afriquotes

a modest collection of wisdom from the continent. curated by students at the university of edinburgh centre of african studies.

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I personally believe that here in South Africa, with all our diversities of colour and race, we will show the world a new pattern for democracy. I think there is a challenge to us in South Africa to set a new example for the world. Let us not side-step that task. What is important is that we can build a homogeneous South Africa on the basis not of colour but of human values.

Albert Lutuli, “Our vision is a Democratic Society," speech at South African Congress of Democrats, 1958

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Racial oppression and exploitation have a universal pattern, and whether they occur in South Africa, Mississippi or New Jersey, they must be exposed and fought as part of a worldwide system of oppression, the fountain-head of which is today among the reactionary and fascist-minded ruling circles of white America. Jim-Crowism, colonialism and imperialism are not separate enemies, but a single enemy with different faces and different forms. If you are genuinely opposed to Jim-Crowism in America, you must be genuinely opposed to the colonial, imperialist enslavement of our brothers in other lands.

W. Alphaeus Hunton, July 1950, as quoted in No Easy Victories, on why Americans should worry about Africa

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The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.

Steve Biko, Cape Town, 1971

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Whether I live or die is immaterial. It is enough to know that there are people who commit time, money and energy to fight this one evil among so many others predominating worldwide. If they do not succeed today, they will succeed tomorrow.

Ken Saro-Wiwa, Ogoni Activist 

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My mission is to lead the country out of a bad situation of corruption, depression and slavery. After I rid the country of these vices, I will then organize and supervise a general election of a genuinely democratic civilian government.

General Idi Amin Dada, third president of Uganda and military coup leader, Uganda, the Human Rights Situation - US Senate, early 1970s

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The givers of most of the corruption in Africa are from outside Africa. They do in Africa things they would not do in their own countries.

Olusegun Obasanjo, 2012

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There cannot be democracy in an unstable political environment. Neither can there be development in an undemocratic environment where citizens are deprived of taking initiatives in the private sector in the interest of their country.

Sam Nujoma, October 1992; ACP Heads of State Summit, Gabon

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While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas.

Thomas Sankara

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African narratives in the West, they proliferate. I really don't care anymore. I'm more interested in the stories we tell about ourselves - how, as a writer, I find that African writers have always been the curators of our humanity on this continent.

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The perks of a new government are not really appealing to me. Everybody, of course, would like to have a good job, a good salary, and that sort of thing. But for me, that is not the be-all of a struggle. What is important is the continuation of the struggle – and we must accept that the struggle is always continuing – under different conditions whether within parliament or outside parliament, we shall begin to tackle the real problems of the country. And the real problems of the country are not whether one is in cabinet, or a key minister, but what we do for social upliftment of the working masses of our people.

Chris Hani

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These divisions, which the colonial powers have always exploited the better to dominate us, have played an important role — and are still playing that role — in the suicide of Africa.

Patrice Lumumba, African Unity and National Independence speech, March 1959

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We know that Africa is neither French, nor British, nor American, nor Russian, that it is African. We know the objects of the West. Yesterday they divided us on the level of a tribe, clan and village…They want to create antagonistic blocs, satellites…

Patrice Lumumba, Speech at the opening of the All-African Conference in Leopoldville August 25,1960

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When we speak of Pan-Africanism, what do we exactly mean? To envisage its future, we must appreciate its meaning. To some people, Pan-Africanism denotes the search for an African personality. To others, it implies negritude. Whilst to many it connotes a situation which finds the whole continent of Africa free from the shackles of foreign domination with its leaders free to plan for the orderly progress and welfare of its inhabitants. In order not to be misleading, we must also explain what we mean by the term ‘African’. Is he a member of the black race or is he a hybrid of the black and white races inhabiting Africa? It is necessary to say, too, whether an inhabitant of Africa, irrespective of his race and language, qualifies to become an African within the context of the use of this terminology.

Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, first president of Nigeria and one of the leading figures of Nigerian nationalism, The Future of Pan-Africanism, 1962

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To ensure national unity, there must be no Shonas in Zimbabwe, there must be no Ndebeles in Zimbabwe, there must be Zimbabweans. Some people are proud of their tribalism. But we call tribalists reactionary agents of the enemy.

Samora Machel, speech in Harare, Zimbabwe, 1980

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It started as the Organisation of African Unity, but started in bits with Ghana, Guinea, Mali having taught us that people of Africa can unite. They taught us also that within each of our countries we must be united. Regardless of tribe, we are one. Regardless of religion, we are one. Regardless of our cultural backgrounds, we are one.

Robert Mugabe, May 2015, at signing of peace agreement between government of Mali and rebel factions, on the contributions of Modibo Keita and other west African leaders to African unity.

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I am urging that we should learn about people in other places, take an interest in their civilizations, their arguments, their errors, their achievements, not because that will bring us to agreement, but because it will help us get used to one another.

Kwame Anthony Appiah, Ethics in a World of Strangers, 2007

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The Pan-Africanism that envisaged the ideal of wholeness was gradually cut down to the size of a continent, then a nation, a region, an ethnos, a clan, and even a village in some instances But Pan-Africanism has not outlived its mission. Seen as an economic, political, cultural, and psychological re-membering vision, it should continue to guide remembering practices.

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o