Mimdoblop - africa-day

Quick Facts:

May 25th is Africa Day!!!
1963: 32 out of 34 independent African nations formed the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)
1963-05-25: first Africa Day was held
1994(!): South Africa was the last African nation to gain independence (and join OAU)
2001: OAU was replaced by African Union (AU)
Today: all 54 nations are part of AU

History

On 1963-may 25th 32 heads of states founded of Organisation of African Unity (later African Union) in Addis Abada, Ethiopia - hosted by emperor Haile Selassi. The aims were to encourage decolonisation of Angola, Mozambique, South Africa and then-southern Rhodesia (amongst others).

Africa Day (AKA African Liberation Day, African union day) celebrates the first pan African congress on African soil. In 2002 OAU was renamed to African Union (AU. That's when Afriacn Liberation Day changed it's name to Africa Day because in theory all African nations had gained independence. In 12 nations it's a public holiday: Ghana, Mali, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Chad, Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, Lesotho, Liberia and Mauritania. The Africa Day provides opportunity to acknowledge the achievements of the AU. source

"Unite we must! Without necessarily sacrificing our sovereignty, we can forge a political Union based on defence, foreign affairs and diplomacy and common citizenship, an African currency, a monetary zone and a central bank. We must unite in order to achieve the full liberation of our continent." - Kwame Nkrumah

"The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked with the total liberation of the Continent." - Kwame Nrkumah (1957 independence of Ghana) source

Random Facts:

Ethiopia (and Liberia) are the only African countries not colonized
April 15th is African freedom day
AU organisation is in Addis Ababa, pan-African parliament is in Midrand, South Africa (source)

The Africa I want ...

- "has free education and healthcare for all" - Lujam, 15yrs - "is not to be labelled as poor" - Aloyo, 12yrs - "is advanced in technology" - Laker, 14yrs - "is peaceful, prosperous and equal" - "is free from corruption and resource related conflicts" - "respects the rule of law" - "is peaceful and secure" - "is save for women and children" - "is peaceful and developed" source

Further Reading:

Agenda 2063
Letter to translate
short notice
10 facts
2018 blog post
this informative article links a couple of further-reads
different views via quotes
12 Ways to Celebrate Africa Day by google arts and culture

How To Celebrate Africa Day?

The initial and common goal of the OAU was to free all African countries. Since all African nations are in theory free from their colonial powers it is more difficult to bring people together as goals are vague. This is also a reason why popularity may have fallen [source?]. Agenda 2063 can be used as a guide, but it seems very inaccessible. Every year there seems to be a theme, which I couldn't find