What is the African political spectrum of the 21st century? Some today insist on defining it in terms of Left and Right, using the categories of the Cold War–era ideological battle between socialism/communism and capitalism. But today these terms are proving difficult to apply in practice. In Côte d’Ivoire, for example, Nady Bamba-Gbagbo, wife of Laurent Gbagbo, recently noted the difficulty of defining Left and Right in her country, or even distinguishing them, although she associates the Left with her husband, and the Right with the late Félix Houphouët-Boigny. The debate over the Left once stirred Senegalese and Pan-African political circles when intellectuals unsuccessfully attempted to position the concept of "left-wing Pan-Africanism" after the rise to power in Senegal of the duo Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Ousmane Sonko of PASTEF.
So why must we continue to use Cold War–era positioning at all? Can we not move beyond Left and Right?
At the same time, some individuals and organizations cite the failure of Cold War categories as reason to reject the need for political ideology at all. But ideology is necessary for shaping political projects, and if public policies are to be effective, they must be based on an ideology that takes the people’s cultural values into account. Legal experts agree, for example, that every group of people incorporates the ideology of human rights according to its own civilizational foundation.
It is this logic that leads me to propose the Ubuntu philosophy as a political ideology for holistic, integrated African development in the 21st century. It is an indigenous African paradigm that emphasizes the decolonization and comprehensive sovereignty of Africa, and as such it potentially constitutes the political ideology of African integrated development and of Pan-Africanism, and as well as the ethos of the campaign for reparations.
Ubuntu is a Bantu word expressing the ideal of living together harmoniously. Although difficult to translate into other languages, it refers loosely to “humanity” or “human collectivism.” Its core values include solidarity, interdependence, interconnectedness, sharing, compassion, consensus, justice, integrity, and love.
Its popular maxim is Umuntu Ngumuntu ngabantu, meaning that a person is a person through other persons, or “I am because we are.” It embodies a way of life in which the individual’s well-being is linked to that of the community, and a person’s worth is measured by their ability to empower, improve, and enrich the community. The essence of Ubuntu is encapsulated in the South African greeting Sawubona, which—more than a mere greeting—means “I see you,” acknowledging the presence, essence, and worth of the other within the community. Ubuntu is thus a constructive epistemological framework.
Established as a philosophy in the 1960s, Ubuntu gained considerable prominence on the international stage and in academia following the fall of apartheid in the 1990s. In South Africa, under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, it served as the foundation for nation-building and reconciliation. Following South Africa’s lead, many across the African continent embraced the Ubuntu philosophy. Amid the collapse of capitalist and socialist narratives, it has become a symbol of a legitimate return to roots, to an indigenous African value system, aligning with the Sankofa bird symbol (representing learning from the past) from the Adinkra tradition. Since then, Ubuntu has gone on to capture the imagination of people worldwide, regardless of race or creed.
Across the African continent, however, an embrace of Ubuntu philosophy is not yet the norm. It is often used merely as a slogan by those with only a superficial understanding of its meaning, and it remains little understood even within Pan-Africanist circles.
The new leaders of the Sahel states claim to be spearheading a Pan-African revolution. Although they have implemented economic reforms aimed at strengthening their countries’ economic sovereignty, they have not laid claim to any indigenous political ideology. Even though Ubuntu as an ideology originated in South Africa, for example, Julius Malema’s EFF has ignored its potential as an indigenous African ideology. Similarly, in Senegal, Ousmane Sonko’s PASTEF has apparently given no thought to Nite, a Wolof variant of Ubuntu.
Pan-Africanist groups have yet to settle the question of an indigenous ideology for African unification. Urgences Panafricanistes, the Mouvement Panafricain Fédéraliste, the Pan-African League Umoja, and African Diaspora Development Institute, to name but a few, all proclaim their commitment to African unity, but they have not yet agreed on an appropriate ideology upon which to base that unity and Africa’s political, economic, and cultural restoration.
In fact, Ubuntu has enormous relevance for many fields of public policy formulation and implementation, including ontology, linguistics, philosophy, international development, Pan-Africanism, the issue of reparations, psychology, history, anthropology, information technology, politics, economics, and international law.
Across Africa, from the Cape to Cairo, Ubuntu denotes an essentially Pan-African philosophy that emphasizes African collectivism and humanism, highlights the continent’s cultural and linguistic unity. It also serves as a connecting link, an umbilical cord running from ancient Egyptian civilization to the Bantu civilizations that are spread across modern-day Africa. Out of the 2,000 languages spoken across the African continent, between 600 and 900 are Bantu or Bantoid and so contain the Bantu word ubuntu.
Variants and variations have spread throughout the continent, such that Ubuntu (as it is known in Zulu (South Africa) now resonates in hundreds of African languages. It is known as Burkindi in Moré (Burkina Faso), Nmandu in Igbo (Nigeria), Mutum in Hausa (Niger), Mpuntu in Akan (Ghana), Nite in Wolof (Senegal), Bomoto in Lingala (Democratic Republic of the Congo), and Utu in Swahili (Kenya). In Oromo, the version of Ubuntu is similar to certain Bantu variations: Uumatta. The ubiquity of the Ubuntu concept underscores the continent’s cultural and linguistic unity, a point highlighted by intellectuals such as Jordan Ngubane and Cheikh Anta Diop.
To claim Ubuntu is to claim the restoration of the human dignity of African peoples who have been dehumanized by slavery, colonialism, apartheid, and neoliberalism. The dominant Pan-Africanist question of the 21st century and the central theme of international fora is reparation. What could be more natural than to adopt a philosophy of collective African humanism such as Ubuntu to serve as an ethos for this project?
The Ubuntu philosophy can serve as a remedy for systemic racism, epistemic injustice, and cultural erasure. The idea of a person being a remedy to other people is best captured in the Wolof expression Nit nite moy garabam, which means “a person is remedy of others.” In other words, caring is curing.
Adopting Ubuntu follows a logic of psychological self-transformation and psychocultural engineering. As a mechanism for individual and collective transfiguration, it is capable of serving as fertile ground for self-remedy, for Africa’s holistic development, and for Africa’s redemption.
Gnaka Lagoke, PhD, is associate professor of history and Pan-African studies at Lincoln University. He is the author of Le Panafricanisme d’hier à demain et la philosophie Ubuntu and Laurent Gbagbo’s Trial and the Indictment of the International Criminal Court: A Pan-African Victory. He is a board member of Global South Watch.
