| A common observation heard in the African American (and I suppose in many other non-European communities) is that Black people have not progressed as much as others in this country. Evidence confirms that this is the common condition of people of African descent around the world. One problem often sited is that we lack common goals and objectives. We don’t agree on where to go or how to get there. We lack a coherent agenda. Most of the indigenous people of color of the earth have been afflicted and oppressed by the European imperialism. Even poor and working class Europeans have suffered. All such people can legitimately include their ethnic group in this agenda. However, because Africans have been most severely separated from our homelands, cultures, languages and knowledge of our history, specific and intensive remedies must be focused on Africa and the African Diaspora. We welcome cooperation and solidarity with all people striving for liberation from the Western financial-military-industrial complex. As is discussed below, there are numerous factors that have contributed to our present precarious condition and diminished status in the world. Real progress will not be made until we, as the majority people who are part of one truly worldwide civilization, commit to an ideology of mutually supportive self- determination that is compatible with our history, heredity and destiny. In the nations of the Western Hemisphere, the indigenous people and the descendents of enslaved Africans have been denied wealth, power and ownership equal to our contributions to the progress of these nations. Our investment has been so great that we now have a claim to ownership rights at least as great as any descendent of Europe. We must now demand our share of the wealth, power and control, without apology, equivocation or uncertainty. For several centuries, “good” has been defined by what benefits and empowers the Caucasians of Western Europe and North America and “bad” is defined as anything that does not directly benefit this tiny minority of the world population. The history, culture and philosophies of Western Europe have been over- promoted, over-hyped and over-expanded to the point that it is now commonly assumed that Europeans were the creators of the world’s great cultures, sciences and philosophies. That Europeans have been avid students, voracious accumulators and persuasive propagandists is a repeatedly demonstrated characteristic that cannot be denied. However, originality is hardly the strong suit of that culture. For a healthy and balanced world-view, the other cultures of the world must be given appropriate weight, credit and exposure. For the majority of the history of humankind (hundreds of thousands of years), Africa was the center and apex of civilization. Before advance civilizations appeared anywhere else on earth, Africans had solved countless mysteries of science, mathematics, architecture, health care, empire building and spirituality. This role has never ended. People of African descent remain the fountainhead of cultural, artistic, competitive and spiritual innovation on earth. We now number almost 1.5 billion individuals in nearly every nation on earth. We are, in fact, the Majority, not a minority. Beginning 7000 or 8000 years ago the great civilizations of south and central Asia began to flourish. During this period the Western hemisphere, populated by “races” of people now known as “Indians”, began a largely separate, but equally glorious assent to high culture. It was not until about 2500 years ago that Europe even took the first tentative steps toward civilization, with great assistance from the more developed African and Asian cultures. European nations did not achieve a level of civilization comparable to most of the world until the 17th and 18th centuries AD. To elevate such a culture to the status of “the greatest that has ever existed” is the height of absurdity. An accurate understanding of the contributions of all of the world’s people is essential for the oppressed and dispossessed people to take our rightful place as co-leaders and co- beneficiaries of the abundance of this world. As we move forward, we must adopt a willingness to expand our range of exploration while, at the same time, maintaining a consistent and enduring set of universal objectives. The following is an initial outline of an agenda that we can use to guide our decisions and actions toward re-establishing ourselves as co-leaders on this planet and as co-owners and co-beneficiaries of its resources. Just as the process of nation building is a cooperative effort, the fine-tuning of our agenda must be also. As stated above, this is meant as an initial outline to be refined by the collective wisdom of our people. Let us encourage people from every nation to participate in the development of a truly effective set of values and standards that we can use to lift us all to liberation, power and enlightenment. The Agenda For The Global African Civilization is presented here and discussed in greater detail below. |
| THE NEED FOR AN AGENDA: |