Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, covering a town hall meeting at the University of Detroit on the foreclosure crisis. The event was held on April 18, 2009. (Photo: Dale Rich)
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Leaders met in the aftermath of the General Assembly and G20
by Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire
Commentary
A summit of African and South American leaders convened for the second time on the Venezuelan-Caribbean island of Margarita on September 26-27. The gathering was a follow-up to the first Africa-South America Summit held in Abuju, Nigeria in November 2006.
Heads of state representing 61 countries, 49 of whom were from the African continent and another 12 leaders from South America, participated in the event under the theme of "Closing gaps, opening up opportunities."
Leaders from the various states pledged to continue their cooperation in the political, economic, sports, technological and cultural spheres. The summit on Margarita Island came in the aftermath of both the United Nations General Assembly in New York and the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh.
In a welcoming speech by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, he said that "This is the beginning of the salvation of our people,". Chavez emphasized that the summit will help in breaking the dependence of countries in the South from the industrialized capitalist states.
"The 21st century won't be a bipolar world, it won't be unipolar. It will be multipolar. Africa will an important geographic, economic and social pole. And South America will be too," Chavez said.(Reuters, September 27)
Libyan leader and Chairman of the African Union, Muammar Gaddafi, also spoke to the need for greater cooperation among developing regions. He also echoed his comments before the U.N. General Assembly when the AU Chairman demanded that Africa, Latin America and other geo-political regions be given permanent seats on the Security Council.
"The world isn't the five countries on the U.N. Security Council," Gaddafi said. He continued by pointing out that "The world's powers want to continue to hold on to their power. When they had a chance to help us, they treated us like animals, destroying our land. Now we have to fight to build our own power." (Reuters, September 27)
From Political Power to Economic Liberation
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe also addressed the Africa-South America Summit on Margarita Island stressing that political independence without economic power can potentially breed conflict both domestically and internationally. In his speech Mugabe traced the history of British colonialism in Zimbabwe and the significance of the land reform process that began in 2000.
As a result of the seizure of land controlled by British farmers, who are the heirs to the colonial system that took control of Zimbabwe in the late 19th century and ousted Africans from the best land inside the country, the western capitalist states have imposed economic sanctions against the ZANU-PF government. Recently, the ruling ZANU-PF party formed an inclusive government with the opposition MDC factions, yet the imperialists have maintained the sanctions against the Zimbabwe state.
"Political freedom or political power is absolutely hollow without the input of economic power, and economic power derives naturally from your natural resources. And these resources have got to be exploited and it is here that our liberation struggle, perhaps, did not go to fruition," Mugabe said.
The Zimbabwe leader went on to say that "It did not get to fruition because we left the very (colonizing) countries with their very paraphernalia in control of our countries. So we had the economy still in the hands of Britain, in our country, and this was also the phenomenon in other countries, although the powers might not have been British all the time.
"We continue to look at ways and means of associating with our neighbors in the economic field, trying to get their help. And so when Africa associates with Latin America, and we are part of that association, we do hope that, that association will yield benefits on a reciprocal basis." (Zimbabwe Herald, September 27)
The participants in the summit signed a document on the final day urging the United Nations and the World Bank to provide for developing countries to have greater decision-making power within these international bodies. President Chavez announced that a number of Latin American countries had pledged to start a regional development bank, Banco del Sur, with $20 billion.
Outcomes of the summit
Some of the agreements made at the Africa-South America Summit includes the founding of a "Radio of the South" that would encompass a network of stations anchored within Venezuelan National Radio. The mission of the proposed network would be "to bring the revolutionary struggles of the people of the South to the forefront, and to promote the union of peoples of the South through information exchange and cross-national collaboration." (21st Century Socialism, October 5)
The network will initially be heard by 40% of the people in Venezuela in addition to merging 18 radio stations in Argentina, 10 in Colombia, 4 in Bolivia, 4 in Honduras and Uruguay, 3 in Panama, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Brazil, Mexico, and the U.S., 2 in Cuba, Ecuador, Peru and Haiti, and 1 in Guatamala, Dominican Republic, Chile, El Salvador and Equatorial Guinea.
A group of translators in Venezuela will develop programs for Gambia Radio, whose broadcast in turn, will be translated into Spanish. Additional broadcast exchanges will take place with Radio Benin and Algeria's International Radio.
The proposed Bank of the South will be headed by Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela. "It will be our bank, to bring back the reserves that we have up there in the north that they use to give credits to us," President Chavez said.
In regard to the crisis in Honduras, the summit passed a resolution condemning the coup as well as the siege against the Brazilian embassy. The resolution demanded the immediate reinstallation of the ousted President Manuel Zelaya.
"The heads of states of South America and Africa meeting on Margarita Island on 26 and 27 September express their deep concern for the current political situation in Honduras," the declaration read. (21st Century Socialism, October 5)
President Chavez proposed that the Africa-South America Summit create a secretariat that would be based on Margarita Island. The secretariat would ensure the implementation of plans and projects outlined by the summit.
Over the two-day period, memorandums of understanding for the establishment of joint mining ventures were signed between the Venezuelan government and several African states including Sierra Leone, Mali, Namibia, Niger and Mauritania.
With this summit coming on the heels of the General Assembly and the G20 it provided the developing countries in Africa and South America a forum to clearly define their political and economic positions within the global system and to chart a course aimed at genuine independence and development.
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