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 . . .

South Africa, Why Are You Scared of White People?

The incident that took place at the Bloemfontein Maselspoort resort complex on the afternoon of Christmas 2022 reminded me of Julian Kunnie’s inquiry on democratic South Africa when he quizzed, “Is apartheid dead?” At the resort, two teenage boys of African descent were involved in a racist scuffle with several seemingly Dutch descendants [Afrikaners/ white people] about the use of a swimming pool that was ‘exclusively segregated for whites only’. Social media was abuzz about the incident and the New York Times strangely got hold of the story and video footage of the incident. Most members of the society condemned . . .

Steve Biko on the Black Consciousness Movement

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 . . .

A picture of a destroyed city street in Libya, a north African nation invated by NATO

NATO in Africa: Colonial Violence and Structural White Supremacy

Considering the public media attention and concern about possible expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), it is worth reminding people about NATO’s bloody history in Africa. NATO was founded in 1949 after WWII at a time when African countries were still under the yoke of colonialism. In fact most of the original founders of NATO had been Africa’s principal colonizers such as UK, France, Portugal, Belgium, Italy and the USA as lead NATO organizer and dominant partner. The organization was established as a collective defense against the Soviet Union with the requirement (Article 5) that any attack on . . .

Revisit African Liberation Month 2022

Revisiting African Liberation Month 2022

In February 2022, the Hood Communist Collective commemorated African Liberation Month with four straight weeks of revolutionary African analysis. Here, you can find each of the pieces from that month, organized by the theme of each week. We invite you to revisit these pieces – or read them for the first time. We hope they will provide some guidance and clarity that will serve our people in our struggle for liberation. . . .

Poster calling for the release of all political prisoners in Azania (South Africa)

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 . . .

Group shot of South African judges - liberal democracy

The Farce of “Justice” in a Liberal Democracy

udiciary since it continues to apportion the vocation of a judge something akin to the priesthood- i.e a belief that judges epitomise fairness, righteousness, and justice. That is not so, judgeship is not just and if we continue with the reasoning that they are demigods, the tyranny of the judiciary will continue in perpetuity. . . .

A statue of Oliver Tambo in South Africa

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. . . .