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At times like these, we need to have a clear message to our oppressors

"The events now taking place in Africa constitute the most serious threat to the peace, security and the freedom of the people of this Continent.

For years now, the capitalist countries have lived on raw materials and cheap labour from Asia and Africa. The rise of the national liberation movements in Asia and the Pacific Regions and the loss of these vast countries as war bases and centres for investment has forced the imperial powers to turn their eyes on Africa.

It is here that we have rich deposits of gold, diamonds and uranium. Our Continent produces sisal, palm oil, cocoa, coffee and other products. It is in Africa that we have vast supplies of land and cheap labour. Being without any strong trade union movement, the people of Africa are exposed to the most vicious and cruel forms of colonial exploitation. It is this situation that makes the danger of war in Africa very real and close.

Here the imperial powers of Britain, Belgium, France, Holland, Portugal and Spain have either their chief or their only colonial dependencies. The internal contradictions and conflicts within this imperial camp are broadening daily. In their mad lust for markets and profits, these imperial powers will not hesitate to cut one another's throats, to break the peace, to drench millions of innocent people in blood and to bring misery and untold suffering to humanity. The rivalries amongst these colonial powers contain the seeds of an extremely dangerous situation to peace and security in Africa. ...

The people of Africa will be the first victims of a future war. Their industries will produce armaments, their raw materials will be used, not to develop their own economies, but to destroy those of others. The war danger in Africa is very close indeed.

People throughout the world are coming to understand how closely the struggle for peace and against the menace of war is linked with the preservation of the right of the nation and the individual to a peaceful existence. This Conference shows that more and more people in South Africa have come to understand the most serious threat to the peace, security and freedom of the peoples that exists at the present time.

The threat to the national liberation movements in Africa resulting from the presence of foreign armies arouses the deepest indignation of all patriots. The people of Africa are being forced to realize that peace is their most immediate concern. They demand the withdrawal from the Continent of Africa of all foreign troops and the end of colonial oppression and exploitation."

Nelson Mandela, Speech at Natal Peace Conference, Durban, August 23, 1953

I think it holds as much value in these times. We need an end to colonial oppression and exploitation in Africa and more specifically South Africa at this moment.