Words: Alexandra Odiete (she/her) and Bersabeh Eskinder Abdi (she/her)
Pan-Africanism, as a movement, calls for the unity of the continent, its cultures, and most importantly, the African people.
To set the scene, it’s the Freshers’ Week poster sale, and Bersabeh has just walked in. She seems friendly and she’s wearing her afro – she must be cool. I compliment her and we start talking. It’s going really well till I casually mentioned how I thought Ethiopia was in North Africa. My excuse: I’m Nigerian, and ‘we don’t really know what goes on anywhere else.’ You might think this is just me being geographically unaware, but, while I definitely am, my mistake is symptomatic of a wider issue. A lot of Africans, both within the continent and across the diaspora, lack knowledge and connection to African nations beyond their own.
The idea of a united Africa is just that: an idea. Of course, we share several things: similar fabrics, belief systems, and even inside jokes (give a Ghanaian an egg today), but that’s pretty much it. Political systems differ greatly, and there is no freedom of movement across the continent – travel is fraught with bureaucratic visa requirements and horrendous flight prices. Notably, there is also no shared currency: the proposed concept of AU is not like the concept of EUR. One crucial thing we do share, with Ethiopia as an exception, is a colonised past. This history of colonialism creates the illusion that the continent is far more unified than it actually is.
Following the “Scramble for Africa” at the Berlin Conference of 1884, Africans were divided by newly carved borders for exploitation. We were split up, stripped of our traditions and customs, and forced to submit to newly imposed European ways of life. We had to adopt European languages, government systems, religions, and ideologies. To this day, these European ideals are embedded in our systems and often placed above our traditional ones. Our sense of identity is lost and muddled. Pan-Africanism seeks to fix this fragmentation by reimagining the African understanding of the self. The ideology seeks to create a new Africa, one that is healed and progressive.
One of the key voices of the Pan-Africanist movement was Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of an independent Ghana. Nkrumah coined the term “neo-colonialism” to describe how imperial powers continued to exert control over African countries, post-independence. Aid and development programmes are the main vehicles of this influence. Have you ever wondered whether these programmes and aid make a tangible, positive difference for African states? You’re not the only one.
So-called ‘aid’ is given by neo-colonial masters to African countries in the form of loans that have crazily high interest rates and even worse conditions. The conditions of these loans allow for Western interference in African economies, contribute to the continued impoverishment of the citizens, and ultimately prevent the actualisation of a Pan-Africanist continent. Though they are portrayed as an act of benevolence, it is clear that these loans are merely a form of control.
Pan-Africanism rails against European interference in Africa. The African Union defines it as: ‘An ideology and movement that encourages the solidarity of Africans worldwide.’ At its core, Pan-Africanism believes that African people, both on the continent and in the diaspora, share not only a common history, but a common destiny. To actualise their vision, founding Pan-Africanists created the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963. Unfortunately, this organisation eventually crumbled due to various Afro-nations’ inability to see eye to eye on what type of unity was to be achieved. Although the OAU did not succeed, it laid the groundwork for future Pan-Africanist efforts.
Within recent years, a shift in attitude towards Pan-Africanism has occurred. African countries are waking up to the realities of “neo-colonialism”. The Alliance of the Sahel States (AES) was formed in 2023 by a collective of ECOWAS-frustrated countries (Economic Community of West African States), including Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso. Its purpose is to achieve what ECOWAS was originally established to do: create a framework for economic cooperation and socio-cultural exchanges with a view to eventually unite West African states. ECOWAS had failed these states, due to its deviation from Pan-Africanism and perceived Western influence over decision-making. The creation of the AES signifies that all hope isn’tlost. In Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal, French is no longer the official language, and indigenous languages are being promoted instead. In Chad and Senegal, the abandonment of colonial influence has coincided with the push for independence.
The Alliance of the Sahel States has reopened conversations about Pan-Africanism and its implementation. Its existence represents the first step towards the attainment of the Pan-Africanist vision, and shows us that, despite the long and rigorous road ahead, there is much that can be achieved. Pan-Africanism, as a movement, calls for the unity of the continent, its cultures, and most importantly, the African people. It calls for an interwoven existence. In a continent plagued by fraudulent elections, unjust police brutality, and the silencing of rebellion, Pan-Africanism is not just ideal – it is essential.
