Vol. 71/No. 34 September 17, 2007
BY THOMAS SANKARA
Mr. President;
Heads of delegations:
I would like at this moment for us to take up the other question that plagues us, the question of the debt, the question of Africas economic situation. As much as peace, resolving this is an important condition for our survival .
We believe analysis of the debt should begin with its roots. The roots of the debt go back to the beginning of colonialism. Those who lent us the money were those who colonized us. They were the same people who ran our states and our economies. It was the colonizers who put Africa into debt to the financierstheir brothers and cousins. This debt has nothing to do with us. Thats why we cannot pay it.
The debt is another form of neocolonialism, one in which the colonialists have transformed themselves into technical assistants. Actually, it would be more accurate to say technical assassins. Theyre the ones who advised us on sources of financing, on underwriters of loans. As if there were men whose loans are enough to create development in other peoples countries. These underwriters were recommended to us, suggested to us. They gave us enticing financial documents and presentations. We took on loans of fifty years, sixty years, and even longer. That is, we were led to commit our peoples for fifty years and more.
The debt in its present form is a cleverly organized reconquest of Africa under which our growth and development are regulated by stages and norms totally alien to us. It is a reconquest that turns each of us into a financial slaveor just plain slaveof those who had the opportunity, the craftiness, the deceitfulness to invest funds in our countries that we are obliged to repay. Some tell us to pay the debt. This is not a moral question. Paying or not paying is not a question of so-called honor at all.
Mr. President:
We listened to and applauded the prime minister of Norway when she spoke right here. She said, and shes a European, that the debt as a whole cannot be repaid. I just want to develop her remarks further by saying that none of the debt can be repaid. The debt cannot be repaid, first of all, because, if we dont pay, the lenders wont die. Of that you can be sure. On the other hand, if we do pay, we are the ones who will die. Of that you can be equally sure. Those who led us into debt were gambling, as if they were in a casino. As long as they were winning, there was no problem. Now that theyre losing their bets, they demand repayment. There is talk of a crisis. No, Mr. President. They gambled. They lost. Those are the rules of the game. Life goes on. [Applause]
We cannot repay the debt because we have nothing to pay it with. We cannot repay the debt because its not our responsibility. We cannot repay the debt because, on the contrary, the others owe us something that the greatest riches can never repaya debt of blood .
When people talk to us today about economic crisis, they forget to mention that the crisis didnt appear overnight. It has been with us for a long time, and it will deepen more and more as the popular masses become increasingly aware of their rights in face of the exploiters.
There is a crisis today because the masses refuse to allow wealth to be concentrated in the hands of a few individuals. There is a crisis because a few individuals hold colossal sums of money in foreign banksenough to develop Africa. There is a crisis because in face of these individual fortunes, whose owners we can name, the popular masses refuse to live in ghettos and slums. There is a crisis because people everywhere refuse to stay in Soweto when Johannesburg is directly opposite them. That is, there is struggle, and the deepening of this struggle leads to worries among the holders of financial power.
They ask us today to collaborate in the search for stability. Stability to the benefit of the holders of financial power. Stability to the detriment of the popular masses. No, we cant be accomplices in this. No, we cant go along with those who suck the blood of our peoples and who live off the sweat of our peoples. We cant go along with their murderous ventures.
Mr. President:
We hear talk of clubsthe Club of Rome, the Club of Paris, the Club of Everywhere. We hear talk of the Group of Five, of Seven, of the Group of Ten, perhaps the Group of One Hundred. Who knows what else? Its normal that we too have our own club, our own group. Starting today, lets make Addis Ababa a similar seat, the center from which will come a breath of fresh air, the Club of Addis Ababa. We have the duty to create the united front of Addis Ababa against the debt. This is the only way we can say today that, by refusing to pay, were not setting out on a course of war but, on the contrary, a fraternal course of explaining the facts as they are.
Whats more, the popular masses of Europe are not opposed to the popular masses of Africa. Those who want to exploit Africa are the same ones as those who exploit Europe. We have a common enemy. Our Club of Addis Ababa must tell both sides that the debt cannot be paid. When we say the debt cannot be paid we are in no way against morality, dignity, or respect for ones word. Its our view that we dont have the same morals as the other side. The rich and the poor dont share the same morals. The Bible and the Koran cant serve in the same way those who exploit the people and those who are exploited. There will have to be two editions of the Bible and two editions of the Koran. [Applause]
We cant accept their morals. We cant accept their talking to us about dignity. We cant accept their talking to us about the merits of those who pay and about a loss of confidence in those who dont pay. On the contrary, we must explain that its normal these days to favor the view that the richest people are the biggest thieves. A poor man who steals commits no more than larceny, a petty crime, just to survive, out of necessity. The rich are the ones who rob the tax revenue and customs duties. They are the ones who exploit the people.
Mr. President:
My proposal does not aim simply to provoke or to create a spectacle. I am trying to say what each of us thinks and hopes for. Who here doesnt want to see the debt written off, pure and simple? Anyone who doesnt want that can leave, take his plane, and go directly to the World Bank to pay it off. [Applause]
Mr. President:
This is not a provocation. I hope you can very wisely offer us solutions. I hope our conference sees the necessity of stating clearly that we cannot pay the debt. Not in a warmongering or warlike spirit. This is to avoid our going off to be killed one at a time. If Burkina Faso alone were to refuse to pay the debt, I wouldnt be at the next conference. On the other hand, with the support of all, which I greatly need [Applause], with the support of all, we can avoid paying. And if we can avoid paying, we can devote our meager resources to our development.
I would like to close by saying that when we tell countries were not going to pay the debt, we can assure them that what is saved wont be spent on prestige projects. We dont want any more of those. What is saved will be used for development. In particular we will avoid going into debt to buy arms. Because an African country that buys arms can only be doing so to use them against an African country. What African country here can arm itself to defend against the nuclear bomb? No country is capable of that, from the best armed to the least armed. Every time an African country buys a weapon, its for use against another African country. Its not for use against a European country. Its not for use against an Asian country. So in preparing the resolution on the debt we must also find a solution to the question of armaments .
We can also use Africas immense latent resources to develop the continent, because our soil and subsoil are rich. We have the means to do that and we have an immense market, a vast market from north to south, east to west. We have sufficient intellectual capacities to create technology and science, or at least to adopt it wherever we find it.
Mr. President:
Lets assemble this united front of Addis Ababa against the debt. Lets organize so that beginning in Addis Ababa we make the decision to limit the arms race between weak and poor countries. The clubs and swords we buy are of no use. Lets make sure that the African market is a market for Africans. Lets produce in Africa, transform in Africa, consume in Africa. Produce what we need and consume what we produce, in place of importing it.
Burkina Faso has come to show you the cotton produced in Burkina Faso, woven in Burkina Faso, sewn in Burkina Faso to clothe the Burkinabč. My delegation and I were clothed by our weavers, our peasants. Not a single thread comes from Europe or America. [Applause] Im not here to put on a fashion show; I simply want to say that we should undertake to live as Africans. It is the only way to live free and to live in dignity.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Homeland or death, we will win!
[Ovation]
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