Union Government, Nationalism, International Affairs and the diaspora

[RWalker]

If Africa is ever to be united, if African people are ever to be secure where ever we are in the world, if Africa is ever to take its proper place in the world and reclaim it positive role in world development, it must be united under a single government...a government encompassing all the land of Africa and all the African people throughout the world. Such a government will fully answer Garvey's rhetorical question, where is the black man's army, men of affairs...industiries and so forth. We must have Union Government now, not later, after all we have lived under hellish conditions for centuries now. To wait any long is not patience, its idiocy and cowardice. We must all push Union Government with every ounce of strength and every bit of intellect we can muster individually and collectively. You know we can do it, our history shows that we are a brave, courageous, and resourceful people and culture. Let us not fail ourselves, let us not deny our destiny.

Immediately following my comments and the Malcolm quote on African nationalism you will find two articles, one about President Jintao of the People's Republic of China on China-Africa relationship and the second a call from a group of African ex-leaders calling for a greater effort to bring Africans from the diaspora back home.

Note the Chinese president's call for the AU to "enhance African Unity"...this in the end will be the sole determinant of Africa's progress. And it cannot be achieved without the will to fight the factors in the world, external and internal that stand against true African Unity...this is the only way Africa can have real democracy, a democracy based on the historic communalistic democracy that was the dominate aspect of pre-conquest Africa. However, such a will to fight will only come from the people(s) themselves. Official leadership.-- heads of state and government have way to much vested/personal interest in maintaining current circumstances...they aren't starving to death, they aren't homeless, they are victimized in a myriad of other ways ... hence it is only the most far-sighted and principled of the leadership who have fully embraced the cause of the people(s). It is up to all Pan-Africanists, all true African nationalists, to help the people develop the consciousness, structures and capabilities they will need to construct optimal African Unity.

This relates directly to the return of people from the diaspora. Africa must reconfigure herself so that African people en masse will want to go home. Right now most of the people outside of the continent feel like that they would be returning to a situation that is uncertain and ripe with instability...even with the horrors of captivity in the prison state of the US, most Africans here do not yet understand, that as Malcolm said, "anyplace is better than here..." so we must help our people see that Africa can be and will be the paradise on earth that they seek.


"I used to define Black nationalism as the idea that the Black man should control the economy of his community, the politics of his community, and so forth.

"But when I was in Africa in May, in Ghana, I was speaking with the Algerian ambassador who is extremely militant and is a revolutionary in the true sense of the word (and has his credentials as such for having carried on a successful revolution against oppression in his country). When I told him that my political, social, and economic philosophy was Black nationalism, he asked me very frankly: Well, where did that leave him? Because he was white. He was an African, but he was Algerian, and to all appearances, he was a white man. And he said if I define my objective as the victory of Black nationalism, where does that leave him? Where does that leave revolutionaries in Morocco, Egypt, Iraq, Mauritania? So he showed me where I was alienating people who were true revolutionaries dedicated to overturning the system of exploitation that exists on this earth by any means necessary.

"So I had to do a lot of thinking and reappraising of my definition of Black nationalism. Can we sum up the solution to the problems confronting our people as Black nationalism? And if you notice, I haven’t been using the expression for several months. But I still would be hard pressed to give a specific definition of the overall philosophy which I think is necessary for the liberation of the Black people in this country...."

Malcolm X, "Malcolm X Talks to Young People", January 18 1965



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China Unfolds 5-Point Agenda for Continent

This Day (Lagos)
NEWS
April 28, 2006
Posted to the web April 28, 2006

By Chuks Akunna
Abuja

The Peoples Republic of China yesterday unveiled a five-point agenda for the African continent, noting that development is a good thing, which should not be denied any part of the world.

China also disclosed that, as a country desirous of rapid development, its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) should by 2020 hit $4 trillion, and urged African countries to emulate its success story.

Addressing a joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja, visiting Chinese President, Mr. Hu Jintao said he was in Nigeria to "increase mutual trust, enhance mutually-beneficial cooperation, advance common development, and forge a new type of China-Africa strategic partnership."

According to the Chinese President, his country, being a third world country that is successfully breaking the yoke of poverty and underdevelopment, would like to see a strenghtening of "political mutual trust" with Africa, expand "win-win economic cooperation, increase cultural interaction, strengthen security cooperation, and maintain close coordination in international affairs."

According to President Jintao, China would also like to see the African Union taking steps to enhance African unity and cooperation and pledged in return to "maintain close contacts with African countries at the leadership level and promote communication and exchange between governments, parliaments, political parties and non-governmental organisations."

Part of the concessions granted Africa in the past, said the Chinese President, included zero-tariff on some export commodities, increasing aid to the heavily indebted countries, canceling their debts, providing concessional loans, providing effective medicine for treating malaria, and training professionals.

President Jintao said China would provide more scholarships to African students and, at the same time, encourage Chinese youth volunteers to work in Africa.
He indicated the willingness of his country to contribute more troops to United Nations' peacekeeping efforts in Africa.

China, Jintao added, will continue to promote "multilateralism and democracy and rule of law in international relations, establishing a new international political and economic order and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of Africa".

The Chinese President challenged the developed world to take a more than a passing interest in African affairs. "Africa's aspiration for peace and development deserves respect and sympathy," he tasked, stressing, "and the international community should be more focused on Africa's development and increase assistance."

Recalling what he said was the socio-cultural and political ties between China and Africa, including the 1955 Bandung Conference, President Jintao expressed satisfaction that, "today, China and Africa are good friends, good partners and good brothers."

"The world is undergoing profound and complex changes. Peace, development and cooperation are the calling of the times. Thanks to accelerated economic globalisation, countries are becoming increasingly interdependent and their interests are more closely interconnected. Working together to share opportunities, meet challenges and achieve common development is the desire of all peoples," noted the Chinese President.

Tasking Africa to emulate his country's success story, President Jintao conceded that China is weighed down by a population in excess of 1.3 billion, but that concerted plans have been adopted to keep China on the right economic track.

By year 2010, he said, China's per capital GDP should double that of 2000, while the energy consumption per GDP should dip by 20 percent from what it was in 2005.

With a projected per capital income of $3000 by 2020, President Jintao expressed the confidence that China would "have a more developed economy, democracy, more advanced science and education, a more developed culture, greater social harmony and higher living standards."

In apparent reference to the growing anxiety of the developed world over China's giant strides, particularly in the field of science and technology, the Chinese leader said the apprehensions were unnecessary given China's history of embracing peace.

"History has proved and will continue to prove that China's development is peaceful, open and cooperative in nature. China's development will not pose a threat to anyone. On the contrary, it will bring more development and opportunities to the world."

At the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, holding in November in Beijing, China, the country's president said "a 2007-2009 action plan for the Forum on China-Africa relations will be adopted." This, he added, "will provide a framework of cooperation between the two sides in the next three years."

At the joint session, which had in attendance Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Ibrahim Arab, presidential assembly assistants, Senators Florence Ita Giwa, Hon. Bala Kaoje and Lumumba Dah Adeh, the Chinese President eulogised Nigeria as a "beautiful land" and said he looked forward to receiving President Olusegun Obasanjo in Beijing "to discuss ways to further our cooperation." In his welcome address entitled "China: A Partner and Example of Development and Democracy," Senate President and chairman of the joint session, Senator Ken Nnamani, observed that China has become "a good model for Nigeria in its quest for an authentic and stable development ideology." Listing China's outstanding performance exclusive of western democracy as "the paradox of development and democracy," Nnamani held that China was a lesson to "Nigeria on the enormous good that a focused and patriotic leadership can do to realise the dreams of prosperity and security for the citizens."

In embracing China, however, Nnamani cautioned that it should not only be in field of economic prosperity since, according to him, "its (China's) steady and gradual democratisation confirms the lesson that no nation can sustain economic development in the long run without democracy."



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21/04/2006 14:43 JOHANNESBURG, April 21 (AFP) Ex-African leaders call on diaspora to help development

Ten former African presidents on Friday called on Africa's diaspora, especially in the United States, to return and use their skills and economic power to help develop the world's poorest continent.

Former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda made the call at a two-day gathering in Johannesburg of the leaders including Botswana's Ketumile Masire, Pierre Buyoya of Burundi, Kenya's Daniel arap Moi and Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania.

"There are (numerous) reasons why African leaders need to be more strategic in cultivating a relationship with the diaspora," said Kaunda, who ruled Zambia from 1964 until handing over power in 1991.

"Seven hundred and fifty billion dollars is the annual aggregate income of African Americans. That economic potential needs to be harnessed for Africa's development and to create expanded economic opportunities for African people worldwide," Kaunda told a press conference.

A severe skills shortage in Africa also needed be addressed, he said.
There were 200,000 African scientists in the United States, more than on the entire continent, Kaunda said. There were 40,000 African doctoral graduates outside Africa, he added.

"It is important to do more than lay out a welcome mat to encourage our brothers and sisters to come back home," he said.

"We must develop strategies to recruit and encourge and demonstrate that we are serious about their return," he said.

Ex-Ghanian leader Jerry Rawlings said the image and stature of leaders like South Africa's Nelson Mandela did much to improve how the continent was perceived by the West.

"(It) brought so much goodwill to Africa, and South Africa did in fact take advantage of that goodwill," he said.

The two-day talk-shop was organised by Boston University's African Presidential Archives and Research Centre and the University of the Witwatersrand based in Johannesburg.

Also attending were Nicephore Soglo of Benin, Aristides Pereira of Cape Verde, Karl Offman of Mauritius and Ali Hassan Mwinyi of Tanzania.


©2006 AFP