The Origin

The Afrikan Free Citizen Think Tank

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union and disintegration of the Soviet Empire, brought an end to the global world order dominated by two super powers, the USA and USSR, each bolstered by a military alliance, the NATO and the Warsaw Pact, opposed to one another on the basis of ideology, capitalism and communism; and in competition and rivalry with one another for global hegemony.  The world was required to re-set into some New World Order.  And for that purpose all the major peoples, nations and countries of the world – except the Afrikan Black Nation – went in an overdrive to make sense of the new unfolding global situation and how they could position themselves therein with advantage.  In the circumstances many think tanks proliferated to turn the challenge of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disintegration of the Soviet Empire into an opportunity.  

 

It was in this setting that an Afrika-wide circle of restless Afrikan scholars, intellectuals and activists, touched by ancient Afrika’s undying spirit, stepped forward and invoked their Citizen Right and Duty to Afrika; they set up the Afrikan Free Citizen Think Tank to interrogate the Mother of All Questions on the Afrikan condition: Why, even after decades of independence, was Afrika trapped backwardness, stagnation and decay; systemic oppression and repression; poverty and misery; amidst so much wealth, gifted by Nature?

 

The Findings of the Afrikan Free Citizen Think Tank

The Afrikan Free Citizen Think Tank (1991-1993) was tasked to interrogate two central questions: why, even after decades of independence, was Afrika trapped in backwardness, stagnation and decay; systemic oppression and repression; poverty and misery; amidst so much wealth, gifted by Nature?  Is there a missing link to Afrikan self-determination which, when found, would open the doors to Afrikan emancipation?

 

The following are the central and key findings of the Think Tank:

 

• Mothertongue is the medium in which people acquire knowledge, understanding and expertise to the full.  For that reason therefore, history has no people, nation or country who made civilizational contributions to human progress, by way of internally sustainable and high levels of development in spirituality, philosophy, the arts, science and technology (for example Kemet or Pharaonic Egypt, Kush, Ancient Ghana and Ancient Mali, Benin, Yoruba, Buganda, Zimbabwe) while using a foreign language as the medium of instruction in their education system; in science and technology; in research and academic discourse; in literature and in official government communication.  It is infinitely worse if the said foreign language is the language of the former colonial master, and now neo-colonial master.  Even today all the nations and countries which are in the development lead in the area of science and technology, infrastructure development, standards of living, etc. also use their respective mothertongue as the medium of education and official government communication; e.g. Ameripean countries of the USA, Germany, Britain, France, Russia, Australia and Canada; together with Japan and the People’s Republic of China.

 

• There is no language without knowledge; and no knowledge outside culture.  Knowledge therefore is cultural praxis.  In the circumstances therefore, the missing link to all Afrika’s development endeavours is mothertongue education, from kindergarten to post-doctoral.  Education in the exotic languages of the Ameripean Empire is what has kept Afrika stunted.  Only through mothertongue education can a people learn, acquire knowledge, understanding and expertise to the full.  Only in mothertongue education can a people realize their full potential and, in the process, be competitive in the global family of nations.

 

• The battle for Afrika over the centuries, at its deepest, has been a battle for the Afrikan mind; for the conquerors to exercise soft power over the Afrikan around their foreign soft power assets of language and culture; religion-atheism; science-scienticism; philosophy and ideology; economics and politics; calendar of time and events; and heroes.  In the circumstances, in 1993 the Afrikan Free Citizen Think Tank resolved to set up Mpambo Afrikan Multiversity as an institution of higher learning, informed by Liberation Education theory, to act as the engine which shall use education to help restore Afrikan cognitive autonomy.  Nothing short of an Afrikan Renaissance; renewal from within, can rescue the land and people of Afrika.