Nationalism & The Myth of African Unity

 

When the Pan African Movement started, among its core objectives were decolonization and unity of the African continent. Pan Africanists all over the World were determined to have their continent, Africa, freed from foreign rule and domination that had preyed on her resources culminating into retardation of its social, political and economic institutions

Prior to and during the decolonization of Africa, nationalistic feelings and ideals were necessary to steer the wheel. Leaders of the struggle instilled the greatest of all desires, the desire for independence, in their subordinates with intent to help them realize the worthwhile goal of ridding Africa of European domination. Nationalism; however, is not as paramount to the development of the African continent today as it was in the 1950s and the 1990s when African nations sought independence from Europeans. To ascertain the mischief that comes with nationalistic ideals to African Unity, it’s wise to meticulously observe the following;

When the Pan African Movement started, among its core objectives were decolonization and unity of the African continent. Pan Africanists all over the World were determined to have their continent, Africa, freed from foreign rule and domination that had preyed on her resources culminating into retardation of its social, political and economic institutions. Leaders involved in the decolonization struggle had common understanding of the tragedies associated with having the African states divided against each other as was done during the colonial era. To a great amusement, however, these men did not have the same zeal and willingness to compromise their “perceived” might for the unity of Africa. Some leaders of the decolonization struggle wanted African states united immediately after independence while others agitated for fulfillment of certain conditions for the whole continent to be completely united. While Kwame Nkrumah wanted free African states to join as a single state to form the United States of Africa, Mwl Julius Kambarage Nyerere wanted them to first form regional blocks and then join the blocks together to form a united Africa. Mwalimu also wanted states at equal economic levels to unite while the others were required to first grow their economies so as to be able to unite with the rest of the united countries. Nyerere’s gradualism as opposed to Nkrumah’s rapidism was, and is to date supported by the false idea that rapid unification of African States poses a threat to the sovereignty of some African states a notion justifiable by, only, nationalistic ideals. 

During the colonial era, African states differed in levels of economic development in part due to the colonial strategies of respective colonial masters. Some colonial masters regarded their colonies as overseas provinces thus invested much in the growth and development of their economies. On another side, though, were colonial masters that regarded their colonies as states that would, one point in time, have to survive free of European domination. Such masters were less interested in the growth and development of colony economies but rather exploited resources as much as they could. In both cases, however, all was done at the detriment of natives.

The already big economies like the Republic of South Africa, Egypt, Ghana, Mauritius, Ethiopia and Nigeria continued advancing keeping the economic gap between them and the rest of the states. With differing levels of economic development, it was then, a dream-never-come-true for African states to unite as a single country or at the least a single bloc. For various economic, political and social intrigues, various African states started forming regional blocs to foster their interests within Africa and abroad. With the regional blocs that fostered differing interests, it became impossible for all African states to be united as a single state. Equally, it became impossible for these states to have similar commitments towards the continent’s development goals which has left the unity of African states a myth.

The current state of political behavior of some African heads-of-state lays bare the belief that African unity cannot be achieved without heads of governments coming to common terms with the general needs and wants of the populace. While the populace wants trade and free movement within the continent, some leaders, due to the desire to enforce their mighty upon others, humiliate citizens of sister nations, hinder free movement of goods and services from the same nations and facilitate the destabilization of peace and security in neighboring nations with less regard for the aftermath of such deeds to the continent’s economic growth and development, and unity.

In a nutshell, Pan Africanism deserves a better definition that brings to leaders’ knowledge the need for them to keep self-aggrandizement, greed and isolationist policies from obscuring the unity of Africans. On an equal note, leaders of African states together with their subordinates ought to understand and accept the fact that the “Unity of Africa cannot be realized as a personal experience with serendipitous surprises but rather as a shared course with pre-determined and adhered-to paths of action.”