Africa, Global Trading and All-African Union Government

[RWalker]

Below you will find a submission I posted to the Pan-Africanism - African centrist forum. It was my intent to use the discussion as a means of advocating the necessity of a union government in Africa. I have offered to you for your assessment how we can best help our people, all over the world, but especially in the diaspora understand how important union government in Africa is to all of us. I discussed the western world's control of our natural resources, our essential commodities, and the specific role of the WTO in that process. I also included observations from the responsible for trade-related matters in the AU Commission and statements from progressive Africans attending the current Hong Kong rounds of the WTO. It my hope that you will consider my approach, and if you see in benefit in it, use those useful elements to develop your own political and social-economic advocacy campaigns and public relations activities among our people:

(POST on Africa, Africans and ending our slavery)


If one is actually centered or focused on Africa, he or she is by definition concerned with the state of historic and contemporary Africa; he or she is by definition concerned with the historic and contemporary status of African people. Such an individual would study and work hard to understand and improve the status and condition of the land, and the people. To do this we must understand the system that holds us in the modern day slavery and what is required to break the chains of this modern day slavery.


In order to create a context and pretext for the overthrow of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah one of the things the western powers did was manipulated the price of cocoa to create an economic crisis in Ghana. They attacked the Nkrumah government’s effort to put control of the sale of cocoa in the hands of the Ghanaians themselves and all its effort to create socialism in Ghana as a model for the rest of Africa. They told the world that it was the Nkrumah government’s socialist orientation, its attempts to control the cocoa market in the interest of the people that caused the economic problems. They spread the lie that his government engaged in “expensive” and “lavish” projects, which led to the decay of the Ghanaian economy. But in reality the cocoa markets, just as all the commodities markets, are totally controlled by these very same western power that were pointed the finger at Nkrumah. This is the reality even today.

Africa as you know is rich in natural resources. Precious and strategic metals; gems; valuable minerals, energy sources such as gas, oil, coal, hydro electrical capacity; agro forestry; foodstuffs and so on. Conversely, we know that Africa’s people are the poorest in the world. We are poor because we are weak; we are weak because we are disunited. Africans at home do not control the commodities that are so valuable to current economic systems. They do not determine the price, the amount that will be sold, how it will be shipped, who will determine the nature and parameters of the various value added and other functions associated with the marketing of commodities. Commodities as diverse as coal, uranium, diamonds, gold, platinum, palladium, lumber, fish, petroleum, natural gas, cocoa, edible oils, grains, cotton and various others. In short we do not control any aspect of the process we are still in essence slaves that hew and dig for our masters. This keeps Africans at home poor; and keeps Africa weak.

And as we in the Diaspora know, well, at least those of us who are reasonably conscious, if Africa is weak, then we are weak. We can be no stronger than Africa is. Let us look at one aspect of this process the monetary angle. The trade in commodity is essentially based in the use of the US dollar.

When I look at companies from a global perspective, the revenue line in invariably dollar-denominated because commodities are priced in dollar, but the cost are mostly expressed in the local currency... page 13
“In Pursuit of Global Opportunities,” Advance, Fall, 2005 TIAA-CREF quarterly

In discussing commodity prices, one is dealing with commodity prices in currencies; so it may be expected that monetary variables are among the explanations of real change. International commodity prices are mostly expressed in dollars, for example, in the IMF International Financial Statistics, or in terms of indices based on dollar prices. Such commodity prices are obviously affected by inflation as well as real developments, and also by the value of the dollar exchange rate. There is a definite link between monetary policies, exchange rates and commodity prices, and this is the subject which I wish to discuss today.
“Commodity Prices, Exchange Rates and the International Monetary System”, Dr Robert Mundell, http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cd...44E/y4344e04.h

That means in practice that the people who kill Africans routinely in the streets and jails of this country and their subordinate allies in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Israel and elsewhere, are the very same people who control the price Africa gets for her valuable natural assets.

Any manipulation of the US dollar can be disastrous for Africans at home. If the US changes the value of the dollar, if they use their power to change the foreign exchange rate, these can have catastrophic impact on the abilities of the individual governments to provide for their people, and the impact on the people themselves is nothing short of deadly. Again I emphasize that weakness in Africa engenders commiserate weakness among Africans all over the world, no matter where we are. Conversely, the strength of Africa would be the strength of Africa’s world population.

Commodity manipulation doesn’t stop with the monetary stranglehold. The actual mechanics of the trading are determined by the big futures trading establishments in the US, they determine the real price by manipulating the future contracts, as a Nigerian oil minister said back in 1974, they determine the price of real assets by setting the pricing levels set for non-existence commodities. They also control or collaborate in the control of things such as insurance, grading, financing and shipping.

The west also control commodities in other ways. For example in cocoa they construct obstacles to African interests who might want to engage in the manufacture and marketing of chocolate and other cocoa-based products. These same interests control the technical research and support in the industry. This pattern, in one form or another, is seen in all the commodities markets. For example cotton, petroleum, natural gas, gold, platinum, palladium and other commodities that are plentiful in Africa are all traded in futures markets. It is well known that the diamond industry is controlled by a tiny cartel of individuals based in areas such as Israel, New York, Belgium and London.

Now all of this is camouflaged as a multilateral controlled enterprise. Under the auspices of the World Trade Organization, WTO, the successor to the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs GATT there is an effort to convince the world that the unfairness and amorality of the contemporary trading structures and processes in the world can be remedied. The major instrument set up by WTO to perform this miracle is the Doha Works Programme, a formula agreed on by the participating countries in WTO in the 2001 Doha Quatar meeting of the WTO. In theory the Doha Works Programme is supposed to give “underdeveloped” countries, such as the majority of African states, immediate systemic relief in critical areas and the mechanism to negotiate all other problem areas. So we see that the Doha Works Programme is in theory supposed to enhance the benefits the so-called underdeveloped countries of the world derived through global commerce through negotiation on one hand and immediate policy actions, including special dispensations and rights for the "developing" and "least-developed" countries, on the other hand. In point of fact as soon as the Doha Works Programme was developed the powers in the western countries were saying that the terms agreed too did not in fact carry the force of a legal obligation. As in most things that the racist powers foster upon the world, these powers have turned the Doha process into a sham: there is no negotiation; no efforts to accommodate the dire need of the majority of the world, nothing but just another trick of our exploiters and oppressors. Nothing more than the same old duplicity and double-dealing -- in other words "business as usual."

( For those who are unfamiliar with Doha Works Programme you can go to this url http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/.../mindecl_e.htm
and read the ministerial statement which essentially explains what Doha Works Programme is supposed to be about. There are other Doha documents on the WTO site that would be helpful but the ministerial document is probably the best one to start with. )

Below are three examples of how Africans view the overall situation. The first is an extract from a recent African Union Commission's meeting on Africa's commodity dependence and its impact on the African economy and financial status. The excerpt is taken from the AU Commissioner for Trade and Industry, Mrs. Tankeu opening remarks. The second is a full version of the release of a STATEMENT BY AFRICAN MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT at the Hong Kong meeting of the WTO, targeting the racist states efforts to turn Africa’s parliamentary representatives into mere rubber stamps endorsing whatever the racist decide in their undemocratic closed sessions with hand picked African delegates to the WTO meeting; and the third is the full text of a Press Release on the “African Women say WTO Draft ministerial text negates development “


1.
"As you are all aware, the greatest challenge facing Africa remains the achievement of rapid and sustainable economic growth and development, the eradication of poverty, and the integration of the continent into the global economy as a strong and respected partner. The recent review of the implementation of the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) indicate how far we are from meeting this challenge. While other developing regions of the world are making good progress towards reducing poverty and achieving the other MDGs, the situation in Africa is one of little or no progress. Poverty in our continent is on the increase and many other key socio-economic indicators point to increasing misery and worsening of living conditions for our people."

"The deepening of poverty and worsening of socio-economic conditions in Africa should be a source of great concern to all of us and should strengthen our resolve to address all the root causes of underdevelopment in the continent. It is in this context that the holding of this continental seminar on commodities is of critical importance."

"Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,"
"Poverty and underdevelopment in Africa are multi-dimensional and due to several
causes: internal and external, economic, political and social. The establishment of the African Union and the adoption of the NEPAD as its strategic progamme constitute the response of African leaders to the crisis of poverty and underdevelopment, one of whose major causal factors is the structure of the African economy and the nature of the participation of the continent in global economy and trade."

"African countries, as we all know, are heavily dependent on commodities for income and employment generation as well as for foreign exchange earnings. There are many countries in the continent whose participation in the global economy and trade is anchored on the production and export of a few commodities. Africa’s heavy commodity-dependence has accounted largely for the continued marginalisation of the continent in the global economy and trade and for its limited gains from the process of globalization..."


"Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,"
"As President Chirac of France has rightly pointed out, the commodity issue has for long been characterized by a conspiracy of silence. Such conspiracy has persisted because many of the developed industrial countries, which see the role of African countries in the international division of labour as that of providers of cheap raw materials for their industries, have been the main beneficiaries of the unfairness of the operations of commodity markets. If Africa is to achieve rapid and sustainable development and improve the living conditions of its people, the conspiracy of silence on commodities has to be broken. This requires that African countries and all stake holders in African commodities should speak with one voice on the issues of commodities and adopt policies and strategies for resolving the problems of commodities. In line with its mandate, the Commission of the African Union is determined to lead the process of finding a just solution to the African commodity problematique."

"The link between commodity dependence, rising poverty and increasing marginalisation of Africa derives from the two major features of commodity markets: (i) the fluctuations and instability of commodity prices in the short-run and (ii) the decline in real prices and the deterioration in the terms of trade for commodities over the long –term. The consequence of the fluctuations of commodity prices has been the wide swings in incomes, savings and government revenues. The uncertainty about the levels of these critical macro-economic variables has made the management of commodity-dependent African economies more difficult and has adversely affected investment and growth. The prolonged depression of the real prices of commodity exports has, in the face of escalating prices of industrial goods from the developed countries, led to persistent deterioration of the terms of trade and sharp declines in foreign exchange earnings for commodity exporting countries. Weak external viability, heavy indebtedness and poor growth performance of Africa’s commodity-dependent economies have been due largely to the problems encountered in the commodity markets."

"Distinguished Participants"
"Ladies and Gentlemen"

"The broad conclusion to be drawn from this brief analysis is that effective remedies have to be found to the problems of commodity markets if commodity-dependent African countries are to achieve rapid and sustainable development and extricate themselves from the vicious cycle of poverty. Over the years, the international community has adopted a number of measures to stabilize commodity prices and strengthen commodity markets. These include the adoption by UNCTAD in 1976 of a resolution on the Integrated Programme for Commodities (IPC), the establishment of the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), the provisions for STABEX and SYSMIN in the ACP-EU Lome Conventions and the establishment of a
Compensatory Financing Facility (CFF) by the International Monetary Fund. A core element of the IPC was to be the financing of buffer stocks of International Commodity Agreements (ICAs)"

"The greater reliance on free play of market forces since the 1980s and the increasing
opposition by the developed countries to the principle of intervention in commodity markets has led to the abandonment or under funding of international commodity market support initiatives. It is a reflection of this trend that in the ongoing negotiations on the Doha Work Programme, the issue of commodities has not been accorded the priority it deserves."

"Given the heavy dependence of our economies on commodities, African countries must play a leading role in the process of finding solutions to the African commodity problematique. It is in the realization of this that the African Ministers of Trade, at their third Ordinary Conference held in Cairo, Egypt in May 2005, decided to hold an Extra-Ordinary Session on the theme of African Commodities.. The Extra-Ordinary Session will provide an opportunity for reflections and elaboration of coherent and viable policies and action plans on all aspects of the commodity issue as they relate to African countries: management of production and supply of commodities, the diversification and processing of African commodities, the marketing of African commodities, the promotion of intra-African and South-South trade in commodities and processed goods, the financing of commodity production, processing and marketing, and the development of a strategy for according priority in the international development agenda to the resolution of commodity problems."

"Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,"
"This historic continental Seminar, involving experts, key stakeholders and development partners in the field of African commodities has been convened to assist the Commission of the African Union in the preparations for the Extra-Ordinary Session of the Conference of African Trade Ministers, scheduled for 21-24 November 2005 in Arusha, Tanzania. For your deliberations and consideration, the Commission has developed some proposals for the establishment of a continental institutional framework for the promotion and protection of the interests of African countries in commodities. One of the major components of the continental commodity institutional architecture which we are proposing for your consideration is a Task
Force on Commodities, which will be composed of the representatives of major stakeholders in African commodities and will serve as a high-level think thank for the development of African common policy on commodities and implementation of a continental strategy for the achievement of African objectives in commodities. The other component is the creation of regional and commodity exchanges which should assist in redressing some of the imbalances against Africa in the exiting international commodity markets Some background technical documents have also been prepared for your Seminar."

"The expectation of the Commission is that the proposals and the recommendations you will make at the end of your deliberations will enable African Ministers of Trade and the AU Heads of State and Government to take appropriate decisions that will enable commodities to serve as effective instruments for the achievement of rapid and sustainable economic growth in Africa, and cease to be as a source of external imbalance and indebtedness, and worsening poverty and increasing marginalisation of our continent in the global economy. Having regard to the caliber of the experts participating in this Seminar, I have no doubt that this objective will be realised."

... I wish to recall the following statement made on 26 August 2002 by the Japanese Foreign Minister, Ms Yoriko Kawaguchi, during a visit to Addis Ababa:
“There will be no stability and prosperity in the world in the 21st Century unless
the problems of Africa are solved. The problems Africa is facing are great challenges for not only the region itself but also for the international community as
a whole”

"Commodity problems constitute a major challenge to Africa …”
from
SEMINAR ON AFRICAN COMMODITIES: PROBLEMS AND STRATEGIC OPTIONS
16 - 18 November 2005, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
STATEMENT BY H. E. MRS. ELIZABETH TANKEU, COMMISSIONER FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY AT THE OPENING SESSION
http://www.africa-union.org/trade%20...8_November.pdf

2.

NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release: 18.12.2005

Contact:
Liepollo Lebohang Pheko – 098526093 5143
Or -092782-670-2505

African Women say WTO Draft ministerial text negates development

While a quick reading of the revised text would lead one to believe that the demands of the Grouping of 110 developing, least developing, African, ACP and small economy countries have been integrated – the truth is that these concessions are consistently linked with expanded developed country market access to developing country markets. The current draft text will have significant and adverse implications for women and marginalized groups.

Economic globalization and market liberalization has and will continue to exacerbate inequalities. It has led to the feminization of employment, intensified the exploitation of women’s unpaid work in the care economy and has undermined the livelihood strategies of poor women, including migrant and farming women. The draft text, as currently written, will continue this devastating trend. A real development round must have women’s rights and development central to the drafting, implementation, and outcomes.

We believe the current draft text negates development, including women’s development. Specifically:

· Services – Though bracketed, Annex C on services remains despite strong resistance from developing countries (para 25). Additionally para 24 does not allow advanced developing countries with significant poverty levels and development needs the policy space to give priority to development needs by rejecting or limiting services liberalization.

· Agriculture

Cotton - We acknowledge the concessions given, but are concerned that they are being considered within the context of the overall agricultural negotiations (para 11);
Special Products - We acknowledge the recognition of SPs, but demand that their treatment be defined (para 8);
Agricultural Export Subsidies – The commitment on the elimination of all forms of export subsidies is a crucial step for development. However, paragraph 6 allows that the specific date for the elimination of all forms of export subsidies in Agriculture be confirmed only upon the completion of the modalities.
Domestic Support in Agriculture – The current three bands are insufficient and fail to account for the special and differential treatment required for developing countries. The band formula must allow for a clear distinction in the treatment afforded to developed, advanced developing, developing, and least-developed countries.
· NAMA – The draft text explicitly adopts the SWISS formula for NAMA (para 14), thereby locking in the formula, despite leaving open the possibilities for multiple coefficients.

· Level of Ambition in NAMA and Agriculture – Seeking a balanced and commensurately HIGH level of ambition between Agriculture and NAMA undermines the development objectives of this round (para 22).

· Duty Free Quota Free Market Access - Para 45 still provides a loophole for developed countries to declare themselves not in a position to implement duty free and quota free market access for LDC products. This is unacceptable.

“Developing countries, can no longer lay our futures on the altar of the free market excesses of the North” – Liepollo Lebohang Pheko, Gender and Trade Network Africa, December 17, 2005.

3.


STATEMENT BY AFRICAN MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT

For Immediate Release

Contact: Hon. Sheila Kawamara (Tel 91027151)
Hon. Abdi Rahim (Tel. 61884354)
Hon. Irene Ovonji-Odida (Tel 91027464)

HONG KONG, Tuesday, 13 December 2005: We, Parliamentarians from Africa attending the Sixth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), being elected representatives of the people of Africa, and faithful to our oversight role, have keenly followed the process of multilateral trade negotiations since the failed fifth MC in Cancun in 2003.

We have noted with concern that while the Doha Ministerial Declaration’s Paragraph 4 explicitly calls for the needs and interests of developing countries to be at the heart of the Doha Work Programme (DWP), vested interests in powerful countries of the North have hijacked the process and content of the DWP and is determined to deliver a “Round for Free” to developed Members of the WTO. We insist that the development concerns in all aspects of negotiations that have been raised by African Members and other developing countries must addressed and explicitly agreed upon (with clear targets, indicators and timelines) as an integral part of the negotiations.

We particularly note with concern that industrialised countries, led by the European Union and the United States of America, have continued to exert undue pressure, inducement and outright blackmail in their drive to secure a favourable outcome for agriculture, non-agricultural market access (NAMA) and services.

Agriculture, providing livelihoods to more than 70 per cent of our people is of utmost importance to us. However, both in process and substance, there is a great deal left to desire. On the process, whereas African countries as a group and through such fora as the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have demanded an inclusive negotiating process, the so-called “Green Rooms” and “Informal Consultations” .continue to be used to the exclusion of the majority of Members We are concerned that that other WTO Members are expected to wait for the outcome of these illegal, untransparent and exclusive processes and then rubber-stamp. We call upon our ministers to reject outright a Blair House-type of deal in agriculture.

On substance, we note the attempts at duplicity in various “offers’ by different countries. While Africa and other developing countries want to see real progress in elimination of export subsidies, deeper cuts in domestic agriculture support by industrialised countries, these developed Members continue to play bad politics. For instance, the US recently announced that it would cut its AMS by 60%, which appeared as a lot. However, credible estimates show that this would actually raise its real or applied Amber Box subsidy from US$ 23 billion to US$ 25 billion. Independent researchers have likewise estimated that the EU would not have to reduce its real levels of subsidies with its October 28 proposal. In reality, the proposal allows the EU to have domestic support beyond what it had planned in CAP. To add insult to injury, the EU is conditioning this offer on our agreeing to extreme liberalisation commitments in services and NAMA. We urge African ministers to dismiss these manoeuvres with the disdain they deserve.

We insist that approach to agricultural tariff cuts must be consistent with Africa’s needs and sensitive to its tariff structures. Further, for Africa, unless the demand for Special Products and Special Safeguard Measures (SSM) are addressed with the same specificity as other aspects of agriculture in accordance with the G33 proposals; and the Cotton issue comprehensively and conclusively addressed, there can be no deal and we call upon our ministers to uphold this position. In this regard, we support the proposals on market access put forward by the ACP Group.

In Services and NAMA, we cannot fail to notice the contrast between the aggressiveness of developed countries in demanding far-reaching liberalisation with the leniency with which they want to be treated in agriculture, where they have defensive interests. The proposals so far on the table in these two areas are anti-development, will take away African governments’ policy space and have serious revenue and industrialisation implications. They should and must be rejected <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">in toto by our ministers.

Finally, we are perturbed at the behind-the-scenes manoeuvres to compromise, disorient and divide the African Group through selective and unilateral invitations to “informal consultations”. We urge African ministers to withhold consensus for any deal struck in dark corridors without their express mandate and input. To this end, we demand:
· An end to the undemocratic, non transparent process referred to as the Green Room’ process,
· Without prejudice to the foregoing, African ministers that go to the discredited Green Room must be elected or otherwise appointed by the African Group, and
· That African ministers in the Green Room do not commit the rest of the Group Members unless and until all African Heads of Delegation are consulted and unqualified mandate given for such commitment.


If Africa's and African peoples central problems are to be remedied the we will have to take Nkrumah's oft-stated admonition that only a full-fledged all-African government, unconditionally devoted, dedicated, and answerable to the totality of the African people can solve our problems, to heart. As he consistently reminded us there are exceedingly valuable natural resources in Africa in great abundance. As he tirelessly pointed out the African people have demonstrated great intelligence and talent in our leading role in the construction of human civilization. He tried to teach and demonstrate the truth that the only thing missing is the proper political structures and systems needed to rationalize the overall production process, facilitate the planning, required to bring the assets, goods, talents and other input into the service of the African people. The only thing missing is an African People's government, that is a government that is universally inclusive (i.e., a government of and for all the African people at home and abroad) and completely controlled by the organized mass of African people, and not an elite, even if the elite has beneficent goals and ideas.

Our commodity dependence is a real problem. A problem as the AU Madame Commissioner points out, a problem that is fostered on Africa by those outside elements who wish to maintain an inequitable and frankly amoral division of global labor. We will never be able to end these circumstances by mere resolutions alone, nor will we be able to end such relationships by appeals to the "developed" countries; this can only be rectified by, in Nkrumah's words, "taking the bull by the horns" and setting up a proper government to pursue and defend Africa's interest in the field of economics, and commercial, financial, monetary matters; in essence, a government with the military, diplomatic, cultural, technological, academic and other means to pursue these interests. This would be the fulfillment of all of our people who have fought and in far too many instances, died, for our freedom.

[General]

Appreciate this post. We need to build are have you studied Blueprint to Black Power, Amos Wilson and Powernomics. There are a few others, but appreciate this. I know what needs to get done "right here" first. We must get some Power in this world.

[RWalker]

Brother General,

Thank you for the reply. As you know Pan-Africanism is predicated on Africans struggling for Black Power throughout the world. This position has been advocated from such authoritative sources as Garvey, Malcolm, Richard Wright, Kwame Ture and Kwame Nkrumah himself. So yes we must build power for our people where ever we find ourselves in the world.

However it is essential that we keep in mind what Garvey, Malcolm, Kwame Ture, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah and countless others have taught us for centuries anything we endeavor to achieve any where in the world will fail if we are not connected to a strong Africa.

One further point it is exceedinly important that Black Power be based on a revolutionary political program as politics are the determinant of economics and not the other way around. Some of the pundits who contemplate Black Power take the incorrect course and define it as essentialy economic first.

Roy

[RWalker]

"What We Want", New York Review of Books,
9-22-66 by Kwame Ture (then chair of SNCC)

One of the tragedies of the struggle against racism is that up to now there has been no national organization which could speak to the growing militancy of young black people in the urban ghetto. There has been only a civil rights movement, whose tone of voice was adapted to an audience of liberal whites. It served as a sort of buffer zone between them and angry young blacks. None of its so- called leaders could go into a rioting community and be listened to. In a sense, I blamed ourselves together with the mass media -for what happened in Watts, Harlem, Chicago, Cleveland, Omaha. Each time the people in those cities saw Martin Luther King get slapped, they became angry; when they saw four little black girls bombed to death, they were angrier; and when nothing happened, they were steaming. We had nothing to offer that they could see, except to go out and be beaten again. We helped to build their frustration.

For too many years, black Americans marched and had their heads broken and got shot. They were saying to the country, "Look, you guys are supposed to be nice guys and we are only going to do what we are supposed to do-why do you beat us up, why don't you give us what we ask, why don't you straighten yourselves out?" After years of this, we are at almost the same point-because we demonstrated from a position of weakness. We cannot be expected any longer to march and have our heads broken in order to say to whites: come on, you're nice guys. For you are not nice guys. We have found you out.

An organization which claims to speak for the needs of a community - as does the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee - must speak in the tone of that community, not as somebody else's buffer zone. This is the significance of Black Power as a slogan. For once, black people are going to use words they want to use - not just the words whites want to hear. And they will do this no matter how often the press tries to stop the use of the slogan by equating it with racism or separatism.

An organization which claims to be working for the needs of a community - as SNCC does - must work to provide that community with a position of strength from which to makes its voice heard. This is the significance of Black Power beyond the slogan.

Black Power can be clearly defined for those who do not attach the fears of white America to their question about it. We should begin with the basic fact that black Americans have two problems: they are poor and they are black. All other problems arise from this two-sided reality: lack of education, the so-called apathy of black men. Any program to end racism must address itself to that double reality.

Almost from the beginning, SNCC sought to address itself to both conditions with a program aimed at winning political power for impoverished Southern blacks. We had to begin with politics because black Americans are a propertyless people in a country where property is valued above all. We had to work for power, because this country does not function by morality, love, and nonviolence, but by power. Thus we determined to win political power, with the idea of moving on from there into activity that would have economic effects. With power, the masses could make or participate in making the decisions which govern their destinies, and thus create basic change in their day-to-day lives.

But if political power seemed to be key to self-determination, it was also obvious that they key had been thrown down a deep well many years earlier.

Disenfranchisement, maintained by racist terror, made it impossible to talk about organizing for political power in 1960. The right to vote had to be won, and SNCC workers devoted their energies to this from 1961 to 1965. They set up voter registration drives in the Deep South. They created pressure for the vote by holding mock elections in Mississippi in 1963 and by helping to establish the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) in 1964. That struggle was eased, though not won, with the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. SNCC workers could then address themselves to the question: "Who can we vote for, to have our needs met - how do we make our vote meaningful?"

SNCC had already gone to Atlantic City for recognition of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party by the Democratic convention and been rejected; it had gone with the MFDP to Washington for recognition by Congress and had been rejected. In Arkansas, SNCC helped thirty Negroes to run for School Board elections; all but one were defeated, and there was evidence of fraud and intimidation sufficient to cause their defeat. In Atlanta, Julian Bond ran for the state legislature and was elected - twice - and unseated - twice. In several states, black farmers ran in elections for agricultural committees which make crucial decisions concerning land use, loans, etc. Although they won place on a number of committees, they never gained the majorities needed to control them.

All of the efforts were attempts to win Black Power. Then, in Alabama, the opportunity came to see how blacks could be organized on an independent party basis. An unusual Alabama law provides that any group of citizens can nominate candidates for county office and, if they win 20 percent of the vote, may be recognized as a county political party. The same then applies on a state level. SNCC went to organize in several counties such as Lowndes, where black people - who form 80 percent of the population and have an average annual income of $943 - felt they could accomplish nothing within the framework of the Alabama Democratic Party because of its racism and because the qualifying fee for this year's elections was raised from $50 to $500 in order to prevent most Negroes from becoming candidates.

On May 3, five new county "freedom organizations" convened and nominated candidates for the offices of sheriff, tax assessor, members of the school boards. These men and women are up for election in November -if they live until then. Their ballot symbol is the black panther: a bold, beautiful animal, representing the strength and dignity of black demands today. A man needs a black panther on his side when he and his family must endure-as hundreds of Alabamians have endured - loss of job, eviction, starvation, and sometimes death, for political activity. He may also need a gun and SNCC reaffirms the right of black men everywhere to defend themselves when threatened or attacked.

As for initiating the use of violence, we hope that such programs as ours will make that unnecessary; but it is not for us to tell black communities whether they can or cannot use any particular form of action to resolve their problems. Responsibility for the use of violence by black men, whether in self-defense or initiated by them, lies with the white community.

This is the specific historical experience from which SNCC's call for "Black Power" emerged on the Mississippi march last July. But the concept of "Black Power" is not a recent or isolated phenomenon: It has grown out of the ferment of agitation and activity by different people and organizations in many black communities over the years. Our last year of work in Alabama added a new concrete possibility. In Lowndes County, for example, Black Power will mean that if a Negro is elected sheriff, he can end police brutality. If a black man is elected tax assessor, he can collect and channel funds for the building of better roads and schools serving black people thus advancing the move from political power into the economic arena. In such areas as Lowndes, where black men have a majority, they will attempt to use it to exercise control. This is what they seek: control.

Where Negroes lack a majority, Black Power means proper representation and sharing of control. It means the creation of power bases from which black people can work to change statewide or nationwide patterns of oppression through pressure from strength - instead of weakness. Politically, Black Power means what it has always meant to SNCC: the coming-together of black people to elect representatives and to force those representatives to speak to their needs. It does not mean merely putting black faces into office. A man or woman who is black and from the slums cannot be automatically expected to speak to the needs of black people. Most of the black politicians we see around the country today are not what SNCC means by Black Power. The power must be that of a community, and emanate from there.

SNCC today is working in both North and South on programs of voter registration and independent political organizing. In some places such as Alabama, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, and New Jersey, independent organizing under the black panther symbol is in progress. The creation of a National "Black Panther Party" must come about; it will take time to build, and it is much too early to predict its success. We have no infallible master plan and we make no claim to exclusive knowledge of how to end racism; different groups will work in their own different ways. SNCC cannot spell out the full logistics of self-determination but it can address itself to the problem of helping black communities define their needs, realize their strength, and go into action along a variety of lines which they must choose for themselves. Without knowing all the answers, it can address itself to the basic problem of poverty; to the fact that in Lowndes County, eighty-six white families own 90 percent of the land. What are black people in that county to do for jobs, where are they going to get money? There must be reallocation of land, of money.

Ultimately, the economic foundations of this country must be shaken if black people are to control their lives. The colonies of the United States - and this includes the black ghettoes within its borders, North and South - must be liberated. For a century, this nation has been like an octopus of exploitation, its tentacles stretching from Mississippi and Harlem to South America, the Middle East southern Africa, and Vietnam; the form of exploitation varies from area to area but the essential result has been the same - a powerful few have been maintained and enriched at the expense of the poor and voiceless colored masses. This pattern must be broken. As its grips loosen here and there around the world, the hopes of black Americans become more realistic. For racism to die, a totally different America must be born.

This is what the white society does not wish to face; this is why that society prefers to talk about integration. But integration speaks not at all to the problem of poverty, only to the problem of blackness. Integration today means the man who "makes it," leaving his black brothers behind in the ghetto as fast as his new sports car will take him. It has no relevance to the Harlem wino or to the cotton-picker making $3 a day. As a lady I know in Alabama once said, "The food that Ralph Bunche eats doesn't fill my stomach."

Integration, moreover, speaks to the problem of blackness in a despicable way. As a goal, it has been based on complete acceptance of the fact that in order to have a decent house of education, blacks must move into a white neighborhood or send their children to a white school. This reinforces, among both black and white, the idea that "white" is automatically better and "black" is by definition inferior. This is why integration is a subterfuge for the maintenance of white supremacy. It allows the nation to focus on a handful of Southern children who get into white schools, at great price, and to ignore the 94 percent who are left behind in unimproved all-black schools.

Such situations will not change until black people have power to control their own school boards, in this case. Then Negroes become equal in a way that means something, and integration ceases to be a one-way street. Then integration doesn't mean draining skills and energies from the ghetto into white neighborhoods; then it can mean white people moving from Beverly Hills into Watts, white people joining the Lowndes County Freedom Organization. Then integration becomes relevant.

Last April, before the furor over Black Power, Christopher Jencks wrote in a New Republic article on white Mississippi's manipulation of the anti-poverty program:

"The war on poverty has been predicated on the notion that there is such a thing as a community which can be defined geographically and mobilized for a collective effort to help the poor. This theory has no relationship to reality in the Deep South. In every Mississippi county there are two communities. Despite all the pious platitudes of the moderates on both sides, these two communities habitually see their interest in terms of conflict rather than cooperation. Only when the Negro community can muster enough political, economic, and professional strength to compete on somewhat equal terms, will Negroes believe in the possibility of true cooperation and whites accept its necessity. En route to integration, the Negro community needs to develop greater independence - a chance to run its own affairs and not cave in whenever "the man" barks…. Or so it seems to me, and to most of the knowledgeable people with whom I talked in Mississippi. To OEO this judgment may sound like black nationalism…"

Mr. Jencks, a white reporter, perceived the reason why America's antipoverty program has been a sick farce in both North and South. In the South, it is clearly racism which prevents the poor from running their own programs; in the North, it more often seems to be politicking and bureaucracy. But the results are not so different:

In the North non-whites make up 42 percent of all families in metropolitan "poverty areas" and only 6 percent of families in areas classified as not poor. SNCC has been working with local residents in Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi to achieve control by the poor of the programs and its funds; it has also been working with groups in the North, and the struggle is no less difficult.

Behind it all is a federal government which cares far more about winning the war on the Vietnamese than the war on poverty; which has put the poverty program in the hands of self-serving politicians and bureaucrats rather than the poor themselves; which is unwilling to curb the misuse of white power but quick to condemn Black Power.

To most whites, Black Power seems to mean that the Mau Mau are coming to the suburbs at night. The Mau Mau are coming, and whites must stop them. Articles appear about plots to "get Whitey," creating an atmosphere in which "law and order must be maintained." Once again, responsibility is shifted from the oppressor to the oppressed. Other whites chide, "Don't forget - you're only 10 percent of the population; if you get too smart, we'll wipe you out." If they are liberals, they complain, "What about me? - Don't you want my help any more?" These are people supposedly concerned about black Americans, but today they think first of themselves, of their feelings of rejection. Or they admonish, "You can't get anywhere without coalitions," when there is in fact no group at present with whom to form a coalition in which blacks will not be absorbed and betrayed. Or they accuse us "polarizing the races" by our calls for black unity, when the true responsibility for polarization lies with whites who will not accept their responsibility as the majority power for making the democratic process work.

White America will not face the problem of color, the reality of it. The well-intended say: "We're all human, everybody is really decent, we must forget color." But color cannot be "forgotten" until its weight is recognized and dealt with. White America will not acknowledge that the ways in which this country sees itself are contradicted by being black - and always have been. Whereas most of the people who settled this country came here for freedom or economic opportunity, blacks were brought here to be slaves.

When the Lowndes County Freedom Organization chose the black panther as its symbol, it was christened by the press "the Black Panther Party" - but the Alabama Democratic Party, who symbol is a rooster, has never been called the White Cock Party. No one ever talked about "white power" because power in this country is white. All this adds up to more than merely identifying a group phenomenon by some catchy name or adjective. The furor over that black panther reveals the problem that white America has with color and sex; the furor over "Black Power" reveals how deep racism runs and the great fear which is attached to it.

Whites will not see that I, for example, as a person oppressed because of my blackness, have common cause with other blacks who are oppressed because of blackness. This is not to say that there are no white people who see things as I do, but that it is black people I must speak to first. It must be the oppressed to whom SNCC addresses itself primarily, not to friends from the oppressing group. From birth, black people are told a set of lies about themselves. We are told that we are lazy - yet I drive through the Delta area of Mississippi and watch black people picking cotton in the hot sun for fourteen hours. We are told, "If you work hard, you'll succeed" - but if that were true, black people would own this country. We are oppressed because we are black - not because we are lazy, not because we're stupid (and got good rhythm), but because we are black.

I remember that when I was a boy, I used to go to see Tarzan movies on Saturday. White Tarzan used to beat up the black natives. I would sit there yelling, "Kill the beasts, kill the savages, kill 'em!" I was saying: Kill me. It was as if a Jewish boy watched Nazis taking Jews off to concentration camps and cheered them on. Today, I want the chief to beat hell out of Tarzan and send him back to Europe. But it takes time to become free of the lies and their shaming effect on black minds. It takes time to reject the most important lie: That black people inherently can't do the same things white people can do, unless white people help them.

The need for psychological equality is the reason why SNCC today believes that blacks must organize in the black community. Only black people can convey the revolutionary idea that black people are able to do things themselves. Only they can help create in the community an aroused and continuing black consciousness that will provide the basis for political strength. In the past, white allies have further white supremacy without the whites involved realizing it - or wanting it. I think. Black people must do things for themselves; they must get poverty money they will control and spend themselves; they must conduct tutorial programs themselves so black children can identify with black people. This is one reason Africa has such importance: the reality of black men ruling their own nations gives blacks elsewhere a sense of possibility, of power, which they do not now have.

This does not mean we don't welcome help or friends. But we want the right to decide whether anyone is, in fact, our friend. In the past, black Americans have been almost the only people whom everybody could jump up and call their friends. We have been tokens, symbols, objects, - as I was in high school to many young whites, who like having a "a Negro friend." We want to decide who is our friend, an we will not accept someone who comes to us and says: "If you do X, Y, and Z, then I'll help you." We will not be isolated from any group or nation except by our own choice. We cannot have the oppressors telling the oppressed how to rid themselves of the oppressor.

I have said that most liberal whites react to "Black Power" with the question, "What about me?" rather than saying "Tell me what you want me to do and I'll see if I can do it." There are answers to the right question. One of the most disturbing things about white supporters of the movement has been that they are afraid to go into their own communities-which is where the racism exists - and work to get rid of it. They want to run from Berkeley to tell us what to do in Mississippi; let them look instead at Berkeley. They admonish blacks to be nonviolent; let them preach nonviolence in the white community They come to teach me Negro history; let them go to the suburbs and open up freedom schools for whites. Let them work to stop America's racist foreign policy; let them pressure this government to cease supporting the economy of South Africa.

There is a vital job to be done among poor whites. We hope to see eventually a coalition between poor blacks and poor whites. That is the only coalition which seems acceptable to us, and we see such coalition as the major internal instrument of change in America society. SNCC has tried several times to organize poor whites; we are trying again now, with an initial training program in Tennessee. It is purely academic today to talk about bringing poor blacks and whites together but the job of creating a poor-white power bloc must be attempted. The main responsibility for it falls upon whites. Black and white can work together in the white community where possible; it is not possible however, to go into a poor Southern town and talk about integration. Poor whites everywhere are becoming more hostile - not less - partly because they see the nation's attention focused on black poverty and nobody coming to them. Too many young middle-class Americans, like some sort of Pepsi generation, have wanted to come alive through the black community; they've wanted to be where the action is - and the action has been in the black community.

Black people do not want to "take over" this county. They don't want to "get whitey"; they just want to get him off their backs, as the saying goes. It was, for example the exploitation by Jewish landlords and merchants which first created black resentment toward Jews-not Judaism. The white man is irrelevant to blacks, except as an oppressive force. Blacks want to be in his place, yes, but not in order to terrorize and lynch and starve him. They want to be in his place because that is where a decent life can be had.

But our vision is not merely of a society in which all black men have enough to buy the good things of life. When we urge that black money go into black pockets, we mean the communal pocket. We want to see money go back into the community and used to benefit it. We want to see the cooperative concept applied in business and banking. We want to see black ghetto residents demand that an exploiting storekeeper sell them, at minimal cost, a building or a shop that they will own and improve cooperatively; they can back their demand with a rent strike, or a boycott, and a community so unified behind them that no one else will move into the building or buy at the store. The society we seek to build among black people, then, is not a capitalist one but a society in which the spirit of community and humanistic love prevail. The word "love" is suspect; black expectations of what it might produce have been betrayed too often. But those were expectations of a response from the white community, which failed us The love we seek to encourage is within the black community, the only American community where men call each other "brother' when they meet. We can build a community of love only where we have the ability and power to do so: among blacks.

As for white America, perhaps it can stop crying out against "black supremacy," "black nationalism," "racism in reverse," and begin facing reality. The reality is that this nation, from top to bottom, is racist; that racism is not primarily a problem of "human relation" but of an exploitation maintained - either actively or through silence - by the society as a whole. Camus and Sartre have asked, can a man condemn himself? Can whites, particularly liberal whites, condemn themselves? Can they stop blaming us, and blame their own system? Are they capable of the shame which might become a revolutionary emotion?

We have found that they usually cannot condemn themselves, and so we have done it. But the rebuilding of this society, if at all possible, is basically the responsibility of whites - not blacks. We won't fight to save the present society, in Vietnam or anywhere else. We are just going to work, in the way we see fit, and on goals we define, not for civil rights but for all our human rights.

[General]

The Term politics as articulated by Kwame Toure perhaps comes from an Marxist Interpretation of the Global Order. I have attempted to engage in critical analysis research in terms of Moving the black race forward. Now, when U say politics. I hope U do not speak of token voting. I think that to certain degree's persons of Afrikan Descent have mis-interpreted global marxist thought as being an example for persons of Afrikan descent. There is/was and will be trade amongst people on the planet. Always was/always will. Persons of Afrikan Descent who do not own land and technology i.e. control of the means of production have been and will be last in the scheme of Global Enterprise. There are many Revolutionaries that say "We demand Policies of Economic Development Vice Police Containment". Well then they do not engage in the proper Economic Development type of work. Many of these non critical thinking, non disciplined, non researched persons have limited themselves to calling something politics when the reality is the Major Corporations control governments. The question becomes what is the purpose of Politics? Well in America is is to manage Currencies. The word Current is in Currency. This is like a light bulb with electricity. One of the Roschild said give me control of the Nations Currency and "I Care not who the president is". That is deep. The ignoring of Land and the Ignoring of Commerce/Trade Relations between persons of Afrikan descent and other nations is a flaw and a weakness that many black persons have fallen for. Many so called Revolutionaries when I was involved with MATAH which is an organization that supports Black Manufacturers called this "Another Capitalist" Operation. Now, These same Ignorant people go and buy from Crackkkas. Are the black farmers who have had their land stolen by the government capitalist? So, the Revolutionaries if one can call them that will go to YT for food. I've seen it over and over. Kwame Toure, says that he read alot. I have studied his work. I personally believe that he didn't engage in the area of Development/Trade/Commerce something that Afrika has been cut off from throughout the world. Now, Russia and now China are changing there system and instituting mixed Economies. Kwame Toure existed in the 1960's. Today, We have access to the internet. We can search for many different books. I live close to the largest black bookstore on the East Coast. I have spent years in these black bookstores. I've seen what the political negro's do even the so-called black revolutionaries. They buy products from our competitors and enemies and don't think nothing of it. This is sick, they do this and say things like We are all oppressed people. The war is against Global Capitalism. As if lack of organizing our meager/peasant earnings to build a Nation is not an object. Many even beg for money via grants from the same government/NGO's that have adopted policies to destroy Afrikan people. This is what I call sick and what Dr. Amos Wilson called Sick. They will not put a single red cent to buy a Black Owned Super Market, but want to talk about Politics. Well, I tell you what. If U and all these other folks are financing any NON-African business. I'm not interested in token voting in a Global White System controlled by Rothschilds and Walmarts. They finance Campaigns and have real power.

[General]

If I may suggest brother. Where I get my analysis from. I have taken several peices of what I believe are critical research. I will list some of the more critical analysis.

1. The Crisis of the Negro Intellect by Harold Cruise
2. Dusk to Dawn, W.E.B Dubious, part where he speaks of Cooperatives
3. Intro to Black Studies Maluang Karenga particularly the part on Economics two Socialist address the issue of Cooperatives.
4. E. Franklin Frazier, Black Bourgisie. Part on Businesses and Cooperatives
5. Amos Wilson Blueprint to Black Power
6. Powernomics, Dr. Claud Anderson

These books will touch on the issue of Politics/Economics with more factually based, modernized, historic analysis right now on the conditions of Black people.

Now, We can call it Political organizing whatever we want to call it, but if for instance we are not Producing anything to neutralize the forces of Global Markets through establishing Global Pan Afrikan Trade Networks and limiting Euro-American-Japan-Chinese from dominating our communities where all of our wealth is sucked to the Imperialist Colony then no so called being political is worth the time. This go for so called Revolutionary that yell black power, but Korean, Arab, Asian and White Power have stores in our communities where 95% black folk give money to .1% Asian that live in our community. We can talk about Afrika rising all we want, but if we can not even rise in our own community where we can walk down the street or across town the limitations on effecting Global Afrika and Afrikan people throughout the world is not very critical. I've seen too many black folk demonstrate what I term "Ignorance on Fire". Folks just mad, How about us getting smart. Discipline, Reading, Studying and not just studying the sixties. There are enough books out if we visited black bookstores where we should be able to grow up with some folks that engage in serious study and analysis right now/today info. If anyone say they agree. I don't want any lip service its time to do. Its time for serious study!! Striving to maximize our TRUE FREEDOM!!

Uhuru