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REPUBLIC OF GUINEA LABOUR JUSTICE - SOLIDARITY o THE INTERNATIONAL POLICY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF GUINEA nos funer by SÉKOU TOURÉ DT 543.8 VOL. VII T7282 V.7 DT543,8 T7282 v.7 illi பா TOT HOOVEL INSTITU'UJU on War, Revolution, and Peace FOUNDEDBY HERBERT HOOVER, 1919 GIFT OF PUBLISHER 1 President SÉKOU TOURÉ Secretary General of the P.D.G. 5 Peace, Democratic Progress, universal solidarity will be im posed upon the forces of war, repression, and contempt, by the joint action of peoples conscious of being the only creative force of the happiness of man. 1 In some states, with political systems' differentfrom ours . notably imperialist countries which, in their relations with other states, impose conditions which to themselves would be unacceptable we observe a divorce between home and foreign policies. Such is not the case of the Republic of Guinea, whose reign relations are, by their very nature, the true prolonga tion of the relationships of liberty, equality and democracy established inside the nation between all individuals, without any distinction of race, sex, or religion. As regards our home policy, we want to conduct ourevolu tion in preserving our country's personality, and to safeguard its originality while letting it take advantage of technical, scien tific and cultural contributions from other nations, in order to enable it to make rapid headway and develop its own institu tions. This means that the spirit inspiring our homepolicy could not possibly be imported; it is something of our country's own. Foreign forms of expression and contributions may be made use of inasmuch as they accord with and match our political line, since we need not reinvent what already exists. But we should bear in mind that those forms of expression and tech nical means may never, in any case, alter our political thought, or denature our action. In laying down our policies,we have refrained from adopt ing administrative, judicial or economic texts, or any other ideas from foreign countries. We rely on our people's clear sightedness and political maturity to decide on the party's orientation and the nature of its various activities. Thus, our evolution is conducted in an original context, and we mean to place at itsdisposal all resources from all over the world, all gains of mankind available to us. We have chosen to make our state a unitary state, a de mocratic state, a welfare state; therefore, we have assumed the - 5 historic responsibility of eradicating all manner of discrimina tion, all forms of exploitation and oppression, and gradually, all conditions of social alienation. These various sides of our action are conditioned by the successive stages of our evolution. But our home policy is not dictated exclusively by Guinean interests; we subordinate its formulation to the African context, and the formulation of the African will is not made in a rigid manner. We may say that the value of our home policy is not an absolute value; its value is relative, depending at once on the various requirements of our own social development, and those of the common development of African peoples as a whole. From this dual standpoint, we define our foreign relations as follows: the foreign policy of our state rests on Guinean in terests, which must be perfectly in line and strictly concomitant with African interests. In fact, a vertical development in Guinea would inevitably result in estranging us from Africa, cutting us off from our African environment; hence, whatever the quality and value of that development, it would be extremely frail, since, in caus ing our isolation, it would weaken us. The total liquidation of imperialism and colonialism is essential to our safety, to achieve the conditions for our historic development. If we confine ourselves to the purely Guinean elements of our national realities, we soon realise their quite relative im portance in the international context. Our development, what ever its nature, would be of little import to imperialism and colonialism if it were an isolated phenomenon, if it were to make us retire within ourselves, since it is not Guinea's pro duction that can have an influence on international markets, nor purely national decisions made by the Republic of Guinea that can modify the balance of forces in the world. The isolation of Guinea, her walling in, is desired by im perialism and colonialism as a lesser evil, reducing her effect on the privileges and powers of domination which they exert in Africa and all over the world. 6 - If we wanted to isolate ourselves, or accepted isolation, our political action would inevitably lose its human and social foundations, in favour of a narrow and abstract nationalism which, deprived of any social and human substance, would soon become dis-africanised. Our international political action has an African character, all the more since our home policy is founded upon the true material and moral interests of the African masses. Ours is not a policy of indifference or negation. On the contrary, it is a committed, positive policy. Committed, for we concern ourselves with all that happens around us and has a direct or indirect influence upon the freedom of the peoples, democracy, and world peace. Positive, for we never take stands in a negative manner. Our policy, emanating from a construc tive thought, is in keeping with our aspirations for progress, better international relations and a lasting peace. It is motivated by our will to create a juster, happier life. Therefore, our policy is not directed against this or that people, this or that system , this or that country, this or that man. Our political action does not aim at destroying, but at building up. Thus, as a matter of logic, we must affirm our options in terms of their positive sides, and not of the negative consequences they are bound to entail. Of course, we could define our line in terms of what we want and what we do not want. We might do so, if there were no relation between what we want and what we do not want, but it is not the case. The two are closely linked. Thus, it suffices to define clearly what we want, in order to know what we do not want, without em barking upon byzantine discussions, which would soon make us lose sight of the actual aims of our political action. We stand for a faithful co-operation with all countries and all peoples. This is our position in foreign policy. But we define the nature of this co-operation, of these relations, stipulating that they must rest on the principles of equality, absolute res pect oj our sovereignty, and mutual benefit, in perfect accord with the higher interests of Africa. Thus, those who pursue a policy of inequality of rights, who do not respect the freedom - 7 and sovereignty of other states, whose policy conflicts with African interests, will not gain our confidence. We are not guided by any other consideration in taying down our foreign policy. Each time a problem arises in Guinea, we seek a solution in line with the overall African interest. Our policy is defined essentially by the interests of Africa, not her momentary, but her historic interest, encompassing all present and future interests of the African populations, since our country's destiny is conditioned by those interests. Now, African interest is an important, if not determining factor of the interest of the universal community, since the human promotion of Africa, her political, economic and social emancipation, are bound to have repercussions on the outcome of the international confrontation of forces between the peoples' drive for progress and freedom, and the will to dominate and exploit, characteristic of imperialism and colonialism . Because we mean to participate fully in African reconstruc tion, we resolutely combat everything that opposes the human emancipation of Africa, everything that imperils her social development, everything that alienates her political or econo mic, social or cultural rights, everything that infringes upon her human dignity, her liberty, everything that hinders the peoples of Africa from expressing their aspirations. We must make it clear: our political system differs from those of many other countries; hence, our behaviour cannot be the same as theirs; we cannot take their behaviour into consi deration to decide on our own attitudes and action. We are a totally committed state, and ours are revolution ary objectives, aiming at fundamental changes, radical trans formations. Accordingly, our diplomacy must have a militant character, constantly in keeping with the nature of our political commitment. In the international context, we refuse the present situa tion; we want it to change, in a progressive direction. We also refuse the present situation in Africa, and accordingly, we refuse all that maintains or perpetuates that situation. 8 -