HISTORY NOTES: PAN-AFRICANISM REDEFINED--THE NEED OF THE HOUR

Typical rural Bengali Muslim woman in Rajshahi, Bangladesh

PAN-AFRICANISM REDEFINED--THE NEED OF THE HOUR

By HOREN TUDU

One must be cautious and thoughtful regarding the usage of the term “African” as applied towards a broad variety of sovereign ethnic groups found across all corners of the globe. For each possesses distinctive notions and designations of one’s own humanity. Let us consider the origins of mankind and its unrelenting sequence of campaigns for survival, conquest and self-determination. Can it truly be valid and just to label a wide spectrum of ethnicities and nationalities based on what many critics of African-centered scholarship have dismissed as an unscrupulous association of those exhibiting melanin content beyond some arbitrary threshold of hue? More generally, who is an African and why? This is a complex and rather subtle issue that is yet to be resolved, for the mere definitions are subjects of profound deliberation in themselves.

We begin this brief discourse by first stating all human beings derive from a common source in Africa. This is an undisputed fact that provides a logical starting point in the chronology of humanity’s narrative. From an evolutionary biologist’s perspective, precise genetic markers tell a fastidious tale of man’s fragmentation into the diverse phenotypes we see today1,2. Furthermore many scholars have speculated that it is specifically man’s distinguishing trait of skin-color that has become the perverse obsession of those with recessive traits to subjugate and destroy humanity’s robust melanin containing masses.3

Therefore, one can naively divide mankind into two major categories. Present amongst the earth are the nomadic peoples and the indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples are the settled inhabitants of a particular location before the modern establishment of nation-states. Typically most indigenous groups can trace their origins in the form of myths and legends to the prehistoric dispersal of humans out of Africa.4 In terms of culture, indigenous groups live harmoniously with nature and live in accord with psychologically balanced familiar interactions, epitomized by the respect and emphasis of the role of women. Most importantly, indigenous groups share the common practice of sustainable development, utilizing natural resources in dynamic equilibrium and allowing for a lifestyle that can virtually perpetuate endlessly on a large timescale. Some notable examples are the Santhals of Bangladesh, the Zulu of South Africa, and the Koori of Australia.

On the other hand, the nomadic communities stem from harsher climates, allowing for a permanent restlessness and a culture rooted in pathology, having an admiration for military virtues and the exploitation of natural resources. Having more ferocious stamina and bestial bravery than cultural attainments, being the first of many historically recognized groups to seek control and domination of others, establishing one group superior and the other inferior3. Having raped and plundered indigenous people for centuries, a vicious culture of misogyny and sociological imbalance has been the nomadic legacy, conflicting with humanity’s very essence. Consequently, to find unanimity in one’s own humanity as exhibited by the indigenous people fits the true definition of an African. It is an inclusive category rather that a separatist ideology and ultimately its politics manifests itself in modern form as Pan-Africanism.

Pan Africanism today can be thought of analogously in terms of a popular children's fable. A drifting soldier traverses a shanty village occupied by famished families on the brink of survival. He decides to take a rest stop and declares to the village-folk that he will make a great soup by boiling a cauldron of water containing only a mere glistening stone. Although everyone in the village is welcome to join him, the village-folk are initially unconvinced but shortly after bring small contributions: a head of lettuce, pounds of potatoes, pieces of meat, and much more. Towards the end, the cauldron was overflowing with enough hearty soup to feed everyone in the village for weeks. Thus, the moral of this fable is that simple cooperation can produce significant achievements, even from meager, seemingly marginal contributions. As a perfect analogy to this children's fable, most black populations throughout the world are so engaged in their individual struggles, that a pervasive cynical outlook prevents any effective attempts at worldwide social, political, and economic unity.

Moreover, a large share of the African-centered establishment are unaware of the independent rise of black nationalism from within the Indian Sub-Continent extending back to the last decade, pioneered by Periyar Ramasamy, Kancha Illiah, Uthaya Naidu, Dr. K. Jamanadas, V.T. Rajshekar, Runoko Rashidi, and Hadwa Dom.

The uncertain extension of camaraderie directed towards the Dalits and Adivasis results from the limited interaction with South Asians restricted to the upper caste Hindu, Sikh, and Pakistani immigrants of the major cities. This brown Caucasoid community has candidly expressed anti-black, anti-African sentiments and a seemingly obstinate fondness for the Anglo-Americans and Europeans. The former and the latter often reinforce one another as the cultural foundations of Hinduism or Brahmanism, encompassing a broader framework of identities held by the South Asian Diaspora, irrespective of religious beliefs.5

At present, international travel is a rare experience amongst most Dalits and Adivasis. Accordingly, the direct collaboration with their counterparts in America has been the major obstacle for South Asian Pan-Africanists. On the other hand, recent advancements in technology have brought forth optimism. The Internet has blossomed into an inexpensive but efficient medium of communication and information dissemination. It has performed a crucial role in the unification of the world's fragmented, oppressed, and destitute masses of Blacks. In spite of this perceptual communications barrier, Pan-Africanism must be redefined to include the Dalits and Adivasis. This is an essential adjustment to accommodate recent changes in South Asia's political environment, for there are close to 300 million Blacks in South Asia alone. The motivation arises from the preceding fable's premise, that the transnational, cooperative efforts of the world's African populace can produce monumental achievements.

Modern Pan-Africanism was pioneered in the western hemisphere; conceived and developed by the celebrated, Jamaican born intellectual, Marcus Garvey. His unique brilliance identified a leading factor responsible for the destruction of classical Black civilization and the emergence of global Indo-European tyranny. This being that most indigenous communities suffer from the absence of a collective political identity that binds them to the efforts of the others. This disconnection of one’s identity and race has contributed to decline of the African Diaspora. The European and Anglo-American orchestrated interethnic conflicts from within the African continent along with the ubiquitous deterioration of African health, economic regression, and infrastructural stagnation, have produced disaster and confusion upon scores of post-colonial African nations.

It is an appalling reality that without exception, within every nation across the globe, African people occupy the lowest rungs of the socio-economic hierarchy. Given the widespread severity of the problem, the continued existence of the global African presence relies heavily upon the practice of one logical principle: Blacks worldwide must stay united as one people. As the Dalit author, Hadwa Dom has pleaded, "From the US South to South Africa to South India, Blacks have been oppressed by white races. More understanding of our common racial bonds is necessary for our survival."5

In the 19th century the Black Tasmanians experienced a near complete case of genocide. The Agta Negritos of the Phillipines, the Nicobarese, and perhaps even the Australian Aboriginals are waning into extinction. Today, in the United States, the African Americans have been shaped into a permanent underclass by the machine of institutionalized racism. It is evident, that the Redefinition of Pan-Africanism is the need of the hour.

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