Page 148 - Afrika Must Unite

TOWARDS AFRICAN UNITY 133
A notable contribution to African nationalism and Pan­
Africanism was the ‘Back to Africa’ movement of Marcus
Garvey.
The First Pan-African Congress was held in Paris in 1919
while the peace conference was in session. The French Prime
Minister, Clemenceau, when asked what he thought of the
holding of a Pan-African Congress, rem arked: ‘Don’t advertise
it, but go ahead.’ His reaction was fairly typical among Europeans
at the time. The very idea of Pan-Africanism was so strange that
it seemed unreal and yet at the same time perhaps potentially
dangerous. Fifty-seven representatives from various African
colonies and from the United States of America and the West
Indies attended. They drafted various proposals, though nothing
much came of them. For example, they proposed that the allied
and associated powers should establish a code of law ‘for inter­
national protection of the natives of Africa’.
The Second Pan-African Congress was held in London in
1921. The British Government, if not sympathetic, was tolerant,
and 113 delegates attended. This Congress, though far from
being truly representative of African opinion, nevertheless went
some way towards putting the African case to the world. In a
Declaration to the World, drafted at the closing session, it was
stated that ‘the absolute equality of races, physical, political
and social, is the founding stone of world and hum an advance­
m ent’. They were more concerned in those days with social than
with political improvement, not yet recognizing the pre-emption
of the latter in order to engage the former.
Two years later, in 1923, a Third Pan-African Congress was
held in London. Among the resolutions passed was one which
asked for a voice for Africans in their own governments; and
another which asked for the right of access to land and its
resources. The political aspect of social justice was beginning to
be understood. But in spite of the work of DuBois and others,
progress was slow. The movement lacked funds and membership
was limited. The delegates were idealists rather than men of
action. However, a certain amount of publicity was achieved,
and Africans and men of African descent for the first time
gained valuable experience in working together.
A Fourth Pan-African Congress was held in New York in