The Organization of African Unity marks its 50th anniversary today amid not just the search for solidarity across a continent but for a vision of a global Africa
Africa unite!
Unite for the benefit for the benefit of
your people!
Unite for it's later than you think!
Unite for the benefit of my children!
Unite for it's later than you think!
Bob Marley, Africa Unite, 1979
On May 25, 2013, Africa celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Heads of African States, high profile personalities and guests from all over the world are pouring into Addis Ababa to testify that the early objective of the OAU has been fulfilled: the total liberation of Africa from colonialism and white supremacy. As the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I, said at the 1963 Summit: "Our liberty is meaningless unless all Africans are free." However, this celebration does more, and illustrates how Africa is entering its renaissance.
Foundational step
The African renaissance is the political and social vision promoted by the Africa Union, launched in 2002 to transform and succeed to the OAU. The establishment of the OAU in 1963 was a major political step in cementing Africa's continental bond, and was also one of the fruits of Pan-Africanism, often defined as the most ambitious and inclusive ideology that Africa has formulated for itself since the 19th century. The legacies of Pan-Africanism are today to be represented, at least in their political aspects, by the interests of the 54 African nations forming the African Union. As such, Pan-Africanism stands as a foundational step to the African renaissance, its source, its roots and its main ambition.
Celebrations are the time to exhume from history charismatic characters, unexpected trajectories and great struggles. Pan-Africanism is rich in each of these and spans over centuries and continents. Like other "Pan-" movements, Pan-Africanism articulates the unity of nature and the destiny of cause of African people in Africa and those scattered across the world. Pan-Africanism was first elaborated by activists and intellectuals in the diaspora and testifies to the indomitable spirit of people like Edward W. Blyden, a scholar born in the Virgin Islands in the Eastern Caribbean and who settled in Liberia, West Africa in 1851. Blyden wrote and talked about the historicity of Africa and of the prophetic destiny of black people, the sons and daughters of the Africans brought as slaves to the American shores, deemed to return to their original homeland.Read More
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