There are three dimensions (levels) at which Afrikans must unite and those three dimensions must be handled sometimes separately, sometimes jointly but with deep understanding that they are not exactly the same and that they will come at different paces and cost.
The three dimensions of Afrikan unity are: Global Afrikan Unity, Continental Unity and Ethnic Unity.
The above three dimensions are the levels which when they are fully achieved then Afrikan unity has been fully achieved, but we must not have them all at once to progress but we must work on each dimension to get it to the desired level while not neglecting the other aspects.
Those who know the gains of Afrikan unity know that there is no reason why Afrika should not unite because in our unity lies the rebuilding of Afrika and the return of the glory of all Afrikans worldwide.
Meaning of Afrikan Unity
Afrikan Unity broadly defined is Afrikans working together toward Afrikan Progress; It means Afrikans becoming One: Afrikans working together as one to progress.
Now the 3 dimensions of AFRIKAN UNITY fully described:
1. Global Afrikan Unity:
Global Afrikan Unity is the unity of PEOPLE: unity of all Afrikan People all over the world. It is a global cooperation of all people of Afrikan descent and it was the original dimension of unity that was initiated by Pan-Afrikanism.
It was the global unity of all Afrikans that gave rise to Edward Wilmot Blyden, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Ivan Sertima, Henrik Clarke and a host of other Pan-Afrikan leaders, scholars etc.
Global Afrikan Unity touches the plight of all Afrikans all over the world while protecting and defending Afrika as the homeland of all Afrikans and the origin of civilization.
We must take the global unity of all Afrikans to greater heights by continuing in the teachings of our early Pan-Afrikan leaders especially Marcus Garvey who achieved so much by uniting all Afrikans under one umbrella: the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)/ Afrikan Communities League and working towards the progress of all Afrikans worldwide with the slogan: "One God, One Aim, One Destiny".
At his peak he had more than 4 million active Afrikans in his network and had many businesses communally owned by Afrikans employing Afrikans eg the Black Star Line. He also invented the Red Green Black and Gold which together has become the colour wheel of Afrikans.
To Afrikans of today
We Afrikans must unite globally under one umbrella; we must cooperate socially, politically, spiritually and economically; we must buy and sell within ourselves to enrich ourselves; we must educate, train, enhance and equip ourselves to be the best; we must defend and protect the interests of all Afrikans without border; we must fund ourselves, help ourselves, love ourselves in everyway we can; we must all work together worldwide to rebuild Mother Afrika which is our root and where lies our pride.
2. Continental Unity:
The second dimension of Afrikan Unity is Continental Unity.
The Continental union of Afrika is the unification of all the 55 countries of Afrika also including the Afrikan countries abroad (Jamaica, Haiti) etc into One Nation, One Country, One Super State: "The United Continent of Afrika" or "The United Afrika" or "The United States of Afrika" or "The United Countries of Afrika"
This dimension of Afrikan Unity was the dimension that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Nyerere, Cheik Anta Diop, Muma Gaddafi etc emphasized the most while also in active activism for Global Afrikan Unity.
The Continental Unity of Afrika is a very Powerful union which when gotten will give Afrika:
One Powerful Currency
One Powerful Army
One Powerful Govt
One Afrikan Continental Bank
One Large Economy
One Large Market
The Afrikan Monetary Fund
And many other powerful advantages which are too numerous to mention and which Afrikans cannot take advantage of without unity:
It will make Afrikans have a govt they can rely on worldwide;
It will boost Intra-Afrika trade, and therefore Afrikan ICT, productivity in Agriculture, health, Manufacturing etc
Afrikans must be well informed on the many benefits that are attached to the Continental Unity of Afrika so we can all ask our representatives at the Afrikan Union to quickly sign the One Afrikan Nation into existence: no Afrikan state can rise and stand alone but together as one United Afrika all Afrikan states shall rise as they desire and never have our backs on the ground anymore.
3. Ethnic/Tribal Unity:
An ethnic group is a group of people having common racial, national, religious or cultural origins. While a tribe is group within the ethnic group:
"Ethnic groups have a distinct language and culture. Tribes are offshoots of ethnic groups, meaning that they could speak a dialect of an ethnic group, or have a slightly different sub-culture of an ethnic group. For instance, Arabs are a part of an ethnic group because of a common language and distinct culture."
- Quora.com
Ethnicity in Afrika
"Afrika has 3000 distinct ethnic groups, 2000 languages. Home to the most genetically diverse people on Earth. So diverse that two Afrikans are more genetically different from each other than a Chinese and a European are from each other. Afrika is the world's second-largest and second-most-populous continent."
- africanholocaust.net
From the above information you can see how much diverse Afrikan people are which is one of the reasons people give on why they think Afrikan Unity is hard; of all the dimensions of Afrikan unity, this dimension of ethnic unity is the toughest even in all nations of the world and it is usually the fault line of disintegration if not we'll handled and is usually the dimension at which riots, civil wars, and other forms of agitations are fought and is also the gateway through which colonisers enter to divide and conquer a people.
Without mentioning names, check most of the wars in Afrika and u will likely see one ethnic group against the other, or one religion against the other, it is also the same issue rocking so many other nations of the world that have not yet tackled it: this Ethnic dimension of Afrikan Unity is the dimension of Afrikan Unity that NO leader has actually addressed like the other dimensions: we tend to wish ethnicity away but we can't, we only have to work it out till it fades away till we have full Afrikan Unity when all Afrikans identify themselves as one Ethnic group, one tribe: Afrikan.
How to achieve Ethnic Unity of Afrikans
To achieve Ethnic/Tribal Unity, we must
1. Organise all Afrikans into one organization that amongst other functions, brings Afrikans together to discuss issues pertaining to ethnicity.
2. We must promote One Afrikan identity:
Ethnicity is an identity, it has a language,culture, religion etc we must promote One Afrikan Ethnicity by promoting one Afrikan language, common Afrikan dressings etc so we can have an Afrikan identity in place of diverse identities.
3. Asking everyone to name their grievances and wishes:
We can neutralize tribalism by asking the different tribes to list what they want to achieve, how they want to and the assistance they need and what they will contribute to make their achievements work so that the govt would work with rather than against the interests of her tribes.
4. The Afrikan Values:
Ethnic Unity is to be built and sustained by Love, Wisdom, Truth especially Justice, Courage and dignity.
Every demand made by different tribes must be that which is just (really deserved), we must make sure we do not Rob any group to pay another; we should not take what belongs to one and give another, rather, we must give to each group what belongs to the group and make our nation stand on Justice and then through Global and Continental unity we protect the interests of all Afrikans whether at home or abroad.
5. We must return to the Afrikan system of govt:
The current party, presidential etc systems and structures of govt are Colonial, Undemocratic and Anti-Afrikan.
We need to veer away from this system that concentrates power on a few persons who are elected dictators with term limits (oligarchs) to a system that involves ALL Afrikans in their governance.
In the Afrikan system of govt, we have the King, PM, Age-grades, women, family heads esp first sons etc a playing active role in govt: everyone was represented, but today we have only about 100 reps per 1m people and in that you have Presidents and Governors more powerful than all the citizens put together. This is oligarchy my friend and not democracy, let us return to true democracy and not tenure dictatorship.
Summary
Afrikan Unity is the cooperation of all Afrikans toward progress.
Afrikan Unity is a deep network of realities.
There are 3 dimensions of Afrikan Unity: Global, Continental and Tribal Unity.
Pan-Afrikanism started with the move for the Global Unity of Afrikans founded by Edward Wilmot Blyden.
The Continental Unity of Afrikans is the unification of Afrika into one nation.
Tribal unity of Afrikans is the deepest dimension of Afrikan Unity which no leader has yet addressed.
The present colonial system of govt is not Democratic and will continue to downplay Afrikan Democracy.
Conclusion
Globally, Continentally and Tribally,
Afrika Must Unite!!!
Eze Chimere Nwauzo
Afrikan Unifier
Eze Afrika
