The real life “Black Panther” miracle
Many stellar reviews have been written about Black Panther. The latest Marvel film is set in the fictional African country of Wakanda, a country rich in tradition and culture, and in ancient rituals paired with next-generation technological innovations. The movie embraces diversity in many ways: Not only does it present one of the strongest all-black-casts ever, but also very strong female characters, managing to address current issues of race and economic disparity without offering platitudes, nor the pretense of easy answers.
Black Panther pits two extreme geopolitical views against each other, both of which are uncannily familiar to those following current events. The hero’s first instinct is to protect his country by abjuring intervention and ignoring the outside world. His opponent wants to use Wakanda’s full military and technological might to seek retribution for hundreds of years of injustice. Neither option being tenable, Black Panther suggests that these destructive cycles may only be broken through guidance, education, and global leadership.
Though fictional, the film’s themes play out on a world stage that is incredibly similar to the one framing events in real life.
Last week, while the West headed toward a trade war, Africa made a big step forward, thanks in particular to the leadership of Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame (in full disclosure, I serve on his Presidential Advisory Council), who also is the current Chair of the African Union. At the “African Union Extraordinary Summit on the African Continental Free Trade Area” which was held last week in Kigali, Rwanda, 44 African countries signed an ambitious trade agreement (CFTA) which will make it the world’s largest free trade area since the WTO has been formed, in what is surely one of the most decisive events in African history. The project is being driven alongside other key related initiatives, such as the Single African Air Transport Market and the Protocol on Free Movement of Persons and the African Passport.
Today, less than 20 per cent of Africa’s trade is internal, meaning from one African country to another. However, in the world’s richest regional trading blocs, the level of internal trade is three or four times higher. Boosting free trade among African countries can be the start of an internally driven growth cycle, one independent of development aid or other Western initiatives. And the stronger Africa is economically, the more it will be heard in the rest of the world.
And it isn’t just about trade: This initiative has the potential to also bring the continent closer together politically, to create a more unified voice, and emphasize the fact that leadership matters the most.
Furthermore, these developments can also be a milestone in reversing the migration problem Africa and Europe share. Uncontrolled, economic mass migration is not only one of the most challenging problems confronting Europe, which is possibly beyond its integration capacity, but it is likewise for Africa, which is drained of human resources.
President Kagame as current head of the African Union and his fellow Head of States deserve a great deal of credit for such progress.
And Rwanda is the perfect location for the signing of such a treaty. The country can be the role model for independent, successful African countries. From the ashes of genocide — which the West did not prevent, nor stop, till finally Kagame set an end to it — he reconciled the opponents and built a modern nation, not based on natural resources, but on digitization and a tangible vision for the 21stcentury. More than 50% of Rwanda’s Parliament are women. Every year, Rwandans have more income and better access to healthcare and education. Not by coincidence Rwanda is one of the few African countries to which more people repatriate than do migrate away.
Perhaps it is no surprise that in the opening scene of Black Panther, one realizes that the location of fictional Wakanda is, more or less, where one finds Rwanda on a map.