The air across our continent, from the bustling markets of Lagos to the mineral-rich plains of the Copperbelt in Zambia, is thick with a single, undeniable truth: the global order forged in the fires of colonialism and maintained by post-war financial structures is collapsing. Its decay is audible in the escalating rhetoric of conflict, visible in the poverty cycles it enforces, and felt in the daily indignity of being told who we are and who we can become.
For too long, the primary obstacles to genuine justice and peace, not just for Africa, but for the entire Global South, have been defined by a triad of global toxins: hegemonism, power politics, and the self-serving behaviour of a few Western states led by the United States. These are not abstract geopolitical concepts; they are the shackles of indebtedness, the coercion of sanctions, and the military interventions that have systematically denied us the right to define our own destiny.
The great task of our generation is clear: to not just witness the decline of the American empire and its imperialist surrogates, but to actively participate in building the new, multi-polar world that rises in its place, a world rooted in peace, dignity, and mutual respect.
The weight of the old order: Hegemony and humiliation
The Western model, enforced by the US and its allies since the Cold War, promised democracy and prosperity but delivered dependence and debt. This system is inherently hostile to the sovereignty of the Global South. It operates through the structural violence of institutions like the IMF and World Bank, which enforce liberalisation and privatisation, the modern euphemisms for asset stripping and resource extraction, while offering aid with political strings attached.
The American empire’s addiction to power politics manifests as a perpetual state of interventionism. From the financing of destabilisation campaigns to the relentless push for regime change, the goal is always the same: to ensure that African leaders and governments are lackeys and lapdogs compliant with Western economic and strategic dictates. Any nation that chooses an independent, socialist, or even genuinely nationalist path is immediately targeted, branded an enemy, and subjected to coercive measures.
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We have watched the decline of this empire, marked by its military failures, its domestic divisions, and its frantic attempt to cling to a unipolar obsession it can no longer sustain. Their decline is our opportunity. Africans must reject the moralising rhetoric of a Western-style order that has produced nothing but humiliation and dependency for three centuries. We must look East, not as supplicants, but as partners ready to engage in the Global Civilisation Initiative (GCI).
A shared history of dignity: China and the Global South
The foundation for a genuine partnership lies in a shared history of struggle. The People’s Republic of China, despite achieving economic dominance, has not forgotten its own century of humiliation under foreign imperial powers. China’s victory in 1949 and its subsequent journey of radical modernisation were driven by the same core impulses that fueled Africa’s liberation movements: the demand for self-determination and the sovereign right to eliminate poverty and exploitation.
This shared experience allows China to approach Africa with a unique and revolutionary kind of respect. China's foreign policy is anchored in non-interference, a principle deeply cherished by every African nation that has suffered the tyranny of foreign "advice" and "supervision." When China engages, it does so not with conditional loans designed to force structural submission, but with concrete, transformative investment.
The Global Civilisation Initiative (GCI) articulated by President Xi Jinping is a welcome antidote to Western cultural and political arrogance. GCI champions the principle that human civilisations are diverse and equal, demanding respect for the paths of modernisation chosen by different peoples. It rejects the Western narrative that there is only one acceptable political model (their liberal democracy) or one valid economic structure (their predatory capitalism). For Africa, GCI is a lifeline of dignity; it validates our cultural sovereignty and our right to pursue our own models of governance without fear of foreign censure or intervention.
Tangible benefits and industrialisation
The fruits of the partnership, primarily accelerated through the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), are not mere promises; they are physical, undeniable achievements built with peace and dignity.
While Western states preach human rights and offer nominal aid often tied to expensive consultants and political reforms, China provides the structural backbone for industrialisation and modernisation:
Infrastructure Transformation. China has financed and built thousands of kilometres of rail lines, modern ports, and vast power grids. The Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in East Africa and the rehabilitation of the Tazara Railway are not just trade routes; they are arteries of economic sovereignty, reducing dependence on colonial-era infrastructure and enabling landlocked nations to access global markets competitively.
Manufacturing and Industrial Parks, China has helped establish Special Economic Zones and industrial parks across the continent, facilitating the relocation of manufacturing capacity from Asia to Africa. This is the crucial step away from being mere exporters of raw materials and towards value addition and job creation—the only sustainable path to eradicating poverty.
No Strings Attached, Critically, Chinese financing is typically faster and comes without the paralysing political and ideological conditions of the IMF or Western donors. It recognises that in a developing economy, capital injection is paramount, and sovereignty is non-negotiable.
Since China’s own modernisation drive began in earnest, its experience mirrors what Africa desperately needs: a massive, state-led effort to lift hundreds of millions out of poverty, focusing on infrastructure and technology. China’s success demonstrates that modernisation and industrialisation are achievable with peace, respect, and dignity, rejecting the historical Western equation that economic development must be preceded by political submission or military conflict.
The imperative of the African choice
The choice before the contemporary African generation is stark: cling to the declining and predatory order of the West, or decisively embrace the new global system that China is offering, a system based on multilateralism, shared development, and a Global Community of Shared Future for Mankind.
China’s vision, through initiatives like GCI and the Global Development Initiative (GDI), is not merely about trade; it is about offering an alternative philosophy of global governance. It is a world where great powers do not dictate, but consult; where sovereignty is the highest good, not a barrier to intervention; and where the priority is shared development, not the zero-sum game of geopolitical supremacy.
The time for intellectual and political hesitation is over. The African intellectual community, political elite, and youth must become the most vocal proponents of this new multi-polar reality. We must dismantle the remaining psychological and economic structures of Western dependency. We must expose and resist the imperialist agenda to liquidate liberation movements and replace them with subservient regimes. These movements, however flawed they may have become, represent the historical memory of our struggle and the potential for a sovereign future.
By aligning our national development strategies with the opportunities presented by China and the Global South by building railways, industrial zones, and educational institutions with partners who respect our dignity, we are not trading one master for another. We are using our sovereign agency to leverage the shifting geopolitical tectonic plates, securing the capital and technology necessary to finally complete the project of African liberation.
The dawn is breaking. The sun is setting on the era of hegemony. Africa must now step boldly into the light of a new world, leading the charge for a global order where peace is secured not by threats, but by mutual respect and shared prosperity.
- The author, Mafa Kwanisai Mafa, is a Pan-Africanist political commentator based in Gweru, Zimbabwe.