Black Critique

Thomas Sankara was one of Africa's most important anti-imperialist leaders of the late 20th Century. His declaration that fundamental socio-political change would require a 'certain amount of madness' drove the Burkinabe Revolution and resurfaced in the country's popular uprising in 2014. This book looks at Sankara's political philosophies and legacies and their relevance today. Analyses of his synthesis of Pan-Africanism and humanist Marxist politics, as well as his approach to gender, development, ecology and decolonisation offer new insights to Sankarist political philosophies. Critical evaluations of the limitations of the revolution examine his relationship with labour unions and other aspects of his leadership style. His legacy is revealed by looking at contemporary activists, artists and politicians who draw inspiration from Sankarist thought in social movement struggles today, from South Africa to Burkina Faso. In the 30th anniversary of his assassination, this book illustrates how Sankara's political praxis continues to provide lessons and hope for decolonisation struggles today.

'A remarkable volume on the vicissitudes of the revolutionary left in post-independence Africa' Issa Shivji, Professor Emeritus at the University of Dar es Salaam 'Twenty-first-century radicals should find new inspiration for action in this untold history' Jean Copans, anthropologist and sociologist 'From the Tubu nomads of northern Chad to peasants, workers and students throughout the African continent, we see how these movements used old and new ideas to mobilize emancipatory struggles for change' Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, Professor of African and Global Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill While the revolutionary left of the 1960s and 1970s in Europe, the United States and Latin America have been the subject of abundant discussion, similar movements that emerged in Africa have received comparatively little attention. Yet Africa's radical left was extremely active in these years. With pro-Soviet movements, Maoism, Trotskyism, Guevarism, Pan-Africanism and the Black Panthers, the rumble of revolution was felt across the continent. From feminist student rebels in Nigeria to pro-democracy movements in Liberia, the exciting and complex interplay between these many actors changed Africa forever. Can we see echoes of these movements in African politics today? What can we learn from the people who lived through these decades? How can revolutionary struggles on the continent today learn from this rich history? This unique collection will shed new light on Africa's radical decades for those who are seeking new and important insights into global revolutionary history. Pascal Bianchini is a sociologist and independent researcher based in Senegal. Ndongo Samba Sylla is a Senegalese development economist and the co-author of Africa's Last Colonial Currency. Leo Zeilig is an editor of the Review of African Political Economy and is the author of several books including A Revolutionary for Our Time: The Walter Rodney Story.

Of Black Study explores how the ideas of Black intellectuals generated different ways of thinking and knowing in their pursuit of conceptual and epistemological freedom. Joshua Myers explores the work of thinkers who broke with the racial and colonial logics of academic disciplinarity. Bookended by meditations with June Jordan and Toni Cade Bambara, the book focuses on how W. E. B. Du Bois, Sylvia Wynter, Jacob Carruthers and Cedric Robinson contributed to Black Studies approaches to knowledge production within and beyond Western structures of knowledge. Especially geared toward understanding the contemporary evolution of Black Studies in the neoliberal university, “Of Black Study” allows us to consider the stakes of intellectual freedom and the path toward a new world.

Known as 'the angriest black man in America', Malcolm X was one of the most famous activists to ever live. Going beyond biography, Black Minded examines Malcolm X's philosophical system, restoring his thinking to the pantheon of Black Radical Thought. Michael Sawyer argues that the foundational concepts of Malcolm X's political philosophy - economic and social justice, strident opposition to white supremacy and Black internationalism - are often obscured by an emphasis on biography. The text demonstrates the way in which Malcolm X's philosophy lies at the intersection of the thought of W.E.B. Du Bois and Frantz Fanon and is an integral part of the revolutionary politics formed to alleviate the plight of people of African descent globally. Exploring themes of ontology, the body, geographic space and revolution, Black Minded provides a much-needed appraisal of Malcolm X's political philosophy.

Phenomenal ... Offers us possibilities for rescuing the concept of democracy from its fatal entanglement with racial, heteropatriarchal capitalism'-Angela Y. Davis'Embraces the unruliness of collective struggle, and recognizes freedom not as a destination but practice-an abolitionist, feminist, anticapitalist, antiracist, radically inclusive practice'-Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams 'A compelling and inspiring book that belongs in our movements and our classrooms'-Chandra Talpade Mohanty, author of Feminism Without Borders 'An elegantly written masterpiece'-Barbara Ransby, author of Making All Black Lives Matter Become Ungovernable is a provocative new work of political thought setting out to reclaim "freedom", "justice", and "democracy", revolutionary ideas that are all too often warped in the interests of capital and the state. Revealing the mirage of mainstream democratic thought and the false promises of liberal political ideologies, H.L.T. Quan offers an alternative approach: an abolition feminism drawing on a kaleidoscope of refusal praxes, and on a deep engagement with the Black Radical Tradition and queer analytics. With each chapter anchored by episodes from the long history of resistance and rebellions against tyranny, Quan calls for us to take up a feminist ethic of living rooted in the principles of radical inclusion, mutuality and friendship as part of the larger toolkit for confronting fascism, white supremacy, and the neoliberal labor regime. H.L.T. Quan is a political theorist, award-winning filmmaker and Associate Professor of Justice and Social Inquiry in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University. Quan is the author of Growth Against Democracy and editor of Cedric J. Robinson.

'A powerful – even startling – book that challenges the shibboleths of 'white' anarchism'. Its analysis of police violence and the threat of fascism are as important now as they were at the end of the 1970s. Perhaps more so' - Peter James Hudson, Black Agenda Report Anarchism and the Black Revolution first connected Black radical thought to anarchist theory in 1979. Now amidst a rising tide of Black political organizing, this foundational classic written by a key figure of the Civil Rights movement is republished with a wealth of original material for a new generation. Anarchist theory has long suffered from a whiteness problem. This book places its critique of both capitalism and racism firmly at the centre of the text. Making a powerful case for the building of a Black revolutionary movement that rejects sexism, homophobia, militarism and racism, Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin counters the lies and distortions about anarchism spread by its left- and right-wing opponents alike. New material includes an interview with writer and activist William C. Anderson, as well as new essays, and a contextualizing biography of the author's inspiring life.

Across the Anglophone Caribbean, the great expectations of independence were never met. From Black Power and Jamaican Democratic Socialism to the Grenada Revolution, the radical currents that once animated the region recede into memory. More than half a century later, the likelihood of radical change appears vanishingly small on the horizon. But what were the twists and turns in the postcolonial journey that brought us here? And is there hope yet for the Caribbean to advance towards more just, democratic and empowering futures? “After the Postcolonial Caribbean” is structured in two parts, 'Remembering', and 'Imagining.' Author Brian Meeks employs a sometimes autobiographical form, drawing on his own memories and experiences of the radical politics and culture of the Caribbean in the decades following the end of colonialism. And he takes inspiration from the likes of Edna Manley, George Lamming and Stuart Hall in reaching towards a new theoretical framework that might help forge new currents of intellectual and political resistance. Meeks concludes by making the case for reestablishing optimism as a necessary cornerstone for any reemergent progressive movement.

Cedric J. Robinson is considered one of the doyens of Black Studies and a pioneer in study of the Black Radical Tradition. His works have been essential texts, deconstructing racial capitalism and inspiring insurgent movements from Ferguson to the West Bank. For the first time, Robinson's essays come together, spanning over four decades and reflective of his diverse interests in the interconnections between culture and politics, radical social theory and classic and modern political philosophy. Themes explored include Africa and Black internationalism, World politics, race and US Foreign Policy, representations of blackness in popular culture, and reflections on popular resistance to racial capitalism, white supremacy and more. Accompanied by an introduction by H. L. T. Quan and a foreword by Ruth Wilson Gilmore, this collection, which includes previously unpublished materials, extends the many contributions by a giant in Black radical thought.

Neville Alexander is not a household name, but he should be. As a revolutionary public intellectual, activist and former political prisoner, he is among the most important theorists of racial capitalism to emerge during the struggle against Apartheid. Alexander's writings engage with some of the important debates in South Africa from the last 50 years, many of which have international resonance today: from the unresolved national question and the relationship between 'race' and class; the continuities of racial capitalism in post-apartheid South Africa; the role and purpose of schooling and higher education; and the importance of nation building and multilingualism. An opponent of the neoliberal trajectory embarked upon by the post-apartheid establishment in the 1990s, Alexander was always reflective and humble but never wavered from his own self-description: a non-dogmatic Marxist, pan-Africanist and internationalist. This carefully curated collection brings his incredible body of work to an international audience for the first time. It features a comprehensive introduction, a timeline of key events in the life of Alexander, selected articles, speeches, op-eds, book chapters and a bibliography of his writings.

'An outstanding contribution to literary Pan-Africanism' -- Rey Bowen, University of Chichester 'A compelling addition to the canon of Pan-African creative writing from the 1930s. The editors show how Ali brought to life core themes of African American literature for readers in colonial Africa' -- Stephanie Newell, Professor, Yale University 'Ali was a major force in early twentieth-century Pan-Africanism. The introductory material … offers essential tools for today's readers to appreciate this extraordinary yet previously inaccessible novel' -- Dr. Leslie James, Queen Mary University of London Ere Roosevelt Came is a short novel by early Pan-Africanist Duse Mohamed Ali. Originally serialized in Ali's Nigerian magazine The Comet in 1934, it grapples with the rise of global fascism and white supremacy, and the growing geopolitical influence of the USA in the interwar period. This is a fantastical, intricately woven and speculative story about how Black American airmen, organizing in secret, fight an international assemblage of white supremacists and Russian foreign agents bent on instigating a new world war. The narrative reveals how Black liberation struggles, Bolshevism, and the rise of so-called "colored" Japanese empires were bound together in the Pan-African literary imaginary. Written by a Sudanese-Egyptian, serialized in a West African magazine, and set in the USA, Ere Roosevelt Came is a Pan-African novel par excellence, and a fascinating historical document that conveys the complexities of Black internationalism in the interwar years. The novel is presented with two original, contextualizing essays and appendices featuring selected other writings to provide further insight into Ali's vision of a Pan-African future. Duse Mohamed Ali (1866-1945) was a playwright, historian, journalist, editor, and publisher. He inspired many Black nationalists, including a young Marcus Garvey, whom he mentored. Marina Bilbija is Assistant Professor of English at Wesleyan University, Connecticut. Alex Lubin is Professor of African American Studies at Penn State University, Pennsylvania. He is the author of several books.

*Selected as one of openDemocracy's Best Political Books of 2017* This is the history of the black radicals who organised as Communists between the two imperialist wars of the twentieth century. It explores the political roots of a dozen organisations and parties in New York City, Mexico and the Black Caribbean, including the Anti-Imperialist League, and the American Negro Labour Congress and the Haiti Patriotic League, and reveals a history of myriad connections and shared struggle across the continent. This book reclaims the centrality of class consciousness and political solidarity amongst these black radicals, who are too often represented as separate from the international Communist movement which emerged after the Russian Revolution in 1917. Instead, it describes the inner workings of the 'Red International' in relation to struggles against racial and colonial oppression. It introduces a cast of radical characters including Richard Moore, Otto Huiswoud, Navares Sager, Grace Campbell, Rose Pastor Stokes and Wilfred Domingo. Challenging the 'great men' narrative, Margaret Stevens emphasises the role of women in their capacity as laborers; the struggles of peasants of colour; and of black workers in and around Communist parties.

"This astonishing compendium is a valuable corrective to parochial conceptions of the 'black radical tradition'" Paul Gilroy, Emeritus Professor, University College London "A wonderfully lucid introduction" Catherine Hall, Chair of the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery, University College London Red and Black in Harlem and Jamaica offers the first complete account of the life and work of Wilfred Adolphus Domingo (1889-1968), one of the most significant West Indian anti-colonialists of the twentieth century, who was active in New York in the radical politics of the New Negro movement before committing himself to the struggle for Jamaican independence. When W. A. Domingo died, the Jamaican ex-premier Norman Manley wrote that "no one in the world made greater sacrifices or suffered more for the cause he believed in-the cause of freedom for Jamaica and our escape from the bonds and fetters of British Imperialism." Despite this claim, Domingo has remained a shadowy figure. This book brings him, at last, into the foreground of anti-colonial struggle in the Caribbean. Through a generous selection of Domingo's writings from various stages of his life, the book illuminates his ideological tenets and political commitments, while the introductory material contains new biographical information that sheds light on Domingo's early years as well as on his relationships with Marcus Garvey and the Communist movement. W. A. Domingo was born and raised in Jamaica before moving to the USA in 1910. A Jamaican nationalist, socialist, and committed internationalist, he was part of an influential community of West Indian radicals active in Harlem's New Negro movement in the early 20th century. Peter Hulme is Emeritus Professor in Literature, University of Essex, and the author or editor of numerous books. Leslie James is Senior Lecturer in Global History at Queen Mary University London. She is the author of George Padmore and Decolonization from Below.