Reframing ‘The African Renaissance’
By
Tariku Abas-Etenesh
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Africa rising?
Since May 2013, boldfaced and prominent
big billboards greet passersby in Addis Ababa reading: Arise Africa. It is arguably the most frequently heard avowal
during the recently celebrated golden Jubilee of the African Union (AU), under
the theme: Pan-Africanism and African renaissance.
The theme’s comfortingly deserved
meaning is attributed to the current economic development, according to IMF
data, in various African countries including Ethiopia. What a positive spirit
to celebrate the anniversary with! As a Nigerian proverb says it, when a man says yes, his Chi (his personal
god) says yes; and so, when a continent says I am rising, the spirits of
her citizens rise up with it.
Despite the sense of positivism and
audacity the slogan entails, however, I believe it is high time for us,
Africans, to deliberate with caution not only the realities that gave ‘Africa
rising’ its meaningful context, but also the direction Africa is rising. And
allow me one more question, is Africa claiming ‘to be rising’ because it is so,
or it is claiming so, because the West declared it? Anyone who knows about the
great infrastructure developments and recent discoveries of precious minerals
and fossil oil that changed the economic trajectory of a number of African
countries might assume the question is ill constructed or playing evasive of
the facts on the ground. Well, this is not my intention. Denying the facts
would be a self debasing attempt and condescending to AU. Rather, mine is an
honest worry that our continent should be insisting on framing its renaissance
on a grassroots Pan-African drives in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of
the 1960’s.
Do
not look where you fell, but where you slipped
The world is in recession and the
corollary challenges are spewing in forms of revolutions against governments,
tensions between religions, and xenophobic tendencies against the scapegoat
“others” almost everywhere in the world.
Against such backdrops, the rise that
is being positively pronounced about Africa could also be regarded as a caution
call for the continent. Why? For the obvious and same reason that the liberation
movements of the 1960’s were thwarted into not completing the liberation
project and ended up being nominal political freedoms. And the dream for
economic liberation was stalled by nightmares of mishandled euphoria that gave
way for the former colonial masters to hijack the much needed stability and
prosperity and turn the continent into hotbeds of coups. Africa was not cautious
enough in handling the liberation project with discipline, as a result of which
neo-colonial trends became norm as an African proverb puts it ‘when a cock is drunk, he forgets the hawk.’
The year of Africa - the 1960 – was not
only a time when Africa woke up free, against all odds, into a hostile world
that was not willing to allow the continent enough time to gather her breath. A
polarized world that was caught up in the cold war engulfed the continent to
not only take sides but also disorient the fragile freedom it just had won. The
scares of the cold war coupled with conflict ridden economies, the continent
has spent a good part of the past half century wasting indebted to the West and
in some terms still paying the price through the malignant dependence on aid.
Now after half a century, Africa is set on another proud stride; yet it does so into a world reality with no less a cause for polarization than was furnished during the 1960’s. It is waking up and flexing its muscles yet in another tumultuous time of tensions. For instance, religious extremism which used to be rare in the African continent has spread, especially after the recession, thus risking the stability of a continent that has just started to positively paint herself. And like the 'cold war' the former colonial powers are exploiting the tensions, as in the case in Mali, to further strengthen their presence as well as safeguard their interests in the continent.
Africa is not an island and what is
happening elsewhere directly affects it. And often times, the effects come from
the greedy hawks who mean exploitation and filling their pockets. A recently
released report on oil and mining industry practices in Africa indicates the
continent is suffering from secret deals whereby multinational corporations and
elites in various countries cut the mass out of sharing the wealth. And the
trends, except in a few countries, seem to be the same and not changing.
Adding fire to fuel is the other face
of the development trend that some of the countries like Ethiopia, applauded
for being on the rise, are taking growth as excuse for the carelessness to
uphold human rights and free speech as stipulated in their own constitutions.
In Ethiopia, for instance, the construction section is in a boom that buildings
sprout like mushroom and roads spread in a blink. However, the country’s human
rights record is one of the bleakest, according to Amnesty International. This
is then the challenge, the Africa Rising mantra is facing: authoritarian
governments, despite the economic muscle flexing in various sectors, could use
the positive trend as license to impose human right abuses and even more.
So where is the worry? One might even
ask that the mentioned challenges have been in Africa since independence and
what makes them different now? The challenge for me is twofold. The first is
the attraction of foreign investors who would like to take part in the positive
development in the continent. This is not bad in itself, but inviting investors
with no check and balance in place to guarantee the inclusion of the mass in
sharing the profit made from the economic development, would only graven the
burden of the mass. And such is the reality that would challenge the stability
and security of the continent. As seen in many of the land grab trends in various
counties in the continent, including Ethiopia, the frontline bearer of the
harsh burden of huge infrastructure developments as well as evictions are the
disfranchised mass. The people who are being taken out of their farms are not
the elites in their palaces but the poor
Any development is both a challenge and
opportunity according to the manner it is managed. Avoiding the pitfall of euphoria
and creating a tide of galvanizing unity through leadership is required from AU.
The promise to lead the next half
century with a vision focused on the people of the continent would bring a
different and lasting success only if the means is changed. I say, the
involvement of the people must be translated
into the involvement of the children,
who should be taught the truth about themselves and about the continent.
Reframing
African renaissance
One of the new developments during the
AU celebrations in May was the announcement of the African Vision 2063. The
vision promised to be owned by the peoples of Africa at all of its stages. The
strategic plan included priorities such as Growth and transformation, regional
integration, peace and stability, gender equality and agriculture.
In line with this 'people led' Vision
2063, I believe that the AU should start to lead the continent into
soul-searching. But what sort of soul searching do I mean? I mean a grassroots,
committed and honest Pan-Africanism drive that could be spearheaded by the AU
that depart from the gradualism and mediocrity of the past. A
roaring lion kills no game.
Africa should not set her sail using the Western’s star and thus the experiences on which the designing of the vision should be based should come out of Africa. For the Vision to be, a vision of the mass, the tone of renaissance should be reframed with a take on the continent’s history. The AU should launch drive that commences from examining a metaphorical diorama of the experiences African nations that portray the dreams that the AU should live up to. As clearly inscribed in the AU anthem that goes:
Africa should not set her sail using the Western’s star and thus the experiences on which the designing of the vision should be based should come out of Africa. For the Vision to be, a vision of the mass, the tone of renaissance should be reframed with a take on the continent’s history. The AU should launch drive that commences from examining a metaphorical diorama of the experiences African nations that portray the dreams that the AU should live up to. As clearly inscribed in the AU anthem that goes:
“Let us all unite and toil together,
To give the best we have to Africa,
The cradle of mankind and fount of culture,
To give the best we have to Africa,
The cradle of mankind and fount of culture,
Our pride and hope at
break of dawn,
The naive vision, I propose should have
three chapters that represent our continents aspirations. The chapter should be
named Ethiopia, Ghana and Congo respectively.
Chapter
one Ethiopia:
If renaissance is rebirth, the rebirth
that Africa seeks to have is an ‘Ethiopian’ reality. I don’t mean just the
Ethiopian of today, but the metaphorical representation. Ethiopia was the name given to the continent
in ancient times. AU should start the renaissance by reclaiming Ethiopia. I
don’t mean a reality only of the current Ethiopia, but the Ethiopia of the
ancient, the word that means African grace and greatness, Ethiopia representing
the great African fortitude, civilization, and pride, religion and defiance.
What the present day Africa had and
lost due to, the great misfortunes of human history, such as slavery and
colonization, has left its hint in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is the only surviving
African nation that exhibits to the world what colonization and slavery has
done to the rest of Africa.
Chapter
one Ghana:
Though the worst crime in human slavery
perpetrated on the continent and prolonged dehumanizing colonization, Africa
has risen. Despite being practically left with nothing to start herself as a
continent Africa emulates Ghana as the phoenix the continent has become out of
the ashes of subjugation. Through Ghana,
(the first African country to come out of the colonial bondage) the continent
can exhibit miraculous rise and readiness to compete in the community of
nations after centuries of deprivation. Ghana represents the valor to venture
on democracy and a system of government that the rest of the world took
centuries to exercise.
Africa should have Ghana in the vision
to say that despite the pitfall of coups that raged the rising freedom in the
continent, Ghana has proved a rise is possible to put behind the false starts and
make strides to development and progress. Africa could raise above all her
problems. That is Ghana.
Chapter
one Congo:
The Congo basin is the greatest
challenges of any attempt at African Renaissance. Despite the great promises in
the natural resources and the potential to change the face and fate of the
continent, the Congo remains one of the great samples of inaction of the
continent and of AU. The OAU as well as AU stand with incomplete project if not
daringly solve the ongoing problem of the Congo not as a regional issue but an
issue that the continent gives priority to. Like Nkrumah insisted the Congo is a
strategic spot that determine the ultimate freedom of the continent. The misery
and continuous cycle of war in the region should be restated and nakedly be
seen as a mission to “decolonize the Congo from the blood mongering and highly
connected multinationals.” As clearly put in the prophetic line of Franz Fanon
who said “whoever controlled the Congo basin controls Africa”. But is Africa in
control of the Congo basin?
Reframing the African Renaissance calls
for the honesty on the basics, if renaissance is revival we should know what we
are reviving and from where. A revival to
be the masters of one own fates, owner of one’s own resources, arbiter of one’s
own conflict and the designers of one’s own futures.
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