When many people around the globe hear expressions like ‘Africa for Africans’ and ‘Pan-Africanism’, they tend to associate it with the more militant movements of decades past. But there’s a new meme forming that I like to call Neo Pan-Africanism, the idea that Africa’s peoples have to take a more active role in the continent’s future because history has proven that foreign nations and domestic leaders often fail to have her best interests in mind.
It’s a philosophy that people like Andrew Mwenda speak of in reaction to many years of misspent aid, poor leadership and absent accountability in African governments. ‘Trade not Aid’ is a common catchphrase used to describe the movement. Why? For one, trade directly supports the middle class and promotes entrepreneurship. Meanwhile, developmental aid is often accused of undermining both and allows foreign nations to manipulate the policy decisions of African governments. To have a healthy democracy the faucet that turns money on and off can’t be solely administrative, that’s more limiting to a prosperous middle class than anything else (look at Russia and China). Regardless of how foreigners feel, it seems to be mainly Africans themselves who are advocating the later idea. People here are sick of seeing their leaders profiting at their expense and they’re sick of being seen as a continent of beggars when more often than not it’s those same governments leading the charge to ask for more.
The fact that people are fed up is a good thing. It means things are changing for the better.
At Barcamp Africa a phrase was tossed about quite a bit referring to the trending of African expatriates returning back home to use their skills and money to better the continent. This idea of a reaspora is directly associated to neo Pan-Africanism. No one understands the region like Africans do and no one is inclined to help the region more than Africans.
It’s important, though, to make a distinction. Neo Pan-Africanism is a call for social responsibility by Africans to other Africans of the diaspora. In most cases it has nothing to do with foreigners. It’s not about kicking anyone out of the continent or persecuting people for what their ancestors did, it’s about people from the continent making sure they are most responsible and accountable for it’s successes and failures. In other words, by definition it’s positive and progressive. In fact, in a perfect world foreign nations would benefit even more from this idea as it would enable the world at large to participate more with the continent; allowing them to share Africa’s resources and enjoy it’s incredibly diverse cultures and traditions.
About the author: Jonathan Gosier is a software developer, writer and social entrepreneur. He currently lives in Kampala, Uganda where he incubates and invests in East African entrepreneurs as the CEO of Appfrica Labs. He's also a TED Fellow.
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Neo Pan-Africanism and the Reaspora
When many people around the globe hear expressions like ‘Africa for Africans’ and ‘Pan-Africanism’, they tend to associate it with the more militant movements of decades past. But there’s a new meme forming that I like to call Neo Pan-Africanism, the idea that Africa’s peoples have to take a more active role in the continent’s future because history has proven that foreign nations and domestic leaders often fail to have her best interests in mind.
It’s a philosophy that people like Andrew Mwenda speak of in reaction to many years of misspent aid, poor leadership and absent accountability in African governments. ‘Trade not Aid’ is a common catchphrase used to describe the movement. Why? For one, trade directly supports the middle class and promotes entrepreneurship. Meanwhile, developmental aid is often accused of undermining both and allows foreign nations to manipulate the policy decisions of African governments. To have a healthy democracy the faucet that turns money on and off can’t be solely administrative, that’s more limiting to a prosperous middle class than anything else (look at Russia and China). Regardless of how foreigners feel, it seems to be mainly Africans themselves who are advocating the later idea. People here are sick of seeing their leaders profiting at their expense and they’re sick of being seen as a continent of beggars when more often than not it’s those same governments leading the charge to ask for more.
The fact that people are fed up is a good thing. It means things are changing for the better.
At Barcamp Africa a phrase was tossed about quite a bit referring to the trending of African expatriates returning back home to use their skills and money to better the continent. This idea of a reaspora is directly associated to neo Pan-Africanism. No one understands the region like Africans do and no one is inclined to help the region more than Africans.
It’s important, though, to make a distinction. Neo Pan-Africanism is a call for social responsibility by Africans to other Africans of the diaspora. In most cases it has nothing to do with foreigners. It’s not about kicking anyone out of the continent or persecuting people for what their ancestors did, it’s about people from the continent making sure they are most responsible and accountable for it’s successes and failures. In other words, by definition it’s positive and progressive. In fact, in a perfect world foreign nations would benefit even more from this idea as it would enable the world at large to participate more with the continent; allowing them to share Africa’s resources and enjoy it’s incredibly diverse cultures and traditions.