A coup d’état is not a revolution, but French imperialism must go

By *Jomo Sanga Thomas

(“Plain Talk” Aug. 25, 2023)

(A guest column by Ousainou Mbenga) 

“A soldier without political education is a virtual criminal ” — Thomas Sankara

We cast our lot with any defiant stance against imperialism. In this instance, French colonial — imperialism, the fattest tapeworm attached to the intestines of Africa for the past centuries. This is the first time in the history of coup d’etats in Africa that the three coupists countries: Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, delivered a joint solidarity statement against French colonial—imperialists and their neo-colonial stooge governments, with a stern warning that an attack on Niger will be considered a declaration of war on the tripartite, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

This act of justifiable defiance against the parasitic French government is unprecedented. And this is why we cautiously equate these coups to the 1983 overthrow of the then ‘Upper Volta’ government by Thomas Sankara and his comrades. Sankara and his few comrades waged a fierce struggle to transform the coup into a revolution, but the revolutionary forces were not adequately prepared to repel the traitorous plots of Blaise Campoare and his criminal gang.

If another Thomas Sankara or a genuine revolutionary emerges out of this contradiction, there are lessons to be learned from the previous mistakes of Sankara. You must forthwith cultivate a cadre of revolutionaries from the masses of workers, farmers, and the few honest intellectuals steeled with organizational discipline and poised to repel any attacks from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at the behest of France and its western allies. We must consciously make political education a requirement for soldiers, police and all security forces entrusted with our security before putting a gun in their hands. We should only put guns in the hands of the politically conscious sons and daughters of Africa. The best defence from this impending attack is to wage a people’s war against ECOWAS. Once political education is attained, no African soldier will follow orders to spill another African’s blood in the name of these “colonialists in black faces”.

Currently, the neocolonial entity ECOWAS, just like its parent organisation, African Union (AU), headed by the most unreliable sector of African society, is foaming at the mouth, ready to spill African blood through their military outfit just as they carried out military mayhem in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Guinea Bissau. The president of ECOWAS commission, Dr Omar Alieu Touray from the Gambia, waxing indignant, delivered the statement to Niger with an ultimatum to return Mohamed Bazoum to power or face the military consequences. Waxing more indignant than Touray is the new Chairman of ECOWAS and newly elected president of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is fanning the flames of military intervention but unwilling to subdue the ragtag “jihadists”, Boka Haram.

The entire African continent is littered with American and French military bases. The buffoonery of the ECOWAS surpasses only that of the African Union, the architect of the unviable African states trapped in their false sovereignty and consciousness to keep Africa stagnant.  The United States of America, “the greatest purveyor of violence”, and its lap dog, France, are waiting for their stooges to start yet another war in West Africa before they “circle up the wagons” around Niger.

The impotent African petit bourgeoisie leaders always resort to spilling African blood but will belly crawl and negotiate with Europeans and Arabs in every instance of crisis.

The masses of our people must refuse to be relegated to voting, electoral campaigns and begging politicians for favours. Where in Africa has a civilian government outdone a military regime in the illusions of democracy?

Let us see the world for what it is, not as we wish it were. We must organize to govern on all fronts of the African revolution but only through revolutionary politics, which sought explanations for our conditions of existence from the actual material conditions that created the hell we live on this earth, making it a heaven for Europe and America. In contrast, politics has been surviving on idealism, superstition, tribalism and blind faith religion to the point that the vast majority of our people surrender to the notion that everything that happens in our lives is God’s will on us. But our material conditions of colonial exploitation and oppression say otherwise. We believe that If God had a hand in this contradiction, food, clothing, and shelter would be guaranteed to all.

It is of great importance for the masses to grasp and understand the struggle for liberation, freedom and social justice against the propped-up neo-colonial state that is responsible for our unhappiness as Africans. The most rabid opportunists, from the “slimy politicians” to the guardians of the old boundaries of colonial education, believe that theory is beyond the grasp of the downtrodden masses of our people.

This long-held notion is incrementally being shattered by riotous and rebellious actions across the continent, and no ‘power’ can stop this momentum if it stays on its revolutionary path.

The attainment of political consciousness by Africans is the only guarantee from betrayals and the usual hijacking by “soldiers with a difference”, the likes of Yaya Jammeh and Julius Maada Bio, who jumped out of their military uniforms into civilian clothing but maintained “politics as usual”. Blaise Campoare, Mobutu and countless other traitors are still in our midst, and the ECOWAS and African Union (AU) are the breeding grounds for these “colonialists in black faces”.

Colonialism, imperialism, neo-colonialism and the predatory capitalist social system are not just mere words. This social system is what created hell on earth for Africans and heaven on earth for Europe, America and “white people” in general. These are historical facts. Only a revolutionary purge can flush these parasites out of the belly of Africa. We know how to recognise imperialism and all its neo-colonial allies. We have been living under imperialism with its knee on our neck for centuries, therefore, when imperialism is in crisis, we Africans should not panic. The question remains: What is to be done while it’s dying?

The old order is gone. This social system is damaged and broken beyond repair and reform. It will never be fixed again. There couldn’t be a better time for the African world and the rest of oppressed humanity to fight back and not allow the return of the barbaric social system that has wreaked havoc on planet Earth.

*Jomo Sanga Thomas is a lawyer, journalist, social commentator and a former senator and Speaker of the House of Assembly in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

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