Pan Africanism is only a pipe dream when you define it as all Black people uniting together in harmony in a fairy-tale land.
Pan-Africanism was the foundation, the basis - it gave Black people worldwide that push to rebel. It might not have taken root like we would have liked but it definitely had a profound impact. I think its hard to appreciate it unless you can try to imagine what it was like for Black people before Pan-African movements.
The primary concern for me when addressing pan Africanism is Black people working together and building and maintaining wealth. I don't care if we all like each other or agree on the same things.
As far as I'm concerned, there are really only two places in the world Black people should base most of their moves in, and create prosperity for the race.
One of those places is definitely not in the US. I think what derails us (mostly AA's) much of the time is that we always seem to center our main focus on Black America as a place to build. I find this rather peculiar considering AA history; how AA's have been historically repressed and constantly and intentionally kept from attain any real power; the fact that AA's seem to be some of the least cohesive Black people anywhere; and the fact that they keep trying to wrestle power from people who have no intention of bequeathing any to them.
The two places I propose Black people focus their attention on, as far as building and establishing economic dominance, are Africa, and the Caribbean.
Africa for more or less obvious reasons; one being numbers. There are at least 800 million Black people on the continent, which is more than all of the western hemisphere several times over. Another reason is the fact that Black people are the ones who actually control everything. They control the governments, the businesses, the institutions; this makes for an excellent platform for powering up, without having to worry too much about non-Black impedance.
I think it would behoove AA's greatly if they focused the bulk of their efforts on the Caribbean as opposed to the states. The primary reason for this this time is not necessarily numbers per say, but
percentage of numbers. Right now in places like America and Europe, we are a minority group, comprising of only 12 percent in the US, and less than 3 percent in the UK. Couple this with the fact that we are already digressive, much more so than other cultures, many of us tend to lean more towards intergration as opposed to cohesion. This issue is also compounded by the fact that Black people, in the states, are very unwelcoming or unconcerned with the idea of Black people galvanizing for cultural rejuvenation efforts. They don't see the point of it, and therefore, nothing ever really gets done.
In the Caribbean however, the percentages are more in our favor, and so is the environment. Black people make up over 70% of the entire Caribbean population; a big difference from 12% in the US. Even though the numbers are smaller, it doesn't matter, because Black people still control some of the countries in the Caribbean. Having control in these areas gives us a major boost and advantage in comparison to the states, and definitely Europe.
You have places like Haiti that could be revamped with the strategic aid of AA's and turned into a Black bastion. It is a Black owned nation and is prime real estate for Black people. The task itself also seems more effectual. Gaining prominence in the US has never worked, even with all our wonderful leaders, and our indifferent president, we still are at the bottom. AA's are also very dispersed throughout the nation. Even in places like Atlanta or DC, White people still own most of everything. Black people own a little more in places like Detroit, but the city is a hell heap, and still residing in a White owned nation.
There are other potential advantages to the Caribbean over the US, but I would like to see some feedback before I go on.