On the conditions of our struggle in Germany
On the 26th of September, federal elections where held in Germany. In contrast to it’s European neighbors France and the UK, Germany’s relationship to Africa is hardly known. Nevertheless, Germany once controlled the third biggest colonial empire including modern day Namibia, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Cameroon as well as Togo.
Racism in Germany did not start with the Nazis and Hitler. There is a continuation of Germany gaining profits through transatlantic enslavement, to genocide and colonialism in Africa, to today’s imperialism and state support of fascist terror.
Nowadays, the African population in Germany numbers approximately 1-2 million people and is continuously growing. Our people are split into and ascribe themselves to various groups based on their nationalities, religions, languages, political ideologies and other identities due the centuries old divide-and-conquer-strategy.
Germany as a neocolonial power
As today’s most powerful European country, German imperialism follows its neocolonial interests throughout the world. In Africa it is actively supporting French and US-imperialism as it serves their common interest of Africa’s continued exploitation and oppression.
The U.S. military presence in Africa is coordinated by AFRICOM (United States Africa Command) since 2008. Originally, AFRICOM was to be headquartered on the African continent. However, since all potential countries refused to host AFRICOM, the headquarters are located in Stuttgart, Germany. The 46 military bases (as of 2020) and numerous imperialist military operations and coups in Africa are controlled from here.
At the same time Germany continuously supports French neocolonialism and proudly proclaims again and again that the European war against migrants in the middle of Africa will continue to expand. The German military´s largest operation abroad has its focus in Mali, but is also particularly active in Niger, as well as Mauritania, Chad and Burkina Faso. Officially around 1100 German soldiers are stationed in Mali with the MINUSMA mission. MINUSMA is a so-called UN peace mission. In addition to heavily armed soldiers and police officers, Germany also contributes to this “peace” with war pilots, drones and tanks. In addition, around 600 German soldiers are officially involved in the neo-colonial occupation of the country with the EU mission EUTM. Behind EUTM is a so-called EU training mission, which is geared towards training and advising the Malian military. The European imperialists claim to want to work for the “security and stability of the country”. In fact the opposite is true, as is proven by the regional instability and military coups. German, European and western interests are based on an unlimited exploitation of resources and the protection of their economic and geostrategic interests. They are responsible for the direct and indirect submission and exploitation of land, resources and the oppression of the population.
Germany must pay for colonial crimes and genocide!
Germany’s imperialist agenda is reflected in how it tries to misuse the fact, that it committed the first genocide of the 20th century, through a mendacious PR-campaign of fake-reparations:
From 1904-1908, the German state committed a brutal genocide and the most serious crimes against humanity in what is now Namibia. The goal of Germany was to completely wipe out the native population, the Ovaherero and the Nama. In this genocide, the Germans systematically robbed, tortured, enslaved, raped, murdered, and used eugenics (human experiments) and concentration camps. For decades, the descendants of the Ovaherero and Nama, of whom up to 100,000 were systematically murdered by German soldiers, have been fighting for justice and recognition of the genocide. It is only because of this heroic struggle that the German government, after having repeatedly denied the genocide, had to negotiate a so-called “reconciliation agreement” with the state of Namibia.
The agreement of 2021, which the German government wants to impose on Namibia, is not a contribution to justice! It is nothing more than a deception and an expression of neocolonialism and the hypocrisy of Germany. While the negotiations were taking place over the heads of the surviving communities, this agreement was being forced upon the Namibian government and so-called development aid was used to buy the government over as well. Through this, Germany wants to avoid its responsibility and does not want to pay reparations for the genocide and all crimes that they have committed and the consequences of which still continue to this day. At the same time, utilizing the strategy of “divide and conquer”, Germany is using the government of Namibia against the Ovaherero and Nama. While for centuries ongoing imperial and colonial crimes of Germany and Europe directly lead to the European Holocaust they are still not acknowledged and stopped until today.
Germany, from now on led by a known white supremacist torturer and murderer
The German state and economy are still peppered with violent white supremacists who are gaining more and more influence in bourgeois politics. However, this is not new and the openly white supremacist elements inside of the state apparatus are far from being the only threat for Africans living in Germany:
This year we commemorated the tenth anniversary of the murder of Christy Schwundeck and the twentieth anniversary of the murder of N’deye Mareame Sarr, both African women who were brutally assaulted by the racist, german police. Another victim of racist state violence in Germany is Achidi John, an African refugee who was tortured to death in Hamburg in December 2001. The politician directly responsible for the murder of Achidi John is Olaf Scholz – the top candidate of the so-called social democratic party of Germany (SPD). As a senator of interior, he had introduced the forced application of emetics against people who are stigmatized and persecuted as “drug dealers” – mostly Africans. After the brutal murder of Achidi John and the public outcry, Olaf Scholz and his party continued to support the use of emetics even though it was juristically declared a method of torture. Following the recent federal elections, Olaf Scholz, a highly corrupt and dishonest racist will most likely become the new chancellor and take over the political leadership of German imperialism.
Organize for the total liberation and unification of Africa!
This shows the urgency of why we call on all Africans in Germany and around the world to organize for self-defense and for the total liberation and unification of our motherland Africa. Even though we understand the desire of the African community to be represented in the official government bodies like the German Bundestag, looking at the United States we know that more representation (“black faces in high places”) does not solve the contradictions of an inherently racist system. To achieve total liberation we have to organize ourselves in independent African organizations.
This year a Germany-wide alliance of Black organizations was founded to celebrate the African Liberation Day. For next year we are planning to hold a central action as well as other activities to advance the African liberation struggle in Germany. As a country in the Middle of the old European belly of the beast, the place where the still existing colonial divisions of Africa were set up in 1885/1885, the contributions of Africans living in Germany are of strategic importance.
Join an organization fighting for our people! Join the alliance “25th of May” to organize around African Liberation!