Norman Traub of spoke with EXPLO NANI-KOFI, coLiberation Support Campaign Network and editor of their magazine Kilombo on September 18 in London NT: Can you tell me about the journal you edit, Kilombo and the significance of its title as well as the aims and objects of the ALISC Network? ENK: Let me start with the publication, Kilombo. The Lanc comes from the Kimbundu language of the Ambundu people in Angola.
We looked for a word from an African language that is a word of resistance in Africa and also for people of African descent outside. We wanted a word that is applicable to both the continent and the diaspora because of our fanAfrican orientation.
Kilombo means a fighting settlement or a committee of resistance. Queen Nzingha led the revolts against the colonial occupation of the Portuguese in Angola from ner komDos.
When the enslaved Africans were taken to Brazil they revolted against the slave owners and they called the fortresses from which they fought kilombos. This is how we came by the name.
The ALISC was initiated in 1991 by a group of Ghanaians who came into exile in Europe and had been involved in struggles against the IMF and the World Bank structural adjustment policies in Ghana.
When they came to Europe they found the struggles they were involvea in naa not been heard of - even in progressive circles in the countries to which they fled.
We started the ALISC in Britain in 1991 to bring information about the daily class struggles taking place in Africa to the population of this country. We wanted to strengthen progressive forces in Africa, who had been marginalised by right wing forces making truces with imperialism during the period of
We work closely with new social movements That nave emerged fighting all cases of injustice on our continent, fighting for democracy, fightintegration into the world capitalist economy.
In the struggle to overthrow imperialism we have to utilise this historical connection as part of the whole international movement against imperialism.
Nkrumah and DuBois have left us with a legacy on which WC building PanAfricanism today. NT: You were recently invited to be a panel member on television to discuss whether socialism can work in Africa. Tell us something of the discussion and your contribution. ENK: I made it clear in the aiscussion That capitalism emerged historically. Because of the oppressive and exploitative nature of capitalism, the mcca ror an allenauve svstem has become compelling.
Socialism is not a mere decJaration or label but is ar alternative to all the injustices of capitalism and emerges through a historical process It is unlike having a choice Derween TWO commodities being sold on a market stall.
Capitalism is a functioning system ana as such nas to be dismantled so that an alternative system can be built. Capitalism has failed to meet the needs of Africa, which is part of the capitalist periphery.
Socialism has not been built
Many part of Socialism has to be built in Africa just as it has to be built in the rest of the world. Unless this occurs, the crisis through which the world is passing will remain unresolved. The
conditions Jou Ul au which the majority of people live today will remain.
The alternative to this is socialism. NT: The US and other states like China are becoming more dependent on oil from Africa. Can you tell us how this new scramble for oil is affecting ENK: During the cold war the war was only cold in the countries that had declared war our was very not In lne fields of Mozambique, Angola and Guinea Bissau
With regard to the competition between the US and China, there are those who point out that China was offering better terms than the US and the West.
But the laws of capitalism operating in a country, where one company outbids the others, also apply on the global level, where China is outbidding the US.
This competition does not serve the interests of the