The South African Communist Party hosted a Seminar on the revolutionary legacy
of Patrice Lumumba at COSATU House in which it drew many trade unionist,
academia, Marxists-Leninists Scholars and activists across all the trade unions
and African States, to reflect on the tenacity of struggles by former African
pioneers of African Independence from colonial rulers.
The seminar was convened to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of one of the
Pan-African and Congolese Nationalist, who stood firm and fought against the
imperialist oppression, repression and exploitation during his time.
This comes as a fresh challenge on the basis of the SACP African Conference on
Participatory Democracy and the African Left Networking Forum and International
Left Organizations Conference held in Johannesburg around August and December
2010 respectively. As part of marking about 50 years of the decolonization
process in our continent, we must forge forward noting our diversity,
democratic
advances, partial gains of independence without economic freedom, stagnation on
infrastructural development and heavy oppression.
Today many of our African countries still experience the negative impacts of
imperialism and/or capitalism. Despite a wave of independence and of
democratization, many countries are still politically, economically and
socially
instable because of invisible or hidden hands of imperialism and capitalism.
During that time imperialist used fear, terror, imprisonment, predation and
assassination as weapons, to silence people’ voices and opponents in order to
stay in power as long as possible. In fact any person who stands and speaks out
against them and their wrong doings or abuse of power defenselessly ended in
jail and were subject to torture and finally assassination. He fought against,
many leaders corrupted by power, with many leaders tirelessly working behind
capitalist to secure their positions and self-enrichment.
During the independence of Congo as the first Prime Minister of the Republic of
Congo on the 30th June 1960 he said “we are proud of this struggle, of tears,
of
fire and of blood, to the depths of our being, for it was a noble and just
struggle, and indispensable to put an end to the humiliating slavery which was
imposed upon us by force. This was our fate for over eighty years of colonial
regime. We have seen our lands seized in the name of allegedly legal laws which
in fact recognized only that might is right. We have witnessed atrocious
sufferings of those condemned for their political opinions or religious
beliefs,
exiled in their own cuntry, their fate truly worse than death itself. The
Republic of the Congo has been proclaimed, and our country is now in the hands
of its own children. We have reached a point where we are going to show the
world what a black man can do when he works in freedom, and we are going to
make
Congo the center of the sun’s radiance for all of Africa. Congo’s independence
marks a decisive step towards the liberation of the entire African continent”
and his speech on the Independence Day was not well received by many
imperialists on the context that his relationship with Soviet Union did not get
well with the Western Powers and was a threat to their hegemony and control
over
the Central African Region.
The 50th Anniversary of the life and times of Lumumba should be used to honor
all heroes and heroines of the struggle towards liberation. And the giving up
of
power by Belgian government was a result of mass struggles at the coalface of
the Congolese which epitomized how brave our people were against all odds.
African leaders such as Lumumba will always be remembered through the tenacious
legacy of sloughing a seed of Nationalism and Pan-Africanism,Self-Dependency
amongst Africans, Integrity and provision of leadership against imperialists,
courage and heroism to lead the masses and preached a message of a United
Africa.Che Guevara said that “we must move forward, striking out tirelessly
against imperialism. From all over the world, we have to learn lessons which
events afford.Lumumba’s murder should be a lesson for all of us to solidify our
International Solidarity platforms”.
What is currently happening in Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast and many parts
of Africa where terror is still the name of the game to attain political power
must be deplored by us all and we must fight to build a strong African Union
[AU], which will champion for good governance, social justice, recognition of
human rights and respect for the rule of law. Many countries are still
submerged
under the global economic imperialist, who are still interested in profits at
the expense of the toils of many workers.
The recent development of mass demonstrations in Greece, Tunisia, Egypt,
Britain
and others must be welcomed as a fresh approach to crush capitalism oligarchy.
Lumumba was politically removed, tortured and brutality killed with the
blessings of imperialists and the active participation of local dissidents. He
was one of the youngest revolutionary and died at a tender age of 35 and during
his times, the struggle was taken by Africans during the time when many were
still young.
The Organization of African Unity after it’s launch in 1961 resolved that no
leaders must be removed through death but through the experiences today we
still
account for instability as and when a change of government is looming and also
a
fight against borders whilst free movement was the order of the day before
colonialization. These are serious lessons that warrant due consideration.
It was argued that Lumumba short-term scenario as Prime Minister was a
properly
thought removal that must serve as a lesson to future African leaders. And this
was on the basis of the Democratic Republic of Congo having to share a border
with almost six African States and also because of its richness in mineral
resources. His removal may be accounted to serious tactical inconsideration by
Lumumba, who misread the balance of forces and sometimes attacked the Belgian
imperialists on many occasions undermining their total interest in the country.
The challenge for all African States is to maximize the beneficiation of its
citizens with the Mecca of rich natural resources that only feeds a few elites
and captains of capitalism against superlative degree of poverty,
under-development and unemployment. Diamond is sold like fat-cakes on the black
markets and that is purely done as the only way of survival which is a laughing
stock.
And the greatest lesson from his legacy is the display of love for humanity and
this was dovetailed this concept with the revolutionary work. Solidarity work
and a sense of empathy are some of the cornerstone of any revolution and we
must
continue to cherish that.
Africacannot afford genocide any more. The form of imperialist in the current
conjuncture is the establishment of United States bases are all over Africa,
which must be condemned.
The Seminar was addressed by SACP Politburo Member, Cde Solly Mapaila and
Samuel
Baka from the Congolese Movement.
VIVA Lumumba’s Legacy and African Unity!
Forward with Communism!
by: Mampane Norman
National Spokesperson
POPCRU
--
You are subscribed. This footer can help you.
Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this
message.
You can visit the group WEB SITE at
http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options,
pages, files and membership.
To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You
don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put
anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this
address (repeat): [email protected] .
