A soldier without political education is a virtual criminal – Thomas Sankara
We, in the Gambian front of the African revolution cast our lot with any defiant stance against
imperialism. In this instance, French colonial — imperialism, the fattest tapeworm attached to
the intestines of Africa for the past centuries. This is the first time in the history of coup d’etats in
Africa that the three coupists countries: Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger delivered a joint solidarity
statement against French colonial — imperialists and their neocolonial stooge governments,
with a stern warning that an attack on Niger will be considered a declaration of war on the
tripartite, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
This act of justifiable defiance against the parasitic French government is unprecedented. And
this is why we cautiously equate these coups to the 1983 overthrow of the then “Upper Volta”
government by Thomas Sankara and his comrades. Sankara and his few comrades waged a
fierce struggle to transform the coup into a revolution but the revolutionary forces were not
adequately prepared to repel the traitorous plots of Blaise Campoare and his vermin.
If another Thomas Sankara or a genuine revolutionary emerges out of this contradiction, there
are lessons to be learn from the previous mistakes of comrade Sankara. You must forthwith
cultivate a cadre of revolutionaries from the masses of workers, farmers and the few honest
intellectuals steeled with organizational discipline and poised to repel any attacks from
Economic community of West African States (ECOWAS/CEDAO) at the behest of France and
his western allies. We must consciously defy bourgeois convention and make political education
a requirement for soldiers, police and all security forces entrusted with our security before
putting a gun in their hands. We should only put guns in the hands of the politically conscious
sons and daughters of Africa. The best defense from this impending attack is to wage a
people’s war against ECOWAS. Once political education is attained, no African soldier will
follow orders to spill another African’s blood in the name of these “colonialists in black faces.”
Currently, the neocolonial entity ECOWAS, just like its parent organization, African Union (AU),
headed by the most unreliable sector of African society, are foaming at the mouth, ready to spill
African blood through their military outfit Economic Community of West African States
Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) just as they carried out military mayhem in Sierra Leone, Liberia,
Ivory Coast and Guinea Bissau. The president of ECOWAS commission, Dr. Omar Alieu Touray
from the Gambia; waxing indignant, delivered the statement to Niger with an ultimatum to return
Mohamed Bazoum to power or face the military consequences. Waxing more indignant, than
Touray, is the new Chairman of ECOWAS and newly selected president of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed
Tinubu, who is fanning the flames of military intervention but unwilling to subdue the ragtag
“jihadists”, Boka Haram.
Tinubu’s hawkish attitude to spill African blood is very unpopular among Nigerian law makers,
Governors and the population at large that catches the brunt of the misery in Nigeria. Even the
once anointed “Moses of Gambia”, Adama Barrow displayed his hawkish attitude. Barrow went
further than the ECOWAS, he said: “we are also discussing with our allies”, meaning their
imperialist masters. As for “Moses Barrow”, he “can’t sit on a sheep skin and talk bad about its
meat”. ECOMIG is still in the Gambia as his state security.
The entire African continent is littered with AFRICOM (Africa command) military bases — “US
proxy wars and secret ops in Africa”. Not to mention the French military bases in the
“Francophone countries”. The buffoonery of the ECOWAS surpasses only that of the African
Union, the architect of the unviable Africans states trapped in their false sovereignty and
consciousness to keep Africa stagnant. The United States of America, “the greatest purveyor of
violence” and its lap dog, France are waiting for their stooge “colonialists in black faces” to start
yet another war in west Africa before they “circle up the wagons” around Niger.
The impotent African petit bourgeoisie always resorts to spilling African blood but will belly crawl
and negotiate with Europeans and Arabs in every instance of crisis.
The masses of our people must refuse to be relegated to voting, electoral campaigns
and begging politicians for favors that can’t even feed a chicken. Where in Africa has a
civilian government outdone a military regime in the illusions of democracy?
“Theory, when grasped by the masses, becomes a material force”
Let us see the world for what it is, not as we wish it were. We must organize to govern in all
fronts of the African revolution but only through revolutionary politics, which sought explanations
for our conditions of existence from the actual material conditions that created the hell we live
on this earth, making it a heaven for Europe and America. In contrast, politics as usual, which
has been surviving on idealism, superstition, tribalism and blind faith religion to the point that the
vast majority of our people surrender to the notion that everything that happens in our lives is
God’s will on us. But our material conditions of colonial exploitation and oppression says
otherwise. We believe that If God had a hand in this contradiction, food, clothing and shelter will
be guaranteed to all.
It is of great importance for the masses to grasp and understand the theoretical aspects of our
struggle for liberation, freedom and social justice against the propped up neocolonial state that
is responsible for our unhappiness as Africans wherever we find ourselves. The most rabid
opportunists in our midst, from the “slimy politicians” to the guardians of the old boundaries of
colonial education, believe theory is beyond the grasp of the downtrodden masses of our
people.
This long held notion is incrementally being shattered by riotous and rebellious actions across
the continent and no “power” can stop this momentum if it stays on its revolutionary path.
The attainment of this “material force” of politically conscious Africans is the only guarantee from
betrayals and the usual hijacking by “soldiers with a difference,” the likes of Yaya Jammeh and
Julius Maada Bio, who jumped out of their military uniforms into civilian clothing but maintained
“politics as usual”. Blaise Campoare, Mobutu and countless other traitors including the
opportunist civilian petit bourgeoisie are still in our midst and the ECOWAS and African Union
(AU) are the breeding grounds for these “colonialists in black faces”.
Colonialism, Imperialism, Neocolonial and the predatory capitalist social system are not just
mere words. This social system is what created the hell on earth for Africans and heaven on
earth for Europe, America and “white people” in general. These are historical facts and not
“dead history”. Even Emmanuel Macron, the head of the French tape worm securely attached to
the intestines of Africa knowns what imperialism is. He was visibly angry in his denunciation of
the “new imperialism” (not naming China) in the pacific on his historic visit to Vanuatu. Macron’s
arrogance is a manifestation of a desperate imperialism losing the grip on its neocolonial
possessions. Only a revolutionary purgative can flush these parasites out of the belly of Africa.
We know what imperialism is more than Macron, the European Union, America and all their
neocolonial allies. We have been living under imperialism with its knee on our neck for
centuries, therefore, when imperialism is in crisis, we Africans should not panic. The question
remains, what is to be done while it’s dying?
The old order is gone. This social system is damaged, broken beyond repair and reform. It will
never be fixed again but Johnny – just – come president Tinubu and his ECOWAS wants us to
believe otherwise. There couldn’t be a better time for the African world and the rest of
oppressed humanity to fight back and not allow the return of the barbaric social system that
have wreak havoc on planet earth the past centuries. VICTORY TO PEOPLE’S WAR!
HANDS OFF NIGER, MALI & BURKINA FASO! AFRICA MUST UNITE!
By: Ousainou Mbenga