By Abdul Jabbar Caliph, Chief Editor
“The time has come to draw practical conclusion from the years of studying African problems, to sum them up in formulas that are as clear as possible and easy to apply.” Cheikh Anta Diop
Uhuru Comrades, Brothers and Sisters!
I greet you with this Kiswahili
word meaning freedom, for freedom should be the most fundamental issue on the
minds of African people of all over the Diaspora! As a Pan-African
Internationalist I understand the importance in the need for the development of
a Pan-African culture that is reflected of the values and morals of African
people. In order for this to be accomplished it is important for us to
understand that we must replace the values and morals of the old colonialist
regime that we suffered under with the values and morals of the new society
that we wish to develop.
These values and morals must be
developed along an African centered approach to life. This means that we must
not only understand our history we must also understand some of the traditional
concepts of African culture and begin to chart its’ development and progression
as it relates to African people all over the world. Some of this traditional
customs must be disregarded for they no longer have any value or importance to
the new society which we are seeking to develop. They are out dated and ancient.
The new society in which we seek
to develop requires that we educated and train our youth in the Pan-African
Internationalist concept of social living instead of the individual based
concept taught to us by the colonialist approach to life that we have been
trained within. Under colonialism we existed as slaves and under the new
society that we are seeking to develop we will live as free men and women who
control their own destiny. We will live according to means of production that
our society needs, no waste no mess. Each person must live according to his
political means and the political needs of family.
In order for this to happen we
must have a complete radical break with the bourgeoisie culture that has been
the dominated culture in our life. This can only occur with the complete
transfer of power to the African working class, the most proletariatarian class
that exists in the world! This break must be a total and complete break with
parasitic capitalism.
Comrades we must understand that
our struggle here is a twofold struggle, a struggle against racism that also
has a class component. We who call ourselves Pan-Africans would do well to not
forget this. For it is through the combination of the two that we will be able
to insure that our people never again experience the African holocaust (MAAFA).
It is through this process that we will
be able to control our destiny, control over the political economy and the
means of production of Africa’s natural resources.
A new form of education must
emerge out of this process, an education that will be free of our former
colonialist masters’ control. It is through this educational process that our
people will learn the true history of our people and the purpose of their
historical mission, the liberation and freedom of Africa and her people
throughout the Diasporas. It is the completion of this mission that will allow
us to control and establish a global economy that will launch Africa into the
next phase of development as the rightful masters of our own lives and put an
end to the capitalist-imperialist parasitic relationship that has dominated
non-white people for centuries.
We must remember that as we seek
the destruction of this parasitic way of life we must also be about the work of
serious transformation of our society, a society that is in serious need of
healing. We must educate our people about how to control the means of
production that currently exist in our Pan-African society and the development
of a new approach to this very end. To fail to do so will mean the failure of
the revolution, it is a betrayal of the revolution and history may not absolve
us!
Let us as Pan-Africans remember
the wise saying of Amilcar Cabral, the leader of the PAIGC who was brutality
assassinated by imperialist forces nine months before Guinea-Bissau was to
achieve it liberation, “Always remember that people are not fighting for ideas,
nor for what is in men’s mind. The people fight and accept the sacrifices
demanded by the struggle in order to gain material advantages, to live better
and in peace, to benefit from progress, and for the better future of their
children. National liberation, the struggle against colonialism, the
construction of peace, progress and independence are nothing but hollow words
devoid of any significance unless they can be translated into a real
improvement of living conditions.”
To achieve the afore mentioned
objective we must begin to established Liberated Zones, the transformation of
our neighborhoods and domestically colonized communities into communities of
political consciousness and awakened freedom fighters who willing do the work
of fighting for the rights of the African working class. This will give us the
democratic space that is needed to broadly organize the people into future
cadre forces that will focus on the seizure and consolidation of power into our
own hands. The establishments of survival program such as food co-operatives,
after-school and weekend programs for African Children are examples of dual and
contending institutions that will help achieve this mission.
Comrades this is what a true
Pan-African culture should look like and be able to accomplish. For it not to accomplish this mission is to
mean that we failed as Pan-Africans in winning the revolution, a revolution
that our ancestors died to see fulfilled, they laid down their lives to see
their children and future generations of African people grow up to live a life
free of slavery and misery!
We must accomplish this noble
sacred mission. We must complete the revolution and free our people in order to
assume our rightful place in society. This mission can only be accomplished by
the African working class, the most noble and humble race and class of people
on the planet!
In conclusion, I would like us to
remember what Barry Munslow said “The greatest danger was that the state might
well be able to transform the revolution before the revolution could transform
the state.” This means that we as members of the African working class must be
the organization of the people, educated the people and mobilize the people to
participate in their own liberation.
“African development is possible only on the basis of a radical break with the international capitalist system, which has been the principal agency of underdevelopment of Africa over the last five centuries.” Walter Rodney
Long live the
Revolution!
Long live the
struggle for African Independence!
Bread, Peace and
Black Power!
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