Short History of Pan-African Movement.

The world Pan-Africanism first entered the political lexicon in 1900,when the Trinidadian Attorney, Henry Sylvester Williams, then based in London called a conference of blacks to protest the stealing of lands in the colonies, racial discrimination and to deal with all other issues of interest to blacks. It was, however, in 1919 when W.E.B Du Bois convened what he called the First Pan-African Congress in Paris, that the Pan-African Congresses series of which the 8th Pan African Congress is a continuation, came into being. While the years 1900 and 1919 can confidently be cited as important reference points for the Pan-African Movement, the movement stretches much farther into the distant history of our people. Indeed, the roots of Pan-African Movement can be traced right back to the ravages of the first European slave ships to touch the African coast. It is not at all surprising that the founders of Pan-Africanism, as well as some of its leading warriors, have been Africans from the Diasporas, who by and large were a by product of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The Diaspora is constituted by Africans living outside Africa.Within Pan-Africanism we have two Diasporas.Whereas Arab slavery of Africans ( see Reflections on Arab-led Slavery of Africans published by the Centre for Advanced Studies of African Socitey (CASAS), Cape Town,South Africa in 2005, edited by K K Prah, available from casas@casas.co.za ) predates the western encounter by a millenium, it was the western Diaspora, particularly in the Caribbean and north America where slavery was rife, to which we owe the philosophy of Pan-Africanism. It was the descendants of free slaves in these areas who in the 1800s and 1900s developed the Back-to-Africa concept. The African Union (AU), which succeded the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), was to have brought the Diasporas into full membership ( ie states majority populated by Africans, such as Haiti, Jamaica and Brazil, have the same full membership as states such as Nigeria, having full voting rights, as well as membership of the Secretariat).This did not happen and yet it was one of the objectives in convening the 7th Pan-African Congress(PAC). Mohamed Fayek,Director-General, Dar Al-Mustaqbaz Al-Araby,Cairo,Egypt in Khair El-Din Haseed (ed) The Arabs and Africa published in 1984, in London by Croom Helm,pointed out that prior to the Nasserite Revolution of 23rd July 1952, Egypt had no organic relationship with the rest of Africa and there existed no linkage movement, in his contribution to the Amman seminar on Afro-Arab relations (1984:90-91). Fayek goes on to state :The African movement itself, which was initiated by Black Americans in reaction to discrimination against them, adopted the theme of the Blackmans dignity and freedom and his returning to his roots while the Black Americans had neither knowledge nor concrete links with the African continent, other than the colour of their skin.Hence the birth of what is called Africanism based on their African descent but only with Black Africa in mind. African unity was to them as much a way of reviving the ancient African Empires of Ghana,Songhi,Mali and others,as it was the unity of Black Africa.With this, Africanism, before reaching the African continent itself,took a separate path from Arab

Africa. Egypt, therefore,as well as the rest of north Africa, had no connection with this particular African movement. Apart from Africans living in the western Diaspora, Pan-Africanism incorporates the eastern Diaspora, constituted by Africans living in Arabia, North Africa, the Gulf States and points eastwards in Asia those Diop stated have a common African soul ( such as the Black people of the Pacific Islands ). Whereas north African states are included in thr AU arrangement, there has been a long held view, increasingly audible with developments in Sudan, that Pan-Africanism should accommodate, as its primary constituency, those properly members of the African Nation, being Africans south of the Sahara and in the western and eastern Diasporas. If Arabia has its recognized Nation and League, should not the African Nation, under the banner of African Nationalism, as referenced by such as Garvey and Blyden, better defend the interests of Africans, than the lame duck AU? These issues are under reflection and struggle. W.E.B Du Bois, one of the founders of the Pan-African movement has noted., Africans in the Diaspora tend to look to Africa as one united continent, one unit, mainly because they cannot trace their particular roots. Moreover, the desire to cease being slaves was necessarily accompanied by the desire to go back home, which in this case was to Africa. The precursors of Pan-Africanism, as we know it today, thus are all the back to Africa movements that sprang up in U.S.A, Brazil and the Caribbean during the early nineteenth century. It was the Back to Africa movement that for the first time conceived of Africa as a Nation having socio-economic and political problems that needed to be confronted on the basis of a Pan-African strategy. At the same time the Back to Africa movement made it imperative for the Diasporan Africans to focus their attention on the problems of the Continent. thus quite apart from protesting the conditions of slavery under which they were living, the Back to Africa movement also called for the abolition of colonialism in Africa. Pan-Africansm can thus be said to have its origin in the struggles of the African people against the enslavement and colonization of their people by extra-African forces, including Arab settler colonialism. Under the unrelenting onslaught of Pan-Africanism, especially since the 1945 5th Pan African Congress (PAC) of Manchester, most countries on the African Continent ultimately regained their independence. However, the regaining of independence did not end colonialism, but only transformed it into neo-colonialism.More than ever in the past, Pan-Africanism as a counter-force to imperialism is a necessary tool of analysis and an organizational format for the whole Pan-African world. The Pan-African Conference 1900 The First Pan-African Congress to protest the stealing of lands in the colonies, racial discrimination and other issues of interest to Blacks took place from 23-25 July 1900 at Londons Westminster Town Hall. It was called by a Trinidadian lawyer then based in London, Henry Sylvester Williams Dr W.E.B Du Bois, who played a leading role during

the Conference, drafted a letter to Queen of England and other rulers of Europe which contained an appeal to struggle against racism, to grant the Blacks colonies in Africa and West Indies the right to responsible government; and demanded political and other rights for the Blacks in the United States. The document asserted: the problem of the 20th century as the problem of the colour bar.

The First African Congress 1919 What has come down to us as the Pan-African Congress series was first organized by Dr. DuBois from 17-21 February 1919.The meeting which took place in Paris,France,demanded the land (in the colonies) must be reserved, with its natural resources, for the natives; their working conditions must be regarded by the law, and slavery and corporal punishment abolished, as well as forced labour, except for criminals.The natives of Africa must have the right to participate in government as rapidly as their development will permit, with the goal that in due time, Africa will be governed with the consent of the Africans. The Second Pan-African Congress of 1921 The Second Pan-African Congress was held in September 1921, with successive sessions in London, Brussels and Paris. The London session ended with a resolution know as Declaration to the World or simply the London Manifesto, which in several aspects was similar to Marcus Garveys Declaration of the Rights of the Negro peoples of the world, which had been issued in 1920. The Third Pan-African Congress of 1923 The Third Pan-African Congress was held in November and December 1923. The session which took place in London lasted from 7-8 November 1923.The second session was held in Lisbon from 1-2 December1923. As with the previous Congresses its main demands were, The right of Black peoples to speak for themselves to their respective governments; and the right to land and its produce. The Fourth Pan-African Congress of 1927 The Fourth Pan-African Congress was held in August 1927 in New York. Earlier attempts to hold it either in Tunis or the West Indies could not take off owing to opposition from the French and British governments. It has been reported of the Fourth Congress that: The resolutions adopted were similar to those passed by the Third Congress. Not withstanding, there were two remarkable developments: the presence of progressive Black personalities and the tribute paid by Dr. Du Bois to the Soviet Union regarding the policy it followed with its various nationalities, in sharp contrast with imperialisms colonial policy. The Fifth Pan-African Congress of 1945 The Fifth Pan-African Congress of 1945 took place in the Charlton Town Hall, Manchester,from 15-19 October 1945. For Africans on the Continent it perhaps remains the most important Congress ever,considering the manner in which it addressed the question of colonialism and set the independence movement in first gear. For the first

time a large number of Africans from the Continent were in attendance, among them leading personalities like: Wallace Johnson (Sierra Leone) Obafemi Awolowo (Nigeria),Jomo Kenyatta ( Kenya),Hastings Banda (Malawi),Peter Abrahams (South Africa),Ako Adjei (Ghana), Jaja Wachuku (Nigeria),and of course Kwame Nkrumah.African political parties fighting for independence were for the first time represented at the Congress, and there was strong representation by trade unions and students organizations such as the West African Students Union (WASU).The Congress resolutions put emphasis on the need for speedy de-colonization on the African Continent. The Congress document entitled The Challenge to the colonial powers stated: The delegates to the Fifth Pan-African Congress believe in peacenevertheless, if the western world continues determined to rule humanity by force, then the Africans, as their last resort, may have to resort to force in the effort to achieve liberty, even if that force destroys them, themselves and the world. This was a departure from the petitions of the past that appealed to the reasonableness of the colonialists, instead of proffering a direct political challenge. The result was that a little over a decade after the Manchester Congress, Africa was on the way to regaining its independence. The Sixth Pan-African Congress of 1972 The Sixth Pan-African Congress took place in Dar-es-Salaam ,Tanzania from19-27 June,1974.Thirty of the then 42 independent African states sent delegations and there were also delegations of national liberation movements that were still fighting for independence.. From the Diaspora there were delegations from the Caribbean,South America,Canada,Great Britain and United States.In all 800 to1000 delegates are believed to have attended. The Congress however was bedeviled by the absence of a number of leading Caribbean Pan-Africanists who were not happy with the leading role assumed by the governments,some of which were anti-people and inherently reactionary. The Congress nevertheless, made a big impact on the liberation movements of the African countries still under colonial domination, especially the former Portuguese colonies of Mozambique,Angola and Guinea-Bissau and settler colonialism in then Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa. Shortly after the Dar-es-Salaam meeting,the bulk of these countries rid themselves of colonialism. Walter Rodney from Guyana, who lived and taught in Tanzania for many years stated any Pan concept is an exercise in self-definition by a people,aimed at establishing a broader redefinition of themselves than that which had been permitted by those in power. Invariably,however,the exercise is undertaken by a specific group or class, which speaks on behalf the population as a whole. This is always the case in respect of national movements. Consequently,certain questions must be placed on the agenda: 1. Which class leads the national movement? 2. How capable is this class of carrying out the historical tasks of national liberation? 3. Which are the silent classes on whose behalf national claims are being articulated?

The Seventh Pan-African Congress of 1994 This Congress took place 3-8 April 1994 in Kampala,Uganda, following the choice of Uganda as host country for the 7th PAC.President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was appointed Patron of the Congress. Museveni opted to be Co-Patron of the 7th PAC along with fellow African Heads of State. All of whom he invited to be Co-Patrons with him. Col.Kahinda Otafiire was appointed Chairman and Convenor of the Congress by fellow members of the International Preparatory Committee for the 7 th Pan-African Congress. Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem was appointed Secretary General of the Congress and along with volunteers was responsible for the preparations for convening the Congress.The theme of the 7th PAC was Facing the future in unity, social progress and democracy-perspectives towards the 21st Century. This Congress created an Inter-Congress (Permanent) Bureau. The Eighth Pan-African Congress The First International Preparatory Meeting for the 8th PAC convened in Harare, Zimbabwe in October 2005.The Convenor is Ibbo Mandaza,assisted by Chen Chimutengwende.The intention is to convene the 8th Pan African Congress in Harare in 2007. Leer Marialbai 2007