Firoze Manji, ROAR Magazine
Amilcar Cabral and Frantz Fanon are among the most important thinkers from Africa on the politics of liberation and emancipation. While the relevance of Fanon’s thinking has re-emerged, with popular movements such as Abahlali baseMjondolo in South Africa proclaiming his ideas as the inspiration for their mobilizations, as well as works by Sekyi-Otu, Alice Cherki, Nigel Gibson, Lewis Gordon and others, Cabral’s ideas have not received as much attention.
Church Land Programme is privileged to host Firoze Manji on Heritage Day, 24th September, from 10:30am till lunchtime at the CLP office.
Firoze Manji, of the Pan-African Baraza, has recently co-edited an amazing book on Amilcar Cabral – “revolutionary, poet, liberation philosopher, and leader of the independence movement of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde” (Manji, 2013). Based on that new book, Claim No Easy Victories: The Legacy of Amilcar Cabral (co-edited with Bill Fletcher Jr. and published to mark the 40th anniversary of Cabral’s assassination), Firoze will share some thoughts on the heritage of Cabral’s political thought and praxis for us here and now. Firoze and his colleagues have been gracious hosts and key supporters of emancipatory struggles from our corner of the African continent, and it’s a real pleasure to re-connect with him. Continue reading
Amilcar Cabral, who was the Secretary–General of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands (PAIGC), was assassinated by Portuguese agents on January 20, 1973. Under his leadership, the PAIGC liberated three–quarters of the countryside of Guinea in less than ten years of revolutionary struggle. Cabral distinguished himself among modern revolutionaries by the long and careful preparation, both theoretical and practical, which he undertook before launching the revolutionary struggle, and, in the course of the preparation, became one of the world’s outstanding theoreticians of anti–imperialist struggle. This volume contains some of the principal speeches Cabral delivered in his last years during visits to the United States.
Amilcar Cabral (1924 – 1973) was a revolutionary, poet, liberation philosopher, and leader of the independence movement of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde. Cabral’s influence stretched well beyond the shores of West Africa. He had a profound influence on the pan-Africanist movement and the black liberation movement in the US.
Practise revolutionary democracy in all aspects of party life. Every responsible worker must bravely assume his responsibilities, must demand from others respect for his activity and must respect the activity of others. Do not hide anything from the mass of the people, do not lie, fight against lies, do not disguise the difficulties, errors and failures, do not believe in easy victories, nor in appearances.
Revolutionary democracy demands that we should combat opportunism, tolerance towards errors, unfounded excuses . . . Practise and defend the truth and always the truth in front of militants, responsible workers, the people whatever the difficulties knowledge of the truth might cause. Revolutionary democracy demands that the militant should not be afraid of the responsible worker, that the responsible worker should have no dread of the militant, nor fear the mass of the people. It demands that the responsible worker live in the middle of the people, in front of the people and behind the people, that he work for the party serving the people. Continue reading