By Nnamdi Lumumba, UPP State Organizer
African people worldwide exist during a time of great crisis
both internally to our own communities and externally under international
capitalism. Parasitic capitalism under the control of the international white ruling
class and in alliance with neocolonialist ruling class elements in oppressed
nations are fighting a desperate struggle to maintain the system of
imperialism. In oppressed nations, neocolonialism stands as the last line of
defense keeping the masses from attacking imperialism directly to liberate
themselves from the parasitic relationships set upon us that rob us of the
ability to live as full human beings.
The struggle of African workers and poor people to overthrow
neocolonialism is a fundamental task in our liberation. In many places, it is
not White people that commit crimes against the people but African petty bourgeoisie
elements which keep the people in poverty and desperation. The class conscious
sector of the African working class most strive fully and completely to unseat
neo-colonialism and to raise the political consciousness of the masses to their
full stature as makers of history.
One such area that most be contested is the electoral arena.
Electoral politics in Africa and the Americas have been traditionally dominated
by elements of the African petty bourgeoisie. The African petty bourgeoisie
participates in electoral politics not to advance the interests of African
people and the African community but to fill their own pockets and those of
their class.
There should be no safe place for the African petty
bourgeoisie to attack the people, we most elevate the consciousness of the
masses of African people to understand that the election process is not about
democracy but instead a struggle for power by the ruling class, that currently
international capitalism is in crisis and that the capitalist parties are working to maintain the wealth of the ruling
class at the expense of all workers and poor people and finally that the
African working class must rise to assume leadership of the African community's
struggle for liberation. The electoral process is a form of political struggle
that offers the vanguard of the African working class space to wage open class
struggle with the African petty bourgeoisie and white ruling class for
influence and power over the African community.
The first myth spread by the white ruling class is that the
voting is equivalent to freedom and that change can be made at the ballot box. Nothing
could be farther from the truth. Based on a concrete analysis of the real world,
we assert that the election process is not about democracy but instead a nonviolent
struggle for power by the ruling class. The so-called “two-party system” of the
U.S.
is in fact a two-headed single party system dominated by capitalist/imperialist
parties. In practice it is like being given the choice of one slave master or
another, no matter who is chosen, the slave can never vote to have freedom!
To be more specific, elections are used as a means for
different sectors of the ruling class to struggle non-violently for control of
the state apparatus. The state apparatus are the courts, legislature, police,
schools and other government institutions that enforce the laws of the ruling
class. Candidates are tied to various local, regional and national interests
that fund and support candidates to forward their agenda. The participation of
independent or populist candidates is minimal and limited as the two ruling
class parties make it difficult for non-mainstream candidates and parties to
participate and win elections.
In places around the world where the state apparatus is
weak, political killings, coup d'etats and civil wars are carried out by
contending sectors of the ruling class to gain power. Elections rarely take
place and if they do, they are shame elections. The instability created by
these contests are not good for overall economic growth and profit, so the
capitalist forces in the West do all they can to regularly hold elections and
to win working class participation in the elections.
We most also be clear that elections are used by the ruling
class to legitimize the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. The political parties
that compete against each other represent the same social class. They represent
the interests of the capitalist class. The issues and solutions that African
working class and other working and poor people need are never put forward.
International capitalism is in crisis and the capitalist
parties will look to maintain themselves at the expense of the workers and poor
people.
Both major parties are legalizing the assault on African
people, workers and poor people via the political process. Attacks on welfare,
social security, Medicare are becoming popular targets by politicians to take
away from the masses in an effort to preserve the interests of the ruling
class. Funding for education, recreation and other services are being cut while
increases in police and prisons are being passed in preparation of locking down
more African and other oppressed peoples.
Candidates from both major parties are apologists for the
increasingly repressive policies being implemented to protect the ruling class.
Black democrats have openly abandoned the African community, only looking out
for their middle class friends and supporters. Liberal candidates have been
driven towards the political right in support of wars, spending cuts and other
policies which attack colonized, oppressed and exploited people.
The African working class most rise to assume leadership of
the African community's struggle for liberation and economic and social
justice.
The mis-leadership of the African middle class has helped
facilitate the escalation of the theft of the human and material resources of
the African community. African politicians at the federal, state and local
levels now lead the charge in creating and implementing policy that serves the
interests of the capitalist class at the direct expense of the African
community. The economic crisis for imperialism has been held at bay by
draconian policies which have cause depression era unemployment, unprecedented
lost of homes for African families and the widening of the wealth gap between
African and White families.
The African working class most seizes all the democratic
space possible to put forward its solutions to the crisis in the African
community and to organize the community to defend itself. Electoral politics is
not the only legitimate form of political struggle. The African working class
most learn to strategically use all methods of political struggle to advance
its agenda. The major of African people have been effectively demobilized and
de-politized by the mis-leadership of the African middle class, they most have
the opportunity to hear and participate in new ideas and politics if they are
to be organized in their own interests.
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