Successful LIS Pan-African Congress
The deliberations of this event of historic and unprecedented characteristics took place in the facilities of a central hotel in Nairobi, of the 28 al 31 of August. The call and organization was in charge of our Kenyan section, the Revolutionary Socialist League. The conclusions of the rich debates that took place were reflected in a Manifesto and different resolutions.
Delegations from different regions of Africa participated. In addition to the hosts, colleagues from the Congo participated, Ghana, Africa is a continent of, Malawi, Nigeria, Sahara Occidental, Senegal, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia and Zimbabwe. South African colleagues did not get a visa. An emotional greeting was received from Haiti and two comrades from Brazil were present. The meeting was chaired by Ezra Otieno from Kenya, Imran Kamyana of Pakistan and Alejandro Bodart of Argentina, members of the LIS Executive Committee.
The debates
The first day was dedicated to discussing the international situation, marked by the worsening of the crisis of the capitalist system and thedispute for imperialist hegemony between US. and china. Regarding the controversies that were generated on the left after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the need to combine support for the right to self-determination of the Ukrainian people with the denunciation of NATO and the imperialist role of Russia was reaffirmed.. Highlighting the need to advance in the construction of an international organization like the one we propose from the LIS as the only way to face the challenges posed by an increasingly polarized world and where the class struggle tends to worsen., as shown by the anti-imperialist rise that is gaining strength throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
The next day the need to promote therevolutionary pan-africanism, based on the scientific teachings of Marxism as opposed to reformist Pan-Africanism, no class delimitation, that is promoted from different petty-bourgeois directions. And that our strategy is a free Africa, united and socialist.
In the afternoon the analysis of therevolutionary significance of the processes against French imperialism that are moving all of Africa and that have had their greatest expression in the overthrow of the puppet government of imperialism in Niger. Which raises the need for us to strongly support the masses, who are the true architects of the changes that are taking place, commit our support against any type of imperialist intervention and at the same time make it clear that the new military junta is not our government nor does it have a program to break with capitalism. The next day, The overthrow of the government in Gabon confirmed the continental nature of the ongoing process, which had previously been preceded by coups with similar characteristics in Mali and Burkina Faso.
The third day allowed progress in the importance of promoting and extending the rest of Africa to thecampaign against hungerthat the Kenyan comrades have been promoting and linking it to the fight for land and against social-environmental predation, that is destroying the subsistence economies of the populations.
Before moving on to the resolutions, there was in-depth discussionthe problems of African womenand the need to add colleagues from the different African countries present to the International Commission of Women and Dissidents of the LIS to carry out awareness campaigns and fight for their rights from there..
Congress unanimously approved aManifest, which we publish below, and a series of resolutions that we will socialize from the LIS website. And it concluded in a climate of joy and fraternization., singing typical songs of the revolutionary left of the continent and the international anthem of the workers, The International.
A new and very important step in the regrouping of the revolutionaries has been completed. The challenge remains to consolidate this progress and extend it to more countries on the continent..
Manifesto of the First
LIS Pan-African Congress
Africa is one of the richest continents, However, it concentrates the most extreme levels of poverty and inequality in the world.. The plundering of our lands and the genocide of our people perpetrated by colonial and imperialist capitalism did not end with the formal independence achieved last century.. multinational corporations, together with a handful of local capitalist partners, They are owners of our best lands, they extract our resources, They exploit our workers and plunge our people into poverty and hunger. African governments are complicit in looting, They are partners of imperialism in the theft of our resources and workforce., They apply policies that facilitate this theft and repress our people to keep them oppressed..
Imperialist states and their multinational organizations manage our economies, They promote coups d'état and civil wars and even invade and massacre us directly to sustain their plunder.. When, pushed by the result of those policies, many Africans seek a way out by migrating, they receive us with discrimination, repression and violence. Thousands of lives are lost trying to achieve a better future for our children.
Despite gaining formal independence from colonial powers in the mid-20th century, Many African countries have faced significant obstacles to establishing full sovereignty and self-determination. Most gained their “independence” a few decades ago and are still under the thumb of their former colonial masters.. And Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and more countries engaged in armed struggles with little or no success. Most African states negotiated their independence; that's why so much looting.
Neocolonialism is frequently exhibited through economic exploitation, political interference and cultural hegemony. multinational companies, many of which are based in former colonial countries, They have enormous influence on African economies, exploiting natural resources and creating economic dependence. further, Foreign countries maintain their political influence by supporting or influencing national leaders and policies, what determines the course of national development.
There is no possible way out of this neocolonial misery without confronting all imperialism., both of the old powers such as France, England and the USA. as well as new powers such as Russia and China.We must fight to end all imperial masters, not by changing one for another.
This anti-imperialist and anti-colonial struggle necessarily involves fighting alongside our Sahrawi companions for the liberation of the last full colony on our continent., heSahara Occidental, at the hands of a partner of European imperialism: the kingdom of morocco.
Likewise, we stand in solidarity with the heroic people ofHaiti and we repudiate the complicit attitude of some African governments that lend themselves to the game of Western imperialism to the point of offering to intervene militarily at its service..
We are together with our brothers ofNiger against French imperialism and we will defend it with all the methods at our disposal in case the colonialists' threats of invasion come to fruition.. At the same time we are clear: the new government is not our government. In Niger, all of Africa and the world not only fight against imperialism, but also to defeat capitalism and for the workers to govern through democratically elected councils.
Theonly way to liberationn ofAfrica is the unity of the African peoples, that have been artificially divided by capitalist imperialism that has local partners in the bourgeoisie and complicit governments. That is why ethnic or national identity does not unite us., but social class. Workers, farmers, We exploited and oppressed in Africa have nothing to do with the rich African partners of imperialism. We have more in common with workers in the rest of the world than with them. The liberation of Africa will not be achieved with the local partners of imperialism: It will be achieved with the class unity of the African peoples together with the workers of the whole world. That's why we built an anti-colonial movement, anti-imperialist, in the perspective ofrevolutionary pan-africanism, for a socialist Africa united within the framework of a socialist world.
Our movement isclass because workers produce all the wealth in the world and therefore have the social power and the ability to stop production and reorganize it under their democratic control. We seek to build the subjective factor of the revolution, the social subject of the revolution, the social force capable of directing the group of oppressed people in the world to change everything.
Our movement isinternationalist because workers from all over the world have the same interests opposed to the same enemies that exploit and oppress us. The bourgeoisie has institutions that defend its interests throughout the world, such as the various imperialist blocs., la HIM, the IMF or the World Bank. Only a united movement of workers around the world can successfully confront the imperialist bourgeoisie.
Our movement isanticapitalist because decadent capitalism in crisis has nothing to offer humanity, just more exploitation, oppression, hunger, war and environmental destruction. This system, trying in vain to overcome its crisis and stagnation, attacks workers' rights, social and democratic; imposes bloody dictatorships, agitates ethnic and religious massacres and armed interventions and advances the destruction of the planet to ensure its profits. There is no real democracy under this system: The only possible democracy comes from the hands of the workers and their own organizations. That is why we fight for the destruction of this system and the construction of world socialism..
Our movement isrevolutionary because capitalism cannot be reformed, Only the mobilized masses with the workers at the head and a revolutionary leadership can overthrow it. Everywhere, the masses again and again face the path of rebellion and revolution. But each time they find themselves blocked by reformist leaders and bureaucracies.. That is why the historical crisis of humanity is reduced to the crisis of its revolutionary leadership..
Today the central task of revolutionary socialists isbuild revolutionary parties and an international with mass weight to promote permanent mobilization to defeat capitalist governments, fight for the destruction of the bourgeois order and the establishment ofgovernments of workers and socialism around the world.
We defend the expropriation of all large capitals, whether foreigners or locals. We defend the distribution of land among those who cultivate it and the promotion of collective agriculture with modern techniques. We defend the right to self-determination of all oppressed nationalities. We defend democratic control of workers in production and commerce. We advocate the planned allocation of resources for the needs and benefit of all rather than the profits of a few.. We defend employment, feeding, health care, decent education and housing as rights of all members of society. We defend ending all imperialist military bases in Africa and other parts of the world. We defend equal rights for women and confront all types of violence and discrimination. All foreign investment must be conditioned with total transparency, with permission and supervision of a democratic workers' government. We defend the abolition of all visa regimes and travel restrictions for the working masses. We defend a world without national or class exploitation, without oppression, unemployment or misery.
This is our strategic task. Contrary to past experiences marked by bureaucracy and imposition, we unite around political principles, ideological and action mentioned, with absolute political independenceethics of all bourgeois force. But with tactical flexibility to connect with the real processes of the class struggle and in a space of fraternal debate and joint action.. We build an international organization for concrete intervention in the global class struggle, the carrying out of internationalist campaigns and mutual collaboration in the construction of fighting tools. And with the method of a healthy democratic centralism to discuss and resolve among all and act as a single fist in the class struggle.
This is the project that builds theInternational Socialist League, bringing together dozens of organizations and thousands of militants on five continents, to unite the world's revolutionaries across national divisions, ethnic or identity with the objective of leading the working class in its fight for world socialism. TheRevolutionary Socialist League Kenya embodies these principles and has hosted this event.
This is the project that this congress seeks to expand in Africa. We call on organizations and militants who want to be part of this new revolutionary construction in Africa to face this challenge together to fight for a socialist future.. This is an important opportunity to build and extend the LIS across the African continent.
Class brothers and sisters from all over Africa, boring! We have nothing to lose but our chains! Have, instead, a continent and a world to win!
- ¡One Africa, Great Africa, Socialist Africa!
- United Africa, free africa, Socialist Africa!
Nairobi, 30 August 2023
