Pan-Africanism Issue #1: What is Pan-Africanism and Why Does It Matter?
Introducing the ‘Rethinking Pan-Africanism’ Segment on the Not an Afterthought Newsletter
Pan-Africanism is a word that is thrown out a lot in Africa, but the reality is that not many can give you a definition. Not because they do not know but because it means different things to different people.
Some Africans believe that Pan-Africanism is purely about identity. That a Pan-African is someone who defines themselves by and deeply understands the continent's traditions, systems, cultures and ideologies.
'Identity' Pan-Africans argue that the current African identity was dictated by people who were determined to exploit the continent for gain and had no vested interest in seeing the continent improve. They are on a mission to craft and establish an African identity owned by the African people.
The next group of Pan-Africans believes that you cannot be a Pan-African without wanting Africa to become one huge superstate governed by one united entity. They borrow a lot of their belief system from Kwame Nkrumah.
Nkrumah so believed in a politically united Africa that in Ghana's first constitution, he inserted a phrase that Ghana would willingly give up its sovereignty for the sake of a politically united Africa.
That the union of Africa should be striven for by every lawful means, and, when attained, should be faithfully preserved; and
That the independence of Ghana should not be surrendered or diminished on any grounds other than the furtherance of African unity.
Kwame Nkrumah—Africa Must Unite
The other category of Pan-Africans is solely concerned with regional integration and unity born out of collaboration. Mwalimu Nyerere, Tanzania’s founding father, firmly belonged to this group.
Mwalimu was a founding member of the East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC). He believed that integration and unity at the regional level would facilitate unity at a continental level.
The last group is Pan-Africans who are all about economic unity. They reckon that a Pan-African must believe in and work towards an Africa with the most advanced production and technological mechanisms.
Outside of these four schools of thought, smaller ones exist.
Some Africans borrow elements from all the four camps to create a Pan-Africanist ideology that is uniquely theirs. A lot of intellectuals tend to do this.
Others believe that all people of African ancestry (African-Americans, Africans in the diaspora, and those who live in the Caribbean) must come together for Pan-Africanism to succeed.
That is not all.
In addition to these diverse groupings of Pan-Africans, many Africans do not buy into the ideology.
Young Africans, especially millennials and the generations after them, consider Pan-Africanism as something that cannot work in the modern/20th-century way of living.
Their biggest arguments against Pan-Africanism are:
Africa is too diverse
That coming together to do something will drag some countries down. This perception is born out of a sense of superiority, a feeling that a certain African country x is better than the others.
A need among many to retain their individuality
Here are some reactions from social media that show the reality of this thinking.
To be fair, these are not crazy arguments. They are coming from a place of genuine concern.
They also prove that it is time to examine Pan-Africanism, discard what no longer works, double down on what works, and add elements that will help develop an ideology that’s relevant to the current generation.
That is what this segment aims to do—discover and answer what is Pan-Africanism.
By the end, we hope to have developed an ideology that the current generation can identify with and leverage for social and economic prosperity.
Each month we will explore a certain facet of Pan-Africanism.
Why Does It Matter?
Three reasons.
One is something that Mwalimu Nyerere noted.
Unity will not make us rich, but it can make it difficult for Africa and the African people to be disregarded and humiliated.
Together, the African people will command respect and have a say on the international stage. Rich and powerful nations often ignore the needs of Africa's multiple states because individually, they have zero bargaining power.
It results in marginalization when international decisions critical to Africa's interests and needs are made.
Two, in a capitalist system, such as the one that dominates the world, ownership of identity, resources and narrative allows one to engage with other parties on the basis of equal give and take.
In contrast, lack of ownership gives everybody else permission to define you and treat you based on how they have defined you. That is what has happened to Africa for a very long time.
How Africa is defined has resulted from its interaction with other civilizations.
Ali Mazrui, One of Kenya’s Foremost Scholar
Other civilizations defined Africa as weak and poor and as a result, any time an African leader walks into a room with international partners, they are bargaining from a position of weakness.
Pan-Africanism will shift the focus from how everyone else defines Africa to how Africa defines itself.
It will create the building blocks for a continent that owns its identity, and leverages it to demand fair and equal treatment.
Finally, Pan-Africanism is critical to Africa's social and economic growth.
Richard Dowden, journalist and author of the book—Africa Altered States—once stated that the most underrated legacy of colonialism was the decimation of Africa's belief in themselves.
He explained that he had interacted with many Africans who had told him they trusted him more because he was white.
That kind of thinking has prevented Africans from building development-inducing social and economic ties with each other. A very obvious case is that of intra-African trade. Of all the continents in the world, Africa has the lowest rate of intra-regional trade.
Why?
Because like the individuals who told Richard that they trusted him because he was white, many African countries have chosen to trade more with western countries because "foreigners are better and more trustworthy" than their African counterparts.
Things are changing now, especially with the launch of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
However, to get to a place where Africans believe in their ability to build socially and economically advanced societies, the continent must use Pan-Africanism as the bonding agent
Thank you for reading Not an Afterthought Newsletter. We lead the conversation on how Africans can leverage technology, trade, regional integration and Pan-Africanism to build an Africa that is no longer considered an afterthought.
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