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From:
madi jobarteh <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
The Gambia and related-issues mailing list <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 15 Sep 1999 12:13:17 GMT
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FELLOW AFRIKANS, REVOLUTIONARY GREETINGS!!

Last week i wrote an article calling for us youths of afrika to stand up and
unite afrika. I gave several pints which necessitate our unity today and now
if we want to ensure our existence and peace in the universe. People did
respond and while most seem to see sense in what i said  there is a large
number who still do not see the possibility of unity. Again i would point
out what i said in the previous article that those who do not seem to see
the need for unity do not also seem to understand the realites of the world
today.
A particular Afrikan(gambian) said unity is not opportUne now because as he
said individual European states have already gotten to a stage of power
first and thus unity will be easier for them. It is true that those states
are powerful but that does not necessarily make unity easier for them at
that stage. In fact we see jealousy among European countries against unity
because they feel they would lose their individual wealth and prestige if
they unite. Everybody wants to protect its own wealth. This surely militates
against unity. We do not have such a thing in Afrika, because all the
countries in Afrika have more of misery in common than  affluence. Thus it
might not be difficult to convince each other for unity, especially if we
realise that indeed we are very rich! And i think it is just simplistic to
say that we need to attain the strength of Britain or France or Norway so
that we can unite. First of all Europe will not allow Afrikan countries to
reach that stage because that will end their hegemony in Afrika, and in fact
commence their downfall and our domination. Secondly we need to go back to
history and find out how these Euro-states attained their wealth. In summary
they just left their poor and barren Europe and invaded rich people and
their lands, looted them, killed them, and occupied their lands and send the
wealth to Europe. If you know something about the industrial revolution in
Europe you will se that it kicked of soon after slavery was banned. This
means now they cannot keep plantations in the Americas and Asia and send
Afrikans there to work.They either have to go their and do it themselves or
go and occupy the Afrikan's land and loot our wealth. This in other words is
called colonialism. So with colonialism they can enslave us on our own lands
and build transport systems so that they can send the produce to Europe. So
since the 17th century Europe has seen an unprecedented rise in development
in which science and technology were greatly enhanced because there was a
constant and large supply of raw materials to European industries. This also
explains the fact that Western Europe has emerged as the most developed
region in the world and of course with their daughters: USA,
Canada,Australia and New Zealand, and to some extent South Afrika. I said
this because South Afrika has been the defiant daughter. So while they
endorse South Afrika they were ashamed of its policies, but that is to a
little extent. What i am trying to show here is that there is no uniform
road to unity and development. If you notice also Afrika is not seeking
unity because it wants to maintain a cetrtain position as Europe would do,
or to oppress another people, but we are calling for unity for peace and
development and justice not only for Afrika but for the whole world. But
surely we cannot take the European way i.e. to kill, occupy and loot other
people, because in the first place we are rich enough! we do not need to
enslave other people or play trickery. Now some people seem to see unity as
an end in itself, and for that matter do not see any difference in us
uniting or remaining as gambia , guinea or togo. This is a wrong view
because unity is a means to an end. For such people I will give them a
little analysis. You see during the colonial period there weren't many
Western companies as they have today. In Afrika then there were the monopoly
combines who control all the mining and trade in Afrika, and these combines
where directly linked to the governments of Europe. Am sure most of you know
such names as De Beers, Oppenheimmer, Barclays,LLoyds,Roschildt ete etc.
These were the individuals or families that controlled our diamond, and
gold, and plantatios. When independence came most of them withdrew back to
Europe but making sure they leave agents down here to run things for them,
and if they notice any Afrikan leader trying to stand in their way , they
remove you. Congo DR is the best example. The Belgians inv collaboration
with the UN and the US killed Patrice Lumumba and placed the stupid Mobutu
in his place so that they can continue to control the wealth of that land.
But with time some members of these combines also got big enough and started
to pull out to create their own little empires, and that explains the
numerous Western companies operating in almost all kinds of trade and
commerce. This is no problem for the West,because they are still in
control.But now they have discovered that some other people are also rising
such as the Japanese and the Tiger countries and also those in South
ametrica.  This realisation showed them that soon their will be a
possibility of them being fully challenged and finally vanquished. The next
logical move then is for them to unite. This is why when you watch CNN or
BBC today we hear huge Western companies forming mergers. This is a defence
mechanism that will continue their hegemony in world economy. At the
political front also they are now uniting, even diplomatically. Now the
British and the French, people who have always hated each other, say they
are now going to occupy one embassy building in their so-called former
colonies in Afrika. Now this is very significant , because it means now the
UK can mingle in Senegal just as France can mingle in Gambia.Secondly it is
going to expand their influence and as well compete out any foreign body
like the Chinese,Taiwanese Cubans,Japanese, and even Libya,which are making
serious in-roads into the continent. So those who say unity makes no
difference are just doing mere thinking, but they did not make any
progressive and realistic thought. We also do not say that unity is like
magic, and the moment you have it all your problems are solved. If that is
the case then we should expect to see no problem in America or in the former
Soviet Union. Unity is work, and one of our great leaders Frederick Douglas
said where there is no struggle there is no progress. If we unite we have to
understand that it is another level which gets us to another stage in
improving our lives. Now we are not asking for unity because Nkrumah or
Nyerere said so. We can agree with them that it is true that we need to
unite , but not that they invented or discovered it. No. Based on our
circumstances and our experiences, and the nature of the world today we have
seen that unity is going to greatly enhance our lives than each holding to
oneself. I think the high rate of Afrikans going to Europe and being
subjected to all types of inhuman treatment should open up the eyes of
atleast young afrikans and ask why is this so.The mere fact of all of us
trying to go there for whatever reason is cause for concern. How come a
whole people would want to abandone their home? Unity is strength and anyone
who does not see that or does not believe that then that person must be
hiding something which his colleagues do not know , or he is still slow in
understanding . However it could also be that you do not want  those people
who want you to unite with them. The world has reached a stage in which we
need to critically ask ourselves some fundamental questions about our lives.
An Afrikan saying declares that a life that is never examined is not worth
living. We cannot be born in poverty, live in misery and die in sorrow, and
expect to go to Heaven. Some people may argue that well I am happy and
comfortable in New York or London, but again ask yourself how  much comfort
do you have there, and where is London and what is New York? we are afrikans
and we have always been proud of Afrika. Like I said in a previous article
there is no time or stage that an organism has to wait for or reach in order
to unite. Organisms unite when they discover a greater interest in the unity
for themselves. Those who say the time is not yet ripe, I wonder whether
they had read some history of the world. I am not trying to be pompous, just
realistic, because we have reached a stage whereby we might be required to
re-read our notes for a better understanding of the lectures. The whole of
the USA was not driving automobiles when they united. A large part of the US
was agrarian land at the time of starting unity, but with unity they sped
the development of the whole the continent with spillovers in all of the
hemisphere. But at what cost: slavery, killing of native americans, and
cheating the rest of the world. And now let us look at the X-Soviet Union.
This was a vast largely agrarian land , but with authoritarian dictatorship
they transformed that vast land and backward people into one of the most
industrialised states in the world. China seems to folow basicly the same
trend in just 50 years! So now to Afrika,what time should we wait for?
Talking about democracy also is a waste of time: America was a one-party
state for about three decades after independence and in fact George
Washington resigned because he hated the formation of political parties. The
wars in Afrika have to be correctly understood. Most of our people really
get confused and when they see a phenomenon they do not try to analyse it
properly but jump to conclusions. So today you have Afrikans joining the UN
or the Commonwealth meeting in huge hotels to talk about poverty in Afrika,
disease in Afrika, child soldiers in Afrika,over population in Afrika,human
rights in Afrika, rapid reaction force in Afrika. This is nonesense only
intended to shift the mind of the Afrikan from the real issue of the problem
to such foolish things.It is true that there is war and disease and poverty
in Afrika, but these realities, which are actually unreal, go beyond the
mere fact of their taking place, and if we do not see it in that context
then we would think it is an issue of democracy or human rights or poverty.
The wars are a direct result of our experiences and the schemes put in place
to divide us. Any people who experience such kind of experience is bound to
face the same problems, unless such a people become conscious and try to
understand the root cause of their condition. This is what is lacking in us
today, and it is mainly because still we are being educated according to the
slave and colonial masters' syllabus.The education system just gives us
facts and figures and we memorise them, and after some time they package
thenm into BA,MA,PHD, but we are never given the basis of those facts and
figures. For example when they tell us we need foreign investment and
liberal economy as a sine qua non for development we are never told that
such a system never operated in Europe or America, even today, especially if
it is between us and them. When they tell us we are poor and over-populated,
but they do not tell us the extra amount of wealth we have:land ,mineral
resources and water, which are the basis of deveopment, because in the first
place they had to come here not for the air, or the clouds, but for our land
and resources, and of course our people! So now how can you say these are
impediments to development. But this is the education we received and
because we did not read with a purpose all of us believe, with our leaders
wasting our time and energy running all over the West to garner foreign
investment.So in other words the education we receive enslaves us , while
the essence of education is to liberate a people, and raises his thinking
from superstition and mythology to that of unbiased and conscious critical
thinking. This is why for decades of conferences they still tell us that we
are poorer and wretched today than at independence, and still they bring
IMF, foreign investment, and tech. assistance. I ask you was slavery not
foreign investment? Was colonialism not foreign investment? Was not Standard
Bank, and Barclays Bank  providing capital for slaveships? So why do you
think that today ELF or Shell or Coke will bring development here. The wars
in Afrika are a direct result of slavery and colonialism. Our people are
fighting in Angola, Sierra Leone, in Sudan, but if you ask Foday Sanko or
Savimbi what is that they are fighting for they cannot tell you anything
other than against corruption. We are fighting neo-colonialism and we do not
even know it. We are in a situation we did not create nor do we understand,
but we are suffering  and it gets to a stage we think it is coming from Yaya
Jammeh or Rawlings or Musevenbi and we start to fight the people, but even
our leaders do not know. We all suffer from that delirium, but which teaches
us one thing and that is the solution is in Europe. Feloow Afrikans I want
to tell you that nothing happens in a vacuum. Everything is connecte, and
whatever action or decision you take goes to either suppot or oppose a
system.And every institution you see goes to serve the interest of the
founding fathers of that institution first. The partitioning of Afrika is
not in the interest of any Afrikan, but for the sole interest of the
partitioners, and as long as we are remained so it will continue to serve
their interest against us. We Afrikans have to think and think more than the
European, because first we have to unravel his schemes and how he tied us
and then see how to free ourselves and then how to define ourselves. So we
have two stages to go. Unity might be one step, or a stepping stone to that.
But we definitely need unity. The West controls each and every state in
Afrika and it is their interest for that to hold, so those who want to wait
until we attain the level of Britain or America, then i wish them long life
and good health, but i tell you the West will never let you get an inch near
them. They know you too much and are still studying you. Why do you think
the U.S. maintains an embassy, peace corps,USIS,USAID, and NDA. in each
Afrikan and so-called 3rd world countries. It is all CIA work trying to find
all about you day and night, and in the process control you in their palms.
For example how come the US has a big building full of Americans in the
Gambia, a country so small like Maine, with hundreds of cars, plus a huge HQ
for the peace corps etc, etc? how many Americans are in the Gambia that
would need such an attention? And it is more funny when you know that in
some countries like Ghana they run an FM station bombarding our people there
with "America loves you so much ". These are the control mechanisms and of
course with UN doing the field work for them for free!!! They set it up and
so it serves them. If we Afrikans do not recognise this then this time when
they get us we will be totally annihilated! There are lot of evidence we can
point out to argue for unity now, but other things are also holding on, and
i hope my fellow Afrikans will join the unity train. Do not be afraid, if we
do not start it we cannot experience it, and i for one like to experience
new things. Let us unite please, nice and descent people of God.

victory is ours by any means, even unnecessary!!!(just joking) but victory
is certain.

madi

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