Nyanchama Okemwa (Nairobi, 57 years old) lives up to her name, which means charisma. His drive and enthusiasm are reflected when he speaks about what matters most to him: defending the rights of the African diaspora in Europe. At the Green Social Summit, held in Madrid on September 29, Okemwa caught the attention of participants with his contributions.
This anthropologist, decolonization expert, Pan-Africanist and anti-racist came to Belgium 30 years ago from her native Kenya, although her career as an activist began earlier in the country where she was born, inspired by her compatriot Wangari Maathai. the first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (2004). However, the kind of militancy he displayed then is a far cry from the one he uses today. “I fought against exclusion and socioeconomic precarity. My focus was on human rights without differentiating people. But when I arrived in Belgium I began to face racial exclusion. It didn’t take long for me to become an anti-racist activist,” she says.
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In a country like Belgium, which has a shameful colonial past, Okemwa found herself in a conflict of identity. “I was tolerated in Belgian society, but there were no prominent activists of my skin color.” It became clear to him, he says, that the story was not as it had been told. “I began to think about the truth, about the facts of our past, the half-truths and fallacies. “This is how my vision of decolonization began to take shape,” he remembers.
Okemwa currently works as an outreach and campaign consultant for the Belgium-based non-profit organization Hand in Hand against Racism and chairs the board of the European Network Against Racism (ENAR, acronym for English). Since its inception three decades ago, it highlights that there have been notable advances in minority participation in social movements. “People like me are in positions where we can sit at the discussion tables and contribute as experts. We should celebrate that.” This, he emphasizes, succeeded in promoting the rehabilitation of the personality of the anti-colonial leader and Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Patrice Lumumba, who was overthrown in a coup and later assassinated by Belgian forces in 1961. More than half a century later, in 2018, Brussels erected a monument in his honor, responding to demands from associations and activists. “It’s incredible how Lumumba has been recognized in hundreds of places around the world, but not in Belgium.”
“A child without roots is doomed to make wrong decisions when he grows up, the wind would carry him in any direction.”
Despite this progress, Okemwa criticizes the way in which the (white) European political class still controls the narrative on racism, which tends to approach racism from individual experience and not admit that it is a structural problem. “As long as we continue with outdated laws, the problem will persist,” he believes.
Okemwa holds two master’s degrees in education and has also worked in academic research and teaching. In fact, he believes that all change, including ending racism, begins in the education system. However, he regrets that education is still very Eurocentric and therefore short-sighted, which does not prepare young people for the real world of the 21st century. “This education could have worked 50 years ago when Europe was dominated by a majority white population, but that is no longer the case; Europe is now very diverse,” he explains. “The same reasoning applies to the healthcare system, housing and migration,” he adds.
Okemwa suggests that in addition to renewing the school curriculum, it is important for all young people to have their own role models and role models. The new generations of African descendants in Europe, he says, need cultural centers where they can learn about their spirituality, their legends, their languages and their gastronomy. “A child without roots is doomed to make wrong decisions when he grows up, the wind would carry him in any direction.”
“We Pan-Africanists talk about the slavery that existed and still exists, about the colonial mentality that influences us then and still today. We’re talking about the destruction that existed then and that exists today.”
Pan-African activism is now more necessary than ever and, in his opinion, more comprehensive than other anti-racist movements such as Black Lives Matter, which emerged in the United States in response to a specific event (the 2010 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by police). “We talk about slavery that existed and continues to exist, we talk about the colonial mentality that influenced us then and that still influences us today. We talk about the destruction that existed then and that exists today,” he explains.
The activist emphasizes the importance of looking at the past without holding it hostage, but rather learning and finding solutions. “The vision of improving the future is linked to our past, so we cannot continue to ignore it, we cannot continue to sink into a one-sided history. “This is no longer acceptable, so there is a lot to do,” he emphasizes.
Okemwa is optimistic about the future of the pan-African struggle. The African diaspora, born and raised in the West, sees themselves, is empowered, knows their rights and retains the roots of their parents’ country of origin. These people influence the way we speak and think; Little by little they manage to demystify the errors they grew up with. “It can no longer be ignored that our ‘green energies’ come from cobalt mining in the Congo,” he cites as an example. “The sooner the truth is accepted, the sooner the changes will come. We can no longer pretend that the modern world is not based on colonialism,” he concludes.
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