When Africans began their anti-colonial struggle in the past and made great sacrifices for the success of the struggle, they hoped for complete political independence, the realization of their social and economic freedom, and a universal freedom that would lead them straight from the oppressive universal slavery.
Although this reality cost the ancestors of Africa and the current generation of Africans a lot; Africans have not yet been able to realize their political, social and economic freedoms as they had hoped and with the sacrifices they had made. They have still been robbed of their freedoms, which they paid a high price for, through manipulation and conspiracy.
Even today, due to many interventions and several conspiracies, Africans have not been able to become the true owners of their resources. They are still victims of many conspired oppressions and confusions that prevent them from determining their own destiny. Their peoples are still in conflicts and wars that cost them a lot of money due to the shadowy arguments of the colonial era.
Africans, in view of the struggle for freedom of our ancestors and the price paid for the struggle, have not been able to make the hope/vision of the struggle our own. We have not been able to keep move the struggle that is required to transform the political freedom won by our ancestors into universal freedom (economic and social). We have not prepared ourselves for the struggle required to realize the full dignity of our country and identity.
The continent has chosen to wait for help with folded hands, to risk lives of its peoples, to go to exile, and to live a life that is painful and heartbreaking.
Seven or eight decades after our fathers began their generational struggle for freedom, we, their children, have not been able to fully put our political freedom in our hands; while we are the owners of many natural blessings, still waiting for the hands of others to overcome our days.
Instead, the unity among us is being shattered by the confusion of differences created by the conflicts of the colonial era. As in the past, the opportunities to stand together for our common agendas are shrinking, despite several other promising steps being taken to push the continent forward. We are paying meaningless price in conflicts and wars that have arisen due to distrust and the hostility that stems mainly from inherited problems unsettled claims of many forms
The banditry that challenged the struggle during the colonial era, as a large nation, is becoming the greatest challenge in our struggle to move beyond the past and make our future better. The abandonment of the people’s desire for peace and development for personal gain; thinking that we will benefit from this better and wasting the country’s resources and people’s potential for its implementation is still our greatest challenge today. As a result, the struggles we are waging for our common agendas have failed to bring us meaningful results.
In the new world order, Africans must create a new political awakening and commitment to realize their own just benefits. If they fail to do so, it is foolish to think that the coming era will be different for Africans from the colonial era.
For this, African leaders, who are about to meet in hours in Addis for the AU summit should have a high and irreplaceable responsibility. They must design a strategy of struggle that will enable Africans to realize their own destiny, given the opportunities and circumstances that arise, and be committed to its implementation. The struggle for freedom, which demanded the sacrifice of many of our ancestors, can only be completed if we can do this effectively.
We can only permanently escape from conflict and war, from dependency and begging, from poverty and backwardness if we can determine our own destiny ourselves. For this, we need a commitment to transform our natural resources into development. We need to stand united and steadfast for our common goals and causes.