“Pan-Africanism or Performance? When Agenda Overshadows the African Struggle

The Age of Performative Africanism

In an era dominated by hashtags and headlines, being “African” has become a brand for many. Cloaked in kente cloth, flags in bios, and loud slogans about “Black unity,” some individuals claim the mantle of Pan-Africanism—yet their actions betray a lack of real substance. These are not the revolutionaries who study the maps, read the books, or cross-reference the coups and currency collapses. These are the performers. Their activism is often shaped by what is trending, not by what is true.

Too many today leverage their African identity to push personal agendas, boost engagement, or win NGO funding. They speak of “empowering Africa” while aligning with the very institutions that have orchestrated its ongoing dependency: USAID, the IMF, the World Bank, and so-called “peacekeeping” missions. They attack genuine voices of resistance—Africans who dare to question Western narratives, challenge the legitimacy of U.S.-backed coups, or expose media propaganda.

This shallow form of advocacy doesn’t seek to liberate Africa, it seeks to monetize its pain.

The Puppet Show of U.S. Politics & Africa’s Targeting Cycle

Many Africans living in the diaspora still believe that voting for American leaders will somehow translate into benefits for the continent. But when has that ever been true?

Let’s be clear: no U.S. president has ever prioritized Africa beyond strategic military interests, extractive economic arrangements, or propaganda campaigns. What we’ve seen instead is a rotating cycle of pressure:

Under Democrats, countries like Eritrea are vilified, sanctioned, and falsely portrayed as rogue states—simply for asserting sovereignty and rejecting foreign dependency.

Under Republicans, there may be less noise—but the agendas persist behind the scenes through military buildup, trade restrictions, or indirect destabilization.

This isn’t random. It’s a calculated “checks and balances” game—a colonial relay race where each administration attacks a different African nation, keeping the entire continent off balance. One day it's Eritrea. The next it’s Mali. Then it's Sudan, Congo, Ethiopia, or Zimbabwe.

The goal is never justice or progress. The goal is control. Divide and conquer. Confuse the masses. And keep Africa on its knees while pretending to offer aid with one hand—and stealing with the other.

From Shallow Content to Conscious Commitment

The problem isn’t just the system—it’s also those who refuse to see the system for what it is.

Africa doesn’t need more content creators profiting off pain. It needs serious thinkers, readers, researchers—people who trace history, decode policies, and connect dots. People who ask:

• “Is this issue homegrown or externally engineered?”

• “Who benefits from this chaos?”

• “What cycles keep repeating, and why?”

  
  

Africa will never rise through allegiance to institutions designed to keep it broken. Nor will it rise through alliances with influencers whose only interest is visibility. It will rise when Africans stop attacking each other for choosing sovereignty, and instead stand together against the real architects of dysfunction.

This is why those of us who take the time to read, to question, to analyze—who study Eritrea’s rejection of IMF loans, who observe Congo’s exploitation through cobalt, who remember Libya under Gaddafi’s gold-backed plans—must never be silenced by those who only speak when the West nods.

We must continue to reject all forms of colonial performance, whether it comes in the form of sanctions, soft power, or social media fame. Because if we don’t, we risk becoming the next tools in a long war designed to keep Africa useful, but never free.