Looking back to move forward: The first Pan-African Cultural Festival in Algeria, 1969

by Abayomi Azikiwe

Pambazuka News | August 31, 2019

Pan-African Cultural Festival

Five decades ago thousands gathered in Algiers to recommit to revolutionary transformation around the world.

Fifty years ago, this year from 21-31 July 1969 in the capital of Algeria, thousands of people gathered for a ground-breaking Pan-African Cultural Festival (PACF).

Official delegations were sent to the manifestation from over 30 independent and contested nations on the African continent. A strong contingent of artists, intellectuals, journalists and political activists from the United States were also in attendance.

Women’s suffrage and African emancipation during the 19th century

by Abayomi Azikiwe

Pambazuka News | March 04, 2019

From Seneca Falls to the Civil War and Reconstruction the struggle for national liberation and gender equality took centre stage. 

Since the mid-19th century there has been a periodic interrelationship between the movements for African emancipation and women’s liberation. Of course these convergences have not been without serious contradictions particularly in light of the historic racial and class divisions, which became characteristic of United States society as a whole.

Quite similar to aspects of the labour movement that sought to exclude African people from whatever advancements were made in regard to better salaries and working conditions, some sections of the white-dominated women’s suffrage movement sought to align themselves on the basis of race while relegating African American women and men to the doldrums of lower caste status through a permanent state of second-class citizenship.

Further reflections on women’s suffrage and African emancipation

by Abayomi Azikiwe

Pambazuka News | March 04, 2019

From the antebellum period through the Civil War and Jim Crow the issues of gender and race were interwoven.

A cursory re-examination of the early years of what became known as the women’s suffrage movement and abolitionism represented the embryonic phases of self-organisation and mass struggle politics within United States society.

As we pointed out in an earlier essay, the campaigns aimed at winning the right of women to exercise the franchise emerged directly from the demands for the outlawing of African enslavement.

Anti-slavery campaigns in Britain and their impact on the formation of the United States

by Abayomi Azikiwe

Pambazuka News | February 24, 2019

The leaders of the 18th century separatist movement from England were not motivated by a genuine desire for freedom and equality.

If the so-called American Revolution of 1776 was truly committed to breaking with monarchical and autocratic rule from the United Kingdom then why did slavery grow at a rapid rate after the achievement of independence of the former 13 colonies in North America?

400 years (1619-2019) after the beginning of African enslavement in the British colony of Virginia

by Abayomi Azikiwe

Pambazuka News | February 24, 2019

Six months from now, a commemoration of the long saga of struggle against national oppression and economic exploitation will take place.

In late August of 1619, approximately 20 Africans were brought to the shore of Jamestown Settlement in Virginia, then a colony of Britain, having been captured by Portuguese colonisers in the Ndongo and Kongo kingdoms (in the vicinity of modern day Angola, Republic of Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo) and then stolen again en route to Vera Cruz on the coast of Mexico by British traders operating a warship flying a Dutch flag for the purpose of labour exploitation.

Africa in Review 2018, part III: Imperialist militarism and the quest for reconstruction

by Abayomi Azikiwe

Pambazuka News | January 07, 2019

Efforts of Africa’s unity and regional integration are obstructed by continuing outside interference and destabilisation of the continent. 

 

Bombing operations by the United States military against the Horn of Africa state of Somalia have escalated during the course of 2018.

Once the administration of President Donald Trump came into office nearly two years ago, purported “restrictions” placed on Pentagon operations through the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) were lifted.

Africa in review 2018, part II: Regional instability and the politics of underdevelopment

by Abayomi Azikiwe

Pambazuka News | January 04, 2019

Introduction

Over the last 12 months events on the African continent have reinforced the centuries-long relationship with the imperialist nations through the process of economic exploitation of human and natural resources, fuelling the profitability of the dominant forces within the world system. Although there are subtle and profound variations manifesting this reality in the 55 designated countries making up the African Union (AU), the similarities across the continent far outweigh the differences.

Africa in review 2018: Electoral politics, social stability and the need for genuine economic development

by Abayomi Azikiwe

Pambazuka News | January 03, 2019

From the Democratic Republic of Congo to Sudan the need for continental solutions is apparent.

Introduction

There is much to be learned from developments on the African continent in 2018 where the nation states and masses of people are continuing their quest for authentic national liberation and unity. This is a first in a series of articles which highlight aspects of events on the continent, which point to the necessity of building an independent existence for working class, peasantry and youth that can guarantee a prosperous future free of the legacy of slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism.

Cuban President visits New York to speak before the UNGA

by Abayomi Azikiwe

Pambazuka News | October 11, 2018

Photo: Johnnie Stevens

Making his first visit to the United States as head of state, Republic of Cuba President Miguel Diaz-Canal Bermudez addressed over 2,000 people at Riverside Church and delivered an impassioned speech before the 73rd Ordinary Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 26 September.

 

Defending the sovereignty of Cuba and other states throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, Diaz-Canal emphasised that the nations within the region had a right to adopt the political and economic system of their choice.

Theoretical contributions of Samir Amin (1931-2018)

by Abayomi Azikiwe

Pambazuka News | September 24, 2018

The Egyptian-born social scientist and activist Samir Amin wrote extensively on political economy and the challenges for the peripheral capitalist states. He died in a Paris, France hospital on 12 August 2018 at the age of 86.

 

He was a prodigious researcher and publisher issuing over 40 books, hundreds of articles and papers dealing with the relationship between the colonial, semi-colonial and neo-colonial territories and the imperialist states.