Can Africa turn Pan-Africanism ideals into reality?

DW (English)

Once a rallying cry for liberation, Pan-Africanism now faces its toughest challenge: Can lofty ideals translate into unity, peace, and shared prosperity in a rapidly changing Africa? We explore whether a historic vision can deliver real progress or remain just a dream.

Transcript

00:00Pan-Africanism once united Africans against oppression and colonial rule.

00:05In the 19th century, it inspired resistance to slavery and imperial domination.

00:12By the 20th century, leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey and Kwame Nkrumah championed

00:19solidarity and independence. This November, Accra hosted a Pan-African conference marking

00:2780 years since the historic Fifth Congress in Manchester, a turning point in Africa's

00:33liberation struggle. But today, the question is sharper. Can Pan-Africanism move beyond rhetoric

00:40and deliver tangible progress? The issues that were there in 1945 of decolonization, racial

00:51discrimination, marginalization politically, economically and socially are still there

00:58of the African people. We are still neo-colonies. Today, we are still, as we were in 1945,

01:08the poorest continent. We don't have a choice. It's either we unite as Africans

01:15or we will be defeated alone. South Sudan's Minister of Culture, Nadia Arop-Dudi,

01:24says African solidarity helped her country gain independence in 2011, but warns that unity must

01:32go beyond symbolism to secure peace and stability. We went through the challenges to gain our independence.

01:40after that we came alone as a people of South Sudan to fight the war that we should not do it. But

01:47we have the Pan-African really was keen to make sure that South Sudan as a young country must get back

01:56so that we can develop our country. Our region, which is East Africa region, they stand with us all of us

02:02that South Sudan must get back to their sense and remember the struggle that we struggled since we fought

02:10Sudan since 1955. It's not easy to come in 2011 and then go to another internal war. Libya's fragile peace

02:20shows the same dilemma, ideals without implementation. Yet young voices like Abdul Hamid Al-Sadiq Gayet believe

02:30Africa's youth can revive Pan-Africanism if they make it relevant.

02:35I'm pretty sure many youth across the continent, if you could ask them about this Pan-Africanism,

02:42they will not know it. So that's what we need to do and the part that we need to play right now is

02:47rise awareness about this idea and this Pan-Africanism so we can continue the footsteps of our African great leaders.

02:58Pan-Africanism leads the fire of freedom, but will it light the path to real progress?

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