{UAH} Africa's journey to liberation

Africa's journey to liberation

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L-R Presidents, Julius Nyerere, Jomo Kenyatta, and Kenneth Kaunda in procession during the commissioning of Makerere University.

By TENTANI MWANZAH
MAY 25, marked as African Liberation Day, is a date important not only to Africans on the continent but even to those in the diaspora. 
On April 15, 1958, in Accra, Ghana, African leaders and political activists met at the First Conference of Independent African States. In attendance were representatives of the governments of Egypt (then a constituent part of the United Arab Republic), Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, and the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon. This conference was significant in that it represented the first pPan-African conference to be held on African soil.

The conference called for the founding of African Freedom Day, a day to "mark each year the onward progress of the liberation movement, and to symbolise the determination of the people of Africa to free themselves from foreign domination and exploitation."
After the Accra conference, another historic meeting occurred on May 25, 1963, in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where leaders of 32 independent African states met to form the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). By then more than two-thirds of the continent had achieved independence, mostly from imperial European states. At this meeting, the date of Africa Freedom Day was changed from April 15 to May 25, and Africa Freedom Day was declared African Liberation Day (ALD).
It only needs a casual glance at May 25 in relation to Africa to notice that two words emphatically and clearly come out which summarise the immediate goals of Africans: Liberation and unity. 
By and large, the first goal of political liberation, apart from some islands still under foreign rule and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic under Moroccan occupation, has been achieved. 
Thanks in no small measure to the OAU Liberation Committee, established to channel financial, material and military aid to the liberation fighters of those territories under minority rule; the diplomatic campaigns conducted in support of the cause of liberation was among the organisation's best achievements.
The second goal, that of African Unity, though elusive, has seen Africans moving to greater unity over the years. 
Despite the challenges and hurdles, some of them historical, Africans have a greater sense of purpose and confidence today than they had at the founding of the OAU in May 1963, amid much pomp and ceremony at a time when the pan-Africanist idea of continental unity was popular and during a period of momentous changes in international relations.
The AU decided to hold year-long celebrations from 2013 to 2014 to mark 50 years of the founding of OAU-AU. It was envisaged that during the Golden Jubilee celebrations and beyond, Africa must speak with one voice leading to sustained unity.  
Held under the theme "pan- Africanism and Renaissance," the celebrations put into focus 12 monthly thematic areas addressing specific progress and challenges on the continent. 
The priority areas such as women empowerment, health, education, peace and security, governance and democracy, and food security, could not be over-emphasised.
The celebrations were set to mobilise African citizens on the continent and those in the diaspora to promote "an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in global arena." 
Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, chairperson of the AU, set the tone at the AU launch for the year-long celebrations when she affirmed that "Our desire is to reverse the current story line of despair into the real narrative of opportunity and potential."
Fifty years by any measure is a good time for stock taking and reflection. It has been said that tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today. To prepare for tomorrow, necessarily takes us back to lessons of the past. Africa's unforgettable past must be retold over and over again for generations to draw lessons from.
Zambia played its part in bringing about change which saw the defeat of minority rule in Africa. The country found itself in a precarious situation at the time of independence in 1964. 
With strong liberation struggle credentials, the progressive leaders of the newly born state had to contend, on the one hand, with the dream they shared with their comrades on the continent and beyond, not to rest until every African person is free.
On the other hand, Zambia had to face the reality that it was a land-locked country with five of her eight neighbours being "zones under enemy control," to borrow the language of the apostle of Africa's independence, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah. 
These were territories where minority regimes were adamant that they were not going to succumb to the wind of change blowing over the continent. 
Zambia's monoculture economy, then and now heavily dependent on copper, was structurally tied to those very countries.
Congo, Zambia's northern neighbour, a "contested zone," cursed with immense mineral wealth was in turmoil; its promising young Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba had his life cut short at 35 years by enemies of genuine African liberation in January 1961, only a few months after raising its flag as an independent country on June 30, 1960.  Forces of reaction were in charge of running the affairs of government from the capital, Leopoldville.
Malawi, its eastern neighbour, was no better. It had plunged itself into chaos and was unstable barely a month after its July 6, 1964 attainment of independence. 
Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who emerged on top of the ensuing power struggle, dubbed the Cabinet Crisis, proved himself a renegade to the African revolution and has gone down in history as an embodiment of what a good African leader should not be.
Alone in these parts, Zambia stood out as a "liberated zone." It had to do a balancing act of ensuring that its sovereignty remained intact while pushing for the "total liberation of the African continent"
Nkrumah had talked about in his 1957 midnight proclamation of independence speech did not lose momentum.
To be sure, the Zambian leadership of Kenneth Kaunda, Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe, Mainza Chona, Grey Zulu, Munukayumbwa Sipalo, Sikota Wina, Nalumino Mundia, Mulena Mukwae Nakatindi, among the notables, succeeded in writing the indelible pages of African history. This was because they were in line with the age old vision of the African people to free themselves and be equal to other human beings, something which had been lost during the days of slavery and colonialism.
The slave trade which went on for over 400 years was historically unprecedented. Never before, had such a large group of people, running in tens of millions, been driven from their homelands and forced to labour for the remainder of their lives in distant societies, dominated by culturally and racially different people. 
Africans were brutalised, dehumanised and treated more like Beasts of Burden than human beings. Resistance was put up from the advent of this unequal relationship but to no avail due to European technological superiority. The principal goal henceforth, became one of striving to restore their freedom and humanity.
In 1804, the Africans on the island of Santo Domingo in the Caribbean broke their chains and achieved independence in the only successful slave revolution in modern history. 
Santo Domingo, what is called Haiti today, became the first Latin American nation to gain independence.
Toussaint L'Ouverture, the General who led the rebellion and defeated the French army of Napoleon, renowned as a military strategist, is celebrated in the black world as one of its foremost heroes. 
Three years later, the British Parliament outlawed the trade in slaves. The United States had to wait for a civil war that raged on for four years from 1861 to 1865 to achieve the same.
Enter imperialism in the classical colonialism sense. The crowning moment was the 1884 Berlin Conference, which saw the African continent partitioned into colonies of Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Spain and Italy.  
The European powers had realised that instead of transporting Africans to the New World, they could be used more profitably as sources of cheap labour on the African continent itself. Africans had another task at hand, that of freeing their territories from foreign occupation.
When Africans were being captured as slaves, it did not matter which part of the continent one originated from. At Berlin, borders were drawn arbitrarily without taking into consideration the fact that no single African was present. 
With the changing situation, it became imperative for Africans to unite and coordinate their efforts. In came Pan-Africanism, a term coined in the New World, where efforts to organise all Africans first originated. The 1945 Fifth Pan African Conference held at Manchester is considered the most influential as it helped to set the agenda for decolonisation in the post-war period.
Anti-colonial struggles spread like wild fire on the continent. Ghana, under Nkrumah's visionary leadership, was the first to gain its independence and immediately rededicated itself in the struggle to emancipate other countries in Africa. 
One after another, African countries attained independence. 1960, dubbed Africa Year, saw the largest number of African countries gaining independence. The situation mostly in the southern part of the continent, was different.
Armed struggle had to be employed to dislodge minority rule. The role of the OAU, proved critical.  Coupled with international support, it became possible for every inch of African soil, including apartheid
South Africa, to be liberated.
The journey of the African people has been long and arduous. The vestiges of slavery and colonialism and our own misrule in the post-independence period are still with us and must be gotten rid of.
The AU still has a big role to play. Celebrated African author, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, says until the day a black African woman, real black, wins the world beauty contest, it will be a fallacy to believe that Africans have won back their dignity.
The struggle continues.
The author is an educationist and politician.

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Gwokto La'Kitgum

"Even a small dog can piss on a tall Building", Jim Hightower

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