The PASP(Pan-Africanism Study Project) Introduction
By Chinweizu
Copyright © Chinweizu 2011
Now that the “Pan-Africanism and Libya Teach-in” materials have been distributed, what next?
Given the considerable misinformation about Pan-Africanism, such as that about Garvey’s
USofAfrica and the Nkrumah-Gadafi variety, I think there is a need for us all to find out as much
as possible about Pan-Africanism, past and present. That way we can all be on the same page,
and proceed with a foundation of shared knowledge. I therefore suggest:
Let’s Study Pan-Africanism and discuss its issues and debate its future
| “ | "If one fights in the arena forgetful of the past,
Success will elude him who ignores what he should know. --Pharaoh Amenemhat, Dyn XII, [ c. 2000BC] “Instruction for his son.”" |
” |
Given the fact that our young people have nowhere to get educated about Pan-Africanism (it is
not a subject taught in schools or in community centers outside of a few places like Liberty Hall
in Kingston, Jamaica), there is a crying need to implement a Pan-Africanism Study Project to
harvest and hand on to the next generation the wisdom learned in two centuries of liberation
struggles by the Black Race. That is to ensure that they are not ignorant of what they should
know. Luckily, we now have the internet and will use it to reach people far and wide.
If it is to accomplish its mission, Pan-Africanism must thoroughly train the future leadership and
cadres of the movement as well as its general membership who must supervise the leadership
and keep it honest and loyal to the Black race. This supervision requires a culture of participatory
democracy.
Well-informed and vigorous discussion is indispensable for popular participatory democracy.
Therefore, we must understand that to study, explain, discuss, debate, argue and learn is an
essential part of the popular democracy that Pan-Africanist culture needs to include.
For its betterment, Pan-Africanism must harvest and teach its members the wisdom gathered in
two centuries of liberation struggles by the black race (1791-2011): from the start of the Haitian
Revolution in 1791 to the end of the 50 years long liberation war that has just resulted in the
independence of South Sudan in 2011.
We have a special duty to help the up and coming generation of Pan-Africanists to discover their
mission, and a serious responsibility to intellectually equip them to fulfill their mission.
Accordingly, over the coming months, and hopefully every other weekend, I shall send out
materials for study, discussion and debate by young Pan-Africanists.
The aim is to promote understanding of the situation and problems of the Black race in the 21 st
century, and what Pan-Africanism can do to solve our problems, guided by the lessons from past
struggles. That is the Sankofa approach.
The questions that will be raised by the materials in this PASP
Include
- Where is the Black race now on the long road to liberation from all forms of slavery, colonialism, imperialism and racism?
- What were the successes and failures of 20 th century Pan-Africanism?
- What is the correct constituency and what is the paramount project for Pan-Africanism in the 21 st century?
- What are our weaknesses and how should we struggle to overcome them so as to achieve victory?
- Who have been the enemies of the Black race in the last two millennia?
- What are the lessons from the Black liberation struggles of the last two centuries? Which are the good points we should develop, and which are the mistakes we should discard?
- What are Black Africa’s 21 st century problems? Can these problems be solved through a Continental Union Government? If so, how?
- What political education and guidance do we need in Pan-Africanism? And how do we acquire it?
- Do we specifically need education in democracy? And what kind of democracy? And how should we go about acquiring it?
- Do we need to struggle against incorrect ideas and to expunge defects?
- As Pan-Africanists, what are our duties to the Black race?
- Is it our duty to honor the past, improve the present and seek out and do that which is good for the future of the Black race?
- What future do we conceive for the black race and how shall we build it?
- Where and how can we build a Black superpower in this 21 st century to guarantee the survival and prosperity of the black race, and to end the racism and disrespect that the world inflicts on us? #Who, if any, are our potential allies in building Black power where we live? And what principles should guide us in alliance-building?
- How do we get our teenagers to become concerned about the black race? Concerned with more than just themselves and their family?
- How do we bring our youngsters to understand Pan-Africanism and practice the Black Race First principle?
- How do we upgrade our knowledge of our enemies-- the Arab and European imperialists especially?
- Is a ‘Civilizational Dialogue’ (which some have proposed) possible with the Arab enemies of the black race?
- What is to be done about the diehard Uncle Toms (the pro-Arab as well as the pro-European diehard Uncle Toms) within Pan-Africanism?
- What is the place for Afrocentrism in Pan-Africanism and what does it require of us?
- How do we safeguard the mental, ideological, organizational and operational independence of the peoples and institutions of the Black race?
- Which is the proper Africa for Pan-Africanism: the entire continent or Sub-Sahara Africa?
- What is the appropriate relationship between Sub-Sahara Africans and Diaspora Africans? What does each side need from the other? What must each do for the other and what must each not do to the other?
- Should Pan-Africanism’s international solidarity be extended to states and peoples which, though engaged in their own struggles against European imperialism, also practice or condone their own people’s colonialism and enslavement of Black Africans?
- What is niggerism and how do we expunge it from the behavior of the Black race?
- What is Neo-Garveyism and what is Continentalism? And what is at stake in the conflict between these two strands of Pan-Africanism?
- What can our academics contribute to Pan-Africanism? And how can they organize to make these contributions?
- Is it blasphemy in Pan-Africanism to challenge false or obsolete ideas? If so, why?
- Should there be re-examination, discussion and criticism of the thought and practice of Pan-Africanist heroes in order to correct false or obsolete ideas? If not, why not?
- Who owns the AU and whose interest does it serve? The presidents and bureaucrats or the people of black Africa? To whom is it accountable? Whose interests are served by its institutional and financial links with the EU, the USA, and members of the Arab League? Is the AU an anti-imperialist outfit, like Pan-Africanism would require it to be?
- Is one-man-rule, in ideas or government, an acceptable part of Pan-Africanism? If so why? And if not, why not?
- Why has Pan-Aricanism not brought prosperity to the general population of any country in Black Africa after half a century of self-government?
- Why is black Africa still weak economically and militarily after half a century of self government?
- What relationship, if any, is there between Pan-Africanism and ideologies/religions like Shinto, Confucianism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Liberalism, Socialism, and Fascism? What is the justification for this relationship?
- Why has Pan-Africanism lost its way and why does it seem incapable of solving the problems that afflict the black race today?
- What is the way forward for Pan-Africanism in the 21 st century?
In conducting the study and democratic debate that I have pointed out as necessary, we can all
expect our ideas and cherished heroes to come under sharp criticism. When vital interests clash,
democratic debate can sometimes get heated and acrimonious, as anyone can verify by attending
a Village or Town Union meeting or by watching debates in the British House of Commons.
Let me therefore point out the following:
Pan-Africanism is not a shrine where believers occasionally gather to decorously worship deities
and to genuflect before the polished images of saints;
Pan-Africanism is a movement for effecting salutary changes in the lives of the persons and
societies of the Black race; a movement whose mission is to liberate the black race from its alien
conquerors and exploiters and humiliators.
Pan-Africansm is a movement whose task is to organize and lead the Black race to victory in the
race war that Caucasian aggressors (both Arab and European) have inflicted on the black race for
several millennia now.
Contrary to what some appear to believe, that the Black race has no heroes, Pan-Africanism’s
Hall of Fame has many heroes and heroines. For those hungry for heroes to venerate, we are not
in a famine of heroes, and have no need to desperately cling to one or two figures, and to feel, if
their preferred hero is criticized, like a famine-starved man from whom his first spoonful of food
in a month has been snatched away.
For the ignorant, let me point out that, in the last two centuries, the heroes of our liberation
struggle have ranged in time from:
Toussaint L’Ouverture, the David of Pan-Africanism, who slew three European Goliaths—
Spain, Britain and France, the superpowers of their day-- and laid the foundations for the first
Black Republic of modern times.
Marcus Garvey, the Moses of Pan-Africanism, who a century ago discovered the only solution
to the problems confronting the Black race, and then pointed out the road to the promised land of
liberty, power and dignity; and inspired many to start the long march towards it.
Amilcar Cabral, the Mao of the 20 th century African anti-colonial struggle, who led the
victorious struggle for the liberation of Guinea-Bissau from Portuguese colonialism, and then left
for us works which record what has been correctly called his manifold mastery of revolutionary
thought and action.
John Garang, the mastermind of the victorious struggle that has just freed South Sudan from
Arab colonialism and enslavement.
Even the briefest roll call of our Black race heroes would also include: Harriet Tubman,
Sojourner Truth, Yaa Asantewa, Nehanda, Emperor Menelik, Frederick Douglass, George
Padmore, CLR James, Malcolm X, Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Kwame Nkrumah, Nnamdi
Azikiwe, Julius Nyerere, Winnie Mandela, WEB DuBois, Agustino Neto, Samora Machel,
Robert Mugabe, Sam Nujoma and all those who led their colonial countries to self-government
in the second half of the 20 th century.
For avoidance of doubt, let me emphasize that the views contained in the PASP materials I send out are offered as start off positions to kick off discussion; they are not meant to be taken as the final word on anything. Some may be accepted; some may be rejected as flawed or foolish; some may be amended and improved in the light of better facts and arguments. The final word should emerge from the discussions and express the group wisdom.
We should all recognize, as Noam Chomsky pointed out, that activism isn’t just about running
around the streets waving signs, or marching in demonstrations; it also means thinking carefully
about things, and figuring out what the problems are, and trying to teach and convince people
about them.
On that note, I invite you to join me in this Pan-Africanism Study project (PASP)
In service toward the liberation of the black race,
Feel free notice Please feel free to fwd this document to any Pan-African persons, or to publish and reproduce it, unedited and in its entirety, to the Pan-African community, provided you credit the author, do not change, cut or add any word or otherwise mutilate the piece, i.e. publish as is or don’t at all. If posted at a website, please email a copy of the web page to [email protected] For print media use, please obtain prior written permission, and then send two (2) copies of the publication wherein used, to Chinweizu, P. O. Box 988, Festac Town, Lagos, Nigeria.5
