Seventy years ago, from Oct. 15 to 21, 1945, the fifth Pan-African Congress was held in Manchester, England. The anniversary was recognized recently with a three-day conference in the city. Participants wanted to know such things as, “Why is this not celebrated and remembered across the Diaspora?”
“Yet again our history goes by unannounced, untold, and we remain unaffected—or so we think—by a conference which marked the beginning of the end of European colonial rule over Africa and the Caribbean,” said Taiwo Rose, a 16-year-old student who attended the conference with his twin brother, Kehinde, and family.
Ninety delegates attended the 1945 congress, 26 from Africa. They included Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana), Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya), Dr. Hastings Banda (Malawi), Obafemi Awolowo and Jaja Wachuku (Nigeria), activists and academics such as Amy Jacques Garvey, W.E.B. Du Bois, who chaired the congress, the main organizer George Padmore (Trinidad) and Dudley Thompson (Jamaica). In the aftermath of the congress and in the following years, many of these delegates became key figures in the independence movements that sprang up and succeeded all over the world.
Tired of how racism, imperialism and colonialism was undermining the progression of African people and unlike the previous four congresses, the fifth congress was a demand for full independence from Britain as the only option. Less than 20 years after this historic congress, more than 50 African and Caribbean nations had fought for and won their independence.
In recognition of this momentous occasion, the PAC 45 Foundation of Manchester held a commemorative three-day conference Oct. 16 to 18, titled “Africa in the World,” to mark the 70th anniversary of the congress.
The “PAC@70 Youth Question Time” event opened up the commemoration conference to celebrate the truly groundbreaking fifth Pan-African Congress event, which was held less than 100 yards away in 1945. Standing-room-only, spirited debates were sparked among the young people and the panel. This new generation of Pan-Africans is not “ramping”! The energy of the young people was electric and set the tone with such excitement for the ensuing conference.
The second day of the conference was chaired by Zita Holbourne and race relations activist and politician Lee Jasper, with speakers professor Hakim Adi, Cecil Gutzmore and professor Sir Geoffrey Palmer OBE, who urged us to remember the Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica 150 years ago this month and its significance. Speakers Jasper, Temi Mwale and Viv Ahmun took the audience way down deep, and the keynote speaker, Dr. Umar Johnson, shook the audience to the core. Jasper reminded his audience, “For the purposes of the Pan-African movement of the 21st century, it must be big tent politics in order to work. In 1945, not everyone agreed in the house, but they all agreed on strategy and action.”
The closing day of the Pan-African Congress weekend saw a collection of “rich presentations” in which no topic was spared. Speakers on the bill included conscious rapper, British journalist and poet Akala, author Sai Murray, editor Kadija George and Jasper, who had the room teeming with such anticipation that you’d think a concert was about to ensue, and the noise was all that and more.
Colette Williams, chair of the PAC45 Foundation, said, “The message that came loud and clear, especially from the young delegates, was a need for organizational support, help and a space to explore and discuss issues pertaining to the African community on a local, national and global level, regularly.” The day concluded a “productive weekend of progressive discourse.”
For more information, follow pac45foundation.com.