By Dr Wallace Mgoqi
In the previous instalment on this subject, we discussed nine of the 17 African leaders profiled by Barrister Dudley Thompson, in this book They Are Africans.
In this article, we will discuss the rest of these leaders.
1. Haile Selassie: Emperor Haile Selassie 1 of Ethiopia occupies an important place in the history of Black people, not only for what he was – the head of a great African country – but also for the legacy he has left behind. He is regarded as the Father of the Rastafari movement, and is followed by millions of Rastafarians to this day.
2. Paul Robeson: A man of extraordinary conviction and courage, Robeson was a multitalented individual: sportsman, actor, singer and political activist. Throughout his long, distinguished and often controversial career, he never lost his belief in racial and social equality and his hostility to all forms of oppression. Charming and charismatic, he was larger than life and stood tall for the advancement of black people. He was a natural language buff, including Chinese, Russian, Arabic and several African languages.
3. Rosa Parks: It does not happen often that an individual’s action changes the course of history, but in Park’s case, this is precisely what happened. She refused to go to the back of the bus during the days of segregated facilities in the US, and her action sparked the now-famous Montgomery bus boycotts. Today she is honoured as somebody who took a principled stand against segregation and injustice. In 1999 she was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award given by the US Congress, other recipients include Nelson Mandela and Mother Theresa.
4. Martin Luther King, jr: Probably the most famous and inspiring black American leader of the twentieth century, he was directly responsible for important changes in US politics and society, bringing to an end the segregation laws that existed in some southern states and pressing for equality of voting rights between blacks and whites. His birthday in January has been celebrated as a national holiday across the US since then.
5. Muhammad Ali: The-all time heavyweight boxing champion of the world, Ali was one of the greatest boxers ever to appear in the ring. He was noted for his speed and accuracy as well as his mental agility to gain the psychological upper hand over his opponents. He became an international celebrity and brought new popularity to the sport. But he was also a champion of Afro-American rights and an important spokesperson for blacks in the US and elsewhere in the world. His was the first world championship contest to be staged in Africa, when he fought against Foreman, in 1974, in Kinshasa.
6. Patrice Lumumba: He was one of Africa’s most promising young leaders, like another from Burkina Faso, one Thomas Sankara. Lumumba was a patriot and fierce opponent of imperialism in his native Congo. He was briefly the moving force behind his country’s independence. But his ideas of national self -determination and social equality earned him many powerful enemies and he paid for his bravery with his life. During his time in 1960, he protested that Congo had been bleeding under Belgian King Leopold for over 80 years, and tragically it has been bleeding since then, until now, pre-eminently because of its humongous mineral wealth. No other country in Africa has bled the way Congo has done.
7. Malcolm X: During his life, he became one of the most influential and controversial spokespeople for black Americans, synonymous with Black Power and self-defence in the 1960s. His life was marked by violence and he was both a victim of, and apologist for, violent political action. He was feared and reviled.
8 Nelson Mandela: Without question he has gone down in history as one of the best-known and best-loved public figures of the 20th century. As he had come to personify the heroic struggle against the evils of apartheid, he also symbolises the qualities of forgiveness and reconciliation in the new South Africa. His personal example, as well as his political vision, give him exceptional stature among his fellow South Africans, irrespective of race and colour, and in the entire world, to whom he became an icon.
We find that the earliest leaders came face to face with the raw power of the dark forces of conquest, colonialism, imperialism and crude oppression and economic exploitation.
However, as the dawn of enlightenment approached, light shone over the human race, and these forces receded more and more to the background, but were never completely obliterated, as even today in South Africa country, after more than 500 years of conquest, after more than 27 years of democratic rule, we are having to contend with the self-same forces of darkness, racism, monopoly capital, gender oppression and inequality, economic exploitation of the poor and vulnerable.
In the darkest of times, these leaders sensed that there was something inherent in the creation of human beings that fought against being dehumanised, being oppressed, long before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 or even the coming into existence of the UN itself in 1945. Even long before the Declaration of Independence of Americans (The Want, Will and Hopes of the People) on July 4, 1776: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, Governments are instituted among men – deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
“That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organising its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness … ”
In the next instalment of this series, combining the month of Human Rights (March) and the Month of celebration of Democracy (April), we will discuss other leaders, who are less recognised, not least because they played any lesser roles in paving the way before us; we stand upon their shoulders today!
*Mgoqi is the Non-Executive Chairman at Ayo Technology Solutions