I read the Steve Biko story on Ghanaweb some weeks ago. But what I read was too simplistic in my opinion.
Though I had some familiarity with Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), I still contac ... read full comment
Dear Readers,
I read the Steve Biko story on Ghanaweb some weeks ago. But what I read was too simplistic in my opinion.
Though I had some familiarity with Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), I still contacted a couple of historian friends in the American academy who have written about and taught the Steve Biko story for decades.
One of these professors worked with Robert Sobukwe, founder of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), with some leading members of American activists/organizations (Civil Rights Movement), and nationalists/freedom fighters from Africa.
I should stress that Sobukwe was one of Biko's important friends and mentors. Sobukwe influenced an entire generation of anti-Apartheid activists including Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement itself.
It is important that readers who are genuinely interested in the subject matter, should go beyond the writings of Mamphale Raphael, a one-time partner of Biko and co-founder of the Black Consciousness Movement, with whom he had two kids.
I am not saying readers should avoid her writings, though, far from it. I am rather saying that the subject matter is too big for Raphael alone to tackle in her writings. She had already written some interesting books on the subject matter, including her autobiography “Across Boundaries.”
However, in our haste to complete our essay I skipped the writings of other major authorities on the subject matter. As a result, we wish to provide additional reading lists here (PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF DR. SALEEM BADAT’S TEXTS; ASLO TAKE NOTE OF JAMES CONE’S WRITINGS—HIS WRITINGS ON BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY INFLUENCED THE BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS MOVEMENT AS WELL):
FIRST LIST
1)Gail M. Gerhart. “Black Power in South Africa: The Evolution of an Ideology.”
2)Gail M. Gerhart & Thomas G. Karis. “From Protest to Challenge, Vol. 5: Nadir and Resurgence, 1964-1979.”
3)Barney Pityana et al. “The legacy of Stephen Bantu Biko: Theological challenges.”
4)Mamphela Ramphele et al (editors). “Bounds of Possibility: The Legacy of Steve Biko and Black Consciousness.”
5)Mamphela Ramphele. “Across Boundaries: The Journey of a South African Woman Leader.”
6)Kopano Ratele & Norman Duncan. “Social Psychology: Identities and Relationships.”
7)Saleem Badat. “Black Man, You Are On Your Own.”
8)Saleem Badat. “Black Student Politics: Higher Education and Apartheid from SASO to SANSCO.”
SECOND LIST
9)James H. Cone. “Black Theology and Black Power.”
10)James H. Cones. “A Black Theology of Liberation.”
11)Smangaliso Mkhatshwa. “Black Priests’ Manifesto: Our Church Has Let Us Down.”
12)The Steve Biko Foundation (www.sbf.org.za)
13)1965-1976: Steve Biko: The Black Consciousness Movement: The SASO, BCP & BPC Years
Thanks.
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
Dear Readers,
1) Readers can get a copy of an interview transcript (pdf) (perhaps one of the most important interviews ever granted) Prof. Gerhart granted Biko from here (Prof. Gerhart taught at Columbia University/Institu ... read full comment
Dear Readers,
1) Readers can get a copy of an interview transcript (pdf) (perhaps one of the most important interviews ever granted) Prof. Gerhart granted Biko from here (Prof. Gerhart taught at Columbia University/Institute of African Affairs):
THIS A VERY IMPORTANT INTERVIEW READERS MAY WANT TO READ!
Thanks.
Danquah-ba 8 years ago
DR KING, MANDELA, STOKELY CARMICHAEL AND MALCOLM X AND THEIR FRIEND KWAME NKRUMAH, WERE ALL COMMUNISTS WHO HATE CAPITALISM AND FREEDOM. THESE COMMIES WANTED TO DO AWAY WITH DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM.
DR KING, MANDELA, STOKELY CARMICHAEL AND MALCOLM X AND THEIR FRIEND KWAME NKRUMAH, WERE ALL COMMUNISTS WHO HATE CAPITALISM AND FREEDOM. THESE COMMIES WANTED TO DO AWAY WITH DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM.
Abra Kuma 8 years ago
A very interesting perspective you have on politics, Danquah-ba; that must be why the capitalists who love freedom incarcerated Nelson Mandela and other freedom fighters, torturing them for over twenty-seven years! Wow!
A very interesting perspective you have on politics, Danquah-ba; that must be why the capitalists who love freedom incarcerated Nelson Mandela and other freedom fighters, torturing them for over twenty-seven years! Wow!
Bob 8 years ago
Yes! that is the braggart, too known Mr. Know all and better francis kwarteng who apart from his bragging can only cut & paste from what other nave written. He can create any thing sensible from the coconut that he carries on ... read full comment
Yes! that is the braggart, too known Mr. Know all and better francis kwarteng who apart from his bragging can only cut & paste from what other nave written. He can create any thing sensible from the coconut that he carries on his neck.
======================================
Author: francis kwarteng
Date: 2015-10-21 00:49:18
Comment to: Steve Biko Murdered As A Great Student Of Nkrumah
Dear Readers,
I read the Steve Biko story on Ghanaweb some weeks ago. But what I read was too simplistic in my opinion.
Though I had some familiarity with Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), I still contacted a couple of historian friends in the American academy who have written about and taught the Steve Biko story for decades.
======================================
Abra Kuma 8 years ago
This is not the author's best efforts here. There is a meager correlation between topic and content. Evidence presented in support of thesis consists of weak, even if plausible, arguments based on hypothesis.
"...Nkrumah' ... read full comment
This is not the author's best efforts here. There is a meager correlation between topic and content. Evidence presented in support of thesis consists of weak, even if plausible, arguments based on hypothesis.
"...Nkrumah's version of "African Personality" and "Consciencism" greatly impacted the intellectual development of Biko," should have been developed further. Questions such as, when did this alleged impact take place? At what stage of his development did this change occur? And to what extent did this influence affect his activities? These are things we are curious about which also are relevant to the topic.
And equally important for the reader would have been to explain why the writer concludes that Nkrumah's influence on Biko was greater than all other contemporary Black Power activists whose writings and actions made strong impression on conscious young Steve Biko.
The above suggestion notwithstanding, we continue to appreciate time, energy, love and dedication that goes into each essay. Thank you.
Bless Ghana, every time!
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
Dear Abra Kuma,
Thanks for the issues you raise.
I wish you had asked how Marcus Garvey, Du Bois, Carmichael, Malcolm X, Jomo Kenyatta, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, James Cone, Robert Sobukwe, Nyerere, Senghor, Aim ... read full comment
Dear Abra Kuma,
Thanks for the issues you raise.
I wish you had asked how Marcus Garvey, Du Bois, Carmichael, Malcolm X, Jomo Kenyatta, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, James Cone, Robert Sobukwe, Nyerere, Senghor, Aime Cesaire....had all at one point or other influenced Biko!
Well, if you an expansive discussion of the question, please check out the writings of Dr. Saleem Badat (and go through all the "unpopular" references I provide in the essay) and the remainder in the comment section. You might find what you want.
I have done my part by giving a general outline of what I think readers should know. Thus, a detailed discussion of the issues you raise are in the references. If I have to give a detailed response to you here here, which might possibly take another series of essays, then I might as well talk about Garvey, King, Malcolm X, Du Bois, Carmichael...impacted Biko. Therefore, those who, like you, are interested in the issues you raise should better consult the references.
Have a great week.
Thanks.
Abra Kuma 8 years ago
The references are much appreciated.
Please note that my critique was in reference to the essay title vis a vis its content. In other words, what the title promises to deliver requires focus, to a greater degree, on those ... read full comment
The references are much appreciated.
Please note that my critique was in reference to the essay title vis a vis its content. In other words, what the title promises to deliver requires focus, to a greater degree, on those issues I humbly suggested. No worries.
Peace and love, every time!
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
Dear Abra Kuma,
Thanks.
Two of my mentors have consistently been advising me to work hard at the picking/choosing appropriate titles for my essays. You may be the third one in the line. Anyway your suggestion is taken. ... read full comment
Dear Abra Kuma,
Thanks.
Two of my mentors have consistently been advising me to work hard at the picking/choosing appropriate titles for my essays. You may be the third one in the line. Anyway your suggestion is taken.
Perhaps I should have rather chosen the title: "Steve Biko & Nkrumah's Impact On The Internationalization of the Black Power Ideology!"
Finally, recall that I mentioned one of my friends working with the late Robert Sobukwe (in the '70s) who, in turned, worked and "mentored" young leaders such as Biko. In fact Sobukwe was central to the Black Concisouness Movement.
Maybe in the near future I will provide a detailed (specific) account of the issues you raise with a more fitting title.
Thanks again!
Kojo T 8 years ago
Nkrumah and Biko agree Blacks need to believe and have faith in themselves We csn go nowhere so long as we look west or east.Kutu Acheampong called it SELF RELIANCE..Africa will rise when and only when we believe we are equal ... read full comment
Nkrumah and Biko agree Blacks need to believe and have faith in themselves We csn go nowhere so long as we look west or east.Kutu Acheampong called it SELF RELIANCE..Africa will rise when and only when we believe we are equal to anyone
Dr. SAS, Counsel for the Danquists 8 years ago
Good job, Prof. Kwarteng. Apart from your copious grammatical errors, your cut and paste article cuts minimum muster for the academically mediocre.
Next time, write about how Danquah died as a great Teacher of Nkrumah. Tha ... read full comment
Good job, Prof. Kwarteng. Apart from your copious grammatical errors, your cut and paste article cuts minimum muster for the academically mediocre.
Next time, write about how Danquah died as a great Teacher of Nkrumah. That will entail a modicum of truism.
Once again, kudos to you Bro.
Danquah-ba 8 years ago
ALL COMMIES HATE FREEDOM AND CAPITALISM. THEY ARE ALL AGAINST INDIVIDUAL CHOICE AND FREE ENTERPRISE. NKRUMAH WAS A COMMIE LIKE STEVE BIKO, LUMUMBA, PAUL ROBESON, SEKOU TOURE, MALCOLM X ETC.
THEY WERE ALL BAD FOR DEMOCRACY ... read full comment
ALL COMMIES HATE FREEDOM AND CAPITALISM. THEY ARE ALL AGAINST INDIVIDUAL CHOICE AND FREE ENTERPRISE. NKRUMAH WAS A COMMIE LIKE STEVE BIKO, LUMUMBA, PAUL ROBESON, SEKOU TOURE, MALCOLM X ETC.
THEY WERE ALL BAD FOR DEMOCRACY AND FREE ENTERPRISE CAPITALISM. DANQUAH STOOD WITH THE WEST FOR DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM.
Bob 8 years ago
francis kwarteng is misleading some innocent and ignorant readers world wide with his useless duplication of middle pages of other writers who present full details on history, topics or events.
The bogus columnist, kwarten ... read full comment
francis kwarteng is misleading some innocent and ignorant readers world wide with his useless duplication of middle pages of other writers who present full details on history, topics or events.
The bogus columnist, kwarteng will cut a portion of a full story and paste it on Ghanaweb only to misinform and mislead readers.
Prof Lungu 8 years ago
It's now been established that the Nonentities, Liars, and Crook (NLC) who gave the Danquah-Busia Confederates a second life, and in the process squandered Ghana's fast-track development under Kwame Nkrumah, have more to acco ... read full comment
It's now been established that the Nonentities, Liars, and Crook (NLC) who gave the Danquah-Busia Confederates a second life, and in the process squandered Ghana's fast-track development under Kwame Nkrumah, have more to account for by the hands history.
So too, does the Danquah-Busia confederates cohorts themselves, even as they still profit from he Unitary Vision championed by Nkrumah that by default vanquished their Matemeho dystopia agenda.
Reckon yesterday NPPers traveling to the UK to peddle their false choice about a "New Electoral Register", and today, Akufo Addo playing a war song.
READ: They've always known "...That Nkrumah has no peer in the entire political history of Ghana and that the honchos of the NPP, keepers of the UP tradition, are even aware of this fact, except that they have chosen to demonize him just to score political points as far as winning elections and strengthening the political base of the NPP..."
TO THAT WE SAY: They are actually on the record, in print, non-erasable. Just read Attorney Dr. Samuel Adjei Sarfo and Dr, Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, for instance.
There is no use attempting a ruse that they were young, immature, and ignorant, etc., when they made all those CREDIBLE, POSITIVE statements about Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
Talking about CREDIBILITY!
THEN THIS: Nkrumah's "...work as Leader of Government Business (internal government) during the dyarchic period (1951-1954), as Prime Minister, and as President—all speak to the political ideology of Black Power. In fact, his entire political career and intellectual development were expressions and embodiments of Black Power..."
WE HAVE THIS TO ADD: When the entire "political career and intellectual development" of the one are directed toward "expressions and embodiments of Black Power" AND POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE for you and your "People", conscious college students and new graduates do not have the luxury of existing just to acquire stuff.
To the point, they do not exist to acquire automobiles and sundry necessities just so they can ship them to their colonized towns, where their "People" are held in servitude, inside and outside. And strangely, each automobile now require 15 times more cocoa produce to acquire a decade or more after "Government Business" was said to be under the control of the colonized.
Then, to talk about sponsoring one-two-one-two child in schools in Ghana....as a "greatest" achievement today!
Imagine, by 1966 when Nkrumah was overthrown, more than 2,500 Ghanaian students were all over the world on government-sponsored scholarships learning and training as part of the Ghana human development program.
So, the question is, do we just lack perspective, or are we still playing same ole' games so we can "...score political points as far as winning elections and strengthening the political base of the NPP..."
What a sorry life, this NLM-NLC confederates who lost the first major political battle to Nkrumah, to UNITARY or CONFEDERATE!
Tell us, "bros"!
Danquah-ba 8 years ago
DANQUAH STOOD FOR DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM. HE WAS NOT A COMMIE LIKE NKRUMAH WHO MADE GHANA A COMMUNIST HEAVEN. HE INVITED ALL THE COMMUNISTS TO GHANA. DANQUAH LIVES FOREVER IN THE MINDS OF ALL THOSE WHO LOVE CAPITALISM AND DEMO ... read full comment
DANQUAH STOOD FOR DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM. HE WAS NOT A COMMIE LIKE NKRUMAH WHO MADE GHANA A COMMUNIST HEAVEN. HE INVITED ALL THE COMMUNISTS TO GHANA. DANQUAH LIVES FOREVER IN THE MINDS OF ALL THOSE WHO LOVE CAPITALISM AND DEMOCRACY.
asonaba kofi 8 years ago
thanks for your history teachings. yours are the only long articles i have time for because they are educative and make me feel proud to be a Ghanaian.
thanks for your history teachings. yours are the only long articles i have time for because they are educative and make me feel proud to be a Ghanaian.
Kwame 8 years ago
When people speak to themselves. I have come to the conclusion that the majority of people in the world speak to themselves and hear only what they speak, they do not listen to what others say, and they also do not see what o ... read full comment
When people speak to themselves. I have come to the conclusion that the majority of people in the world speak to themselves and hear only what they speak, they do not listen to what others say, and they also do not see what others do. That is not a pride but a burden that rightists around the world carry. Its a virus with which they try to infest others and most of the time they sussed. I happen to study and sleep in the same room with comrades from South Africa and it is a fact that the Pan African Congress from which the African National Congress broke from had a strong influence of Kwame Nkrumah. I happen to meet the leader of PAC in person Alfred Nzo in Accra few years before I came into contact with his students and those from the ANC. The matter here is that who coordinated the liberation struggle in Southern Africa and who appointed a coordinator for that struggle. It was Osagyfo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and his coordinator in person Comrade Kofi Ameko who did not only the ideological work, but as well making sure that arms, logistics and revolutionary literature gets to the freedom fighters in Southern Africa.
To persons like Danquah-ba the most extreme form of capitalism is fascism, apartheid, Zionism and Islamic terrorism.
In the world around us we judge things according to what we see and hear, and not how some people distort events. The communist who liberated Algeria in 1962 did not carry out any terrorist acts in Africa after attaining victory and they did not do so during their struggle of liberation because they are convinced that their cause if right.
We have witnessed things contrary to what the communist do, to what the chickens of the capitalist do. We saw how the capitalists bombed school in Afghanistan, cut girls limbs to put the fear of God into them not to venture to go to school. In West Africa they say that formal education is a taboo, however they use guns manufactured by educated people from Europe to force on us Boko Haram financed and directed by the friends of your capitalist doll master from the Arabian Gulf.
The most cardinal point of democratic United Nations principle is the right of people to self determination and universal adult suffrage. As long as I am aware the former Soviet Union did not subvert that democratic principles between states by saying that Ghana must become a socialist state before they give us assistance. On the other hand the United States and her NATO partners have since 1984 forced us to adopt extreme market economy policies that they themselves do not venture into. They have even gone to the extend that we should adopt homosexuality, though the laws of some Western European countries still ban it.
We all witnessed a female Negro human rights activist murdered in a sell in the U.S. her crime being infringement on traffic regulations, which in most advance countries should attract a fine, if her explanation was not convincing enough. On the same day we also witness a woman traffic controller blowing her whistle to driver to correct himself and abide by the traffic regulations without coming into physical contract with the driver, which resulted in a human casualty in the U.S.
I am of the view that with the fact of the same incident in both communist and capitalist country, with the latter resulting in a human fatality, then, which of them safeguard the right of the human person to the most dearest thing - life, the communist has shown its superiority of the capitalist by preserving human life and letting the offender correct himself, because he is a being with faculty to reason and need not be send to a correction facility and court to be forced to fall in line.
Just last week I listen to a North Korean defector who is now in South Korea and want to go back home but is being prevented by the authorities in there in a country which is said to be democratic to give her her choice. The woman said that democracy in a capitalist state is a false ruse to lead people astray, because she is arrested and at times punished for infringing on some simple rules and regulation for which in the North she would be cautioned, teased for behaving like a child and let to go home. Danquah-ba this are the real facts about capitalist democracy and communist democracy. The sages said that a man who was put into a calabash with the lid fastened tight said that he is in liberty and when the lid was opened he want to go back into the calabash. Some of us are hitting at the capitalist calabash into which we are imprisoned to get to socialist liberty and democracy.
Ama serwaa 7 years ago
wonderful and as the "akyim mafia" seeks to belittle Nkrumah with those who do not fit to clean his shoes;they are bound to fail.
wonderful and as the "akyim mafia" seeks to belittle Nkrumah with those who do not fit to clean his shoes;they are bound to fail.
Dear Readers,
I read the Steve Biko story on Ghanaweb some weeks ago. But what I read was too simplistic in my opinion.
Though I had some familiarity with Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), I still contac ...
read full comment
Dear Readers,
1) Readers can get a copy of an interview transcript (pdf) (perhaps one of the most important interviews ever granted) Prof. Gerhart granted Biko from here (Prof. Gerhart taught at Columbia University/Institu ...
read full comment
DR KING, MANDELA, STOKELY CARMICHAEL AND MALCOLM X AND THEIR FRIEND KWAME NKRUMAH, WERE ALL COMMUNISTS WHO HATE CAPITALISM AND FREEDOM. THESE COMMIES WANTED TO DO AWAY WITH DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM.
A very interesting perspective you have on politics, Danquah-ba; that must be why the capitalists who love freedom incarcerated Nelson Mandela and other freedom fighters, torturing them for over twenty-seven years! Wow!
Yes! that is the braggart, too known Mr. Know all and better francis kwarteng who apart from his bragging can only cut & paste from what other nave written. He can create any thing sensible from the coconut that he carries on ...
read full comment
This is not the author's best efforts here. There is a meager correlation between topic and content. Evidence presented in support of thesis consists of weak, even if plausible, arguments based on hypothesis.
"...Nkrumah' ...
read full comment
Dear Abra Kuma,
Thanks for the issues you raise.
I wish you had asked how Marcus Garvey, Du Bois, Carmichael, Malcolm X, Jomo Kenyatta, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, James Cone, Robert Sobukwe, Nyerere, Senghor, Aim ...
read full comment
The references are much appreciated.
Please note that my critique was in reference to the essay title vis a vis its content. In other words, what the title promises to deliver requires focus, to a greater degree, on those ...
read full comment
Dear Abra Kuma,
Thanks.
Two of my mentors have consistently been advising me to work hard at the picking/choosing appropriate titles for my essays. You may be the third one in the line. Anyway your suggestion is taken. ...
read full comment
Nkrumah and Biko agree Blacks need to believe and have faith in themselves We csn go nowhere so long as we look west or east.Kutu Acheampong called it SELF RELIANCE..Africa will rise when and only when we believe we are equal ...
read full comment
Good job, Prof. Kwarteng. Apart from your copious grammatical errors, your cut and paste article cuts minimum muster for the academically mediocre.
Next time, write about how Danquah died as a great Teacher of Nkrumah. Tha ...
read full comment
ALL COMMIES HATE FREEDOM AND CAPITALISM. THEY ARE ALL AGAINST INDIVIDUAL CHOICE AND FREE ENTERPRISE. NKRUMAH WAS A COMMIE LIKE STEVE BIKO, LUMUMBA, PAUL ROBESON, SEKOU TOURE, MALCOLM X ETC.
THEY WERE ALL BAD FOR DEMOCRACY ...
read full comment
francis kwarteng is misleading some innocent and ignorant readers world wide with his useless duplication of middle pages of other writers who present full details on history, topics or events.
The bogus columnist, kwarten ...
read full comment
It's now been established that the Nonentities, Liars, and Crook (NLC) who gave the Danquah-Busia Confederates a second life, and in the process squandered Ghana's fast-track development under Kwame Nkrumah, have more to acco ...
read full comment
DANQUAH STOOD FOR DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM. HE WAS NOT A COMMIE LIKE NKRUMAH WHO MADE GHANA A COMMUNIST HEAVEN. HE INVITED ALL THE COMMUNISTS TO GHANA. DANQUAH LIVES FOREVER IN THE MINDS OF ALL THOSE WHO LOVE CAPITALISM AND DEMO ...
read full comment
thanks for your history teachings. yours are the only long articles i have time for because they are educative and make me feel proud to be a Ghanaian.
When people speak to themselves. I have come to the conclusion that the majority of people in the world speak to themselves and hear only what they speak, they do not listen to what others say, and they also do not see what o ...
read full comment
wonderful and as the "akyim mafia" seeks to belittle Nkrumah with those who do not fit to clean his shoes;they are bound to fail.