In a bonus episode of the Cotton Capital podcast, Guardian journalist Chris Osuh investigates whether 2025 represents a Pan-African moment, eight decades after the landmark 1945 Pan-African Congress in Manchester. The episode examines the enduring belief that all Black people, on the continent and in the diaspora, share a united struggle for liberation.
Osuh speaks with Ntombizodwa Nyoni, writer of the play Liberation, which recently brought the 1945 congress back to life. They discuss how delegates drove African independence movements, the parallels between 1945 and 2025, and lessons for today's Pan-African activists. Osuh also interviews Keisha Thompson, a programme manager for the Guardian's Legacies of Enslavement programme, about growing up under the congress's shadow and navigating multiple visions of Pan-Africanism.
Looking to the future, Osuh talks to Steven Golding, a professor of Garveyism, about recent moves towards political and economic Pan-Africanism. They discuss Ibrahim Traoré, the self-proclaimed Pan-Africanist leader of Burkina Faso, and the idea that Pan-Africanism should not be judged through a European lens. The episode concludes with Osuh attending a dance show by See My World in Manchester, where he speaks to attendees about what Pan-Africanism means to them today.
This bonus episode follows the six-part Cotton Capital series exploring the Guardian's links to transatlantic slavery and its legacies, taking listeners from Manchester to Jamaica, the US, Nigeria, Brazil and back to the UK.
