Main objective of AFRINAISSANCE
Afrinaissance is primarily a practical response to Mbeki’s call. Its objective is to accelerate the process of the continent’s rebirth by stirring up and sustaining an intellectual interest in things African.
Motivation for AFRINAISSANCE
Africa’s rebirth faces great odds. Not least is the continent’s own history. The slave trade and colonialism took a dreadful tool on its people. Both events created the distorted mindset that underpins many of the continent’s problems. As slaves and colonial subjects, Africans were constantly reminded that they were subhuman, incapable of anything good. Out of such propaganda and brainwashing arose the mental slave. Any propaganda designed to make people feel inferior only thrives where there is self-ignorance. Ask many Africans about Shaka Zulu or Hannibal and all you get is a blank stare. But as soon as it is Napoleon Bonaparte, they start to spin endless yarns, with precise names and dates of each battle the Frenchman fought. They may never ever have heard of or read about Antonio Maceo or even Collin Powell. Their education is one in alienation. Yet, African history is replete with great people and achievements.
It is a history with names such as Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., Booker T Washington, Dedan Kimaathi, Cetewayo, Cheick Modibo Diarra, Mathew Henson, Noah Samara, Ahmed Kathrada, Michaelle Jean, Wole Soyinka, Fela Kuti, Pele, Michael Jordan, Ronaldinho, Tiger Wood, Guion Bluford, Oprah Winfrey, Abebe Bikila, CJ Walker, Cleopatra, Ruth First, Gamal Nasser, Nardine Gordimer, Arthur Lewis, Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder, Denzel Washington, Charles Drew, J.J. Okocha, Steve Mokone, Barack Obama, Cheik Anta Diop, Manu Dibango, Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Hassan al Bana, Anwar Sadat, Naguib Mafouz, Harriet Tubman, Toni Morrison, Christiaan Barnaard, Frederick de Klerk, Desmond Tutu, Ibrahim Njoya, Menes, Empress Taitu, Menelik II, Louis Armstrong, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, Alexander Dumas, Alex la Guma, Alexander Pushkin, Leopold Sedar Senghor, Aime Cesaire, Osei Tutu, Nzingha Mbandi, Seretse Khama, Steve Biko, Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Du Bois, Kofi Annan, Benedita da Silva, Percy Julian, George Washington Carver, Thabo Mbeki, Oliver Tambo, Duke Ellington, Joe Slovo, Yusuf Dadoo, Seewoosagur Ramgoolan, Helen Joseph, Ruth Hayman, Daniel Hale Williams, Mohammed Al Amoudi, etc.
Dismantling a colonial AND SLAVE mindset
AFRINAISSANCE aims at dismantling a colonial and slave mindset by telling African people a story different from the caricature to which they have been accustomed by the western media for the last five hundred years. Designed to boost self-confidence and unity, the game is the surest and shortest path to Pan-African solidarity.
The timing of AFRINAISSANCE
With the fall of apartheid, the political liberation of Africa is complete. The way forward now is reconstruction.AFINAISSANCE provides Africans with an essential tool to coordinate their efforts and learn about themselves.