By Nnamdi Lumumba
To be free, the oppressed must be organized in their own
interests. To be organized, the masses require access to skills and ideas that
not only inform them of the world in which we live in but also of the ideas
that we most embrace to transform the world. The oppressed most have leaders
and institutions that serve their interest and when these instruments cease to
serve the people, the masses must be armed with correct ideas so they can
remove these forces. None of this can be done if the masses of colonized and
oppressed African people are not engaged in a consistent process of political
education.
As Pan-African Internationalists, we must take seriously the
need to politically educate and agitate the masses of African people. We must
do this in all mediums available to us to challenge the goliath mass media of
the U.S. imperialist state. We most build a dual and contending mass education
system that actively struggles for the hearts and minds of our oppressed and
colonized people.
Whether you read a book, watch a video or listen to music,
people are always being bombarded with socio-political views. The vast majority
of views in media are the ideas of the parasitic white ruling class and its
neo-colonial stooges. These serve as mis-education tools against the interests
of the masses of African working class and other poor people. To counter this,
the people political education.
Political Education is the process of elevating human
consciousness to be able to perceive and interpret phenomenon so participants
can be conscientious actors in determining
their economic, political, social and spiritual reality. Political education,
like any legitimate form of education is for the upliftment of humanity and the
greater development of the individual to serve the collective.
Unlike the training disguised as education in the U.S.
education system, the process of education makes people more capable of
thinking independently not simply reciting information by rote. Education makes it more possible for people
to understand their condition and to transform their condition.
The goal of political education is to produce human beings
who are conscious of the social, economic, political and spiritual issues that
impact their lives and equip them to resolve those issues. We should be vested
in this process as it speeds up the overall struggle by the masses against
injustice and humiliation at the hands of the ruling class and the African
petty bourgeoisie. Without such education, the masses will continue to engage
oppressive conditions but not have all the tools they need to plot a conclusion
that liberates us from oppression.
The process of carrying out political education by Pan
African Internationalists should teach participants personal and organization
discipline. Political education process should develop leadership and
communication skills. The participants should be able to demonstrate greater
capacity to sum up the world and defend any solutions they put forward to
resolve the crisis in the world.
Political education must be seen as an ongoing process. It cannot
be treated as a process that only new forces engage in. Ho Chin Min once warned
that once you stop progressing in your studies, one does not stagnate but
instead regress. Political education
must become a way of political and social life for forces committed to changing
the world.
Pan African Internationalists must recognize that political
education is fundamental to human and organizational development. We most
actively struggle to counter the mis-education that the capitalist-imperialist
social system permeates about ourselves, other people and about the nature of
U.S. society.
Pan African Internationalist organization requires
politically, socially and emotionally developed cadre and mass workers who are
capable of producing revolutionary transformation. The struggle needs
organizers who are confident in their ability and rights as human beings to be
free on their own terms.
Political education will facilitate greater unity and
clarity in the liberation work. The chaos experienced under colonial domination
is purposefully maintained by imperialism so the masses will struggle amongst
ourselves instead of against it to solve our problems. African people in the
grip of colonial madness often see themselves as their own worst enemies while
their real national and class enemies are able to rob us blind of our
resources. People often criticize African behavior in colonial situations to be
like that of crabs in a barrel but no one ever dare criticize the ones who
forcefully place crabs in the barrel to begin with.
In the final analysis, the value of political education will
be measured on its ability to empower human beings to take control of their
lives. It is more than just giving them skills to perform as more efficient cogs
in the capitalist machine. It is about giving people to ability to see, define
and create the world in which they want to exist in
As a minimum, political education most provide the
participants with the ability to think and sum up the world in their own words.
It must also provide them with the confidence necessary to engage imperialism
on a variety of issues. Genuine cadre forces should have the ability to
transform a condition or situation to advance the needs of poor and oppressed
people. Lastly, the masses and its leadership should develop a greater unity
with the struggles of all poor and oppressed peoples against oppression of all
forms.
Political education must not be seen as a secondary function
or even worst as an optional function. We must commit ourselves to carryout
Political Education as consistently and creativity as we can. It is a process
which will pay us back ten-fold for our time and effort.
Posts
2 Response(s):
That idea is good for the US,Canada, Europe, Brazil and some parts of the Carribbean, but for 50 African nations, and Haiti, one faces being tied beaten then forced to watch ones family raped and then dismmebered for holding such classes or exchanging such fliers or borchures, and in this high tech age, rest assured that 90%of the despots have the same internet montoring devices as Egypt, and China, as well as drones to watch the masses. What did the new head of Gambia just say? "I will be in power for a thousand years"
I am not sure of the alternative to this process even in Africa.
To accept that political education as basic primary function, even one conducted covertly and underground, is without merit and not worth the effort is extremely dangerous in our opinion.
Tactics and strategies must be implemented that allow for organizers to politicize the masses. Movements driven underground still must communicate ideas. How will the conditions for revolutionary transformation take place if there is no commitment to agitate the masses and project a worldview that serves them.
Without the masses being educated and politicized about the nature of the struggle and the direction of the solution, little more than a coup d’état can happen in a situation where one group in power is displaced.
I would like to hear more on how success struggle can be had without a process of political education.
Post a Comment