Pan-Africanism
Pan-Africanism literally means 'all Africanism'. It is a sociopolitical world-view, as well as a movement, which seeks to unify and uplift both native Africans and those of the African diaspora, as part of a "global African community".
As originally conceived by Henry Sylvestre-Williams (note: some history books credit this idea to Edward Wilmot Blyden) pan-Africanism referred to the unity of all continental Black African cultures and countries. The concept soon expanded, however, to include all Black African-descended people worldwide, who had been dispersed to the United States of America, the Caribean, Latin America and even parts of the Middle East and South Asia through the trans-Atlantic and Islamic/East African slave trades and, later, immigration. More recently, the term has expanded to encompass the Dravidian Blacks of India, including the Tamil, Siddi, Kamil, Kanikar and others; the Andamanese Island Negritos and the Black aboriginal populations of Australia, New Guinea and Melanesia.
This article will focus on the latter definition of pan-Africanism.
Pan-Africanism as a movement actually began in the West Indies, not Africa. Henry Sylvestre-Williams coined the term with his 1900 Pan-African Congress. To date, the Afro-Jamaican Marcus Garvey has led the largest pan-African movement in world history with his UNIA-ACL organization that he founded in Kingston, Jamaica in 1912, and 'Garveyism' quickly spread in the United States when he moved his headquarters to Harlem in 1914.
Marcus Garvey has given the pan-African movement the red, black and green flag, the red standing for the blood men must shed for their redemption and liberty, the green standing for the vegetation of the Black races' African motherland and the black for African descended people themselves. Also used in the pan-African movement are the Ethiopian colors red, gold and green. The red and green standing for the same principles as Garvey's flag and the gold for the mineral wealth of Ethioipia/Africa. This flag has symbolical significance due to the fact that (with the exception of Liberia) Ethiopia is the only African country to have avoided European colonialsm, defeating the Italians at the famous Battle of Adowa. Many African country flags are adaptations of Garvey's red, black and green and Ethiopia's red, gold and green.
Pan-Africanism in essence means the unity of all Black/African descended people worldwide irrespective of ethnicity/culture or nationality. Famous pan-Africanists include Marcus Garvey, Henry Sylvestre-Williams, W.E.B DuBois, Kwame Nkrumah, Fela Kuti, Malcolm X, Steve Biko, Patrice Lumumba,Cheikh Anta Diop, Julius Nyerere, Bob Marley, C.L.R. James, Abdias do Nascimento etc. The Rastafarian movement of Jamaica grew out of pan-Africanism, when Marcus Garvey declared 'look to Africa for the crowning of a Black king', the Rastas looked to Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia. Ironically, Garvey criticized Selassie on many issues. Also a branch of the pan-African movement is the Afrocentric movement, of whom Cheikh Anta Diop and his 'idealogical son' Molefi Kete Asante are the champions. This movement centers on reexaming African history from a pro-African perspective as opposed to the a pro-European one, a return to traditional African concepts and culture and often espouses the view that Egypt and some other civilizations were and should be acknowledged as having Black African origin. Africentric like Afrocentric of whom Dr. Kwabena Faheem Ashanti, Ph.D espouses this view in his book The Psychotechnology of Brainwashing: Crucifying Willie Lynch.
Also associated with pan-Africanism is Black Nationalism.
During apartheid South Africa there was a Pan Africanist Congress that dealt with the oppression of Black South Africans under White apartheid rule. Other pan-Africanist organizations include Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association-African Communities League, TransAfrica and the Internal Peoples Democratic Uhuru Movement.
Pan-Africanism is often criticized for overlooking the cultural and ethnic differences as well as different socio-political circumstances among Blacks worldwide.
See also
- Africa
- African-Americans
- Atlantic slave trade
- Marcus Garvey
- Garveyism
- Kwame Nkrumah
- Jaja Wachuku
- Black Nationalism
- Negritude
- Pan African: Information
External links