Panafricanism as settler colonialism? Masilo Lepuru, ‘Continental Pan-Afrikanism and its Discontents: Towards the Hegemony of Garveyism in Afrika’, Journal of African Union Studies, 12, 3, 2023

15Dec23

Abstract: The problematic relationship between settler colonialism and Pan-Afrikanism is a marginalised issue. The naïve continentalism of Kwame Nkrumah, which accepts both Arab and European settlers on the continent, has resulted in the biological survival of Afrikans being in question. Both in the south and north of the continent, Afrikans are regarded and treated as immigrants in their own land. What the president of Tunisia said about Afrikans is traceable to the inherent racism of settlers and the pitfalls of continental Pan-Afrikanism, which fails to take seriously the problem of settler colonialism. Chinweizu has suggested that Afrikans abandon Nkrumah’s continentalism and embrace Garveyism in the form of Black Power Pan-Afrikanism. This paper will discuss in detail Chinweizu’s suggestion of the urgent need for Garveyism on the continent. The fundamental argument of this paper is that until Afrikans address settler colonialism in the south and north by adopting Garveyism, the dream of Afrikan unity and prosperity will not only remain elusive but will never be attained. It is in this sense that we posit that settler colonialism is the main challenge of Pan-Afrikanism in the 21st century. The AU is premised on Nkrumah’s continentalism. We postulate that it is time to rethink this formal expression of continental Pan-Afrikanism and embrace Garveyism. Given the risk of racial extermination posed by settler colonialism on the continent, we argue that it is either Garveyism or perish.