Salvador, Brazil – Leaders of several countries gathered here Wednesday stressed the need to kick start an African “renaissance” and pushed for pan-Africanism as a means of promoting cooperation and spurring development of the world’s poorest continent.
The need for profound changes in this troubled region was the main theme of the first day of the II Conference of Intellectuals of Africa and the Diaspora, which is set to continue through Friday in this northeastern city.
Some speakers at Wednesday’s session remarked upon the long-standing conflicts that have held back progress on the continent and have received the majority of attention in international news reports. But most put their attention on the need for the profound rebirth of a complex and diverse region that is still struggling to overcome its colonial legacy.
The role of the African diaspora – comprising mainly descendants of the millions of slaves brought to the Americas – and the heritage they have bequeathed will be a primary topic of discussion at the conference, which includes the participation of some 1,000 representatives from 40 countries.
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade said that the conference coincides with “profound changes that are going to modify the shape of the world in the 21st century.”
The United States has consolidated itself as a superpower, the European Union is expanding and India, China and Brazil are progressing by leaps and bounds, said Wade, who added that the African countries by themselves will have no chance of surviving.
Africa currently accounts for just 1.7 percent of international trade and receives less than 1 percent of foreign investment.
“Time is against us; union is the only option if we want to survive,” Wade said in defending the idea of creating a continent-wide “United States of Africa.”
But the Senegalese leader also offered a more optimistic vision of Africa.
“Africa is associated with permanent conflicts and humanitarian problems, leading one to think that the entire continent is adrift,” said Wade. “We forget that it is a collection of 56 (countries) and that we have resolved great conflicts and taken great steps toward democracy.”
For her part, Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller highlighted the cultural and intellectual contributions made by leading figures of the diaspora who defended the idea of an African nation, including reggae superstar Bob Marley.
Simpson Miller stressed the need to ensure that Africa does not continue to be a victim of the global economy. She noted that one in every six African children dies of disease before the age of 5 despite the availability of low-cost treatments.
Tanzanian Vice President Ali Mohammed Shein said the previous fight against colonialism must be followed up now “by a fight against neo-imperialism, poverty and inequality,” while Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called for a new political and economic geography and for accountability for the sins of the past.
“No one assumes the responsibility of saying that (Africa) is poor because for more than 300 years its men, women, children and young people were (taken as) slaves to build some of the nations that today are rich,” Lula said.
For his part, Cape Verde President Pedro Pires said that the fight for freedom and equality of opportunities for everyone was a struggle that continues today.
Overcoming inequality, discrimination and prejudice requires changes in the “attitudes of citizens and bold and effective progressive public policy,” he said.
Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema said that, unlike the “disastrous” results of colonialism, Brazil “has been able to transform its African heritage into a mixed-race culture without complications.”
For Obiang, whose regime is widely regarded as oppressive and extravagantly corrupt, cultural identity is one of the most pressing concerns for Africa and the diaspora. He said that colonialism, which set up imported models of education, art, culture and beauty, served to destroy “African conceptions” and was the equivalent of “cultural genocide.”
