White power in black face

White power in black face
Much is being written these days about “corruption” among the African
ruling elite being the cause of Africa’s problems today.
The reality is that the African politicians are simply doing what they
were set up to do—maintain the interests of the imperialist financial
interests regardless of the cost to the people. These are the
neocolonialists and they are paid quite well.
After the murder of Patrice Lumumba, Tempelsman secured a diamond
deal with Congo that was extremely lucrative for both the U.S. and
DeBeers. It also allowed him to end up with control of several
profitable mines while giving some of the biggest, most valuable
diamonds in the world to Joseph Mobutu, the pliable new puppet who
would brutally do the bidding of U.S. imperialism in Congo for the next
30 years.
Despite the fact that Lumumba was only in power three months, his
leadership had sparked the enthusiasm of the masses of the people
and the confidence that they could begin to control their own destiny
as African people on their own land.
For many years following the assassination of Lumumba, Congo
(known as Zaire under Mobutu) was in a state of mass rebellion. Well-
organized resistance fighters held liberated territory in some areas,
prompting Che Guevara to take a brigade of Cuban revolutionaries to
join the struggle there.
It took all of Mobutu’s military force and a reign of terror to subdue the
peoples’ resistance. Mobutu’s forces were trained, armed and paid by
the U.S., with the CIA operating both openly and covertly throughout
the country, often with its own mercenary forces.
As a U.S. puppet, Mobutu was vicious to those who challenged him. He
was known to gouge out the eyes of opposition leaders or cut off their

limbs while they were still alive. He tortured and locked up hundreds of
thousands of African working people and students.
Mobutu was paid well for his terror, raiding the coffers of the country
and amassing nearly $5 billion, which he stashed in Swiss banks, while
the African masses starved and suffered. The fact that the Western
powers would allow Mobutu to expropriate $5 billion gives us an
inkling of how much the resources of the Congo are worth to
imperialism.
Neocolonialism is the way that the U.S. keeps its control over the
resources of the world while hiding behind handpicked leaders from
the colonial people. 
When Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa, signaling
the end of the apartheid era, he was heralded by the media as a
beacon of justice. 
To the African People’s Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement it was
always clear that Mandela was nothing but another neocolonial puppet
working for the interests of the imperial powers.
Today, 12 years after the end of apartheid in South Africa, 40 percent
of Africans in the cities are unemployed and 70 percent in rural areas.
Sixty-one percent now live below the poverty level, while only about
one percent of whites live in poverty. Ninety-six percent of arable
commercial land is still in the hands of white farmers.
It should be no surprise that as a new movie called “Blood Diamond” is
scheduled to open in the winter of 2006, Mandela recently came out
with a public statement in support of DeBeers. Mandela stated that the
diamond industry is “good for South Africa.”
When DeBeers Chairman Harry Oppenheimer died in 2000 and the
reigns were passed to his son Nicky, Mandela wrote Harry’s obituary in
Time
 Magazine, hailing Oppenheimer as “monumentally instrumental
in helping our country become the economic leader it is today.”