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International Network of Solidarity 

and Trade for Pan-African Unity :

R.I.S.E. - U.P.

Considering that, after more than a half century of pseudo - independences, our countries remain, in their large majority vassal-states, led by agents of the neocolonial order, who serve foreign interests.

People’s Dignity and Rights has been highly compromised by this political “class” which operates with the support of a “local economic bourgeoisie” and scholars without any patriotic fervor, who depends principally from grants, subsidies and others type of support, from foreign institutions and corporations,

This ruling class has establish a system maintaining the continuity of the colonial order, based on corruption and nepotism, with the ultimate goal to keep African people into servitude, by organizing a systemic looting of our natural resources, enabling the control of our national economies by foreign capital through debt-bondage and dependency.

This system is the main cause of the ever-growing inequalities, as well as the social and economic insecurity that affect, workers, small farmers, artists, craftsmen, city dwellers, young people, retirees and the elderly people.
 

In view of the numerous and various threats faced by the African continent;

In a an international context characterized by a dominant world order which, by imposing a one-track thinking approach, stifles people’s aspirations for Freedom and Dignity, destroy the natural Ecosystem.

In a dominant global system that oppresses people in the name of the “free market”, economic profitability and “Security”.


We distance ourselves from that worldview and express our refusal of a world governed by the law of the “strongest”, through systematic violence and organized exploitation.

We People of African origin sharing a common condition, characterized by our confinement, inside our own continent, in the claws of extreme poverty, because of the devastating and dehumanizing effects of imperialist policies and outside the continent, by the marginalization of the African Diaspora, through institutionalized racism and discriminatory policies.

In this respect, arises the need for us, as Africans, to join forces in order to be able to regain the Power to defend our Rights and serve our best Interests.

To ensure that we will no longer let any corrupt Government betrays the interests of our Nations, and compromise the future of our offspring.

It is because we are firmly convinced, that the definitive breakdown with the old order, which would take "the African State," from its neocolonial status to a truly independent State, will only happen under the impulse of the highly organized African Change driven forces, that we invite people to set up The International Trade and Solidarity Network for Pan-African Unity (I.T.S.N-P.U, R.I.S.E. - U.P when read in French).


Objectives are to :

• Defend the rights, Freedom of belief, civil liberties and the interests and individuals and collective security of people of African people;
• Bring together the different organizations, political parties, interest groups, religious organizations and institutions, sharing the same vision and subscribing to common principles , program and agendas;
• Create mechanisms of communication, collaboration and cooperation within civil society;
• Empower the members of the African community worldwide;
• Build consensus on major issues affecting the African community so as to speak with one voice on these topics.

Ours core values

We assert our total dedication to struggle for the liberation of the African continent and Africans from all forms of oppression.

We are against any form of hatred based on racial, ethnic identity or religious beliefs.

We affirm firmly our profound respect for Human life and Human dignity, as well as our respect for the well- being of Animals, and the respect of the Environment.


Mission statement

We are in favour of the strengthening of the fraternal bonds between the various components of the African community,

We committed ourselves to respect the democratic principles and will contribute to maintain a peaceful coexistence in our countries of residence,

We will work actively for African Unity and the building of an African Federal State, and in this effect, we will fight against any attempt to dismantle or divide the continent,

We are for the political, social and economic empowerment of African people,

We condemn and will fight any form of regimes that do not respect and protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of individual , and do not serve the collective basic needs and interests of African peoples,

We will work for the Unity of the African continent and will work actively in the construction of an African federal State and will fight against any attempt to dismantle or division of the continent,

We believe that the Unity of the African Continent will be achieved through a total decolonization process,

We are against any form of power concentration, be it economic, financial, mediatic, or any other forms of monopoly that could hinder the full expression of our Freedom,We are ready to cooperate with all forces working for the respect of Human Dignity and striving for a world of Justice and Peace.

The R.I.S.E-U.P. Network will endorse the following demands*

• We require the respect of the sovereignty of our States, and demand the adoption of a new social contract which shall foster the participation of all components of the social spectrum to the nation building process;

• Ensure that the mastering of colonial languages shall no longer be the only criterion for the full exercise of citizenship;

• To preserve the dignity of our people, ensuring access for all, to basic services and commodities;

• Require from our leaders to ensure the protection of our national interests, our natural resources and the equitable distribution of the fruits of their exploitation among the populations;

• To preserve, development and popularization of African cultural heritage, by bringing it to life through political, economic and academic strategies;

• To find solutions to the vital problem of access to clear drinking water;

• To conduct an agricultural policy with the objective to ensure food security and food sovereignty, by supporting farmers and small producers to regain control over their cultural practices;

• To alleviate farmers’ access to land, protecting their rights including the right to maintain their traditional seed system;

• To facilitate access to land to the men and women who want to work it;

• To protect the national land reserves, and put an end to the ongoing land grabbing;

• Require from the Governments of our countries, to fully assume their responsibilities concerning people’s Health, by the implementation of an efficient healthcare system focused on prevention, by providing reliable healthcare programs and policies, and to  improve health, hygiene and sanitation services;

• We demand and require a minimum level of medical facilities, equipments, logistics, and healthcare specialists according to people’s needs and demographic importance;

• Fighting radically against any form of pollution and environmental degradation;

• We call on African states and Governments  to engage in the creation of food and drugs safety administrations, as well as health and environmental surveillances and alerts centers;

• We firmly incite the African leaders to make the move from a mere resource -extraction based economy, to a competitive modern industrial economy;

• To lay the solid foundations for the development and the expansion of the national business sector, by removing the constraints that hinders the competiveness of the domestic entrepreneurship, and by giving the priority, to local entrepreneurs and private investors, in key strategic sectors of the national economy;

• To support to the small and medium-sized enterprises, by facilitating their access to finance , public procurements and bidding processes, and by protecting domestic business against foreign competition;

• To establish a labor code rooted in African social and cultural realities, which, not only will protect workers from the violence of exploitation that exposes them to unfair and arbitrary dismissal, precarious and unsafe working conditions, but will reconcile labor with the worker, by putting the respect of life and social stability at the heart of the economic organization;

• To build the needed infrastructures in order to open up the remote areas and to meet the energy needs of the continent;

• To conduct a policy of preservation, development and spreading of African cultural heritage, by bringing them to life through political organization economic policies , territorial and urban planning and school programs;

• To proceed to the reform of our school system so that it will represents our History as accurately as possible, captures our social, cultural realities and the experiences of Africans worldwide, and gives them the appropriate skills and knowledge to face their challenges;

• We demand, the establishment of a more flexible legal and administrative framework and tax incentives, for local entrepreneurs, and craftsmen;

• The establishment specialized funding structures, such as agricultural cooperatives, agricultural development banks etc;

• The establishment of legal instruments that emphasizes the responsibility of Banks and financial institutions with regard to their mandatory duties towards their clients, by providing standardized, reliable and transparent banking services and to respect their rights and interests;

• We invite the African Union to take the necessary measures in order to extend the status of effective member of this institution, to non-African states from the Diaspora;
  

• We require from African governments to support Africans from the continent and Afro-descendents worldwide in their attempt to visit, settle, or build businesses in Africa;

• We invite African states and governments, the African Union and the members of the African civil society, to condemn vigorously any form of aggression, ill-treatments and abuses committed against Africans around the world and to oppose their massive incarceration in the United States and elsewhere;

• To fight firmly all forms of racism and discriminations  affecting Africans;

• We call out our governments and members of the African civil society call for to require the release liberation of all African political prisoners in Africa, in the USA and the rest of the world;

• Urge our governments to set up a legal framework regarding the presence and intervention modalities of foreign NGOs;

• To protect women against any form of exploitation, violence, abuse, or physical, moral or psychological harassment;

• To work for the improvement of the quality of life and the well being of women, children and the family and to protect their individual freedoms;

• To ensure the protection of children against any form of carelessness, abuse and brutality.

 *This platform (and its title as well), is a mere proposition; that indeed need for its implementation, an organizational structure and institutional bodies which can be adapted to national specificities. These demands are to serve mobilizing the energy and skills of African in order to provide solutions to the various problems and challenges that we are facing, and to explore new alternatives.

 The ultimate goal is to encourage a deeper commitment of Africans, in the change process within their societies, by creating the conditions for the rise of a more conscious citizenship, a more creative way of thinking, a truly transformative political practice and a bold business culture.

Sidya Diop