The Need For Qualitative Changes
"In the universe, everything transforms"—this is one of the fundamental laws of dialectical materialism. Nothing remains static: the worst conditions can be changed; the most solid foundations can be uprooted. Without this law of dialectics, all revolutionary work and analysis would be futile, for what good is it to shed blood for fighting an enemy that will never disappear?
This movement of transformation is only radical and irreversible when a qualitative change in internal contradictions is achieved. Before this nodal point, quantitative changes can be reversed. Thus, reforms, which are merely quantitative changes, can be overturned overnight by the stroke of a pen. The revolutionary aspires to cause a radical and irreversible change to eradicate the capitalist, imperialist, neo-colonial, and patriarchal system from the African continent. Or at least to reduce the negative elements that support this system to a state of insignificance. This qualitative change can only be achieved through revolutionary organization and serious struggle.
Revolutionary or Reactionary?
The difference between the revolutionary and the reactionary is that the reactionary believes the status quo is eternal and can be used for the good of the African people. The reactionary has a historical blindness that prevents them from seeing the limits and ineffectiveness of the current system. Thus, the reactionary quickly takes the bait as soon as the system seems to lean in their favor. The reactionary often exhibits intellectual and ideological laziness, which frequently condemns them to undermining the efforts of serious revolutionaries who strive to improve the living conditions of humanity. This inability of the reactionary to understand the necessity of profound change is often due to a mentality that wants to see immediate results. It is the duty of every revolutionary to awaken the consciousness of the African people so that they do not fall into the trap of reaction.
The Example of the UN
To be less abstract, one only needs to look at the system of the United Nations (UN). This entity, which resulted from the Second World War, is nothing more than an empty shell that imperialists use to justify and obfuscate their interference in the affairs of colonized countries. Be it to assassinate Lumumba, to legitimize the terrorist state of Israel, or to give a blank check to the bloodthirsty and capitalist desires of the United States. The propaganda is so profound that the UN is sometimes perceived as an eternal entity, the only one capable of stopping atrocities. We hear people jump with joy when a resolution is signed, celebrate when their state is invited to the non-permanent guests' table, or hope when the UN hosts a new climate conference. Some even say that the UN is better than nothing, as if humanity were incapable of developing new structures based on more equitable, anti-capitalist, and just foundations.
The revolutionary perfectly understands the context in which the UN was born, as well as the qualitative change that occurred for the League of Nations to disappear and give way to the UN. This qualitative change was, of course, the crowning of the United States as the new head of global imperialism. Thus, the revolutionary understands that the UN has undergone several quantitative changes since then, literally speaking (in terms of member countries, a good number of which are neo-colonies), but also in its failures. Indeed, every day that passes without peace in Congo, Sudan, Haiti, and Palestine, a new blow is dealt to the UN system. One has to wonder how many deaths and how much misery and suffering it will take for reactionaries to stop idealizing the UN.
The revolutionary knows very well that the salvation of the African people will not come from the UN, but from the historical struggle that the people will wage against the enemies of humanity. It is time to face the evidence: the current system is obsolete and incapable of responding to the needs of our people. Worse, the capitalist, imperialist, neo-colonial, and patriarchal system is accelerating the extermination of humanity and the destruction of the planet. Only the people, organized and revolutionary, can put an end to this ticking time bomb and build a new future.
"Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it," said Frantz Fanon. As we approach his centennial, let us honor his memory by carrying out our mission to lead the African people towards the Popular and Pan-African Revolution.
We know that the struggle will be long and arduous, but as revolutionaries, we are committed to the very end, until Victory.
