How Effective are Pan-African Congresses?

By Gregory Simpkins

There has been significant discussion within Africanist circles about the multiplying coups in Africa, the ongoing conflicts and several other issues. However, there has been little said about the next Pan-African Congress.

The concept of Pan-Africanism dates back to the 1700s and was for a long time focused on opposing slavery and colonialism. Building on Trinidadian lawyer Henry Sylvester Williams’ creation of the African Association in 1897, the first Pan-African Congress was held in London in 1900.

Since much of the Diaspora lived in countries that were under colonial rule at that time, no political developments came out of that first Congress, which focused on the need to preserve Black cultural identity and the rights of indigenous people being recognized by colonizers. Dr. W.E.B. Dubois, one of 30 participants, said the color line was one of the most important issues of the 20th century.

In the second podcast by the Habari Network/Journal, we discussed the Pan-African Congresses with one of the organizers of the upcoming 8th Pan-African Congress: Dr. Ibbo Mandazza. In his introduction of Dr. Mandazza, noted Africanist researcher and writer Paul Nantulya said that Dr. Mandazza has not only long been active in the Pan-African Congress movement, but also in African liberation movements generally.

“There are virtually no process of liberation in southern Africa that Professor Mandazza has not been involved in,” Nantulya said.

Mandazza lamented that the movement has been hampered by having no set Secretary-General providing leadership nor secure financing for the process. Also, Mandazza said that since the congresses moved to Africa in 1974 with the 6th Pan-African Congress in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that governments have “hegemonized” the process, creating competition and a lack of intra-African cooperation on ongoing congresses.

He said the focus of the 8th Congress is to develop a plan to create a structure for independence for the continuation of the movement. One proposal is the creation of a Pan-African University to promote the process by giving it a stable home.

According to Mandazza, organizing dithered after the 7th Congress in Kampala, Uganda, in 1994, and this has led to a great deal of confusion and disunity. He said the so-called 8th Congress in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2014 was a failure, and he hopes a new 8th Congress can restore successful continuity. One example of the disunity is the effort in Togo to launch a 9th Pan-African Congress that some prior organizers are participating in due to frustration over the lack of progress in creating the new 8th Congress.

It wasn’t until the African Union’s Economic and Social Council sponsored a Western Hemisphere Diaspora conference in December 2001 that AU officials saw the breadth of the Diaspora

There generally has been a decline in support for the Pan-African movement. Mandazza said it is likely because the congresses were seen as part of the struggle for freedom from colonialism. The thinking on the part of some, he said, has been that the struggle is over.

However, there have been pitfalls in the effort for true African independence that requires the Pan-African movement to continue. Fortunately, Mandazza said, the decline in support is likely temporary.

Challenges to Pan-Africanism

One of the challenges is the ongoing belief among some Africans that the Diaspora is defined only as those born on the continent who now live outside it. Mandazza pointed out that the Pan-African movement was driven early on by the African Diaspora – those who are descendants of Africa.

“People seem to forget the role of the Diaspora. We have half our population in the Diaspora outside Africa in places such as North and South America, Europe and elsewhere,” he said.

AU officials hadn’t accepted the famous saying by noted Jamaican Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey: “Africa for the Africans – those at home and those abroad.”

The attendance at the World Conference Against Racism in 2001 in Durban, South Africa, should have dispelled such a limited notion of the Diaspora since it brought together people from all over the Diaspora – even Australia and Columbia. He said he hadn’t known until then that there were a significant number of Diasporans in Columbia.

In fact, there are an estimated 4,944,400 people of African descent in Columbia, and a substantial number in other places where the Diaspora is a significant minority, such as Brazil (55,900,000), France (3,800,000), Venezuela (3,156,817), the United Kingdom (2,497,373), Mexico (1,386,556) and Italy (1,100,000).

It wasn’t until the African Union’s Economic and Social Council sponsored a Western Hemisphere Diaspora conference in December 2001 that AU officials saw the breadth of the Diaspora. I was honored to have organized and managed that conference in Washington, DC. At its onset, AU officials were challenged on their continued limitation on the description of the Diaspora. Seeing participants from the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Brazil made them realize that they were excluding people who could be important contributors to the welfare and status of the Diaspora worldwide.

At the next AU meeting in February 2002, they amended the organization’s charter to include the Diaspora as the 6th Region of Africa after North, East, Central, West and southern Africa.

Mandazza believes the 6th Region efforts could provide the impetus for the restoration of the Pan-African movement, especially if the various units can coalesce to achieve representation within the AU.

Yet another challenge is racialism within the Diaspora. Just as the AU previously refused to accept non-African-born people as part of the Diaspora, there are those who would refuse to accept Arabs and whites born on the continent as part of the Diaspora. I recall being at an African Democracy Network conference I organized in Mombasa, Kenya, in 1995 where I first witnessed the acceptance of non-black Africans.

David Coltart, a white Zimbabwean Member of Parliament rose to complain about the treatment of Africans by the developed countries. When he said: “we Africans,” I expected some grumbling, but in fact, there were a surprising number of expressions of agreement. Mandazza believes that whatever the history of non-black people in Africa, such disunity is not helpful.

“We have forgotten the ties that bind,” he said.

Mandazza said the ultimate aim of Pan-Africanism must be the restoration of the dignity of the African people and the placement of the Diaspora on the same level as other people in the world. “I’ve begun to think I will go to my grave with things as they are now,” he said.

For the Pan-African movement to progress, Mandazza said it will be up to the younger generation to carry the effort forward. He admonishes them to avoid being bogged down in unnecessary disputes along the way.

“Don’t agonize, organize,” he said.

The conversation with Dr. Mandazza can be heard in full on Spotify:

The Ties That Bind: A Dialogue on Pan-Africanism with Dr. Ibbo Mandaza

Gregory Simpkins, a longtime specialist in African policy development, is the Principal of 21st Century Solutions. He consults with organizations on African policy issues generally, especially in relating to the U.S. Government. He further acts as a consultant to the African Merchants Association, where he advises the Association in its efforts to stimulate an increase in trade between several hundred African Diaspora small and medium enterprises and their African partners.