Norris R. McDonald | Ibrahim Traoré and Marcus Garvey’s Pan-African vision

“The only thing that keep us going is the love of our people!”

– President Ibrahim Traoré

AFRICA HAS faced massive outflows of capital, stolen resources, and crooked profits have fattened foreign coffers while leaving the continent starving. But a new Pan African revolution wave is now sweeping the continent.

Captain Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso has emerged as a new Pan-African revolutionary who is providing the inspiration for change.

Young, defiant, and unapologetically Pan-African, President Ibrahim Traoré, has expelled French troops, rejected IMF interference, and lit a revolutionary flame that is spreading like wildfire across the Sahel.

IMPERIALIST PLUNDER AND IMF DEBT SLAVERY

Prior to this new political awakening, Africa was under the yolk of IMF debt slavery and foreign economic plunder.

Despite holding 30 per cent of the world’s mineral reserves, 12 per cent of its oil, and possessing the youngest population on Earth, Africa remains trapped in engineered poverty.

The poorest African countries – Mozambique, Chad, Malawi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo – are ironically the richest in resources. But instead of prosperity, they are yoked to IMF debt, colonial-era mining contracts, and economies designed for extraction, not development.

Multinational corporations drain billions by underreporting exports, cooking books, and siphoning profits to offshore tax havens. It is economic vampire-ism sanctioned by global financial order.

For every US$1 of aid sent to Africa, an estimated US$3 to US$4 flows out in illicit outflows and unfair profit repatriation. Reports by the UN Economic Commission for Africa and Global Justice reveals that over US$1.3 trillion left the continent between 2000 and 2020 through profit shifting, debt servicing, and skewed trade rules.

As of 2024, 25 African nations spend more on interest payments than on public health. External debt now exceeds US$1 trillion, with over US$40 billion annually swallowed up by interest. That is the price of dependency. That is the cost of being colonised with spreadsheets and bank transfers.

THE TRAORÉ EFFECT: A CATALYST OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Ibrahim Traoré speaks in the voice of Thomas Sankara, Marcus Garvey, and Kwame Nkrumah and is acting on the Pan-African political visions they have inspired.

In just three years he has implemented massive projects. In 2024, a gold-refinery was built with Russian technical support. Prior to this, French corporations exported Burkinabe gold and kept the wealth.

The Sahel states – Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger – have taken the boldest steps. The expulsion of French troops and nationalisation of their economic resources have generated new wealth, which is being used to finance agriculture, health, housing and educational projects.

Russia, Turkey and China, have provided military and political support to fight and defeat the terrorists which, oddly “conveniently” were intrenched in gold and other mineral rich areas.

IMPERIALIST PUSHBACK, GLOBAL AWAKENING

That is why they fear him. According to regional sources, there have been at least 19 attempts to assassinate him. And now, in a dangerous echo of the smear campaigns against Gaddafi and Saddam, US AFRICOM commander, General Michael Langley, has begun floating wild accusations – painting Traoré as a threat to regional stability and a threat to democracy.

What type of democracy? The type that had corrupt African leaders such as Ali Bongo and Paul Biya, among others, who stay in power for years; plunder their nations wealth and help the neocolonialist plunder Africa. Is that truly democracy?

Africans have seen through these lies. From Kingston to Kinshasa, protesters have denounced Langley’s imperial bluster. The Global South is tired of being the staging ground for US hegemony disguised as humanitarian concern.

Pan-African revolution is blowing. From the deserts of Mali to the townships of South Africa, the youth are rising. They are Pan-African in vision, nationalist in tone, and militant in their rejection of foreign domination.

THE DRUMS ARE BEATING AGAIN

In the meantime, Botswana’s newly-elected President Duma Boko is echoing that call. Long praised as a stable democracy, Botswana’s diamond wealth has not trickled down. Boko has called out the corruption, elite capture, and foreign mining cartels that rob the people blind.

Namibia’s President Netumbo Nadi-Ndaitwah, is another strong Pan-Africanist voice.

At one time it appeared as if South Africa’s Julius Malema was a political aberration. Now we see new political leaders in Africa who are revolting against inequality, plunder and historical white land theft.

Africa is a mighty Black giant that is rising. Today, The drums of change are beating again ….

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Beat drums beat!

Let black skin echo our claims

Let the bass remember our names

We are not slaves ...

We are builders of nations

Not bound by chains!

Millions of African youth are rediscovering those roots – and are demanding to reap, get and enjoy the fruits of their labour, to be transformed into collective wealth.

The Pan-African future is no longer a dream whispered on Garveyite lips. It is rising from Ouagadougou, it is echoing through Gaborone, and it is roaring in Soweto.

MARCUS GARVEY’S PAN-AFRICAN VISION

My dear friend, Marcus Garvey warned us: “A person without knowledge of their past is like a tree without roots.” Today, the roots are deep. The branches are rising. And the fruits of African labour must now feed African mouths.

Is this Garvey’s long-awaited dawn? Nkrumah’s vision of a United States of Africa?

Perhaps not yet. But something is undeniably shifting. Young Africans, influenced by Traoré, are strongly making their voices heard and are actively participating in the political processes in their country.

The young people today are the political vanguards of change. The mass awakening of political consciousness, among the African youth has served to blunt the attempts by traditional colonial powers, led by France and America, to undermine leaders such as Ibrahim Traoré.

What is becoming increasingly clear, my friends, is that the rhythm of Africa’s liberation is beating strongly. The visions and stirring of the souls of our black ancestors for redemptive justice now appear closer to being realised!

That is the bitta truth.

Norris R. McDonald is an economic journalist, political analyst, and respiratory therapist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and miaminorris@yahoo.com.