Beyond fossil chains by Asiibii

If you think we are pained by these rising injustices

If you think we are not going to sit back and watch our environment degrade

If you think that Africa must lead the transition away from fossil fuels

Then you are right

We have become royal hostages to coal

Oil and gas

We are stuck in our wishes for a climate-just future

And have not committed fully to the fossil fuels nonproliferation treaty

We say that someday this will be achieved

But it is almost someday, and we have made little to no progress

Several governments have advanced this dangerously profitable fallacy of fossil fuels expansion

And its people are now faced with violent conflicts

Oil spills

Underdevelopment

Contaminated waterways

Air pollution

Human rights violations and several injustices

But Africa has all it takes to become a renewable energy powerhouse for herself and the world

We the people must take responsibility for this planet and desist from the insistence on destroying it

We must lay strong foundations for a true just energy transition

Where no worker

Community or country is left behind

We must build more clean energy systems

Fund a sustainable future

Defend rights

Freedom and peace

Restore our relationship with the earth

And protect the people

The sun

Wind and water look to us

To see what we make of their abundance

They too testify that a just future for Africa is possible

All power to the people

Asiibi is a pan-Africanist poet and Borderless Africa feminist fellow 2026