FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM!
International Communist Workers Party
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FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM! |
International Communist Workers Party | |
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SOUTH AFRICA — South Africa is hosting the 25th summit of the African Union. President Mugabe of Zimbabwe is the chairperson of African Union, which comprises 54 African countries. He made a scathing attack on South Africa and Nigeria for failing to oppose authorizing western air strikes in Libya which toppled Gaddafi’s regime. At the same time, Mugabe pledged to lead Africa to rid itself of its colonial past. China is Zimbabwe’s leading trading partner.
China has passed the US, European Union and Japan to become Africa’s biggest trading partner. Libya under Gaddafi had enormous Chinese investment. As the US/EU-lead forces toppled the Gaddafi regime, Chinese infrastructure worth $20 billion was damaged. China had to rescue over 40,000 of its citizens and its plan of linking Africa to Europe via Libya was shattered.
The Chinese capitalists realize that to secure their investments and the flow of oil and natural resources, they desperately need a military presence in Africa. The Mugabe government has agreed to allow China to build a massive military base in the mining area of Zimbabwe. China has also negotiated building a naval base in the strategically important country of Djibouti. The ships that travel through the Suez Canal have to pass through the choke point of Djibouti.
China is also negotiating with the Egyptian government to upgrade and renovate the Suez Canal through which a large amount of US, Japanese and European trade takes place.
“Egypt and China agreed to work together on the Silk Road Economic Belt and Maritime Silk Road project. Sisi also promised Egypt would actively court Chinese investment for its New Suez Canal project, a $4 billion project that will parallel the existing canal in linking the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The new canal is a natural fit for China’s Maritime Silk Road vision, with the planned route already moving through the Suez Canal to reach Europe.” (The Diplomat, December 2014)
The European and British capitalists have a history of over 500 years of dominating Africa for its natural resources. Their power and influence were considerably weakened after WWII as the US emerged as a dominant imperialist force. In the last 30 years the Chinese imperialists have replaced US in Africa as the major economic power. Rising China and declining US are on a collision course.
As Eric Draister, a NY based analyst, wrote: “All over Africa, the United States has tried to check the growing influence of China. From Nigeria to South Africa, Angola to Sudan, the US is engaging in a widespread proxy war with the expressed intention of maintaining its dominant position in Africa. Using its vast military resources, Washington seeks to cement its African hegemony using the same colonial tactics as every other empire that came before it.”
This rivalry between the US and China will inevitably lead to major wars up to world wars for profit. Our party in South Africa is actively discussing how we can mobilize the masses now and survive and build for communist revolution before, during and after nuclear war. The recent xenophobic attacks on immigrant workers in South Africa have shown that we must build our party not only in South Africa but in other areas of Africa.
We are intensifying our internal struggle in the party to concentrate our work in the industrial concentration of the auto industry. We had a modest success of distributing Red Flag at auto plants and we have to follow up with the positive response we got from the workers. We realize that only the consistent work of building Red Flag readership with patience and struggle will ensure the growth of the party.