From November 19-21 in Niamey, the capital of Niger there was a conference of critical importance. This Conference in Solidarity with the Peoples of the Sahel was hosted by the secretariat of Pan-Africanism Today and the West African People’s Organization. Said conference called together trade unionists, grassroots activists, scholars, journalists, and all anti-imperialists who stand shoulder to shoulder with the Sahelian people and their Confederation of Sahel States. The theme of this conference was “anti-imperialist unity, peace, and friendship between peoples”. The importance of this conference cannot be overstated, especially given that such a conference led by West African hosts calling leading progressive forces of the world into dialogue has not happened since the 1980s. While I was unable to travel to Niamey, I am in contact with a few attendees who gave me their exclusive perspectives throughout the conference. The conference was being streamed on Pan-African Television as well, and in the first live stream, one can notice a great many keffiyehs in the crowd. The first panel featured speakers from the Simon Bolivar Institute, the Socialist Party of Zambia, and the Revolutionary Organization for New Democracy. Before quoting attendees and their perception of this important event, I will offer my own analysis of the ongoing anti-imperialist movement in the Sahel.

The Confederation of Sahel States is currently advancing the revolutionary struggle in Africa by means of reclaiming sovereignty and moving forward with mass electrification projects, transportation links, and otherwise building their own indigenous productive forces. As I wrote in a longer piece for the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, this reclamation of the productive forces from the colonial usurper is the first step in reclaiming national sovereignty. The question of land is the central axis around which sovereignty, national liberation, and anti-imperialism circumambulate. According to attendee Mikaela Erkog, “These military personnel are citizens who experience first hand the failures of the decision makers to serve and protect the people and advance a sovereign national interest”.

Burkina Faso, whose pre-coup government had lost more than 60% of their land to AQIM and other separatist forces, has regained over ¾ of their land back through their joint military actions with Niger and Mali. Mali, too, has reclaimed land from Western-backed separatist forces. Due to the growing relations between the Confederation and Russia, and largely because the US, Germany, and Italy have denied the French support for a military intervention, the French and Ukrainian security services have been attempting to foment internal dissent and counterrevolution through false flag attacks and outright terrorist violence.

The introductory remarks were made by Jonis Ghedi Alasow, a member of the Pan-Africanism Today secretariat. Laying out the purpose of the conference, Ghedis Alasow said:

Today, we are gathered here in Niamey to once more join hands with the people of Mali, Burkina Faso, and of course, Niger to give expression to our people's resistance to the racist, colonial and imperialist degradation of our continent.

At the end of his speech, he read out a famous quote by the martyr Ghassan Kanafani about how every blow to imperialism serves the world revolution. Not only was this speech beautifully delivered but it also served to bring the movements for national liberation in West Africa and West Asia into conversation. Truly, there is no free Palestine without a liberated Africa, and vice versa. Again quoting Mikaela Erskog:

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Whilst there was not a Palestinian organization participating, the ongoing genocide and historical resistance of the Palestinian people was discussed in several interventions. The meeting concluded with a political march to the Sankara monument, calling for a free Palestine.

The Nigerien leadership supported and participated in the conference, with PM Ali Lamine Zeine giving some opening remarks. General Tiani of the CNSP government was also in attendance. The main base of attendees, according to Erskog and others, was made up of the Nigerien working class–trade unionists, nurses, patriotic social organizations, religious groups, young and old, men and women. On the note of women’s participation, the conference took a strong step away from liberal feminism and individualist ideas of rights. Attendee and leader in the Revolutionary Organization for New Democracy, Ami Fameye Maiga, stated “We are fighting for the sovereignty and dignity of the people as a whole”. The torch of women’s participation in national liberation struggles was carried through this conference, emblazoned with passion and zeal.

The political imagination of the conference was one highlight, according to multiple attendees. The political tendencies ranged from patriotic nationalists to Marxist-Leninists, all in fruitful dialogue with the maintenance of the movement as their guide. This reminds me of the People’s Conference for Palestine which I attended in May of 2024.

The diversity of political views of attendees provides strength and unity; rather than conferences on European or American political struggles which often devolve into debates and competitions around ideological purity. For Blaise Tulo of the West African People’s Organization, this was a historic conference, brought together at a historic moment because the peoples of the Sahel are “breaking the chains of neocolonialism…we are bold now, the youth of our continent are rising”. At the end of the conference the two convening organizations, WAPO and Pan-Africanism Today, released a statement called the Niamey Declaration. The focus of this declaration was both historical and contemporary. They began the statement by highlighting how 140 years ago, on November 15th, 1884 the imperialist powers met at the infamous Berlin Conference to slice up Africa along colonial lines. How far we have come in these last 140 years, where now it is the patriotic political forces in Niamey, Bamako, and Ouagadougou redrawing the map and expelling the French and American imperialists. A new dawn of Pan-Africanism is rising to meet the conditions of the 21st century, and the peoples of the Sahel are the tip of this spear. As those calling for the total liberation of Palestine, we must take the hands of our comrades in the Sahel and put an end to Zionism, imperialism, and capitalism which seek to destroy us and our planet.

The conclusion of the Niamey Declaration reads as follows:

We depart Niamey with a commitment to defend the advances the people have made in the Sahel and rally the international forces around the world to this aim.

Long live patriotism, anti-imperialism, and Pan-Africanism! France and allies, withdraw!