Pan-Africanize or Wither Away! Reflection on the Geopolitical Challenges of the 21st Century

A remarkable characteristic of the “2015–2025” decade of this 21st century is that the tectonic plates of political, economic, technological, and military global power are shifting, and a tremor is felt everywhere, including in Africa. A new cold war has emerged between the geopolitical regime of unipolarity and the emerging multipolarity, more specifically between the minority Western world led by the United States and the “global majority” led by China and Russia. This rivalry between the G-7 and the BRICS has generated a new scramble for African natural resources and transformed, once again, the continent into a battleground between competing powers. Is Africa facing a new wave of colonialism? Does Africa have enough power to defend itself? This chapter describes Pan-Africanism as the key to the survival of Africa. Its recommendations include (1) Affirmation of African agency through the motto “Africa for the Africans,” (2) Unity of the African continent in one country: The United States of Africa, (3) Moral, spiritual, and cultural renaissance of Africa, (4) Moving Africa from tribalism to African nationalism, (5) Faith in Democracy, (6) Affirmation of non-violence and rejection of violence, (7) Planetary solidarity, (8) Economic development, (9) Neutrality regarding great powers of the West and the East, echoing Nkrumah’s motto, We face neither East nor West: we face forward .