First thing's first... these are the ramblings of an angry pan-Africanist... yes... I am a pan-Africanist and I won't even attempt to justify my position.. So, if I may, allow me to clear my throat of 23 years of repressed bile...
Now, while I do declare my firm stance as a Pan-African, I can't help but lament the constant invocation of this "idea" by many an African leader as a means through which to escape responsibility or to rally the support of their "brothers"... This note serves as an overdue love-letter to the many African leaders who have manipulated the notion of pan-Africanism to this end... I write my "letter" weeks ahead of a scheduled conference in which African leaders are expected to "unite" against what they consider to be a western backed conspiracy by the International Criminal Court against Africa..
" Dear Omar al-Bashir, Robert Mugabe, Hissene Habre, Thabo Mbeki, Mwai Kibaki, Abdoulaye Wade, Col Muammar Gaddafi, the late (but not quite gone) Lansana Conte, Idriss Deby, Mahmoud Tandja, Joseph Kabila... and your fellow despots who continue to kill the continent with your corrupt dictatorial governance... silencing dissent with the muzzle of an AK-47 and thinking up Western conspiracies against the "African brotherhood" to allow you to suck the life out of our beautiful continent.... I can only say this to you:
"Let not the dreams of our forefathers be clouded by your neopatrimonial desires to cling to power... leave not the African continent bleeding and crying for mercy. Have you not shamed your children enough by your kleptocratic governance? Must we continue to suffer as you bloat your bellies with the innocent cadavers of many who have died because of your misrule and greed? As you pillage our continent's resources and wash your hands with the blood of Africa's children, for just one second I dare you to stop and think of the legacy you leave with us your children, your grandchildren... because of you there are so few of us who still desperately cling to delusions of a united Africa... united not in strife... but united in a vision for a better tomorrow where Africa takes its position at the head of the table... lifts itself from the ashes and establishes itself as an equal... *sigh*
It is true that our greatest enemy is ourselves... As we strive to extricate ourselves from the vicious cycle in which you have placed us... we find ourselves blaming the disarray of the continent not on our failure to stand up and fight but on you... This is what you have made us... We are only as strong as our weakest point... you have brought us to our knees...
Have you no shame? Have you no heart? We cry, but you do not hear us... Ours shall not be a violent revolt... for the pen IS mightier than the sword... as I stare into the metaphorical barrel of the gun before me I have this to say to you: I will not give up... I WILL remain a soldier until this war is won "
