Yes, another
world is possible, but how?
AS A journalist, Lanre
Arogundade, (a member of the DSM, the Socialist Party’s
counterpart in Nigeria) attended both the West African
and the African Social Forums in Guinea and Zambia
respectively late in 2004. Here, he offers a socialist
critique of the slogan – ‘Another Africa is possible’.
FROM THE international
theme, another world is possible, social movements and
civil society organisations in Africa, its regions and
countries have adopted the same slogan. They say: another
Africa is possible; another West Africa is possible. Or
another Nigeria is possible, another Zimbabwe is possible
etc.
Of course, a quick revisit
of the environment in which the forums took place
reinforces the argument that another world is not only
desirable but indeed should be made possible.
Guinea, which hosted the
West African social forum, is suffering under the yoke of
a military-turned-civilian dictatorship. Despite, its rich
mineral resources such as bauxite, the coastal nation and
her citizens are among the poorest in the world. The
president has refused to either step down or call
elections. Soon after the forum, he claimed that a coup
had been planned against him and effectively used that to
clamp down on the opposition including the press and trade
unions.
Capitalist exploitation
Zambia, which soon after
hosted the African social forum, does not fare better. The
country’s water resources could take care of the needs of
the entire southern Africa, which means that it could
effectively be a waterpower. But today most of her
citizens lack potable water. The country is one of the
worst hit by the HIV/AIDS scourge and majority of her
citizens live in abject poverty.
Guinea and Zambia may
represent the poorest African Nations but there isn’t much
to show in the so-called bigger and sometimes richer
countries such as Nigeria and South Africa where the
key-defining feature of existence is poverty amidst
riches. For the likes of Sudan, the Congo, Rwanda,
Burundi, Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea etc the only story
that can be easily told is that of wars, genocide, famine,
diseases and mass hunger.
Africa, therefore, in
general presents the worst characteristics of modern day
capitalist exploitation…
The debt issue was
expectedly a big agenda at both forums. There was a
majority vote for total debt cancellation as many argued
that it is indeed the capitalist countries of Europe and
America that should pay reparations for colonial
exploitation and plunder and further neo-colonial
exploitation through the Bretton Wood institutions of the
World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The Nigerian government
says, for example, that to one of its creditors it has
paid 43 billion Naira as interest on a debt of 13 billion
Naira and still owes about 23 billion Naira…
Socialists support total
cancellation of the usurious and mostly fictitious debts
holding down development in the countries of Africa, Asia,
Latin America, etc. But the way it is posed at the social
forums as the magical solution to Africa’s problems is
misleading.
For in addition to the debt
burden other by-products of the exploitative capitalist
system such as massive corruption, imperialist domination
of the commanding heights of the economy, the
millionaires’ monopoly of land, farms and other natural
resources, payment of poverty wages etc, are equally
responsible for Africa’s under-development. Not to mention
years of military and civilian dictatorships as well as
wars and genocide with the big undercurrent of ethnic and
nationality agitation.
Moreover, it cannot be
expected that the same beneficiaries of the exploitation
of the working masses, who constitute the African Union
(AU) and regional bodies like ECOWAS would be the
champions of the debt cancellation campaign. It is thus
futile putting such demands at the doorsteps of AU, NEPAD,
and SADCC etc.
Then we need to ask:
assuming that the debt is cancelled today, what happens
next? What alternative would be put in place to avoid a
return to the debt regime?
The point that socialists
stress is that first and foremost it must be understood
that Africa’s myriad of problems are fundamentally caused
by the system of the millionaires and landlords that has
manifested through the years as direct colonization,
indirect rule, dictatorships, neo-liberalism and what have
you.
Second, that the
alternative to this system is a socialist plan of
production and society with the commanding heights of the
economy not only nationalised and socialised, but also
placed under the democratic control and management of the
working class, farmers and peasants in order to check
likely abuses…
…Africa and her countries
are not new to mass social and revolutionary movements.
Many examples buttress this point from the anti-slavery
revolt to the independence struggles. From the Algerian to
the South African revolutions and the working class
movements in Ghana, Nigeria etc.
The chief task of making
another Africa possible lies in re-arming the working
class and youth movement with the correct perspectives and
strategies based on the need to change the capitalist
system.
Another Africa would be
possible only when another revolution led and controlled
by the working class and youth, the farmers, peasants and
women is made to happen in each and every African country.
