Africa is at a cross-road. Western capitalist democracy has failed and many African nations remain brutal dictatorships under the control of a capitalist minority. The political parties fighting for liberal democracy have alienated themselves from the working class, by supporting capitalist politics promoting the idea of deregulation and privatisation as the ultimate good. Most working class Africans feel no connected to their politicians who they rightfully see as elitist. Another force for elitism are the militaries of Africa. Armies under capitalism serve the role of protecting the ruling class and their laws. Often armies are paid better salaries and are given privileges for their loyalty to the state and the system.
It is not up to western people to tell Africans what to do. We will not say that white people will tell black people how to build socialism. This task can only be done by the working class themselves. By organisations of revolutionary workers. Africa lacks these organisations as a new generation of young workers only knows poverty and massive inequality. The lack of a socialist alternative plays right into this as all established political parties support capitalism. Liberal, conservative and social democratic parties, all have sided with the system of exploitation and poverty. The old national liberation parties too have joined the capitalist camp, betraying their socialist origins.
In Burkina Faso and Niger, military coups have overthrown democratic elected governments. Western governments blame Russia for this, but the reality is that many of these democratic governments have carried out the dictates of world capitalism. Some Africans therefore have the illusion that Russia stands against western imperialism. This idea is strong among some African leftists who champion Russia and China (the eastern imperialists) as anti-imperialist. Reality however is that neither Russia nor China are socialist countries, worse they are imperialist and wish to compete with western imperialism for control and influence.
French imperialism has a lot of economic power in their former colonies. The West African CFA Franc is the currency of eight countries, who are forced to store half of their foreign exchange reserves in the French treasury. In 2019 it was reported that the West African Franc was to be reformed, reducing the power of France. However as of 2023 this has not happened as France is not so helpful in reducing their economic control over these eight countries. Western imperialism knows that it can control Africa by economic means, this is why it supports many dictators and their abusive regimes.
Bourgeois democracy has failed, the liberal democratic model has not brought freedom for working class people. Many revolts and strikes were hijacked by capitalist politicians who then reduced many demands to an election with universal suffrage by secret ballot. New governments then kept this the same with support from western countries, keeping poverty and injustice and creating massive disillusion in politics among working people. Because that is what capitalism wants, people who ignore politics and say that fighting for change is useless. In the western world this is also a problem as capitalism has created this idea that fighting it is impossible.
In Niger, the military overthrew the pro-western government. Africa nations are ready to intervene to protect western interests. Revolutionary socialists clearly oppose the coups in any African country. But we give no political support to military interventions. We know that the real power behind the ECOWAS is western imperialism. ECOWAS has not called for intervention in Burkina Faso and many other African dictatorships. Why then in Niger? Mainly because western imperialism fears it may fall to Russian imperialist influence!
Military dictatorships do not have the program nor the intention of changing society, for the benefit of working class people. Militaries are a pillar of any capitalist dictatorship, so they will remain that pillar in order to keep their privileges and wealth. We therefore give no support to any military coup in Africa, despite that some people might have illusions in them due to their anti-western rhetoric. Many pro-Russian and pro-Chinese Africans have a misguided believe that these countries are the lesser of two evils.
In this period of instability in Africa, revolutionary socialists call for the building of new embryos of struggle. New organisations with a clear analysis of the limits of capitalism, the role of imperialism, the failure of bourgeois institutions, the failure of the investments in war made by the military regimes in Mali and Burkina Faso. We advocates the nationalization of the key sectors (such as the uranium mines) under democratic control of the workers and population, in order to use their potential to meet social needs. This is why we call for massive investments in developing infrastructure and public services.
The ’’democratic’’ rhetoric of western countries in typical. They claim that they stand for democracy and human rights, but in reality the western world support 70% of all dictatorships. Most oppressive African dictatorships are supported by western imperialism. All the money supplied to these dictatorships have failed to change these societies, because the ruling classes use western financial support to enrich themselves. This is why we call for the formations of new organisations that can organise the resistance and opposition, to the capitalist dictatorships in Africa.
Few western workers have a clear understanding of Africa. Many think that western involvement ended after most African countries got independent from European powers. The reality is that most Africa countries like Mali and Burkina Faso are still linked to their old colonizer. France keeps a lot of economic control over the Economic Community of West African States. Western imperialism was involved in the killing of Patrice Lumumba in Zaire/Congo and worked to overthrow and murder Thomas Sankara in Burkina Faso.
Africa is at a crossroad. The western liberal democratic model has failed. We need a socialist alternative for Africa that can be an inspiration for millions. Socialism is the only alternative as capitalism has proven to work for a very small minority. Corruption and dictatorial regimes are in a majority in Africa and western imperialism wanted it that way. Now there is a new Cold War between the capitalist west (mainly the USA and the EU) and the capitalist east (mainly Russia and China). Eastern imperialism however is new and can still mask its own imperialist ambitions under cloaks of equal cooperation and goodwill.
What are our perspectives for Africa?
1: We need new organisations of the working class
2: These new organisations must be anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist
3: Opposition to capitalist organisations like the Economic Community of West African States
4: Democratic control of the workers and population in order to use their potential to meet social needs
5: Massive investments in developing infrastructure and public services
6: Substantial aid to small farmers for climate adaptation
7: For a socialist Africa, free from capitalist dictatorships and undemocratic regimes
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