#Editorial

African Liberation Day!

May 26, 2023, 10:31 AM | Article By: EDITORIAL

Happy Africa Day 2023: An annual celebration of African independence, sovereign rule, and identity is known as African Liberation Day or Africa Day.

The day serves as the founding day of the Organisation of African Unity on May 25, 1963. In 1958, Accra, Ghana's capital, hosted the first commemoration of African Liberation Day. 

The main goal of the celebrations is to draw attention to the harm that colonialism had done to the continent of Africa and to African unity as a whole. It represented an effort to restore the sense of continental identity and cohesion. As per the website, Black Alliance For Peace, this year’s theme: is “Smash Neo-colonialism! African people are Ready for Revolution!.” Whereas, according to the United Nations The theme of the STI in Africa Day is aligned with that of the African Regional STI Forum 2023 which is “accelerating development and diffusion of emerging technologies for a green, inclusive and resilient Africa.”

The day of independence is observed not just in parts of Africa but worldwide. Every year on May 25th, people all across the world observe African Liberation Day (ALD) for one- or two-day which includes a symposium with speakers from around the world, marches and rallies, culturally relevant merchants, and education along with entertainment.

In U.S.

The African Liberation Support Committee (ALSC), a Black activist organization that supported Pan Africanism, was organized at a conference in September 1972 in Detroit, Michigan. ALSC grew out of the first African Liberation Day (ALD) on May 27, 1972, that drew some 60,000 demonstrators in cities across the U.S. and Canada. The first ALD grew out of a trip of a group of Black activists to Mozambique’s liberated areas in the summer of 1971. One of the activists on that trip was Owusu Sadaukai who, upon his return, convened a meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina, that led to the first ALD demonstration, which was designed to show support for African liberation struggles. A second ALSC conference was held in 1974 and was attended by 51 local committees from 27 states and six countries. ALSC organized African Liberation Day each May, and in 1973 demonstrations were held in more than 30 cities with an estimated 100,000 participants.

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