African Socialism

"When we planned our country's economic development, we had the strategic objective of our Revolution in mind. It was not planned for economic development [to be] solely an end in itself. There are some who have forgotten that the sole basis of our revolutionary struggle was the ideology and politics which we follow..."

Mengistu Haile Mariam

African Socialism is an economically left-wing and culturally variable ideology. It is a pan-Africanist and socialist ideology that believes in sharing economic resources based on traditional African methods of doing so. There have been multiple conceptions of African Socialism historically, with differing variants coming from many different theorists, leaders and revolutionaries. While African Socialists are typically Marxists, specifically Marxist-Leninists, this is not always the case. It heavily opposes capitalism, colonialism and imperialism.

History

African Socialism first came about in 1956 with the book "Les masses africaines et l'actuelle condition humaine". From 1983-1987, a form of African Socialism created by Sankara came to mainstream politics in Burkina Faso called Sankarism . Throughout its history, Marxism has played a major rule in the evolution of African Socialism. From 1952-1966, Nkrumaism/Nkrumahism became a popular form of African Socialism in Ghanian politics. Following the Angolan Civil War, Angola came under a Marxist-Leninist government. Angola later removed the Marxist-Leninist system, but continues to be 'Socialist' to this day.

Beliefs

African Socialists have a wide range of beliefs, In general, they believe in an anti-capitalist economic policy and resistance to colonial imperialism. Some see the concept of liberal class as a white foreign concept that goes against the concept of the tribe which has been enlarged to all of Africa through a common struggle against foreign exploitation.

Variants

African People's Socialist Party

The African People's Socialist Party (APSP) is an African International political party in the United States. APSP leads its sister organization, the Uhuru Movement. Both APSP and Uhuru were formed in 1972 from the merger of three prior Black Power organizations. APSP supports reparations for slavery in the United States, African socialism, and African internationalism.

Notable APSP members include Omali Yeshitela, who has been APSP chairman since 1972. In 2024, four leading APSP members, including Yeshitela, were convicted of conspiring to act as unregistered foreign agents of the Russian government but were found not guilty of acting as agents of Russia. They cooperated with Alexander Ionov, head of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia.

Ideology

The APSP is an African internationalist and African socialist organization." APSP's stated goals are "to keep the Black Power Movement alive, defend the countless Africans locked up by the counterinsurgency, and develop relationships with Africa and Africans worldwide".

According to its Constitution, the African People's Socialist Party is the "advanced detachment of the African working class and its general staff," pursuing the goal of "the liberation and unification of Africa and African people under the leadership of the African working class as a critical component of the struggle to overthrow imperialism."

The Uhuru Movement's political theory is African internationalism, which argues that capitalism was born parasitic through the attack on Africa and its people. African Internationalism holds that capitalism is imperialism developed to its highest stage, not the other way around, as theorized by Vladimir Lenin.

This belief derives from Karl Marx's 1867 book Capital, in which Marx wrote of the condition essential to the emergence of capitalism, which he called the "primitive accumulation" of capital. African Internationalism is not a static theory that only refers to past conditions; it also refers to the conditions that African people are faced with today. It refers to African people who live inside what it views as imperialist centers, such as the United States and Europe, as an "internal (or domestic) colony". Uhuru calls for the release of all African prisoners in US prisons (labelled "concentration camps") and the withdrawal of police forces (described as "illegitimate standing army") from African American communities.

Cabralism

Amílcar Lopes Cabral [12 September 1924 – 20 January 1973) was a Bissau-Guinean and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, political organizer, and diplomat. He was one of Africa's foremost anti-colonial leaders. He was also a pan-Africanist and intellectual nationalist revolutionary poet.

Also known by the nom de guerre Abel Djassi, he led the nationalist movement of Guinea-Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands and the ensuing war of independence in Guinea-Bissau.

Cabral was shot dead on 20 January 1973, about eight months before Guinea-Bissau's unilateral declaration of independence. He was deeply influenced by Marxism, becoming an inspiration to revolutionary socialists and national independence movements worldwide.

Césaireism

Aimé Fernand David Césaire ( 26 June 1913 – 17 April 2008) was a French poet, author, and politician from Martinique. He was "one of the founders of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature" and coined the word négritude in French. He founded the Parti progressiste martiniquais in 1958, and served in the French National Assembly from 1945 to 1993 and as President of the Regional Council of Martinique from 1983 to 1988. He was also the Mayor of Fort-de-France for 56 years, from 1945–2001.

His works include the book-length poem Cahier d'un retour au pays natal (1939), Une Tempête, a response to William Shakespeare's play The Tempest, and Discours sur le colonialisme (Discourse on Colonialism), an essay describing the strife between the colonizers and the colonized.

Césaire's Discourse on Colonialism challenges the narrative of the colonizer and the colonized. This text criticizes the hypocrisy of justifying colonization with the equation "Christianity=civilized, paganism=savagery," comparing white colonizers to "savages". Césaire writes that "no one colonizes innocently, that no one colonizes with impunity either," concluding that "a nation which colonizes, that a civilization which justifies colonization - and therefore force - is already a sick civilization". He condemns the colonizers, saying that though the men may not be inherently evil, the practice of colonization ruins them.

Césaire's text intertwines slavery, imperialism, capitalism, republicanism, and modernism, stating that these forces were linked together and influenced one another in undeniable ways. Importantly, all of these oppressive forces came together to harm the colonized and empower the colonizer. This position was considered radical at the time.

Césaire continues to deconstruct the colonizer, and ultimately concludes that by colonizing, those white men often lose touch with who they were, and become brutalized into hidden instincts that result in the rape, torture, and racial hatred that they put onto the people they colonize. He also examines the effects colonialism has on the colonized, stating that "colonization = 'thing-ification'", where, because the colonizers can "other" the colonized, they can justify how they colonize.

The text also continuously references Nazism, blaming the barbarism of colonialism and how whitewashed and accepted the tradition, for Hitler's rise to power. He says that Hitler lives within and is the demon of "the very distinguished, very humanistic, very Christian bourgeois of the twentieth century." Particularly, Césaire argues that Nazism was not an exception or singular event in European history; instead, it was the natural progression of a civilization that justified colonization without "perceiving the dangers involved in proceeding towards savagery." Césaire compared colonial violence to Nazism, arguing: "They tolerated that Nazism before it was inflicted on them, they absolved it, shut their eyes to it, legitimized it, because, until then, it had been applied only to non-European peoples."

Césaire's wishes for post-war Europe centered around decolonization, arguing that decolonization was the way forward for Europe out of "the binarism of capitalism/communism." Césaire believed that the only possible redemption for Europe’s dark path, which had led to Nazism, was through interactions with the "Third World". Decolonization offered an alternative to the dual negatives of capitalism and communism, employing pluralism as a way to usher in a new, more tolerant Europe. He was critical of neo-imperialism and US capitalism. Critiques of French universalism were also apparent in the text, particularly citing the issues that universalism caused for the departmentalization of Martinique, of which Césaire was the main propagator. Departmentalization was an essential goal for Césaire both in his texts and in his political career.

France-Albert Renéism/Indian Ocean Socialism

Indian Ocean Socialism was the ideology of France-Albert René, the second president of the Seychelles from 1977 to 2004. Under his rule, the Seychelles built one of Africa's highest gross domestic products per capita.

René's party, renamed the Seychelles People's Progressive Front (SPPF) in 1978, was the sole legal party from 1979 to 1991, largely financed by Tanzania, Algeria, Libya, and the GDR. The newly reformed system of one-party socialism featured a directly elected president, as well as the original plurality system of legislative representation. All political activity took place under the rule of the Seychelles People's Progressive Front, and the President was voted for on a yes-no basis by any Seychelles citizen 17 or older. The President enjoyed almost unchecked executive power, and appointed his cabinet as well as the chair of the National Assembly. The legislature itself was unable to rule independently, and instead only enacted the bills proposed by the executive. Criticism of René or any aspect of his government was not tolerated. This allowed him to be the only presidential candidate for elections in 1979, 1984, and 1989, which he won with over 90% of the vote. Multiparty democracy commenced around 1994, but René continued to win in 1993, and in 1998 and 2001, when he defeated the opposition leader Wavel Ramkalawan, the candidate of the Seychelles National Party. In addition to the presidency, he held several cabinet posts simultaneously, including Minister of Foreign Affairs (1977–1979) and Minister of Finance (1981–1989), Minister of Finance and Industry (1984–1989), Minister of Planning and External Relations (1986–93), Minister of Interior and Defence, Minister of Industry (since 1998). In 1988, he added the role of Minister of Tourism. The last addition was ironic, as he grudgingly acknowledged in private that he would be happier if no foreigners ever visited. In 1978–84, he also served as chairman, and from June 1984, Secretary General of the SPPF. In 1979, a planned invasion of Seychelles by supporters of Sir James Mancham with the assistance of American diplomatic staff in Kenya and Seychelles was discovered before it could be carried out. An official investigation also implicated France in the coup.

The SPPF instituted several reforms, including universal access to education and healthcare, as well as environmental reforms. Compared to the rest of Africa, the Seychelles scored well in terms of child mortality, literacy rate, median income, and standard of living. During this period, the Seychelles developed rapidly, to the point that it became the most developed country in Africa on the Human Development Index. The situation for Seychellois Creole people, who constitute the majority of the nation's population, also improved significantly due to domestic policies implemented by President René aimed at racial equity. However, the white minority (mainly Franco-Seychellois) still occupied the most important posts (ministerial and parliamentary) in the state administration and dominated the ranks of the party leadership. Like his predecessor, Mancham, he focused on expanding tourism. To finance social spending, René also promoted the settlement of international banks and established an offshore financial center. Despite the occasional coup attempts, his regime was considered stable due to the balancing of interests between socialism and capitalism.

Foreign policy

Diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China were established on 30 June 1976. China began providing Seychelles with diplomatic aid in 1977, including the construction of a polytechnic school and the development of a housing project in Les Mamelles. In 2002, China exported US$1.48 million worth of goods, while importing only $100,000 from Seychelles.

Diplomatic ties with India have existed since Seychelles gained independence in 1976. A resident high commissioner of India has been in Victoria since 1987, while Seychelles opened its resident mission in New Delhi in 2008. Relations between the two countries have been warm and cordial, with regular high-level exchange visits between the countries. From India, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Presidents R. Venkataraman and Pratibha Patil have visited the Seychelles, while President Rene, Michel, and Faure of Seychelles have paid state visits to India.

In 1986, Seychelles imported approximately US$600,000 in Malaysian products directly, but purchased US$7 million through indirect trade with Singapore. The country sought to establish direct trade with Malaysia to obtain Malaysian products without using Singaporean ports. In 1988, an agreement was signed to promote cooperation in the fields of culture, education, sports, and information.

During the rule of René, the socialist and non-aligned government of Seychelles – a small African Indian Ocean island nation – maintained close relations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. The country received significant North Korean developmental aid. Much of the cooperation was military. Uniformed North Korean soldiers were present in the country in 1980. Another example of military cooperation was the 1983 deployment of fifty-five North Korean instructors and interpreters to aid the military of Seychelles. During his time in power, René visited Pyongyang several times, meeting with Kim Il Sung. During one meeting in 1988, he expressed support for Korean reunification and applauded the idea of a Democratic Confederal Republic of Koryo. At the end of that visit, the two countries signed a treaty of economic cooperation.

Relations between Seychelles and the Soviet Union were established a day after the island nation gained its independence from the UK. On 15 February 1980, the USSR and Seychelles signed the Agreement on Merchant Navigation in Victoria. The government of René supported the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In 1987, The Sunday Times, quoting unnamed US intelligence officers, reported that the Soviet Union had landed 50 naval infantry troops in the Seychelles after making landfall on the Ivan Rogov in October 1986, a month after a foiled assassination attempt on René. In 1999, an agreement on co-operation in the field of tourism was concluded between the two nations.

The year 1963 marked the beginning of an official US presence in Seychelles when the US Air Force Tracking Station was built and put into operation on Mahé. The USAF Tracking Station facilities were situated on land that was leased from the Seychelles Government ($4.5 million annually). The station's complement consisted of five uniformed Air Force personnel (two officers and three sergeants), 65 employees of Loral Corporation and Johnson Instruments, and 150 Seychellois employees. The USAF Tracking Station officially closed down on 30 September 1996. Peace Corps Volunteers served in Seychelles between 1974 and 1995. A US consulate was opened in May 1976 and became an Embassy after Seychelles' independence in June 1976. The Embassy was subsequently closed in August 1996, and the United States opened a consular agency on 2 September 1996 to provide services to residents of Seychelles. The agency is under the supervision of the American Embassy in Port Louis, Mauritius. The US Ambassador to Mauritius is also accredited to Seychelles.

FRELIMO

FRELIMO is a democratic socialist political party in Mozambique. It has governed the country since its independence from Portugal in 1975.

Founded in 1962, FRELIMO began as a nationalist movement fighting for the self-determination and independence of Mozambique from Portuguese colonial rule. During its anti-colonial struggle, FRELIMO managed to maintain friendly relations with both the Soviet Union and China, and received military and economic assistance from both. Independence was achieved in June 1975 after the Carnation Revolution in Lisbon the previous year. FRELIMO formally became a political party during its 3rd Party Congress in February 1977, and adopted Marxism–Leninism as its official ideology and FRELIMO Party (Partido FRELIMO) as its official name.

FRELIMO has been the ruling party of Mozambique since then, initially as the sole legal party in a one-party system and later as the democratically elected government in a dominant-party system. FRELIMO fought a protracted civil war from 1976 to 1992 against the anti-communist Mozambican National Resistance or RENAMO. RENAMO received support from the white minority governments of Rhodesia and South Africa. FRELIMO approved a new national constitution in 1990, which ended one-party rule and established a multi-party system. FRELIMO has since become the dominant party in Mozambique and has won a majority of the seats in the Assembly of the Republic in every election since the country's first multi-party election in 1994.

Harambee

Harambee is a Kenyan tradition of community self-help events, such as fundraising or development activities. The word means "all pull together" in Swahili and is the official motto of Kenya, appearing on its coat of arms.

Harambee events may range from informal affairs lasting a few hours, in which invitations are spread by word of mouth, to formal, multi-day events advertised in newspapers. These events have long been important in parts of East Africa as a means to build and maintain communities.

Following Kenya's independence in 1963, the first Prime Minister, and later first President of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, adopted "Harambee" as a concept of pulling the country together to build a new nation. He encouraged communities to work together to raise funds for all sorts of local projects, pledging that the government would provide their startup costs. Under this system, wealthy individuals wishing to get into politics could donate large amounts of money to local harambee drives, thereby gaining legitimacy; however, such practices were never institutionalised during Kenyatta's presidency.

Keïtaism

Modibo Keïta (4 June 1915 – 16 May 1977) was a Malian politician who served as the first President of Mali from 1960 to 1968. He espoused a form of African socialism. He was deposed in a coup d'état in 1968 by Moussa Traoré.

Born and raised in Bamako, Keïta began a career as a teacher in 1936 under French colonial rule before entering politics during the 1940s. In 1945, he co-founded the Sudanese Union (US) with Mamadou Konaté, which became part of the African Democratic Rally (RDA) the following year to form the US-RDA. Being elected to several positions, his political prominence grew in the 1950s, and in 1959, he became Prime Minister of the Mali Federation, a short-lived federation of Mali and Senegal. Following the federation's collapse in 1960, Mali became an independent state, and Keïta became the new country's inaugural president.

As President, Keïta soon established the US-RDA as the only official party, and began implementing socialist policies based on extensive nationalization. In foreign affairs, Keïta supported the Non-Aligned Movement and maintained strong relations with the West despite his socialist leanings. A leading Pan-Africanist, he played important roles in the drafting of the charter of the Organization of African Unity and the negotiation of the 1963 Bamako Accords, which ended the Sand War between Morocco and Algeria.

During the late 1960s, dissatisfaction with his regime grew due to progressive economic decline and his repressive responses to dissent. He was overthrown in the 1968 Malian coup d'état by Moussa Traoré, who succeeded him as president and sent him to prison, where he died in 1977.

Kérékouism

Mathieu Kérékou (2 September 1933 – 14 October 2015) was a Beninese politician who served as president of the People's Republic of Benin from 1972 to 1991 and the Republic of Benin from 1996 to 2006.

Kérékou seized power in Dahomey in a military coup on 26 October 1972, ending a system of government in which three members of a presidential council were to rotate power (earlier in the year, Maga had handed over power to Justin Ahomadegbé).

During his first two years in power, Kérékou expressed only nationalism and said that the country's revolution would not "burden itself by copying foreign ideology

"We do not want communism or capitalism or socialism. We have our own Dahomean social and cultural system."

On 30 November 1974, however, he announced the adoption of Marxism-Leninism by the state. The country was renamed from the Republic of Dahomey to the People's Republic of Benin a year later; the banks and petroleum industry were nationalized. The People's Revolutionary Party of Benin (Parti de la révolution populaire du Bénin, PRPB) was established as the sole ruling party. In 1980, Kérékou was elected president by the Revolutionary National Assembly; he retired from the army in 1987.

It has been suggested that Kérékou's move to Marxism-Leninism was motivated mainly by pragmatic considerations, and that Kérékou himself was not a leftist radical; the new ideology offered a means of legitimization, a way of distinguishing the new regime from those that had preceded it, and was based on broader unifying principles than the politics of ethnicity. Kérékou's regime initially included officers from both the north and south of the country. Still, as the years passed, the northerners (like Kérékou himself) became dominant, undermining the idea that the regime was not based on ethnicity. By officially adopting Marxism-Leninism, Kérékou may also have wanted to win the support of the country's leftists.

Kérékou's regime was rigid and vigorous in pursuing its newly adopted ideological goals from the mid-1970s to the late 1970s. In 1974, under the influence of young revolutionaries - the "Ligueurs" - the government embarked on a socialist program: nationalization of strategic sectors of the economy, reform of the education system, establishment of agricultural cooperatives and new local government structures, and a campaign to eradicate "feudal forces" including tribalism. Beginning in the late 1970s, the regime jettisoned much of its radicalism and settled onto a more moderate socialist course as Kérékou consolidated his control.

Its relations with France and other African governments in the region deteriorated because of the Marxism claimed by the Beninese regime and the support offered to the Polisario Front for the liberation of Western Sahara. The French government of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing feared the spread of Marxism in West Africa and decided to react. He was joined by Félix Houphouet-Boigny (Ivory Coast), Gnassingbé Eyadéma (Togo), Joseph-Désiré Mobutu (Zaire), and Hassan II (Morocco), who, in addition to the diplomatic isolation and attempts to destabilize Benin economically, decided to organize an attempted coup d'état. This was Operation Shrimp, entrusted to the French mercenary Bob Denard, on 17 January 1977, but it failed.

It was hoped that the nationalizations of the 1970s would help develop the economy, but it remained in a very poor condition. Kérékou began reversing course in the early 1980s, closing down numerous state-run companies and attempting to attract foreign investment. He also accepted an IMF structural readjustment program in 1989, agreeing to austerity measures that severely cut state expenditure. The economic situation continued to worsen during the 1980s, provoking widespread unrest in 1989. A student strike began in January of that year; subsequently, strikes among various elements of society increased in frequency, and the nature of their demands grew broader: whereas initially they had focused on economic issues such as salary arrears, this progressed to include demands for political reform.

In the period of reforms towards multiparty democracy in Africa at the beginning of the 1990s, Benin moved onto this path early, with Kérékou being forced to make concessions to popular discontent. Benin's early and relatively smooth transition may be attributed to the particularly dismal economic situation in the country, which seemed to preclude any alternative. Amid increasing unrest, Kérékou was re-elected as president by the National Assembly in August 1989, but in December 1989 Marxism-Leninism was dropped as the state ideology, and a national conference was held in February 1990. The conference turned out to be hostile to Kérékou and declared its sovereignty; despite the objections of some of his officers to this turn of events, Kérékou did not act against the conference, although he labelled the conference's declaration of sovereignty a "civilian coup". During the transition that followed, Kérékou remained president but lost most of his power.

During the 1990 National Conference, which was nationally televised, Kérékou spoke to the Archbishop of Cotonou, Isidore de Souza, confessing guilt and begging forgiveness for the flaws of his regime. An observer described it as a "remarkable piece of political theater", full of cultural symbolism and significance; in effect, Kérékou was seeking forgiveness from his people. Such a gesture, so unusual for the African leaders of the time, could have fatally weakened Kérékou's political standing. Still, he performed the gesture in such a way that, far from ending his political career, it instead served to symbolically redeem him and facilitate his political rehabilitation, while also "securing him immunity from prosecution". Kérékou shrewdly utilized the timing and setting: "Culturally as well as theologically it was impossible to refuse forgiveness on these terms."

World Bank economist Nicéphore Soglo, chosen as prime minister by the conference, took office in March, and a new constitution was approved in a December 1990 referendum. Multi-party elections were held in March 1991, which Kérékou lost, obtaining only about 32% of the vote in the second round against Prime Minister Soglo; while he won very large vote percentages in the north, in the rest of the country, he found little support. Kérékou was thus the first mainland African president to lose power through a popular election. He apologized for "deplorable and regrettable incidents" that occurred during his rule.

After losing the election in March 1991, Kérékou left the political scene and "withdrew to total silence", another move that was interpreted as penitential.

1996 presidential election Kérékou reclaimed the presidency in the March 1996 election. Soglo's economic reforms and his alleged dictatorial tendencies had caused his popularity to suffer. Although Kérékou received fewer votes than Soglo in the first round, he then defeated Soglo in the second round, taking 52.5% of the vote. Kérékou was backed in the second round by third-place candidate Adrien Houngbédji and fourth-place candidate Bruno Amoussou ; as in 1991, Kérékou received firm support from northern voters , but he also improved his performance in the south. Soglo alleged fraud, but this was rejected by the Constitutional Court, which confirmed Kérékou's victory. When taking the oath of office, Kérékou left out a portion that referred to the "spirits of the ancestors" because he had become a born-again Christian after his defeat by Soglo. He was subsequently forced to retake the oath, including the reference to spirits.

Kérékou was re-elected for a second five-year term in the March 2001 presidential election under controversial circumstances. In the first round, he took 45.4% of the vote; Soglo, who took second place, and parliament speaker Houngbédji, who took third, both refused to participate in the second round, alleging fraud and saying that they did not want to legitimize the vote by participating in it. This left the fourth-place finisher, Amoussou, to face Kérékou in the run-off, and Kérékou easily won with 83.6% of the vote. It was subsequently discovered that the American corporation Titan gave more than two million dollars to Kérékou's re-election campaign as a bribe.

During Kérékou's second period in office, his government followed a liberal economic path. The period also saw Benin take part in international peacekeeping missions in other African states.

Kérékou was barred from running again in 2006 on two counts. The constitution not only stipulated an absolute two-term limit, but also required that presidential candidates be younger than 70; he turned 70 in 2003, during his second term. Kérékou said in July 2005 that he would not attempt to amend the constitution to allow him to run for a third term. "If you don't leave power," he said, "power will leave you." There was, however, speculation that he had wanted it to be changed, but faced too much opposition.

On 5 March 2006, voters went to the polls to decide who would succeed Kérékou as President of Benin. Yayi Boni defeated Adrien Houngbédji in a run-off vote on 19 March, and Kérékou left office at the end of his term, at midnight on 6 April 2006.

Kwilu Rebellion

The Kwilu rebellion (1963–1965) was a civil uprising that took place in the West of what is the modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo. The rebellion took place in the wider context of the Cold War and the Congo Crisis. Led by Pierre Mulele, a follower of ousted prime minister Patrice Lumumba, a faction of rebel Maoists staged a revolt against the government in the Kwilu District. Based on the struggle for independence, the rebellion was encouraged by economic, social, and cultural grievances. Supported by communist China, rebels used mainly guerrilla warfare against government forces. The rebellion was concurrent with the Simba rebellion occurring in other areas of the Congo during this time. While the rebellion was suppressed in the early months of 1965, it had lasting political impacts, leading to the dissolution of Kwilu as an official province.

Before leading the Kwilu rebellion, Pierre Mulele had undergone military training in the Eastern Bloc and China. This helped to inform the rebellion's ideology, with the majority of fighters claiming Maoist inspiration. The majority of rebels recruited were of the Mbunda or Pende ethnic groups, many of whom had been targets of government oppression. These two ethnic groups comprised over half of the province's population and played a significant role in the victory over the Parti Solidaire Africain in 1960. However, they only held 12 seats in the provincial government, which led to significant discontent.

Mulele employed tactics reminiscent of the Chinese revolution and made his fighters adhere to a strict moral code, emphasising respect for civilians and self-discipline. China backed the rebellion; however, there is no evidence of physical support such as weapons, personnel, or ammunition. While Mulele was strict in his ideology, many of his forces were not. Essentially tribal farmers and workers, they were often difficult to control. Many of the people that Mulele recruited were not only very militant in favoring civil disobedience, but also radical in their attitude toward Belgian colonial authority and the Congolese government. The rebels also used witchcraft extensively to demoralize their opponents. The rebels are reported to have used machetes, poisoned arrows, homemade bombs, and guns as weapons. However, they were limited in the effectiveness of their weapons. They lacked weaponry, and that which they possessed was often in disrepair.

Mulele began in 1963 by recruiting young men in the regions of Gungu and Idiofa. He taught them basic politics and military tactics, with the help of deserters from the Congolese army. The training included physical preparation, guerrilla tactics, espionage, and ideological indoctrination. Before the start of the rebellion in 1964, several rebels were sent to various villages within the Kwilu district to indoctrinate, intimidate, and coerce villagers into supporting the cause.

Mulelism

The political and ideological doctrine of Pierre Mulele acted as a backbone of the rebellion and was followed by many of his troops. It offered a doctrine as to the problems facing the Congo, and an idyllic vision of what was to be done about them. The central tenets of the doctrine include:

The laws of a country are to protect the well-being of all.

The government of the Congo is poor, protecting its own and keeping wealth to itself, treating the ordinary people as 'slaves'. The people are divided into two classes: (1) the rich, the capitalists, who profit from the work of others. (2) Workers and peasants: the poor, or the "popular masses".

Foreigners control all the wealth in the country.

The two classes are in a constant struggle—either a struggle to diminish suffering, or a struggle to reform and reorganize the country.

All men, no matter what their status and work, were once village people.

The people of the villages must fight against the government, soldiers, and police, to overthrow the government and establish a new regime in which all must work to eat; in which foreigners cannot come to take the wealth of the country; and in which one cannot steal the wealth of another person.

Lumumbism

Lumumbism is a political ideology and revolutionary tradition rooted in the life, philosophy, and martyrdom of Patrice Émery Lumumba (1925–1961), the first democratically elected Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lumumbism synthesizes anti-imperialism, democratic socialism, and Pan-African civic nationalism into a distinctly left-wing populist and multiculturalist political framework. Drawing inspiration from Marxism, humanism, and the decolonial struggle, Lumumbism rejects both Western liberal capitalism and authoritarian communism, advocating instead for a federated, people-centered, egalitarian Pan-African state.

Historical Background Born under Belgian colonial rule in the Congo, Patrice Lumumba emerged as a charismatic anti-colonial leader in the late 1950s, advocating for Congolese independence, national unity, and dignity in the face of systemic European exploitation. A self-taught intellectual and postal clerk, Lumumba fused Enlightenment humanism, anti-colonial Marxist theory, and African cultural nationalism into a cohesive worldview.

In 1960, Congo gained independence, and Lumumba became Prime Minister. Within weeks, Belgium backed a separatist uprising in Katanga, and Cold War powers conspired to destabilize his government. Lumumba was overthrown, tortured, and executed in 1961 with Belgian, American, and local collaboration. His death transformed him into a symbol of Pan-African martyrdom, and his political vision into a template for postcolonial revolutionary humanism.

Core Tenets of Lumumbism

Culture and Identity

At the heart of Lumumbism lies an unwavering commitment to multiculturalism and civic nationalism. Lumumba rejected ethnic chauvinism, tribalism, and colonial linguistic hierarchies in favor of a unified national identity forged through shared struggle rather than bloodline. For Lumumba, every person, regardless of tribe, religion, or tongue, is a bearer of historical agency. Left-wing populism reinforces this ethic by mobilizing the cultural memory of colonization, elevating the masses as the legitimate authors of the nation’s future. The Lumumbist state fosters education, indigenous languages, and cultural production as tools of empowerment, resisting both Western assimilation and ethnonationalist retrenchment.

Government and Power

Lumumbism calls for a radically democratic and decentralized state structure grounded in federalism and progressive socialism. Unlike the centralized authoritarianism common in Cold War ideologies, Lumumbism envisions a postcolonial federation in which provinces, ethnic groups, and communities maintain autonomous self-governance under a shared constitutional framework. Political power must be dispersed, yet united by the collective aim of decolonial transformation. Through democratic socialism, Lumumba promotes multi-party elections, participatory councils, and mass accountability, but explicitly rejects liberal capitalist pluralism as insufficient and structurally unequal. The state functions not as a neutral manager but as an active force for liberation, building popular institutions while suppressing oligarchic, comprador, or reactionary forces.

Economics and Class Structure

Economically, Lumumbism demands structural transformation through anti-imperialism, democratic socialism, and progressive socialism. It views global capitalism as an imperial continuation of colonial extraction. Lumumbism, therefore, insists on nationalizing key industries, breaking dependency on Western capital, and restructuring agriculture and infrastructure to serve the internal needs of the people, not foreign investors. The economic base is built through labor cooperatives, land redistribution, and state-regulated markets, all aimed at dismantling the neocolonial bourgeoisie and reorienting class power toward the working masses. While inspired by Marxist analysis, Lumumbism insists that African economic development must not mimic European paths, but follow a self-defined trajectory grounded in collective ownership, cultural preservation, and ecological balance.

A core economic value is left-wing nationalism—the belief that class struggle and national liberation are inseparable in colonized or postcolonial contexts. The Lumumbist economic project thus links Pan-Africanism to development: regional cooperation, shared currency blocs, and common development funds are seen as essential to defeating neocolonial economic fragmentation.

Foreign Policy and Pan-African Vision

In the global arena, Lumumbism embodies a fiercely principled anti-imperialism, rejecting both U.S. hegemony and Soviet domination. It supports Pan-Africanism as a concrete strategy of continental integration, mutual defense, and economic sovereignty. The ultimate goal is a federated, postcolonial world order rooted in reciprocity, instead of hierarchy. Lumumbist diplomacy builds alliances among oppressed nations, supports liberation movements, and seeks to dismantle foreign military bases, unequal trade deals, and cultural colonization wherever they exist. It takes strong influence from Maoism–Third Worldism in its understanding of global core-periphery dynamics and the role of the periphery as the revolutionary center of the 21st century. The Lumumbist state thus positions itself as part of a broader planetary movement of decolonization, autonomy, and justice.

Mariamism

Mengistu Haile Mariam (born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian former politician, revolutionary, and military officer who served as the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991. He was General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia from 1984 to 1991, chairman of the Derg—the Marxist–Leninist military junta that ruled Ethiopia—from 1977 to 1987, and president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) from 1987 to 1991.

The Derg seized power in the Ethiopian Revolution following the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974, marking the end of the Solomonic dynasty, which had ruled Ethiopia since the 13th century. Mengistu purged his rivals within the Derg and made himself dictator of Ethiopia, attempting to modernize the feudal economy of Ethiopia through Marxist–Leninist-inspired policies such as nationalization and land redistribution. His bloody consolidation of power in 1977–1978 is known as the Ethiopian Red Terror—a brutal crackdown on opposition groups and civilians following a failed assassination attempt by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP) in September 1976, after it had ignored the Derg's invitation to join the union of socialist parties. The death toll is unknown but is estimated at between 30,000 and 750,000 by the Ethiopian Red Terror Documentation and Research Center.

Internal rebellion, government repression, and economic mismanagement characterized Mengistu's presidency, the Red Terror period being a battle for dominance between the Derg, the EPRP, and their rival, the All-Ethiopia Socialist Movement (MEISON), which had initially aligned itself with the Derg. While this internal conflict was being fought, Ethiopia was threatened by both the Somali invasion and the guerrilla campaign of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, which demanded independence for Eritrea, then a province of Ethiopia. The Ogaden War of 1977–1978 with Somalia, fought over a disputed border region (Ogaden), was notable for the prominent role of Mengistu's Soviet and Cuban allies in securing an Ethiopian victory. The catastrophic famine of 1983–1985 is what brought his government the most international attention.

Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe in May 1991 after the PDRE National Shengo dissolved itself and called for a transitional government. His departure brought an abrupt end to the Ethiopian Civil War. Mengistu Haile Mariam still lives in Harare, Zimbabwe, despite an Ethiopian court verdict which found him guilty of genocide in absentia. Mengistu's government is estimated to be responsible for the deaths of 500,000 to 2,000,000 Ethiopians, mainly during the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia.

Malemaism/Economic Freedom Fighters

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is a South African communist and black nationalist political party. It was founded by expelled former African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema and his allies on 26 July 2013. Malema is president of the EFF, heading the Central Command Team, which serves as the central structure of the party. It is currently the fourth-largest party in the National Assembly.

According to its constitution, the EFF "draws inspiration from the broad Marxist–Leninist tradition and Fanonian schools of thought in their analyses of the state, imperialism, culture and class contradictions in every society". The EFF states that it takes inspiration from Burkinabé President Thomas Sankara in terms of both style and Marxist ideology. Prominent EFF member Jackie Shandu declared the party a "proudly Sankarist formation."

Death penalty

At the launch of the EFF in 2013, party leader Julius Malema called for a referendum on re-introducing the death penalty, but by 2019, he had reversed this position.

Economics

The party promised to tackle corruption, provide quality social housing, and provide free primary healthcare and education for all, as well as proposing to expropriate White-owned farmland, nationalise the mining and banking sectors, double welfare grants and the minimum wage, and end the proposed toll system for highways. It has criticised both the dominant African National Congress and the primary opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, for enacting policies that it claims have sold out the black people of South Africa to capitalism as cheap labour. However, after the 2016 local elections in South Africa, Malema suggested that the EFF would back the Democratic Alliance in hung-metro areas, while reiterating that it would not form a coalition with any political party.

The EFF has vocally criticised black business owners, particularly in South Africa's mining sector. In an address at the Oxford Union in November 2015, Malema spoke out against billionaire mining company owner Patrice Motsepe. During further protests in 2015, the EFF delivered demands that included the socialisation of the mining sector and called for more explicit targets for the 26% BEE ownership required by law. The EFF is a vocal proponent of expanding the role of South African state-owned enterprises in the national economy. In a public address at Marikana in the Rustenburg area, near the site of the Marikana massacre, Malema blamed mining companies for poverty in the region and called out platinum mining company Lonmin in particular.

The EFF was the only parliamentary party that opposed the 2018 political party funding bill, a funding transparency law that requires political parties to publish their sources of funding.

Foreign policy

Within Africa

The EFF presents itself as a Pan-Africanist party and supports the proposal for a United States of Africa. In respect to this, the EFF and Malema have repeatedly praised former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, promising to implement many of the policies in South Africa that Gaddafi implemented in Libya. The party is against the presence of American military bases in Africa, most notably in Botswana.

The EFF has been strongly critical of the government of Eswatini, one of the last absolute monarchies in the world, advocating for democratic reforms in the country and the removal of borders between it and South Africa. The party has supported a number of efforts to promote change in Eswatini, ranging from attempting to shut down the Eswatini-South Africa border through protest actions to criticizing the country's electoral process.

The EFF is critical of France's presence in Africa; in 2022, the party picketed outside of and ultimately barricaded the country's embassy in Pretoria. The French ambassador to South Africa criticised the EFF for scapegoating France as the supposed source of all Africa's problems. Following the death of Queen Elizabeth, the EFF announced that they would not mourn her passing, instead stating that "she never once acknowledged the atrocities her family inflicted on native people that Britain invaded across the world."

Outside Africa

The EFF is against Zionism, is strongly critical of Israel and its conflict with the Palestinians, referring to the country as "evil" and advocating for its destruction. During the Gaza war, the leader of the EFF, Julius Malema, stated the party's support for Hamas and that, should the party win the 2024 election, they would send arms to assist the organisation.

The EFF officially supports Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, commending what they refer to as Russia's "anti-imperialist programme" against NATO. During the Lady R incident, the party stated their support for any prospect of South African exports of military equipment to Russia that might assist in its invasion of Ukraine.

The party supports closer bilateral relations between South Africa and China, whilst considering Taiwan to be an "integral part" of the People's Republic of China; it has referred to the Chinese Communist Party as the "torch-bearer for all Marxist–Leninist formations in the world".

LGBT+ rights

The EFF supports the rights of the LGBT+ community in Africa and officially condemns laws that seek to ban homosexuality. The party was critical of Uganda's 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Bill and led a protest outside the Ugandan embassy in South Africa, urging Uganda's president not to sign it into law. Later in 2023, the party was strongly criticized by members of the South African LGBT+ community for inviting Patrick Lumumba, a Kenyan professor known for making homophobic statements and who is publicly supportive of Uganda.

Mandelaism

Anti-Apartheid revolutionary and South Africa's first black leader, Nelson Mandela ideologically self-identified as a Socialist and ultimately believed in a classless society, having been influenced by Marxism. But when in power, he supported the country's liberal democratic model, while still taking strong measures to combat poverty, encourage land reform, and expand healthcare services. He expressed a desire to move to a social-democratic economy. Still, he figured that it wasn't possible due to the circumstances at the time (the fall of the USSR and the ascendency of neoliberalism).

MPLA

The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola, from 1977 to 1990, called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party, is an Angolan social democratic political party. The MPLA fought against the Portuguese Army in the Angolan War of Independence from 1961 to 1974, and defeated the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) in the Angolan Civil War. The party has ruled Angola since the country's independence from Portugal in 1975, being the de facto government throughout the civil war and continuing to rule afterwards.

Nkrumaism

Nkrumaism is the ideology of the Ghanian president and revolutionary Kwame Nkrumah. The goal of Nkrumaism is the expulsion of colonial powers from Africa, and the union of all African foreign colonies under one borderless African superstate. Kwame Nkrumah's Socialist ideology was influenced by Marx, Lenin, and Mao, and he invested into bringing foreign theorists to help develop his specific ideology. There was initial struggle to differentiate it from other forms of Marxist ideology, but eventually, The Kwame Nkrumah institute reached the conclusion that:

Nkrumaism is simply the ideology for the new Africa, independent and absolutely free from imperialism, organised on a continental scale, founded upon the conception of one and united Africa, drawing its strength from modern science and technology and from the traditional African belief that the free development of each is conditioned by the free development of all.

Nkrumaism served as the state ideology of Ghana during Kwame Nkrumah's reign. Although Nkrumah and his political scientists heavily invested in the theoretical framework of this ideology, his ultimate goals were never truly realized.

Ngouabism

Marien Ngouabi (December 31, 1938 – March 18, 1977) was a Congolese politician and military officer who served as the fourth President of the People's Republic of the Congo from 1969 until his assassination in 1977.

Once in power, President Ngouabi changed the country's name to the People's Republic of the Congo, declaring it to be Africa's first Marxist–Leninist state, and founded the Congolese Workers' Party (Parti Congolais du Travail, PCT) as the country's only legal political party.

Ngouabi was a Mbochi from the north, and his regime shifted control of the country away from the south. Such moves created opposition among the population in the highly politicized environment of Brazzaville. Bureaucratic centralism, repression, the "mechanism" of the party apparatus, and Ngouabi's tribalist orientation towards Mbochi and La Cuvette immigrants created opposition within the Communist Party itself, especially its youth organization. In the fall of 1971, students who went on strike in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire were severely repressed by the authorities. The situation in the country was severely destabilized. There was an attempted coup in February 1972 that triggered a series of 'purges' of the opposition. It is claimed that Ngouabi was under French pressure to annex the oil-rich Cabinda enclave[citation needed], a part of Portuguese Angola, and his refusal to act cost him the French support. There is some speculation that the French financed several coups to remove Ngouabi from power. Starting in February 1973, the army began military operations in the Goma Tse-tse region to dismantle the M22 insurgency led by former army members led by Vice President Ange Diawara. During the same month, Ngouabi denounced another attempted Diawara coup and arrested 45 people, including Pascal Lissouba and Sylvain Bemba, Minister of Information. His trial took place from March 16 to 23. Several sentences were pronounced, while Lissouba was acquitted.

The M22 business abruptly ended on April 24, 1973, with the capture and execution of the maquis. The bodies of Diawara, Ikoko and Bakekolo were toured around Brazzaville and exhibited by Ngouabi in person during a popular gathering held at the Stade de la Révolution. The lack of consideration for the lifeless bodies of the Maquis caused considerable disapproval nationally due to the cultural sensitivity surrounding the reverential treatment of dead bodies. He visited the People's Republic of China in July 1973.

Ngouabi was re-elected to his post as Chairman of the PCT Central Committee on December 30, 1974; he was additionally elected as Permanent Secretary of the PCT. He was then sworn in as president for another term on January 9, 1975. Also in 1975, he signed an economic aid pact with the Soviet Union.

On March 23, Lieutenant General Pierre Kinganga, in exile in Kinshasa in neighbouring Zaire since his alleged June 1969 coup attempt, disembarked in Brazzaville at the head of a commando attempting to overthrow the regime. His attempt failed and he was shot dead near the national radio station he had just taken. His body and that of his command members who fell with him remained exposed for a long time in front of the radio building. Several enthusiastic young supporters who had joined Kinganga's column were also armed. Captain Augustin Poignet, also involved, managed to escape to Kinshasa. A week later, 3 accomplices (Miawouama, Nkoutou and Mengo), sentenced by a court-martial, were executed. The revolutionary court convicted the command members and accomplices in the army and gendarmerie. After the events, Marien Ngouabi denounced the involvement of the CIA and President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) in the coup.

Following this attempt, the PCT met in an extraordinary congress from March 30 to April 2, 1970. The Political Bureau was expanded to 10 members, to the benefit of Ambroise Noumazalaye and Captain Sassou N'Guesso. The Gendarmerie, whose loyalty was not complete during the events, was dissolved and its members joined the army. The Council of State was reorganized.

On August 29, 1970, former Minister Stéphane-Maurice Bongo-Nouarra was arrested for a counter-revolutionary conspiracy. He was sentenced to 10 years of forced labour.

Pan Africanist Congress of Azania

The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, often shortened to the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), is a South African pan-Africanist national liberation movement that is now a political party. It was founded by an Africanist group, led by Robert Sobukwe, that broke away from the African National Congress (ANC) in 1959, as the PAC objected to the ANC's theory that "the land belongs to all who live in it, both white and black" and also rejected a multiracial approach.

The PAC followed the idea that the South African Government should be constituted by the African people, owing their allegiance only to Africa, as stated by Sobukwe in the inaugural speech of the PAC:

"We aim, politically, at government of the Africans by the Africans, for the Africans, with everybody who owes his only loyalty to Africa and who is prepared to accept the democratic rule of an African majority being regarded as an African."

It was Pan-Africanism with three principles of African nationalism, socialism, and continental unity. Its body of ideas drew mainly from the teachings of Anton Lembede, George Padmore, Marcus Garvey, Martin Delany, Kwame Nkrumah, and W. E. B. Du Bois.

The PAC initially advocated for a form of "Africanist Socialist Democracy", based on African and Black Identity, to create a South Africa (which they would rename Azania) for Black South Africans, to the exclusion of other nationalities or ethnicities. Unlike the African National Congress's view on socialism, the PAC was stated to have rejected the concept of class oppression, instead focusing exclusively on national liberation. Nevertheless, their initial manifesto lists the "black working class" as the "driving force in the struggle" against white capitalists and "reactionary" middle-class groups. These socialist elements were firmly toned down by the 1990s, instead adopting a more "conservative" stance that sought not to restrict market forces and a commitment not to implement socialism "for the sake of it". The Pan Africanist Youth Congress of Azania described the new program as the "work of an element which is on the CIA payroll". However, by April 1992, the PAC's party leadership in the Annual Congress no longer showed opposition to taking part in the multiracial negotiations to end apartheid.

The PAC historically rejected Marxism, opposed communism (though it had borrowed from some Maoist tenets), and the inclusion of ethnic minorities within the liberation struggle, instead advocating black liberation exclusively within a Black nationalist concept.

Sankarism

Coat of Arms of Sankarism (Click to enlarge)

Sankarism is an authleft ideology in Burkina Faso based on the ideas of Thomas Sankara, who was an anti-colonial, feminist and Marxist-Leninist revolutionary and president. Sankarism is left-wing, pan-Africanist and anti-imperialist. Thomas Sankara was sometimes dubbed the "Che Guevara of Africa" and stood in opposition to the cult of personality unlike other Marxist-Leninist ideologies.

Though Thomas Sankara himself was a communist and Marxist-Leninist, many Burkinabe people and organizations who follow  Social Democracy, Populism, or  Nationalism have also dubbed themselves "Sankarists".

Simba Rebellion

The Simba rebellion, also known as the Orientale revolt, was a regional uprising that took place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1963 and 1965 in the wider context of the Congo Crisis and the Cold War. The rebellion, located in the east of the country, was led by the followers of Patrice Lumumba, who had been ousted from power in 1960 by Joseph Kasa-Vubu and Joseph-Désiré Mobutu and subsequently killed in January 1961 in Katanga. The rebellion was contemporaneous with the Kwilu rebellion led by fellow Lumumbist Pierre Mulele in central Congo.

The Simba rebels were initially successful and captured much of eastern Congo, proclaiming a "people's republic" at Stanleyville. However, the insurgency suffered from a lack of organization and coherence, as well as tensions between the rebel leadership and its international allies from the Eastern Bloc. When the Congolese government launched several major counter-offensives from late 1964, spearheaded by battle-hardened mercenaries and backed by Western powers, the rebels suffered several major defeats and disintegrated. By November 1965, the Simba rebellion was effectively defeated, though holdouts of the rebels continued their insurgency until the 1990s.

Christophe Gbenye's forces were organized as the "Armée Populaire de Libération" (APL), though they were generally nicknamed "Simbas", 13 meaning a lion or big lion in Swahili. They were recruited from ANC mutineers, tribesmen, and youth militants (jeunesse). In general, the Armée Populaire de Libération was divided into regular units, which were organized like the ANC (namely the unités d'operations and unités de garnison), and units which were more akin to irregular militias (barriéres). Although they were on average well motivated, the Simbas lacked discipline, and their command and control were often chaotic. They were also poorly armed, with many rebels relying on machetes and spears due to a lack of guns.

The majority of the Simbas were young men and teens, although children were not unheard of in the conflict. The rebels were led by Gaston Soumialot and Gbenye, who had been members of Gizenga's Parti Solidaire Africain (PSA), and Laurent-Désiré Kabila, who had been a member of the Lumumba-aligned Association générale des Baluba du Katanga (BALUBAKAT).

Because of the range of political beliefs amongst the Simba rebels, attributing an ideology to the rebellion is very complex. Whilst the leaders claimed to be influenced by Chinese Maoist ideas, the Cuban military advisor Che Guevara wrote that the majority of the fighters did not hold these views. The fighters also practised a system of traditional beliefs which held that correct behaviour and the regular reapplication of dawa (water ritually applied by a medicine man) would leave the fighters impervious to bullets. Researcher Ato Kwamena Onoma described the Simba rebellion as "Lumumbist". The MNC-L party backed the rebellion.

In addition to native Congolese, the Simba rebels included Rwandan exiles. Known as "Inyenzi" in Rwanda, these exiles had repeatedly attempted to retake their home country without success, most prominently during the Bugesera invasion of December 1963. Frustrated by Congolese authorities' hindrance of their activities and radicalized by their repeated failures, Inyenzi, based in the Congo, joined the Simba rebellion, hoping that a Simba-led government would support their efforts in Rwanda. Rwandan exiles held prominent positions within the rebel hierarchy, with Inyenzi leaders Louis Bidalira and Jerome Katarebe serving as chief of staff and chef de cabinet, respectively. The Rwandan exiles held a reputation as good and disciplined fighters among the insurgents.

Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party

Barre, the commander of the Somali National Army, became president of Somalia after the 1969 coup d'état that overthrew the Somali Republic following the assassination of President Abdirashid Shermarke. The Supreme Revolutionary Council military junta under Barre reconstituted Somalia as a one-party Marxist–Leninist communist state, renamed the country the Somali Democratic Republic, and adopted scientific socialism.

Barre assumed the position of president of Somalia, styled the "Victorious Leader" (Guulwade), and fostered the growth of a personality cult with portraits of him in the company of Marx and Lenin lining the streets on public occasions. Barre advocated a form of scientific socialism based on the Qur'an and Marxism-Leninism, with heavy influences of Somali nationalism.

Attempts at widespread modernization characterized Barre's early rule, the nationalization of banks and industry, the promotion of cooperative farms, the development of a new writing system for the Somali language, and the promotion of anti-tribalism.

In July 1976, Barre's SRC disbanded itself and established in its place the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party (SRSP), a one-party government based on scientific socialism and Islamic tenets. The SRSP was an attempt to reconcile the official state ideology with the official state religion. Emphasis was placed on the Muslim principles of social progress, equality, and justice, which the government argued formed the core of scientific socialism and its emphasis on self-sufficiency, public participation, and popular control, as well as direct ownership of the means of production. While the SRSP encouraged private investment on a limited scale, the administration's overall direction was proclaimed to be Communist.

Supreme Revolutionary Council

The Supreme Revolutionary Council established large-scale public works programs and successfully implemented an urban and rural literacy campaign, which helped dramatically increase the literacy rate. Barre began a program of nationalising industry and land, and the new regime's foreign policy emphasized Somalia's traditional and religious links with the Arab world, eventually joining the Arab League in 1974. That same year, Barre also served as chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the predecessor of the African Union (AU).

A new constitution was promulgated in 1979, under which elections for a People's Assembly were held. However, the Politburo of Barre's Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party continued to rule. In October 1980, the SRSP was disbanded, and the Supreme Revolutionary Council was re-established in its place.

Domestic programs

During the first five years, Barre's government set up several cooperative farms and factories of mass production, such as mills, sugar cane processing facilities in Jowhar and Afgooye, and a meat processing house in Kismayo.

Another public project initiated by the government was the Shalanbood Sanddune Stoppage: from 1971 onwards, a massive tree-planting campaign on a nationwide scale was introduced by Barre's administration to halt the advance of thousands of acres of wind-driven dunes that threatened to engulf towns, roads, and farmland. By 1988, 265 hectares (650 acres) of a projected 336 ha (830 acres) had been treated, with 39 range reserve sites and 36 forestry plantation sites established.

Between 1974 and 1975, a major drought referred to as the Abaartii Dabadheer ("The Lingering Drought") occurred in the northern regions of Somalia. The Soviet Union, which at the time maintained strategic relations with the Barre government, airlifted some 90,000 people from the devastated regions of Hobyo and Aynaba. New settlements of small villages were created in the Jubbada Hoose (Lower Juba) and Jubbada Dhexe (Middle Juba) regions, with these new settlements known as the Danwadaagaha or "Collective Settlements". The transplanted families were introduced to farming and fishing, a change from their traditional pastoralist lifestyle of livestock herding. Other such resettlement programs were also introduced as part of Barre's effort to undercut clan solidarity by dispersing nomads and moving them away from clan-controlled land.

Nationalism and Greater Somalia

Barre advocated the concept of a Greater Somalia (Soomaaliweyn), which refers to those regions in the Horn of Africa in which ethnic Somalis reside and have historically represented the predominant population, encompassing Somalia, Djibouti, the Ogaden in Ethiopia, and Kenya's former North Eastern Province.

In July 1977, the Ogaden War broke out after Barre's government sought to incorporate the various Somali-inhabited territories of the region into a Greater Somalia, beginning with the Ogaden. The Somali national army invaded Ethiopia, which was then under communist rule of the Soviet-backed Derg, and was successful at first, capturing most of the territory of the Ogaden. The invasion reached an abrupt end with the Soviet Union's shift of support to Ethiopia, followed by almost the entire communist world siding against Somalia. The Soviets halted their previous supplies to Barre's regime. They increased the distribution of aid, weapons, and training to the Ethiopian government, and also brought in around 15,000 Cuban troops to assist the Ethiopian regime. In 1978, the Somali troops were ultimately pushed out of the Ogaden.

Foreign relations

Control of Somalia was of great interest to both the Soviet Union and the United States due to the country's strategic location at the mouth of the Red Sea. After the Soviets broke with Somalia in the late 1970s, Barre subsequently expelled all Soviet advisors, tore up his friendship treaty with the Soviet Union, and switched allegiance to the West, announcing this in a televised speech in English. Somalia also broke all ties with the Eastern Bloc and the Second World (except China and Romania). The United States stepped in and, until 1989, was a strong supporter of the Barre government, for whom it provided approximately US$100 million per year in economic and military aid.

In September 1972, Tanzanian-sponsored rebels attacked Uganda. Ugandan president Idi Amin requested Barre's assistance, and he subsequently mediated a non-aggression pact between Tanzania and Uganda. For his actions, a road in Kampala was named after Barre.

On 17 and 18 October 1977, a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) group hijacked Lufthansa Flight 181 to Mogadishu, holding 86 hostages. West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and Barre negotiated a deal to allow a GSG 9 anti-terrorist unit into Mogadishu to free the hostages.

In January 1986, Barre and the Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam met in Djibouti to normalise relations between their respective countries. The Ethiopian-Somali agreement was signed in 1988, and Barre disbanded his clandestine anti-Ethiopian organisation, the Western Somali Liberation Front. In return, Barre hoped that Mengistu would disarm Somali National Movement rebels active on the Ethiopian side of the border; however, this did not materialise since the SNM relocated to Northern Somalia in response to this agreement.

Economic policies

As part of Barre's socialist policies, major industries and farms were nationalised, including banks, insurance companies, and oil distribution farms. By the mid- to late-1970s, public discontent with the Barre regime was increasing, largely due to corruption among government officials as well as poor economic performance. The Ogaden War had also weakened the Somali army substantially, and military spending had crippled the economy. Foreign debt increased faster than export earnings, and by the end of the decade, Somalia's debt of 4 billion shillings equalled the earnings from seventy-five years' worth of banana exports.

By 1978, manufactured goods exports were almost non-existent, and with the loss of support of the Soviet Union, the Barre government signed a structural adjustment agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during the early 1980s. This included the abolishment of some government monopolies and increased public investment. This and a second agreement were both cancelled by the mid-1980s, as the Somali army refused to accept a proposed 60 percent cut in military spending. New agreements were made with the Paris Club, the International Development Association, and the IMF during the second half of the 1980s. This ultimately failed to improve the economy, which deteriorated rapidly in 1989 and 1990, and resulted in nationwide commodity shortages.

Clannism

After the Ogaden War, Barre adopted a "clannism" ideology and abandoned his "socialist facade" to hold onto power. A 120,000-strong army was built for internal repression of the public and to encourage rural clan-based conflicts, in addition to urban clan-directed massacres by specialised armed forces. Barre also singled out the Isaaq clan for a "neo-fascist" type punishment resulting in a "semi-colonial" type subjugation, which fuelled collective self-assertion to supporters of the Somali National Movement.

By the mid-1980s, more resistance movements supported by Ethiopia's communist Derg administration had sprung up across the country. Barre responded by ordering punitive measures against those he perceived as locally supporting the guerrillas, especially in the northern regions. The clampdown included bombing of cities, with the northwestern administrative center of Hargeisa, a Somali National Movement (SNM) stronghold, among the targeted areas in 1988. General Mohammed led the bombardment, said Hersi Morgan, Barre's son-in-law, and it resulted in the deaths of 50,000 people in the north.

Human rights abuses

Part of Barre's time in power was characterized by oppressive dictatorial rule, including persecution, jailing, and torture of political opponents and dissidents. The United Nations Development Programme stated that "the 21-year regime of Siyad Barre had one of the worst human rights records in Africa." In January 1990, the Africa Watch Committee, a branch of Human Rights Watch organization, released an extensive report titled "Somalia: A Government at War with Its Own People" comprising 268 pages. The report highlights the widespread violations of basic human rights in the northern regions of Somalia. The report includes testimonies about the killing and conflict in northern Somalia by newly arrived refugees in various countries around the world. Systematic human rights abuses against the dominant Isaaq clan in the north was described in the report as "state sponsored terrorism" "both the urban population and nomads living in the countryside were subjected to summary killings, arbitrary arrest, detention in squalid conditions, torture, rape, crippling constraints on freedom of movement and expression and a pattern of psychological intimidation. The report estimates that 50,000 to 60,000 people were killed from 1988 to 1989." Amnesty International went on to report that torture methods committed by Barre's National Security Service (NSS) included executions and "beatings while tied in a contorted position, electric shocks, rape of woman prisoners, simulated executions and death threats."

In September 1970, the government introduced the National Security Law No. 54, which granted the NSS the power to arrest and detain indefinitely those who expressed critical views of the government, without ever being brought to trial. It further gave the NSS the power to arrest without a warrant anyone suspected of a crime involving "national security". Article 1 of the law prohibited "acts against the independence, unity or security of the State", and capital punishment was mandatory for anyone convicted of such acts.

From the late 1970s onwards, Barre faced a shrinking popularity and increased domestic resistance. In response, Barre's elite unit, the Red Berets (Duub Cas), and the paramilitary unit called the Victory Pioneers carried out systematic terror against the Majeerteen, Hawiye, and Isaaq clans. The Red Berets systematically smashed water reservoirs to deny water to the Majeerteen and Isaaq clans and their herds. More than 2,000 members of the Majeerteen clan died of thirst, and an estimated 50,000 to 200,000 Isaaq were killed by the government. Members of the Victory Pioneers also raped large numbers of Majeerteen and Isaaq women, and more than 500,000 Isaaq members fled to Ethiopia.

In January 1979, Barre ordered the execution of ten sheiks who were arrested for their religious beliefs. The religious community had begun to exhibit opposition to Barre's further attempt to secularize Somalia. Amnesty International condemned this egregious violation of freedom of speech. Many Somalis believe this event was the tipping point that led to the state's eventual failure.

Rebellion and ouster

After the fallout from the unsuccessful Ogaden campaign, Barre's administration began arresting government and military officials under suspicion of participation in the 1978 coup d'état attempt. Most of the people who had allegedly helped plot the putsch were summarily executed. However, several officials managed to escape abroad and started to form the first of various dissident groups dedicated to ousting Barre's regime by force.

A new constitution was promulgated in 1979 under which elections for a People's Assembly were held. However, Barre and the politburo of his Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party continued to rule. In October 1980, the SRSP was disbanded, and the Supreme Revolutionary Council was re-established in its place. By that time, the moral authority of Barre's ruling Supreme Revolutionary Council had begun to weaken. Many Somalis were becoming disillusioned with life under military dictatorship. The regime was further weakened in the 1980s as the Cold War drew to a close and Somalia's strategic importance was diminished. The government became increasingly totalitarian, and resistance movements, supported by Ethiopia's communist Derg administration, sprang up across the country. This eventually led in 1991 to the outbreak of the civil war, the toppling of Barre's regime, and the disbandment of the Somali National Army (SNA). Among the militia groups that led the rebellion were the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), United Somali Congress (USC), Somali National Movement (SNM) and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), together with the non-violent political oppositions of the Somali Democratic Movement (SDM), the Somali Democratic Alliance (SDA) and the Somali Manifesto Group (SMG). Siad Barre escaped from his palace towards the Kenyan border in a tank. Many of the opposition groups subsequently began competing for influence in the power vacuum that followed the ousting of Barre's regime. In the south in particular, armed factions led by USC commanders General Mohamed Farah Aidid and Ali Mahdi Mohamed clashed as each sought to exert authority over the capital.

Opposition grew in the 1980s due to his increasingly dictatorial rule, the growth of tribal politics, abuses of the National Security Service, including the Isaaq genocide, and the sharp decline of Somalia's economy. In 1991, Barre's government collapsed as the Somali Rebellion successfully ejected him from power, leading to the Somali Civil War and a massive power vacuum in its wake. Barre was forced into exile in Nigeria, where he died in 1995 on the way to the hospital after suffering a heart attack.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu embodies the interdependence of humans on one another and the recognition of one's responsibility to their fellow humans and the world around them. It is a philosophy that prioritizes collectivism over individualism.

Ubuntu asserts that society gives human beings their humanity. An example is a Zulu-speaking person who, when commanding to speak in Zulu, would say "khuluma isintu", which means "speak the language of people". When someone behaves according to custom, a Sotho-speaking person would say "ke motho", which means "he/she is a human". The aspect of this that a tale would exemplify is told (often, in private quarters) in Nguni "kushone abantu ababili ne Shangaan", in Sepedi "go tlhokofetje batho ba babedi le leShangane", in English (two people died and one Shangaan). In each of these examples, humanity comes from conforming to or being part of the tribe.

Ujamaa

Ujamaa was a socialist ideology that formed the basis of Julius Nyerere's social and economic development policies in Tanzania after it gained independence from Britain in 1961.

More broadly, ujamaa may mean "cooperative economics", in the sense of "local people cooperating to provide for the essentials of living", or "to build and maintain our stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together"

Although attaining some of his early ideas from African Association contemporaries in Tanganyika, many of Nyerere's political beliefs were developed while he was studying in Edinburgh; he noted that he "evolved the whole of my political philosophy while I was there". In the city, he was influenced by texts produced within the traditions of classical liberalism and Fabian socialism, as well as by his reading of Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill, both of whom he had studied as a student. For much of his life, he was a prolific writer and speaker, leaving behind a substantial body of work that espoused his ideology. The political economist Issa G. Shivji noted that although Nyerere was "a great man of principle," when in power, "at times pragmatism, even Machiavellism, overshadowed his avowed principles". As a result, Shivji argued, Nyerere exhibited "a great ability and talent to rationalise his political actions with an astute exposition of principles"

Anti-colonialism, non-racialism, and Pan-Africanism

Nyerere was an African nationalist. He despised colonialism and felt duty-bound to oppose the colonial state in Tanganyika. In campaigning against colonialism, Nyerere acknowledged that the principles behind both the American Revolution and the French Revolution inspired him. He was also influenced by the Indian independence movement, which successfully resulted in the creation of an Indian republic in 1947, just before Nyerere studied in Britain. Nyerere insisted that the situation in Tanganyika was such that non-violent protest was possible and should be pursued, stating: "I'm non-violent in the sense of Mohandas Gandhi... I feel violence is an evil with which one cannot become associated unless it is absolutely necessary". After becoming the leader of his country, he became a prominent supporter of anti-colonial movements in southern Africa, providing said groups with material, diplomatic, and moral support.

Although opposing European colonialism, Nyerere was not antagonistic towards white Europeans; from his experiences, he was aware that they were not all colonialists and racists. Before independence, he insisted on a non-racialist front against colonialism, challenging those African nationalists who wanted to deny equal rights to East Africa's European and Asian minorities. In a 1951 essay written in Edinburgh, he proposed that "We must build up a society in which we shall belong to East Africa and not to our racial groups ... We appeal to all thinking Europeans and Indians to regard themselves as ordinary citizens of Tanganyika... We are all Tanganyikans and we are all East Africans." He argued that racial equality should be upheld on an individual basis, with individuals being legally protected against racial discrimination, rather than being enshrined in government with specific parliamentary seats reserved for different racial groups. This involvement in multi-racial politics differed from the approaches adopted by many other African nationalists in Tanganyika. When in power, Nyerere ensured that his government and close associates reflected a cross-section of East African society, including black Africans, Indians, Arabs, and Europeans, as well as practitioners of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and African traditional religion.

Nyerere was also a Pan-Africanist. He nevertheless saw a tension between his governance of a nation-state and his Pan-Africanist values, referring to this as "the dilemma of the pan-Africanist" in a 1964 address.

Democracy and the one-party state

Nyerere emphasised the idea of democracy as a principle. He described democracy as "government by the people... Ideally, it is a form of government whereby the people–all the people–settle their affairs through free discussion." This is a definition close to that generated by the clergyman Theodore Parker, whose influence he acknowledged. It was also influenced by forms of localised decision making found in various indigenous African societies, with Nyerere stating that discussing an issue till everyone agreed was "the very essence of traditional African democracy". He absorbed the values of liberal democracy but focused attention on how to "Africanize" democracy. He emphasized that post-colonial African states were in a very different situation from Western countries and thus required a different governance structure; specifically, he favoured a representative democratic system within a one-party state. He opposed the formation of different parties and other political organisations with differing objectives in Tanzania, deeming them disruptive to his idea of a harmonious society and fearing their ability to destabilise the fragile state further.

He criticised the de facto two-party system he had observed in Britain, describing it as "football politics". In his words, "where there is one party, and that party is identified with the nation as a whole, the foundations of democracy are firmer than they can ever be when you have two or more parties, each representing only a section of the community!" He repeatedly wrote arguments on these ideas, often aimed at Western liberals. Following the 1965 parliamentary election, in which different candidates from the same party competed for most seats, Nyerere noted: "I don't blame Westerners for being sceptical. The only democracies they have known have been multi-party systems, and the only one-party systems they have seen have been non-democratic. But: a multiplicity of parties does not guarantee democracy". For Nyerere, it was the preservation of political and civil liberties, rather than the presence of multiple parties, that ensured democracy; he believed that freedom of speech was possible in a one-party state. However, his opposition to the formation of competing political groups led critics to argue that there were anti-democratic implications to his thought.

Nyerere was keen to associate himself with the idea of freedom, titling his three major compilations of speeches and writings Freedom and Unity, Freedom and Socialism, and Freedom and Development. The ideas of German philosopher Immanuel Kant strongly influenced his conception of freedom. Like Kant, Nyerere believed that the purpose of the state was to promote liberty and the freedom of the individual.

He was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a world constitution. As a result, for the first time in human history, a World Constituent Assembly convened to draft and adopt the Constitution for the Federation of Earth.

African Socialism

Nyerere was a socialist, with his views on socialism intertwined with his ideas on democracy. He promoted African socialism from at least July 1943, when he wrote an article referring to the concept in the Tanganyika Standard newspaper. Where he learned the term is not clear, for it would not become widely used until the 1960s. Nyerere saw socialism not as an alien idea to Africa but as something that reflected traditional African lifestyles. In his view, a "socialist attitude of mind" was already present in traditional African society. In his words from 1962, "We, in Africa, have no more need of being "converted" to socialism than we have of being "taught" democracy. Both are rooted in our past – in the traditional society which produced us." He presented the traditional African village—as well as the ancient Greek city state—as the model for the idealised society. Molony described Nyerere as having produced "romanticised accounts of idyllic village life in 'traditional society'", describing it as "a misty-eyed view" of this African past.

Nyerere's ideas about socialism owed little to either European social democracy or Marxism; he detested the Marxist idea of class struggle. Although he quoted from Karl Marx's Capital when speaking to certain audiences, he was critical of the idea of "scientific socialism promoted by Marxists like Marx and Vladimir Lenin. He expressed the view that Marxist ideas about the construction of a socialist society from a capitalist one through the efforts of a revolutionary urban proletariat class did not apply to post-colonial Africa, where there was little or no capitalism or proletariat and where—in Nyerere's view—traditional society was not stratified into competing economic classes. In most of Africa, Nyerere said, "we have to begin our socialism from tribal communalism and a colonial legacy which did not build much capitalism". According to Nyerere, "In a socialist society it is the socialist attitude of mind, and not the rigid adherence to a standard political pattern, which is needed."  Nyerere incorporates themes from Chinese socialism into ujamaa, including self-reliance, mass politics, and the political centrality of the peasantry. He was critical of the utopian socialism promoted by figures like Henri de Saint-Simon and Robert Owen, seeing their ideas as largely irrelevant to the Tanzanian situation. In his view, these European socialist writers had not produced ideas suited to the African context because they had not considered the history of "colonial domination" which Africa had experienced.

Nyerere firmly believed in egalitarianism and in creating a society of equals, referring to his desire for a "classless society". In his view, the equality of ujamaa must come from the individual's commitment to a just society in which all talents and abilities are used to the full. He desired a society in which the interests of the individual and society were identical and thought this could be achieved because individuals ultimately wanted to promote the common good. He believed it important to balance the rights of the individual with their duty to society, expressing the view that Western countries placed too much of an emphasis on individual rights; he regarded what he saw as the ensuing self-centred materialism as repulsive. To determine what balance to strike between the freedom of the individual and their responsibilities to society, he turned to the ideas of Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. His ideas on societal collectivity may also have been influenced by the work of the social anthropologist Ralph Piddington, under whom Nyerere studied at Edinburgh. Nyerere believed that Africa would resolve the tension between the individual and society, a balance which other continents had failed to achieve.

Nyerere detested elitism and sought to reflect that attitude in the manner in which he conducted himself as president. He was cautious to prevent the replacement of the colonial elite with an indigenous elite, and to this end, insisted that the most educated sectors of the Tanzanian population should remain fully integrated with society as a whole. He criticised the existence of the aristocracy and the British monarchy. He endorsed the equality of the sexes, stating that "it is essential that our women live on terms of full equality with their fellow citizens who are men".

He remained dedicated to a belief in the rule of law. He stressed the need for hard work. Nyerere appealed to the idea of tradition when trying to convince Tanzanians of his ideas. He stated that Tanzania could only be developed "through the religion of socialism and self-reliance". He reiterated the ideas of freedom, equality, and unity as being central to his concept of African socialism.

Socialism and Christianity

Nyerere's belief in socialism was retained after his socialist reforms failed to generate economic growth. He stated, "They keep saying you've failed. But what is wrong with urging people to pull together? Did Christianity fail because the world is not all Christian?"

Much of Nyerere's political ideology was inspired by his Christian belief, although he stipulated the view that one did not have to be a Christian to be a socialist:

There is not the slightest necessity for people to study metaphysics and decide whether there is one God, many Gods, or no God, before they can be socialist... What matters in socialism and to socialists is that you should care about a particular kind of social relationship on this earth. Why you care is your affair.

Elsewhere, he declared that "socialism is secular".

Trevor Huddleston thought that Nyerere could be considered both a Christian humanist and a Christian socialist. In his speeches and writings, Nyerere frequently quoted from the Bible, and in a 1970 address to the headquarters of the Maryknoll Mission, he argued that the Roman Catholic Church must involve itself in "the rebellion against those social structures and economic organizations which condemn men to poverty, humiliation and degradation", warning that if it failed to do so then it would lose relevance and "the Christian religion will degenerate into a series of superstitions accepted by the fearful". Despite his personal religious commitments, he espoused freedom of religion and the right for individuals to change their religious adherence.

How to Draw

Flag of African Socialism

1. Draw a ball.
2. Fill it with red.
3. Draw a yellow sihouette of Africa.
4. Add a red star in the middle.
5. Add the eyes and you're done!

Color Name		HEX	RGB
	Red	#ED1C24	rgb(237, 28, 36)
	Yellow	#F0C600	rgb(240, 198, 0)

Personality

Afrsoc has trauma towards colonalism and tries to lead his nation forward. Like his father Pan-Africanism, he believes in African unity and will persuade his brothers into doing so. Because he believes Capitalism was the mindest of all colonialist empires by corporate slave holdings, he blames capitalism for Africa's poverty and troubles and believes any capitalist in the African continent is none more than a "traitor" and "western-backed neocolonial puppet".

Relationships

Wandugu (Comrades)

• Socialism - Only Socialism can save Africa now!
• Marxism - Precisely accurate theories of how the bourgeoisie exploit the third world to this day.
• Pan-Africanism - Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent!
• Castroism - A good comrade who's always there when we needed some help.
• Guevarism - Brothers in arms!
• Black Nationalism - We must take back Africa for the African people. My people will no longer be exploited!
• Gaddafism - Fellow African Anti-Colonial Socialist ,Together ,we shall drive the Imperialists out of Africa.
• Separatism - Kick the colonialists off our land!
• Indigenism - Another oppressed minority who had their land unjustly stolen by colonial powers and whose plight for taking back their stolen land is ignored by the majority of the privileged first-world people and activists.
• Maoism–Third Worldism - Cites me as a major inspiration, we both like Nkrumah a lot.
• Titoism - My friend from Yugoslavia.
• Revolutionary Nationalism - Liberating nationalism is incredibly based. Death to western imperialists!
• Arab Socialism - Long live Arabic-African unity!

Mwenye Mashaka (Doubtful)

• Nguema Thought - I'm flattered you like me so much but what the actual fuck is your problem? Also, while I support socialist nationalism, I don't want black Pol Potism.
• Brother Hao - Afro-Dengism? I also doubt whatever PRC really cares about Africa or is just another authcap imperialist with red paint.
• Afunism - Ok, I get it, You want to save Africa from the colonialists, but What's that whole story about Fascism, Anti-Feminism, Sterilization of religious people and death penalty for those who hang out with people who don't have the same race than us or disagree with you?
• Social Authoritarianism - I will never forgive what they did to Burkina Faso. But many of my variants Post-1990s did become you.
• Garveyism - You may be a pan-African and a black nationalist, but You're still a filthy... CAPITALIST... FASCIST... PIG!!
  • MY SYSTEM IS BASED ON LENIN'S NEP, YOU BAFFOON!

Wakandamizaji (Oppressors)

• Imperialism - You have done irreversible damage to the African continent. If hell existed, which of course it doesn't, I'd want you to burn.
• Neoconservatism - LAISSEZ NOTRE CONTINENT TRANQUILLE ET EMPORTEZ VOTRE STUPIDE FRANC CFA AVEC VOUS!
• Gaullism - ET VOUS AUSSI, GAULLE!
• Mobutism - Corrupt klepomaniac who killed Lumumba and drove the Congo 50 years back.
• Idi Aminism - YOU'RE A LITERAL BLACK FASCIST!
• Capitalism - Capitalism is indistinguishable from colonialism and white supremacy!
• White Nationalism - Rest in piss Apartheid. You won't be missed.
• Reactionaryism - Africa will surpass tribalism, colonialism, and capitalism and advance into the 21st century.
• Liberalism - The ideology of the colonists.
• Salazarism - Get rekt'd by the MPLA, FRELIMO, PAIGC, and MLSTP!
• Leopold II Thought - GET THE FUCK OUT OF CONGO, YOU MONARCHIST SCUM!
  • YOU WERE EATING EACHOTHER AND FARMING EACHOTHER LIKE CHATTEL!

• Anarcho-Syndicalism - "Anarcho-Syndicalism?" "Down with them!"
• Hutu Power - Fascist scum causing African infighting.
• Nazism - I'M NOT YOU! YOU ARE A RACIST BASTARD!
• Thatcherism - Don't you lay your hands on Angola... ever AGAIN...
• State Oriental Orthodoxy - Bye bye Selassie.

Gallery

Portraits

• 
  Original portrait, by Chcknwngs

Alternative designs

• 
  Sankarism
• 
  Sankarism (alt)
• 
  Flag of Sankarism

Comics and Artwork

• 
  "5x5 Tankie Political Compass" by TheLegend2T, Source

Further Information

Texts

By Kwane Nkrumah

• Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage Of Imperialism

By Julius Nyerere

• Essays on Socialism
• Freedom and Development
• Freedom and Unity

Wikipedia

• African Socialism
• African People's Socialist Party
• FRELIMO
• Harambee
• Kwilu_rebellion
• Pan_Africanist_Congress_of_Azania
• MPLA
• Simba rebellion
• Economic_Freedom_Fighters
• Mathieu_Kérékou
• Nelson_Mandela

Online Communities

• PanAfricanists