{"id":928,"date":"2019-03-09T00:28:08","date_gmt":"2019-03-09T00:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wsm.prolerat.org\/?page_id=928"},"modified":"2019-10-21T00:52:02","modified_gmt":"2019-10-20T23:52:02","slug":"the-case-of-the-decorated-donkey","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/the-case-of-the-decorated-donkey\/","title":{"rendered":"The case of the decorated donkey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\nThis article has been reproduced from the Socialist Standard<\/em> (October 2001), the monthly journal of The Socialist Party of Great Britain<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Suhuyini reports on the African Union – the brainchild of Col Gadhafi – and in whose interests it can be expected to operate.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The OAU<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\nCreated in 1963 ostensibly to address problems of the people of the \ncontinent, the OAU ended up only serving the selfish interests of \nAfrican Heads of State, their foreign ministers and the staff of the \nsecretariat in Addis Ababa like Salim Ahmed Salim. The masses of the \nAfrican people still wallow in poverty and disease, die in senseless \nwars whilst illiteracy and ignorance are on the increase. The toothless \nbulldog that was the OAU looked on helplessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These leaders were able to see the hopelessness of the body. What \nthey failed to discern, however, is the reasons for its uselessness. If \nthey did, they would not have deceived themselves in renaming it as AU. \nThe OAU could not stand the test of time for one main reason. The reason\n was because it was founded on the basis of money. Member States were to\n contribute money to run the affairs of the organisation. The resources \nof every country are controlled by a few very wealthy individuals. Even \nmilitary regimes are not free from the influence of the owners of \ncapital. Thus, having been formed with the resources of the rich, what \nelse could the OAU do if not working in the interest of the owners of \ncapital and not the poor masses? Is it not the one who pays the piper \nwho calls the tune?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The OAU would not, for instance, take firm measures on the numerous \nconflicts and wars in Africa because wars are a matter of big business. \nProducers and distributors of arms and weapons make super-profits in war\n situations. Part of the money they make is used to sponsor governments’\n contributions to the OAU. So, how can the OAU bite the finger that \nfeeds it? In other words, the OAU was a reformist organisation, seeking \nto work within a world system which puts profits first and people \nsecond. Nothing can ever go on for the benefit of humankind as long as \nmoney is around. Only those who own capital can be free from want for \nthey have the purchasing power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the AU?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The AU is to be modelled on the European Union and is the brainchild \nof Col Gadhafi, the life-president (or dictator?) of Libya. Reports have\n it that he has already given one million US dollars to fund the \ntransformation. It is therefore not suprising that at the summit he was \nseen by the other Heads of State as the boss. In fact he reportedly (and\n surely on the basis of his cash) wanted the house to maintain Salim \nAhmed Salim, the outgoing secretary-general, in the seat to effect the \ntransformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another VIP (“Very Ignorant Personality”) at the summit was the \noutgoing chairman General Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo. A ruthless \nmilitary dictator who took power in 1967 and has since been on top \nthere. Then there was the host, President Frederick Chiluba, who reneged\n on his promise to abide by the constitutional demands to step down at \nthe end of his second term. It was only through mass protests and \nresignations by his party’s bigwigs that it appears he will now back \ndown. And even only three days before the summit his former close ally \nwas assassinated and it is rumoured that the government had a hand in \nit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This throws some light on the nature of the people promoting and \nushering in the AU. We are told that this time a central bank, a \nparliament and a court will be established. The idea of an African \nCentral Bank is a novelty, even though we have seen the African \nDevelopment Bank based in Abidjan, C\u00f4te d’Ivoire. Like any other bank, \nthe ADB and the one to be set up by the AU have one purpose\u2014to create \nprofits for the shareholders who part-own the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As regards the continental parliament, the following example will \ngive us an insight into what it will be doing. In Gambia the average \nworker earns about 600 Dalasis a month. A member of parliament gets 7000\n Dalasis a month though most of the decisions taken in all parliaments \nthe world over are anti-working class. Therefore a Gambian in an \nall-African parliament will undoubtedly receieve more than what they are\n getting now. All at the expense of the poor masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, who is an African court of justice going to try? Even those \nin the Hague and Arusha (Tanzania) have not done anything to the benefit\n of the people of the world. So what is the farce being staged?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where parliaments and courts are institutions of oppression under the\n profit system, banks are the places from where all evil transactions \nare carried out with the intention of defrauding the masses. No wonder \nthat the Heads of State said they were turning the OAU into a “larger \ntrading bloc”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which way for Africa?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The operations of the AU can be predicted by considering the main \nprogramme the leaders discussed at the summit on the way forward for \nAfrica. It was a plan called “The African Initiative” which is a merger \nof “The Millennium African Recovery Programme” (MAP) championed by Thabo\n Mbeki of South Africa and “Omega Plan” spearheaded by Abdoulie Wade of \nSenegal. The two main points of the Initiative are that democracy be \nconsolidated and that the West should increase investment in Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our money-dominated world of today democracy can only mean the \nright of the rich to dictate to the poor. In the same vein increasing \ninvestment in Africa means pumping in more money to reap more profits. \nInvestors are in search of profits, they are not humanitarians seeking \nto help the poor. The call for democracy and investment which the AU \nwill implement means that governments should hold down the masses so \nthat the rich can pillage and plunder without any hinderance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consciousness has many stages. The lowest stage is centred on people \nwho think only about themselves. Selfishness. Others are a step higher. \nThey are concerned only about their family. Then, there are those who \ncheck only their tribe mates, tribalists. Then there are the many \nnationalists defending their national flags no matter what. We also have\n the so-called Pan Africanists, the pax romana, the white supremacists, \netc. But the highest stage of consciousness has to do with those who are\n internationalists. These are socialists who are not limited by space. \nThey see every issue from a global perspective. Therefore whether it is \nECOWAS, OAU, AU, Commonwealth, name it, no problem can ever be solved \nunless the money system is booted out and a moneyless system put in \nplace where every one has a free access to any product or service. It is\n only then that Africans and humankind as a whole will be free from \nwant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suhuyini, Ghana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Back to the Politics index<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Back to the World Socialist Movement home page<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article has been reproduced from the Socialist Standard (October 2001), the monthly journal of The Socialist Party of Great Britain Suhuyini reports on the African Union – the brainchild of Col Gadhafi – and in whose interests it can be expected to operate. The OAU Created in 1963 ostensibly to address problems of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"magazine_newspaper_sidebar_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-928","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=928"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2619,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/928\/revisions\/2619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}