Women, continue the revolutionary character of African Liberation Day! Advance the fight against imperialism and all its reaction!
Today, on African Liberation Day, the International Women’s Alliance salutes the numerous struggles for national and social liberation across Africa. The first All-African’s People’s Conference in Ghana in 1958 held African Freedom Day on April 15th to mark the progress of the different liberation movements and symbolize the determination of Africans to free themselves from foreign domination and exploitation. This conference was held following the victories of independence in Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan and Ghana from their colonial rulers Italy and France earlier in the 1950s. More African countries followed in gaining their independence in 1960 causing another conference of independent African countries to meet on May 25, 1963 and reaffirm May 25th as African Liberation Day (ALD). As more African countries continue the struggle for national sovereignty against neocolonialism and U.S. imperialism, we know the history for African liberation and the continuing struggle against foreign domination and bureaucrat capitalism within their respective countries has not been easy.
The creation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in 1944 kept states asserting their independence subservient to the US and other colonial powers by imposing predatory loans on the newly independent countries. Today, countries across Africa share a collective debt of over $1 trillion to the IMF. In the face of these extreme conditions, we recognize women are often the most impacted due to their double burden of exploitation and social oppression. Women are especially impacted by these programs due to their precarious role in society. Women experience increased exploitation and danger in workplaces, intensified land grabbing and displacement in the countryside, and heightened repression when organizing and fighting back for their rights.
Later in 1949, when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance was formed they viewed all of Africa as it’s southern neighbor and ally. Since then, NATO has led over 15 “peace keeping” missions all over Africa which has further destabilized economies and killed thousands of civilians. Through EUCOM (United States European Command) in NATO, the U.S. engineered the creation of AFRICOM (United States Africa Command) in 2007 as a way to assert dominance against other growing imperialist powers. AFRICOM’s expansion today consists of at least 29 bases across 15 African countries and maintains a presence in about 38 African countries. The growing militarization due to AFRICOM has not protected the African people, but instead has increased the rate of coups and governmental destabilization led by AFRICOM trained soldiers.
Today we see the tradition of African Liberation Day being fostered across the African Continent: In Kenya the Communist Party Marxist Kenya hosted anti-imperialist organizations from around the world in a theoretical conference to advance revolutionary movements in Africa and further unite revolutionary movements across the world. Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso as The Alliance of Sahel States (AES) have kicked out French neo-colonial forces and are struggling against the tug of war of imperialist forces fighting against their national sovereignty. And women in Sudan and South Sudan have joined their nations in protesting military coups that have gone against the people’s interests.
The International Women's Alliance pays homage to the women martyrs who fought on the frontlines of the many African liberation movements and applauds the women who continue to play vital roles in by taking up arms against imperial powers today. While their personal histories and motivations for joining independence movements differed and varied, we understand many women participate because they see their emancipation as women as inextricably linked with the liberation of their countries.
Women, continue the revolutionary character of African Liberation Day and advance the fight against imperialism and all its reaction!