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AfricaNow! January 10, 2024 Reflections on Malcolm X…Pt. I—Contextualizing El Hajj Malik El Shabazz

Topic and Guests: In November 1990 [1-4], more than 3,000 people from 25 countries attended the Malcolm X: Radical Tradition and a Legacy of Struggle conference held in New York City. More than 100 speakers led 24 sessions that deeply explored, contextualized, and situated El Hajj Malik El Shabazz in the genealogy of Black radical internationalism as a Pan Africanist. 

There is an argument that can be made that El Haj Mailk El Shabazz is an archetype of what I have argued elsewhere as a critical Africana human rights consciousness. .... When we turn attention to his evolution as an internationalist activist-theoretician, we can begin to truly grasp the breadth, depth and the rhythms of the various manifestations of Africana peoples struggle for freedom. 

With the insertion of Africana ways of being and forms of knowledge we can begin to see that the human as produced from European modernity, is not the same conception of human as articulated in the various indigenous Africana cosmology, epistemology, ethics. In short, and quoting El Ha Malik El Shabazz, ‘we are talking the same language’. .... 

Shabazz’s critical Africana human rights consciousness called for a reassessment of the African American manifestation of the struggle for freedom to (re)focus its objectives to fight for human rights within an internationalist frame, to be resituated in the long tradition of Black radical internationalism and Pan Africanism. ... 
More importantly, his concerted efforts to develop ideological and organizational expression to a radical internationalist theory of freedom which characterized his evolution, particularly post-NOI, were immense. His direct personal influence on key circles of activists and organizations, historically and contemporarily, has proven to be significant. ... 

Africa World Now Project will share some of this conference in an effort to engender serious engagement, in this very moment, a moment where it is essential to be intentional with one’s political practice with Malcolm. ....More than this, we encourage you to visit Abdul Alkalimat’s website to explore, read, and hear more of the conference. Link will be in the descriptions is you locate the program via various podcast platforms. 

What you will hear next is Pt I – Contextualizing El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, which will be part of a series on this conference. ... 
What you will hear next is Amiria Baraka opening the conference with a series of meditations on 10 why we need this conference and then a poem titled Today for Malcolm.  We then will here next, in the following order is: Abdul Alkalimat, Lou Turner, Vikki Garvin, and Yuri Kochiyama contextualize El Hajj Malik El Shabazz. ...

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“ALL AFRICA” BY MAX ROACH remembering the legendary ancestor drummer, composer, musician’s birthday (January 10, 1924—August 16, 2007); break--“DRUM SOLO & PROGRESS REPORT” BY LEWIS NASH commemorating Lewis Nash’s birthday (December 30, 1958—); sign-off--“YOU DON’T SAY” BY MELBA LISTON commemorating her birthday (January 13, 1926—April 23, 1999); closing song--“MALCOLM X” BY INNA DE YARD FEAT. WINSTON MCANUFF.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

AfricaNow! Jan. 10, 2024 Reflections on Malcolm X…Pt. I—Contextualizing El Hajj Malik El Shabazz

AfricaNow! March 6, 2024 Thinking Through CLR James with Matthew Quest

Topic and Guest: In an article for Insurgent Notes, Matthew Quest asks, What Type of Historian Was CLR James? CLR James, native of Trinidad, was a historian with a speculative philosophy of history. He brought these methods to his narrative of Haiti in The Black Jacobins (1938), and later in his Nkrumah and the Ghana Revolution (1977). James was influenced by historians of the French Revolution, while his approach was shaped by Leon Trotsky’s A History of the Russian Revolution, Oswald Spengler’s Decline of the West, and the Edwardian radicals GK Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc, both literary men who wrote polemical histories sympathetic to the social motion of commoners. 

...For James, the working classes, be their wages high or low, and the unemployed possessed a hidden depth, a latent understanding, and a creative genius. Ordinary people, not professional leaders of official society, were the chief actors of history....Highlighting another important contribution of CLR James to Black radicalism, Matthew Quest unpacks his political economic analysis. Quest writes that CLR James is recalled as a Pan-African and independent socialist...

Quest goes on to argue that the Black radical tradition, after experimenting with European radicalism and socialism, never developed its own independent political economy. ...For James, there is a connection between state planning and repression of toilers, and he in no way subscribes to classical liberal market economics. We must remember that James’s mature political economy was worked out not just in response to Russia but Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal welfare state, and its repression of self-directed action during the CIO labor movement....

Today, we will explore CLR James’s thought, paying specific attention to his articulation of notions of direct democracy, worker’s self-emancipation, and meditations on autonomy with Matthew Quest. 

This conversation will be presented as a three-part series where we specifically explore CLR James as a frame of reference in the context of current labor struggles, the opportunities and potential limitations of demands within labor movements [where we think through the limitations of labor demands being divorced from direct critique of imperialism and colonialisms]; and how does CLR James’ conceptualization of autonomy and direct democracy have an important part to play in conceptualization of labor movements today. 

To understand the depth and range of impact of CLR James’s work, I would describe him as your ‘rappers’ favorite rapper’. Your favorite theorist, revolutionary, radical, Pan Africanist had to or at some point must come to terms with CLR James’s work. His influences are both undeniable and misunderstood. 

Matthew Quest has taught African, African American and Caribbean History at universities including Georgia State University in Atlanta, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He is known as a scholar of the legacies of CLR James.

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“BABA AFRIKA” BY CHRISTINE KAMAU; break--“KURIMA” CHIWONISO MARAIRE; sign-off--“JARABI” BY SONA JOBARTEH; closing song--“ALUTA CONTINUA” BY MIRIAM MAKEBA commemorating her birthday on March 4 (March 4, 1932—November 10, 2008) International Women’s Day March 8 and Women’s History Month.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

Photos:

AfricaNow! Mar. 6, 2024 Thinking Through CLR James with Matthew Quest

AfricaNow! March 20, 2024 Thinking Through CLR James with Matthew Quest Pt.II

Topic and Guest: According to Renault in Toward a Counter-Genealogy of Race: On CLR James, it is argued that James always stressed the fundamental importance of the notion of class struggle, and closely followed developments in revolutionary working-class struggles in Europe and the United States. 

“This did not prevent him, however, from analyzing and taking part in movements for decolonization: In 1938, he authored the famous history of the Haitian Revolution, The Black Jacobins; in the 1940s, he was seen as a specialist on the “Negro Question” within North American Trotskyist movements; he also had ties to African independence leaders – Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, and later, Julius Nyerere in Tanzania – and he became involved in “party politics” himself during the time leading up to Trinidadian independence. James strove to reposition Pan-Africanist struggles within a global revolutionary history, by interpreting them in light of Marxist theory and historiography; the latter, in turn, was reshaped through the lens of the experience of (de)colonization. He foregrounded and thematized the relations between class oppression and racial oppression as well as the connections between struggles for emancipation waged by subaltern groups with their own autonomous demands.”

But does this necessarily mean that as a Marxist, James thinks of race in the same way he thinks class? Does a concept of race exist in his writings, one invested with a specific theoretical and/or political function, beyond the attention he pays to actual instances of racial domination? 

...In short, this debate is captured in the question still echoing in freedom struggles, specifically in the African world, what is the primary contradiction that must be centered in movement work, race or class?...

...Today, we present Pt. II of the three-part series where we are unpacking CLR James’s thought, paying specific attention to his articulation of notions of direct democracy, worker’s self-emancipation/management, and meditations on autonomy with Matthew Quest. 

We are intentionally exploring CLR James as a frame of reference in the context of current labor struggles, the opportunities, and potential limitations of demands within labor movements [where we think through the limitations of labor demands being divorced from direct critique of imperialism and colonialisms]; and how does CLR James’ conceptualization of autonomy and direct democracy have an important part to play in conceptualization of labor movements today. 

To understand the depth and range of impact of CLR James’s work, I would categorize him as your ‘rappers’ favorite rapper’. Your favorite theorist, revolutionary, radical, Pan Africanist had to or at some point must come to terms with CLR James’s work. His influences are both undeniable and misunderstood. 

Matthew Quest has taught African, African American and Caribbean History at universities including Georgia State University in Atlanta, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.  He is known as a scholar of the legacies of CLR James.
 

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro-- “BLUE NILE” BY ALICE COLTRANE; break--“KURIMA” CHIWONISO MARAIRE; sign-off--“NABU CORFA” BY DOROTHY ASHBY; closing song--“SISTERS’ CHANT” BY JUDY MOWATT commemorating Women’s History Month.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

AfricaNow! Mar. 20, 2024 Thinking Through CLR James with Matthew Quest Pt. II

AfricaNow! March 27, 2024 Thinking Through CLR James with Matthew Quest Pt.III

Topic and Guest: Summary--Today, we present part three, the final installment of the three-part series where we are unpacking CLR James’s thought, paying specific attention to his articulation of notions of direct democracy, worker’s self-emancipation/management, and meditations on autonomy with Matthew Quest.  We are intentionally exploring CLR James as a frame of reference in the context of current labor struggles, the opportunities, and potential limitations of demands within labor movements [where we think through the limitations of labor demands being divorced from direct critique of imperialism and colonialisms]; and how does CLR James’s conceptualization of autonomy and direct democracy have an important part to play in conceptualization of labor movements today. 

Matthew Quest is an editor of Clash! a collective of writers who advocate for Caribbean unity from below. He has taught African, African American and Caribbean History at universities in the United States.

Part of Full Intro--Matthew Quest in CLR James and George Padmore: Hidden Disputes in The Black Radical Tradition, examines the collaboration between James and George Padmore since their partnership within the International African Service Bureau in the 1930s. Despite their joint activism in Pan-African affairs, political rifts emerged on democracy, socialism, and revolutionary strategy. 

Quest specifically explores James’ portrayal of Padmore to highlight the political tensions underlying their friendship. James’ and Padmore’s different perspectives on anti-imperialism reveal hidden disputes in the Black radical tradition, disputes that promoted evolution in thought and practice that must be taken up today.

In  London during the 1930s, the era of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, CLR James (1901–1989) and George Padmore (1903–1959) worked together as activists in the International African Service Bureau. 

Quest goes on to highlight that “in 1957 a plan was hatched in Britain for Padmore to become chief of staff of Pan African affairs in Kwame Nkrumah’s Ghana, and James to become the editor of The Nation, the organ of Eric Williams’s People’s National Movement (PNM), but also the secretary of the effort to federate the West Indies from 1958–1962. When Padmore passed away CLR James began to write him into history.”...

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“WATER” BY INNA MODJA commemorating World Water Day March 22; intro with CLR James's interview--SPACE BY HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE FEAT. YASIIN BEY; break--“MAI” CHIWONISO MARAIRE commemorating her birthday March 5 (March 5, 1976–July 24, 2013) and Women’s History Month; sign-off--“FORTIFY” BY NUBYA GARCIA; closing song--“THINK” BY ARETHA FRANKLIN commemorating her birthday which is March 25 (March 25, 1942–August 16, 2018) and Women’s History Month.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

AfricaNow! Mar. 27, 2024 Thinking Through CLR James with Matthew Quest Pt. III

AfricaNow! May 22, 2024 Reflections on Malcolm X…Pt. I—Contextualizing El Hajj Malik El Shabazz

Topic and Guests: As we commemorate WPFW's spirit of education for liberation and Malcolm X's birthday (May 19) AfricaNow! goes into archives (original show aired on Januaray 10, 2024 at https://soundcloud.com/africanowonline/africanow-jan-10-2024-reflections-on-malcolm-xpt-icontextualizing-el-hajj-malik-el-shabazz) with the first part of a series which highlights some of the discussions which took place during the Malcolm X: Radical Tradition and a Legacy of Struggle conference held in New York City in November 1990.  More than 3,000 people from 25 countries attended the conference which featured more than 100 speakers led 24 sessions that deeply explored, contextualized, and situated El Hajj Malik El Shabazz in the genealogy of Black radical internationalism as a Pan Africanist.  In Part I—Contextualizing El Hajj Malik El Shabazz you first hear Amiri Baraka opening the conference with a series of meditations on why we need this conference and then a poem titled Today for Malcolm. Then in the following order is—Abdul Alkalimat, Lou Turner, Vikki Garvin, and Yuri Kochiyama contextualize El Hajj Malik El Shabazz. (Full show at Januaray 10, 2024 at https://soundcloud.com/africanowonline/africanow-jan-10-2024-reflections-on-malcolm-xpt-icontextualizing-el-hajj-malik-el-shabazz)

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“BLACK MAN” BY STEVIE WONDER commemorating his birthday which was May 13 (May 13, 1950—); closing song--“MALCOLM X” BY INNA DE YARD FEAT. WINSTON MCANUFF.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW. Donate online visit pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

AfricaNow! May 22, 2024 Reflections on Malcolm X…Pt. I—Contextualizing El Hajj Malik El Shabazz

AfricaNow! Special May 29, 2024 Lumumba, Colonialism & A People’s History of the DRC, & Destabilization of the DRC Dissected

Topics and Guests: A special edition of AfricaNow! which is part of the day-long special The Centrality of Congo to Black Liberation presented by WPFW in partnership with Friends of the Congo during WPFW's Spring Pledge Drive.  This segment for the next two hours looks at the legacy of Lumumba and his assassination, colonialism, and a people’s history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and dissects the current destabilization of the DRC—connecting the past and the present.  The Centrality of Congo to Black Liberation from 5am until 8pm, is an exploration of why Congo must matter to the whole of humanity around the globe. We will delve into why Frantz Fanon stated in his book, "Toward the African Revolution," Let us be sure never to forget it; the fate of all of us is at stake in the Congo.  We begin with a recent discussion with Dr. Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja on the legacy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s first prime minister Patrice Lumumba and his assassination, colonialism impact and people’s history movement for liberation in the DRC.  Dr. Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, professor in the Department of African, African American and Diaspora Studies, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC. Professor Nzongola is the author of several books and numerous articles such as: Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Africa; Nation-Building and State Building in Africa; and Le Mouvement Démocratique au Zaïre, 1956-1996. Dr Nzongola’s book The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People’s History, won the 2004 Best Book Award of the African Politics Conference Group (APCG), an organization of U.S.-based political scientists specializing on Africa. https://aaad.unc.edu/faculty-staff/georges-nzongola-ntalaja/

In the second hour of the special edition of AfricaNow! which is part of the day-long special The Centrality of Congo to Black Liberation presented by WPFW in partnership with Friends of the Congo, we feature a recent conversation with Akilimali Chomachoma and Claude Gatebuke which dissects the current destabilization of the DRC.   The conversation dissects the M23—Rwanda’s involvement; the continued neo-colonial role of multinational corporations and western nations who are using the conflict to exploit the DRC’s vast resources; the massive loss of life and the plight of internally displaced people and more.    Akilimali Chomachoma, journalist in Goma, DRC, and Claude Gatebuke, Co-founder, Executive Director, African Great Lakes Action Network.

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro of first hour & second hour--“INDEPENDENCE CHA CHA” BY GRANDE KALLE ; closing song--“MBONGO” BY FRANCO & T.P.O.K. JAZZ.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW. Donate online visit pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

Photo: Cover of Professor Nzongola's book The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People’s History

AfricaNow! Special May 29, 2024 Lumumba, Colonialism, People's History & Destabilization of DRC

AfricaNow! July 3, 2024 Thinking Through CLR James with Matthew Quest Pt. I

Topic and Guest: Today AfricaNow! goes into its archives and plays a show that explores CLR James.  In an article for Insurgent Notes, Matthew Quest asks, What Type of Historian Was CLR James? CLR James, native of Trinidad, was a historian with a speculative philosophy of history. He brought these methods to his narrative of Haiti in The Black Jacobins (1938), and later in his Nkrumah and the Ghana Revolution (1977). James was influenced by historians of the French Revolution, while his approach was shaped by Leon Trotsky’s A History of the Russian Revolution, Oswald Spengler’s Decline of the West, and the Edwardian radicals GK Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc, both literary men who wrote polemical histories sympathetic to the social motion of commoners.

...For James, the working classes, be their wages high or low, and the unemployed possessed a hidden depth, a latent understanding, and a creative genius. Ordinary people, not professional leaders of official society, were the chief actors of history....Highlighting another important contribution of CLR James to Black radicalism, Matthew Quest unpacks his political economic analysis. Quest writes that CLR James is recalled as a Pan-African and independent socialist...

Quest goes on to argue that the Black radical tradition, after experimenting with European radicalism and socialism, never developed its own independent political economy. ...For James, there is a connection between state planning and repression of toilers, and he in no way subscribes to classical liberal market economics. We must remember that James’s mature political economy was worked out not just in response to Russia but Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal welfare state, and its repression of self-directed action during the CIO labor movement....

Today, we will explore CLR James’s thought, paying specific attention to his articulation of notions of direct democracy, worker’s self-emancipation, and meditations on autonomy with Matthew Quest.

This conversation will be presented as a three-part series where we specifically explore CLR James as a frame of reference in the context of current labor struggles, the opportunities and potential limitations of demands within labor movements [where we think through the limitations of labor demands being divorced from direct critique of imperialism and colonialisms]; and how does CLR James’ conceptualization of autonomy and direct democracy have an important part to play in conceptualization of labor movements today.

To understand the depth and range of impact of CLR James’s work, I would describe him as your ‘rappers’ favorite rapper’. Your favorite theorist, revolutionary, radical, Pan Africanist had to or at some point must come to terms with CLR James’s work. His influences are both undeniable and misunderstood.

Matthew Quest has taught African, African American and Caribbean History at universities including Georgia State University in Atlanta, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He is known as a scholar of the legacies of CLR James.

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“THE AWAKENING” BY AHMAD JAMAL commemorating his birthday on July 2 (July 2, 1930— April 16, 2023); break--“KURIMA” CHIWONISO MARAIRE; sign-off--“JARABI” BY SONA JOBARTEH; closing song--“LIZOBUYA” BY MBOGENI NGEMA.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW. Donate online visit pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

AfricaNow! Jul. 3, 2024 Thinking Through CLR James with Matthew Quest Pt. I

AfricaNow! July 17, 2024 Radical Histories and Liberation in Kenya, Pt. I

Topic and Guests: To contextualize the current nationwide protests in Kenya, AfricaNow! goes into its archive to present a conversation with Waringa Wahome that explores radical histories of Kenya and the praxis of liberation (aired April 6, 2022 https://soundcloud.com/africanowonline/africanow-apr-6-2022-radical-histories-and-liberation-in-kenya-pt-1).  Waringa Wahome is an organizer, political theorist, lawyer, member of Mathare Social Justice Center, the Communist Party of Kenya as well as the Kenyan Organic Intellectuals Network.  The show also features Valentine Githae of the Gen Z movement briefly discussing the protest movement in Kenya. 

Since June 18, 2024 Kenya has witnessed nationwide protests against the government’s proposed tax increase, mismanagement, corruption and more.  The youth-led or Gen Z demonstrations has forced Kenyan President Ruto to abandon the tax proposal and fire majority of his cabinet.  According to Kenya National Commission on Human Rights the police used excessive force to clampdown on the protests that has led to over 50 deaths, over 600 arbitrary arrested and over 50 missing.  In the face of this crackdown the protests continued yesterday July 16.   The show also features a July 16, 2024 conversation with Valentine Githae of the Gen Z movement briefly discussing the protest movement in Kenya.

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“BABA AFRIKA!” BY CHRISTINE KAMAU; break--“UHURU” BY OSIBISA; intro to second segment--“ULISEMA” BY CHRISTINE KAMAU; sign-off--“KURIMA” BY CHIWONISO MARAIRE; closing song--“MUGUNA MUGUNA” BY NAIROBI HORNS PROJECT.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW. Donate online visit pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFWFM write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

AfricaNow! Jul. 17, 2024 Radical Histories and Liberation in Kenya, Pt. I

AfricaNow! June 18, 2025 African Liberation Music

Topic and Guest: Forty-nine years ago on June 16, 1976 in Soweto in Johannesburg South Africa youth rose up against the apartheid education system.  Many students were injured and killed by apartheid South Africa police force.  The Soweto Uprising was an important catalyst in galvanizing the world against the brutal apartheid government.  In that context today AfricaNow! goes into its archives with a show that looked at the role of music in African liberation.  The show originally aired on June 16, 2010.  The guest on the show was Kofi Kissi Dompere.  Dr. Kofi Kissi Dompere is a professor emeritus of economics at Howard University and is no stranger to WPFW listeners as he is the longtime Host and Producer of African Rhythms and Extensions from Midnight on Saturday to 2AM Sunday.  He has authored several scientific and scholarly works in economics, philosophy, decision theory, and fuzzy mathematics.  He is the winner of 2006 Cheikh Anta Diop Award for excellence in scholarship.  He has a number of published monographs and has written extensively.  Dr. Kofi Kissi Dompere is a resource person for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and an economic consultant in the areas of cost-benefit analysis, national income accounts, development, and macroeconomics. Professor Dompere is the founder of The Research Institute of Information Decision and Economic Sciences (RIIDES) in which he serves as a distinguished research professor.  

The show includes the first president of Ghana Kwame Nkrumah in January 1961 talking about the killing/assassination of Patrice Lumumba.

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“OVERTURE TO SARAFINA!” ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST RECORDING commemorating Soweto Day–June 16; break--“FIRE IN SOWETO” BY SONY OKOSUN; sign-off--“COLONIAL MENTALITY” BY FELA KUTI; closing--“A LUTA CONTINUA” BY MIRIAM MAKEBA.

OTHER MUSIC DURING THE DISCUSSION: “BIRTH OF GHANA” BY LORD KITCHENER; “INDEPENDANCE CHA CHA” BY AFRICAN JAZZ; two versions “NKOSI SIKELEL’ IAFRIKA” BY SOWETO COMMUNITY HALL and FROM CONGO; “REDEMPTION SONG” BY BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS; “WIND OF CHANGE (REDEMPTION SONG PART 2)” BY SONY OKOSUN.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online: visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. You can also text to donate by simply texting WPFWFM (not case sensitive) to 801801 and then follow the instructions. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFWFM write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.  

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

Photo: "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" ('Lord Bless Africa')--https://aaregistry.org/story/nkosi-sikelel-iafrika-lord-bless-africa-is-composed/

AfricaNow! Jun. 18, 2025 African Liberation Music

Singer/songwriter, writer, podcaster (on Spotify, Substack & Patreon), libertarian socialist, dad, lover of life.  I also write songs as part of Ai Tsuno, which you can look up on all the streaming platforms.

New tracks tagged #liberation struggle