Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Kwame Nkrumah on African Unity

His call for unity reflects the tensions of decolonization because imperial powers left Africa, but they had never made an effort do build infrastructure in Africa. Because of this, there was no means of transport or communication across Africa, which made it very difficult to unify. Some African states were also decolonizing at different rates, so some states were still under violent civil wars, thus decreasing the unity. The tensions of the Cold War were also reflected as the African states with no infrastructure could possibly ally with the 2 superpowers, and the 2 superpowers would initiate proxy wars in Africa, leading to more violence and less unity.