The Missing Ingredient of Pan-Africanism Series: #1
When I listen to the constant rambling of leaders discussing the future of our countries, I fear the numerous uncertainties these politicians present through their own internal conflicts. I grew up dreaming of how I could contribute to the construction of Africa as a political project. I hope that after the tireless work of African's sons and daughters, Africa will be able to finally rival the world’s most developed states and unions through stable peace and prosperity. Evidently, you might think that such a political project might seem closer to pure abstraction than reality. However, what I envisage has already been known as the United States of Africa, or, in other words, a federation of African republics.
Obviously, this idea hasn’t come into full materialisation as of yet due to the fact that there are multiple external and internal factors on the continent which make it impossible for Africans to integrate with one another. This is primarily due to the numerous political and economic clashes between different African states. This in turn also contributed to the foreign idea of neocolonialism, which swept through the continent, perpetuating war, economic hardship, and disease for the majority of the African people.
Moreover, the African Union’s failures to address collective issues has already led to the formation of regionalized unions between its member states that has undermined its authority. In my belief, these factors are what keep the majority of the continent divided into arbitrary borders and nation states.
The United States of Africa was a political concept introduced by Jamaican journalist Marcus Garvey, who expressed his desire for a Pan-African state in his 1924 Hail, United States of Africa poem. The concept has also been offered as an alternative to the African Union, which was branded as a failure by former AU Chairperson, Muammar Gaddafi. Since then, the concept was revived by Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, who expressed brief interest in restoring the discussion.
In most African countries, being enclosed in arbitrary borders due to artificial lines imposed upon by foreign powers, the government systems are bound to fail due to the fact that entire ethnic groups have been separated, displaced or pushed away from their ethnic homelands. This has already led to internal and external conflicts, social exclusion, and inability to redraw the borders given the risks of mass disputes.
Reignition of the intellectual pursuit of African political theory
With Mugabe stepping down from Zimbabwe’s presidency, the idea of a Pan-African state could suffer a loss, as most of the people that drafted the ideology have either resigned or are no longer with us.
I would argue that it is necessary to rekindle the discussion of a federation of African states that share a unified vision and encompass the demands of its local communities, and hence I invite everyone to contribute in this discussion about the construction of a federation of African republics.
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