THE IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP IN BUILDING THE AFRICAN WOMEN’S MOVEMENT
From the African Women’s Movement by the African Women’s Charity Organization
The political maturity of the African masses may to some extent be traced to economic and social patterns of traditional times. Under communalism, for example, all land and means of production belonged to the community. There was people’s ownership. Labor was the need and habit of all. It is very important to know that humanity lived in communalism for at least 90% of the time that it has been on earth.
During communalism women played a leading role in the society. There was a division of labor that developed in which for the most part men hunted and the women gathered in order to provide food for the collective. “History teaches us that the class or social group that plays the principal role in social production and performs the main functions in production must, in the course of time, inevitably take control of that production. There was a time, under the matriarchal, when women were regarded as the controllers of production. Why was this? Because under the kind of production then prevailing, primitive agriculture, women played the principal role in production, they performed the main functions, while the men roamed the forests in quest of game. Then came the time, under the patriarchal, when the predominant position in production passed to men. Why did this change take place? Because under the kind of production prevailing at that time, stock-breeding, in which the principal instruments of production were the spear, the lasso, and the bow and arrow, the principal role was played by men.” It was from the gathering that women learned that some of the plants could heal certain illnesses and thus women became the first doctors. It was women who discovered that you could start putting the seeds of the plants in the ground and from that process grow crops. It was women who discovered agriculture. It was women who figured out the relationship between having sex and a baby being produced some nine months later. Women were the first and primary teachers of both the boys and girls in the society. Women were responsible for organizing the collective.
It was when private property emerged, and as communalism gave way to slavery and feudalism, that the exploitation of humanity and women began. The overthrow of mother-right was the world historical defeat of the female sex. The man took command in the home also; the woman was degraded and reduced to servitude, she became the slave of his lust and a mere instrument for the production of children. Individualism and tendencies to private ownership grew while communalism disintegrated and the collective spirit declined. The increase of production in all branches — cattle raising, agriculture, domestic handicrafts — gave human labor-power the capacity to produce a larger product than was necessary for its maintenance…. It was now desirable to bring in new labor forces. War provided them; prisoners of war were turned into slaves. With its increase of the productivity of labor, and therefore of wealth, and its extension of the field of production, came the first great social division. From the first great social division of labor arose the first great cleavage of society into two classes; masters and slaves, exploiters and exploited.
It is important to note that this is what happened among our own people. This was thousands of years before we came in contact with other races of people. It was this contradiction among ourselves that weakened us so that we could be taken advantage by other people. We think that it is important to go over this history because one of our biggest weaknesses to this day is the oppression of African women by African men.
When we look at our organizations today, we would find that African women are not recognized as playing a leadership role in our main organizations; even though women have played a key role in every significant struggle that we have ever had. This is a clear manifestation of the oppression of women. The exception to this rule has been when women have formed women’s organizations. And just as there is a hatred of women; there is a hatred of women’s organizations.
Let’s not get confused. We are in no way against our men. True Women’s Emancipation can only be attained in the struggle of the whole people against exploitation of any kind. A liberation struggle cannot be afraid to talk about the weaknesses among the people. Our brother Amilcar Cabral used to tell us, “Tell no lies, and claim no easy victories”.
One of the biggest crimes related to oppression and exploitation is that it has a negative effect on the consciousness of the person that is being oppressed and exploited. Women are the primary educators of both the boys and girls of our nation. What bigger crime as a nation can we commit against ourselves than to exploit the primary educators of our nation and affect her consciousness in a negative way and therefore affect our whole nation’s consciousness in a negative way?
Everyone who loves Africa and African people must demand and insist that our sisters be recognized for the leadership that they have always displayed. Every organization that has a future will have women leadership and the organizations that insist on our sisters not playing a key leadership role will fade away and die. In traditional Africa women represented life, as Africans we know that anything that is anti-woman represents backwardness, evil, and death.
We are building an African Women’s Movement for the sole purpose of the liberation of our people and humanity. We know that there is a difference between what is dominant and fading away versus what is very small and coming into being, and in time will be dominant. The organizations that have women and youth as leadership in them are the ones that are small but coming into being and in the future will dominate; the organizations that do not have women and youth in the leadership are the ones that are dying no matter how dominate they may seem now. African Women’s and youth movements represent the life, forward thinking, and love of the people. Those who come to be the most conscious and most grateful will acknowledge that it was women who were their primary educators, and leaders. Women will develop as leaders in the women and youth movements and use their skills to organize the bigger liberation struggle. It’s in these movements that women and youth leadership will not only be welcomed but insisted on because these movements must represent the most conscious of our people. We chose women because we chose life. We chose women because we know our history and we know the positive history that we have had when women were clearly in leadership positions. The African women’s movement will be dynamic. Women’s leadership will not be fought against but to the contrary fought for. We ask our women to be full of confidence and come to understand our history because knowing the true history of women in our struggle, makes us no other way but full of confidence.
Objectives for building a Women’s movement for the Unification of Africa
1. Build a women’s movement through education by organizing Africa and Youth conferences in every country in Africa.
2. Organize African Women’s Organizations the length and breadth of the African world.
3. Lead the movement for the Unification of Africa.
4. First build a women’s movement in your district and then the surrounding border countries.
5. Read two books as a group, “Class Struggle in Africa” by Kwame Nkrumah, and “Women in Society” by Sekou Toure.
6. Build the African Women’s Charity Organization and Men for the Emancipation of Women.
We welcome to come to solve our own problems by joining the movement, join the AFRICAN WOMEN’S CHARITY ORGANIZATION!!
EGYPT
The last week has seen the wholesale slaughter of over 1,000 supporters of the deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and political activists who opposed the July 3 coup. Egypt’s interim Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi has put forward his intention to ban the Muslim Brotherhood from political organisation betraying the hollowness of the overtures made to Morsi supporters in the immediate aftermath of the coup. With 2,000 supporters killed since the coup, that same number again arrested and over 5,000 injured it is clear that the coup plotters’ plan was a return to the days of the repression against the Muslim Brotherhood that they have faced throughout their eight decades existence.
Along with the continued detention of President Morsi, his cabinet and prominent Brotherhood members some of the major blows to the movement in the past week include the arrest of the brother of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. Mohammed al-Zawahiri was detained at a checkpoint in Giza because of his links to President Morsi. Ammar Badie, 38, the son of the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader, General Guide Mohamed Badie, was shot dead during protests in Ramses Square on Friday. Asmaa, the 17-year-old daughter of the Secretary-General of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, Mohammed al-Beltagi, was also killed in earlier protests.
The UN, US, EU and the Arab League have refused to condemn the coup and call for the reinstatement of President Morsi so that political and economic stability can be restored. Then if the President is to be removed it can be done through his own resignation or a properly constituted transfer of power. With a curfew, travel advisories against visiting the country and economic and social activity severely curtailed the military have done more damage to Egypt’s economy in six weeks than the year of President Morsi’s rule. Pan-Afrikanists and progressives should be under no illusions about the nature of the Egyptian security forces they are not the Nasserists of the 1950s and 1960s. Since they lost the war against the Israeli colonial regime in 1973 and subsequently capitulated to the settlers at Camp David they have been firmly under the US sphere of influence to the extent that the US Navy are the only military ships that get expedited passage through the Suez Canal while ships from other countries have to wait for weeks. About a dozen US warships pass through the Canal each month - a key shortcut to reaching the Straits of Hormuz, Persian Gulf and Afghanistan. The opinion piece below was sent to us by Akyaaba Adai Seebo in the week before the Egyptian security forces carried out the massacres of over 1,000 pro-Morsi and anti-coup protestors at the Rabaa al-Adawiya and al-Fath mosques, Nahda and Ramses Square. The ongoing bloodshed and arrests make the sentiments even more poignant and urgent.
~ OBAMA: HANDS OFF EGYPT!!!
We must support the subordination of the military and police to civilian political and economic control and the stripping of the military and police of their stranglehold on the commanding heights of the national economy of Egypt. For a true representative governance to prevail the revolution must aim to free Egypt from military and police stranglehold over every aspect of national life. It is this process for a decisive change that we must all support.
As it is US arms and money that give sustenance to the army and police, that oxygen must be cut off and this can only be achieved through direct action to educate and stir up the American public to oppose the strangulation of “democracy” in Egypt by their executive. Those who want a new and truly representative order in Egypt must turn directly to the American public as it is the US executive and sections of the US legislature that are the real enemies of a true and representative governance in Egypt. Egyptians must understand that when the American public learned about the true nature of the executive execution of the Vietnam War, this informed American public forced the executive to withdraw from Vietnam. The challenge facing both pro-military and anti-Morsi forces is that of coming together to bring the military and police under civilian control and order, foremost.
What Egyptians must wake up to is the fact that the teargas, bullets, water cannons, the fighter jets, tanks, attack helicopters and all the weapons of mass intimidation being used against and to threaten them by the military and police have been paid for with American tax-payers’ money. It is therefore the American public and voters that the bullets and canisters collected plus all the evidence of US executive hands, meddling in the internal affairs of Egypt, must be directed at in an organised appeal. Every Egyptian living or sojourning in the US must make it their duty to appeal directly to their congressmen, senators and local executives of both the ruling Democratic Party and the Republican party to press the Obama administration to stop using tax payers’ money to fund the oppression and exploitation of the Egyptian people by the military and police. The American oxygen that keeps the military and police in power in Egypt can only be cut off by direct action of an awakened American public and voters.
The murderous and meddling hands of Obama must be exposed and to the American public to give peaceful co-existence and a true representative governance a chance in Egypt. The twin purpose of the revolution is to bring the army and police under civilian control and to sever their stranglehold on the national economy in order for true freedom and justice and equal opportunity for all to prevail in Egypt. Such is the path to an inclusive and non-extractive political and economic order.
The era of military and police domination and expropriation of every aspect of Egyptian socio-economic life is being brought to an end and the end is nigh and yet far away so far as Egyptians allow the security force to hoodwink them in order to keep having their way at the expense of the rest of society. Today in Egypt over 40% of the population is poor and strive to survive on less than two US dollars a day. Many sectors of the economy are restricted, through regulation, to the military-cum-police cabal and their businessmen side-kicks. For example, the media, iron and steel, automotive industry, alcoholic beverages and cement are all the extractive domains of politically connected businessmen and firms. The challenge facing the revolution therefore is the destruction and prevention of the development of these extractive political and economic institutions run by the narrow-minded ruling elite. Without inclusive political and economic institutions “democracy” becomes an illusion and only a counterfeit dollar note thrown into the begging hands of the blind.
Egypt, please wake up and boldly tell the Obama administration and the voting American public to take back their fighter jets, attack helicopters and weapons of mass intimidation and suppression as without these Egyptians can remove from their backs military and police dictatorship and introduce a new era of political tolerance, pluralism, inclusive economic practice for peaceful co-existence. It is only the Obama administration that is standing in the way of a “people’s victory” over years of military dictatorship.
OBAMA HANDS OFF EGYPT!!!
Akyaaba Addai-Sebo
Independent Consultant on National Interest and Preventive Diplomacy
FORTHCOMING NUBIART PROFILES
NUBIART: Focus on arts, business, education, health, political developments and the media.
AUG PROMOS
~ ‘LIFE FORCE MUSIC’ – Juwon Ogungbe [Second Generation - Out Now] This album kicks off with Juwon Ogungbe intoning “It’s always been a struggle to keep my head straight’ on ‘Keep On Being My Own Man’ and that sets the tone for this album of socio-political commentary and personal introspection.
Musically it is a mix of highlife, reggae, jazz, soul, dance and classical music under Juwon’s baritone. We loved ‘These Things Are Sent To Test Us’ and ‘Strong Willed’, a reggae-influenced love song which also expresses the need for resilience. ‘Doing My Black Thing’, which also gets the dance remix treatment as a bonus track, promotes the central need for people to learn and live from the examples of Afrikan history. While ‘Beautiful Thing’ is a jazzy appreciation of life.
We managed to catch Juwon and his band recently previewing an entirely different set, ‘African Divo Arts: Progress Ceremony’, a contemporary cycle of songs, chants and affirmations based on Yoruba rituals performed live with projected visuals. It encompasses concepts such as the intervention of ancestors, the need for collective work and responsibility (‘Mek We Chop Chop Together’ – do we eat to live or live to eat), an Afrikan paradise (‘City Shell’), an appeal for tolerance by followers of the Abrahamic faiths towards those who don’t share their faith or follow Traditional Afrikan Spirituality (‘Who Really Knows’), and criticism of Ajayi Crowther, who translated the King James Bible into Yoruba, for describing the orisha Eshu as a devil (‘We Give Thanks’) which earned itself a rousing encore. ‘African Divo Arts: Progress Ceremony’ is a work-in-progress which will in future feature a dance company, extended visuals and a light show. It will be performed next month as one of the final events at London’s iconic Africa Centre which will close its doors for good soon after. Web: www.juwonogungbe.co.uk
~ ‘EXILE’ - Nuru Kane [World Music Network – Out Now] Nuru Kane’s third album develops his Baye Fall Gnawa style alongside a mix of blues, reggae and Gypsy influences. The album kicks off with Nuru Kane expressing his hopes for and dedication to Afrika. The title track, Exile, is a kora-influenced track reflecting on the experiences of those forced to migrate from their homelands to escape economic hardship and political instability. ‘Yes We Kane’ is a self- endorsement of his worldview. Nuru Kane has been spending a lot of time in Europe recently and that comes to the fore on the dancehall reggae track ‘Issoire’, dedicated to his fans and supporters in the French Auvergne. Nuru Kane’s gnawa groove style can be heard on tracks such as ‘Sadye’ and also with him playing the guimbri on ‘Bambala’, a tribute to the Mouride Baye Fall leader Cheick Amadou Bamba. This fits alongside ‘Zikar’ about Sufi religious recitation. We missed Nuru Kane when he passed through London recently but this album certainly goes some way to making up for that. Visit Nuru Kane’s website: www.nurukaneandthebfg.com
NUBIART LIBRARY – AUG 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.
~ ‘A MEMEORY THIS SIZE AND OTHER STORIES: THE CAINE PRIZE FOR AFRICAN WRITING 2013’ – Various authors. [New Internationalist. ISBN: 978-1-78026-119-5] This anthology has the five shortlisted entries for this year’s prize as well as a dozen other short stories from the workshop. Nigeria’s Tope Folarin won this year’s prize for his short story ‘Miracle’ about the role of charismatic evangelical churches in diasporan Afrikan communities. By a quirk of fate - or whatever other forces are at work in the ether – Pede Hollist from Sierra Leone with ‘Foreign Aid’ was the only non-Nigerian among the four other contestants.
Our personal favourite from the anthology is Malawian Stanley Onjezani Kenani’s ‘Clapping Hands for a Smiling Crocodile’ about corporate exploitation of natural resources and the divisions it causes in a previously harmonious community in tune with its culture. It reminded us of our short story ‘Victims of the System’ from 1983. The title story Elnathan John’s ‘A Memory This Size’ looks back at the loss of a family member and the sombre memories its evokes. As with any modern anthology there has to be an e-mail / social media story and here it is Davina Kawuma’s ‘Stuck’ which accurately reflects some of the vacuousness dominating many people’s lives, especially those who think nothing of value exists unless it is tweeted, Facebooked or Google-able. They would be better devoting more time to developing their own personality and understanding the essence of human psychology and motivation.
As with any anthology it can be an uneven read and we can’t fail to agree with our literary inspiration Ngugi wa’Thiongo, who was in London recently with his writer sons for the Africa Writes Festival, that there is something strange about a prize for Afrikan literature that insists all the submissions must be in English. You would never hear about a literary prize for English writers where everything must be written in Chinese!!!
~ ALKEBU-LAN REVIVALIST MOVEMENT MOSIAH MONTH CELEBRATIONS. In 1998, The Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement renamed & designated the 8th Month of the year as Mosiah, coinciding with the Birthmonth of the prophet Marcus Mosiah Garvey & the UNIA-ACL’s (Papa Garvey’s organisation) “International Convention of The Afrikan People of The World”. Marcus Garvey led the largest and most comprehensive movement built in the name of Black Power, Afrikan Freedom and Self Reliance. All proud, strong and ambitious people celebrate the great events and great people of their history. ‘Rise You Mighty Race - You Can Accomplish What You Will!!! Garvey Lives!!!’ For full programme of events Tel: 020 8539 2154 / 07908 814 152. E-mail: arm6227@yahoo.co.uk
~ RAMFEL, THE MIGRANTS RIGHTS NETWORK, BHATT MURPHY AND DEIGHTON PEIRCE GLYN PUBLIC MEETINGS OPPOSING THE ‘GO HOME CAMPAIGN’.
- On Tues 20 Aug at 6-9pm at Room 114, Richard Hoggett Building, Goldsmiths College, New Cross, London, SE14 6NW.
- On Wed 21 Aug at RBG.13, University of East London, Stratford Campus, Water Lane, London, E15 4LZ.
~ THE NATIONAL BLACK SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLS WEEK. NABSS is a grassroots organisation which aims to provide holistic solutions to the issues facing Afrikan families in educational institutions. This week-long seminar is a ‘must attend’ event covering a diverse range of topics with expert speakers and interactive sessions. Sessions include: Autism in BME communities; Afrikan genius past or present; Afrikan Scientists and Inventors; authors KN Chimbiri and Robin Walker; Setting up Income streams; How to be an Effective school governor; and Secrets of the Afro Comb book launch; On Fri 16-Fri 23 Aug. Tel: 07958 348 558. E-mail: info@nabss.org.uk Web: www.nabss.org.uk
~ BLACK HISTORY STUDIES PRESENT
- ‘Marcus Garvey: The Promised Ship’. On Fri 23 Aug at 7-9.30pm at the Marcus Garvey Library, Tottenham Green Centre, 1 Phillip Lane, Tottenham, London, N15 4JA. Adm: Free. ‘The Promised Ship’ is a documentary that follows the oral history of the Black Star Line, a maritime venture undertaken by Marcus Garvey, the leader of the first massive Black Power movement of the 20th Century. The Black Star Line was a steamship line intended to bring Afrikans across the Atlantic in search of their lost homelands. The old townspeople of Limon in Costa Rica recall the impact this adventure had on the banana barons and workers of the time.
- ‘WEB Du Bois: A Biography in Four Voices’. On Tues 27 Aug at 7-9pm at PCS Headquarters, 160 Falcon Road, Clapham Junction, London, SW11 2LN. Adm: £5 / U-16 - Free. In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of Dr W.E.B DuBois, Black History Studies will be screening ‘WEB DuBois: A Biography in Four Voices’. The long and remarkable life of Dr. William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B) Du Bois (1868-1963) offers unique insights into an eventful century in Afrikan American history. Born three years after the end of the Civil War, Du Bois witnessed the imposition of Jim Crow, its defeat by the Civil Rights Movement and the triumph of Afrikan independence struggles. Du Bois was the consummate scholar-activist whose path-breaking works remain among the most significant and articulate ever produced on the subject of race. His contributions and legacy have been so far-reaching, that this, his first film biography, required the collaboration of four prominent African American writers. Wesley Brown, Thulani Davis, Toni Cade Bambara and Amiri Baraka narrate successive periods of Du Bois’ life and discuss its impact on their work: Part One: Black Folk and the New Century (1895-1915); Part Two: The Crisis and the New Negro (1919-1929); Part Three: A Second Reconstruction? (1934-1948); and Part Four: Color, Democracy, Colonies and Peace (1949-1963).
- ‘Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind’. On Fri 30 Aug at 7-9.30pm at the Marcus Garvey Library, Tottenham Green Centre, 1 Phillip Lane, Tottenham, London, N15 4JA. Adm: Free. ‘Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind’ is a controversial documentary which uses a wealth of archival footage, photographs and documents to uncover the story of this Jamaican immigrant who between 1916 and 1921 built what was the largest Black mass movement in World History. The screening will be followed by a question and answers where we will address the film and the factual inaccuracies highlighted by his son Julius W. Garvey, M.D.
For all events. Tel / Fax: 020 8881 0660. Mobile: 07951 234 233. E-mail: info@blackhistorystudies.com
~ REPARATIONS CONFERENCE 2013. Keynote Speaker: Arnold Tjihuiko of Namibia. South West Africa, as Namibia was once known, was the testing ground for Nazi Germany first Concentration camp where millions were murdered. On Fri 23 Aug at 11am–9pm at Bernie Grant Centre, Philip Lane, Tottenham, London, N15 4RX
~ INTERNATIONAL SLAVERY REMEMBRANCE DAY. A day of talks, walks, craft workshops, gallery sessions and music for all age groups. On 23 Aug 1791, the first successful slave uprising in the western hemisphere took place in Haiti. This event led to the island’s independence and was a major step towards the abolition of the transatlantic slave holocaust. The National Maritime Museum has marked the 23 August for over a decade and invites you to join in the commemorations. This year the museum’s collections and Greenwich’s links to the slave holocaust and its abolition will inform the proceedings. The day culminates in a unique commemorative ceremony by the River Thames. Contributors include: Ethnovox, Kyron Akal, Dr Temi Odumosu, S.I. Martin and Dominique Le Gendre. Burt Caesar will be the Master of Ceremonies. On Fri 23 Aug at 11am-5pm at National Maritime, Museum, Romney Rd, Greenwich, London, SE10 9NF. Adm: Free.
~ THE ALL AFRICAN WOMEN REVOLUTIONARY UNION (AAWRU) PRESENTS WOMEN AND REVOLUTIONARY CHANGE (BRINGING AWARENESS AND EMPOWERMENT) Speakers: Lola Gani-Yusu from Africans United against Child Abuse (AFRUCA) on Human Trafficking Awareness; and Yaa Asantewaa and Leah Gordon (All African Women Revolutionary Union) on ‘What is Pan-African Women’s Day and why we celebrate it?’. Workshops on: The role of African women on revolutionary change; Reform vs Revolution; Tradition and Culture as a weapon for advancement and liberation. Screening: ‘The Naked Option: A Last Resort” a documentary about everyday women taking on a powerful multinational corporation. Please bring books and stationery to send to the Kilombo Project in Ghana. On Sat 24 Aug at 3-6.30pm at Johmard Community Centre, 67 High Street, Colliers Wood, London, SW19 2JF. Adm: £3. Tel: 07914 348 259. E-mail: aaprp-britain@hotmail.co.uk /
~ COLOMBIA SOLIDARITY FLYING PICKET OF MINING COMPANIES ANGLO AMERICAN, BHP BILLITON AND GLENCORE XSTRATA. El Cerrejon Mine, La Guajira, Attacks Communities ¡NO PASARAN! Stop the forced eviction of villagers to make way for a British-owned mine. On Tues 27 Aug at 2–4pm. Meet at Green Park Tube Station, London, SW1. E-mail: info@colombiasolidarity.org.uk
~ THE AFRICAN CENTRE PRESENTS ‘THE GRIOT’S TALE’. Written and conceived by Tunde Jegede. ‘The Griot’s Tale’ represents a meeting point between music, poetry, dance and the visual image and features some of UK’s leading practitioners of Afrikan culture including choreographer Bode Lawal, actor and director Patrice Naiambana, visual artist and poet Taiwo Emmanuel Jegede, and filmmaker Sunara Begum to encourage new forms of storytelling. Exploring the role of a Griot both now and in the past, it is a story of a young man’s search for truth revealed through his journey into the unexpected and unknown drawing from sacred and ritualistic aspects of Afrikan mysticism as well as presenting contemporary styles of performance. On Tues 27 Aug–Mon 2 Sep at The Africa Centre, 38 King Street, London, WC2. Adm: £20 / £15. Web: www.africacentre.org.uk
~ ‘POPPABLE: NEW PAINTINGS BY ADJANI’. Adjani is fast becoming one of the most captivating Afrikan-Expressionist artists of our time. This solo exhibition at The Knight Webb Gallery offers a limited engagement to see the artist’s work up-close and personally. Until Sat 31 Aug at The Knight Webb Gallery, 54 Atlantic Road, Brixton, London, SW9 8PZ.
~ AUTOGRAPH EXHIBITION ‘EVER YOUNG: JAMES BARNOR’. Barnor’s archive of street and studio portraiture covers a remarkable period in history, bridging continents and photographic genres as it creates a transatlantic narrative marked by his passionate interest in people and cultures. This exhibition emerges as a direct result of major archival research undertaken by Autograph ABP in 2009-10, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It features new prints made from Barnor’s digitally preserved negatives, as well as vintage photographs from the late 1940s to early 1970s including an expanded display of original ephemera such as magazine clippings, Ghanaian record covers, personal correspondences and photographs specially selected for Impressions Gallery and seen in public for the first time. Until 31 Aug at Impressions Gallery, Centenary Square, Bradford, BD1 1SD. Adm: Free.
~ THE AUSAR AUSET SOCIETY GI GONG CLASSES. Every Monday at 7.30–9pm at Hazel Road Community Centre, Hazel Road, Kensal Green, London, NW10 5PP. Adm: £5 per class. Tel: 07951- 252-427. E-mail: Tauinetwork.europe@gmail.com
~ 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
~ MOJANA MYSTIC AND ASTROLOGY OF THE SOUL PRESENTS A DAY OF SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT. Speakers: Sister Mojana (Spiritual Advisor & Tarot Reader) on her spiritual journey and walking her true path; Bro Israel on Astrology and its effects on our lives; Bro Eli Anderson (The Healing Story Teller and Drummer); Bro Noel Ouristorian on Universal Law (Common Law) vs. Statute Law; Sister Abbaanah (Spiritual Goddess) on Spirituality using Divine Energy to enrich your life; Sister Rosanna (Spiritual Healer) on Spiritual & Metaphysics of Pregnancy and Child birth; and Sister Angie (AG Associates) on the importance of visiting the Motherland. Tarot Card readings and Astrology readings by Sis Mojana, Bro Israel and Sis Carmelita. On Sat 14 Sep at 2.30pm-9pm at Clapham Park Resource Centre, 1 Headlam Road, King’s Avenue, Clapham, London, SW4 8LT Adm: £7 (Adv) / £10 (OTD) / U-12 – Free. Tel: Mojana - 07958 244 813. Israel – 07943 669 879.
~ ‘ORIGINS OF THE AFRO COMB: 6,000 YEARS OF CULTURE, POLITICS AND IDENTITY’. Exhibition of combs from pre-dynastic Egypt to the present day with full programme of seminars, gallery talks and film screenings. Until 28 Sep (MAA) and 3 Nov (FWM) at Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3DZ. Tel; 01223 333 516. E-mail: admin@maa.cam.ac.uk Web: maa.cam.ac.uk and Fitzwilliam Museum, Trumpington Crescent, Cambridge, CB3 1RB. Tel: 01223 332 900. E-mail: fitzmuseum-enquiries@lists.cam.ac.uk Web: www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk
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
From the African Women’s Movement by the African Women’s Charity Organization
The political maturity of the African masses may to some extent be traced to economic and social patterns of traditional times. Under communalism, for example, all land and means of production belonged to the community. There was people’s ownership. Labor was the need and habit of all. It is very important to know that humanity lived in communalism for at least 90% of the time that it has been on earth.
During communalism women played a leading role in the society. There was a division of labor that developed in which for the most part men hunted and the women gathered in order to provide food for the collective. “History teaches us that the class or social group that plays the principal role in social production and performs the main functions in production must, in the course of time, inevitably take control of that production. There was a time, under the matriarchal, when women were regarded as the controllers of production. Why was this? Because under the kind of production then prevailing, primitive agriculture, women played the principal role in production, they performed the main functions, while the men roamed the forests in quest of game. Then came the time, under the patriarchal, when the predominant position in production passed to men. Why did this change take place? Because under the kind of production prevailing at that time, stock-breeding, in which the principal instruments of production were the spear, the lasso, and the bow and arrow, the principal role was played by men.” It was from the gathering that women learned that some of the plants could heal certain illnesses and thus women became the first doctors. It was women who discovered that you could start putting the seeds of the plants in the ground and from that process grow crops. It was women who discovered agriculture. It was women who figured out the relationship between having sex and a baby being produced some nine months later. Women were the first and primary teachers of both the boys and girls in the society. Women were responsible for organizing the collective.
It was when private property emerged, and as communalism gave way to slavery and feudalism, that the exploitation of humanity and women began. The overthrow of mother-right was the world historical defeat of the female sex. The man took command in the home also; the woman was degraded and reduced to servitude, she became the slave of his lust and a mere instrument for the production of children. Individualism and tendencies to private ownership grew while communalism disintegrated and the collective spirit declined. The increase of production in all branches — cattle raising, agriculture, domestic handicrafts — gave human labor-power the capacity to produce a larger product than was necessary for its maintenance…. It was now desirable to bring in new labor forces. War provided them; prisoners of war were turned into slaves. With its increase of the productivity of labor, and therefore of wealth, and its extension of the field of production, came the first great social division. From the first great social division of labor arose the first great cleavage of society into two classes; masters and slaves, exploiters and exploited.
It is important to note that this is what happened among our own people. This was thousands of years before we came in contact with other races of people. It was this contradiction among ourselves that weakened us so that we could be taken advantage by other people. We think that it is important to go over this history because one of our biggest weaknesses to this day is the oppression of African women by African men.
When we look at our organizations today, we would find that African women are not recognized as playing a leadership role in our main organizations; even though women have played a key role in every significant struggle that we have ever had. This is a clear manifestation of the oppression of women. The exception to this rule has been when women have formed women’s organizations. And just as there is a hatred of women; there is a hatred of women’s organizations.
Let’s not get confused. We are in no way against our men. True Women’s Emancipation can only be attained in the struggle of the whole people against exploitation of any kind. A liberation struggle cannot be afraid to talk about the weaknesses among the people. Our brother Amilcar Cabral used to tell us, “Tell no lies, and claim no easy victories”.
One of the biggest crimes related to oppression and exploitation is that it has a negative effect on the consciousness of the person that is being oppressed and exploited. Women are the primary educators of both the boys and girls of our nation. What bigger crime as a nation can we commit against ourselves than to exploit the primary educators of our nation and affect her consciousness in a negative way and therefore affect our whole nation’s consciousness in a negative way?
Everyone who loves Africa and African people must demand and insist that our sisters be recognized for the leadership that they have always displayed. Every organization that has a future will have women leadership and the organizations that insist on our sisters not playing a key leadership role will fade away and die. In traditional Africa women represented life, as Africans we know that anything that is anti-woman represents backwardness, evil, and death.
We are building an African Women’s Movement for the sole purpose of the liberation of our people and humanity. We know that there is a difference between what is dominant and fading away versus what is very small and coming into being, and in time will be dominant. The organizations that have women and youth as leadership in them are the ones that are small but coming into being and in the future will dominate; the organizations that do not have women and youth in the leadership are the ones that are dying no matter how dominate they may seem now. African Women’s and youth movements represent the life, forward thinking, and love of the people. Those who come to be the most conscious and most grateful will acknowledge that it was women who were their primary educators, and leaders. Women will develop as leaders in the women and youth movements and use their skills to organize the bigger liberation struggle. It’s in these movements that women and youth leadership will not only be welcomed but insisted on because these movements must represent the most conscious of our people. We chose women because we chose life. We chose women because we know our history and we know the positive history that we have had when women were clearly in leadership positions. The African women’s movement will be dynamic. Women’s leadership will not be fought against but to the contrary fought for. We ask our women to be full of confidence and come to understand our history because knowing the true history of women in our struggle, makes us no other way but full of confidence.
Objectives for building a Women’s movement for the Unification of Africa
1. Build a women’s movement through education by organizing Africa and Youth conferences in every country in Africa.
2. Organize African Women’s Organizations the length and breadth of the African world.
3. Lead the movement for the Unification of Africa.
4. First build a women’s movement in your district and then the surrounding border countries.
5. Read two books as a group, “Class Struggle in Africa” by Kwame Nkrumah, and “Women in Society” by Sekou Toure.
6. Build the African Women’s Charity Organization and Men for the Emancipation of Women.
We welcome to come to solve our own problems by joining the movement, join the AFRICAN WOMEN’S CHARITY ORGANIZATION!!
EGYPT
The last week has seen the wholesale slaughter of over 1,000 supporters of the deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and political activists who opposed the July 3 coup. Egypt’s interim Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi has put forward his intention to ban the Muslim Brotherhood from political organisation betraying the hollowness of the overtures made to Morsi supporters in the immediate aftermath of the coup. With 2,000 supporters killed since the coup, that same number again arrested and over 5,000 injured it is clear that the coup plotters’ plan was a return to the days of the repression against the Muslim Brotherhood that they have faced throughout their eight decades existence.
Along with the continued detention of President Morsi, his cabinet and prominent Brotherhood members some of the major blows to the movement in the past week include the arrest of the brother of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. Mohammed al-Zawahiri was detained at a checkpoint in Giza because of his links to President Morsi. Ammar Badie, 38, the son of the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader, General Guide Mohamed Badie, was shot dead during protests in Ramses Square on Friday. Asmaa, the 17-year-old daughter of the Secretary-General of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, Mohammed al-Beltagi, was also killed in earlier protests.
The UN, US, EU and the Arab League have refused to condemn the coup and call for the reinstatement of President Morsi so that political and economic stability can be restored. Then if the President is to be removed it can be done through his own resignation or a properly constituted transfer of power. With a curfew, travel advisories against visiting the country and economic and social activity severely curtailed the military have done more damage to Egypt’s economy in six weeks than the year of President Morsi’s rule. Pan-Afrikanists and progressives should be under no illusions about the nature of the Egyptian security forces they are not the Nasserists of the 1950s and 1960s. Since they lost the war against the Israeli colonial regime in 1973 and subsequently capitulated to the settlers at Camp David they have been firmly under the US sphere of influence to the extent that the US Navy are the only military ships that get expedited passage through the Suez Canal while ships from other countries have to wait for weeks. About a dozen US warships pass through the Canal each month - a key shortcut to reaching the Straits of Hormuz, Persian Gulf and Afghanistan. The opinion piece below was sent to us by Akyaaba Adai Seebo in the week before the Egyptian security forces carried out the massacres of over 1,000 pro-Morsi and anti-coup protestors at the Rabaa al-Adawiya and al-Fath mosques, Nahda and Ramses Square. The ongoing bloodshed and arrests make the sentiments even more poignant and urgent.
~ OBAMA: HANDS OFF EGYPT!!!
We must support the subordination of the military and police to civilian political and economic control and the stripping of the military and police of their stranglehold on the commanding heights of the national economy of Egypt. For a true representative governance to prevail the revolution must aim to free Egypt from military and police stranglehold over every aspect of national life. It is this process for a decisive change that we must all support.
As it is US arms and money that give sustenance to the army and police, that oxygen must be cut off and this can only be achieved through direct action to educate and stir up the American public to oppose the strangulation of “democracy” in Egypt by their executive. Those who want a new and truly representative order in Egypt must turn directly to the American public as it is the US executive and sections of the US legislature that are the real enemies of a true and representative governance in Egypt. Egyptians must understand that when the American public learned about the true nature of the executive execution of the Vietnam War, this informed American public forced the executive to withdraw from Vietnam. The challenge facing both pro-military and anti-Morsi forces is that of coming together to bring the military and police under civilian control and order, foremost.
What Egyptians must wake up to is the fact that the teargas, bullets, water cannons, the fighter jets, tanks, attack helicopters and all the weapons of mass intimidation being used against and to threaten them by the military and police have been paid for with American tax-payers’ money. It is therefore the American public and voters that the bullets and canisters collected plus all the evidence of US executive hands, meddling in the internal affairs of Egypt, must be directed at in an organised appeal. Every Egyptian living or sojourning in the US must make it their duty to appeal directly to their congressmen, senators and local executives of both the ruling Democratic Party and the Republican party to press the Obama administration to stop using tax payers’ money to fund the oppression and exploitation of the Egyptian people by the military and police. The American oxygen that keeps the military and police in power in Egypt can only be cut off by direct action of an awakened American public and voters.
The murderous and meddling hands of Obama must be exposed and to the American public to give peaceful co-existence and a true representative governance a chance in Egypt. The twin purpose of the revolution is to bring the army and police under civilian control and to sever their stranglehold on the national economy in order for true freedom and justice and equal opportunity for all to prevail in Egypt. Such is the path to an inclusive and non-extractive political and economic order.
The era of military and police domination and expropriation of every aspect of Egyptian socio-economic life is being brought to an end and the end is nigh and yet far away so far as Egyptians allow the security force to hoodwink them in order to keep having their way at the expense of the rest of society. Today in Egypt over 40% of the population is poor and strive to survive on less than two US dollars a day. Many sectors of the economy are restricted, through regulation, to the military-cum-police cabal and their businessmen side-kicks. For example, the media, iron and steel, automotive industry, alcoholic beverages and cement are all the extractive domains of politically connected businessmen and firms. The challenge facing the revolution therefore is the destruction and prevention of the development of these extractive political and economic institutions run by the narrow-minded ruling elite. Without inclusive political and economic institutions “democracy” becomes an illusion and only a counterfeit dollar note thrown into the begging hands of the blind.
Egypt, please wake up and boldly tell the Obama administration and the voting American public to take back their fighter jets, attack helicopters and weapons of mass intimidation and suppression as without these Egyptians can remove from their backs military and police dictatorship and introduce a new era of political tolerance, pluralism, inclusive economic practice for peaceful co-existence. It is only the Obama administration that is standing in the way of a “people’s victory” over years of military dictatorship.
OBAMA HANDS OFF EGYPT!!!
Akyaaba Addai-Sebo
Independent Consultant on National Interest and Preventive Diplomacy
FORTHCOMING NUBIART PROFILES
NUBIART: Focus on arts, business, education, health, political developments and the media.
AUG PROMOS
~ ‘LIFE FORCE MUSIC’ – Juwon Ogungbe [Second Generation - Out Now] This album kicks off with Juwon Ogungbe intoning “It’s always been a struggle to keep my head straight’ on ‘Keep On Being My Own Man’ and that sets the tone for this album of socio-political commentary and personal introspection.
Musically it is a mix of highlife, reggae, jazz, soul, dance and classical music under Juwon’s baritone. We loved ‘These Things Are Sent To Test Us’ and ‘Strong Willed’, a reggae-influenced love song which also expresses the need for resilience. ‘Doing My Black Thing’, which also gets the dance remix treatment as a bonus track, promotes the central need for people to learn and live from the examples of Afrikan history. While ‘Beautiful Thing’ is a jazzy appreciation of life.
We managed to catch Juwon and his band recently previewing an entirely different set, ‘African Divo Arts: Progress Ceremony’, a contemporary cycle of songs, chants and affirmations based on Yoruba rituals performed live with projected visuals. It encompasses concepts such as the intervention of ancestors, the need for collective work and responsibility (‘Mek We Chop Chop Together’ – do we eat to live or live to eat), an Afrikan paradise (‘City Shell’), an appeal for tolerance by followers of the Abrahamic faiths towards those who don’t share their faith or follow Traditional Afrikan Spirituality (‘Who Really Knows’), and criticism of Ajayi Crowther, who translated the King James Bible into Yoruba, for describing the orisha Eshu as a devil (‘We Give Thanks’) which earned itself a rousing encore. ‘African Divo Arts: Progress Ceremony’ is a work-in-progress which will in future feature a dance company, extended visuals and a light show. It will be performed next month as one of the final events at London’s iconic Africa Centre which will close its doors for good soon after. Web: www.juwonogungbe.co.uk
~ ‘EXILE’ - Nuru Kane [World Music Network – Out Now] Nuru Kane’s third album develops his Baye Fall Gnawa style alongside a mix of blues, reggae and Gypsy influences. The album kicks off with Nuru Kane expressing his hopes for and dedication to Afrika. The title track, Exile, is a kora-influenced track reflecting on the experiences of those forced to migrate from their homelands to escape economic hardship and political instability. ‘Yes We Kane’ is a self- endorsement of his worldview. Nuru Kane has been spending a lot of time in Europe recently and that comes to the fore on the dancehall reggae track ‘Issoire’, dedicated to his fans and supporters in the French Auvergne. Nuru Kane’s gnawa groove style can be heard on tracks such as ‘Sadye’ and also with him playing the guimbri on ‘Bambala’, a tribute to the Mouride Baye Fall leader Cheick Amadou Bamba. This fits alongside ‘Zikar’ about Sufi religious recitation. We missed Nuru Kane when he passed through London recently but this album certainly goes some way to making up for that. Visit Nuru Kane’s website: www.nurukaneandthebfg.com
NUBIART LIBRARY – AUG 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.
~ ‘A MEMEORY THIS SIZE AND OTHER STORIES: THE CAINE PRIZE FOR AFRICAN WRITING 2013’ – Various authors. [New Internationalist. ISBN: 978-1-78026-119-5] This anthology has the five shortlisted entries for this year’s prize as well as a dozen other short stories from the workshop. Nigeria’s Tope Folarin won this year’s prize for his short story ‘Miracle’ about the role of charismatic evangelical churches in diasporan Afrikan communities. By a quirk of fate - or whatever other forces are at work in the ether – Pede Hollist from Sierra Leone with ‘Foreign Aid’ was the only non-Nigerian among the four other contestants.
Our personal favourite from the anthology is Malawian Stanley Onjezani Kenani’s ‘Clapping Hands for a Smiling Crocodile’ about corporate exploitation of natural resources and the divisions it causes in a previously harmonious community in tune with its culture. It reminded us of our short story ‘Victims of the System’ from 1983. The title story Elnathan John’s ‘A Memory This Size’ looks back at the loss of a family member and the sombre memories its evokes. As with any modern anthology there has to be an e-mail / social media story and here it is Davina Kawuma’s ‘Stuck’ which accurately reflects some of the vacuousness dominating many people’s lives, especially those who think nothing of value exists unless it is tweeted, Facebooked or Google-able. They would be better devoting more time to developing their own personality and understanding the essence of human psychology and motivation.
As with any anthology it can be an uneven read and we can’t fail to agree with our literary inspiration Ngugi wa’Thiongo, who was in London recently with his writer sons for the Africa Writes Festival, that there is something strange about a prize for Afrikan literature that insists all the submissions must be in English. You would never hear about a literary prize for English writers where everything must be written in Chinese!!!
Nubiart Diary
~ ALKEBU-LAN REVIVALIST MOVEMENT MOSIAH MONTH CELEBRATIONS. In 1998, The Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement renamed & designated the 8th Month of the year as Mosiah, coinciding with the Birthmonth of the prophet Marcus Mosiah Garvey & the UNIA-ACL’s (Papa Garvey’s organisation) “International Convention of The Afrikan People of The World”. Marcus Garvey led the largest and most comprehensive movement built in the name of Black Power, Afrikan Freedom and Self Reliance. All proud, strong and ambitious people celebrate the great events and great people of their history. ‘Rise You Mighty Race - You Can Accomplish What You Will!!! Garvey Lives!!!’ For full programme of events Tel: 020 8539 2154 / 07908 814 152. E-mail: arm6227@yahoo.co.uk~ RAMFEL, THE MIGRANTS RIGHTS NETWORK, BHATT MURPHY AND DEIGHTON PEIRCE GLYN PUBLIC MEETINGS OPPOSING THE ‘GO HOME CAMPAIGN’.
- On Tues 20 Aug at 6-9pm at Room 114, Richard Hoggett Building, Goldsmiths College, New Cross, London, SE14 6NW.
- On Wed 21 Aug at RBG.13, University of East London, Stratford Campus, Water Lane, London, E15 4LZ.
~ THE NATIONAL BLACK SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLS WEEK. NABSS is a grassroots organisation which aims to provide holistic solutions to the issues facing Afrikan families in educational institutions. This week-long seminar is a ‘must attend’ event covering a diverse range of topics with expert speakers and interactive sessions. Sessions include: Autism in BME communities; Afrikan genius past or present; Afrikan Scientists and Inventors; authors KN Chimbiri and Robin Walker; Setting up Income streams; How to be an Effective school governor; and Secrets of the Afro Comb book launch; On Fri 16-Fri 23 Aug. Tel: 07958 348 558. E-mail: info@nabss.org.uk Web: www.nabss.org.uk
~ BLACK HISTORY STUDIES PRESENT
- ‘Marcus Garvey: The Promised Ship’. On Fri 23 Aug at 7-9.30pm at the Marcus Garvey Library, Tottenham Green Centre, 1 Phillip Lane, Tottenham, London, N15 4JA. Adm: Free. ‘The Promised Ship’ is a documentary that follows the oral history of the Black Star Line, a maritime venture undertaken by Marcus Garvey, the leader of the first massive Black Power movement of the 20th Century. The Black Star Line was a steamship line intended to bring Afrikans across the Atlantic in search of their lost homelands. The old townspeople of Limon in Costa Rica recall the impact this adventure had on the banana barons and workers of the time.
- ‘WEB Du Bois: A Biography in Four Voices’. On Tues 27 Aug at 7-9pm at PCS Headquarters, 160 Falcon Road, Clapham Junction, London, SW11 2LN. Adm: £5 / U-16 - Free. In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of Dr W.E.B DuBois, Black History Studies will be screening ‘WEB DuBois: A Biography in Four Voices’. The long and remarkable life of Dr. William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B) Du Bois (1868-1963) offers unique insights into an eventful century in Afrikan American history. Born three years after the end of the Civil War, Du Bois witnessed the imposition of Jim Crow, its defeat by the Civil Rights Movement and the triumph of Afrikan independence struggles. Du Bois was the consummate scholar-activist whose path-breaking works remain among the most significant and articulate ever produced on the subject of race. His contributions and legacy have been so far-reaching, that this, his first film biography, required the collaboration of four prominent African American writers. Wesley Brown, Thulani Davis, Toni Cade Bambara and Amiri Baraka narrate successive periods of Du Bois’ life and discuss its impact on their work: Part One: Black Folk and the New Century (1895-1915); Part Two: The Crisis and the New Negro (1919-1929); Part Three: A Second Reconstruction? (1934-1948); and Part Four: Color, Democracy, Colonies and Peace (1949-1963).
- ‘Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind’. On Fri 30 Aug at 7-9.30pm at the Marcus Garvey Library, Tottenham Green Centre, 1 Phillip Lane, Tottenham, London, N15 4JA. Adm: Free. ‘Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind’ is a controversial documentary which uses a wealth of archival footage, photographs and documents to uncover the story of this Jamaican immigrant who between 1916 and 1921 built what was the largest Black mass movement in World History. The screening will be followed by a question and answers where we will address the film and the factual inaccuracies highlighted by his son Julius W. Garvey, M.D.
For all events. Tel / Fax: 020 8881 0660. Mobile: 07951 234 233. E-mail: info@blackhistorystudies.com
~ REPARATIONS CONFERENCE 2013. Keynote Speaker: Arnold Tjihuiko of Namibia. South West Africa, as Namibia was once known, was the testing ground for Nazi Germany first Concentration camp where millions were murdered. On Fri 23 Aug at 11am–9pm at Bernie Grant Centre, Philip Lane, Tottenham, London, N15 4RX
~ INTERNATIONAL SLAVERY REMEMBRANCE DAY. A day of talks, walks, craft workshops, gallery sessions and music for all age groups. On 23 Aug 1791, the first successful slave uprising in the western hemisphere took place in Haiti. This event led to the island’s independence and was a major step towards the abolition of the transatlantic slave holocaust. The National Maritime Museum has marked the 23 August for over a decade and invites you to join in the commemorations. This year the museum’s collections and Greenwich’s links to the slave holocaust and its abolition will inform the proceedings. The day culminates in a unique commemorative ceremony by the River Thames. Contributors include: Ethnovox, Kyron Akal, Dr Temi Odumosu, S.I. Martin and Dominique Le Gendre. Burt Caesar will be the Master of Ceremonies. On Fri 23 Aug at 11am-5pm at National Maritime, Museum, Romney Rd, Greenwich, London, SE10 9NF. Adm: Free.
~ THE ALL AFRICAN WOMEN REVOLUTIONARY UNION (AAWRU) PRESENTS WOMEN AND REVOLUTIONARY CHANGE (BRINGING AWARENESS AND EMPOWERMENT) Speakers: Lola Gani-Yusu from Africans United against Child Abuse (AFRUCA) on Human Trafficking Awareness; and Yaa Asantewaa and Leah Gordon (All African Women Revolutionary Union) on ‘What is Pan-African Women’s Day and why we celebrate it?’. Workshops on: The role of African women on revolutionary change; Reform vs Revolution; Tradition and Culture as a weapon for advancement and liberation. Screening: ‘The Naked Option: A Last Resort” a documentary about everyday women taking on a powerful multinational corporation. Please bring books and stationery to send to the Kilombo Project in Ghana. On Sat 24 Aug at 3-6.30pm at Johmard Community Centre, 67 High Street, Colliers Wood, London, SW19 2JF. Adm: £3. Tel: 07914 348 259. E-mail: aaprp-britain@hotmail.co.uk /
~ COLOMBIA SOLIDARITY FLYING PICKET OF MINING COMPANIES ANGLO AMERICAN, BHP BILLITON AND GLENCORE XSTRATA. El Cerrejon Mine, La Guajira, Attacks Communities ¡NO PASARAN! Stop the forced eviction of villagers to make way for a British-owned mine. On Tues 27 Aug at 2–4pm. Meet at Green Park Tube Station, London, SW1. E-mail: info@colombiasolidarity.org.uk
~ THE AFRICAN CENTRE PRESENTS ‘THE GRIOT’S TALE’. Written and conceived by Tunde Jegede. ‘The Griot’s Tale’ represents a meeting point between music, poetry, dance and the visual image and features some of UK’s leading practitioners of Afrikan culture including choreographer Bode Lawal, actor and director Patrice Naiambana, visual artist and poet Taiwo Emmanuel Jegede, and filmmaker Sunara Begum to encourage new forms of storytelling. Exploring the role of a Griot both now and in the past, it is a story of a young man’s search for truth revealed through his journey into the unexpected and unknown drawing from sacred and ritualistic aspects of Afrikan mysticism as well as presenting contemporary styles of performance. On Tues 27 Aug–Mon 2 Sep at The Africa Centre, 38 King Street, London, WC2. Adm: £20 / £15. Web: www.africacentre.org.uk
~ ‘POPPABLE: NEW PAINTINGS BY ADJANI’. Adjani is fast becoming one of the most captivating Afrikan-Expressionist artists of our time. This solo exhibition at The Knight Webb Gallery offers a limited engagement to see the artist’s work up-close and personally. Until Sat 31 Aug at The Knight Webb Gallery, 54 Atlantic Road, Brixton, London, SW9 8PZ.
~ AUTOGRAPH EXHIBITION ‘EVER YOUNG: JAMES BARNOR’. Barnor’s archive of street and studio portraiture covers a remarkable period in history, bridging continents and photographic genres as it creates a transatlantic narrative marked by his passionate interest in people and cultures. This exhibition emerges as a direct result of major archival research undertaken by Autograph ABP in 2009-10, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It features new prints made from Barnor’s digitally preserved negatives, as well as vintage photographs from the late 1940s to early 1970s including an expanded display of original ephemera such as magazine clippings, Ghanaian record covers, personal correspondences and photographs specially selected for Impressions Gallery and seen in public for the first time. Until 31 Aug at Impressions Gallery, Centenary Square, Bradford, BD1 1SD. Adm: Free.
~ THE AUSAR AUSET SOCIETY GI GONG CLASSES. Every Monday at 7.30–9pm at Hazel Road Community Centre, Hazel Road, Kensal Green, London, NW10 5PP. Adm: £5 per class. Tel: 07951- 252-427. E-mail: Tauinetwork.europe@gmail.com
~ 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
~ MOJANA MYSTIC AND ASTROLOGY OF THE SOUL PRESENTS A DAY OF SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT. Speakers: Sister Mojana (Spiritual Advisor & Tarot Reader) on her spiritual journey and walking her true path; Bro Israel on Astrology and its effects on our lives; Bro Eli Anderson (The Healing Story Teller and Drummer); Bro Noel Ouristorian on Universal Law (Common Law) vs. Statute Law; Sister Abbaanah (Spiritual Goddess) on Spirituality using Divine Energy to enrich your life; Sister Rosanna (Spiritual Healer) on Spiritual & Metaphysics of Pregnancy and Child birth; and Sister Angie (AG Associates) on the importance of visiting the Motherland. Tarot Card readings and Astrology readings by Sis Mojana, Bro Israel and Sis Carmelita. On Sat 14 Sep at 2.30pm-9pm at Clapham Park Resource Centre, 1 Headlam Road, King’s Avenue, Clapham, London, SW4 8LT Adm: £7 (Adv) / £10 (OTD) / U-12 – Free. Tel: Mojana - 07958 244 813. Israel – 07943 669 879.
~ ‘ORIGINS OF THE AFRO COMB: 6,000 YEARS OF CULTURE, POLITICS AND IDENTITY’. Exhibition of combs from pre-dynastic Egypt to the present day with full programme of seminars, gallery talks and film screenings. Until 28 Sep (MAA) and 3 Nov (FWM) at Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3DZ. Tel; 01223 333 516. E-mail: admin@maa.cam.ac.uk Web: maa.cam.ac.uk and Fitzwilliam Museum, Trumpington Crescent, Cambridge, CB3 1RB. Tel: 01223 332 900. E-mail: fitzmuseum-enquiries@lists.cam.ac.uk Web: www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk
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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