ALL AFRICAN PEOPLE’S REVOLUTIONARY
UNIFICATION
PARTY
PO Box 23074 Oakland, CA 94623-0074
Phone: (415) 789-7360 * E-mail: AAPRUP2@xxxxxxx
Website: www.aaprup.org
WHAT IS MANHOOD?
Manhood is an act of culture. Manhood is knowing who you are and being responsible to the collective well being of our Nation (Africa), our people (Africans), our community, our family, and humanity.
Who are we? President Kwame Nkrumah, first president of Ghana, says “All people of African descent, whether they live in North or South America, the Caribbean, or in any other part of the world are Africans and belong to the African nation.”
Africa is our mother and capitalism and the traitors of Africa are strangling Africa. Capitalism, Neo-colonialism, Racism, Settler-Colonialism, and Zionism are enemies of Africa. As long as Africa is not free, African manhood will have a serious blemish.
A true man has to have land. It is from the land that we get the necessities of life: food, shelter, clothing, education, healthcare, transportation, jobs, etc. If a nation is to be respected, it must provide these necessities of life to its people. The people must have control of their land to be independent. Africa is the richest continent in the world in natural resources, but African people are among the poorest. Why this contradiction? It is because African people are not in control of Africa. This is the reason why African people all over the world are poor.
The way that we will come to be in power in Africa is through organization. There is a direct link between organization and power. When people are in power, it is because they are organized. The more organized a nation and people are, the more powerful that nation and people. We can’t be men without fighting for control of Africa. This is our collective responsibility. Expecting other people to solve our problems of housing, shelter, clothing, transportation, etc. is childlike and not being responsible, the opposite of manhood. To expect another nation (i.e. France, U.S., etc.) to solve the problems of Africa is to give up all right to independence.
Manhood also includes building and sustaining a political party capable of leading our people to political power, democratic rights, and economic independence. There is no non-committed power; there is no neutral power because in every country, the ruling classes use power to their own ends, according to whether or not these interests are of the People or those of an exploiting minority, whether the class in power is progressive or reactionary, whether exercised for social and democratic progress or for the pre-eminence of those illegal and illegitimate interests as regards to the People
Faithfulness on the part of the revolutionary is always an act of struggle, an action that requires knowledge, capacity, and courage. We mean to say that with regard to the struggle for power, once the people’s class has conquered power, it must entrust to the true revolutionaries, on its behalf, a given portion of that power. It should not hesitate to resort to violence, if need be, against those reactionary elements who would attempt in one way or another, to jeopardize the full and sovereign exercise of power of the people.
How we as men are dealing with our collective responsibilities can be reflected through our relationships with women. Unfortunately, Africa men aid in our oppression by oppressing women. Due to our powerlessness within society we base our manhood on how we can dominate, control, and compete against women. There is an encouragement of unfaithfulness and non-cooperation in our relations with women. Men are labeled as weak and called names such as wimps or ___whipped, etc. whenever showing understanding, cooperation, and support towards women. Men are encouraged to sexually exploit as many women as possible and even taught to consider this irresponsible behavior as a plus to manhood. Yet this is a reflection of how confused we are about manhood.
Men who treat women as equal human beings and understand that women are the base of society are true men of culture. President Sekou Toure of Guinea states, “The women, as we have said, constitute the base of society. If today, all the men in Guinea, all the men in Africa, and all the men in the world, were to disappear, the Guinean and African society and mankind would however continue to live, because there would still be women carrying in them germs that would come to replace all the men who had disappeared. But, let all the women of Guinea, all the women in Africa and all the women in the world disappear, and at most, in a century, the whole of mankind would disappear! This is a first reality.” We cannot exploit the very base of our society without exploiting ourselves.
The African revolution has a high standard of manhood. When we speak of manhood, we speak of someone who has a high level of consciousness and maturity. We are speaking of men who:
1. Respect women as equal human beings. View women as complementary sex rather than opposite sex.
2. Encourage women to become involved in political organizations. (We cannot win without the full participation of women.)
3. Struggle with other men about the necessity for the emancipation of women.
4. Recognize and appreciate the contributions of women.
5. Struggle to relate positively with women.
6. Check and analyze all previous conceptions (especially negative) taught to us about women.
7. Always guide and protect the youth.
8. Provide defense for our nation.
The All-African People’s Revolutionary Unification Party calls for the true men of Africa to manifest your manhood through working for the liberation of African people. We ask that you join our organization or another organization that is working for the liberation of our people.
Organization decides everything.
