Pan-Africanist organiser Malcolm X (1925-65) warned of the dangers of Africans in the US getting sucked into the country’s political duopoly, bouncing between Democrats and Republicans. For him, the two major parties were simply different pockets from the same jacket. One is a sly fox, while the other is a fierce wolf, but both will bite.
His words still ring loud today, as Republican candidate Donald Trump triumphed over his Democrat rival, Kamala Harris, in the 2024 US presidential election.
In the run-up to the elections, Harris and the Democrats were presented as the better choice for the Black community. Following her loss, some are trying to make it seem like the African community, and the Global South are now more threatened than they would have been under a Harris administration. The truth is Democrats might not be as openly racist as Trump, but merely different sides of the same imperialist coin.
For instance, both sides have supported arming and funding Israel’s military onslaught against Palestinians in Gaza. The Democrats have also never shown any reservations against imposing unilateral economic sanctions on African countries and other parts of the Global South, which starve and deny necessities, like medicines, to the citizens of those countries. So far, according to the US-based Sanctions Kill campaign, US sanctions impact one-third of humanity, approximately 39 countries.
Even at times when Black people occupied senior positions in the Democratic Party, things did not get better for Africans. When Barack Obama was elected US president, Africans across the world were optimistic that his administration would finally address their concerns and turn around their fortunes. However, nothing of this sort happened. The mass incarceration of Black men in the US continued unabated. In Africa, he led the 2011 NATO bombardment of Libya, destroying what was once Africa’s most prosperous nation and breaking it into three warring territories; Western media demonised African migrants working in Libya, paving the way for open slave markets to spring up.
As Brother Malcolm warned us, as we look out for the conservative wolf, whose sharp teeth are always plain to see, we should equally be wary of the liberal fox that masks its evil plans behind a smile.
Sources:
https://www.npr.org/2024/10/10/g-s1-27633/barack-obama-kamala-harris-black-men-pennsylvania
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/05/black-voters-washington-dc-kamala-harris
https://www.scidev.net/global/opinions/if-trump-wins-africa-will-spiral-into-climate-hell/