Africa: The Friday Assembly

THE FRIDAY ASSEMBLY

THE GOLDEN JUBILEE OF THE AFRICAN LIBERATION DAY

Invites you to an Open Parliament-Style Debate on the Progress of African Unity and possible interventions by the current generation & Drafting of the People's Declaration on Unity Every Friday Beginning on the 18th of April
2:00 - 5:00 pm The Professional Centre, Nairobi.
Parliament rd/ Haile Sellasie rd Come, let us make History!

BACKGROUND
May 25th 2008 marks the most important date on the African calendar; the 50th anniversary of the day when all the independent African states (8) convened at the Conference of Independent African States in Accra, Ghana and declared this day "The African Freedom Day" to mark each year the onward progress of the liberation movement, and to symbolize the determination of the people of Africa to free themselves from foreign domination and exploitation.

Five years later, on May 25th 1963, as the Conference convened, this time in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the leaders of the Independent African states (now 32) founded the "Organization of African Unity" to act as a framework towards the political unification of all African states. On this day, the African Freedom Day, which had been observed on the 15th of April, was changed to May 25 and declared the African Liberation Day. This day was to be honored and celebrated in Africa, and to be the point around which people reflected, organized and strengthened themselves as they progressed towards African unity.

The African Liberation Day was initially observed as a national day by almost all the African states, but as the "leaders" Will towards African unity changed, so did the gran­diosity of the commemoration which today has become a hidden event of embassy dinners with scatterings of forums and lectures by a few Pan African organisations and personalities.
As we approach the Golden jubilee of this landmark event, we, in this generation, need to ask ourselves how far we have gone in achieving the vision of a United Africa, and what we ourselves have done to further the aspirations of the of this struggle. We look upon the African Union (what was the OAU) and if indeed it is on track to delivering this dream. We reflect on its initiatives, from NEPAD to the AU Audit, and if they con­tain enough energy to push us forward to our goals.

We, the people need to play our role in reenergizing the push for African Unity by bringing back the institution which has been most instrumental in the liberation and unification of the African continent, we need to reawaken the Africa Liberation Day!

OBJECTIVES
To debate and develop a position and a guiding document for a people driven initia­tive towards African Unity to be presented at the grand event of the 50th anniver­sary commemoration of the AFRICAN LIBERATION DAY.
This initiative also seeks, among other things, to establish a regular forum in which the people shall be able to address their issues directly and develop their own solutions and interventions.