What type of Africa do we want?
An Africa imposed on us or an Africa built through our own abilities and efforts?
A question this piece would like to explore.
We often hear from our Europeans neighbors when talking about Africa,
This must go.
That must go.
He must go.
She must
go.
They never
say the illegal Berlin walls in Africa must go.
The Berlin
walls in Africa are illegal and must go.
African
unity is the surest way to dismantle the artificially and the illegally built
Berlin walls in Africa.
The illegal
Berlin walls in Africa are a curse.
We must
break the curse
We must
undo the curse
We must
remove the curse
We must
reverse the curse
The illegal
Berlin walls in Africa must go NOW.
Berlin is
noted for building notorious walls to divide peoples. First let us be clear
that there is a huge difference between the physical Berlin wall which
separated the West Berlin from East Berlin and divided the World between the
East and the West during the cold war era.
And the
notorious and imaginary one built in Berlin in 1884/85 and transported to
Africa purposely to create a wedge among Africans and keep Africans perpetually
divided, weak and dependent.
In 1884/85,
some few Europeans arrogated to themselves the right to butcher Africa like the
Elephant and share the meat among themselves.
To get a
picture of what happened at the so-called Berlin Conference, pay a visit to a
slaughterhouse and observe how the butchers work. This is how the operation is
captured by the African novelist, short story writer and essayist, Ayi Kwei
Armah.
“The
dismemberment of Africa at the 1885 Berlin Conference, a process much like the
butchering of a huge elephant for sharing among jubilant hunter kin, marked the
triumphal peak of the theory and practice of European supremacy.”
At this
conference, they built artificial, illegal and imaginary walls in Africa.
Unlike the physical wall built in Berlin, these were not made of concrete, but
were built in our minds.
In our
mental state as Africans, we see ourselves divided by these imaginary walls,
meanwhile we are one. These imaginary walls have made us to see one another as
the enemy instead of seeing ourselves of belonging to one huge and same family.
In our
minds as Africans stand the illegal Berlin walls that divide Nigeria and Benin,
Gambia and Senegal, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Libya and Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria,
Mali and Niger, Guinea and Liberia, Uganda and Kenya, Chad and Sudan, Namibia
and Angola, Gabon and Congo, Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire, Somalia and Ethiopia and
so on and so forth.
The
architects of the illegal walls of Berlin in Africa intentionally built the
walls in our minds through education and religion. Therefore, in our mind’s
world as Africans stand the walls of Berlin. So with these walls built in our
minds and unseen with the physical eyes, unlike the physical one built in
Berlin, their removal is very difficult, but not impossible.
Walls
protect or separate. In our case, the walls were built to separate us and make
us easy preys for domination and control through the divide-and-conquer
tactics. We need to build new walls in Africa to defend our humanity, dignity
and resources. This can only happen through a continental Unity.
China’s
great wall has symbolically served as a bulwark for China. Today China can be
proud for fortifying her territory against external aggression.
“A United
States of Africa is the most visionary solution to the minor issues of
ethnicity and regionalism because in an African Federative Union we are all
Africans” Prof. Molefi Kete Asante
In January
20, 1981, when the former US President Reagan took over the US administration,
he made it a duty to see to it that the wall of Berlin dividing Europe and
hindering the growth and advancement of European people, wealth and power is
removed. He saw that the Berlin wall was hindering the free flow of economic
and political activities in Europe, thereby affecting the prosperity and
security of Europe and by extension the United States.
He
therefore challenged the then Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to work
diligently and speed up the breaking down or removal of the Berlin wall, which
had become a huge obstacle to European/US advancement.
He spoke
those famous words “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall”. By the time of Reagan’s
request, Mr. Gorbachev
had already initiated the “perestroika and glasnost” policy in the then Soviet
Union. So answering Reagan’s request was not difficult, as the perestroika and
glasnost met the Reagan’s request and the chemical reaction that ensued, saw
the eventual dismantling of the cold war physical Berlin wall, opening the
floodgates for a new era of Western power, wealth and exchange of ideas. Unfortunately,
Africa is still locked up behind the walls built in Berlin over a century ago.
No wonder we are made to feel like illegal human beings everywhere we go.
ENTER KWAME
NKRUMAH AND THE AFRICAN UNITY PROJECT.
Long before
Reagan appeared on the scene our independent forefathers led by the
indefatigable Kwame Nkrumah with clarity, merged the challenge of Reagan and
the response of Gorbachev.
Throughout
his political career, Kwame Nkrumah forcefully advocated for the removal of the
illegal Berlin imposed walls in Africa as the surest way to end Africa’s unfortunate
and unacceptable misery. Balkanization of Africa, he claimed was Africa’s bane.
A united
Africa, he argued had the potential of unleashing a continental wealth and
security unmatched in the annals of human history. Recent happenings on the
African continent have proven him right. Sadly Africans in his generation
rejected his sound and visionary counsel.
We are
today experiencing the devastating effects of rejecting his counsel. Words never
die. We are emboldened as never before to re-ignite the fire and restate that
Africa must unite and remove the illegal Berlin walls in Africa. This time
around, we hope Africans will respond positively and bring down the illegal
Berlin walls in Africa.
I have
personally witnessed the enormous transformation that the fall of the Berlin wall
has brought to Germany/Europe and the entire TransAtlantic alliance. Germany
being the economic and scientific and technological engine of Europe influences
the dynamics of the European society. So a rich and united and powerful Germany
is translated to a rich, united and powerful Europe. Today with the Berlin wall
down, cross border exchange of goods, people and ideas are on the increase.
Europe is more powerful, prosperous and secured than any time in her history.
So what are
we waiting for? The examples are there for all with eyes to see. Let me quote
Kwame Nkrumah, ”From the examples before
us, in Europe and the United States of America, it is therefore patent that we
in Africa have the resources, present and potential, for creating the kind of
society that we are anxious to build”.
For us in
Africa, it was a missed opportunity 50 years ago. It is not too late for us to
recapture the fervor and the transformational power of African Unity.The
advantage in removing the walls of Berlin in Africa far outweighs living in
Africa separated by the illegal walls of Berlin. Let us reject the Africa
imposed on us and build our own Africa.
The illegal
Berlin Walls in Africa must go.
Behind our diversities is the penchant for unity.
Africans,
tear down the illegal Berlin walls in Africa.
AFRICA MUST
UNITE
A United
Africa - More Wealth
A United
Africa - More Security
A United
Africa - Less Poverty
A United
Africa - A Clean and Green Environment
A United
Africa - Modern and Sophisticated Infrastructure
Courtesy: BRING DOWN
THE ILLEGAL BERLIN WALLS IN AFRICA MOVEMENT (BDIBWAM)
Author: Otibu Boafo
Panafril@yahoo.com
