Are we ready for new era of activism?

Dara E Healy

“…the only way you can think about the people’s struggle is when you are involved in your people’s struggle. And if you’re not involved in your people's struggle, don’t fool yourself, don’t let capitalism let you think that you’re thinking about your people. The capitalist system makes people stupid and then makes them arrogant in their stupidity.”

– Kwame Ture, TT civil rights activist

WHAT IS the nature of activism today? In the time of Kwame Ture and other Pan Africanists, activism focused primarily on freedom from racism, defying imperialist policies and independence. As we commemorate Kwame Ture’s birthday today and George Padmore’s yesterday, I wonder, are we are engaging in independent thought, or have our thoughts already been framed in a particular way? Was Kwame right?

I met Kwame only briefly, but I miss him like I do Uncle Maurice, Claudia Jones, Kamau Brathwaite and all who guide my personal activism.

George Padmore, WEB Dubois, CLR James and other scholars from that era believed in “publishing as a strategy for social change.”

Padmore worked for a short time as a journalist here in TT before leaving for the US. It is said that over his career, he woked as a correspondent for numerous publications, from the Pittsburgh Courier to the Panama Tribune, the Belize Independent and Bantu World. Born Malcolm Nurse in 1903, he grew up in Arouca. In the US, his strong communist, anti-colonial beliefs led him to adopt the pen name George Padmore to ensure a degree of anonymity and safety.

Information was central to activism. Padmore wrote books, articles and pamphlets analysing the condition of Africans in the diaspora and African independence movements. He was a key figure in Ghana’s quest to gain independence from Britain. He supported and advised Kwame Nkrumah, the first premier of the newly independent African nation.

Padmore was also a consummate organiser. In 1945, he was at the forefront of co-ordinating the fifth Pan African Congress in Manchester, which was attended by leading Pan Africanists from around the world.

Organisation is a concept that preoccupies the public statements and writings of Kwame Ture. Born Stokely Carmichael in 1941, he grew up on Oxford Street, Port of Spain. His activism was during the 1960s and 70s, first in the US and then globally.

Kwame consistently repeated that “we must transform mobilisation to organisation.” He felt that mobilisation was temporary and often occurred in reaction to specific triggers. On the other hand, organisation produces more permanent results. It establishes systems and structures to counter the systems that are established to oppress people and deny them their power. He warned that “struggle is never an event. It’s a continuous, eternal process.”

Kwame also made the point that a state of peace did not mean that there would be no oppression. Peace was not enough to guarantee that injustice would not be done to communities. This understanding fuelled his use of the term "Black Power." In reference to the US, he said, “This country knows what power is. It knows it very well. And it knows what Black Power is ’cause it deprived black people of it for 400 years. So it knows what Black Power is.”

Significantly, although he was well known for his engaging, impassioned and often aggressive speeches, his objective was based on a much softer goal, that of protecting his community. Thus, his emphasis on struggle, taking back personal power, being organised – ultimately, all of these were towards the advancement of humanity.

Daily, I see us in TT questioning the actions of those in authority, so I do believe we are thinking. The behaviours that the Pan Africanists warned against are everywhere: the double-speak, corrupt practices and, yes, the arrogance and stupidity too. As Claudia Jones wrote regarding the attempt to form a West Indian Federation, “Leadership of the national political movement is today in the hands of middle-class intellectuals who either come from the class of the national bourgeoisie or are representative of their interests.”

Certainly, we must keep questioning. Kwame Ture is still not acknowledged and the names of George Padmore and others who fought for the freedoms we enjoy today are largely unknown. So, as Kwame would have said, we must stay actively involved in the struggle for our people. It is the only option to reclaim power for us all. It is an essential part of our activism.

Dara E Healy is a performance artist and founder of the Indigenous Creative Arts Network – ICAN