In my personal statement I said I'd done this article without actually starting it. So, for the purpose of intellectual integrity I'll be making one of many articles in defence of a case for a United African State.
The philosophy of Pan-Africanism from a political standpoint is the creation of a united African government with the intention of unifying the continent and strengthening it against globalist oppression. In his book Dark Days in Ghana, revolutionary leader Kwame Nkrumah referred to this as a Union Government of Africa. Firstly, what do I mean when I refer to globalist oppression. Since the discovery of minerals in the continent by Western mercenaries, a select few European states, already further ahead in their economic and social development, became obsessed with extracting as much as they possibly could from the natives of the land. This was codified at the 1884 Berlin Conference where European nations drew lines on the map of Africa, paying no regard to the ethnic and cultural differences of their territories. They gave them their own individual names, dehumanising those in the nation, treating them for not who they were but for what they could provide.
Crimes against humanity
The names of the Slave Coast, Gold Coast and Ivory Coast are just a few examples of the Western extraction being put on paper. After being given their delegated territories; the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Spain had free rein on their land with no concerns regarding fellow Western nations interfering. Perhaps the most egregious abuser of this freedom was King Leopold's Belgium whose crimes against the Congolese population rank amongst some of the great atrocities of modern history. The Congolese were enslaved by Leopold's regime and were forced to collect minerals such as rubber, even children weren't spared from this practice and faced death and mutilation if they failed to meet quotas. Disease was rampant and a poor job was made at preventing viruses and infections. In the end, approximately half of the Congolese workforce was killed under Belgian rule. Once the nation began its struggle for independence the Belgians, now engaging in the practice of neo-colonialism battled them at every opportunity. Patrice Lumumba, Congo's first Prime Minister found himself in a never ending battle to remove Belgian troops from his nation and was eventually killed by a firing squad backed by the Belgians. His body was dissolved in acid with only his gold tooth remaining.
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| Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972) |
Neo-colonialism
Once the era of colonialism ended the West did everything within their power to keep their foot on the continent, either economically or militarily. Nkurmah was toppled by a coup in February 1966, which was allegedly conducted with CIA support and funding from the UK and US embassies. The ones who took power after his deposition referred to themselves as the National Liberation Council, or NLC for short. This group of men were reliant on foreign finance and sold Ghana's nationalised services to the highest bidder. Operations which were meant to function through Africans, for Africans ended up becoming parts of the portfolio of wealthy profit-incentivised businessmen as the ordinary citizen suffered the consequences. This CIA backed coup also hindered the progress of African unity as seen by the disruption this caused across the continent. In the regularly held meetings between African government ministers, other nations walked out of meetings or jeered the NLC representatives, in the end, progress was stifled and the Government of African Unity is no more. Deposition of leaders has since become the go to method of overthrowing pan-African leaders most recently it was Muammar Gaddaffi who faced western military invasion, throwing Libya into a never ending state of political chaos after his death. In other cases civil wars are fought with the active backing and support of Western nations, the most obvious example of this was the Nigerian Civil War where the separatist Biafrans were backed by the French through weapons and verbal support from leader Charles de Gaulle. They battled for independence from the Nigerian state who receieved backing from Britain. Harold Wilson had direct interest in the region through the prominence of Shell-BP the, then, joint oil company with investments in the region. Western interference prolonged the war leading to the deaths of over a million Nigerians all for the benefit of a select few of the wealthiest people in the world. These examples clearly show the West's disregard for the wellbeing of the continent, in their eyes Africa is merely a sponge from which they can squeeze wealth from, irrespective of the real cost to the people living there.
Institutions
When the oppression isn't done in broad daylight it's done in a more contemporary manner, through financial levers. The Nigerian economy was formerly one of the strongest in the world. In the 1970s and early 1980s the Naira was more valuable than the dollar with quality of life on the rise. However, after dependence on oil grew the nation was forced to seek IMF support as was the case with many nations at the time, including Britain. Part of the process of an IMF loan was economic conditions which asked for massive cuts in spending and a devaluation of its currency as to make its products more specifically oil, cheaper on the global market. As much as this might be effective in someones notepad or a textbook, this wrecked Nigerian local economies and set the platform for spiralling inflation. The democratically elected government lost control of their own economy to a globalist imperialist organisation who slashed public spending, crippling services across the nation leading to mass unemployment in the nation as public sector workers faced losing their sole source of income. The standard of living plummeted and tens of millions of Nigerians are now living in poverty with the rest doing all they can to leave the nation. Coincidentally, the same nations who head the IMF and fund its operations are the ones who benefit from the Nigerian's brain drain as millions seek employment elsewhere. They take their skills and tax money away from the continent and into the hands of the Western imperialists who repeat the cycle time and time again.
History as shown that a divided Africa is a weaker Africa as is evidenced by widespread beating the continent has faced from the West. The case for a united African state has never been stronger with sentiment growing both in the continent and in members of the diaspora outside of it. In the next article I'll elaborate on the practicalities of such a project but, in the meantime, thanks for reading and I hoped you enjoyed.
David Agyemang