African Unity

Africa. When I bring up the name of the mother of all continents with students in my classroom, or in conversations with average everyday people, I can already predict the type of commentary I’ll receive: “poor people, war, primitive, disease, wild animals”, and so forth. Even if we dismiss the attitudes spawned out of bigotry or ignorance held by the international community (which we cannot), at the very least the perception of Africa is a pessimistic one. Why does it appear to so many people as if no good can ever come out of Africa? Why does it seem like the media only reports on the failure and depravity of African nations? How can the richest and most ancient continent on Earth have the poorest people? As a Rastaman and a teacher, I do my best to address the negative attitudes about Africa. Yes, the continent still suffers very much, but now more than ever in modern times there are some wonderful things to say about Mama Africa as she moves toward a renaissance. We celebrate African Liberation Day, or Africa Day, as the beginning of a new independent Africa and the harbinger of good things that are yet to come.

On this day, May 25th, 1963, the charter for the Organization of African Unity (OAU) was signed by 32 independent African nations, just a few short years after they gained independence from their colonial European powers. Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia presided over the formation of the OAU (now the African Union) along with other revolutionary African leaders like Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana with the goal of urging the African nations to unite on common ground. While some leaders were in favor of more gradual efforts to unify, others like Nkrumah who held socialist and Pan-Africanist ideas, looked to create a strong federation, a United States of Africa. This was a manifestation of the dreams held by the Pan-African Congress first organized by W.E.B. Du Bois, and the efforts of so many other freedom-fighters from Africa and the African Diaspora in the Caribbean and America seeking to eradicate colonialism. The OAU was the foundation for African solidarity, for having a collective voice, for building a real economic and political future, to defend human rights and raise the living standards of Africans at home and abroad. However, political self-determination came with many challenges for the newly independent nations and for those nations still to be liberated. Remember, Britain did not decolonize Zimbabwe until 1980, and an apartheid government existed in South Africa until 1994.

For centuries, Africa, with all of its wealth and its once proud trade empires of ancient and medieval times, had been exploited of its natural and human resources, damaged and segmented by the slave trade and colonialism brought by both the Arab and European world. After so many years of darkness, a swift strengthening and healing could not be possible for these vulnerable nations. Borders were drawn across the African continent, leaving nations with diverse ethnic groups, cultures, and religions that became the catalysts for conflict and control. During the Cold War the United States and USSR competed for influence in independent Africa, seeking resources and strategic locations. Since independence, political turmoil has resulted in frequent military coups, and true democracy is frequently stifled by one-party systems and eventually dictatorships. Natural resources have been exploited by either imperialist economies or warlords seeking regional control. Furthermore, foreign assistance largely ceased along with the Cold War and many African nations were left in debt to the IMF and the World Bank, beholden to foreign governments and businesses, the people of these countries have suffered through poverty and the other problems that spawn from it. 

In the midst of all the chaos and crisis, some heroes of the African independence movement were ousted from power by rivals or became despotic rulers. Kwame Nkrumah, the father of my wife’s native country Ghana, the leader who proclaimed “self-government now”, was one of those. When he became the first president of Ghana, some of his political tactics were considered to be authoritarian, and in efforts to modernize the country, the nation fell into debt which eventually led to him being overthrown (some say with the help of the CIA). Now decades later, many Ghanaians regard Nkrumah as a hero who tried to build up the nation and who promoted the liberation and unification of the whole African continent. Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya was another founding African statesman and the first president of his country who had also been criticized during his reign and yet has been regarded as a hero. Along with Kwame Nkrumah, Kenyatta was one of the first African leaders to get involved and collaborate with W.E.B. DuBois and the Pan-Africanist Congress. Before Kenya’s independence he was imprisoned by the British for allegedly aiding the Mau Mau rebellion. He was also the inspiration of reggae’s Burning Spear. Finally, there is the father of African unity, H.I.M. Haile Selassie I who was overthrown by the Communist Derg leader Mengistu Haile Mariam after famine caused distress amongst the people. Yet, Emperor Selassie I had modernized Ethiopia, promoted education, made the ancient monarchy a constitutional one, and helped lay the foundation for the OAU (and now the African Union), in his own capital of Addis Ababa. Critics who claimed that H.I.M. was an autocrat used fraudulent reasons to take power. Derg supporters and foreign journalists like Ryszard Kapuściński (who was a Communist and sympathetic to Mariam) spread and wrote deceitful things about Haile Selassie I and ignored the arrests and executions of university students, intellectuals and politicians and the forceful exile of the royal family by the military coup. Why can’t the world honor these men and their achievements without discrediting them?

I do not advocate totalitarianism, corruption, or the violation of human rights... but let’s be honest. Many of the same things that African leaders, past and present, have been blamed for are things that go unnoticed or whitewashed in the politics of the Western world.  Particularly in regard to Emperor Haile Selassie I, Kwame Nkrumah, and Jomo Kenyatta, where no violence or terrible infringements of human rights have ever been honestly attributed to them. These great men were liberators and sought the unification of the entire African continent and to say that their leadership needs to be measured against the example of American or Western democracy is unsuited and unfair especially when examples of good governance were absent even during colonial rule (besides Ethiopia). There are many perspectives and authors to history. Some of these views are right and some are wrong... and more often than not, there is a blending of both. Ultimately the Truth does reveal itself, and I believe it will favor those who fought for the rights and dignity of the oppressed by any means necessary. Of course there have been dictators in the truest sense of the word like Mobutu Sese Seko, Idi Amin, Charles Taylor, and others who have used torture, murder, war, and political manipulation to keep power. Fortunately, over the years the citizens of many of these African countries have forced dictatorships to hold elections and transition to some form of democracy. 

Over the past few months the news stories coming out of Africa have been bleak, as usual... and underreported, as usual. The military Islamist organization called Boko Haram is still terrorizing Nigeria with violence, ethnic attacks and a coup d’état took place in Mali, battles in the new country of South Sudan, political commotion in Senegal, and continued problems in the Congo and Somalia. Oh, and of course you had the flash-in-the-pan that was “Kony 2012”, a YouTube popularity contest to find Uganda warlord, Joseph Kony, whom people have known about for over 20 years. In fact there are existing documentaries about Kony and the LRA that are at least 10 years old now. What have been the real actual fruits of this campaign besides a few sensationalized news stories aired for a couple of weeks in April? Not to take anything away from the terrible amounts of suffering that people endure in these war-torn and unstable areas, but this is the image of Africa that we are left with: a helpless, despaired, “dark continent”... unable to rise on its own without the help of some well-intended Western college students, missionaries, and celebrities. It perpetuates the notion that Africa is unable to help itself and become great again. However, on the flip-side is plenty of evidence that Africa is on the rise.

There are many hopeful signs that point to a good future for Africa. Africa is in the midst of a population explosion, middle classes are emerging, business entrepreneurship is evolving, urbanization is spreading, and economies are growing with the help of new foreign investment, particularly from China. There is more freedom from Western influences and more competition in the African economies, which means that foreign interests have to play by African rules. With such changes, livelihoods are changing for the better as well. Many young, globally connected, and increasingly more educated Africans are demanding political changes, better healthcare, functional governments, free elections, and are realizing the necessity for being the creators of their own destinies. Africa is slowly and steadily on the rise. The flaws and failures will eventually even out after many years of growing pains. For all of the negative incidents shown in the news, not enough of the African success stories are highlighted for others to see, like the economic gains of today’s Ghana and Mozambique. It is important to look at these many factors when examining Africa. To do so is not ignoring the problems that currently exist, but rather being optimistic of the things that are sure to come. 

Look to Mama Africa with optimism and hope, just like the Pan-Africanist leaders, Selassie, Nkrumah, and Kenyatta. Like DuBois, George Padmore and Dudley Thompson from America and the Caribbean. No matter who you are or where you come from, Africa is the birthplace of humanity and the foundation of our global future. The whole world is Africa. So, let us hail up Africa, like Marcus Garvey once wrote:

Hail! United States of Africa-free!

Hail! Motherland most bright, divinely fair!

State in perfect sisterhood united,

Born of truth; mighty thou shalt ever be.

- “Hail, United States of Africa” by Marcus Garvey

Happy African Liberation Day; Africa Unite, 

JAHsh

Kwame Nkrumah & H.I.M. Haile Selassie I