Blair’s Commission for Africa:"A Fresh Look at Africa’s Past, Present and Future"
It Is the Relations of Exploitation Which Must Be Overthrown

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Blair’s Commission for Africa:"A Fresh Look at Africa’s Past, Present and Future"
It Is the Relations of Exploitation Which Must Be Overthrown

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has recently announced that he is forming, and will chair, a Commission for Africa that will "take a fresh look at Africa’s past, present and future". According to the Prime Minister, this "will be a comprehensive assessment of the situation in Africa and policies towards Africa. What has worked, what has not worked and what more can and should be done."

The Commission will look at economic issues, education, conflict-resolution, health, the environment, HIV Aids, governance and culture. Commissioners named so far include: the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, and the Minister for Overseas Development, Hilary Benn; Michel Candace, the representative of the French government; Senator Nancy Kasabel-Baker, the representative of the US government; the Prime Minster of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi; the South African Finance Minster, Trevor Manuel; K.Y. Amoako, Head of the UN Economic Commission for Africa; and Bob Geldorf the well-known musician and activist. It is planned that the Commission will publish a report on its findings by Spring 2005.

During a press conference, Tony Blair explained that the Commission is being formed in the context of the concerns of the G8, which will be under the presidency of the US in 2004 and Britain in 2005. Africa is now a priority for both countries and, amongst other things, the Commission is intended to "generate increased support" for the G8 Africa Action Plan and the New Partnership for African Development (NePAD).

When it was put to Tony Blair that everyone knows about Africa’s economic problems and the required solutions, the Prime Minster stressed that in his view there were other "big issues" that he was concerned about, namely "conflict resolution and governance" and "inward investment and business co-operation". He also singled out the current situation in Zimbabwe for special mention.

So can it be said that Blair’s Commission will look really "take a fresh look" at Africa’s past or present? Such an investigation would surely have to conclude that Britain itself is responsible for many of Africa’s problems, which are the legacy of centuries of exploitation, the enslavement of millions of its population and the ruthless exploitation of its resources. It would have to concluded that it was British governments that have created Zimbabwe’s land problem, political instability and lop-sided economic development and Britain’s governments, which for nearly two centuries have interfered in Sierra Leone, so that today the world’s leading diamond producer is one of the world’s poorest and most unstable countries.

Such an investigation would show that to achieve their economic, political and strategic aims in Africa, Britain and the other big powers are now operating in "partnership" with African countries and leaders through NePAD and by other means. So rather than the G8 being accused of imposing its polices and neo-liberal globalisation on Africa, what is now being presented is that the role of the Britain and the other big powers is "to help Africa help itself". Rather than less intervention in Africa by the big powers this "partnership" has led to increasing military intervention, as in Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Liberia; increasing political interference, and the eurocentric demand for representative democracy and "good governance" pursued though NePAD; and increasing economic penetration though a variety of means, such as the Government’s proposal for an International Finance Facility – a plan for "aid" from the private sector. It would show, as the recent War on Want report shows, that "aid" from Britain, and the other big powers is invariably linked to African countries being forced to import from those "aiding" them, but also being forced to privatise essential services and utilities in the interests of foreign capital.

In taking a fresh look Blair’s Commission might reasonably conclude that what the countries of Africa require are massive reparations from the G8 countries for their past and present crimes, an immediate cancelling of all debts and the cessation of all foreign interference in their affairs. But although the Prime Minster never loses an opportunity to express his view that "Africa is a scar on the conscience of the world", his Commission is unlikely to reach such conclusions. For the British government there are other concerns. These include the fact that Africa "has oil and gas reserves to rival those of the Middle East", and that Africa’s problems – poverty, political instability and significant numbers of refugees and migrants, also have an impact on many of the G8 countries.

Tony Blair wishes to absolve himself and the British state from any responsibility for the crimes they have committed and are committing against Africa and the African people. He is haunted by these crimes, as with the crimes against the people of Afghanistan and Iraq, and wishes to get rid of this scar on his conscience, while finding ways to maintain the relations of exploitation that characterise Britain’s intervention in Africa. The working class and people of Britain must themselves ensure that these relations are overthrown, that Britain end its intervention in Africa, pay reparations for its crimes, establish relations of mutual benefit and assistance, cancel enslaving debts, remove all British troops from foreign soil and strive to avert another holocaust against the African people.