"American is Old Hat"

As I understand it, Afripolitanism was first defined in an artistic context. This in itself is refreshing. A key tenet of Afripolitanism is a refusal to identify with any kind of victim culture. Regardless of the iniquities still blighting our continent.So I see a clear fit with young attitudes. With the millions of young Africans who are not prepared to excuse tardy development by making irrelevant historical references. With young people prepared to take responsibility for failure as well as credit for success. As such, Afripolitanism seems to me more commendable and more altruistic than “African Renaissance”.

As I mentioned earlier, I see American cultural influence on the wane. No doubt the spread of Islam is having an effect. But I sense that this is more an issue of “old hat” than “new prophet”. Many Africans have “done” the American thing. We’d prefer something more original now. I wonder whether the realisation that Barack Obama was human, and more than occupied with domestic issues in his home country, has contributed to this?Young Africans can indeed influence the world. And are harnessing the power of the ’net to do just that. Recently I asked one of our Y&R Companies in the US to take a peek at brand reputation online in Africa. VML have a fantastic tool called “Seer” that enables them to monitor and model web conversations for clients. Let me tell you that the impact of the top 30 bloggers in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa was significant. Not least in the volume of their streamed content to formal and social sites.