Oh my brother, another good one!! Now sit back and watch the traitor dogs come out baying and foaming at the mouth!!
Their problem is simple; imagine walking around aware that you mutilated your motherland while pursuing " r ... read full comment
Oh my brother, another good one!! Now sit back and watch the traitor dogs come out baying and foaming at the mouth!!
Their problem is simple; imagine walking around aware that you mutilated your motherland while pursuing " rights as senior sons". Knowing this, the mention of the leader who was installed of and by the people must be a mental scourge!! And then to realize even 50 years later what a disaster your antecedents caused coupled with an unwillingness to publicly face the facts one privately acknowledges; must be really excruciating an example of cognitive dissonance as any I can think of. As for the ones who have sold out for money like SAS & Ahoofe their torment forces them to engage in political projection hence their incoherent insult&falsehood laden rants!!
WE WON'T STOP CAN'T STOP!!!
DUTOR 8 years ago
GORGORDUTOR, if you want to comment, fine! but write your comment in a decent understandable English language. What you have written there is rubbish.
GORGORDUTOR, if you want to comment, fine! but write your comment in a decent understandable English language. What you have written there is rubbish.
BIG JOE 8 years ago
KING WAS NO DIFFERENT WAS KWAME NKRUMAH AND MANDELA. THEY WERE ALL COMMIES WHO WANTED A COMMUNIST WORLD , NOT FREEDOM AND AND DEMOCRACY.
MANDELA WAS ONLY VERY RECENTLY TAKEN OFF THE MOST WANTED PEOPLE LIST OF AMERICA. HE W ... read full comment
KING WAS NO DIFFERENT WAS KWAME NKRUMAH AND MANDELA. THEY WERE ALL COMMIES WHO WANTED A COMMUNIST WORLD , NOT FREEDOM AND AND DEMOCRACY.
MANDELA WAS ONLY VERY RECENTLY TAKEN OFF THE MOST WANTED PEOPLE LIST OF AMERICA. HE WAS A COMMIE. LETS NOT BEAT ABOUT THE BUSH. THESE PEOPLE HATED DEMOCRACY AND CAPITALISM.
GORGORDUTOR 8 years ago
smallmind Joe CLASSIC MASTER SAY HOUSENIGGA!!!
This specimen of alleged African descent is the stereotypical HOUSENIGGA!!!! What conscious African cognizant of world history would even think like that!!! Just the bare facts ... read full comment
smallmind Joe CLASSIC MASTER SAY HOUSENIGGA!!!
This specimen of alleged African descent is the stereotypical HOUSENIGGA!!!! What conscious African cognizant of world history would even think like that!!! Just the bare facts of American extremely dubious record at home and abroad since oh 1867 or 1898? To make it easy since 1945, makes clear that every person tagged as a communist whether in America or abroad was engaged in the protracted war for human freedom in all forms!! Whether from segregation discrimination colonialism and all the assorted forms of humans inhumanity toward each other!!!! Were the charges all correct to include "was against" the so called democracies like the US today where Multi Billionare plutocrats actually own pet political cockroaches, and a capitalist system where less 1% of the population own 85% of the wealth and receive 40% of annual income on a global scale, then they were on the right side of freedom
This character is not self-aware, conscious nor rational!! He is deaf blind and despite all appearances a credulous peon of the global robber baron capitalism, that brutal virus that emanates from the festering swamps of the white male supremacist neocolonial worldview!!!!! A mummified zombie so thoroughly shorn of an independent mind that he accepts and swallows crow feathers secure in the self-deluded belief that Massa Kwesi Broni is feeding him manna and he is having problems ingesting it is his fault, you cannot describe such a person as an idiot because sadly he doesn't have a brain. Just a humanoid operated by remote, the malware appears to have been hard-wired to his operating system!!!! Nuff said.
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
I want to preach this morning from the subject: “The Birth of a New Nation.” And I would like to use as a basis for our thinking together, a story that has long since been stenciled on the mental sheets of succeeding gene ... read full comment
I want to preach this morning from the subject: “The Birth of a New Nation.” And I would like to use as a basis for our thinking together, a story that has long since been stenciled on the mental sheets of succeeding generations. It is the story of the Exodus, the story of the flight of the Hebrew people from the bondage of Egypt, through the wilderness and finally, to the Promised Land. It’s a beautiful story. I had the privilege the other night of seeing the story in movie terms in New York City, entitled the “Ten Commandments” and I came to see it in all of its beauty. The struggle of Moses, the struggle of his devoted followers as they sought to get out of Egypt. And they finally moved on to the wilderness and toward the Promised Land. This is something of the story of every people struggling for freedom. It is the first story of man’s explicit quest for freedom. And it demonstrates the stages that seem to inevitably follow the quest for freedom.
Prior to March the sixth, 1957, there existed a country known as the Gold Coast. This country was a colony of the British Empire. This country was situated in that vast continent known as Africa. I’m sure you know a great deal about Africa, that continent with some two hundred million people, and it extends and covers a great deal of territory. There are many familiar names associated with Africa that you would probably remember, and there are some countries in Africa that many people never realize. For instance, Egypt is in Africa. And there is that vast area of North Africa with Egypt and Ethiopia, with Tunisia and Algeria and Morocco, and Libya. Then you might move to South Africa, and you think of that extensive territory known as the Union of South Africa. There is that capital city Johannesburg that you read so much about these days. Then there is central Africa with places like Rhodesia and the Belgian Congo. And then there is East Africa with places like Kenya and Tanganyika, and places like Uganda and other very powerful countries right there. And then you move over to West Africa where you find the French West Africa and Nigeria, and Liberia and Sierra Leone and places like that. And it is in this spot, in this section of Africa, that we find the Gold Coast, there in West Africa.
You also know that for years and for centuries, Africa has been one of the most exploited continents in the history of the world. It’s been the “Dark Continent.” It’s been the continent that has suffered all of the pain and the affliction that could be mustered up by other nations. And it is that continent which has experienced slavery, which has experienced all of the lowest standards that we can think about, and it’s been brought into being by the exploitation inflicted upon it by other nations.
And this country, the Gold Coast, was a part of this extensive continent known as Africa. It’s a little country there in West Africa about ninety-one thousand miles in area, with a population of about five million people, a little more than four and a half million. And it stands there with its capital city, Accra. For years the Gold Coast was exploited and dominated and trampled over. The first European settlers came in there about 1444, the Portuguese, and they started legitimate trade with the people in the Gold Coast. They started dealing with them with their gold, and in turn they gave them guns and ammunition and gunpowder and that type of thing. Well, pretty soon America was discovered a few years later in the fourteen hundreds, and then the British West Indies. And all of these growing discoveries brought about the slave trade.
You remember it started in America in 1619. And there was a big scramble for power in Africa. With the growth of the slave trade, there came into Africa, into the Gold Coast in particular, not only the Portuguese but also the Swedes and the Danes and the Dutch and the British. And all of these nations competed with each other to win the power of the Gold Coast so that they could exploit these people for commercial reasons and sell them into slavery.
Finally, in 1850, Britain won out, and she gained possession of the total territorial expansion of the Gold Coast. From 1850 to 1957, March sixth, the Gold Coast was a colony of the British Empire. And as a colony she suffered all of the injustices, all of the exploitation, all of the humiliation that comes as a result of colonialism. But like all slavery, like all domination, like all exploitation, it came to the point that the people got tired of it.
And that seems to be the long story of history. There seems to be a throbbing desire, there seems to be an internal desire for freedom within the soul of every man. And it’s there; it might not break forth in the beginning, but eventually it breaks out. Men realize that, that freedom is something basic. To rob a man of his freedom is to take from him the essential basis of his manhood. To take from him his freedom is to rob him of something of God’s image. To paraphrase the words of Shakespeare’s Othello: “Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis,something, nothing; ’twas mine, ’tis his, has been the slave of thousands; But he who filches from me my freedom robs me of that which not enriches him, but makes me poor indeed.”2
There is something in the soul that cries out for freedom. There is something deep down within the very soul of man that reaches out for Canaan. Men cannot be satisfied with Egypt. They tried to adjust to it for a while. Many men have vested interests in Egypt, and they are slow to leave. Egypt makes it profitable to them, some people profit by Egypt. The vast majority, the masses of people never profit by Egypt, and they are never content with it. And eventually they rise up and begin to cry out for Canaan’s land.
And so these people got tired. It had a long history. As far back as 1844, the chiefs themselves of the Gold Coast rose up and came together and revolted against the British Empire and the other powers that were in existence at that time dominating the Gold Coast. They revolted, saying that they wanted to govern themselves. But these powers clamped down on them, and the British said that we will not let you go.
About 1909, a young man was born on the twelfth of September. History didn’t know at that time what that young man had in his mind. His mother and father, illiterate, not a part of the powerful tribal life of Africa, not chiefs at all, but humble people. And that boy grew up, he went to school at Achimota for a while in Africa, and then he finished there with honors and decided to work his way to America. And he landed to America one day with about fifty dollars in his pocket in terms of pounds, getting ready to get an education. And he went down to Pennsylvania, to Lincoln University. He started studying there, and he started reading the great insights of the philosophers, he started reading the great insights of the ages. And he finished there and took his theological degree there and preached awhile around Philadelphia and other areas as he was in the country. And went over to the University of Pennsylvania and took up a masters there in philosophy and sociology. All the years that he stood in America, he was poor, he had to work hard. He says in his autobiography how he worked as a bellhop in hotels, as a dishwasher, and during the summer how he worked as a waiter trying to struggle through school.3 [recording interrupted]
“I want to go back home. I want to go back to West Africa, the land of my people, my native land. There is some work to be done there.” He got a ship and went to London and stopped for a while by London School of Economy and picked up another degree there.4 Then while in London, he came, he started thinking about Pan-Africanism, and the problem of how to free his people from colonialism. For as he said, he always realized that colonialism was made for domination and for exploitation. It was made to keep a certain group down and exploit that group economically for the advantage of another. He studied and thought about all of this, and one day he decided to go back to Africa.
He got to Africa and he was immediately elected the executive secretary of the United Party of the Gold Coast. And he worked hard, and he started getting a following. And the people in this party, the old, the people who had had their hands on the plow for a long time, thought he was pushing a little too fast, and they got a little jealous of his influence. And so finally he had to break from the United Party of the Gold Coast, and in 1949 he organized the Convention People’s Party. It was this party that started out working for the independence of the Gold Coast. He started out in a humble way, urging his people to unite for freedom. And urging the officials of the British Empire to give them freedom. They were slow to respond, but the masses of people were with him, and they had united to become the most powerful and influential party that had ever been organized in that section of Africa.
He started writing, and his companions with him and many of them started writing so much that the officials got afraid and they put them in jail, and Nkrumah himself was finally placed in jail for several years because he was a seditious man. He was an agitator. He was imprisoned on the basis of sedition. And he was placed there to stay in prison for many years, but he had inspired some people outside of prison. They got together just a few months after he’d been in prison and elected him the prime minister while he was in prison. For a while the British officials tried to keep him there, and Gbedemah says–one of his close associates, the minister of finance, Mr. Gbedemah–said that that night the people were getting ready to go down to the jail and get him out, but Gbedemah said, “This isn’t the way, we can’t do it like this, violence will break out and we will defeat our purpose.”5 But the British Empire saw that they had better let him out. And in a few hours Kwame Nkrumah was out of jail, the prime minister of the Gold Coast. He was placed there for fifteen years but he only served eight or nine months. And now he comes out, the prime minister of the Gold Coast.
And this was the struggling that had been going on for years. It was now coming to the point that this little nation was moving toward its independence. Then came the continual agitation, the continual resistance, so that the British Empire saw that it could no longer rule the Gold Coast. And they agreed that on the sixth of March, 1957, they would release this nation, that this nation would no longer be a colony of the British Empire, that this nation would be a sovereign nation within the British Commonwealth. All of this was because of the persistent protest, the continual agitation on the part of Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah and the other leaders who worked along with him and the masses of people who were willing to follow.
So that day finally came. It was a great day. The week ahead was a great week. They had been preparing for this day for many years, and now it was here. People coming in from all over the world. They had started getting in by the second of March. Seventy nations represented to come to say to this new nation: “We greet you. And we give you our moral support. We hope for you God’s guidance as you move now into the realm of independence.” From America, itself, more than a hundred persons. And the press, the diplomatic guests and the prime minister’s guests. And oh, it was a beautiful experience to see some of the leading persons on the scene of civil rights in America on hand to say, “Greetings to you,” as this new nation was born. Look over, to my right is Adam Powell, to my left is Charles Diggs, to my right again is Ralph Bunche. To the other side is Her Majesty’s First Minister of Jamaica, Manning, Ambassador [Richard L.] Jones of Liberia.6 All of these people from America, Mordecai Johnson, Horace Mann Bond, all of these people just going over to say: “We want to greet you and we want you to know that you have our moral support as you grow.”’7 Then you look out and see the vice-president of the United States, you see A. Philip Randolph, you see all of the people who have stood in the forefront of the struggle for civil rights over the years, coming over to Africa to say we bid you godspeed. This was a great day not only for Nkrumah, but for the whole of the Gold Coast. There, then came Tuesday, December the fifth, many events leading up to it.8 That night, we walked into the closing of Parliament. The closing of the old Parliament. The old Parliament which was, which presided over by the British Empire. The old Parliament which designated colonialism and imperialism. Now that Parliament is closing. That was a great sight and a great picture and a great scene. We sat there that night, just about five hundred able to get in there. People, thousands and thousands of people waiting outside, just about five hundred in there, and we were fortunate enough to be sitting there at that moment as guests of the prime minister. At that hour we noticed Prime Minister Nkrumah walking in, with all of his ministers, with his justices of the Supreme Court of the Gold Coast, and with all of the people of the Convention People’s Party, the leaders of that party. Nkrumah came up to make his closing speech to the old Gold Coast. There was something old now passing away.
The thing that impressed me more than anything else that night was the fact that when Nkrumah walked in, and his other ministers who had been in prison with him, they didn’t come in with the crowns and all of the garments of kings, but they walked in with prison caps and the coats that they had lived with for all of the months that they had been in prison.9 Nkrumah stood up and made his closing speech to Parliament with the little cap that he wore in prison for several months and the coat that he wore in prison for several months, and all of his ministers round about him. That was a great hour. An old Parliament passing away. And then at twelve o’clock that night we walked out. As we walked out, we noticed all over the polo grounds almost a half a million people. They had waited for this hour and this moment for years.
As we walked out of the door and looked at that beautiful building, we looked up to the top of it. And there was a little flag that had been flowing around the sky for many years. It was the Union Jack flag of the Gold Coast, the British flag, you see. But at twelve o’clock that night we saw a little flag coming down and another flag went up. The old Union Jack flag came down and the new flag of Ghana went up. This was a new nation now, a new nation being born. And when Prime Minister Nkrumah stood up before his people out in the polo ground and said, “We are no longer a British colony, we are a free, sovereign people,” all over that vast throng of people we could see tears. And I stood there thinking about so many things. Before I knew it, I started weeping. I was crying for joy. And I knew about all of the struggles, and all of the pain, and all of the agony that these people had gone through for this moment.
After Nkrumah had made that final speech, it was about twelve-thirty now. And we walked away. And we could hear little children six years old and old people eighty and ninety years old walking the streets of Accra crying: “Freedom! Freedom!” They couldn’t say it in the sense that we’d say it, many of them don’t speak English too well, but they had their accents and it could ring out “free-doom!” They were crying it in a sense that they had never heard it before. And I could hear that old Negro spiritual once more crying out: “Free at last, free at last, Great God Almighty, I’m free at last.” They were experiencing that in their very souls. And everywhere we turned, we could hear it ringing out from the housetops. We could hear it from every corner, every nook and crook of the community. “Freedom! Freedom!” This was the birth of a new nation. This was the breaking aloose from Egypt.
Wednesday morning the official opening of Parliament was held. There again we were able to get on the inside. There Nkrumah made his new speech. And now the prime minister of the Gold Coast with no superior, with all of the power that [Harold] MacMillan of England has, with all of the power that [i>Jawaharlal] Nehru of India has, now a free nation, now the prime minister of a sovereign nation. Duchess of Kent walked in, the Duchess of Kent who represented the Queen of England, no longer had authority now. She was just a passing visitor now. The night before she was the official leader and spokesman for the Queen, thereby the power behind the throne of the Gold Coast. But now it’s Ghana, it’s a new nation now, and she is just an official visitor like M. L. King and Ralph Bunche and Coretta King and everybody else, because this is a new nation. A new Ghana has come into being. And now Nkrumah stands the leader of that great nation, and when he drives out, the people standing around the streets of the city after Parliament is open, cry out: “All hail, Nkrumah!” The name of Nkrumah crowning around the whole city, everybody crying this name because they knew he had suffered for them, he had sacrificed for them, he’d gone to jail for them. This was the birth of a new nation.
This nation was now out of Egypt and had crossed the Red Sea. Now it will confront its wilderness. Like any breaking aloose from Egypt, there is a wilderness ahead. There is a problem of adjustment. Nkrumah realizes that. There is always this wilderness standing before him. For instance, it’s a one-crop country, cocoa mainly. Sixty percent of the cocoa of the world comes from the Gold Coast or from Ghana. In order to make the economic system more stable, it will be necessary to industrialize. Cocoa is too fluctuating to base a whole economy on that. So there is the necessity of industrializing. Nkrumah said to me that one of the first things that he will do is to work toward industrialization.
And also he plans to work toward the whole problem of increasing the cultural standards of the community. Still ninety percent of the people are illiterate, and it is necessary to lift the whole cultural standard of the community in order to make it possible to stand up in the free world. Yes, there is a wilderness ahead, though it is my hope that even people from America will go to Africa as immigrants, right there to the Gold Coast and lend their technical assistance. For there is great need and rich, there are rich opportunities there. Right now is the time that American Negroes can lend their technical assistance to a growing new nation. I was very happy to see already, people who have moved in and making good. The son of the late president of Bennett College, Dr. Jones, is there, who started an insurance company and making good, going to the top.10 A doctor from Brooklyn, New York, had just come in that week and his wife is also a dentist, and they are living there now, going in there and working, and the people love them. There will be hundreds and thousands of people, I’m sure, going over to make for the growth of this new nation. And Nkrumah made it very clear to me that he would welcome any persons coming there as immigrants and to live there. Now don’t think that because they have five million people the nation can’t grow, that that’s a small nation to be overlooked. Never forget the fact that when America was born in 1776, when it received its independence from the British Empire, there were fewer, less than four million people in America, and today it’s more than a hundred and sixty million. So never underestimate a people because it’s small now. America was smaller than Ghana when it was born.
There is a great day ahead. The future is on its side. It’s going now through the wilderness. But the Promised Land is ahead.
And I want to take just a few more minutes as I close to say three or four things that this reminds us of and things that it says to us. Things that we must never forget as we ourselves find ourselves breaking aloose from an evil Egypt, trying to move through the wilderness toward the promised land of cultural integration: Ghana has something to say to us. It says to us first, that the oppressor never voluntarily gives freedom to the oppressed. You have to work for it. And if Nkrumah and the people of the Gold Coast had not stood up persistently, revolting against the system, it would still be a colony of the British Empire. Freedom is never given to anybody. For the oppressor has you in domination because he plans to keep you there, and he never voluntarily gives it up. And that is where the strong resistance comes. Privileged classes never give up their privileges without strong resistance.
So don’t go out this morning with any illusions. Don’t go back into your homes and around Montgomery thinking that the Montgomery City Commission and that all of the forces in the leadership of the South will eventually work out this thing for Negroes, it’s going to work out, it’s going to roll in on the wheels of inevitability. If we wait for it to work itself out, it will never be worked out! Freedom only comes through persistent revolt, through persistent agitation, through persistently rising up against the system of evil. The bus protest is just the beginning. Buses are integrated in Montgomery, but that is just the beginning. And don’t sit down and do nothing now because the buses are integrated, because if you stop now, we will be in the dungeons of segregation and discrimination for another hundred years. And our children and our children’s children will suffer all of the bondage that we have lived under for years. It never comes voluntarily. We’ve got to keep on keeping on in order to gain freedom. It never comes like that. It would be fortunate if the people in power had sense enough to go on and give up, but they don’t do it like that. It is not done voluntarily, but it is done through the pressure that comes about from people who are oppressed.
If there had not been a Gandhi in India with all of his noble followers, India would have never been free. If there had not been an Nkrumah and his followers in Ghana, Ghana would still be a British colony. If there had not been abolitionists in America, both Negro and white, we might still stand today in the dungeons of slavery. And then because there have been, in every period, there are always those people in every period of human history who don’t mind getting their necks cut off, who don’t mind being persecuted and discriminated and kicked about, because they know that freedom is never given out, but it comes through the persistent and the continual agitation and revolt on the part of those who are caught in the system. Ghana teaches us that.
It says to us another thing. It reminds us of the fact that a nation or a people can break aloose from oppression without violence. Nkrumah says in the first two pages of his autobiography, which was published on the sixth of March–a great book which you ought to read–he said that he had studied the social systems of social philosophers and he started studying the life of Gandhi and his techniques. And he said that in the beginning he could not see how they could ever get aloose from colonialism without armed revolt, without armies and ammunition, rising up. Then he says after he continued to study Gandhi and continued to study this technique, he came to see that the only way was through nonviolent positive action. And he called his program “positive action.” And it’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it? That here is a nation that is now free, and it is free without rising up with arms and with ammunition. It is free through nonviolent means. Because of that the British Empire will not have the bitterness for Ghana that she has for China, so to speak. Because of that when the British Empire leaves Ghana, she leaves with a different attitude than she would have left with if she had been driven out by armies. We’ve got to revolt in such a way that after revolt is over we can live with people as their brothers and their sisters. Our aim must never be to defeat them or humiliate them.
On the night of the State Ball, standing up talking with some people, Mordecai Johnson called my attention to the fact that Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah was there dancing with the Duchess of Kent. And I said, “Isn’t this something? Here it is the once-serf, the once-slave, now dancing with the lord on an equal plane.” And that is done because there is no bitterness. These two nations will be able to live together and work together because the breaking aloose was through nonviolence and not through violence.
The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community. The aftermath of nonviolence is redemption. The aftermath of nonviolence is reconciliation. The aftermath of violence are emptiness and bitterness. This is the thing I’m concerned about. Let us fight passionately and unrelentingly for the goals of justice and peace. But let’s be sure that our hands are clean in this struggle. Let us never fight with falsehood and violence and hate and malice, but always fight with love, so that when the day comes that the walls of segregation have completely crumbled in Montgomery, that we will be able to live with people as their brothers and sisters. Oh, my friends, our aim must be not to defeat Mr. Engelhardt, not to defeat Mr. Sellers and Mr. Gayle and Mr. Parks.11 Our aim must be to defeat the evil that’s in them. But our aim must be to win the friendship of Mr. Gayle and Mr. Sellers and Mr. Engelhardt. We must come to the point of seeing that our ultimate aim is to live with all men as brothers and sisters under God, and not be their enemies or anything that goes with that type of relationship. And this is one thing that Ghana teaches us: that you can break aloose from evil through nonviolence, through a lack of bitterness. Nkrumah says in his book: “When I came out of prison, I was not bitter toward Britain. I came out merely with the determination to free my people from the colonialism and imperialism that had been inflicted upon them by the British. But I came out with no bitterness.”12 And because of that, this world will be a better place in which to live.
There’s another thing that Ghana reminds us. I’m coming to the conclusion now. Ghana reminds us that freedom never comes on a silver platter. It’s never easy. Ghana reminds us that whenever you break out of Egypt, you better get ready for stiff backs. You better get ready for some homes to be bombed. You better get ready for some churches to be bombed. You better get ready for a lot of nasty things to be said about you, because you getting out of Egypt. And whenever you break aloose from Egypt, the initial response of the Egyptian is bitterness. It never comes with ease. It comes only through the hardness and persistence of life. Ghana reminds us of that. You better get ready to go to prison. When I looked out and saw the prime minister there with his prison cap on that night, that reminded me of that fact, that freedom never comes easy. It comes through hard labor and it comes through toil. It comes through hours of despair and disappointment.
And that’s the way it goes. There is no crown without a cross. I wish we could get to Easter without going to Good Friday, but history tells us that we got to go by Good Friday before we can get to Easter. That’s the long story of freedom, isn’t it? Before you get to Canaan you’ve got a Red Sea to confront. You have a hardened heart of a pharaoh to confront. You have the prodigious hilltops of evil in the wilderness to confront. And even when you get up to the Promised Land, you have giants in the land. The beautiful thing about it is that there are a few people who’ve been over in the land. They have spied enough to say, “Even though the giants are there we can possess the land, because we got the internal fiber to stand up amid anything that we have to face.”
The road to freedom is a difficult, hard road. It always makes for temporary setbacks. And those people who tell you today that there is more tension in Montgomery than there has ever been are telling you right. Whenever you get out of Egypt, you always confront a little tension, you always confront a little temporary setback. If you didn’t confront that you’d never get out. You must remember that, that the tensionless period that we like to think of was the period when the Negro was complacently adjusted to segregation, discrimination, insult and exploitation. And the period of tension is the period when the Negro has decided to rise up and break aloose from that. And this is the peace that we are seeking. Not an old negative obnoxious peace, which is merely the absence of tension, but a positive lasting peace, which is the presence of brotherhood and justice. And it is never brought about without this temporary period of tension.
The road to freedom is difficult, but finally, Ghana tells us that the forces of the universe are on the side of justice. That’s what it tells us, now. You can interpret Ghana any kind of way you want to, but Ghana tells me that the forces of the universe are on the side of justice. That night when I saw that old flag coming down and the new flag coming up, I saw something else. That wasn’t just an ephemeral, evanescent event appearing on the stage of history. But it was an event with eternal meaning, for it symbolizes something. That thing symbolized to me that an old order is passing away and a new order is coming into being. An old order of colonialism, of segregation, of discrimination is passing away now. And a new order of justice and freedom and good will is being born. That’s what it said. Somehow the forces of justice stand on the side of the universe, so that you can’t ultimately trample over God’s children and profit by it.
I want to come back to Montgomery now, but I must stop by London for a moment. For London reminds me of something. I never will forget the day we went into London. The next day we started moving around this great city, the only city in the world that is almost as large as New York City. Over eight million people in London, about eight million, three hundred thousand; New York about eight million, five hundred thousand. London larger in area than New York, though. Standing in London is an amazing picture. And I never will forget the experience I had, the thoughts that came to my mind. We went to Buckingham Palace. And I looked there at all of Britain, at all of the pomp and circumstance of royalty. And I thought about all of the queens and kings that had passed through here. Look at the beauty of the changing of the guards and all of the guards with their beautiful horses. It’s a beautiful sight. Move on from there and go over to Parliament. Move into the House of Lords and the House of Commons. There with all of its beauty standing up before the world is one of the most beautiful sights in the world.
Then I remember, we went on over to Westminster Abbey. And I thought about several things when we went into this great church, this great cathedral, the center of the Church of England. We walked around and went to the tombs of the kings and queens buried there. Most of the kings and queens of England are buried right there in the Westminster Abbey. And I walked around. On the one hand I enjoyed and appreciated the great gothic architecture of that massive cathedral. I stood there in awe thinking about the greatness of God and man’s feeble attempt to reach up for God. And I thought something else. I thought about the Church of England. My mind went back to Buckingham Palace, and I said that this is the symbol of a dying system. There was a day that the queens and kings of England could boast that the sun never sets on the British Empire. A day when she occupied the greater portion of Australia, the greater portion of Canada. There was a day when she ruled most of China, most of Africa, and all of India. I started thinking about this empire.
I started thinking about the fact that she ruled over India one day. Mahatma Gandhi stood there at every hand, trying to get the freedom of his people. And they never bowed to it. They never, they decided that they were going to stand up and hold India in humiliation and in colonialism many, many years. I remember we passed by Ten Downing Street. That’s the place where the prime minister of England lives. And I remember that a few years ago a man lived there by the name of Winston Churchill. One day he stood up before the world and said, “I did not become his Majesty’s First Minister to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire.”13
And I thought about the fact that a few weeks ago a man by the name of Anthony Eden lived there. And out of all of his knowledge of the Middle East, he decided to rise up and march his armies with the forces of Israel and France into Egypt. And there they confronted their doom, because they were revolting against world opinion. Egypt, a little country. Egypt, a country with no military power. They could have easily defeated Egypt. But they did not realize that they were fighting more than Egypt. They were attacking world opinion, they were fighting the whole Asian-African bloc, which is the bloc that now thinks and moves and determines the course of the history of the world.14
I thought of many things. I thought of the fact that the British Empire exploited India. Think about it! A nation with four hundred million people and the British exploited them so much that out of a population of four hundred million, three hundred and fifty million made an annual income of less than fifty dollars a year. Twenty-five of that had to be used for taxes and the other things of life. I thought about dark Africa. And how the people there, if they can make a hundred dollars a year, they are living very well they think. Two shillings a day–one shilling is fourteen cents, two shillings, twenty-eight cents–that’s a good wage. That’s because of the domination of the British Empire.
All of these things came to my mind, and when I stood there in Westminster Abbey with all of its beauty, and I thought about all of the beautiful hymns and anthems that the people would go in there to sing. And yet the Church of England never took a stand against this system. The Church of England sanctioned it. The Church of England gave it moral stature. All of the exploitation perpetuated by the British Empire was sanctioned by the Church of England.
But something else came to my mind. God comes in the picture even when the Church won’t take a stand. God has injected a principle in this universe. God has said that all men must respect the dignity and worth of all human personality, “And if you don’t do that, I will take charge.” It seems this morning that I can hear God speaking. I can hear Him speaking throughout the universe, saying, “‘Be still, and know that I am God.’15 And if you don’t stop, if you don’t straighten up, if you don’t stop exploiting people, I’m going to rise up and break the backbone of your power.16 And your power will be no more!” And the power of Great Britain is no more. I looked at France. I looked at Britain. And I thought about the Britain that could boast, “The sun never sets on our great Empire.”And I say now she had gone to the level that the sun hardly rises on the British Empire. Because it was based on exploitation. Because the God of the universe eventually takes a stand.
And I say to you this morning, my friends, rise up and know that as you struggle for justice, you do not struggle alone. But God struggles with you. And He is working every day. Somehow I can look out, I can look out across the seas and across the universe, and cry out, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.” Then I think about it because His truth is marching on, and I can sing another chorus: “Hallelujah, glory hallelujah! His truth is marching on.”17
Then I can hear Isaiah again, because it has profound meaning to me, that somehow “every valley shall be exalted, and every hill shall be made low; the crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places plain; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”18
That’s the beauty of this thing: all flesh shall see it together. Not some from the heights of Park Street and others from the dungeons of slum areas. Not some from the pinnacles of the British Empire and some from the dark deserts of Africa. Not some from inordinate, superfluous wealth and others from abject, deadening poverty. Not some white and not some black, not some yellow and not some brown, but all flesh shall see it together. They shall see it from Montgomery. They shall see it from New York. They shall see it from Ghana. They shall see it from China.
For I can look out and see a great number, as John saw, marching into the great eternity, because God is working in this world, and at this hour, and at this moment. And God grants that we will get on board and start marching with God because we got orders now to break down the bondage and the walls of colonialism, exploitation, and imperialism. To break them down to the point that no man will trample over another man, but that all men will respect the dignity and worth of all human personality. And then we will be in Canaan’s freedom land.
Moses might not get to see Canaan, but his children will see it. He even got to the mountain top enough to see it and that assured him that it was coming. But the beauty of the thing is that there’s always a Joshua to take up his work and take the children on in. And it’s there waiting with its milk and honey, and with all of the bountiful beauty that God has in store for His children. Oh, what exceedingly marvelous things God has in store for us. Grant that we will follow Him enough to gain them. [recording interrupted]
O God, our gracious Heavenly Father, help us to see the insights that come from this new nation. Help us to follow Thee and all of Thy creative works in this world. And that somehow we will discover that we are made to live together as brothers. And that it will come in this generation: the day when all men will recognize the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Amen.
Prof Lungu 8 years ago
A Mother Lode of Information and Inspiration:
READ: "...Never forget the fact that when America was born in 1776, when it received its independence from the British Empire, there were fewer, less than four million people i ... read full comment
A Mother Lode of Information and Inspiration:
READ: "...Never forget the fact that when America was born in 1776, when it received its independence from the British Empire, there were fewer, less than four million people in America, and today it’s more than a hundred and sixty million. So never underestimate a people because it’s small now. America was smaller than Ghana when it was born.
WE SAY: How insightful!
One for the record, for Ghana's sake. Great TV material, we must say.
Greetings!
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 8 years ago
Prof. Lungu,
Just as Moses killed those he took out of Egypt with poison gas and their descendants never knew any freedom or justice, so did Nkrumah kill Ghanaians and never gave them any justice or freedom. I guess as a ... read full comment
Prof. Lungu,
Just as Moses killed those he took out of Egypt with poison gas and their descendants never knew any freedom or justice, so did Nkrumah kill Ghanaians and never gave them any justice or freedom. I guess as a stubborn atheist puffing weed on Sunday, you will agree with the subbordinate clause and disagree with its main. To you, there is no god but Nkrumah.......
Whatever the case, apprise me of your take on the Biblical account of the Exodus. Did it confer any freedom or justice on those Israelites? And do you really believe that the parting of the sea happened as recounted in the Bible?
I believe that with your weedy fantasies, you will be very intellectual, analytical, logical and reasonable when it comes to the Bible. But when it comes to Nkrumah, you will be very adamant, irrational and even fanatical......
BIG JOE 8 years ago
THE FREE AND DEMOCRATIC WORLD OF THE USA AND WESTERN EUROPE WAS AGAINST DR KING FOR GOOD REASON. THE NAB WAS AGAINST FREEDOM AND CAPITALISM,HE WAS A COMMUNIST STOOGE. HE WAS A SPY OF THE RUSSIAN.
DR KING, KWAME NKRUMAH, PA ... read full comment
THE FREE AND DEMOCRATIC WORLD OF THE USA AND WESTERN EUROPE WAS AGAINST DR KING FOR GOOD REASON. THE NAB WAS AGAINST FREEDOM AND CAPITALISM,HE WAS A COMMUNIST STOOGE. HE WAS A SPY OF THE RUSSIAN.
DR KING, KWAME NKRUMAH, PAUL ROBESON, STOKELY CARMICHAEL AND MALCOLM X WERE ALL COMMUNIST THAT EDGAR HOOVER AND THE WEST AND ALL FREEDOM-LOVING PEOPLE HATED LIKE VERMIN. THEY WERE ALL COMMIES, AND COMMIES ARE NO GOOD.
Sister Souljah 8 years ago
Dr. SAS
ad hominem, ad hominem , ad hominem!
Dr. SAS
ad hominem, ad hominem , ad hominem!
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 8 years ago
Guess who is talking about ad hominem.
Go back to your trash and that of your stupid cohorts about me and be "ad hominemed"
Guess who is talking about ad hominem.
Go back to your trash and that of your stupid cohorts about me and be "ad hominemed"
Sister Souljah 8 years ago
Dr. SAS
Can't debate intelligently and must always resort to insults and casting insinuations, the hallmark of a quasi intellectual and pseudo scholar.
Dr. SAS
Can't debate intelligently and must always resort to insults and casting insinuations, the hallmark of a quasi intellectual and pseudo scholar.
Prof Lungu 8 years ago
Sister Souljah,
Greetings!
Sister Souljah,
Greetings!
Sister Souljah 8 years ago
Prof
I hope you are enjoying the weekend. Stay blessed!
Prof
I hope you are enjoying the weekend. Stay blessed!
Prof Lungu 8 years ago
Seems to us you have a lot more "weedy fantasies,", Attorney Dr. Samuel Adjei Sarfo.
What is your point?
You are now referring us to your Bible, and smearing our character in the process?
Or, is the Bible now your h ... read full comment
Seems to us you have a lot more "weedy fantasies,", Attorney Dr. Samuel Adjei Sarfo.
What is your point?
You are now referring us to your Bible, and smearing our character in the process?
Or, is the Bible now your history book?
Please see our response in "What Ghana-Centered/Ghana-Proud Means To Us" on the other side and know the difference.
Better yet, go to GhanaHero.com and see the full suite of our perspectives.
Then see our comments to Dr. Anthony Kennedy's piece on "Vilification"!
'Nuff said on all fronts.
Peace!
DUTOR 8 years ago
francis kwarteng, have you really got brain in your head? I think not!
What is this hell of nonsense?
francis kwarteng, have you really got brain in your head? I think not!
What is this hell of nonsense?
YAW 8 years ago
Francis, Keep fighting the good fight. It warmed the "cockles of my heart" reading this piece.You have embarked on Nkrumah Heritage Activism as a force for good and the detractors cum destroyers are not amused.It will make t ... read full comment
Francis, Keep fighting the good fight. It warmed the "cockles of my heart" reading this piece.You have embarked on Nkrumah Heritage Activism as a force for good and the detractors cum destroyers are not amused.It will make their brains and anger hot enough to power a steam train.Keep a dignified silence on all their comments. Adios!
Kojo P 8 years ago
francis kwarteng aka YAW just keep changing Monikers to praise your own self for your useless write ups.
francis kwarteng aka YAW just keep changing Monikers to praise your own self for your useless write ups.
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
YAW,
Good day.
I just read the following comments by you under Razak EL-wazala's piece "If Kwame Nkrumah Had Ruled for 10 More Years" (We all know Lee Kuan Yew was ruthless and Nkrumah was so so lenient with the opposi ... read full comment
YAW,
Good day.
I just read the following comments by you under Razak EL-wazala's piece "If Kwame Nkrumah Had Ruled for 10 More Years" (We all know Lee Kuan Yew was ruthless and Nkrumah was so so lenient with the opposition and his enemies. In fact the historical record is clear on these facts).
I want to share what you wrote with my core readership. You wrote:
........................................................................................................................................................
The same UP/NPP bunch keep praising Lee Kuan Yew, despite his PDA and 30 year rule.This is Lee Kuan Yew in his own words.
"Between being loved and being feared, I have always believed Machiavelli was right. If nobody is afraid of me, I'm meaningless."
"Anybody who decides to take me on needs to put on knuckle-dusters. If you think you can hurt me more than I can hurt you, try. There is no way you can govern a Chinese society."
"If you are a troublemaker... it's our job to politically destroy you... Everybody knows that in my bag I have a hatchet, and a very sharp one. You take me on, I take my hatchet, we meet in the cul-de-sac."
"You take a poll of any people. What is it they want? The right to write an editorial as you like? They want homes, medicine, jobs, schools."
“I am often accused of interfering in the private lives of citizens. Yes, if I did not, had I not done that, we wouldn’t be here today. And I say without the slightest remorse, that we wouldn’t be here, we would not have made economic progress, if we had not intervened on very personal matters – who your neighbour is, how you live, the noise you make, how you spit, or what language you use. We decide what is right. Never mind what the people think.”
"Repression, Sir is a habit that grows. I am told it is like making love-it is always easier the second time! The first time there may be pangs of conscience, a sense of guilt. But once embarked on this course with constant repetition you get more and more brazen in the attack. All you have to do is to dissolve organizations and societies and banish and detain the key political workers in these societies. Then miraculously everything is tranquil on the surface. Then an intimidated press and the government-controlled radio together can regularly sing your praises, and slowly and steadily the people are made to forget the evil things that have already been done, or if these things are referred to again they’re conveniently distorted and distorted with impunity, because there will be no opposition to contradict.”
“What we are preventing is duds getting into Parliament and government. Any person of quality, we welcome him but we don’t want duds. We don’t want Chee Soon Juan, or J.B. Jeyaretnam. They’re not going to build the country.”
“Freedom of the press, freedom of the news media, must be subordinated to the overriding needs of the integrity of Singapore, and to the primacy of purpose of an elected government.”
On political opposition: “If we had considered them serious political figures, we would not have kept them politically alive for so long. We could have bankrupt them earlier.”
On how Singapore cannot afford the luxury of multiparty politics: “If all the 300 (top civil servants and political elite) were to crash in one jumbo jet, then Singapore will
disintegrate”.
If Singapore is a nanny state, then I am proud to have fostered one.
“What are our priorities? First, the welfare, the survival of the people. Then, democratic norms and processes which from time to time we have to suspend.”
I make no apologies that the PAP is the Government and the Government is the PAP."
........................................................................................................................................................
Thanks for sharing.
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
YAW,
I just wanted to add one or two comments on your take on Lee Kuan Yew. Here it goes courtesy of American legal scholars Benjamin Wittes and Adam Klein:
“Preventive detention is not prohibited by US law or especi ... read full comment
YAW,
I just wanted to add one or two comments on your take on Lee Kuan Yew. Here it goes courtesy of American legal scholars Benjamin Wittes and Adam Klein:
“Preventive detention is not prohibited by US law or especially frowned upon in tradition or practice. The circumstances in which it arises are not isolated exceptions to a strong rule against it; rather, they are relatively frequent. The federal government and all 50 states possess a wide range of statutory preventive detention regimes that are frequently used, many of which provoke little or legal controversy..."
Source:
1) Benjamin Wittes & Adam Klein. “Preventive Detention in American Theory and Practice,” published in the “National Security Journal,” Harvard Law School, Jan. 18, 2011)
2) Stephanie Blum’s “Preventive Detention in the War on Terror: A Comparison of How the United States, Britain, and Israel Detain and Incapacitate Terrorist Suspects” (Homeland Security Affairs: The Journal of the NPS Center for Homeland Defense and Security).
Thanks.
Bob 8 years ago
TRUST ME Francis kwarteng is such a semi-illiterate who can't even write just a simple sentence free of grammatical mistake.
-----------------------------------
Author: francis kwarteng
Date: 2015-09-20 16:00:42
Comme ... read full comment
TRUST ME Francis kwarteng is such a semi-illiterate who can't even write just a simple sentence free of grammatical mistake.
-----------------------------------
Author: francis kwarteng
Date: 2015-09-20 16:00:42
Comment to: LEGEND ON A LEGEND
YAW,
I just wanted to add one or two comments on your take on Lee Kuan Yew.
------------------------------------
... add one or two comments "on" your take ??
francis kwarteng, bow that your ugly coconut head in a heap of hot gravels.
Shabi 8 years ago
My friend what is it that you don't understand about that statement? You have rather shamefully exposed your own illiteracy. What school did you go to? I must admit that quite ironically and against the substance of what he w ... read full comment
My friend what is it that you don't understand about that statement? You have rather shamefully exposed your own illiteracy. What school did you go to? I must admit that quite ironically and against the substance of what he writes, SAS writes pretty good English. I advise you to let him proof-read your comments before you post them. You are an embarrassment to your team of dim-witted house niggas.
In any case, this discussion is not one about English grammar. When you have no answers to the very critical philosophical and ideological issues being presented by Francis, you then scamper around to look for other inconsequential bits and pieces to hide your shameful inefficiency and incompetence in. Coward. It is like the way ghetto people play football in the backstreets of the slums in Ghana. They say, "if you miss the ball, don't miss the man". Shame on you and your empty vulgar cheerleader SAS. I gave him a challenge yesterday and I have given him another one today.
As I have continued to say, if you people cannot keep up with the depth of our discussions, go and watch some pornography or cartoons. There is more of that on the internet than you can manage your whole life.
Mensah Sabi 8 years ago
Shabi, "kwasea"! another self bogus English fabricator.
"There is more of that...."
Author: Shabi
Date: 2015-09-20 17:03:18
Comment to: francis kwarteng has butchered English
...There is more of that on the inte ... read full comment
Shabi, "kwasea"! another self bogus English fabricator.
"There is more of that...."
Author: Shabi
Date: 2015-09-20 17:03:18
Comment to: francis kwarteng has butchered English
...There is more of that on the internet than you can manage your whole life.
Shabi 8 years ago
I invite SAS to make a comment on this point about the uses of PDA in the US - that is if he has the guts.
I invite SAS to make a comment on this point about the uses of PDA in the US - that is if he has the guts.
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
YAW,
An American libertarian Christopher Cantwell has written that Dr. King was a dictator. He writes under the piece "Fuck Martin Luther King, Jr.":
"He is used as an example of peaceful change in society, while simult ... read full comment
YAW,
An American libertarian Christopher Cantwell has written that Dr. King was a dictator. He writes under the piece "Fuck Martin Luther King, Jr.":
"He is used as an example of peaceful change in society, while simultaneously appealing to the most violent element thereof, the State. Like the most incoherent of Occupy Wall Street demonstrators, he simultaneously begged for more government, even as it beat and caged him and his people.
He sought not to reduce the violence in society, but rather to direct it at others. For him to speak of peace while doing so, only puts him on the same stage as some of history’s most ruthless dictators.
But the violence of the State was not the only thing King benefited from. As King set out speaking of changing the system, Malcolm X set out encouraging people to fight it. It is my firm belief that King only got the concessions from the State that he eventually did, because the State knew that it was the only way to pull the wind out of Malcolm X’s sails.
“No need to overthrow your oppressor folks, look at how well peace works!”.
Yes, there are many Americans, mostly white politicians, professors, activists, writers, Tea Party members, some Republicans, members of white supremacy organizations KKK, and ordinary white folks who hold the view that Dr. King was a dictator.
In fact, such horrifying positions surfaced when the debate on the Martin Luther King Day surfaced in the US Congress.
There were one or two African-Americans who presented similar arguments to a congressional committee set up to look into the proposal for the Martin Luther King Day.
In other words there those who view Dr. King as a dictator, just as others do Nkrumah. This is not strong. All the negative labels given Nkrumah are equally given to Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcoln X, Patrice Lumumba, Nelson Mandela (I DON'T WANT TO GET INTO WHAT OTHER WRITERS HAVE SAID ABOUT MANDELA ON THESE QUESTIONS)...
Thanks.
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 8 years ago
What did Dr. King have to say about Nkrumah?
His brand of human and civil right record or his capacity to conflate his tyranny with the empty mantra of freedom andd justice?
Exactly what has the martyrdom of Dr. King f ... read full comment
What did Dr. King have to say about Nkrumah?
His brand of human and civil right record or his capacity to conflate his tyranny with the empty mantra of freedom andd justice?
Exactly what has the martyrdom of Dr. King for his fight for the Black man's rights got to do with Nkrumah's PDA, abolition of speech, one-party state and abrogation of the franchise and his imposition of life presidency?
If it were not for the fact of your intellectaul calcification, you would aver rather that the similarity has more to do with Osagyefo Dr. Danquah who was incarcerated and died for his advocacy for human and civll rights of the oppressed Ghanaian.
BIG JOE 8 years ago
NKRUMAH, MANDELA, DR KING, MALCOLM X AND LUMUMBA WERE ALL COMMUNIST WHO DID NOT WANT FREEDOM BUT A COMMUNIST UTOPIA. THEY WERE ALL HATED BY THE FREE WORLD.
NKRUMAH, MANDELA, DR KING, MALCOLM X AND LUMUMBA WERE ALL COMMUNIST WHO DID NOT WANT FREEDOM BUT A COMMUNIST UTOPIA. THEY WERE ALL HATED BY THE FREE WORLD.
Shabi 8 years ago
I have had to respond to your nonsense after laughing my head off for about 5 minutes. The 'Free World' indeed.
Big Joe, let me ask you, of all the many political and social leaders that America has had in its history, how ... read full comment
I have had to respond to your nonsense after laughing my head off for about 5 minutes. The 'Free World' indeed.
Big Joe, let me ask you, of all the many political and social leaders that America has had in its history, how many of them are so respected in America itself that a national holiday has been established in the US in their memory like as has been done in recognition of the great deeds of Dr King? Better-still, how many American leaders throughout their history, are as respected and as admired globally as Dr King and Malcolm X?
Again, how many non-communist leaders in the world are as respected as Dr Kwame Nkrumah who liberated and gave democracy to over one billion African human beings from the oppression, slavery, the dictatorship of colonialism and exploitation from those you refer to as the 'Free World'?
Are you by any chance rather trying to tell all of us on this platform in a smart way that Communism is good?
"...Emancipate yourself from mental slavery..". Bob Marley
Mensah Sabi 8 years ago
Shabi read your stupid self made rotten English.
"...America has had..." Kwaseato!!!
Author: Shabi
Date: 2015-09-20 17:43:08
Comment to: NKRUMAH A COMMIE LIKE KING AND MANDELA
...Big Joe, let me ask you, of all ... read full comment
Shabi read your stupid self made rotten English.
"...America has had..." Kwaseato!!!
Author: Shabi
Date: 2015-09-20 17:43:08
Comment to: NKRUMAH A COMMIE LIKE KING AND MANDELA
...Big Joe, let me ask you, of all the many political and social leaders that America has had in its history...
Shabi 8 years ago
Correct me if you know better. Paying too much attention to your kind is like "casting pearl unto swine".
Correct me if you know better. Paying too much attention to your kind is like "casting pearl unto swine".
GORGORDUTOR 8 years ago
Thank you Shabi, I don't have to hammer that mummified self blinded zombie!! smallmindJoe can't be helped it appears the malware is integrated with the firmware on this humanoid piece of excreta!!
My sentiments exactly exce ... read full comment
Thank you Shabi, I don't have to hammer that mummified self blinded zombie!! smallmindJoe can't be helped it appears the malware is integrated with the firmware on this humanoid piece of excreta!!
My sentiments exactly except it was delivered succinctly, with more wit and style than I could muster!!
AH GOOD WAN DERE
Shabi 8 years ago
Thanks for the compliment Gorgordutor. Your added comment greatly tickled me into a fit of laughter. After that, Im not sure Big Joe will rear his head as Big Joe again on this platform.
I really cant come to terms with ho ... read full comment
Thanks for the compliment Gorgordutor. Your added comment greatly tickled me into a fit of laughter. After that, Im not sure Big Joe will rear his head as Big Joe again on this platform.
I really cant come to terms with how some of these people can continue to live in the dark in this world. It is simply amazing. It reveals the extent of damage that the imperialists inflicted on the mental framework of the African after several centuries.
People like you and I, should consider ourselves extremely lucky to have somehow managed to escape from the fatal effects of this deliberate imperialist strategy of psychological mutilation so that they can continue to remote-colonize us.
Godwin Avenorgbor 8 years ago
Can you guys let Nkrumah rest in peace? Everyday we come here, there's an old article on Nkrumah. Nkrumah this, Nkrumah that, Nkrumah so and so... Nkrumah was a great leader but too much one-sided info on him can become borin ... read full comment
Can you guys let Nkrumah rest in peace? Everyday we come here, there's an old article on Nkrumah. Nkrumah this, Nkrumah that, Nkrumah so and so... Nkrumah was a great leader but too much one-sided info on him can become boring even for his admirers.
What we need today is to acknowledge the good things Nkrumah did but also to stress the very grevious mistakes he made in his time in power. This is the only way we can forge a path along his positive achievements and away from his mistakes.
This one-sided painting of Nkrumah as either a saint or a devil will not do us any good. He was neither.
Where is the critical non-partisan and balanced analysis of the man? WE NEVER GET THAT ON GHANAWEB!
YAW 8 years ago
He is only reproducing facts which the NLC government destroyed. Winston Churchill died in 1965 yet the British write about him everyday.Bear in mind, Churchill was not a saint. He was an imperialist and racist to the bone.At ... read full comment
He is only reproducing facts which the NLC government destroyed. Winston Churchill died in 1965 yet the British write about him everyday.Bear in mind, Churchill was not a saint. He was an imperialist and racist to the bone.Ataturk of Turkey,Nasser of Egypt are all held in high regard in their respective countries.They weren"t saints.
DUTOR 8 years ago
YAW, it's true Churchill was not a saint. What about you? YOU ARE A PLAIN IDIOT!
YAW, it's true Churchill was not a saint. What about you? YOU ARE A PLAIN IDIOT!
Godwin Avenorgbor 8 years ago
Many British historians write critically about Churchill. They don't just sing his praises everyday. Churchill made many mistakes and they discuss that too, along with his great deeds.
It's the one-sided view of Nkrumah t ... read full comment
Many British historians write critically about Churchill. They don't just sing his praises everyday. Churchill made many mistakes and they discuss that too, along with his great deeds.
It's the one-sided view of Nkrumah that some of us are against.
Shabi 8 years ago
Mr Avenorgbor, you are just another slimy coward on the side of the imperialist goons who is falsely trying to appear neutral in this discussion. You cannot fool Nkrumaists with such cheap imperialist misdemeanors.
Open yo ... read full comment
Mr Avenorgbor, you are just another slimy coward on the side of the imperialist goons who is falsely trying to appear neutral in this discussion. You cannot fool Nkrumaists with such cheap imperialist misdemeanors.
Open your eyes wide and look at the above contributions to see if this particular discussion and indeed all other discussions on Nkrumah have been one-sided? The discussion may be one-sided only from the perspective that the anti-Nkrumaist imperialist lobby do not advance respectable, sensible and intelligent presentations which is really a pity. I would have wished that they really had valid issues to debate instead of just throwing mud at Nkrumah on the instructions of their paymasters.
As for Kwame Nkrumah, in spite of what you say about our constant reference to him and his accomplishments, I wish to point out to you that we - I mean Ghanaians, Africans and indeed all Black people in this world, know very little and in fact, not enough about him. It is only now that many Africans are beginning to know and to realize who he was and even the extent of his historical accomplishments.
Our neocolonial education has up to now, been too preoccupied with promoting the merits of racists and colonial adventurers like Winston Churchill and Christopher Columbus as well as activities of Presidents in North America who actually owned slaves, to the disadvantage of our true heroes like Kwame Nkrumah.
Worse of all is that the imperialists, after all the unspeakable crimes against humanity which they committed in Africa, they even have the effrontery to go out of their way, with their arse-licking local servants and house-niggas like SAS in tow, to denigrate Africans whose crimes - if any, may at most amount to 0.001% of their genocidal crimes against the people of Africa stretching over many centuries. This is another reason why we must keep on harping on and championing the achievements of our true heroes in all spheres of life otherwise, very soon we will not have any heroes at all and the imperialists will be the first to point accusing fingers at us and say that Africans are so useless that they have no heroes and they cant do anything for themselves so they have every right to continue to patronize and dominate us.
They have, in collaboration with some of our own people, already stolen and desecrated virtually everything that we have and which we can call our own. As for our heroes, we will hold on tightly to them and we will not give them away so easily as SAS and his lot are intent on doing on behalf of their cherished colonial 'masters'.
GORGORDUTOR 8 years ago
Dear Godwin,please consider the following points.
1. Is it not strange how when Nkrumah is discussed there is a partisan faction who will sink to any depth to falsify the historical record. These people do not want to engage ... read full comment
Dear Godwin,please consider the following points.
1. Is it not strange how when Nkrumah is discussed there is a partisan faction who will sink to any depth to falsify the historical record. These people do not want to engage in rational debate based on facts, rather they want to posit a conclusion and then engage in name calling invective and fantasies to defend their untenable dictate!!
2.This faction go hog wild about the PDA, while ignoring the historical context to wit that their political antecedents precipitated the enactment of the PDA with a sustained years long terrorism campaign. These are facts you should be well aware of.
3. Now I do not claim all of Nkrumah's political adversaries were were evil, but it is indubitably true that a strong minority were so hellbent on succeeding to power that they refused to accept the verdict of the people as repeatedly expressed in numerous free and fair elections. As you should be aware Nkrumah never lost an election or referendum and despite their many calumnies, ballot rigging is a charge almost never leveled at Dr Nkrumah. These individuals were on the payroll of foreign powers while directing bombings assassinations, rapes and other forms of violence and intimidation long before the PDA and persisted until Nkrumah was overthrown in Feb66.
4. I must say that on the balance Dr Nkrumah's governance record is very impressive. Compared to the successor regimes individually and collectively Nkrumah & CPP record is overwhelming.
5. If you exclude Ghanaians and study independent more objective scholars the verdict is decidedly in Nkrumah's favor. Further if one peruses the factual record the conclusion to be drawn is rather straightforward: Nkrumah achieved great things in Ghana and far beyond, his overthrow set Ghana and Africa back immensely!!
5. The political faction that is dominated by foaming at the mouth rabid anti-Nkrumah partisans are the descendants of arrogant people who were fundamentally anti-democratic, dismissive of the collective will repeatedly expressed; stooges, agents and dupes of foreign powers who betrayed and sold the people of Ghana down the river planting and nurturing the seed that has borne such bitter fruit for Ghana and Africa.
In conclusion those who refuse to study the facts of history,self educate and draw the pertinent lesson are doomed to repeat the worst parts of their history. This dictum applies to individuals and more importantly societies. It is for these reasons that some of us refuse to stand by while others rightfully ashamed of their political antecedents but unwilling to acknowledge history engage in a multigenerational campaign of hate, vilification, falsification, calumnies etcetera in a vain attempt to bury their obnoxious, traitorous, nation wrecking history.!!!
Shabi 8 years ago
We will not let the subject of Nkrumah rest in peace so long as there are villains who continue to undermine and demonize his image and achievements in spite of his tremendous historical accomplishments which we all - includi ... read full comment
We will not let the subject of Nkrumah rest in peace so long as there are villains who continue to undermine and demonize his image and achievements in spite of his tremendous historical accomplishments which we all - including those who demonize him, have benefited from.
If you say that "Many British historians write critically about Churchill. They don't just sing his praises everyday. Churchill made many mistakes and they discuss that too, along with his great deeds. It's the one-sided view of Nkrumah that some of us are against."
To begin with, Kwame Nkrumah is not Churchill and we do not have to follow the example of what those who are concerned with Churchill are doing.
Our preoccupation here is with Kwame Nkrumah and Ghana/Africa. The two historical scenarios are as incompatible as they are incomparable. Ghana became independent several decades ago from the tyrannical colonial rule of colonialism when Churchill was Prime Minister so we dont still have to take after their instructions and characteristics as some of you who still dont realize that Ghana is an independent country, do. If you know the history and the political biography of Winston Churchill well, you would not dare mention his name in polite conversation such as this one.
In any case, if as you assert below that, "Many British historians write critically on the subject of Churchill" who was Prime Minister of his country long before Nkrumah became President, what prevents us too from discussing Nkrumah if we so wish? Whats wrong with you?
C.Y. ANDY-K 8 years ago
What kind of response is this? If you knew about the "grevious mistakes" of Nkrumah, why don't you write the balanced review, for whatever purpose you want that.
This is a great historical piece unearth by Yaw, something o ... read full comment
What kind of response is this? If you knew about the "grevious mistakes" of Nkrumah, why don't you write the balanced review, for whatever purpose you want that.
This is a great historical piece unearth by Yaw, something our book allowance chasing academics in Ghana don't even have the privilege of seeing in our bare bones libraries! And you said what? You should be thanking Nyebro Yaw for fishing out these gems.
Did you read how Nkrumah dancing with the Duchess of Kent had a profound on King, just as it did Sam Nujoma, and no doubt many others? Both mentioned it.
I read the other day about the Catholic Church starting the process of turning a S. African who campaigned against witchcraft and superstition in SA into a saint. Nkrumah deserves to be deified just like the Budhha, Jesus, and elevated to the status of Mohammed, Guru Nana, etc., etc. for what he stood for and did! So his message and teachings endure forever and shall liberate the African from the clutches of neo-colonialism, the last stage of imperialism.
Andy-K
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
Nyebro Yao,
I think I don't have to say another word after what you have written here:
"Did you read how Nkrumah dancing with the Duchess of Kent had a profound on King, just as it did Sam Nujoma, and no doubt many othe ... read full comment
Nyebro Yao,
I think I don't have to say another word after what you have written here:
"Did you read how Nkrumah dancing with the Duchess of Kent had a profound on King, just as it did Sam Nujoma, and no doubt many others? Both mentioned it.
I read the other day about the Catholic Church starting the process of turning a S. African who campaigned against witchcraft and superstition in SA into a saint. Nkrumah deserves to be deified just like the Budhha, Jesus, and elevated to the status of Mohammed, Guru Nana, etc., etc. for what he stood for and did!
So his message and teachings endure forever and shall liberate the African from the clutches of neo-colonialism, the last stage of imperialism."
I think this ends the debate for me, at least for today. What an insightful comment from you! I simply love it. You have indeed made my day.
Please have a great weekend.
Thanks.
Godwin Avenorgbor 8 years ago
"If you knew about the "grevious mistakes" of Nkrumah, why don't you write the balanced review, for whatever purpose you want that".
C'mon Andy, don't give me that. Are u saying anybody who critiques a book must, himself, ... read full comment
"If you knew about the "grevious mistakes" of Nkrumah, why don't you write the balanced review, for whatever purpose you want that".
C'mon Andy, don't give me that. Are u saying anybody who critiques a book must, himself, write a book on that topic for his criticism to be relevant? Must I write an article on Nkrumah's mistakes (grevious or otherwise) in order to have the "right" to ask people who write about him to also discuss his mistakes and not just his achievements?
Or, Andy, are you one of those who think Nkrumah never made any mistakes? Why, if the man came to rule us again, with the benefit of hindsight, he would do certain things differently. He would learn from his own mistakes. Which is what we should also be doing now. And we can't do that by exclusively harping on his achievements, great though, these are.
Andy, don't you think by boldly discussing the man's mistakes, putting them in proper context, you will pre-empt the worst arguments of his detractors? Or you just hate to see anybody introduce any ambivalence in the man's legacy?
GBETOR MENYO 8 years ago
NKRUMAH eiii NKRUMAH SHOWBOY, I WANT TO SEE YOU KWAME NKRUMAH SHOWBOY!!!!!!!!!! WHO KNOWS DANQUAH? WHO KNOWS BUSIA? EVERYBODY KNOWS KWAME NKRUMAH!! FORWARD EVER,BACKWARDS NEVER!
NKRUMAH eiii NKRUMAH SHOWBOY, I WANT TO SEE YOU KWAME NKRUMAH SHOWBOY!!!!!!!!!! WHO KNOWS DANQUAH? WHO KNOWS BUSIA? EVERYBODY KNOWS KWAME NKRUMAH!! FORWARD EVER,BACKWARDS NEVER!
Kojo P 8 years ago
GBETOR MENYO, you stupid idiot, so where is Nkrumah now?
GBETOR MENYO, you stupid idiot, so where is Nkrumah now?
GORGORDUTOR 8 years ago
GHANATOR GBLE NA AMEH!!
TELL EM AND TELL EM AGAIN
SATAN COMPANY DEM ARE SNIPER, WE DOAN WANNABE AT THEIR CONFERENCE AT ALL!!
WE JUST A LAUGH DEM POOR FOOLS, DEM A SATAN COMPANY!!
GHANATOR GBLE NA AMEH!!
TELL EM AND TELL EM AGAIN
SATAN COMPANY DEM ARE SNIPER, WE DOAN WANNABE AT THEIR CONFERENCE AT ALL!!
WE JUST A LAUGH DEM POOR FOOLS, DEM A SATAN COMPANY!!
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
Dear Gorgortudor,
You have been very active on the site today dispelling and exploding one myth after another. This is really good.
Gorgortudor, please thanks for your time. This is really great. I love and like it.
... read full comment
Dear Gorgortudor,
You have been very active on the site today dispelling and exploding one myth after another. This is really good.
Gorgortudor, please thanks for your time. This is really great. I love and like it.
Uselessly senseless article.
Oh my brother, another good one!! Now sit back and watch the traitor dogs come out baying and foaming at the mouth!!
Their problem is simple; imagine walking around aware that you mutilated your motherland while pursuing " r ...
read full comment
GORGORDUTOR, if you want to comment, fine! but write your comment in a decent understandable English language. What you have written there is rubbish.
KING WAS NO DIFFERENT WAS KWAME NKRUMAH AND MANDELA. THEY WERE ALL COMMIES WHO WANTED A COMMUNIST WORLD , NOT FREEDOM AND AND DEMOCRACY.
MANDELA WAS ONLY VERY RECENTLY TAKEN OFF THE MOST WANTED PEOPLE LIST OF AMERICA. HE W ...
read full comment
smallmind Joe CLASSIC MASTER SAY HOUSENIGGA!!!
This specimen of alleged African descent is the stereotypical HOUSENIGGA!!!! What conscious African cognizant of world history would even think like that!!! Just the bare facts ...
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I want to preach this morning from the subject: “The Birth of a New Nation.” And I would like to use as a basis for our thinking together, a story that has long since been stenciled on the mental sheets of succeeding gene ...
read full comment
A Mother Lode of Information and Inspiration:
READ: "...Never forget the fact that when America was born in 1776, when it received its independence from the British Empire, there were fewer, less than four million people i ...
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Prof. Lungu,
Just as Moses killed those he took out of Egypt with poison gas and their descendants never knew any freedom or justice, so did Nkrumah kill Ghanaians and never gave them any justice or freedom. I guess as a ...
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THE FREE AND DEMOCRATIC WORLD OF THE USA AND WESTERN EUROPE WAS AGAINST DR KING FOR GOOD REASON. THE NAB WAS AGAINST FREEDOM AND CAPITALISM,HE WAS A COMMUNIST STOOGE. HE WAS A SPY OF THE RUSSIAN.
DR KING, KWAME NKRUMAH, PA ...
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Dr. SAS
ad hominem, ad hominem , ad hominem!
Guess who is talking about ad hominem.
Go back to your trash and that of your stupid cohorts about me and be "ad hominemed"
Dr. SAS
Can't debate intelligently and must always resort to insults and casting insinuations, the hallmark of a quasi intellectual and pseudo scholar.
Sister Souljah,
Greetings!
Prof
I hope you are enjoying the weekend. Stay blessed!
Seems to us you have a lot more "weedy fantasies,", Attorney Dr. Samuel Adjei Sarfo.
What is your point?
You are now referring us to your Bible, and smearing our character in the process?
Or, is the Bible now your h ...
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francis kwarteng, have you really got brain in your head? I think not!
What is this hell of nonsense?
Francis, Keep fighting the good fight. It warmed the "cockles of my heart" reading this piece.You have embarked on Nkrumah Heritage Activism as a force for good and the detractors cum destroyers are not amused.It will make t ...
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francis kwarteng aka YAW just keep changing Monikers to praise your own self for your useless write ups.
YAW,
Good day.
I just read the following comments by you under Razak EL-wazala's piece "If Kwame Nkrumah Had Ruled for 10 More Years" (We all know Lee Kuan Yew was ruthless and Nkrumah was so so lenient with the opposi ...
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YAW,
I just wanted to add one or two comments on your take on Lee Kuan Yew. Here it goes courtesy of American legal scholars Benjamin Wittes and Adam Klein:
“Preventive detention is not prohibited by US law or especi ...
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TRUST ME Francis kwarteng is such a semi-illiterate who can't even write just a simple sentence free of grammatical mistake.
-----------------------------------
Author: francis kwarteng
Date: 2015-09-20 16:00:42
Comme ...
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My friend what is it that you don't understand about that statement? You have rather shamefully exposed your own illiteracy. What school did you go to? I must admit that quite ironically and against the substance of what he w ...
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Shabi, "kwasea"! another self bogus English fabricator.
"There is more of that...."
Author: Shabi
Date: 2015-09-20 17:03:18
Comment to: francis kwarteng has butchered English
...There is more of that on the inte ...
read full comment
I invite SAS to make a comment on this point about the uses of PDA in the US - that is if he has the guts.
YAW,
An American libertarian Christopher Cantwell has written that Dr. King was a dictator. He writes under the piece "Fuck Martin Luther King, Jr.":
"He is used as an example of peaceful change in society, while simult ...
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What did Dr. King have to say about Nkrumah?
His brand of human and civil right record or his capacity to conflate his tyranny with the empty mantra of freedom andd justice?
Exactly what has the martyrdom of Dr. King f ...
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NKRUMAH, MANDELA, DR KING, MALCOLM X AND LUMUMBA WERE ALL COMMUNIST WHO DID NOT WANT FREEDOM BUT A COMMUNIST UTOPIA. THEY WERE ALL HATED BY THE FREE WORLD.
I have had to respond to your nonsense after laughing my head off for about 5 minutes. The 'Free World' indeed.
Big Joe, let me ask you, of all the many political and social leaders that America has had in its history, how ...
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Shabi read your stupid self made rotten English.
"...America has had..." Kwaseato!!!
Author: Shabi
Date: 2015-09-20 17:43:08
Comment to: NKRUMAH A COMMIE LIKE KING AND MANDELA
...Big Joe, let me ask you, of all ...
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Correct me if you know better. Paying too much attention to your kind is like "casting pearl unto swine".
Thank you Shabi, I don't have to hammer that mummified self blinded zombie!! smallmindJoe can't be helped it appears the malware is integrated with the firmware on this humanoid piece of excreta!!
My sentiments exactly exce ...
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Thanks for the compliment Gorgordutor. Your added comment greatly tickled me into a fit of laughter. After that, Im not sure Big Joe will rear his head as Big Joe again on this platform.
I really cant come to terms with ho ...
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Can you guys let Nkrumah rest in peace? Everyday we come here, there's an old article on Nkrumah. Nkrumah this, Nkrumah that, Nkrumah so and so... Nkrumah was a great leader but too much one-sided info on him can become borin ...
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He is only reproducing facts which the NLC government destroyed. Winston Churchill died in 1965 yet the British write about him everyday.Bear in mind, Churchill was not a saint. He was an imperialist and racist to the bone.At ...
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YAW, it's true Churchill was not a saint. What about you? YOU ARE A PLAIN IDIOT!
Many British historians write critically about Churchill. They don't just sing his praises everyday. Churchill made many mistakes and they discuss that too, along with his great deeds.
It's the one-sided view of Nkrumah t ...
read full comment
Mr Avenorgbor, you are just another slimy coward on the side of the imperialist goons who is falsely trying to appear neutral in this discussion. You cannot fool Nkrumaists with such cheap imperialist misdemeanors.
Open yo ...
read full comment
Dear Godwin,please consider the following points.
1. Is it not strange how when Nkrumah is discussed there is a partisan faction who will sink to any depth to falsify the historical record. These people do not want to engage ...
read full comment
We will not let the subject of Nkrumah rest in peace so long as there are villains who continue to undermine and demonize his image and achievements in spite of his tremendous historical accomplishments which we all - includi ...
read full comment
What kind of response is this? If you knew about the "grevious mistakes" of Nkrumah, why don't you write the balanced review, for whatever purpose you want that.
This is a great historical piece unearth by Yaw, something o ...
read full comment
Nyebro Yao,
I think I don't have to say another word after what you have written here:
"Did you read how Nkrumah dancing with the Duchess of Kent had a profound on King, just as it did Sam Nujoma, and no doubt many othe ...
read full comment
"If you knew about the "grevious mistakes" of Nkrumah, why don't you write the balanced review, for whatever purpose you want that".
C'mon Andy, don't give me that. Are u saying anybody who critiques a book must, himself, ...
read full comment
NKRUMAH eiii NKRUMAH SHOWBOY, I WANT TO SEE YOU KWAME NKRUMAH SHOWBOY!!!!!!!!!! WHO KNOWS DANQUAH? WHO KNOWS BUSIA? EVERYBODY KNOWS KWAME NKRUMAH!! FORWARD EVER,BACKWARDS NEVER!
GBETOR MENYO, you stupid idiot, so where is Nkrumah now?
GHANATOR GBLE NA AMEH!!
TELL EM AND TELL EM AGAIN
SATAN COMPANY DEM ARE SNIPER, WE DOAN WANNABE AT THEIR CONFERENCE AT ALL!!
WE JUST A LAUGH DEM POOR FOOLS, DEM A SATAN COMPANY!!
Dear Gorgortudor,
You have been very active on the site today dispelling and exploding one myth after another. This is really good.
Gorgortudor, please thanks for your time. This is really great. I love and like it.
...
read full comment