African internationalism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
African internationalism is guiding ideology of the African People's Socialist Party (APSP) and Uhuru Movement. The APSP and the Uhuru Movement attribute the ideology to their founder, Omali Yeshitela.
Contents |
[edit] Premises
Yeshitela's theory of African internationalism is based on an understanding of capitalism as a "parasitic system that was born from the enslavement of African people and the oppression of colonized peoples worldwide." [1] According to Yeshitela, capitalism originated in Europe as a result of the primitive accumulation of capital of the African slave trade. Over the course of 500 years, the development of capitalism as a world system built a base of affluence for the West upon the foundation of the colonial domination of Africans, Asians and Latin Americans. However, this history of domination has resulted in the current oppressive circumstances of African people worldwide (Yeshitela, 303).
Yeshitela defines African internationalism as a revolutionary theory through which political movements struggling to promote African liberation can understand society and social life. Yeshitela writes,
-
We believe that the future belongs to the dispossessed colonized workers of the world. When armed with a revolutionary theory and led by a revolutionary party, African and other oppressed workers represent the conscious, subjective forces of history necessary for the overthrow of capitalism. This is the only way to bring about the advent of a new social system under the leadership of the working masses, the real producers of all material wealth. (Yeshitela, 304)
African internationalism, according to Yeshitela, offers a revolutionary theory that "unites the African people of the world in a revolutionary process to liberate Africa under the leadership of African workers and poor peasants." (Yeshitela, 303) This concept links revolutionary movements in the continent of Africa and political movements that emerged "from within the colonized African population in the U.S." or 'internal colonialism.' (Yeshitela, 290)
[edit] Influences
Yeshitela distinguishes his perspective of African internationalism with Pan-Africanism, which he claims fails to recognize class differentiations in Africa and among black Americans. (Yeshitela, 308-309) The African working class, Yeshitela argues, is the only class capable of revolutionary action; in contrast, the interests of 'neocolonial' elites in Africa and among black Americans are sustained by capitalism and imperialism.
Yeshitela considers the works of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, which he studied as a young man during the Black Power Movement of the 1960s, a foundation for his understanding of class, capitalism, and imperialism in African internationalism. In Yeshitela's view, Marx's recognition of the "primative accumulation of capital" answers the question of the source of the capital that kicked off the development of capitalism in Europe. Yeshitela noted the following statement in the chapter entitled "Genesis of the Industrial Capitalist" in the first volume of Das Kapital:
-
The discovery of gold and silver in America, the extirpation, enslavement and entombment in mines of the aboriginal population, the beginning of the conquest and looting of the East Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins, signalized the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production. (Yeshitela, 7)
Yeshitela, however, distinguishes his perspective of African internationalism from the work of Marx, calling Marx's conclusion that capitalism as a world system would be overturned by development within Europe 'flawed and Euro-centric.' (Yeshitela, 7) Yeshitela describes Lenin's work on imperialism as another foundation of African internationalism. His perspective, however, differs with Lenin's conclusion that imperialism was the final stage of capitalism associated its decay. Rather, according to Yeshitela, capitalism, from its beginnings, was always associated with imperialism, specifically the 'enslavement, exploitation, and underdevelopment of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.' (Yeshitela, 8)
[edit] References
- ^ Omali Yeshitela, Omali Yeshitela Speaks: African Internationalism, Political Theory for Our Time, Burning Spear Publications, 2005. p. 15.
[edit] External link
- What is African Internationalism? Presentation by Omali Yeshitela in African Socialist International Conference Report October 7-9, 2006, pp. 15-18.
