DPRK’s Success Against Imperialism Must Guide New Pan African Ideology

The USA treasury, using Magnitsky act 2012 (H.R 4405), enacted under Obama, imposed sanctions on Uganda`s former IGP, Gen Kale Kayihura for alleged crimes ranging from human rights abuse, money laundering, human trafficking and corruption, crimes that are said to have been committed in Uganda when the accused was the reigning IGP in Uganda, leave alone that he was judged and sentenced without fair hearing for natural justice, just basing on rumors, peddled by Uganda’s opposition, NGOs and some Ugandans on the streets in the US, in total disregard of his rights and the sovereignty of our nation, a sign of a modern-day American  imperialism.

In fact, Trump’s administration appears to be intensifying sanction orders against former and current African officials in the renewed ploy to threaten African leaders to tow USA lines, as many African governments and their officials are facing east for cheap and less stringent development funds leaving the USA to remain isolated. In retaliation, USA seems to be looking for all excuses to re-exert its fading global influence, by looking for soft targets, however, because it is aware of the fact that these countries are not yet self-reliant in all spheres, it is easy for the USA to use these monkey tactics to maintain its imperialistic tendencies on the African continent.

Imperialism is a system in which a rich and powerful country controls other countries, or a desire for control over other countries, and a policy or ideology of extending a nation’s rule over foreign nations, often by military force or by gaining political and economic control of other areas.

It is also a situation in which one country has a lot of power or influence over others, especially in political and economic matters, it is the attempt by one country to control another country, especially by political and economic methods.

Pan-Africanism, on the other hand, is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all indigenous and diaspora ethnic groups of African descent. It is based on the belief that unity is vital to economic, social, and political progress. The ideology asserts that the fate of all African people and countries are intertwined. At its core, Pan-Africanism is a belief that “African people, both on the continent and in the diaspora, share not merely a common history, but a common destiny and Pan-Africanist intellectual, cultural, and political movements view all Africans and descendants of Africans as belonging to a single “race” and sharing cultural unity.

Pan-Africanism as an ideology stresses the need for “collective self-reliance”. Pan-Africanists believe that solidarity will enable the continent to fulfill its potential to independently provide for all its people.

Just like the North Korean Juche ideology, Pan Africanism is based on the belief that unity is vital to economic, social, and political progress and aims to “unify and uplift” people of African descent, and help in “power consolidation in Africa”, which would compel a reallocation of global resources, as well as unleashing a fiercer psychological energy and political assertion.

Pan Africanism as an ideology was an idea that would uplift our people’s welfare and deal with the entrenched imperialism of the time, however it suffered a stillbirth the day many of our would-be liberators stepped on the red carpet and enjoyed the goodies thereafter and were baptized the new title of “your excellence the president”. That was a white (black) day for Pan Africanism as a mass ideology, we went into a free fall and confusion of what ideology to guild the continent in its pursuit of the future.

Unlike the Juche ideology which was adequately implemented in North Korea as a people’s philosophy, Pan Africanism as mass movement remained an office concept for elites, and our people were left with only an option of hearing about the concept in politicians’ speeches and maybe reading it in history books and of course those who were lucky enough to access such material.

Today, save for the president of Uganda and his political party (NRM) whose fourth principle is Pan Africanism, the rest of African leaders won’t even dare talk about it, furthermore when the president of Uganda with a Pan Africanist conviction decided to deploy his national army (UPDF) to Somalia to restore peace in that failed State, he was ridiculed and called names not only by his counterparts on the African continent but also local political figures, but after a few years, they saw sense in what he was doing and many countries followed suit and now Somalia is on the path to recovery. You can hardly hear of an African president promoting this ideology as a guiding principle for his local and foreign policy programs.

The last nail in the Pan Africanism coffin was the demise of brother Muammar Gadhafi who would openly promote it at all fora, his desired  method of how it would be achieved notwithstanding, he was a promoter and was ready to use his country’s resources to make this happen and many believe it may have led to his murder after the west using NATO invaded his country and destroyed it, to its present state.

Time has, therefore, come for us to think of a new Pan Africanism ideology that benchmarks on the Juche achievements in North Korea so that we give our people new hope and a new spirit.

North Korea was able to resist imperialism by adopting the Juche ideology  and Songun politics, these combined gave the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) the zeal to fight the mighty USA and its Southern ally (South Korea) and now North Korea is a powerful military State that can proudly engage its enemies, and this is the reason, despite the hatred America has for it, it cannot militarily  invade it as it did in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan or even use proxies like in Syria, it knows DPRK is a nuclear Nation and with the same right like the USA to defend its territory by all  means possible. So how is that small country fairing in comparison to the African continent when it comes to standing against external aggression. If we had built Pan Africanism to the level of Juche idea in Africa, Libya would still be governed by the late Gadhafi and the African force would have stopped its invasion and eventual destruction. We also wouldn’t be worrying about sanctions against an African leader or government official, we wouldn’t be forced to accept homosexuality and other social ills. We would be designing and determining our continent’s future without relying on anybody.

Juche, just like Pan African movement was supposed to be a great charter of human independence, it spells out that man is the shaper of his own destiny, and a center of everything and that independence is most crucial thing for man, however Songun politics clearly stated that to maintain and enjoy this independence one must be strong and in the world of today it is the military might which can safeguard your liberty. So DPRK has been able to fend off its enemies especially the USA, because of its military preparedness and strength and saved from the hawkish designs of the imperialists. This independence has been due to DPRK’s self-reliant and self-dependent in defense.

We all know how much effort and resources America has put in place to fight North Korea and make it look a bad boy of the world and even threatened to impose sanctions on everyone who would want to deal with DPRK, but all this has seen no success instead made the people of that small country stronger and continue to rally behind their leaders  who have also individually been a target of USA assassins and hitmen; this has not only confused the mighty USA but surprised the whole world how DPRK can stand against all American propaganda and resources with an enemy (South Korea) closeby, and still emerge victorious. This is an example we all need to learn from especially we the Africans who are the least developed but resource-rich continent on the globe.

You see America has been drunk with its brute power to subjugate others in the name of her pseudo-moral principle or in the name of morality, and the worst kind of oppression and suppression by any single country against others to ever take place, and in the name of defending human rights, America and allies have themselves turned into the biggest culprit to infringe upon the human rights of peaceful nations and in the end destroyed such nations. What they don’t know is that those who deny freedom to others do not deserve it and you see how they have been hunted down by the terrorists, September 11 and its aftermath would not have happened.

If it wasn’t that arrogance of the USA, and trying to police every country on the globe as if they signed an MoU with God to help with his work on earth, they created Bin Laden in order to fight Russian during mujahedeen wars and later turned against him and branded him an enemy, and in the end he had to teach them a lesson. People ought to know, that you can’t deny man his basic attribute; because if you do it, you definitely create discord, discontent, and dissatisfaction which are bound to lead to turmoil, turbulence, unrest, and trouble.

Pan Africanism, just like Juche ideology would ensure that Africa becomes self-reliant and self-independent and in position to resist neo-imperialism in all forms, so its very important that we benchmark on the North Korean ideology  and how they have been able to stand on their own despite the isolation by the whole world save for Russia and maybe China, in the face of imminent danger but proudly persevere as an independent nation, that can now negotiate with the USA as equals. No single African country not even as a continent has achieved this milestone on the world scene, so we need to critically study the DPRK resilience and employ the same tactics and strategies for full independence of an African man.

Pan Africanism just like Juche is a socialist movement, that was people-centered, one that would have achieved a lot for the African people, however,  as said above, it was targeted by the western nations that fed its promoters with a carrot and they fell for it abandoning the ideology and adopting new ones from the so-called liberal democrats. But even this, they did not perfect its implementation, thus the chaos we have as a continent had to put up with for decades, but as long as they could as individual presidents access Washington and World Bank funds which they in turn swindled, it was ok and they forgot all about Pan Africanism. By doing this, they did not know that they were surrendering their independence. As this was happening, meanwhile,  in North Korea Juche was becoming an invincible people-centered style of leadership whose promoters stayed away from the poisonous carrot and now few years down the road, they are a nuclear powerhouse with defense capability that can only be matched by only a few countries world over.

DPRK now, based on its unfathomed national strength, and the hydrogen bomb, in particular, is able to demonstrate its prestige as the responsible nuclear power nation that contributes to establishing a just world order by frustrating the imperialists’ nuclear threat, blackmail, high handed and arbitrary behavior in the international arena.

It’s no secret that USA has been the chief protestor of DPRK’s nuclear programs hiding behind the lies that ‘nukes are wrong’ and countries shouldn’t be allowed to develop capacity to enrich uranium, but the USA has the highest pile of nuclear weapons and yes USA is on record to be the only country to have ever used smart bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Japan), where people are still suffering the aftermath of that devilish act by the Imperialist and cowardly USA, now they don’t want any other country to possess the same technology, the reason is simple they want to be the only bull in the kraal, be able to command every nation globally with no threat of rebuttal.

So, DPRK is an enemy of the west because it has smuggled itself to the table of gentlemen and you can’t dismiss them even if you wish, this is what all countries should be doing if it’s good for USA, then it should be good for the rest aren’t we taught so, that USA wants the whole world to behave as it does, then let us all develop nuclear technology for power balancing.

As one writer one time put it “the independence of African countries that regard their development to be the inevitable one urgently requires the African people to cultivate the spirit of self-reliance” and the spirit of creativity.

Therefore brethren, we must unite and join our efforts in applying patriotism in accordance with the demands of Juche idea, and in the struggle for independence and development of Africa. In embodying the Juche idea whose main content is that the man is master of his own destiny, it is important to apply the principles of  independence in politics, self-support in the areas of economy  and self-defense in the protection of the continent and the principles of Korean Juche idea as the guiding ideology of all nations on the continent.

If we do that then collectively we will be able to make the whole continent free from any sort of domination by a foreign force and reject systems that have kept our continent on its knees begging for crumbs that fall off the table of the western countries. DPRK has shown that with resilient and self-determination we can, in the long run, achieve total independence, however, we will have to accept short term pains that come along with this stand but it will pay off.

It is when the African people have the correct ideology that they can become conscious of their duty to build an independent national economy that will meet aspirations of its people, an economy that is not controlled on the remote by someone in Washington. We need a new Pan Africanism ideology that benchmarks on DPRK to redefine our value system that believes in the right of our people`s shared prosperity and begin shunning inferiority complex and defeatist mentality that is akin to colonial mindset.

The need for new pan Africanism would indeed ignite the realization that in unity and re-integration lies the strength to oppose foreign domination. Unity will help us deal with imperialism that always thrives on dividing nations, countries and communities.

We will not enjoy the meaning of independence if we do not as a continent strive to change the mindset of our people from being beggars, and users of other peoples’ items, technology, consumers of old merchandise, and dumping grounds for all sorts of social ills, and be a proud people with a desire to be self-reliant working for a united Africa that harnesses the potential of its people and turning it into an engine of its development.

We must re-align Pan Africanism as an ideology that puts into account the concrete realities while borrowing the positive lessons from Juche philosophy that has been a transformational force for the people of North Korea.

Africa should stand encouraged by the resilience and success of DPRK, that stood against the imperialist aggression and emerged a fully independent State with proud people that move with their heads high.

Africa should, therefore, realize that independence is only possible when you are strong, strength is a factor of unity and believing in determining one’s destiny. The irony here is that our people are not even conscious of the fact that they are marginalized, balkanized and simply possessions of the imperialist forces with the intention of keeping them prisoners through the handouts in terms of academic sponsorships in Europeans universities, residential status in western nations, and sponsorship of their NGO programs.

Therefore, we need to come out in numbers and preach a new Pan Africanism ideology right from primary, secondary, colleges, in all institutions, government departments, at all political, cultural and social gatherings, turn this ideology into a new African religion that will create awareness among our young generation, the one that will highlight their plight, and aid them identify their real enemy and then create a generation that will say no to neo-imperialism, whose voice will be heard and respected across oceans. The DPRK has done it as a nation, so can we as a continent.

For God and my Country

Paddy D. Kayondo