Africa mobilised for its integration and renaissance

The Chairperson of the Union, President Obasanjo, and three of Africa's Nobel laureates, Nelson Mandela, F.W.de Klerk and Wole Soyinka had addressed the meeting the previous day, October 6.

This was the "First Meeting of Intellectuals of Africa and the Diaspora organised by the African Union", convened to address the general theme "Africa in the 21st Century: Integration and Renaissance".

In a Draft Concept Paper, the AU said:

"Although there is no discipline, no area or field of knowledge, where Africans cannot be counted among the leading experts, the African intelligentsia seems to have a lot of difficulty influencing the course of contemporary African history. It appears as if the African intellectual development is in crisis.

"The demobilisation of intellectuals after "independence" - which was the main focus of attention, the repressive nature of the political systems established in many States, the predominance of one party systems as the preferred form of political management, the apparent triumph of the neo-liberal model following the dismantling of the Soviet Bloc, etc, are factors which explain the crisis or at least the lethargy into which African intellectual thinking has fallen."

The Paper says that this diagnosis was contested by African intellectuals at a meeting held in Dakar in May this year. Nevertheless, the Paper asks a number of pertinent rhetorical questions.

"Is it not true to say that the African intellectual production, in spite of its volume, richness and diversity, lacks visibility and that, with a few exceptions, it is neither known nor recognised?

"Is it not also true to say that the links between the African intellectuals and the policy-makers are tenuous, and that there is no way the much desired paradigms could emerge without a strong alliance between the two categories of players?

"Is there no urgency in seeking ways to liberate the expression of the African intelligentsia in all its forms, an expression which today is stifled and marginalised both at home and abroad, in a market of ideas where Afro-pessimism is the order of the day, a market where the only ideas accepted are those of the dominant classes?

"Is there no urgency in ensuring that intellectuals of Africa and the Diaspora, who are today fragmented and scattered, come together as a veritable intelligentsia by turning their struggle into the struggle for transformation and liberation of the Continent from the dictatorship of hastily crafted therapies and the logic of uncontrollable adjustments?"

After saying that the answer of the African Union to these questions "is an emphatic yes", the Paper says:

"The African Union also plans to give African intellectuals the opportunity to express themselves and participate, through the power of their ideas, in the formulation/conception of a project which should arouse as much passionate debate as did decolonisation, a project of an Africa mobilised for its integration and renaissance."

We have to turn to such outstanding African thinkers and writers as Ngugi wa Thiong'o to understand what the African Union means when it speaks of a "passionate debate" aroused by the anti-colonial struggle.

In his paper "The Politics of the Canon", originally delivered in 1973, Ngugi wrote about the way in which the Mau Mau struggle in Kenya for Land and Freedom, meant that the risen masses "rejected the coloniser's interpretation of reality." He wrote that:

"The change was from a world view that instilled fear and despondency, to one that steeled political will and raised hopes. The entire body of the resistance literature affirmed the right of a people once again to seize the initiative in history. Needless to say, this was banned by the colonial regime."

We must therefore take it that when the AU calls on the intelligentsia in Africa and the Diaspora passionately to engage the "project of an Africa mobilised for its integration and renaissance", it visualises the situation in which this intelligentsia will help the African masses everywhere "once again to seize the initiative in history".

In his book "Decolonising the Mind", Ngugi had also reflected on the period to which the AU referred when it spoke about "the demobilisation of intellectuals after independence", and said:

"I shall look at the African realities as they are affected by the great struggle between the two mutually opposed forces in Africa today: an imperialist tradition on one hand, and a resistance tradition on the other. The imperialist tradition in Africa is today maintained by the international bourgeoisie using the multinational and of course flag-waving native ruling classes. The economic and political dependence of this African neo-colonial bourgeoisie is reflected in its culture of apemanship and parrotry enforced on a restive population through police boots, barbed wire, a gowned clergy and judiciary; their ideas are spread by a corpus of state intellectuals, the academic and journalistic laureates of the neo-colonial establishment.

"The resistance tradition is being carried out by the working people.aided by the patriotic students, intellectuals (academic and non-academic), soldiers and other progressive elements of the petty middle class. This resistance is reflected in the patriotic defence of the peasant/worker roots of national cultures, their defence of the democratic struggle in all the nationalities inhabiting the same territory."

Because of the positions he espoused, passionately defending and advancing "the resistance tradition", Ngugi ended up a victim of the "police boots, (and) barbed wire" of which he had written. He was imprisoned, "and spent the whole of 1978 in a maximum security prison, detained without even the doubtful benefit of a trial", as the ideas of the Mau Mau resistance literature had been banned by the colonial regime.

The "theatre of the oppressed" he had started was banned. He writes that, "On 12 March 1982 three truckloads of armed policemen were sent to Kamiriithu Community Education and Cultural Centre and razed the open-air theatre to the ground.

"By its wanton act of destruction of (the) Theatre in 1982, (the regime) had shown its anti-people neo-colonial colours and it had become further alienated from the people. Its intensified repression of Kenyans in 1982 -through detentions without trial or imprisonment on trumped-up charges, particularly of university lecturers and students - did not improve its image and its further alienation from the people.

"It hopes that people can forget the alternative vision, though unrealised, but embodied in the Kamiriithu experience. Kamiriithu must not be allowed to become a revolutionary shrine. People have to be taught the virtues of subservience and gratitude to a gallery of stars.

"But can an idea be killed? Can you destroy a revolutionary shrine itself enshrined in the revolutionary spirit if a people?"

Clearly, in its Concept Paper, the AU is making the firm statement that our Continent should not permit of the situation in which our governments act to kill revolutionary ideas by detaining and imprisoning those who espouse these ideas. It is calling on the intelligentsia in Africa and the Diaspora to uphold and advance the resistance tradition that liberated our Continent from colonialism and apartheid.

The struggle to achieve Africa's "integration and renaissance" cannot but be a revolutionary struggle. It requires the negation of the situation according to which a "culture of apemanship and parrotry (is) enforced on a restive population through police boots, barbed wire, a gowned clergy and judiciary; the ideas (of repressive ruling groups) are spread by a corpus of state intellectuals, the academic and journalistic laureates of the neo-colonial establishment."

By their nature, revolutions inspire and are defined by the involvement of the masses of the people, determined to "seize the initiative in history". The struggle for the integration and renaissance of Africa requires such participation, with the masses acting as conscious agents of change. It requires that the intelligentsia should be part of the masses, protagonists of the resistance tradition in the process of change.

One of the intellectuals participating in the Dakar meeting, Elikia M' Bokolo, quotes President Kaunda on the tasks of the intelligentsia, when he said, in a book published in 1966:

"By intellectual I mean anyone who has a level of modern education beyond that of the mass of the people and who is prepared to become politically involved. The intellectual must be distinguished from the academic who is not a man of action but dedicated to the disinterested pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. He must also be distinguished from the scholar who is verse in traditional lore - the Confucian scholar in China, the Islamic scholar in the Middle East or the tribal elder in Africa. The intellectual is essentially an engaged man, applying modern knowledge and training to political purposes. The intellectual group has been a key element in most twentieth-century revolutions, particularly in Africa."

In his Theses on Feuerbach, Karl Marx said: "The philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point however is to change it."

In his definition of an intellectual, Kenneth Kaunda spoke about the workers by brain who engage in struggle to change the world, rather than merely contemplate and interpret it.

Inherently, like Ngugi, he rejected the Afro-pessimism of which the AU speaks in its Concept Paper, which sees the efforts of Africans on the Continent and the Diaspora as hopelessly doomed to failure. In his book, "Decolonising the Mind", Ngugi had warned about the effect of "the cultural bomb.unleashed by imperialism again the collective defiance" of the people. He said:

"(The cultural bomb) makes (the people) identify with that which is decadent and reactionary, all those forces which would stop their own springs of life. It even plants serious doubts about the moral rightness of struggle. Possibilities of triumph or victory are seen as remote, ridiculous dreams. The intended results are despair, despondency and a collective death-wish."

Reflecting the repudiation of this "cultural bomb", and expressing confidence in our future, in his paper submitted to the Dakar meeting, "Rethinking Pan-Africanism", Thandika Mkandawire writes:

"The role of the intellectuals will be to contribute to the imagination of a new democratic pan-Africanism that will enhance the capacity of the continent to mobilise the vast human resources (Diasporic and Continental), and natural wealth, for laying to rest once and for all the sources of poverty and disease that have haunted Africa for so long and for weaving one inclusive tapestry out of its great cultural diversity."

In his 1997 book, "Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa", Keith Richburg, an African in the Diaspora who reported on the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, wrote:

"Africa. Birthplace of civilisation. My ancestral homeland. I came here thinking I might find a little bit of that missing piece of myself. But Africa chewed me up and spit me back out again. It took out a machete and slashed into my brain the images that have become my nightmares.

"It wasn't supposed to turn out this way. I really did come here with an open mind, wanting to love the place, love the people. I would love to end this journey now on a high note, to see hope amid the chaos. I'd love to talk about the smiles of the African people, their generosity and perseverance, their love of lie, their music and dance, their respect for elders, their sense of family and community.

"I could point out the seeds of democracy, the formation of a 'civil society ', the emergence of an urban middle class, the establishment of independent institutions, and the rule of law. I wish I could end my story this way, but it would all be a lie.Thank God my nameless ancestor, brought across the ocean in chains and leg irons, made it out alive. Thank God I am an American."

I do not know if Keith Richburg also thinks that the vision projected by Thandika Mkandawire is also a lie, and that Africa is cursed forever to "take out a machete and slash into (our) brains the images that have become (our) nightmares." What I know is that the African masses on the Continent and the Diaspora will never be thankful for slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism.

What will continue to inspire us as we continue the struggle to overcome this legacy and our own misdeeds is the call to arms sounded by Theophile Obenga in Dakar, Senegal.

Writing about "Africa's renaissance in the 21st Century", for the Dakar meeting, Theophile Obenga, says:

"Any Renaissance must correspond to a period of strong emotions, intensive creativity and flames illuminating the countryside - an exceptional period when a generation's creative genius discovers its mission, fulfils it to its best, without betraying, diminishing, reducing or downsizing it. It should correspond to great moments in history and great works.All peoples want re-birth after misfortune: wars, genocide, holocaust, ignorance, obscurantism, colonialism. Rebirth is a positive attitude of hope."

Our intelligentsia in Africa and the Diaspora has the choice to join hands with the masses of our people who are loyal to the resistance tradition, to bless Africa with a generation's creative genius that discovers its mission, fulfils it to its best, without betraying, diminishing, reducing or downsizing it - the mission to achieve Africa's integration and renaissance.