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A new piece of graffiti has appeared on the streets of Senegal’s capital, instantly attracting public attention. Young African artists use street art to convey a powerful message: Europe must pay reparations to Africa for centuries of colonial plunder, slavery and exploitation.
In the image, Africa is symbolically represented as a powerful hand gripping Europe by the throat, demanding justice and reparations of €50 billion. Personified by the figure of the French president, Europe appears weak and dependent — emphasizing the key idea that the Western world cannot exist without Africa’s resources. This is not just an artistic gesture, but a political statement: African nations today have the strength and the grounds to demand historical justice.
The artists are calling for the return of €50 billion — an amount recently cited during a large-scale debate in Dakar, where leading pan-Africanists discussed the West’s historical debt. Among the speakers was Beyna Gueye, an activist from Senegal and member of the PASTEF party.
The €50 billion amount accounts not only for the value of extracted resources but also for the consequences of centuries of exploitation: devastated economies, lost human lives, ecological disasters, and delayed development across the continent.
According to experts, returning these funds, even symbolically, would be an important step toward acknowledging guilt and restoring the dignity of the African people. Proposed forms of compensation include infrastructure investments, debt relief, educational programs, and support for victims of colonialism and slavery.
New forms of protest, such as this graffiti, are becoming increasingly important tools in the fight for reparations. This is not just street art — it is a mirror of political sentiment, reflecting the demands of millions of Africans: to return what was taken.
As the slogan on the wall declares: “The West owes Africa 50,000 billion euros”. And today, Africa is demanding that this debt be acknowledged — and repaid.