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Posted: Saturday October 14th, 2006 08:13 |
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Ligali Newsletter
October 2006
http://www.ligali.org
Greetings Family,
If you have received a copy of this newsletter then be thankful. We have received several reports about our website being banned by internet blocking filters and labelled ‘extremist’ for our assertive African human rights content. We make no apology nor will we modify our Robin Hood (the european Thomas Sankara) style of politics and will fight all attempts to remove our right to freedom of speech. If you are on our mailing list and did not get a copy sent direct from us then please go to the ligali homepage and resubmit your details providing an alternative email address.
It’s been a while since our last newsletter but we have been extremely busy nevertheless.
Firstly, we would like to extend our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Frank Ogboru following his tragic death in the custody of the British police. Frank was visiting the UK on holiday from Nigeria when, as one witness claims, several police officers, who had been called to the scene of an argument between the victim and another individual, pinned him down, some with their knees and feet on him as he cried “I can’t breathe�.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) which is investigating had made a submission to the Joint Committee on Human Rights Deaths in Custody Review and following its research report, Deaths During or Following Police Contact: Statistics for England and Wales 2004/05 (2005), announced that it had “developed the Forum for Preventing Deaths in Custody which is currently chaired by John Wadham, the IPCC’s Deputy Chair�.
Following the spectacular failure of the IPCC to bring the officers involved in the death of Christopher Alder to justice despite the full body of evidence which was aired nationally in the BBC programme “Death on Camera� we don’t expect much from them.
As Britain gears up its hopes for Olympic success, there is much talk about regeneration and opportunities for young people from deprived neighbourhoods. As a community we need to watch this agenda very carefully. The British media only likes to present African people using a simplistic monolithic formula. The two dominant aspects of that portrayal can be characterised as entertainers in the field of music or sports or dangerous exotic criminals running around with guns and knives. Britain desperately wants to win medals so the agenda to get our young people to ignore their academic studies and get heavily involved in sports will be immense.
There is a disturbing new trend gathering momentum from the fickle world of european media personalities. The phenomena known as ‘adopt an African child’ is spreading with actress, Angelina Jolie and pop star, Madonna being the latest to engage in the cross-ethnic fad. As an organisation Ligali supports anyone who chooses to sponsor an African family enabling them to support or adopt some of the many African orphans whose own families have been blighted by poverty or ill health. What we do not support is the ‘rescuing’ or ‘purchasing’ of African children as fashion accessories to prove moral supremacy whilst subjecting them to western values which will ultimately seek to disinherit them from their African culture and identity and instil a loathing of self.
When the BBC’s Shoot The Messenger author Sharon Foster told the Times educational supplement (TES) newspaper that she believed schools in Britain should not teach special lessons on black history or take part in such initiatives as ‘black’ History Month in October she could not have imagined how many of Britain’s ethnic majority agreed with her. This year African History Month events organised by statutory bodies has been markedly reduced and local Councils roll out an urbanised, multicultural, song and dance jamboree. Predictably, most of the culturally relevant events have been organised by grass roots community groups. African history month must be focused on African history, not racism, cultural diversity or famous ‘black’ entertainers from back in the day.
The Ligali organisation is participating in two events that you cannot afford to miss. The first is a debate this Sunday in Harrow, London about the n word and insidious racism, the second takes place in Bristol as part of Operation Truth 2007, a campaign designed to counter the propaganda being advocated by the British government to promote its Wilberforce Abolition 2007 agenda. Details are below.
To debate the issues that have been raised in this newsletter and any other current affairs matters relating to the African community, join the Ligali online forums. The forums also host the Ligali Online Book Club recently established by one of the forum posters where a book is read and discussed by forum members every month. September’s book is the Destruction of Black Civilisation by Chancellor Williams.
We would like to issue a belated thanks to all those who attended our African Remembrance Day event in July. We still have a limited number of our Event Brochure available which includes over 18 pages of uncompromising and enlightening articles including ‘The Challenge of Maafa 2007: Outlining the African Perspective’, ‘I Say African, you say Black – What's the Difference?’ and ‘Understanding Self Determination: A Brief Overview’. For a free copy of the brochure, please send an A5 stamp addressed envelope to: ARD Brochure Request, The Ligali Organisation, PO BOX 1257, London, E5 OUD or email emma@ligali.org
Finally, self determination is the key to community empowerment. Ligali is an organisation by the people for the people. There are many ways in which you can support us but to maintain our independence and integrity we also need your financial help. You can contribute by making a single or regular donation online. Click here to go to our donations page
Peace and Revolution
http://www.ligali.org
P.S. Don’t forget that you can catch Ligali on the last Friday of every month on Nubiart hosted by Kubara Zamani on Sound Radio 1503AM. Also on the web at http://www.soundradio.info email: nubiart@soundradio.info or afrikanquest@hotmail.com
Media News
The screening of the BBC’s film, Shoot the Messenger predictably stirred strong opinion. As a result of its hackneyed “Eastenders on steroids� content we received numerous complaints about what many people saw as a one-dimensional, offensive and unrealistic portrayal of the African British community.
The film is merely the latest in the BBC’s long and historic catalogue of myopic programming supposedly representing African people in Britain and has revived the campaign for boycotting the BBC licence fee until (or if) they decide to seriously address the lack of quality and quantity programming for our community. Incidentally, the BBC’s ethnic bias extends to its online news site where they attempted to exclude African people from their ‘urban’ representation of the Notting Hill Carnival, not to mention deliberately misquoting Ligali to promote their own agenda. Thankfully, the BBC generated media hype on Shoot the Messenger has dissipated. However, despite its redundant impact on our community we will have to repair the damage done to those of our aspiring young people who felt demonised by the film and the morale of those who felt insulted by its exclusion of the substantial amount of progressive work undertaken in the community.
Another mess that had the BBC written all over it was the ever increasingly redundant MOBO awards. Anyone who watched the 2006 event will no doubt be questioning whether there is a need for this pseudo award show that seeks to present awards to African American artists that cannot be bothered to attend. Having isolated and marginalised the community who helped support the MOBO’s when it was first getting off the ground, musical inconsistency and general ineptitude has led to Kanya King, organiser of the Award show, virtually all but officially killing off her own product. During this years event things were so bad that during the televised repeat of the show the BBC edited out the loud chorus of boos from the audience when artist Beyonce Knowles was given her third award of the evening for best international female. Embarrassingly for the organisers, Knowles who was in London at the time had not confirmed she was attending and apparently snubbed the awards so she could attend an Armani party the next day.
As with the EMMA awards, the MOBO’s have been descending from embarrassingly uncomfortable to watch to utterly dire and redundant for several years following its penchant for marginalising African British artists, attacking reggae music, blatant soul ignoring urbanisation agenda and its endorsement of African American artists who use the n-word and propagate the murder of Africans and rampant misogyny. This year, to its credit the British representation was much better however the organisation continued with its confused ‘black’ origin music agenda and chose to drop the award for best jazz artist because they claimed there wasn’t sufficient talent around. Perhaps once we consider previous winners of the category has also included Jamie Cullum and Norah Jones then we can understand how Mick Hucknall was once also able to win a MOBO award for outstanding achievement. This year MOBO organisers lost all integrity when they announced The Streets were being nominated for best group and the Soul artist, Anthony Hamilton, had ludicrously been placed into the best reggae act category.
And if that wasn’t proof enough of just how far the event has distanced from its initial intentions, you know you have problems when the exploitation DJ, Tim Westwood, who has previously received the award for best DJ, claims that ‘MOBO has always reflected the true essence of black music… The most important award show in the UK’. This is despite the fact that the MOBO awards have never in its entire history had an award for Soul music. Is it any surprise that MOBO organisers selected the CRE’s Trevor Philips to present a european organisation which has an annual income of over a million pounds with its inaugural ‘grass roots/community’ BeMOBO award for anti-slavery work in support of the governments Wilberforce Abolition 2007 commemorations.
Kanya King said: "Given that 2007 is the two hundredth anniversary of Britain's abolition of the slave trade, MOBO wanted to ensure that this incredibly important issue is given the profile it deserves."
How low can MOBO go?
One of the numerous adverts for skin lightening products in Black Beauty and Hair magazine
Unfortunately, whilst some remain committed to producing socially responsible media that empowers the community, there are those who, like the MOBO’s actively revere profit and prestige over any responsibility towards the community. Black Beauty and Hair magazine, which claims to be aimed at the ‘beauty conscious black woman’, features no less than twelve full pages for skin lightening products in its August/September issue. Not only do many of these products cause long term skin problems but the process of skin lightening propagates the notion that european aesthetics are something that African women should aspire to. One product, called ‘So White’ unashamedly promotes the link between ‘whiter’ skin and beauty with a tagline that reads tagline ‘So young, so pretty, so white!’ The response from the editor of the magazine, Irene Shelley attempts to distance the magazine from any moral obligation not to reinforce a negative self image of African women. In her response she states “Our editorial aim is to inform readers about hair, beauty and lifestyle issues without guiding them towards any particular viewpoint�.
The n word debate
In response to a Ligali complaint, Ian Parkinson, the BBC’s Head of 1Xtra and Specialist Music for Radio 1 justified the use of the n word by claiming that the BBC "and the overwhelming majority of [its] audience" did not interpret the n word as racist. Unsurprisingly, the police are dragging their feet on their investigation into our complaint regarding the BBC’s broadcast of anti-African language.
The politics of the n word, so favoured by Westwood and his ilk, is the subject of discussion at ‘The n word and Insidious Racism Debate’ organised by the BTWSC and [url=http://britishblackmusic.com/index.php?module=pagesetter&func=viewpub&tid=9Àd=11]BritishBlackMusic.com/Black Music Congress[/url], on Saturday 14th October at Harrow Civic Centre. The debate will examine the use of the n word in and outside of African and hip-hop culture, and the effects of insidious racism. Toyin Agbetu from the Ligali organisation will be speaking along with Bhavna Malkani (director of 'Guilty Or Innocent Of Using The N Word'), Paradise (The Good Samaritan Music Project) and Onyeka (Native Eye).
The Future of African History Month
We can not fail to mention the plight of African History Month in the UK which has been marked annually in October for several decades. Unfortunately, the government have earmarked AHM for its ritualistic ‘melting pot’ agenda which essentially seeks to undermine the original focus of the season and turn it into a multicultural awareness month. From the rebranding of AHM to ‘black and asian history month’ by Bexley council to the decrease in funding for African History events nationally the agenda is clear. There is a distinct long term agenda to eradicate all evidence of multiculturalism, and impose a dominant assimilated British identity upon the current and next generation of Africans growing up in Britain. As ever we are urging for community wide endorsement of African (not ‘black’) History Month in February to coincide with the international efforts of Africans across the globe and simultaneously avoid the contamination with other agendas. We have lost The Voice newspaper, Choice FM and now Carnival to urbanitis. AHM could go the same way if we don’t take uncompromised ownership and set the agenda for our cultural resources.
Independent Africentric Media
We have long been advocates for independent media within our community. It is integral to our self determination and an important means of disseminating culturally empowering information. Unfortunately, there is often a conflict between our need to control our own media and the agenda of those in government and state institutions who aggressively attempt to suppress any such initiatives. The forced introduction of expensive broadcasting technology such as DAB is designed to limit our ability to communicate across the airwaves, and divide its bandwidth between predominantly commercial and politically compromised community entities. Sweet FM, a community radio station which hosts music but also has several informative and educative debate shows, became the latest target of this war against Africans when they were raided by the DTI on numerous occasions. The substantial number of raids coincidentally followed an announcement by community activist and former Sweet FM presenter, Bro. Hakim to establish various youth focused empowerment initiatives on his popular Reality Talks show.
As a result, the station was forced to cancel their interactive talk shows from their schedules. Suddenly, the raids stopped. This revolutionary programme, if it had been allowed to launch, would have given a real platform to young disaffected Africans with its genuine commitment to socially responsible and empowering content. Thankfully the station owners have stood up and relaunched the Sunday empowerment show with a debate featuring Des Robinson, Kimani Nehusi and author Robin Walker tackling effects of the deliberate urbanisation of African History Month. This is a great step forward and we now await the reinstating of the Reality Talks show.
Lekia Lée and Sony Decker
In May this year, Colourful Radio a new national digital talk radio station was launched, adding to the ever increasing body of quality community radio. The station’s format is a rich mix of news, current affairs and journalism, agenda-setting coverage, short documentaries, drama, panel discussions, phone-ins and a liberal sprinkling of music. We must commend the station’s founder, Kofi Kusitor and director, Henry Bonsu for a digital station that provides an intelligent Africentric alternative to the rabid xenophobia driven debates on the likes of Five Live, LBC and BBC Radio London. Whilst we do not agree with some of the choices of presenters, (the recent appointment of Amina Taylor is a real disappointment) interactive talk shows such as the Drivetime phone-in with Henry Bonsu and the popular Backchat show, an open mic forum where the listeners set the discussion agenda every weekday evening between 6pm and 9pm co-hosted by one of the best duo’s in radio, Sonny Decker and Lekia Lée are both informative and challenging without the compromise and dumbing down offered by the aforementioned mainstream alternatives. Colourful can be listened to through Sky Digital Channel 0194 or online at http://www.colourfulradio.com
This Month’s Recommended Media
When We Ruled by Robin Walker
Sable Magazine feat Chinua Achebe
Can I Be Me by Esther Armah
The Destruction of Black Civilisation by Chancellor Williams
Nubiart (Wed @ 5pm and Fri @ 10pm) on http://www.soundradio.info
BackChat (Mon – Fri, 6pm- 9pm) on http://www.colourfulradio.com and Sky Channel 194
The Whirlwind newspaper (Available at most African bookshops)
Finally, please remember that if we don’t want the continuation of the selected politically compromised ‘black’ voices who have consistently let us down in the past, speaking on our behalf then we must support our own media by sponsoring, listening and contributing to them.
Youth Empowerment
Rochelle Holness
On a particularly positive note, Friday 15th September saw the launch of the Rochelle Angel Foundation set up in memory of the young school girl, Rochelle Holness who was tragically murdered in Catford, South East London in September 2005. The Foundation, which aims to generate and promote safe environments, activities and creative opportunities for young people, was launched at a talent show tribute featuring an abundance of young talent. A year after this young girl was taken from her family, we can only pay tribute to the determination and strength of her family and friends who have worked towards creating something constructive for young people.
By Any Means Necessary: The Crisis of mental wealth in the African British community
The issue of African British mental health is increasingly being recognised as one of the most critical issues facing our community in Britain today. African people suffer from the highest rate of sectioning under the 1983 Mental Health Act.
Findings from the David ‘Rocky’ Bennett Inquiry report into the tragic death of an African British patient in psychiatric care revealed damning levels of racism and incompetence within mental health services. Psychiatry has been as damaging to our community as the racism which has led to high school exclusion rates of our children and more severe sentencing for African British prisoners. The first national census of mental health hospitals entitled ‘Count Me In’, revealed unprecedented levels of discrimination within mental health services.
The census showed that African Briton’s are 44% more likely to be sectioned, 50% more likely to be put in seclusion and 29% more likely to be forcibly restrained than their european counterparts despite having similar rates of mental ill health as other ethnic groups. Despite these shocking statistics, the government has ultimately sidelined legal duties under the Race Relations Amendment Act in the review of mental health law. This has outraged community organisations and human rights campaigners who say that our community’s concerns should be central to the review of this law.
Since announcements were made in January this year that the 1983 Mental Health Act would be reviewed the health minister, Rosie Winterton and senior civil servants have consistently ignored professionals and health expert’s calls for the need to prioritise the treatment of African British patients trapped in psychiatric care.
Exasperated with the Governments consistent attempts to sidestep the issue of ethnicity in this review a new campaign group, called Black Mental Health UK, has galvanised the support of community and church groups across the UK to fight for the treatment of African British patients in psychiatric care to be made a national priority.
With only weeks to go before the Government’s changes are due to go to the Houses of Parliament to be debated before they become law it is now critical for anyone concerned about the human rights and civil liberties of African Caribbean patients detained under the 1983 Mental Health to support the aims of Black Mental Health UK.
BMH UK allows supporters to send a pro forma letter to their MP at the click of a mouse. Without taking this action, our community will continue to be denied the right to have any meaningful say in how the 1983 Mental Health Act should be amended. With the plans to send changes to the 1983 Act to parliament by November, the urgency of supporting this campaign has now become critical. We would urge you to take the 5 minutes required to Ligali has recently joined the widespread support for BMH UK alongside community organisations like 100 Black Men and the Afyia Trust and church groups not normally associated with campaigning like the African Caribbean Evangelical Alliance and the Council of Black Led Churches. To add your support for this campaign for justice in mental health services go to http://www.blackmentalhealth.org.uk
Truth 2007
Reconstructing African History: The moral pretence - From evil slavers to anti-slavery colonialists
The government has recently announced that in 2007, it may issue an ‘expression of regret’ about the role of the British in the enslavement of Africa and African people. The statement is set to coincide with their tainted plans to celebrate their parliamentary Act citing the abolition of enslavement. The Telegraph newspaper claims “Although such a declaration is said in Whitehall to fall short of the formal apology demanded by some campaigners, it would nevertheless be seen as one.� It is time to set the record straight and be clear about this insincere apology that some people are trying to demand. Firstly, the process of enslavement or the Maafa as it is known to many Africans continues to this very day. Therefore, we in the Diaspora have no right to accept an apology from the British government whilst our brothers and sisters on the Continent remain enslaved by european, arab and most recently, east asian nations. Enslavement did not end, it merely transformed itself. For the British to be sincere about an apology, they would first have to stop doing the very act that they claim to be apologising for. Secondly, the British media’s relentless and infantile racist jibes aimed at provoking Muslim communities into a ‘justified’ fight, exposes the fact that Britain remains too emotionally and culturally immature as a nation to make a sincere and genuine apology. With childish defences such as ‘I never enslaved anyone so I’m not apologising’ and [url=http://www.ligali.org/pdf/Letters from Bristol - The Worst (Majority View).pdf]‘with regard to the slave trade – it happened – get over it’ [/url] , it is clear that there is a lack of understanding about the Maafa, its continued effects upon African people and the role of Britain’s ethnic majority in rectifying the devastating legacy caused by their nation. Until the public and those in positions of political power in this country get past these immature arguments, an apology would be nothing more than lip service. And Africans do not appreciate empty words.
Toyin Agbetu from Ligali and Esther Stanford from the Campaign for Reparations will be taking part in a crucial debate in Bristol as part of the Operation Truth 2007 campaign. The event, which is organised by the Consortium of Black Groups (COBG), is a public meeting which will take place on Wednesday 25th October 2006, 6pm - 9pm at the Black Development Agency, Russell Town Avenue (Opposite the City Academy Bristol).
For more details please check operationtruth2007.co.uk
Crime and Justice
As the defensive and uneducated ideology of european ethnic dominance gains ground in Britain, the physical and verbal assaults against African people will undoubtedly continue. In the same month that five men were charged with the ethnically motivated murder of 18 year old Christopher Alaneme in Kent in April this year, another African Briton, Richard Peterkin, was violently attacked in Coventry by a gang of racist thugs who told him to ‘go back to Africa’. An African man was also violently assaulted in New Cross by a gang of up to seven european men. During the altercation, through which the victim sustained a fractured jaw and a broken thumb, the victim’s ear was also split after being bitten by one of the assailants. The attack is said to have been motivated by the victim’s African ethnicity.
We are also pleased to report that Hassan Akhtar, Mubashir Akthar and Nasira Akhtar of 16 Woodfield Avenue, London SW16 1LG from Ace Afro Hair and Beauty shop in Brixton appeared in court this week and pleaded guilty to selling and supplying unlicensed steroid skin products which pose a risk to the health of African women. However, this parasitic, amoral gang had previous convictions for similar offences. We can only hope that their sentencing on 25 October 2006 at Inner London Crown Court will reflect their flagrant disregard for the welfare of their customers and the callous and indifferent manner in which they continued to exploit their market for profit. Unfortunately, this case is merely the tip of the iceberg. We are therefore asking anyone who knows of any ‘Afro’ businesses that sell unlicensed, illegal ‘beauty’ products such as skin whitening/bleaching creams targeted at African people? If so please send us their details at mail@ligali.org and we will endeavour to ensure that these individuals are exposed.
Ligali recently caught on to an incident said to have taken place in Lancaster earlier this month involving suspected terrorist activity being undertaken by BNP supporters. According to the North West Evening Mail, 62 year old David Bolais Jackson, a retired dentist, is accused of being involved in a bomb plot following the discovery of a record number of explosives. Police found rocket launchers, chemicals, British National Party literature and a nuclear or biological suit at his home. Robert Cottage, an alleged accomplice and former BNP election candidate was also found to have 22 chemical components in his home. He has since been arrested under the Explosives Act on suspicion of possessing chemicals that may be capable of making an explosion. The discovery has been described as the largest ever found at a house in Britain.
Baring in mind the heavy focus on illuminating terrorist activity in Britain, it is certainly surprising that coverage of such a significant and disturbing incident has been notably absent from the mainstream media. It goes without saying that had these individuals been African, this would have been front page news when the story first appeared last Friday. For those who remember the racist Brixton bomber, this will be seen as a very worrying development in an increasingly intolerant British society. We contacted Lancashire police to verify the story and received a somewhat vague response from their press office. The full story can be read online.
Urgent news: Mystery Plague Affects Africans Worldwide
An article by Mogho Naaba
There has been a sudden and strange and incurable plague scientists have named ‘Panafricanitis’ that has struck black people all over the globe in the last few weeks.
“This is a very strange thing that has occurred – totally unprecedented in mankind’s history� said a White House representative. “Never has such a phenomena happened where an entire group of over a billion people have suddenly changed their collective ideology�.
In Africa, civil wars have ceased. While the AIDS rate is still pandemic, numerous African scientists from the Continent, as well as America, Europe and Cuba have designed a herbal cure that eradicates the illness almost immediately.
Leaders have come together to discuss numerous and drastic changes to improve the quality of life on the Continent in terms of leadership, political structure, education, technology, health services and agriculture. “The decisions made for our Continent that has suffered centuries of exploitation and colonialism will be made solely by Africans for Africans�, stated Gertrude Mongella, President of the African Union parliament. “We will not allow any input from non Africans to dictate to us how we should run our continent. Soon, the problems that have ravaged this Continent will be a thing of the past�.
In the western world, particularly North America, the African murder rates in the urban inner cities have plummeted. Robberies, rapes and other forms of crime have halted as many street kids have left their bad ways behind. Gang members such as the Bloods and Crips in Los Angeles have called a truce. While they have kept their firearms, they have participated in the cleaning up of their neighbourhoods. They have also used all the money gained from drug proceeds and other criminal activities to build youth centres, anti drug programs and Africentric schools. Many fathers estranged from their children for many years have come into contact with their offspring and have now formed close bonds.
Rappers have held meetings in order to quash their disputes and discuss wealth distribution. "I used to brag a lot about all the diamonds and money I had", stated Sean 'P Diddy' Combs, "but I've realised that my perpetual ignorance has done nothing but caused harm in communities not only in America, but worldwide. There are kids in Africa who have died for the luxuries myself and many other rappers have enjoyed. We've all decided to sell all our gold and diamonds and put all the money back into the Motherland, know what I'm sayin'?" Other rappers have vowed to only write lyrics to uplift their women and their communities. "Never will I disrespect my African Queens again" stated Luther Campbell, former member of the 2 Live Crew…Read the full story online
Terminology: Political correctness or culturally respectful?
Not too long ago the disabled were labelled ‘spastics’, anyone who wasn’t european was deemed ‘coloured’, history books claimed that ‘black’ history began with slavery and schools taught our children that Africans were subhuman cannibals who lived solely in mud huts, ate bananas in trees and came from an uncivilised, savage place called the 'dark' Continent.
The introduction of ‘political’ correctness as an ideology started to change this.
Political correctness was established by the many communities who demanded respectful and accurate terms of reference. The notion of greater respect for the fundamental human right of individual communities to self determine was instigated as a means to foster tolerant attitudes about education and Britain’s long established multicultural society. To a large extent the use of political correctness in public discourse succeeded in protecting the rights and dignity of minority communities against the overwhelming bigotry and mono-cultural bullying of a boorish majority.
The politically incorrect phrase “I hate most coloureds� is no different from the modified sentence “I don’t like some people of colour�. An organisation which claims it “seeks a diverse workforce to represent the community it represents� is really saying that it currently maintains employment policies that enable staff to discriminate against people on the basis of ethnicity. Political correctness is responsible for masking instead of eradicating the thoughtless illiberalism and unconscious racism that permeates the various echelons of British society.
The problem today is that as the public’s desire for greater cultural imperialism increases and politicians increasingly resort to exploiting Britain’s ethnic majority’s irrational fear of the other for control purposes, instead of recognising political correctness as a mechanism capable of cultivating the respect of human rights for all, the media and government has worked overtime to portray it as a form of subversive thought policing.
The backlash against political correctness was officially sanctioned by the British government when Trevor Philips, chair of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) denounced multiculturalism as a threat to the British way of life. He was ‘encouraged’ to make these comments by politicians desperate to show the public that it took the threat of ‘home grown terrorism’ seriously. The rationale behind the attack on minority communities was that if Britain’s most authoritative race body could dare say the unspeakable, then everybody should feel free to do so as well. The moral requirement of the state to educate British racists to show respect for human rights and the cultures of others took a paradigm shift which demanded that the ‘other’ was required to adopt core values of Britishness, earn their human rights (rather than expect them) and assimilate into a culture which tolerated racist, sexist, capitalist, paedophilic decadence. As the human rights activist Dr Martin Luther King mused just before his assassination… had he been wrong to campaign to get African Americans to integrate into the moral equivalent of a burning building destined to collapse?
Today as then, those who believe in the cultural and moral superiority of european values define any form of political correctness as a barrier to the ‘truth’… their unified catchphrase “it’s political correctness gone mad� has been used to denigrate any idea that may eradicate inequality that may result in at some minor cost or inconvenience to the majority ethnic community.
With the CRE now backing criticisms against the very same communities it was set up to protect, this classic piece of government endorsed social backed manipulation has worked flawlessly. It meant that the Tory party felt emboldened to run an entire electoral campaign designed to exploit Britain’s xenophobic pulse. Parties such as the BNP and UKIP launched manifestos attacking political correctness claiming that it is a shield for extremism and terrorists. Even John Reid, Home Secretary of the supposedly liberal left wing Labour Party has joined in with the racist mantra of the Daily Mail and other right wing commentators by saying that he was pleased to be "the first Labour minister to say we need to get away from the daft politically correct notion that discussing [immigration] is racist." Incidentally, no one has ever made this fabricated assertion that discussing immigration is racist. It is the way such debates are conducted around the subject that has been the cause of justified contention.
Instead of these political agitators recognising political correctness as an admittedly inelegant attempt at ingratiating equality into the English language, and therefore its culture, they claimed it was a threat to freedom of speech and prevents those with the ‘courage’ to speak on behalf of the majority from saying the unthinkable, lest they be labelled racist, sexist or imperialist.
United they stand: British organisations with a common agenda to eliminate political correctness
But this thought process is quite simply juvenile and untrue. Whilst political correctness has been successful at reducing overt racism, it has failed dismally to alter the mindset of those who feel oppressed by the pressure of speaking in a culturally respectful manner which does not reflect their true feelings and opinions. The act of a person or institution being politically correct is exactly that, an ‘act’. They are presenting their ideas in manner which only presents the external pretence of a ‘correct’ message for a preferred political outcome. In short they are being insincere.
Despite the abundant rhetoric being spouted by political figures about ‘cultural diversity enriching society’, the implementation of new mono-cultural policies, anti-African modifications to the national curriculum and irrepressible, belligerent anti-immigrant media output, it is clear that there is little attempt to recognise and respect the cultural differences of African and other non european Britons. Instead the backlash against political correctness has led to a situation where the principle benefactors of the socio-political inequality that affects minority communities, now want the return of their right to offend vulnerable and minority groups. The so called ‘silent majority’ now want the ability to be able to oppress those who refuse to assimilate into their way of life without challenge. Unfortunately, the British government has acceded to this new and rising tide of oppressive expression by its refusal to prosecute those who commit human right abuses in the interest of the state. As a result has given consent and license to all who want to deny human rights to all humans.
We can only hope Britain reaches a point of maturity where we can one day see the birth of sincere cultural respectfulness.
Recommendations:
Do not refer to African people as ‘blacks’, ‘coloureds’, ‘ethnics’ or ‘BME’s’.
There is no difference between labelling African people ‘coloured’ and ‘people of colour’. All humans are ‘people of colour’.
Do not refer to African History month as ‘black’ history month.
We do not refer to the Chinese as yellow people of Chinese descent, we do not refer to eurorpean as white or pink people of european descent, therefore do not refer to African people as black people of African descent.
Africans with dual heritage or a ‘mixed race’ threat?
Talking Point: 'Other', 'mixed', 'creole', 'mulatto', 'half-caste', 'bi-racial', 'earthling', 'milk chocolate', 'Eurafrican', 'Afripean', 'Anglo-Afrikan', 'Afro-european', 'tanned', 'coloured' - these are just some of the labels given to Africans with dual heritage. Has the time now come for the media to exercise some common sense and use a single definition?
There has been much talk in the media about the exponential growth of the ‘mixed race’ community. Typically portrayed as the acceptable face of docile exotica or presented as the logical assimilated future of all Africans, we are told that we may as well reject our ethnic identity, and become neither ‘black’ or ‘white’ but instead simply human. These assertions did not originate from the African community but in from Britain’s ethnic majority. In a similar way to the African community’s argument for the cultural-linguistic annihilation of the n word, the denigratory word ‘mulatto’ is both embraced and rejected by dual heritage Africans seeking an identity which describes the totality of what they have been told is their ethnic reality.
In Chancellor Williams classic 1987 book, The Destruction of Black Civilisation he writes;
“Massive [African] unity would be massive [African] power which, of course would reduce white power and its domination of the earth. So white ‘Africanists’ writers always concentrate on the ‘ethnic differences’ among Africans, the tribal antagonisms, the ‘hopeless’ language barriers, the cultural varieties, etc. They even make a separate ‘ethnic’ group of their own mulatto offspring from [African] women by classifying them as ‘white’ in some areas and ‘coloureds’ in others. Hence a system of thought and practices was developed and superimposed on an already divided race to keep it permanently divided.�
The ability to self determine one’s identity is the most fundamental right a human can have. However in order to determine who we are, we must also be clear in our minds who and what we are not. To maintain their immoral and violent dogma of ‘white’ male supremacy, europeans defined an ideology of race which sought to disinherit African people from their culture, history and identity.
A typical example of this is what was done in Azania (South Africa) when African people were forced at gun point to refer to themselves as ‘blacks’ and ‘coloureds’ because the regime in power preferred to label themselves ‘afrikaans’ and felt the word African was too similar to their dutch inspired identity.
The legacy of this ideology still exists. In the BBC’s successful genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are, the African athlete Colin Jackson took a DNA test to discover his genetic makeup. The returning results stated that he was 55% African and 38% European and 7% Native American. Despite this, Colin struggled to come to terms with himself as an African and sought to primarily define himself as a Welsh man with Jamaican and Native American heritage.
The problem with defining African people with dual heritage as ‘mixed’ however stems from the racist belief in the existence of a ‘pure’ master race. The implication is that anyone who is ‘bi-racial’ or ‘mixed’ as in this example with African blood, is therefore ‘impure’. This ideology did not generally exist in indigenous African cultures where our family model was based on the fact that Africans with dual tribal heritage were still Africans unless they culturally behaved otherwise.
However this mode of thought was disrupted by years of western socio-political interference and has created a world where some Africans will claim that ‘mixed race’ people are not ‘black’. These Africans fail to realise that you can not define a person’s ethnicity exclusively by DNA trace percentages. The pseudo ethnic identity ‘black’ is a european socio-cultural construct innately used to refer to anyone who is not ‘white’. So even if so called “blackness� were to be defined scientifically by having a dominant percentage of African DNA, it would still be possible that someone who is clearly African would not be culturally classified as so called “black�.
Throughout the Maafa, the global African gene pool was routinely and forcibly contaminated with both european and arab genetic information. It is not unlikely for an African to be born on the Continent and still have large proportions of non African dna despite their parents having never travelled outside the Continent. This is one of the many reasons why we must often strive to use our natural tools (eyes) and common knowledge (culture) to determine who is and who is not an African instead of pretending ethnicity is an exact science that can be quantified in a laboratory.
There is no denying that some Africans with dual heritage would rather self define as europeans with ‘black’ heritage. Many of these people are typically culturally disinherited and are exercising their legitimate right to align themselves with where they see there to be a socio-political advantage and dominance. What we as a community should not do however, is discriminate against Africans with dual heritage simply on the basis of DNA percentages. To do so would be to ignorantly create cultural orphans who in the UK are generally rejected as european and perpetuate an injustice that strives to maintain disunity and inequality amongst the diverse 1.5 billion plus African people walking the earth. And all culturally aware Africans understand that there is nothing more important than family.
Recommendations:
Do not label African with dual heritage as ‘mixed race’. There is only one race with varying ethnicities.
Do not discuss Africans with dual heritage as if they were all the same homogenous mass who share the same political and cultural identity politics.
You do not need to agree with their terminology, but should seek to respect the right of an African with european heritage to self define.
Do not label African’s with or without dual heritage as ‘black’
AFRIcons of African History
Nwanyeruwa, Mary Okezie, Ihejilemebi Ibe and Adiaha Edem
In 1929 Nwanyeruwa, Mary Okezie, Ihejilemebi Ibe and Adiaha Edem helped organise and lead the rural women of Owerri and Calabar Provinces, Igboland, Nigeria in a revolt against the corrupt institutions and symbols of British colonialism. Marching in their thousands they destroyed British factories and courts set up for warrant chiefs during colonial oppression.
The conflict began after the British colonial administration introduced direct taxation on all adults and livestock and set up warrant chiefs to enforce British law whilst assuming that African women did not have a voice in political matters as was the case in Britain. This was a mistake as in the southern eastern parts of Nigeria, most communities were self ruled with women paying an equal part.
It was an argument between colonial officer Mark Emeruwa and Nwanyeruma, a woman of Ngwa heritage, which galvanised mass support from the community of two million who were united in their condemnation of British colonial oppression.
On the 6th of December, 1929 the British attempted to suppress the women’s uprising by committing indiscriminate mass murder at Uta Etim Ekpo, Abak. This violent approach culminated in the infamous massacre at Egwanga beach and Opobo Ibekwe (now Ikot Abasi) where up to five hundred innocent women were unjustifiably murdered. In spite of this sickening violation of their human rights, the women fought on.
On the 15th of December, 1929, armed men from the British police and army clashed with two thousand women who came in canoes armed with sticks and painted faces whilst chanting songs of grievance “whatever comes we will face - putra anyige eme.� This particular uprising led by Adiaha Edem, was given the name the “Women’s War� or “Ekong Iban�. The women took large casualties and tragically Adiaha Edem alongside the respected Judge, Udo Udoma was personally executed by a British officer named Lieutenant Hill.
Despite these set backs the African women still continued their legacy of protests throughout the 1940s whenever they felt their economic and social interests were undermined. Artefacts depicting the history of the 1929 “Women’s War� against taxation by the British Colonial forces can be seen at Ikot Abasi town in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria.
Sources
Igbo Women from 1929-1960 - West Africa Review
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Kunjufu
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Posted: Saturday October 14th, 2006 10:55 |
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| bump..
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Posted: Sunday October 15th, 2006 09:41 |
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Villagers - do any of you read this freely available newsletter? or is it seen as free version of The Final Call? Guess I'm kind of worried about that syndrome where we complain about not having representation as a way of saying actually we don't want representation. I would like to take this opportunity to show my respect for the efforts of Ligali.
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Kunjufu
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Posted: Sunday October 15th, 2006 10:15 |
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Incognito: Actually I do read this newsletter verbatim when i get it....and this October edition raises some interesting points....
I think people should be alive to the Amendments to the 1983 Mental health Act...
I think people should be alive to the threat of the new terminlogy of BME..and
I think people should also be alive to the threat of Racial heirachy..ie Dual heritage/mixed race..marginalisation by any other name...
Lastly Ligali should not concen themselves that they are being solely targeted for exclusion regarding the online stakes.. It has been clear for sometime now that the word filters within public buildings and offices have been set high to exclude access to to places like Ligali and Blacknet... Hence one of the reason why we have two sites to circumvent their efforts..
Last edited on Sunday October 15th, 2006 10:17 by Kunjufu
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Apedemak
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Posted: Monday October 16th, 2006 00:44 |
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| Inspiring stuff.
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Posted: Monday October 16th, 2006 04:11 |
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The n word debate is disturbing. People need to step out of their skins and see thw world from the outside looking in - how can the word not be racist. At this rate there is a good chance i will e listed in the Oxford Dictionary....would anyone like to guess what the description would be.
Come across many people with the opinion that we need to make the word our own and change it into something endearing in a changing something negative to positive stunt - BOLLOX!
I watched Lenny Henry's tribute to Richard Pryor over the weekend and it was quite shocking to see 'militant' African Americans 'offended' when Pryor said never again call will he call another black man a ni$$er - as one man put it, it takes away 'our' power - in what context I ask, dignity?, making money?
Kunjufu - roll on the days where the Ligali newsletter and it's content is as much part of our everyday consciousness like the tabloid press is and proliferates as much gossip as last nights episode of Eastenders
Last edited on Monday October 16th, 2006 04:26 by Incognito
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Posted: Monday October 16th, 2006 13:06 |
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Come across many people with the opinion that we need to make the word our own and change it into something endearing in a changing something negative to positive stunt - BOLLOX!
Its coming to england, with that channel u the wannabe artists are starting to use it. Won't be long before it creeps into street slang and starts being used.
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Posted: Monday October 16th, 2006 20:05 |
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Incognito wrote: Villagers - do any of you read this freely available newsletter?
Yep. It gets mailed to my inbox.
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Posted: Tuesday October 17th, 2006 18:39 |
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KibKib - I used to get it in my inbox
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Posted: Wednesday December 6th, 2006 20:03 |
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Can I hear an Amen for the Ligali Team - have you been to their site lately?!
Last edited on Wednesday December 6th, 2006 20:05 by Incognito
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stick-upKid
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Posted: Thursday December 7th, 2006 09:52 |
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Quality read.
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Black_Power
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Posted: Thursday December 7th, 2006 11:57 |
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| good stuff..
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Posted: Thursday December 7th, 2006 14:04 |
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| No one posting their other Newsletters? Haven't been getting them but I thought they were monthly?
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saywone1
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Posted: Tuesday January 2nd, 2007 18:36 |
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| I didnt know about this.....I shall sign up straight away!
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Posted: Tuesday January 2nd, 2007 23:03 |
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