Continental Pan-Afrikanism and its Discontents: Towards the Hegemony of Garveyism in Afrika.

The article critically examines the limitations of Kwame Nkrumah's continental Pan-Africanism, arguing that its inclusive approach toward Arab and European settler populations on the African continent has endangered the biological survival and unity of African peoples. It highlights settler colonialism—by Arabs in North Africa since 639 AD and Europeans in Southern Africa since 1652—as the primary contemporary challenge to Pan-Africanism, which Nkrumah's vision inadequately addresses. Drawing on the critiques of thinkers like Chinweizu, the paper advocates for a return to Garveyism, defined here as a Black Power Pan-Africanism emphasizing "Africa for Africans" and racial self-reliance, as a necessary ideological shift to confront settler colonialism and achieve genuine African unity and prosperity. The article situates this debate within the historical evolution of Pan-Africanism from early diasporic movements through the institutionalization of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and African Union (AU), underscoring the need to reconsider the AU's foundational non-racial continentalism in favor of a more militant, race-conscious Pan-Africanism.