AFRICAN LIBERATION DAY MAY 25-2019

Murphy Browne © May 25-2019

AFRICAN LIBERATION DAY

“Fellow citizens of Africa, I greet you in the name of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League of the World. The Universal Negro Improvement Association is an organization that seeks to unite, into one solid body, the 400 million Negroes in the world. To link up the 50 million Negroes in the United States of America, with the 20 million Negroes of the West Indies, the 40 million Negroes of South and Central America, with the 280 million Negroes of Africa, for the purpose of bettering our industrial, commercial, educational, social, and political conditions. We of the Universal Negro Improvement Association are raising the cry of “Africa for the Africans,” those at home and those abroad. We want every Negro to work for one common object, that of building a nation of his own on the great continent of Africa. We want the moral and financial support of every Negro to make this dream a possibility.”

Excerpt from the “Back to Africa” speech by the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, 1921

“Africa for the Africans, those at home and those abroad” was the rallying cry of the early Pan-African Movement. The Pan-African Movement grew out of a resistance to the colonization of the African continent by various European tribes. May 25 is African Liberation Day (ALD) and has been observed as such since May 25-1963 with the launch of the Organization of African Unity (AOU.) The AOU became the African Union (AU,) established in May, 2001 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. As May 25-2019 approaches, we should heed the words of the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey who said: “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” His Imperial Majesty, Haile Selassie I, said: “An awareness of our past is essential to the establishment of our personality and our identity as Africans.”

In 1921, when Garvey made his “Back to Africa” speech, the enslavement of Africans by the Portuguese in Brazil had only been abolished 33 years (1888.) On November 15-1884 (just 50 years after slavery was abolished in Canada on August 1-1834,) a group of White men, representing 14 nations met for 4 months, from November 15-1884 until February 26-1885 in Berlin to carve up, colonize and exploit Africans and the African continent. No Africans were consulted, but the Richard J. Gatling, November 4, 1862 machine gun, had been improved by Hiram Maxim in 1884. With “the first effective machine gun” Europeans had an advantage with a “might is right” mindset or as some of the elders from my childhood frequently said, the Europeans were “wrong and strong.” The African continent was invaded by Europeans who colonized, oppressed and exploited Africans throughout the 20^th century. Ethiopia was the sole African country which successfully resisted European colonization. The colonizers included Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden-Norway (unified from 1814-1905), Turkey and the United States of America.

On May 25-1963, His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I greeting the delegates of the first gathering of the independent African nations at the launch of the OAU, stated: “We seek, at this meeting, to determine whither we are going and to chart the course of our destiny. The period of colonialism into which we were plunged culminated with our continent fettered and bound; with our once proud and free peoples reduced to humiliation and slavery; with Africa’s terrain cross-hatched and chequer-boarded by artificial and arbitrary boundaries.”

In 2019, the words of Garvey and H.I.M. Haile Selassie I, remain relevant as daily, traumatizing images and stories of the mistreatment of Africans victimized by White supremacy are shared on social media. Africans on the continent are being recolonized by various “world powers” including China and the USA. Some are calling it the new “Scramble for Africa,” decades after Europeans carved up the African continent. In the 21^st century it is imperative for us to remember our history, what we have suffered and what we have achieved. May 25-2019 marks 56 years since the African nations gathered in Addis Ababa. On Saturday May 25-2019, ALD will be celebrated by many African communities around the world including Britain, Canada, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritania, Namibia, Tanzania, the USA, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In this 5^th year of the “International Decade for People of African Descent” (2015-2024) ALD will be commemorated with various activities including symposiums, where political and social issues relevant to African communities will be discussed.

Murphy Browne © May 25-2019