African leaders told to refocus on the total liberation of Continent

By Ebenezer Hanson

Jubilee Afrika Campaign, an African liberation advocacy group, has denounced what it thinks is the subtle moves by African leaders to depoliticise the struggle for the total liberation of Africa.

“It is a dangerous agenda by African leaders to name 25 May as ‘Africa Day’ instead of ‘Afrikan Liberation Day’ and we must guard against this politics of depoliticising the African Liberation Day,” Ms Affiong Affiong, Director of Afrika Secretariat, Jubilee Afrika Campaign, cautioned the gathering at a news briefing by JAC to announce the series of activities lined up to commemorate the day. The programme of events has been themed, “Debt Slavery in the 21 Century: Are Reparations Central to African Liberation?”

Affiong explained that African liberation goes beyond political independence. “The psyche of Africans has been traumatized. We have not liberated our economies from the shackles of neo-colonialism. The liberation struggle therefore continues.”

Afrikan Liberation Day (ALD) was founded in Accra in 1958 at the first conference of independent African states. Its purpose was to mark progress of the liberation movement each and to symbolize the determination of African people to free themselves from foreign domination and exploitation. ALD has since been observed around May 25th as a rallying point for the forces of African Liberation.

Today ALD, according to JAC, has become a permanent mass institution in the global Afrikan Liberation movement. As a day of work in the area of political education and organization, ALD reflects the fact that we have not obtained our freedom and it is a day to re-affirm our commitment to the total Liberation and redemption of Mama Africa.


The National Coordinator of Jubilee 2000 Campaign, Mr. Akoto Ampaw said a sustained campaign for the cancellation of Third World debt led to the review of debt profiles of developing countries by international financial institutions like the IMF and the World Bank; the initiation of the HIPC facility and debt cancellation of certain countries.

But HIPC did not address the fundamentals of the debt burden, which he said is rooted in slavery and colonialism, and part of the liberation struggle is the fight for the cancellation of the external debt of developing countries. “The debt burden is being used as a control tool against developing countries and the campaign for debt cancellation is an integral part of the fight for the liberation and independence of Africa,” emphasized Mr. Ampaw.

Explaining the name Jubilee Afrika Campaign, Mr. Ampaw said the word “Jubilee” was excerpted from Judaism and it means freedom; thus JAC connotes freedom for Africa.

On the significance of the letter ‘k’ in Afrika instead of the familiar ‘c’, Ms Mawete Teka Sala, Chairperson of Pan-African Women’s Solidarity Network of Angola, explained that, the word ‘Afrika’ was originally spelt with ‘k’ but the whites changed it to ‘c’ as part of their attempt to deprive Africans of their identity.

The Jubilee Afrika Campaign is an integral part of the worldwide movement for the total cancellation of Africa’s external debts and in particular for reparations to be paid for the trans-Atlantic enslavement of Africans, colonialism and neo-colonialism.

The Guest Speaker for this year’s celebration was Omali Yeshitela from the United State of America, a groundbreaking theoretician, powerful orator, teacher and an internationally renowned advocate for African liberation. The programme of activities runs from May 24-30,2006 and includes ALD Workers Forum and Public Meeting hosted by TUC; public lectures in Accra, Cape Coast and Takoradi