In
spite of the shortness of the notice, the Symposium on Mandela and the
Unfinished Revolution in Africa held on Friday, the 20th of December 2013
recorded a decent attendance and was marked by deep and penetrating interactive
presentations by scholars and activists who made it a stimulating event.
Lead
discussants included Professor Alozie Princewill, Dr Dele Seteolu (both of the
Lagos State University, Ojo), Comrades Ngozi Iwere, S.O.Z. Ejiofoh, Issa Aremu
and Kayode Komolafe who made notable contributions to the anti-apartheid
struggle in the late 70s up to the early 90s as student and trade unionists. The
symposium was hosted and chaired by Mr. Femi Falana, SAN.
Observations
The
symposium recognized the huge personal sacrifice that Nelson Mandela made to
the struggle against apartheid, but noted that he made his contributions within
the collective. While, Madiba’s sterling commitment cannot be overemphasized,
participants cautioned against the celebratory portrayal of Mandela by forces
of imperialism as a mere reformist whose genius lay in conciliatory
acquiescence or accommodation with the structures of oppression.
Mandela
was first and foremost a revolutionary who used his skills and strength to
ensure justice, fairness and equity to bring about racial and economic justice
in South Africa. Unfortunately, participants noted, South Africa, in spite of
the efforts of Madiba and his comrades, remains a society divided into the
haves and have nots, with the huge gap between the poor, usually the blacks,
and the rich, usually the whites, being the widest anywhere in the world. The
indisputable fact that economic power is yet to be democratized in
post-apartheid South Africa demonstrates clearly that the ideals of the Freedom
Charter are yet to be fully realized.
The
demonization of Robert Mugabe by the West also came up for discussion at the
symposium in the context of the differing approaches by South Africa and
Zimbabwe to the land question. While the symposium could not defend the
electoral malfeasances traceable to Mugabe and his unwillingness to yield the
space for young politicians to run Zimbabwe and his repressive tendencies, the
symposium could not fault the repossession of lands that were forcibly taken
from the people by the colonialists.
Citizenship
without land ownership is empty. Every country must find peculiar ways of
resolving the land question. The west cannot prescribe its prejudices and
interests into a code for African peoples in relation to the land question.
Naturally, the forum also highlighted the contributions of other African greats such as Kwame Nkrumah, Nwalimu Nyerere, Herbert Macaulay, Patrice Lumumba, Aminu Kano, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Amilcar Cabral, and Chris Hani to mention but a few. The symposium agreed that these and other notable sons and daughters of Africa should be celebrated regularly in order for the upcoming generation to connect with the ideals championed by them.
With respect to the alleged slight of Nigeria at the burial ceremonies of Madiba as President Goodluck Jonathan was not allowed to address the audience, it was noted that the people of South Africa did not by that rubbished the undoubted contributions of Nigerians and the country that was regarded as one of the frontline states in spite of the significant geographical distance between the two countries.
It
was more a reflection of the undeniable low quality of those who occupy
political offices in Africa today. The participants noted that the President of
South Africa, Jacob Zuma, was relentlessly booed by South Africans at the same
ceremonies. The lesson here is that those who occupy lofty offices should do
everything to justify the respect of the people in their own personal right.
Resolutions
The symposium resolved as follows;
1. The struggle for social justice in Africa in general is yet from being over. It is arduous and long. African people require creative understanding of the present crisis in order to forge appropriate strategies to deal with the crisis of underdevelopment manifested in poverty, diseases and general exclusion from decent living.
2. There is need for regular interactions among revolutionaries in Africa and their organisations to compare notes and learn from one another as was the case in the 1960s.
3. There are many kinds of Mandelas being sold to the public by people who have their interests to protect. It is therefore necessary to make it clear that the essential Mandela was a revolutionary who led Umkhonto We Siswe (the Spear of the Nation) and had no illusion as to the undeniable truth that the struggle for justice in South Africa was far from being over.
When
these interests celebrate Mandela and demonise other African leaders, the way
they do, they merely signal their intention to privilege one method of struggle
over another. Though a towering African personality, Mandela was not alone in
defining the revulsion of the African to oppression. We have a duty to
celebrate all the other heroes and heroines of the African resistance movement.
4. Without doubt one of the virtues for which Mandela is justly celebrated is forgiveness. But the point needs to be made emphatically that forgiveness ought always to be predicated by restitution. Part of the problems of contemporary South Africa is that restitution is missing in the post-apartheid equation or calculus.
5. 18th of July of every year, Mandela Day, should be used to celebrate the heroes and heroines of the African struggle for liberation and social justice.
6. As we enter 2014 there is the need for comrades interested in political change to meet regularly and create a broad platform for the articulation of opposition to the anti-masses policies of governments at all levels in Nigeria. This has become more desirable as the realignment of forces among the mainstream political parties indicate clearly ideological unity among them. The need to create a third force driven by an ideology that coincides with the interest of the popular masses has become an urgent task.
Femi Falana, SAN
Bamidele Aturu
For Friends of Mandela
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