French diplomats darted previous the throng of protesters on the entrance door of the Everlasting Mission of France to the United Nations in the course of the after-work rush hour on Tuesday when “prepared at a second’s discover” demonstrators, armed with bullhorns and posters, have been on the march, demanding “France Out of Africa!” and “Arms Off Niger!”
Roger Wareham, spokesperson for the sponsors, mentioned, “We’re the December twelfth Motion, we’re a human rights group, and there’s one easy reality which explains what’s going on in Niger and the way it may be resolved: France is in Africa and should get out. Whereas France was pressured to grant political independence to its African colonies within the late Sixties, it by no means gave up financial management of those international locations. In 2023, whereas these former French colonies stay among the many poorest on this planet, they proceed to supply cash and boundless assets that maintain France and its allies, together with the US, among the many world’s wealthiest nations. The coup in Niger is a declaration that ‘we now have had sufficient.’ Western international locations have condemned the coup in Niger and threatened army intervention by way of ECOWAS (Financial Group of West African States). Regardless of this demand from the West, many international locations oppose intervention and a few, i.e., Burkina Faso, Mali, and Algeria, have provided Niger help in resisting any armed invasion.”
Representatives of a number of organizations participated within the protest, together with Sylvestre Kouadio, an activist from Cote d’Ivoire; Dahoud Andre of Committee to Mobilize Towards Dictatorship in Haiti (KOMOKODA); HRM Queen Mom Dr. Dowoti Desir, Benin Republic; Steve Millies, Wrestle/LaLuche; Jason Corley, Cuba Si!; Dr. Prince A.Z.Ok. Adekoya, African Diaspora for Justice; Krystal Cerisier, Black Agenda for Peace; and lots of others.
Dowoti Desir, representing a coalition from Benin and Martinique, started, “We need to let the individuals of Niger know that we stand in solidarity with them…That is about our imaginative and prescient, our narrative, our future. A few of us know the historical past of France all too nicely. It’s a historical past that’s based mostly in slavery and colonization, that has been camouflaged within the twin areas of being kids of Joan of Arc and the patron of human rights. And we all know that France has been removed from that. We’re bored with having our assets pillaged. We all know that this proxy warfare is being set as much as power us to complete the soiled enterprise that they’ve began—the work of genocide and extraction, of humiliation and dehumanization. That is insupportable and we’re not having it. Get your asses out of our nation.”
“…Right now, August 22, 1791, was the night time our ancestors began burning the French colony of Saint Domingue,” mentioned Andre. “On the night time of August 14, our ancestors held a gathering and a ceremony. They usually determined that slavery was over. They determined, and so they understood that for slavery to be over, they weren’t going to ship a petition to the King of France. We’re going to burn this place down, and we’re going to kill each white man on this place. And it began at the moment, August 22, 1791.” Andre famous that the well-known Creole saying people had been chanting all day meant “Chop off their heads!” and “Burn down their homes!”
“There isn’t a different formulation,” he mentioned. “Energy to the individuals of Niger. Energy to the individuals of Burkina Faso. Energy to the individuals of Mali. It’s not simply France. It’s all of them. They haven’t stopped what they’ve achieved for 500 to 600 years. And there’s no different technique to get them to cease.”
Adekoya, who hails from Nigeria, mentioned, “I need all of us right here tonight to grasp one factor clear. Once we are sending a message to France, we’re sending a message to the western world.”
Cerisier famous, “Imperialist powers just like the U.S. and France really feel empowered to take our assets due to white supremacist ideological pondering. They really feel like it’s their proper to take our land and our assets. We can not stand to take care of and justify their empowerment to come back into our land and proceed to extract our assets. We should deny, should reject, and we should resist each act of imperialism and colonization that the U.S. and Europe have been persevering with to perpetuate on African soil and African individuals. It’s occasions like this [when] Black solidarity is most vital.”
In closing, Omowale Clay of the December twelfth Motion mentioned, “We have to be centered. One enemy at a time. When France falls, all their puppets will fall with them. When France leaves Africa, all of the puppets are gone, too, as a result of they are going to be kicked out with France. We need to be sure that we keep centered…Preserve your ears to the bottom. The phrase is on the street, I see it in every single place! Keep in mind one single slogan. What’s it?”
The gang roared in response, “France out of Africa!Plans have been for a discussion board on Tuesday, Aug. 29, at 7 p.m. at Sistas Place (456 Nostrand Avenue). For info, name 718-398-1766 or e-mail to D12M@aol.com; www.D12M.com.
