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 . . .
Anti-Colonialism
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 . . .
African Liberation Day, Not Africa Day
Written by Nicholas Mwangi & Lewis Maghanga This year marks the 59th annual commemoration of African Liberation Day. African Liberation Day was founded in 1958 when Kwame Nkrumah convened the First Conference of Independent African States held in Accra, Ghana, and attended by eight independent African states. The 15th of April was declared “Africa Freedom Day,” to mark each year the onward progress of the liberation movement, and to symbolize the determination of the people of Africa to free themselves from foreign domination and exploitation. On the 25th of May 1963, thirty-one African Heads of state convened a summit meeting . . .
The Role of Women in the Revolution
An essay by Josina Machel of FRELIMO, the Mozambique national liberation organization. It was in October 1966, in a meeting of the Central Committee, that FRELIMO decided that the Mozambican woman should take a more active part in the struggle for national liberation, at all levels. It was decided that she should receive political and military training in order to make her more capable of fulfilling whatever tasks the revolution might demand of her. Thus, a few months later, in the beginning of 1967, the first group of women from Cabo Delgado and Niassa began their training. At first this . . .
Women in the Zimbabwean Revolution
A speech by Naomi Nhiwatiwa of ZANU-PF given in Los Angeles, CA in July 1979 It is a very strange feeling to be a delegate from the United States of America. I was a ZANU delegate from the United States of America, therefore I carried the burden of the United States and I had to explain myself many times. I had to explain what is happening in the US and why. I told them that there were progressive people in the US who are sympathetic to our cause even though it appears that the majority of Americans seem to be supporting . . .
African Nationalism is not European Nationalism. Stop Projecting.
Everyday, everywhere on Earth, some European is coming into spaces with African people (or Indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere) to express their perspective that nationalism is a primitive form of human consciousness. Even most of these people who claim to support national liberation for colonized people still see any semblance of national identity as reactionary and contrary to forward human progress. We have the European socialist left to primarily thank for this racism disguised as class analysis. How and why do we call nationalism racist? Mostly because the basis of this inept analysis is that the history of Europe . . .
Sowing the Seeds of Revolution
Each week of African Liberation Month, we will be offering something from the archives of the African Liberation Struggle as a centering piece of the theme. In keeping with this week’s theme “Organization is the Only Way!”, we hope that ancestor Samora Machel’s reflection on the necessity of using revolutionary organization to build true self-determination will help us reflect on the disorganization of the current moment, and how we can move collectively to overcome it. . . .