Each year, on the 20th of March, The International Francophonie Day is celebrated. On this occasion, Romfilatelia, the society specialized in editing and trading Romanian postage stamps, introduces into the postal network the postage stamps issue entitled The Centenary Leopold Sedar Senghor.
The Francophonie is the political and cultural ensemble of peoples which frequently use the French language. The term “francophonie” first appeared in 1880 when geographer Onesisme Reclus has thus defined the totality of countries which have in common the use of French as the national official language, as an international communication language, as a cultural or work-related language.
20 March is the day when, 1970, the Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation (ACCT) was established in Paris. The initiative of creating this organization belonged to figures such as Leopold Sedar Senghor (Senegal), Habib Bourguiba (Tunisia), Hamani Diori (Niger), Norodom Sianuk (Vietnam).
This year, Romania is the host of the 9th Summit (Sommet) of the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF). In order to mark 100 years since the birth of Leopold Sedar Senghor, cofounder of the phrancophonic movement, in 2006, manifestations that pay homage to this political and cultural figure will take place throughout the world, under the title of “The Senghor Year”.
Leopold Sedar Senghor, the first president of Senegal between 1960 and 1980, has marked the history of the 20th century as the father of the idea of “negritude” and as a defender of “cultural crossing”. In 1970, he appointed Abdou Diouf as Prime Minister, the latter being the current general secretary of OIF and the one who succeeded Senghor as President of Senegal in 1981.
Poet and essayist, Senghor has received many awards and distinctions for his artistic activity. Among his works we mention his musical, intellectualist and philosophical poetry (“Ethiopiques”, “Nocturnes”, “Elegies majeures”), essays (“The Negro-African Language and Poetry”, “The Negro-Africa Aesthetic”). He was member of many academies, universities and organizations, and in 1983, he became a member of the French Academy.
For more than half of century, the life, artistic work and political activity of Senghor had one common denominator: Francophonie, which, for the former president of Senegal was and “is this integral humanism that weaves around the world: this symbiosis of dormant energies of all the continents, of all the races which wake up on the contact of their complementary warmth.” (Leopold Sedar Senghor – Esprit Magazine, November 1962).
The issue is completed by 1 maxicard.
