Pan-Africanism Today: A Maoist View
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Pan-Africanism today has achieved some infamy in the majority-exploiter countries, because of the
struggle in South Africa (Azania), and the slogan "one settler, one bullet." The slogan refers to the
white settlers that seized African land in southern Africa and offers a hard-edged rebuttal to those
Liberals who sought "one man, one vote" during the struggle against apartheid, the legalized system of
enforced and extreme segregation that denied Blacks the vote and other basic citizenship rights.
Today, although the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) and others have repudiated the slogan of
"one settler, one bullet," the
masses still chant it during outbreaks of obvious national oppression. For example, when six police
set dogs onto a Black man, the resulting court case in November 2000 caused the masses to chant the slogan outside
the court room.(1)
Thanks to the victory of Nelson Mandela, it's hard to find any signs of radicalism in organizations that used
to dedicate themselves to socialism and armed struggle. The "African National Congress" (ANC) led by old-style
revisionists, Mandela & Mbeki have won clear majorities of the Black and overall vote. The Maoist hope that
Azania might proceed directly from apartheid into socialist revolution has been dashed. On the other hand,
there is no denying the progress made since apartheid.
The radical image of some Black political activists lives on though in the minds of neo-Nazis.
Despite a lot of hype, MIM believes it is a matter of time before the masses see through the Black puppets of imperialism in
Azania.
Along these lines, there is much in the history of struggle to draw from. Of special concern to MIM is the
fact that South Africa is a microcosm of the whole world, a place where there are imperialists, more
numerous members of the white petty-bourgeoisie and exploited Third World, in this case, Black workers.
The gap between the white petty-bourgeoisie and Black workers is more or less the gap between the majority-exploiter
nations and the Third World in general.
In such a situation, it is not a nationalist "error," much less "deviation" for African communists to
target the white petty-bourgeoisie along with its allies. The crux of this question is whether or not the
white petty-bourgeoisie can be broken down into a petty-bourgeoisie and a "working class." MIM answers
that it cannot. For this reason, the white petty-bourgeoisie is not a reliable ally or driving force for
progress.
Against the more radical slogans of the more radical days of the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania,
there are those such as the then President of Guinea Sekou Toure who attacked the concept of Negritude and the
Black nation at the Sixth Pan-African Congress in 1974.(2) Those at the Sixth Pan-African Congress
for the whole continent rather stressed that there are Africans of all colors.
Since the 1970s, the debate has raged. Some have taken the position that "Black" includes Asians
and mixed-race people in southern Africa. In this camp, the socialist martyr, Black Consciousness
Movement organizer Biko pointed out in 1971
that: "There is for instance no worker in the classical sense among whites in South Africa,
for even the most downtrodden white worker still has a lot [to] lose if the system is changed."(3)
Clearly Biko understood Marx's definition of "proletarian" as someone "with nothing to lose but their chains."
The discontent of the exploited Black masses despite the fall of apartheid is proving Biko right.
The Liberals, white "left" and neo-Nazis around the world have united in seeing such positions as
nothing less than crazy nationalism or "reverse" racism. In fact, the Black radicals
in Azania reflect the objective economic
truth--that whites as a group have no surplus-value extracted from them. Maoism is much more likely
to be born from these Black radicals than from all the revisionist "Marxist-Leninist" and even "Maoist"
organizations of the majority-exploiter countries put together. It's only a shame that we have no way
to stop these revisionists from claiming Marx, Lenin and Mao for their parasitic politics and thereby
dissuading the AZAPO and others from taking up open Maoism.
Today, the Azanian People's Organization (AZAPO) continues to put forward Biko's ideas.
We believe Stalin and Mao would agree completely with AZAPO that "the class struggle continues
and will continue to manifest itself in colour terms."(4) AZAPO seeks a Socialist Republic of Azania(5)
and considers itself "scientific socialist" as do we.
We should make clear that we consider the Maoist Black Panther Party to have
led the greatest movement against exploitation and oppression inside u.$. borders in the 20th century.
In fact, we have to be clear that the BPP surpassed its Pan-Africanist ancestors such as W.E.B. Du Bois, who
cleared the way for a Malcolm X and then a BPP. This is to show no disregard to W.E.B. Du Bois, for it is only
natural for each generation to produce better revolutionaries, more advanced revolutionaries than the previous
generation--especially in the case of oppressed people not done relieving themselves of oppression.
At the same time, we in no way mean to imply that the BPP's underlying ideas about the lumpen and
labor aristocracy inside u.$. borders should prevail anywhere in Africa. Of course, there is a polarization between lumpen and middle-class
Blacks in Azania as well, but that theme is no where near as important in Azania as it is within u.$. borders where
super-profits (partly from Azania) are swamping the economy.
The AZAPO is correct to say that: "The Black Consciousness Movement recognises that the Black workers
are the most oppressed and exploited section
of our society, and, therefore, constitute the major force in our struggle."(4)
Notes:
1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1035813.stm
2. Resolutions and Selected Speeches from the Sixth Pan African Congress (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania:
Tanzania Publishing House, 1976).
3. http://www.azapo.org.za/documents/bcc.htm
4. http://www.azapo.org.za/history/declaration_of_principles.htm
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