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 . . .

Dedan Kimathi holds a cigarette next to his brother in this black and white photo

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 . . .

Shot from African Liberation Day organized by the Thomas Sankara Center in Burkina Faso

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 . . .

A picture of Florynce Keendy

Black Women Organizing for Liberation

This piece is to give the flowers and honour to the Black women that have gone before us who using principles rooted in Black Feminism, futures, freedom and justice to imagine a world where we could be free while using a range of organising tools – from legal aid to direct action – to support radical movements.  . . .

Liberation Archives - The Role of Women in the Revolution by Josina Machel

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 . . .

Francia Márquez Mina, a 40-year-old Black female activist in Colombia

#SoyPorqueSomos – a Black women-led Project for a New Colombia

This article was written before the March 13 primaries when Francia Marquez received more than 780,000 votes. She received more votes than any Black politician in Colombian history. Would her outstanding performance, surpassing even candidates from right-wing parties, be enough to secure her the nomination to run as vice-president candidate in the frontrunner party Pacto Historico?* Francia Márquez Mina, a 40-year-old Black female activist from the predominantly Black and forgotten region of the Colombian Pacific coast, is shifting the terms of political debate in the second ‘Blackest’ nation in South America. Francia, the first Black woman to run for the . . .

Women in the Zimbabwean Revolution - Speech by Naomi Nhiwatiwa (ZANU-PF)

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 . . .

Afro-Colombian women on the front line, building revolutionary feminism

How Afro-Colombians are Fighting White Feminism

To truly protect and liberate Black women in Latin America we must move away from the dominant liberal white feminist movement and instead call for the end of neoliberal led armed conflict, racist over policing, and demand Land rights and the redistribution of Land back to Black and Indigenous folx! . . .