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Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 1999 10:12 AM
Subject: Africa: African Renaissance


> Africa: African Renaissance
> Date distributed (ymd): 991012
> Document reposted by APIC
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
>
> Region: Continent-Wide
> Issue Areas: +political/rights+ +economy/development+
> +security/peace+
> Summary Contents:
> This posting contains the speech by South African President
> Thabo Mbeki at the launch of the African Renaissance
> Institute.  A posting also sent out today contains the speech
> on the same occasion by the Executive Secretary of the
> Economic Commission for Africa, Dr. K. Y. Amoako.
>
> +++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> Speech at the Launch of the African Renaissance Institute
>
> Pretoria October 11 1999
>
> (For additional speeches by the South African President, see
> http://www.anc.org/za/ancdocs/history/mbeki)
>
> Chairperson, Distinguished Elders of Africa, Secretary General
> of the Organisation of African Unity, Your Excellencies
> Ministers, Ambassadors and High Commissioners, Distinguished
> participants, Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen:
>
> I am very pleased indeed to welcome you to the launch of the
> African Renaissance Institute. I sincerely thank you for
> giving us, as South Africans, the opportunity to host this
> launch and for me to speak at this Opening Session.
>
> I would also like to welcome to our country those of our
> brothers and sisters who come from beyond our borders.
>
> Once more, we would like to express our profound appreciation
> to you all for the contribution that you made to our own
> struggle for liberation.
>
> Liberated South Africa is therefore your home, not merely
> because it is an African country, but because without your
> determined struggles, perhaps we would not be a free people
> today.
>
> The sacrifices the peoples of our Continent made to end the
> apartheid crime against humanity, which denied the very
> humanity of everybody who was African, were many and varied.
>
> Among other things, the countries of Southern Africa also paid
> a very high price in human lives lost, as well as property and
> infrastructure destroyed, as they withstood the campaign of
> aggression and destabilisation conducted by the apartheid
> regime.
>
> Undoubtedly, Angola and Mozambique paid the highest price in
> this regard.
>
> I would like to take this opportunity, once more, to reiterate
> our profound appreciation to their governments and peoples for
> their extraordinary solidarity, which our people will never
> forget.
>
> I am also very pleased to make special mention and pay tribute
> to our elders who are here, of whom we are justly proud and
> whose wisdom and African patriotism will make an important
> contribution to our common quest for an African Renaissance.
>
> All of us are greatly distressed that that great son of all
> Africa, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, is unable to be here, owing to
> a difficult health condition. I am certain that we would all
> agree that we should send him a heartfelt message of support
> and our wishes for his speedy recovery.
>
> We have also received the apologies of another great son of
> our Continent, Ahmed Ben Bella, who could not join us owing to
> prior commitments.
>
> Chairperson:
>
> As you are aware, the movement of our own struggle for
> national liberation is the ANC, the African National Congress.
>
> Brought up as we were by this movement and led by it,
> throughout the entirety of our political lives we have been
> exposed to the inspiring perspective of African unity and
> solidarity and the renewal of our Continent.
>
> Beyond this, the struggle for our own liberation led to the
> development of perhaps the largest and most determined
> Pan-African movement of solidarity our continent has ever
> seen, involving both governments and all sections of the
> population, in every country.
>
> We are therefore pleased and moved that some of our fellow
> Africans took the initiative to establish the Institute that
> we are launching today.
>
> I am convinced that all of us present here share a common
> vision in favour of African unity and solidarity, African
> development and renewal and an end to the marginalisation of
> our Continent in world affairs and development processes.
>
> It would seem to us vitally necessary that whereas, for some
> time, the achievement of these objectives has been left to our
> governments, it is necessary that we return this vision to the
> people.
>
> We are therefore of the firm view that there is a critically
> important and urgent need to develop a Popular Movement for
> the African Renaissance.
>
> Accordingly, we believe that political organisations and
> governments in all African countries should be mobilised to
> act in furtherance of the objectives of the African
> Renaissance.
>
> Equally, the masses and their organisations in all African
> countries should similarly be mobilised and drawn into action.
>
> We must also pay attention to the intelligentsia, the
> professionals, the trade unions, business people, women and
> the youth, the traditional leaders, cultural workers, the
> media and so on, to bring them into the popular struggle for
> Africa's rebirth.
>
> The question has been posed repeatedly as to what we mean when
> we speak of an African Renaissance.
>
> As all of us know, the word "renaissance" means rebirth,
> renewal, springing up anew. Therefore, when we speak of an
> African Renaissance, we speak of the rebirth and renewal of
> our continent.
>
> This idea is not new to the struggles of the peoples of our
> continent for genuine emancipation. It has been propagated
> before by other activists for liberation, drawn from many
> countries.
>
> But it has been suggested that when this perspective was
> advanced in earlier periods, the conditions did not exist for
> its realisation.
>
> Accordingly, what is new about it today is that the conditions
> exist for the process to be enhanced, throughout the
> continent, leading to the transformation of the idea from a
> dream dreamt by visionaries to a practical programme of action
> for revolutionaries.
>
> What, then, are these conditions! These are:
>
> * the completion of the continental process of the liquidation
> of the colonial system in Africa, attained as a result of the
> liberation of South Africa;
>
> * the recognition of the bankruptcy of neo-colonialism by the
> masses of the people throughout the continent, including the
> majority of the middle strata;
>
> * the weakening of the struggle among the major powers for
> spheres of influence on our continent, as a consequence of the
> end of the Cold War; and,
>
> * the acceleration of the process of globilisation.
>
> As we take advantage of these changed circumstances, we must
> move from the fundamental proposition that the peoples of
> Africa share a common destiny.
>
> Each one of our countries is constrained in its ability to
> achieve peace, stability, sustained development and a better
> life for the people, except in the context of the
> accomplishment of these objectives in other sister African
> countries as well.
>
> Accordingly, it is objectively in the interest of all Africans
> to encourage the realisation of these goals throughout our
> Continent, at the same time as we pursue their attainment in
> each of our countries.
>
> We speak of a continent which, while it led in the very
> evolution of human life and was a leading centre of learning,
> technology and the arts in ancient times, has experienced
> various traumatic epochs; each one of which has pushed her
> peoples deeper into poverty and backwardness.
>
> We refer here to the three periods of:
>
> * slavery, which robbed the continent of millions of her
> healthiest and most productive inhabitants and reinforced the
> racist and criminal notion that, as Africans, we are
> sub-human;
>
> * imperialism and colonialism, which resulted in the rape of
> raw materials, the destruction of traditional agriculture and
> domestic food security, and the integration of Africa into the
> world economy as a subservient participant; and,
>
> * neo-colonialism, which perpetuated this economic system,
> while creating the possibility for the emergence of new
> national elites in independent states, themselves destined to
> join the dominant global forces in oppressing and exploiting
> the masses of the people.
>
> During this latter period, our continent has experienced:
>
> * unstable political systems in which one-party states and
> military rule have occupied pride of place, leading to
> conflict, civil wars, genocide and the emergence of millions
> of displaced and refugee populations;
>
> * the formation of predatory elites that have thrived on the
> basis of the looting of national wealth and the entrenchment
> of corruption;
>
> * the growth of the international debt burden to the extent
> that, in some countries, combined with unfavourable terms of
> trade, it makes negative growth in national per capita income
> inevitable; and,
>
> * actual declines in the standard of living and the quality of
> life for hundreds of millions of Africans.
>
> The task of the African Renaissance derive from this
> experience, covering the entire period from slavery to date.
> They include:
>
> * the establishment of democratic political systems to ensure
> the accomplishment of the goal that "the people shall govern",
> * ensuring that these systems take into account African
> specifics so that, while being truly democratic and protecting
> human rights, they are nevertheless designed in ways which
> really ensure that political and, therefore, peaceful means
> can be used to address the competing interests of different
> social groups in each country;
>
> * Establishing the institutions and procedures which would
> enable the continent collectively to deal with questions of
> democracy, peace and stability;
>
> * achieving sustainable economic development that results in
> the continuous improvement of the standards of living and the
> quality of life of the masses of the people;
>
> * qualitatively changing Africa's place in the world economy
> so that it is free of the yoke of the international debt
> burden and no longer a supplier of raw materials and an
> importer of manufactured goods;
>
> * ensuring the emancipation of the women of Africa;
>
> * successfully confronting the scourge of HIV/AIDS;
>
> * the rediscovery of Africa's creative past to recapture the
> peoples' cultures, encourage artistic creativity and restore
> popular involvement in both accessing and advancing science
> and technology;
>
> * strengthening the genuine independence of African countries
> and continent in their relations with the major powers and
> enhancing their role in the determination of the global system
> of governance in all fields, including politics, the economy,
> security, information and intellectual property, the
> environment and science and technology.
>
> These goals can only be achieved through a genuinely popular
> and protracted struggle involving not only governments and
> political parties, but also the people themselves in all their
> formations.
>
> Such a popular movement for the fundamental renewal of Africa
> would also have to take into account the multi-faceted reality
> that:
>
> * it is engaged in an extremely complex struggle which would
> be opposed by forces of reaction from both within and without
> the continent;
>
> * it would achieve both forward movement and suffer occasional
> setbacks;
>
> * the continental offensive can only be sustained if the
> active populations of all countries are confident that none of
> the countries of the continent, regardless of the extent of
> its contribution to the Renaissance, seeks to impose itself on
> the rest as a new imperialist power; and,
>
> * the forces for change have to be built up and consolidated
> within each country, without ignoring or underestimating the
> imperative and the potential for an increasing coordinated
> trans-national offensive for the mutually beneficial renewal
> of the continent.
>
> From all this, it is clear that the achievement of the
> historically vital African Renaissance requires that the
> peoples of our continent should adopt a realist programme of
> action that will actually move Africa towards its real
> renewal.
>
> Accordingly, ways have to be found to ensure that:
>
> * the OAU is further strengthened so that in its work, it
> focuses on the strategic objective of the realisation of the
> African Renaissance;
>
> * links are built across Africa's borders among all social
> sectors to increase the levels of cooperation ad integration;
>
> * steps are taken to ensure that both Africa ad the rest of
> the world define the new (21st) century as an "African
> Century", in furtherance of the objective of the mobilisation
> of the peoples of the world to support the offensive for an
> African Renaissance; and,
>
> * work is done to persuade the rest of the world, including
> sch important institutions as the UN, the IMF, the World Bank,
> the WTO, NAFTA, the EU, MERCOSUR, ASEAN and others, to the
> point of view that we share with them the strategic view that
> it is obligatory that we all support the vision of an African
> Renaissance and that they should lend support to this process,
> guided by what the peoples of Africa themselves want.
>
> The difficulty we will face with regard to the accomplishment
> of the last of these tasks is illustrated by the problem we
> are facing even as we stand here, of arriving at the point
> when we can conclude the bilateral agreement between our
> country and the European Union.
>
> Stripped of all pretence, what has raised the question whether
> the agreement can be signed today or not, is the reality that
> many among the developed countries of the North have lost all
> sense of the nobele idea of human solidarity.
>
> What seems to predominate is the question, in its narrowest
> and most naked meaning - what is in it for me! What is in it
> for me! - and all this with absolutely no apology and no sense
> of shame.
>
> None of us were present when the slaves were forced into the
> dungeons on the Isle of Goree in Senegal and on the island of
> Zanzibar.
>
> But we would not be wrong if we came to the conclusion that
> those who survived these dungeons as well as their
> transportation across the oceans, did so because of a strong
> will to survive.
>
> None of us were present when the people of the Congo were
> slaughtered in their millions, to satisfy the rapacious and
> insatiable greed of a Belgian monarch.
>
> But we would not be wrong if we came to the conclusion that
> the Congolese people did not resort to mass suicide to escape
> the horror, because of a firm conviction that, in the end, as
> a people they were indestructible.
>
> We were present when the colonial and racist powers put up the
> most determined resistance to deny the people of Algeria,
> Kenya, the Portuguese colonies, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South
> Africa their freedom.
>
> We know that the peoples of these countries and our Continent
> as a whole were not discouraged by what seemed to be
> overwhelming odds against them, because they were determined
> that the people's cause for national emancipation could never
> be defeated.
>
> We bore witness to the unspeakable genocide that descended on
> the people of Rwanda in 1994.
>
> We know that, in the end, these extraordinary Africans ended
> the slaughter themselves because they took it upon themselves
> to make the determination that Africa will not perish at the
> hands of her own sons and daughters.
>
> That same spirit of optimism and commitment to overcome must
> inform all of us now as we build on the victories we have
> scored, to engage what will clearly be a titanic struggle to
> achieve Africa's Renaissance.
>
> What will decide the outcome is not the strength of our
> opponents but our own determination to succeed.
>
> Stretching through the mists, for a millennium, our common
> African history is replete with great feats of courage,
> demonstrated by the heroes and heroines and the heroic
> peoples, without whose loyal attachment to hope and the vision
> of a bright future for Africa, her people would long have
> perished.
>
> The moment is upon us when we should draw on this deep well of
> human nobility to make this statement in action - that
> Africa's time has come!
>
> We, in all our millions, including those of us who are in the
> Diaspora, will ensure that Africa will not be denied what is
> due to her!
>
> The African century will not be proclaimed! It will come to be
> through struggle!
>
> The struggle continues! Victory is certain!
>
> We wish the African Renaissance Institute success in the
> historic mission we are all called upon to carry out, to end
> a long and dark night without whose ending no human being
> anywhere in the world can claim to be fulfilled as a human
> being.
>
> The only ailment that has no cure is the spawn of a curse.
>
> I thank you for your attention.
>
> ************************************************************
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