The Revival of Pan-Africanism Forum Conference was held earlier today with the theme: The Crisis in Ivory Coast & the Redemption of Africa
It was an enlightening event where intelligent and educated Africans and friends of Africa congregated to discuss the current Crisis in Ivory Coast including its history and the future. Read below to partake of what was shared at the event.
Introduction by The Revival of Pan-Africanism Founder, Professor Gnaka Lagoki
We realize we cannot fight against multinational forces who work in synergy if we have isolated and scattered initiatives. To combat this, Africans, people of African descent and friends of Africa assemble monthly to discuss African issues. We must emulate what those who have been dominating us for fourteen hundred years do, which is work in synergy, so that when one takes a decision in Washington DC, those in London and Paris do so simultaneously. In that same vein, members of the Pan Africanism group talk, share ideas, brainstorm and agree on a course of action to take and follow through with it.
The name of the group is culled from the word Pan Africanism, which means all related to Africa. It is the only movement that brings Africans and people of African descent together to talk about a better life for the global African Diaspora.
Today, we have courageous, consistent and brilliant Africans speakers and scholars of different nationalities who are passionate about the call of Africa. They are people who believe in a better Africa. They are here to give wonderful perspectives on the Ivorian disputed election results and the struggle between the two presidential contenders, Laurent Koudou Gbagbo and Alassane Dramane Quattara in union with the revival of the Pan African Movement.
Speakers:
Dr. Martial Frindetheie, PHD
I will be speaking on the Ivorian Crisis and Franc African Phenomenon/France Afrique. I have developed the topic further in my 3rd book, Mobilization and The Destruction of Africa's Ruling Class. I'll speak on the relationship between France Afrique and what is currently occurring in Ivory Coast. Today 50 years after the rapture that followed the independence of African countries, Africa is poorer intellectually, morally, politically and economically than before. The causes of this crisis are both internal and external. They are structural and attitudinal. The attitudes of certain African leaders are from the slave mentality which has led them to become a band of neurotic subjects, subjects that are trying to run away from themselves. Subjects who perform a manufactured idea of themselves cultivated in the factories of the imperialist West. Taking the simple notion of Ivorité, and Francité, we know Jacques Berque inspired Francité and how Henri Bedie defined Ivorité, what Ivorité means to him.
Many African leaders quickly condemned Bedie for the notion of Ivorité, but in the same vein they shamelessly gather around "great white men", to celebrate the Francophony or Francité. This is what slavery has done to us. It has made us neurotic subjects running away from ourselves and trying to emulate a certain idea of ourselves that has been fabricated by the West. It's unfortunate, but France Afrique is one of these factories for the manufacture of a certain idea of a black person, especially of a French black person or a Francophone African person, whereby they see the transportation of their resources from Africa to Europe as positive when it isn't.
Marc Adoux Pape, PHD
At the end of the cold war, which is symbolized in international relations by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, two sets of scenarios were forecast by most international relations theorists about the future of world politics. In the first scenario, I call the Peace Dividend. The belief was that in the words of Francis Fukuyama who's very influential in the US, with the demise of communism, we had arrived at the end of history, and democracy as a system of government was going to be the singular norm that most countries would transition into.
The post independent political history of Ivory Coast can be segmented into three distinct historical phases. The first was from the 1960's to the end of the 1970s, I call that the phase of consolidation or the golden age of authoritarianism or dictatorships. The second phase was from the 1970s to the middle of the 1980s, which is what I call the crisis of the authoritarian order. Then since the end of the 1980s till now, we are in a phase I call the transition from authoritarianism or the transition to democracy.
Dr. Abraham Luakabuanga
It's a great privilege for me to be here today. Why are we having this event in January? It's because for Africans, January is a very crucial month. On the 17th of January 1961, Patrice Émery Lumumba was killed. On January 16th 2001, Laurent-Désiré Kabila was assassinated. Here in the US, Martin Luther King was also assassinated in January. There is no happenstance in these occurrences. I have the joy of telling you that the bible declares the 50th year as the year of Jubilee when the captives are set free. Dear African brothers and sisters, we have greatly celebrated the 50th anniversary of African independence. However, other people say that something must happen so that some other thing would happen.
When the elections were conducted in Congo, the figures given were fictive. In some parts of the country they couldn’t send even observers. Does that remind you of anything? When the elections occurred, the aborigine won the elections. The international community through the UN made a different declaration and said he didn’t win. It’s the man with the doubtful nationality who’s your president and war started in the city of Kinshasa. 1,000 people were dead. The aboriginal was evacuated out quickly, arrested for political reasons and is now in front of the International Criminal Court of Justice. Does that remind you of something? If we understand the process occurring in Africa, we have to be careful not to think of our individual countries and start thinking from a Pan African perspective. I’m in front of you proudly saying that Africa is the cradle of humanity. Now we don’t have nuclear weapons, but we have more than that. You and I have life, and as long as we are alive, like President Barak Obama's slogan, I’m telling you, "Yes we can."
For us to arrive at our destination, let’s put our emotions aside. Let us be reasonable and placid. Let’s study what happened in other countries, and let us adopt our African solutions. Do we understand ourselves? Now in Congo we are fighting. We are trying to put the foreigner installed as president out of the country. You, Ivoirians still have the opportunity to abort the plan imposed on you. We must banish fear. Brothers and sisters of Ivory Coast let me inform you today that Tunisia has been greatest insult to the battle of Laurent Gbagbo. We cannot remember because at that time we were busy trying to find out what was happening between Quattara and Gbagbo. In Congo, students are in an uprising. In Gabon there’s an uprising. In 2011 we have an election coming up. Right now because of the Ivorian crisis, there’s an attempt at defrauding the elections that has been put in place, but the Congolese people understand. These people are counting on the participation of citizens of other African countries to execute their plan during our fight for democracy. Come and demonstrate with us. Come and assist us, as we are assisting you today. I believe firmly, in what African presidents, Dos Santos, Attah Mills, and Jacob Zuma have said. These are the great powers of Africa. When they have spoken, we must follow their words with actions. The work we have to do is to help effect the total liberation of Africa through the liberation of Ivory Coast.
Code 243 is a special I created on Ivory Coast to enlighten you on the current crisis. This is the time to act. Don't wait for it to be your neighbor. You and I are the ones who have to carry this standard together and with the spirit of God, together we will say "Yes we did."
Moderator: Larry Enyong
Dr. Luakabuanga has had firsthand experience on this issue because the Congolese were the first people who lived what Ivory Coast is experiencing now. Every one of us is an ambassador for Africa and the situation. We are educated enough to know that when there’s a problem in a country, first we respect the country’s laws, and then there’s deliberation and due process. For example, when there was an argument about a US election result in Florida, they took three months to recount the votes carefully. So, I have personally taken President Sarcozy's statements about Gbagbo and his wife having their lives in their hands and other distasteful comments he has made about the Ivorian situation as insults. We as Africans are tired of Western countries inciting the decapitation of African leaders.
Guest Speaker: Maurice Carney, Executive Director of Friends of the Congo
There are two types of Africans, as far as I’m concerned, one type is the African at home and the second type is the one abroad. I’m the African abroad fighting in concert with the Africans at home. Being here in the US, in the home of the empire, there are things we can do to help to create space for our siblings on the continent who are fighting to liberate themselves. As we all know, this week, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Patrice Lumumba; the man that Malcolm X said is the greatest African to ever walk the African continent. Why? Because they couldn’t buy, threaten, or do anything to move him from his principles. He was willing to lay his life down for the Congo and the future of Africa.
When Malcolm X was alive he educated African Americans, the people of African ancestry here; about what was occurring in the Congo. He said the same thing that’s happening in Mississippi is happening in Congo. He connected the struggles together. He laid out for us the significance of the Congo, not only to Africa, but to the world. He explained Congo’s geo-strategic location in the heart of Africa, bordered by nine other countries, where you can project power north, south, east or west, better than any other place in the continent. Congo is the heart of Africa. It is the country which has the hydro - electrical capacity to power the entire continent. The country of which Dr. Frantz Fanon said, “Where Africa is like a pistol and the trigger is the Congo. You pull it and it sets off combustion.” He said the fate of each and every one of us is at stake in the Congo. That’s what Dr. Frantz Fanon said about the Congo.
Malcolm educated us about what’s taking place in Congo. He shared its geo-strategic significance. Echo the words of Chairman Mao who said, “He who controls the Congo, controls the world.” A hyperbole none the less, but demonstrates the significance of that country. So, in the spirits of Malcolm and Lumumba, Friends of Congo is educating people throughout the US and Canada, traveling to communities, campuses, churches, wherever we can let people know the significance of the Congo and the role the US foreign policy has played in keeping Congo destabilized, dependent and impoverished.
The assassination of Lumumba represented the pinnacle of US policy to keep Congo and by extension Africa, in check. My organization, Friends of the Congo educates people about the situation and we share with them that there are things we can do help our siblings in Congo. The key thing is to challenge US foreign policy. Our Congolese brother explained how US foreign policy has worked to install leaders in the Congo. Going back to Lumumba in the 1960s, the moment Lumumba was assassinated, Mobutu Sese Seko was installed. Not for one US term of four years or for two US terms of eight years, but for over three decades.
Every time the Congolese people rose up to get rid of Mobutu, the US bombed them. They got the Moroccan or French troops to do their bidding. So the challenge for us here is to put pressure on the US government and US corporations. One key way of doing that is exposing what they do because most people don’t know. For example, Nelson Mandela was on the US terrorist list till he was removed in 2008, by an act of US congress led by the congressional Black Caucus. So even in the case of someone as well known as Nelson Mandela and a country as well known as South Africa most of us didn’t know that Nelson Mandela was still on the US terrorist list. I use this example because people don’t know what US foreign policy is in Africa.
Most people think the US liberated the South Africans from apartheid, but it was people in the US and the African continent’s front line states challenging US foreign policy that did it. It was under the Regan administration that laws were put in place to put sanctions on apartheid South Africa. There are corporations, Hedge funds in New York invested in Africa. You may think the global gold mining company; AngloGold Ashanti is a South African company. Yes it is, but it is majority owned by Americans at 53%. In just one concession in Eastern Congo, they have concession valued at 12 billion dollars in gold, twice or three times the size of the Congolese budget. So that’s what we do. We challenge and expose bad US foreign and corporate policies, educate the American public and provide support to local groups inside the Congo to bring about change, so that the Congolese can control their own affairs.
Q & A Session
Gbagbo brought the UN officers into Ivory Coast, but at one point he no longer wanted their services, and asked them to leave, but they didn’t. Why didn’t they?
I firmly believe what’s occurring in Africa is planned by many organizations playing roles to keep their strangle hold on us. Financially, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and legally the international court of Justice are doing. When they want to control us they send the UN. Don’t think with a simple diplomatic request from Mr. Gbagbo that the UN will leave. Let me inform you that in Congo the Secretary General of the UN Dag Hammarskjöld was killed in 1961. All will depend on the maturity of the methods and the means the Ivoirians employ. Ivoirians at home and abroad should let the international public opinion understand the stakes of the issues.
It is a question of reciprocity. Would the UN have stayed in Israel, Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan if they were asked to leave? They wouldn’t because they have been able to apply certain reciprocity. We have not been able to elicit respect, that’s why they stay when we ask them to leave. Elsewhere people have the means to make them leave.
The US controls the UN. In 1972, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the president of the UN Security Council went to Indonesia and arranged with President Suharto, who was their agent, to allow Indonesia to attack East Timor (Timor-Leste). When 200 people were killed the UN made no statement. Later, Moynihan in his memoirs stated that his job was to ensure that the Security Council did nothing, because East Timor was against US policy. The UN is the lap dog of the US.
What do you think of media coverage of African Stories and the channels that distribute them?
We must do a better job of information sharing to enable us to turn the tide because the West projects and shares what stories and images they want about us. We are and must continue creating out own. For example, I received information that cargoes of armaments have been taken there, but you won’t read that information in the mainstream media of the international community.
I stood in front of the Washington Post building on 15th street in downtown DC, and a demonstration of more than a thousand people against Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which is on the 3rd floor of the same building, was occurring about AIDS in Africa, and it wasn't reported. They didn’t include that in the 40 pages of the Washington Post the next day.
Applied information is power and that’s exactly why we’re here. If you listen carefully to the "so called" information received by the international community, about the Ivorian electoral process, they tell you that the electoral commission declared Ouattara the winner, which isn’t true. The electoral commission never did. There are people of good faith who are basing their information on miss-information because of what the media says but you can tell them that the president of the electoral commission outside of the time the constitution grants him to proclaim the results, the preliminary results goes to the head quarters, the hotel of the opposition party, under escort from the US and French ambassadors on French National TV to declare the opposition the winner is like putting snake in the pants of most people. So what we are doing is informational, and is powerful.
If education is the key to prosperity, and Africa proudly displays its educated citizens with resources, why isn’t our education the key to Africa’s prosperity?
What we witnessed in Ivory Coast is precisely the result of education. Basic democracy theories show that democratic pressure occurs when there’s enough educated people in the middle class. What’s occurring in Ivory Coast is due to the growing mobilization of mostly young educated people from Universities leading the process movement against the French. Education is bearing fruit in Africa and is responsible for the transitions occurring in the Congo and Ivory Coast.
Why doesn’t our elites’ education serve us?
It’s because they are reared in international financial institutions like the World Bank and the IMF that are nurseries for future African dictators, to serve these institutions and those who control the institutions, and not to serve Africa and Africans. There’s no hope in those leaders because they are raised to serve their masters like Uncle Toms. For example, Ouattara was raised in the IMF to serve his master, which he’s doing.
Is the brain drain affecting Africa?
That’s a promoted false argument. You don’t have to physically be present to be part of the movement. Africans can make contributions from anywhere because we live in a global village. Many Africans send remunerations and visit home regularly to make financial, educational, skill and technological contributions.
Do you think there’ll be military intervention in Ivory Coast?
I’m the Chief of Special Operations for the US of Africa Coalition. I will convey the sentiments you have expressed to my organization unfortunately it’s too late. I believe there won't be military intervention in Ivory Coast. I believe Gbagbo will step down soon otherwise power may be seized from him and his safety may be in jeopardized.
In the history of humanity, bullets have never killed the spirits of people and in today’s world, the only force you have is your own people. It’s our spirit that can fight this. The only reason Gbagbo is still in power is because he has the support of the majority of Ivorians. The case of Tunisia is ample proof that you don’t need guns. The only power or means to stand up to dictatorship is people. Even if Gbagbo is killed by being shot down in the streets or by any special operation, that won’t solve Ivory Coast’s problems and Ouattara will still not be president.
Walter Rodney's book, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, about how European colonialists deliberately exploited and underdeveloped Africa discusses democracy, economic, cultural and many other systems that existed in pre-colonized Africa, however he said that in African villages, democracy didn’t exist. So is democracy traditionally discouraged?
Reviewing African history, it had empires. It was organized into kingdoms, and during slavery, economic transactions occurred based on the mutual interests of both parties. Those looking for labor didn’t just do what they wanted. They exchanged if for salt, sugar, and other products. Reviewing power structures in villages, we realize the power is usually bloody. Maybe in Ivory Coast it’s different, but women and children were also excluded from it. In Congo with 450 tribes, traditionally women often don’t participate in government. It’s only the valid men meet to discuss issues. For example, in an average African family, when an older child disagrees with the father or expresses a contrary view, it's considered disobedient and disrespectful. When wives disagree with their husbands, it's considered disrespectful of authority and causes many divorces even here in the US. These situations made me think. When we speak of democracy, what do we understand as democracy in Africa? This makes me think that democracy should be discussed according to Africa's interests. We must embrace it based on our culture and our interests. African democracy won’t have the same global aspects as European. Let's adopt democracy to our own circumstances. I disagree with those who say democracy is the only way to development. We don't even necessarily need democracy because China developed without it. Even personally, I am a democrat who tries to be democratic. I try to run my family democratically and listen to my wife, but if she raises her voice, it becomes difficult for me to stay democratic even when she’s right.
Revisiting the relativization of democracy, American democracy isn’t the same as the French’s. It's not a new concept and it’s only when it comes to Africa we call it African democracy, but it’s always been relative to the country such as American or French. It has always existed in our societies. Perhaps women and young men don’t have the floor, but they have some input and organizations based on classes and age that participate and intervene in the political debate that participate in the means of distribution of power and production of wealth. Just because the West found a word to define something that exists doesn't mean they invented it.
You are overestimating the success of the West by assuming that they were born democratic. Some of the most vicious regimes in history occurred in Europe. The French killed their king with the guillotine. Then there was a revolution, so what’s occurring now is no different from what people have done in history. So we can express some Afro-pessimism but let us not over estimate others because this is exactly the way they achieved relative success they have.
Most Africans seek basic amenities like healthcare, good roads, clean water and education, so democracy which is said to be a “Western concept” may be a an unrealistic but pleasurable sophisticated theory. Should we be seeking democracy or prosperity now?
We should seek both.
Is democracy a concept Africans can or should embrace because you have to be educated to understand it?
Democracy is the name of system but the concept of democracy isn’t a Western invention. It is not European or exclusive to a civilization. It has always existed in our societies. The urge for freedom is the human quest. In parts of the world without democracy including African countries, the West impedes democracy there. For example, the West has been supporting Mubarak since 1981 in spite of the fact that Egyptians want to be democracy.
I’m dogmatically committed to democracy because there’s a correlation between prosperity and democracy. Though China developed without following the democratic model, most wealthy countries are democratic. There’s no excessive force dichotomy. We shouldn’t lose sight of the prize. We need democracy and it should be our goal.
Democracy like fairness comes from within not from outside or external forces and isn’t a pizza that can be delivered with the barrel of a gun. Democracy presupposes good governance which is the equitable distribution of a country’s resources so the constituents on whose land these resources are live comfortably and this we’ve been doing for a long time.
As an African American, I haven’t heard of the consistent inclusion of African Americans in the freedom work in Africa. We have missed some golden opportunities, when it comes to African Americans who have searched out their roots and heritage spearheaded by Dr. Henry Louis Gates. Our intellectuals haven’t used this opportunity to say we’ll help. We’ll get slave ship charts. We’ll try to find out who went where. We’ll do what’s necessary to include you in Africa’s freedom fight. The average African American in the US, doesn’t know the struggles in Africa. We need to bring it to the fore front of their consciousness, to the people in the streets who should care about it and put pressure where we haven’t had enough pressure to move forward. What are we doing about that?
Maybe you’re unaware, but African Americans and the Diaspora have really been the strongest external supporters of the African struggle. From South Africa to Congo, there’s a long history of strong collaboration going back to the 1930’s between these Pan African communities and it’s still ongoing. No African thinker or politician can think of governing without the reservoir of good will that is offered by the Pan African community. Also, there are many associations that are trying to get African Americans to claim automatic citizenship in some African countries. Institutionally some have done well, like Ghana, Senegal, and Ivory Coast. For example, with an US passport you don’t need a visa prior to visiting some African countries.
I’d like to see is an all inclusive idea which I think “Pan Africanism” in part does , but my fear is the pitfalls the name faced in the past is because it’s associated with Marcus Garvey whose name carries a negative connotation in many circles in the US, with the CIA and FBI focusing on it. How can we ensure that our name doesn’t get associated with that in terms of principles since we are pushing for unity which embodies love, which overcomes the boundaries the West has created or is still trying to create in Africa, or the traditional tribal boundaries. What are your thoughts on that?
I know many people think like you that we should find a new concept or name. Different scholars have spoken about African collectivism, others discuss the African Renaissance. Thabo Mbeki and many others have different terms to describe an African collective consciousness. We can talk about that another time. It isn’t a debate for tonight, but by bringing people of African Ancestry of different tribes and nationalities together to discuss Africa’s future we are contributing to the struggle’s solution, educating ourselves and others about important issues and current occurrences of the global African Diaspora in Africa and the US.
What do you think of some African leaders, being the West’s puppets for their self interest?
You are right. Historically, slavery and apartheid happened because tribal leaders partnered with Westerners to dominate other tribes and received goods in return, only for them to also be later seized by the Westerners. It still occurs now, with leaders doing what they're told by the west for financial gain. That’s how we lost control then and even now, but with education and new technologies things are changing.
In many African countries, local businesses are ruined because Africans are jealous of their successes. Many prefer seeing foreigners prosper not their fellow Africans. So, what are we doing about Africans being discriminated against in Africa?
These are fruits of colonization and domination. We were used to seeing educated and skilled Caucasians who had power over us in superior positions, while we were subordinates. So we embraced those thought processes and images, but things are changing.
African politicians use ethnicity to dominate the country, favor particular ethnic groups or tribes, and resources are inequitably distributed. What are your thoughts on that?
The question of ethnicity appeared when Ouattara set foot there because it serves its purpose. It is something that the West uses often. They are quick to discuss ethnic conflicts in Africa. If you ask Ivorians, they were living well till Ouattara came bringing with him ethnic discrimination into the country. This is a fact because on which ground could people have been discriminated against? If it is on the political ground, well I remember that when he was in power there were many ministers from the North, so I don’t see that they were discriminated against on the political ground. On the educational ground, these ministers were educated in Ivory Coast and that’s how they became what they were. So I dismiss the ethnic factor because the West is quick to discuss it in Africa, especially in the Ivory Coast, and it happened the moment Ouattara set foot there.
The issue is raised unnecessarily, and I dismiss the ethnic factor because ethnicity is just a social constraint that carries political significance when it’s manipulated for specific purposes. Even in the context of Ivory Coast, what is the Jola? What does that mean? It is completely meaningless. In fact, if you look at the Northern charter, which I don’t know, who published it, it states the people of the North, and then includes a long list of many ethnic groups. If there’s a possibility of trans-ethnic cooperation beyond the Jolas, why can’t that be in other places? In fact, the Jolas, in my humble opinion are beneficiaries of the greatest goodwill of most of the Ivorian communities. Most of them I met are absolutely entitled to live wherever they want to live because it is their country, but in Ivory Coast’s smallest hamlets, you have Jola Booboos and people are worshipping their god in their mosque, without fear. So the issue is raised unnecessarily and we should not dwell on that.
Considering French President Sarcozy's statements, do you believe France is genuinely concerned about a former colony's democracy?
France isn't interested in Ivory Coast's democracy. Each country including European countries are interested in their self interests. General Charles de Gaulle said, “Without the African continent and the resources we have there, France isn’t a world power, so we’ll give them political independence, but not real independence, which is economic.”
Though resource rich, why is Africa often projected and perceived as worthless in the West?
We are future African leaders who must sell our value and qualities to the world. Africa is full of value. We must go the world table with our value. Our leaders can’t go to negotiations begging like they do now, looking like we don’t have anything to offer. They should go there and negotiate with the value that you have and be ready with the option that you can go home without anything. You don’t have to win all the time; you don’t have to go home with something.
Most African conflicts are based on resources which can be defined as human, financial, natural, infrastructural, and electoral capital. For 50 years starting with Lumumba this has been the case. It appears we want human resources capital borrowed. Gbagbo won politically. Based on that he should stay, however, if he loses financially and economically, he’s gone. What is the strategy for Africa to win economic and financial battles?
France usually quickly characterizes African countries as poor and expendable, but we know that they can’t survive without these African countries. The sanctions they have implemented against the Ivorian government will have a backlash on France if it isn’t already happening. Ivory Coast can turn to other partners, we can diversify our partnerships. We don’t have to follow France. They’re not the center of the world. They will notice that. We can negotiate with whomever we want. Once France starts losing their assets in the Ivory Coast, they will understand we’re not expendable. The problem with some African leaders is being too slow to disengage from bad masters.
Historically and having traveled around the African continent; most countries are resource rich, but made poor; while very few are systemically poor. These conflicts are because countries are wealthy. Ouattara said during his campaign that he should be president because he’s a knowledgeable economist. How many economists are presidents? If that’s the case, Obama shouldn’t be president. Politics is a different beast, which requires compromise, obedience of laws and institution building, so people can debate issues confronting them. It has nothing to do with being an economist.
This group started in 2007. This is my first time here. When will Africans stop all these conferences, discussions and noise making and go to work? We have knowledgeable African scholars. We don’t need more African theories. China, Brazil and India worked quietly and attained development levels we appreciate. For decades and centuries Africans have been talking. What is the quick impact of this meeting today on Africa and what tools are we leaving with to revive pan Africanism?
The impact is information sharing and generating awareness.
A writer wrote that because of African's dancing, we have been overtaken by more serious people. Talking is another form of dancing. What’s the strategy to revive our economic resources which is the underlying cause of Africa’s problems?
The dancing of Africa is a known argument even Senghor expressed that idea by suggesting the reason is European and emotions are African. That’s an old cultural argument, but if you were to walk in African streets and see men and women waking up early in the morning, going to the farm, working hard all day long, going to bed late, physically transporting their produce to the markets, selling in the markets, raising children with almost nothing, and you see multiplication of bread right there. Such statements are an insult to these hardworking Africans who are working daily with some success, but we have to create and maintain the political institutions so the reward doesn't waste because of their challenges. For example, if you’re a farmer and you’ve planted, nurtured and harvested your produce, but there are no roads to take them to the markets what happens? So the statement is untrue, Africans work just as hard as anybody else.
Are Africans evolving?
Yes. The proof is that we are here in the US, and gaining from this philosophies, gatherings and discussions. Looking at the example of the young Ivorian general, it gives me hope. We need to develop these generals in African countries. I hope we now understand our identity crisis and have the vision that we are the light. A shining lamp that must be exposed, that’s why the West is descending on this shining light. We will realize our vision.
What's your perspective on the Ivorian crisis?
The Ivorian problem includes a spiritual dimension. Just like the biblical David, Ivorians are David against Goliath. Only prayer led action will disarm Goliath. Our actions should include informing more of the African population, writing petitions and distributing them to embassies to sensitize the world opinion. We are doing something, but we should increase our efforts.
Authenticity or ethnic pride called authencité in Mobutu Sese Seko's Congo was a cultural identity based positive nationality ideology to encourage national pride, but some Western scholars say it was a xenophobic movement to oppress immigrants and mixed heritage Congolese. Ivory Coast's "Ivorite" mirrors that, and the "non- Ivorian" labeling of some citizens played a role in the conflict, but conflicts with Ivorians' hospitality culture. Discuss that.
Authenticité (authenticity) occurred after Mobutu Sesse Seiko visited China and discussed with Chairman Mao, where he had a political indoctrination, and was surprised with what he saw in 1960s china. Authenticité was not a fight against foreigners. It was a call to return our ancestral ways. For example, in our time we all took Christian names, but Authenticté asked us to return to our roots and native names our parents gave us. I personally had three baptisms, at birth I was given a name, at Authencité, I was given another name, and then I received another name. Authencité was for us to return to our ancestral values. It also encouraged a return to our resources for the Congolese people. In 1974 1 Zaire currency was worth $2. We were one of the first African countries to have major events such as the battle between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman took place in Zaire. Economically the country was moving well. Those who didn't want our advancement saw it as an incentive to destroy the economic set up that was causing development. The first attempt was aborted and failed but the second didn’t.
Who won Ivory Coast's election?
For those who doubt that Gbagbo was rightfully elected, I will explain the situation. I went to Ivory Coast after reading the news on www.Abidjan. net and other French and English media believing Quattara won. I stayed for 2 weeks, asking people on the streets what happened, and why the elected president was denied his position. Their responses made me realize that I was making a fool of myself. I don’t personally like Gbagbo, but this time he’s the president because he won the election and he is standing for his country. We’re not going to have Westerners coming in, engaging themselves in their media controlled wars and telling us who our president is. If you have a doubt in your mind, erase it. Gbagbo won and is doing the right thing.
Parting Remarks by Mr. Gnaka Lagoki
Africa received independence 50 years ago. This time we hope the Ivorians will stand and fight because most times, people underestimate them, but we can’t live under European domination anymore. I'm calling upon all my African brother and sisters. We should not be afraid. We cannot do this for the rest of our lives. It’s too much. We are either independent or not. Those who are in front of us don’t care about the country’s constitution or democracy. If we want to follow democracy and the constitution, we have to act like them now. I'm ready to fight. I want us to be an example to other African countries. This is the 21st century, the world is now flat, and we won’t stand for our leaders being threatened or assassinated anymore like Lumumba and Sankara. We in the US must organize ourselves to put pressure on our congress by telling them to truth to expose what's occurring in Africa.
If the Diaspora is united, we will be stronger. It’s time for us to take action. The message for everyone is that we live only once. Those called on today to do a job, like you and I. You are not here by accident. You are not here because you were invited or had a divine mission that God gave you. God never liberated people with a big majority. He used an individual. That person is you. When you leave here today, make the commitment in front of God and man that you will work for the liberation of Africa. Your email and telephone will instruments to transmit what you believe in. Let me give you an example, in Somalia, the large US army which is a super power had to retreat.
This event today is not about me, Gbagbo, or Ivory Coast, it is about Africa. So we must make room in our schedules once a month to come and discuss, African issues, I don’t know how we can express our seriously and sincerity about what we are attempting to do. God won't forget you is my prayer. One voice can change a room; a city, a state, a country and the world. Your voice, our voices can change the world. We cannot allow the power of the international community and media to suppress and oppress our voices. That’s why we are here.
If we cultivate ideas in this group here and there’s another one in Europe, it would be better. It is so sad to see that what happened in Congo in 1961 might be experienced in Ivory Coast. For example there are many people who are Pan Africanists but for some reason have decided to be on the side of imperialism. On the side of the movement that is trying to suppress the Pan African movement. So that’s the question, who is on the side of the history of Africa? Is it Lauran Gbagbo, who is a human being who made mistakes but who at least is defending some principles of independence of sovereignty, defending principles and values of dignity, and all those principles have been central in the Pan African movement. If you talk about all the Pan African scholars they have spoken and lived and struggled for the dignity, independence and unity of Africa. That’s why as a Pan Africanist, even though Gbagbo made some mistakes, but I think that to be loyal to the Pan African vision there’s no way my support can be for those who are serving the interests of foreign powers. We are not here to debate who won the election. We are here to remind Africans and the people in the African Diaspora that there's no way we can struggle out the side the frame work of Pan Africanism.
We need journalists to discuss African issues so we know what is really occurring in the continent. We need to be conscious of our situation. That’s what’s uniting us here. We live in a fast paced society. The problems though profound are similar in African countries. No panel can resolve these issues in a short time, but we must start somewhere by coming together, organizing, sharing information, and mutually educating ourselves, so we can transform this into action and evolve. This must be done in specific domains. What kind of development do we aspire to? Land locked African countries don’t have similar problems as sea-bordered countries. I believe we can take actions that can help us without being overly emotional. If it takes us a year to create dynamic structures that move us forward, we are better off. What we don’t want are martyrs, because “Ivorians are dying and we’re not concerned” and later on then we want to talk. It’s the urgency of the situation today that has made us meet to discuss and have synergy to find solutions to the problems. I’m calling on the intellectuals here to form working groups and think tanks to design programs that can help us solve our problems.
It’s great just to see the passion in this room. Let’s keep going. Let it not only be about Ivory Coast. Like the saying, if it knocks at your door today it will knock on someone else's door. So make sure it doesn’t knock at your friend’s door. Unfortunately we only want to do something when something happens. We as Africans must be unified. We cannot be selling our brother over there and saying, “Let us be united.” No. Let us all work together. We are future African leaders and we must stay motivated. This is a new movement, a new era of people that will fight for Africa’s progress.
Information:
The Pan African Movement is led by Professor Gnaka Lagoki. If you have any questions about the movement or the vision, feel free to send him an email at Panafrica-now@hotmail.com
For more on Dr. Fred Marshall Frindethie and his book on Ivoirité, Mobilization and The Destruction of Africa's Ruling Class, visit http://frindethie.wordpress.com/ His other books are The Black Renaissance in Francophone African and Caribbean Literatures, which was named Choice magazine’s 2008 Outstanding Academic Title, Francophone African Cinema: History, Culture, Politics and Theory, and Globalization and the Seduction of Africa's Ruling Class: An Argument for a New Philosophy.
For more on Dr. Abraham Luakabuanga and his special on Ivory Coast, Code 243, visit, http://fr-fr.facebook.com/pages/CODE-243/125818997482245
For more on Friends of the Congo, an organization that’s in line with the Pan African Movement that mobilizes people about Congo’s causes, visit www.friendsofthecongo.org
For more on performing artist, Anna Walagho, visit http://www.annamwalagho.com/
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