Tonight we continue our theme of focusing on solutions to our community challenges. We took the opportunity to catch up with Chairman Omali Yeshitela: Chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) USA and founder of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) and Sis. Ona Zené Yeshitela, the Deputy Chair of the African People’s Socialist Party, while they were briefly in town.
One of the events they were here for was the ‘Building the Black Agenda – Reclaiming Our Future for Ourselves’ meeting that took place on Saturday 26th January in Brixton.
Chairman Omali asserts that the key to understanding the condition of Afrikan people globally is to acknowledge that we are subject to colonialism everywhere be it neocolonialism on the Afrikan continent or internal colonialism in the Metropoles. He and Sis. Ona Zené will also share some of their strategies for mobilising Afrikan people for self-determination in local communities.
Thus a key objective is a decolonisation agenda that seeks to exploit crises in the colonial structure. The ongoing chaos over Brexit arguably falls into this category, with the prospect of martial law if no deal is struck between the UK and the European Union. (1)
Another example is the current diplomatic spat between France and Italy in which Luigi Di Maio, Italy’s deputy prime minister, commented:
“If we have people who are leaving Africa now, it’s because some European countries, France in particular, have never stopped colonizing Africa. If France didn’t have its African colonies, because that’s what they should be called, it would be the 15th largest world economy. Instead it’s among the first, exactly because of what it is doing in Africa” (2)
But Di Maio wasn’t finished, he went on to assail his northern neighbour over its deployment of the CFA currency in fourteen nations in Afrika:
“France is one of those countries that by printing money for 14 African states prevents their economic development and contributes to the fact that the refugees leave and then die in the sea or arrive on our coasts. If Europe wants to be brave, it must have the courage to confront the issue of decolonization in Africa.” (3)
In spite of the accuracy of their comments, we shouldn’t start welcoming the Italian government into the bosom of the revolution just yet. Their criticism of France is largely self-serving and rooted in their right-wing populist anti-immigration (and some might add anti-humanitarian) policies. (4)
Nevertheless, the spat does put additional pressure on France’s beleaguered president Emmanuel Macron who is already pre-occupied in the “gilets jaunes,” or “yellow vest” protests. (5) Intending to add to his are the nascent, Afrikan led “red vest” protests. The gilets rouges are emphasising to their yellow comrades that the concessions they are seeking from the French government will only serve to intensify the oppression of Afrikans in the Motherland as what is being demanded is essentially more raw materials. (6)
This confluence of protest dovetails with the existing campaign to rid Afrika of the CFA currency. It is currently used by fourteen ‘former’ French colonies: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Chad. It requires these governments to deposit 50 per cent of their foreign exchange reserves in a special French Treasury ‘operating account’ (reduced from 65 per cent in 2005, which was itself reduced from 100 per cent in 1973). (7)
The currency also:
- Eradicates monetary sovereignty.
- Essentially works as a neocolonial device that continues to destroy any prospect of economic development in user nations.
- Is inimical to the advance of democracy. To uphold the CFA franc, it is argued, France has never hesitated to oust heads of state tempted to withdraw from the system. (8)
The latter was evidenced most starkly in the case of former Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo (9) and even Muamar Gadaffi’s attempt to replace the CFA franc with a pan-African currency backed by Libyan gold. (10). In what could be seen as another blow to France is the recent acquittal of Gbagbo at the International Criminal Court on crimes against humanity charges, after judges dismissed the prosecution case as “exceptionally weak.” (11)
Some might see this as clear evidence of imperialism (department France) being in crisis. Even if this is the case there would still need to be a movement to take advantage of this crisis. This is something that Chairman Omali Yeshitela refers to an “an organisation of professional revolutionaries.” (12)
Where this doesn’t exist it needs to be developed. An example of this is the Black Power Blueprint, a black-led self-determination project in St. Louis, Missouri organized by Black Star Industries and the African People’s Education and Defence Fund:
“The mission of the Black Power Blueprint is to overturn the deep poverty and oppression faced by the African community of St. Louis’ northside through political and economic power in the hands of African working people.” (13)
The project has raised $25,000 in five months to renovate the three-story Uhuru House, a black community centre, event space, rental hall and economic development hub in St Louis. Other plans include fund-raising for the creation of an outdoor event space and for the building of Uhuru Jiko Commercial Kitchen and Uhuru Bakery Café.
The location is significant because St; Louis is a depressed area that was the scene of uprisings following the 2014 police execution of 18 year-old Michael Brown. All this mobilisation has come about since then and perhaps offers a model of localised organising. In a country where “the Average Black family would need 228 years to build the wealth of a white family today” an emphasis on economic development is a must. (14) Similarly, in the UK “Black households were most likely out of all ethnic groups to have a weekly income of less than £400.” (15) So clearly, here too, redemption for the Afrikan community lies in it’s economic development. The issue is how to achieve it.
(1) Caroline Wheeler (27/01/19) UK ready to declare martial law to avert no-deal Brexit chaos. Ihttps://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uk-ready-to-declare-martial-law-to-avert-no-deal-brexit-chaos-bfqgzzlrw
(2) Takudzwa Hillary Chiwanza (22/01/19) Italian Deputy PM Accuses France For Causing Poverty in Africa by Never Ending Colonialism. https://www.africanexponent.com/post/9683-according-to-the-italian-deputy-prime-minister-france-is-to-blame-for-the-poverty-in-africa
(3) Ibid
(4) Lorenzo Tondo and Angela Giuffrida (07/12/18) Vulnerable migrants made homeless after Italy passes ‘Salvini decree’. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/07/vulnerable-migrants-made-homeless-after-italy-passes-salvini-decree
(5) Luwezi Kinshasa (27/12/18) A Weaker Macron and French Imperialism running out of options. http://www.theburningspear.com/cgblog/2408/A-Weaker-Macron-and-French-Imperialism-running-out-of-options
(6) Bertin Ndoudy (26/01/19) Yellow Vest and crisis if imperialism in France. Presentation at the ‘Building the Black Agenda – Reclaiming Our Future for Ourselves’ event in Brixton, London.
(7) Ndongo Samba Sylla (12/07/17) The CFA Franc: French Monetary Imperialism in Africa. http://roape.net/2017/05/18/cfa-franc-french-monetary-imperialism-africa/
(8) Ibid.
(9) Aislinn Laing (04/01/11) Laurent Gbagbo may issue new currency to bypass financial controls. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/cotedivoire/8239299/Laurent-Gbagbo-may-issue-new-currency-to-bypass-financial-controls.html
(10) Hannah Roberts (24/01/19) Why Italy’s 5Stars are lecturing France on Africa. https://www.politico.eu/article/italy-france-5stars-lecture-paris-on-africa-migrant-deaths/
(11) Stephanie Van Den Berg (17/01/19) ICC rejects appeal to keep ex-Ivorian leader Gbagbo in jail. https://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/icc-rejects-appeal-to-keep-ex-ivorian-leader-gbagbo-in-jail-18850742
(12) Chairman Omali Yeshitela (26/01/19) Vanguard: the advanced detachment of the African Revolution and carrying out the legacy of Marcus Garvey. Presentation at the ‘Building the Black Agenda – Reclaiming Our Future for Ourselves’ event in Brixton, London.
(13) Black Star Industries and African People’s Education and Defense Fund (2018) Black Power Blueprint. https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/MzgxMjQ=?fbclid=IwAR3aZvSo8Xm18tvtRJDnSkkQEvrnJUKIAr6NxR5q8riUP5yQqPA4VW_daUQ
(14) Joshua Holland (08/08/16) The Average Black Family Would Need 228 Years to Build the Wealth of a White Family Today. https://www.thenation.com/article/the-average-black-family-would-need-228-years-to-build-the-wealth-of-a-white-family-today/
(15) Department for Work and Pensions (03/12/18) Household income. https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/work-pay-and-benefits/pay-and-income/household-income/latest
So we ask the question:
Do we need a BLACK POWER Blueprint?
- In what ways is imperialism in crisis?
- What is the most effective way to take advantage this?
- What would it take to eradicate the CFA franc?
- What is a “professional revolutionary”?
- How would it be to fund raise in the UK for projects like those in St. Louis?
Our very special guests:
Chairman Omali Yeshitela: Chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party USA and the African Socialist International. Chairman Omali has developed the anti-imperialist political theory, African Internationalism, which explains the world through the eyes of the African working class and in solidarity with oppressed and colonized peoples around the world. He is the founder of The Burning Spear newspaper and theburningspear.com He built the international Tribunal on Reparations for African People and popularized the concept of reparations throughout the U.S.
Through the African People’s Socialist Party, he founded the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM), the All African People’s Development and Empowerment Project, the African National Prison Organization, the African National Reparations Organization, and the African Socialist International.. He is the author of many articles and several books, including One Africa! One Nation! and One People! One Party! One Destiny! and An Uneasy Equilibrium. Chairman Omali Yeshitela speaks and organizes throughout Africa, the U.S., the Caribbean, Europe and elsewhere around the world, forwarding the struggle to liberate Africa and African people everywhere.
Sis. Ona Zené Yeshitela: is the Deputy Chair of the African People’s Socialist Party who currently leads the multi-faceted economic front of the Party and the Uhuru Movement. She is President of the African People’s Education and Defense Fund, a non-profit organization whose projects include the Uhuru Furniture and Collectibles stores, Black Power 96.3 FM radio station, Uhuru Jiko Commercial Kitchens, Akwaaba Hall event venues, the One Africa! One Nation! Marketplace and so much more.
She guides the development of Black Star Industries including Uhuru Foods and Pies and Planet Uhuru Apparel. Dedicated to the unity of the political and economic fronts of the struggle, Deputy Chair Ona spent a little over a year on the ground in St. Louis to build the anti-gentrification Black Power Blueprint project, buying and renovating black community properties for economic and political power in the hands of the African working class.
Bro. Luwezi Kinshasa: is the Secretary General of the African Socialist International. Born in Congo, he currently lives in exile in London where he presides over the building of the African People’s Socialist Party throughout Africa and Europe. SG Luwezi’s regular column in The Burning Spear newspaper analyses current events and development on the continent of Africa from an African Internationalist perspective. He publishes a bilingual version of The Spear in French and English for distribution in Africa and Europe.
Fluent in eight languages, he has traveled, written and spoken extensively throughout the world and is well-known and respected in London especially among the large Congolese activist community there.