Americans have Independence Day, the Irish have St Patrick’s Day and for those of us proud enough to call ourselves African, 25 May is our day. Fancy fireworks displays and beer drinking sing-a-longs are not what we do but instead we celebrate unity. The simple things that unite us as Africans and make us who we are. Africa Day marks the establishment of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963. This organization provided the 32 independent African nations with a platform to promote unity.

Today Africa Day serves as a day to celebrate our African heritage as well as showcase our continent history and culture through the arts. The celebrations of the day also acknowledge the progress that we, as Africans, have made, while reflecting on the common challenges we face in a global environment. It highlights our strengths as a continent rather than our many weaknesses.

For us as South Africans the day allows us an opportunity to reflect on the year that has passed and our experiences as Africans during the period of tragic xenophobic attacks. As well as remember those who have passed that fought for our unity, freedom and independence, and that now stand as symbols of not only South African but African unity.

As South Africans we should strive to embrace unity through accepting diversity amongst all people. We can only do this through tolerance and respect. We have showed the world once before that we are a nation of multi-coloured and cultured people that can unify through the greatest of political and racial struggles and therefore have so much more to celebrate on this day.

There is no doubt in my mind that no other being can feel the beat of a drum, appreciate good public transport and live on their own time the way an African being can. Simple things like this unify us because we recognize and can joke about it. Our difference set us apart but this is what makes us unique and gives us an opportunity to practice tolerance. Let us, as Africans, not be discouraged by our third world status but rather celebrate our rooted heritage, beautiful traditions and unified continent.

Lara Moses believes in looking at the brighter side.

“The Soapbox aims to fight political and cultural apathy and to foster tolerance and a culture of intelligent debate” reads the page dedicated to the new website on his blog Afrodissident! That’s a good one and I will definitely try my best to contribute to its launching! There are many reasons for this.

First the number of young people of our generation who do not recognize ourselves in the views aired on mainstream media is always growing and many of us found in blogging an alternative to traditional and conventional views. Even the number of African journalists who are blogging is increasing everyday as the media for which they are working cannot publish their opinions, bringing evidence of the necessity to open the debate on critical issues elsewhere. Blogging is thus, whether you are a professional of information or a citizen X willing to express your views, not only about commenting the world news or sharing your life. It’s about creating the debate to change opinions and try to make dissident voices heard. Just have a look on Congolese blogs dealing with recurrent Kivu crisis, on Nigerian, Ugandan or Kenyan blogs dealing with homosexuality, on Senegalese, Burkinabese or Liberian blogs that feature mining issues, or on South African or Rwandan blogs trying to heal scars inherited from a recent past, and you’ll understand what I’m talking about!

Then I definitely subscribe to the idea of providing a space in which international viewpoints will meet South African opinions to fight political apathy. Seen from Senegal where I migrated a few years ago and from where everyday young boatpeople are embarking on a dangerous journey to find better livings elsewhere, I am convinced that we need this kind of space more than anything to deconstruct mentalities. Let’s take migration for instance! How could I express anything else than encouragement to migrate as I migrated myself, and as I’m reading everyday blogs of African migrants located everywhere in the world or blogs by European or American migrants in Africa? All of them are not less qualified to understand and talk about realities of the places where they are living than those who were born on these soils. Obviously some migrations reflect the inequalities of the global system. Though I still consider that I have to fight against political apathy — in the Western world or Africa — that tends to consider migration as a plague whereas it’s part of the solution!  We’re talking about aid and cooperation but you know better than me, you, living or coming from Mali, Senegal or Nigeria that remittances are far more useful than the so-called aid. In this case political apathy is that of UN agencies workers who do not say a word or international NGOs who are spending billions in cooperation projects: building wells, planting trees, organizing “cultural awareness events” to make people stay! Political apathy is that of the media reporting on “immigration problem” in the North or praising the so-called cooperation projects in the South! Efforts that are to my mind vain but also counterproductive…

Finally, I would insist on accuracy which is one of the guidelines of The Soapbox platform and one of the principles that should lead every blogger. Opinion matters, but accuracy in reporting underlie its pertinence. Especially in contexts and places which recently have undergone crisis. At least four African states went through coups in the past months (Mauritania, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Madagascar – not mentioning places like Kenya or South-Africa who’ve known major troubles last year). Some bloggers did a great job though, reporting while avoiding political polarization which hit the mainstream media at the same time. They’ve found in platforms voicing their documented reports and opinions an opportunity to be heard. I wish The Soapbox will be one of these platforms fed by young people from South Africa and elsewhere, which could nurture their dissidence urge.

Long live The Soapbox!

Sacha is blogger based in Senegal. Read sachaproject, his blog.