The second session of the 7th International Conference on Pan-Africanism and Anti-Imperialism took place in Dakar, Senegal, on May 25th.
Session 2 began with a call for the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was a journalist and Black Panther Party activist in 70s, and is entering his 42nd year of imprisonment by U.S. authorities.
Philippe Noudjènoumè, President of the West African Peoples Organization (WAPO), and Augusta Epanya from DUP made presentations. The session concluded with a video on the life of Amilcar Cabral, the “African Che Guevara,” founder of the revolutionary party PAIGC in Guinea-Bissau, which led the country’s independence, and tribute of the World Anti-Imperialist Platform on the 100th anniversary of Cabral’s birth.
In a call for Mumia Abu Jamal’s release, Fodé Roland Diagne, editor-in-chief of Fernent, Senegal, wrote: “We have witnessed and joined the massive Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, which is so called the world’s leading democracy, after a series of killings of young black men by US police. He has been in prison since 1982. Initially, he was accused of being behind the deaths of police officers,” he said.
He continued, The very birth of the United States is the apartheid system established by the world’s leading imperialist power today. The so-called abolition of slavery gave birth to the Jim Crow system in the United States, the discriminatory system of apartheid. Apartheid also exists on an international scale. Global capitalism has two pillars: one is the oppression and class exploitation of workers, and the other is the exploitation and oppression of peoples. At the bottom of the racial hierarchy ladder organized by this system are black people. Even among black people, darker-skinned people are much more oppressed than lighter-skinned people. We must continue to think about this, discuss it, and work on strategies to end imperialism.”
Philippe Noudjènoumè, President of the West African Peoples Organization (WAPO), said “We aim to unite Africans on the continent and in the African Diaspora into a global African community. We are convinced that the peoples of Africa and the Diaspora share a common history and a common destiny, and that their social, economic and political development is linked to their integration. The ultimate goal is the realization of a unified political organization of all the nations and peoples of Africa.”
He continued, “We have been through trials and tribulations and have witnessed real attacks on Pan-Africanism, including the assassination of Pan-Africanist leaders, political subversion, and betrayal. Like the 13 North American colonies that united to defend themselves from war, the defensive path is the only one left”, he said, adding, “The basic principle is to liberate and unite Africa. What is important is the support of people around the world for Africans who are fighting in extremely difficult conditions. I think the essential way is mass education. There can be no development without mass education,” he said.
Augusta Epanya, representative of the DUP, said: “The territories were redrawn and redistributed at the whims of inter-imperialist wars, competitions, and contradictions, without regard for the people living there.” “Despite being the wealthiest continent, including in strategic minerals such as coltan, lithium, and cobalt, 35% of the African population lives in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $1.90 a day.” “This situation is utterly anachronistic and unacceptable, more than 60 years after African nations gained independence. Many of these so-called independences were purely formal and can only be explained by the violence and adaptation of imperialism to new conditions, with the imposition of neocolonial regimes.”
She emphasized, “The lack of access to basic social needs (water, electricity, health care, education) are all obstacles to building alternative solutions to the predatory capitalist system that people suffer under. Adding to this are systematic violations of public freedoms: the inability to organize, gather, demonstrate, or express oneself. Everything is done to prevent reflection and the gathering of revolutionary forces, especially when they propose a systemic change.“ ”Africa, Africans, and the Afro-descendant communities aspire to break free from the system of domination and exploitation in which they have been trapped for decades. There is growing awareness that most African independences were confiscated by the colonial powers―today’s imperialists―who continue to sow misery and anger.”
She added: “The popular uprisings we have witnessed in several Sahel countries, notably Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, express a clear desire to break ties with imperialism, especially French imperialism. “This process must continue by including all revolutionary and progressive forces, the best way to consolidate, root, and expand it. Similarly, in Senegal, popular mobilization has resulted in the election of a sovereignist government that has begun to challenge the neocolonial system. African progressive forces must support such movements wherever they arise, encourage them, and ensure their irreversible spread across the continent. DUP is aware of the urgent need to build anti-imperialist internationalism and to connect the Pan-Africanist struggle with this broader fight.”
Finally, the World Anti-Imperialism Platform has presented an article commemorating the 100th anniversary of Amilcar Cabral’s birth.
The text reads, “It is not only just the African people’s goal, but also a common orientation for the oppressed and exploited people of the world to end the slave life forced upon them by the aggressors and the imperialist forces from the 16th century to a span of 500 years, and to live and develop as the true masters of society, nature, and their own destiny.” It emphasized that ”The imperialist powers, which cannot survive even a single day without domination and plunder, are today forming an imperialist camp to provoke World War 3, which is the last desperate attempt to avert the general crisis in the imperialist states and pro-imperialist fascist countries.”
And it followed “The people of the world who boldly took up anti-imperialist joint actions will surely overthrow imperialism and achieve global independence, genuine peace, and true democracy. The new world that Cabral wanted to build by practicing the people-centered idea—“living among the people, before the people, behind the people”—until the end of his life is not far off.”
