FACT: Africa is the birthplace of humanity.
YET, today the word "black" is associated with all that is bad and evil - black magic, the devil, darkness, evil, death and much more.
The word "white" on the other hand is associated with all that is
pure and clean, angels, innocence, and goodness - even white lies
are good lies.
Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd president of the United States of
America coined the famous phrase that "All men are created equal" -
a phrase written into the US Declaration of Independence.
What he actually meant was that "All white men are created
equal".
He did not believe that white women were equal to white men, nor
did he believe that black men were created equal to white men.
He published a book - "Notes on Virginia" - where he explained
that white men were intellectually superior to black men and that
it would be impossible for a black person to understand the
mathematical formulae explained in Euclid's book "The
Elements".
How is it that white people have "greater mathematical
aptitudes" than Africans when it's a known fact that civilisation
began in Africa? And just to prove that Thomas Jefferson was an
idiot, it turns out that the very Euclid he praised as the greatest
mathematician of all times, never travelled outside of Africa, that
he was born, raised and educated in Africa - even though the "White
Encyclopaedias" depict him as a "white man".
I strongly believe that the great Euclid was a black man, an
African man.
We should be proud.
We should also be proud of the many unmentioned black inventors
that remained unmentioned due to the corrupt system against our
kind.
We should familiarise ourselves with the works of the great
Cheikh Anta Diop, the pharaoh of African knowledge who dedicated
his life to re-identifying African identity.
With the slave trade and colonialism, Africa was taken out of
history and its people reduced to commodities.
Africans were no longer people or the Great Nation, but were
assigned several labels just like commodities on supermarket
shelves.
Labels such as Namibian, South African, Angolan, Nigerian,
Zambian, Jamaican, African-American, and even sub-labels - Ovambos,
Hereros, Dama/Nama, Shona, Ndebele, Zulu, and even further like
Ngonga, Kwanyama, and so on.
The more segregated we are, the less powerful we are.
It was all a plan.
All Africans, irrespective of their location on this planet, are
of a common ancestry, and as such, belong to the same family - the
African Family.
Who is a true African? I think it should be any person with a
drop of "black" blood in his or her veins.
Such people should not be denied their African heritage unless
they choose not to be called African.
This goes for our "Coloured" brothers and sisters who insist on
labelling themselves to avoid being looked at or referred to as
"Blacks" or "Africans".
It's a shame.
Even after the independence of our African countries, this did
not mean decolonisation since the colonial structures still
remained intact.
African leaders are themselves mentally enslaved as they are too
blind to take appropriate action to unite Africans for auto-centric
development.
Instead of thinking of themselves as Africans who can
collectively benefit from the human and material resources of
Africa, they continue to label themselves as Namibians, South
Africans, Angolans Zimbabweans and Zambians.
Meanwhile the Europeans continue to benefit from the riches of
Africa while claiming to be providing aid.
Do we really need their aid? Are we not developed enough to aid
ourselves? We should get rid of the thinking that "...it's a
Zimbabwean problem or Liberian problem".
Why don't we make it an African problem and have all leaders
chipping in.
Capitalists do not set out to create other capitalists to
compete with them.
The logic of the capitalist is to maximize profit for him or
herself.
The time has come that Africans start to think of themselves as
capitalists.
Dr. Chika Onyeani, author of the popular "Capitalist Nigger -
The Road to Success" (a MUST-READ for all Africans) proudly
declared himself a "Capitalist Nigger".
Dr. Onyeani is sick and tired of black people being sick and
tired.
We have all been complaining long enough, the time has come for
action.
Chapter after chapter of his book, he looks at black people and
finds them wanting this and wanting that.
It's all about handouts and aid.
He says, "As we enter the 21st century, Africans don't have the
capacity to discover oil; they don't have the capacity to drill for
the oil; they don't have the capability to refine the oil; they
don't have the capacity to transport the oil to the destination
where it would be refined; they don't have the vessel to transport
the oil back to us for consumption.
At a time when Indians and Pakistanis have both detonated the
atom bomb, when China is providing the technology for quick
acceleration of launching satellites into orbit, Africans still
don't have the capacity even to refine oil for themselves".
And he is right, like our President, His Excellency Dr. Sam
Nujoma said pointing his finger, both Bush and Blair can keep their
aid, Africa will take care of Africa.
Dr. Onyeani has another important point worth mentioning and
that is his "Spider Web Doctrine".
This is a notion that when money enters the community's economic
web, it should not leave.
A perfect example are the Jews, East Indians and their Pakistani
brothers.
These groups don't buy anything at all from groups other than
their own.
When money comes into their communities it does not leave.
It is caught in the web of a community interacting with
itself.
And, by so doing, it is multiplied and the community grows.
Let us support our black-owned businesses, let us identify them,
market them as "oyetu" (ours) and ultimately export their products
to the world.
Another great African writer, Ayi Kwei Armah, author of "Two
thousand Seasons", summed up the African experience for the past
two thousand seasons, reducing it to "a thousand seasons wasted
wandering amazed along alien roads, another thousand seasons spent
finding paths to the living way".
Armah warns us: "Woe the race, too generous in the giving of
itself, that finds a highway not of regeneration but a highway to
its own extinction".
It is time that we Africans adopt the same "spider web
doctrine".
We should stop criticising and demeaning products made by fellow
Africans – the Ghanaian and Zambian movies that used to play
on NBC TV, the Zimbabwean women on the streets selling their
products and not to forget the numerous Namibian-made products
available at the Soweto Market.
We should keep in mind that Hollywood wasn't started yesterday,
it was through our constant financial support from the purchase of
their movies that they improved and transformed to the Hollywood we
know today.
Look at the way the East Indians have transformed their film
industry (Bollywood) through the same spider web doctrine.
We, as Africans, should also come to the realisation that
culture is what makes us African.
Trying to merge European cultures with African cultures
regardless of the ideology that Europe is more developed will NEVER
work.
It's either one or the other.
We can only learn from them and adapt their knowledge to our
African culture.
With the elections around the corner, did you know that older
African cultures did not encourage individuals to boast or praise
themselves? The cultures used to teach that it was through your
actions that the people would praise you and not you praising
yourself.
The political platform of liberal democracy in which candidates
boast and praise themselves is a European democratic process -
where even crooks with sharp tongues can convince the electorate to
vote for them - is completely alien to African culture.
African democracy was based on consensus, compromise, and
co-operation in which everyone shares the cake; candidates were
selected by merit based on how members of their community viewed
them right from childhood.
There was no room for crooks and over-night leaders.
The great leaders Kwame Nkrumah, Dr. Dubois, George Padmore,
Marcus Garvey, Edward Blyden and Patrice Lumumba had the
appropriate vision for uniting the continent into one great nation
- One Africa.
Our only problem today is that our leaders continue to rely on
breadcrumbs that fall from the great tables of the IMF and the
World Bank.
The hope is for the present and hopefully the future.
Let us decolonise our minds.
Florence Auala, MBA
Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd president of the United States of America
coined the famous phrase that "All men are created equal" - a
phrase written into the US Declaration of Independence. What he
actually meant was that "All white men are created equal". He did
not believe that white women were equal to white men, nor did he
believe that black men were created equal to white men. He
published a book - "Notes on Virginia" - where he explained that
white men were intellectually superior to black men and that it
would be impossible for a black person to understand the
mathematical formulae explained in Euclid's book "The Elements".
How is it that white people have "greater mathematical aptitudes"
than Africans when it's a known fact that civilisation began in
Africa? And just to prove that Thomas Jefferson was an idiot, it
turns out that the very Euclid he praised as the greatest
mathematician of all times, never travelled outside of Africa, that
he was born, raised and educated in Africa - even though the "White
Encyclopaedias" depict him as a "white man". I strongly believe
that the great Euclid was a black man, an African man. We should be
proud. We should also be proud of the many unmentioned black
inventors that remained unmentioned due to the corrupt system
against our kind. We should familiarise ourselves with the works of
the great Cheikh Anta Diop, the pharaoh of African knowledge who
dedicated his life to re-identifying African identity. With the
slave trade and colonialism, Africa was taken out of history and
its people reduced to commodities. Africans were no longer people
or the Great Nation, but were assigned several labels just like
commodities on supermarket shelves. Labels such as Namibian, South
African, Angolan, Nigerian, Zambian, Jamaican, African-American,
and even sub-labels - Ovambos, Hereros, Dama/Nama, Shona, Ndebele,
Zulu, and even further like Ngonga, Kwanyama, and so on. The more
segregated we are, the less powerful we are. It was all a plan. All
Africans, irrespective of their location on this planet, are of a
common ancestry, and as such, belong to the same family - the
African Family. Who is a true African? I think it should be any
person with a drop of "black" blood in his or her veins. Such
people should not be denied their African heritage unless they
choose not to be called African. This goes for our "Coloured"
brothers and sisters who insist on labelling themselves to avoid
being looked at or referred to as "Blacks" or "Africans". It's a
shame. Even after the independence of our African countries, this
did not mean decolonisation since the colonial structures still
remained intact. African leaders are themselves mentally enslaved
as they are too blind to take appropriate action to unite Africans
for auto-centric development. Instead of thinking of themselves as
Africans who can collectively benefit from the human and material
resources of Africa, they continue to label themselves as
Namibians, South Africans, Angolans Zimbabweans and Zambians.
Meanwhile the Europeans continue to benefit from the riches of
Africa while claiming to be providing aid. Do we really need their
aid? Are we not developed enough to aid ourselves? We should get
rid of the thinking that "...it's a Zimbabwean problem or Liberian
problem". Why don't we make it an African problem and have all
leaders chipping in. Capitalists do not set out to create other
capitalists to compete with them. The logic of the capitalist is to
maximize profit for him or herself. The time has come that Africans
start to think of themselves as capitalists. Dr. Chika Onyeani,
author of the popular "Capitalist Nigger - The Road to Success" (a
MUST-READ for all Africans) proudly declared himself a "Capitalist
Nigger". Dr. Onyeani is sick and tired of black people being sick
and tired. We have all been complaining long enough, the time has
come for action. Chapter after chapter of his book, he looks at
black people and finds them wanting this and wanting that. It's all
about handouts and aid. He says, "As we enter the 21st century,
Africans don't have the capacity to discover oil; they don't have
the capacity to drill for the oil; they don't have the capability
to refine the oil; they don't have the capacity to transport the
oil to the destination where it would be refined; they don't have
the vessel to transport the oil back to us for consumption. At a
time when Indians and Pakistanis have both detonated the atom bomb,
when China is providing the technology for quick acceleration of
launching satellites into orbit, Africans still don't have the
capacity even to refine oil for themselves". And he is right, like
our President, His Excellency Dr. Sam Nujoma said pointing his
finger, both Bush and Blair can keep their aid, Africa will take
care of Africa. Dr. Onyeani has another important point worth
mentioning and that is his "Spider Web Doctrine". This is a notion
that when money enters the community's economic web, it should not
leave. A perfect example are the Jews, East Indians and their
Pakistani brothers. These groups don't buy anything at all from
groups other than their own. When money comes into their
communities it does not leave. It is caught in the web of a
community interacting with itself. And, by so doing, it is
multiplied and the community grows. Let us support our black-owned
businesses, let us identify them, market them as "oyetu" (ours) and
ultimately export their products to the world. Another great
African writer, Ayi Kwei Armah, author of "Two thousand Seasons",
summed up the African experience for the past two thousand seasons,
reducing it to "a thousand seasons wasted wandering amazed along
alien roads, another thousand seasons spent finding paths to the
living way". Armah warns us: "Woe the race, too generous in the
giving of itself, that finds a highway not of regeneration but a
highway to its own extinction". It is time that we Africans adopt
the same "spider web doctrine". We should stop criticising and
demeaning products made by fellow Africans – the Ghanaian and
Zambian movies that used to play on NBC TV, the Zimbabwean women on
the streets selling their products and not to forget the numerous
Namibian-made products available at the Soweto Market. We should
keep in mind that Hollywood wasn't started yesterday, it was
through our constant financial support from the purchase of their
movies that they improved and transformed to the Hollywood we know
today. Look at the way the East Indians have transformed their film
industry (Bollywood) through the same spider web doctrine. We, as
Africans, should also come to the realisation that culture is what
makes us African. Trying to merge European cultures with African
cultures regardless of the ideology that Europe is more developed
will NEVER work. It's either one or the other. We can only learn
from them and adapt their knowledge to our African culture. With
the elections around the corner, did you know that older African
cultures did not encourage individuals to boast or praise
themselves? The cultures used to teach that it was through your
actions that the people would praise you and not you praising
yourself. The political platform of liberal democracy in which
candidates boast and praise themselves is a European democratic
process - where even crooks with sharp tongues can convince the
electorate to vote for them - is completely alien to African
culture. African democracy was based on consensus, compromise, and
co-operation in which everyone shares the cake; candidates were
selected by merit based on how members of their community viewed
them right from childhood. There was no room for crooks and
over-night leaders. The great leaders Kwame Nkrumah, Dr. Dubois,
George Padmore, Marcus Garvey, Edward Blyden and Patrice Lumumba
had the appropriate vision for uniting the continent into one great
nation - One Africa. Our only problem today is that our leaders
continue to rely on breadcrumbs that fall from the great tables of
the IMF and the World Bank. The hope is for the present and
hopefully the future. Let us decolonise our minds. Florence Auala,
MBA