WI - An African country creates an analogue to Mount Rushmore

Nelson Mandela
Jomo Kenyatta
Kwame Nkrumah
and the Emperor of Mankind

Haile_Selassie_in_full_dress.jpg
 
Was not sure whether to place this in the ASB or not, since it seems largely implausible.

Knowing Gaddafi, he would probably include himself, Mugabe, Idi Amin and either Bokassa or Nguema along with Mandela and Haile Selassie.

Why would Gaddafi put people as ephemeral and utterly insane as Idi Amin (who he later had many harsh words for), Bokassa, or Nguema, who contributed essentially nothing to pan-African ideas or anti-colonialism, on a mountain? If you want Africa's worst dictators, at least someone like Mobutu came up with a coherent African nationalist ideology. Mugabe, of course, always had much better PR and was indeed very respected.

I don't know exactly who Gaddafi would put on their--himself is a given, and perhaps also his hero Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, and then I suppose pick two/three important pan-Africanists. Kwame Nkrumah's a good choice, Mandela too (especially by the 80s and onwards), maybe Patrice Lumumba? Haile Selassie might be a good choice, but it's too easy to call him a reactionary especially considering he was overthrown by the Derg.

Overall, the project is a colossal waste of money for any country which decides to embark on it. Like the African Renaissance Monument (built by North Koreans), there would no doubt be massive and very deserved criticism for the monument.
 
The idea behind it would likely be part vanity project and part tourist trap.

Whichever quartet+ ends up having their faces carved on a mountain in Africa would largely depend on whoever in power ends up commissioning it, the latter's choice of quartet+ individuals could be as tasteless or truly representative as they want. Maybe even a bit of both where the African leader commissioning the project on a whim suddenly decides to creatively replace one of the faces on the mountain with another, thereby wasting even more money.
 
Last edited:
Most Presidents of South Africa appear to be insane, so carving their likeness into Table Mountain is not out of the question?
 
Most Presidents of South Africa appear to be insane, so carving their likeness into Table Mountain is not out of the question?

By the standards of African rulers (or other 20th century rulers), it doesn't seem fair to call any of the post-Apartheid presidents insane nor the Apartheid era presidents.
 
Metaliinvader wrote:

Haile Selassie might be a good choice, but it's too easy to call him a reactionary especially considering he was overthrown by the Derg.

Yes, if Haile Selassie were proposed for the African Rushmore, you'd probably end up with a schism between African leftists who were pro-Soviet(or at least classically Marxist), and the adherents of the more psychedelic variety of Afriican nationalism, who just worship the Emperor because he was a powerful black monarch with alleged biblical provenance. African countries hoping to have any degree of positive relationshiip with Dergist Ethiopia would likely avoid visiting the monument at all costs.
 
Since Liberia is founded by former slaves from the US maybe they recreate the original Mount Rushmore

That is also an option.

Metaliinvader wrote:

Haile Selassie might be a good choice, but it's too easy to call him a reactionary especially considering he was overthrown by the Derg.

Yes, if Haile Selassie were proposed for the African Rushmore, you'd probably end up with a schism between African leftists who were pro-Soviet(or at least classically Marxist), and the adherents of the more psychedelic variety of Afriican nationalism, who just worship the Emperor because he was a powerful black monarch with alleged biblical provenance. African countries hoping to have any degree of positive relationshiip with Dergist Ethiopia would likely avoid visiting the monument at all costs.

A TL involving such a schism would be worth exploring.
 
Top