One of the most creative aspects of the African diaspora has been its contribution to pan-Africanism, the aspiration of a united Africa. On the continent, the dream of a united Africa is essentially political and increasingly economic, but the diaspora view is that the freedom and liberation of diaspora communities cannot be realized independently of the continent's own liberation and the realization of a common destiny. This vision has become a pillar of the continent's mission (through, formerly, the Organization of African Unity, now the African Union) as the anti-colonial struggle and the fight for development have taken shape and gained strength. The point here, however, is that the conception of Africa as a single entity began in the diaspora with Africans' yearning to return from exile and repair the breach inflicted by Atlantic chattel slavery, as part of the emergence of modern capitalism, as Williams showed.