Self Determination - NOT Charity!
The future of African people everywhere is tied to our ability to unite our resources with our skills.
The All African People's Development and Empowerment Project was developed as part of a strategy to win true and lasting self-determination for African people worldwide. We understand that the underlying cause for the crisis that exists in the African world is due to the imperialist exploitation and purposeful underdevelopment of Africa and African communities everywhere by the US and Europe who effectively control our resources (wealth).
If Africa's diamonds alone were used to benefit African working people, there would be more than enough resources for people-led sanitation and clean water systems for African communities everywhere. There is enough hydro(water) potential in the Democratic Republic of Congo to meet almost all of Africa's electricity needs. What is needed, then, is African workers having control of our immense wealth to ensure that it is used to develop our communities the way that we see fit.
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 level 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 AAPDEP are part of an overall strategy 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.
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.
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 Africa people while stealing our resources. Celebrities like Bono, 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.