By BRIAN HATYOKA –
AFRICAN countries must come up with a clear vision and direction that will promote economic emancipation for citizens, United States of America (USA) historian and veteran civil rights activist Clayborne Carson has said.
Prof Carson said it was important for Africa to have a road map that would promote the liberation of the continent in the area of economic development as well as education and health, among others.
Prof Carson was speaking in an interview in Livingstone on Saturday after he presented a lecture to students and lecturers at Victoria Falls University of Technology (VFU) on civil rights movements in America.
“There is need for African countries to ensure that they have a clear direction that will lead to a goal that they want to reach.
“Without a clear direction, then the goal will not be reached because you can’t get somewhere if you have no direction,” he said.
Prof Carson, who is a key associate of Martin Luther King Jr, also called for the promotion of women empowerment to realise full economic development.
“The issue of empowerment of women is not something that affects Zambia alone, it cuts across every country in the world. When you look at freedom struggles in particular, most freedom struggles could not havesucceeded without the full participation of women,” Prof Carson said.
He said Dr Martin Luther King would not have succeeded without Rosa Park, a civil rights activist who initiated a new era in the American quest for freedom and equality for African Americans.
“That teaches us that women often play a crucial role in initiating grass root movements and development, which cannot be surprising.
“Any place in the world where there is a strong discrimination against women, we find that these societies are the most backward,” he said.
In his presentation to students and lectures at Victoria Falls University of Technology, Prof Carson urged Zambians to document the history of freedom fighters so that future generations could access such information.