NATO Assasination: Colonel Muammar Gaddafi

by Rosita Broome

Gaddafi's killing - with all the hallmarks of a 'coordinated assassination' – marks 'one more episode ion this NATO war in Libya and North Africa', writes Horace Campbell. The 'remilitarization of Africa and new deployment of Africom is a new stage of African politics,' says Campbell.

The news of the killing of Colonel Gaddafi in the battle to take Sirte marked one more episode in this NATO war in Libya and North Africa. The killing has all of the hallmarks of a coordinated assassination, synchronized between NATO aircraft and forces on the ground. The reports are that Gaddaffi was attacked when he was attempting to leave Sirte in a convoy. The convoy was attacked from the air. The National Transitional Council has announced that the war is over but the very nature of this execution guarantees that this uprising will not end soon.

This execution comes one day after the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of the United States openly called for the political assassination of Col Gaddafi, the Libyan leader. "We hope he can be captured or killed soon," This statement guaranteed that although Gadhafi was captured alive he was killed while injured.

The very management of the news of this execution represented efforts to influence the continued political/military struggles within the divided forces. The hijacking of the body and its transportation to Misrata was one more indication of the internal struggles in the NTC and Libya.

It is still urgent that the African Union and the United Nations work for the demilitarization of Libya and for the work to organize an inclusive government in Libya. The execution of Gaddafi comes in a week of heightened military action in parts of Africa, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and the Horn.

This remilitarization of Africa and new deployment of Africom is a new stage of African politics. Remilitarization, killings, and death will not answer the cries for democracy, peace, and food in Africa and other areas of the world where the exploited and marginalized are raising their voices against oppression. A new revolutionary energy is sweeping the world manifest in the current general strike by workers in Greece and the massive occupy wall street movement with 900 manifestations all over the world last weekend.

In every case over several decades, examples of militarization and remilitarization have increased the anguish of those living on the margins of wealth and power. I am certain that careful investigation will expose the callous disregard for human life, what in NATO and Western Military language is called "collateral damage." Given the cloud that hangs over this killing that it was most likely a coordinated execution - those of us who are on the side of peace and justice asks the following questions:

Why did the West want him dead?

Did they have something to hide?

The answers to these and other questions now lie with the corpse of a man who was more friendly to capital than to his people.

Peace and justice forces must work harder to end wars, plunder and western military interventions in Africa.

* Horace Campbell is professor of African-American studies and political science at Syracuse University. He is the author of ‘Barack Obama and 21st Century Politics: A Revolutionary Moment in the USA’. See horacecampbell.net, and a contributing author to African Awakening: The emerging revolutions. He is currently Visiting Professor, Department of International Relations, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.

Kwame Nkrumah: Positive Action

by Odette Aponza

Kwame Nkrumah (21 September 1909 - 27 April 1972) the leader of Ghana Listen to Reason! In 1909, Kwame Nkrumah was born to Madam Nyaniba in Nkroful, Gold Coast. Nkrumah graduated from the Achimota School in Accra in 1930, studied at a Roman Catholic seminary, and taught at a Catholic school in Axim. In 1935 he left Ghana for the United States, receiving a BA from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania in 1939, where he pledged the Mu Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, and received a Bachelor of Sacred Theology in 1942. Nkrumah earned a Master of Science in education from the University of Pennsylvania in 1942, and a Master of Arts in philosophy the following year. While lecturing in political science at Lincoln he was elected president of the African Students Organization of America and Canada. As an undergraduate at Lincoln he participated in at least one student theater production and published an essay on European government in Africa in the student newspaper, The Lincolnian. During his time in the United States, Nkrumah preached at black Presbyterian Churches in Philadelphia and New York City. He read books about politics and divinity, and tutored students in philosophy. Nkrumah encountered the ideas of Marcus Garvey and in 1943 met and began a lengthy correspondence with Trinidadian Marxist C.L.R. James, Russian expatriate Raya Dunayevskaya, and Chinese-American Grace Lee Boggs, all of whom were members of a US based Trotskyist intellectual cohort. Nkrumah later credited James with teaching him 'how an underground movement worked'. He arrived in London in May 1945 intending to study at the LSE. After meeting with George Padmore, he helped organize the Fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester, England. Then he founded the West African National Secretariat to work for the decolonization of Africa. Nkrumah served as Vice-President of the West African Students' Union (WASU).

Return to the Gold Coast
In the autumn of 1947, Nkrumah was invited to serve as the General Secretary to the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) under Joseph B. Danquah. This political convention was exploring paths to independence. Nkrumah accepted the position and sailed for the Gold Coast. After brief stops in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and the Ivory Coast, he arrived in the Gold Coast in December 1947.
In February 1948, police fired on African ex-servicemen protesting the rising cost of living. The shooting spurred riots in Accra, Kumasi, and elsewhere. The government suspected the UGCC was behind the protests and arrested Nkrumah and other party leaders. Realizing their error, the British soon released the convention leaders. After his imprisonment by the colonial government, Nkrumah emerged as the leader of the youth movement in 1948.
After his release, Nkrumah hitchhiked around the country. He proclaimed that the Gold Coast needed "self-government now", and built a large power base. Cocoa farmers rallied to his cause because they disagreed with British policy to contain swollen shoot disease. He invited women to participate in the political process at a time when women's suffrage was new to Africa. The trade unions also allied with his movement. By 1949, he organized these groups into a new political party: The Convention People's Party.

The British convened a selected commission of middle class Africans to draft a new constitution that would give Ghana more self-government. Under the new constitution, only those with sufficient wage and property would be allowed to vote. Nkrumah organized a "People's Assembly" with CPP party members, youth, trade unionists, farmers, and veterans. They called for universal franchise without property qualifications, a separate house of chiefs, and self-governing status under the Statute of Westminster 1931. These amendments, known as the Constitutional Proposals of October 1949, were rejected by the colonial administration.
When the colonial administration rejected the People's Assembly's recommendations, Nkrumah organized a "Positive Action" campaign in January 1950, including civil disobedience, non-cooperation, boycotts, and strikes. The colonial administration arrested Nkrumah and many CPP supporters, and he was sentenced to three years in prison.

Facing international protests and internal resistance, the British decided to leave the Gold Coast. Britain organized the first general election to be held under universal franchise on 5–10 February 1951. Though in jail, Nkrumah's CPP was elected by a landslide taking 34 out of 38 elected seats in the Legislative Assembly. Komla Agbeli Gbedemah is credited with organizing Nkrumah's entire campaign while he (Nkrumah) was still in prison at Fort James. Nkrumah was released from prison on 12 February, and summoned by the British Governor Charles Arden-Clarke, and asked to form a government on the 13th. The new Legislative Assembly met on 20 February, with Nkrumah as Leader of Government Business, and E.C. Quist as President of the Assembly. A year later, the constitution was amended to provide for a Prime Minister on 10 March 1952, and Nkrumah was elected to that post by a secret ballot in the Assembly, 45 to 31, with eight abstentions on 21 March. He presented his "Motion of Destiny" to the Assembly, requesting independence within the British Commonwealth "as soon as the necessary constitutional arrangements are made" on 10 July 1953, and that body approved it.

Independence
As a leader of this government, Nkrumah faced many challenges: first, to learn to govern; second, to unify the four territories of the Gold Coast; third, to win his nation’s complete independence from the United Kingdom. Nkrumah was successful at all three goals. Within six years of his release from prison, he was the leader of an independent nation. At 12 a.m. on 6 March 1957, Nkrumah declared Ghana independent. He was hailed as the Osagyefo - which means "redeemer" in the Twi language. On 6 March 1960, Nkrumah announced plans for a new constitution which would make Ghana a republic. The draft included a provision to surrender Ghanaian sovereignty to a Union of African States. On 19, 23, and 27 April 1960 a presidential election and plebiscite on the constitution were held. The constitution was ratified and Nkrumah was elected president over J. B. Danquah, the UP candidate, 1,016,076 to 124,623. In 1961, Nkrumah laid the first stones in the foundation of the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute created to train Ghanaian civil servants as well as promote Pan-Africanism. In 1964, all students entering college in Ghana were required to attend a two-week "ideological orientation" at the Institute. Nkrumah remarked that "trainees should be made to realize the party's ideology is religion, and should be practiced faithfully and fervently." In 1963, Nkrumah was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize by the Soviet Union. Ghana became a charter member of the Organization of African Unity in 1963.
The Gold Coast had been among the wealthiest and most socially advanced areas in Africa, with schools, railways, hospitals, social security and an advanced economy. Under Nkrumah’s leadership, Ghana adopted some socialist policies and practices. Nkrumah created a welfare system, started various community programs, and established schools.

Politics
He generally took a non-aligned Marxist perspective on economics, and believed capitalism had malignant effects that were going to stay with Africa for a long time. Although he was clear on distancing himself from the African socialism of many of his contemporaries, Nkrumah argued that socialism was the system that would best accommodate the changes that capitalism had brought, while still respecting African values. He specifically addresses these issues and his politics in a 1967 essay entitled "African Socialism Revisited": "We know that the traditional African society was founded on principles of egalitarianism. In its actual workings, however, it had various shortcomings. Its humanist impulse, nevertheless, is something that continues to urge us towards our all-African socialist reconstruction. We postulate each man to be an end in himself, not merely a means; and we accept the necessity of guaranteeing each man equal opportunities for his development. The implications of this for socio-political practice have to be worked out scientifically, and the necessary social and economic policies pursued with resolution. Any meaningful humanism must begin from egalitarianism and must lead to objectively chosen policies for safeguarding and sustaining egalitarianism. Hence, socialism. Hence, also, scientific socialism."
Nkrumah was also perhaps best known politically for his strong commitment to and promotion of Pan-Africanism. He was inspired by the writings of black intellectuals like Marcus Garvey, W. E. B. Du Bois, and George Padmore, and his relationships with them. Nkrumah's biggest success in this area was perhaps his significant influence in the founding of the Organization of African Unity.

Economics
Nkrumah attempted to rapidly industrialize Ghana's economy. He reasoned that if Ghana escaped the colonial trade system by reducing dependence on foreign capital, technology, and material goods, it could become truly independent. However, overspending on capital projects caused the country to be driven deeply into debt—estimated as much as $1 billion USD by the time he was ousted in 1966.

Decline and fall
The year 1954 was a pivotal year during the Nkrumah era. In that year's independence elections, he tallied some of the independence election vote. However, that same year saw the world price of cocoa rise from £150 to £450 per ton. Rather than allowing cocoa farmers to maintain the windfall, Nkrumah appropriated the increased revenue via federal levies, then invested the capital into various national development projects. This policy alienated one of the major constituencies that helped him come to power. In 1958 Nkrumah introduced legislation to restrict various freedoms in Ghana. After the Gold Miners' Strike of 1955, Nkrumah introduced the Trade Union Act, which made strikes illegal. When he suspected opponents in parliament of plotting against him, he wrote the Preventive Detention Act that made it possible for his administration to arrest and detain anyone charged with treason without due process of law in the judicial system. Prisoners were often held without trial, and their only legal method of recourse was personal appeal to Nkrumah himself.
When the railway workers went on strike in 1961, Nkrumah ordered strike leaders and opposition politicians arrested under the Trade Union Act of 1958. While Nkrumah had organized strikes just a few years before, he now opposed industrial democracy because it conflicted with rapid industrial development. He told the unions that their days as advocates for the safety and just compensation of miners were over, and that their new job was to work with management to mobilize human resources. Wages must give way to patriotic duty because the good of the nation superseded the good of individual workers, Nkrumah's administration contended.

The Detention Act led to widespread disaffection with Nkrumah’s administration. Some of his associates used the law to arrest innocent people to acquire their political offices and business assets. Advisers close to Nkrumah became reluctant to question policies for fear that they might be seen as opponents. When the clinics ran out of pharmaceuticals, no one notified him. Some people believed that he no longer cared. Police came to resent their role in society, particularly after Nkrumah superseded most of their duties and responsibilities with his personal guard - the National Security Service and presidential Guard regiments. Nkrumah disappeared from public view out of a justifiable fear of assassination following multiple attempts on his life. In 1964, he proposed a constitutional amendment making the CPP the only legal party and himself president for life of both nation and party. The amendment passed with 99.91 percent of the vote, an implausibly high total that could have only been obtained through fraud. Indeed, observers condemned the vote as "obviously rigged." In any event, Ghana had effectively been a one-party state since independence. The amendment transformed Nkrumah's presidency into a de facto legal dictatorship.

Nkrumah's advocacy of industrial development at any cost, with help of longtime friend and Minister of Finance, Komla Agbeli Gbedema, led to the construction of a hydroelectric power plant, the Akosombo Dam on the Volta River in eastern Ghana. Kaiser Aluminum agreed to build the dam for Nkrumah, but restricted what could be produced using the power generated. Nkrumah borrowed money to build the dam, and placed Ghana in debt. To finance the debt, he raised taxes on the cocoa farmers in the south. This accentuated regional differences and jealousy. The dam was completed and opened by Nkrumah amidst world publicity on 22 January 1966. Nkrumah appeared to be at the zenith of his power, but the end of his regime was only days away.
Nkrumah wanted Ghana to have modern armed forces, so he acquired aircraft and ships, and introduced conscription. He also gave military support to those fighting the Smith administration in Zimbabwe, then called Rhodesia. In February 1966, while Nkrumah was on a state visit to North Vietnam and China, his government was overthrown in a military coup led by Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka and the National Liberation Council. Several commentators, such as John Stockwell, have claimed the coup received support from the CIA.

Exile, death and tributes
Nkrumah never returned to Ghana, but he continued to push for his vision of African unity. He lived in exile in Conakry, Guinea, as the guest of President Ahmed Sékou Touré, who made him honorary co-president of the country. He read, wrote, corresponded, gardened, and entertained guests. Despite retirement from public office, he was still frightened of western intelligence agencies. When his cook died, he feared that someone would poison him, and began hoarding food in his room. He suspected that foreign agents were going through his mail, and lived in constant fear of abduction and assassination. In failing health, he flew to Bucharest, Romania, for medical treatment in August 1971. He died of skin cancer in April 1972 at the age of 62. Nkrumah was buried in a tomb in the village of his birth, Nkroful, Ghana. While the tomb remains in Nkroful, his remains were transferred to a large national memorial tomb and park in Accra.
Over his lifetime, Nkrumah was awarded honorary doctorates by Lincoln University, Moscow State University; Cairo University in Cairo, Egypt; Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland; Humboldt University in the former East Berlin; and many other universities.

In 2000, he was voted Africa's man of the millennium by listeners to the BBC World Service.

Peace, wisdom be unto you all!

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THE UJAMAA METHOD: A SYSTEM FOR THE ECONOMIC UNITY OF THE AFRICAN WORLD

by Shannon Rose
Africans have been at the forefront of epic achievements of immensity and splendor since antiquity.  Africans on the Continent produced the primordial and incomparable Kingdom of Kemet which spawned the greatest examples of scientific achievement know to man.  From Africa also ascends the legacy of Nubia, Timbuktu and the noble empires of Mali, Ghana and Songhay.  The Transatlantic Slave Trade brought Africans to the "New World" where this heritage of achievement would continue.  Against formidable odds we sacked the French in the Haitian Revolution, gave birth to the Brazilian Kingdom of Palmares and seated the first Black president of the United States of America.
Like so many other monumental feats of the past, the African in America has today begun to amass great sums of wealth.  In fact, African Americans represent roughly 12% of the United States and by the first quarter of 2012, will be in command of ONE TRILLION DOLLARS of monetary power.  

One trillion dollars is equal to over $25,000 per each Black man, woman and child in the US.  Properly harnessed and reserved strictly for the fortification of the Black collective, this amount of economic power makes African Americans the 8th richest community on earth.

Given the economic uncertainty of this new millennium, it is incumbent upon the African American community to devise a plan to reign in our buying power and make sure it is OUR COMMUNITY that reaps the benefits of OUR MONEY.  The African principle of Ujamaa or Cooperative Economics, urges us to build and maintain Black businesses, educational facilities and other institutions, and to profit from them.  The three part method you are about to read combines three, viable money making systems that allow us to recycle the Black dollars, advertise to the Global Black market and exchange vital business tools through networking.   

The first part of this strategy is utilizing the Black Business Builders profit distribution system.  This system is not pyramid or MLM, its simply “RECYCLING BLACK DOLLARS”.  The creators of this program have built a foolproof system where we can “use the Internet to build wealth and keep it circulating within the Black community.”

Current members enroll prospective members and get paid for doing so.  As long as members maintain their $27 monthly membership fee and continue to fervently add people to the system, everyone profits.  In fact, members of Black Business Builders receive residual profits from EVERY person they’ve EVER enrolled into the system, for the LIFE of your membership.

Black Business Builders members are given a treasure trove of tools to market this business online i.e., your own webpage, audio/video postcards, pod casts, Internet radio and Live Broadcaster, a flash-based, software application that allows the broadcaster to conduct live audio and/or video events online.  By paying $27 per month, your community will be paying you and you will be paying your community. http://www.BlackBusinessBuilders.com?7860

The second part of this system is the MLM program Better Web Builder.  With this system, members are supplied with a website, online video presentations, capture pages, auto responders, sales pages, advertising banners, a link creator, affiliate rotator, affiliate placement, email affiliates and more.  In fact, you can join the company for free or pay the $29.95 monthly Gold membership fee to receive optimal benefits.  http://www.mybwbsite.com/2103166

With the Gold membership, you’ll be paid for SEVEN levels of subsequent enrollments.  As well, the Gold membership allows members to promote, advertise and market FIVE OF YOUR OWN BUSINESSES.

The third part of this system is a referral program called  Zip Nada Zilch (ONE).  This is an umbrella company for 18 different websites that pay people to refer other people to different companies.  You need a PayPal account and a debit/credit card in order to sign up.  When the person you’ve referred to a company, on one of the 18 different websites, orders something from one of the companies, you can get paid for the referral or you can get iPhones, iPads and other digital devices.                                 http://one.zipnadazilch.com/index.php?referral=213043

Some may ask, why were these 3 systems combined?  Why wouldn’t we just use Black Business Builders?  My answer is, indeed, the Black Business Builders program is GENIUS and CREATED FOR US BY US!  UJAMAA can’t be defined better anywhere, in any other system, online or offline.   What’s more, THIS BUSINESS DOESN’T SELL ANYTHING EXCEPT THE OPPORTUNITY FOR US TO BECOME RICH BY INVESTING IN OURSELVES!   However, in utilizing Better Web Builder, for $30 you can ADVERTISE and MARKET FIVE BUSINESSES on the Internet.  This feature allows us to fast-track our individual Internet footprints and create multiple streams of income.

Lastly, Zip Nada Zilch is the FASTEST and EASIEST way to get paid on the Internet simply by paying if forward.  Once I’ve referred someone to the program and they make a small purchase, I make money.  As well, the referral INSTANTLY becomes a member and can then begin referring people and getting paid.  Further, the referrals can be used to obtain the digital devices vital in operating a highly mobile, online business.  If we use our imagination, as a community, we could use this system as a FAST and EASY way to generate money for a myriad of things.

The impetus for all this is found in the imminent monetary power of ONE TRILLION DOLLARS.  The order in which the programs are implemented, isn’t what’s important.  The importance lies in making our dollars BOUNCE within the Black community and the organization of our wealth thereafter.  With the power of ONE TRILLION DOLLARS, the African race could be of the highest educated, most innovative and pioneering people on the planet.

This is not the plan, it’s A plan.  A plan that is instantly implementable.  Other plans for the economic unity of the Black community can be added to this one for further fortification.  

Put the UJAMAA into motion and make ONE TRILLION DOLLARS BOUNCE in the hands of your own people.  BLACK PEOPLE UNITE. 

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“I freed a thousand slaves.  I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.”  Harriet Tubman

"Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it."  El-Hajj Malik-El Shabazz  The Honorable Minister Malcolm X

“To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.”  W.E.B. Dubois

"Powerful people cannot afford to educate the people that they oppress, because once you are truly educated, you will not ask for power. You will take it."  Dr. John Henrik Clarke

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking.  There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions.  Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”  Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Organize, organize, organize!  Organize with a sense of scientific rebellion.”  Kwame Ture

"Patience Has Its Limits. Take It Too Far, And It's Cowardice."  George Jackson

"Have you forgotten that once we were brought here, we were robbed of our name, robbed of our language. We lost our religion, our culture, our god...and many of us, by the way we act, we even lost our minds."  Dr. Khalid Abdul Muhammad

“Every time we put our money into another group’s hand we are aiding them in wiping us out.”  Dr. Claude Anderson

"I wake up each morning with a vision of a restored Kemet (New Africa), re-constructed by New African Men and Women, renewed and re-affirmed in their Africaness, and giving rise to a New World, in which we step back on the stage of Human History, as a Free, Proud and Productive People.”  MK 10311

"But now with the living conditions deteriorating, and with the sure knowledge that we are slated for destruction, we have been transformed into an implacable army of
liberation."  George Jackson

“No man is free until he learns to do his own thinking and gains the courage to act on his own personal initiatives.”  Napoleon Hill

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