Africa – Maybe, It’s Time to Seriously Consider Uniting

(This article is the concluding part of “AFRICA! Unity Might be the Solution!“)
Please note that this blog was written before the disturbances in Libya

Various African statesmen and influential personalities from around the World have advocated the transformation of Africa into a single federation or at a minimum, a confederation, with a single currency, and one all-African army.

The most energetic of these statesmen has been Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, who some also credit for being very instrumental to the founding the African Union.

Africa ought to make the most out of Colonel Gaddafi’s ideas regardless of any unfavorable feelings about him personally, or his, somewhat, bizarre utterances or actions. He has been calling for a united Africa as the only way to accelerated growth and real independence. Viewed only by its merit alone, Africa will really develop better if it is more united.

Other prominent proponents of a stronger and more united Africa have included, at various times:

1. Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egyptian African)
2. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (Nigerian African)
3. Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois (American African)
4. Eliezer Cadet (African Haitian, who, in 1919 attended the Paris Peace Conference and First Pan African Congress on behalf of the Universal Negro Improvement Association).
5. Blaise Diagne (African Senegalese, the first black African elected to the French National Assembly who later became French Commissioner General of the Ministry of Colonies)
6. William Jernagin (American African and Baptist Minister in Washington, DC)
7. Charles D. B. King (African Liberian)
8. William Monroe Trotter  (American African)
9. Richard R. Wright (American African, and a US military officer)
10. Robert Russa Moton (American African)
11. Frantz Fanon (French and Algerian African)
12. Edward Wilmot Blyden (Sierra Leone Creole and Americo-Liberian African)
13. Dr. John Henrik Clarke (American African)
14. Cheikh Anta Diop (Senegalese African)
15. Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan (Puerto Rican, Jewish and Ethiopian African)
16. Amílcar Cabraln (Guinea-Bissaunian African)
17. The Right Honorable Marcus Garvey (Jamican African)
18. David Comissiong (Barbadian African)
19. Kenneth Kaunda (Zambian African)
20. Jomo Kenyatta (Kenyan African)
21. Patrice Lumumba (Congolese African)
22. Thabo Mbeki (South African)
23. Abdias do Nascimento (Brazilian African)
24. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah (Ghanaian African)
25. Julius Nyerere (Tanzanian African)
26. John Nyathi Pokela (South African)
27. Emperor Haile Selassie (Ethiopian African)
28. Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe (South African)
29. Ahmed Sékou Touré (Guinean African)
30. Isaac Theophilus Akunna Wallace-Johnson (Sierra Leonean African, commonly called I.T.A. Wallace-Johnson)
31. Dr. Molefi Kete Asante (American African)
32. Steve Biko (South African)
33. John G. Jackson (American African)
34. Dr. Maulana Karenga (American African)
35. Fela Kuti (Nigerian African)
36. Bob Marley (Jamaican African)
37. Malcolm X (American African)
38. Zephania Mothopeng (South African)
39. George Padmore (Trinidadian African)
40. Motsoko Pheko (South African)
41. Dr. Runoko Rashidi (American African)
42. Dr. Walter Rodney (Guyanese African)
43. Burning Spear (Jamaican African)
44. Henry Sylvester-Williams (Trinidadian African)
45. Stokely Carmichael (Trinidadian-American African), and
46. Omali Yeshitela (American African).

As can be seen from the list above, African nationalists include people from various parts of the world and people from all walks of life, dating back to the 1800s. They include academicians, politicians, musicians, writers and entertainment professionals and everyday people. They also include people with different religious backgrounds – Christians, Muslims, Jews, Rastafarians, African traditional worshipers and probably atheists.

Their common denominators are their beliefs in equity, empowering people and their convictions that a more united Africa would be better for the emancipation of Africans. They abhor any form of racial discrimination or imperialism.

Unity is Strength

A unified Africa will put an end to many elements of neocolonialism.

It will also put a check on the abuses by the diamond industry, the gold industry, the oil industry, weapons traders, terrorists, and unfair terms of trade in the coffee industry.

A united Africa will curtail hunger, poverty, political corruption and empower Africans to fight climates change as a result of the reckless industrialization practices of Western and Asian countries, leading to desertification, decease and hunger in Africa (and the Arab World.)

It’s time for Africa to unite.

Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi may not be the most charismatic person in the World, but serious matters and empty smiles don’t go along. His idea of a united Africa is not Utopian. It is an ideal task and can be achieved.

Africans ought to remember that what is known today as the United States of America was at a time, not a single country. So it was, with Canada. It wasn’t a single country. We have also watched East and West Germany unify, in spite of the big economic and political differences that existed after World war, when the victorious masters divided their land and allocated it among themselves. Even in the midst of military skirmishes between North and South Korea, we are hearing chatters of a united Korea that was also split by the masters. Obviously, these nations recognize that there is strength in number. Why not Africa?

And yes, the forgoing examples beg the question: Who was it that actually split the African land into arbitrary countries so we can hate and fight each other forever?

Let’s unite. There is strength in unity; but if we remain divided, we’ll continue to fall.