From February 5th  to February 14th the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon was under a lockdown initiated by the Ambazonia interim government. The Republic of  Ambazonia (aka Amba Land) is a self-declared state consisting of the English speaking regions of Cameroon that want to separate from the dominant French speaking Cameroon.

For the past twenty-five years, sectors of the African petite bourgeoisie in the French and English speaking regions have been in contention with one another. The primary criticism from the English speaking sector being that they are denied access to the larger social and  political arena dominated by the French speaking Cameroonian government.

The contradiction came to a head in 2017 when neither sector of the petite bourgeoisie would concede to each others demands.

Since then, the country has been entangled in a ongoing crisis that has killed and displaced hundreds; mostly in the English speaking regions.

The Lockdown causes crisis for the African poor and working class

While the reason for the lockdown was not clearly stated,  we understand that the goal was to destabilize the government and its activities in specific areas of the country.

During the lockdown all sorts of activities were banned as a way to undermine National Youth Day on February 11th, which is also the anniversary of the United Nations sponsored 1961 plebiscite which forced the unification of the British ruled and French ruled regions of Cameroon,  locally referred to as La Republique.

The Ambazonian consortium of the English regions, have on several occasions, opposed celebrating this as a national day on the grounds that they were not well respected and acknowledged by the current government. Thus, the prerequisite was to put a halt on this day.

On Wednesday the 6^th of February, a mass arrest of citizens was carried out by the state defense forces whom are assumed to be the security of its citizens. Women  were molested and sexually violated and there was about fifty young men who were forcefully taken from their rooms. As of this writing, little is known about their status or the health condition of the abused women.

One can then conclude, without fear of contradiction, that though the reason behind the lockdown was not clearly stated, it endangered  the lives of the poor and working class population.

There is a cry for justice and the application of the international law throughout the cities which have gone unanswered by the United Nations and the African Union.

The Crisis in Cameroon is a crisis caused by imperialism

In the Uhuru Movement,  we understand that the basis of the current crisis is one rooted in imperialism.

We blame imperialism, for dividing up Africa; creating a false national consciousness and pitting Africans against one another.

It is the fault of Germany, England and France and their continued intervention in the African political landscape, which fosters the type of instability we are seeing now.   

France and England installed neo-colonial rulers (white power/black face) in its place, to make it look like Cameroon had independence in 1961.

They did this to avoid the emerging trend of armed struggle and African nationalism  sweeping throughout Africa in the 1950’s. Africans were fighting against European colonizers and inflicting high casualties in Algeria, Guinea Bissau & Cape Verde, Mozambique, Angola, Belgian Congo, Kenya and in French speaking Cameroon.  

Europe didn’t have the man power to continue fighting these wars,  so in the mid to late 50’s it began to end direct colonialism in favor of indirect-colonial rule, by installing neo-colonial leaders throughout Africa.

Undermining the historic revolutionary resistance of Cameroon

Even after the so-called independence in 1961, France and Britain worked with their installed neo-colonial leaders to squash the indigenous nationalist movements of Cameroon, who sought complete independence and a socialist economy.

What is happening now is not a result of misleadership, it is a result of the attack on Africa that disbursed Africans around the globe and slicing up of Africa to facilitate the theft of our resources, for the benefit of Europe.

Dividing Cameroon further  does not solve any problems for Africans, it solves the problems of the colonizers and the African petit bourgeoisie.  Ambazonia, if they succeed in separating from Cameroon, will be a failed state, just like all of the other countries in Africa; infiltrated by the enemy and where the masses of our people continue to suffer under neo-colonialist regimes.

Neither the Ambazonia or Cameroon government is a revolutionary government with the interest of the poor and working class at the center. Both are led by the African petit bourgeoisie who have no vision for Africa beyond the violence and limitations of capitalism. Evidence of this is seen in the suffering of the people.

The call should be to unify Cameroon, but under one revolutionary government that brings together all of Cameroon for the betterment of all of its people and unite with the struggle for all Africa to be free under one socialist government led by the poor and working class.

Below is a video taken by members of the community on February 10, 2019. It shows bodies of young men killed by what the speaker identifies as “terrorists”. The speaker also calls on the United States and United Nations for their concern, however, we understand the United States and other imperialist forces are already in Cameroon. They are the real terrorists supplying arms to the proxy forces and instigating the crisis.

E. A. M. is the local President of the African National Women’s Organization in Cameroon.

His report highlights the plight of women workers in Ghana, which resulted in more discussions between him and I (not documented here), which encourages him to join the African People’s Socialist Party and to connect the African National Women’s Organization to sisters who could adopt African Internationalism in Ghana and build revolutionary workers’ collectives to take on some of the contradictions laid out in his report.

By all accounts, Ghanaian women workers face challenges in Ghana. With more than half of all agricultural workers in Ghana being women, any major shift in the agricultural policies would deal a devastating economic blow.

Millions of African women are dependent on farming for their livelihood

Sankofa reports: “The Brong-Ahafo region, Ghana is a land abundant in agriculture; cocoa, maize, cassava, cabbage, pepper, garden eggs, mangos and even pineapple.”

“Literally millions of Ghanaian women are dependent on farming for their livelihood. Women farm on ancestral lands passed to them or on shared plots.

“Some crops like cashews and cocoa can yield a decent price. The challenge is the price farmers get for their produce. Women who are fortunate may a make few hundred GH cedi (100 USD = 450 GH cedis) for a week’s worth of work.”

“To better understand the currency, Ghanaian minimum wage is about 300 GH cedis a month, the equivalent of about 65 USD.”

“Healthcare is crucial to the wellbeing of women. HIV rates are low and Ebola has not been reported here in Brong-Ahafo region. Malaria is still a threat to the people. Clean water is taken seriously by the people and has improved greatly over the last ten years.”

“The health care scheme is problematic for women as often they do not have an extra few hundred cedis for minor operations and medication. Government bureaucracy is super slow in paying healthcare claims.”

“Here in Nsoatre, Brong Ahafo, Amponsah Memorial Maternity has just moved into improved facilities showing much progress, however, it is constantly financially challenged.”

No work for healthcare workers, no care for Africans

“Thousands of young women do indeed pursue career as healthcare workers. Oftentimes, they are unable to find work after one year of national service.”

“The President of Ghana, Nana Akufo Addo, has restored nurses training allowances scrapped by the previous regime. The allowances will see over 58,000 nurses and midwives will receive about 400 cedis a month.”

“No doubt, much work needs to be done as Ghana struggles to be [independent] of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan dependency.”

“Ghanaian women workers need higher wages, real universal health care and better access to employment for healthcare workers.”

“We have to be creative in our thinking to find solutions for African women for a higher quality of life worldwide.”

Indeed we do; however, the lives of African women will not improve if we aren’t taking into account the larger political and economic landscape.

The World Bank forecasted that in 2018, Ghana’s economy would expand at a rate of 8.5 percent, the fastest rate in Africa.

This means nothing as the resources that come from expanding and growing the economy are tied to the parasitic capitalist interests of multinational conglomerates and international lenders, who siphon off the profits by exporting commodities for international consumption and satisfying debts.

Capitalist imperialism continues to suck Africa dry

Capitalist industries are sinking their teeth into Ghana’s economy draining it dry and the governmental administrators are running around like chickens with their heads cut off, deepening the stranglehold that capitalist imperialism has in Africa.

Cocoa, Ghana’s largest and most important export, was expected to be a protected industry based on the 2016 declaration from the newly elected government that promised not to cut prices for the sector.

In 2018, however, they are no longer able to afford to subsidize farmers─who are mostly African women─due to the broader economic crisis.

Ghana is Africa’s eleventh biggest economy generating $43 billion a year (Nigeria is the largest at $376 billion), with much of their revenue coming from gold, oil and cocoa commodities; 63 percent of the revenue is allocated to debt, according to Bloomberg.com.

All cocoa is sold at fixed prices to the Cocoa Marketing Board and most cocoa production is carried out by peasant farmers on plots of less than three hectares using rudimentary tools.

Europe and other foreign interest control Ghana’s economy

The government buys the cocoa from the farmers and sells to European trading conglomerates like London futures, which essentially allows European financiers to set the price at which the farmers are paid.

Hence, if London doesn’t buy Ghanaian cocoa, as expected, the Ghanaian peasant farmer suffers; as does a large sector of the population.

Ghana is also in the middle of a banking crisis, bailing out failed lenders while also reeling from the interest rate assessed from the $1 billion IMF bailout loan, which has stretched the country’s budget beyond its capacity.

If the capitalist banking industry catastrophe and the European control of Ghana’s economy isn’t enough, Ghana has further aligned itself with capitalist imperialism by completing a deal with the U.S. military, which will expand the U.S.’s influence in the region and deliver a $20 million investment to the Ghanaian military.

Ghana has also agreed to an infrastructure deal with China which guarantees the large nation bauxite, in exchange for China building roads and railways that will aid in the transport of natural gas product for export.

Africans must organize in our own interests

Nothing that Ghana is doing is securing a future for Africans in Ghana. Africans in Ghana and all of Africa must secure a future for ourselves by organizing in our interest and mobilizing for control over our resources, led by poor working class women and men who are currently forced to accept the rancid scraps from capitalism’s table.

African women, who are the pack mules for capitalist imperialism, enduring hard labor with little results, are the catalyst for transforming society and shaping our new world free from oppression.

In Ghana and everywhere else in the world, the struggle is for Black Power in the hands of the poor working class and a united socialist Africa.