https://tankie.tube/videos/watch/577687a7-51c0-4f64-bc03-f76caf953936 In 1970, Ghanaian filmmaker Nii Kwate Owoo exposed the British Museum's hidden realities in "You Hide Me." He revealed not just history but a cover-up involving thousands of African artefacts; masks, bronzes, and sacred objects, stored in underground vaults, taken during colonial conquests from regions such as the Benin and Asante kingdoms. Catalogued and numbered for academic scrutiny, they have been extensively studied, yet remain hardly seen by the public. The film does more than document; it confronts and challenges the idea that these objects are being 'preserved' when, in reality, they remain far removed from the people who created them. Just a year after its release, the film was banned in Ghana, dismissed as 'anti-British'. But the attempt to suppress it only amplified its message, and what was meant to be buried instead echoed across borders. Control of the cultural narrative has always been a central weapon in the colonial arsenal. By stealing artefacts, ancient statues, artwork, and other material heritage, the defining characteristics of a people's past, colonial powers deliberately severed colonised peoples from the sense of national cohesion and groundedness that such heritage provides. While anti-colonial struggle must certainly address material needs, shedding the shackles of colonialism also requires confronting the immaterial: the restoration of dignity, memory, and identity. As Amílcar Cabral declared: "The liberation struggle is a cultural revolution. It is not only a struggle against the colonial regime, but also against the colonialist mentality that has been imposed on our people. We must decolonise our minds." More than five decades later, the question at the heart of Owoo’s film still stands—unresolved and urgent. Why are the cultural and spiritual inheritances of Africa still held behind glass or hidden underground in institutions built on empire? Sat, 04 Apr 2026 05:36:25 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://tankie.tube https://tankie.tube/lazy-static/avatars/3ba3ff73-a8b6-49c9-add8-9653ef090c7f.webp https://tankie.tube/videos/watch/577687a7-51c0-4f64-bc03-f76caf953936 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://tankie.tube/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.