I was just a child when Thomas Sankara was assassinated… I could not understand my parents’ tears.  I cried when I watched the movie on the assassination of Patrice Lumumba.  Today… with Laurent Gbagbo’s arrest, I collapsed under the weight of tears of pain, hurt, and bitterness.  Today I saw my president and his wife being treated like thieves… whatever their crimes, Moubarak, Chirac, Bush Jr., or even Pinochet, were never treated like this.  Is it because Laurent and Simone Gbagbo symbolize a strong Africa? Or the educated nigger? Or the nigger who wants his freedom? What is wrong with asking people to have a pacific discussion after an electoral litigation? What is wrong with asking people to re-count the votes?

Just last year, my friends were celebrating the 50 years of independence in Africa… and I told them that I could not celebrate a masquerade.  Today the masquerade is unveiled! Bombing an entire country, shooting missiles at hospitals and the president’s residence, a foreign army (France) which sends more than 300 French soldiers, and 50 army tanks to unseat a president supported by at least 50% of the population, and crowned by the country’s supreme court! I screamed: “Why isn’t Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire’s neighbor, doing anything? Why isn’t Angola doing anything? Why isn’t South Africa doing anything? Why isn’t Africa screaming?” In 2011, my country is being bombed by France, and all the other African nations just look! Such apathy! Oh God! They think nobody will do that to them! Not doing anything is being guilty of this crime against Côte d’Ivoire, of this crime against the Black race!

I would like to give a tribute to Laurent and his wife Simone Ehivet Gbagbo. You have opened our eyes…

Laurent Gbagbo is a proud warrior of Africa. He has defended and continues to defend Côte d’Ivoire, and Africa. For the first time in Africa, the president of the republic has on his arms a proud and strong woman, and educated! Doctor in literature, Mrs. Gbagbo has shown us that a first lady is not there for a fashion show (as most African first ladies) or to cut pennants… Being a first lady is also being a deputy in parliament, and being an active member of a party! This is exactly what I want to say: Laurent and Simone have shown us through their fight that you could be Black and dignified… you can be Black and educated, and we have the duty to know the truth! Gbagbo has always shown the truth, and asked for pacific arrangements to problems… Thanks to him and his team at RTI, we’ve been able to see all the diversion and embezzlements of Francafrique… Thanks to him, we’ve been able to see France’s outburst and invasion of Côte d’Ivoire, the lies of Chirac, Sarkozy, etc… and even the existence of a tunnel linking the French embassy to the Presidency. Now that we are enlightened, we will continue the battle!

No to apathy! No to a complicit silence! It is our African duty to rise, and rescue Côte d’Ivoire! But how? Denounce the genocide perpetrated by Ouattara’s rebels supported by France in Côte d’Ivoire … denounce the evil done to our president, to our people.  But how?  Write, pray, sing, organize, scream, walk, resist!… but you cannot  stay static, idle, not in 2011, not in the 21^st century!

When they arrested Patrice Lumumba, and they threw him in the back of the truck, pulled his hair, and when the Belgians burned his body, we all said that we did not know… we were not there. Today, we know, we see, and we are present: the evil done to Gbagbo and all of Côte d’Ivoire is profound… O Black race, arise! Wake up! Rise from your apathy! You still have something left: the land of your ancestors!

I would like to thank Laurent and Simone, because today we know that the UN is a warmongering and bellicose organization, which is used to kill the African people and which serves the interests of France, US, UK, and the UE. It is an organization to which we should not belong, because it is either there to wage war on us (Côte d’Ivoire), or to silently watch while we are being massacred (as in Rwanda).

I would like to thank Laurent and Simone, because today we know that France who supported Alassane Ouattara. We all know that Ouattara cheated and that is why he had been asking for a military intervention in Côte d’Ivoire, instead of a pacific solution to the electoral litigation.

I would like to thank Laurent and Simone, because today, we know that we cannot count on anybody else to free us.  We are alone!  I was so disgusted and bitter when I saw all the nonsense of the CEDEAO and the African Union (AU), which are just puppet organizations of the West!

I would like to thank Laurent et Simone, because today we know that all the CEDEAO and AU’s meetings are 80% sponsored by the EU, France, the UK, and the US.

I would like to thank Laurent et Simone, because today we openly know that the CFA Franc is colonial currency maintained by the bank of Paris, and that 60% of our export profits is paid to the French treasury, and 20% is taken from us as Tax. We should get rid of this currency!

I would like to thank Laurent and Simone because today we know that putting an embargo on a country is a declaration of war against its people.

I would like to thank Laurent and Simone, because today we are proud to have a president like him; today we have been able to express ourselves freely … we have been able to scream our pride, our ideologies, our ideals, through the voice of Charles Blé Goudé and Ben Soumahoro… Thank you for your battle, which is ours… we answer to your call!

I will finish with this sentence from Laurent Gbagbo himself: “Every time this country will be faced with difficulties, it will find in me a proud son ready to raise his head”… and I to conclude: My continent will find in me a proud son/daughter… this is my duty to posterity!