Speech of General Samuel Akuopha
to the People of Alodia

Aloville, 1 January 2001

Fellow Alodians

My greetings to you all, my greatest wishes for peace and hope to you, on this occasion that is momentous, but not joyous. I will refrain from the kind of chest-beating banter that often characterizes a speech like this: I will not talk down to you. Our nation is in stark and desperate crisis. We are -- today -- in the very gravest danger of losing our community, our children's future, our hopes for greater things. We are in danger of becoming a region of stunted thugs with no vision beyond the next meal -- or the next round of ammunition.

How did we get here? I review the events of the last thirty- eight years in my mind, and I see the blunders, the corruptions, the fruitless alliances, the squandered wealth, the plain bad luck. On paper these things, perhaps, add up -- but when I see the all-but endless shantytown that surrounds Aloville, when I see the thousands upon thousands of orphaned children, it is almost more than my heart can bear, and I ask again: How did we get here? And I say: We must do better. We must, together, build a way out of this Hell.

Perhaps it is better that my friend and mentor, Jean-Henri Alo, left us early, when his beloved country was still floating on the pride of recent independence. How I still remember the bright challenge in his eyes as he spoke of a national campaign for vision, education and common sense -- those most primary human values that have been so sorely lacking in our political discourse. "Our Alo" instilled in us a sense of optimism, a belief in our capacity to join, in equal status and dignity, the rest of the world's nations. He was a beloved, a visionary leader -- but, alas: he was no economist.

But then -- which is worse? For the last five years our government has been under the sway of economists, cold-eyed, calculating men without vision, without the slightest understanding of the realities of Alodia. Our poverty is certainly real. But so is our potential. Are we children? Are we a nation of mental incompetents? Our government has been inept, our people have been suffering -- but are not unable to stand. We do not need to borrow their money to buy the crutches that they offer to sell us.

Recently Alodia -- like so many other benighted nations -- has been seeking so-called "relief" through the plan offered by the International Monetary Fund of behalf of "Heavily Indebted Poor Countries". One of the requirements of this process is that a document be prepared, called a "Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper". And although we were instructed to undertake this exercise with the broadest possible input from concerned elements of our society -- our working people, in other words, or those who cannot find work -- how many of you have heard of it? How many of you were consulted? And no wonder. For the plan we were offered, to enable us to continue borrowing from Western banks, stipulated that the government must cut social spending by forty per cent. This, at a time when one Alodian adult in ten suffers from AIDS, when schools and hospitals are both filled to bursting, when tourists in Kahpri-Moloj cannot count on electric or phone service. Poverty reduction, they call it. Poverty reduction! A "growth-friendly" strategy, so that we can borrow more Western money to service our Western debt, while our people cannot get medical care or clean water. The structural adjustment program that was practiced for over a decade now has paid no debts, but replaced them. It has robbed Alodians of their wealth. It is unjust, and it is killing us. We now choose another path.

There will be accusations of autocracy. We will be called a "military junta" that has seized control of a "democratically elected government". Most of our people fully well know the truth of these matters, but so that there is no confusion let me state some truths as clearly as I can. Today, the term "democracy" is most often a mere bauble used to prettify, and thus divert attention from underlying corruption. The 1996 Presidential election, which was praised in the Western press, was won by Jacques Oshodi with 96.8% of the vote. Is there such unanimity in favor of that government or its policies? The foreign observers only visited a few polling stations in the capitals and big cities, whereas a majority of Alodians live in rural areas where there were widespread irregularities. Many opposition leaders were detained and their supporters thrown into prison! To all these people, including all other political prisoners, I now grant general amnesty and order their immediate release.

There will be democracy in Alodia. There will be free and fair elections. First, however, our ground must be cultivated with the conditions of economic justice and prosperity that makes it possible for democracy to take root. For as a wise reformer, the American economist Henry George, wrote: "forms are nothing when the substance is gone, and the forms of popular government are those from which the substance of freedom may most easily go. Political equality, co-existing with an increasing tendency to the unequal distribution of wealth, must ultimately beget the despotism of organized tyranny or the worse despotism of anarchy." Alodia has experienced both.

We must prepare the ground. And so, while the political timetable that we offer you may be somewhat vague, our economic agenda is utterly specific.

The staggering sums, over twenty billion United States dollars, that were borrowed by this nation from Western lenders or from the so-called "Bretton Woods Institutions" were not loans contracted by the people of Alodia. The result of these loans has not been to benefit the people of Alodia but to impoverish them. Therefore our people -- the only source of wealth that any nation can ever have -- cannot justly be required to repay these loans. From this day forward Alodia will cease all service payments on outstanding foreign debt. For some years we have maintained a trade surplus; should that situation become reversed we would, of course, honor terms of credit arranged in the current year. But we shall not pay one more Franc on any Alodian debt undertaken before this year.

We are aware that this may bring repercussions. That cannot be our concern. We cannot speak for other nations. They must evaluate their own situations and take what actions they find advisable -- but for Alodia, the time for prudence is gone. Our situation is indeed desperate, and we must act.

It will be said, "Your country is a basket case -- to deny it further emergency credit from the West will be suicidal!" But the policies we have pursued over the last decade were evidently more suicidal. Will we writhe, like junkies, once our supply of financial drug is cut off? No, fellow citizens of Alodia, I say to you today that we will not. We will stand. We will grow. We will build. We are not a nation of children. Neither our limbs nor our hearts are broken, yet.

So that there is no confusion, let me state a some truths as clearly as I can. The land, the natural resources and opportunities, of a nation are truly the property of that nation. If there is profit to be gained from the possession of the land, the natural resources of a nation, that profit must be used to build schools, roads, communication lines, and hospitals. Therefore I say to you that the full rental value of the land, the natural resources and opportunities of Alodia will be fully and fairly assessed, and will be collected for the public revenue of Alodia.

The wealth that an individual creates with his labor, his ingenuity, his industry and skill, is not the rightful property of any other man, and must not be confiscated. Therefore I say to you that all taxes on incomes, on commerce and sales, on transportation and exchange and imports will be fully and totally abolished in the Republic of Alodia.

The right of every person to keep in undisturbed possession his home, his crops, his improvements to the land, is fundamental to liberty and this right shall no longer be disrespected in the Republic of Alodia.

Our people share with the generations yet to be born, and even as well with the animals, that know no national boundaries, the right to unpoisoned air, water and soil. Therefore the Nation of Alodia declares its right and its intention to enact such regulations as it deems correct for the securing of these rights -- regardless of any action, sanction or restriction adopted by any other nation or association of nations. The Republic of Alodia re-asserts its full, complete and unconditional sovereignty over its internationally recognized territory and all rights pertaining thereto. Other jurisdictions, other bodies must do as they see fit.

It is clear to me that I will not, when this day is through, have shed the labels of "military coup" and "strongman" that have been applied, and furthermore it is clear to me that what is said here today will be twisted, in bizarre ways, for months to come. So that there is no confusion, let me state a some truths as clearly as I can. I have had a military career. I am a General in the Army of Alodia. As such I have, paradoxically, enjoyed a career that has probably been among the most peaceful in Africa. Our armed forces have been lavishly, lethally equipped by the great empires that vied for control of the world -- first one, then the other. We functioned as a deterrent; we put down the occasional demonstration, riot or unruly gang of refugees, but we have never been invaded; we have never fought a war. Indeed, we were ready to fight for independence in Alo's day, armed with only a tiny fraction of the firepower we now possess, but on the very eve, independence was granted by the French who were tired, by then, of fighting Africans.

I tell this story to underscore the simple point that Alodia's army is stable, its morale is high, and it is dug in for the long haul. The armed forces have maintained discipline as each regime has arrived in Aloville, and then departed. The army has ruthlessly kept itself well-fed while civilians were starving. Am I proud of that? No. But this I know: when a time comes such as now, when bold moves are required to ensure our very survival, the army of Alodia can be trusted to maintain the necessary order and to do what must be done.

The economic program on which we embark today is our only hope. But hope it is -- radiant hope. Some will condemn us. Many will misrepresent and misunderstand us. But I say to you today, fellow citizens of Alodia, that if, together, we embark on an economic renaissance in the spirit of Jean-Henri Alo, with Vision, Education and Common Sense -- if we do this, I say to you today that there is only one way that we can be thwarted. Only by the overwhelming force of an empire; only by utter destruction. But we will not be destroyed. Freed from thievery, given access to the land that is their birthright, the people of Alodia will realize their potential to build a beautiful, successful, just, prosperous, free, African nation.