Prof Ansel Brown encourages people of African origin to participate in the matters affecting them, and argues that the diaspora has always been important, especially in the formation of Pan-Africanism.
“We were forbidden to speak our African languages in America, the truth is that African spirits cannot be crushed,” this is according to American academic and renowned Pan-Africanist, Professor Ansel Brown.
Brown is currently in South Africa and has been very vocal about the state of Pan-Africanism both in the African continent and in the diaspora.
He arrives in South Africa at a time when the country grapples with sporadic violence between locals and foreign nationals, who are largely from other African countries.
Political Analysis South Africa was among media houses invited to a conversation with Prof. Brown in Rosebank, Johannesburg on the morning of Wednesday, 3 April 2019, before he went to his much-awaited public lecture at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Brown asked thought-provoking questions, such as why Africa has no permanent representation in the United Nation Security Council, which is made up of five permanent members, including China, the United States of America, France, Russia and the United Kingdom, and ten other non-permanent members who are elected for only two years.
He also emphasised the importance of establishing deeper trading relationships between African countries, creating sufficient access to markets for all Africans, improving education and developing African economies – all interventions which will invariably be to the benefit of all Africans, both at home and in the diaspora.
Kenneth Mokgatlhe
k.mokgatlhe@politicalanalysis.co.za
