Neo-Colonialism

Neo-Colonialism – The Yankees’ Home-Grown Export

by Leave a Comment

Neo-colonialism plagues most of Africa, but the practice was refined in the Americas by the United States. For decades the U.S. “Yankees” regarded Central and South America and the Caribbean Basin as their “backyard” that they were bound to dominate and exploit.

Although the U.S. has always enjoyed the benefits of slavery, imperialism and colonialism, it has been self-conscious about its image. As the self-described bastion of democracy it has been unwilling to frankly acknowledge its relationship with smaller exploited countries. It has been much more convenient to use puppet dictators to oversee territories in the western hemisphere. Many of these dictators have been brutal and authoritarian. In fact, Anastasio Somoza of Nicaragua was so tyrannical that he moved U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt to tell the truth about the U.S. and neo-colonialism. Roosevelt said: “Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch.”

Not surprisingly, there has been constant resistance to Yankee imperialism and neo-colonialism by the masses of people who have suffered under grinding oppression, repression and poverty. This has prompted many military interventions by the U.S. What follows is just a short list of some of these military exercises:

  • 1846: The United States invaded Mexico.
  • 1903: The U.S. intervened in Panama and ultimately gained complete control of the canal region.
  • 1903: The U.S. established a naval base at Guantanamo.
  • 1914: U.S. troops occupied the Mexican port of Veracruz.
  • 1954: The CIA backed a coup to overthrow Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz.
  • 1961: The U.S. backed the Bay of Pigs invasion in a failed effort to overthrow Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
  • 1964: The U.S. backed a coup against President Joao Goulart of Brazil.
  • 1965: U.S. forces invaded the Dominican Republic.
  • 1973: The U.S. supported a military coup to overthrow the democratically-elected president of Chile, Salvador Allende.
  • 1980s: The Reagan administration supported counter-revolutionary forces in their war against Nicaragua’s Sandinista revolution.
  • 1983: U.S. forces invaded Grenada.
  • 1989: The U.S. invaded Panama to get Manuel Noriega.
  • 2004: U.S. forces entered Haiti and kidnapped President Jean Bertrand Aristide at gunpoint.
  • 2009: The U.S. supported a coup against Honduras’ elected leader.

The U.S. has relied on armed invasions to prevent what it knows will be the results of socialist people-oriented government. The amazing accomplishments of the Cuban revolution have inspired people throughout the western hemisphere. Right now the U.S. is waging attacks against the people of Venezuela who have tried to bring socialism and progressive change to their country under the leadership of the late President Hugo Chavez and his successor Nicolas Maduro. Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution has used profits from their oil industry to fight poverty, provide health care, build schools, and feed the hungry. Such accomplishments do not occur in neo-colonial countries and the U.S. knows it. That’s why they try to crush revolution with violence. The Yankees may try to defeat the people, but revolutionaries everywhere know that the people will be victorious.

VENCEREMOS!

A Global People Can Destroy a Global System of Oppression and Exploitation

by Leave a Comment

Fannie Lou Hamer, the legendary freedom fighter who struggled for justice in Mississippi, was also a member of a special 1964 Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) delegation to Guinea. It was her first opportunity to travel to Africa and she was awe-struck by the people. She was moved to tell Kwame Ture: “they stand and talk just like we do Stokely!” Many Africans see the similarities and historical connections between African foods, dances, forms of spiritual worship, superstitions, wisdom, logic, etc., as clear evidence that we are one people – a global people.

Whether in Accra, Ghana; Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania; London, England; Toronto, Canada; or Los Angeles, California if two African women who share a mutual fondness and respect encounter each other after a long separation, the nature of the emotional exchange will be familiar to Africans everywhere whether the women speak Twi, Kiswahili, French, or English. If one enters a nightclub in any country, the mannerisms, non-verbal communications, etc. of Africans’ social encounters will be similar. You are just as likely to hear Cardi B and Beyonce in Africa as you are in the U.S. because their cultural expressions resonate among Africans everywhere. The experiences of riding on a trotro in Ghana and a Rapid Transit Bus in L.A. are very similar. In fact, the average African from the U.S. who goes to Africa, or the average African from the Caribbean who goes to Europe, will be approached by Africans who assume the visitor is a local. There is nevertheless an organic connection even after the visitor’s actual place of residence is disclosed.

We make the irrefutable point that Africans born and living in over 120 countries worldwide, are one people, regardless of different languages, geographical locations, challenges, conflicts, etc.

As Kwame Ture pointed out, Africans are the only people on Earth who wear clothes, sing songs, etc. representing our common connection to Africa. You are not likely to see a cake in the shape of Europe or Asia, but we have all seen cakes shaped like Africa because on a conscious and unconscious level, our people recognize our common thread and connection to Africa as a vehicle that leads to our complete liberation as a people.

Even the enemies of African liberation have been conscious enough to exploit the clear and objective Pan-African reality that exists among us. During the imperialist efforts to steal back the Congo after the assassination of Patrice Lumumba in 1961, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, in conjunction with British M16 Intelligence and French and Belgian intelligence, engaged in concerted efforts to sabotage efforts by Lumumba’s National Congolese Movement to gain liberation for that country. One of the confirmed strategies imperialism utilized to attempt to accomplish this was to import Africans from outside the Congo e.g. Africans from the U.S., so-called Cuban exiles, etc., into the Congo to pose as Congolese fighting against national liberation. This tactic was implemented to attempt to create the illusion of Congolese opposition to liberation within their country.

Several of the mercenaries in the Congo were exposed once they were captured and it was quickly discovered that these people didn’t speak Lingala, Ki-Swahili, etc. They only spoke English or Spanish which would be impossible if they were Congolese. What if instead, these Africans were fighting for Africa’s liberation? The achievement of Pan-Africanism (one unified socialist Africa) creates the potential for an international fighting force of African people who are organized and committed to waging a relentless nation, class, and gender struggle against capitalism and imperialism everywhere in the world to liberate Africa as our base of operations.

Africans’ problems didn’t start in the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Honduras, Canada, or the U.S. They started when Africa was exploited and Africa’s people were enslaved and forced into exile throughout the world. It is therefore likely that Africans in the U.S. have family members in Somalia, Canada, Puerto Rico, etc. So, this reality makes it absurd to suggest we are not the same people. It is equally absurd to suggest that we should remain divided and powerless. What we need is continued comprehensive political education that prioritizes a shared understanding that our futures are directly tied to Africa’s future. The only homeland African people have any legitimate right to claim is Africa. Why fight for Africa’s liberation? Africa is the richest material land base on Earth, yet African people are among the poorest people on the planet. This is not an accident, but it is a direct consequence of the domination and exploitation of Africa. Saying it differently, capitalism in blackface e.g. Barack Obama in the U.S. or Paul Kagame in Rwanda, is not the solution. The solution is Pan-Africanism: The total liberation and unification of Africa under scientific socialism.

Revolutionary Pan-Africanist Women Fight Patriarchy and Neo-Colonialism

by Leave a Comment

The valuable contributions of African women to the fight to liberate African people cannot be denied. Julia Cooper, Amy Ashwood Garvey, Amy Jacques Garvey, Queen Mother Moore, Claudia Jones, and many other African women have set the tone for many African liberation struggles. African Women built militant women’s organizations inside and outside the national liberation parties and movements. These organizations included, among many others: Pan-African Women’s Organization PAWO, Democratic Union of Women Guinea (UDEMU), Imbeleko Women’s Organization, and the National Council of Women. It is perhaps not possible to list the many local and village organizations of African women.

The full engagement of women in struggle is nothing new. Women fought in every phase and in every way against the advance of slavery and colonialism. They served as leaders (e.g. Me Katilili, Nehanda, Nzinga) and as anonymous freedom fighters in struggles like the anti-pass campaigns in South Africa; the formation of the Bantu Women’s Organization and the Federation of Women in the 1950’s; and the 1929 anti-colonial women’s rights revolt in Nigeria. Women made up one third of those who engaged in armed struggles in Eritrea and Zimbabwe. They fought in Algeria, Angola, Guinea Bissau, and Mozambique. Nanny in Jamaica, Carlotta in Cuba, Harriet Tubman in the U.S. and the African women participating in the first Pan-African Revolution in Haiti all led in the resistance to slavery.

Notwithstanding the struggles of African women, patriarchy remains a fact of life even within progressive and revolutionary African organizations. Patriarchy is a backward and exploitative set of ideas and practices that preserve hierarchical relationships that use formal and informal institutions like the government, religious, educational, and cultural institutions to place and keep men in dominant positions. Even socialist revolutions which ushered in progress for women in the workplace, education, family, law and government have not resolved the question of gender oppression.

European colonialism, though patriarchal, did not introduce patriarchy to Africa. Patriarchy in Africa is a holdover from pre-colonial periods in Africa. Patriarchy only became worse in Africa under colonialism. These exploitative ideas and ideologies are “socially” constructed, and like any dangerous construction these backward ideas must be demolished in our culture/societies and rebuilt by revolutionary ideas. The social revolution called for by the All African People’s Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) and All African Women’s Revolutionary Union (A-AWRU) does not just challenge economic inequalities of class but digs deeper and looks at oppressive cultural norms perpetuated by those who benefit from the exploitation of people based on gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion etc.

The defeat of patriarchy can’t be achieved outside the struggle for power. Neo-colonialism allows for the continued theft of the resources of formerly colonized territories. Foreign powers control and exploit the best agricultural land and resources (iron, gold, diamond, titanium, coltan, oil etc.) in Africa. This resource theft deprives the working masses of necessities like education, healthcare, water, housing and infrastructure. This has the heaviest impact on women and children. There are additional challenges to women posed by domestic violence, political exclusion, unequal wages, lack of healthcare, militarism, water theft, patriarchal inheritance laws, attacks on reproductive rights, ritual cutting, human trafficking, marital rape, lack of sexual and gender choice and extra-judicial killings.

Revolutionary Pan-Africanism expresses the nation/class and gender struggle of African people. Revolutionary Pan-Africanism is not only fighting for one unified socialist Africa but also for an end to exploitation. We are fighting for the complete liberation of Africans everywhere, and African women like other nationally oppressed working/class women are on the frontlines of this struggle. The liberation of African women requires the defeat of settler-colonialism and neocolonialism, and the construction of socialism leading to a non-exploitative society (communism).

African Puppets of Imperialism Must Go!

by Leave a Comment

The All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) thanks you for your participation in the 2019 commemorations of African Liberation Day (ALD).This special day of work, study and organizing has become an institution across not only the length and breadth of Africa, but in all corners of the world where Africans have been dispersed, enslaved and oppressed.

African Liberation Day is an important element of “revolutionary Pan-Africanism.” That may be a term that is unfamiliar to some, but the essential meaning resonates with all Africans who have experienced or observed police terrorism, war, theft of natural resources, widespread poverty and illness, racial discrimination, inadequate education, and many other problems. These challenges are not limited to Africans found in only one part of the world. Africans everywhere are engaged in a desperate fight for survival – and far too many are losing. Victory requires more than positions in local government, or ownership of small businesses, or membership on corporate boards of directors, or even the support of well-meaning non-governmental organizations.

Genuine African liberation requires power. Power does not mean money. Power does not mean fame. Power does not mean close association with those who have power. When Africans gain real power, Africa and Africa’s people worldwide will have the ability to determine and pursue their own destiny without anyone having the capacity to stop them.

Revolutionary Pan-Africanism is the time-tested strategy for achieving power. It is a strategy implemented by African people organizing globally to achieve one primary objective: the total liberation and unification of Africa under scientific socialism.

Total Liberation

The total liberation of Africa is a critical element of Pan-Africanism. African countries may have African presidents, prime ministers and parliaments, but most of these countries are not under African control. Africa is largely controlled by western governments and foreign corporations. European countries understood back in the 19th Century that Africa possesses enormous natural resources of inestimable value. This one continent has gold, oil, coltan, chromium, bauxite, diamonds and numerous other valuable minerals.

By 1885, European countries had resolved to colonize and dominate African countries in order to gain full access to the continent’s wealth. African resistance to colonialism was protracted and fierce. By the end of the 20th Century this resistance had succeeded in driving European governments out of Africa and leaving African countries nominally independent. However this independence was illusory. Unwilling to surrender access to the valuable natural resources of Africa, imperialists devised a new form of colonialism that to all appearances was not colonialism at all. This new form of colonialism – or “neo-colonialism” relies heavily on the betrayal of Africa’s people by Africans who by one means or another control the reins of African governments.

African puppets of neo-colonialism

Some of these African neo-colonial heads of state are vicious dictators like Mobutu Sese Seko of Congo, who during his tyrannical tenure stole much of the country’s treasury and had innumerable people killed. The U.S. and Western Europe turned a blind eye to his crimes for many years because he allowed foreign interests to steal and exploit Congo’s resources. There are still other African neo-colonial government officials who mean well, but they are constrained and directed by a well-organized system of imperialism (i.e., domination of a territory by external forces). Even these well-meaning government officials are bound to carry out the agenda of their puppet-masters in the U.S. and Europe.

Imperialist control of Africa is by force. If an African leader attempts to steer an independent course even after experiencing threats and coercion, intelligence agencies of the western governments will engineer a coup, or in some cases an assassination. In other cases where an African leader not only attempts to act independently but establishes effective defenses to subversion, imperialists may resort to economic warfare. This happened in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s governing party, the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front, initiated a program for the return of land occupied by European settlers to Africans. In response, the U.S., England and other western countries commenced and maintained an economic embargo against Zimbabwe for many years that caused substantial economic decline and consequent social and political instability.

Imperialism is also not reluctant to use armed force against those who do not cooperate with the neo-colonial agenda. This was made easier by the creation of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). The purpose of AFRICOM is to dominate Africa militarily without appearing to dominate Africa militarily. The way it works is U.S. military forces serve as behind the scenes “advisors” to the armies of African countries. These African armies are directed to carry out missions that advance imperialist interests. One example is AFRICOM’s leadership in the overthrow and vicious murder of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. AFRICOM armed reactionary and racist forces whose campaign of terror allowed the U.S. and France to gain control of Libyan oil fields and end Gadhafi’s plans for an independent gold-backed Pan-African currency. AFRICOM now has operations in almost all of the African countries.

Pan-Africanism requires Africa to be totally liberated from all of these foreign forces and interests so that Africa can not only genuinely govern itself but also control its own natural wealth for the benefit of its own people in Africa and in other parts of the world.

Unification

“Divide and conquer” is a very old strategy used by oppressors. Africa is extremely divided, and it is for that reason that Pan-Africanism can be achieved only if Africa is united. How did Africa become divided in the first place? As the year 1884 was coming to a close, the major European powers who lusted after Africa’s wealth concluded that it made no sense for them to fight each other because there was enough in Africa for everyone to exploit. Representatives of the various European countries came together in Berlin and cut up and distributed portions of a map of Africa in much the same way one would divide a birthday cake. Each European country proceeded to colonize the African territory assigned to them.

When dividing the African continent, Europe paid no heed to existing communities and nation states. Borders and boundaries were established for European convenience, and in the process, Africans with political and social differences were forced into relationships with those they did not necessarily want in their communities. Language differences and other factors created tension and division within the colonies, and these territories were much easier to dominate.

Notwithstanding the intra-African conflicts in the colonies, resistance to colonialism began nevertheless. As these movements gained momentum, conditions became ripe during World War II for African countries to begin to win at least nominal independence. With its attention and resources consumed by the war, Europe lacked the capacity to maintain direct control of its colonies. Independence ushered in a new era of struggle.

Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana, became a vocal proponent of Pan-Africanism. Other heads of state like Sekou Toure of Guinea and Patrice Lumumba of Congo echoed these calls much to the chagrin of the United States and Western Europe. The continuing interest in the exploitation of Africa made these African revolutionaries a threat to efforts to establish a new form of colonialism, or neo-colonialism. Consequently, Nkrumah was overthrown by a plot devised by the CIA. Toure was repeatedly attacked and harassed by the French. Lumumba was assassinated by African stooges of the CIA. Other African revolutionaries were also targeted by imperialist forces in the years that followed.

The attacks on African revolutionaries and revolutionary forces have historically been made easier by disunity in Africa. For example, one country that has thrown off imperialist control and is traveling a revolutionary path may be regarded as a “liberated zone.” However, a country on its border may still be a “zone under enemy control” that still bears the burden of western domination. Such a country may be used as a convenient staging ground for attacks and invasions of the neighboring liberated country. Such a strategy could not be pursued if Africa were united in its opposition to neo-colonialism.

There is a yet larger and more important benefit of a united Africa. To understand it, imagine the state of New York in the U.S. as an independent, sovereign country. Even the fact that it has one of the largest, most cosmopolitan cities in the world would not give it very much power or influence on the world stage. It would be overwhelmed economically, diplomatically and militarily by not only the world’s superpowers, but also by many smaller countries. However, if you join New York with 49 other states that together call themselves the United States of America, then New York along with these other states becomes a force to be reckoned with. The more than 50 little countries in Africa are no different. Alone, they have no more power than would a “country” called New York. However, if all of these countries come together to form the United States of Africa, there will be no other country on the planet with as much economic, diplomatic or military power. That can mean only good things for Africans worldwide.

Scientific Socialism

When Africa unites to achieve Pan-Africanism, scientific socialism must guide and govern the continent’s economics. Many Africans not only fail to include scientific socialism as part of their agenda, they also don’t even know what it is. It’s really not as complicated as it sounds.

Any country is always faced with a basic question: “How are we going to deal with the nation’s money and resources?” If those answering the question believe in a capitalist approach to economics, they will say: “Let’s put the wealth of the nation in the hands of a small elite group. This group can determine whether the broad masses of people will share in this wealth, and if so, to what extent.” Africa has already had many years of experience with capitalism, and the results have not been good. Among other things, capitalism gave Africa the slave trade, colonialism, widespread poverty, environmental disasters, wars, foreign theft and exploitation of natural resources, corruption and disease. There is another path that Africa must follow. It is the socialist path.

A socialist will say: “Let’s put the wealth of the nation in the hands of everyone. This will ensure that decisions about what to do with it will always be in the best interests of the broad masses of the people. The people themselves will never purposely make decisions that will hurt themselves.” Why, for example would the people ever decide to allow foreign corporations to come into Africa to steal their oil and most valuable minerals? Socialism just makes good sense. It is a scientific approach to economics because it is based on concrete, practical considerations rather than romantic, theoretical notions about how money and resources should be handled.

What Must You Do?

Africans, like all peoples, have a role to play in the war against neo-colonialism. The All-African People’s Revolutionary Party knows that the best contribution Africans can make is to liberate Africa from the control of the African puppet leaders, large corporations and foreign military forces that have locked down Africa’s oil, valuable minerals and other natural resources for capitalist exploitation. When that has been accomplished, capitalism in Africa must be replaced by a socialist government and economy that integrates the entire continent into a single country. Socialism is essential because, unlike capitalism, which allows wealth and power to be concentrated in the hands of a tiny minority, socialism places all wealth and power in the hands of everyone. Those resources can then be available to struggling people around the world. The total liberation and unification of Africa under scientific socialism is known as Pan-Africanism, and it is the overriding objective of the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party.

Pan-Africanism cannot be accomplished by an individual. The capitalist’s propaganda about individualism drives myths about super heroic feats of individuals, when in fact no individual accomplishes anything of significance alone. These individualist ideas are absorbed by osmosis even by many of those who are oppressed, and they wait in vain for a “leader” who will rescue them from their misery. This mortal messiah will never come because it is not possible for an individual – even a well-meaning one – to liberate a people. On the other hand, when individuals work together they have the capacity to overcome even the fiercest opposition of oppressive forces. Organization is the stuff of which revolutions are made. Organization contemplates a steadfast and abiding commitment that involves both work and study. The member of the organization engages in a consistent collective process of self-education in order to ensure that any work done on behalf of the organization is fully informed and effective.

Join An Organization!

You must join an organization. Africa needs you! Africa’s people scattered around the world need you! Struggling people in neo-colonies need you! The All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) needs you! In the A-APRP you will have the opportunity to not only work for your people, but to also learn things universities don’t teach, and to otherwise gain knowledge that will make you the most effective organizer you can be. Enlist in the A-APRP’s work and study program today!