Make It Plain: Understanding the Historical Task In Front Of Us

The Completion of the Rebuilding The Pan-African Liberation Movement/Revolution And Understanding The Effects Of COINTELPRO On Our Movement

By Abdul Jabbar Caliph

“Specific steps should be taken to inhibit coordinated activity of the Black movement in the U.S. …Bing into effect a special program designed to perpetuate division in the Black movement to neutralize the most active groups.” (U.S. National Security Council Interdepartmental Group for Africa, National Security Memorandum No.46 [NSC-46]” 1973 Carter Administration 

Uhuru Comrades

I greet you with the Kiswahili word meaning freedom, the most important word in the vocabulary of a Pan-African Revolutionary and the number one priority in the minds of any real Pan-African solider! Currently we are faced with the incredible task of rebuilding a movement that was crushed during the mid-seventies by a ruthless anti-African counterinsurgency program. 

It is because of this defeat that today we find our movement in such a dire state of weakness, a weakness that has kept the people in servitude to the colonialist-capitalist structure that exist in the United States. Meanwhile, the rest of our people are forced in a live of political oppression and economical exploitation throughout the Diasporas by an internationalist monster known as imperialism because of the natural resources that exist in Mother Africa. Those resources being the human labor that we supply and the natural resources that are unearthed daily. 

In order to overcome this crisis we must examine the tactics that were used to halt the Pan-African Liberation Movement (PALM) of the 60’s and 70’s. The counterintelligence program of that decade, better known as the COINTELPRO was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had five stated goals and objects that had a global impact on our movement while it was in its infancy. Those stated goal and objectives were as follows:

1. The prevention of the coalition of any black militant nationalist organization, for in unity there is strength. They realized that this might be the first step towards a real “Mau Mau” in America, the beginning of a true black revolution; 
2. The prevention of the development and raise of a “Messiah” figure that could have the ability and the desire to direct a unified black militant nationalist movement
3. The prevention of violence on the part of black militant nationalist organization, this was of primary importance to this program. The identification and neutralization of any potential troublemaker to the internal security of this nation and its oversea interest
4. The prevention of any black militant nationalist organization from gaining any type of respectability
5. The prevention long-range growth of black militant organizations, especially among the youth.

It is because of this counterinsurgency program that we have lost many of our noble son and daughters of Africa due to political assassinations, imprisonment, forced exile and political slander conducted by this government. This program has not only affected us physically but it has damaged us psychologically. Many of our comrades are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder due to the affects of being under the constant threat of death in war time situation, low-intensity-conflict.

Comrades what we need to understand is that no domestic counterinsurgency program can be successful without it’s international counterpart. The Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, National Ssecurity Aagency, and all the other US spook organizations, have made it a habit to practice the domestic repression campaigns overseas. While many of us recognize the counterinsurgency program COINTELPRO many of us are unaware of the counterinsurgency program established by the CIA in the United States of America to destroy the domestic part of the Pan-African Liberation Movement.

Three such programs have been identified as being launched by the CIA domestically to help crush the movement. The United States Senate reveled this information after they conducted an investigation into the illegal activities of the CIA during the late 1960s and the early 1970s. The first counterinsurgency program was identified as Project CHAOS which involved illegal tampering with mail by the agency of those organizations identified as security threats on its “watch list”. The next program to be identified was named Project RESISTANCE which illegally gathered and compiled counterintelligence information on a number of alleged radical organizations. The last program to be identified during this period was called Project MERRIMAC which illegally operated in this country from the years of 1967 to 1973. Its primary mission was to conducted anti-black operations of infiltration of various Black political organizations.

During the 60’s many of us were already aware of the CIA involvement in Africa to a certain extent. They were responsible for the death of Patrice Lumumba and overthrowing Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana through the use of the military, through the use of coups d’état. They attempted to assassinated Castro of Cuba over 100 times, only to fail. We know that they followed Malcolm X while he was overseas and are even believed to have tried to assassinate him. Who can forget the assassination of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark here in the United States? Yes, this is the type of stuff that the United States government does to those who wish to free their people from political oppression and economical exploitation and establish justice under a socialist government that will truly offer real change.  Hell, in 1969 we witnessed the death of 28 panthers and the arreste and imprisonment 749 people who were activists.

"The nationalist liberation movement in Black Africa can act as a catalyst with far-reaching effects on the American Black community…(D)ue weight must be given to the fact there are 25 million American Blacks whose roots are African and who consciously or subconsciously sympathize with African nationalism.”    (U.S. National Security Council Interdepartmental Groups for Africa, National Security Memorandum No.46 [NSC-46])."                                          

The international implications of this counterinsurgency programs on the movement is not really understood nor is it discussed among us. We have to realize that every since 1963 the FBI has been requesting CIA intervention in the illegal investigation of Americans abroad. It was through these procedures that the FBI secured the assistances of the CIA in conducting illegal investigations of black militant leaders and antiwar activists who went overseas.  The United States Government is no fool, they recognized the fact that Pan-African Liberation Movement in Africa could act as a catalyst with far- reaching effects on Black people here in America. 

"With Africa now a crucible of great-power maneuver, we cannot afford to have our Africa policies hostage to the bitter memories still cherished by those who struggled for racial equality in America. We cannot let Africa become a stage on which America act out their psychic traumas. (Richard M. Nixon, The Real War, p.9)"

It is not widely known to the public that all law enforcement agencies, which are considered paramilitary organizations, receive some sort of counterinsurgency or counterintelligence training. This training is often masked as gang identification training. Those that are unfortunately labeled as such are identified under the label as “security threat groups” or “person of interest” and or often placed in photo binder with a photo of the individual(s) along with important information. Organizations such as Homeland Security, FEMA and other private agencies such as MARGIN and MACGLOCEEN often are given federal grant money to conduct such training programs. The majority of public gun ranges even conducted such training as well as the military with joint law enforcement agency.

Sister Comrade Assata Shakur was not wrong when she stated the fact that she believed that this program still existed just in another form. It doesn’t matter if you call it Safe Streets, Officer Friendly, McGruff the Dog, Weed and Seed, a War on Crime/Gangs or call it a War on Drugs they all are counterinsurgency programs designed to cripple the movement for the liberation of African People. Today we see the emergence of another counterinsurgency program designed to further oppress the people called the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which allows you to be illegally arrested and detained without questioning or due process of law, as if due process every really existed for  Black people. Under this act you can housed in a secret prison without anyone knowing for an undisclosed amount of time and be charged as a terrorist for what every crime the government see fit to charge you with: even for speaking out against this government.

It is because of this counterinsurgency program that we see the massive incarnation of the African working class today in the penal system of this country. Comrade Mumia Abu Jamal, a political prisoner points out the following in his article “From the Realm of the Dead” about the drastic effects of the COINTELPRO:

“The 1970’s marked a pivotal phase in U.S. history, as a time of the emergence of the Black Liberation Movement via militant groups like the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), The Republic of New Africa (RNA), and The Black Panther Party (BPP). The striking emergence, the author argues, gave rise to the often startling disparity reflected in statistics which show, in 1990 rates, how whites, roughly 90% of the U.S. population, can become a minority percentage (46%) of those admitted to state prisons, and how blacks (to be precise, black men), roughly 12% of the U.S. population, can balloon upwards to a majority percentage (53.2%) of state prison admissions.”

State Repression is an everyday occurrence if you’re Black and a member of the African working class. It doesn’t matter if you are born in the United States, Africa or any part of the African Diaspora. Under the current global political administration, you have everything to lose including your life. If you’re down for the freedom and liberation of African people then you are at war with Imperialism and it Neo-colonialist, boot-licking henchmen

What do you think AFRICOM is doing in Africa? They are running another counterinsurgency program under the disguise of an aid for humanity program which is designed to destabilize African countries. No matter how much aid they offer we must never let our guards down. AFRICOM is there for one reason and that is control of the resources in Africa! If that means the death and destruction of Africa as we know it, then so be it, they are prepared to do what they deem needs to be done in order to maintain their control over Africa. The questions for us is: are we prepared to do what it takes to win the freedom and independence of Africa? 

Comrades I leave you with the following quote from the late Fred Hampton of the BPP, brutaly murdered by the State of Chicago on December 4, 1968: 

“You can kill the revolutionary, but you can’t kill the revolution. You can jail the liberator, but you can’t jail the liberation. You can run the freedom fighter all around the country, but you can’t stop freedom fighting.”

 

References:

1.       “Black Prison Movements” NOBO, 1995

2.       “Racial Matters” Free Press,1989

3.       “An Unlikely Warrior” By Iyaluua & Herman Furguson ,2011

4.       “Lockdown America” By Christian Parenti ,1999

5.       “The Plot to Destroy” By Ahamadiel Ben Yehuda

6.       “Agents of Repression” By Ward Churchill & Jay Vander Wall, 1998

7.       “Fugitive Thought” By Michael Hames-Garcia, 2004 

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The Only Solution to the Congo’s Crisis is a Unified Socialist Africa

By Kilaika Anayejali kwa Baruti

The Congo has been kissed by Mother Africa herself.  The Congo is her heartbeat, being the very center of all her existence, located in Central Africa and surrounded by nine other countries.  The land of the Congo is rich and plentiful just like the rest of her.  It is full of vast resources and the most beautifully skilled people that she birthed to care for the land, which is a natural law that they possess.  It is even more so natural that they should benefit from her by giving her continuous life and shall forever bask in all her glory.  However, this has unfortunately not been the case.  As beautiful and harmonious it could all be, it is not, although everything is as plentiful now as it has always been for centuries.  It is because over centuries as in other countries in Africa the land and the people have been exploited.  This must end.

The Congo is a land that is rich with resources such as; petroleum, potash, lead, zinc, copper, phosphates, gold, magnesium, cobalt, industrial diamonds, gem diamonds, coal, silver, timber, uranium, natural gas, and hydropower.  The main minerals that the Congo are also rich in that are commonly being mined today are cassiterite, coltan, gold, and tungsten ore also known as wolframite.  These are her minerals.  This is her blood.  Let us not forget the rubber which has mounds of exploitive stories to tell.  The Congo is also known for its production of things we love such as coffee, cocoa, tea, and sugar.  If ever a place was blessed or to be called an Eden we could call it the Congo.

Colonization had been the monster that plagued Mother Africa and the Congo specifically.  Indeed, I say, yes it still does till this day. The Congo’s first encounter with this parasitic beast came in the form of “Explorers” as they would call themselves.  They bore the face of the Portuguese in 1482.  They had an increasingly stronghold on the Congolese people.  Using Christianity as one of the biggest methods they managed to keep this grip.  Once they baptized King Nzinga Nkuwu on May 3, 1491, it was pretty much a wrap and later his son King Alfonso I.  The way of the colonizer is to destroy your way of life and give you what you think is his, which he will prove is more beneficial than your primitive ways.  It is this way that the people are manipulated.  Getting the people to believe what you want them to believe creates a place of submission.  This tactic has proven to be very affective.  Three centuries later these Portuguese “Explorers” ran up on Brazil in what they called, “discovery” and begin to transport over 300,000 slaves to Brazil from the Congo.  The Portuguese were extremely happy with the rights they possessed as time went by over their mining rights that they established in the Congo.  My, what wealth they weaved.  Things however started to turn the corner when the first revolt took place spear-headed by a Congolese woman by the name of Kimpa Vita.  Under the leadership of this bold African woman the Congolese people refused to give the Portuguese more mining rights and it resulted in the Battle of Mbwila.  Over 20,000 Congolese fought this war with the Portuguese, but for them it was a loss battle.  At the same time the Dutch were moving in which created dismay for the Portuguese.  The Dutch wanted their bite out of the Congo as well.  The Congolese more so took sides with the Dutch to help aid them in their struggle against the Portuguese and so they did gain their independence.  Even though Kimpa was revered as nobility by her people and victory was declared, she was later seized by her enemies and condemned for being a witch although she was baptized in the name of Christianity bearing the name Dona Beatrice.  Just the idea that she had the ambition to wage battle against her oppressor was a sentence to burn. 

Amid the quest of Europe’s need for power, which had them warring with each other, the Congo and its resources continued to suffer.  As a result of the Berlin Conference the French prevailed as the victors gaining control of Congo’s raw materials and at the time the highest commodity was rubber, palm oil, and cotton.  This fight between the French, Belgian, and the Portuguese led to the French gaining control of the Northern sector of the Congo while King Leopold II privately owned the area that is now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo.    The now one man show that featured King Leopold resulted in the most horrific atrocities known to mankind against mankind.  So many men, women, and children suffered unimaginable torture, again in the name of Christianity.  King Leopold’s greed for wealth somehow justified inhumane treatment to people often referred to as savages, the Congolese people.  Belgian soldiers without any moral consciousness hunted people and were known for cutting off limbs such as hands and feet collecting them.  This is just a small example of the wide scale torture the people suffered at the hand of Leopold.  He was criticized by his equally vicious peers around the world for these atrocities.  They labeled him a monster.  In King Leopold’s rubber collecting expedition he managed to create a death toll of ten million people.  The land he controlled was annexed to the British Parliament on Nov 15, 1908.  Not really changing the situation for the Congolese people.  It was merely an exchange of European power which continued to rule over them.  The Germans also had their hands in on the exploitation of the Congo with the introduction of the French granting them, through trade agreements, the laying of the German railway and it resulted in the death of over 23, 000 more Congolese.  These lives loss was a direct relation to forced labor.  Forced labor was abolished in 1946 because of the pressure that the U.S. was putting on the French about its colonial policies.  The world was taking notice, not because they cared about the lives of the people, but again because they wanted a piece of the pie.  This is a reflection of World War II.

Riots broke out in a place called Leopoldville and Stanleyville resulting in Congo’s independence.  The struggle for independence named Patrice Lumumba as it prime Minister.  Patrice Lumumba a great African, a revolutionary, and a freedom fighter waged tireless struggle for liberation.  He echoed the fact that History will one day have its say, but it will not be the history that Brussels, Paris, Washington or the United Nations will teach, but that which they will teach in the countries emancipated from colonialism and its puppets. Africa will write its own history, and it will be, to the north and to the south of the Sahara, a history of glory and dignity. Because of it he suffered tremendously.  He suffered unjustly, just as Kimpa did.  Lumumba pushed very intensely for all foreign powers to be removed from the Congo.  He was aided in his quest for liberation with arms and weaponry from the USSR.  Many were not happy with this.  The C.I.A. infiltrated and aided in the overthrowing of the government and the unlawful arrest of Prime Minister Lumumba along with making sure he was tortured severely.  He was dismissed from office on September 5, 1960.  He was viciously murdered in January of 1961.  Those that continued the war cry of Lumumba fought continuously in rebellion. 

One known rebellion was the Simba Rebellion, which gained control of at least half the country, but Belgian troops were sent in to destroy the rebellion.  After five years of unrest Mobutu declared his self president in 1965 and was elected president officially in 1970.  Between the times of Congo’s independence up until now there have been so many episodes of corruption and scandals that have taken place in the name of democracy.  Yet we know and what we must continue to confront is the fact that we know it is indeed a struggle of conflict minerals and diamonds that create these neo-colonialist leaders that sacrifice the lives and livelihood of the people to satisfy their own thirst for wealth by aiding the foreign powers who seek to continue to monopolize off of the resources and will never care about the lives of the people of the land. 

There now is continuous struggle and unrest today in the Congo over the production of minerals such as coltan, gold, and ore.  These natural resources are those that are used in technological products across the world.  Products such as cell phones, laptops, computers, and phones are somehow more important than human existence.  The everyday products that come a dime a dozen and that are so readily available to be gobbled up at every moment by billions of consumers across the globe that are oblivious to the realities that goes into making these very products or that simply choose to ignore the fact because consumerism is far more important than humanism. 

In short there are military forces in the Congo, militias in the Congo, and leaders that know this market has an immeasurable dollar amount on it, as foreign interest want, need, and have to suck these raw materials up.  The only people that are paying the price are the people that suffer tremendously and yet reap no rewards at all.  They only die.  The only thing the people of the Congo see is death from this reality.  In a recent supposedly Democratic election Joseph Kabila was declared President.  Civil war has broken out in a country that that says the elections were stolen.  They say the election was unjust.    Tshisekedi’s stance echoes that the results were unjust and attempted to declare his self president.

 I must mention that this is a man that aided in the overthrowing, imprisonment, and torture of Lumumba.  The Carter Election Monitoring Center issued that the results were mismanaged as well.  As a result of it all people have taken to the streets in protest throughout the world and in the Congo.  Men and women have been abducted from their homes and manhandled.  I can safely say that this, as any many cases, has proven to be a question of power play.  I can say that I firmly believe that neither party holds the interest of the people at bay.  I can safely say that the abuse of power is clear and evident in the way that the military and the militias treat the people.  It is also clear that the people of the Congo have never reaped the benefits of these resources and that the President elects don’t have any interest to make sure that they do in the future.

It is my hope, and it is my hope because I know that it is the only solution, that African people throughout the world stand up collectively against Capitalism and Imperialism.  It is this driving component, these outside corporations and industries that are the catalyst for the chaos.  It is they who bid the highest bid for the resources and by this they lay the framework of exploitation.  When the people denounce Capitalism and Imperialism as one voice, African people, they can begin to collectively organize themselves to say, “Hey we will control our own resources.  We will not sale and exploit each other for a dollar.  We will collective fight against you if you try and take our resources.  We will not allow you to continue to do this to us and our children that come after us.”  African people must get organize and come to control the means of production and reap the benefits of the labor.  The crisis in the Congo is one that African people throughout the world must be concerned with. 

It is our responsibility to ensure that our brothers and sisters know that we stand in solidarity with them.  Yet we must organize the battle.  We must organize the masses to aid us in this struggle.  We must consistently expose the plight of our enemies and show the people how our enemies hold no love for us.  We must continue to expose these Neo-colonialist puppets that run for presidents and call filling their pockets democracy.  We must show the people that we will at all time safeguard Mother Africa.  She is our breath and we must make sure that she is breathing properly.  The only solution is a Unified Socialist Africa, an Africa that serves the interest of her people.  We call on you brothers and sisters to create the reality of Pan-African Internationalism, for it is the way to organize the Proletariat (working class) to total liberation!  UHURU DAIMA!

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AFRICOM, the 4-G Upgrade

by Chioma Oruh on Wednesday, March 30, 2011

In May 2009, President Muammar Gadaffi met with General William “Kip” Ward, former commander of the USAFRICOM to express his support of the “new America”.  Ironically, 2009 was also the same year that Gadaffi decided to nationalize more oil fields than previously under state control in the past. Admittedly, despite his socialist rhetoric Gadaffi remains a complex neocolonial political force that has made many selfish, opportunist and controversial moves while all the time retaining his position as ruler of Libya. Perhaps his over confidence as state ruler for life led him to make the miscalculations made in relationship to US military presence in Africa. Or could he really have sipped on the same kool aid that suggests Obama’s America is somehow a different flavor from any other presidency in US imperialist history? Whatever the case maybe, Gadaffi’s struggles are the gateway drug for many more foreign military exercises to come in Africa.

Imperial Military in Realtime

In the midst of the UN resolutions 1970 and 1973 that sanctioned a no fly zone and gave permissions for NATO sponsored air strikes, Gadaffi has woken to a sobering hangover that this “new America” is no different than the old one.  The question remains, when will the rest of the African world awake to the upgraded version of militarism of white power in black face? Just hours after President Barack Obama (also fondly known as the white house-negro) announced at the National Defense University his plans to order warships into the Mediterranean for “humanitarian reasons” did the US make a move. On the morning of March 29th, a U.S. Navy P-3C Maritime Patrol aircraft, a U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt attack aircraft and guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG-52) engaged with the Libyan Coast Guard vessel Vittoria and two smaller crafts in a military altercation. This is the first big military move after 100+ missiles launched on Libya on March 19th.  Even as Obama made promises to the television audience that he would not commit any ground troops, the A-10 Thunderbolt that just attacked Libya is well known to be an aircraft specifically designed for ground troop support.  Such military moves make the arrival of US troops an inevitable move and war its only mission.

Obama also noted that the military attack of Libya is done in “coalition” efforts led by NATO and endorsed by the Arab league.  Forget that the weak opposition of the African Union hasn’t got much press, what’s most ironic is that Obama didn’t even bat an eye as he made the same illegitimate case for war that George Bush did in 2003 at the dawn of the Iraq War.  Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya is looking a lot like Operation Iraqi Freedom. It is also important to note that the US contributes the most military weaponry and manpower to NATO, and so whether it’s the war in Iraq or Afghanistan or Libya, NATO is code word for US military command efforts.  In the case of Libya, AFRICOM is already being mentioned with curiosity as militarists at the Pentagon are salivating at the opportunity to give their four-year efforts a test-run.

AFRICOM: the Centerfold of the US Command Plan

The current political climate in North Africa is truly the perfect storm for AFRICOM to flex its muscles and sharpen its mission to “ conduct sustained security engagement through military-to-military program, military-sponsored activities and other military operations” in Africa.   Born as the brainchild project of Donald Rumsfeld as he stood on his last political leg during the Fallujah scandal in 2006, former President George Bush brought AFRICOM to public attention in a February 2007 press statement announcing this new and humanitarian version of a military command program. It spent its first year as a concept with a $50 million budget focused on public relations.  Four years later, not only does AFRICOM’s have a budget increase of $302 million, but it has its headquarter in Stuggart, Germany, sub-stations at US Embassies throughout Africa and many active programs on the ground.  One of its prominent programs is called “Hub” training as part of the African Partnership Station (APS). “Hub” has trained soldiers and police from Djibouti, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique and Tanzania by US naval forces.  APS focuses on maritime law and concentrates its focus on border nations that allows for US military forces an excuse to remain involved in all strategic trade posts at all times.

AFRICOM, unlike its counterpart in the Middle East and parts of Asia known as CENTCOM, is young and fresh without the historic baggage of dethroning the Shah in the 1950s, fighting Israel’s war for her in the 1960s, getting kicked out of Afghanistan in the 1970s, making a mess in Iran in the 1980s, being exposed as a gluttonous oil-monger in Kuwait in the 1990s and completely going war-crazy with the dual assaults on Iraq and Afghanistan in the first decade of the 21st century.  AFRICOM is part and parcel of a neocolonial makeover plan to give imperialism a new strategy with new leadership and new methods of forwarding an age-old imperial agenda to carry a big stick with a flashing smile.

Gadaffi is an easy mark to make a moral argument for “humanitarian intervention” as his own contradictions as an illegitimate political patriarch allow for imperial exploitation.  As traumatizing as it is to hear of over 100 missiles dropping on the Libyan people or the Djibouti sub-station (along with the US embassies in Tunisian and Egypt) being used as a launch pad for future military aggression, the worst of military aggression is yet to come.

The Future of US Militarism, AFRICOM in 4-G

Retired AFRICOM commander, Kip Ward, is currently on a speaking tour to continue to assist with the public relations of AFRICOM as he has passed the baton to General Carter F. Ham. Unlike Ward and many other generals, Ham has extensive combat experience to go along with his officer training. In sum, he is a strategist and has been called the “go-to guy” for Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Why the upgrade? It’s simple. The US is going to war on Africa and will execute an aggressive campaign to intervene in the plethora of unstable states in the region.  It is safe to say that the training wheels are off and AFRICOM as a military machine is fully operational.

It is estimated the US Defense budget will reach $1 Trillion in 2012 and because AFRICOM’s budget is sure to increase significantly as war necessitates more weapons, infantry support, intelligence operations and administrative staff salaries.  The AFRICOM website alludes to a substantial increase in funding and credits this potential inflated budget to a re-shuffling of monies given to the DoD as part of a $150 Billion “reinvestment for efficiency savings”.  When the real numbers are announced, jaws are most certain to drop.  Yet, any surprised responses on the US stepping up its military aggression on Africa are unfounded. The motivation for sustained military presence in Africa are too many to list, yet, it is important to outline some key places that will be met with greater force in the next few years.

Coastline countries will be of increasing interest for maritime operations. Countries that border places like the Gulf of Guinea (Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria), the Gulf of Aden (Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia) and Africa’s borders on the western Indian Ocean (Kenya, Madagascar, South Africa).  Of course Libya, which borders the Mediterranean, is significant and is the christening border location for these increased military strategies. In addition to the oil-resource that border countries offer, they also are strategic trade posts (with the War on Drugs as the perfect excuse to create stations as AFRICOM has already launched the APS training programs).  Each of the countries listed as border countries are sure to make headlines in the next coming months as unstable and creating the necessary political climate for more US “humanitarian intervention”.  Cote d’Ivoire will soon erupt in a civil war, upcoming Nigerian elections is sure to irritate the militants of the Niger Delta, Somalia remains unstable, Ethiopia-Eritrean border tensions are sure to result in conflict in the region, Kenyan and Ghana drug trade will allow for foreign intervention, oppositional forces in Madagascar will make more aggressive moves against the newly elected government and South Africa’s President Zuma will eat his words for speaking out against the US attack on Libya.  Of course, there are also countries of the Great Lakes, with particular focus on the DRC, which are of high interest to the US imperial agenda due to resource wealth. Political instability in the region also gives way to increased military aggression.

All the while, AFRICOM will continue to make headway and state-sovereignty in every African country (both on the coast and in the mainland) will continue to deteriorate. Of course, this story has a potential plot twist with the birth of a new African liberation movement looking to unify and define itself. Obama is living out the main reason he was allowed the seat of presidency of a historically unapologetic white supremacist nation-state project of Manifest Destiny. The dual dose of a reality check that both AFRICOM and Obama offer is filled with the promise to rejuvenate a defeated liberation movement waiting in the periphery to make real revolution for Africa. And for this reason (and many more) luta continua!

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Make It Plain: The Death of Muammar Gaddafi - What significant is there to the Pan-African Liberation Movement?

The Death of Muammar Gaddafi - What significant is there to the Pan-African Liberation Movement?

By Abdul Jabbar Caliph, Chief Editor

On October 20, 2011 Muammar Gaddafi was brutally murdered by pro-capitalist insurgent members in an effort to usher in new era oppression; exploitation; rape and pillage within the colonialist boarders of Libya for African people! This is a fact that we in the Pan-African International community full understand, for we are aware of the implications of the murder of Gaddafi and what it means to the African Liberation Movement and it forces! As Revolutionary soldiers of the movement we understand that it is our task to help you to understand what this means to the movement!

Libya is a country that approximately made up of 679,362 sq. miles. It is located in the northern part of Africa that is heavily populated by Arab speaking people. Its economy is heavily depending upon the production of petroleum (oil) and petroleum based goods which only employs a small percentage of it people. Libya also products a small amount of gypsum, iron ore, lime, and natural gas along with sulfur. The rest of this country economy is based on service industries, construction and agriculture goods. Currently Africa is responsible for 25% of the world’s oil export.   

Into his death Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi had been the head of state since September 1969, 42 years, due to a successful revolution that overthrew the King and allowed the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) to seize and consolidate its power base. Immediately upon becoming the head of State he begin to preach an ideology, Pan-Arabism, that was detrimental to Africa and her people in an effort  to gain unity among various Arab States. They out rightly reject any type of unity with him regardless of the fact that he was an Arab and a Muslim. 

Throughout the Seventies and Eighties Gaddafi begin supporting a number of liberation movements throughout the world, particularly the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Chad, Morocco, Uganda and Western Sahara region of Africa. This had led to many so called leaders publically coming out against him. Because of his stance against the imperialist aggression shown towards people of color he had a fall out in 1986 with the United States of America, this result in breaking off all relationships with Libya and accused Libya of supporting international terrorism.  

This resulted in a bitter war between these two nations. In March of 1986, the government of Libya opened fire on US military aircraft over the Gulf of Sidra, a clear violation of Libya’s airspace. This resulted in the United States launching a vicious bombing campaign against Libya. The second part of this war erupted in 1989 when two United States of America military aircraft shot down two Libyan military aircraft flying over the Mediterranean Sea.

Because of this bitter antagonism between these two nations and a drop in Libya oil price Gaddafi was forced to improve relationships with other nations and establish a more promenade role inside of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) now called the African Unity (AU). A group of weak, spineless neo-colonialist bootlicking Negros, they don’t even deserve to be called Africans. Gaddafi sought leadership inside of this organization by daring to offer them the chance for serious change in the affairs of Africa.

The death of Gaddafi exposed some serious weakness and contradictions in the African Liberation Movement and in the socialist movement as it exist under its’ current backward leadership. First, no African country or socialist country came to the aid of Gaddafi, instead they stood by and watched his cold bloody murder and that of thousands of Africans living and working inside of Libya. Second, the African Union never ones opposed the bombing of Libya (only in lip service) and the removal of Gaddafi if they did they would have never recognized the current regime as representatives of Libya, some people will do anything for money. Third, the death of Gaddafi ushered in a new era of capitalism and neo-colonialism that is a planned attack against the masses of African people not only in Libya but also throughout Africa itself. Finally, the plans of imperialist conquest have been espoused for all to see through the use of AFRICOM, an imperialist counter-revolutionary army that is involved in military campaigns in Southern Sudan; Somalia; the Congo and Uganda for the control of the natural resources in these countries.  

As a Pan-African Internationalist is my duty to point out to you that Neo-colonialism poses a serious threat to the security Africa for it defines its relationship through its ties to Imperialism. It is this relationship that is responsible for the current backwards development inside of many African nations.  Neo-colonialism is responsible for the continued rape and pillage of the natural resources of Africa and the oppression and exploitation of many Africans because of the lack of development of an infrastructure that will support the positive development of any Pan-African institution that will push forth the liberation and freedom of African people. 

Comrades let us remember the words of Kwame Nkrumah when he pointed out the following facts about neo-colonialism “Neo-colonialism is the worst form of imperialism. For those who practice it, it means power without responsibility, and for those who suffer from it, it means exploitation without redress.” Neo-colonialism must be crushed and overthrown for it is just a cancer and must be surgical removed.  

 Before his untimely death Gaddafi purposed such revolutionary changes as a central African Monterey Banking system that would have freed African people of the parasitic relationship that currently exist between Africa and the International Monterey Fund (IMF) which charges Africa an enormous price for development loans of the resources that she already owns and of which the global economy is based upon and the formation of a United States of Africa as purposed by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah a revolutionary giant that fought for the freedom and unification of Africa. 

 

Comrades if Africa is to truly know any freedom and independence then she must complete the revolutionary phase of the sixties. She must begin so by demanding the immediate removal of AFRICOM from the shores of Africa because of her imperialist wars of aggression, along with the demand for the immediate dismissal of the neo-colonialist agency known as the OAU/AU for its ineffectiveness and betrayal of the revolutionary principals put forth by the African working class. Immediately after issuing these two demands we must begin the immediate mobilization for the establishment of the Republic of Africa under the leadership of the African working class this would allow for the removal of the artificial colonialist boarders that currently exist in Africa today. 

Comrades let us be about the work, the work of gaining genuine independences and freedom for all African people particularly the African working class who are suffering the most. Let us be about the work of making revolution; progress and establishing a Republic of Africa under the leadership of the African working class, the only class that loves Africa and is fit for leadership! It is this class that will led Africa and her people into a new glorious future ending the parasitic relationship that has currently existed for over five hundred years. 

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