MALCOLM SHABAZZ KILLED IN MEXICO CITY
Malcolm Shabazz, Malcolm X’s grandson by his daughter Qubilah, passed away in hospital in Mexico City, after he was discovered with fatal wounds at Plaza Garibaldi in the early hours of Thurs 9 May. Miguel Suarez, a union activist who was travelling with Shabazz, said they had been in the country to advocate for better rights for Mexican construction workers in the US. Mr Suarez said he and Shabazz were invited to a bar on Wednesday night by a woman. The bar owner later demanded they pay $1,200 (£780) for drinks and female companionship. Mr Suarez said that he escaped as a fight broke out, before returning to find Shabazz seriously injured on the ground outside the bar. Mr Suarez said he took Shabazz to a hospital where he died of “blunt-force injuries”. We reprint in full below the statement issued by the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement.
Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement
Freedom Begins with the Freeing of the Mind and Soul
c/o 282 High Road, Leyton, London E10 5PW
Tel: 020 8539 2154, 07908 814 152
Murder of Malcolm Shabazz Jr
Robbery or Assassination?
TENDAI MWARI
Thursday-night (9th May) as I contemplated the plight of Queen Mother Assata Shakur, trying to make sense of the FBI’s recent pronouncement that the 65 year old grandmother had been included on its ‘Most Wanted Terrorist’ list, the dreadful news came from ARM’s politics department, that Malcolm Shabazz Jr, the grandson of The Eminent Prophet and King: Omowale Malcolm X and Mama Betty Shabazz, had been murdered.
According to Amsterdam News, our source, he was shot and / or thrown out of a hotel room in Mexico, in an alleged robbery. Other sources report that he was shot and beaten to death. We understand that a family-friend and the US embassy have confirmed the news of his death, though not the facts. Suffice to say, that the ARM’s immediate thoughts are with the Shabazz family at this painful time, especially his mother, Qubilah, Omowale Malcolm X’s second daughter. We are also informed that Malcolm Jr (28) had two young daughters, who are utmost in our prayers.
We note that earlier this year Press TV reported that Malcolm Jr, had been arrested by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), whilst on his way to attend the international conference in Iran about Hollywood’s role in US imperialist propaganda. In a public statement made following his release weeks later (see attached), Malcolm Jr attested that he had been facing intense FBI and police surveillance and harassment for almost a year resulting in a series of false arrest, bogus charges and wrongful imprisonment. He had also been informed since early 2012 that he was under investigation by the FBI’s Counter Terrorism Task Force Unit located in Goshen, N.Y. Malcolm Jr seemed clear then that he was being targeted for state assassination by stealth.
“The formula for a public assassination is: the character assassination before the physical assassination; so one has to be made killable before the eyes of the public in order for their eventual murder to then deemed justifiable. And when the time arrives for these hits to be carried out you’re not going to see a C.I.A. agent with a suit & tie, and a badge that says “C.I.A.” walk up to someone, and pull the trigger. What they will do is to out-source to local police departments in the region of their target, and to employ those that look like the target of interest to infiltrate the workings in order to set up the environment for the eventual assassination (character, physical/incarceration, exile) to take place.”
We should pause a moment here, to take cognizance of the fact that all this has/is happening under the watch of the much celebrated first “Black” president, Barack Obama and his “Black” chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General Eric Holder, under the slogan, “Change you can believe in,” the operative word of course being “believe”.
So why was Malcolm Jr targeted?
Malcolm Jr as the namesake and first Male heir to the Martyred Prophet Malcolm X, had “acquired a growing reputation as an activist and had become increasingly outspoken on a range of issues (see: issue 10, Whirlwind News paper, p. 2).” He had an increasing catalogue of pictorial poses, replicating the image of his grandfather and sounded more and more like him as he lambasted US racism as “deep rooted” and “engrained within the culture of the people and the politics of the society...” and the bombing of the US twin towers as a false-flag attack:
“Everything that was utilised to allow 911 to take place points right back to the American government.”
Such views with his profile evoked fears of the reincarnation of the man who, more than anyone else of his time, and since, wreaked trepidation in the US government and paid, brutally, with his life for standing up for our freedom: The Man whom the eminent Actor and Activist Ossie Davis eulogised as, our own “Black Shining Prince; who never hesitate to die because he loved us so.”
The brutal killing of Malcolm Jr is the latest tragedy in the history of his beleaguered family, who have suffered in the cause of Afrikan Liberation, from mental afflictions to assignations/highly suspicious deaths, including: Omowale Malcolm X, his father Papa Earl Little and four of his six paternal uncles, all of whom were Garveyite activists. In addition, Mama Louise Little, Omowale Malcolm X’s mother and also a Garveyite activist, was driven to an asylum after the murder of her husband and Mama Betty Shabazz died in a fire, 23rd June 1997.
The fire that killed Mama Betty was said to have been lit by Malcolm Jr, (1st June), then aged 12, who had been sent to live with his grandmother, after his mother was arrested for conspiracy to assassinate Min. Louis Farrakhan (1995), for his alleged, involvement in the assassination of her father. Notably, this was the year of the Million-man March (Oct 95). It is worthy of further note that her supposed accomplice was one Michael Fitzpatrick, a Jewish FBI agent and agent provocateur, as well as an indicted drug criminal who had wooed, fleeced and inveigled a vulnerable, mentally-challenged young woman, until she grew suspicious of his motives and connections. (We should be reminded here, that Sis Qubilah witnessed the assassination of her father at four years old and has been traumatised ever since.)
However, by Divine inspiration and a stroke of political genius, Min. Farrakhan publicly defended Qubilah and on 6th May 1995, he and Mama Betty, met at a fund-raiser for Qubilah’s defence and reconciliation convention at the Apollo Theatre; where suspicions of an FBI conspiracy were well ventilated and the victory of the moment in the irony of the outcome was fervently trumpeted. But the enemy never accepts defeat, is deadly in humiliation and is determined to always have the last word.
Notably, reports of the death of Mama Betty at the time expressed shock and suspicion as to the rapidity with which the fire engulfed her home. It is interesting that the murder of Malcolm Jr has come in the anniversary month of this momentous reconciliation convention (9th May), like the assassination of the Martin Luther King Jr (4th April, 1968), came exactly one year to the date of his speech against the Vietnam war (4th April, 1967), which so irked and embarrassed Pres Lyndon B. Johnson and his government. The murder of the police officer for which Assata Shakur was accused, occurred on 2nd May, 1973. On 2nd May, 2005, the FBI classified her as a ’domestic terrorist‘ and offered $1m reward for her capture. On 2nd May, 2013 the FBI added her to the ‘Most Wanted Terrorist’ list increasing the bounty to $2m; dead or alive. So we know that the FBI is acutely aware of anniversaries and use them to make statements and settle scores.
At the Apollo event in 1995, one of Qubilah’s co-counsel, William Kunstler, read the following excerpt from an FBI report, dated 22nd January, 1969:
“Over the years considerable thought has been given and action taken with bureau approval, relating to methods through which the Nation of Islam could be discredited in the eyes of the general Black populous, or through which factionalism among the leadership could be created. Factional disputes have been developed. The most notable being Malcolm X...”
The excesses of the FBI in its quest to “Prevent the rise of the (Black) Messiah who could unify and electrify the militant black nationalist movement,” is notorious since the declassification of its hitherto, secret files. Known affectionately as COINTELPRO (or Counter Intelligence Programme), no stones were left unturned – including surveillance, infiltration, inciting fratricidal conflicts and violence as well as orchestrating assassinations - in the covert techniques used to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities of the black nationalist...organisations and groupings, their leadership, spokesmen, membership, and supporters...” This led Senator Frank Church, as chair of the Church Committee - the US Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (1975) – to characterise the FBI, CIA and other US intelligence agencies, as “rogue elephants”.
Too few people know also that in 1999, Mama Coretta Scot King, as the widow of Dr King, brought a wrongful death action against one of Dr King’s murderous conspirators, turn whistleblower. His name was Lloyd Jowers, owner of the ‘Jims Grill’ cafe - across the road from the Lorraine Motel (the scene of the crime) - from whence the assassination was co-ordinated. The elaborate scheme was unveiled in the court hearing - boycotted by the white supremacist corporate mess-media - where the jury not only found Jowers and other conspirators 30% responsible, but also found US government agencies 70% responsible. Moreover, Memphis police officer and marksman, Lieutenant Earl Clarke, was named as the man who pulled the trigger.
In the aforementioned COINTELPRO documents, Omowale Malcolm X was cited as an example of the Black Messiah, deemed “the Martyr of the movement”. Would they murder the Messiah and allow his first Male heir to rise in his image and likeness? Are they capable (morally and logistically) of orchestrating an assassination that looks like a robbery? Knowing also that the term ‘Black Messiah’ was first used by the perverse Hoover in reference to the Most Eminent Prophet and King – His Excellency: Marcus Mosiah Garvey, confirms that his murderous agenda is trans-generational.
Thus, the killing of Malcolm Jr must be seen for what it is: an assassination; the destruction of the seed of our “Shining Black Prince,” an attempt to slay him again beyond the grave; to stop the rise of the Black Messiah... the resurrection of Papa Garvey; an attack on revolutionary ideas; an assault on the humanity and human rights of every Afrikan on the planet – and our right to be free. It is a lynching: the lynching of an ‘uppity negro,’ to drive fear into the rest of the ‘slaves,’ so we dare not even contemplate rebelling. It is an act of war! Yes WAR! Just like the attack on Mama Assata Shakur. Yes, it is an act of war, with Obama, the ‘Black’ president, as the Commander in Chief of an infamous killing machine. It is: SLAVERY, COLONIALISM, JIM-CROW SEGREGATION, APARTHEID, all in one - manifested in the present, proving that nothing in essence has changed.
So where is the international outrage, I ask? What does it mean to us, Afrikans, that the grandson of The Man who took 16 bullets for our freedom, has just been slaughtered in a cheap scheme, made to look like robbery? Where is the Afrikan Liberation Movement to mobilise the people; to expose and hold the US government to account? Why were we not able to protect the grandson of our martyred prophet, at least from being slaughtered like a ‘tramp’ or a swine? Why did we not answer his cry, when he reached out to us after his recent incarceration?
“As I stand for the people, God-Willing, I would pray that the same people wouldn’t hesitate to stand for me. If these unjust & heinous actions are tolerated & allowed to be done to me without recourse, then no one is safe.”
Where, I ask again, was the Afrikan Liberation Movement to mobilise itself to answer to this young man’s desperate cry for our support and protection, even as he pledged, like his Eminent grandfather, to lay down his young life (28 years old) and leave his two young children fatherless for our Liberation?
“HOW LONG SHALL THEY KILL OUR PROPHETS WHILE WE STAND ASIDE AND LOOK?”
There are those of us who have allowed ourselves to be mesmerised by Obama-mania. Well, be warned: the Black man in the Whitehouse has, yet again, revealed himself as nothing more than the Black face of US imperialism. Ignore this fact to your own peril.
To the rest of us, still in touch with reality, this is a clarion call to strengthen our resolve, to up our programme to unite and organise for the empowerment and the total liberation of our people: building strong institutions as components of a strong powerbase. Notably, the first articulated goal of the FBI’s COINTELPRO was:
“Prevent the coalition of militant black nationalist group. In unity there is strength; a truism that is no less valid for its triteness...”
For our part as a liberation movement, ARM reaffirms our commitment to work to build operational Pan-Afrikan unity as a vital pre-requisite and to build the National Afrikan People’s Parliament.
Let us come together and ensure that the precious blood of young Malcolm Shabazz is not shed in vain. In the immortal words of his illustrious grandfather, our Shining Black Prince:
We declare our rights on this earth to be a man, to be human-being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being; in this society, on this earth and in this day, which we intend to bring into existence: BY ANY MEANS NECESSISARY!
Unite, Organise Now or Perish!
Rise, You Mighty People!
TENDAI MWARI
Bro Ldr Mbandaka
(Spiritual Leader – ARM)
RIGHT TO REPLY
Self-Help is The Key
This is a reply to Professor Gus John’s discussion paper ‘ICONIZE AND CANONIZE
– The State We’re In 20 Years after the Murder of Stephen Lawrence’
Nubiart No.292 / 6 May 2013
Professor Gus John’s in depth analysis of Afrikan and Asian social, economic and political conditions, particularly young people, England’s inner cities’ residents, is a painful cry. It also exposes to a large extent apparent helplessness of the Afrikans and Asians communities in the UK.
Professor John’s analysis was unassailable on facts; but short on solutions. The impression was given that real help was expected by the very people who allowed the operations of social machinery to continue turning out dysfunctional British Citizens, as described in Professor John’s discourse.
We have to move away from what may seem a ‘complaint culture’ and resort to what the early immigrants to Britain did successfully during the 1950s to the 1970s. We created self-help institutions based on our needs.
It is arguably that the 1950s, 60s, 70s and even 1980s had been the most constructive period for Afrikans and Asians in Britain. From influencing Parliamentary race relations laws, construct credit unions, youth hostels for the homeless, youth and community centre, arts festival, specialist book shops, mobile Sound Systems for community entertainment, supplementary schools, child minding, cultural carnival movement, community radio movement, national self-help movement, community multi-media, information and advice network, powerful grassroots advocacy pressure groups, and successful campaigns for police accountability.
During chattel slavery in the Caribbean and Afrikan liberation struggles on the Continent of Afrika, changes only came about because Afrikan people fought collectively for those changes. Afrikans at home and those abroad have a rich and successful history of resistance, underpinned by core self-help values.
Afrikans, and to some extent Asians, begun to lose our fifty years historical community development gains in the UK, because we fell in a mind-set of dependency, believing that others will look after our essential interests. Britain’s institutionalised Race Relations Industry was the primary culprit to placing false sense of security in the minds of Afrikans and others in the Britain. That dependency approach to Afrikan community development is completely against our historical experiences, during slavery, colonisations and neo-colonisation.
As a result, of that dependency mind-set, many of our children begun to disconnect from our Collective Family and became merciless killers and urban hyenas, as it were. They were not taught about the valuable contributions their Afrikan grandparents, parents and other older family members contributed to British social history. Many do not realise that they are legitimate stake holders in Britain.
We must apply our Sankofa traditions - learn from our past successes and failures in Britain. Based on that, we must construct and apply a different type of Afrikan Community Leadership, in order to bring back our estranged children. Members of The British Black Community know about successful community development organisations, based on self-help. We must teach our children the formula for their survival.
It is in Britain’s interest that ‘estranged’ Afrikan and Asian children in our inner cities are retrieved; given skills for them to commence contributing to the Nation’s well-being. In current competitive global market, Britain cannot afford to have any section of her young population unskilled and socially disorientated, mindful of her aging population.
We are endowed with the tools and abilities to function in face of any and all challenges. We are restricted only by the choices we make. Without individual free will, there can be no individual accountability.
We hold the Key to Our Own Survival. If that survival is now in doubt, then we contributed to creating that condition for doubt.
In order to correct part, if not the whole, we must challenge collectively and contain the gate keepers of the conditions which hinder the general progressions of our children.
SWEP – that is, to Share, Warn, Encourage and Protect, in times of plenty and times of scarcity, is a connecting tool, which must be applied in our communities, without further delays.
How SWEP is applied will depend on our individual and collective needs and circumstances.
SWEP is indifferent to all contemporary theological practises, though elements of SWEP may be identified in some of those practises. SWEP questions the effectiveness and lasting relevance of contemporary materialistic ideological constructs, designed for sustainable productions and distributions.
So far, social, economic and political experiments failed to produce collective human benefits proportions to needs. Certainly Professor John’s discourse clearly pointed to the deficits in our inner cities.
SWEP allies with MAAT’s teachings, namely – Balance, Harmony, Order, Justice, Truth, Reciprocity and Right Actions - teachings which stood the test of several millenniums.
Those of us who were and are being made objects of exploitations by others must realise that SELF-HELP IS THE KEY TO THE DNA of our Afrikan progressions, those at home and those abroad.
There is no other way. This must be made clear to our children. The sooner we embrace this totality, making it a necessary way of life, the sooner we will begin to retrieve chunks of our collective self-esteem, collective self-identity, collective self-pride and collective self-respect. Then, we will start experiencing our collective dependencies easing from our collective paradigm.
When WE understand and apply collectively this basic, logical, universal and redemptive equation, SWEP, the Four Essential Principles of SELF-HELP, that is, to SHARE; to WARN; to ENCOURAGE and to PROTECT, in times of plenty and times of scarcity, we SHALL begin to experience REAL POWER OF SELF.
We had better start taking the ‘SWEP medicine’ now, because we are running out of time and Caucasian
Liberals’ sympathies, on which many of us depended for our well-being for many decades.
Those of us who failed to learn the lessons of history deserved our inevitable outcomes.
If sections of a particular RACE are unable to recognise their survival path, the WHOLE RACE should not join in their lemming game of self-destructions.
Centuries of history taught that those who exploit members of the “Black Race” do so for their own self-interests. Let us counter this exploitations at all levels, by looking after OUR interests. We have the key laid out in simple and unassailable terms – SHARE; WARN; ENCOURAGE and PROTECT, in times of plenty and times of scarcity.
Ironically, the Four Essential Principles of Self-Help, SWEP, are solutions for Humanity and not only for an individual race.
Let’s continue to keep it real.
Dr Vince Hines
adi@ubol.com
9 May 2013
FORTHCOMING NUBIART PROFILES
NUBIART: Focus on arts, business, education, health, political developments and the media.
~ 3 June 2013 - ‘The Morality of China in Africa: The Middle Kingdom and the Dark Continent’. Book Launch and Review.
MAY PROMOS
~ ‘THE SKELETAL ESSENCES OF AFRO FUNK’ - Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou [Analog Africa - Out Now] By now the whole world should know what to expect from an Orchestre Poly-Rythmo album and this third instalment in the rereleases of their back catalogue by Analog Africa doesn’t disappoint. Starting in 2005, Samy Ben Redjeb, Analog Africa’s founder and compiler, made several trips to Benin, where he dug up most of the orchestra’s output recorded between 1969 and 1983. With hundreds of vinyl records and a few master tapes this amounted to more than 500 songs. With such a wealth of material of astonishing richness, choosing the songs proved to be a tough task. The 14 tracks presented here have never been issued outside of Africa.
When the second track ‘Houzou Houzou Wa (The Revolution Has Come)’ kicks in all pretenders and wannabes are left floundering in the wake of the all-conquering rhythm section and the sharp dynamic horn section. ‘Akoue We Gni Gan (Money Is The Boss)’ and ‘Akue We Non Houme (It’s The Money That Kills)’ are tough funky numbers about the corrupting influence money can have on relationships. ‘Pourquoi Pas? (Why Not?)’ tells of a young man eager to do all he can to support his mother and father.
The powerful groove continues even on tracks about affairs of the heart such as ‘Adjro Mi (I Like You)’, ‘Karateka’, ‘Ai Gabani (I Want This Girl)’ and ‘A O O Ida’. Here at Nubiart we are soft touches for anything in a ‘rumba’ style so the passionate pachanga love song ‘Vi E Lo’ hit the spot with us. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo drew from a wide range of influences across Afrika and throughout the diaspora as can be heard from ‘Ecoutes ma Melodie’, which is described as Bossa Afro style and we’re sure every Brazilian would be proud to own it and claim they had a hand in influencing it. The album ends on the slow, reflective ‘Min We Tun So (Who Knows the Future)’. Last December Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou founder Melome Clement passed away from a heart attack and this release is truly a fitting tribute to him.
~ ‘GONDWANA DAWN’ – Gondwana Dawn [ARC Music – Out Now] This release is a South African-Indian fusion project inspired by a meeting between Robin Hogarth - who produced and won two Grammys for the Soweto Gospel Choir albums – and renowned Indian singer and music teacher Vidushi Sumitra Guha. The choir this time are pupils who have come through the Peermont Schools Support Programme. The driving spirit behind the album are expressions of the Hindu concept of Ahimsa (Non-Violence) and the Afrikan concept of Ubuntu. Gondwana was the name of the land mass when Afrika and India were joined more closely together than they appear today. The music is a mix of Zulu traditional songs, uptempo funky grooves and ragas with lyrics drawn from religious and mythical texts such as the Upanishads, marriage songs, the modern concerns of children and the Afrikan National Anthem, ‘Nkosi Sikelel’i Afrika (God Bless Afrika)’. The album begins with ‘Dawn’ based on the first raga in the Vedic tradition and the primordial sound of Aum.
NUBIART LIBRARY – MAY MEDIA
We will only review books we have read and DVDs we have seen and that are available at reasonable prices online or in shops or libraries. However, given the nature and current state of Afrikan publishing and film production there may be books and films on this list that are worth the extra effort to track down.
~ ‘JUNIA REGGAE: THE JOURNEY FROM KING STREET’ – Norman Walker [AuthorHouse UK
ISBN: 978-1-4567-8879-7] Junia Walker’s earliest musical memories begin in one of Kingston, Jamaica’s most popular dance halls - Forrester’s Hall - with sounds like Sir Coxsone’s Downbeat and Duke Reid’s Trojan. His uncle worked at Carib Theatre and so he got to see many shows there which included top international jazz and R’n’B artists as well as local talent. At Camperdown High School he helped train the athletics team which included the world champion sprinter Don Quarrie and his siblings.
As a youth Junia hung out at Tailor’s Yard at the corner of Beeston and King Streets and above The Wailers’ Tuff Gong record shop exposing him to the movers and shakers in the music industry and the Rastafari community. Working at Barclays as a bank clerk he organised their dances with his sound Black Equinox Hi Fi. He moved into record production with the late Keith Hudson and together they founded Joint Records. Their highly respected albums included ‘Pick-a-Dub’, ‘Rasta Communication’, Brand Dub’, ‘Nah Skin Up Dub’, ‘One Extreme To Another’, ‘Flesh Of My Skin’ and ‘Too Experienced’.
Junia was someone who moved easily among many people but this created problems as the island’s partisan politics led to increasing garrison warfare in the 1970s and 80s. He was present at the Gold Street Massacre when a dance in JLP-aligned Southside was shot up by PNP activists and four people were killed. It was also from Southside that the singer Glenroy Richards and other youths were taken on the pretext of offers of work before being murdered by the Jamaican Defence Force at the Green Bay firing range - immortalised by producer Glen Brown on his ‘Green Bay Killing’ version excursion rhythm.
Junia became a central member of the High Times outfit with Bertram Brown, Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith and Teddy Reynolds working at their shop and as a producer and percussionist alongside artists such as Mutabaruka and on Frankie Paul’s first album ‘Give The Youths A Chance’. Later working out of Houston in the mid-80s Junia helped promote Tenor Saw but realised he was already in with his own crowd more interested in money than the music message and soon after Tenor Saw was found shot dead in a murder which robbed reggae of one of its brightest hopes and that remains unsolved to this day.
Junia started his label, Jusic International, launching his own singing career while still producing other artistes. This label is also responsible for the reissuing of Keith Hudson’s back catalogue. His first album in his own right was ‘Roots Rock Reggae Showcase’ which featured classic roots tracks such as ‘He Did’, and ‘Black Africa’. He has recorded other tracks including ‘Glad Tidings’ and ‘Wha’ Come Outa De I’ at legendary studios such as Channel 1, Tuff Gong and Harry J’s.
‘Junia Reggae’ covers in detail the personal lives of musicians and people who work in the entertainment industry living irregular hours through raving, recording, performing or on the road with a complex touring schedule. It can be hard to maintain stable relationships and often your children may not appreciate the reasons why you are not there on a daily basis during their formative years even as you think you are putting in maximum effort to earn money and make a better life for them. It ends with Junia presenting his ‘Yardstyle Reggae Show’ on Genesis Radio in south London - the first station we went on in the mid-90’s. His biggest message is for artists to get a better understanding about the business side of the music business: copyright, the role of the producer / distributor and artists’ expectations and attempts at extorting producers. The book could have done with page numbers and an index but that is not much to overcome for anybody who has ploughed their way through the lack or wrong information, track listings in the wrong order and labels pressed on the wrong side and off-centre common on reggae pre-releases.
~ ‘FROM ONE EXTREME TO ANOTHER’ - Minister Michael Gordon [TamaRe House. ISBN: 978-1-908552-27-3] ‘From One Extreme to Another’, complements Junia Walker’s book as well as being the title of an album he released with Keith Hudson on Joint Records. In this memoir Michael Gordon, better known as Big Youth and Chabba Melo, recounts the main experiences in his life from his Soferno-B, Stereograph and Destiny Outernational sound system days, and now as Minister Michael Gordon.
Growing up in Brixton he gravitated towards Soferno-B, one of the most respected British sound systems. At the time he formed a tight relationship with Al Campbell who was one of the first Jamaican singers to respect the English Lovers Rock scene and record tracks in that style. He was a co-owner of the Soferno-B record shop in Brixton Market’s Granville Arcade until a falling out and in clubland he ran Bali-Hi which is still fondly remembered by the thousands of ravers who passed through the gates until it was closed down by the police in malicious revenge for the 1981 Brixton Uprising. During this time Michael had set up a new sound Stereograph which had Dego Ranks and Silver Fox among its crew. After this Michael took the reverse journey to Junia moving to Jamaica in his twenties to become the first British-born youth to run a respected sound system on the Caribbean island which nurtured roots talent such as Garnett Silk, Tony Rebel, Kulcha Knox, Everton Blender and Shabba Ranks in his formative Co-Pilot days as well as having talent like Sugar Minott, Chaka Demus and General Trees pass through.
The memoir powerfully outlines all the issues connected to the internecine world of sound systems, reggae record production, clubland promotions, police brutality, state racism, miseducation, gun violence and the drug economy. Today Michael Gordon, while facing a life-threatening illness, is a Christian minister and ends the memoir indicating he still has more stories to tell from his remarkable life which has touched the hearts and souls and inspired so many Afrikan people.
~ NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACK SATURDAY SCHOOLS AND BLACK HISTORY WALKS PRESENT QUEEN NZINGHA LECTURES (5): ‘SEX, VIOLENCE AND CIVIL RIGHTS’. With Dr Althea-Legal Miller, PhD, American Studies, King’s College London. Violence against protesters during the 1960s Afrikan American freedom movement has been popularly characterised by scenes of fire hoses, dogs, club wielding law enforcers, and vicious white mobs. Yet the suppression of civil rights struggles was also sexualized. Dr Althea Legal-Miller will argue that jail left female civil rights workers particularly vulnerable to sexualized oppressions from white male law-enforcers, which included sexual comments and threats, sexual intimidation, voyeurism, strippings, sexualized beatings, abuse of search authority, molestations and rape. On Fri 24 May at 6.30-9pm at Rm BP22, London Metropolitan University, Holloway Road, London, N7 8DB. Adm: Free if booked via eventbrite. Web: www.nabss.org.uk / www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk
~ MALCOLM X DAY CELEBRATIONS. This is a free family event in celebration of Malcolm X Day and to say a big ‘Thank You’ for all the support which has been crucial in seeing the centre through this difficult time. Performances from: Stara, Norris B, Jah Garvey, Blackout JA, Skrilla UGQ, Byco Blaze and Troy Ellis and DJ Noel, Ujima 98fm. On Fri 24 May at 7am-2pm at Malcolm X Community Centre, 141 City Road, Bristol, BS6 8YH. Adm: Free. Tel: 07526 106 919. E-mail: amirahcole@yahoo.co.uk
~ ‘AFRICAN UNION 50 YEARS LATER - 1963-2013. BRITISH SOCIAL HISTORY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH AFRICA AND HER DIASPORA’. Symposium evaluating past support by British citizens to Afrika and Afrikans on the Continent; Collective reflections on past achievements; and preparing new vehicles for consistent support to Afrika, during the following decades. On Sat 25 May at 11am-4pm at Acton Library, High Street, London, W3 6NA. Tel: 030 3040 2690 / 07960 143 627. E-mail: afrikatoday@ubol.com
~ AFRICA ON FILM SERIES: ‘HOLLOW CITY’ (Angola, 2004). ‘Hollow City’ is set in Angola, the civil war-torn country in the southern west coast of Africa that had been colonised by Portugal until independence in 1975. In the tribal village of Bie, 11-year-old N’dala (Roldan Pinto João) sees his family massacred by soldiers. He and other orphans are rescued by a missionary nun (Ana Bustorff) and flown to Luanda, Angola’s capital, where he runs away from the group and journeys into the heart of the giant city. On Sun 26 May at 2.30pm at the Africa Centre, 38 King Street, London, WC2E 8JT.
~ BLACK HISTORY STUDIES PRESENTS ‘Pass the Comb’ Premiere & ‘Kickin’ It With the Kinks’. In association with The New Black Film Collective. ‘Pass The Comb’ is a short film telling the story of a young brother in conflict and his older sister’s calming influence using the cultural tradition of braiding hair. With each stroke of the comb, the pressure reduces as brother reveals and releases his stress and frustrations. Each completed corn row demonstrates the benefit of sisters ‘hair therapy’, words of wisdom and advice which help brother find his way out of his frustrations. But how did sister get so wise? And is she really the picture of innocence she portrays? ‘Pass the Comb’ is part of Change The Stereo, an initiative to create art through film and theatre. ‘Kickin’ It With The Kinks’ began as Cynthia Butare’s self-funded university project at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Department of Information and Communications where it received Best Documentary Prize. Cynthia was deeply moved to explore the subject further with the help of her friend Mundia Situmbeko, blogger and co-founder of blackgirlflow. Q&A with Yvette Griffiths of ‘Pass the Comb’, the director of ‘Kickin It with the Kinks’ Cynthia Butare and special guest Ansylla Ramsey, the owner of My Hairitage Holistic Hair Care Salon in Clinton, Maryland, and planner of the First Hairitage Holistic Hair & Wellness Cruise. On Mon 27 May at 6.30pm at the Ritzy Cinema, Brixton Oval, London, SW2 1JG. Adm: £11. Box Office: 0871 902 5739. Web: http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Ritzy_Picturehouse/film/Kickin_It_With_The_Kinks/
~ ROYAL AFRICAN SOCIETY AND AFRICAN AFFAIRS PRESENT ‘FIFTY YEARS OF AFRICAN UNITY’. Speaker: Alex de Waal, Executive Director, World Peace Foundation. The Organisation for African Unity (OAU) was established 50 years ago with a mandate to promote unity, solidarity, and co-operation among Afrikan states and to provide a better quality of life for the people of Afrika. Despite its pitfalls, the OAU was for decades the sole organisation for Afrikan political and economic unity with a mandate to defend Afrikan sovereignty, territorial integrity and fight against all form of colonialism. Yet overstretched, underfunded and based in a partly refurbished police college in Addis Ababa, the OAU was often ineffective in maintaining peace and stability in Afrika. Following the establishment of the African Union in 2002, and the adoption of policies to uphold constitutional integrity and intervene in humanitarian crisis, it may appear many of the OAU’s flaws have been overcome. But is this true? This event will look critically at the achievement of the OAU / AU and pose the question what, if anything, has been achieved? On Tues 28 May at 6-8pm at Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, London, WC1H 0XG. Adm: Free. E-mail: ras_events@soas.ac.uk
~ AFRICA CENTRE AND BLACK CULTURAL ARCHIVES PRESENTS PAST PERFORMANCE: PART II. Have you ever thought of yourself as an archivist? Do you have a collection of objects that have links to your heritage? People can collect and inherit archives without necessarily knowing about the significance of the material they possess. This event is the second of a two-part series of discussions, looking at how arts professionals keep their own archives to document their performances and how they can be used as ongoing inspiration. It will also offer insights into the ways that you can maintain your archives for future use. There will be presentations and readings from Dorothea Smartt, Makeda Coaston, Anne Bancroft, Margaret Timmers and Melanie Abrahams. On Tues 28 May at 7-9.30pm at the Africa Centre, 38 King Street, London, WC2E 8JT. Web:
~ FIND YOUR VOICE PART 5: DR LLAILA O AFRIKA ON OBESITY AND DABETES. With Wayne Chandler, Prof Stephen Ssali Tamale, Prophet Newton and Eymb. On Sun 2 Jun at 5-9pm at Park View Academy, West Green Road, Tottenham, London, N15 3RB. Adm: £5. Tel; 07960 239 493 / 07882 403 871. E-mail: findyourvoice@homail.co.uk
~ ‘PORTUGUESE INFLUENCE IN THE EAST’.With Dr Shihan de Silva (Senior Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London). On Tues 4 Jun at 7pm at Tate South Lambeth Library, 180 South Lambeth Road, London, SW8 1QP. Tel: 020 7926 0705. E-mail: readersandwriters@lambeth.gov.uk
~ WISDOM & VITALITY NATURAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING FESTIVAL. Speakers / Workshops: Bundu Dia Kongo on ancestral spiritual values; Dr Derin Bepo on melanin the key to health and longevity; Fatou LeFeuvre on techniques for harmony calm and inner well-being; Magnus Agugu on African Healing Massage; Lucy Bennin and Michelle Yearwood-Grazette on raw food. Natural hair & skin care products, holistic living, books & education, vegan and raw food on sale. On Sat 8 Jun at 11am–6pm at Ithaca House, 27 Romford Road, Stratford, London, E15 4LJ. Adm: £15 / £25 for two adults / Under-16s - Free / MOTD. Tel: 07929 152 379. E-mail: adwoa@wisdomandvitality.com / exhibitor@wisdomandvitality.com Web: www.wisdomandvitality.com / http://wisdomandvitality.eventbrite.co.uk/
~ AFRICAN BEAUTY: A PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION BY JOHN KENNY. Seven years in the making, John Kenny has travelled through a myriad of Afrikan countries to create a powerful collection of photographs. The exhibition illustrates the remarkable ways that people in traditional communities engage with material culture to express their identity. From the fringes of the Sahara to the Great Rift Valley, and south to the arid communities of Angola and Namibia, Kenny’s photographs are an important journey into social status, creativity and sense of identity that lies behind the powerful and unique aesthetic of traditional village life. Until Sun 9 Jun at the Africa Centre, 38 King Street, London, WC2E Adm: Free.
~ SHANTI-CHI FAMILY PRESENT SECOND SESA WO SUBAN AFRAKAN STORYTELLING FESTIVAL!Based on an ancient full moon solstice ceremony, from dusk to dawn. A great place to share love, celebrate Afrakan culture, reconnect with Mother earth through the healing power of storytelling.
On Sat 22 – Sun 23 Jun from dusk (9pm) until dawn (6am) at Oxleas Woods, Shooters Hill, London, SE18 3JA.Booking: Adults - £12; youth 8-17 years - £6; under 7 years – Free. Web: http://www.shanti-chi.com/#!__story-trail-blazer
~ YORKSHIRE SCULPTURE PARK PRESENTS ‘FABRIC-ATION’. Retrospective exhibition of Afrikan print fabrics and designs by Yinka Shonibare, MBE. Until Sat 1 Sep at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, WF4 4LG. Web: ysp.co.uk
~ NOH BUDGET FILMS PRESENT ACTIVE INQUIRY. Do you like being creative? Would you like to be part of a group who solve community problems through performing? ACTive Inquiry are inviting you to join our weekly participatory performance workshops exploring Current Affairs. The AI group carries out sketches, scenes, skits and other social commentary performances to raise awareness about problematic social issues. The stated goal of these performances is to make the public ‘think and ask questions’ and expose the lies around these injustices. Every Thurs at 6.30-9.30pm at Stockwell Park Community Trust, Crowhurst House, 21 Aytoun Place, Stockwell, London, SW9 0TE. Adm: £5. (Suggested donation to help cover room hire costs and refreshments but we would hate cost to be a barrier to participation so please pay what you can afford). Web: http://activeinquiry2013.eventbrite.com
Contact: Kubara Zamani, Afrikan Quest International, PO Box 35165, London, SE5 8WU. Tel: 07811 494 969. E-mail: afrikanquest@hotmail.com Web: www.southwark.tv/quest/aqhome.asp
External Links
Afrikan Quest International
Malcolm Shabazz, Malcolm X’s grandson by his daughter Qubilah, passed away in hospital in Mexico City, after he was discovered with fatal wounds at Plaza Garibaldi in the early hours of Thurs 9 May. Miguel Suarez, a union activist who was travelling with Shabazz, said they had been in the country to advocate for better rights for Mexican construction workers in the US. Mr Suarez said he and Shabazz were invited to a bar on Wednesday night by a woman. The bar owner later demanded they pay $1,200 (£780) for drinks and female companionship. Mr Suarez said that he escaped as a fight broke out, before returning to find Shabazz seriously injured on the ground outside the bar. Mr Suarez said he took Shabazz to a hospital where he died of “blunt-force injuries”. We reprint in full below the statement issued by the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement.
Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement
Freedom Begins with the Freeing of the Mind and Soul
c/o 282 High Road, Leyton, London E10 5PW
Tel: 020 8539 2154, 07908 814 152
Murder of Malcolm Shabazz Jr
Robbery or Assassination?
TENDAI MWARI
Thursday-night (9th May) as I contemplated the plight of Queen Mother Assata Shakur, trying to make sense of the FBI’s recent pronouncement that the 65 year old grandmother had been included on its ‘Most Wanted Terrorist’ list, the dreadful news came from ARM’s politics department, that Malcolm Shabazz Jr, the grandson of The Eminent Prophet and King: Omowale Malcolm X and Mama Betty Shabazz, had been murdered.
According to Amsterdam News, our source, he was shot and / or thrown out of a hotel room in Mexico, in an alleged robbery. Other sources report that he was shot and beaten to death. We understand that a family-friend and the US embassy have confirmed the news of his death, though not the facts. Suffice to say, that the ARM’s immediate thoughts are with the Shabazz family at this painful time, especially his mother, Qubilah, Omowale Malcolm X’s second daughter. We are also informed that Malcolm Jr (28) had two young daughters, who are utmost in our prayers.
We note that earlier this year Press TV reported that Malcolm Jr, had been arrested by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), whilst on his way to attend the international conference in Iran about Hollywood’s role in US imperialist propaganda. In a public statement made following his release weeks later (see attached), Malcolm Jr attested that he had been facing intense FBI and police surveillance and harassment for almost a year resulting in a series of false arrest, bogus charges and wrongful imprisonment. He had also been informed since early 2012 that he was under investigation by the FBI’s Counter Terrorism Task Force Unit located in Goshen, N.Y. Malcolm Jr seemed clear then that he was being targeted for state assassination by stealth.
“The formula for a public assassination is: the character assassination before the physical assassination; so one has to be made killable before the eyes of the public in order for their eventual murder to then deemed justifiable. And when the time arrives for these hits to be carried out you’re not going to see a C.I.A. agent with a suit & tie, and a badge that says “C.I.A.” walk up to someone, and pull the trigger. What they will do is to out-source to local police departments in the region of their target, and to employ those that look like the target of interest to infiltrate the workings in order to set up the environment for the eventual assassination (character, physical/incarceration, exile) to take place.”
We should pause a moment here, to take cognizance of the fact that all this has/is happening under the watch of the much celebrated first “Black” president, Barack Obama and his “Black” chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General Eric Holder, under the slogan, “Change you can believe in,” the operative word of course being “believe”.
So why was Malcolm Jr targeted?
Malcolm Jr as the namesake and first Male heir to the Martyred Prophet Malcolm X, had “acquired a growing reputation as an activist and had become increasingly outspoken on a range of issues (see: issue 10, Whirlwind News paper, p. 2).” He had an increasing catalogue of pictorial poses, replicating the image of his grandfather and sounded more and more like him as he lambasted US racism as “deep rooted” and “engrained within the culture of the people and the politics of the society...” and the bombing of the US twin towers as a false-flag attack:
“Everything that was utilised to allow 911 to take place points right back to the American government.”
Such views with his profile evoked fears of the reincarnation of the man who, more than anyone else of his time, and since, wreaked trepidation in the US government and paid, brutally, with his life for standing up for our freedom: The Man whom the eminent Actor and Activist Ossie Davis eulogised as, our own “Black Shining Prince; who never hesitate to die because he loved us so.”
The brutal killing of Malcolm Jr is the latest tragedy in the history of his beleaguered family, who have suffered in the cause of Afrikan Liberation, from mental afflictions to assignations/highly suspicious deaths, including: Omowale Malcolm X, his father Papa Earl Little and four of his six paternal uncles, all of whom were Garveyite activists. In addition, Mama Louise Little, Omowale Malcolm X’s mother and also a Garveyite activist, was driven to an asylum after the murder of her husband and Mama Betty Shabazz died in a fire, 23rd June 1997.
The fire that killed Mama Betty was said to have been lit by Malcolm Jr, (1st June), then aged 12, who had been sent to live with his grandmother, after his mother was arrested for conspiracy to assassinate Min. Louis Farrakhan (1995), for his alleged, involvement in the assassination of her father. Notably, this was the year of the Million-man March (Oct 95). It is worthy of further note that her supposed accomplice was one Michael Fitzpatrick, a Jewish FBI agent and agent provocateur, as well as an indicted drug criminal who had wooed, fleeced and inveigled a vulnerable, mentally-challenged young woman, until she grew suspicious of his motives and connections. (We should be reminded here, that Sis Qubilah witnessed the assassination of her father at four years old and has been traumatised ever since.)
However, by Divine inspiration and a stroke of political genius, Min. Farrakhan publicly defended Qubilah and on 6th May 1995, he and Mama Betty, met at a fund-raiser for Qubilah’s defence and reconciliation convention at the Apollo Theatre; where suspicions of an FBI conspiracy were well ventilated and the victory of the moment in the irony of the outcome was fervently trumpeted. But the enemy never accepts defeat, is deadly in humiliation and is determined to always have the last word.
Notably, reports of the death of Mama Betty at the time expressed shock and suspicion as to the rapidity with which the fire engulfed her home. It is interesting that the murder of Malcolm Jr has come in the anniversary month of this momentous reconciliation convention (9th May), like the assassination of the Martin Luther King Jr (4th April, 1968), came exactly one year to the date of his speech against the Vietnam war (4th April, 1967), which so irked and embarrassed Pres Lyndon B. Johnson and his government. The murder of the police officer for which Assata Shakur was accused, occurred on 2nd May, 1973. On 2nd May, 2005, the FBI classified her as a ’domestic terrorist‘ and offered $1m reward for her capture. On 2nd May, 2013 the FBI added her to the ‘Most Wanted Terrorist’ list increasing the bounty to $2m; dead or alive. So we know that the FBI is acutely aware of anniversaries and use them to make statements and settle scores.
At the Apollo event in 1995, one of Qubilah’s co-counsel, William Kunstler, read the following excerpt from an FBI report, dated 22nd January, 1969:
“Over the years considerable thought has been given and action taken with bureau approval, relating to methods through which the Nation of Islam could be discredited in the eyes of the general Black populous, or through which factionalism among the leadership could be created. Factional disputes have been developed. The most notable being Malcolm X...”
The excesses of the FBI in its quest to “Prevent the rise of the (Black) Messiah who could unify and electrify the militant black nationalist movement,” is notorious since the declassification of its hitherto, secret files. Known affectionately as COINTELPRO (or Counter Intelligence Programme), no stones were left unturned – including surveillance, infiltration, inciting fratricidal conflicts and violence as well as orchestrating assassinations - in the covert techniques used to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities of the black nationalist...organisations and groupings, their leadership, spokesmen, membership, and supporters...” This led Senator Frank Church, as chair of the Church Committee - the US Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (1975) – to characterise the FBI, CIA and other US intelligence agencies, as “rogue elephants”.
Too few people know also that in 1999, Mama Coretta Scot King, as the widow of Dr King, brought a wrongful death action against one of Dr King’s murderous conspirators, turn whistleblower. His name was Lloyd Jowers, owner of the ‘Jims Grill’ cafe - across the road from the Lorraine Motel (the scene of the crime) - from whence the assassination was co-ordinated. The elaborate scheme was unveiled in the court hearing - boycotted by the white supremacist corporate mess-media - where the jury not only found Jowers and other conspirators 30% responsible, but also found US government agencies 70% responsible. Moreover, Memphis police officer and marksman, Lieutenant Earl Clarke, was named as the man who pulled the trigger.
In the aforementioned COINTELPRO documents, Omowale Malcolm X was cited as an example of the Black Messiah, deemed “the Martyr of the movement”. Would they murder the Messiah and allow his first Male heir to rise in his image and likeness? Are they capable (morally and logistically) of orchestrating an assassination that looks like a robbery? Knowing also that the term ‘Black Messiah’ was first used by the perverse Hoover in reference to the Most Eminent Prophet and King – His Excellency: Marcus Mosiah Garvey, confirms that his murderous agenda is trans-generational.
Thus, the killing of Malcolm Jr must be seen for what it is: an assassination; the destruction of the seed of our “Shining Black Prince,” an attempt to slay him again beyond the grave; to stop the rise of the Black Messiah... the resurrection of Papa Garvey; an attack on revolutionary ideas; an assault on the humanity and human rights of every Afrikan on the planet – and our right to be free. It is a lynching: the lynching of an ‘uppity negro,’ to drive fear into the rest of the ‘slaves,’ so we dare not even contemplate rebelling. It is an act of war! Yes WAR! Just like the attack on Mama Assata Shakur. Yes, it is an act of war, with Obama, the ‘Black’ president, as the Commander in Chief of an infamous killing machine. It is: SLAVERY, COLONIALISM, JIM-CROW SEGREGATION, APARTHEID, all in one - manifested in the present, proving that nothing in essence has changed.
So where is the international outrage, I ask? What does it mean to us, Afrikans, that the grandson of The Man who took 16 bullets for our freedom, has just been slaughtered in a cheap scheme, made to look like robbery? Where is the Afrikan Liberation Movement to mobilise the people; to expose and hold the US government to account? Why were we not able to protect the grandson of our martyred prophet, at least from being slaughtered like a ‘tramp’ or a swine? Why did we not answer his cry, when he reached out to us after his recent incarceration?
“As I stand for the people, God-Willing, I would pray that the same people wouldn’t hesitate to stand for me. If these unjust & heinous actions are tolerated & allowed to be done to me without recourse, then no one is safe.”
Where, I ask again, was the Afrikan Liberation Movement to mobilise itself to answer to this young man’s desperate cry for our support and protection, even as he pledged, like his Eminent grandfather, to lay down his young life (28 years old) and leave his two young children fatherless for our Liberation?
“HOW LONG SHALL THEY KILL OUR PROPHETS WHILE WE STAND ASIDE AND LOOK?”
There are those of us who have allowed ourselves to be mesmerised by Obama-mania. Well, be warned: the Black man in the Whitehouse has, yet again, revealed himself as nothing more than the Black face of US imperialism. Ignore this fact to your own peril.
To the rest of us, still in touch with reality, this is a clarion call to strengthen our resolve, to up our programme to unite and organise for the empowerment and the total liberation of our people: building strong institutions as components of a strong powerbase. Notably, the first articulated goal of the FBI’s COINTELPRO was:
“Prevent the coalition of militant black nationalist group. In unity there is strength; a truism that is no less valid for its triteness...”
For our part as a liberation movement, ARM reaffirms our commitment to work to build operational Pan-Afrikan unity as a vital pre-requisite and to build the National Afrikan People’s Parliament.
Let us come together and ensure that the precious blood of young Malcolm Shabazz is not shed in vain. In the immortal words of his illustrious grandfather, our Shining Black Prince:
We declare our rights on this earth to be a man, to be human-being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being; in this society, on this earth and in this day, which we intend to bring into existence: BY ANY MEANS NECESSISARY!
Unite, Organise Now or Perish!
Rise, You Mighty People!
TENDAI MWARI
Bro Ldr Mbandaka
(Spiritual Leader – ARM)
RIGHT TO REPLY
Self-Help is The Key
This is a reply to Professor Gus John’s discussion paper ‘ICONIZE AND CANONIZE
– The State We’re In 20 Years after the Murder of Stephen Lawrence’
Nubiart No.292 / 6 May 2013
Professor Gus John’s in depth analysis of Afrikan and Asian social, economic and political conditions, particularly young people, England’s inner cities’ residents, is a painful cry. It also exposes to a large extent apparent helplessness of the Afrikans and Asians communities in the UK.
Professor John’s analysis was unassailable on facts; but short on solutions. The impression was given that real help was expected by the very people who allowed the operations of social machinery to continue turning out dysfunctional British Citizens, as described in Professor John’s discourse.
We have to move away from what may seem a ‘complaint culture’ and resort to what the early immigrants to Britain did successfully during the 1950s to the 1970s. We created self-help institutions based on our needs.
It is arguably that the 1950s, 60s, 70s and even 1980s had been the most constructive period for Afrikans and Asians in Britain. From influencing Parliamentary race relations laws, construct credit unions, youth hostels for the homeless, youth and community centre, arts festival, specialist book shops, mobile Sound Systems for community entertainment, supplementary schools, child minding, cultural carnival movement, community radio movement, national self-help movement, community multi-media, information and advice network, powerful grassroots advocacy pressure groups, and successful campaigns for police accountability.
During chattel slavery in the Caribbean and Afrikan liberation struggles on the Continent of Afrika, changes only came about because Afrikan people fought collectively for those changes. Afrikans at home and those abroad have a rich and successful history of resistance, underpinned by core self-help values.
Afrikans, and to some extent Asians, begun to lose our fifty years historical community development gains in the UK, because we fell in a mind-set of dependency, believing that others will look after our essential interests. Britain’s institutionalised Race Relations Industry was the primary culprit to placing false sense of security in the minds of Afrikans and others in the Britain. That dependency approach to Afrikan community development is completely against our historical experiences, during slavery, colonisations and neo-colonisation.
As a result, of that dependency mind-set, many of our children begun to disconnect from our Collective Family and became merciless killers and urban hyenas, as it were. They were not taught about the valuable contributions their Afrikan grandparents, parents and other older family members contributed to British social history. Many do not realise that they are legitimate stake holders in Britain.
We must apply our Sankofa traditions - learn from our past successes and failures in Britain. Based on that, we must construct and apply a different type of Afrikan Community Leadership, in order to bring back our estranged children. Members of The British Black Community know about successful community development organisations, based on self-help. We must teach our children the formula for their survival.
It is in Britain’s interest that ‘estranged’ Afrikan and Asian children in our inner cities are retrieved; given skills for them to commence contributing to the Nation’s well-being. In current competitive global market, Britain cannot afford to have any section of her young population unskilled and socially disorientated, mindful of her aging population.
We are endowed with the tools and abilities to function in face of any and all challenges. We are restricted only by the choices we make. Without individual free will, there can be no individual accountability.
We hold the Key to Our Own Survival. If that survival is now in doubt, then we contributed to creating that condition for doubt.
In order to correct part, if not the whole, we must challenge collectively and contain the gate keepers of the conditions which hinder the general progressions of our children.
SWEP – that is, to Share, Warn, Encourage and Protect, in times of plenty and times of scarcity, is a connecting tool, which must be applied in our communities, without further delays.
How SWEP is applied will depend on our individual and collective needs and circumstances.
SWEP is indifferent to all contemporary theological practises, though elements of SWEP may be identified in some of those practises. SWEP questions the effectiveness and lasting relevance of contemporary materialistic ideological constructs, designed for sustainable productions and distributions.
So far, social, economic and political experiments failed to produce collective human benefits proportions to needs. Certainly Professor John’s discourse clearly pointed to the deficits in our inner cities.
SWEP allies with MAAT’s teachings, namely – Balance, Harmony, Order, Justice, Truth, Reciprocity and Right Actions - teachings which stood the test of several millenniums.
Those of us who were and are being made objects of exploitations by others must realise that SELF-HELP IS THE KEY TO THE DNA of our Afrikan progressions, those at home and those abroad.
There is no other way. This must be made clear to our children. The sooner we embrace this totality, making it a necessary way of life, the sooner we will begin to retrieve chunks of our collective self-esteem, collective self-identity, collective self-pride and collective self-respect. Then, we will start experiencing our collective dependencies easing from our collective paradigm.
When WE understand and apply collectively this basic, logical, universal and redemptive equation, SWEP, the Four Essential Principles of SELF-HELP, that is, to SHARE; to WARN; to ENCOURAGE and to PROTECT, in times of plenty and times of scarcity, we SHALL begin to experience REAL POWER OF SELF.
We had better start taking the ‘SWEP medicine’ now, because we are running out of time and Caucasian
Liberals’ sympathies, on which many of us depended for our well-being for many decades.
Those of us who failed to learn the lessons of history deserved our inevitable outcomes.
If sections of a particular RACE are unable to recognise their survival path, the WHOLE RACE should not join in their lemming game of self-destructions.
Centuries of history taught that those who exploit members of the “Black Race” do so for their own self-interests. Let us counter this exploitations at all levels, by looking after OUR interests. We have the key laid out in simple and unassailable terms – SHARE; WARN; ENCOURAGE and PROTECT, in times of plenty and times of scarcity.
Ironically, the Four Essential Principles of Self-Help, SWEP, are solutions for Humanity and not only for an individual race.
Let’s continue to keep it real.
Dr Vince Hines
adi@ubol.com
9 May 2013
FORTHCOMING NUBIART PROFILES
NUBIART: Focus on arts, business, education, health, political developments and the media.
~ 3 June 2013 - ‘The Morality of China in Africa: The Middle Kingdom and the Dark Continent’. Book Launch and Review.
MAY PROMOS
~ ‘THE SKELETAL ESSENCES OF AFRO FUNK’ - Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou [Analog Africa - Out Now] By now the whole world should know what to expect from an Orchestre Poly-Rythmo album and this third instalment in the rereleases of their back catalogue by Analog Africa doesn’t disappoint. Starting in 2005, Samy Ben Redjeb, Analog Africa’s founder and compiler, made several trips to Benin, where he dug up most of the orchestra’s output recorded between 1969 and 1983. With hundreds of vinyl records and a few master tapes this amounted to more than 500 songs. With such a wealth of material of astonishing richness, choosing the songs proved to be a tough task. The 14 tracks presented here have never been issued outside of Africa.
When the second track ‘Houzou Houzou Wa (The Revolution Has Come)’ kicks in all pretenders and wannabes are left floundering in the wake of the all-conquering rhythm section and the sharp dynamic horn section. ‘Akoue We Gni Gan (Money Is The Boss)’ and ‘Akue We Non Houme (It’s The Money That Kills)’ are tough funky numbers about the corrupting influence money can have on relationships. ‘Pourquoi Pas? (Why Not?)’ tells of a young man eager to do all he can to support his mother and father.
The powerful groove continues even on tracks about affairs of the heart such as ‘Adjro Mi (I Like You)’, ‘Karateka’, ‘Ai Gabani (I Want This Girl)’ and ‘A O O Ida’. Here at Nubiart we are soft touches for anything in a ‘rumba’ style so the passionate pachanga love song ‘Vi E Lo’ hit the spot with us. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo drew from a wide range of influences across Afrika and throughout the diaspora as can be heard from ‘Ecoutes ma Melodie’, which is described as Bossa Afro style and we’re sure every Brazilian would be proud to own it and claim they had a hand in influencing it. The album ends on the slow, reflective ‘Min We Tun So (Who Knows the Future)’. Last December Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou founder Melome Clement passed away from a heart attack and this release is truly a fitting tribute to him.
~ ‘GONDWANA DAWN’ – Gondwana Dawn [ARC Music – Out Now] This release is a South African-Indian fusion project inspired by a meeting between Robin Hogarth - who produced and won two Grammys for the Soweto Gospel Choir albums – and renowned Indian singer and music teacher Vidushi Sumitra Guha. The choir this time are pupils who have come through the Peermont Schools Support Programme. The driving spirit behind the album are expressions of the Hindu concept of Ahimsa (Non-Violence) and the Afrikan concept of Ubuntu. Gondwana was the name of the land mass when Afrika and India were joined more closely together than they appear today. The music is a mix of Zulu traditional songs, uptempo funky grooves and ragas with lyrics drawn from religious and mythical texts such as the Upanishads, marriage songs, the modern concerns of children and the Afrikan National Anthem, ‘Nkosi Sikelel’i Afrika (God Bless Afrika)’. The album begins with ‘Dawn’ based on the first raga in the Vedic tradition and the primordial sound of Aum.
NUBIART LIBRARY – MAY MEDIA
We will only review books we have read and DVDs we have seen and that are available at reasonable prices online or in shops or libraries. However, given the nature and current state of Afrikan publishing and film production there may be books and films on this list that are worth the extra effort to track down.
~ ‘JUNIA REGGAE: THE JOURNEY FROM KING STREET’ – Norman Walker [AuthorHouse UK
ISBN: 978-1-4567-8879-7] Junia Walker’s earliest musical memories begin in one of Kingston, Jamaica’s most popular dance halls - Forrester’s Hall - with sounds like Sir Coxsone’s Downbeat and Duke Reid’s Trojan. His uncle worked at Carib Theatre and so he got to see many shows there which included top international jazz and R’n’B artists as well as local talent. At Camperdown High School he helped train the athletics team which included the world champion sprinter Don Quarrie and his siblings.
As a youth Junia hung out at Tailor’s Yard at the corner of Beeston and King Streets and above The Wailers’ Tuff Gong record shop exposing him to the movers and shakers in the music industry and the Rastafari community. Working at Barclays as a bank clerk he organised their dances with his sound Black Equinox Hi Fi. He moved into record production with the late Keith Hudson and together they founded Joint Records. Their highly respected albums included ‘Pick-a-Dub’, ‘Rasta Communication’, Brand Dub’, ‘Nah Skin Up Dub’, ‘One Extreme To Another’, ‘Flesh Of My Skin’ and ‘Too Experienced’.
Junia was someone who moved easily among many people but this created problems as the island’s partisan politics led to increasing garrison warfare in the 1970s and 80s. He was present at the Gold Street Massacre when a dance in JLP-aligned Southside was shot up by PNP activists and four people were killed. It was also from Southside that the singer Glenroy Richards and other youths were taken on the pretext of offers of work before being murdered by the Jamaican Defence Force at the Green Bay firing range - immortalised by producer Glen Brown on his ‘Green Bay Killing’ version excursion rhythm.
Junia became a central member of the High Times outfit with Bertram Brown, Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith and Teddy Reynolds working at their shop and as a producer and percussionist alongside artists such as Mutabaruka and on Frankie Paul’s first album ‘Give The Youths A Chance’. Later working out of Houston in the mid-80s Junia helped promote Tenor Saw but realised he was already in with his own crowd more interested in money than the music message and soon after Tenor Saw was found shot dead in a murder which robbed reggae of one of its brightest hopes and that remains unsolved to this day.
Junia started his label, Jusic International, launching his own singing career while still producing other artistes. This label is also responsible for the reissuing of Keith Hudson’s back catalogue. His first album in his own right was ‘Roots Rock Reggae Showcase’ which featured classic roots tracks such as ‘He Did’, and ‘Black Africa’. He has recorded other tracks including ‘Glad Tidings’ and ‘Wha’ Come Outa De I’ at legendary studios such as Channel 1, Tuff Gong and Harry J’s.
‘Junia Reggae’ covers in detail the personal lives of musicians and people who work in the entertainment industry living irregular hours through raving, recording, performing or on the road with a complex touring schedule. It can be hard to maintain stable relationships and often your children may not appreciate the reasons why you are not there on a daily basis during their formative years even as you think you are putting in maximum effort to earn money and make a better life for them. It ends with Junia presenting his ‘Yardstyle Reggae Show’ on Genesis Radio in south London - the first station we went on in the mid-90’s. His biggest message is for artists to get a better understanding about the business side of the music business: copyright, the role of the producer / distributor and artists’ expectations and attempts at extorting producers. The book could have done with page numbers and an index but that is not much to overcome for anybody who has ploughed their way through the lack or wrong information, track listings in the wrong order and labels pressed on the wrong side and off-centre common on reggae pre-releases.
~ ‘FROM ONE EXTREME TO ANOTHER’ - Minister Michael Gordon [TamaRe House. ISBN: 978-1-908552-27-3] ‘From One Extreme to Another’, complements Junia Walker’s book as well as being the title of an album he released with Keith Hudson on Joint Records. In this memoir Michael Gordon, better known as Big Youth and Chabba Melo, recounts the main experiences in his life from his Soferno-B, Stereograph and Destiny Outernational sound system days, and now as Minister Michael Gordon.
Growing up in Brixton he gravitated towards Soferno-B, one of the most respected British sound systems. At the time he formed a tight relationship with Al Campbell who was one of the first Jamaican singers to respect the English Lovers Rock scene and record tracks in that style. He was a co-owner of the Soferno-B record shop in Brixton Market’s Granville Arcade until a falling out and in clubland he ran Bali-Hi which is still fondly remembered by the thousands of ravers who passed through the gates until it was closed down by the police in malicious revenge for the 1981 Brixton Uprising. During this time Michael had set up a new sound Stereograph which had Dego Ranks and Silver Fox among its crew. After this Michael took the reverse journey to Junia moving to Jamaica in his twenties to become the first British-born youth to run a respected sound system on the Caribbean island which nurtured roots talent such as Garnett Silk, Tony Rebel, Kulcha Knox, Everton Blender and Shabba Ranks in his formative Co-Pilot days as well as having talent like Sugar Minott, Chaka Demus and General Trees pass through.
The memoir powerfully outlines all the issues connected to the internecine world of sound systems, reggae record production, clubland promotions, police brutality, state racism, miseducation, gun violence and the drug economy. Today Michael Gordon, while facing a life-threatening illness, is a Christian minister and ends the memoir indicating he still has more stories to tell from his remarkable life which has touched the hearts and souls and inspired so many Afrikan people.
Nubiart Diary
~ NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACK SATURDAY SCHOOLS AND BLACK HISTORY WALKS PRESENT QUEEN NZINGHA LECTURES (5): ‘SEX, VIOLENCE AND CIVIL RIGHTS’. With Dr Althea-Legal Miller, PhD, American Studies, King’s College London. Violence against protesters during the 1960s Afrikan American freedom movement has been popularly characterised by scenes of fire hoses, dogs, club wielding law enforcers, and vicious white mobs. Yet the suppression of civil rights struggles was also sexualized. Dr Althea Legal-Miller will argue that jail left female civil rights workers particularly vulnerable to sexualized oppressions from white male law-enforcers, which included sexual comments and threats, sexual intimidation, voyeurism, strippings, sexualized beatings, abuse of search authority, molestations and rape. On Fri 24 May at 6.30-9pm at Rm BP22, London Metropolitan University, Holloway Road, London, N7 8DB. Adm: Free if booked via eventbrite. Web: www.nabss.org.uk / www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk ~ MALCOLM X DAY CELEBRATIONS. This is a free family event in celebration of Malcolm X Day and to say a big ‘Thank You’ for all the support which has been crucial in seeing the centre through this difficult time. Performances from: Stara, Norris B, Jah Garvey, Blackout JA, Skrilla UGQ, Byco Blaze and Troy Ellis and DJ Noel, Ujima 98fm. On Fri 24 May at 7am-2pm at Malcolm X Community Centre, 141 City Road, Bristol, BS6 8YH. Adm: Free. Tel: 07526 106 919. E-mail: amirahcole@yahoo.co.uk
~ ‘AFRICAN UNION 50 YEARS LATER - 1963-2013. BRITISH SOCIAL HISTORY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH AFRICA AND HER DIASPORA’. Symposium evaluating past support by British citizens to Afrika and Afrikans on the Continent; Collective reflections on past achievements; and preparing new vehicles for consistent support to Afrika, during the following decades. On Sat 25 May at 11am-4pm at Acton Library, High Street, London, W3 6NA. Tel: 030 3040 2690 / 07960 143 627. E-mail: afrikatoday@ubol.com
~ AFRICA ON FILM SERIES: ‘HOLLOW CITY’ (Angola, 2004). ‘Hollow City’ is set in Angola, the civil war-torn country in the southern west coast of Africa that had been colonised by Portugal until independence in 1975. In the tribal village of Bie, 11-year-old N’dala (Roldan Pinto João) sees his family massacred by soldiers. He and other orphans are rescued by a missionary nun (Ana Bustorff) and flown to Luanda, Angola’s capital, where he runs away from the group and journeys into the heart of the giant city. On Sun 26 May at 2.30pm at the Africa Centre, 38 King Street, London, WC2E 8JT.
~ BLACK HISTORY STUDIES PRESENTS ‘Pass the Comb’ Premiere & ‘Kickin’ It With the Kinks’. In association with The New Black Film Collective. ‘Pass The Comb’ is a short film telling the story of a young brother in conflict and his older sister’s calming influence using the cultural tradition of braiding hair. With each stroke of the comb, the pressure reduces as brother reveals and releases his stress and frustrations. Each completed corn row demonstrates the benefit of sisters ‘hair therapy’, words of wisdom and advice which help brother find his way out of his frustrations. But how did sister get so wise? And is she really the picture of innocence she portrays? ‘Pass the Comb’ is part of Change The Stereo, an initiative to create art through film and theatre. ‘Kickin’ It With The Kinks’ began as Cynthia Butare’s self-funded university project at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Department of Information and Communications where it received Best Documentary Prize. Cynthia was deeply moved to explore the subject further with the help of her friend Mundia Situmbeko, blogger and co-founder of blackgirlflow. Q&A with Yvette Griffiths of ‘Pass the Comb’, the director of ‘Kickin It with the Kinks’ Cynthia Butare and special guest Ansylla Ramsey, the owner of My Hairitage Holistic Hair Care Salon in Clinton, Maryland, and planner of the First Hairitage Holistic Hair & Wellness Cruise. On Mon 27 May at 6.30pm at the Ritzy Cinema, Brixton Oval, London, SW2 1JG. Adm: £11. Box Office: 0871 902 5739. Web: http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Ritzy_Picturehouse/film/Kickin_It_With_The_Kinks/
~ ROYAL AFRICAN SOCIETY AND AFRICAN AFFAIRS PRESENT ‘FIFTY YEARS OF AFRICAN UNITY’. Speaker: Alex de Waal, Executive Director, World Peace Foundation. The Organisation for African Unity (OAU) was established 50 years ago with a mandate to promote unity, solidarity, and co-operation among Afrikan states and to provide a better quality of life for the people of Afrika. Despite its pitfalls, the OAU was for decades the sole organisation for Afrikan political and economic unity with a mandate to defend Afrikan sovereignty, territorial integrity and fight against all form of colonialism. Yet overstretched, underfunded and based in a partly refurbished police college in Addis Ababa, the OAU was often ineffective in maintaining peace and stability in Afrika. Following the establishment of the African Union in 2002, and the adoption of policies to uphold constitutional integrity and intervene in humanitarian crisis, it may appear many of the OAU’s flaws have been overcome. But is this true? This event will look critically at the achievement of the OAU / AU and pose the question what, if anything, has been achieved? On Tues 28 May at 6-8pm at Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, London, WC1H 0XG. Adm: Free. E-mail: ras_events@soas.ac.uk
~ AFRICA CENTRE AND BLACK CULTURAL ARCHIVES PRESENTS PAST PERFORMANCE: PART II. Have you ever thought of yourself as an archivist? Do you have a collection of objects that have links to your heritage? People can collect and inherit archives without necessarily knowing about the significance of the material they possess. This event is the second of a two-part series of discussions, looking at how arts professionals keep their own archives to document their performances and how they can be used as ongoing inspiration. It will also offer insights into the ways that you can maintain your archives for future use. There will be presentations and readings from Dorothea Smartt, Makeda Coaston, Anne Bancroft, Margaret Timmers and Melanie Abrahams. On Tues 28 May at 7-9.30pm at the Africa Centre, 38 King Street, London, WC2E 8JT. Web:
~ FIND YOUR VOICE PART 5: DR LLAILA O AFRIKA ON OBESITY AND DABETES. With Wayne Chandler, Prof Stephen Ssali Tamale, Prophet Newton and Eymb. On Sun 2 Jun at 5-9pm at Park View Academy, West Green Road, Tottenham, London, N15 3RB. Adm: £5. Tel; 07960 239 493 / 07882 403 871. E-mail: findyourvoice@homail.co.uk
~ ‘PORTUGUESE INFLUENCE IN THE EAST’.With Dr Shihan de Silva (Senior Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London). On Tues 4 Jun at 7pm at Tate South Lambeth Library, 180 South Lambeth Road, London, SW8 1QP. Tel: 020 7926 0705. E-mail: readersandwriters@lambeth.gov.uk
~ WISDOM & VITALITY NATURAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING FESTIVAL. Speakers / Workshops: Bundu Dia Kongo on ancestral spiritual values; Dr Derin Bepo on melanin the key to health and longevity; Fatou LeFeuvre on techniques for harmony calm and inner well-being; Magnus Agugu on African Healing Massage; Lucy Bennin and Michelle Yearwood-Grazette on raw food. Natural hair & skin care products, holistic living, books & education, vegan and raw food on sale. On Sat 8 Jun at 11am–6pm at Ithaca House, 27 Romford Road, Stratford, London, E15 4LJ. Adm: £15 / £25 for two adults / Under-16s - Free / MOTD. Tel: 07929 152 379. E-mail: adwoa@wisdomandvitality.com / exhibitor@wisdomandvitality.com Web: www.wisdomandvitality.com / http://wisdomandvitality.eventbrite.co.uk/
~ AFRICAN BEAUTY: A PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION BY JOHN KENNY. Seven years in the making, John Kenny has travelled through a myriad of Afrikan countries to create a powerful collection of photographs. The exhibition illustrates the remarkable ways that people in traditional communities engage with material culture to express their identity. From the fringes of the Sahara to the Great Rift Valley, and south to the arid communities of Angola and Namibia, Kenny’s photographs are an important journey into social status, creativity and sense of identity that lies behind the powerful and unique aesthetic of traditional village life. Until Sun 9 Jun at the Africa Centre, 38 King Street, London, WC2E Adm: Free.
~ SHANTI-CHI FAMILY PRESENT SECOND SESA WO SUBAN AFRAKAN STORYTELLING FESTIVAL!Based on an ancient full moon solstice ceremony, from dusk to dawn. A great place to share love, celebrate Afrakan culture, reconnect with Mother earth through the healing power of storytelling.
On Sat 22 – Sun 23 Jun from dusk (9pm) until dawn (6am) at Oxleas Woods, Shooters Hill, London, SE18 3JA.Booking: Adults - £12; youth 8-17 years - £6; under 7 years – Free. Web: http://www.shanti-chi.com/#!__story-trail-blazer
~ YORKSHIRE SCULPTURE PARK PRESENTS ‘FABRIC-ATION’. Retrospective exhibition of Afrikan print fabrics and designs by Yinka Shonibare, MBE. Until Sat 1 Sep at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, WF4 4LG. Web: ysp.co.uk
~ NOH BUDGET FILMS PRESENT ACTIVE INQUIRY. Do you like being creative? Would you like to be part of a group who solve community problems through performing? ACTive Inquiry are inviting you to join our weekly participatory performance workshops exploring Current Affairs. The AI group carries out sketches, scenes, skits and other social commentary performances to raise awareness about problematic social issues. The stated goal of these performances is to make the public ‘think and ask questions’ and expose the lies around these injustices. Every Thurs at 6.30-9.30pm at Stockwell Park Community Trust, Crowhurst House, 21 Aytoun Place, Stockwell, London, SW9 0TE. Adm: £5. (Suggested donation to help cover room hire costs and refreshments but we would hate cost to be a barrier to participation so please pay what you can afford). Web: http://activeinquiry2013.eventbrite.com
Contact: Kubara Zamani, Afrikan Quest International, PO Box 35165, London, SE5 8WU. Tel: 07811 494 969. E-mail: afrikanquest@hotmail.com Web: www.southwark.tv/quest/aqhome.asp
Afrikan Quest International
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