Ebony and Ivory

The whispers from the Ivory Coast have been haunted by its given namesake since colonists arrived during the 19th century. Elephants’ ivory was (is) a highly valued commodity for the capitalist network of colonists due to the popularity of ivory piano keys, billiard balls, and gun handles. Culturally and socially valued as stock items in the London home and not associated with violence, ivory was the ideal commodity for colonists; high risk for others, high reward for the colonists. Imperialists like the Belgians, poached elephants for great monetary gains while decimating the native population of the Ivory Coast. Capitalism allowed Africa’s raw materials to be exploited far beyond the needs of the native peoples. How ivory became a commodity was to detach it from its brutal acquisition of killing elephants and Africans, despite various travel logs photographing the overwhelming human sacrifice. Objects like piano keys and small trinkets were created from the destroyed bodies of African elephants and over the dead bodies of Africans and at the same time, beautiful to look at. The harvesting of ivory is a dirty and gruesome task that continues to fund militant fundamentalist groups. These terrorists sell poached ivory on the black market to fund destructive plots against nations. Kathryn Bigelow released a short film entitled Last Days that shows the association between elephant poaching and terrorism. The colonial ivory trade was sustained through Belgium and other imperialist countries, which made Europe complicit in the destruction of the natural African Congo. Terrorists of their day, the colonists exploited their flagged territory only to exhaust the natural resources for invaluable lives in exchange for culture. Films like Bigelow’s show how we will see the extinction of the natural elephant population in the next ten to fifteen years due to systemic policies from the colonial era. By recognizing the true cost of these ivory goods we can help wild elephants survive extinction. (Without implicitly funding terrorists. Win-win.)

Watch Last Days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gQujyNDp98