We believe that all organisations and individuals should have a set of principles by which they are guided
The following is a copy of the draft Declaration of Principles submitted to the UK Preparatory Steering Committee for the 7th Pan-African Congress (7th PAC) by Spartacus R. on behalf of the Cultural Awareness Programme (CAP). It was adopted With a mew changes (including the removal of clause # 11) by the IPC (International Preparatory Committee) in Kampala at their September 1993 meeting.
We would like to get your comments on the draft which it was hoped would be discussed at the 7th PAC. Unfortunately, Spartacus R. was excluded from the congress (as was Lester Lewis - see page 8). All his lobbying phone calls from London could not move the organisers to reinstate the clause #11 nor discuss the draft declaration in open forum.
PURPOSE
In the spirit of our Ancestors, we, the UK Preparatory Steering Committee of the 7th Pan-African Congress declare the following principles by which we will he guided in the struggle for the liberation of Africa and African (Black) people and the establishment of a united global African family:
HOMELAND
I ) That African people are the rightful guardians of the continent of Africa and it is therefore the homeland of all African people, irrespective of where they were born or where they are currently domiciled.
CONTROL
2) That only African people have the right to decide what happens to us and what happens to Africa.
GUESTS
3) That any non-African person or group may reside on the continent as our guests and enjoy all the rights accorded to them as welcomed guests providing they accept that they are our guests and behave in a manner respectful of the will of their hosts as is expected of any welcomed guests.
RIGHT OF ENTRY, FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT
4) That all Africans have the right to enter the continent and travel freely throughout its length and breadth and that any laws, regulations or statutes which tend to restrict our free movement anywhere on the continent and in particular across the currently existing nation-state borders must be repealed. These current boundaries created by Europeans for their benefit have no relevance to the actual dispersion of traditional African nations
COLLECTIVE REPRESENTATION
5) That no self-appointed or externally imposed individual or group will be accepted as representative of the people.
AFRICENTRIC IDEOLOGY
6) That African people as a whole, locally, nationally and internationally must formulate our own laws, regulations, doctrines and principles by which we will govern ourselves.
REPARATIONS
7) That no thought be given to the idea of debt repayment to global European interests. Rather, that all outstanding African "debts" be calculated as a fraction of the trillions of pounds dollars, marks, francs, yens, roubles, dhirams, etc., which are owed to Africa and her people in reparation for the continuing theft of much of her wealth and the calculated, deliberate destruction of African civilisation.
ARTIFACTS & RESOURCES
8) That every item taken from Africa without the permission of all the people to whom they belonged be returned and that all remaining resources of the continent and its surrounding seas be used firstly for the benefit of those Africans living on the continent and secondly for the benefit of Africans in the global Diaspora.
HUMAN RIGHTS
9) That every African is unconditionally entitled to free access to the means to satisfy our three basic human needs of (a) nourishment, i.e. food, drink, physical and medical care; (b) shelter, i.e. housing, clothing protection from the elements (c) enlightenment, i.e. education, knowledge, spiritual expression, etc.
LANGUAGE
10) That all Africans are entitled to free access to education to the minimum level of fluent literacy in at least one native African language.
EQUAL PARTICIPATION
11) That no African child, man or woman, organisation or nation-state, should participate in any organisation or structure such as the United Nations or political parties, unless our involvement is on the basis of complete, uncompromised equality on every level with all other members of such bodies.
SELF-DETERMINATION
12) Above all we declare that every entity has an absolute, irrevocable, unconditional and unquestionable right to self-determination and self-defence and that this principle will be the cornerstone and the foundation of all our actions.
PROTECTION
13) That every African has the right to take any necessary steps, without limitation to secure and protect all the above rights and entitlements
This document is not intended to be a definitive doctrine, merely a means of stimulating debate on the subject of principles to be raised at the forthcoming GLOBAL AFRICA PEOPLE'S CONFERENCE.
UNITY
We must be unified yes, but we must have unity in action towards an agreed common objective - not as an objective or an end in itself.
home