Sebastiane Ebatamehi Mon, Apr 1, 2019

The Pan-African struggle is not an individual one, it is collective, and Africa needs you.

The concept of Pan-Africanism is perhaps more popular now than it ever was. There are great Pan-African activists scattered on the continent of Africa but only a few like Professor Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba and Kemi Seba can match the determination of the early pan-African heroes.

One thing that has contributed to this, however, is the fact that modern education and innovation has taken the minds of African youths off Pan-Africanism. So, even though it is something they have heard of, they do not believe it is a worthy cause. To them, slavery and colonialism were in the past and Africans should embrace the future.

It is even surprising that many Africans see Pan-Africanism as a cult or fraternity of some sort, how sad?

Africa is battling with unthinkable poverty and underdevelopment despite its wealth and natural resources. Our people are dying and terror is upon the land. We have a duty to fight for Africa because we do not have any other continent that we can call our own.

To achieve this, we must all put aside our individual agendas as countries in the African continent, and uphold the general agenda of African unity, development, and progress. It is only by this that we can truly succeed as individual nations and collectively as a continent.

All it takes to be pan-African is to decolonize one’s mind from western interference that tends to put us at war with ourselves and people. It is in a simple acceptance that Africa’s redemption lies in her unity and to preach this ideology to others.

The definition of Pan-Africanism is not a bogus one. Schools of thoughts are divided as to whether it is a movement or barely an idea. In all fairness, it is safe to say it is both.

Pan-Africanism is generally accepted to umbrella the ideas and policies that preach Africa as a single entity which must unite in order to experience any tangible progress. There is a fundamental similarity among people of African descent and we share the same history.

Africans everywhere all live with the horrid history of slavery, colonialism, and neo-colonialism. We have a common enemy as we have always had. In the past, it was slavery and colonialism, now it is neo-colonialism (or imperialism).

Also, the cultural and traditional similarities between African nations are proof that we share the same roots and belong together. This is perhaps the greatest credit of pan-Africanism in its proof that African peoples share a common destiny.

The struggle for Pan-Africanism is not one that involves arms or war. In fact, the intellectuals are needed more than the laborers if we are to succeed.

To be a Pan-African, you do not need to register anywhere or belong to a particular group. Although there are various political and civil Pan-African groups and movements structured for different purposes around Africa, membership in a group or movement is not needed to be a Pan –African.

What we all need to do individually is to decolonize our minds and eliminate the beliefs imprinted in us that we are different and lesser than the white man.

Africa is one and colonialism is in its worst stage than it ever was during the slave era. What we are experiencing today is neo-colonialism and as Kwame Nkrumah said in his book, this is the last stage of imperialism. Africans cannot remain slaves forever.

Where does Africa stand today? Where we created by a lesser God? Are we as they say that Africans were created to serve the white man as hewers of wood and drawers of water? Do we not have a right to own and control our resources? Are we created to be exploited? Is our continent a lab for European superpowers to test their assault and chemical weapons? Why is the West so interested in Africa’s disunity? Why can’t we be truly independent? Why must Europe and America control our economies and leaders?

In your sincere answers to the aforementioned questions, lie the true reasons why we must all be pan-Africans. Africa needs you!

What are your thoughts?

READ MORE AT: https://www.africanexponent.com/post/9984-pan-africanism-africas-only-chance-for-unity-progress-and-development