Mariam Makeba, one of the greatest African entertainers to ever grace this earth, spoke before the UN in 1963. Here are her remarks. . . .
apartheid
Apartheid and Patriarchy
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 . . .
The Life of Winnie Mandela
The following text was reprinted from Black Women in South Africa and the Case of Winnie Mandela, by the Winnie Mandela Solidarity Coalition, c/o BCLSA, box 8791, Boston, MA. 02114. The Winnie Mandela Solidarity Coalition (WMSC) was formed in Boston, Massachusetts in response to the interest generated by a forum on repression in South Africa held by the Third World Women’s Organization. The goals of the WMSC were to build a campaign to free Winnie Mandela and other women political prisoners in South Africa and to educate, organize, and involve individual women and women’s organizations in support of South African . . .
The Next One Will Be Different
Machine pumped out another think piece this morning . . .
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 . . .
Political Prisoners in Azania
Any discussion about Azania has to start with an anti-colonial understanding of that region of Southern Africa. First, Azania is the original and proper name for the country commonly known as South Africa. Pan-Africanist formations like the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) and the Azanian People’s Organization (AZAPO), as well as Pan-Africanists worldwide, have been calling Azania that for decades. Speaking through an anti-colonial lense, the name South Africa clearly represents one imposed by those from Europe who invaded the country and have occupied it for centuries. Second, like with any settler colony i.e. the United States, Australia, occupied Palestine . . .
A Scheme of Legitimation: South Africa’s Revisionism
Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) government is exhibiting the past in the present by forging narratives, images, metaphors and symbols to create a specific perspective. The purpose of that perspective is to make sense of the past in ways that render their actions in the present more plausible. . . .