Pan-Africanism is a world-wide intellectual movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all people of African descent. It encompasses several aspects: (1)Pan-Africanism is a thought process that is based on the belief that all African peoples and countries are intertwined; (2)Pan-Africanism believes that unity is vital to economic, social, and political progress; (3)Pan-Africanism aims to unify and uplift people of African descent.
Perhaps the most vital aspect of Pan-Africanism is the notion that all peoples of African descent have a common destiny. The realization of the Pan-African objective would lead to “power consolidation in Africa”, which “would compel a reallocation of global resources, as well as unleashing a fiercer psychological energy and political assertion...that would unsettle social and political (power) structures...in the Americas.”
Pan-Africanists often champion socialist principles and tend to be opposed to external political and economic involvement on the continent.
Below are my favorite Pan-Africanists in no particular order:
Thomas Sankara
Thomas Sankara was president of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987. He was a military officer and socialist revolutionary. A Marxist-Leninist and Pan-Africanist, he was viewed by supporters as a charismatic and iconic figure of revolution and is sometimes referred to as “Africa’s Che Guevara”.
After being appointed Prime Minister in 1983, disputes with the sitting government led to Sankara’s eventual imprisonment. While he was under house arrest, a group of revolutionaries seized power on his behalf in a popularly supported coup later that year. At 33, Sankara became the President of the Republic of Upper Volta and then 1st President of Burkina Faso.
He immediately launched one of the most ambitious programs for social and economic change ever attempted on the African continent. To symbolize this new autonomy and rebirth, he renamed the country from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso (“land of upright man”).
His foreign policies centered on anti-imperialism, with his government abstaining from all foreign aid, pushing for debt reduction, nationalizing all land and mineral wealth, and averting the power and influence of the IMF and World Bank
In order to achieve this radical transformation of society, he increasingly exerted authoritarian control over the nation, eventually banning unions and a free press, which he believed could stand in the way of his plans:
He vaccinated 2.5 million children against meningitis, yellow fever, and measles in a matter of weeks
He initiated a nationwide literacy campaign, increasing the literacy rate from 13% in 1983 to 73% in 1987
He planted over 10 million trees to prevent desertification
He built roads and a railway to tie the nation together, without foreign aid
He opposed foreign aid, saying that “he who feeds you, controls you”
A motorcyclist himself, he formed an all-women motorcycle personal guard
He sold off the government fleet of Mercedes cars and made the Renault 5 (the cheapest car sold in Burkina Faso at that time) the official service car of the ministers
He reduced the salaries of all public servants, including his own, and forbade the use of government chauffeurs and 1st class airline tickets
When asked why he didn’t want his portrait hung in public places, as was the norm for other African leaders, Sankara replied, “There are 7 million Thomas Sankaras.”
An accomplished guitarist, he wrote the new national anthem himself
His revolutionary programs for African self-reliance made him an icon to many of Africa’s poor. Sankara remained popular with most of his country’s impoverished citizens. However, his policies alienated and antagonized the vested interests of an array of groups, which included the small but powerful Burkinabé middle class, the tribal leaders whom he stripped of the long-held traditional right to forced labor and tribute payments, and France and its ally the Côte d’Ivoire.
He was overthrown and assassinated in a coup d’état led by Blaise Compaore in October 1987. A week before his murder, he declared: “While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas.” It was later learned that former Liberian President Charles Taylor was behind the coup who was an ally to the Côte d’Ivoire.
Compaore immediately reversed nearly all of Sankara’s policies and rejoined the IMF and World Bank.
Julius Nyerere
Julius Nyerere was Prime Minister of Tanganyika from 1961 to 1962, President from 1963 to 1964, then became the country’s first President as Tanzania from 1964 to 1985. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he promoted a political philosophy known as Ujamaa.
Ujamaa means ‘extended family’ in Swahili. It means that a person becomes a person through the people or community. The spirit of ‘others’ or ‘community’ bringing units of families together, and fostering cohesion, love, and service. This was Nyerere’s development blueprint titled the Arusha Declaration.
The creation of a one-party system under the leadership of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), alleging the need to solidify the cohesion of the newly independent Tanzania
The institutionalization of social, economic, and political equality through the creation of a central democracy; the abolition of discrimination based on ascribed status; and the nationalization of the economy’s key sectors
The villagization of production, which collectivized all forms of local productive capacity
The fostering of Tanzanian self-reliance through two dimensions: the transformation of economic and cultural attitudes. Economically, everyone would work for both the group and for him/herself; culturally, Tanzanians must learn to free themselves from their dependence on European powers. For Nyerere, this included Tanzanians learning to do things for themselves and learning to be satisfied with what they could achieve as an independent state.
Implementing free and compulsory education for all Tanzanians in order to sensitize them to the principles of Ujamaa
The creation of a Tanzanian rather than tribal identity through means such as the use of Swahili
Julius Nyerere’s leadership of Tanzania commanded international attention and attracted worldwide respect for his consistent emphasis upon ethical principles as the basis of practical policies. Tanzania made great strides under Nyerere in vital areas of social development: infant mortality was reduced from 138 per 1000 live births in 1965 to 110 in 1985; life expectancy at birth rose from 37 in 1960 to 52 in 1984; primary school enrollment was raised from 25% of age group (only 16% of females) in 1960 to 72% (85% of females) in 1985; the adult literacy rate rose from 17% in 1960 to 63% by 1975 (much higher than in other African countries) and continued to rise.
Julius Nyerere stepped down from office and Ali Hassan Mwinyi succeeded him in 1985.
Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi was a strong supporter of Egypt’s former president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, who was very patriotic and passionate about Islam - two things that Gaddafi admired and emulated. Gaddafi came to power through a coup in which Senussi Monarch was ousted and considered a puppet of the West.
Gaddafi expelled over 12,000 Italians and some white Libyan Jews and shut down all Western military bases in his country. He envisioned an Islamic socialist state - Jamahiriya.
Though many in the West call him a dictator, Gaddafi surrendered true power and became a symbolic or ceremonial ruler as far back as 1977. From this point on, he was called the brotherly leader of Libya.
Gaddafi is remembered as a Pan-Africanist, however, this development took place after he failed to establish Pan-Arabism. Upon failing to convince his neighbor rivals they had a common enemy in Western imperialism, Gaddafi grew more and more interested in pan-Africanism as it acknowledged the West as a threat, encouraged unity among Africans and was more mature in terms of its existence as compared to Pan-Arabism which Gaddafi himself was pioneering.
The West hated Gaddafi for funding movements that threatened their social order or governments. Many of these movements involved Blacks, particularly in the West. Some movements included the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam. He also funded the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa throughout the apartheid era. The West classified these groups as terrorist groups. Gaddafi called these groups revolutionaries.
Muammar Gaddafi became directly involved with the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the precursor to the African Union. He began signing numerous bilateral agreements with African nations. In 2002, he became one of the founders of the African Union. He shared with them his vision of a united Africa and discouraged the receiving of conditional Western aid.
Gaddafi was confident that Africa was meant to be a world leader in terms of economic prosperity. He proposed for Africans to have their own truly gold-based currency called an African dinar, which would function throughout the continent. He also proposed an African Union passport, currency, army, air force, and naval base.
Marcus Garvey
Marcus Garvey was an orator for the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanist movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. Garvey advanced a pan-African philosophy which inspired a global mass movement, known as Garveyism. Garveyism would eventually inspire others, from the Nation of Islam to the Rastafari movement.
Garvey founded the UNIA in 1912 with the goal of uniting all of African diaspora to “establish a country and absolute government of their own.” To convey his message he began publishing and distributing a newspaper, Negro World. Seven years later, Garvey launched the Black Star Line, a shipping company that would establish trade and commerce between Africans in America, the Caribbean, South and Central America, Canada, and Africa. At the same time, Garvey started the Negroes Factories Association, a series of companies that would manufacture marketable commodities in every big industrial center in the Western hemisphere and Africa.
The UNIA was a fraternal organization of Black nationalists. As a group, they advocated for “separate but equal” status for persons of African ancestry, and as such they sought to establish independent black states around the world, notably in Liberia on the west coast of Africa.
The Black Star Line’s idea was to establish a nation on the west coast of Africa for African Americans, or those who were born into slavery or were the descendants of slaves.
Malcolm X
Malcolm X is widely credited with spreading Black nationalism and revolutionary pan-Africanism in the Western Hemisphere. Both of his parents were followers of Marcus Garvey. They met at a UNIA convention in Montreal, Canada.
Malcolm X stressed the global perspective he gained from his international travels. He emphasized the “direct connection” between the domestic struggle of African Americans for equal rights with the independence struggles of Third World nations. He said that African Americans were wrong when they thought of themselves as a minority; globally, Black people were the majority.
Malcolm X advocated black nationalism which he defined as self-determination for the African American community.
Malcolm X was a Pan-Africanist and devout Muslim who believed in the upliftment of African Americans. He evolved from being a convicted criminal to a learned man who was always trying to change the social standing of African Americans. “By any means necessary”.
Bibliography
Africa Facts. “Facts About Thomas Sankara in Burkina Faso.” Africa Facts, 2020, https://africa-facts.org/facts-about-thomas-sankara-in-burkina-faso/. Accessed 28 November 2020.
Agyeman, Opoku. Pan-Africanism and Its Detractors: A Response to Harvard's Race-Effacing Universalists. Edwin Mellen Pr, 1997. Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Pan-Africanism-Its-Detractors-Race-Effacing-Universalists/dp/0773484329.
Biography. “Marcus Garvey Biography.” Biography, 24 June 2020, https://www.biography.com/activist/marcus-garvey. Accessed 30 November 2020.
History.com. “Marcus Garvey.” History, 13 December 2019, https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/marcus-garvey. Accessed 30 November 2020.
Jama, Simba. “How Gaddafi Became a pan-Africanist.” The Patriot, 28 March 2019, https://www.thepatriot.co.zw/old_posts/how-gaddafi-became-a-pan-africanist/. Accessed 30 November 2020.
Lewis, Femi. “4 Pan-African Leaders You Should Know.” ThoughtCo., 15 April 2019, https://www.thoughtco.com/pan-african-leaders-45183. Accessed 30 November 2020.
Richmond, Norman. “Malcolm X at 91: A Foremost Revolutionary Pan-Africanist.” Pambuazuka, 26 May 2016, https://www.pambazuka.org/pan-africanism/malcolm-x-91-foremost-revolutionary-pan-africanist. Accessed 30 November 2020.
Wikipedia. “Thomas Sankara.” Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia, 25 November 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sankara. Accessed 28 November 2020.
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