INTRODUCING THE AFRICAN CODE
Code of African Organisations (Draft 06/09/05)
The African Code is a ethical African ethos which is the fundamental intersection of our most cherished ideas and ideals, which serve as the bases for global African organizational people based unity for progressive development. The African Code is also a visible logo which is displayed by progressive African organizations who apply and adhere to its values. The Code functions as an open source constitution to effectively manage interaction and institutionalize unity for diverse organizations. The African Code is not an organization but a set of constitutional principles which function silently in the background and can be adopted by any diverse group seeking streamlined unity. The African Code deals with the mechanisms of unity and the ethics of that unity. African Code is work orientated and challenges the common pitfalls; excuses, insincerity, etc. The African Code ideology promotes a meritocracy where position is determined by merit and level of engagement.
These core values are applied to all areas of Pan-African activities. The African Code further contains an open-source set of protocols which standardize and institutionalize the best ways of deal with conflict and basic organization to produce results. In all Pan-African groups the same issues keep coming up, lack of accountability and poor ways of tracking progress. Things are often agreed only with words, but never with actions. The key component is enforcing and monitoring that these 7 principles are not just pretty words. So that Pan-African unity is not exclusive of professionalism, or sincerity. The threshold and standards of work and the quality of our work ethic becomes critical in application of the African Code. But when we call people to unity we need a foundational constitution which identities in a flash the core objectives of Pan-African liberation. Are we on the same ideological page to take this struggle into a unity formation?
- Resource identification and utilization, every resource must be tapped and optimized; people and otherwise
- Tease out the mechanism which perpetuate inefficiency and unprofessionalism
- Create systems of which monitor progress
- Create ways in which accountability and resolutions are accessed
- Promote African dialectics and meritocracy so that the best solutions are ascended
- Standardize and optimize ways of doing things such as meetings and communication
- Discipline and adherence to professionalism and quality
Forewords
African history is the most suppressed history in the world. Of the history that we do have access to, much has been mutilated and manipulated to eliminate the story of Africa 's many great ancient civilisations. This deliberate distortion was designed to fit in with a western perception of Africa that continues to cultivate disunity by perpetuating a view of Africa and African people as unorganised, uncivil, unoriginal and sub-human. To this end, history, culture and education are critical tools for the global progression of African children and the re-education of African adults who have often been force fed a falsity that contributes to the repression of our true self.
Notions of Africaness come into question as these terms have no practical definitions which are agreed upon. In some cases to be African is more definable by our common history of oppression as opposed to our common cultural identity. Whether this existed in antiquity is another matter but today in our reality we come in all textures of culture and morality. Such a wide canon leaves the question of unity in the air. False notions of race based solely on skin color are immature and impractical. Clearly the only thing that truly defines us as a group is shared ideology, in this case of the proposed code; shared cultural core ideologies as practised by the diverse people who share the African racial family label with honour.
Why a Code
With slave egos we all fight for king of the ant hill, disunited with our silly politics of me's over we's. If we are to turn over a new page we need to change the way we inter-relate as businesses and organizations. We must become accountable outside of our little organizations. We must put community before personal glory. We must realize that even the most successful ones of us are merely ants in the broader sense of the world.
We continue as a collective to fight battles in silence and from a strategic disadvantage. We employ secondary resistance as oppose to primary resistance. We thus seek solutions for our problems from the European cultural template. We talk about Africa but it is just a trendy phrase as very few actually put our money where our mouth is when it comes to adopting cultural solutions from the continent.
We have the legacy of traditional Islamic African shariah to draw from, the legacy of the Youraba tradition, Abyssinian Christian tradition, the Nguzo Saba principles,
Also as a people, we expect to create nations by disregarding human history. We expect to unify without observing common truths as it relates to humanity. The code is a constitution that enhances our unity and improves our individual companies/organizations without in any way changing the individual direction or soverignity.
The Code
The African Code is a broad ethos which governs progressive African organizations; united through diversity, collating resources, strategies, and knowledge. The African Code is the fundamental intersection of our most cherished ideas and ideals, which serve as the bases of global African organizational unity for progressive action in the vein of self-determination.
Today African unity is more definable by a common history of oppression as opposed to common cultural identity. The institutionalization of our most cherish beliefs has never been done as a collective, leaving a wide ungrounded canon with no basis for unity. False notions of unity based solely on skin color are immature and impractical. Clearly the only thing that truly defines us as a group is shared ideology. The African Code is drawn from our diversity as a racial family, so whether we are Muslim, Igbo, Christian, Jew, Spiritual, Caribbean , Arabian, American we can unite on our intersecting commonalities.
To be effective in uniting its members, the code seeks to reflect the complete diversity of African people irrespective of nation, faith or creed. Members speak to different areas of our population; some the children, some religious groups, etc. All are critical and therefore the code supports a complete compliment of organisations servicing our community. Each member is called upon to contribute from their own cultural experience to all areas we collectively agree upon. The most critical purpose of the code is common agreement and hence our unity by representing the areas where our circles of beliefs intersect. Members are part of a family where each makes a commitment to the other to honour the principles of honesty, respect and trust. The code should never be a source of disagreement because the purpose of the code is areas of exclusive agreement based on inclusion rather than exclusion of organisations. The code see ks also to infuse in members a shining example of morality and dedication, which by pure example leads a disunited people.
Just like a computer code, the African Code must be set up to protect itself from its biggest enemy—human nature. It must be robust and tested, debugged and tweaked from all angles to ensure its sustainability and efficiency within the real working world. It is for this purpose that the institutionalization of the African code must be written on solid foundations with parameters, which protect it from its founders. The code organizes and puts an end to the haphazard chaotic way in which we try to unify project by project and sets a cemented formal protocol of effectively working for cohesion and unity among our diverse organizations.
PRIME LAW
The prime law constitutes the foundation language of the code, which is responsible for its existence hence any violation of this violates and nullifies the purpose of the code, and hence such items posing this threat are with extreme prejudice rejected. The prime law governs the agreement and loyalty to unity, which has the weight of being a prime law. The prime law concept is an unbreakable truth, which is set. If two countries disagreed the prime law could be used to make a law that says war cannot happen. So no matter what path to peace is taken the act of warfare has been removed as an option, and this prime law becomes dearer than life itself as its prime purpose is to set an unbreakable agreement which serves to safeguard humanity. The prime law as it relates to the African code is that of Unity and intolerance items, which divide and isolate each other, such as religious intolerance.
Our word is our bond is a critical aspect of the code, which is treated as sacred, and any violations will be dispensed to the public domain and meet with the most severe of treatment. These fundamentals are guarded with extreme prejudice for they are the bedrock of the code and thus if not secured invalidate the code.
JUSTICE
God, truth and justice above everything else. (MAAT). The highest principles of religion/spirituality are the highest principle of the Code. The African Code is fundamentally opposed to violence/war as a solution to humanities differences. The African Code extends justice and peace to all oppressed people on the planet and is prepared to work collectively as a human family to bring and end to oppression whenever and wherever it occurs.
SELF-DETERMINATION
Self-determination is the basic human right in which human beings have collective control over their cultural property, establishes terms and labels which empower, control and produce media which is in their best interest; independent of any other group. A self-determined people also articulate solutions rooted in their cultural foundation. They ultimately espouse terminologies, which serve their own self-interest and have a world view that orientates exclusively to their own cultural reality.
Labels: The African Code employs linguistic terms which empower African people and rejects shallow color labels which do not articulate the African geopolitical reality.
UNITY
The only way anything progressive can happen is through unity. The African Code members thus encourage and are willing to work with any progressive African organization who understands the aims and objectives for African Global liberation and empowerment. There is absolutely no way African people can achieve anything in isolation. Thus a measure of success is reflected in the quantity, quality and diversity of African organizations that are unified under the ethos of the African Code.
Why African: The African Code isolates the African race for unity because as a racial family there is, first and foremost, a common cultural ethos and secondly a legacy of oppression which has placed African people all over the World as the most impoverished and oppressed group--even in countries where Africans are the majority. Thus the African Code responds and speaks specifically to this reality by institutionalizing a strategy for these systems of oppression (historical exclusion, cultural disownership, health crisis, economic exploitation, etc) to be challenged and replaced with justice and equality for the profit of all humanity. The models espoused by the African Code can be adopted by all oppressed people globally as a template for self-determination.
Diversity: We are a diverse people, and have always been. Unity thus must endorse absolute tolerance and respect towards all religions and ethnicities: Islam, Candomble, Orisha, Judaism, Voodoo, Yoruba, Fulani, Amhara, etc. This unity in perfection will be the template for the wider human race. The African Code does not tolerant any form of aimless hate or oppression this is because our fight is not for racial dominance; only justice across the board for all humanity.
Each one teach one: One famous Biblical story is where Jesus (Esa) said instead of giving a hungry man a fish, teach him to fish. The African Code extends to members this principle and takes it one-step further that those who are taught go out and teach, thus the skill level of the African World rises. Computer literacy, technological utilization, emerging technologies (WiFi, etc) need to be integrated and used for the collective benefit. Those that have a skill and share knowledge and skills for the profit of all members.
CULTURE
All work must be in the tradition of African culture, in all its diversity. Culture in the fullest sense embraces marriage, rights of passage, mental frame-works, language, dress, manners, etc.
Language: The African Code officially recognizes Swahili as the official Pan-African language and Amharic (Ge'ez) as the official script of African people. The African Code will seek all means to introduce Swahili and Amharic into all learning outlets for African people, especially children. The ultimate goal within the next 20 years to make sure at least 30% of all African people globally can speak Swahili and write in Amharic. Those wishing to enter languages will be encouraged to seek and preserve minority languages by documenting and institutionalizing these languages before they go instinct.
Documentation: Cultures practised by African people must be documented and preserved via books , African owned Museums, and all other mediums, which will preserve all aspects of African culture for future generations.
EDUCATION
Scholarship: To promote and encourage new scholarship as it relates to our history and culture and to facilitate the succession of leadership across the generations and ensure that all vital roles of scholarship are filled with the necessary knowledge via fostering and sponsoring education.
Common knowledge: To educate and raise the bar of common knowledge within our global communities with factual driven academia based on empirical research and scholarship. To thus ultimately normalize an African sense of self worth and legacy into our common cultural knowledge. And to export this knowledge to fight the negative World view of Africans and Africa.
Institutionalization: All writings, films, music must be institutionalized into our cultural and historical archive for future generations. Institutionalization means accurate documentation and processing of ideas and concepts, which will out live the creators and personalities that founded them. The ethos of this and other organizations must raise the standard of scholarship and adhere to an institution-building objective, which is regulated and governed. We hope that a new “Open university” of knowledge will build onto the extensive historical legacy of our ancestors. Our aim is that we and those who come after us will embody this information as birthrights and build on these foundations. Thus, every generation advances the body of historical knowledge by standing on the shoulders of their ancestors.
FAMILY
Promote and protect the African family unit via cultural African marriage. To return the African family unit to accountability, mutual respect and love. In the community and other relationships and the next generation are the peak of wealth so we must guard them well.To act for the good of the collective family over everything else thus any substances/item/media that harms our community is outlawed
ECONOMICS
Economics is the blood of a society and touches every aspect of life, it washes and sustains civilizations and thus is a critical aspect of all activities under the African Code unity banner. Economics as a tool of self-determination and political voice/leverage is a fundamental aspect of the code. Thus in all activities the economic criteria must be satisfied making sure that where possible money is not allowed to leave the African circle. The economic policy of the code means that members first loyalty is to other members of the African Code, then to the progressive African community and as a last resort the non-African community who sustain and support those issues most critical to our community.
Sustainable economics: All work must be sustainable financially and have an economic component, which will create jobs and sustain the work independent of external support. These economic policies must also extend into the Global African community and fund development for the benefit of all. The African Code recognizes the system of quantum merit, where those who risk and/or invest the most reap the most.The exploitation or profiteering from systems, which have no sustainable value, are condemned.
Economic inclusion: Economics as it relates to self-determination insist that in all external relationships and campaigns relating to African people must support economic inclusion of African business and talent. In this respect all charities, for example, addressing the poverty crisis in Africa must be made accountable and demonstrate that a percentage of African businesses have been solicited in all projects as a first priority, thus putting an end to the economic exploitation of Africa generated by European businesses who make millions from Africa's poverty.
Emerging economics: Recognition of intellectual property right is to be observed by all members and thus absolutely no violation of copyright is allowed especially where such violation diminishes the income of an African person. All other emerging economic opportunities which generate income by service or other means are to be respected and treated in the same regard as traditional systems.
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