Pan Africanism in 2024

 

The year is 2024 the month of May to be precise. Floods have been the main story on air for the past couple of weeks. Kenya has a first-term President, His Excellency Dr. William Samoei Ruto, as the fifth president of the Republic. In the artistic arena, almost everyone is recovering from the Covid-19 stalemate. It was as if everything was switched off by a remote control. Could be the Lord Almighty's doing. But I feel fresh and ready to create literary art like never before. Since I started this journey of pen and paper, I had a dream of an Africa that was unified in matters concerning literary art. More like the times when the Greats Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Chinua Achebe, Barbara Kimenye, Margaret  Ogola, and the likes were young people in society. See, then, they wrote what they could see and understand in their surrounding environments, and all one could do was relish and fantasize about the good old seventies and eighties in Kenya and East Africa. Then, they did not have technology or even the internet, unlike today where literary creatives can network and exchange their craft online through media platforms. In 2024, it is easy to share one's opinion on the internet, especially if they have a large following. Easy as ABC. 

Now, then, in the heydays of the Ngugi's and the Achebe's, their art was inspired naturally, through the massive awareness they received from reading books. As they always say, a good writer is a good reader. These Literary Pan-Africanists took their time to investigate society and perceive the results in easy-to-tell fiction narratives. These are the giants that I admire in my literary journey with the hope of one day inspiring a generation of literary enthusiasts with my craft. A literary Pan-Africanist in my own stature and liking. It would be quite an experience and an honor to represent my continent in neighboring global regions. In 2024, self-publishing is becoming the norm. Kenyan writers are taking the bull by the horns and recreating their immediate environments with the knowledge and awareness they possess. Pan-Africanism actually starts on an individual level, more like the greats of the United States. The fathers of the Black Revolution, were Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Barack Obama, and the rest. Forever engraved in history, as the individuals who dared to dream. 

Pan-Africanism this year with the integration of technology and the internet could have a larger and more significant impact unlike in the eras of our literary pioneers. Today, there are apps like Amazon KDP and KOBO Writing Life where literary artist can start their literary journey. Locally, we have wonderful patterns in which young writers could collaborate and contribute to the cause of a literary enthusiastic Africa. UBUNTU!