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Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2004 12:47 AM
Subject: [panafricanperspective] Ideology and Party Building key to African
Liberation


> There is much confusion in the contemporary global African
political-economic
> struggle.  Many of the supposed movers and shakers in the African world
are
> not wedded to the interest of our people, but in fact are dedicated to the
> exclusive satisfaction of their own selfish and shortsighted desires,
perceived
> needs, and aspirations.  These people are the main tools of imperialism in
its
> neocolonial phase.
>
> Of late there have been many personalities that purport to speak for the
> interest of Africa and Africans.  Among them we find people who seems more
the
> spokesperson for the American-Anglo bloc than of Africa -- such as the
role
> played by some in opposition to the Zimbabwe struggle for land
reclamation. There
> are others who use false claims of adherence to Pan-Africanism to disguise
> their military, subversive and general subservient role on behalf of
western
> imperialism in Africa, as is the case in the Great Lakes area and
elsewhere; and
> there are others, who, in the name of "African renaissance" and other
catch
> phrases and  cliches, eschew the role of land and the organized people,
that is
> deny the role of tangible capital and properly qualified human capital in
> development, in favor of the crumbs of the imperialist system. And of
course there
> is a veritable litany of such individuals in the diaspora, in the US, in
the UK
> in the Caribbean and elsewhere -- all the Colin Powells and Condi Rices of
> the world so to speak.  They are all opportunists, and they can only
succeed
> where there is confusion. They are those who are totally wedded to global
racism,
> i.e. global imperialism, they believe that whatever the ruling class,
which
> is essentially a class of the elites of one "race", the white race, is in
a
> sense the voice of God.
>
> Dr. Kwame Nkrumah wrote in Consciencism,
> "Neo-colonialism is a greater danger to independent countries than is
> colonialism.  Colonialism is crude, essentially overt,  and apt to be
overcome by a
> purposeful concert of national effort. In neo-colonialism, however, the
people
> are divided from their leaders and, instead of providing true leadership
and
> guidance which is informed at every point by the ideal of the general
welfare,
> leaders come to neglect the very people who put them in power and
incautiously
> become instruments of suppression on behalf of the neo-colonialists."
>
> "It is far easier for the proverbial camel to pass through the needle's
eye,
> hump and all, than for an erstwhile colonial administration to give sound
and
> honest counsel of a political nature to its liberated territory.  To allow
a
> foreign country, especially one which is loaded with economic interests in
our
> continent, to tell us what political decisions to take, what political
courses
> to follow, is indeed for us to hand back our independence to the oppressor
> silver platter."
>
> This is a vital lesson that many of our people, particularly many of those
> who are ostensibly our leaders, have not internalized.
>
> Then there are those well meaning individuals who believe that
Pan-Africanism
> can be achieved through peaceful mediums. This is not possible since, the
> opponents of Pan-Africanism have no problem with the use of violence in
varied
> forms to prevent its emergence on the world stage.
>
> And there are still others who believe that a, indeed in some cases they
> believe THE,  fundamental aspect of Pan-Africanism is a belief in an
all-powerful
> deity (God(s) and/or Goddess(es))
>
> This kind of thinking is at heart idealism; and best remedied by the
approach
> of the PDG, which understood that as God and religion are "good" forces
and
> the  organized people in a mass party and organizations and Revolution are
> "good" forces, the two are aspects of the same phenomena.  This approach
is in
> accord with the view of Nkrumah that held:
>
> "Insistence on the secular nature of the state is not to be interpreted as
a
> political declaration of war on religion, for religion is also a social
fact,
> and must be understood before it can be tackled.  To declare a political
war
> on religion is to treat it as an ideal phenomenon, to suppose that it
might be
> wished away, or at the worst scared out of existence."
>
>
> Our late brother Kwame Ture frequently admonished us that "confusion was
the
> enemy of revolution."
>
> Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin made a similar obvservation
about
> opportunism and opportunists:
>
> "At present not a single Russian Social-Democrat can have any doubts that
the
> final rupture between the revolutionary and the opportunist tendencies was
> caused, not by any `organisational' circumstances, but by the desire of
the
> opportunists to consolidate the independent features of opportunism and to
> continue to cause confusion of mind by the disquisitions of the
Krichevskys and
> Martynovs." pp. 184-5 V I Lenin "What Is To Be Done"
>
> The elements who are consciously opposed to Pan-Africanism, are
deliberately
> spreading confusion of various types in the hope of retarding the
political
> -economic liberation of African people.
>
> Clearly our main goal is to clear away the confusion so that we can move
> forward.  We must separate those who are consciously agents of
imperialism, from
> those who make errors, mistakes of judgements, and have lapses of faulty
> analysis. To do this we have to be clear ideologically Again Nkrumah's
Consciencism
> provides us with key insights:
>
> "Just as a morality guides and seeks to connect the actions of millions of
> persons, so an ideology aims at uniting the actions of millions towards
specific
> and definite goals, notwithstanding that an ideology can be largely
implicit.
>  I am aware that in this usage I depart somewhat from the fashionable one.
> It is often thought that an ideology has to be a body of writing of one
> individual, or a small group of individuals, directed only at fundamental
change in a
> society.  This is an evident mistake.  An ideology, even when it is
> revolutionary, does not merely express the wish that a present social
order should be
> abolished.  It seeks also to defend and maintain the new social order
which it
> introduces.  But while it is defending its own social order, it is still
an
> ideology, and the same.  That is to say, an ideology can remain an
ideology
> while defending an existing progressive society.  Nor can the fact that
some
> particular ideology is not explicit on paper prevent it from being one.
What is
> crucial is not the paper, but the thought."
>
> "I have said an ideology seeks to bring a specific order into the total
life
> of its society.  To achieve this, it needs to employ a number of
instruments.
> The ideology of a society displays itself in political theory, social
theory
> and moral theory, and uses these as instruments.  It establishes a
particular
> range of political, social and moral behaviour, such that unless behavior
of
> this sort fell within the established range, it would be incompatible with
the
> ideology.  What I mean may also be expressed in the following terms.
Given
> the ideology of a society, then some political behavior would be
incompatible
> with it and some other political behavior would be compatible with it.
Given a
> socialist ideology, for example, the political dictatorship of capital
would
> be incompatible with it.  There is always a definite range within which
> social-political theory and practice must fall if they are to conform to a
socialist
> ideology.  Thus ideology displays itself in moral theory and practice..."
>
> "The ideology of a society is total.  It embraces the whole life of a
people,
> and manifests itself in their class-structure, history, literature, art,
> religion.  It also acquires a philosophical statement. if an ideology is
> integrative in intent, that is to say, if it seeks to introduce a certain
order which
> will unite the actions of millions towards specific and definite goals,
then
> its instruments can also be seen as instruments of social control.  It is
even
> possible to look upon 'coercion' as a fundamental idea in society..."
> ....
>
> "In order that true independence should be won, it is necessary that
positive
> action should come to overwhelm negative action.  Admittedly, a semblance
of
> true independence is possible without this specific relation.  When this
> happens, we say that neo-colonialism has set in, for neocolonialism is a
guise
> adopted by negative action in order to give the impression that it has
been
> overcome by positive action.  Neo-colonialism is negative action playing
possum."
>
> "In order to forestall this, it is necessary for positive action to be
backed
> by a mass party, and qualitatively to improve this mass so that by
education
> and an increase in its degree of consciousness, its aptitude for positive
> action becomes heightened We can therefore say that in a colonial
territory,
> positive action must be backed by a mass party, complete with its
instruments of
> education This was why the Convention People's Party of Ghana developed
from an
> early stage its education wing, workers' wing, farmers' wing, youth wing,
> women's wing, etc.  In this way, the people received constant political
education,
> their self-awareness was increased and such a self-image was formed as
> ruthlessly excluded colonialism in all its guises.  It is also in the
backing of
> million of members and supporters, united by a common radical purpose,
that the
> revolutionary character of the Convention People's Party consists, and not
> merely in the piquancy of its programs. Its mass and national support made
it
> possible to think in realistic terms of instituting changes of a
fundamental
> nature in the social hotch potch bequeathed by colonialism."
>
> The successes of the CPP, and the PDG, although eventually overwhelmed by
the
> immense negative forces aligned against them, still remain the best model
for
> all liberation.
>
> Their model must be taken to the global stage, and given a world-wide,
> all-inclusive framework, because the nature of the problems confronting us
are
> global and all-pervasive.  Hence, the mass party we need is a mass party
comprised
> of all the individual African mass parties who oppose the recolonization /
> continuing colonization of Africa.
>
>
>
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