This year has been marked with new developments that may catch those who are not acquainted with the people’s struggle in Congo by surprise.
The priests with their crosses, rosaries and cassocks are on the streets of Congo, demanding Kabila to respect the Saint Sylvester agreement, signed on December 31, 2016.
According to Congo’s constitution, Kabila’s government should have organized presidential elections by September 2016. 2016 and 2017,however, have passed. No elections and Kabila with no legal mandate is still in charge of Congo.
We always said that Kabila will do exactly what Kagame, Museveni and others have done to stay in power unless they are forced out of power.
The church leaders, under pressure by the impoverished masses of workers, are demanding change in Congo.
Archbishop Laurent Mosengwo, the Catholic church leader, caused a storm amongst the government’s ruling class when he publicly said in a speech on January 2 on Vatican Radio, the voice of Catholic church in the world, that “it is time for the truth to prevail over the systemic lie, that the mediocre must go and that reign peace, justice in the DRC.”
Gone are the days when one sought to preserve the power by the weapons by killing his people.
He who respects the constitution has nothing to fear from justice. How will we trust leaders unable to protect the people, to guarantee peace, justice and the love of the people?
How will we trust leaders who flout the religious freedom of the people─religious freedom that is the foundation of all freedoms?”
The Catholic church has become a rallying point for many dissatisfied and disenchanted masses of African people who are opposed to Kabila’s regime. The Protestant church and Muslims have also joined in.
For the liberal bourgeoisie, Mosengwo as the head of opposition to Kabila represents a safe bet to maintain status quo through the ballot box whenever elections are held in Congo.
Pope Francis has called for a day of prayer and fasting for Peace for Congo and South Sudan, two countries under U.S. foreign colonial assault.
You do not fight the bloody U.S. colonial counterinsurgency wars with prayer and fasting.
Mosengwo is not a newcomer, he has served imperialism as head of the Sovereign National Conference” which is CNS in its French acronym.
Mosengwo is also one of the nine members of the Vatican cabinet. He is the black face in the white power Vatican government run by Pope Francis.
Today, the Catholic church has gained huge popular credit because they have managed to lead a liberal opposition to Kabila.
The Catholic Church is concerned about the growing anti-imperialist sentiment across the Congo’s society.
There are courageous forces inside the Catholic churches who are opposed to foreign imperialist domination.
African self-determination is the foundation of all freedoms.
On that same January 2, 2018 interview on Vatican Radio, the Archbishop said “How will we trust leaders unable to protect the people, to guarantee peace, justice, the love of the people?
“How will we trust leaders who flout the religious freedom of the people, religious freedom that is the foundation of all freedoms, “.
Religious freedom isn’t the foundation of freedom; it is African self-determination that is the foundation of all freedoms.
We must have black power over our lives and land. We must be free to determine ourselves our destiny and which way to pray for those who want to pray.
Today, Africans have the Bible and the Qur’an, but the economy is run by and for white imperialism with now China, India and other less powerful countries in pursuit of economic development at our expense.
Democracy is an empty word if the masses do not have control over the state apparatus in the Congo.
For anyone to say that they are nonviolent and they want democratic change is laughable.
It doesn’t matter if it is parliamentary, monarchical or presidential regimes, under neo-colonialism, the State will always represent the combined interests of the African petty bourgeoisie and the imperialists.
It is the latter which provide all the modern equipment of repressions to the African petty bourgeoisie to keep the masses oppressed and secure the exploitation of the Congo for the benefits of foreign colonial multinational companies.
Democracy does not exist in abstraction, it is class-based rule. In bourgeois democracy, it is bourgeois rule. In petty bourgeois democracy, it is petty bourgeois rule.
They are both two aspects of the colonial system.
The imperialist bourgeoisie exercised its power over the world from its headquarters; from imperialist centres like in Paris, London, Tokyo, Washington etc.
The African petty bourgeois exercised its power only within its colonial borders. It has no power over the bourgeoisie; on the contrary it is always willing to implement imperialist solutions.
The African workers must seize power first in order to establish a democratic society
For the colonies under the leadership of the African petty bourgeoisie,
a class that wants to have electoral contest must first acquire political, economic and military power.
This is what the U.S., French, British and others did before. They acquired power first, then they addressed the question of keeping and/ or sharing the power during the electoral contests.
The question for African workers in Congo must be how to acquire power. This is a different question from when elections are held? This is actually a secondary question and a petty bourgeois question, because it is the petty bourgeoisie that wants to access neocolonial power.
The outcome of any petty bourgeois election is always victory for the petty bourgeois class.
Patrice Lumumba’s government could not rule Congo with a colonial army since his program was an anti-colonial program; which was in frontal collision with colonialism in white and black face.
One has to go. Imperialists and their black puppets shot first, since they were the ones who were ready for an armed confrontation.
The question for the African workers is how to get organized to engage in a struggle that will result in irreversible defeat of the African petty bourgeoisie by smashing the colonial state initiated by the imperialist bourgeoisie.
This is clearly not the Vatican’s task or its employees in the form of Mosengwo, Pope Francis and other Catholic leaders.
African Workers Must Smash All Neocolonial States Power in Africa!
