PAN-AFRICANISM: The Unfinished Agenda

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 “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

ABSTRACT

One of the prominent movements confronting imperialism and oppressive systems throughout the history of African people is Pan-Africanism which strives for a unified Africa and diaspora politically and culturally. It has however gone through a historical phase which has failed to give attention to gender and sexual orientation issues. In this paper,  the focus is on the perpetuation of a unifying nature but yet divisive nature within Pan-Africanism. It aims to show women's discrimination and the LGBTQ+ minority within the movement. It thereafter presents ways of engaging in a far more flexible and integrated Pan-Africanism that interprets the history of all Africans irrespective of their different backgrounds.

INTRODUCTION

Pan-Africanism has shown the way for the Africans to collectively regain freedom and identity through the struggle. Right from the formation of pan-African congresses as early as the beginning of the twentieth century to the current anti-colonial movements, the dream of a unified and prosperous Africa has continually motivated generations. Nevertheless, the dream of individual freedom and the championing of free markets have often meant the sacrifice of inclusivity. True Pan-Africanism is not possible if the full range of the African story which includes the women and the members of the LGBTQ+ community is not fully recognized and involved in the narrative.

An African proverb that reflects this is “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Though these words tell the complicated nature of liberation, it is undeniable that women who fought together with men for political freedom did not enjoy total social and economic emancipation. In the course of history, at times their contributions were underestimated and disregarded or excluded from the accounts of history.

This paper recognises the full connection of Pan-Africanism with the entire spectrum of African history. It should credit the women who were previously disempowered but plot a path for the future that recognizes the aspirations and existence of the LGBTQ+ community that constitutes a minority within mainstream Pan-African discourse.

A LEGACY OF INCOMPLETE LIBERATION

There was significant development of Pan-Africanism during the early part of the twentieth century. Early leaders propagating for the union and liberation of Africans include W.E. B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey. That being said, they were mostly interested in the topics of decolonization and national liberation. The idea of gender equity was therefore subjugated to the primary objective of liberating Africa from colonial rule by Europeans. An example is Garveyism where its core tenets of Black nationalism and racial pride, on one hand, developed a sense of pan-African community, but on the other, it was extremely patriarchal. It excluded women from its project of building the ‘African nation’ and confined them mainly to the domestic arena as homemakers and they were supposed to contribute in a submissive and subordinate manner.

This prioritization was in part fuelled by the demand for change spearheaded by the decolonization movement. European colonization had clearly done so much harm to Africa, including but not limited to, political domination, social oppression and the economic enslavement of the African countries. Early Pan-Africanists like Du Bois who were well acquainted with this barbarism understood the need for national liberation given such heinous acts committed against humanity. The Africans had to stand one irrespective of their ethnic or tribal grouping as they felt that it was their only way of dismantling the structure that was in place to achieve independence. Perhaps incorporating efforts for gender equality into this broader liberation movement would have been regarded as counterproductive or even separatist and would have compromised the delicate unity required for decolonization.

Another factor which contributed to this is the strategic pragmatism that was employed by the movement. Early Pan-Africanism leaders were aimed at fighting colonial powers which were fully equipped and strengthened. Widening the struggle with the inclusion of gender aspects could have chased away potential supporters or demobilized energies that could instead have been used for national liberation. The movement needed support within communities and targeting other forms of change beyond decolonization could have been viewed as too ambitious.

Nonetheless, this emphasis on national liberation came with some consequences. One of the major drawbacks of the movement was that women were marginalized and their opinions and actions were not valued. Many captive women also engaged in struggles and rebellions against colonial powers in Africa. Women had their own way of showing their strength and independence by being involved in the fight for freedom; from the market women who boycotted colonial produce to the female warriors who directly confronted the Europeans. However, their contributions to the push for Pan-Africanism remained unnoticed readily in the larger achievement.

One of the most notable cases of this kind of duality is the Pan-Africanism of Marcus Garvey. The extent to which Garveyism contributed to the development of Pan-African consciousness is apparent and comprehensible because Garvey advocated the establishment of black-owned businesses and encouraged blacks everywhere in the globe to return to Africa. But at the same time, his vision did not deviate from the expected gender roles in particular, those of women. Women were regarded as the standards bearers of morality with the responsibility of raising the ‘African nation. ‘ Their roles were mainly confined in the realm of the home, which excluded them from the political and economic arenas of Pan-Africanism.

This prioritization of the embodied traditional gender roles was one way in which early Pan-Africanism merely shifted oppression to another level and maintained the status quo on a grander scale. In as much as the movement called for equal rights and eradication of discrimination against women, it in a way perpetuated sexism and traditional roles of women in the society where they were not allowed to make major decisions but were instead expected to stay at home and take care of the family.

It is therefore necessary to note this tension when looking at the context of early Pan-Africanism. Despite understanding the extent to which the movement helped lay the foundation of African liberation, the shortcomings of gender equality cannot be ignored. Notably, even in the later generational Pan-African scholarship, one can find important works that establish lucid critiques regarding the pan-African movement’s failure in addressing Gender concerns such as works by Angela Davis and Gwendolyn Padmore. Their voices laid down the foundation and hues of a more Pan-Africanist perspective of the emancipation of Africa which also included the rights of women in the overall process of empowering the African continent.

Luckily, the present synchronizes with a more optimistic tune. The African women are not long-suffering to wallow in silence and be dictated on what becomes of them. A renewed call for feminism is now shaping the Pan-Africanism agenda challenging the male-dominated hierarchal system with clamour for women’s liberation and their accomplishments. Places to work: This call for equality is foregrounded by organizations such as the Pan-African Women’s Organization or events like “Africa Day for Women.” In addition, the African Union’s Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa is another indication of a continental and regional desire to eliminate gender inequality.

These then are significant changes that signal a shift in symphony within the Pan-African arena. The role of women in the state is gradually being restored to their proper place of activism, thus giving the movement a new dimension from a feminine perspective. Still, even with these rafts of initiatives being implemented, the process of making society more diverse is far from over. This current progress feels like a slow harmonic build-up, something that feels close to a crescendo but lacks fullness in the whole composition.

However, the fight for representation does not and should not end with gender issues. Despite the growing visibility of queer people in Africa and diaspora activism and culture, The place of LGBTQ+ people is still marginalized within Pan-African historiography. This is true, especially in cultures where patriarchal dominance as well as religious beliefs are used to justify their continued persecution. This results in a cycle whereby Pan-Africanism appears to be going through phases, phase by phase incorporating the neglected masses into acceptability.

While Women are gradually being included, The people in the LGBTQ+ community are still very much missing from the narrative. This piecemeal approach threatens to keep the Pan-African liberation project concretized with a hierarchical outlook, where freedom is claimed in swathes at the behest of selected individuals rather than a basic human right that must be claimed by all. The homophobic and transphobic sentiments with close connections to colonialism and the impression of Western religious ideas have erased LGBTQ+ identities in Pan-Africanism. Even more troubling is this exclusion is that it excludes people in the LGBTQ+ community from participating in the movement and perpetuates a specific way of being ‘African.’

The consequences of this invisibility are profound. Historically, African histories would be profoundly flawed, to say the least, if one failed to recognize the roles of pro-LGBTQ anthologies in advocating for freedom. These include the cultural and people’s histories, most particularly ethnographic works, that indicate that homosexuality and trans-sexuality were present within pre-colonial African societies. By doing so, it wipes out a fundamental part of the African history and narrative as a continent. It also perpetuates social stigma and violence. This is because the rights of the queer community remain neglected and continue to be marginalized by society; it means that being queer is to live in fear and the shadows. It not only deprives them of the ability to develop normal and healthy feelings and thoughts but also limits productivity in society. A “Pan-Africanism” that does not reflect the sociopolitical realities of the LGBTQ+ African groups is also a distorted view of the African continent. This is against the spirit of a unified Africa, which is the fighting theme of the movement in question.

The LGBTQ+ isn’t the only group that has been left unheard let alone the one to lose an important bargaining power. Other forms of marginalized groups in the societies such as ethnic and religious minorities, people with disabilities, and people from below the social caste also struggle to make themselves representative within the Pan-African discourse.

The current approach to dealing with the mistreatment of these marginalised groups is manifested as sequential where one problem is handled and solved independently of others. This approach is evidently slow and insufficient. It establishes a personalized system of deliverance within Pan-Africanism that makes it appear as if some subjects are released before others. This is not only antithetical to the very rationale of such a common collective struggle, with unity as one of the key pillars of the Pan-Africanism movement but it also overlooks the millions of Africans who are discriminated against based on their multiple oppressions.

Such marginalization is not without its effects as it produces a kind of epistemic violence that results in the writing out of African history and the systematic stigmatization and negative stereotyping of marginalised Africans. This in turn creates a fractured definition of what it means to be African.

The call is for Pan-Africanism to embrace its diversity. Thus, it is critical that women’s voices and experiences remain both integral and prominent in Pan-Africanist discourse. This encompasses the progression of the women's emancipation movement locally and regionally within the African continent to fight patriarchy. Moreover, Pan-Africanism must seek to understand and embrace the African sexual subject within its diversity and resist the situating of Africa within the discourse of the neo-liberal sexual politics of the West. This warrants a closer look at the ways colonialism and religion influenced what is presently deemed acceptable about sexuality and sexual orientation. There is also a need to rethink African history, particularly the roles of African Queers in the continent’s history that ignores the cultural dynamism of African cultures on the fluidity of gender and sexual orientation. It is an approach that falls short of the coalesced  African construct of ‘unity’ while simultaneously contradicting the uncoupled construct of  African otherness and hence challenging the narrative of the existence of a homogeneous ‘African’ identity.

Pan-Africanism has the potential to be a force for integration and progress across Africa. However, the exclusion legacy of potential partners requires a shift in its approach. Pan-Africanism can change into a unity movement for the whole of Africa and all the oppressed nations all over the world once it admits that it was wrong and discriminative in the past giving room for marginalized groups to be active participants in the movement and encouraging discussion. Only then can its symphony ring as strong and beautiful as the African continent and its myriad cultures.

 

 By Mitchel Odeke Ojaamong