May 25 -- African Liberation
Day
End the Exploitation of Africa's Human and Material Resources and Uphold the People's Right to Be
People of the Republic of the Congo, celebrate
independence, July 7, 1960 -- one of 17 states in Africa to gain
independence that year.
The peoples of Africa and of African descent have
a proud history of celebrating African Liberation Day. On this day they
mark the victories of their struggles against colonialism and for
independence. They pledge to strengthen their unity in the struggle
against all exploitation and for the complete liberation of the African
continent. Today, at a time the COVID-19 pandemic is raging, TML
Weekly condemns attempts of foreign powers to enslave Africa
anew and commit new acts of genocide against the African peoples under
the signboards of humanitarian aid and progress. It is important as
never before to oppose the Eurocentric portrayal of Africa, her
peoples, her history and their right to be and to condemn continued
acts of genocide.
African Liberation Day was born out of the
consciousness of the peoples of Africa that their liberation was their
own act and part of the world-wide struggle against imperialism and of
the united front of the working class and peoples to end the
exploitation of persons by persons. It was initiated at the first
Conference of Independent African States held in Accra, Ghana, on April
15, 1958, and attended by eight independent African heads of states.[1] That
day was declared "Africa Freedom Day" to mark the onward progress of
the liberation movement. In 1960, seventeen African states gained their
sovereignty marking it as the "Year of Africa". On May 25, 1963, the
Organization of African Unity (OAU) was founded in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, when more than 1,100 people representing 31 African states,
21 African liberation movements and hundreds of supporters and
observers were in attendance.[2] The OAU
proclaimed that May 25 would from then on be celebrated as "African
Liberation Day" to be observed annually and to carry forward the
aspirations of the peoples of Africa for freedom, sovereignty and a new
society.
African heads of state at founding of the Organization of African
Unity, May 25, 1963.
Today the African continent has 55 independent
countries. With the exception of French-ruled Djibouti, no outside
power directly holds sway over African territory. Despite this, the
interference in African affairs of the former colonial powers and other
big powers means that issues of African unity, independence and
self-determination pose themselves as sharply as ever.
African Liberation Day 2020 comes at a time when
the U.S. and British imperialists along with the former colonial powers
such as France and Belgium and other countries such as Canada which
intervenes to protect mining interests, are engaged in renewed attempts
to reverse the tide of history and ruthlessly exploit the African
continent for its vast human and material resources. It is an
unimaginable crime on the part of these powers that their legacy and
their present program of globalization have resulted in the African
peoples being so impoverished, wracked by divisions and internecine
conflict, while the resources on their territories are so bountiful.
Britain would like to erase the memory of its inhuman colonial period
when it took the lead in the slave trade and devastated whole peoples
and cultures in acts of genocide. Meanwhile the role of the United
States in the enslavement of Africans continues and demands for
reparations are ringing out.
The world has rejected many of the Anglo-American
and Eurocentric values and policies adopted in relation to attempts to
subjugate Africa with the utter contempt they deserve but it continues
to be the duty of the working class and people of Canada and the former
colonial powers to break with and smash the chauvinist illusions
promoted by the financial oligarchy and the monopolies that encourage
the workers to join with them in taking up the new "white man's
burden,” by presenting the mission to make the monopolies
successful in the global marketplace as being about “bringing
development” to Africans. By taking up this duty we
establish common cause with the peoples of Africa and the developing
world who are struggling to advance on their own course of development
and to secure and consolidate complete political and economic
independence and to secure a future world which is fit for all human
beings.
Hail African Liberation Day!
Notes
1. It
was attended by representatives of the governments of Ethiopia, Ghana,
Liberia, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, the United Arab Republic
(which was the federation of Egypt and Syria) and representatives of
the National Liberation Front of Algeria and the Union of Cameroonian
Peoples. This conference was significant in that it represented the
first Pan-African Conference held on African soil. It was also
significant in that it represented the collective expression of African
People's disgust with the system of colonialism and imperialism, which
brought so much suffering to African People. Further, it represented
the collective will to see the system of colonialism permanently done
away with. The Talking Drum states about this conference:
"After 500 years of the most brutal suffering
known to humanity, the rape of Africa and the subsequent slave trade,
which cost Africa in excess of 100,000,000 of her children, the masses
of African People singularly, separately, individually, in small
disconnected groupings for centuries had said, 'enough'! But in 1958,
at the Accra Conference, it was being said in ways that emphasized
joint, coordinated and unified action.
"This conference gave sharp clarity and definition
to Pan-Africanism, the total liberation and unification of Africa under
scientific socialism. The conference as well laid the foundation and
the strategy for the further intensification and coordination of the
next stage of the African Revolution, for the liberation of the rest of
Africa, and eventual and complete unification."
2. By
then more than two thirds of the continent had achieved independence
from colonial rule.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 19 - May 30, 2020
Article Link:
May 25 -- African Liberation
Day: End the Exploitation of Africa's Human and Material Resources and Uphold the People's Right to Be
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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