Black Britain, Pan-Africanism and the Commonwealth: A New Politics for Black Britain!

In 1979 Bob Marley and the Wailers released one of their most politically charged singles "Africa Unite". It was part of the Survival album, an album that captured the mood of Pan-Africanism at the time. The cover of the album was a collage of the many flags of the newly independent African nations with the title "SURVIVAL" in big letters. Around the same time Peter Tosh sang "As long as you are a Black man you are an African". Both of these musicians are one of the more than 4.5 million people that I consider to be a Black Britain. They have British names, speak English and lived in a nation where Queen Elizabeth II was and continues to be the Head of State. One of them has a white British Father and both engaged within an Anglophone framework and had little engagement with Africa but at the same time had a deep desire to be part of the African story. In the pop and political culture of Black Britain the sentiments spoken by Marley and Tosh are major considerations. There is a deep desire to engage with Africa and to develop a meaningful black politics that is compatible with British public life and compatible with Pan-Africanism. A politics that I believe begins with understanding the history of the British Empire; the relationship between Britain and the people of the British West-Indies and the organisation that developed in the post-independence era, the Commonwealth. 

The British Empire was the biggest empire in human history and for better or worse once controlled 2/3rd's of the planet. From Africa, to Asia, Australia and the West-Indies the

flag of the British Empire was flown high. Britain became a super-power bigger than even the famed Roman Empire and influenced the world beyond measure. In the British Empire there were slaves that had roots in Africa who were taken to the West Indies and were anglicised and adopted an Anglophone cultural framework. The adoption of this framework continued through successive generations until the anglicised black became a new being; a Black Britain. Later as the British Empire became more powerful the process of colonialism was adopted in parts of Africa and many Africans in Africa were colonised but they were not enslaved which meant that they evaded the process of becoming a Black Britain, a process manifested through a period of hundreds of years.

African nations that were colonised by the British Empire were still able to keep their traditional languages and cultures and were only partially anglicised; unlike Black Britain's who had been completely assimilated into the culture of the empire. As the British Empire and the Anglophone language and culture spread across the world through colonialism the English language and the British legal system were adopted by the colonised states. The colonial states that now made up the British Empire were then sewn together with the English language as the lingua-franca and the working language. The British Empire now connected the British West-Indies to the colonised African states that occupied the areas now known as Nigeria and Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania, South Africa and Namibia amongst others. Black Britain's who had previously been separated from Africa by land, sea and language, through the empire were now becoming aware of each others existence and able to develop a common unity that had not existed for hundreds of years and became connected as colonial subjects with dark skins. This meant that those of the British West-Indies and the aforementioned African nation states were for a period of time citizens of the same empire. 

As colonial subjects of the British Empire, colonials from the West Indies and Africa were given permission to travel within the empire. Many travelled to London and there African and West-Indian colonials developed an affinity around the colonial experience and developed the ideals of Pan-Africanism and the decolonisation movement that sought to liberate the colonies of Africa and the West Indies. When Africans and West Indians were in London they also met people from South-Asian nations, like India, that were also seeking to decolonise from the British Empire and there Britain's notion of political blackness began to develop as a coalition of black and brown British colonials. As time went on and South Asians gained independence with the emergence of Gandhi, other black colonials were still struggling for independence and carried on their collective struggles. This went on until the 80's when Zimbabwe, the last bastion of Britain's African Empire, gained independence. In the light of independence, African's on the continent were no longer in what had been a necessary political relationship with blacks from the British West-Indies. On the fall out of the British Empire those anglicised slave descendants of the British West-Indies had a cultural identity closely aligned with the British and continued to be in a political relationship with Britain, keeping Queen Elizabeth II as the Head of State and adopting the British political system, whilst many African states became Republics or black led Monarchies. At the same time, the anglicised blacks of the West-Indies had developed an affinity with Africa based on political action, racial heritage and a shared experience of colonisation but ceased to be in a political relationship with Africa.

All these changes transformed the way how Black Britain organised and changed the definitions of Black Britain and political blackness. Independent African states were no longer a part of the British Empire and neither were the South Asian communities. They no longer shared the politics of decolonisation and the identity of British colonials but those of West-Indian heritage stayed aligned to the British Crown and the "Anglosphere" as their closest ally, in a somewhat dependent relationship. Existing as the adopted child of Britain and the "Anglosphere", with a population, economies and spaces that were constructed for slavery and colonialism and never going to be major players in international politics once independent; the tiny, vulnerable collection of islands chose to align with their former coloniser in a formal relationship as managers of the islands in the same way that Scotland and Wales manage their own affairs but are led by Queen Elizabeth II. Today, unlike in the era of decolonisation struggle citizens from outposts of the British Empire in Africa and Asia no longer share a political identity with anglicised blacks beyond the rhetoric of a few fringe activists. The world has changed and the relationships have changed. The anglicised blacks that I consider to be Black Britain are politically aligned with Britain and the "Anglosphere" in both legal and cultural terms. For those with heritage in the sunny Caribbean islands, that seek to further the pop culture of Marley and Tosh or elements of Garveyim and develop an effective relationship with Africa we must not look to the politics and rhetoric of the past but look to a new configuration of Pan-Africanism that operates through a different means and develops out of a different ideology.  

So, how does Black Britain relate to Africa in Britain and the continent itself? The answer lies in the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth is a global network of 2.2 billion people of many hues and backgrounds; made up of 52 nations; across 5 continents with a GDP of $10 trillion. The Commonwealth developed out of the relationships that began in the British Empire, an empire that spanned 2/3rd's of the planet. After the independence struggles that led to the independence of Britain's colonies across Africa such as Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya; Asian colonies such as India and Pakistan and nations across the British West-Indies such as Jamaica, the new independence leaders desired to remain in a relationship with Britain and other newly independent nations that shared the historical relationship of colonialism in the British Empire.  Though there was tension stemming from the past relationship and the incredible diversity of self-interests, it was considered pragmatic and desirable to remain in an informal diplomatic relationship with nations that had previously been considered and organised as one political and economic bloc with a British colonial centre. Considering the difficulties of unpicking a legal system or a political set up many nations continued to operate through the system that the British Empire had set up for good or for ill. In many ways not much had changed, the difficulties in creating whole new legal and political systems were so immense that facing the issues after independence many leaders reluctantly and often gladly chose to become members of a new union of free and independent states. Initially the Commonwealth consisted of a handful of nations mostly those that were still part of the Commonwealth Realm such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the nations of the West Indies. Eventually the organisation would grow stronger and become a network of 52 former colonies of the British Empire and some others. 

To have a politically viable relationship and to make sense of the immense influence that pop culture and "Garveyism" has had on black politics in Britain, I believe that we should consider those continental Africans with direct roots in Commonwealth Africa as the Black Commonwealth rather than Black Britain. The Black Commonwealth consists of those developing nations in Africa that have a shared political history of the colonialism of the British Empire and are now in an ambitious political network led by Queen Elizabeth II. An organisation built on human rights, that promotes international development issues and collective working amongst Commonwealth nations for the common good of their combined 2.2 billion citizens. In understanding the politics of Black Britain and how we must relate to Africa politically today, it is essential to understand the relationship that we share in the Commonwealth. Both the United Kingdom and Black Britain's are in an interdependent relationship with 19 African states representing near to a population of 1 billion citizens that include Africa's two largest economies Nigeria and South Africa; one of Africa's fastest growing economies, Kenya and one of Africa's most iconic nations Ghana, amongst others.

I believe that the only realistic way that Black Britain's in the UK and the British West-Indies can interact with Africa effectively is through the Commonwealth. I believe that we must make a distinction between Black Britain's who share names, language and a cultural framework with the "Anglosphere" and the Black Commonwealth that have not been anglicised in the way that Black Britain's have but still share a distant racial heritage and a colonial experience with Black Britain. A heritage and experience that we can now share with the 19 African states in membership of the Commonwealth to begin a new decolonised, post-colonial humanitarian movement of 2.2 billion people of many faces and spaces.

The politics of Black Britain must today be about changing the way that Black Britain is understood as a concept to the British Government and arguing for Black Britain to be further integrated into the United Kingdom as a part of the "Anglosphere" just like African-Americans sought integration in the US in the 1950's and 60's. We must recognise the British West-Indies as the counterpart to the US South and imagine the UK as the counterpart to the northern towns such as Detroit where African-Americans went in search of a better life and to play a bigger role in the future of the United States of America. The dark-skinned population of the British West-Indies must be considered as much part of the "Anglosphere" as Australia, Canada and New Zealand. 

We must recognise that the traditional political blackness of the 70's and 80's is better considered a Commonwealth movement and a Commonwealth politics than black politics. We should make a political distinction between the Black Commonwealth citizen and Black Britain but understand that we are in an informal diplomatic relationship with each other through the Commonwealth and have some elements of a shared history. Recognising the distinct differences does not diminish the spirit of African unity that many Black Britain's like Bob Marley and Peter Tosh have shared with us in their music. Understanding the Commonwealth and the politics that is heart of that relationship and understanding the formal relationship that exists between the UK and the Commonwealth Realms of the British West-Indies is the beginning of a coherent, effective and viable black politics in Britain.  A black politics that fits into British public life and can make a real difference to the world. As we speak a Black Britain from Dominica Baroness Scotland is the 2nd most influential figure in the Commonwealth, there is no better time to create a fruitful relationship with our brothers and sisters in the Commonwealth from the African continent and beyond.

God save Britannia, God save the Commonwealth, God save Africa!