KWAME TURE: PAN-AFRICANISM IS A MASS MOVEMENT

African people’s contributions to the fight for a more just and humane world have shaped and added dimensions to the global class struggle.

In this 1996 clip, the late revolutionary Pan-Africanist and founding member of @aaprp (or @aaprpinternational), Kwame Ture (1941-98), highlighted a unique feature of the African fight for liberation: Mass-based parties. While fighting for a unified and socialist Africa, we have formed organisations that have set aside the vanguardism of revolutionary movements in other parts of the world in favour of mass-based political structures. Vanguard parties require a small group of well-trained people providing leadership to build a mass movement. These parties tend to have a small membership, as a result. Mass parties, on the other hand, allow members of any rank to have an equal say, but can move slower.

In search of concrete examples of what Ture speaks of, one may look to the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cabo Verde (PAIGC), which liberated Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde through a mass-led armed struggle. One could also look to the Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO), the National Liberation Front (FLN) of Algeria or the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF).

And, today, we see our people pouring out into the streets of Ouagadougou, Bamako, Niamey and other Sahelian cities to defend the anti-imperialist revolutionary process. We see thousands of Haitian people protesting, organising and fighting, year after year for their liberation. Rarely do we see a minority of our people leading successful liberation movements. Perhaps this speaks to a democratic worldview and approach to our fight.

As Ture points out, we must join organisations and come together worldwide to defend our collective interests as African peoples everywhere.

What are your thoughts?