Africa Liberation Day

Apparently, last Sunday(May 25^th) was Africa Liberation Day(ALD). Not that I had any idea, because sincerely speaking, my mind was quite out of focus. I happened to hear someone commenting about it on the radio in the morning and it raised my curiosity somewhat. Now, I bet there are quite a number of us who had no clue that ALD was yesterday.

A brief history lesson:

In years gone by, the Day used to be marked officially by several governments and unofficially celebrated by many groups in Africa and the Diaspora. Now there are only scattered activities by people who have not given up on the belief that “A different Africa is possible”. It is a day of solidarity with the various struggles of African peoples for justice, equality, human dignity, freedom, unity and liberation. It was founded in 1958 (April 15) and called Africa Freedom Day, as a result of the first All African People’s conferences called by the indomitable Kwame Nkrumah. I believe Nkrumah is the foremost Pan Africanist of all times, a fact remembered and honoured by Africans world wide who voted him Greatest African of the Millennium in a BBC poll in 2000.

When the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was formed in Addis, May 25 1963, Africa Freedom Day became AFRICA LIBERATION DAY (ALD) as a symbol of the resolve, commitment and support of all Africa for the total decolonisation of the continent.

Now, following this brief history, I can only assume that the spirit of the conception of the ALD was ideally to celebrate Africa; her struggle for Independence from the cruel and exploitive grip of colonialism and to usher in Pan africanism – celebrating our brotherhood and sisterhood as Africans; as one.

I must admit that even if I did know that Sunday was ALD, I probably wouldn’t have cared less. You can call me a washed-out non Pan africanist but I sincerely don’t see what there is to celebrate. Come on! Has anyone been paying attention to the news of late?

And if you decide to forget the news for a moment, what about the daily grind that our lives have come to be? Seriously, what is there to celebrate as Africans? I am damn well pissed at so much! I am disenfranchised, disillusioned and debilitated!

Let me break it down for all of you:

· While Africa has remained united against apartheid and colonialism, the same cannot be surmised anymore following recent events. Take the raging xenophobic attacks that have swept through South Africa’s main cities. I wont even go into the nitty gritty details; I assume you’re all aware of the situation there. Can we really say that the sceptre of apartheid is really dead and buried? What about the post-election clashes that are usually witnessed in most countries?

· Africa has been enjoying the pleasure of sovereignty for decades now. Our forefathers and founding fathers of Africa’s nations fought tirelessly and bitterly for our emancipation. But the leaders who followed them, were busy stifling the aspirations of their own peoples for real independence and an end to neo-colonial power relations; rather than continue supporting the Liberation of Africa. What is the end result years later? The political elite are maintaining power in the various artificial states bequeathed by colonialism. Increasingly, power struggles have characterised our politics and “democracy” as we know it has become nothing but a mere façade; a laughable ideology. Consequently Africa has became more vulnerable for the cold warriors, unequal international power relations, debt crisis, food and water crisis, disease infested and so on. Cause to celebrate?

· The majority of Africa’s people live in abject poverty. Hundreds of reports and statistics place us as among the most overworked, underpaid individuals on the planet. Living on less than a dollar a day and faced with high tax rates, poor public service delivery, transport crisis, fuel shortages, bad roads and so on. The list is so long that I fear I might take the whole day on this so I’ll stop. And the minority? Think politicians and parastatal heads; swimming in cash and enjoying life at the expense of you and me – the taxpayer. Call it the classic tale of the poor getting poorer while the rich keep reeling in the dough.

· Nkrumah’s famous dictum that the independence of Ghana is meaningless without the total liberation of Africa’s is still true today and even more relevant. Well then, why is it business as usual in most parts of the continent while our comrades in former Northern Rhodesia(now Zimbabwe) suffer under the draconian rule of the mercurial “Comrade Bob?” How do we allow such dictatorship to thrive while we are well aware of the dangers of such leadership to the dream of Pan africanism?

While I could continue “breaking It down,” I feel that my point has been made. Africa still has a long way to go before we can all really bring out the champagne and caviar, and play celebratory tunes on our drums and guitars.

I’m not in a celebratory mood yet. Africa to me is still hauling a great ball and chain around – its liberation hasn’t fully arrived yet.