Where Is Pan-Africanism Today?

Pan-Africanism is a movement as well as a political philosophy that advocates for the liberation of African people, their society, and of African descendants in diaspora. It encompasses groups that advocated for the empowerment of Africans, those who fought against the degrading shackles of slavery and those who advocated for the advancement of African individuality and culture. Pan-Africanists stood against intellectual colonialism as well as political control and agitated for nationalism and the devolution of authority to Africans. The development and spread of African nationalism in the early twentieth century, as well as the resulting decolonization of Africa and the breakdown of apartheid in South Africa in the 1990s, were important successes of the pan-African movement.

The founding of the African Union (AU) is another pan-African success story, which cannot be fully understood without an understanding of the movement’s African roots. Ultimately, Africa’s integration needs to be leveraged primarily by Africans in order to achieve regional prosperity and progress.