We Must Not Allow Pan-Africanism to Become a Tool For Dictators
From its early inception, Pan-Africanism has been a movement which advocated for the unity and advancement of African people around the world. Pan-Africanism is certainly not the only pan movement of this nature. We have seen other movements such as Pan-Slavism, Pan-Germanism, Pan-Asianism, and Pan-Arabism. Pan-Africanism is perhaps the most impactful of the pan movements which have emerged in history.
The success of the Pan-African movement has been rooted in its ideological flexibility. The movement has never adhered to any particular ideology. As such, Pan-Africanists throughout history have had different political and religious philosophies. This ability to encompass a large variety of ideologies has been an advantage of the Pan-African movement which has allowed it to remain relevant through the generations, but it has also opened the movement up to being co-opted by opportunists who have used the movement to justify their own exploitation of the African masses.
Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya offers an example of this. He was an anti-colonial figure who attended the Fifth Pan-African Congress. Once Kenya became independent, Kenyatta became a ruthless exploiter of the Kenyan people, yet, as Walter Rodney noted: “No one shouted ‘African, African, I am an African’ more than the people like Kenyatta and so on, who were at the same time ruthlessly exploiting the African people.”
Joseph Mobutu, who served in the colonial army in the Belgian Congo and who served the task of helping the Western powers remove Patrice Lumumba from power, advocated for Pan-African unity. He was doing so at a time when he was also enriching himself at the expense of the citizens of his nation. Gnassingbé Eyadéma of Togo had also served in the colonial army and assisted France in the struggle against Algeria's independence movement. This same Eyadéma enforced a policy of Africanization, even as he brutalized his own citizens.
The upcoming 9th Pan-African Congress which is being hosted in Togo should be seen as a continuation of this attempt to co-opt Pan-Africanism to turn it into a tool for dictatorship and exploitation. Pan-Asianism declined in prominence in Asia due to its affiliation with Japanese imperialism. Likewise, Pan-Germanism has been tainted due to its affiliation with Nazism. For Pan-Africanism to remain relevant as a progressive force in the struggles of African people, we must not allow Pan-Africanism to become tainted by dictators who seek to use it to exploit African people.
