The African Union Is Eroding Pan-Africanism

Richard S. Dunn - August 11, 2021

“Here we find that the Negro has failed to recover from his slavish habit of berating his own and worshipping others as perfect beings…The ambitious and mis-educated Negro in the struggle for the little things allotted by others prevents any achievement of the people in matters more constructive”  - Carter G. Woodson from The Miseducation of The Negro.

Those words were written over 80 years ago. They were true then and have more significant import now, considering the recent betrayal of the African peoples, the National Liberation struggles, and the intent of pan-Africanism as conceived by the Organization of African Unity (OAU); the predecessor of the now “limping” African Union (AU). In a unilateral decision, the African Union (AU) through its Commission and by extension the chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, has granted Observer status to Israel in the African Union. The Commission did not put Israel’s bid for the position to a vote from the fifty-five member States. This action is unprincipled, backward and an affront to the Principles of the AU, and once again shows Israel’s arrogance, colonialist, and expansionist obsession. The AU’s action is nothing short of annexation by invitation.

Israel is an Apartheid and Genocidal State when examined against the adopted definitions given by UN General Assembly Resolution 2202A (XX1) 1984 and Resolution 96 (1) 1946, and practiced by Israel in the occupied territories. Israel has ignored every Resolution by the world community through the UN Resolutions passed, regarding a peaceful resolution of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. This is further proof of Israel’s belligerence, arrogance, and ethnic chauvinism. Israel is no friend of Africa and African people; during the Apartheid years, Israel supplied the South African regime with weapons that were used against our people in South Africa and allowed South Africa to conduct military incursions into neighboring States.

There is no secret of Israel’s hatred of the Muslim religion; they also hate Arabs and other people of color. Admitting Israel to the African Union, is the ultimate betrayal of the sacrifices made by African people and the founding fathers of pan-Africanism Kwame Nkrumah, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, and Kenneth Kaunda. By admitting Israel to the AU, the AU is capitulating to reaction and an enemy of Africa and most importantly; further thwarting the socio-economic development of Africa and sanctioning the continued plundering of the resources of Africa, both material and human.

The Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler, although sanctioned by the United States over human rights and corruption concerns, continue to do business in the Congo with the cooperation of its President Joseph Kabila. Gertler has investments in diamond, copper, iron ore, gold, cobalt, oil, agriculture, and banking. By approving Israel’s Observer status in the African Union, it further solidifies Gertler’s exploitative relationship in north-east Africa and, gives Israel an open license to interfere and influence, the internal affairs of other African countries.

It has been reported that between the years 2010 and 2012 the Congo lost $1.36 billion in revenues, because of the underpricing of mining products sold to Gertler companies. Israel already has tremendous influence in north-east Africa, with its support of the tyrannical governments of Rwanda, Uganda, and Chad. Israel provides operations planning, weapons, ammunition, and intelligence services to these tyrants. The spyware Pegasus, developed in Israel, is widely used in these countries to surveil dissidents and activists who dare to oppose these lackeys of neocolonialism. In this 21st century the level of self-hate and cultural bankruptcy is appalling and as Franz Fanon said, “the great danger that threatens Africa, is the absence of ideology.”

Of no small significance is the fact that, this approval by the AU is an insult and ungratefulness shown to the people of Palestine. Despite their oppression from Israeli domination, occupation, and annexation of their lands, Palestine has always showed solidarity with the National Liberation struggles in Africa, and the struggle for Human Rights by Black people in the United States.

Most of Africa has been taken over by a gang of corrupt, boot-licking despots and traitors supported by the United States, France, Canada, Israel, and the European Union (EU); the latter is the main source of funding for the African Union (AU). The working-class of Africa need to replace these despots and stooges of neocolonialism, who oppress and murder their own people in the interest of the imperialist Countries, and their obscene greed for super profits. Only by doing this can there be a truly independent African Union working in the interest of African people. The government of Botswana must be soundly commended for its principled and self-determining stand on the treachery of the AU; the government’s statement in part said: “Moreover the government of Botswana maintains that the continued occupation of Palestine by the State of Israel goes against the letter and spirit of the Constitutive Act of the African Union.”

Those who support the self-determination of Nations, the right of countries to own and control their natural resources and the non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, should support the call by the African Great Lakes Action Committee, for the ordinary people of Africa to form their own African Union. Only then can the further erosion of pan-African unity and Africa’s social development proceed unfettered by neocolonialism and imperialist domination.

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