Pan Africanism

 In May 2013, the African Union (AU), the organization of all African states, held its twentieth summit fifty years after the founding of its predecessor the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in May 1963. The AU, which was barely ten years old, adopted the theme of Pan-Africanism and AfricanRenaissance  for the anniversary summit. A special AU publication explained that 

Pan-Africanism is an ideology and movement that encouraged the solidarity of Africans worldwide. It is based on the belief that unity is vital to economic, social and political progress and aims to ‘unify and uplift’ people of African descent. 

The ideology asserts that the fates of all African peoples and countries are intertwined. At its core, Pan-Africanism is ‘a belief that African peoples both on the continent and in the diaspora, share not merely a common history, but a common destiny.’