Members of the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party who organize in the African diaspora have lost count of the number of times they have been told:

“I think that the first thing we gotta do is clean up our own house, right here before we worry about what’s happening in Africa.”

Africans in the Americas, Europe, the Caribbean and elsewhere have repeatedly argued that the conditions in “the hood” need to be “straightened out,” and that we need to “clean up our own house FIRST.”

In some ways these Africans are correct, but not always in ways that they understand. Wherever Africans live in the world, the primary roadblocks to our liberation are not poor housing, hunger, illness, discrimination, police violence, etc. Major obstacles to our freedom are the traitors among us whose greed and self-promotion allow these oppressive conditions to remain. Ahmed Sekou Toure, the first President of Guinea, perhaps said it best:

“The true enemies of Africa, even before the imperialist and foreign capitalists, are those corrupt Africans who have put themselves at the disposal of the enemy of their People. The enemy inside the house is always more noxious than the one on the yard.” (from: Strategy & Tactics of the Revolution, Vol. XXI, P. 439)

Technically, neo-colonialism in Africa involves the use by western countries and corporations of puppet leaders in Africa to oppress and exploit the African continent. However, because the struggle for the total liberation and unification of Africa under scientific socialism is a global struggle, African “leaders” outside of Africa can also betray the African revolution. As just one example, Africans everywhere had a romance of sorts with Barack Obama. However, it was President Obama who expanded the reach of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) into almost every country in Africa. It was President Obama who became known in some circles as “the King of Drones” because of his use of armed drone attacks that caused record numbers of African deaths, many of which were non-combatants and children. It was President Obama who appeared before African heads of state and chided them about corruption and mismanagement while saying nothing at all about western imperialists and the role they play in Africa’s underdevelopment. It was President Obama who directed the overthrow and vicious murder of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya so that the U.S. and France could end plans for an independent gold-backed Pan-African currency and gain control of Libyan oil fields.

President Obama is just one example. Throughout the African diaspora there are many presidents, prime ministers, members of parliament, congressional representatives, administrators, civil rights leaders and others who not only work against Africa’s best interests, but they also support Zionism, reactionary dictators and other counter-revolutionary forces in other parts of the world. These so-called leaders may look like Africans and they may claim to represent African interests, but they are by no means African patriots. Those in our community who want to “clean up our own house” by eliminating poor housing, hunger, illness, discrimination, and police violence must understand that a united socialist Africa will provide the resources to do that. It is the black lackeys of imperialism who stand in the way of African liberation, and pushing them out of positions of leadership and influence in our community is a good first step toward cleaning house.

LET’S KEEP OUR FOCUS ON THE
“…ENEMY INSIDE THE HOUSE…”

SMASH NEO-COLONIALISM NOW!!