From
London to Pittsburgh
(September 1, 2009)
Since the initial writing of this piece, world history has moved on. When
this was first written much of the world's attention was riveted on the London
G20 Summit.
So what exactly happened at and since that London summit? As we predicted at
the time of the initial writing of the work, the London G20 summit would do
nothing for Africa or most of the world's population for that matter.
Africa's official voice in the AU has grown much more critical of the system
-- after all not only did the G20 owners snub Africa's demand for direct
continental representation by means of the AU, the G20 owners added insult to
injury by the European Union, and its Council and Central Bank inclusion
/membership. This EU membership is in addition to the semiofficial
participation of the Bretton Woods groups IMF and World Bank, and their
respective chairs of the International Monetary, Financial and Development
Committees.
So, history show that what really happened at the London meeting was that
the IMF was confirmed as the financial and economic leader of the world and
exonerated for its hefty role in the creation and continuation of the various
capitalist crises which were the supposed subject of the Summit. In short,
business as usual other than the IMF got a lot more money and power out of the
meeting.
China in particular has gained a bit in this process, as it is still a
robust economy, and a pivotal player in Asian integration politics. However,
China does have to deal with internal worker dissent that has surfaced in the
war against further privatization of the steel industry and the popular
destruction of a plant guilty of poisoning hundreds of children. And there is a
growing movement among the masses of Chinese against what they perceive as
incorrect policies toward the capitalist west, with emphasis on things such as
the Chinese ownership of trillions of dollars in US Treasury debt instruments.
Nevertheless, China's global stock went up because of their role at the
Summit, especially its opinion about the weakness of the US dollar as the
global reserve currency. Its central place in Asian integration activities,
such as the All-Asian monetary fund, combined with the world status of the
Chinese economy gives China a new position of world power. And there does not
appear to be much any other force can do to prevent the Chinese society from continuing to amass greater and greater global political-economic clout.
Thus Africa had no choice but to intensify its official efforts, mostly
centered around fast tracking the continental economic, financial and
commercial components of the African Union, and juicing up the process which
aims to create an African Union Authority from the AU's African Union
Commission.
So we see that Africa's official leadership has moved a bit on some issues
impacting Pan-Africanism...with the recent seminar and conference activity in
places such as Algeria and Senegal, with the respective governing parties',
governments' and state's approval and participation, mind you, and the AU
decision to celebrate Nkrumah's birth around the continent, there is reason to
be optimistic that our collective movement can make headway on this central
front. Potentially all this could provide Pan-Africanism a very visible
platform to educate and recruit the forces we need around the African world.
Another important development that has grown more significant, Africa
increasing affinity for a whole range of South-South transactions. This is good
for us and for the world generally.
The Asians and the Latin (Central, Caribbean and South) Americans in
particular have increased their drive for comprehensive continental
integration, and the great cultural and social benefits that will flow from integration.
Now, we have the upcoming Pittsburgh "Green" G20 Summit, to be
chaired by Obama, on September 24-25, 2009. The Pittsburgh Summit, which will
be protested by an array of groups, is an important meeting for the IMF-World
Bank crowd, who will seek to consolidate even greater power and more capital,
the US side which, will be pushing the supposed "Greening" of
Pittsburgh, which the current administration would like to use as the
centerfold city for its green capitalism solution to the crises...that is a
phony green ... a green that is more like industrial sludge than nature. In the
mean time elements of the EU are advocating their own version of green
capitalism involving the concepts of distributive energy production and as a
consequence a distributive capitalism model, associated with Jeremy Rifkin.
The African factor is such that certain influential elements in the
metropolitan Pittsburgh and Allegheny County area have already created a
"African" group that seeks to present a united stance on the issues
of the September G20 Meeting in Pittsburgh. Although this group is essentially
pro-the G20 process, its existence, and the support given by some of the people
in Pittsburgh most directly connected with the Summit, indicates the level of
concern to capture the commanding heights from Africans who are not so sold on
the G20 process. We should keep all this in mind.
Another major point of interest about the Pittsburgh Summit is the heavy
campaign to develop support for the G20 process among university and high
students. There are conferences and other meetings and activities, including
ongoing Post-Summit processes to inculcate the students with a pro-monopoly
capital line.
It is obvious that the capitalist fully understands the role of the student.
We should also keep this in mind.
Finally, from the Pan-Africanist point of view, the critical acumen and
commentary of African activists, technicians, scholars and journalists, the
A-APRP's call for global unity to confront the monopoly financial capitalist and
dismantle neo-colonialism and similar actions by others on the continent and in
the broad Diaspora, combined with the insight of the Cuban, Venezuelan governments and peoples, and
others, particularly the growing militant circles in China who wish to sever
the high degree of support for western capitalism they perceive in their
society's official policies.
The more pain the capitalist cause people the quicker they will understand
the need to create and nurture a people-centered approach to production,
distribution, planning, "development", "sustainability" and
so forth.
So, let the good times roll, only if we organize against the forces of the
recurring crises. And for the forces which stand for the fullest, comprehensive
individual and social-communal development, of course. That is, we must help
the peoples educate themselves about the history and true nature of power in
monopoly capitalist societies. And how people around the world are fighting
back against this system.
People have to know who has the power and who doesn't and what those in
power do with this power. And from this the peoples will figure out how to get
and how to use power to counter the powers who remain at the very center of the
horrific global crises haunting our globe..
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