April 2011 - Centre for Civil Society - University of KwaZulu-Natal

who are ready to listen to us’. Politicians are beginning to listen to them.
The government of Senegal is talking of reaching sovereignty of food
supply by 2015; so is Nigeria. Even the CEDAO (Economic Community of
West African States), in its programme, is talking about sovereignty of food
supply by 2015 or later, as is Mali. So there are ideas that are gaining
ground.
Then there is the problem of industrialisation. People are realising that we
cannot simply export raw materials, the prices of which depend on
speculators and other fluctuations – they have no added value and do not
create jobs. Moreover, very often, even for the raw materials that we do
sell, we do not get paid the full value because intermediaries take a big
slice… Therefore, they must be converted on the spot as part of a policy of
socialisation. This can only be viable at the sub-regional level. In the 15
countries of West Africa, we number 300 million souls. Even in capitalist
terms this is a viable market. Here is an area that allows the conversion of
our products.
There is increasing discussion of the need for autonomous African
currencies, because it is not possible – as the whole history of development
has shown – to develop using someone else’s currency. At the level of the
CEDAO there are discussions about a sub-regional currency, but political
inertia has put a brake on the process… Moreover, even at the level of the
board members of the African Central Bank, this is being spoken of as a
necessity, because we cannot continue to use other currencies and, above
all, to submit to the supremacy of the dollar. If we want integration, we
must have a common currency that enables easier trade and exchange.
ROSA MOUSSAUOI AND CHANTAL DELMAS: The social forum was held at the
UCAD (University of Cheikh Anta Diop). This is unfortunately known in Paris
as the venue of Nicolas Sarkozy’s speech. Was holding it there also a way
of turning around and rejecting this colonialist ideology?
DEMBA MOUSSA DEMBELE: There are two reasons I’m glad you asked that
question. Firstly, it’s the 50th anniversary of certain (essentially Frenchspeaking)
countries’ independence – an anniversary that, obviously, will
not be forgotten in 2011! Secondly you’ve referred to the speech Sarkozy
made in Dakar – a speech to which a number of Africans replied in a book
to which I also contributed, ‘L’Afrique répond à Sarkozy, Contre le discour
à Dakar’ (‘Africa answers Sarkozy – against the Dakar speech’). In Dakar we
intend to pay tribute to Cheikh Anta Diop himself, to Thomas Sankara and
to those who, in our view, have contributed to the resistance as much at
the level of ideas as at the political level: to Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice
Lumumba, Amilcar Cabral and others. This covers all the struggles against
colonialism, for independence and for Pan-Africanism. We expect to bring
together a number of African intellectuals to talk about this. This, in our
opinion will be the best reply to Sarkozy, because, I believe, Sarkozy does
not know Africa. If he knew a little bit of Africa’s history, he would know
that capitalism has been integrating Africans against their will since the
15th century, but before then some African empires, for example like the
Mali Empire, had a wide influence at a time when Europe was still in the
Middle Ages. This will be an additional lesson to Sarkozy.
ROSA MOUSSAUOI AND CHANTAL DELMAS: The years 2010 and 2011 are
going to be very busy years in Africa, with a number of difficulties.
However, all the election periods are marked, in all countries, by the
emergence of civic associations that are now refusing to permit lackeys,
who serve the interests of the colonialist powers, to be foisted upon them.
Were these associations at the World Social Forum?