Preface — Monopoly Capital and Pan-Africanism

From London to Pittsburgh

(September 1, 2009)

Since the initial writing of this piece, world history has moved on. When this was first written much of the world's attention was riveted on the London G20 Summit.

So what exactly happened at and since that London summit? As we predicted at the time of the initial writing of the work, the London G20 summit would do nothing for Africa or most of the world's population for that matter.

Africa's official voice in the AU has grown much more critical of the system -- after all not only did the G20 owners snub Africa's demand for direct continental representation by means of the AU, the G20 owners added insult to injury by the European Union, and its Council and Central Bank inclusion /membership. This EU membership is in addition to the semiofficial participation of the Bretton Woods groups IMF and World Bank, and their respective chairs of the International Monetary, Financial and Development Committees.

So, history show that what really happened at the London meeting was that the IMF was confirmed as the financial and economic leader of the world and exonerated for its hefty role in the creation and continuation of the various capitalist crises which were the supposed subject of the Summit. In short, business as usual other than the IMF got a lot more money and power out of the meeting.

China in particular has gained a bit in this process, as it is still a robust economy, and a pivotal player in Asian integration politics. However, China does have to deal with internal worker dissent that has surfaced in the war against further privatization of the steel industry and the popular destruction of a plant guilty of poisoning hundreds of children. And there is a growing movement among the masses of Chinese against what they perceive as incorrect policies toward the capitalist west, with emphasis on things such as the Chinese ownership of trillions of dollars in US Treasury debt instruments.

Nevertheless, China's global stock went up because of their role at the Summit, especially its opinion about the weakness of the US dollar as the global reserve currency. Its central place in Asian integration activities, such as the All-Asian monetary fund, combined with the world status of the Chinese economy gives China a new position of world power. And there does not appear to be much any other force can do to prevent the Chinese society from continuing to amass greater and greater global political-economic clout.

Thus Africa had no choice but to intensify its official efforts, mostly centered around fast tracking the continental economic, financial and commercial components of the African Union, and juicing up the process which aims to create an African Union Authority from the AU's African Union Commission.

So we see that Africa's official leadership has moved a bit on some issues impacting Pan-Africanism...with the recent seminar and conference activity in places such as Algeria and Senegal, with the respective governing parties', governments' and state's approval and participation, mind you, and the AU decision to celebrate Nkrumah's birth around the continent, there is reason to be optimistic that our collective movement can make headway on this central front. Potentially all this could provide Pan-Africanism a very visible platform to educate and recruit the forces we need around the African world.

Another important development that has grown more significant, Africa increasing affinity for a whole range of South-South transactions. This is good for us and for the world generally.

The Asians and the Latin (Central, Caribbean and South) Americans in particular have increased their drive for comprehensive continental integration, and the great cultural and social benefits that will flow from integration.

Now, we have the upcoming Pittsburgh "Green" G20 Summit, to be chaired by Obama, on September 24-25, 2009. The Pittsburgh Summit, which will be protested by an array of groups, is an important meeting for the IMF-World Bank crowd, who will seek to consolidate even greater power and more capital, the US side which, will be pushing the supposed "Greening" of Pittsburgh, which the current administration would like to use as the centerfold city for its green capitalism solution to the crises...that is a phony green ... a green that is more like industrial sludge than nature. In the mean time elements of the EU are advocating their own version of green capitalism involving the concepts of distributive energy production and as a consequence a distributive capitalism model, associated with Jeremy Rifkin.

The African factor is such that certain influential elements in the metropolitan Pittsburgh and Allegheny County area have already created a "African" group that seeks to present a united stance on the issues of the September G20 Meeting in Pittsburgh. Although this group is essentially pro-the G20 process, its existence, and the support given by some of the people in Pittsburgh most directly connected with the Summit, indicates the level of concern to capture the commanding heights from Africans who are not so sold on the G20 process. We should keep all this in mind.

Another major point of interest about the Pittsburgh Summit is the heavy campaign to develop support for the G20 process among university and high students. There are conferences and other meetings and activities, including ongoing Post-Summit processes to inculcate the students with a pro-monopoly capital line.

It is obvious that the capitalist fully understands the role of the student. We should also keep this in mind.

Finally, from the Pan-Africanist point of view, the critical acumen and commentary of African activists, technicians, scholars and journalists, the A-APRP's call for global unity to confront the monopoly financial capitalist and dismantle neo-colonialism and similar actions by others on the continent and in the broad Diaspora, combined with the insight of the Cuban, Venezuelan governments and peoples, and others, particularly the growing militant circles in China who wish to sever the high degree of support for western capitalism they perceive in their society's official policies.

The more pain the capitalist cause people the quicker they will understand the need to create and nurture a people-centered approach to production, distribution, planning, "development", "sustainability" and so forth.

So, let the good times roll, only if we organize against the forces of the recurring crises. And for the forces which stand for the fullest, comprehensive individual and social-communal development, of course. That is, we must help the peoples educate themselves about the history and true nature of power in monopoly capitalist societies. And how people around the world are fighting back against this system.

People have to know who has the power and who doesn't and what those in power do with this power. And from this the peoples will figure out how to get and how to use power to counter the powers who remain at the very center of the horrific global crises haunting our globe.