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 . . .
Pan-Africanism
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 . . .
BAP Supports National Day of Action Against Police Terror
Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) member organization Community Movement Builders (CMB) is calling all organizations, organizers, and community members to a National Day of Action Against Police Terror on March 9, 2023. In the wake of the brutal killings of Tyre Nichols and forest defender Manuel Tortuguita, the city of Atlanta is going full steam ahead to build what activists have dubbed “Cop City.” Atlanta officials have proposed a $90 million complex be built on 85 acres of forest. This would only arm and deploy more police—whom we refer to as the domestic army—in African and colonized working-class and poor . . .
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 . . .
The Homeland or Death: Accomplishments of the Traoré Government in Burkina Faso
Who is Prime Minister Apollinaire Joachim Kyélem de Tambèla? Burkina Faso cheered and celebrated at the news of Apollinaire Joachim Kyélem de Tambèla’s appointment to office as prime minister on October 21st, 2022. While there are many new faces and figures in Burkinabé politics right now, Kyélem de Tambèla is a familiar face to many Burkinabé who have known him for decades. In other circumstances this label may be given out too freely but, Kyélem de Tambèla has rightfully earned the title of Sankarist as demonstrated by his own background. As a student in France in the 1980s, Prime Minister . . .
Africans and Identity
We want to carefully discuss our African identity because the answers we arrive at are fundamental to our Pan-Africanist objective. By defining our identity, we are defining our fighting force and ultimately we are defining the people for whom we fight. This is also the first step in the process of defining our enemy, which Sekou Touré named the “Anti-People.” These are essential definitions and in spite of the complexities involved, we have to get them right if we are to someday be free. I am sure all will agree that it will take all of us to defeat capitalism . . .
“Total Peace Is the Call”: Reflections from Colombia
Ajamu Baraka representing BAP’s Haiti/Americas Team was invited to serve as part of an international delegation of human rights defenders that would accompany the activists, community leaders, government officials, and representatives of the National Liberation Army (ELN) on a historic “humanitarian Caravan” between January 17 and the 21st to the Indigenous and Afro-Colombian areas of the Pacific coast of Colombia as part of the peace process initiated by the new government in Colombia. Ajamu was also an observer and international guarantor in Havana, Cuba during the last round of the Peace Process that produced the Ethnic Chapter of the peace . . .