THE NEW RECOLONIZATION IN AFRICA

[Col. Writ. 8/9/03] Copyright 2003 Mumia Abu-Jamal

"Political independence, without economic
independence,
is but an illusion." -- Kwame Nkrumah

Several weeks ago, the President of the Empire, George
W. Bush, paraded throughout West, and southern Africa,
to pave the way for corporate expansion and, of
course, further Western exploitation of Africa.

He gave some mindless speech about freedom at Goree
Island, in Senegal (which, like his infamous State of
the Union speech, he didn't write); even as he defiled
the place of colonial rape of a continent, he comes to
Africa with shackles in his pockets, designed to
re-enslave the people for the wealth and enrichment of
others. This time, he came to chain African workers to
the leeches of the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
the World Bank, and the neo-liberalists of the World
Trade Organization (WTO).

These institutions, leaders of the global credit
cartel, have done untold damage around the world,
forcing governments to follow socially destructive
policies against their own people, in order to gain
access to Western markets. The IMF/World Bank are, to
use a now-common phrase, weapons of mass destruction.
These are instruments of U.S. imperial policy. In the
book, "Power Trip: U.S. Unilateralism and Global
Strategy After September 11" (Seven Stories, 2003),
the writers explain how powerful these groups are:

These are ostensibly multinational organizations, but
it is well-known that the IMF is primarily controlled
by the U.S. Treasury Department. The World Bank is
subordinate to the IMF, and most other lenders--
including the governments of the major industrialized
powers and even much of the private sector--defer to
the IMF's judgment.

The creditors' cartel, in conjunction with what
Columbia economist Jagdish Bhagwati has called the
"Wall Street-Treasury complex," confronts most low -
and middle-income countries with enormous power. It is
analogous to the power that the Oil Producing and
Exporting Countries (OPEC) have over oil. OPEC uses
its cartel to control, as much as possible, the price
of oil; the IMF/Treasury uses the creditors' cartel
not to control the price of credit, but to decide the
economic (and sometimes political) policies of
borrowing countries.

In other words, *the IMF is able to tell most
governments that if they do not adopt its policies,
then they will not get credit from most other
sources.* This is the most concentrated power in the
world, *greater in its efficacy than the might of the
U.S. military.* (p. 86)

Imperial President Bush came to Africa for the same
reason that Henry the Navigator sent ships down the
West Coast of Africa 500 years ago, and Arab dhows
sailed the eastern African coastlines for a thousand
years -- to exploit Black life for their own
enrichment. Period.

Does anybody think this guy, who presided over the
racist death penalty in Texas, who mis-governed the
state as it experienced a racist, violent resurgence,
who became president only because tens of thousands of
Black so-called citizens were disenfranchised of their
right to vote in Florida, gives a hot damn about
Africans?

Texas, we should recall, fought a war with Mexico, to
extend slavery into its territories.

And so, he comes to Africa, to sit and have photo ops
with African leaders, while they both look at the
people the way lions look at gazelles -- like prey.

The lion doesn't announce his presence. He creeps in
the tall grass, its color blotting out his intent and
his threat, until he gets close enough, to pounce.

The People of Africa must unite, across borders,
across
languages, across tribes and clans, to beat back this
perverse second colonization.

It is possible. It is necessary. All it takes is will.

The Americans today are not the friends of Africa.
They
weren't a century ago; they ain't today. They come
with smiles and suits, and promises. History has
taught us that where they walk, bones will surely
follow.

This should be an important part of the anti-globalist
movement that has grown, and blossomed since the
surprising explosion of Seattle.

If we could've saved centuries of heartache for our
ancestors, what would we have done?

We are the living ancestors of those to come; it is
our
duty to save them the heartache that America wants to
bring - again.