'Let's Go Back to Our Roots'

[Akyeame Kwame]

'Let's Go Back to Our Roots'

http://allafrica.com/stories/200602280613.html

'Let's Go Back to Our Roots'

New Era (Windhoek)

February 28, 2006
Posted to the web February 28, 2006

Frederick Philander
Windhoek

The struggle for the restoration of the pride of
Africa and Africans is far from over. Africans need to
sit in the centre and control the means of production
in order to be masters of their own destiny.

So said the chairman of Pacon, Johannes Tjitjo, in a
press release as part of the annual Black History
Month celebrations currently on.

"Pacon's clarion call is for us all to go back to our
roots. The institutions we have embraced have engulfed
the world with maladies and social moral decay. It is
disheartening to learn that despite our fierce battles
and resistance to colonialism, our gift is ceremonial
political power whilst economic power remains the
domain of the masters," Tjitjo charged.

He called on all Africans on the continent and in the
Diaspora to unite.

"Real work has to start because Africa is rich, yet
poor. Our people languish in poverty, disease and
ignorance. We need to fight individualistic
tendencies, regionalism, continentalism and see
ourselves as a coherent social fabric with common
vision and goals. We need to speak and act in unison,"
said the Pacon man.

His organisation has helped organise Black History
month celebrations since its inception in 2000.

According to Tjitjo, Pacon recognises that the youth
of any country or continent forms a very important
section of that society.

"The youth are the leaders of tomorrow. They can only
build a stable and promising future if they use the
bricks of wisdom laid down by their fore-bearers. A
society that neglects its past is doomed to have a
bleak future. Our youth of today have a tendency of
not wanting to be reminded of history. For them, it's
like life started today, a serious recipe for
disaster. To deny that you were there yesterday is to
admit that you are indeed an infant, so helpless that
all it needs is to be spoon-fed by those with
yesterday, today and tomorrow," he said
philosophically.

He further encouraged the country's youth to re-write
history with a view to correct its content, context
and meaning.

"To do research and to be factual in our
presentations, we have to stop hero-worshipping of
other people whilst we look down upon our own people.
The youth have a tendency of worshipping America,
Britain or Germany, yet, everything African is
considered backward. We need a variety of events and
activities in memory of the achievements of the Great
Continent of Africa and her people," said Tjitjo, who
drew a comparison between Black History Month and
"reactionary" celebrations such as St. Valentine's
Day.

A discussion on "United States of Africa: fiction or
reality", was on Wednesday held at the Polytechnic of
Namibia as part of Black History Month celebrations by
the All African Student's Conference Namibia
Preparatory committee.