JAMAICA'S Quantum Leap from Empire’s Grip to Africa’s Embrace

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica, June 14, 2025 - There is a wound at the center of every colonized mind. For those of us born under empire, it is hard to separate who we are from what we were trained to admire.

Western civilization raised us on its milk — fed us its attitudes, shaped our values, and dressed us in a skin of shame. We have been conditioned to crave the privileges of our oppressors and to wear self-doubt like national costume.

We were taught to believe that success meant getting closer to the world that once enslaved us. That if we sat still, behaved properly, and learned to speak with their tongue, we might be invited to dine at their table. But history has shown that proximity to empire does not bring freedom — only performance.

As Fanon reminded us, the colonizer’s bed is not a place of rest. It is where identity is unraveled, where the colonized are seduced into forgetting themselves. To lie there is not to rise — but to disappear.

It is time to wake up. We must stop dreaming of Europe, that fading queen of contradiction. We must turn from the false promise of American power — a superpower clinging to endless war, spiraling debt, and cultural decay. And we must resist the gravitational pull of new empires offering old traps, whether they come in the colors of the East or West.

It is time to look elsewhere — not backwards, but homeward. To Africa.

THE AFRICAN TURN

This is not a sentimental appeal to Pan-African romance. It is a strategic call to pivot from dependence to self-determined partnership. Africa holds the mineral keys to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) — a seismic shift already reshaping how the world builds, thinks, and lives.

From artificial intelligence to clean energy, robotics, and biotechnology, the raw materials that power this new era lie not in the halls of the West, but in the soil of the Global South — particularly Africa.

Africa’s critical 4IR minerals include:

- Lithium & Cobalt – for battery storage, electric vehicles, and renewable energy
- Rare Earth Elements (REEs) – for robotics, AI, wind turbines, and electronics
- Graphene, Nickel, Copper, and Gold – for smart technologies, nanotech, and circuits
- Niobium, Tantalum, and Silicon – for quantum computing and secure infrastructure

These resources are not optional. They are essential. Without them, the future stalls.

JAMAICA AS BRIDGE, NOT BACKWATER

Where does that leave Jamaica?

It places us at a crossroads — one we can no longer afford to ignore. Our economy has lingered too long in the shadows of plantation logic and service dependency. We export talent and import identity. But what if we saw ourselves as more than an island? What if we claimed our space as a bridge nation — linking Africa’s resources to the wider world through innovation, trust, and mutual benefit?

We have the diplomatic goodwill, the cultural reach, the English-speaking labor force, and the geographic advantage. What we need is vision.

By forging bilateral partnerships with African states, Jamaica can:
- Create value-added production zones using African minerals
- Launch joint tech incubators and manufacturing hubs
- Build logistics platforms tied to blockchain and digital currencies
- Facilitate Pan-African educational and research exchanges

Through this approach, we can position Jamaica not as a passive recipient of aid, but as an active architect of a Black digital economy — rooted in sovereignty, not subservience.

BEYOND SYMBOLS: STRATEGIC PAN-AFRICANISM

This is not about slogans. It’s about systems.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) is the largest free-trade pact in human history, encompassing over 1.4 billion people. Jamaica, though small and offshore, can stake its claim by aligning strategically — offering skilled labor, design expertise, and access to global markets.

Pan-Africanism must evolve from memory to mechanism — from cultural pride to coordinated policy. Our shared ancestry must become shared infrastructure.

THE SHADE WE MAY NEVER SIT IN

We must understand that the transformation we fight for may not reward us personally. But we do not build only for today. As the proverb says: Blessed is the one who plants trees under whose shade they will never sit.

This is our generational assignment.

Let us stop chasing colonial comfort. Let us abandon the dream of being chosen by systems never built for us. Let us stop longing for invitations to tables that were never ours — and begin building tables of our own.

With Africa as partner — not provider — and 4IR technology as our pillar, we can create a Jamaica that is sovereign, sustainable, and self-determined.

The future is not something to inherit. It is something to construct. Let us be bold enough to lay the foundation.

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O. Dave Allen
Writer | Strategist | Pan-Africanist
WiredJa | The Gleaner | Jamaica LinkedIn
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