Sunday, February 1, 2009

The All African People's Development & Empowerment Project

The All African People's Development & Empowerment Project is an organization of the African People's Socialist Party. AAPDEP has as one of its primary goals to organize the collective energy, skill and expertise of Africans wherever we are located, and to include others with skills who are willing to work under the guidelines of this project, in order to develop Africa and African communities throughout the world.

The most important features of AAPDEP that distinguish it from other organizations are:

1. It is spearheaded by Africans for Africans.

2. AAPDEP organizes the highly trained and skilled sector of the African population who would otherwise use their skills to advance development in their respective countries of residence that often times are engaged in the exploitation of Africa.

3. It is NOT charity – the most popular and accepted way of dealing with the objective conditions in Africa - as this approach demoralizes Africans everywhere, the recipients as well as other African people who witness it. AAPDEP is designed to train, develop and empower the Africans who participate in its projects to duplicate and run the programs we develop. It is a revolutionary strategy aimed at transforming the dismal reality of Africans everywhere and forwarding true self-determination for African people.

Current AAPDEP projects focus on rainwater harvesting, well-building, water purification, ecological sanitation, farming, and community health workers training.

Conditions Imposed on African People Worldwide Make AAPDEP Necessary

With an abundance of agricultural, mineral, oil and other wealth, Africa is the richest continent on Earth! Nevertheless, African people world wide - from Brooklyn to Brazil, Guinea to Guyana - are forced to live in abject poverty. This imposed poverty is rooted in an attack on Africa that manifested itself as the forced dispersal and enslavement of African people, colonialism and current day neo-colonialism. As a result of this attack, African people everywhere have been separated from our resources and each other while our land, labor and vast natural wealth are being used to build Europe, the US and other imperialist nations.

According to the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) 2002 Annual Report on Integration in Africa, 90% of the continent’s resources are systematically expropriated, leaving a mere 10% of Africa’s “trade” occurring internally. That Africa’s resources continue to serve as the pedestal upon which the economies of the US and Europe rest, instead of being used to meet the needs of African people ourselves, can be clearly seen in the examples of Senegal and Gambia. Although Senegal literally surrounds Gambia, trade between the two countries is minimal. The majority of Senegal's resources are routed to France, while those of the Gambia mainly enrich the UK.

African People Need Self-Determination-- political independence, access to and control over our vast material and intellectual resources for the benefit of the masses of our people!

The All African People's Development and Empowerment Project was developed by the African People's Socialist Party as part of a strategy to completely overturn the contradictions we face as African people that have led to our inability to enjoy the health and prosperity that are our true birthright. We understand that the underlying cause for the crisis that exists in the African world is the imperialist exploitation and purposeful underdevelopment of Africa and African communities everywhere by the US and Europe (and increasingly Japan and China) who effectively control our resources (wealth). We know that this exploitative relationship can only be overturned by a cohesive worldwide movement of African people that has as its objective to forward true and lasting African self-determination-- political independence, access to and control over our vast material and intellectual resources for the benefit of the masses of our people.

The All African People’s Development & Empowerment Project offers African scientists, engineers, health care professionals and other skilled Africans an opportunity to finally organize our skills in an effort to address the problems of lack of healthcare and overall development in African communities everywhere because of imperialism. Through the active participation of African people from throughout the world and of various ages and skill levels in every aspect of the work, AAPDEP will empower the masses of African people to understand that collectively we can overturn all of the contradictions that have been imposed on our lives. Certainly not a superficial attempt to solve the problems of African development, the programs of the AAPDEP are part of an overall strategy developed by the African People’s Socialist Party to organize the masses of African people into a movement that addresses the fundamental, underlying cause of our misery. This approach to our work puts African people on a trajectory toward self-determination and is in complete opposition to the charity model adopted by most other organizations.

Charity is not the solution!

Thousands of organizations, church groups and government agencies around the world operate charity programs of one kind or another throughout Africa and in African communities worldwide, yet the material conditions for African people worldwide only worsen. This is because organizations that solicit “pennies a day” to feed an African child, white wealthy celebrities and middle class couples adopting African children, and white or African missionaries setting up schools and orphanages in impoverished African communities do nothing to address the underlying cause of the poor health, lack of clean water, food, decent sanitation and other conditions imposed on African people and at the same time feed into the false notion that Africa is poor and hopeless. And in many instances, these individuals and organizations get major federal funds, grants and/or tax breaks for their "charitable work" in Africa. The so-called crisis of HIV/AIDS in Africa is a cash cow, making many rich at the expense of the very lives of our people in Africa.

At best, charity programs serve as band-aids on third degree burns. At worst, they are self-aggrandizing efforts to gain attention and accolades or are outright attempts by imperialist-funded foundations or corporations to appease African people while stealing our resources. Celebrities like Bono, Brad Pitt and Angolina Jolie, Madonna, and Oprah Winfrey and all the organizations that daily engage in charity projects in African communities are not working to overturn the fundamental contradiction faced by African people, and therefore offer us no solution whatsoever to our real problem.

Projects

AAPDEP will help to provide clean water to African people throughout the world.

In as little as one year, the All African People's Development & Empowerment Project has organized a number of clean water, farming, community fishing and health care projects in West and Southern Africa. Some of the countries where AAPDEP has developed these vital projects include Sierra Leone, Azania (South Africa) and Zimbabwe.

AAPDEP projects are not limited to the continent of Africa! Our goal is to organize projects in African communities throughout the world.

Community Training

AAPDEP seeks to improve the objective conditions that exist in African communities everywhere while simultaneously empowering African workers and poor peasants. In order to do this, training sessions are organized to transfer the technical skills necessary for community members where projects are developed to participate in the implementation, maintenance and duplication of AAPDEP's water, electricity, sanitation, construction, farming and health projects.

Support AAPDEP

Register Today

Donate Today

As you can imagine, it requires a considerable amount of resources to put AAPDEP projects on the ground. Your donation of money, diamonds, equipment and other resources is an active step towards transforming a world where Africa’s stolen resources generate tremendous wealth for others while the masses of African people live in poverty and misery.

A list of equipment needs can be obtained by emailing AAPDEP at info@developmentforafrica.org.

Checks or money orders made out to “AAPDEP” can be sent to the address below.

Contact AAPDEP!

For more information about the All African People's Development & Empowerment Project, to register for the AAPDEP Conference or to volunteer to share your energy and skills, please contact us at any of the following:

AAPDEP
1245 18th Ave S
St. Petersburg, FL
(727) 821-6620


We look forward to working with you to build these projects that improve the lives of African people everywhere as part of a strategy to win African Liberation in our lifetime!

One Africa! One Nation!
Forward to the AAPDEP Conference!
AAPDEP Conference, Feb 21-22 in St. Pete

Aisha Fields, Ph.D.
AAPDEP Coordinator
www.developmentforafrica.org


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