The illusiveness of a Pan-African Africa

21 September 2009 marked the 100th birthday of African revolutionary and Pan Africanist Kwame Nkrumah. Nkrumah had a vision for a united Africa, released from the shackles of colonialism – a vision which is yet to materialise:

‘We are going to see that we create our own African personality and identity. We again rededicate ourselves in the struggle to emancipate other countries in Africa; for our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent.’ Kwame Nkrumah on the dawn of Ghana’s independence in 1957

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/449/58973_nkrumah.jpgAlthough a number of Ghanaian bloggers celebrated Nkrumah’s 100th birthday, generally African blogs were silent. If this is a reflection of attitudes towards the ideology of Pan-Africanism then Nkrumah’s vision remains as illusive as ever.

A number of Ghanian bloggers published Nkrumah’s speeches – Talking Notes posts his 1963 speech to the OAU on the need for a united Africa and ‘cringes to think what he would think of what we have become’. Indeed.

‘On this continent, it has not taken us long to discover that the struggle against colonialism does not end with the attainment of national independence.

Independence is only the prelude to a new and more involved struggle for the right to conduct our own economic and social affairs; to construct our society according to our aspirations, unhampered by crushing and humiliating neo-colonial controls and interference.’

Ghana Hype links to a pre independence speech Nkrumah made to African freedom fighters in Accra and comments:

‘The truth is that the words spoken on that faithful day are still more than apt today with regards to africans in Africa and Africans, Africa -Americans, Black 'British' and Caribbean people who still live with varying forms of imperialism today in different masks – POVERTY, LAZINESS, MEDIA SUBJUGATION, DIVIDE AND RULE, AFRICA vrs CARIBBEAN, BLACK VRS MIXED RACE, GUN CRIME, SO CALLED BLACK ON BLACK VIOLENCE, HIP HOP CULTURE(GANGSTERISM) the list goes on.’

Maya’s Earth believes Nkrumah’s greatest legacy to Ghana is the breaking down of ‘tribal barriers’:

‘In his quest for panafricanism, he had to first break tribal barriers before breaking national distinctions. By transferring civil servants to places in the country that they had no tribal link to, e.g. sending an Ashanti to Accra, a Ga to Koforidua and a Fanti to Tamale, tribal interaction was forced on Ghanaians. A young Fanti who’d been stationed in Tamale for four years would sooner or later look for a spouse and marry out of his tribe.’

Finally, Anti-Rhythm recounts the 1964 assassination attempt against Nkrumah:

‘Jan 2, 1964. Kwame Nkrumah walks the grounds of Flagstaff House with personal guards and ‘trusted’ cops aplenty. An assassin (who sent him?) squeezes off a bullet and misses. Salifu Dagarti throws the Prez down, and probably saves his life. For reward, the next bullet drills cleanly through Salifu’s loyal skull. Onlookers remain bystanders as the assassin chases after the President into a kitchen. Prez is screaming, but no help arrives. Kwame Nkrumah personally wrestles and overpowers a gun-toting assassin. On this day, he’s 54 years and 125 days old! But he escapes with only a facial bite!’

For a full list of Ghana blogs see Ghanablogging.com.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/449/58973_ES_Johnson.jpgLiberi… blog, Ducor Talk takes issue with what appears to be an anti Ellen Sirleaf Johnson forum, Liberian Forum, asking President Obama not to embrace the Liberian President. They write:

‘To the international community and especially the American political audience, president Ellen Johnson of Liberia, the only female African president is a good leader. But to the ordinary people of Liberia, president Ellen Johnson is simply a multi-national corporate agent that was imposed upon them by the George Bush administration, to serve in the interests of Goldman Sachs, DynCorp (either an affiliate or subsidiary of Halliburton) , and other bad corporations that have caused the economic crisis in America.’

Ducor Talk does quite a good job of responding to the forum but I’m not sure there isn’t an element of truth in some of what they say - just the name Halliburton should send out warning signals:

‘I for sometimes in the past was of the opinion that conspiracy theorists were a problem of the Western World but Mr Urey piece has shattered that long standing view. It is impossible for me to decipher why the government of Liberia will be a servant of the triumvirate of Goldman Sachs, DynCorp (either an affiliate or subsidiary of Halliburton) and other bad corporations that caused the economic crisis in America to the detriment of the Liberian nation and people. The public will be better served if Mr Urey could provide further elaboration on his claims.’

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/449/58973_burning_man.jpgWhilst Ghana bloggers are celebrating Nkrumah and Pan-Africanism, Nigerian bloggers are in a furor over the depiction of Nigerians in the South African film District 9. While there is validity around criticising the negative portrayal of Nigerians, I think we need to look at that in the context of the film, where the only redeeming characters are possibly the aliens themselves. Everyone else lies somewhere on the spectrum of evilness. Apparently the Nigerian government has now asked cinemas in the country to stop showing the film – it’s called CENSORSHIP! This post by Nnedi Wahala Zone speaks for the feelings of most Nigerian bloggers. After investigating D9 producer, Neill Bloomkamp and discovering from Wikipedia that he was a ‘racist South African’ I guess he felt much better about writing his criticism of the film – well he felt the need to research the man before writing so something influenced him! He admits to wanting to protect Nigeria and raises these questions around the film:

‘Why were “The Nigerians” the only human beings living with the aliens? Were they the only ones primitive enough to live with aliens? Well, the Nigerian women were providing sexual “services” to the aliens, so I guess so (did they really have to go there? And why… ugh, my blood pressure is rising. I think I’ve made my point on this subject).

Why were the black South Africans portrayed so positively and the “Nigerians” so negatively? On top of all this, there was not one redeeming Nigerian character. They were all crazy, motiveless, and blood thirsty. And that’s why in the end, all “The Nigerians” were summarily killed off at basically the same time, complete with the “close on”, cliché, super violent killing of Obasanjo as the cherry on top.’

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/449/58973_Poo_wata.jpgDespite Nigeria’s anger over District 9, Pyoo wata reports on the features both countries share – high levels of crime and along with that Nigeria is planning to copy South Africa’s ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy. The irony of this is not lost on Pyoo Wata:

‘Sadly, in both cases, Nigerians will end up the indirect targets of both proposed moves. The fear that exists in the minds of many is that Onovo's proposal could be utilised by political parties who could intimidate opponents through local police forces. This has already been well documented in my home state during the Bakassi era. Though such has been demonstrated with vigilante groups, the potential buying and selling of local police force loyalties is not terribly far-fetched.

‘Also, considering the xenophobic sentiments that mar the South African landscape, the targetting of Nigerian citizens through Cele's proposal, is not at all inconceivable. Several of the riots we all witnessed last year in South African slums were largely directed towards Nigerian immigrants who are believed to be at the root of the majority of crimes committed. With such stereotypes pervasive amongst some white and black South Africans alike, it remains possible that under the guise of maintaining peace, the lives of Nigerians in South Africa may indeed by sacrificed.’

All I can think of is if there was a shoot-to-kill policy adopted by say the US or UK police what kind of an uproar would there be? This is not to say that the police in either of these countries do not shoot people – especially young black men – and inevitably they walk away punishment free. Nonetheless at least there is a semblance of accountability and public disdain for police murders. Here we have two countries which want to adopt what is essentially a right to murder policy and it appears that people are generally happy with this – unless of course it directly affects them – ie Nigerians being targets in SA.

Another story from Liberia, published in Monocle – which isn’t a blog or particularly African centred – but I love this story. The Daily Talk is a ‘blackboard’ Blog published in Monrovia by Alfred Sirleaf. Watch the video here.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/449/58973_street_blackboard.jpg‘Alfred Sirleaf's “Daily Talk” newspaper reaches thousands of Liberians every day but only ever produces one copy. How does he do it? By writing the day's biggest stories on a large blackboard beside a busy road in the capital.’

Finally Black Looks publishes another story around Caster Semenya. This one is written by Australian activist Farida Iqbal and focuses on the media invasion of Caster. Remember it was an Australian newspaper which first published the results of the so called ‘gender test’. This case just gets worse and worse. I cannot imagine the pain this has caused Caster and her family and I hope one day they can get some justice for the destruction of their lives:

‘Semenya was subjected to invasive ‘gender tests’ (actually testing biological sex, not gender). The test results were leaked to the international mass media. Australia’s Daily Telegraph was the first to run the story, revealing Semenya has internal testes and no womb. This may or may not be true.

If it is true, it is a discovery that would prompt any 18 year-old to do some profound soul searching about their identity, their relationship to their body, and their relationship with the world. Ideally this soul searching would be done in the person’s own time, in their own way.

Yet for Semenya there was no question of privacy. The most intimate details of her body were revealed to the world in lurid headlines in the international mass media: ‘Semenya has male sex organs’ (11 September, Sydney Daily Telegraph) ‘a woman… and a man!’ (10 September, NYDailynews.com) ‘Is SHE a he?’ (19 August Melbourne Herald Sun).
Semenya is now traumatised and has gone into hiding. She is not the first athlete to have had this experience.’

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Sokari Ekine blogs at Black Looks.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.