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As the African continent struggled to become free of the colonial administrations that had, in the name of economically developing European society, pillaged it’s resources, enslaved, brutalized and killed off it’s people from the end of 18th century and into the 19th, the struggle for national liberation saw political leaders from across the continent combine efforts to establish the theoretical and material basis for a movement of unity and solidarity across Africa. Ideologically, this gave birth to Pan-Africanism and the first material infrastructure built to pursue the realization of this ideology was the Organisation of African Unity (AOU), which in 2002, became known as the African Union.

To  grapple with the contradictions that live in between its aspirations and the application of its paths and programs towards its goal It is the work of every freedom struggle. It is only by identifying, wrestling with, and eventually, resolving these contradictions, that any struggle can say that it operates with integrity and relevance. The lecture “Pan Africanism Beyond the Contradictions: Democratic Confederalism as the Material Application of People-Centered Pan-Africanism” is an attempt to bring forth the contradictions that are alive in the way that Pan-African ideology is applied by social and political movements amongst the African continent and in it’s diaspora. This lecture is also an effort to mobilize a shift in our application of pan-Africanism in our collective organizing efforts.

Political and Economic Contradictions

Our current relationship to Pan-Africanism relies entirely on the nation-state’s nationalism as the political framework for identity and belonging that provides the points of connectivity and relationship across the African world (including the diaspora). Though, any just social and political movement for liberation must look critically at the role nation-statism (not just the government of the day) plays in creating and exploiting the very conditions that these movements, (who deploy pan africanism as part of their activities), are working to uproot and transform.

Pan-Africanism without a people centered approach requires a cognitive dissonance towards the behavior and nature of the nation state, both as a singular entity, and as the political body of  Pan-Africanism. This cognitive dissonance, as it invisibles people groups, political histories and class oppressions, costs the ideology its heart and integrity, rendering it useful only as aesthetic decoration for our rallies, with no material resonance for our liberation. Yet, a people centered approach requires a deconstruction of the very foundation we have placed at the heart of Pan-Africanism, and a deconstruction of the political frameworks that we use to identify how we belong to, and apply the theory of Pan=Africanism. 

The Land and Woman Question 

If the material base of economic liberation is land, and the central site of organizing and actualizing political and economic freedom is land, then Pan African struggle can not exist without its own analysis of the land question. Given that the imperial regime has relegated land to function only as a thing to extract from, with little to no conscientiousness for the consequence of this mindless extraction on the wellbeing of the environment or communities that live on and from that land, a theoretical approach that people centered Pan-Africanism can adopt to analyzing the land question is a perspective that interlinks the liberation of land as requiring the same paradigm shifts as does the liberation of women.

This nexus of analysis will take us to the heart of the psychology that enables the destruction of land and the unequal, colonial, classist and racist distribution of the resource provided by land. If we think about the character of violence that is directed by the state, and communities nurtured and developed by statist culture, onto women, we will recognise it as a power struggle that mirrors the violence states and their beneficiaries/enablers  direct towards land- 

- Extract without compensation or care (we can think of care and nurture work at a societal and familial level, and not just that which is provided by women, but by all people, as considered inferior/unskilled work),
- Accelerate violence and destruction during times of conflict (sexual violence as a weapon of war, domestic violence),
- The commodification of land for private interest or corrupt state interest (the mass objectification of women in media and culture).

In analyzing the attitudes and psychology that enables extractivism and the abuse of land, the relationship between the liberation of both cells of our society (women and land) reveal themselves as chained to each other. Patriarchy is a chronic violence across the continent, a people centered Pan-African approach can begin to illuminate a path towards a society free of this violence, by revealing the inherent relationship the liberation of land has to the liberation of women.

People Centered Pan-Africanism & Democratic Confederalism

What is the alternative to statist Pan-Africanism, if we understand the state to be, even in its most revolutionary form, an entity that relates to masses violently and undemocratically? What can give material, applicable birth to people-centered Pan Africanism? What theory or methodology allows us to properly define people centered Pan Africanism in such an inclusionary manner that we do not build more contradictions into our own theory development and implementation approach?  These are some of  the central questions that we must ask in developing a people centered Pan-Africanist approach of political organizing and society building.

The theory of Democratic Confederalism, known also as Democratic Modernity, is the political thought of Abdullah Ocalan, a leader in the Kurdish liberation struggle and founder of the PKK. Democratic confederalism is not as much the actual framework of implementation, as much as it is a framework that encourages the revival of indigenous, decentralized organizational structures in everyday political and moral life, and the prioritization of contemporary sites of communal life as the main sites for organizing political and economic power. Democratic confederalism tells us that thinking of life beyond the state is a necessity - how we do this - it gives templates for, but leaves the filling in of the blanks, to us, the people.

Ardiin Afrikaa bulchiinsa koloneeffataa maqaa hawaasa Awurooppaa dinagdeen guddachaa jiruun qabeenya isaa saame, garboomsee, gara jabeessa fi ajjeesee dhuma jaarraa 18ffaa irraa eegalee hanga 19ffaatti, qabsoo bilisummaa biyyaalessaa hoggantoonni siyaasaa guutuu ardii kanaa sochii tokkummaa fi gamtaa guutuu Afrikaa keessatti gaggeeffamuuf bu’uura ti’oorii fi meeshaa hundeessuuf tattaaffii taasisan argee jira. Ilaalchaan kun Paan Afrikaa kan dhalche yoo ta’u, bu’uuraaleen meeshaa jalqabaa ilaalcha kana dhugoomsuuf ijaaraman Dhaabbata Tokkummaa Afrikaa (AOU) yoo ta’u, bara 2002tti, Gamtaa Afrikaa jedhamuun beekame. Wal faallessuu hawwii isaa fi hojiirra oolmaa daandii fi sagantaa isaa gara galma isaa gidduutti jiraatu waliin wal’aansoo qabuun Hojii qabsoo bilisummaa hundaati. Qabsoon kamiyyuu qulqullinaa fi barbaachisummaadhaan socho’a jechuu kan danda’u wal faallessuu kana adda baasuu, wal’aansoo qabuu fi dhuma irratti furuu qofaan. Barumsi “Pan Africanism Beyond the Contradictions: Democratic Confederalism as the Material Application of People-Centered Pan-Africanism” jedhu, akkaataa ilaalchi Paan Afrikaa sochii hawaasummaa fi siyaasaa gidduutti hojiirra ooluun wal faallessuu lubbuu qabu fiduuf yaaliin godhamedha ardii Afrikaa fi diyaaspooraa ishee keessatti. Barumsi kun tattaaffii waloo gurmeessuu keenya keessatti hojiirra oolmaa keenya pan-Africanism irratti jijjiirama sochoosuuf tattaaffii taasifamudha. Walfaallaa Siyaasaa fi Diinagdee Walitti dhufeenyi keenya ammaa Paan-Afriikaa wajjin qabnu guutummaatti sabboonummaa mootummaa sabaa akka bu’uura siyaasaa eenyummaa fi kan ta’uutti kan hundaa’u yoo ta’u, kunis qabxiilee walitti hidhamiinsaa fi hariiroo guutuu addunyaa Afrikaa (diyaaspooraa dabalatee) keessatti kan kennudha. Haa ta’u malee, sochiin hawaasummaa fi siyaasaa haqaa bilisummaa kamiyyuu gahee saba-istaatizimii (mootummaa guyyaa sanaa qofa osoo hin taane) haala sochiiwwan kun, (kanneen akka qaama sochii isaaniitti pan africanism bobbaasan uumuu fi itti fayyadamuu keessatti qabu qeequun ilaaluu qaba ). Waldhabdeen hubannoo kun garee namootaa, seenaa siyaasaa fi cunqursaa gitaa waan hin mul’anneef, ilaalchi onnee fi qulqullina isaa gatii kaffalchiisa, hiriira keenyaaf akka faaya miidhaginaa qofatti akka faayidaa qabu taasisa, bilisummaa keenyaaf sagalee meeshaa tokko malee. Ta’us, mala ummata giddugaleessa godhate, bu’uura nuti wiirtuu Paan-Afrikaazimii keessa kaa’e sana diiguu, akkasumas bu’uuraalee siyaasaa akkamitti akka keessa jirru adda baasuuf itti fayyadamnu, fi yaada Paan=Afrikaazimii hojiirra oolchuuf itti fayyadamnu diiguu gaafata.

Gaaffii Lafaa fi Dubartii

Bu’uurri meeshaa bilisummaa dinagdee lafa yoo ta’e, bakki giddugaleessaa bilisummaa siyaasaa fi dinagdee gurmeessuu fi dhugoomsuu lafa yoo ta’e, qabsoon Paan Afrikaa gaaffii lafaa irratti xiinxala mataa isaa malee jiraachuu hin danda’u. Sirni impaayera lafa akka waan irraa baafamuu qofaatti akka hojjetu gadi buuse, bu’aa sammuu malee baasuun kun nageenya naannoo ykn hawaasa lafa sana irra jiraataniifi lafa sana irraa jiraatan irratti fiduuf qalbii xiqqoo yookaan homaa hin qabne ta’uu isaa yoo ilaalle, mala ti’oorii kan people centered Pan-Africanism can adopt to analyzing the land question ilaalcha bilisummaa lafaa akka bilisummaan dubartootaa jijjiirama paradigm wal fakkaatu akka barbaadutti walitti hidhudha.

Walitti hidhamiinsi xiinxala kun gara onnee xiinsammuu lafa balleessuu fi qabeenya lafti argamsiisu walqixxummaa, koloneeffataa, gitaa fi sanyummaadhaan akka qoodamu dandeessisutti nu geessa. Amala jeequmsaa mootummaan qajeelfamee, fi hawaasa aadaa statistiin kunuunfamee fi guddate, dubartoota irratti yoo yaadne, akka qabsoo aangoo mootummoota jeequmsaa fi fayyadamtoota/dandeessitoota isaanii kallattiin gara lafaatti calaqqisu ta’uu isaa ni hubanna. Beenyaa ykn kunuunsa malee baasuu (hojii kunuunsaa fi kunuunsuu sadarkaa hawaasaa fi maatiitti yaaduu dandeenya, kan dubartootaan kennamu qofa osoo hin taane, namoota hundaan, akka hojii gadi aanaa/ogummaa hin qabneetti ilaalamu), - Jeequmsaa fi badiisa yeroo yeroo waldhabdee (jeequmsi saalaa akka meeshaa waraanaatti, jeequmsa maatii), - Lafa dantaa dhuunfaaf ykn dantaa mootummaa malaammaltummaaf meeshaa ta’uu (dubartoonni miidiyaa fi aadaa keessatti baay’inaan objectification gochuu). Ilaalchaa fi xiinsammuu baasuu fi miidhaa lafaa dandeessisu xiinxaluu keessatti hariiroon bilisummaa seelii hawaasa keenyaa lamaan (dubartootaa fi lafa) gidduu jiru akka sansalataan walitti hidhamanitti of mul’isa. Paatriyaarkiin jeequmsa yeroo dheeraa guutuu ardii kanaa yoo ta’u, mala Uummata giddu galeessa godhate Paan-Afriikaa daandii gara hawaasa jeequmsa kana irraa bilisa ta’etti ibsuu jalqabuu danda’a, hariiroo uumamaan jiru mul’isuudhaa bilisummaan lafaa fii bilisummaa dubartootaa qaba.

Uummata Giddugaleessa godhate Paan-Afrikaanizimii & Konfederaaliizimii Dimookiraatawaa

Mootummaan bifa warraaqsa guddaa ta’een illee qaama jeequmsaa fi dimokiraasii malee ummata bal’aa wajjin walqabatu ta’uu isaa yoo hubanne filannoo statist Pan-Africanism maali? Maaltu Paan Afrikaa namoota giddu galeessa godhate kan meeshaa, hojiirra ooluu danda’u dhalchuu danda’a? Tiyoorii ykn mala maali Paan Afrikaa namoota giddu galeessa godhate haala hammataa ta’een sirriitti ibsuuf nu dandeessisa, akkasumas mala qophii fi hojiirra oolmaa ti’oorii mataa keenyaa keessatti wal faallessuu dabalataa hin ijaarre? Kunneen gaaffilee giddugaleessaa mala gurmaa’ina siyaasaa fi ijaarsa hawaasaa kan ummata giddu galeessa godhate Paan-Afrikaanistii guddisuu keessatti gaafachuu qabnu keessaa muraasa. Tiyoorii Konfederaalizimii Dimookiraatawaa, Ammayyummaa Dimookiraatawaa jedhamuunis kan beekamu, yaada siyaasaa Abdullaah Ocalan, hogganaa qabsoo bilisummaa Kurdootaa fi hundeessaa PKK ti. Konfederaaliizimiin dimokiraatawaa hamma bu’uura hojiirra oolmaa qabatamaa miti, hamma bu’uura caasaa jaarmiyaa dhalootaan, giddugaleessa hin taane jireenya siyaasaa fi naamusaa guyyaa guyyaa keessatti haaromsuu, fi iddoowwan jireenya hawaasaa yeroo ammaa akka iddoowwan ijoo ta’anitti dursa kennuu jajjabeessudha humna siyaasaa fi dinagdee gurmeessuu. Konfederaaliizimiin dimokiraatawaa jireenya mootummaa bira darbee yaaduun barbaachisaa ta'uu nutti hima - akkamitti kana akka goonu - unka kenna, garuu guutinsa bakka duwwaa, nuuf, ummataaf dhiisa.