{"id":13582,"date":"2022-04-16T10:02:05","date_gmt":"2022-04-16T10:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/is-it-time-to-pan-pan-africanism"},"modified":"2022-04-17T10:21:39","modified_gmt":"2022-04-17T10:21:39","slug":"is-it-time-to-pan-pan-africanism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/is-it-time-to-pan-pan-africanism","title":{"rendered":"Is it time to pan Pan-Africanism?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. <\/strong><\/span>It might be fashionable to describe oneself as a Pan-Africanist, but 60 years after the creation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the concept has been stripped of its substance and core ideals by negligent leaders and Western meddling.<\/p>\n

Is it still possible to critique Pan-Africanism? The topic is divisive and often off-limits, as decided by ayatollahs using mystical language and with their quick-to-issue-a-fatwa ways.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to imagine a dramatically heroic Gauz standing up to a pack of furious \u201cPan-Africanists\u201d, spouting off his unshakeable arguments against mysterious incantations directly inspired by the pyramids.<\/p>\n

But you can keep your superhero imagery because I\u2019m scared out of my wits! This is even more true now that, after releasing a novel amid a COVID-19 curfew (yes, promoting the book has been a messy business), my application for Malian citizenship was rejected (even though I was told it was \u201cin the bag\u201d).<\/p>\n

Fantasies of redemption If I weren\u2019t so afraid of \u201cPan-Africanists\u201d, then I would tell them that \u201cpan\u201d means \u201call\u201d in Greek, an \u201call\u201d driven by a disdainful Western civilisation for which \u201cblack is black\u201d and \u201cAfricanist\u201d refers to an academic field, in the same way as an entomologist or a botanist.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m wary of an ideology that only has \u2018founding fathers\u2019 and not a sole mother hidden in some corner of history or in the smoke-filled kitchens of memories. I would also add that \u201cAfrican\u201d is so hard to define that \u201cPan-African\u201d is a sophistry.<\/p>\n

I would point out that the idea is a perpetual good intention created on foreign shores where people had the poetic gift to invent a single Africa as a way to resist age-old oppression, and that this Africa served as a means to project fantasies of redemption.<\/p>\n

Then, I would explain to them that though the \u201cfounding fathers\u201d had perhaps won by emancipating the people and creating the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), they had also permanently lost when the construction of the African Union\u2019s new headquarters was entrusted to the Chinese.<\/p>\n

Could they ever have imagined that 60 years down the line, the United States and the European Union would pay for three-fourths of the operating budget of what is today the largest pan-African institution?<\/p>\n

I would also tell them that I\u2019m wary of an ideology that only has \u201cfounding fathers\u201d and not a sole mother hidden in some corner of history or in the smoke-filled kitchens of memories.<\/p>\n

I would talk to them about my friend, Bruno Jaffr\u00e9, who isn\u2019t African but compiled a magnificent work of every speech ever made by Thomas Sankara, an African figure and \u201cPan-Africanist\u201d idol, and I would show them that he scarcely mentioned \u201cPan-Africanism\u201d.<\/p>\n

And yes, I use speech marks because \u201cPan-Africanists\u201d have left the world of ideas for that of religion, and I\u2019m aware that I\u2019m a blasphemer rather than a detractor.<\/p>\n

Ultimate humiliation However, since I\u2019m afraid, I keep quiet and choose to focus on an African news story that revolts me to the core but doesn\u2019t bother them. A draft law was debated on 10 December 2020 at the French National Assembly.<\/p>\n

This particular piece of legislation involved the reform of the CFA franc and contained a single article to approve a text signed on the sly one year ago by two bankers in Abidjan.<\/p>\n

It was about currency, the fundamental tool a society has at its disposal to steer its economic development, currency emanating from independent and sovereign African countries. The people concerned were not even informed, let alone educated, about what was going on and its implications for their future.<\/p>\n

And what of their leaders? They were busy keeping their people in the dark and under the illusion that they live in democracies! And as if nothing has transpired in these past 60 years, the fate of millions of Africans was sealed in Paris, in the middle of the world\u2019s \u201cPan-Africanist\u201d capital (yes, France is probably home to the largest number of \u201cPan-Africanists\u201d).<\/p>\n

Not one protest, not one symbolic action by one African, with or without a prefix, occurred. And on social media, there were barely a few rumblings, even though the removal of statues of white men had provoked a firestorm several months earlier.<\/p>\n

I watched live online as one of the greatest post-independence humiliations in the history of French-speaking African sovereign powers occurred. I never thought I would feel a keener sense of shame than the time I saw (also live) Laurent Gbagbo, then president-elect of C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, get arrested by the French police in a simple intervention.<\/p>\n

Only the French Communist Party voted against the draft law, but the legislative process isn\u2019t over yet. If our leaders don\u2019t want to lose their presidential seats, then the very least African nations can do is to pester France\u2019s assemblies where their fate is decided in their absence. Otherwise, we should pan Pan-Africanism.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Mauritius<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. It might be fashionable to describe oneself as a Pan-Africanist, but 60 years after the creation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the concept has been stripped of its substance and core ideals by negligent leaders and Western meddling. Is it still possible to critique Pan-Africanism? The topic is divisive and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":13581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8,16],"tags":[233,245,474,241],"class_list":["post-13582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mauritius","tag-african","tag-mauritius"],"yoast_head":"\nIs it time to pan Pan-Africanism? - Mauritius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It might be fashionable to describe oneself as a Pan-Africanist, but 60 years after the creation of the Organization of ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/is-it-time-to-pan-pan-africanism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is it time to pan Pan-Africanism?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It might be fashionable to describe oneself as a Pan-Africanist, but 60 years after the creation of the Organization of ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/is-it-time-to-pan-pan-africanism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mauritius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-16T10:02:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-17T10:21:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2022\/04\/img-625bea06dd0d0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"516\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"296\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/is-it-time-to-pan-pan-africanism#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/is-it-time-to-pan-pan-africanism\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Is it time to pan Pan-Africanism?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-16T10:02:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-17T10:21:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/is-it-time-to-pan-pan-africanism\"},\"wordCount\":841,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/is-it-time-to-pan-pan-africanism#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2022\/04\/img-625bea06dd0d0.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Mauritius\",\"African\",\"Mauritius\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/is-it-time-to-pan-pan-africanism#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/is-it-time-to-pan-pan-africanism\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/is-it-time-to-pan-pan-africanism\",\"name\":\"Is it time to pan Pan-Africanism? 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