SMG SAYS NO TO WAR IN NIGER

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The Socialist Movement of Ghana (SMG) has said an emphatic no to threats by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to use military force to reinstate the deposed President of Niger.

At the end of  its Central Committee Meeting in the Volta Regional Capital, Ho, the SMG leadership declared its solidarity with the people of Niger and demanded that “the people of Niger be allowed to choose their own path to development”.

The Central Committee is the second highest organ of the movement and the meeting was attended by representatives of all its collectives from 14 out of 16 administrative regions of Ghana.

The SMG said “we recognize the need for an end to threats for war in Niger instigated by France and expressed through ECOWAS and the imperative of an immediate halt of the reckless decision by some West African leaders to intervene militarily”.

The meeting also expressed its full solidarity with the people of Palestine and Western Sahara fighting against colonial occupation.

It also condemned illegal sanctions imposed on the people of Cuba, Venezuela and Iran by the United State of America.

The full text of the declaration adopted at the end of the meeting is published below;

Today, the 19^th of August 2023, the Central Committee of Our movement met at the Teachers Hall in Ho to deliberate on emerging issues that confront our people – the African continent and our movement. We resolved to remain committed to Anti-Imperialist, Anti-Capitalist and Pan-Africanist struggles in pursuits of the deep aspirations of the working class and to strengthen our movement and position ourselves for effective struggle.  We deliberated on the International and National situation. We assessed the state of the exploited and oppressed peoples of the world and explored opportunities and methods of accelerating the construction of a better world.

In this meeting, we were bound by the strong and common desire to work towards the realisation of the broad objectives of the national liberation movement against colonialism, in all its manifestations. We sought to advance this endeavour to its logical conclusion of: building our movement towards uniting Africa under the banner of Scientific Socialism. 

Our meeting was unanimous that the National Liberation Struggle remains unfinished in Africa. From Western Sahara to the Chagos Islands, our brothers and sisters remain under the extreme yoke of colonial occupation and the Central Committee of our movement called for mass solidarity with the peoples and organisations fighting for national liberation – both from colonialism and neo-colonialism.

We noted that, in its desperation to control the levers of power around the world, the forces of imperialism have intensified their efforts to instigate war by pouring fuel on raging ethnic, geographical and political conflicts. The meeting expressed extreme concern about the expanding military presence of imperialist countries, especially from the US and former colonial powers, around the world. 

The rapacious consumption of capitalism, with its indifference to environmental destruction and the working people, are among the root causes of exacerbating poverty across the world, especially in Africa. 

We acknowledge the deplorable state of our national economy which has led to very devastating living conditions of the working people of our country – mass unemployment, high cost of living and an unprecedented debt restructuring programme which has led to major difficulties with pensioners in our country. Our country has for the first time defaulted on our dept payment and has implemented domestic debt exchange as a condition for an IMF programme. The IMF has imposed austerity measures which has led to an astronomical increase in the cost of electricity and water – there is a freeze in public sector employment which has led to an ever increasing desperation of the majority of our people.

We acknowledge that the struggles of the peoples of Africa for independence, deeper democracy, social justice and peace are inextricably linked to similar struggles all over the world.

At the end of our Central Committee deliberations, we salute our Ho Collective for hosting our third Central Committee meeting.

We declare that:

1. We remain committed to the struggles to remove all vestiges of colonialism from Africa and the world. We demand an end to the colonial occupation of Western Sahara and the Chagos Islands.
2. The establishment of foreign military bases on African soil and aircraft carriers in our territorial waters are a violation of our sovereignty and an escalation of militarisation on our continent. We are calling for the unity of all anti-imperialist forces in the heroic and bold efforts to dismantle all foreign military bases.

3. Whilst the enhancement and enjoyment of trade union rights, by itself, cannot construct a new, dignified society, we nonetheless see the struggles for trade union rights as pivotal. We defend the rights of workers to organise themselves into independent, democratic, worker-controlled trade unions. We condemn efforts by private corporations to stifle the unionization of workers – we stand with the Trades Union Congress of Ghana in their struggle to defend expelled workers of SunAsogli

4. We recognise the need for an end to the threats of war in Niger instigated by France and expressed through ECOWAS and the imperative of an immediate halt of the reckless decision by West African leaders to intervene militarily. The Central committee on behalf of our movement stands in solidarity with the people of Niger and we demand that the people of Niger be allowed to choose their own path to development.
5. The growing internationalisation and militarisation of social conflicts in the Sahel are destabilising the continent. As a movement, we encourage the establishment of peoples’ platforms to end these terrorist insurgencies, which have opportunistically instrumentalized religion to legitimate their actions.
6. The formation of the West African Peoples Organisation (WAPO) is an important step in the mobilisation of the peoples of Africa in pursuit of a united and Socialist Africa. The Central Committee salute WAPO and wish this initiative much success.
7. We stand in solidarity with all peoples throughout the world fighting for national independence, social justice, democracy and Socialism. To this end we strongly affirm our solidarity with:
   1. The people of Palestine in their battle against the genocidal, Zionist, Apartheid, colonial occupation.
   2. The people of Cuba who are resisting more than 60 years of an illegal blockade imposed on them by the government of the  United States of America.
   3. The people of Venezuela, who are resisting illegal sanctions by the USA which is blatantly interfering in their internal affairs.
   4. The people of Haiti who are confronting imperialist intervention as continuous punishment for their successful revolution against slavery in 1804.
   5. The people of Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and now Niger who, with great difficulty, are navigating a way out from the neo-colonialism that has characterised their reality since they received flag independence in 1960. We are hopeful that the closer cooperation between Mali, Guinea Burkina Faso and Niger will be a platform for meaningful sovereignty in Africa.
   6. We remain committed to a just and lasting peace in the conflict between Russia and NATO, unfolding in Ukraine. We vehemently condemn the escalation of the conflict by the West which is increasingly pumping highly sophisticated weapons into Ukraine. This war must end.
   7. We congratulate the People’s Republic of China for exercising great restraint in the face of provocations from the United States of America and its allies. We call on all parties to avoid World War 3, which would see Africa suffer the most.