Socio economic and political independence of Afrodescendants

Guy Everard Mbarga

Translation : Armelle Mfegue

The principal problem which afrodescendants face, notably those of

Latin America

is that of racial discrimination and racism. This situation is the principal cause for the poor living conditions of afrodescendants and this is the consequence of their socio economical and political dependence. This is a vicious circle that has existed for the past centuries; Racial discrimination and racism results to unemployment, extreme poverty and political under representation, and social exclusion. All these phenomena in turn nourish racism and racial discrimination. Therefore, this is a racial problem becoming (or being at the same time) social and vice versa.

Many Latin American states have shown proof of a forced, opportunist, or true relative voluntarism. Affirmative actions which permit afrodescendant to go through a social catch up are put in place in countries where black activism and afro conscience are strong. But the end of the tunnel remains invisible for blacks.

The solution for afrodescendants  will then be to look for their social economical and political independence in view of improving their living conditions within their nations. Obviously, certain black communities in countries where Afrodescendants are minorities have succeeded in obtaining this autonomy, notably in the economical and social point of view, interacting equal to equal with other actors of the economic and social life. But the great majority lives in extreme poverty and it is for them that a true revolution should be carried on.

This tremendous upheaval is of course more difficult to achieve than it is to make the suggestion on a platform.

Socio economical and political independence does not mean that afrodescendant communities will no longer depend on the willingness of the public authorities, but that they will count more on themselves.

To arrive at that, an International Black Solidarity or Black Union could be created. Its role would be to go or act beyond geographical divisions of nations, sub continents and continents.

This International Black Solidarity will be responsible for creating many institutions, organisations and will also head or supervise and collaborate with those already existing with the same objectives. It would be like The Black United Nations or Black Union. What would be  different from the UN or the African Union is that those who will sit during its sessions could for example be volunteers who will be compensated according to their results or output after their mandate.

The idea of not having an organisation like that of the United Nations comes from the fact that , despite all it’s prestige and success, the world is not at it’s best since it’s creation in 1945……….

Also, the financial institution which could help afrodescendants create projects should not go off the beaten track by the World Bank or the IMF with the risk of attaining the same results.

The objective is that the International Black Solidarity as well as financial, social, cultural, educational institutions, etc. that will be attached do not become organisations for experts, that the black population does not perceive any effect in their daily life.

There could be institutions like

• An organ in charge of putting in place an afro parallel educational system that will have as principal objective responsibility over the afrodescendant youths who do not have enough means to go to school or continue their studies at the university, notably those neglected by their respective nations.

• A bank (with many branches divided into geographical regions) or all other financial system to finance across the world projects, by afrodescendant and for afrodescendants and that would function like any other bank having as goal the generation of profit to reinvest for  the cause.

• An organ centered on the employment and entrepreuneurship that will advise afrodescendants looking for a job or who will want to create an enterprise or do business, and would follow them up

• A judicial organisation permitting to advise and judicially support afrodescendants across the world

• An organisation centered on insurance and eventually creating an insurance company.

• An organ in charge of information and communication: notably in charge of informing afrodescendants on countries, towns in which they have  a higher risk of being discriminated across the world or those in which they could have more opportunities. They could publish, for example, a classification of the most dangerous countries or most welcoming countries for Africans and afrodescendants on the basis of a network of witnesses. It could be imagined in this respect, the creation of a radio, a PANAFRO television channel, translation services for a linguistic connection in terms of  information, this organ could equally serve as a means of fighting against all initiatives of the western media of disinformation and  the publication of massive and negative information aiming at giving  negative view point on Africa, Africans and Afrodescendants( an example is the case of Mugabe and his unseen coverage for shameful reasons).

• An organ in charge of culture, tourism, and history, etc.

• an organ in charge of political and social representation that will aim at supporting the initiatives of political and social engagements of afrodescendants within their nations.

As well as the funding of these organisations is concerned, different modes could be encouraged , notably the contributions of African states , individuals in the form of gifts or remunerated investmests. There could be, for example, the supply of the capital to the bank through the contributions of African states, afro institutional investors and individuals.

Many afro organisations already exist and are doing a great job trying to get blacks out of their precarious situation. An institution like that of the International Black Solidarity would serve to connect, gather, and unify all the other institutions after having identified and invited them.

International Black Solidarity would certainly be centered on solidarity but the objective is not to show solidarity in a charitable way, rather it means helping people help themselves, giving them tools to take responsibility over themselves. In this sense, according to their domain of activities, institutions could function in the form of patronage or pairage.

All over the World, there are afrodescendants having expertise in and so domain, who have succeeded at various levels and could become patrons of those who orientate themselves in the same domain, for example, by guiding and advising them. It would be very useful in the sense that absence of information, the difficulty in getting access to capital information could change everything in a life. The patronage or pairage could be possible in various domains, notably education, entrepreneurship, culture, and in the search of employment.

In the different institutions, management could be organised in a collective manner with a repartition of representations that could be near the following:

4 representatives for Africa, 3 for the Diaspora in Europe, 2 for South America, 1 for Central America, 3 for North America, and 2 for the Caribbean. Each of these members could be responsible for a division or sub division (employment, and entrepreneurship, justice, Human Rights, finance, communication, education, politics, culture, employment and leisure).

The above outline is just an idea that is not perfect or complete and not totally new. It would seem utopian, to some, a dream. Meanwhile, the connection between a dream and reality can be carried out for a dream does not prevent the possibility of its own achievement.