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ANNEX 1 - The Second Tshwane Declaration, 2012
- Africa Institute of South Africa
- Chapter
- Additional Information
522 The Second Tshwane Declaration, 2012 PREAMBLE We, the over 100 researchers from various countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, having met in Tshwane, South Africa over three days to commemorate Africa Liberation Day and exchanged on ten years of the African Union and the need to put Africa first in order to promote the idea of putting humanity first. The reason is that no people have been subjected to the degradation or commoditisation or thingification as Africans, recovering their humanity can only take place when Africans are put first in order to redeem all spiritually. RESOLUTION 1. 2012 marking the centenary of the first pan-African national liberation movement that was born in South Africa, the African National Congress. 2. The recognition and acknowledgement that the pan-Africanism that was first coined in 1896 by Sylvester Williams from Trinidad coincided with the year of the Adwa African victory and the emergence of the first African national liberation movement. The synergy, coincidence , and interlink amongst the emergence of Pan-Africanism, resistance victory over empire, and a political liberation movement with Pan-African roots at a time when communication was not easy is indeed a milestone in the annals of African history. 3. The recognition that despite the presence of the ideas of pan-africanism and the African Renaissance, Africans are still divided and they suffer mostly still from the colonial imagination and mentality, and the struggles to bring an irreversible post-colonial era for Africans as a whole. ANNEX 1 523 THE SECOND TSHWANE DECLARATION, 2012 4. The education system has not been fully appropriate to building free and emancipated Africans. It is still largely based on borrowing from outside, copying and mimicry. It has not been founded on a systematic , full and inspiring appreciation of the Pan-African history, values, civilisation, philosophy, economy, politics, science, technology , engineering and innovation. 5. The recognition that the African national imagination must replace all the colonially contaminated imagination. Fanon’s admonition that Africa needs a de-colonising imagination must be put into practice in all the activities Africans do. 6. The realisation that a new pan-African pact that combines the triple helix of African resistance, Pan-African guiding principles and politics that puts African governance that blends African tradition with modernity must guide African development. 7. The recognition that Africans are varied but their similarity comes first, so we put Africa first or being African first to all other identities ; Africans must share a unity and renaissance project identity making Africaness to be a means to express self-definition, selforganisation , self-reliance, self-worth, pride, dignity, freedom and self-determination rather than seeing it as a hindrance. 8. Africa Union means a realisation that there can be no room for divide and rule and all Africa states must prioritise the African interest above everything else. Africans must prize their unity above everything else. They must unite with a big bang even if the heavens fall. They must learn to compete without breaking their unity; they must learn to unite to enhance their skills and capabilities to move ahead. Learning to collaborate with competition and learning to compete without breaking collaboration must guide the African leadership knowledge, capability, vision, style and practice. Conflict must be resolved using rehabilitative justice and mobilising the values for conflict resolution from the African tradition and deep philosophy such as ubuntu. 9. Africans must learn to deal with problems that come together. They must not invite or team up with former colonial powers to solve problems in Africa by alienating other fellow Africans. They must meet together first and only relate to outsiders after agreeing with each other on the best way to protect the African interest based on a shared African identity and similarity within the differences whatever they are. 10.‘African solutions to African problems’. We should stop talking it and learn to do it in practice. Let Africans solve their own problems. They should stop undermining African unity by inviting outsiders to [3.91.11.30] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 07:26 GMT) 524 ANNEX 1 help them. The Libyan case should serve as a good lesson. Africans should have tried to unite and address the problem first before others invited themselves and pushed their agenda. Africans must stand up, never again to fall into humiliation. All humiliation must end now; if not now, then when can Africans attain full unity? It is 50 years after the OAU...