USA4USAfrica est 1996 The world's 1st Internet Coalition for the formation of a United States of Africa

This paper traces the “United States of Africa” Philosophy from its coinage and its associated historical developments up to the twenty first century. The coming together of People of African descent for a common course dates back to the colonial era, and emerged with what started as the Pan-Africanist movements, gradually influencing which later developed in to the Organization of African Unity and finally and more recently the African Union. It is therefore imperative to examine whether the current African union will in the near future become the United States of Africa looking at the historical developments that has occurred beginning from of the 20th century. This paper will try to find out whether the dream can be turned in to reality. The paper basically expects to find answer to questions such as whether there would have been a United States of Africa if the proponents of the original concepts had lived much longer and also whether a geo-political union of 53 sovereign states is the answer to Africa’s numerous problems. It is interesting to note that whiles some African leaders continue to push the United States of Africa Philosophy, the current and 44th president of the United States of America has African blood running through his veins.

INTRODUCTION

"Common territory, language and culture may in fact be present in a nation, but the existence of a nation does not necessarily imply the presence of all three. Common territory and language alone may form the basis of a nation. Similarly, common territory plus common culture may be the basis. In some cases, only one of the three applies. A state may exist on a multi-national basis. The community of economic life is the major feature within a nation, and it is the economy which holds together the people living in a territory. It is on this basis that the new Africans recognize themselves as potentially one nation, whose domination is the entire African continent1. (Found in Class Struggle in Africa) freedom fighters and nationalist movements,

Kwame Nkrumah Quotes http://www.panafricanperspective.com/nkrumahquotes.html

1. Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1720811

The United States of Africa is the name proposed for the concept of a federation of some or all of the 53 sovereign states of Africa. The United States of Africa remains a constant theme, the great dream cherished from the earliest days of pan-Africanism.

In examining the origins of the concept, tribute must be paid to the likes of Marcus Garvey, William Edward Du Bois, George Padmore, Sylvester Williams, and many Black Nationalist leaders who fought tooth and nail to unite blacks across the globe for a common course. The term “United States of Africa” was coined over 80 years ago by the activist and poet, Marcus Garvey in his poem

'Hail, United States of Africa' in 1924.

“Hail! United States of Africa-free! Hail! Motherland most bright, divinely fair! State in perfect sisterhood united, Born of truth; mighty thou shalt ever be. Hail! Sweet land of Our Father’s noble kin! Let joy within thy bounds be ever known; Friend of the wandering poor, and helpless, thou, Light to all, such as freedom's reigns within.

From Liberia's peaceful western coast to the foaming Cape at the southern end, there’s but one law and sentiment sublime, one flag, and its emblem of which we boast. The Nigerias are all united now, Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast, too. Gambia, Senegal, not divided, But in one union happily bow. The treason of the centuries is dead, All alien whites are forever gone; The glad home of Sheba is once more free, As o'er the world the black n-tan raised his head. Bechuanaland, a State with Kenya, Members of the Federal Union grand, Send their greetings to sister Zanzibar, And so does laughing Tanganyika.

Over in Grand Mother Mozambique, The pretty Union Flag floats in the air, She is sister to good Somaliland, Smiling with the children of Dahomey. Three lusty cheers for old Basutoland, Timbuctoo, Tunis and Algeria, Uganda, Kamerun, all together Are in the Union with Nyasaland. We waited long for fiery Morocco, Now with Guinea and Togo she has come, All free and equal in the sisterhood, Like Swazi, Zuduland and the Congo. There is no state left out of the Union- The East, West, North, South, including Central, Are in the nation, strong forever, Over blacks in glorious dominion. Hail! United States of Africa-free! Country of the brave black man's liberty; State of greater
nationhood thou hast won, A new life for the race is just begun”.

2 Africa, Unite 'cause we're moving right out of Babylon,
And we're going to our father's land.
How good and how pleasant it would be
Before god and man, yeah
To see the unification of all Africans, yeah
As it's been said already let it be done, yeah
We are the children of the Rastaman
We are the children of the Higher man
Unite for the benefit of your people
Unite for the benefit of your children,"

--- says the great Bob Marley.
The search for African social, political and economic integration, which commenced way back outside Africa, went through various stages with leadership roles changing hands a number of times. It is important to note that these gradually led to the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963 and was transformed into the African Union (AU) in 2002. Despite the pursuit of divergent and competing national interests by member states, both the OAU and AU represent Africa’s collective efforts in search of formal integration and development.

Hail! United States of Africa! http://www.marcusgarvey.com/wmview.php?ArtID=28

However, the fifty-three nation-states of the AU have come to realize over time the difficulties involved in building continental unity and development in an increasingly globalized world. It is also politically fractured and socially stratified into rich and poor, literate and illiterate groups.

It is further divided along religious lines—traditional religions, Christianity and Islam. These divisive political and social forces continue to chip away at Africa’s fragile unity and development.

3

In a world of increasing globalization, where the small guys often get drowned out by the bigger players, especially on issues such as trade, some African leaders believe the only way for the continent to prosper is to unite. They want to replace the current African Union (AU), a largely administrative group for the 53 countries from Egypt to South Africa, with a proper African government that would control a two million-strong continental army, direct the fight against Aids, and speak with one voice in international negotiations.

4

Libyan leader Col. Muammar Al-Qaddafi, who was the 2009 Chairman of the African Union (AU), has advanced the idea of a United States of Africa for over a decade now. He began by pushing for the creation of the African Union at an African summit in Lomé, Togo, in 2000, and the United States of Africa at two regional African summits: in June 2007 in Conakry, Guinea, and again in February 2009 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Having described the AU as a failure, Qaddafi has asserted that only a true pan-African state can provide stability and wealth to Africa as the only way to fight poverty, ignorance and a myriad of other global challenges confronting the continent.

"I shall continue to insist that our sovereign countries work to achieve the United States of Africa,"

5

Adogamhe Paul (2009) PAN-AFRICANISM Revisited: Vision and Reality of African Unity and
Development

Ambitious plan for a new Africa: Welcome to the U.S.A (that's the United States of Africa)

“Gaddafi vows to push Africa unity” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7864604.stm

3

THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND PAN-AFRICANISM

Pan-Africanism is a sociopolitical world view, and a moral philosophy, as well as a movement, which seeks to unify and uplift both native Africans and those of the African Diaspora, as part of a "global African community".

As a moral philosophy, Pan Africanism represents the aggregation of the historical, cultural, spiritual, artistic, scientific and philosophical legacies of Africans from past times to the present. Pan Africanism as an ethical system, traces its origins from ancient times, and promotes values that are the product of the African civilization and struggles against slavery, racism, colonialism, and neo-colonialism.

7

Pan-Africanism was the idea of independence and unity for the African peoples, with an emphasis on the richness of African culture, and its equivalent worth to that of the European powers which were busy colonizing Africa. It was expressed through a series of Pan-African Conferences, the first of which was held in London in 1900. Principally under African-American/Caribbean leadership until 1945, under Garvey and Du Bois the movement also emphasized the roots of Blacks in the Americas, seeking to highlight their distinctive African cultural and ethnic heritage. The sixth Pan-African Conference in Manchester in 1945 saw a fundamental shift, as leadership passed to a new

generation of African nationalist leaders, most notably Nkrumah and Kenyatta. Ultimately, the movement failed in its ideal of African unity, as the borders established by the colonial powers proved surprisingly enduring. Furthermore, the differences and rivalries between the different tribes and peoples, encouraged by the colonial powers, were much larger than anticipated. Nevertheless,

pan-Africanism had a large, if unquantifiable; impact, as the writings and teachings of Nkrumah and Kenyatta became central to virtually every independence movement on the continent. In particular, the early independence granted to Nkrumah's Ghana gave an important stimulus to independence movements elsewhere in Africa. The idea of pan-Africanism became the basis for the foundation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

8

http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definitions/Pan-Africanism?cx=partner-pub
0939450753529744%3Av0qd01-tdlq&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=UTF-8&q=Pan-Africanism&sa=Search#922ibid

JAN PALMOWSKI. "pan-Africanism." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Retrieved
November 26, 2010 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O46-panAfricanism.html

4

Pan-Africanism includes the intellectual, political and economic cooperation that should lead to the political unity of Africa. The Pan-African alternative provides a framework for African unity. Dr. Motsoko Pheko of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania and a member of the South African Parliament: notes that In 1900 Sylvester Williams, a lawyer of African descent, named this coming together of Africans 'Pan-Africanism'. But as a movement, Pan-Africanism began in 1776.

This was the same year in which the American declaration of independence was made and which gradually lead to the formation of the United States of America.

The 1945 Manchester Congress, led by black scholar W.E.B. Du Bois, George Padmore and Kwame Nkrumah, was both the culmination of a historical process of black struggle which had begun a half century before, as well as a decisive political intervention to influence the events after World War II. Behind "Pan-Africanism" was the idea that people of African descent the world over shared a common destiny; that their forced dispersal through the transatlantic slave trade, the common oppression under colonialism in Africa and the Caribbean, and under Jim Crow segregation in the United States, through the exploitation of the labor power under capitalism, and the denial of political rights, had created parallel contours for struggle.

The 1958 First Conference of Independent African states, held in Accra, Ghana marked the formal beginning of the Pan-African movement within the continent. Most of the ideas and declarations of the Accra meeting were to be incorporated into the OAU Charter in 1963.

10

It is clear that Pan-Africanism as a philosophy embodies the historical, socio-cultural, and philosophical legacies of Africans from past times to the present. Tracing its origins from pre-colonial times, and promoting values that are the product of the African civilization and the struggles against slavery, racism, colonialism.

Road to Pan-Africanism by Motsoko Pheko Johannesburg. (The Sowetan, November 15, 1999)

http://www.panafricanperspective.com/pheko.html

Pan-Africanism: Agenda for African Unity in the 1990s by Julius O. Ihonvberehttp://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/30/033.html

5

THE ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN UNITY

The proponents of the formation of the OAU were African leaders who had been influenced by the Pan-African ideals through the series of conferences they attended from the beginning of the twentieth century. Most of these leaders also used conferences to drive the African Unity Agenda home. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah for example organized a series of conferences and seminars where he invited his colleagues from other countries. In 1958, a year after Independence, Ghana played host to two important conferences at which the seeds of the OAU were sown. The first was the Conference of Independent African States in Accra on April 15, 1958. It was attended by the then eight independent states excluding South Africa. They included Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia, Libya, Morocco, The Sudan, Tunisia and Host Ghana. The objectives of this conference were to consolidate and safeguard Africa’s independence, strengthen the economic and cultural ties between independent African States, among other things.

For Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, this particular Conference signified that Pan Africanism had moved to the African continent where it really
belonged. The second conference, dubbed the All African People’s Conference was organized in Accra in December 1958 and attended by delegates from 62 African Nationalist organizations and groups of freedom fighters.

11

Through out the 1960s, the Prime Minister of Ghana argued for African unity. At a rally in Accra, he argued that "all independent states in Africa should work together to create a Union of African States." On March 6, 1960, he gave further support to his vision when he declared in a radio broadcast that so deep was Ghana's "faith in African unity that we have declared our preparedness to surrender the sovereignty of Ghana, in whole or in part, in the interest of a Union of African States and Territories as soon as ever such a union becomes practicable."

In his book I Speak of Freedom published in 1961, he reminded all Africans that imperialism had so thoroughly distorted and disarticulated African social formations, that only continental unity could save the region from further deterioration. In Africa Must Unite published in 1963, he articulated a clear agenda for the establishment of an African common market to complement the Union of African States. As far as Nkrumah was concerned, "The unity of Africa and the strength it would gather from continental integration of its economic and industrial development, supported by a united policy of non-alignment, could have a most powerful effect for world peace."

12

In 1960, 17 African countries gained independence. By the end of 1963, approximately 80 percent of the African continent was independent. Nkrumah’s goal of establishing a United States of Africa with a centralized power structure was opposed by the leaders of many of the new African countries, who resisted giving up their nations’ newfound autonomy. In May 1963 representatives from 32 African nations of both North and sub-Saharan Africa met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and founded the Organization of African Unity (OAU)

It is important to note that the ideals of Pan-African unity gave rise to different political groupings of free African states, two of which become predominant. The Casablanca group which comprised Ghana, Guinea, Morocco, Algeria, Congo, Mali, Tanzania, and Egypt. And the Monrovia group which was made up of Nigeria, Liberia and most of the French speaking African countries.

The former was the more revolutionary of the two, and advocated for the formation of the United States of Africa under the power of a centralized command, whilst the Monrovia Group, on the other hand, stressed the importance of the independence, integrity, and sovereignty of each African state, and advocated a loose association of those states.

The OAU Charter was signed in Ethiopia, on May 25, 1963, at the closing of the Conference of the Heads of State and Government. The OAU Charter "captured the radical-unionist Pan-African spirit" of the Casablanca Group, while emphasizing the independence and sovereignty of each individual state that was advocated by the Monrovia Group. The goals of the OAU were to promote decolonization and independent self-government in African states, to guarantee respect for territorial boundaries of the states; and to promote social, political, and economic development on the African continent. Furthermore, the Organization was to further African cooperation and solidarity, oppose all forms of colonialism and apartheid, and defend human rights.

At the same time, it operates on the principle of the maintenance of the status quo, and non-intervention into its members' domestic affairs. As a result of the diversity of its membership, its initiatives have largely failed. In 1980, its members proposed the creation of an African economic community by the year 2000, and in 1991 the OAU proposed the creation of an economic community in six stages by 2025 between member states.

13

THE AFRICAN UNION

The African union (AU) is the offshoot of the OAU. The establishment of the initiated at the 35th OAU Algiers Summit in July 1999, by Libyan Leader Col Muammar Al Qaddafi re-emphasizing the need for a union government for the African continent. African leaders soon
embraced the idea by accepting i t in the Declaration of Sirte 1 and the draft constitution adopted at the 36th OAU summit in Lomé, Togo, in July 2000.14 The AU was formally launched by African Heads of State in Durban, South Africa, on July 9, 2002, as the new body to meet the collective aspirations of the African peoples. The formation of AU has also been attributed to the changing political, social and economic environment both in Africa and the world at large in the last decade of the twentieth century.

15

AU was first According to the OAU Secretary-General, Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim, the creation of the AU, has the ultimate objective of enhancing unity, strengthening cooperation and co-ordination as well as equipping the African continent with a legal and institutional framework, which would enable Africa to gain its rightful place in the community of nations. The cardinal motivation behind the establishment of the African Union was the desire to deepen and enhance the cohesion, solidarity and integration of the countries and peoples of Africa

The former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, said that the major goal of the union “must be the unity of all Africans and peoples of African descent in the Diaspora. Such unity is merely a means to the ultimate goal which is the development and transformation of our people and continent….

The ultimate goals of such a political structure must be those of sustainable development, peace, security, growth, democracy and transformation of the continent”

JAN PALMOWSKI. "OAU." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Retrieved November 26,
2010 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O46-OAU.html

Adogamhe Paul (2009) PAN-AFRICANISM Revisited: Vision and Reality of African Unity and
Development

8

The AU is divided into 8 commissions and 14 directorates. However, the Assembly of the Heads of States and Governments is the supreme organ. It consists of a representative from each member nation, usually the head of state. The Assembly meets at least once a year. The key organ for the day-to-day functioning of the AU is the AU Commission, which consists of a chairperson, a deputy chairperson, eight commissioners, and a staff.16

CONCLUSION : THE UNITED STATES OF AFRICA?

The Historical developments that have taken place for over a century clearly indicate that the dream of a United States of Africa is attainable. However, it may never materialize if concrete action is not taking on the plans on paper.

It is evident from history that the philosophy of Pan-Africanism as a social and political world view has gone a long way in mobilizing and uniting Africans across the globe first of all in their struggle for freedom from colonial rule and then as a collective force to uplift the image of the African continent. The proponents of the United States of Africa philosophy who were mostly Pan-Africanist did not live long enough to realize their dream due to political differences on how the dream should be achieved, an action which led to the formation of the OAU.

In reconstituting the OAU into the AU, African leaders have again clearly demonstrated the problems, challenges and opportunities inherent in inter-state cooperation and integration. However, a renewed spirit of Pan-Africanism calls for a new orientation toward political leadership and good governance underdevelopment and pseudo-democratic practices.

While development remains in the early stages of planning, ambitious targets have been set. The focus so far has been on building subdivisions of Africa - the proposed East African Federation can be seen as an example of this. The President of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, has indicated that the United States of Africa may exist from as early as 2017. The African Union, by contrast, has set itself in Africa in order to transcend the problems of authoritarian tendencies, the task of building a "united and integrated" Africa by 2025. Gaddafi has also indicated that the proposed federation may extend as far west as the Caribbean: Haiti, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and other islands featuring a large African Diaspora, may be invited to join.

17

“The battle for the United States of Africa is the only one worth fighting for our generation - the only one that can provide the answers to the thousand-and-one problems faced by the populations of Africa," Alpha Oumar Konare”

18

The weak political structures in Africa are going to pose a serious challenge to the formation of the political union. The experience of most African states is that they suffer from democracy deficit and weak allegiance from their citizens, which thereby create a crisis of legitimacy for most of existing state institutions.

Are Africans mobilized to support the African Union? What difference has the AU made to the lives of the ordinary Africans? One of the mandates of the AU Charter has been to promote democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance. These questions post a serious challenge to the realization of the dream. If the majority of Africans don’t see the value of a collective organization such as the AU, how then are they going to fully support the federal union of African states to its realization?

Peoples themselves sufficiently sensitized and Therefore, the prospects for the creation of a ‘United States of Africa’ will call for not only a
redefinition of the role of African state-system within the ‘grand design’ of federalism but also the adoption of an ‘incremental decision-making’ process, based on confidence and capacity-building as a long-term strategy to intra-African cooperation and integration.

19

In addition, there should be a platform for the involvement and participation of all and sundry. The youth, women, civil society groups, peasants and every Tom, Dick and Harry. African leaders must re-visit the ideals of Pan African leaders who campaigned, composed songs,

and wrote articles , letters and poems, all in the name of a firm continental unity and super power for Africa. This vision of a federal union will serve as the Ambitious plan for a new Africa: Welcome to the U.S.A (that's the United States of Africa)
19
Adogamhe Paul (2009) PAN-AFRICANISM Revisited: Vision and Reality of African Unity and Development with the ultimate goal of African integration with a clear roadmap and timeframe for its realization, while strengthening all the existing sub-regional institutions as building blocks for continental integration.

The insightful leadership and well orchestrated plans of African leaders who fought for freedom for the continent needs to be revisited. For instance, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in advancing his point at the inception of the OAU Charter, argued that an African "continental union government" would have a two-house legislature: an upper house of two members from each state and a lower house based on the population of each state, with power to formulate a common foreign policy, common continental planning for economic and industrial development, a common currency, monetary zone and a central bank of issue and a common defense system with one military High Command, according to "Inside the OAU: Pan-Africanism in Practice" (1986)

To realize the dream, we must be guided by history. History helps us avoid the mistakes of the past and serves as a guide to implementing plans for the future. The d r e a m o f t h e U n i t e d States of Africa cannot be achieved solely by African leaders. Just as the African leaders had the full backing of their people, a United States of Africa is the collective responsibility of all Africans leaving on the continent and the Diaspora. This is an opportunity to come together as one people with one loud voice, if the lesson of history is anything to go by.

11

REFERENCES

BBC World Service | Focus On Africa Magazine | Forum: Is African ...

I do agree with Mr. Mark Wood for his comment (below) it is true that if African ... A United States of Africa can prevent an African apocalypse on the ...

Libya's Kadaffi heeded some of the first e-mails sent by the USA4USAfrica to the early African Internet of the mid 90's and has since 1997 has been actively wooing African leaders into a United States of Africa led by himself! .... http://unitedstatesafrica.50megs.com/

The Internet concept for "USA4USAFRICA" came from a prophetic song written by The Wood Bros entitled "November 18th 2020". Among the song's predictions are the Continental earthquake on the western Pacific rim in the year 2013 and the the 1st leader of the United States of Africa in 2020.

The USA4USAFRICA was actually born from the quote of Muhammad Ali in 1987 in a personal meeting in which he revealed he would like to see the whole of Africa united in his lifetime. I never forgot those words and decided one day I would have a viable way to make it happen. Then came the Internet and in a moment of epiphany the movement was reborn as USA4USAFRICA.

Ambitious plan for a new Africa: Welcome to the U.S.A (that's the United States of Africa)

ONLINE: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/ambitious-plan-for-a-new-africa-welcome-to-the-usa-

thats-the-united-states-of-africa-455337.html Retrieved November 26, 2010

Adoghame Paul (2009) “PAN-AFRICANISM Revisited: Vision and Reality of African Unity and

Development”

African Union (2006), African Common Position on the Review of the Millennium Declaration and the

Millennium Development Goals, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: AU Press.

Garikai

Chengu

http://www.ethjournal.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3380:united-states-of-africa-

to-define-21st-century-&catid=18:current-issues-and-events&Itemid=50

(2010)

United States of Africa to define 21st Century

ONLINE:

Retrieved November 30, 2010

Ihonvbere Julius. (1994) Pan-Africanism: Agenda for African Unity in the 1990s. A Keynote address at

The All-African Student's Conference, Peter Clark Hall, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario,

Canada, on May 27, 1994. ONLINE: http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/30/033.html.

Retrieved November 26, 2010

Jan Palmowski. (2004) "OAU." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. Retrieved November 26,

2010 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O46-OAU.html

Kwame Nkrumah Quotes ONLINE:

Retrieved November 28, 2010

Journal of Pan African Studies, vol.2, no.3,

Marcus Garvey (1924) Hail!

http://www.marcusgarvey.com/wmview.php?ArtID=28 Retrieved November 28, 2010

http://www.panafricanperspective.com/nkrumahquotes.html

United States of Africa!

ONLINE:

12

Marable Maning.(1995) Pan-Africanism: yesterday and today. ONLINE: http://afgen.com/pan-afri.html

Motsoko Pheko (1999) Road to Pan-Africanism. Published in the Sowetan, on November 15, 1999 in

Johannesburg. ONLINE: http://www.panafricanperspective.com/pheko.html Retrieved November 27,

2010

Muhammad James (1999) African leaders: 'Let us unite' OAU summit ends in agreement to speed pace toward

One Africa. ONLINE: http://www.finalcall.com/international/1999/oau9-21-99.htm Retrieved

November 29, 2010

Nkrumah Kwame (1980). Axioms of Kwame Nkrumah. (London: Panaf books,

Midnight

Coast/Ghana,

March 5-6, 1957.

reprint)

pp.77;

p

Pronouncement of Independence at Polo Ground, Accra, The gold Nkrumah Kwame (1970), Africa Must Unite, New York: International Press. Nkrumah Kwame (1970), Class Struggle in Africa, New York: International Press.

Mission Impossible? Formation of a United States of Africa on July 4th 2012: See http://UnitedStatesAfrica.com "Make It So"

On The Way To The United States Of AFRICA....