By Demetrius Dillard
If history has proven anything, this one principle will always hold true: There is power in unity.
Africa has faced many challenges for centuries; some have quelled, some have lingered and others have worsened. But in regards to the economic and political power of many African countries — or the lack thereof — the singular most injurious occurrence that led to the demise of dozens of African civilizations was a gathering known as the “Berlin Conference.”
In 1884 the leaders from 14 European countries and the United States gathered to discuss and negotiate control of Africa’s resources. The aftermath of the conference – and the subsequent imperialist schemes – would shape the course of African history. According to a PBS special covering “Africa’s Great Civilzations,” the countries who played major roles were France, Germany, Great Britain and Portugal. However, there were no representatives from Africa at the conference, historians say.
This conference “sought to discuss the partitioning of Africa, establishing rules to amicably divide resources among the Western countries at the expense of the African people.” Even more deplorable was the conference’s task for each European country that “claimed” possession over a segment of Africa to introduce some form of “civilization,” in the form of religion (namely Christianity) and trade.
One of the most heartless, brutal, detestable leaders that ever lived, a man by the name of King Leopold II of Belgium, rose to infamous prominence after the Berlin Conference, laying personal claim to the Congo. The aftereffects of his vicious reign were beyond disheartening. An estimated 10 million Congolese people died before Leopold was forced to relinquish personal control of the African colony at the time, which was in the early 20th century.
“Extraordinarily rich in natural resources – including ivory, palm oil, timber and rubber – Leopold would seek to increase his personal wealth at the expense of the environment and the people of the Congo,” says the PBS article.
“While the mindless plundering of land for natural resources caused vast environmental damage, there is a larger story of corruption and inhumanity. Leopold sought personal gain at the expense of the Congolese people, using them as slave labor to extract natural resources. If production waned or targets were not met, they risked severe punishments ranging from the severing of a hand to death.”
This is one example of the many atrocities that transpired as a result of the Berlin Conference. The conference ran between 1884 and 1885. Within the next 30 years, the scope and influence of Western superpowers on the political, geographical, economic and cultural factors in Africa skyrocketed.
Matt Rosenberg, a geography expert who contributed for ThoughtCo., wrote an article titled “The Berlin Conference to Divide Africa: The Colonization of the Continent by European Powers.” He noted that by 1914, the conference participants had fully divided Africa among themselves into 50 countries.
While some may feel the stain of European and American imperialism and colonialism is irrevocable, others argue that the damage is reversible – well, somewhat reversible at the least.
African scholars, in particular, have stressed the importance of unity not only among natives of the continent, but among Diasporic Africans scattered throughout the Americas, Caribbean, Europe and elsewhere.
Since then, many African leaders have staged efforts to bounce back from what was arguably the most malignant scheme ever unleashed on the continent in the past 150 years.
Nearly a decade ago at the United Nations’ 69th General Assembly, Mahamadou Issoufou, former president of Niger, warned against attempts to balkanize Africa, saying it must come to a halt lest the continent go up in flames.
“The future of Africa is in its unity. The move beyond the borders inherited from colonization is not to create new borders along ethnic or religious bases but to go beyond the current boundaries via integration,” Issoufou said.
The impact of the Berlin Conference stretched beyond political and economic realms and had a profound effect on African societies and cultures. European colonization disrupted traditional social structures, eroded indigenous customs and practices, and imposed Western values and institutions.
One of Africa’s most prominent and outspoken public figures, a Kenyan professor, lawyer and activist named PLO Lumumba have addressed the continent’s leaders on multiple occasions, urging them to unite and grow as one unit.
“When we talk about Pan Africanism, we must remind ourselves that Pan Africanism is about uniting us. We must tell ourselves, whether we are Africans in the mother continent or we are Africans in the United States of America, or we are Africans in the Caribbean… or in Brazil, or in Europe – Africans in the Diaspora – we are saying the time is now when Africa must begin to rethink,” Lumumba said, also emphasizing that the people of Africa cannot survive the “onslaught of the Chinese,” nor can they reach or realize their full potential, if they are disunited.
“We are telling ourselves that the parties that invoke the name of Pan Africanism must revive. Every political party in Africa must ask the question, ‘When will we dissolve all these boundaries?’,” he added.
“Our only salvation lies in our unity… I hold the view that Pan Africanism is the avenue to our success.”
