LETTER: Pan-Africanism struggled in Africa
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Adekeye Adebajo cites OAU secretary-general Diallo Telli as saying Pan-Africanism was born amid “complete alienation, physical exploitation and spiritual torment” (“Pan-Africanism born in an atmosphere of alienation, exploitation and torment (”, August 23). Yet, as Adebajo points out, all the early pan-African conferences unrolled peacefully enough in London, Paris, Brussels, New York, Lisbon and Manchester.
Things only got difficult when pan-Africanism was transplanted to Africa, as one African leader after another throttled free speech with censorship, detention without trial, single-partyism and, frequently, dictatorial one-man rule. Among the chief offenders were the leaders of pan-Africanism, such as Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Toure.
Poor Telli was murdered by Sekou Toure, who imprisoned him (without trial) in the notorious Camp Boiro, where he was deliberately and agonisingly starved to death. Imagine, if you will, the “complete alienation, physical exploitation and spiritual torment” Telli thus experienced.
RW Johnson, Via e-mail
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an e-mail with your comments. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Send your letter by e-mail to letters@businesslive.co.za (mailto:letters@businesslive.co.za). Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Things only got difficult when pan-Africanism was transplanted to Africa, as one African leader after another throttled free speech with censorship, detention without trial, single-partyism and, frequently, dictatorial one-man rule. Among the chief offenders were the leaders of pan-Africanism, such as Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Toure.
Poor Telli was murdered by Sekou Toure, who imprisoned him (without trial) in the notorious Camp Boiro, where he was deliberately and agonisingly starved to death. Imagine, if you will, the “complete alienation, physical exploitation and spiritual torment” Telli thus experienced.
RW Johnson, Via e-mail
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an e-mail with your comments. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Send your letter by e-mail to letters@businesslive.co.za (mailto:letters@businesslive.co.za). Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
