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AFRICANISM

Africanism is an African nationalist philosophy evolved by African Congress leader, Anthony Lembede, in the late 1940s. It offered Africans a racially assertive and positive self-image derived from pride in the past, hope for the future and a love of blackness that would foster feelings of equality among all Africans. After noting the ideological strength of Afrikaner nationalism, Lembede concluded that a strong ideology was essential to united Africans in their struggle against racial oppression. He expressed these ideas quite early in his contact with the African National Congress. He believed Africans were destined by colour to be united as one nationality. Africanism made an impact on political strategists who reacted to spontaneous social disturbances by planning boycotts, strikes and civil disobedience. As an ideology, it offered a basis for change but fell short of becoming a revolutionary creed. Historically significant as a first attempt to formulate a creed of exclusivist Black Nationalism in South Africa, this philosophy underpinned a tradition on which later African nationalists were to build.

Psychological Liberation Black Consciousness and Africanism

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