Accra (Ghana)- Ghanaian journalist, political activist and Pan-Africanist Kwesi Pratt Jnr., Editor of “Ghana Insight” newspaper, owner of “Pan African TV”, and General Secretary of the Socialist Movement of Ghana (SMG), delivered a wide-ranging lecture yesterday on the sidelines of the commemoration of “Kwame Nkrumah First Liberation Day”, presenting a Pan-Africanist vision of Africa’s future rooted in popular struggle, continental unity, public ownership and international solidarity with peoples resisting imperialism.
Speaking under the theme “The Future: We Build It Now,” Pratt argued that the future is not predetermined but is shaped by the balance of social forces acting in the present. He maintained that every political decision, every economic policy and every act of exploitation contributes to shaping tomorrow’s society, stressing that the future depends on whether it is built by working people or by capital and imperialism.
Drawing heavily on the legacy of Kwame Nkrumah, Pratt recalled that Ghana’s anti-colonial struggle was never simply about achieving political office but about dignity, development and the emancipation of Africa. Echoing Nkrumah’s famous position that Ghana’s independence would be meaningless without the total liberation of the African continent, he argued that this warning remains as relevant today as it was at independence. According to Pratt, Ghana cannot be fully free while Africa remains divided, indebted, militarized and subjected to external control over its natural resources.
He therefore called for the revival of Pan-Africanism as a concrete programme of action rather than merely an historical ideal. Such a programme, he said, should include African control over African resources, the development of continental industries, transportation networks, scientific institutions, educational systems, media platforms and mechanisms capable of defending African sovereignty.
Within this Pan-African framework, Pratt reaffirmed his solidarity with peoples resisting imperialism, occupation, racism, sanctions and exploitation. He stated that solidarity “is not charity” but “a weapon of liberation,” and explicitly called for solidarity with the peoples of Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, and the Sahrawi Republic, placing these struggles within the broader global resistance to imperialism. His appeal also reflected the wider anti-imperialist perspective of the lecture, which linked the liberation of Africa to solidarity with peoples resisting domination across the Global South.
According to Pratt, the world is experiencing a profound crisis of the capitalist system, reflected in growing inequality, declining living standards, debt dependency, environmental destruction, militarisation and the concentration of wealth in the hands of a small minority. He argued that despite unprecedented technological progress and abundant global resources, millions remain poor because production is organized for private profit rather than human need.
Turning to Africa, Pratt said the continent embodies this contradiction more than any other region. Although Africa possesses immense natural wealth, including gold, oil, gas, lithium, cobalt, agricultural land and abundant human resources. it continues to occupy a subordinate position in the global economy.
He noted that African countries export raw materials while importing finished products, remain burdened by debt and unequal trade relations, and continue to face external control over their economies and strategic resources. Using Ghana as an example, he pointed to the paradox of mineral-rich communities living in poverty, polluted rivers, growing food insecurity despite fertile land, unemployment among educated youth and weakened public services despite political independence.
Pratt insisted that class struggle remains central to understanding these realities. He described it not as an abstract ideological concept but as the daily struggle of workers for fair wages, farmers against exploitation, unemployed youth against exclusion, teachers and nurses for dignified working conditions, informal workers for protection, pensioners for security and communities for decent public services.
He argued that demands for living wages, healthcare, education, housing, transportation, water, electricity and social protection are democratic rights achieved through struggle rather than acts of governmental charity.
The Ghanaian activist also devoted considerable attention to the fight against racism, gender oppression, youth exclusion, discrimination and attacks on trade union rights. While recognizing these as genuine forms of oppression, he stressed that they should not be separated from the broader class struggle or used to divide working people. Instead, he called for unity among all oppressed sectors of society around their common material interests.
Environmental protection formed another major pillar of Pratt’s presentation. Referring to the destructive impact of illegal mining in Ghana and recurring floods caused by poor planning and weak public oversight, he argued that environmental destruction is fundamentally linked to ownership and control over natural resources. Ecological justice, he said, requires democratic public control of resources, scientific planning, community participation and production organized to protect life rather than maximize private profit.
Pratt emphasized that none of these struggles can succeed in isolation. Workers, farmers, students, women, trade unions, environmental movements, Pan-African organizations and socialist forces, he argued, must build broad united fronts capable of confronting the divisions promoted by ruling elites. However, he cautioned that unity should not mean political confusion, insisting that such alliances require ideological clarity, organization and leadership rooted in the working class while connecting immediate social demands to the broader struggle for socialism.
Addressing the question of socialism, Pratt described it not merely as a slogan but as the practical reorganization of society around human need instead of private profit. He advocated democratic public ownership of strategic sectors, planned development, industrialization based on national and continental priorities, food sovereignty, universal healthcare and education, public housing, workers’ rights, scientific development and Pan-African economic integration. He argued that those who produce wealth should ultimately exercise democratic control over how that wealth is used.
Concluding his address, Pratt warned that while capital, imperialism, multinational corporations, financial institutions and political elites are actively building their own future, working people cannot afford to remain passive. History, he argued, advances through organization, education, mobilization, sacrifice and collective struggle—not through hope alone. He called on workers, youth, women, intellectuals, trade unions and communities to organize themselves as active agents of social transformation, insisting that the future “will not be handed to us” but belongs to those who organize to build it.
