Following is a talk given in a panel titled “The class struggle in Africa and the fight against imperialism” at the Nov. 13-14, 2010, National Conference on Socialism sponsored by the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
 Austin Thompson PSL photo: Bill Hackwell |
In recent months Africa has been a frequent topic of conversation among American conservatives who are seeking to draw connections between President Barack Obama’s Kenyan heritage and his allegedly radical leftist agenda. For example, prominent right-wing commentator Dinesh D’Souza’ recently wrote a book called, The Roots of Obama’s Rage, in which he attempts to explain that Obama’s “socialist” agenda is rooted in the Kenyan anti-colonial struggle.”
Besides being extremely racist and factually untrue, right-wing attacks on Obama’s African heritage and his father’s alleged participation in 20th century anti-colonial struggles raise an interesting point for real revolutionaries in the United States to consider. If President Obama actually did share the anti-colonial politics of freedom fighters like Jomo Kenyatta, Kwame Nkrumah, Amilcar Cabral and others the U.S. would be a much better place today! The world would be a much more just place today! Africa’s 20th century struggles for national liberation remain shining examples to anyone who genuinely loves freedom and justice and we should carry this message on to the youth of tomorrow. But unfortunately in Africa today, the principles that guided the long struggle against colonial oppression have been largely cast aside by current leaders.
Whose interests are currently served by African states?
Today, elites are enriching themselves off of the continent’s vast natural resource wealth even as the majority of African people remain poor, unemployed and dispossessed from their farmlands. Middle-class political leaders in Africa are using their political advantages to benefit from capitalist development and repress opposition movements with the use of force. While “Democracy” is often the cover, it is clear that no such thing resembling democracy is present when so many remain desperately poor and without the basic necessities of life. Political parties in Africa, are now principally conveyor belts for the economic ideas of capitalism rather than expressions of the social and economic aspirations of the poor and working class.
As a reaction to the excesses of capitalist development and growing inequality many Africans have turned toward ethno-nationalist or millenarian religious movements to fight these changes. Civil wars and brutal upsurges for ethnic or religious “purity” have replaced the national and popular anti-colonial movements that once inspired progressives worldwide. Today in Africa, among the voices of opposition to liberal capitalism are groups like the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb, Al-Shabaab in Somalia and the Hutu militias of the Congo. Africa is caught in a leadership crisis like much of Europe and the U.S.–forced to choose between a liberal capitalist establishment and right-wing populists who offer no solutions to capitalist exploitation.
To resolve this crisis new leaders need to emerge from popular working-class movements who reject the inequalities of capitalist development and offer a transcendent vision of a just society. There are already efforts throughout Africa to unite the working class and inspire a new generation of leaders to challenge comprador elites.
Highlighting two promising struggles out of many
Several countries in West Africa have seen the emergence of militant farm workers associations and collectives resembling the Landless Workers Movement of Brazil. These movements have also taken the form of organized resistance in resource rich areas like the Niger Delta of Nigeria. In contrast to other ethno-nationalist or fundamentalist movements, these struggles are often majority young women. This is logical considering that women produce well-over 70 percent of the food. It is no surprise that participants in these movements are often the target of violent repression at the hands of the state and traditional elites.
Simultaneously, in smaller urban settings in West Africa like Dakar, Senegal or Bamako, Mali the struggle is taking a less militant although equally promising course. Student movements, political parties and small trade unions in many cities are placing increased demands on the state for services: electricity, running water and quality education. The region has seen sporadic but important upsurges of radical activity due to corruption scandals or failures to deliver services.
The largest and most organized of these upsurges took place in 2006 in response to the global increase in the price of basic foodstuffs. These coordinated protests were the first major actions among students, workers and unemployed people since the unpopular World Bank/IMF Structural Adjustment Programs of the 1980’s and 90’s were opposed and rescinded.
There is the potential for truly emancipatory campaigns in West Africa if a new generation of leaders can link the struggles for land reform in the rural areas and for service delivery in the urban as part of a national movement for social and economic transformation. Last summer, I helped organize a Pan-African Youth Summit in Dakar, Senegal to raise this possibility and the need for young participants in these struggles to take on larger leadership roles in their communities.
In South Africa popular struggles for quality service delivery in the urban areas among students and the unemployed have been strong. There are regular militant protests against the horrible living conditions of Blacks in the townships. The aggressive character of these protests is rooted in the extremely uneven model of capitalist development in post-apartheid South Africa. Today, a growing number of Black elites within the ANC are using their political positions to fill their pockets as they work to ensure foreign capitalists exclusive control of the country’s natural resources. The result has been young members of the ANC becoming rich and enjoying enormous privilege even as they conjure revolutionary rhetoric to win elections. The townships, which were a base of support for the ANC in the days of the liberation struggle, have now become hotbeds of resentment and resistance to the uneven capitalist development process.
Recently the Confederation of South African Trade Unions, a member of the government coalition with the ANC, lead massive strike actions across the country to demand an increase in wages and pensions for public sector workers. Despite the nation’s enormous wealth, these workers had been ridiculously underpaid by the government. COSATU, and the South African Communist Party (also a member of the governing coalition), have begun calling for lifestyle audits of ANC officials to combat the excesses of capitalism.
The contradictions are mounting for progressives who are juggling being part of a capitalist government with the ANC while representing the interests of trade unionists and the unemployed in South Africa. Realizing this, COSATU has presented its own alternative development plan called the “Growth Path for Full Employment” which presents a direct challenge to the capitalist development model currently existing in South Africa. There are rumors that COSATU and SACP may part ways with the ANC.
In conclusion, the unequal material conditions of Africa today are favorable to vibrant political and social struggles against domestic and international elites and their capitalist model. Ironically, growing inequalities in Africa are sharpening class contradictions while elites are creating their own gravediggers as seen in the more conscious expressions of resistance in rural and urban areas.
