What is wrong with the system?
Africa’s new crisis. The price of fuel has gone up, the price of food has gone up, the cost of living in general has gone up, while no jobs are being created for many and the few who have jobs have seen no increase of real wages for years. Faced with deteriorating conditions and standards of living, we see a growing gap between rich and poor.
More and more people are falling into poverty, hunger, disease and the cycle of debt, while only a few people in the world are able to share the lion’s cut of the world’s profits. It is important to note that all this is happening in a world that has become so rich, where the ability to produce food and a better economic situation for all is available. It is therefore easy to assert that what the world lacks is neither food nor the economy; rather, it is a decision-making ideology focused on humans at the top of the social pyramid. Particularly, Africa needs more than that: we affirm that Pan-Africanism is the last hope for Africa and that the period 2020-2030 is a decade in which Africans should, by all means, bring Pan-Africanism to power in Africa.
First, the worsening crises of the global majority is due to the fact that the political process by which important decisions are made is moving away from the people. Rather, we are asked once every five or seven years (depending on the electoral cycle) to legalize individuals selected by others, most often for a mission that remains, for the most part, secret to the masses. It’s almost as if we are constantly given a dose of sedative so as not to realize that the whole system is rigged and that what we need is constant participation in the decision-making process that affects our daily lives. Ultimately, this means that our participation is not just limited to the choice of individuals but must also extend to the process of developing policies that determine the direction of the future.
In essence, what governs the nation is not really the individual leader pre-selected and elected by the masses, it is actually the quality of decisions made by the leader regarding the production and redistribution of the earth’s resources that lead the nation towards prosperity or tyranny. If this is true, it can also be said that if we want to change our nation, we must take control of the institutions that oversee the executive decisions of the country and therefore our lives. We should not ask for jobs, money, foreign investors, t-shirts or food, but we must seize the entire institution and its power that determines who gets what jobs and what salaries, what terms and conditions should be included in mining contracts with foreigners, what education is offered to our children and at what cost, etc., we call this a radical change.
Indeed, this highlights the need for continued political education on the common interests of communities and society as a whole, followed by active political engagement far from the current system of casting votes only after every five years. Essentially, we need a new political education capable of creating a collective consciousness, which means that people must be politically educated so that we can speak with one voice, fight against common oppressors and defend national/continental vital interests. Essentially, the above description can be summed up in one word: Pan-Africanism.
That said, what is Pan-Africanism and why Pan-Africanism? Well, people can discuss the ideas and philosophies of Pan-Africanism, but if it can mean anything meaningful it should be the global unification of the African people for a total liberation of Africa through scientific means. Essentially, most thinkers agree that Africans have a better chance of freeing themselves from imperialism through unity and collective actions. This is why we affirm that Pan-Africanism is the right key in the hands of Africans for our liberation. But what many Pan-Africanists defend today remains an open question to which each so-called Pan-Africanist group has a different answer. Many have almost transformed Pan-Africanism into an emphasis on traditional African clothing, sharing posts on social media, YouTube panel discussions and sometimes street protests. It does not seem to be a single, clear Pan-Africanist agenda for the current decade and for the rest of this 21st century, even if our central message is unity and organization.
On close observation, it can be said that the enemies of the African liberation agenda have certainly commissioned some of their paid agents to present themselves as the face of Pan-Africanism on mainstream popular platforms, in order to distract most Africans from the real problem that Pan-Africanism should solve. Basically, these custodians of Pan-Africanism have succeeded in intellectualizing the struggle, thereby making it distant from the masses and therefore irrelevant to most Africans, because they cannot clearly understand what Pan-Africanism intends to achieve in this decade. But we should not be surprised by what we see: in a capitalist society, almost everything is monetized: just as preachers use God’s name to make money, many Africans also use Pan-Africanism to hustle.
In fact, some are fighting for a name change, such as changing Africa to Alkebulani, others are advocating a single African passport, a single currency, removal of colonial borders and others are fighting for Kiswahili to be adopted as a common language. Indeed, all these diverse aspirations are wonderful for the African homeland, however, we all must answer the following question posed by Stokely Carmichael AKA Kwame Touré: who will implement the change you are advocating if you are not in a position of power? In other words, Pan-Africanists have problems to solve, but they take their problems to those in power who are not Pan-Africanists themselves to drive the agenda of Pan-Africanism, you can see the contradiction.
In fact, the logic is simple. If you seriously desire lasting changes in your life, then you should be the one who is able to drive and implement these changes in ways that suit you, otherwise your desires may forever remain wishful thinking. For example, if you want a certain change in your household, you cannot rely on your neighbour to implement that change, you should be the one in the driver’s seat to make the change happen.
Clearly, the Pan-Africanism of YouTube roundtables advocating single currency, single passport, name changes, etc., cannot bring the necessary change to Africa and its peoples around the world; only Pan-Africanism in executive power can lead its own agenda of change it desires. This is without underrating the remarkable efforts made by many Pan-African movements around the world on the issues mentioned above, however, what seems to be the priority of Africans today to bring Pan-Africanism to power. In other words, now is the time for all of us to ensure that Pan-Africanists are elected massively to positions of power in our public institutions across the continent and if possible, in the diaspora, so that we can do for ourselves what we expect of others.
In the final analysis, if we succeed in putting the Pan-Africanists in power, we will not do a lot of sermons about unity, changes of names and languages, it is certain that these things will be easily implemented in Africa by the Pan-Africanists in power. Therefore, our discussions will focus on how to protect and defend the integrity of the continent, create wealth for all Africans and rebuild and sustain Africa as a global power base for millennia to come.
In summary, we can affirm that the sufferings we are going through during this decade as African people are not due to what others do to us, but above all to what we do not do for ourselves. And the right way to start doing what we want is to put ourselves in a position of power and influence. Only then can we make our Pan-Africanist ideology a reality for ordinary Africans who are fed up with miseducation, foreign languages and foreign domination, with all their economic consequences, which are robbing Africa of its potential. Now, rightly or wrongly, politics is currently the most effective means we can use to capture the institutions of power and change things. So, if you hated politics before, because of the corruption of the leaders and their mismanagement, you are right, because many people are in this situation. Unfortunately, as Pan-Africanists, we are faced with only two options: either we get involved in the politics of our liberation, or we stay out and enjoy from the politics of our oppression – it is your choice.
May the 2020-2030 decade be that of Pan-Africanism in power in Africa. Your hour-long daily contribution and mine can strengthen our voices and therefore make a huge difference within an organization. And if you don’t have one, I invite you to turn to the ACUP for more information, it is a movement that is already working to bring Pan-Africanism to power in Africa.
