to see it.”

Diyabanza is the spokesman for the Pan-Africa organization “Unité, Dignité, Courage”, which is committed to the “liberation and transformation of Africa”.

When Diyabanza found out after the action that the sculpture he wanted to bring to Africa actually came from Indonesia, he let it be known through his lawyer that he had been interested in a general symbol against colonialism from the start. He had to pay a fine of €1,000.