Until African men and women stop using Eurocentric standards of manhood and womanhood to define ourselves and each other, we will continue to engage as enemies. To become comrades, we must recognize that whiteness has gender specific attacks that target us at points of insecurity in ways that completely destroy our ability to love each other. Nowhere does this play out most evidently than in the never-ending, online “gender wars.” This divide and conquer tactic is not new, but social media has made it increasingly profitable to pit Black women and men against each other publicly for the world to . . .
Patriarchy
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 Absurdity of “Diary of a Tired Black Man”
There is an amazingly sad example of a program aired on the IMDB network called “Diary of a Tired Black Man.” Part fiction, part documentary (street interviews with people), full insanity, this effort illustrated in clear terms Kwame Ture’s statement that any analysis that doesn’t include our enemies is a worthless analysis. What he meant by that is any oppressed people who attempt to explain the conditions of their people who leave out the system causing their oppression will always come up with a confused conclusion. We wish to add our own attempt at a logical statement to Kwame’s spot . . .
The Real Crisis of Black Manhood
The current fight against the feminization of Black men is a fight to sustain an oppressive status quo of female degradation and subjugation, it’s not about preserving Black manhood. First off we need to understand that: Black manhood has never even existed in the USA! We were not men under chattel slavery, we were not even recognized as human. After emancipation and during the Reconstruction era we simply imitated the roles, behaviors, standards, dress, and values of white men, that’s all we had known as Black men in the US for over 200 years. White men were our only reference . . .
Neo-Colonialism is Inherently Patriarchal
I was asked to talk about women fighting for Pan-African unity against neo-colonialism but one of the things that came up on our call when I was preparing for this was neo-colonialism as an inherently patriarchal system of exploitation. So I want to begin by talking about the ways in which neo-colonialism is inherently patriarchal. As we may know, colonialism and neo-colonialism impact every facet of life for colonized peoples so there is no way to analyze any aspect of our lives while ignoring the reality of neo-colonialism and imperialism, but since neo-colonialism is fundamentally an economic system, I want . . .
Misogyny and Homophobia in Kenyan Leftist Spaces
The rallying cry you will hear at almost every leftist gathering in Kenya is “Liberation for the masses! End all forms of oppression!” Often, it is men who send out this noble clarion call for emancipation from the shackles of capitalism and all the ills it represents. But, whose liberation is it anyway? What oppression are we ending when many leftist movements in Kenya harbor persons who hold on to harmful patriarchal attitudes like misogyny and homophobia? . . .
Revolutionary African Culture for an End to Gender-Based Violence
ur focus must be on ideological and political development of the masses. The enemies of our people are in our midst and only mass, revolutionary African culture and organization can combat this reactionary behavior. We must collectively reconstruct not only the ethical and political foundation for a new African society but also reinvigorate revolutionary and principled people willing to build an ethical and principled society for the future of Africa and all our African communities. . . .
The African Woman: The Invisible Soldier
A society without women can be compared to humans without air. Africa without African women is like a mango tree without roots. The indispensable role that African women play in the development of society in general and community, in particular, cannot be matched or debated. However, despite this role African women from Toronto to Harare to London to Kingston find themselves often invisible. . . .