The Black Liberation Movement in the United States has reached an almost unprecedented level of ideological confusion. Unlike in the 20th century, significant sections of the contemporary Black Left openly embrace an understanding of ‘identity politics’[i] that is based in philosophical idealism.[ii] A somewhat resurgent US Left has, correctly, begun to critique these perceived political errors. Unfortunately, social democrats such as DSA, Jacobin and Cedric Johnson in his award-winning article[iii] add to the ideological confusion. This essay asserts that contrary to the claims of advancing democracy and freedom, social democracy has consistently undermined the struggle for national liberation and socialism. In 1896, Eduard Bernstein, the . . .
Liberation Archives
Smash Zionism
In 1986, The All-African People’s Revolutionary Party distributed their second educational brochure on zionism. The first educational brochure, which was printed in 1977, was entitled “lSRAEL COMMITS MASS MURDER OF PALESTINIAN AND AFRICAN PEOPLES: ZIONISM lS RAClSM. lT MUST BE DESTROYED.” We distributed more than half a million copies throughout the United States and in other countries. Like its predecessor, the second brochure has as its central purpose, the education of the masses of Africans (all people of African descent wherever they live in the world are African) about zionism. In the first brochure, the A-APRP called for the creation . . .
A Tribute to Field Marshall Dedan Kimathi
The name Kimathi wa Waciuri has dominated the political scene in Kenya for years. In the early 1950s, he was active in the Kenya Land and Freedom army (Mau Mau) as an organizer in the Rift valley. Later, he led the guerrilla army fighting the British colonial occupation army and rose to its highest military rank, Field Marshal. With victories on the battlefield, came the need to consolidate the political authority of the Kenya Land and Freedom Army. This was done by the establishment of the Kenya Parliament which was the first legitimate African Government of Kenya. On 6th March . . .
Black Consciousness and Steve Biko
In his illustrious life as a Pan-African Historian, Dr. John Henrik Clarke once remarked in the many lectures he delivered that some people are confused about where they belong among us. You can clarify this situation very easily. Your creator, the oppressor, has made no room in his house for you; you either belong among us or you don’t belong in any place. In September 1977, 45 years ago, Africa lost one of its revolutionary sons, Steve Bantu Biko, who proudly upheld an unshakeable spirit of uncompromising struggle against the Apartheid regime in South Africa. Biko fronted the Black Consciousness . . .
Ahjamu Umi: Organizing to Win
Ahjamu Umi, AAPRP cadre and Hood Communist editor, and Roberto Sirvent editor of the Black Agenda Report Book Forum discuss revolutionary organizing. . . .
The Venceremos Brigade & the Necessity of Solidarity with Cuba
The Venceremos Brigade (VB) is the youngest and oldest Cuba solidarity delegation in the US. By that I mean the VB, whose name means the “We Shall Overcome” Brigade, is the longest running US-Cuba solidarity delegation in existence with a base of brigadistas who are predominantly African, Indigenous, Chicanx, poor, working class, queer, and trans young people. The Venceremos Brigade was formed in 1969 by a group of US-based students and activists who wanted to show their solidarity with the Cuban revolution while also challenging imperialist US policy towards Cuba, including the genocidal economic blockade and the US government’s ban . . .
The Unknown Connection Between Marcus Garvey & Ho Chi Minh
If you possess even a cursory history of oppressed peoples, then you have undoubtedly heard of the great Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh and the outstanding Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey. Ho Chi Minh, who’s actual name was Nguyen Ai Quoc, was the founder and leader of the Viet Minh Front, which was the organized force of Vietnamese people that led their national liberation against colonial invading forces (including the U.S.) from the 1920s through the 1970s. Marcus Garvey was the Jamaican born African who helped initiate and lead the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) which grew to be the largest liberation . . .
Albert Woodfox, Angola Three Warrior, passes.
Who has not heard of the Angola Three, three young black prisoners who were falsely accused of killing a prison guard in 1972 in the infamous Louisiana maximum security prison cited at a former slave plantation—and named for the place where the African captives came from, Angola. On Thursday, August 4th, attorneys for Albert Woodfox announced his passing at the age of 75. For over 43 years, Woodfox and several other black men were held in brutal solitary confinement, one of the longest held solitary prisoners on earth: 43 years, seven days a week, 23 hours a day. The United . . .