"For Europe, for ourselves, and for humanity, comrades, we must turn over a new leaf, we must work out new concepts, and try to set afoot a new man" Franz Fanon
The Commonwealth Free Trade Zone is a decolonisation project in the spirit of Franz Fanon. It is an attempt to "turn over a new leaf, work out new concepts and to try to set afoot a new man", out of the ashes of the British Empire. As an advocate of the Commonwealth Free Trade Zone, I believe, like Franz Fanon, that decolonisation is not simply the process of political independence but that, "decolonisation is the veritable creation of new men." The Commonwealth Free Trade Zone seeks to create a new post-colonial identity and political framework out of the relationships that were created through the expansion of the British Empire in Africa, the Caribbean, India and beyond. An identity that liberates, both the coloniser and colonised from the binary of the Manichean dichotomy of the colonial mind. A post-colonial mindset that no longer imagines black inferiority or white superiority and erases the last psychological remnants of the colonial relationship between the coloniser and the colonised; freeing both the coloniser and the colonised from "race" nationalism and wanton violence, to pursue humanitarian ideals together.
In Fanon's theory of decolonisation; decolonisation is a process of psychological transformation that develops in phases. The first phase, is a phase of recognition of the status quo, where the colonised begin to understand and resent the colonial context. During this stage, the colonised may want to understand and embrace their ancestral identity and become interested in black history and identify the fundamental difference of skin colour as the foundation of their identity. They begin to confront the reality of how the colour of their skin excludes them from the life of the colonialist and develop a racial awareness. During this phase, the colonised may embrace black nationalist and African-centred thought, that centres their racial identity and recognises the coloniser as their antithesis. The second phase, involves direct struggle with the antithetical colonialist settler, with the sole aim of forcing the end of colonial rule. During this second phase, the colonised identify the white colonialist as the direct enemy and seek to use violence or force to rid their nation of colonial rule. At this point, the concept of "race", is the defining factor and those that do not share the "race" of the colonised are targeted as colonialists without even a tinge of a grey area. In the third stage, arises a synthesis of the two worlds, where the colonised and the coloniser look in the mirror as a free men and women. In this third phase, the colonised and the coloniser seek to free themselves from the racial dichotomy that developed during the era of colonialism and seek to rethink the world anew and undergo a radical psychological transformation. Decolonisation is not simply a process of a nation gaining political independence but a process of transforming the psychology of the coloniser and the colonised towards creating a new and inclusive humanity. As Fanon writes,
" This huge task which consists of reintroducing mankind into the world, the whole of Mankind, will be carried out with the indispensable help of the European people"
As an advocate for the Commonwealth Free Trade Zone, like Fanon, I reject the ideals of Pan-Africanism and regional blocs, such as the African Union. As well as, the concept of Black Nationalism. At this moment in time, I do not consider these ideals as viable political, economic, trade or defence policies for African or Caribbean states. I believe that the creation of an African superstate, the United States of Africa, would not make a vast impact on the world order in the way that many Pan-African and Black Nationalist ideologues claim. The collective developing economies of Africa and the Caribbean would still not be a global ranking economic force. It's economy would still be considerably smaller than the US, China, Russia and the EU. If Africa seeks protectionism and regionalism like the European Union, then other states and regions will also follow suit and African and Caribbean nations may not get access to tariff-free global markets which will only further impoverish their citizens. The United States of Africa would not be a military force of global merit and would find itself in conflict with international law and a heavily armed "international community", if it sought to pursue a nuclear agenda. The state of the collective African and Caribbean economies indicates, that they will not possess a nuclear deterrent anytime soon and there are only a handful of nations in Africa with the capacity, albeit very limited, to manufacture arms.
Africa and the Caribbean, has been shaped in the present by its relationship with outsiders. The relationship with outsiders has defined the direction of modern Africa and the identity of African states. Africa, like Europe has vast linguistic and cultural differences, it is not a civilisation but a collection of disparate and often disconnected civilisations that share a continent. African states, like EU states, have vastly different resources and self-interests and this is amplified by the economic and military vulnerability of the states which makes compromising and consensus building difficult, and progress slow and bureaucratic. There are also allegiances to different cultural formations from around the world that have come from past relationships. There is an Arabic, Anglophone, Francophone, and Amharan Africa, for example.
The Commonwealth Free Trade Zone is not an idealist or Utopian project. It firmly recognises that the present is shaped by history and that change can only be made within the conditions that exist. There is no way to erase the past and the conditions laid by the past dictate what we can become in the present. The Commonwealth Free Trade Zone starts from the premise of responding to the world as it is, rather than the world as it should be.
The Commonwealth Free Trade Zone, will open up markets for African and Caribbean nations of the Commonwealth to trade with other African Commonwealth nations and across the wider Commonwealth. In a system of free trade, free from protectionist tariffs, Africa and the Caribbean can grow economically. As part of the Commonwealth Free Trade Zone, smaller and developing nations in particular will be protected by the Commonwealth army led by experienced forces of developed Commonwealth nations. A shared Customs Union would make the transportation of goods much more efficient. African nations of the Commonwealth would receive technical expertise, aid, training and support from developed Commonwealth nations that would in turn create a middle class that could in return purchase products made in African Commonwealth nations and the wider Commonwealth Free Trade Zone nations such as Britain. Those members of the Commonwealth that fit the criteria for full membership of the trading zone, will have the freedom of movement to travel across the Commonwealth Realms and perhaps, the wider Commonwealth, gaining access to employment and sending money back home to support their families and the growth of their economies. Those nations who do not fit the criteria will be supported by Commonwealth nations to increase the capacity for membership.
I believe that the nations of the former British Empire are stronger together than apart, and that identity is not solely shaped by "race" but by language, shared history and political culture. Those nations that share a language, history and political culture through the British Empire must now come together in friendship, seeking ties beyond their geographical neighbours and joining in arms with their fellow citizens of the Commonwealth in the making of a New World Order.
God Save Africa! God Save the Commonwealth! God Save the Queen!
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