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Poster Campaign on Thomas Sankara

Conference: Social Movements & African Renaissance

Manji: African Awakenings

Shikwati:Stop Development Aid!

Mbaye: Who is Developing Whom?

On 15 October 1987 the President of Burkina Faso Thomas Sankara was murdered in a coup d'état. He was a politician of exceptional virtue, and a person of integrity and sincerity. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his death AfricAvenir has developed a series of events and a public campaign addressing his impact on politics, economics and society. Like virtually no other, Thomas Sankara was exemplary for demonstrating Africa's possibility to develop through its own efforts.

AfricAvenir organises in cooperation with the Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation an international conference on "Social Movements and African Renaissance" with the participation of some of the most renown activists, politicians and intellectuals like Asume Osuoka, Director Social Action (Nigeria), Oumar Mariko, Presidential candidate and Director Radio Kayira (Mali), Winfred Nyirahabineza, KADINGO/Kalangala (Uganda), Timothy Kondo, ANSA (Zimbabwe), Masaké Kane, League of Revolutionary Pan-Africanists (Senegal) and Nathan Irumba, Exekutivdirektor SEATINI (Uganda). We want to open the discussions about some of the core topics that are at the heart of the struggles for social justice in Africa, e.g. military interventions, geopolitical interests, market liberalization and structural adjustment programmes, the role of the Youth within Social Movements in Africa, Landgrabbing and the struggle for a sustainable agriculture aiming the establishment of food sovereignty, the role and future of development cooperation and concepts and perspectives of independent ways of development.

On Tuesday the 27th of September 2011 at 7pm., AfricAvenir International e.V. organised a dialogue forum with Firoze Manji, founder and editor of the panafrican journal Pambazuka News (www.pambazuka.org). Under the title “African Awakenings: The courage to invent the future” he talked about the socio-economic context of social movements in Africa. Not only in Northern Africa, but on the whole continent people and protest movements are on the streets asking their governments to take responsibility for their people, all the while proclaiming their disillusionment and dissatisfaction with the current politics. But what are the goals of these movements and on what developments are they reacting?

Having experience in the struggle for human rights and social justice Manji is drawing attention to the big social development structures: The upturn after the independences 50 years ago, followed by a change of politics as a result of which states abandoned social care for the benefit of economic liberalization. The demand for a new and just social order is therefore the main reference point for social protest movements. The power of the economy and state is increasingly accompanied by a political mobilization of citizens.

On Monday, 14 January 2013 at 7pm, AfricAvenir hosted a dialogue forum with prominent Kenian economist Shikuku James Shikwati on the topic “Stop development aid! How the aid industry works and why it is preventing endogenous development in Africa”.

Is so-called "development aid" what it purports to be – support for the development of recipient countries? Or does it rather serve the geostrategic interests of the donor countries, as an instrument with which they can secure and expand their spheres of influence? Prominent Kenian economist James Shikwati is unequivocal: development aid should be abolished as soon as possible. It holds developing countries in a state of dependency and suppresses the entrepreneurial spirit as well as trade relations between neighbouring countries. But does the radical turn toward “free trade” that Shikwati propagates not lead onto the wrong, neoliberal track? Can “free markets” really be an effective tool for poverty alleviation in Africa?

Within the framework of our long term focus on endogeneous ways of development AfricAvenir organised a dialogue forum with the Senegalese economist Sanou Mbaye on the topic "Africa and Europe: Who is actually developing whom? Economic ways to African independence based on self-sustaining development".  In Europe the common perception of the world builds on a myth nurtured over centuries: The deep rooted belief in its own superiority in civilisation to the rest of the world, which is believed having been the sole origin for the present wealth and prosperity. With development cooperation and direct foreign investments, so the unchallenged belief, Europe is „helping“ Africa to develop itself. But does this perception reflect reality? Have there really been that many changes in the African-European relations over the centuries in which Europe laid the foundation of its economic predominance of today through slavery and colonialism?

The renowned economic expert Sanou Mbaye provided specific answers to this question. To clarify who is actually „developing“ whom, he analysed the actual capital flows between Africa and Europe. Within this Mbaye delivered answers to the question who actually profits from the „special case“ which is the Franc CFA monetary system in most of the French speaking African countries. After this review, Mbaye presented possible monetary and economical alternatives aiming to support an independent development in Africa. Which perspectives could be established from the creation of an African Central Bank and an African Monetary Fund? Which economic potentials would arise from an African diaspora bank in order to canalise the private capital flows between the diaspora and the continent? Mbaye also drew his conclusions from the analysis of the last decades of failed structural adjustment programs by the World Bank and the IMF. In times of the Euro crisis those experiences should be taken seriously especially in Europe.