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It’ s crucial to understand that Atlantic slavery was a global system, imposed and maintained by the European colonial powers, who had military and economic resources far superior to those of African societies. The scale and nature of this trade, which uprooted some 20 million Africans to the Americas between 1501 and 1867, make it an unprecedented tragedy. So, while there were betrayals, it’ s unfair to reduce all of Africa to this complicity, when the continent was itself a major victim of a system of oppression on a global scale, a system of oppression that has continued with colonialism and neo-colonialism. And worst of all, all things being equal, just as there were traitors who contributed to the trade of shame in Africa, so there were traitors who contributed to the perpetuation of the slavery system that lasted for centuries in the Americas.
Colonization and African Independence: Continuity of Struggle
In the 20th century, Africans once again demonstrated their determination to fight for freedom, this time against European colonialism. Independence movements emerged across the continent, waging fierce battles to oust the colonial powers. Countries such as Cameroon( UPC), Kenya( with the Mau Mau revolt), Namibia, Angola and South Africa paid a heavy price in lives and efforts to achieve sovereignty. These armed struggles and their victories are a powerful reminder that Africa has always been a land of resistance to foreign oppression. Basil Davidson, in The Black Man’ s Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State( 1992), has extensively documented these struggles for independence.
Diasporas and Pan-Africanism: Two Distinct Trajectories
Flashmag! Edition 164 Septembre 2025
In France and the Caribbean, the French-speaking diaspora developed an early and profound link with Africa thanks to the emergence of the Négritude movement in the 1930s-1950s. Major intellectual figures such as Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor and Léon-Gontran Damas
Julius Nyerere( Tanzania)
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