Thought you might find this interesting:


From: "Andy Mensah" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 08 Jun 2001 11:34:26 -0000


COLIN Powell, retired American general and his
country's Secretary of State was visiting Africa when
the continent on May 26 declared the African Union. On
the day of the Union, the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC) made two pointed pieces of falsehood
its lead report.

The evolution of the African Union could not be
ignored. Yet it was an unsettling event for those who
have for decades used us as their footmats, as their
sources of cheap raw materials, free labour and
playground.

So the event had to be reported and the BBC found a
way around it; to misrepresent it and hopefully lead
the attack on the African Union.  The BBC reported
that an African Union is being created but that it
is the brain child of Libya's Mouamar Ghaddafi who is
trying to pass himself off as a Pan Africanist. The
Britons added that the African Union is loosely
structured on the European Union (EU) model.

These are pieces of falsehood and I shall proceed to
expose them as such. But it is necessary to point out
that the attempt here is first to portray Africans as
idiots incapable of arriving at the need for
unity and are therefore being pushed by Ghaddafi a man
the West and U.S have strenuously tried over the years
to demonise. The hope of the BBC propagators is that
once the Union is linked with Ghaddafi, many Africans
will oppose it and the new unity will therefore
collapse.

Is the African Union a Ghaddafi project? Of course
not! The calls for a Union of Africa dates back to the
19th century when Britain and its European First
cousins despoiled Africa and continuously raped her,
stripping the continent of her gold and natural
resources, her priceless lands and precious human
labour.

As it happened in all cases of greed and banditry, the
Europeans started fighting amongst themselves over the
loot that was Africa. To bring some order and honour
in the looting, the Europeans met in Berlin, Germany
from 1884 to 1885 to agree on how best to despoil
Africa without the bandits going to war amongst
themselves.

One of the most strident voices against this was
Marcus Garvey who worked for the establishment of a
union of African States with a central government,
economy, social services and defence. That was
back in the 1920s, long before Ghaddaffi was born.

Two decades before this, moves for African
independence and union was made by the Pan African
Congresses which began in 1900.

In the 1950s when Ghaddafi was a teenager, Kwame
Nkrumah had already become known as the champion of
African Union.

Nkrumah suggested that an African Union capital be
established either in Bangui, Central African Republic
or in Leopoldville in Congo. He also offered to step
down as Ghana's president and serve under any
leader or leaders the African Union government throws
up.

Neither Ghadaffi nor any African leader has gone a
tenth as far as Nkrumah did. So it is an insult for
anybody to claim that the African Union is a brain
child of Ghaddafi.

So is the new African Union modelled after the EU? Of
course not!  Again, men like Nkrumah had in the early
1960s suggested both a Union Government and a
presidium to run it, a common Market for Africa, An
African Currency, African Monetary Zone, African
Central Bank, a continental communication system,
common Foreign Policy and Diplomacy, Common Defence
and Common African Citizenship.

The danger Africans face is not so much that the BBC
and other tools of world control would continue to
misinform our people, the real danger is in allowing
these radio and television stations direct access to
our FM bands and local television stations. We cannot
have African Union without addressing this cultural
recolonisation of our continental airwaves.

Powell is a lesser issue. He was in Africa visiting
South Africa, Uganda, Kenya and Mali. In South Africa
he targeted two African presidents for attack. He
insulted Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe accusing him of
staying too long in power and threatened him. Mugabe
with a 21-year stay in power can trully be said to be
overstaying but Powell's attack is based on American
perception that Mugabe is an enemy. This can be borne
out of the fact that he did not make a similar
criticism of president Arap Moi when he visited Kenya,
yet Moi who had been Kenyan Vice President has been
president since 1978, two years before Mugabe was
elected prime Minister. Secondly Powell did not
similarly attack Yoweri Museveni when he visited
Uganda despite the fact that the former has been
president since January 1986. What is more, unlike
Mugabe who presides in a multiparty Zimbabwe, Museveni
does not allow a single political party to function in
Uganda.

In any case, what are the democratic credentials of
Powell? That he is serving in a government that rigged
the American elections?

Powell attacked President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa
for linking AIDS and poverty. But the truth is that
AIDS is attacking poor countries more. Our AIDS
patients are denied affordable drugs by America which
is blocking cheap copy drugs for the continent.

Powell is trying hard to discharge his duties as a
House Negro; he had once declared that all Nigerians
are drug traffickers and criminals.

So what was new in what Powell came to say in Africa?
What new perspectives did he bring?

The problem with Colin Powell is that he has an
identity crises. He is outwardly black being of
Jamaican migrant parents, but he claims lineage with
the English, Scot, Arawak Indian and Jew. He is to be
pitied. As Franz Fanon would have said, Powell is a
"black skin white mask."

source:-
Vanguard
OPINION
June 7, 2001
Owei Lakemfa
Lagos / NIGERIA



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35
a year!  http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, visit:

        http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/aam.html

AAM Website:  http://www.danenet.wicip.org/aam
----------------------------------------------------------------------------