The Story: African history turns on a tension between divisive forces, exploiting ethnic and class differences for quick profits and unifiers, sacrificing narrow sectional advantages for the greater good. The divisive forces have ruined Africa by helping foreign invaders pillage our resources-from people in the past to industrial metals and energy today.
Less visible is the regenerative work of unifiers following an ancient vision of unity as a source of social prosperity. In Kemet, such a group was the Shemsw MaĆ¢t.In medieval Mali, a similar group framed the Union Charter. In the 19th century, when Europeans and collaborators devised the poverty machine now camouflaged as in- dependent states, one such group led resistance by reminding the Population of our past unity, and advocating rebirth of that unity These were The Healers. The Author: From his first novel, The Beautyfiul Ones Are Not Yet Born, to his latest essays, Ayi Kwei Armah has advocated a rebirth of African society inspired by ancient knowledge of our unity, and an understanding of what we can achieve. Since 1980, Armah has lived and done his writing ing in Senegal, West Africa.