In 1970, Kwame Nkrumah wrote "Class Struggle in Africa." He penned this book while he was living in Guinea, forced to move there in 1966 after the CIA (criminals in action) inspired coup overthrew his democratically elected government in Ghana. Enthusiastically accepted by the people of Guinea and graciously installed by Sekou Ture and the Democratic Party of Guinea as the co-President of the country, Nkrumah spent the final seven years of his life writing about what's needed for the African revolution to be victorious. "Class Struggle" was Nkrumah's attempt to explain what was happening in Africa with the new (at the time) and ongoing phenomenon of military coups overtaking democratically elected governments. Having experienced an imperialist inspired and supported coup that sabotaged his government in Ghana, "Class Struggle in Africa" was an extremely prophetic account of how the forces of evil are engaging in stopping Africa's march towards liberation.
"Class Struggle" focuses in on the imperialist tactic of using the military to intervene. The process is carried out in a very sophisticated fashion where the guns are accompanied by slick propaganda campaigns that seek to confuse the people of imperialism's objectives. At the center of this process is an effort by the capitalist forces to establish a national bourgeois class in Africa that would serve to protect the political and economic interests of the international bourgeois/capitalist class (multi-national corporations). Nkrumah expressed that creating this counter-revolutionary class is essential to insuring the next phase of exploitation and domination in the absence of the European presence in Africa. The next phase was correctly identified by Nkrumah as "neo-colonialism" where in the words of Kwame Ture "the master is no longer there, but his system is institutionalized."
The current scenario in Burkina Faso is clear evidence of Nkrumah's vision. Today's Africa, forty years after Nkrumah's death, is the very vision he articulated. Neo-colonialism operates fully in most areas of Africa. In the case of Burkina Faso, the so-called Regiment of Presidential Security - a military run group within the country - attempted to remove Michel Kafando and Prime Minister Issac Zida from power and replace them with General Gilbert Diendere, a long time accomplice of Blaise Compaore, the previous president of Burkina Faso who was forcibly removed from power by the masses of people in the country last year after he attempted to illegally extend his 27 year rule. Nkrumah would call this sad state of affairs a classic example of neo-colonialist manipulation in Africa. And, the fact the illegal coup was stopped by the Nkrumah and Sekou Ture inspired ECOWAS group is further testimony of Nkrumah's analysis of neo-colonialism and actual Pan-Africanist perspectives on solving problems.
Ironically, Compaore's status as an agent of neo-colonialism was confirmed in 1987 when he played a central role in overthrowing the revolutionary Pan-Africanist government of Thomas Sankara. In fact, it's quite possible that Compaore is even complicit in Sankara's death. This should be considered the most clear and complete validation of Nkrumah, and Sekou Ture's vision of Africa. It also further validates their correct vision for a Pan-Africanist, revolutionary, and independent approach to solving Africa's problems. This perspective also gives much needed context to Kwame Ture's analysis that "everything happening in Africa today, as bad as it is, is only further evidence that Pan-Africanism is inevitable!"
"Class Struggle" focuses in on the imperialist tactic of using the military to intervene. The process is carried out in a very sophisticated fashion where the guns are accompanied by slick propaganda campaigns that seek to confuse the people of imperialism's objectives. At the center of this process is an effort by the capitalist forces to establish a national bourgeois class in Africa that would serve to protect the political and economic interests of the international bourgeois/capitalist class (multi-national corporations). Nkrumah expressed that creating this counter-revolutionary class is essential to insuring the next phase of exploitation and domination in the absence of the European presence in Africa. The next phase was correctly identified by Nkrumah as "neo-colonialism" where in the words of Kwame Ture "the master is no longer there, but his system is institutionalized."
The current scenario in Burkina Faso is clear evidence of Nkrumah's vision. Today's Africa, forty years after Nkrumah's death, is the very vision he articulated. Neo-colonialism operates fully in most areas of Africa. In the case of Burkina Faso, the so-called Regiment of Presidential Security - a military run group within the country - attempted to remove Michel Kafando and Prime Minister Issac Zida from power and replace them with General Gilbert Diendere, a long time accomplice of Blaise Compaore, the previous president of Burkina Faso who was forcibly removed from power by the masses of people in the country last year after he attempted to illegally extend his 27 year rule. Nkrumah would call this sad state of affairs a classic example of neo-colonialist manipulation in Africa. And, the fact the illegal coup was stopped by the Nkrumah and Sekou Ture inspired ECOWAS group is further testimony of Nkrumah's analysis of neo-colonialism and actual Pan-Africanist perspectives on solving problems.
Ironically, Compaore's status as an agent of neo-colonialism was confirmed in 1987 when he played a central role in overthrowing the revolutionary Pan-Africanist government of Thomas Sankara. In fact, it's quite possible that Compaore is even complicit in Sankara's death. This should be considered the most clear and complete validation of Nkrumah, and Sekou Ture's vision of Africa. It also further validates their correct vision for a Pan-Africanist, revolutionary, and independent approach to solving Africa's problems. This perspective also gives much needed context to Kwame Ture's analysis that "everything happening in Africa today, as bad as it is, is only further evidence that Pan-Africanism is inevitable!"
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