African Union ‘a chicken or a toothless bulldog’? As George Floyd’s killing further exposes the double standards of the African Union

by Alagi Yorro Jallow.
Mamudu: Metaphorically, the African Union behaves or live like chicken. They see the son of a Man eat their eggs, and they stay on in his homestead. They get rid of their friends, and they stay on in what is called learned hopelessness. The son of a Man will go, and there will be a mass slaughter of their chicken around. When you hear it breathe, you think it is blowing into the fire. That is the African Union. “Sibijan dubeng in Mandingo and Samba Alaar” in Wolof.
Mamudu: The African Union is a toothless bulldog. No bark, no bite. Powerless organization as far as protecting Africa’s interests goes. That leaves each country with the responsibility to protect its interests. It all comes back to this: exemplary political leadership that will ensure the rule of law, thriving of its citizens as a priority, non-nonsense win-win contracts with rich countries, contracts that do not sell out Africa’s resources to enrich a few. With a protectionist and Africa-first approach, we will not have thousands of Africans fleeing their own plundered countries to search for a better life in Europe.
Mamudu: The sad part of the whole scenario is that African leaders do not seem to be aware that Africa’s powerlessness has economic and political dimensions. As long as Africa is not respected, Africans will not get the right and fair terms of trade for their commodities.
As long as Africa remains poorly governed and its resources looted by African rulers and taken to foreign banks, Africa will remain weak and underdeveloped.
As long as Africa remains buried in tribal warfare of one against the other, those who have power will continue to supply weapons for Africans’ mutual slaughter.
Mamudu: The Chairperson of the African Union, Moussa Faki Mahamat, felt urgent need to add his voice to the unfortunate event of a white American policeman killing black George Floyd on the street. The message was that he “strongly condemns the murder of George Floyd that occurred in the United States of America at the hands of law enforcement officers and wishes to extend his deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.” He also urged America to sort discrimination based on race and ethnic origin. Truly a pan-African spirit, not so? Indeed, pan-Africanism was born out of concern over the predicament of black people in Africa and the diaspora.
Mamudu: There was a link and correlation between African independence in the 1960s and the Civil Rights Act in the USA of 1965. As long as Africa remains a “shithole continent,” Africans in the diaspora will continue to be slaughtered like sheep without a shepherd. Young people on this continent must not hope for the day when other people in the world will treat them as equals.
Mamudu: The word of the AU chairperson was not enough, the Deputy Chairperson Quartey Thomas Kwesi, also went to his Facebook page and added his voice: “The African Union is distressed to witness yet another unwarranted execution of another African-American male, George Floyd, for no other reason than BEING BLACK. This is one too many”. He also demanded the case be thoroughly investigated. Wonderful! Extremely concerned about the well-being of black people.
Mamudu: Are Africans going to blame the African Union? Africans do not think so, and these loving officials never receive news of killings by African governments. However, even if they do, their silence to killings by African security organs is in good faith. They care so much that such news sends them into speechlessness. What would they say? When it comes to police bestiality and police brutality by African governments, the African Union opens its mouth, as if to say something, only to yawn and remain quiet.
Mamudu: Oh, but maybe Africans and those in the Diaspora fail to hear them. Did we hear about the massacre of Gambian students of April 10/11 2000, when 14 unarmed students protestors were killed and the killing of Haruna Jatta by ECOMIG forces in the Gambia in 2017?
Mamudu: In other African countries, almost hundreds and thousands of unarmed civilians have been decimated through police bestiality and police brutality. Those of you that heard a word from the African Union tell us. Did we hear any word from the AU, at least a Facebook post by a sweeper at the headquarters? Did they call for a speedy investigation?
Mamudu: Humans being auctioned off. This has been going on for decades in the Horn of Africa with migrants crossing the Red Sea. The silent plunder of Africa’s resources never ceases, with African presidents enablers of the plunder through greed-driven contracts. The number of those who die and get tortured as indentured laborers is enormous and the rounds about ongoing migrant slavery in Libya.
Mamudu: What a lousy question we are asking! How could they? That would be interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign member state. Wow! It is a smart club of team players, well equipped with selective speech. They must be deeply pained by the death of George Floyd outside their area of a mandate, but not equally moved to speak about the gospel artiste cum government critic that died in a Rwandan jail recently under mysterious circumstances. No, they did not hear about that. They do not hear about opposition politicians brutally pounced on by African governments. Cameroon, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, etc are far away from them. They only follow the news coming from places where black lives are supposed to matter. Yes, black lives matter abroad or where whites are involved.
Mamudu: Here in Africa, as long as it is a black dictator hitting dissenting fellow black people, let them hit. That is a lesser evil than being hit by whites if the latter is evil at all. If a police car drives over a young opposition activist to death in Africa, that is lighter than a white police officer pressing his knee onto a black man’s neck in America. Maybe we should not be too quick to judge the African Union, let us wait until a white police officer puts his knee on the neck of an African. The knee of African governments can never be bad enough on black people’s necks as to deserve the African Union’s voice.
However, even the white man’s knee may only be bad enough if it is outside Africa. As long as the Whiteman is in bed with an African government, whatever they do to the damn Africans and their resources calls for no condemnation. Those are internal matters that need to be handled with diplomatic carefulness. We love you, African Union; how else would we have taught our children about scarecrows! The good news is that many African dictators have been sorted without your help. If any help, yours was for the dictators. Real solidarity, they always count on you – at least on your perpetual silence about their atrocities and feigned blindness about their acts.
Mamudu: They can rob their countries dry. It is okay for thousands to die in abandoned hospitals as public funds are siphoned away, as long as they do not die with a white knee on their neck. Do not call for action. Do not call for accountability. At best, only pretend to care – as you wait for a news-making opportunity for condemning evil elsewhere. Seize the opportunity and pull out your robes of care to preach against black suffering and disregard. We will believe you. Trust me, and we see no irony.
Mamudu: What do you want to condemn next? We can make some good suggestions for you. We have seen protesters in America being sprayed with teargas and a few beaten. Kindly condemn this use of excessive force on protestors. Do not mind, it is abroad and, therefore, safe to call out. Condemn President Donald Trump’s threat of sending in the military to handle the protests. Say something please for international news, or else we might forget that you exist and matter.
Mamudu: Why would America allow all those protestors on the streets? Down here, dare announce a protest against government action. Your house will be cordoned off before you wake up. Protests are effectively (de facto) illegal. But hey! That is none of your business. Call out those American security officers. Teach them about proper policing and that black lives matter. Africans will fight for themselves as you preach abroad—enough of all these stupid shenanigans.
Mamudu: One could say- but the numbers of those fleeing and getting sold are negligible compared to a rising African middle class (“fastest-growing middle class in the world”) and the entire continent’s population. Let us agree that knowing our history as Africans, just one slave sold in 2020, is a total abomination. Mamudu: Moreover, rising African middle-class floats on an economy that can go south in a second, primarily because of bad politics. Darn shame all our African presidents watching our citizens take a chance on freedom, even if it comes with the possibility of being sold into slavery in the 21st Century.