A Press Statement made at the Action Group Federal Headquarters, Lagos, on 28th June, 1961.
From the beginning of recorded history, the black man has been the most conspicuous butt of all manner of inhuman treatment. In the palaces of the Arabian Potentates – both in the Middle East and in North Africa – he was degraded and enslaved. When the so-called ‘Dark Continent of Africa’ was discovered, the European marauders hunted him down like a common beast, captured him, and sold him into slavery in the Americas and the West Indies. The era of trading in, and of enforcing the services of black slaves, was terminated only to be replaced by the European Powers which initiated it with a legalized form of political and economic enslavement of the entire black peoples of the Continent of Africa. The scramble for Africa as well as the permanent settlement of Europeans in certain parts of Africa was motivated wholly and solely, and without any redeeming feature, by the political, economic and military self-interests of the European powers which engaged in that unholy adventure.
In 1885, the imperialist powers concerned assembled in Berlin to settle their differences over Africa by determining the final shareout among them of its vast territory and peoples. The resulting allocations were arbitrary, and the boundaries drawn were artificial. For more than sixty years thereafter, black Africa suffered under the grinding heels of alien conquerors and settlers. Today, for most parts of Black Africa, the inhuman, humiliating and degrading position delineated above remains more or less the same. In this connection FIVE significant points are worth noting.
Firstly, our Continent is now plagued by the paradox of a collection of states (many of them small and some of them not too viable) which are ostensibly independent, but which in reality are far from being genuinely free or sovereign. For instance, all the countries which met recently at Monrovia (The Monrovia Powers) had had imposed on them at the time of their attainment of independence, military and economic ties which seriously detract from the sovereignty which their respective constitutions purport to confer on them.
Secondly, the minority white settlers in Algeria, Kenya and the Central African Federation, regard the majority indigenous Africans as an inferior specie of homo sapiens. The rights and opportunities which the white settlers arrogate to themselves and enjoy are denied to the indigenous Africans. No chicanery, no divisive methods, however wicked, are considered by the white settlers and some of their brothers and sisters at home, to be too mean to employ in sowing discord and dissension among the Africans in order to prolong the latter’s political and economic subjection.
Thirdly, with the application of the apartheid policy in South Africa, indigenous Africans are ‘being treated as so many heads of cattle. When this evil policy reaches the apex of its implementation, the 10 million black Africans in South Africa will be forcibly’ herded into an area called Bantustan which is less than 13 per cent of their God-given land. The white settlers who number about 3 million will occupy the rest which is somewhat more than 87 per cent and which happens to be the richest and the most fertile of South African territory, It has been estimated by Dr. Verwoerd himself that by the turn of this century the population of the black Africans would have risen to 20 millions whilst that of the white settlers would remain more or less the same. The gruesome prospect of 10 million and later 20 million black Africans crowding into 60,000 square miles of semi-barren land as against 3 million whites occupying 410,000 square miles of exceedingly rich and fertile land does not give the South African rulers together with their secret allies any qualm of conscience.
Fourthly, no sooner had Belgium pretended to confer independence on Congo than she and her allies in NATO proceeded to subvert the new regime. According to an influential British journal, the cold-blooded murder of Patrice Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of Congo, was the direct result of the subversive activities of one of the countries of the Western Bloc. The economic enslavement of Congo by Belgium and its allies in NATO has reasserted itself. The turmoil, famine, deaths and other evils which afflicted the young Republic were deliberately fomented and instigated by the Western imperialists as an essential prelude to the restoration and strengthening of their former economic stranglehold on that country.
Fifthly, Angola supplies an eloquent pointer to the intentions of the Western Imperialists towards some of their remaining colonies in Africa. In Angola, African nationalists are being slaughtered in their thousands by Portugal. The only offence of these Africans is that they dare to demand freedom for their fatherland. In her unprecedented acts of genocide in Angola, Portugal is given open and unabashed support by Spain, and subtle but no less open support by Britain.
The catalogue is by no means complete and the points already made can bear elaborate expatiation. But I think I have said enough to enable any right-thinking person to arrive at the conclusion that, barring a handful of countries on the Continent, Africa is still as ever under Western imperialist bondage.
In the prevailing circumstances, we have to make a choice from three mutually exclusive alternatives. We may take the line of least resistance and allow the Western Imperialists to continue to hold us in thrall; or by our complacency and by falling prey to the sweet advances of Western Imperialists, we may give cause (albeit unwittingly) for the forces of extremism to gather strength and subsequently erupt, with disastrous consequences for all of us; or we may see wisdom in purposeful unity to the ends (a) that all the countries of Africa shall, at the earliest possible time, be truly free and sovereign; and (b) that the Blackman shall be absolute and undisputed master in his own home, and shall enjoy unaffected and unpatronising equality with the other races of the world.
The first alternative does not merit any consideration. All African nationalists are determined that Africa shall be free Incomplete or diminished sovereignty is more insidious than open subjection. In the one case the imperialist continues to perpetrate his mischief behind the scenes, using the indigenous rulers as catspaws and thereby escaping the just condemnation of the world. In the other, because he is directly responsible for the consequences of his doings and misdoings. he is more circumspect in his actions in order to avoid the odium of adverse world opinion. The second alternative is out of the question. Africa has
been too late in the race for progress. It cannot afford to behave like the mythical Phoenix in the confident belief that by burning and destroying itself a more glorious Africa would arise from the ashes of the dead.
The only choice open to us is the third alternative. It is in respect of this that I have some definite proposals to make.
Before I make these proposals, it will, I think, be helpful, if I first of all adumbrate the aims which, in my considered view, we must set out to achieve, as well as the principles or considerations by which our thoughts and actions must be guided in the pursuit of our declared objectives.
The aims and objects of all sincere Afiican nationalists should be:
- To win without delay complete freedom and sovereignty for all those African States which are at present only nominally independent (a) by the abrogation of any military or defence pact or ties as well as of all rights and privileges appurtenant to such pact or ties and (b) by the elimination of undue economic or technical dependence on any single alien country.
- To set a target date or dates in the very near future for the complete liberation of all colonial territories wherever they may be on the Continent of Africa.
- The immediate termination of the existence of any military base in any part of Africa and the evacuation of all occupation troops on the Continent whether they are attached to specific military bases or not.
- The immediate extermination of apartheid in South Africa.
- The outlawry of any form of discrimination or segregation against the black peoples in particular and Africans in general, in Africa and in other parts of the world.
- To uphold and defend the dignity of the African (particularly black African), and the sovereignty of any independent African State against derogation or violation from any quarter whatsoever.
- To promote and establish a community of interests among all the people of Africa, and to this end to work assiduously for the realization of the ideal of a political union or a confederacy (whichever is practicable in the prevailing circumstances) among all African States.
- As a first practical step towards the emergence of an All-African political union, to take immediate steps to divide the Continent into zones.
- To influence the immediate introduction in each Zone of a customs and monetary union as well as economic, technical, cultural and other forms of essential cooperation, and to foster an early emergence of a political union among the independent countries situate within each Zone.
- Non-involvement of all African countries in the present East- West power politics and struggles as well as non-partisanship in the Arab-Israeli dispute and conflict.
Having set out the aims and objects, what then are the principles by which we ought to be guided in pursuing these aims and objects?
In certain parts of the world today and in spite of their vaunted civilization, the colour of the skin still counts for very much – far more than a man’s personality, his character and the calibre of his brain. The fairer the skin, the greater the respect and the better the treatment he receives and can evoke. The colour of his skin, in spite of his intellectual equality with his white-skinned fellow-Americans, has militated against the Negroes’ holding any top post in the public life of the United States today. In Egypt the darker-skinned Egyptians, contemptuously called the Felahin, are a depressed majority in that ancient land. They do not enjoy social and political equality with their fairer-skinned fellow Egyptians. The Mullatoes, in certain parts of the world, assume an air of superiority over their darker-skinned brothers and sisters, and are in any case placed on a higher pedestal by their white progenitors. Even in South Africa, Kenya, Central African Federation and in some other parts of the world, the fairer-skinned Asians and Arabs enjoy far better and more humane treatment than the black people. The first principle which I, therefore, advocate is that, in the present context of the world, the Blackman qua the colour of his skin is confronted with certain knotty and intractable problems which are peculiar to him.
No nation or group of people in the world today can Successfully solve their more important problems in isolation. ‘Two heads are better than one,’ says an old adage. But for the two heads to be better than one, they must be sympathetically attuned and harmoniously united in tackling the problems which confront one or both of them. The second principle, therefore, is that the best interests of Africa lie only in cooperation between any African nation or group of African nations on the one hand, with any other nation of the world on the other hand, which is genuinely in sympathy with the aspirations of Africa as summed up in the aims and objects already stated above.
There are six continents in the world – Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Australia and Africa. Of these, the most despised, through the ages, is Africa. It is only on our continent that naked colonialism or neo-colonialism in various guises is still firmly in the saddle. There are probably some 200 million Negroes in the World. Of these about 170 million are on the Continent of Africa. It is clear from these facts that the battle for the final destruction of colonialism or neo-colonialism, and for respect for the Negro peoples wherever they may be in the world, will be fought and won only in Africa. The third principle which I am urging, therefore, is that all the countries and peoples on the Continent owe it as a duty to Mother Africa to plan and work in concert until the aims and objects before-mentioned have been fully achieved.
I advocate the immediate setting up of an ORGANISATION FOR AFRICAN COMMUNITY. The membership of the Organisation should be confined to African Political Parties or Nationalist Movements. In other words, Governments as such would not be eligible for membership. The reasons for confirming membership to political parties or nationalist movements are simple. Governments are bound by international law and usage which nationalist movements are not obliged to observe. Some time ago, the All-Africa People’s Congress resolved to recruit Africans and send them as volunteers to fight on the side of the Algerian nationalists. If either the Casablanca Powers or the Monrovia Powers were to pass a similar resolution, it would be interpreted by France as declaration of war, or at all events as an unfriendly act. Furthermore, by confining membership, to political parties or national movements, it will be possible to admit into the Organisation:
- a) the African Nationalist Movements in South Africa, Central African Federation, Kenya, and other dependent African territories;
- b) all the political parties in a country with a two-party or multi-party system; and
- c) the nationalist movements in Egypt – if they are separable from those in Syria.
Before any nationalist party or movement is admitted into the organization, it must avow its unshaken faith in every one of the aims which I have outlined above. Any party or movement which finds itself unable to adopt the aims, in their entirety, would not qualify for admission.
The Organisation should have a permanent secretariat which should be well-staffed; and it would draw its funds from the following sources: (a) subscriptions from member-movements; (b) donations from individual Africans and from well-wishers; and (c) grants or subventions from Governments which are members of the Organisation.
The aims of the Organisation would be those which I have before stated, and any additional ones which those who agree to launch the organization may consider necessary.
The functions of the Organisation would be primarily to devise ways and means of accomplishing these aims, and secondarily to tackle such problems as may from time to time affect the whole or any part of Africa. The Organisation would have its own media of mass communication and propaganda, and would control all such instruments as are essential for the attainment of its objects; but generally it would operate through its adherents in all parts of Africa, employing, for the effectuation of its purpose, any methods which the prevailing circumstances in any part of Africa dictate.
The political union of Africa is an ideal which is not only worth working for but also one which can be realized. The present trends in the world indicate that the larger the population, and the more extensive the territory, of a state, the greater the chances of its more effective and more rapid development. Africa with a population of 200 millions and an area of 11½ million square miles (the Sahara covers 3½ millions of the area), if united, would compare more than favourably with (i) Russia: Population – 200 millions: Area – 8,598,678 square miles; (ii) China: Population – 650 millions: Area – 3,876,956 square miles; (iii) U.S.A.: Population – 160 millions: Area – 2,974,725 square miles; and (iv) India: Population – 450 millions: Area – 1,709,500 square miles.
But the problem of uniting under one Government and under one leadership, a continent which lacks the racial, cultural and linguistic homogeneity of U.S.A., the centuries-old cultural and national unity of China and (to a great extent) of India, and the ideological orientation and cohesion of Russia, must not be underestimated. The distinguishing factors which I have just mentioned are complicated by the fact that Africa has internal stresses and strains, divisions and conflicts, inherent in its political, economic and cultural evolution. But the problem, I believe, could be minimized if the Continent is divided into Zones, and each Zone is organized on the lines of Nos. 8 and 9 of the aims already stated. In this connection, I must confess to my inability to venture concrete suggestions which will embrace the whole of Africa. But I have this much to say. The Sahara Desert is a natural line of demarcation between the Northern and Southern parts of Africa. It is my considered view that the countries of .North Africa (with a population of about 40 millions) should, as a first step, constitute a Zone. As for the other territories South of the Sahara, I do not hesitate to repeat what my party has been consistently advocating, namely that certain countries of West Africa (with a population of more than 90 millions) should constitute another Zone.
As to how many Zones into which the remaining parts of Africa should be divided – this is a matter which must be left for consideration and settlement by the O.A.C. (Organisation for African Community). In this regard, however, one important point must be emphasized. It is a grave error of judgement for anyone to imagine that there is a ready answer or an easy solution to the all-important problem of attaining the ideal of an All-African Political Union. There is no disagreement at all, among African nationalists, as to the soundness of this ideal. But as to the methods of attaining the ideal there will, until the ideal is realized, always be as many points of view as there are groups of people (African and non-African) who ever give careful and considered thought to the issues involved.
More explicitly, therefore, in order that it may achieve its aims and objects with a dispatch which the pressing needs and the deep yearnings and aspirations of Africa demand, the O.A.C. must first and last be a revolutionary body. It must openly advocate the overthrow of all white rule in Africa, whether such rule is by white settlers or by white colonial powers. To this end, it must also openly encourage and assist by all means at its disposal, every African nationalist movement which is working for the overthrow of such rule. Any member-movement of the Organisation, whether it is the party in power in any country or not, which is proved to be disloyal to any of the aims and objects of the Organisation, should be expelled and ostracized. Where a political party or nationalist movement is expelled, it would be the duty of the OAC to do all in its power, through its adherents and agencies, to weaken and if possible eradicate the followership and influence of such a party or movement in its home base and anywhere else in Africa. If my ideas, as outlined in this statement, are acceptable in principle to the majority of African leaders, then the stage would be set for the launching of the Organisation for African Community.
CONTINUES NEXT WEEK.
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