INTRODUCING ALISC NETWORK
The African Liberation Support Campaign Network is a UK-based solidarity group set up by Africans forced into exile in the 1980s because they opposed Structural Adjustment Programmes1.
ALISC Network supports groups in Africa fighting to get power into the hands of the African majority, which means out of the hands of transnational profit-making companies, international banks and the wealthy African elite. One of ALISC Network's jobs is to publicise what these groups are doing - and to explain the history of resistance in Africa, which hardly anyone knows. During slavery and colonial occupation, African women and men didn't sit around waiting for someone to save them - they fought.
ALISC Network, which is led by Africans,
is run by a co-ordinator and members,
helped by supporters and volunteers.
It receives no funding from any
governments or non governmental
organisations (NGOs).
A little solidarity goes a long way!
In the 1960s and 70s, African leaders
Nkrumah, Lumumba, Cabral and others
planned to unite African countries and
use Africa's wealth - gold, diamonds,
Anti-war protestors outside the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, July 2003
forestry - to benefit all Africans. If this plan
succeeded, the ex-colonists and their
wealthy African allies would be
seriously out of pocket. So they tried
to destroy the movement for genuine
independence. ALISC Network supports
today's social movements and other
groups which are in effect reviving this
movement, as well as fighting for health
care, education, food, and housing. The
majority do so in grinding poverty, the
kind that means your clothes are always
dirty no matter how hard you try to wash
them clean. Amilcar Cabral Kwame Nkrumah
The west and the African elite
An African proverb says, "It is not only the person who goes up into the rafters to steal the palm oil that is the thief, but also the person who helps him carry it down". The looting of Africa by the IMF, the World Trade Organisation and transnational companies, among others, is carried out in collaboration with African elites, whether they are in government or out. China has also joined the 'scramble for Africa.'
Who does ALISC Network support?
The Cameroonian Peoples’ Union - an opposition party in Cameroon, founded by a school teacher and trade unionist during the colonial period. It led the struggle for genuine independence and has survived ruthless repression by the British and the French and later by the 'independent' Cameroonian government. The UPC is preparing to launch a campaign for free elections. ALISC Network plans to organise various events to support this campaign.
Women of Zimbabwe Arise - since the early 2000s, have
taken to the streets in their thousands demanding an end to
end to poverty and, for example, a 1000% rise in education
costs. Because they embarrass the Mugabe regime,WOZA
women cope with constant police and military repression
ALISC Network is mobilising trade union support for them.
In 2006, the T&G Central London Branch adopted a motion
supporting WOZA, and donated £150 and UNISON
Edinburgh Branch passed a resolution supporting WOZA.
WOZA demonstration in Harare, Zimbabwe
Journalists for Free Expression - in October 2006, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) London Freelance Branch passed a motion highlighting the massive obstacles independent journalists in Africa face. The Branch donated £622 for an air ticket from Accra to Nairobi for Ghanaian journalist Kwesi Pratt Jnr of Friends of Free Expression to attend the World Social Forum in January 2007.
The Dedan Kimathi Movement in Kenya which keeps alive the Mau Mau leader's dedication to African independence, the Anti-Privatisation Forum in South Africa including the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee, the Socialist Forum of Ghana, and individuals in the Landless People's Movement in South Africa and pro-democracy movement in Zambia. ALISC Network has a working relationship with the International Socialist Organisation - Zimbabwe and continues to develop relations with the Society for African Studies in Zimbabwe, a peasant group in Mozambique, social movements in the Sahel zone, usually referred to as African-Arab borderlands, and the Process of Black Communities in Colombia.
What does ALISC Network do in the UK?
ALISC Network Seeks Parliamentary Support
MPs who have lent their support and spoken at ALISC
Network events:
*** Jeremy Corbyn, Alan Simpson andGeorge
Galloway
*** Tony Benn, ex-UK Cabinet minister and ex-treasurer
of the Movement for Colonial Freedom and President
of the UK Stop the War Coalition
If you would like to join in our parliamentary work,
please contact kilombo.education@gmail.com
ALISC Network members & supporters with Moukoko Priso, UPC
General-Secretary (3rd from right), at May Day, London, May 2005
ALISC Network works with trade unions
*** 1999-2003, ALISC members went to the TUC Black Workers' Conference.
*** July 2001, Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of PCS, addressed an IMF & World
Bank Wanted For Fraud public meeting organised by ALISC.
*** January 2006, ALISC Network had a stall at the UNISON Black Workers’ annual
conference.
*** October 2006, an ALISC Network member addressed the Black History Month meeting
of the Hammersmith & Fulham Trades Council.
*** Colchester Trades Council and the Redbridge branch of the National Union of Teachers
(NUT) are affiliated to ALISC Network.
*** The secretary of Isle of Wight Trades Council has endorsed ALISC Network in an individual
capacity. William Davidson
*** ALISC Network raises awareness about William Davidson, the 19th Century black trade
unionist who was hanged for treason on May Day (1 May, later to become working people's
day in the UK) 1820.
If you are in a trade union and would like to know more, we can visit you. Please contact us.
[Pic 5a, William Davidson with same caption, P 6, Vol 9 Issue 1, Jan-March 2006]
ALISC Network Campaigns for political prisoners
ALISC Network is part of the Mumia Must Live Campaign to free Mumia Abu-Jamal from Death Row in the US.
ALISC Network and students from Friends of Africa organise a lively weekly programme of films,
talks, discussion and debates at the School of Oriental and
African Studies, London
***October 2006, Freshers Fair at SOAS, 256 students register
for Friends of Africa
*** the Students' Union at Sussex University has adopted a
motion supporting ALISC Network.
We are always happy to visit colleges and universities to
talk about what is happening in Africa and the importance of
and the importance of solidarity for African resistance groups.
Friends of Africa at Kenya High Commission, 8 March 2005
Africa - A Practical Way Forward
Every July, ALISC Network organises an annual meeting about charting
a path to resolve Africa's problems and for the advancement of Africa and Africans.
The title of this year's meeting was 'Africa @ 50'
Kilombo
*** 40 pages, quarterly, £2; £10 for annual subscription ** distributed by ALISC Network
*** articles by grassroots activists from across Africa
*** information on Africa that you won't find anywhere else
If you would like to subscribe to or sell Kilombo contact
kilombo.education@gmail.com
