Despite Africa having more than 40 per cent of the world's
resources, its people are among the world's poorest people. This situation is
the direct result of the collaboration between the current African leaders and
their accomplices and masters in the West against the legitimate interests and
aspirations of the people.
The term “socialism” has become a necessity in political speeches
and writings of many African leaders but what real meaning does the term retain
in the context of contemporary African politics? Socialism in Africa today
tends to one of general confusion. The idea of developing a nationally based
economy with a large state sector is hardly unusual, for ruling elites have long
carried out nationalisations and occasionally made limited improvements in
education and health care. Nationalise the mines, for instance, is a demand
taken up loudly in recent months by the Economic Freedom Fighters in South
Africa. It is a demand made by many in the labour movement but to equate
nationalisation with socialism is erroneous. Competition and accumulation. This
is the underlying dynamic that defines the system, nothing else. The only real
alternative to this would be a co-operative system based on community needs.
And for this to operate would require the extension of democratic control to
all aspects of society: political, economic and social. Whether or not some
form of nationalisation would provide any solution is doubtful, but regardless
it would not be socialist.
Back in 1880, Frederick Engels, collaborating with Karl
Marx, noted: "But, the transformation -- either into joint-stock companies
and trusts, or into State-ownership -- does not do away with the capitalistic
nature of the productive forces." Engels went on to point out that the
more the state takes over the productive forces "the more citizens does it
exploit". In cases of this kind -- and the various "socialist
countries" as well as apartheid South Africa provide good examples -- the
states have (and had) a high degree of nationalised industry coupled with a
dearth of democracy. This fusion of state and capital is merely, to use Engels'
term, "national capitalist". But this also means that the inevitable
conflict between employers and employees becomes revolutionary: workers versus
the state.
We know that the “traditional African society” was founded
on principles of egalitarianism. Islamic expansionism and European colonialism
permanently changed the complexion of the traditional African society. In
traditional African society everybody was a worker. There was no other way of
earning a living for the community. Even the Elder, who appeared to be enjoying
himself without doing any work and for whom everybody else appeared to be
working, had, in fact, worked hard all his younger days. The wealth he now
appeared to possess was not his, personally; it was only "his" as the
Elder of the group which had produced it. He was its guardian. The wealth
itself gave him neither power nor prestige. The respect paid to him by the
young was his because he was older than they and had served his community
longer; and the "poor" Elder enjoyed as much respect in our society
as the "rich" Elder. The capitalist, or the landed exploiter, unknown
to traditional African society. Capitalistic exploitation was impossible. In
tribal society, the individuals or the families within a tribe were
"rich" or "poor" according to whether the whole tribe was
rich or poor. If the tribe prospered, all the members of the tribe shared in
its prosperity. The foreigner introduced a completely different concept, the
concept of land as a marketable commodity. According to this system, a person
could claim a piece of land as his own private property whether he intended to
use it or not.
“African-socialism” was like “Arab-socialism”, an attempt by
leftist nationalists to unite “socialism” with traditions. They wished to keep
African culture of tribalism intact but under a state system of planning.
Julius Nyerere was the first president of an independent Tanzania and also a
founding father of “African-socialism.” He nationalised the economy, but gave
no power to the working class. His top-down African style ''socialism'' led to
huge mismanagement and corruption. This was because the government acted very
authoritarian and did not tolerate political dissident. People who protested
against the bureaucracy were called ''enemies'' and jailed. Today, the
bureaucratic elites offer nationalism and present themselves as liberators.
Because they control the state and most of the media, they rule as a dominate
party over their nation.
Yet nationalist movements and governments throughout Africa have
been completely unable to halt the devastating impact of global capitalism on
the continent or to secure any real independence. Africa, a continent with
virtually all the resources it takes for development, is the worst hit by
hunger, starvation, armed conflicts, instability, population displacement and
abject poverty. Politicians, jockeying for the little resources left by the
capitalist class, display the politics of hide-and-seek, repression and
oppression. This is mainly because of the system which encourages capital
accumulation and profit-seeking. The cumulative effect is flagrant corruption,
deprivation, wastage and impoverishment which intensifies underdevelopment. No
worker can look to Africa without noting that capitalism stands side by side
with the most reactionary forces in that blighted continent. Class rule has
never been more than superficially concerned with tolerance, morality, equality
or justice. But few ruling classes have succeeded in establishing for so long
as complete and inexorable an apparatus of police-state control, brutal
repression and vicious exploitation as in many of Africa's dictatorships.
The interest of corporate wealth is what shapes foreign
policy in capitalist countries. Children are misused and exploited in factories
from Asia to the Caribbean to produce everything from tennis shoes to baseballs
at wages that won't buy a decent meal and surely not the products they produce.
Corporate icons like "Disney" and "Nike" are used to soften
the image of the multi-nationals. African people are poor, and are badly ruled.
It is also a fact that the continent itself is not poor. Africa is endowed with
the world’s most strategic resources; minerals, oil, good soils, weather and
fresh water which are routinely exploited. The majority of our people who bear
the brunt of the misrule and the dehumanising poverty do not seem to know where
to point their accusing finger; they blame it on the devil, as their pastors
tell them.
Africa has a fair share of educated people. These are the
people that are in positions of leadership. They are supposed to think for
their people. Unfortunately, these “educated” people, though not the real cause
of the poverty and misrule, are the drivers of these afflictions. The sad part
of this fact is that most of them do not know that they are unconscious drivers
of these miserable conditions that they, sometimes unintentionally, inflict on
their own people. Some of them would genuinely wish to help their people.
However, goodwill is irrelevant, if you are not clear about the problem you are
trying to solve. Doctors say that accurate diagnosis of a disease is half the
cure because you know what you are dealing with. Our educated people do not go
for the proper diagnosis of what ails Africa, which is why we can never find
the cure for poverty and bad governance.
Today, if you asked an African professor of political
science, economics or law or any other scholar, or practising politician, what
they think about Africa’s problems, they will without a second’s hesitation
answer that it is corruption on the part of the African leaders, dictatorship,
absence of democracy or simply leaders who do not want to leave office. They
would not give you a functional definition of “democracy”. These answers are,
in their short form, correct but simplistic because they cannot give a full
explanation of the phenomenon. And without full answers, you cannot fix the
problems of poverty and bad governance.
We must come to terms with the fact that we are poor because
our resources are stolen, and that misrule is a consequence, not the cause. For
sure we can find some of the looted wealth in our leaders’ wallets or bank
accounts. What we see in those places is a good and illegal accumulation for
themselves and their families, but not enough to account for everything that
has been stolen from the continent. Someone else is taking a lot more. To that
end our leaders are actually well-remunerated security guards whose work is to
keep us down as their masters continue to loot, exactly the way they have been
doing since the advent of colonial aggression. National independence was a
change of guards. Instead of colonial governors, African rulers are doing the
job.
The struggle in Africa will not put an end to all the
oppression in the world. But that struggle is part of an international class
struggle which, as socialists, we believe must culminate in the worldwide overthrow
of capitalism and the establishment of a world socialism. Until that struggle
is won, the system of class rule and the nationalism it breeds will remain
international —so, too, must the resistance and solidarity of the workers of
the world.
The World Socialist Movement wishes you a rebellious 2015
and sends solidarity New Year greetings to all those exploited by capitalism
while pledging we will continue our fight for a socialist alternative to
capitalism. We invite you to join us in making a New Year’s resolution to fight
like hell against the capitalists. There's no time to delay—the time to start
organising is now. There is no better time than now to join us and become part
of the world socialist movement for human liberation. It is crucial that we
join the dots and fight the austerity agendas of the governments throughout the
globe and avoid the trap of engaging in multiple piecemeal, single-issue
campaigns.
Leaders across the globe use New Year’s Eve as convenient
opportunity to echo festive messages of peace and optimism. Capitalism so far
has had everything its own way. Racism and xenophobia and nationalism and
patriotism and every other tactic of division have been promoted relentlessly
over the past year. Whatever could be desired on the political or the
industrial field has come to capitalism, and still it is not content. The old
year saw the working class defeated in many strikes. It saw the working class, despite
the gigantic swing of production, poorer than ever. It saw millions around the
globe crawling humbly to pick up the crumbs that fell from the table of plenty
during Christmas. It saw more destitution, more misery, more violent deaths,
more working people murdered and more families shattered than during any
previous year through the criminal and wanton carelessness of the capitalist.
Stripped of all, the people now face this, the New Year.
The only ray of hope that lightens the dark sky of the
working class is the steadily burning flame of socialism. The hope of a happy
New Year to the working class rests on it, and on it alone. It will be a much
happy New Year when the workers turn to it and fight for it. 2015 will be a
very busy year for the World Socialist Movement in its struggle against the
capitalist system. The WSM will continue providing the socialist alternative to
capitalism. We wish all our readers a “Happy New Year”. We do so wish them. But
such a wish rings better when it is accompanied by a belief that the wish may
actually be realised. So, in the spirit of the season, let us no longer follow
the whims of those who wish to command and control society.
Workers of the
World, unite!
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