Quote: Pan Africanism

Without self-determination, the natural predisposition of a colonized or oppressed people, it is impossible for people to realize their own human aspirations; otherwise, they must constantly assist in the realization of the dreams and projects of others. That is why any progressive struggle begins somewhere specific, with a particular group, but can be related to the struggles of other groups, especially if the patterns of subordination are similar and eminate from the same source.

Thus, the struggle for Pan African self-determination is a sine qua non to the possession of the necessary resources and disposition to enter into larger struggles for change and to rid the world of those forces that stand against the movement toward an enlightened living situation for humanity. Thus, while the cultural nationalism implied in the philosophy of Pan Africanism may be considered parochial or "narrowly" directed toward people of African descent, in fact, it is very broad, both because Africans are global people and because by helping themselves they position themselves to be of the greatest service to others. In fact, part of the task of demystifying the "progressive" pretentions of a political struggle is to admit that no struggle is largely altruistic, that all struggles are, in the first instance, local and particularistic in nature, and that whether they have wider significance depends not alone upon ideological declarations, but upon the character of the struggle -- whether or not those involved have the resources to utilize in that manner.

-- Ronald W. Walters