The Brotherwise Dispatch VOL.2, ISSUE #1, DEC/2009 - FEB/2010
And so we begin this new era of the BROTHERWISE DISPATCH with a focus on Black liberation theory.
Now, by Black liberation theory we mean critical theory grounded in the intellectual rebellion, spiritual reality, socio-political revolt, emancipatory impulse and lived experience of human beings of African descent in resistance against western imperialist oppression and racist dehumanization. The aim of Black liberation, which finds its culmination as genuine human emancipation, is at odds with the stifling value systems which govern adherents of liberal assimilation, conservative 'cultural nationalist' separation and dogmatic Marxist eschatology.
With this in mind, let’s revisit some classic essays by Harold Cruse, Eldridge Cleaver and Frank B. Wilderson III which theoretically struggle with the existing critical tension between Black liberation and Marxism, as each writer ultimately comes to grips with how the “social, ideological, and political oppositions generated within Western societies have proven unequal to the task”(1)of human liberation.
We’ll also revisit an excellent interview of Cedric Robinson by Chuck Morse.
As an extra feature, we've also included some "Working Definitions & Unfixed Terminology" to help bring people up to speed and assist in providing necessary theoretical context as we move forward.
Peace,
A. Shahid Stover – Editor-in-Chief
(1)Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition, (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1983, 2000) p.316.