Libya and Slavery: Sheep without a Shepherd

Slavery_capture
Slave capture

For several weeks now, we have seen many people scream loud about the enslavement of Black people in Libya. I have seen Claudy Siar, whom I love, stand up outraged about the treatment of Black people in Libya, yet, I did not see him outraged when Libya was being bombed by NATO; I did not see him this outraged when migrants drowned in the Mediterranean Sea; I have not seen him outraged because MartiniqueGuadeloupe (where his family is from), and French Guiana, have been deprived of independence and are still Overseas territories of France today. I saw Samuel Eto’o and other footballers come out outraged, yet… I never saw Eto’o outraged that there are no roads to go to his village in Cameroon, I never saw him outraged that international companies exploit huge plantations in Cameroon without paying taxes (was he outraged when Lapiro de Mbanga was imprisoned for asking those companies to pay some little taxes?). I never saw these big footballers outraged that African youths are unemployed largely due to their presidents working hand-in-hand with European interests. Faure Gnassingbé, president of Togo even raised his voice against the enslavement of Africans in Libya, and was outraged! Are you serious, when he inherited the throne, presidency of Togo, after 38 years of Gnassingbé Eyadéma, his father’s reign? Alpha Blondy never said a word when Côte d’Ivoire was being bombed by France in 2011, yet today he opens his mouth for Libya, and wants the migrants to take up arms! Seriously?

Libya, the Prey of the West
Libya, the Prey of the West

I do not understand why we always act like sheep without a shepherd! Back in the middle of the 2000s, we were served with the genocide in Darfur, when Hollywood stars such as George Clooney came out in numbers claiming to care about the plight of the Black man, and saying that the Black people of Darfur Sudan were enslaved by their lighter skinned Sudanese brothers. This led to the creation of South Sudan, and Darfur, well… nothing happened in Darfur… so it had all been a scheme to split Sudan into 2, and take away its rich southern oil fields from the nation itself!

Children begging
Children begging

Do you think that African youths, if they had jobs in their countries, will not stay home? Do you think that if the FCFA was not this tax imposed on African countries (The 11 Components of the French Colonial Tax in Africa), they will not be developed? This outrage I hear should not be taken out on Libyans who had no say when their country was bombed by the Coalition that is NATO, but rather against our presidents who continue to stay in the FCFA zone (FCFA: France’s Colonial Tax on Africa), who continue to give at least 50% of our economies to France! France gets $500 Billions every year from 14 countries in Africa just from the currency, plus of course the free uranium of Niger, the free gold of Mali, the free plantations of Cameroon, the free cocoa of Côte d’Ivoire, etc. This has to stop! Our outrage cannot be taken out on Libyans, but rather on NATO, and now more than ever on those puppets that we call our presidents, who serve the interests of the Hexagon. Get out of the FCFA zone, and create jobs! Stop importing pencils, pens, and food, when you can grow and make your own and become sustainable economies to serve your youths! Africa is the continent with the youngest population, and with so many resources, and thus so much to develop! Africa is the future!

500 Fcfa_BEAO
500 Fcfa_BEAO

Yesterday, I heard a talk by Robert Bourgi who was the adviser to so many African presidents, good servants of Imperialist forces: MobutuOmar Bongo, etc; and he said that, what Africans were asking for was governmental alternance, i.e. election of new presidents. NO, we do not need new presidents who are just puppets of the West like Macky Sall or Alassane Ouattara who will sign off our future to the IMF and World Bank. We need a definite change, we want to be in charge of our economic destiny; we want to have our own currency, we do not want to pay a colonial tax when our forefathers died in WWI and WWII to liberate the French and the whole of Europe, when our ancestors were taken into slavery by Europeans to the Americas where their sweat was used to build Western economies. We want economic freedom to decide on our own terms whether we live or die. We will rather be poor with our own currency, than be a happy slave with a fake currency pegged to the Bank of Paris, which used to take 85% of our revenues and now takes 50%. All the same, We have had enough! So our outrage should not be at our Libyan brothers, because we do know that our true Libyan brothers will never do that, Khadafi fought for us Africans to be free from imperialist forces, but to our presidents, to our elites, who refuse to free us, who refuse to stand up and seize the moment! We, the people, want freedom, economic freedom! No More FCFA!

How long shall they kill our prophets…?

Bob Marley
Bob Marley

How long shall they kill our prophets…?” as Bob Marley said, “… while we stand aside and look?”Sir Bob Marley said it all: How long shall we let these conquerors beat us down? bombard us? kill our prophets? What were Lumumba, Sankara, Cabral, Um Nyobé, Ouandié, Khadafi, Ben Barka, or Gbagbo’s sins? To love their country: to want to save their countries from western greed. What were we doing when they were all killed? Why on earth are we, Africans, just looking (and sometimes applauding) while some countries, Côte d’Ivoire, Libya, and now Mali are being bombed? Why and how long are we going to look while our prophets are being killed?

Le partage de l'Afrique a la Conference de Berlin de 1884
Le partage de l’Afrique a la Conference de Berlin de 1884

I just heard of Charles Blé Goudé being arrested. My heart is broken as I hear some Africans applaud… yes my heart is shattered when I hear people say “oh he deserved it.” Deserved what? Deserve being beaten to death because he stood up for his country while external forces were invading it? Deserve being humiliated because he dared walk out in the streets of Abidjan bare-handed to fight external forces, because he brought the youth together, because he woke Ivorians and Africans to their rights to respect, independence, and fairness? Yes… as Sir Marley said: “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery [slavery of the mind; slavery mentality: ignorant mentality]”… “Have no fear for atomic energy.” Some African head of states said when Côte d’Ivoire and Libya were being bombed ” It is better not to say anything; we will just agree with these westerners otherwise they will bomb us too!” now peaceful Mali is under attack; peaceful and desertic Mali is being bombed. Which other peaceful African country will be next? It is better to rise, save our prophets, and talk… than to drink the milk of cowardice, fear, treachery, and ignorance. Have no fear for atomic energy, just stand against injustice… that is way better than treachery or the cancer of betrayal as Amilcar Cabral called it.  Enjoy Sir Marley, and remember that the milk of cowardice never saved our ancestors, and will never save us; our ancestors thought that they were sparing themselves from harm, but 50, 100, 500 years later their children are still fighting the battles they should have fought in the first place.  History repeats itself… are we still going to stand aside while our prophets are being killed? are we going to fear atomic energy, and run as cowards? No matter how far we run, or how much we hide, they are coming for us… we might have seeming peace for 20 years, but our children will still have to fight our battles!