African Liberation Day (ALD) is an expression of the long struggle of the African people to liberate and emancipate themselves from the shackles of slavery, colonialism and the current stage of imperialism – neo-colonialism. Immediately after Africa attained its first independence in 1957 by Ghana, the then Ghanaian leader the immortal Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah and the heroic Ahmed Sekou Toure of Guinea-Conakry (which attained independence in 1958) joined forces with six other African leaders to convene the First Conference of Independent African States in Accra, Ghana, on 15 April 1958.
The landmark conference there and then declared April 15 as Africa Freedom Day to support the onward anti-colonial struggle. Five years later, the Independent African states increased from 8 to 30. And in the 1963 Addis Abba conference of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), Africa Freedom Day was renamed African Liberation Day and the date shifted to May 25, which incarnates an institution set aside “to mark each year the onward progress of the liberation movement, and to symbolise the determination of the people of Africa to free themselves from foreign domination and exploitation”.
Forty-one years on, since 1981 PANAFU-SL, a mass-based Pan-Africanist Organisation, has continued to join force with revolutionaries and progressive Africans worldwide to commemorate ALD.
And in honour of his heroic contributions to the Pan-African struggle, PANAFU-SL decides to dedicate this year’s theme to Comrade Ahmed Sekou Toure. Hence its theme for this year reads: “Ahmed Sekou Toure: An Unsung Hero with Outstanding Contribution in the Liberation Struggle of Africa.”
With relentless contributions to the liberation of Africa as well as to advance humanity, Sekou Toure in Guinea played host to political and military bases for number of freedom fighting forces like the PAIGC, ANC, ULIMO, PAC, FRILIMO and others. Comrade Toure rescued and hosted the anti-colonial champion – Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah – when he was overthrown in 1966. He provided a base of opportunity that supported Nkrumah to author outstanding materials on African history and liberation.
Toure was an African leader who respected women hence he named his liberated land: Guinea – which signifies or means ‘beautiful women’. Together with Nkrumah, he groomed and provided base for the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) leading revolutionary organiser, Stokely Carmichael, who changed his colonial name to Kwame Ture (taken from the name of Nkrumah and the surname of Sekou Toure) and repatriated to Africa in Guinea.
The heroic Sekou Toure never bowed to colonial terrorisation; he stood firm in utmost rejection to assimilate with French colonial clique system and braved the reconstruction of Guinea with bare native economy after France destroyed all they claimed they owned in Guinea and departed.
In esteemed honesty, Sekou Toure was the longest practitioner of revolutionary Pan- Africanism, from 1958 to 1984, without blemish of corruption. He empowered the people of Guinea with strategic middle-level manpower, nationalised the economy with agriculture as the backbone and endowed Guinea with enormous reserve of natural resources. Like Nkrumah, Sekou Toure was a leading theorist, as both of them provided the ideological basis for the free, united and socialist Africa; in other words: One Unified Socialist Africa.
Comrade Toure authored, among many, exemplary revolutionary materials and books such as African Culture, Strategy and Tactics of the African Revolution, and Africa on the Move (with the popular quoted statement of his): “Our greatest victory will not be the one we are winning over colonialism by securing independence, but the victory we shall win over ourselves by freeing ourselves from the complexes of colonialism…expressing ourselves with African authentic values and identifying our lives thoroughly with them” (Ahmed Sekou Toure –Africa On The Move).
An exemplary leadership and a true son of Africa, the heroic Ahmed Sekou Toure lives on to mentor the young generation of the African revolution, as he is a model for African leaders.
In the same vein, PANAFU also recognizes with solidarity all progressive forces celebrating ALD nationally and internationally including the A-APRP, UHURU MOVEMENT, PAC, CULTURE RADIO, REGGAE UNION, BLACK HISTORY ANTHOLOGY/AFRICAN SOULJA GLOBAL and others. As we celebrate this year’s ALD, We therefore say FORWARD TO THE GRAND 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF ALD 2023.
PANAFU further recognizes other progressive forces and movements around the world struggling for just causes and who are in solidarity with the African Peoples’ struggles, such as the Palestinian people that are being displaced and massacred by Western-backed Imperialist Zionist forces.
Join PANAFU to commemorate ALD 2022 on Wednesday 25 May at 10am and on Saturday 28 May at 3pm @ Mawina Kouyateh Centre, 125 Regent Road, Freetown.
Contacts: +232: 77 500 – 649 / 76 473- 585 / 78 171 – 753
AFRICANS (WORKERS, YOUTHS, STUDENTS, WOMEN) UNITED WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED!
