Marcus Mosiah Garvey - The Ultimate Pan-Africanist

 Kwabena Kazi Diata - August 22, 2021

Tuesday August 17, 2021 marked the 134th anniversary of the birth of Marcus Mosiah Garvey; philosopher, activist and one of the most significant individual of the twentieth century. Marcus Garvey was the world’s first global and ultimate pan-Africanist; eighty-one years after his passing, his vision, organizing work and pan-Africanist legacy continues to impact scholars and activists worldwide. It is unimaginable that in the land of his birth Jamaica, his teachings are not required reading from elementary school to university.

For me there are three fundamental pillars critical to understanding Garvey and why his impact continues. The first is the assertion and self-respect of the individual, reflective of the 2nd Principle of the Nguzo Saba, Kujichagulia. Ever since their contact with us, Europeans have always tried to define and characterize us according to their own narrow, racist and self-serving narrative. Marcus Garvey was vehemently opposed to this and struggled against it and implored us to do likewise. The basis of practicing self-respect comes from an understanding of who we are and our origins; understanding the significant role we played in the development and evolution of civilization. “If we as a people realized the greatness from which we came, we would be less likely to disrespect ourselves”  Marcus Garvey. When we allow others to define and shape the discourse about us; when we write, sing or use derogatory language about ourselves; when we engage in buffoonery and pathological social behavior, we disrespect ourselves and trample on the glorious heritage from which we came. Garvey further said “let no voice but your own speak to you from the depths. Let no influence but your own raise you in time of peace and time of war; hear all but, attend only that which concerns you.”

The second pillar is Garvey’s extraordinary and pioneering achievement in organization and organizing. Garvey’s organization the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) at one time boasted up to 3 million dues paying members, this is no ordinary feat in the 1920’s just fifty plus years after Emancipation and the Civil War in the United States. Many of the Civil Rights activists of the period were UNIA card-carrying members and some were Local Chapter leaders; Malcolm X’s parents were Garveyites. Garvey published the Negro World newspaper, dedicated to news and analysis on matters affecting people of African descent worldwide, which was published in English, Spanish and French. The crowning achievement however was the setting up of the Black Starliner shipping company; the Black Starliner made trips to Cuba, Costa Rica, Panama and Jamaica. These three entities put into effect the old dictum that “words without deeds are dead;” critical to any mass movement is the ability to put into action, what the activism and pronouncements are about. Martin Luther King Jr in a 1965 speech at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica said Marcus Garvey “was the first man of color to lead and develop a mass movement. He was the first man on a mass scale and level to give millions of negroes a sense of dignity and destiny and, make the negro feel he was somebody.”

No other single Black individual have been able to achieve this level of organization up to this day. The fundamental lesson was and still is doing for self, which was later advocated by Elijah Mohammed of the Nation of Islam. This doing for self is echoed in the 4th Principle of the Nguzo Saba Ujamma, Cooperative Economics, a direct continuum of the inspiration from Marcus Garvey’s teachings.

The third pillar and perhaps the most telling is the legacy of the work and teachings of Marcus Garvey; from the Civil Rights Movement to the Black Lives Matter movement and those in between. The Black Liberation flag of red, black and green is from the UNIA’s flag; Garvey himself said that every nation had their own flag except us, thus the red, black and green was developed. The Kwanzaa flag is inspired by the UNIA’s flag; the use of these colors is a reflection of the historical and cultural legacy and continuity of the pan-Africanist values espoused by Marcus Garvey. The struggle and movement for reparations was recognized and commented on by Garvey. “The world today is indebted to us for the benefits of civilization; they stole our arts and sciences from Africa..” The African holocaust of slavery dealt a severe blow to the Continent of Africa; it depleted Africa of millions of human resources causing devastating social, cultural and economic destruction. The effects of this immoral and crime against humanity activity are still felt on the continent and throughout the diaspora; that is the basis of the justification for the reparations movement. The Primary Accumulation of Capital that served as the basis for the Industrial Revolution, was derived from the capture and enslavement of African people.

The present-day pan-Africanists and Black Liberation activists can learn a valuable and indispensable lesson from Garvey and his recognition of the interrelatedness between capitalism and the liberation struggle. “Ideals of liberty, freedom and righteousness do not prosper in the 20th century except they coincide with oil, rubber, gold, diamond…and such minerals and products desired by the privileged capitalists and leaders who control the system of government” Marcus Garvey. For the liberation struggle to be effective and successful, pan-Africanism must also be aware of the antagonistic relationship between capital and labor and struggle against it; pan-Africanism is not antithetical to the struggle for working class liberation.

The African continent and the diaspora need an awakening and a re-examining of the teachings of Marcus Garvey and its application to current objective conditions, in the respective countries. Many have deviated and have very little or anything in common with the vision of Garvey for self-determination, self-respect and socio-economic independence. Garvey recognized that real independence cannot be achieved when the critical branches of the economy are owned by outsiders, enemies of Africa and African people. The diaspora has adopted an ideology of selfishness, greed and material excesses, distant from the teachings of Garvey for unity, cooperativeness and moral upliftment. The diaspora needs to reflect, re-examine and re-build based on our own special truths. “Do not remove the kinks from your hair; remove the kinks from your brain” Marcus Garvey.

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