View source for Omar Blondin Diop

{{Short description|West African anti-colonial revolutionary and artist}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Omar Blondin Diop
| image              = Omar Blondin Diop ID Photo.jpg
| birth_date         = 18 September 1946
| birth_place        = [[Niamey]], [[Niger]]
| death_date         = 11 May 1973
| death_place        = [[Gorée]], [[Senegal]]
| death_cause        = Homicide
| body_discovered    = Gorée Civil Prison, Cell no. 3
| burial_place       = Soumbedioune Cimetary
| nationality        = Senegalese
| education          = École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud
| alma_mater         = Lycée Louis-le-Grand
| occupation         = Philosopher
| party              = [[Union of Communist Students|UEC]] {{small|(1964–1966)}}<br>[[Union des jeunesses communistes marxistes-léninistes|UJC(ml)]] {{small|(1966–1968)}}<br>[[Movement of Young Marxist–Leninists|MJML]] {{small|(1970)}}
| mother             = Adama Ndiaye
| father             = Ibrahima Blondin Diop
| signature          = Omar Blondin Diop Signature.jpg
}}
'''Omar Blondin Diop''' (1946–1973) was a West-African [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]] philosopher, artist, and revolutionary from Senegal and Mali. A figure of the [[May 68]] uprising in [[France]] and [[Political repression|underground opposition]] to [[Léopold Sédar Senghor]] in [[Senegal]] in the early 1970s, he was imprisoned for planning the freeing of detained comrades who had attempted an attack on [[President of France|French president]] [[Georges Pompidou]] while on a visit to [[Dakar]]. His [[death in custody]] in May 1973 caused national and international outrage, and played a role in the establishment of a [[multi-party system]] in [[Senegal]] as of the mid-1970s.
==Biography==
Omar Blondin Diop was born on September 18, 1946, in Niamey, Niger. His mother, Adama Ndiaye, was a [[midwife]], and his father, Ibrahima Blondin Diop, was a [[general practitioner]], who had been transferred to the French colony of Niger for “anti-French sentiment”. His family later returned to Senegal, where he spent most of his childhood. After a first stay in 1957, Diop definitively settled in France in 1960 after his father enrolled in doctoral [[medical school]].
[[File:Omar Blondin Diop et Daniel Cohn-Bendit.jpg|left|thumb|276x276px|Omar Blondin Diop and [[Daniel Cohn-Bendit]] during the Sorbonne occupation in May 1968]]
In Paris, he studied philosophy and attended the prestigious ''[[Lycée Louis-le-Grand]]'' high school as well as the ''[[École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud]]'' [[Normal school|teachers’ college]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bobin |first=Florian |date=February 25, 2021 |title=Manufacturing Madness: Omar Blondin Diop against French educational elitism |url=https://roape.net/2021/02/25/manufacturing-madness-omar-blondin-diop-against-french-educational-elitism/ |website=Roape.net}}</ref> where he actively partook in debates organized by far-left groups like the [[Union of Communist Students]] and the [[Union des jeunesses communistes marxistes-léninistes|Union of Communist Youth Marxist-Leninist.]] Shortly after hearing about the Senegalese activist, Swiss [[film director]] [[Jean-Luc Godard]] selected him to play the role of a radical student-professor, “comrade X”, in the 1967 movie ''[[La Chinoise]]''. A regular of [[Paris Nanterre University|Nanterre University]], Diop joined the [[Movement of 22 March|March 22 Movement]], which played an important role leading up to the [[May 68]] protests.
For his political activities, Diop was expelled to Senegal in 1969. In Dakar, he developed artistic projects alongside the future founders of the [[Laboratoire Agit'Art|Laboratoire Agit’Art]], and maintained his activism, agitating against [[Léopold Sédar Senghor]]’s French-backed government<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hendrickson |first=Burleigh J. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1312652411 |title=Decolonizing 1968 : transnational student activism in Tunis, Paris, and Dakar |date=2022 |isbn=978-1-5017-6624-4 |location=Ithaca, New York |oclc=1312652411}}</ref> with other young radicals in the [[Movement of Young Marxist–Leninists]] (MJML).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bianchini |first1=Pascal |date=2019 |title=The 1968 years: revolutionary politics in Senegal |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03056244.2019.1631150 |journal=Review of African Political Economy |volume=46 |issue=160 |pages=184–203 |doi=10.1080/03056244.2019.1631150 |s2cid=198694215 |access-date=2 October 2020|hdl=10.1080/03056244.2019.1631150 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
Diop left for France again in 1970, after the reversal of his entrance ban. But in February 1971, his comrades, including two younger brothers, were caught for an attempted attack on [[President of France|French president]] [[Georges Pompidou]]’s motorcade during his visit to Dakar. After learning about the arrests, Diop crossed Europe with friends and reached [[Syria]], projecting to kidnap the French ambassador to Senegal in exchange for the prisoners. In May 1971, the group left for [[North Africa]], hoping to garner support from the [[Black Panther Party]] which had opened an international office in Algiers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mokhtefi |first=Elaine |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1005113844 |title=Algiers, Third World capital : freedom fighters, revolutionaries, Black Panthers |date=2018 |isbn=978-1-78873-000-6 |location=Brooklyn, NY |oclc=1005113844}}</ref> But an open conflict between leaders [[Eldridge Cleaver]] and [[Huey P. Newton|Huey Newton]] jeopardized the link-up with the [[National Liberation Front (Algeria)|National Liberation Front]] set out to offer logistic and diplomatic support. The group moved closer to Senegal in June 1971, reorganizing from [[Bamako]] where part of Diop’s family lived. Monitored by the Malian [[military junta]] led by [[Moussa Traoré]], they were arrested in Novembre 1971, [[Extradition|extradited]] to Senegal in February 1972 and sentenced to three years of prison for “being a threat to national security”.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bobin |first=Florian |date=March 18, 2020 |title=Omar Blondin Diop: Seeking Revolution in Senegal |url=https://roape.net/2020/03/18/omar-blondin-diop-seeking-revolution-in-senegal/ |website=Review of African Political Economy}}</ref>
On May 11, 1973, Senegalese authorities announced his [[death in custody]]. The state’s version of a “suicide by hanging” provoked the anger of thousands of youths who stormed the streets. His younger brother Mohamed, an ear-witness from the neighbouring cell, heard him agonise from blows he had received to the neck. This was confirmed by the autopsy conducted by his father, medical doctor Ibrahima Blondin Diop.<ref>Djigo, Djeydi (2021), ''[https://montrealblackfilm.com/en/movie/omar-blondin-diop-un-revolte-2/ Omar Blondin Diop, un révolté]'', 78’. Invictus/Élever la voix. </ref> Faced with the evidence, Dakar’s [[High court|High Court]] senior [[Examining magistrate|investigating judge]], Moustapha Touré, proceeded to [[convict]] two [[Prison officer|prison guards]]. Judge Touré stated: “The circumstances showed credible and concordant evidence that indicated that the suicide, officially mentioned to justify the death of Omar Blondin Diop, was, in fact, a [[cover-up]]”. Soon after the indictment, the judge was removed from the case and replaced by another, who ended the [[Legal proceeding|legal proceedings]] a year and a half later, claiming the case was not within his [[jurisdiction]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Coulibaly |first=Abdou Latif |date=December 21, 2009 |title=Interview de Moustapha Touré, président démissionnaire de la CENA |url=http://ledecryptage.unblog.fr/2009/12/22/interview-de-moustapha-toure-president-demissionnaire-de-la-cena/}}</ref>
Ever since, his family has tirelessly demanded [[justice]] be done. Today, his image prominently features in [[Rebellion|anti-government]] and [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]] gatherings. On March 2, 2021, just hours before Senegalese opposition leader [[Ousmane Sonko]]’s arrest, the Front for an Anti-Imperialist Popular and Pan-African Revolution (FRAPP), a major youth-led [[Protect (political organization)|protest organisation]], held a press conference to call for mobilisation against the “project to liquidate opposition activists” in Senegal. Diop’s portrait stood prominently behind the speakers at the presser.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bobin |first=Florian |date=May 11, 2021 |title=Senegal's revolutionary icon Omar Blondin Diop deserves justice |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/5/11/senegals-revolutionary-icon-omar-blondin-diop-deserves-justice |access-date= |website=Aljazeera |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Blondin Diop Map.png|frameless|837x837px]]
== References ==
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[[Category:1946 births]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:Senegalese Marxists]]
[[Category:Senegalese activists]]
[[Category:African revolutionaries]]