1.1 PAN-AFRICANISM
1.1.2 The Pan-African 2atherin2s 1900-1994
1.1.2.8 The All-African People's Conferences: Towards the OAU
Although this Congress had gone furthest along the path opened half a century earlier by Sylvester- Williams and DuBois, the solidarity ofthe Pan-Negro movement was fundamentally altered by the Africans. DuBois' vision of African had been clearly Pan-Negro (Woronoff, 1970:24). All this was changed at this Congress. By analysing their condition and problems solely as a result of colonialism and by launching a struggle against colonial exploitation, the Africans set aside the Negroes in the world and turned to the other colonial peoples (Woronoff,1970:24).
The fifth Pan-African Congress led to the All African Peoples's conferences which gave birth to the Organisation of African Unity. In the next subsection we analyse the emergence of the Organisation of African Unity.
A second Accra conference followed in December 1958. This was a meeting not of governments but of nationalist parties (Davidson, 1994:250; Abdul-Raheem,1996:6). At this meeting, 62 nationalist and liberation movements / groups were represented (Abdul-Raheem, 1996:6). Delegates came from all parts of Africa, whether or not these were independent countries, except from French Africa and Northern Nigeria (Davidson,1994:250). The conference pledged political, moral and diplomatic support for all liberation movements and endorsed the principle of "freedom by any means necessary, including armed struggle" (Abdul-Raheem,1996:6). It also sensitised the groups to the need for continental union as the goal of national independence (Abdul-Raheem,1996:6). An All-African People's Organisation (AAPO) was formed with headquarters in Accra. It called for all- African liberation and steps towards an eventual Commonwealth of Free African States. Anti- colonial and anti-racist, AAPO was a channel through which the old ideas of Pan-African unity might develop in new forms and with new force (Davidson,1994:250).
Other AAPO conferences were held in Tunis in 1960, and at Cairo in 1961. An All-African Trade Union Organisation was launched. Referring to this in 1963, Nkrumah argued that,
the development of a united African trade union movement will give our working classes a new African consciousness and the right to express themselves in the councils of world labour, unfettered by any foreign view (Davidson, 1994:251).
These AAPO conferences, and other meetings of that time (including a second conference of independent states, then numbering twelve, at Addis Ababa in June 1960), were, in fact, useful steps towards a continent-wide organisation. Finally, this took shape at Addis Ababa in May 1963. Out of the 32 then independent African states 31 agreed to form the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) (with only Morocco failing to attend) (Davidson,1994:251).
The 31 heads of state who signed the Charter of Unity at Addis Ababa pledged that amongst others the OAU would do five things. Firstly, work for unity and solidarity among Africa's nations;
secondly, plan and act together for a better life for Africa's peoples; thirdly, defend the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of Africa's states; fourthly, get rid of all forms of colonialism in Africa; and fifthly, work for common action with nations outside Africa, having due regard to the Charterofthe United Nations and its Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Davidson, 1994:253).
1.1.2.8.1 Critique of OAU
It has been argued that the OAU became nothing more than an "irrelevant talking shop" (Hadjor, 1988:93) or a "toothless bull-dog" (Abdul-Raheem, 1996:6). This irrelevant talking shop frustrated Nkrumah in such a way that he decided to "suspend his campaign for a union government of Africa and sought to influence the OAU in a Pan-Africanist direction" (Hadjor,1988:93).
Nkrumah's frustrations with the "inactivity" of the OAU was clearly visible at the second conference of the OAU in 1964, when he did some plain talking,
Every day we delay the establishment of a Union Government of Africa, we subject ourselves to outside economic domination. And our political independence as separate states becomes more and more meaningless (Hadjor,1988:94).
According to Nkrumah a divided Africa had made it possible for imperialism to do what it wished (Hadjor,1988:94). In his reassessment of tactics and strategy, Nkrumah developed his perspective on the achievement of Pan-African unity. He further warned that the OAU was fast becoming an obstacle to African unity instead of a force for change,
An examination of recent weeks exposes serious weaknesses within the OAU. The organisation failed to solve the crisis in the Congo and Rhodesia: both of them test cases ...
In fact the OAU is in danger of developing into a useful river for the confused sterile action of conflicting interests, the only difference being that in the context of one big brotherly organisation, reactionary tactics are camouflaged and applied through the negotiations (Hadjor, 1988: 102).
According to Nkrumah the OAU had become a face-saving device for many African governments who were hostile to the objectives of Pan-Africanism. Such governments, argues Nkrumah, could then use the inaction of the OAU as an excuse for their own lack of action on issues such as apartheid (Hadjor, 1988: 102). From his review ofthe OAU, Nkrumah drew the conclusion that the struggle for African unity would not get very far through reliance on diplomacy and government-to- government negotiations (Hadjor,1988:102-3). He then proposed that in the future the struggle should be conducted through a unified command, co-ordinating progressive forces. In other words, Nkrumah saw the unity of like-minded forces as the point of departure for the liberation of Africa.
In 1968 he argued for the establishment ofthe All-African People's Revolutionary Party (AAPRP)
and the creation of an All-African People's Revolutionary Army. He argues that,
The formation of a political party linking all liberated territories and struggling parties under a common ideology will smooth the way for eventual unity, and will at the same time greatly assist the prosecution of the All-African people's war. To assist the process of its formation, an All-African Committee for Political Co-ordination (AACPC) should be established to act as a liaison between all parties which recognised the urgent necessity of conducting an organised and unified struggle against colonisation and neo-colonialism. This committee would be created at the level of the central committees of the ruling parties and struggling parties, and would consolidate their integrated political consciousness (Hadjor,1988:103).
With this shift in forces, Nkrumah attempted to revitalise Pan-Africanism by basing it firmly on mass movements. Nkrumah believed that through the unification oflike-minded progressive forces drawn from across the continent, an effective liberation movement could emerge (Hadjor, 1988: 103).
The above analysis shows Nkrumah's role in shaping Pan-Africanism in Africa. In order for us to fully understand his contribution to Pan-Africanism, we will, in the next subsection focus on his ideology.