We continue our examination of the economic status of the Afrika UK in light of the recent interim National Afrikan People’s Parliament’s (iNAPP) General People’s Assembly (GPA) on the theme: Economic Empowerment – Key to Nation Building.A packed West Indian Ex-Service Men’s Association centre was treated to a range of personal, community, national and global strategies designed to bolster our collective economic profile:
Community development consultant and former councillor Sis. Lorna Campbell called for – and promptly received the required 21 volunteers to set up the iNAPP credit union that she will advise and support, using her extensive experience and expertise in the field.
Dr Makkedah Idawa, Sis. Zauditu and Sis. Chipo of Mother Earth Minerals and Mining Services (MEMAMS) implored the community to think globally and invest in our Motherland. MEMAMS has blazed a trail with its mining services that has begun to yield results.
Bro. Sunjata gave an insightful historical breakdown of the deleterious effects of neo-liberal policies on Afrikan people around the world and argued that the solution is not the adoption of other people’s economic theories and philosophies but an emphasis on our own culture and traditions, as exemplified through his Afrikan Food Hall project that bring affordable food to the community as a direct challenge to those who currently feed off the Black pound with no benefit to us.
Master Historian Bro. Robin Walker (When We Ruled), who is also a trained economist, provided a personal and practical example of how we can structure our lives, families and community to work with each other ensure that we embed legacy thinking for our collective benefit, or as he called it “second generationing it.”
The gathering resolved to support these initiatives and strive to adopt a new approach to our economics by “joining up the dots” locally and globally. The 95% of our money spent outside the community (1) must be transformed within a conscious, institution and nation building framework, akin to that outlined in theiNAPP Manifesto:
“What is required is a national agenda for Afrikan economic development. This will involve the creation of an economic infrastructure, to undergird the NAPP’s Nation Building programme. The NAPP is inspired by the ‘Ujamaa’ model which Mwalimu Julius Nyerere implemented in Tanzania and which reduced infant mortality rates, raised living standards, radically improved literacy rates and significantly increased life expectancy.
Ujamaa means ‘familihood’, and was based upon the ethical principle of caring and sharing, as well as the cooperative model of enterprise, including collective public ownership of the means of production and distribution of goods and services. This underscores a concept of economics which is primarily concerned with social development and wellbeing, rather than the enrichment of a few.” (2)
In applying such a model, there will be no need to reinvent the wheel. The he Organization of Afro-American Unity, under the leadership of Omowale Malcolm X (whom the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement will be memorialising later this month along with special guest from the USA Baba Zak Kondo – http://alkebulan.org/omxobservance/) included the following in its economic programme:
“The Organization of Afro-American Unity will take measures to free our people from economic slavery. One way of accomplishing this will be to maintain a technician pool: that is, a bank of technicians. In the same manner that blood banks have been established to furnish blood to those who need it at the time it is needed, we must establish a technician bank. We must do this so that the newly independent nations of Africa can turn to us who are their Afro-American brothers for the technicians they will need now and in the future. Thereby we will be developing an open market for the many skills we possess and at the same time we will be supplying Africa with the skills she can best use. This project will therefore be one of mutual cooperation and mutual benefit.” (3)
(1) Brown, Sonia Brown, (15/08/14) Daniel Lister on Why the Black Pound Still Matters!,http://nbwn.org/?p=1546. “The Black community spend 95% of its money outside of our community, and 3% of what we do spend within it, we spend with non-Black owned businesses, leaving us with only 2% of our income; and nobody can live off of 2% of their income. As a result we live in the worst conditions in the UK. Other communities keep their money circulating by buying and selling to their own locking the wealth in their community. White money bounces from hand to hand 8 – 12 times before leaving their community, Asian and Arab money bounces 12 – 14 times, and Jewish money bounces up to 18 times, but Black money bounces a grand total of zero times. My Black Market will allow you to g Program of the Organization of Afro-American Unityet any product or service from a Black owned business, and we will network that business so that your money stays in your community and benefits you.”
(2) interim National Afrikan People’s Parliament’s (28/11/154) Manifesto: Working Draft for Community Consultation.
(3) The Organization of Afro-American Unity (1965) Program of the Organization of Afro-American Unity. http://www.malcolm-x.org/docs/gen_oaau.htm
So we ask the question:
Will we ever achieve Economic Empowerment in the UK? Pt 2
1. Did you attend the iNAPP GPA on 30/01/15?
2. Why do we spend 95% of our money outside of our community?
3. Should iNAPP set up a credit union?
4. What should our guiding economic philosophy be?
5. Do we have the will or capacity to “second generation it”?
6. What can we learn from the legacy of Omowale Malcolm X about economic development?
Our special guest is:
Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and UNIA-ACL Ambassador for the UK and national co-Chair of the interim National Afrikan People’s Parliament. Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of over 30 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An Africentric Guide To Excellence.