The book exposes the new hopes of African youth, which covers 40% of the continent’s population. It is written by the president of the Pan-African Movement of Leaders (MPL), which is represented in 47 countries in Africa and the African diaspora. The MPL is a political and cultural movement for the emancipation of Africans and African-Americans, respectful of democratic values and open to international cooperation. It was created in 1900 at the London conference by Sylvester Williams and Marcus Garvey. It accompanied the decolonization of African countries, especially after the 1958 referendum on membership in the French Community. It became known through the writings of Senghor, Césaire, and Diop, and the actions of the Black Lives Panthers.
The author notes that Africa has experienced many vicissitudes since the post-war period that have compromised its unity despite the creation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). The governments of the states have divided into two main movements, the “Casablanca bloc”, of rather ideological obedience, and the “Monrovia bloc” of rather economic tendency, which the MPL claims. In 2023, the latter took stock of its (uneven) action since 2013 and set an ambitious “Agenda 2063”. Its project aims primarily to avoid the “African brain drain” and to promote employment on the continent. It advocates the development of youth skills in technologies and the digital and computer economy (AI, robotics, blockchain, etc.), as well as in industries and services oriented towards sustainable development.
The “2063 Agenda” includes a financial component. The author proposes to capture – through various financial instruments and financial and fiscal incentives – a fraction of the savings of African households, transfers from the diaspora (about $40 billion per year) and international investments, in order to develop education and the creation of companies (start-ups, platforms, consulting, etc.). The author analyzes AI applications that could be useful to African states in health, agriculture, education, defense, and security.
Reading the book helps to shed light on the current debate on wokism and woke culture through concrete proposals, both economic and social in nature.
Landing BLAYE is a teacher-researcher in geo-strategy and president of the MPL. He was a parliamentary assistant in Senegal.
Note by Jean-Jacques Pluchart
