African Independence Party (in French: Parti Africain de l'Indépendance) was a communist party in French West Africa (AOF). PAI was founded in Thiès, Senegal in 1957. Later as AOF was dissolved into independent countries the local PAI sections became independent parties, often keeping the name PAI.
PAI was the first party in AOF to unequivocally demand independence from French rule.
In Senegal PAI was banned on August 1, 1960.
In Senegal the following parties trace/traced their origin back to PAI:
- Party of Independence and Work (PIT, technically the original PAI)
- African Independence Party-Renewal (legally registered as PAI)
- Democratic League - Movement for the Labour Party
- Senegalese Communist Party (short-lived pro-Chinese faction)
In Upper Volta/Burkina Faso PAI was established in 1963. PAI attained importance through its mass front Patriotic League for Development (LIPAD). Today LIPAD is dissolved, and PAI has split in two factions:
- African Independence Party (Ouédraogo). Technically the original PAI
- African Independence Party (Touré), legally recognized as PAI
Read more about African Independence Party: List of Founders of PAI
Famous quotes containing the words african, independence and/or party:
“All great religions, in order to escape absurdity, have to admit a dilution of agnosticism. It is only the savage, whether of the African bush or the American gospel tent, who pretends to know the will and intent of God exactly and completely.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“...there was the annual Fourth of July picketing at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. ...I thought it was ridiculous to have to go there in a skirt. But I did it anyway because it was something that might possibly have an effect. I remember walking around in my little white blouse and skirt and tourists standing there eating their ice cream cones and watching us like the zoo had opened.”
—Martha Shelley, U.S. author and social activist. As quoted in Making History, part 3, by Eric Marcus (1992)
“The success of a party means little more than that the Nation is using the party for a large and definite purpose.... It seeks to use and interpret a change in its own plans and point of view.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)