Description

Convergences and Divergences
Streams of Black Pan-Afrikanism vs. Continentalist All-Africanism

In 2016 Haiti, which was mentioned by name at the 1900 Pan-African Conference (at which the term pan-Africanism was coined), applied to join the African Union but was denied. In that same year, Morocco, in which an estimated 219,700 people are held as عبد‎ ‘Abeed’ (a word meaning both slave and Black person interchangeably), applied to join the African Union and was accepted as a full member. Using news articles and contemporary data procured from a variety of sources, in this paper, we will examine the Haiti vs. Morocco treatment at the hands of the AU as a manifestation of the ongoing struggle between the original Black Pan-Afrikanism and the modern-day counterfeit version also known colloquially as Continentalism. We find that the hijacking of the term “Pan-Africanism” has had lasting repercussions for Afrikan=Black people, some of which are only being felt today. In conclusion, we will offer solutions and a possible way forward for Afrikan=Black people who have been disenfranchised in favor of nations where, to date, they are still regarded as عبد‎ ‘Abeed’. What is the role of Nana Marcus Mosiah Garvey and that of Nana Kwame Nkrumah in the origins of these two streams of Pan-Afrikanism vs. All-Africanism?