With its track record of leveraging cultural power for US gain and barely concealed promotion of coup attempts, the US Agency for International Development will not be mourned among the US’s southern neighbours, write JOHN PERRY and ROGER D HARRIS
Making Black History Month meaningful again
ROGER McKENZIE argues that Black History Month has been sanitised, losing its original purpose of empowering black people through knowledge of their history and struggles to actually go out and fight the battles of today
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BLACK History Month (BHM) amounts to 31 days of ghost stories.
We spend the month listening to stories of black ghosts who we are taught to revere and treat as virtual gods and whose lives we should almost learn by heart.
Some of us are even taught to believe that this once-a-year extravaganza of ackee and saltfish, pakoras and samosas — sometimes even on the same plate — actually makes a difference to the levels of racism at work or in our communities.
More from this author
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China’s huge growth and trade success have driven the expansion of the Brics alliance — now is a good time for the global South to rediscover 1955’s historic Bandung conference, and learn its lessons, writes ROGER McKENZIE
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The revolutions in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso against the old colonial powers are seldom understood in terms of Africans’ own agency and their rejection of the imperialist humiliation thrust upon them, writes ROGER McKENZIE
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From Zimbabwe’s provinces to Mali’s streets, nations are casting off colonial labels in their quest for true independence and dignity in a revival of the pan-African spirit, writes ROGER McKENZIE
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Challenging critics of the Sandinista government, the young Nicaraguan union leader FLAVIA OCAMPO speaks to Roger McKenzie about the nation’s progressive health system and how trade unions have been at the centre of social progress
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As Black History Month brings renewed focus on the fight against racial inequality, LUKE DANIELS argues that understanding slavery’s legacy and demanding financial reparations are key to defeating modern racism
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Despite being a proud Black Country boy, ROGER McKENZIE has mixed feelings about Englishness and its all too common petty nationalism, following a lifetime of being considered inferior because of the colour of his skin
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ROGER McKENZIE warns against accepting the lip service offered by politicians to the struggle against racism
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Racism in Britain has been forced to become more subtle over the years — but it certainly hasn't been watching the treatment of Diane Abbott this last week. Her experience is, sadly, familiar to many of us, writes ROGER McKENZIE