On the 140th Anniversary of the Berlin Conference, Africans Rising Calls for the Abolition of Colonial Borders and Demands Free Movement Across Africa

By Adalbert von Rößler (†1922) - Allgemeine Illustrierte Zeitung

15 November 2024

Africans Rising (Banjul)

Today, as Africans remember the 140th anniversary of the Berlin Conference, which led to the division and balkanization of the continent, Africans Rising Movement, a Pan-African movement of movements and people working for Unity, Justice, Peace and Dignity - calls on African leaders to abolish colonial borders and visa restrictions imposed upon Africa by European powers.

Hardi Yakubu, Africans Rising Movement Coordinator said, “We cannot hold these borders sacred - they were imposed by European colonisers, not by us. It is a shame that African leaders continue to uphold colonial barriers. Our leaders can no longer afford to maintain borders that divide families, nations and peoples and are economically backward and poor.”

The anniversary is remembered at a time when the Borderless Africa Campaign has kicked off. Borderless Africa is a decentralised, people-owned campaign spearheaded by Africans Rising with an aim to push for the free movement of African people and goods in Africa. The overall goal of this campaign is to achieve an Africa where Africans can move around our own continent without the current border restrictions in place, for better trade, job creation, solidarity and economic transformation. The campaign pushes for the ratification and implementation of the African Union Protocol on Free Movement of Persons in all African countries.

From November 15th, 1884 to February 26, 1885, European powers gathered in Berlin at the invitation of German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. This conference, aimed solely at exploiting African labour and resources, divided Africa without a single African present. The legacy of this division continues to harm the continent through border-related conflicts, insecurity, and economic stagnation. As former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere observed, “We have artificial ‘nations’ carved out at the Berlin Conference of 1884, and today we are struggling to build these nations into stable units of human society.”

Africans did not want to be colonised; colonisation was done by force with large-scale massacres and warfare. Colonialism remained bloody and brutal even after it was established with vicious punishment and killing of those who resisted the colonial governments. Africans were displaced from their lands, hauled in reserves, forced to serve as labourer and pay taxes to European governments. 140 years later, the colonial troupe has only evolved, with Europe now fringed by the United States and China. Their overarching motivation remains the same; a concerted endevour to access and control Africa's resources, perpetuating a scramble resonant to that of the colonial era. Colonialism was a historical crime against humanity. It is time for Europe to acknowledge the social, political and economic consequences of colonialism and neo-colonialism; and commence reparations for all African nations they created as a result of the Berlin Conference.

About Africans Rising Movement

Africans Rising is a global Pan-African movement of movements,  people and organizations working for Unity, Justice, Peace, and Dignity. Launched in 2017, the movement provides a space for progressive African civil society leaders and groups engaged in various civic struggles to convene, connect, collaborate, share knowledge, and build solidarity among African people. Through Pan-African mobilization, campaigns, and movement building, we are not only working to defeat the oppressive system but to create the alternative that must replace it.