Dear Comrade Gilbert Kouessi,
It is with much admiration that we write to you as you prepare for the 7th national
congress of the Communist Party of Benin (PCB)! We start by expressing our
revolutionary greetings and solidarity to all the members of your beautiful organisation
as well as the leadership collective of your Party.
When we gathered in July 2023 at Bela-Bela, South Africa for our Regional Dilemmas
of Humanity: Pan African Dialogues to build Socialism conference, we resolved
(alongside yourselves) that “political parties must, in their specific contexts, rise to the
occasion and play a vanguard role in defining the strategies and tactics that will keep
us on the path to a future where our people live in dignity”. We are convinced that your
congress constitutes a consolidation of this particular resolution. We therefore
consider this congress to be significant not only for the working class of Benin, but for
our broader Pan African Project.
You will be aware that your congress is taking place in a historic moment. The US-led
imperialist project is simultaneously fragile and dangerous. The former colonial powers
and their coordinators in Washington are facing economic decline, whilst the global
south is beginning to assert themselves. In the context, the boomerang of brutality and
violence that has been thrown by the racist capitalist class in the US and western
Europe is, after centuries of destroying our planet and its people, coming full circle
again. The aggression of NATO against Russia which resulted in the war in Ukraine
and the genocide which Israel continues to inflict on the people of Palestine in a
permanent Nakba are examples of a world which is confronted with a simple choice:
will it be socialism of barbarism?
The capitalist system, and those violently holding onto it, have no solutions for the
problems that confront humanity. For this reason, it is important to struggle for
socialism and to insist that the people of our continent and our specific countries must
chart their own path towards the future. In this, we need to remind ourselves that Karl
Marx was correct when he said that “[people] make their own history, but they do not
make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but
under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past.” The
protagonists for a genuinely free continent are its 1.2 billion people and the
revolutionary instruments they build. Unions, social movements, peasant
organisations and, especially, political parties like your own are the tools for Africa’s
liberation. We therefore therefore entrust you to emerge from your congress with a
united, strong and ideologically clear Party that is able to tackle the challenges
confronting the workers and peasants of Benin, Africa and the world.
We have been privileged to receive briefings from leaders of your organisation on the
unfolding developments throughout West Africa. We are enthusiastic about the
patriotism which seems to underpin the recent mobilisations in the Sahel; we think that
any struggle against neocolonialism is worthy of our our full support. We are aware of
the important role that the PCB is playing in the construction of the West African
Peoples’ Organisation (WAPO) and we join the many progressive forces on the
continent in celebrating this step. We encourage you to continue this important work
and look forward to working alongside you for a truly free Africa.
Once again, we congratulate you on reaching the milestone of a 7th congress and wish
you fruitful deliberations. We trust that you will emerge with a leadership which has
renewed its credentials in this highest decision-making structure of your organisation.
We also trust that you will emerge from your conference as a stronger instrument for
the working people of Benin.
In solidarity,
Jonis Ghedi Alasow
Coordinator, Pan Africanism Today Secretariat

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