Fourth International
A new world situation
[...]
4 The disintegration of the African continent
The neo-liberalization of sub-Saharan African has proved
particularly brutal and murderous, worsening the already catastrophic situation
of the part of the capitalist periphery. The Strategic Adjustment Programmes,
through privatization of state enterprises, favour the liberalization of
markets, control by multinationals of the most profitable sectors of local
economies, and recolonization processes accentuated in some cases by proxy
wars. Local neo-colonial factions, linked to various imperialist interests,
give themselves over to wars of primitive capital accumulation, and pillage of
natural resources (minerals, energy, etc), wars whose ethnicization tears apart
the national fabric, and create fiefdoms under the rule of extremely criminal
politico-mafia gangs (Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Sierra
Leone, Congo-Brazzaville...). These further worsen the situation for
populations in the conflict zones, often condemned to wander, giving
sub-Saharan Africa a huge number of refugees. In addition there is the
situation of workers suffering through restructuring of social expenditures,
massive layoffs, the freeze on hirings ... Despite this catastrophic situation,
the ruling elites, in adopting NEPAD, sanctioned by the G-8 at Kananskis, June
2002, and the multinationals at Dakar, 2002, remain attached to the Washington
Consensus. This promises a worsening social situation for a majority of the
African people.