Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Africa
AfricaEditor's PicksListNews

6 Ways a Union of West African States Would Benefit All Black People

Posted byBy ABS Contributor | Published on: CommentsComments (13)

ECOWAS-StatesThe Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group of fifteen countries, founded in 1975. Its mission is to promote economic integration in all fields of economic activity, including transport, telecommunications, energy, agriculture, natural resources, commerce, monetary and financial questions, social and cultural matters. The member states are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

According to Desire Ouedraogo, the president of the ECOWAS Commission, the organization’s  intermediate goal is to realize the 2020 vision of moving from an “ECOWAS of states to an ECOWAS of people’’ within a single prosperous economic space in which the people transact business and live in dignity and peace under the rule of law and good governance.

Based on the stated objective, we have outlined several ways in which ECOWAS could transform itself into a global superpower for the interest of African people at home and in the Diaspora.

Unite to Create a Black Superpower

 Nigerian author Chinweizu in his Black Power Pan-Africanism (BPPA) Manifesto wrote: “A Black superpower in Africa is the key factor for restoring global respect and self-respect to the Black race; therefore, building this superpower is our paramount project. For, as Marcus Garvey taught us, A race without authority and power is a race without respect.”

With a population of over 300 million people and a geographical land mass of almost 2 million square miles, a political union of ECOWAS member states or  “The New Songhai Republic” would have as many people as the United States and a larger land mass than the European Union or India.

Another Black superpower could also be created out of the territory and population of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), with 277 million people and a land mass larger than the entire United States – including all territories.

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top