Maravi

Africa Freedom Day

Africa Freedom Day
By Editor
Tue 25 May 2010, 04:00 CAT

ON this day, May 25, the day on which we commemorate Africa’s freedom, we are reminded of Nelson Mandela’s observations on Africa: “For centuries, an ancient continent has bled from many gaping sword wounds. No doubt Africa’s renaissance is at hand – and our challenge is to steer the continent through the tide of history. The people of the continent are eager and willing to be among the very best in all areas of endeavour.

The peoples of the resurgent Africa are perfectly capable of deciding upon their own future form of government and discovering and themselves dealing with any dangers which might arise. We need to exert ourselves that much more, and break out of the vicious cycle of dependence imposed on us by the financially powerful; those in command of immense market power and those who dare to fashion the world in their own image. Africa, more than any other continent, has had to contend with the consequences of conquest in a denial of its own role in history, including the denial that its people had the capacity to bring about change and progress.

It would be a cruel irony of history if Africa’s actions to regenerate the continent were to unleash a new scramble for Africa which, like that of the nineteenth century, plundered the continent’s wealth and left it once more the poorer. Conflict threatens not only the gains we have made but also our collective future. The African rebirth is now more than an idea – its seeds are being sown in the regional communities we are busy building and in the continent as a whole. Can we continue to tolerate our ancestors being shown as people locked in time? Africa yearns and deserves to redeem her glory, to re-asset her centuries-old contribution to economics, politics, culture and the arts – and once more to be a pioneer in the many fields of human endeavour.

One destabilising conflict anywhere on the continent is one too many. For as long as the majority of people anywhere on the continent feel oppressed, are not allowed democratic participation in decision-making processes, and cannot elect their own leaders in free and fair elections, they will always be tension and conflict. A continent which, while it led in the very evolution of human life and was a leading centre of learning, technology and the arts in ancient times, has experienced various traumatic epochs, each one of which has pushed her peoples into poverty and backwardness. We cannot abuse the concept of national sovereignty to deny the rest of the continent the right and duty to intervene when, behind those sovereign boundaries, people are being slaughtered to protect tyranny.”

Clearly this commemoration shouldn’t become a mere routine that is simply repeated every year – rather, it should be a critical commemoration of our continent and our people’s freedom, the freedom for which so many people died to attain. But this being a historical event, it should be analysed with historical objectivity. And our analysis should not in any way be inspired by any feelings of hatred toward any country that once colonised us. Rather, this critical approach should be inspired by certain key values that are undeniable.

Therefore, the commemoration of Africa Freedom Day may prove useful, to the extent that it serves to bring out the cultural, historical and ethnic values that all African countries have in common, together with our shared traditions and customs. Everything that helps to enhance those shared values forms a shield that protects us against those who threaten us. To the extent that we can reaffirm our awareness of our identity and increase our people’s spirit of unity, we will be defending our right to have a place in the world of the twenty first century.

In a world that is being pushed toward uniformity and in a world where this uniformity is even being announced as a means of depriving the peoples of their historic awareness, we Africans must have a clear sense of our identity and diversity; proclaim the beginning of a new history of integration; include in it the enormous, silent masses of our people, poor people and all who have been pushed aside in our sorrowful republics and once again make them protagonists in history – which is far from having ended and in which they are still being exploited.
Therefore, we must see to it that the commemoration of Africa Freedom Day doesn’t simply become a whitewash. If that were to happen, we would be condoning the conquest that Mandela is talking about, colonisation, slavery and the dissolution of the awareness of our identity and history. Now, when some people once again want to re-colonise and conquer us, albeit in a new way, we must have an awareness, we must have ideas and an outlook with which to defend ourselves against those real dangers.

All of the solemnity and enthusiasm that we may contribute to this commemoration shouldn’t lead us to ignore the negative historical purposes that were associated with colonialism and haven’t entirely disappeared as yet. We cannot forget that we are being subjected to forms of neo-colonialism that are sometimes worse than the old colonial methods, that unequal terms of trade, the destruction of our environment and the plunder of our resources by the developed world still continue. Now there are more of us – 750 million of us – and we are more productive than in the past. All the gold, copper, oil and other minerals and resources they have extracted from our continent in the years of colonisation is worth less than the wealth that leaves our countries now every year.

For us Africans, the best Africa Freedom Day commemoration would unquestionably be one in which unequal terms of trade have been eliminated and our peoples have the possibility for development and hope. Only thus would this commemoration have a truly meaningful dimension and positive value for our peoples. Freedom without social justice is worth nothing. Political freedom is an empty formality if not accompanied by economic freedom.

We, however, should take advantage of this opportunity – of this Africa Freedom Day holiday – to once again promote reflection on the national liberation of our peoples, chained by backwardness and balkanisation.

We haven’t sought to be cruel to anyone. At worst, we are only giving vent to an old resentment and inviting those who used to colonise us to join us Africans in seeking mutual understanding. We are not interested in judging the men who were behind our colonisation because we cannot judge the men of that time by today’s ideas, by the ethical precepts of our time.

This sums up our basic thinking on this subject – which is based on the need for us to observe Africa Freedom Day to be a critical day rather than simply a whitewash.

And as always, on this day we should not forget the generation that struggled, that fought for our liberation – a generation now reaching the end of a long and heroic struggle. They fought a noble battle and lived their lives in a pursuit of a better life for all follow. The Africa in which we bury them and honour them is the sweet fruit of their lives of struggle and sacrifice.

Labels: AFRICA FREEDOM DAY

posted by MrK @ 4:24 AM