Africa Finds its Voice

No sooner had the upheavals in Asia that followed upon the Second World War begun to subside a little than new and still more elemental social forces made themselves felt in the world. Africa, oldest of the continents in terms of life and perhaps of civilization, has burst into the arena of world affairs with a remarkable vitality and creativeness. This fact alone would justify devoting the bulk of an issue of DISSENT to a special section on Africa.

If “the world’s last great uncommitted area,” to employ Peter Abraham’s description of the African continent, has finally entered the stream of modern history, then vast and revolutionary changes must be underway. And if Africa, hard upon the heels of Asia, has turned against the West which, for two centuries, treated this continent of 250 million people as a source of exploitation and an object of derision, then important revisions in our thinking and our attitudes become imperative.

The European co...