Pan-Africanism

Pan-Africanism is a term which can have two separate, but related meanings.

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Pan-Africanism is a movement of solidarity among the nations of Africa, most particularly Black Africa. The Pan-Africanist perspective is one of common cause with citizens of other African nations, as a result of shared history and shared struggle against a number of threats and challenges, among them: racism, white supremacy, slavery, colonialist exploitation, neocolonialism, and imperialism. Edward Wilmot Blyden (1832-1912) is considered the father of the modern Pan African movement.

Related Topics:
Africa - Black Africa - Racism - White supremacy - Slavery - Colonialist exploitation - Neocolonialism - Imperialism - Edward Wilmot Blyden

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Pan-Africanism is also an international movement that has as its goal the unity of Africans and the elimination of colonialism and white supremacy. The term Pan Africanism commonly is used to mean solidarity among indigenous, or black Africans. However, the concept has evolved so that it now encompasses a set of ideas that have emerged over time— from Africa's first contact with Arabs and Europeans and the slave trade; from various slave insurrection and abolitionist movements and struggles to end colonialism, neocolonialism and imperialism; from the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-apartheid movement and liberation struggles in Southern Africa; and from Afrocentrist history and thought.

Related Topics:
Black - Africans - Arabs - Europeans - Slave - Abolitionist - Colonialism - Neocolonialism - Imperialism - Civil Rights Movement - Apartheid - Afrocentrist

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In another sense, pan-Africanism is the notion that all black persons are an "African people," with shared or related cultural traditions and a common history of struggle against many of the same threats and challenges mentioned above. According to pan-Africanism, all blacks, even if they are several generations removed from African soil, as in the case of descendants of African slaves in the Americas, are part of the African Diaspora. As such, it is important that African people work together for one another's empowerment, self-determination and freedom from oppression. This sense of group identity and solidarity of purpose has become a tenet of most black nationalist movements.

Related Topics:
Black persons - Diaspora - Black nationalist

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Additionally, the concept of who comprises the "African diaspora," sometimes called the "global African community," has changed over time to include so-called "Negroid", Veddoid and Australoid peoples the world over. These groups include black aboriginal populations in Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, Australia, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent.

Related Topics:
"Negroid" - Veddoid - Australoid - Melanesia - Micronesia - Polynesia - Australia - Southeast Asia - Indian subcontinent

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Today, Pan Africanism is a large part of modern culture, and pan african symbolism is used to express counter culture and resistance to oppression all around the world, in a diverse number of issues. For example the Fist of Glory, a popular symbol of the Black Power movement has been adopted in Eastern European by OTPOR.

Related Topics:
Fist of Glory - Black Power - Eastern European - OTPOR

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See also: Pan-African colours

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