by Espoir Manirambona
Africa’s struggle for national liberation continues on. While overt, European-style imperialism has faded away, there’s a more covert, secretive form still haunting the region. This type of imperialism is harder to pin down and challenge. However, the contradictions created by relative political autonomy and economic dependence might lead Africans to question just how independent these so-called independent states with black leaders are.
Kwame Nkrumah wrote in Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism that, while countries in the 1960s and 1970s were able to regain some political power from Western imperialists, they remained subject to these same powers. The foundation for this theory lies in African balkanization (redrawing of the map into small nation-states), black imperialist proxies and capitalism that leads to economic dependence, impoverishment and subjugation to global predatory lenders and speculators.
Nkrumah led Ghana from 1957 to 1966 after which he was overthrown in a military coup. He was a socialist committed to serving his people and ensuring that resources went to those in need. Prior to this, Ghana was known as the Gold Coast, a colony of Britain that was primarily used to extract gold and other resources. Ultimately, this exploitation became intolerable for the Africans who revolted and gained “independence.” Nkrumah and the Convention People’s Party realized the limits of political independence without economic liberation. While Africans now controlled the state, the imperialists had retained a number of ways to continue to control the country. For example, imperialists had de-industrialized much of Africa and forced African peoples to export raw materials to the metropole, North America and beyond. Various colonial techniques and maneuvers served to disconnect African peoples from their subsistence economies, forcing them to buy imports from the imperialist centers to meet their needs.
The Contemporary Imperialists
The imperialists have still shown themselves as being willing to use barbaric military force when necessary. The United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) is an illegal military operation that is being used to conduct regime change for the purpose of attempting to control the continent’s destiny, such as when both AFRICOM and NATO attacked Libya and murdered its leader Muammar Gaddafi.
While organizations such as AFRICOM do pose a challenge to African independence, we are witnessing a New Multipolar Order: the re-emergence of multiple power centres. Africa’s children are uniting, just as Bob Marley had urged them to do. This process is at times slow and challenging, but there are signs that Africans want to accelerate the process of integration. The African Union (AU) has established political and economic integration as a top priority. The AU website highlights the organization’s commitment to forge a path “Towards a Peaceful and Prosperous & Integrated Africa.”
While the Union is not perfect, there is a force within the continent committed to peace and development. On a recent trip to Africa last fall, I saw first hand this beautiful, rising pan-Africanism. Everyone I spoke to demonstrated a love of the continent as a whole. The cities were filled with optimistic references to “Africa rising,” “Afrique émergente.” The music I listened and danced to was filled with pan-African sentiments pointing to a growing continent-wide African consciousness.
The “Colour-Line”
E. B. Du Bois famously stated “the problem of the 20th century is the problem of the colour-line — the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea.” This continues to be a challenge in the 21st century. The world is now multipolar with the rise of China, Russia, Iran, the progressive pivot of parts of Latin America and many other regions. Many countries are choosing to drop the dollar for international transactions. While U.S. hegemony is in decline, its military-industrial complex still poses a threat to global peace. Western imperialism, the product of capitalist development, has always been tied to white supremacy. The imperial centres, European and American, stole resources and people from Africa and other parts of the world. Through capitalism, these resources were concentrated within a few families, with some benefits trickling down to the white working class of the world.
The globalization of production and the free movement of goods and capital has created resentment among white workers in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. The contradictions between workers and capitalism are intensifying. Fascist sections of the ruling elite are using white nationalism to channel their anger away from capitalism to create scapegoats — namely Muslims, Mexicans, immigrants and other groups that can be blamed for the loss of wages and jobs.
Despite this globalizing trend, there is a growing criticalness of capitalism and the wars fought in its name.
The Geopolitical Shift
The system’s prospects are further impacted by the rise of an anti-imperialist alliance of countries including Iran, Syria, China, Russia, many Latin American nations and more. This geopolitical shift is creating a window of opportunity for Africa. African nations were previously dependent on Western-controlled financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. They can now choose alternative sources of investment from this anti-imperialist alliance. The continent is developing a strong bond with China and others through win-win agreements founded on mutual respect and benefit. China’s “One Belt One Road” infrastructure plans have created opportunities for African nations, particularly the ones in East Africa along the proposed “New Silk Road” initiative to connect Eurasia to Africa through transportation highways, rail lines and more.
That being said, if Africans value independence above all else, we cannot replace one imperialist with another. While China’s contributions to Africa are undeniable, the country is still dealing with its own capitalist contradictions. While the Communist Party leadership states its desire for socialist development, since the early 1990s, the People’s Republic of China has been embracing a form of state-led capitalism. Millions have been lifted out of poverty but millions more remain exploited by private as well as state enterprises. China has more billionaires than the U.S., extreme inequality, financial bubbles, large amounts of debt, corruption and an over-reliance on exports. There is a struggle taking place in that country. The peasants and workers are rising up. The Chinese capitalist class is looking for markets and investment opportunities abroad.
Capitalists have historically been notorious for looking out for their own self-interest and using military force to protect their investments. If the balance of forces tilts further in their favour in China, Africans need to reconsider their relationship to this country. If China can continue to democratize the economy, then the China-Africa relationship will flourish on a foundation of inclusive development.
Will to Independence
Africa is rising. It is building new ways of living and thriving. Africans are uniting; they are becoming more conscious, serving other groups impacted by imperialism (Indigenous, Palestinian and others), while remaining independent and anti-imperialist. It is also necessary to democratize the African economy and transcend capitalism, markets, money, exploitation, fear and materialism. Canadians can help through leaving NATO, ending the support of oppressive Canadian mining companies and joining the Non-Aligned Movement against imperialism. The choice is ours: democracy or neocolonialism. Many Africans, like myself, are choosing the former, marking the beginning of a more hopeful and enlightening period for the continent.
This article first appeared in the Leveller Vol. 9, No. 6 (Spring 2017).
