Who is Toyin Agbetu?

Who is Toyin Agbetu? You might know him as the lone prostestor who disrupted the church service that was commemorating the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery at Westminster Abbey in the UK recently.

Well, according to ligali.org,

Toyin Agbetu is the founder of Ligali, an African British* organisation set up to campaign for human rights and cultural, socio-economic and political justice on behalf of the African community. In particular, Ligali challenges the misrepresentation of African people and culture in the British media and advocates self determination and equality within the African British community. As Head of Social and Education Policy for the organisation, Toyin is responsible for a number of initiatives including the Stuff You Should Know initiative aimed at informing young people of their civil rights, the No N Word campaign focusing on stemming the rampant use and negative reclamation of the offensive ‘n word’ in media and social institutions and supporting the establishment of a national African Remembrance Day.

Toyin is also the author of several reports including Jesus Says Sorry: The Anatomy of a Political Apology for Slavery, Declaration of Protest to the 2007 Commemoration of the Bicentenary of the British Parliamentary Abolition and The Making of an Impoverished History: From G8 to Live8.

Back to the “event disruption”, of all the media reports, this is the one I enjoyed reading most. A report published in Toronto Star and titled: “Protest mars apology service”

Within spitting distance of the Queen and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a lone black protester today eluded tight security at Westminster Abbey to denounce the national commemorative service to mark the end of the Atlantic slave trade of Africans 200 years ago.

“This is a disgrace to our ancestors,” shouted the protester, jabbing his finger at Queen Elizabeth and Blair. “Millions of our ancestors are in the Atlantic.”

The man identified as Toyin Agbetu ground the church service to a halt and stunned a crowd of 2,000 gathered in the most famous protestant cathedral in the world.

He got to within three metres of the Queen, who sat emotionless with Prince Phillip at her side. Church officials and several black worshippers surrounded the man, wrestling him to the ground but quickly unhanded him as he shouted, “Let go of me.”

“This is an insult,” the man said, urging the large throng of blacks in the crowd to walk out of the commemorative service, organized by the Church of England, which itself owned some 600 slaves on Caribbean plantations.

You can read a full description of what went on at Westminster Abbey at Guardian Unlimited.

“You, the Queen, should be ashamed!”

All was solemn at the slavery service in Westminster Abbey … until a bright-shirted demonstrator let loose, says David Smith who watched the drama unfold.

Not everyone is happy with Toyin Agbetu. Certainly not Martin, who describes himself as “a 36 year old, 14 stone Glaswegian white man”.  In “An Open Letter To Toyin Agbetu“, he wrote:

Dear Toyin,
If a few plans currently in the works come to fruition then it’s highly unlikely that I’ll be posting any material anywhere for the forseeable future – so you’ll excuse me if I proceed to the task in hand with relish.
You are a public menace, and should get out of this country and go back to Africa on the first available flight.
Your little publicity stunt in Westminster Abbey certainly got your name in the papers – although I have to say that if I, a 36 year old, 14 stone Glaswegian white man, tried the same trick the royal protection goons would probably have dropped me before I got out my chair and the pathologists would still be picking bullets out my corpse.
But such is life. The police have to be very careful about accusations of racism; which is very probably why you were gently ushered out of Westminster Abbey still screaming abuse at the monarch instead of being frogmarched out in handcuffs with a bag over your head, which to my mind is what you deserved.

From another perspective,  The Art of Fiction blogs briefly “…in praise of Toyin Agbetu”

Is there anything more symbolic, in an event to recognise 200 years of slavery, attended by the main beneficiaries of that, the Queen and her ministers, to see a black man being manhandled away from the event by security guards. Toyin Agbetu, you are my new hero. A brave man in a cowardly world. (Nice handbag by the way.)

Chxta, a Nigerian blogger whilst commenting on “Toyin Agbetu in action”, said:

The guy is very intelligent, one has to hand that to him. However, I think his views are extreme.

What do you think? Share your thoughts by posting your comments here.