Africa’s Last Crusade! ?

Pan -Africanism as a collective endeavor, history, idea and desire, of the people of African decent across the globe, has no precise date for its birth .While attempting to define Pan- Africanism, scholars usually face a number of questions. For instance, when did the people called ‘black or Africans’ first recognize themselves in such terms, when did these same people whether at home or abroad first realize that there was a bond that same how unified them on the basis of their origin?(Ackah,2001:19).
Pan- Africanism has been and remains to be the most ambitious ideology that Africa undertook since the 19th century. It originated at the height of slavery and at the dawn of colonialism. No precise definition of the term exists (Mathews, 2007:20).Rather than being a unified school of thought it is an invented notion with the purpose of emancipating Africa from economic ,political and cultural exploitation(Murithi,2005:7).
According to Mathews there are four major themes that constitute the key components of Pan-Africanism. The first one is the expression of black pride and achievement, the second is the idea of ‘back to Africa’ propagated mainly by Marcus Garvey ,the third initiative was librating Africa from colonialism and all form of operation, the ultimate major theme of Pan Africanism is African unity(Mathews ,2007:21).
According to Mazuri there are five dimensions of pan -Africanism (Mazuri, 19777:68-69)
1. Sub-Saharan pan- Africanism: excludes both Arab states and black Americans. It promotes unity and solidarity of black people south of the Sahara. It could be manifested in the form of sub-regional unification.
2. Trans-Saharan Pan- Africanism: extends unity and solidarity to those who share the African continent across the Sahara desert the Arabs and Berbers of the north.
3. Trans- Atlantic Pan- Africanisim extends solidarity to the peoples of the black diasporas in the Americas as well as of the African continent .There are variations in this group some exclude the Arabs of north Africa while others include them, for example Stokely Carmichal was considered a hero in Algeria.
4. West- hemisphere Pan -Africanism encompasses West Indians, black Americans, black Brazilians and other black people of western hemispheres.
5. Global Pan -Africanism: encompasses the broader concept of Pan- Africanism and brings in together all centers of black presence in the world.

Pan -Africanism was born, in the words of Diallo Telli, in the emotional atmosphere of “complete alienation, physical exploitation, and spiritual torment. (Wallerstein, 1967:7).The common faith of stigma and inferiority based on racial background, the unspeakable injustice witnessed by both African descents in the United States and West Indies called for unity, in order to tackle similar agonies. This realization paved the way for some form of link with their African origins. This in turn brought about the desire to redeem Africa from the scourge of imperialism and colonialism .Out of this process emanated the idea of pan -Africanism (Ajala, 1973:4).
We are related you and I
You from West Indies
I from Kentucky
We are related you and I you from Africa
I from these states
We are brothers you and I (Ibid: 4)

From the above quote it can be inferred that, when people of African descent in the Diasporas realized that the agony, devastation and their cry for salivation was due to their skin color, they felt sentiment of African solidarity. Pan -Africanism is an expression of the global identity of blacks that transcends territorial political boundaries (Edmonson, 1976:285-316). It is also a belief in the common historical identity and racial background that all blacks share .Furthermore, Pan- Africanism holds that the destiny of all blacks is intertwined .Hence, 20th century advocates of the movement argued that Pan- Africanism knew no clime, boundary or nationality (Metaferia, 1988:12). Moreover DuBois as cited by Thompson affirms that, various groups of Africans, quite separate in origin, become so united in experience and so exposed to the impacts of new cultures that they begun to think of Africa as one idea and one land (Thompson, 1969:23).
Thus, when the black men met together, to defend their rights, protest their humanity and exhibit their fraternity, sentiments of racial self-assertion and solidarity emerged. The notion of pan -Africanism evolved (Wallerstein, 1967:7).
The institutionalization of Pan- Africanism from the point of view of Murithi has four stages: the pan -African congress held in the late 19th and 20th century can be considered as the first institutionalization stage of Pan-Africanism, the establishment of the Organization of African Unity, the formation of the African Union and if finally the quest for “United Sates of Africa” becomes a reality, it can be seen as the second, third and fourth institutionalization stage of pan-Africanism respectively (Murithi,2008:3).
Pan- Africanism is a philosophy which sought solidarity and brotherhood between all peoples of African origin and regarded Africa as the spiritual home of united African people (Legume and Gesiss, 1974:181).
The history of the movement Pan-Africanism has been
defined by controversy. There has been debate as to
whether it is possible to move away from the rhetoric
and theory of pan- Africanism towards concrete action (Mathews, 2007:21).
This question still remains unanswered today in the 21st century.