I often see people claim that they are Pan-Africanist & I always wonder what that really means because I really appreciate the continent of Africa & want downtrodden Africans to thrive but I've never thought of myself as a Pan-Africanist. Now, what unifies us as African-descended people other than our skin colour, kinky hair, our distinctive noses & lips? What unifies us today seems to be oppression, disenfranchisement & racism. Oh, racism - the ever present monster that never fails to show it's head yet no one knows how to vanquish it. We can't just be united by negatives. What else? The ACTN3 gene? We do not have structures & systems which unite us other than the African Union, a few music genres & sport. To do a comparison; Europe has a faith, comprehensive language boards & the very education systems we use in Africa ourselves which unites them.
Which then makes me wonder, what united us as Africans before Europe knew of our existence? I have a few answers; the word for person is the same from Kenya, Uganda, Congo, Cameroon & perhaps eastern Nigeria heading to the south of the continent - cultural continuity. West Africa, is slightly different from the Bantu/Batwa groups, partially because they were so influenced by north Africa. Lunar & solar calendars, whether carved in bone or as large stone monuments, keep getting found in Africa - dispelling the whole concept of "African timing" & replacing it with a people who likely created the concept of counting (mathematics) & studying celestial objects (astronomy). We were also a people who deeply understood animals in our environment, their importance to the ecosystem & which plants in our environments were edible & medicinal... as well as taming some of those animals & plants for our benefit. This should be our shared African, or at least Bantu heritage, this is the foundation upon which we should build our nations. We were iron, bronze & gold smiths as well, perhaps before many other races around the world. We even had rituals to cure PTSD for warriors coming home from battle. In my culture, they would even be isolated after coming home from a battle & treated by a healer before they would return to their families. So if you're going to ask me what unites us as Africans & what fundamentals continental structures could be built around, it would be these:
• sovereign calendar regions or perhaps a united African calendar,
• simple mathematics
• astronomy
• biology (the anatomy of animals & the ecosystems in which they live)
• agriculture & livestock
• knowledge of the vegetation & which plants can be eaten & used as medicine
• making metal items (tools, ornaments & weapons)
• hunting & concepts of defending a territory from intruders
All these in point form are what a typical African would know before European colonisation. These could be what unites we Bantu (along the equator heading south) & could be at the leisure of West Africa, Nilotic & Kushitic Africa to embrace as well or add to should they wish. The people of the Songhai, Benin, Yoruba, Mali, Wogodogo, Yoruba, Igbo, Ghana Empire & Sokoto Caliphate all had intricate cultures from walled villages (which the Zulu also did with wooden fences), cultural masks, elaborate weapons. These are all things the African Union & Pan-African parliament could embrace & focus on an Africa for Africans model of governance.
Again, we must emphasize that while Africa had no constructed borders (much like Eurasia), one land did not rule over the matters of another land unless given room to do so. Our borders were rivers, lakes, hills, mountains & forests. Which is why we must be very suspicious of a United States of Africa concept because it never existed in the history of Africa.
If Pan-Africanism is to exist, it needs to exist in a structure & not be as though it is an honourary title. We need fundamentals from our shared cultural practices which will take us forward into the future from traditional cures to cultural practices like dowry, various martial arts & manufacturing processes, we could learn & borrow from each other what works.
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