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By

Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes

Table of Content

Introduction 1. Defining Pan-Africanism 2. Cultural Pan-Africanism; the Legacy of Ethiopia

2.1 Origins of Ethiopianism 2.2 The Impacts of Ethiopianism

3. Intellectual Pan-Africanism 3.1 The Impacts of Intellectual Pan-Africanism 3.1.1 The Development of Discourses and Other Movements 3.1.2 Class and rhetoric 3.1.3 Unity 3.1.4 Solidarity Conclusion

No matter how hot the water from your well, it will not cook your rice, African proverb cited by Amical cabral

Introduction Pan-Africanism has been a complex movement of black people in the world against Eurocentric domination in Africa and the Diaspora.1 The movement witnessed fundamental changes across space and time, and along political, geographical, and ideological variations. In Africa, PanAfricanism was precipitated by the 1885 Berlin conference that witnessed the scramble for the continent among European colonial powers (Masilela 1994:255). Therefore, during colonialism, it became an ideological vantage point from where the European supremacist theories and practices were challenged. Especially, after the Second World War, Pan-Africanism offered significant inspiration and political guidance for African nationalist movements in their struggles for independence from colonialism. This effort became triumphant in the 1960s when half of Africa became independent. Pan-Africanism experienced a major ideological shift during the 1960s when Patrice Lumumba was assassinated through the intervention of ex-colonial powers in the political life of the newly freed African nation, Congo. The Congo Crisis witnessed the beginning of neo-colonialism in Africa; it shifted the Pan-African ideology from its pre-occupation with anti-colonial struggle to anti-imperialist struggle by embracing Marxist ideology to resist neo-colonial capitalism (Masilela 1994:310).
1

The Diaspora in this paper represents the black people of African descent who live outside the of Africa.

In the Trans-Atlantic Diaspora, Pan-Africanism was by large a response to slavery and racial oppression. It emerged as a universal aspiration of black people for emancipation, unity and prosperity. This paper treats classical Pan-Africanism as a cultural and intellectual movement of black people outside Africa and assesses its link to the nationalist movements in Africa and civil rights movement in America. Definition of Pan Africanism

1.

As the challenges faced by Africans were many, the responses to those challenges were complex and many. Pan- Africanism can be viewed as the collective response of black people to the hegemony of Eurocentrism. It has been shaped by complex and long period of suppression that ranges from slavery to neo-colonialism. It encompasses various forms of ideological, philosophical and political beliefs that seek to end the universal oppression of black people in the name of race, religion, culture and civilisation. Despite the variations and contradictions it witnessed with in itself, the cardinal principle of pan-Africanism remained to be the view that the people of one part of Africa are responsible for the freedom and liberation of their brothers and sisters in other parts of Africa; and indeed, black people everywhere were to accept the same responsibility(Campbell 1994:285) Hence, Pan-Africanism became a search for Afrocentric values, culture and history on the basis of which the unity of black people was to be animated and the white mans hegemony, challenged. According to Horace Campbell, it was an exercise in selfdefinition sharpened by resistance to Eurocentrism (Campbell 1994:285).

The long period of oppression endured by oppressed people created a sense of opposing duality in their views of who they are, and what the world is all about .This contradictory personality inhabited by the oppressed is the direct legacy of their past. According to Albert Memmi, oppressed people respond to colonial domination in two ways: by emulating the coloniser and practicing the latters culture while submerging any of their own opposing traditions to it, and by rejecting the colonizers culture and endeavouring to revive their own way of life from the cultural elements of their past (Memmi 1965:20). From this perspective Pan-Africanism was expressed through cultural, intellectual and political movements that are often conflated with each other - as a movement of opposition against the west on the one hand, and as a practical endeavour to emulate the west, on the other. It was manifested as a movement to resist westernization as well as an attempt to westernise Africa. As a mass movement it was driven by cultural appeals to the glory of ancient Africa (Ethiopia), and as an intellectual movement it was animated by European modern thoughts. 2. Cultural Pan-Africanism : the legacy of Ethiopia The earliest and widest form of Pan-Africanism was known as Ethiopianism (Campbell 1994:288). It started by freed ex-slaves who withdrew from white dominated Baptist and Methodist churches, in the late 18th and early 19th century (Fredrickson 1996: 59). In Jamaica, when the first Ethiopian Baptist Church was established in 1784. Ethiopianism represented the endeavour of black people to free themselves from mental and physical bondages by instilling racial pride among the people of colour. Although the movement was later rejected by the Pan-African Intellectuals movement for having 5

demagogic leadership, intemperate propaganda and a tendency to throwing a natural fear in to the colonial powers, Ethiopianism was nevertheless one of the most popular mass movements of black people that took place outside Africa (Padmore 1947). It emanated from a widespread belief in the glory of ancient Africa, which was symbolized by Ethiopia. The movement aimed not only at the emancipation of black people from slavery by ending racial injustices but also at their repatriation to their original places in Africa. Therefore, Ethiopianism was an attempt to revive African identity; it was a back to Africa movement that wanted to redeem black people from Babylon, which was the West, and to deliver them to the promised land of Israel, which was Ethiopia. This symbolic use of Ethiopia as the representative of the great African image indicates the endeavour of black people to find identity and meaning for themselves outside the ideation of the European view of history and reason. (Campbell 1994:292). Therefore, a birds eye view to the historic portrays of Ethiopia could help to understand what the aspiration of the pan-Africanists was during this period. 2.1 Origins of Ethiopianism Most historical accounts about Ethiopia and Ethiopians were constructed from western written and legendary sources as well as from the bible. The consistently positive references given to the name Ethiopia from the bible and the existence of historical records about the ancient empires of Ethiopia became the basis for the belief in the existence of an original African civilisation and spirituality that precedes much of Europe. The story of Ethiopia, which in Greece

means people with faces burned by the sun, came from ancient historians including Homer, Herodotus and the Ptolemy era writers. Homer wrote about the blameless Ethiopians, who were loved by the gods, and the high souled Ethiopians who were the children of the almighty son of Koronos (Frank M. Snowden 1983:46). Herodotus, who is often viewed as the father of history, made a more detailed account of Ethiopia of the 5th century BC (Herodotus 440 B.C.E.). According to him, Ethiopians were people who lived by the streams of the Nile worshipping the gods. They were the tallest and handsomest men in the whole world and longer lived than anywhere else. They clothed in the skins of leopards and lions, and had long bows made of the stem of the palm-leaf ... They ate boiled flesh, and had for their drink nothing but milk There, [in Ethiopia], gold is obtained in great plenty, huge elephants abound, with wild trees of all sorts, and ebony (Herodotus 440 B.C.E.)... The same historical accounts by Herodotus mentioned the eighteen Ethiopian kings and one queen that ruled Egypt for long time. These historical records from European sources about the achievements of black people in Ethiopia contradicted with the common historiography of European thinkers about the continent and the people. After the 5th Century BC, the personal account of the European geographer and historian Agatharchides about the social and economic life of Ethiopians presented a more direct negation to the virtue of individual accumulation that was highly regarded by the west: They [Ethiopians] were free from want; greed, and envy. Unlike Greek, they rejected useless things; strive for a divine way of life with no desire for power; they were not distressed by strife, nor did they imperil their lives by sailing the sea for the sake of gain. Needing little, they suffered 7

little; gaining possession of what was sufficient they sought no more. And they were not governed by laws (Frank M. Snowden 1983:49-50). These historical records inspired black leaders to agitate the people to redefine their identity according to their African roots and reclaim their proper places in the world(Hensbroek 1999:47). 2 Further references about Ethiopia came from the Bible, especially from Psalms 68.31 which says: Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.Such references had powerful effects in the bid to encourage black people to change the European image of God by an African image. Marcus Garvey declared the significance of this process to black Christianity: We Negroes have found a new ideal. Whilst our God have no color, yet it is human to see everything through ones own spectacle, and since the white people have seen their God through white spectacles, we see our God through our own spectacles.... We Negroes believe in the God of Ethiopia, the everlasting God-God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, the one God of all ages. That is the God whom we believe, but we shall through the spectacle of Ethiopia (Nelson 1997:69) . In 1920, Garvey gave a prophecy to his followers saying: Look to Africa when a Black king shall be crowned for the day of deliverance is near(Chen 1998:241-242). This prophesy became one of the basis for the raise of Rastafarianism in Jamaica as his followers believed that the prophesy was fulfilled when Ras Tafari was crowned in 1930 as From The Lion of Judea, King of Kings, Haileselassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia.
2

This refers to the discourse of neo-traditionalism that was advocated by early PanAfricanist leaders such as Blyden who advocated the separately unique destinies of all races. Blyden referred Africans as Ethiopians and concluded that each race is endowed with peculiar talents.Hence Ethiopians have always served, will continue to serve the world Hensbroek, P. B. V. (1999). Political Discourses in African Thought. London, Praeger Publishers.

2.2 The Impacts of Ethiopianism Ethiopia became a source of racial pride for black people due to its ancient civilisation and glamorous history, as well as victory against and independence from colonialism. However, there were other cultural movements that mounted strong resistance to European hegemony. To wit : the African Independence Church Movement of Mourides in West Africa, the John Chilembwe movement in Malawi, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church movement in South Africa, Harry Tuku in Kenya, Simon Kimbangu (kimbanguism) in Congo and Rastafarianism in Jamaica were of the most important ones(Campbell 1994:292). However, these and many other cultural resistances were prosecuted as witchcraft and superstitious, not only by Europeans but also by Christianised Africans and hence, were harshly suppressed. Ethiopianism on the other hand remained as an emblem of classical Pan-Africanism due to the reputed position the name Ethiopia occupied in the bible and history. Ethiopianism and the Garvey movement offered strong agitation for negro brotherhood to resist the physical and psychological domination of Europeans over black people(Campbell 1994:290). It propagated a distinct African identity as opposed to a European or American identity. However, its ideological and philosophical roots emanated from the West than from Africa. Garvey himself established the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in 1914, and appeared to have envisioned Africas future through the spectacle of the European scientific revolution: Now in the twenty century we are about to see the rebuilding of Africa; yes, a new civilization, a new culture 9

shall spring up from among our people and the Nile shall once more flow through the lands of science, of art and literature, wherein will live Black men of the highest learning and the highest accomplishment (Nelson 1997:70) Ethiopianism itself had little connection and similarity with the factual cultural elements and practices of the people in Africa. African American missionaries from the Garvey movement were extensively engaged in preaching the bible to Christianize indigenous African beliefs in South Africa. This in effect was contrary to the cause of emancipation as the bible was one of the twin instruments of coercion and consent that was used to rationalize the European colonial rule over Africa (Tongun 1994:255). Therefore, it is possible to argue that the movement had the counter effect of legitimizing colonial subjugation in Africa. Moreover, the earliest African National Congress (ANC) leaders received their formal training from Black universities and colleges in the US, and it is believed that the Christian influence had a critical role in adopting a non-violent strategy for national liberation in South Africa (Tongun 1994:255). The civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. in the US was also highly influenced by the Christian belief of love your enemy and turn the other cheek (Fredrickson 1996:59). In conclusion, although Ethiopianism and the Garvey movement were motivated by ideological and philosophical beliefs that seek to replace Eurocentrism by Afrocentrism, in practice they offered little alternative when it comes to the question of what the content of Afrocentric values should look like. On the contrary, they mitigated spiritual and cultural resistances against the development of local conditions in the process of Westernizing Africa. African indigenous knowledge was discarded as irrelevant to the need of the continent and the local

10

cultural practices were resented as demonic, backward and useless. Finally, the longing for modernity without achieving modernization left Africa expectant of Europes assistance for development. Yet, one legacy of the overall cultural movement of classical Pan-Africanism appeared to have remained defiant of Eurocentric values and consumerism. This was the rise of Rastafarianism and Bob Marley as a popular singer for freedom: Emancipate yourself from mental slavery None but ourselves can free our minds Have no fear for Atomic energy For none of them can stop the time. The power of art that Bob Marleys music represented [did] more to popularize the real issues of African liberation than the several leaders of backbreaking work by Pan Africanists and international revolutionaries(Campbell 1994:302). Through reggae music, PanAfricanism maintained some aspects of its cultural elements with its classic aspiration for the freedom and unity of black people anywhere in the world.

3.

Intellectual Pan-Africanism

Classical Pan-Africanism, in its narrower sense, is formally recognized as the movement of black intellectuals in the first half of the 20th century in America and Europe.3 The formal beginning of this movement dates back to 1900 AD, when a black West Indies barrister, H. Silvester Williams, organised a conference for men and women of African blood, to deliberate
3

This approach however ignores the various facets of the African social movements that were lodged at various levels in Africa and across the world.

11

solemnly upon the present situation and the outlook for the darker races of mankind(Langley 1979:738). His initiative sparkled a new role for black intelligentsia in the history of black struggle against racial injustice and colonial domination. Williams motto: Only a Negro can represent a Negro, attracted participants from England and America, and led to the formation of the Pan African Congress (PAC), which later became the unifying body for the entire movement of the Pan-African intelligentsia. Another pan-African conference was organised in 1919 at a time when the victors of WWI were to slash a peace deal in France. Many call this conference the first Pan African Conference due to the diversity of its participants and the intensity of the issues raised during the conference. It was organised with 57 delegates from 15 countries out of which 12 participants were from 9 African countries. The main concern of the organisers was to appeal to colonial powers to treat the native people in their colonies, fairly. They requested the Versailles peace treaty participants to adopt an international legal code for the social, economic and political administration of native peoples in their colonies. They pleaded for the establishment of an international body with in the League of Nations to administer the Ex-German colonies in Africa (Padmore 1947). While presenting their proposal for the establishment of an African political entity under the supervision of a mandates commission, they were portrayed by the media as black traditionalists or Ethiopian Utopists and black modernists or Negroes in business suits. The Chicago Tribune, January 19th 1919 equated the move of the participants to the vision of the movement of Ethiopianism: An 12

Ethiopian utopia, to be fashioned out of the German colonies, is the latest dream of the Negro race who are here..... It is a quite Utopian, and it has less than a Chinamans chances of getting anywhere in the peace conference, but it is nevertheless interesting (Padmore 1947). On the other hand the New York Evening Globe, February 22, 1919 presented the conference in a different light: Sweated at long green tables in the council room today were Negroes in trim uniforms of American Army Officers, other American coloured men in flock coats or business suits, polished French. Negroes who hold public offices, Senegalese who sit in the French Chamber of Deputies(Padmore 1947). Despite the optimism that was created as the result of the end of the First World War and the formation of the League of Nations, colonial powers ignored the appeals of the Pan-Africanists and increased exploiting their colonies to recoup their war losses. Moreover, racial injustice in the Americas and Europe became increasingly intolerable. In response to these challenges, the Pan-African Commission organised a series of conferences in London, Paris and Brussels, in 1921. The conferences focused on bringing the Pan-African movement to the global political agenda. Participants in their resolution asserted that the habit of democracy must encircle the earth and the Negro problem should be studied by an international body(Padmore 1947). In arguing their case, they used universally recognised moral standards in the West, to show to the world that racial inequality was against the dignity of human beings and is contradictory to the principles of democracy and natural rights.

13

The struggle of the Pan-Africanists for racial justice had similar ideology with the civil rights movent that came later on except the fact that the Pan-Africanists were interested in mounting international resistance against black oppression anywhere in the world. They called for the recognition of all civilised men as civilised despite their difference in race or colour(Padmore 1947). The chairman of the movement, W. E. B. Du Boises powerful essays resonate the conviction of the movement to universal racial justice in the world: The doctrine of racial equality does not interfere with individual liberty; rather, it fulfils it. And of all the various criteria of which masses of men have in the past been prejudged and classified, that of the colour of the skin and texture of hair is surely the most adventitious and idiotic (Du Boise 1997:41). This emphatic expression has its similar meaning in content with Martin Luther Kings dream to see his people judged not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. The Pan Africanists believed that the freedom of black people in America and Europe was inextricably bound with the freedom of black people in Africa. This view has strong similarity with Martin Luther Kings view that injustice anywhere was a threat to Justice everywhere. The universality and indivisibility of justice held by the Pan-African Congress was practically manifested in the resolution of the third Pan-African Congress that took place in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1923. The conference concluded with resolutions to be met for the development of the Negro race, the absolute equality of all races, and the advancement of all civilisations (Langley 1979:749). The participants condemned mob law and lynching in America and the oppression of majority black Africans by minority whites in Kenya, Rhodesia and South Africa. Especially with 14

regard to South Africa, the congress vehemently condemned the practice of the government: What more paradoxical figure today fronts the world than the official head of the great South African state striving blindly to build Peace and Good Will in Europe by standing on the necks and hearts of millions of black Africans? (Padmore 1947) The Fourth Congress took place in New York in 1927 and passed similar resolutions as the previous ones. Then, the movement became relatively dormant until it was awakened by the increasingly assertive voices of colonised people during the Second World War. This led to the Fifth Pan-African Congress that was convened in Manchester, England in 1945. Participants of the congress reflected upon the past achievements of the Pan-African movement and introduced more radical approaches to end colonialism from Africa. Unlike the resolutions of the previous congresses that concluded with appeals to the colonial powers to introduce concessions for their colonial subjects in Africa, the Fifth Pan-African Congress, through its famous Declaration to the Colonial Peoples addressed the colonised people directly: We say to the people of the colonies that they must fight...by all means at their disposal...The object of imperialist Powers is to exploit. By granting the right to colonial peoples to govern themselves that object is defeated. Therefore, the struggle for political power by colonial and subject peoples is the first step towards, and the necessary prerequisite to, complete social, economic and political emancipation(Langley 1979:760). The declaration resonated a new ideological shift from the past regarding the realisation of political rights in Africa. Initially, the Pan15

African movement had been advocating the progressive realisation of civil and political rights for Africans. They appealed to colonial regimes in Africa to grant progressive concessions to their subjects, including participation in local government and the right to benefit from African resources. They believed that the grant of local self determination to Africans would gradually lead to the attainment of full self determination by the people. However, at the Fifth Pan-African congress, they concluded that this belief was illusive. Two major ideological and practical shifts emerged as a result the Fifth Pan-African Congress: Firstly, the participants declared that the realisation of freedom cannot come merely from the will of the coloniser but through the struggle of the colonised people themselves. Therefore, Africans should fight first for their own independence. Secondly, the pan-African movement should primarily be conducted in African by Africans themselves. This in effect shifted the centre of the struggle from the Diaspora to the mainland Africa. Consequently, the 6th and 7th Pan-African congress took place in Tanzania in 1974 and in Uganda, in 1994, respectively. Due to these, The Fifth Pan-African Congress became a watershed event that played a significant role in stimulating the anti-colonial struggles and the wars of liberation of the 1950s and early 1960s in Africa (Watkins, Alkalimat et al. 1994). 3.1 Impacts of Intellectual Pan-Africanism 3.1.1 The development of discourses and other movements Pan Africanism resisted the European claim of the superiority of the white race over the black race using western and non-western 16

methods. Black intellectuals using western methods presented texts that refuted the myth of white civilisation. Du Bois asserted that the White mans burden was the black mans burden. The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the colour-line the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the Sea(Du Bois 1997:54). Against the views of Hegel, Hume, Kant, Ranke and others who view Africa out of human history and devoid of any contribution to human civilisation, Dub Bois and Cheikh Ante Diop articulated that Egyptian civilisation was the creation of black Africans.4 Although less accepted by many, the presentation of such views heightened the spirit of the struggle against racial domination. A unique racial discourses developed from one of the earliest leaders of pan-Africanism, E. Blyden, who believed in the idea of the separate destinies of races (Hensbroek 1999:43-53). He considered each race as having its own specificity that serves mankind. For Blyden, the spirit of service the African had was more worthy than the European spirit towards ruling. Therefore, Blyden had no problem with the European political hegemony over Africa because in his view, the one serves mankind by dominating, the other by serving(Fredrickson 1996:68-69). Blyden suggested that the African must advance by the methods of his own. He must posses a power distinct from the European. Some criticise his idea as anti-racist racism. Blyden himself accepted scientific racism but reversed its importance and suggested that Africa was the exemplar of Europe, not the other way round (Hensbroek 1999:52).
4

Cheikh Ante Diop presented his Doctoral dissertation on The African origins of Civilisation in 1955 at Sorbonne arguing that Egyptian civilisation which was the origin of Greece, was African Civilisation, and his work was rejected. Recently, the British historian Martin Bernal in his book Black Athena claims to have confirmed the claim that Egyptian civilisation was African [black] civilisation.

17

Unlike the discourses that tried to signify Africas identity, originality, antiquity and glory in relation to or independent from Europe, other discourses that viewed Europe as a model for Africa developed in the Western part of Africa. One of the prominent supporters of this view were members of freed slaves who returned from the Americas to resettle in Africa. The resettlers brought with them the American racial prejudice with the American political ideals and felt more Christian, whiter and hence, more civilized than the local African population (Hensbroek 1999:29). Members of other groups that viewed Europe as a model and an ally to Africas future were called the recaptives. These were Africans who were captured and sold to slavery, often by other Africans, and were rescued from slave ships by the British. They often settled in Sierraleon while the resettlers were dominant in Liberia. They soon became keen to learn English and follow the Christian religion from the Angelical and Methodist missionaries, and formed the Creole community based on European values and ideals and demanded participation and greater role in the colonial administration. While the Creoles called themselves black Europeans, they were often portrayed in Europe as savages posturing as Europeans (Hensbroek 1999:30-31). the most influential scholar from this group was Africanus Horton who became the founder of the modernist model of thought in Africa (Hensbroek 1999: 155).5

3.1.2 Class and Speeches Arguably, Intellectual Pan-Africanism became the basis for the emergence of a new ruling class in Africa. The heads of the movement
5

Horton believed in a universal and hierarchical path towards civilisation in the world. He accepted an Africa far behind Europe and declared what the mission of development in Africa should look like as : to raise the nations of Africa from the debased and degraded state to which they have fallen, both morally and physically, to free them from the bloody and demoralizing influence of beastly superstition; from polygamy; from domestic slavery; from the paralysing effects, as regards productive industry, of customs and institutions whichprevent the creation of that capital by which alone the works necessarily attendant on civilization can be executed Hensbroek, P. B. V. (1999). Political Discourses in African Thought. London, Praeger Publishers. P. 35. Horton is often criticised as the Black Englishman.

18

assumed leadership positions on the basis of their education in Western universities and colleges. These intellectuals viewed themselves as civilised men despite black, and struggled to shift the measure of man from the colour line to the intellectual line. They resented against the unequal treatment they received as Negroes despite their intellectual excellence. In the resolution of the Second Pan African Congress that was presented to the League of Nations, they vehemently rejected the practice of this injustice on the class they represented: ...a bitter feeling of resentment, personal insult, and despair is widespread in the world among those very persons whose rise is the hope of the Negro race (Padmore 1947) The use of rhetoric language was also an important legacy of the struggle. The Souls of Black Folk and other essays written by Du Bois and numerous artistic expressions in the form of poetry, music and other forms of literature heralded the cry of the oppressed souls. Out of the depths we have cried unto the deaf and dump masters of the world. Out of the depths we cry to our own sleeping souls. The answer is written in the stars (Padmore 1047). The legacy of such rhetorical use of language was effectively utilised by Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement and by President Barack Obama during his presidential campaign.

3.1.3 Unity

19

The most important contribution of the pan-African movement was the development of the concept of unity among black people. Almost every black movement and organisation had for its name the word unity or union. The establishment of the Organisation of the African Unity in 1963, the proposal to establish the United States of Africa by Kwame Nkrumah and the current African Union embody the generational aspiration of the Pan-African movements for unity. Initially, unity was envisioned in racial lines, as the unity of the black people, but eventually it changed its focus to the unity of causes than that of race/s. The pan-African movement contributed for the idea of racial unity and self reliance advocated by Malcolm X. In 1964, Malcolm X travelled to Africa and gave speech in Ghana and Nigeria. He also participated in the OAU meeting where he requested the African leaders to sue USA in the UN for its racial injustice. Although no African leader had implemented his request, Malcolm X continued to emphasise the importance of the link between Africa and the African Diaspora. During his period, Pan-Africanism started to be considered as an international expression of Black Power (Harlow 1994:169). 3.1.4 Solidarity During the 1960s and 1970s Pan-Africanism in the Diaspora played a supportive role in the anti-colonial struggle. The African Liberation Support Committee, League of Colored Peoples and the International African Service Bureau, were formed to galvanise support for freedom fighters in the continent. The African Liberation Support committee observed May 25 as Africas liberation day and was active in supporting independence movements in Zimbabwe, South Africa and 20

Namibia. Following the invasion of Ethiopia by Mussolini in 1935, several organisations and campaigns were organised in the spirit of Pan-Africanism, to help the country regain its sovereignty. Among these were: The Ethiopian Research Council, The Provisional Committee for the Defence of Ethiopia, The Friends of Ethiopia, The Medical Committee for the Defence of Ethiopia, The United Aid for Ethiopia and others (Johnson 2007:132). In south Africa, farmers who heard the invasion of Ethiopia began to march up the continent to fight for Ethiopias liberation, only to be forced back by the British (Campbell 1994:292-294). Although pan-Africanism was initially motivated by racial oppression, it did not restrict the participation of white activists in the struggle. For example, when the first Pan-African congress was established by the membership of only 50 blacks, there were 150 white honorary members supporting the congress. Moreover, during the Freedom Riders Movement, the Ku Klux Clan party killed black and white riders together. This contributed to greater unity during the civil-rights movement. In Africa too, the idea of African unity on the basis of race has been changed to unity on the basis of economic and geo-political interests. Du Bois outlining the vision of the Pan-African movement mentioned that: out of these there might come not race war and opposition, but broader cooperation with the white rulers of the world, and a chance for peaceful and accelerated development of black folk (Padmore 1947). Early poetic voices of black anti-racial movements also underscored the unity of cause over race. The cause is not in the skin Its war over wheat-fields and coal pits Over clothing and houses milk and bread. 21

We against them Slaves against masters Fuse and fire You from the black breast I from the white Its war for the earth... (Kelley 1997:44).

Conclusion
Pan- Africanism as a collective response of black people to Eurocentric hegemony can be viewed as one of the longest and widest forms of social movements in history. It still is a continuing mantra sing along by various formal and informal groups under a variety of beliefs, philosophies and ideologies. Currently, the African Union has created a Pan - African Parliament with the view to facilitate continental integration by enhancing the involvement of the African people and grass-root organisations on issues affecting the continent. Although its political impact is significantly low, the Diaspora is considered as a regional unit in the current African unity project. The long history of Pan-Africanism can be viewed in light of two paradoxical movements: as a take-off-Africa movement, and as a back-to-Africa movement; as a search for distinct identity from the West, and as a movement towards a rightful space within the established order of the West. However, with the development of new global and local forces of homogenization, the Pan-African project conformed to the Hortonian paradigm of take-off to European modernity. Cultural movements and their leaders have been repressed and replaced by Westernised elites who lead Africa along the contradictory paths of opposing the West and imitating the West.

22

The world is still experiencing unprecedented turmoil, and the future of Pan-Africanism is uncertain; yet, it may not be too late to pay heed to the counsel of Frantz Fanon- to create the new than to imitate the old (Fanon 1965).

Campbell, H. (1994). Pan - Africanism and African Liberation. Imagining Home: Class, Culture and Nationalism in the African Diaspora. S. Lemelle and R. D. G. Kelley. New york and London, Verso: 285-307. Chen, W. (1998). Reggae Routs: The Story of Jamica Music. Philadelphia, Temple University Press. 23

Du Bois, W. E. B. (1997). The Souls of Black Folk. Boston and New York, Bedford Books. Du Boise, W. E. B. (1997). To the World: Manifesto of the Second Pan-African Congress Modern Black Nationalism: From Marcus Garvey to Louis Farrakhan. W. L. V. Deburg. NY, Newyork Univeristy Press. Frantz, F. (1965). The Wretched of the Earth. London, Macgibbon and Kee Frank M. Snowden, J. (1983). Before Color Prejudice: The Ancient View of Blacks. London, Harvard University Press. Fredrickson, G. M. (1996). Black Liberation: A Comparative History of Black Ideologies in the United States and South Africa. New York, Oxford University Press Harlow, B. (1994). Writers and Assaainations. Imagining Home: Class, Culture and Nationalism in the African Diaspora. S. Lemelle and R. D. G. Kelley. London and New York, Verso. Hensbroek, P. B. V. (1999). Political Discourses in African Thought. London, Praeger Publishers. Herodotus (440 B.C.E.). The History of Herodotus by Herodutous, The Internet Classics Archive. Johnson, C. (2007). Revolutionaries to Race Leaders : Black power and the making of African American politics. Minnessota, University of Minnesota Press. Kelley, R. D. G. (1997). 'Afric Sons with Banner Red': African-American Communists and the Politics of Culture, 1919-1934. Imagining Home: Class, Culture and Nationalism in the African Diaspora. S. Lemelle and R. D. G. Kelley. London and New York, Verso. Langley, A., Ed. (1979). Address to the World by the Pan-African Congress, London, 1900. Idiologies of Liberation in Black Africa. London. Masilela, N. (1994). Pan - Africanism or Classical African Marxism. Imagining Home: Class, Culture and Nationalism in the African Diaspora. S. Lemelle and R. D. G. Kelley. New York London, Verso: 308-330. Mazuri, A. A. A. (1977). The Worrior Tradition in Modern Africa, Leiden E. J. Brill. Memmi, A. (1965). The Coloniser and the Colonised. boston, Beacons.

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Nelson, G. A. (1997). Rastafarians and Ethiopianism. Imagining Home: Class, Culture and Nationalism in the African Diaspora. S. Lemelle and R. D. G. Kelley. London and New York, Verso. Padmore, G., Ed. (1947). Colonial and coloured unity, a programme of action: History of the Pan-African Congress held in Chorlton Town Hall, Manchester,October 15th-19th 1945! , Hammersmith Bookshop. Tongun, L. (1994). Pan-Africanism and Apartheid: African-American Influence on US Foreign Policy. Imagining Home: Class, Culture and Nationalism in the African Diaspora. S. Lemelle and R. D. G. Kelley. London and New York, Verso. Watkins, W. H., A. Alkalimat, et al. (1994). The Seventh Pan-African Congress: Notes from North American Delegates. Imagining Home: Class, Culture and Nationalism in the African Diaspora. S. Lemelle and R. D. G. Kelley. London and New York, Verso: 351360.

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