Specifics of Pan-Africanism - Essay Example

DuBois’s and Garvey’s Approaches to Pan-Africanism Pan-Africanism was not an African creation but rather a political ideology formulated in the Western Hemisphere—North America and the Caribbean. Transatlantic trade had brought many slaves to the New World colonies and even after the emancipation proclamation in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln; Blacks still continued to suffer especially in the South. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S constitution had given them the right of citizenship and suffrage but not even those amendments could deter the whites from disenfranchising them. Pan-African movement was thus formulated as a struggle for freedom from slavery and to maintain humanity (Thomas 44). It was to ensure political, economic, social and cultural redemption for Africa and African Diaspora. The advocates of early pan-Africanism included Paul Cuffe, Martin Delany, Edward Blyden and Alexander Crummell. These individuals inspired Marcus Mosiah Garvey and W.E. Burghardt DuBois who became prominent advocates of Pan-Africanism in the Twentieth century. The movement was successful in the early years but began to decline especially due to the deportation of Garvey to Jamaica and relocation of DuBois to Ghana. In this essay, I will argue that though Garvey and DuBois were both advocates of Pan-Africanism, they adopted different approaches to solving the African problem and in fact competed for influence especially in the U.S. This will be achieved by discussing the rise, political impact and decline of Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and DuBois’s Pan-Africanism. Marcus Mosiah Garvey (1887-1940) Garvey was born in Jamaica in 1887 but migrated to Harlem in the U.S in 1916. As a prominent fighter for African liberation, he had formed UNIA in 1914 in Jamaica. When he relocated to the U.S, he resigned from UNIA branch of Jamaica and founded a new branch in the U.S. Inspired by the work of Booker T. Washington and Martin Delany, Garvey advocated for the liberation of the entire African Diaspora. Washington was an African leader in the U.S and the head of the Tuskegee institute in Alabama and an advocate of capitalism. Washington thought the way to solve African problems is to have them cooperate with the whites and take such opportunities to develop especially through industrial training thus accumulate wealth. Following his footsteps, Garvey would collaborate with any leader be it black or white provided it was for the benefit of African at large hence his involvement with the Ku Klux Klan that was dreaded in the U.S during the time (Garvey 121). For the growth of UNIA, Garvey used the Negro World weekly newspaper forum (Thomas 48). It was to be managed by Africans and it was against imperialism and colonialism in Africa and Central America as well discrimination. Garvey was a great advocate of capitalism hence his ideology centered on self-sufficiency for Africa and African Diaspora and racial solidarity. He believed that if Africans were given industrial and technical education, they would be able to sustain themselves by acquiring wealth just as Washington envisaged. He embarked on the establishment of enterprises such as the Blue Star shipping line, factories, stores and corporations owned and run by Africans in the Diaspora (Araia, n.p). The problem for Africans according to Garvey was lack of jobs as white men were taking over all economic opportunities. The solution to this problem was thus to create a black nation for Africa as there was no place for them in the West. He was therefore, for taking back Africans back to Africa where they could found an African nation based on their values. In other words create “Africa for the Africans” or according to Thomas, “a community in Africa as a laboratory for developing political, economic, cultural and social structures for nation building and liberation” (Thomas 50). Such back-to-Africa movements had been led to the establishment of Liberia by the American Colonization Society in 1816 as colony for free Blacks from U.S hence Garvey was sure it would work. Pan-Africanism thus was to be the guardian of Black interests in Africa and African Diaspora. The movement would be led by technocratic elites who would be protector of human rights. Though not well educated, he was charismatic and had passion for African course. This enabled him to acquire a mass following especially blacks in the Caribbean, Central and South America as well as Africa through annual Pan-African conferences sponsored by UNIA. By 1921 he had a following of more than six million people throughout the world (Thomas 48). Unlike DuBois who advocated gradual change, Garvey advocated radicalism and militarism hence his work was practical in nature. In the 1920 UNIA convention in New York, 25 countries delegates attended and the ‘Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World’ was adopted. He was also against communism as he feared it was only for advancing the course of the Whites and a limit for Black’s success (Garvey 122). He argued that by supporting the communist party, Blacks were allowing themselves to be ruled by ignorant and prejudiced white class and not the elite class. This was tantamount to degrading the Blacks and their manhood. Another instrument of influence for Garvey was the UNIA flag comprising of three colours: Red, Black and Green. This was the black liberation flag with red symbolizing blood; Black is the African continent and Green is the hope for Africans (Thomas 49). The tactic Garvey used to mobilize Africans was holding annual Pan-African conferences with support of UNIA. The goals of these conferences according to Thomas was “championing Negro nationhood for African redemption, creating Negro-race consciousness, stressing ideas of manhood and womanhood, advocating self-determination, instilling racial self-help and inspiring racial love and respect” (48). UNIA also organized groups such as Black Cross Nurses and Black Flying Eagles to champion these goals. UNIA was very successful and had mass following from Africa and African Diaspora from 1914 to 1923 when Garvey was accused of mail fraud. He had managed to mobilize mass support for African liberation but lacked the military means to accomplish this task hence the decline of the UNIA (P. 58). It also failed to win foothold in Africa and especially Liberia which was the main target of settlement. In 1923, he was imprisoned for five years in federal prison, released in 1927and then deported to Jamaica. This led to the collapse of the movement in the United States and died in London in 1940. During his time, Garvey was criticized a lot by those who did not believe in returning to Africa. Dr. Leo Pink accused Garvey of not being able to lead as he was not respected and was also collecting money for own purpose a claim Garvey refuted (Hill & Garvey 152). Pink also objected the use of the word “Negro” by Garvey as it was disrespectful. Garvey also faced lecture protests from Jamaican American students. They accused him of damaging the repute of their homeland and its people and prejudice for Blacks more so, by his preference for prejudice of Americans to that of Englishmen (Hill & Garvey 196-197). Garvey also received much criticism from his counterpart DuBois for being ambitious and unrealistic. DuBois claimed Garvey was a traitor who was out to undermine his efforts towards black rights (DuBois 8-9). To DuBois, acquiring mass wealth and refusing higher education was not the solution to African problems. He was also criticized for being a self-proclaimed leader of Africa yet he lacked the intellect to lead especially as he was involved with white leaders and Ku Klux Klan. Despite his criticism, the UNIA had a lot of political impact especially for Pan-Africanism. It helped develop Pan-Africanism and racial solidarity while according to Thomas, “his vision of liberated Africa became the battle cry for postwar African nationalists like Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya” (Thomas 50). Movements such as Rastafarian, organization of Afro-American Unity and individuals like Malcom X and George Padmore who was influential in later days of Pan-African movement borrowed ideas from Garvey of radicalism and militarism. The UNIA flag is still used today by many independent African Nations as a symbol of unity and liberation. W.E.B DuBois (1868-1963) Pan-Africanism was started by Henry Sylvester Williams and DuBois only got involved with it at the first Pan-Africa conference held in London on July 1900 where he was invited to give a speech by Williams (IDEA, n.p). In his book “The Souls of Black Folk,” DuBois asserts that, “The problem of the 20th century is the problem of colour line” (12). It is this colour line that determines opportunities thus denying Blacks civil and social rights. This race consciousness by DuBois was influenced by Edward Blyden who insisted on “African Personality.” This is contrary to Garvey who advocated Black separatism. The solution to this problem for DuBois is to continually agitate for civil rights and education since they are the basis for manhood. He was critical of Washington and Garvey for advocating industrial education in place of higher education and repatriation to Africa. He regarded Washington’s “Atlanta exposition” as “The Atlanta Compromise” since it advocated accumulation of wealth and south reconciliation thus making money and not men and also led to disfranchisement of the Negro and civil inferiority (DuBois, Crisis, 34). For him, higher education and power of the power of the ballot can save Africans from second slavery (DuBois 11). Besides, even the Tuskegee institute teachers were educated Blacks. He believed that educating the “Talented Tenth” would equip them to lead the others in the civil rights struggle; it is only the exceptional men who can save the Negro race (DuBois, 47). For him, men are created equal and have certain unalienable rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. While Garvey favored capitalism and radical measures, DuBois was a socialist and applied gradualist approach. His objective was restoration of Black dignity and to achieve this, he relied on Pan-African congresses, and leadership of African Caribbean and African American elites (Thomas 45-58). This is unlike Garvey who used annual conferences and mass mobilization. The movement rose to prominence from 1900 to 1927 especially to African students in European schools such as Jomo Kenyatta and Dr. Nnandi Azikwe. Instead of advocating return to Africa, he appealed to Great Powers and the League of Nations to recognize black colonies and give them right of responsible governments. He believed cooperation between white rulers and Africans could speed Black development. He held various congresses to appeal to these powers through moral persuasion (Thomas 47). Congresses were held in 1900 in London, 1919 Paris, 1921 London, 1923 London and Lisbon, and lastly1927 in New York. According to IDEA (n.p) the 1927 congress was “close to Garvey and UNIA’s racialist agenda in tone and program” and had many participants especially African Americans. This means that though they had differences, they did agree on the problems that ailed Africans. By the time the 1945 congress was held in Manchester, England; Pan-African Federation had been formed in 1944 by the International Service Bureau. Majority of Africans attended the congress and demanded total liberation of African colonies. Dubois’s Pan-African movement began to decline in 1930s during the great depression which made him unable to rally support in U.S or abroad (Thomas 51). Africans, African-Americans and Caribbean intellectuals began questioning viability of communist international leading to defection by Padmore in 1933 to advance Garvey’s ideology. Later, the Africans took over the movement to control their destiny in 1945 during sixth Congress. They decided to use militant tactics like strikes and boycotts and not gradual changes advocated by DuBois. DuBois was often criticized for not having a firm stand. He would advocate for alliance between Blacks and Whites while on the other hand, he said the problem of 20th century was the colour line. Furthermore, he insisted on the educating the exceptional men or the “Talented Tenth” to save their race thus undermining other Blacks (IDEA, n.p). This made his movement to be less popular that UNIA which appealed to masses. DuBois’s Pan-Africanism had great political impact. It was the forerunner to the Pan-African movement that thrived after World War II and fully controlled by Africans under Nkrumah and guidance of DuBois although under George Padmore for a time. The 1945 congress culminated into Black Nationalist activities around the Atlantic. For example, Nkrumah held the first all-Africa peoples conference in Accra Ghana in 1957. African states continued demanding independence from colonialists just like DuBois. One application of DuBois ideology is the problem of colour line as Afro-Asianism demanded racial sovereignty “Africa for Africans” and “Asia for Asians” (Thomas 56). Conclusion In this essay, I have argued that Garvey and DuBois had different approaches to solving African problems. For them, the problem was imperialism, racism, and slavery. These led to disenfranchisement of Blacks, lack of job opportunities, and denial of education hence loss of pride and dignity. The solution to these problems for Garvey’s UNIA lay in creation of a black nation in Africa hence take back Africans to Africa as there was no hope of progress in the West. For DuBois, the solution was to agitate for political rights as this would automatically lead to achievement of other opportunities such as economic success. He advocated higher education for the exceptional men or “Talented Tenth” who would then save their race through leadership. The UNIA and Pan-Africanism had great political impact as they influenced black nationalism and clamour for independence witnessed after WWII. Works Cited Araia, Ghelawdewos. The Historical and Ideological Foundations of Pan-Africanism. Institute of Development and Education for Africa, Inc, 2007. Web. 30 October, 2014. www.africanidea.org/Pan-Africanism.htm Dubois, W.E.B. The Crisis, Vol. 28, May 1924. DuBois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk. Hayes Barton Press, 1965. Garvey, Marcus. Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey, Or: Africa for the Africans. A.M Kelly, 1967. Hill, Robert A and Garvey, Marcus (eds). Letter Denouncing Marcus Garvey. In: The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers: 1826-August 1919. University of California Press, 1983. Thomas, Darryl C. The Theory and Practice of Third World Solidarity. 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