Allocution de M. Nicolas Sarkozy, président de la République française, prononcée à l'Université de Dakar Dakar, Sénégal, le 26 juillet 2007 En accompagnement de l'article (n°6784) d'Achille Mbembe qui fait référence à ce discours, nous le publions intégralement pour l'information de nos lecteurs. [la rédaction d'Africultures]
Yesterday, striving constantly to overcome my primitive understanding of the French language and its poetry, I found time to read the powerful and moving Address you delivered at the University of Dakar, Senegal, on July 26.
Nevertheless, I have no hesitation in saying many thanks for what you said, and the manner and place where you said it.
I would like to believe that I understand fully the challenge you placed at our feet, as Africans, when you said : 'Mais, de ses malheurs, l'Afrique a tiré une force nouvelle en se métissant à son tour. Ce métissage, quelles que fussent les conditions douloureuses de son avènement, est la vraie force et la vraie chance de l'Afrique au moment où émerge la première civilisation mondiale'.
I would also like to believe that I understand fully the task you set us, as Africans, when you said : 'Alors, mes chers Amis, alors seulement, l'enfant noir de Camara Laye, à genoux dans le silence de la nuit africaine, saura et comprendra qu'il peut lever la tête et regarder avec confiance l'avenir. Et cet enfant noir de Camara Laye, il sentira réconciliées en lui les deux parts de lui-même. Et il se sentira enfin un homme comme tous les autres hommes de l'humanité '.
When you spoke at the University of Dakar you addressed both the African youth and all of us as Africans, regardless of age and place of domicile.
You spoke to us, but I sincerely hope that your message will be heard by the entire human society. It cannot be that anybody can claim that humanity is advancing towards the creation of a global people-centred society while Africa remains mired in the entrenched problems with which all thinking human beings are very familiar.
We will do our best to acquaint our people, our continent and the rest of the world with what you said on July 26 at the University of Dakar.
But beyond this, we will assess what we have to do practically to respond to the challenges you had the courage and the honesty to address when you spoke at the University of Dakar.
A few years ago I communicated the opinion to senior French corporate leaders we were privileged to host in our country, that history has defined France as an African citizen. I said then, that this placed us in the fortunate position that, necessarily, we would have France, a fellow citizen of Africa, on our side, as we strived to respond to our challenges as Africans.
What you said in Dakar, Mr President, told me that we are fortunate that we can count on you as such a citizen of Africa, as a partner in the protracted struggle to achieve the true Renaissance of Africa, within the context of the renaissance of Europe and the rest of the world.
My view was confirmed by what you said in Libreville, Gabon, that : 'Nous voulons aider les pays d'Afrique sur la voie du développement et sur la voie de la diversification … J'aime l'Afrique, j'aime les Africains, je les respecte'.
Mr President, please accept the assurance of our highest fraternal consideration.
Thabo Mbeki
H.E. President Sakozy
President
Elysée Palace
Paris
French Republic
Lettre à l'ANC :
Letter from the President ANC Today, Volume 7, No. 30 - 3-9 August 2007 Make poverty history - if not now, when?
On 26 and 31 July respectively, two European political leaders, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom, delivered major political speeches that are of critical importance to our country, our continent and the rest of the world. The one spoke at the University of Dakar in Senegal, and the other at the United Nations in New York.
Because of the global and timely significance of these addresses, I believe that as many of us as possible should study them, of course with no obligation to agree with them. Nevertheless, they present urgent and important tasks to which we must respond.
All humanity, including ourselves, must respond to the many important challenges posed by the objective process of the rapid expansion of an integrated global political economy - properly and scientifically understood - that is colloquially described as globalisation.
At the same time, as a movement, we must vigorously address the national, African continental, and universal tasks we face, consistent with the national democratic and internationalist obligations that have defined our movement, the ANC, for many decades. The problem of the colour line
This imposes a requirement on us to study, understand and act on the basis of a thorough, honest and disciplined analysis of objective national, continental and global reality. As much as we must be resolute in our actions, so must we accept the reality of a complex and dialectical process through which we come to identify the content of our dynamic social reality, and therefore the setting to which we must respond.
The liberation of our country in 1994 created the possibility for the realisation of a dream that the African masses, and not only the leaders, have entertained for a long time. This is the dream of African unity.
In our case, this was first expressed both as the dream of the unity of our Continent and the unity of the African oppressed, who, as Pixley Seme said, had to bury the demon of tribalism. On the larger plain, relevant to all Africans without regard to tribe and defined place of residence, incorporating the African Diaspora, on the eve of the century, WEB du Bois said the problem of the 20th century would be the problem of the colour line.
We now live in the first decade of the 21st century. The problem we all face, as Africans, without regard to tribe and place of residence, incorporating the African Diaspora, remains still, the problem of the colour line, at this stage relating to our socio-economic upliftment and liberation, and our advance away from the periphery of global human society.
Basing ourselves on the historic place of our continent in the birth and evolution of humanity, and the birth of organised human civilisation, we have a duty, and every right to say the 21st must and will be an African century.
The major addresses delivered by President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Brown, leaders of former European colonial powers, seek to respond to the challenge to liberate the billions in the South from poverty, especially as this relates to our continent and us as Africans. What Sarkozy said
In this regard, President Sarkozy said: 'The weakness of Africa, which knew so many brilliant civilisations on its soil, is due to the fact that she did not engage with other cultures for a long time (because of slavery and colonialism). Africa paid dearly for this disengagement from the world, and it made her very vulnerable. But from all her sufferings, Africa has drawn new strength by re-engaging with herself. This re-engagement, whatever the painful conditions of its birth were, is Africa's true strength and real chance at this moment when the first world civilisation is emerging...
'(The possibility to be able to study, to work, to live decently) is basically what all of Africa wants. Africa does not want charity. Africa does not want help. Africa does not want permits.
'What Africa wants is solidarity, understanding and respect, and this must be given to her. What Africa wants, is that one does not take over her future, think for her, or decide for her. What Africa wants is what France wants; namely cooperation, association, and partnership between two nations, equal in rights and duties.
'Youth of Africa, globalisation as it is, does not please you. Africa has paid too high a price for the mirage of collectivism and progress, to cede to that of laisser faire policies. Youth of Africa, you believe that the free market is beneficial but that it is not a religion. You believe that competition is a means but it is not an end in itself.
'You know that if Africa is too naïve, Africa will be condemned to being the prey of all the world's predators. And you do not want that. You want another globalisation, with more humanity, more justice, more rules.
'I have come to tell you that France also wants this. She wants to fight along with Europe, along with Africa, with anyone in the world who wants to change globalisation. If Africa, France and Europe want it together, then we will succeed. But we cannot express this desire for you.' What Brown said
Addressing the urgent need for a practical manifestation of the solidarity of which President Sarkozy spoke, Prime Minister Brown said: 'Unless we act, the planet will by 2015 be suffering not less but more environmental degradation and millions of people will still be struggling on less than one dollar a day with millions of children still hungry...
'The calendar says we are half way from 2000 to 2015, (the period set for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals). But the reality is that we are a million miles away from success...
'We cannot allow our promises that became pledges to descend into just aspirations, and then wishful thinking, and then only words that symbolise broken promises.
'We did not make the commitment to the Millennium Development Goals only for us to be remembered as the generation that betrayed promises rather than honoured them and undermined trust that promises can ever be kept.
'So it is time to call it what it is: a development emergency which needs emergency action...
'So when the need is pressing, when it is our generation that has made historic commitments, when the time to meet them is now short, the simple questions that - to paraphrase the words of an American president - we must ask are:
'If not now, when? If not us, who? If not together, how?
'And I believe the scale of the challenge is such that we cannot now leave it to some other time and some other people but must act now, working together...
'For you also know what I know: that the world has the technology to cure, the science to heal, the medicine to save lives.
'Past generations had the old excuse. They could say: If only we had the knowledge. If only we had the technology. If only we had the medicine. If only we had the science. If only we had the wealth.
'Today we have the science, technology, medicine and wealth: what we now need is the unity and strength of purpose to employ the ingenuity and resources we have - and to employ them well - to help those who need it.
'And we need a compact - the rich accepting their responsibilities to invest, to support, to end protectionism and to deliver our promises; the developing countries accepting their responsibilities to reform, to open up to trade, and to be transparent and free of corruption...
'So it is time to call into action the eighth of the Millennium Goals so we can meet the first seven. Let us remember Millennium Development Goal eight - to call into being, beyond governments alone, a global partnership for development, and together harness the energy, the ideas and the talents of the private sector, consumers, NGOs and faith groups, and citizens everywhere.' The order of the day
In Dakar, President Sarkozy made the important statement that in his view, which he did not seek to impose on us, Africa would never achieve her developmental goals if she accepted a globalisation process driven by a religion of laisser faire (free markets), and should strive for a globalisation process 'with more humanity, more justice, more rules'.
He called for solidarity, cooperation, association, and partnership among the nations, 'equal in rights and duties', and warned against supporting policies that would condemn Africa to remain 'prey of all the world's predators'.
Prime Minister Brown also called for 'a global partnership for development', involving governments, business, civil society and the citizen. He argued for a compact between the rich and the poor of the world. He argued that the means and the know-how exist radically to push back the frontiers of poverty, globally.
He required of the rich that they implement resource transfers to the poor and create the conditions in their countries to empower the poor to extricate themselves from misery: he required of the poor to create the necessary conditions for development, including ensuring that resources meant for development reach the masses of the people rather than end up in the pockets of a predatory elite.
The important statements made by President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Brown come at a critical time during the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations and the ACP-EU negotiations, with the latter intended to conclude the ACP-EU Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) by 31 December this year, as mandated by the 2000 ACP-EU Cotonou Partnership Agreement.
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