FORMER Milenge PF member of parliament Mwansa Mbulakulima says African leaders must spearhead the fight against racism around the world.
Mbulakulima has urged the African Union (AU) to discuss matters of racism and petition institutions with the view of getting redress.
In a statement, Monday, Mbulakulima lamented that while the “Black Lives Matter” movement was making strides across the globe, the African continent remained silent as leaders continued to underplay issues surrounding racism.
“Racism has been the biggest burden black people suffer from every day across the globe, either silently or openly. One wonders what crime a black person has committed. What is more surprising is that we as Africans and especially African leaders, have repeatedly underplayed this matter,” Mbulakulima said.
“The Black Lives Matter movement emanates from one of the greatest injustices ever witnessed in modern times. After the blatant and barbaric murder of George Floyd, nearly all cities across the world carried out solidarity protests but Africa was quiet and literally underplayed these happenings and yet the cradle for all victims should be Africa.”
Mbulakulima said Africa must act on the injustices being experienced by black people in war-torn Ukraine.
“The Last Straw, the current racial disorder with regards to the Ukraine – Russia war where black students have been denied access to transport facilities like trains and buses should be the last straw Africa must absorb. Enough is enough. The discrimination at the borders of Ukraine for Africans and particularly black and brown people fleeing from the war in that country is so visible and unbelievable, so much so that even the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has acknowledged it. How could you literally deny an opportunity to the people fleeing from the war situation just because of their color? In my view, this should be the last straw that we Africans must take,” he said.
Mbulakulima said time had come for the African Union (AU) to discuss matters of racism and petition institutions with the view of getting redress.
“Our heads of State through the African Union (AU) must discuss matters of racism in entirety and petition institutions with the view of getting redress. This could be coordinated through the AU building blocks like SADC, COMESA, ECOWAS e.t.c. The African Union can/should petition institutions like European Union (EU) and the United Nations, they should also compel FIFA to do more than they are doing now to curtail this accentuated inequality,” he said.
“What has been lacking in all this is the lack of enforcement or substantial push from our continental leadership, and time to do that is now. The upcoming African Union Summit to be hosted by Zambia provides a unique platform that would enable our leaders [to] table this issue thereby initiating a continental discussion on the topic and subsequent implementation of resolutions that will be espoused. I am confident that our current leadership has the capacity to facilitate the discussion of this important topic at continental level.”
He urged the United Nations to probe the racial embarrassment that Africans were currently facing in Ukraine.
“United Nations, African leaders must take a united position at the UN especially on the latest incident in Ukraine to probe the racial embarrassment where blacks were denied access to transport because they did not have blond hair and blue or green eyes,” wrote Mbulakulima.
