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THE EDITOR, Sir:

LETTER WRITER Anthony Anderson advocates a policy of co-operation between Jamaica, the CARICOM and the African Union (AU), ("Jamaica should take advantage": July 24, 2002). I endorse this course of action for a reason completely different from those enumerated in the letter.

Contemplate the following quote from an API wire service report written by Stephanie A. Galdin.

"At the close of the Summit on July 10, he [Thabo Mbeki] drew the ire of the tiny contingent of Black American reporters, when he tried to dismiss criticism of the glaring lack of Black observers from North America and the Caribbean. Laughing and then becoming pensive, Mbeki at first dismissed the questions, saying the summit was reserved for "heads of state," but then suggested that those wishing to participate in the AU should contact "our ambassadors in Washington, D.C." He then added that the Black press in the United States should 'look it up on the Internet.'"

Mbeki's arrogance is an affront to Black people in the Caribbean, and North America, who have been steadfast in the struggle for African decolonisation, and especially so in the struggle waged against the Apartheid regime of South Africa. He is out of order.

Thabo Mbeki's remarks are an indication of the alienation of the African regimes from the African people, both in the Diaspora and at home.

Listen to the voice of Africa speaking to the world, and Mbeki, as Stephanie Galdin documents it in her article.

"We are hoping this isn't just another show of pomp and circumstances," said Richard Louw- they (heads of state) are rolling through the city in Mercedes, while the people walk the streets hungry."

We know it is only "pomp and circumstance."

This is the indictment, as articulated by George B.N. Ayittey ("Africa's Poverty": San Diego Union Tribune, June 16, 2002), against those bandits who now constitute themselves into the mutual assurance society called the African Union. He speaks thus of the AU leadership: "A hideous assortment of 'Swiss bank account' socialists, military vagabonds, quack revolutionaries and briefcase bandits. Their overriding preoccupation is not to develop their economies but to perpetuate themselves in office, loot the treasury and brutally suppress all dissent and opposition."

To come back to Anthony Anderson's letter, it appears the CARICOM governments, with their long record of failing to represent the interest of the African-Caribbean people, would be quite at home among those hyenas in the AU. I hope they pursue this association with the utmost vigour.

There is much alarm about the stellar performance of girls/women in the field of education in the Caribbean. This is a portent. When the oppressed begin to move, the power structure invariably trembles.

We are taking note of the intrepid spirit of the women of the impoverished Niger-Delta region who are now engaged in an earnest struggle with Chevron-Texaco in search of redress for the social dislocation and economic hardships that the combined oil interests of Nigeria and USA have caused them. They represent the spirit of Africa in this new phase of struggle. They, not the AU, provide our inspiration. This swelling tide of women's rebellion is the wave of the future. Mother Africa shall redeem herself! Her sons pledge an undying loyalty to her in all struggles.

I am etc.,
ADUKU ADDAE
jamericanbwoy@hotmail.com

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