A pan-African newspaper is a newspaper whose ambition is to cover all or part of the space of the African world and the Diaspora. But being pan-African today: what does it mean?... It is absolutely necessary to leave the beaten track of the History of pan-Africanism to redefine the pan-Africanist ambition. In terms of a Society project for Africa and its Diaspora instead of blaming the failures of Africans themselves on the account of the West. Too easy ! Infantilism which is worse!
Believing that one is more pan-African, even African or Afro-descendant than other people because one harbors an anti-West feeling, or even an anti-West hatred is quite simply an inanity and a fraud that is both intellectual and socio-political . Whatever the reasons behind this inclination, it falls into the category of manipulation and populism. Believing that one is a Patriot and that the others are only Antipatriot, because they do not share your sociopolitical or geopolitical vision, is both a lie and ignorance. And it must be said.
There is anti-Black or anti-Arab racism, to be fought vehemently by Africans in Africa, in the West and everywhere in the world. Like any racism, whether directed against Whites or Asians or whether it is Anti-Semitism.. And it is the most absolute right of Africans to say No to anti-Black or anti-Arab racism while differentiating between racist individuals or groups and the countries or the West in general of which they are citizens. Just as much as a certain condescension of the West towards Africa. There are also certainly reasons for deep disagreement in the relationship between the West and Africa today and they are multiple. Especially between former colonial powers and former colonized countries. From there, to condemn the West indiscriminately and in particular its former powers which colonized Africa for reasons other than those which are substantiated or proven and opposable, does not and will not bring anything to Africa. If not to serve the ambitions of those who carry these speeches and their sponsors. In all things, you have to know how to keep and separate the wheat from the chaff. And it is not because one believes or one would like to be or appear more pan-African, even African or Afro-descendant than other people that one should profess anti-Westernism at all costs or follow like sheep of Panurge, merchants of illusions whose systematic and systemic hostility to the West is only the sole business.
No one is more pan-African, or even African or Afro-descendant than the other when one is African or of Afro descent and it is a question of talking about Africa and its Diaspora. And even worse, how on earth can one be more pan-African, or even African or Afro-descendant than the other if it is only a question of pouring into populism in order to serve the unacknowledged interests of his masters. In short, to be in oneself a local valet, while claiming to defend the interests of Africa, even when one accuses the others of being in the pay of the West and therefore local valets!
Who is a pan-Africanist and who is not? Who issues the “pan-Africanist Good Conduct Certificate” or the “African Good Conduct Certificate”? Social networks have brought something new in that they have made it possible for everyone to aspire to popularity, to make the buzz as they say, and more if affinity for leadership by stirring up in uninformed or misinformed minds this feeling of being the Representative or the Defender of an African cause by flooding them. And that is why African Populism, which has nothing to envy Western Populism, has understood so well that it is excelling in manipulation, Fake News, misinterpretations, revisionism, simplifications, approximations, etc.
On October 19 and 20, 2022, a symposium on the concept of “Afropaeanity” was held in Brussels, organized by the University Faculty of Protestant Theology (FUTP) and the new CARES research center. Theme: “Name your condition. Afropeanity and women's conditions”.
On this occasion, when drawing the conclusions of the said symposium, Fatoumata Fathy Sidibé, Honorary Member of the Brussels Parliament, author, painter of Malian origin did well to insist on the now famous words of Albert Camus. Namely that: "Misnaming the world is adding to the misfortune of the world". To express the definition of this concept and all its dimension, the newspaper Regards protestants wrote on this subject that: "Afropaeanity" designates a culture and a condition marked both by African heritage and the social and civic experience in Europe. As Ali Benmakhlouf recalled during the conclusions of the colloquium, the word is without a hyphen. In one piece. Indeed, dashed portmanteau words often have the disadvantage that the second term tends to eat up the first. The Jews are not always reassured, for example, when the Christians brandish the supposed “Judeo-Christian values” at times and against the times! Here, with the term Afropeanity, which is declined in the feminine (Afropéenne) and the masculine (Afropéen), the two sources are inseparable. Neither encompasses the other. This concept in the making is not confining: actresses and actors may or may not appropriate it, and above all, it coexists with other forms of identity struggling with Africanity".
And, in its article, the newspaper Regards protestants continues by admitting the internal contradictions that this concept can cover: “Afropéenne. Afropean. A word that names well. Contrary to identity assignments and injunctions to "assimilation" which violate identities and backgrounds, the word Afropean reflects the experience shared by many Afro-descendants established in Europe. Certainly not for all, not for all. But it does not matter ! The plurality of terms – which Protestant circles are used to – is better than a one-size-fits-all straitjacket”.
In short, to be Afropean is to be both African and European. And there is no better for the future of Africa and Europe. Instead of feeding a certain hatred of Africa towards Europe through different channels and under different pretexts. Especially since because of its dual culture or dual nationality, it is rather necessary to nurture and healthily the relationship between Europe and Africa. By ridding it of its parasites and other viruses which prevent the two continents from working well by holding hand in hand and from fraternizing well together.
By Marcus Boni Teiga
