The US is known for all things grand. It's the biggest economy, the mightiest military, has the wealthiest individuals, the biggest industry, the center for democracy, the wealthiest Christian Church, etc. the list is long. However, behind the facade of this honor and grandeur, there is a little blot in a country haunted by racial segregation and poor blacks who can't get access to health care, food or housing in this country of plenty. What a contradiction! On the other hand, if you make a boat journey from Florida to Socialist Cuba, a few nautical miles away, every one has access to what the poor Americans lack. What irony! Don't you be surprised because what you have just seen is the mean and ugly face of capitalism at its best versus that of a meek socialism at peace with itself.
Some historical background may be in order here. Modern US was founded by the white European Christians who did everything to take away forcefully what belonged to the aboriginal Indians. They founded a Capitalist and Christian country using resources plundered from Africa using African slaves. Even though slavery was abolished it took a long time for racial segregation to peter out legally in the US. Civil Rights movements led by the Baptist Minister Rev Martin Luther King Jr among many luminary black activists led to the eventual scrapping of the racial laws. However, up to date, discrimination on skin color is still common in the US and is being perpetuated by Evangelical Christian leaders who should know better. It was recently reported in the press that Rev Pat Robertson, the mercurial face of Christian America, saying that Haiti deserved to face the wrath of God through calamities such as earthquakes because they had kicked out Christian French colonizers from their country. It is however known that the French left after they had milked the country dry of its resources and abandoned it as a mere piece of barren earth. Capitalism and Christianity have cohabited for a long time and they are discriminatory against the poor and therefore black Americans should not expect any reprieve soon.
In black Africa, Christianity walked hand in hand with colonialism and it continues to perpetuate it to date. In a capitalist state, you can't rein in corruption, you can't care for the majority poor because the owners of wealth will revolt and withhold their support to the government. Governments in capitalistic states are controlled and run by the wealthy regardless of how the majority vote. This explains why the US President Barack Obama was chided by the Evangelicals and Wealthy Republicans when he signed the Health care Bill to avail medicines to many more poor Americans. They even had the cheek to brand him an African who wanted to bring socialism to America! One wonders why they would oppose such a move when they pretend to be Christians whose tenet is to care for all and particularly the underprivileged. We now know better.
When we were debating the recent constitution referendum, the Christian Church, opposed its adoption under the pretext that they wanted to stop dumping of fetuses in Nairobi river and elsewhere because it encouraged abortion. They even got a leg up from the Evangelicals in the US. The truth, however, is that they wanted the status quo. For the first time, there wont be compulsory teaching of religion in schools because this can be challenged in court. This automatically denies the Christians a malleable chunk of young minds who after conversion perpetuate its growth. As capitalists, perhaps, they are tasting a dose of their own medicine by being reminded that there is no such thing as free lunch. They have to work harder to get new converts!
Therefore, if Africa is to move forward, it has now to move away from the clutches of both Christianity and Capitalism. The children and the adults will need to learn the benefits of socialism versus the evils of capitalism. We need to know that countries such as Russia, China, Brazil and Cuba have progressed due to equitable resource allocation and level playing ground which has enabled citizens to be productive and patriotic due to peace of mind offered by systems that remove fear and offer hope. We need to build socialists parties that have mass following and structures ready to take over power from the capitalists legally and peacefully. Can someone do a manifesto for the true socialist African Party for black Africa?
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