Africans, Tear Down the illegal Berlin Walls

What type of Africa do we want?



An Africa imposed on us or an Africa built through our own abilities and efforts?



A question this piece would like to explore.



We often hear from our Europeans neighbors when talking about Africa,





This must go.





That must go.





He must go.





She must

go.





They never

say the illegal Berlin walls in Africa must go.



The Berlin

walls in Africa are illegal and must go.



African

unity is the surest way to dismantle the artificially and the illegally built

Berlin walls in Africa.





The illegal

Berlin walls in Africa are a curse.





We must

break the curse





We must

undo the curse





We must

remove the curse





We must

reverse the curse





The illegal

Berlin walls in Africa must go NOW.





Berlin is

noted for building notorious walls to divide peoples. First let us be clear

that there is a huge difference between the physical Berlin wall which

separated the West Berlin from East Berlin and divided the World between the

East and the West during the cold war era.



And the

notorious and imaginary one built in Berlin in 1884/85 and transported to

Africa purposely to create a wedge among Africans and keep Africans perpetually

divided, weak and dependent.





In 1884/85,

some few Europeans arrogated to themselves the right to butcher Africa like the

Elephant and share the meat among themselves.



To get a

picture of what happened at the so-called Berlin Conference, pay a visit to a

slaughterhouse and observe how the butchers work. This is how the operation is

captured by the African novelist, short story writer and essayist, Ayi Kwei

Armah.





“The

dismemberment of Africa at the 1885 Berlin Conference, a process much like the

butchering of a huge elephant for sharing among jubilant hunter kin, marked the

triumphal peak of the theory and practice of European supremacy.”





At this

conference, they built artificial, illegal and imaginary walls in Africa.

Unlike the physical wall built in Berlin, these were not made of concrete, but

were built in our minds.



In our

mental state as Africans, we see ourselves divided by these imaginary walls,

meanwhile we are one. These imaginary walls have made us to see one another as

the enemy instead of seeing ourselves of belonging to one huge and same family.





In our

minds as Africans stand the illegal Berlin walls that divide Nigeria and Benin,

Gambia and Senegal, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Libya and Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria,

Mali and Niger, Guinea and Liberia, Uganda and Kenya, Chad and Sudan, Namibia

and Angola, Gabon and Congo, Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire, Somalia and Ethiopia and

so on and so forth.



The

architects of the illegal walls of Berlin in Africa intentionally built the

walls in our minds through education and religion. Therefore, in our mind’s

world as Africans stand the walls of Berlin. So with these walls built in our

minds and unseen with the physical eyes, unlike the physical one built in

Berlin, their removal is very difficult, but not impossible.





Walls

protect or separate. In our case, the walls were built to separate us and make

us easy preys for domination and control through the divide-and-conquer

tactics. We need to build new walls in Africa to defend our humanity, dignity

and resources. This can only happen through a continental Unity.



China’s

great wall has symbolically served as a bulwark for China. Today China can be

proud for fortifying her territory against external aggression.





“A United

States of Africa is the most visionary solution to the minor issues of

ethnicity and regionalism because in an African Federative Union we are all

Africans” Prof. Molefi Kete Asante





In January

20, 1981, when the former US President Reagan took over the US administration,

he made it a duty to see to it that the wall of Berlin dividing Europe and

hindering the growth and advancement of European people, wealth and power is

removed. He saw that the Berlin wall was hindering the free flow of economic

and political activities in Europe, thereby affecting the prosperity and

security of Europe and by extension the United States.





He

therefore challenged the then Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to work

diligently and speed up the breaking down or removal of the Berlin wall, which

had become a huge obstacle to European/US advancement.





He spoke

those famous words “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall”. By the time of Reagan’s

request, Mr. Gorbachev

had already initiated the “perestroika and glasnost” policy in the then Soviet

Union. So answering Reagan’s request was not difficult, as the perestroika and

glasnost met the Reagan’s request and the chemical reaction that ensued, saw

the eventual dismantling of the cold war physical Berlin wall, opening the

floodgates for a new era of Western power, wealth and exchange of ideas. Unfortunately,

Africa is still locked up behind the walls built in Berlin over a century ago.

No wonder we are made to feel like illegal human beings everywhere we go.





ENTER KWAME

NKRUMAH AND THE AFRICAN UNITY PROJECT.





Long before

Reagan appeared on the scene our independent forefathers led by the

indefatigable Kwame Nkrumah with clarity, merged the challenge of Reagan and

the response of Gorbachev.





Throughout

his political career, Kwame Nkrumah forcefully advocated for the removal of the

illegal Berlin imposed walls in Africa as the surest way to end Africa’s unfortunate

and unacceptable misery. Balkanization of Africa, he claimed was Africa’s bane.



A united

Africa, he argued had the potential of unleashing a continental wealth and

security unmatched in the annals of human history. Recent happenings on the

African continent have proven him right. Sadly Africans in his generation

rejected his sound and visionary counsel.





We are

today experiencing the devastating effects of rejecting his counsel. Words never

die. We are emboldened as never before to re-ignite the fire and restate that

Africa must unite and remove the illegal Berlin walls in Africa. This time

around, we hope Africans will respond positively and bring down the illegal

Berlin walls in Africa.





I have

personally witnessed the enormous transformation that the fall of the Berlin wall

has brought to Germany/Europe and the entire TransAtlantic alliance. Germany

being the economic and scientific and technological engine of Europe influences

the dynamics of the European society. So a rich and united and powerful Germany

is translated to a rich, united and powerful Europe. Today with the Berlin wall

down, cross border exchange of goods, people and ideas are on the increase.

Europe is more powerful, prosperous and secured than any time in her history.





So what are

we waiting for? The examples are there for all with eyes to see. Let me quote

Kwame Nkrumah, ”From the examples before

us, in Europe and the United States of America, it is therefore patent that we

in Africa have the resources, present and potential, for creating the kind of

society that we are anxious to build”.





For us in

Africa, it was a missed opportunity 50 years ago. It is not too late for us to

recapture the fervor and the transformational power of African Unity.The

advantage in removing the walls of Berlin in Africa far outweighs living in

Africa separated by the illegal walls of Berlin. Let us reject the Africa

imposed on us and build our own Africa.



The illegal

Berlin Walls in Africa must go.



Behind our diversities is the penchant for unity.



Africans,

tear down the illegal Berlin walls in Africa.











AFRICA MUST

UNITE





A United

Africa - More Wealth





A United

Africa - More Security





A United

Africa - Less Poverty





A United

Africa - A Clean and Green Environment





A United

Africa - Modern and Sophisticated Infrastructure





Courtesy: BRING DOWN

THE ILLEGAL BERLIN WALLS IN AFRICA MOVEMENT (BDIBWAM)

Author: Otibu Boafo

[email protected]