The rise of a unified black movement, flowing in one message and one common goal is something that the white supremacists have consistently undermined. When a black movement with strong ideology rises up, the leader of such a movement is targeted, discredited, deported, imprisoned or assassinated. Our history is filled with leaders who, when they posed serious threats to the capitalist interests of the global superpowers, were assassinated.
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| Thomas Sankara |
The list of leaders who were assassinated for advancing the
cause of black people is endless. Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Thomas
Sankara, Patrice Lumumba, Muammar Gaddafi, Steve Biko and others who died
gallantly defending their beliefs will always be honoured for eternity. The
seeds they planted have enough potency to change the conditions of the world,
but those very same seeds are being destroyed ceaselessly. The fact that all
these leaders were assassinated for standing by their beliefs steadfastly in
the face of a vicious white supremacist agenda shows that the Western world is unsettled whenever the masses are enlightened.
Keeping the status quo – that the rich get richer while the
poor get poorer – is an agenda that the white world strives to protect. And this is couched in a neoliberal capitalist framework. A world
order in which the tables are turned, or at least a more equitable state of
affairs is simply not in their realm of how things should be run. As such,
leaders who present an obstacle to this uneven state of affair should be
eliminated, as the aforementioned examples prove beyond any reasonable doubt.
When the Democratic Republic of Congo got its independence
in 1960, the euphoria was short-lived as its first democratically elected
leader Patrice
Lumumba was assassinated at the hands of the American CIA and Belgium. A
man who was more than eager to lead his country to great heights, Lumumba
envisioned a country in which the resources belonged to the nation, to the
people. But how to implement such visions when the global colonial superpowers had entrenched
economic interests in the DRC? The DRC is a country that is abundantly blessed
with natural resources that can enrich the country in a moment, if not the
continent at large. The US acquired a major stake in the control of DRC
resources and the uranium that was used to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki was
extracted from the DRC. Lumumba had to deal with potential secessionist
movements from the rich regions of Katanga and Kasai, ostensibly sponsored by
the American CIA. With Lumumba turning to the Soviet Union for help, the US,
with the help of Belgium, assassinated Patrice Lumumba in order to kill the
pro-Africa vision; the pan-African vision.
In America, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were
assassinated for the reason that they believed in their defiant principles. They
were assassinated for the reason that they were not amenable to being co-opted
into the white political agendas aimed at stifling the voices of the black
people. The two were prominent leaders of the black civil rights movement, at a
time when the racial segregation in America was the same as venom from a
serpent. The racism has taken more nuances, being more veiled now but still
affecting the ordinary lives of black people. For example, there are more black
people in American prisons than white people, even though the
numbers are gradually going down. Malcolm X for instance, was a firm
believer in creating separate states for black and whites because the racial
segregation policies were just barbaric. The Nation of Islam, the black
separatist movement he had joined while in prison, determined that Malcolm’s
policies had deviated from those of religion but Malcolm insisted that it was
right to continue fighting for black rights through a radical, revolutionary
black political agenda. Ultimately, jealousy won, and Malcolm was assassinated.
He spent his last days fearing he would depart the planet anytime.
Even when one looks at Sankara’s
case, it is one that clearly put in danger the interests white capitalism
and its hold over its former colonies. Sankara was of the view that African
countries should stop paying debts to the West. He once said, "We have to
decolonise mentalities. The debt cannot be reimbursed because if we don't pay,
our creditors won't die. But if we pay, it's us who will die. Be sure of it.”
He also said, “Our country produces enough to feed us all. Alas, for lack of
organization, we are forced to beg for food aid. It’s this aid that instills in
our spirits the attitude of beggars.” Foreign companies continue to rip Africa
apart, taking away all the profits while at the same time leaving the continent
in a bad shape. This is what Sankara was against, but for that he had to pay
with his life.
History continues to be replete with examples of black
leaders being assassinated. Worse still, the efforts to discredit the work of
black people are still continuing. The
Western media is still biased against Africa and continuously seeks to
perpetuate stereotypes against the continent, for instance, that Africa is
completely incapable of producing good leaders. The fight against these Western
agendas should never cease.
These foreign superpowers are taking advantage of an Africa that is no longer strong ideologically as it used to be. They are spreading their gospel of free-market economics under a neoliberal mindset and regrettably, African governments have colluded with this global capital to put the continent up for sale to the highest international bidder. But we should still turn to the ideologies spread by the above-mentioned revolutionaries so that we can counter what does not work for the continent, and instead come up with our own organic and homegrown solutions.
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