Pan-Africanism finds fresh momentum in the Caribbean

Augustine OGBO works as a doctor by treating patients in clinics in Striking Caribbean Island St Lucia.

When the coastal town returns to her house in the Gulf of Rodney, the clocks for the second job – as the owner and solo chief of a Nigerian package.

“Egusi soup and Fufu, this is more popular … They love Jollof Rice, Dr says Dr Ogbo makes a list of customers’ favorite dishes.

29 -year -old Nigeria – 230 million population – but in 2016 to educate as a doctor, the St Lucia – 180,000 population – passed the Atlantic.

After being constantly asked by his friends for Nigerian meals by his friends, St Lucian founded Africana Chops in 2022.

The package service is now developing, DR OGBO tells the BBC, and not only because the island customers think that the food is delicious.

“They know that we all have the same ancestors. Most of the time, they want to contact with it, Dr Dr. Ogbo explains that his interest in African culture has grown” enormous “since he came almost ten years ago.

St Lucia is not alone in this phenomenon.

Desire to re -connect with the population throughout the Caribbean The African heritage seems to be strengthening in the last few years.

While people in the Caribbean express African pride in cultural ways such as food, clothing and travel, governments and institutions on both sides of the Atlantic are gathered to form economic ties.

Africa had a long presence in the Caribbean.

A significant portion of the population of the islands landed in the 17th and 18th centuries from the Western and Central Africans, who were forced to carry to the Caribbean by European merchants.

In the 1800s, while slavery was abolished in most of the Caribbean, independence from the European forces came to the next century.

The grandchildren of the slaveized people maintained some African traditions, but developed their own independent cultures, which were largely different from the island to the island.

In the past, Dorbrene O’MARDE, who managed the Antigua and Barbuda Replaceations Support Commission, says that there are major campaigns to encourage African pride.

“It was particularly strong in the 1930s and then again in the 1960s – [American] At that time the black power movement, “he says with the BBC on the island of Antigua.

In Mr. O’MAR, he believes that the Caribbean witnesses a renewed, more promising version of such “Pan-Africaism” (a term used to describe the idea that people of African origin should be united).

“We have expanded beyond psychological and cultural themes, and now we talk with wider economic terms, such as stronger transportation connections between the Caribbean and Africa,” he says.

He continued: “Now we are in a different stage of Pan-Africaism-as before, it will not decrease.”

Social media is something that distinguishes African pride from those who came before.

Dennis Howard, a entertainment and cultural venture lecturer at the University of West Indian Islands, says that a “important” amount of Jamaikal has connected with Africa through platforms such as Tiktok.

“People learn more about black history beyond slavery,” he says to the BBC from his home in Jamaican capital Kingston.

Howard also points to the global rise of Afrobeats, a music genre from Nigeria and Ghana.

In Jamaica, in particular, Afrobeats thinks that its popularity is partially dependent on the desire to re -connect to the continent.

“Through music videos, [Jamaicans] They see that certain parts of Africa are similar to Jamaica and have been developed. We had a concept of Africa as a place where it was back and where it was a pure dirt road … Music changes it. “

Asked about the opinion of some Jamaican commentators online – the islanders do not need to regain the African heritage equally because they have a difficult Jamaican heritage – Mr. Howard emphasizes that the two are not different.

“Our entire culture is a little sprinkling of African, Indian and Europe and Chinese. But mostly derived from African. The most dominant part of our culture,” he says.

Those leaning on the heritage of African consume only culture, at the same time on flights and discover the continent from the first hand.

The tourism authority in Ghana – a great departure point for the sending of the Africans to the Caribbean once – BBC said that there was a “significant increase in the holidaymakers in recent years.

Similarly, Werner Gruner, the South Africa’s Consul Bahamas, says that its office has seen an increase in the local people traveling to South Africa, Ghana and Kenya in the last two or three years.

“I get a lot of attention to the safari, and I think people are starting to realize that South African and other African countries are actually developing very well,” Gruner says.

Even Burkina Faso, a country that is economically struggling under military administration for tourism, is apparently on the lists of some people’s buckets. Mr. O’MAR says that some countries want to visit the country Ibrahim Traoré because of the leader’s Pan-African tendencies.

However, it can be complicated to reach the mother continent from the Caribbean, and travelers are often forced to fly through Europe.

Earlier this year, in a speech he mentioned as “the daughter of Africa”, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottlete called for the construction of “Air and Naval Bridges” between Africa and the Caribbean.

“Let’s make these changes not only for the heads of state, but also for ordinary people who want to trade, travel and create a common future.” He said.

Key institutions such as African Union, African Development Bank (AFDB) and African Export Needs Bank (Afreximbank) are working on the “trade” angle, hosting conferences and creating comprehension memorandum with Caribbean colleagues.

Afreximbank said that trade between the two regions could skip from $ 730 million (£ 540 million) to 1.8 billion dollars (£ 1.33 billion) by 2028, provided that the right conditions are obtained.

However, according to the World Bank, Africa and Caribbean currently have some of the world’s lowest indicators for transportation infrastructure, logistics quality and customs efficiency.

In order to reduce trade barriers, the most important minors of Grenada and Bahamas asked Africa and the Caribbean to start a joint currency.

BAHAMYA Prime Minister Philip Davis told the delegates at a Afreximbank meeting in Nigeria, they should “take a single digital currency” seriously “, but Grenada’s Dickon Mitchell said:” Such a movement will not only be a symbolic and practically as members of a global Africa, not only as trade partners. “

It would not be easy to take more than 60 countries to coordinate and start a standard system, but Mitchell said that if it will take control of the regions, it should be done. [their] Its future “.

In St Lucia, Dr Ogbo says that attempts to bring Egusi, Fufu and Jollof to the local people is a small but valuable contribution to strengthening the relations between Africa and the Caribbean.

In June, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu signed various cooperation agreements with St Licia during a state visit, and Dr Ogbo sees Africana Pirzolas as an extension of this.

“I can say that I worked hand in hand with the Nigerian government and even the Stucian government to promote the African culture.”

Doctor and businessman are now trying to raise his food business to a fully -fledged restaurant – and hopes the “cultural change” between Africa and the Caribbean will strengthen from power.

“Great!” says. “I’m really excited about it.”