Organisation for Africans in Europe

Organisation for Africans in Europe

Organisation of African Unity letter [BG:OAE:1:1]

This document is a letter and report detailing Bernie Grant's establishment of the Organisation of Africans in Europe (O.A.E.) and his 1992 visit to Senegal to attend the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Council of Ministers as an observer. It provides valuable insight into Grant's efforts to foster cooperation between Africa and the European African diaspora, highlighting his commitment to addressing issues such as reparations, conflict resolution, and economic development in Africa, which shaped his political and activist work.

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In 1992, Bernie Grant was invited to attend the 56th Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Council of Members in Dakar, Senegal. The OAU was originally formed in 1963 in Addis Ababa, as a continent-wide collective vehicle to address issues affecting Africa, related to colonialism, neo-colonialism, and self-determination for African states and peoples. During this trip, Grant made contact with various African delegates, and embarked on a trip to Goree Island, which between the 15th to 19th century was the largest slave-trading centre on the continent. This trip had a large impact on Grant, who had been making plans to develop an Organisation for Africans in Europe, with the aim of strengthening connections between Africans on both continents, and advocating for the rights of Africans based in Europe. As Grant reported to the Secretary General of the OAU, this new European-based organisation was necessary in the context of what he described as the burgeoning “New World Order” and the advent of a Single European Economy, which was ushered in by the EU to strengthen European markets and businesses. This organisation was short lived and never developed fully, due in large part to Grant’s finite resources and time as one of a mere few Black political representatives in Europe at the time, and the decision to invest already restricted resources and energy on what became the African Reparations Movement UK (ARM), from 1993 onwards.