Pan-Africanism
From Social Justice Wiki
"All African-descended people living in 113 countries on the continent and in the diaspora are at the bottom the same people. In fundamental ways we share history, culture, and common enemies - racism, imperialism, neocolonialism, and capitalist exploitation. At present we suffer from disunity, disorganization, and ideological confusion."
In his autobiography, Ready for Revolution: The Life and Struggle of Stokley Carmichael (Kwame Ture), Kwame Ture repeatedly referred to himself as an "African from America." After his experience as chariman of SNCC came to an end in 1967, his vision of black liberation shifted to one of global importance, in which he realized that he was engaged in one struggle where Africans and Africans of the diaspora were all entrenched. He began to take his Black Power message to an international audience, while observing liberation struggles going on elsewhere in the world.
During his trip to Conakry, Guinea, Madame Shirley Graham DuBois, the wife of the famous Pan-Africanist intellectual W.E.B. DuBois and Ture's "political mother," introduced Ture to Kwame Nkrumah, perhaps history's greatest advocate of Pan-Africanism as a real political, cultural, and social movement. Under Nkrumah's tutelage, he sharply connected his Black Power ideology to Pan-Africanism. In Guinea, he also met Sekou Toure, the former President of Guinea. Sekou Toure valiantly objected to French colonialism and helped a nation with a revolutionary spirit survive the harsh transition from European occupation to independence. Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Toure were like fathers to Ture, fostering his love for Africa and ideal for the future of all Africans. He permanently moved to Conakry, where he lived for the rest of his life. His name change from Stokley Carmichael is an amalgamation of the two leaders' names.
Inspired by Nkrumah, Ture established the All-African People's Revolutionary Party (A-ARPR), a political movement concentrated on organizing Africans all over the world in the spirit of Pan-Africanism. Over the next thirty years, he traveled all over the world, setting up a strong global foundation for the A-ARPR in a diverse list of places including Washington, D.C., Tanzania, Ireland, and Egypt. Ture immediately felt that Africa was his ancestral home and through his time in Conakry, affirmed his belief that “we are all African.” Carmichael “went to Africa for revolution.” Immersed in the political and cultural world of Africa, he fearlessly galvanized the diaspora, utilizing the Pan-Africanist ideology to engage in a global struggle for liberation, which for him meant "the end of our people's suffering."
...And The Birth of An African Warrior
The Son of Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Toure
Kwame Ture's Pan-Africanist Ideology
All-African People's Revolutionary Party
More Links:
A BBC country profile of Guinea
Ghana's Biannual Panafest: A Celebration of Pan-Africanism
A description of the history and philosophy of Pan-Africanism
One of Kwame Ture's final speeches as a member of the All-African People's Revolutionary Party
Throughout the 20th century, Pan-Africanism was a pragmatic political reality with strong leaders like Kwame Ture who advocated for it on the global stage as a means to combat racism and colonialism. In this 21st century era of inveterate African neocolonialism and prevailing American racism, is Pan-Africanism still a feasible political tool for black people worldwide? Shall we resurrect this ideology and make plausible steps as the Republic of Ghana has in openly inviting African Americans to live in their country? What can we learn from Kwame Ture's strong turn to Pan-Africanism after primarily identifying strictly as a young African American activist in the civil rights movement?
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