Dr. Kenneth D. Kaunda's Speech at WSF Nairobi, 2007

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Full text of Dr. Kenneth D. Kaunda's Speech at World Social Forum 2007 Presentation at Uhuru Park, Nairobi, Saturday 20th January 2007

Nairobi, a Forum for the World

Habari!

Karibu!

My Sisters, my Brothers, I am touched to be here.

I was touched when we marched together this morning. Truly, the reaching of our destination started with one step. The first step was the will to act.

Yes, in Nairobi there are thousands and thousands of us, from all parts of the world.

Women and men, young and elderly.

Various colours. Carrying passports of every nation of the world.

Here we are, from various cultures and backgrounds. I listen to various languages. We come from various religious and spiritual beliefs.

We, gathered here, have a range of political and economic beliefs. We are from various economic situations. Some activists are living with disability.

We are a rich variation of our one humanity, all members working with others. Here we are, together and united by concern for our common good.

This is humanity gathered.

We thank God Our Creator for bringing us here together. From all corners of this, our one world, we have come and gathered. God truly is Allah the Compassionate, Allah the Great, Allah the Merciful.

Yes, God makes it possible for us to be here, from various countries. Allow me to extend my thanks to you all for organising and attending this great peoples’ platform.

Sisters and Brothers, we have come a long way. We have come from the times of slave trade, colonialism, and from organised apartheid and racism. We have been fighting injustice and exploitation of person by person in Africa, Asia, Caribbean, the Americas, and all over this, our one world. On the continents and islands of the world, many local people were suppressed and oppressed and treated as lesser human beings.

In recent times, all over the world, we have had leaders against oppression and exploitation. Mahatma Gandhi’s movement for non violent struggle has just turned 100 years. Martin Luther King, Che Guevara and Fidel Castro led movements for political change.

We recall that in Africa, we also had giants of leaders. When we were fighting for independence, these included Kwame Nkrumah, Ben Bella, Abdel Nasser, Jomo Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere, Patrice Lumumba in the Congo.

These had a wide vision of people of Africa cooperating and in freedom as Sisters and Brothers. Those of us who got independence early then supported our Sisters and Brothers in the liberation of southern Africa.

Various methods were used to fight injustice. There were political and diplomatic approaches. There were sanctions in economy, sport, and culture. People refused to cooperate with the unjust systems.

In Mozambique, our brothers and sisters in the liberation struggle were led by Eduardo Mondlane, and later by Samora Machel. In their movement, they worked with colleagues like Graca Machel and other women and men. In Zimbabwe, there was Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, and their colleagues.

In Namibia, there was Sam Nujoma. As nations got independent and liberated, they supported others in the struggle. In South Africa Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, Steve Biko, Chris Hani, and their comrades worked closely with their people to dismantle apartheid.

I was privileged to have played a small part in supporting these leaders of various countries. I know these are people who risked their lives. Their followers suffered and risked lives. Many men and women died for this just cause. We thank God that they succeeded to liberate our countries.

Working with South Africa’s freedom loving people, I remember the joy I felt when I, as a humble leader, being involved in discussion with Frederick de Klerk to have comrade Nelson Mandela released from prison. And in 1990, Nelson Mandela and other comrades were released. 1994’s change in South Africa marked the end of colonial and white minority rule in southern Africa. It was a new phase for South Africa and humanity.

Sisters and Brothers, here, a key lesson is that the changes towards freedom and justice were achieved not by the work of these leaders alone. But, as Gandhi said, the leader follows the people. The leaders worked with the people of their nations.

There are many other women and men who were with us in the struggle but are not named. They played various leadership and activist roles. The struggle was a struggle for every one. Men and women in various situations mobilised and worked together.

Each person was important. The struggle benefited from the skills and experiences of each person involved. Each person contributed to a whole that became the path through which the energy of love and justice was carried. The struggle depended on the effort of each person. The could not continue without intensive cooperation of men, women, and youths in various situations. Working together, they helped to improve the situation of humanity.

Our fight against apartheid and racism was based on love and principle. We knew that even the oppressors were our brothers and sisters in one humanity. We did not support the struggle because of hatred. The struggle was about improving the welfare of humanity. Whatever colour or background, we were all human beings, Sisters and Brothers made in God’s image.

Indeed, the struggle for justice and human dignity was supported by people from various backgrounds – within nations, in the region, and on the continent. People from other South areas like Asia, the Caribbean, South America, and Latin America greatly supported the struggle. Indeed, people and even governments, in the Nordic parts of Europe materially and morally supported the liberation movements.

The Canadians were of great help. Even members of the public in other western countries like the USA and Britain differed with their governments and supported the struggle for justice in Africa. While some of the people here may have been part of that support for justice in Africa, the younger ones may indeed know some one who was involved in that support.

Today, we still face great challenges. There is poverty. There is the debt burden. There is HIV/AIDS. There are divisions along politics, gender, race, religion and spirituality, disability, land, political conflict, ethnicity, economic status, and other factors. The North-South divide is huge and must be undone if we are to assert our relationship as brothers and sisters in this, our one world.

These issues of peoples and human history we cannot forget. They have notes which we must learn from if we must do what God our Creator wants us to do today – to build, in every country, a world free of poverty, ignorance, disease, crimes and all exploitation of person by person.

Sisters and Brothers, our struggle against colonialism and racism in Africa shows that it is important for people to network across human barriers. From experience, we know that the various challenges of injustice and exploitation we now face in 2007 can be overcome.

We know that with collaborative effort by men, women, and young persons in various parts of the world, a better world is very very possible. We must not forget that we are strong. We have achieved before. We will achieve again. Together, we can have “Uhuru” na “Umoja,” freedom and unity of humanity.

Injustice cannot overcome the force of love, harmony, and fair play. Our struggles in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America have shown that we need not fear or doubt victory. Indeed, those struggles were but part of one common struggle for the welfare of the whole of humanity.

We also realised that independence and liberation is not complete without eradication of poverty and its offshoots.

The political independence we have got must bring, in all our respective countries, food to the table of every individual. The political independence must mean social, human, and cultural rights for every human being.

We must address education, health care, housing and shelter, and employment and decent work. Without economic emancipation, political independence is not full.

We, here assembled, must continue with the work that leaders of movements for justice continuously talked about, and indeed worked for. This is action for the rights and dignity of the people the world over. We should never cease to demand rights of people in the East, the West, North, and the South. We must continue with action for the common good.

This world is interdependent. Sustainable development cannot be achieved through exploitation. But how do we move to fair development and peace for all? To realise that we are Sisters and Brothers, and work together for prosperity, it will help us to remember the great principle: Love God our Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our minds, and with all our strength.

In relating to each other as members of the human family, each one of us must love his or her neighbour as we love ourselves. Each one of us here, from various places we have come from, must learn to do unto others as they would like to be done to them. This is across being male or female, across colour, nationality, ethnicity, faith and spirituality, economic position, and disability. This love is across anything artificial.

That is why South-South dialogue is very important. That is why South-North and North-South dialogue is important. When we observe the question of loving God, loving our neighbour, and doing as we would like to be done by, we will build relationships with others on the basis of genuine human love and cooperation. We will more easily establish a world governed by respect and justice for each other. We shall co-exist in a world of diverse spirituality. Our variation will strengthen us.

We shall have established a powerful base from where we would effectively deal with challenges affecting us today.

We who are gathered here at this 7th Social Forum have tremendous challenges. One special challenge today is women’s rights. For example, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and now Africa, have produced women heads of governments and states. Yet the place of the woman in society is not yet what it should be.

We must remember that the God who made the male is the same God that made woman. The Creator of All demands fair play for the woman. It is therefore very important that we, at this summit of peoples of the world, have a great portion of mothers and sisters present. I pray that their numbers will continue to grow in various areas that demand leadership. In fact, in many events, it is our mothers and sisters here, and elsewhere, who are driving things for the common good.

But why do we, the men, turn cruel against women? We are entirely dependent on women for a good nine months before we come out to be what we are today. We are dependent on women for what we were yesterday and what we will be tomorrow. Let us think through this and allow this Mother her dignified place on earth. This will require great adjustment in attitudes, policies, and practices. Appropriate systems must be made and strengthened to support the journey for dignified male and female relationships.

We should build political structures and institutions on the basis of full people’s participation. Let the people participate fully in the control of the processes of decision-making in public affairs. They must participate in the control of their resources. This summit of the people of the world must denounce all forms of exploitation of person by person, in any shape or form.

We must demand, at this Forum of the peoples of the world, the liquidation of debts imposed on the world’s poorest of the poor. No debt in this, our world today, can be said to be fair and justifiable.

Like in many countries, from independence, with God’s grace, we made, and acted upon, important decisions in favour of universal and free access to education, health services, and development of agriculture and basic services.

In the early 1970s, we also had problems of copper prices going down. The price of petroleum we imported went up worldwide. Our financial situation was being affected by the various forces. We therefore sought the advice of the World Bank and IMF. The IMF and World Bank advice was that: this going down of copper prices will only be for a short time. They were sure that the copper prices would pick up and therefore Zambia could borrow.

And indeed, to enable us to continue with our development efforts, we borrowed. But in the 1980s, the debt repayment song began to be very hard. The conditions were harsh. We could not continue with such harsh impact on Zambia’s people. Many basic needs gains we had made at independence were being reversed. There were riots over food prices when, at IMF insistence, we removed public support for various services.

In 1987, we, as a country, took a decision that we accepted debt repayment but that we should be able to pay only so much, maximum ten percent of income we suggested, depending on what we earned every year. While still having IMF membership, we broke off from the programme that had created hardship.

We did our own self made programme for a few months. Things did work and we achieved high growth rate. But the debt collectors, World Bank and IMF and the difficult governments they represent, came down very heavily on us. With various sanctions against us, assistance withheld, and other sanctions, we had no choice but to succumb to rejoin the IMF programme. That created further hardship.

My Sisters and Brothers, fighters gathered here, we broke off from the IMF programme in 1987. That is 20 years ago. That time we did not have much support from other indebted governments in the South, in Africa, Asia, Caribbean, and Latin America. A collaborated effort could have helped quickly galvanise against the unfair debt conditions.

In years that followed, civil society and social movements took a leading role against the debt conditions. I know many of you were part of the anti-debt campaign. The campaign involved members of the public in both South and North. It was a people’s campaign, cutting across the whole world. It was people united in fighting for the common good.

Pressure was brought to bear on creditor governments and the IMF and World Bank. A lot of gains were made. Some debt has been cancelled. But, still, as part of the conditions for debt cancellation, the IMF and World Bank, and creditor governments with them, continue to impose other harsh conditions.

But we have learnt that without collaboration, it is not easy to overcome. From the campaign against debt, we have learnt that North-South networking and action works effectively. And here we are, in Nairobi. The 7th World Social Forum can inspire us to do more in removing the burden of debt. Let us remember we are strong and have achieved before. We can still achieve. And, considering the energies here in Nairobi, we will achieve.

My Sisters, Brothers, one of the most devastating experiences we have had is HIV/AIDS. Comrades in our common struggle, I will refer to some experiences. In the 1980s and 1990s, it was taboo to say you were infected or affected by HIV/AIDS.

But on December 23, 1986, our son, Masuzyo Gwebe Kaunda, died of AIDS. At that time, in Zambia and elsewhere, when someone died of AIDS, relatives and friends gave different stories from what had actually happened.

A couple of weeks after Masuzyo’s death, my wife and I decided to tell the people of Zambia and the rest of the world that our son had died of AIDS. We did that in order to contribute to the fight against stigma.

I believe that the first frontline against HIV/AIDS is “prevention is better than cure.” So we must remember Voluntary Counselling and Testing. Dear Sisters and Brothers, I am not telling you what I have not done. In the year 2002, I went for testing. When I went for testing, I announced that even if I had been found HIV Positive, I would have announced to the whole world that I was positive. I would use that Positive status to contribute towards fighting stigma and HIV/AIDS.

But we realised that we cannot talk about fighting AIDS without reference to the importance of fighting poverty. Is it by chance or accident that the areas hardest hit with AIDS today are mainly in poverty stricken areas?

20 years have passed since my son Masuzyo’s death. Some advances have been made in handling HIV/AIDS. But still much more needs to be done to this condition with many faces. This Forum can help move us towards more collaboration of people in the North and South, and from South to South. A challenge currently is to allow the views and experiences from various parts of the world.

At present, the North dominates the HIV/AIDS discourse. Much experiences and skills in the South are not being utilised. We need to get together in a position of regard and respect for the vision, knowledge, and skills of others. Working together, we can conquer HIV/AIDS. The 7th World Social Forum provides such people to people network.

Sisters, Brothers, a Forum of this nature, which I consider a People’s Summit, should touch discussions, exchanges of views and ideas, and experiences that might help to make, in one way or another, God’s people in all corners of our one earth at least a little better and happier.

Many people are wallowing in poverty. The poverty is contributing to children being displaced and going onto the streets. The issue of children on the street is a very urgent one. It shows deep problems in our societies. With children insecure and vulnerable, the future of humanity is very fragile.

The other day, I learnt about a big challenge to childhood and society. There are babies and children whose mothers have been imprisoned. Quite often, the children are left with relatives of the imprisoned mothers. The relatives look after these kids. But there are also situations were relatives are not able to look after these kids. So these kids are also sent to prison to live with their mothers.

In prison, the babies, infants, and children do not have good conditions. We can use this Nairobi Forum to compare notes and possible action.

Sisters, Brothers, we must refer to the environment. After the Kyoto protocol, we realised that even some of our most developed nations were not very concerned with how we, as humans, look after our environment.

Pollution and environmental problems are of concern. Desertification is truly frightening. Sometimes, when I am flying as a passenger in planes, I see, from the air, the changes in plant cover. Desert is growing. In fact, it is activists that have put a lot of environmental issues on the world’s agenda. This Forum is another phase for networking for environmental action.

Sisters and Brothers, the importance of land cannot be overemphasized. We learn from history, and a number of events currently taking place, that land has been a big source of conflict. All over the world, people have been displaced from their land. Commercial interests have taken an upper hand. We need solutions and action.

Brothers and Sisters, we meet at a time when some gains have been made. But we have declined in some things. Conflict and injustice still happen according to factors like colour, language, nationality, culture, ethnicity, religion, and economic status. Being in Nairobi, I remember that in the late 1960s, I helped to mediate in a border dispute involving Somalia and Kenya. The agreement of then still holds now.

I had hoped that things would improve even in other conflicts. But we find that while we made achievements on challenges like apartheid, the world still has many conflicts. Instead of benefiting from the rich variation of colour, cultures, languages, religion and spirituality, we have conflict and war. On all continents, from Africa to Europe and the Middle East, in developed and developing nations, there are conflicts, with some taking on arms.

The 2003 invasion of Iraq by the two Bs, Bush and Blair, has created divisions in the world. The effects keep on spreading. Those effects, we as a people gathered from one family of humanity, we must reverse.

Just recently, events in Somalia brought out much concern for Africa and the world. People of good will are concerned about the recent direction. Sadly, the USA government, in line with their “war on terror” talk, got involved in armed raids. Ethiopia’s Army is also in Somalia. This situation will lead to problems for Somalia, the region, African Union, and the United Nations. It is interesting that Somaliland seems to have some stability. What can we learn about Somaliland?

We the people at the Nairobi World Social Forum have a responsibility to act together to avoid conflict. We must be involved in healing this, our one world. The way we have gathered here, from various backgrounds, and sharing issues is an example of a better world possible. We have the skills and experiences to deal with the many issues in many parts of the world. This gathering is a huge network for the common good.

Sisters, Brothers, I am very touched by our meeting here. I thank you for coming all the way to this important get-together. As we get back to our homes, let us remember that the purpose of these meetings is to help the human race understand itself a little better than before this conference.

I am sure you will agree with me that from every brother, every sister we have shaken hands with or met, we have learnt something.

May the Love of God Almighty our Creator, Allah the Compassionate, Allah the Merciful, Allah the Gracious, guide us in our thoughts and to develop further our deeds so that we can leave this world a little better than we found it. Brothers, Sisters, a better world is, indeed, possible.

Thank You

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