The following text was reprinted from “Ideas and Action” Bulletin 126, published in 1978 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. It is a very colorful look into a little slice of life under apartheid, touching lightly on how those material conditions interact with patriarchy. Migrant workers are employed in jobs which pay low wages – in public works, railways, mining, refuse collecting, brick yards, docks, steelworks and even grave digging. In 1974, of the men I knew, those who were employed by some city council as cleaners or park hands earned between 30 and 35 rand . . .
African Revolutionaries
From Martin Delany to Marcus Garvey
“My duty and destiny are in Africa, the great and glorious land of your and my ancestry, I cannot, I will not desert her for all things else in this world, save that of my own household, and that does not require it as it will thereby be enhanced.” Martin Delany Martin Delany died on 24 January 1885 two years before the birth of Marcus Garvey. The revolutionary legacy of both men while coming from different eras of the struggle was defined by black nationalism and Pan-Africanism. The Pan-African movement has come a long way producing many revolutionary leaders advancing . . .
Eritrea: A Different Perspective
As I get ready to attend the United Nation’s 67th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women as a part of Eritrea’s delegation led by National Union of Eritrean Women’s President, Tekea Tesfamichael, I think it’s important to address the latest media blitz scrutinizing the state of Eritrea and highlight my perspective as a dialectical materialist and member of the diaspora. As a young Eritrean living in the United States and a proud product of the Eritrean people’s struggle and liberation movement, conversations around freedom, justice, self-determination, and sovereignty, were dinner table conversations growing up. This is common . . .
Fannie Lou Hamer- “We’re On Our Way”
Fannie Lou Hammer speech before a mass meeting held at the Negro Baptist School in Indianola, Mississippi (September 1964). Thank you very much. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I am very glad to be here for the first time in Indianola, Mississippi, to speak in a mass meeting. And you just don’t have a idea what a pleasure this is to me. Because we been working across—for the past two years—and Mr. Charles McLaurin worked very hard trying to get a place here during the time that I was campaigning and he failed to get a place. But it’s good . . .
Equality Through Equal Participation: Eritrean Women
The participation of women in the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) was not only significant but central to the movement’s success. Women made up one-third of the armed struggle and played vital roles, from combat to nursing and mechanics, teaching, driving, and radio and clandestine operations. The EPLF was highly progressive in organizing women at the grassroots level and encouraging them to join the national liberation movement.Despite facing cultural, religious, and patriarchal obstacles, Eritrean women fought for their rights and shattered oppressive barriers through equal participation. Their contributions to the struggle challenged traditional gender roles and redefined the capabilities of . . .
Challenging Binary Gender Roles Using Nkrumahism-Toureism-Cabralism
Thesis Gender binary – the classification of gender e.g. a “man” or “woman” into two, distinct, and opposite categories – is a construct of class development and division and is therefore inconsistent with the humanist values of our Nkrumahist/Tureist/Cabralist ideology. Background The dominant perception of gender in the world today is the gender binary, a concept based on socialization that teaches us that people defined as “men” and people defined as “women” occupy distinct and different roles and functions within society. Within this social construct, women are defined as having the primary function of bearing and raising children. Men are . . .
Ella Baker: Making The Struggle Everyday
Life-long human rights activist and movement organizer, Ella Baker, addresses a 1974 Puerto Rico solidarity rally. TRANSCRIPT: Friends, brothers, and sisters in the struggle for human dignity and freedom. I am here to represent the struggle that has gone on for three-hundred or more years — a struggle to be recognized as citizens in a country in which we were born. I have had about forty or fifty years of struggle, ever since a little boy on the streets of Norfolk called me a nigger. I struck him back. And then I had to learn that hitting back with my . . .
Going Further During African History Month
The following are remarks that I offered on February 26, 2023, at Love Assembly Worship Center, a Christian church in Greeleyville, SC in honor of African History Month. Good morning everyone! I bring you all special greetings as we begin to bring this year’s African History Month to a close. My name is Salifu. I grew up right here in this area and attended GES as a kid, and right now I am a 7th and 8th grade English teacher at C.E. Murray, the same school I graduated from, with my classmate who invited me here today. I am also . . .