After September 12, 2001, Canadians woke up to a new immersion in the geopolitics of the Middle East. A legacy of imperialism, colonialism and resource extraction fromEast to West seeped into the popular analysis of U.S. foreign policy. And as the war now being waged against Iraq became imminent, our need to understand how it came to be so and how this new aggression would change our world yet again grew urgent.

Members of the international Group for Research and Initiative for the Liberation of Africa (GRILA) study and speak out about the imperialist and colonialistpast and the imperialist and neo-colonial present endured, and resisted, on the continent of Africa. With multiple chapters on three continents, the group is now seeking to educate anti-war activists around the world about the U.S. imperialist project and its effects onAfrican people.

rabble interviewer Daron Letts spoke with FaridOmar, an anti-war, anti-globalization and anti-racistactivist and educator who works with GRILA’s Torontochapter, about war and oil in Africa.

Daron Letts: How will Africa be affected by the U.S.-led waron Iraq?

Farid Omar: Both economically and militarily it will have aserious impact. Most African economies are stillfragile after centuries of exploitation. Remember that the current debt crisis in Africa hasits roots in the oil shocks of 1973, which stemmedfrom the Arab-Israeli conflict. At that time, oil prices increased four-fold, and this hada very serious impact on African countries. They couldnot sustain themselves.

To cushion themselves from the global recession, many African countries startedborrowing very heavily from sources likethe International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Many African countries have not recovered.

With a new war in the Middle East, theprice of oil goes up. The price of everything inAfrica will go up — food, electricity, water,transportation. It will have a huge impact, especiallyon the poor. There will be another debt crisis.Militarily, the United States has already openedanother front in the Horn of Africa as part of itsongoing so-called ’War on Terror’ because it claimsthat Somalia has links with Al Qaeda elements. TheU.S. has been mobilizing troops alongside theDijibouti coast with the aim of intervening in Somaliaas they did in 1993.

We know that in Somalia there are huge oil and natural gasreserves. Prior to the civil war in 1991, the formermilitary dictatorship in Somalia signed contracts withAmerican oil companies including Chevron, Phillips,Exxon and Conoco to explore oil and natural gasresources. But, because of the civil war, they couldnot do that. In 1993 the U.S. tried to intervenemilitarily under the banner of humanitarianassistance, which was just a cover for the realpurpose of that intervention which was to protectAmerican oil interests in that region.

Letts: Most African countries achieved theirindependence in the 1960s and 1970s, but youqualify that independence. How?

Omar: In most cases, countries have what we call “paper independence”because even after independence, thestructure of colonialism was still intact. Instead ofhaving the alternative, independent African state, wehad the neo-colonial state. We had African elitecontinuing with their new role to serve Westerninterests, working in collusion with Western powerswhile the majority of the masses in the Africancontinent are still poor. So, we had the evolution ofthe neo-colonial state as opposed to the trulyindependent African state. What the social movementsare doing in Africa now is to struggle for liberationfrom neo-colonial bondage. This is what we call thesecond liberation.

Letts: What’s meant by a “petrocracy”?

Omar: Petrocracy refers to a neo-colonial,oil-producing state. The main purpose of a petrocracy is to sustain the oilinterests of a global power, like the U.S. The truecharacteristics of a petrocracy are when you have asituation whereby a country has a large oil reservehand in hand with high levels of poverty.Nigeria is a classic example of a petrocracy. Nigeriasits on one of the largest oil reserves anywhere inthe world. At the same time, some of the poorestcommunities in the world live in the Niger delta. Thecurrent Nigerian government is seen as democratic bythe West just because it is protecting their oilinterests but, in reality, it is cracking down onlegitimate dissidents — even calling them”terrorists.”

Letts: Africans are suffering from an AIDS pandemic and from numerous human rights violations and other atrocities. How is it that ending this suffering is not prominenton the global agenda?

Omar: Because of misinformation by the Western media.Even in Africa the local media is dominated by Westernmedia outlets. They cover up the human rightsviolations and displacement linked to Westerncorporations and puppet regimes of the West. So, it’sdue to the lack of alternative, progressive media inthe continent itself to disseminate this information.

A lot of people even in Canada are not aware of thehuman rights violations that are going on as a resultof ongoing Canadian operations in Sudan, in Tanzania,in Ghana, in Kenya. It is Western media propagandathat cover up these human rights violations whileblaming the military regimes. At the same time, manyof those authoritarian regimes are puppets of Westerngovernments that work hand in hand with Westerncorporate interests and protect those corporateinterests.

Letts: What is your outlook as an activist working forthe liberation of Africa?

Omar: Things are changing now — especially with theongoing global anti-war movements, anti-globalizationmovements and the anti-racism movements gainingmomentum throughout the world, both in the North andin the South. Things are changing for the better.At the World Social Forum [in Brazil this year] we saw the evolution of theAfrica Social Forum. The Africa Social Forum bringstogether 200 progressive, indigenous African NGOsfrom forty-five different countries drawn from all areas —from the labour movement, the student movement, thewomen’s movement, religious groups, peasantorganizations and professional associations that areprogressive.

We are benefiting from the growing global oppositionto imperialism and we see that another world is possible.