Mr Halifa Sallah, a renowned sociologist and Pan-Africanist,
has expressed the view that an African agenda adopted by all Africans will be
the only solution to salvage Africa from its
current state. "Africans need pillars to allow Africa
shape its own destiny. Africa should develop a
value system to be respected by all kinds of people in the world, create a
national culture and sense of African nationalism that will teach mankind
non-violence," he explained.
Presenting a paper on Pan-Africanism last Tuesday as part of
activities marking 2008 African Liberation Day at a ceremony held at the TANGO
office in Kanifing, Mr Sallah acknowledged that development work is about
people, hence the readiness of development workers to talk about people.
He lamented that Africans hardly reflect on why Africa is the way it is today. He noted that unity is a
pivotal tool for a total liberation of the African continent.
"Pan Africanism is not about narration of events as history
is a road map. Thus we should understand the pillars that enable us create Africa whose people can be the architects of their own
developmental projects," he said.
Dilating on the causes of African isolation and
marginalisation, Mr Sallah explained that some Africans in the Diaspora went
into research and discovered that history of people changes and that Africans
came to be subjected to subjugation when colonial masters discovered vast land
and resources in the continent. This, he noted, tempted the colonial masters to
turn to Africa and subject its citizens to
torture and killings just to demonstrate an obscure idea of superior class,
noting that that marked the beginning of racism. "This was how the colonial
masters started to organise fraternal solidarity to maintain their dominance.
If we are to liberate ourselves, we must learn from the history left for us in
order to understand the kind of society we are facing", he concluded.
