Untranquil Histories and Malcolm

CLR James account of the Haitian revolution is one that is driven by accounts of individual figures namely Toussaint L’Ouverture and Mackandal whose liberation struggle preceded the French Revolution by a century .We can find a similar focus on individuals in Malcolm X’s speeches, the earlier ones especially, that place a lot of importance and responsibility on one individual- namely Elijah Muhammad. The individuals are larger than life but at the same time constrained by the very circumstances the history has placed them in. His description of slaving in the West Indies is one that provides a counter-narrative to white histories by challenging two primary assumptions espoused in them. The first one was that the violence, torture and trauma that took place within the institution of slavery was an exception. This can be also described as the good slave-owner /bad slave-owner argument. He supports his argument by referring to incidents like the Le Jeune case, where unchecked violence on the slaves by slaveowners went unpunished because of the collective resistance put up by the slaveowners who may not have indulged in the same violence but stood to lose power if any justice was dispensed. The other assumption his work refutes is one that paints slavery as a thing of past that is disconnected from modernity. CLR James goes on to argue that everything about slavery in the West Indies was modern- almost all of what the slaves ate and wore was imported and the economy they contributed to itself was a product of modernity.

CLR James’ writing punctures the narrative around plantations that white histories try to project- one that glosses over the violence of slavery to paint an idyllic image of plantations in the Caribbean Islands. The violence is described in graphic detail from the moment of the slaves’ capture following detribalisation to their harrowing journeys first to slave ports and then to the New World. He does not spare any detail in his discussion of the many terrors and tribulations of the Middle Passage and the back-breaking work that is demanded of the slaves in the plantations once they arrive in the Caribbean. He offers no sanitised or deodorised account of slavery in Haiti because he is not writing to ease the conscience of white readers. He begins his book by making it clear that The Black Jacobins would not recount history with tranquility; tranquility in narration is the purview of great English writers alone.

In something that Fanon comes to share with him, CLR James does not concern himself with appeasing white readers by providing a watered-down description of slavery and what followed. Here, we can also draw similarities between the content of Malcolm X’s speeches and CLR James’ writing; both choose to distance themselves from narratives that centre themselves around the convenience of the dominant white population. Both show no concern for the white population, they do not feel the need to package their demands and sentiments in a manner that promises rewards to the white population for their support. In God’s Judgement of White America, Malcolm X expresses his disdain for the white liberal saying that the only difference that exists between a white liberal and a white conservative is that the former is more deceitful. He dismisses the possibility of ever working with white liberals or appealing to their sentiments when he says that white liberals lend vocal support to the black struggle only so they can use the black people as a tool in their ever “football game”. All white liberals offer is superficial changes to the black population. In the same speech, Malcolm X goes on to warn the listeners about white America’s impending doom. There is no question of there being an escape from this Day of Judgment that awaits the white population of America and even if there is one, the burden of the salvation of white man is not on him. He is not worried about the doom and his tone throughout is very matter-of-fact, with references from Scripture about the downfall of other civilisations who had rejected their prophets.

Both Malcolm X and CLR James complicate their analyses of race by exploring the gradation and differences that exist within the black population. CLR James describes a privileged class of slaves- those who worked as foremen, cooks and other household servants. It was the accounts of these relatively privileged slaves that were used to romanticise slavery in the Caribbean. This minority of slaves looked down on those who toiled in the fields and often used their close relationship with the slaveowner to improve their education. Christophe and Toussaint L’Ouverture both belonged to this category of slaves and were given greater opportunities and liberties than those allowed to the ordinary slave who performed backbreaking work in the fields. Those who bore the brunt of slavery were the ones who resisted these institutions. Their resistance culminated into rebellions, the greatest of which was led by Mackandal. The trope of the House Negro and the Field Negro is employed by Malcolm X to explain the difference between what he describes as the old Negro and the New Negro. The Old Negro aligned closely with the Uncle Tom stereotype- he lived with the master, ate with the master and wore the master’s hand-me-downs. His association with the white master was such that he was unable to discern between his interests and the master’s, going out of his way in ensuring that the master’s interests were not threatened. The field Negro was the one who was assigned the most difficult tasks and therefore had no concern with the maintenance of the status quo. Since he suffered the worst under slavery, he would take up any opportunity of running away that he could find without any qualms about the master’s interests. Malcolm X argues that in the twentieth century, the House Negro lives on in what he describes as the old Negro- usually middle class black people who have been educated in elite institutions . The old Negro has no interest in dismantling the existing system; he is satisfied as long he can ensure some of this system’s rewards for himself- education, wealth and prestige. He identifies more closely with the white man than his fellow black people which is why he does not want a complete overhaul of the existing system. He is embarrassed of his color. The New Negro, much like the field Negro, constitutes the majority of the black population that suffers in ghettos and slums with little opportunity for upward social mobility. They are the ones who are not ashamed of what they look like. Unlike the older brand of Negro, the New Negro does not have the objective of appeasing the white masters. These distinctions within the black community are integral to historical analysis because they help place movements and historical figures in a specific context that shapes their politics instead of painting a one-dimensional image of the black (wo)man.

Unlikely Heroes

My project will be drawing on folklore and legends to examine the new forms that the creative expression of the colonized peoples takes as it shifts away from the medieval, ambiguous time frame it has been frozen into. I will be focusing in particular on the unlikely heroes that feature in these songs and legends. The framework for this project is rooted in Fanon’s theory on the emergence of national culture in the wake of anti-colonial struggles. Fanon argues that with the collapse of the colonial institutions, great innovation takes place in folklore- stories no longer allude to “once upon a time”, “a long time ago” or any other obscure time period. The stories now refer to events that can easily take place in the present. Similarly, the stories have a different kind of hero, one who is a social misfit or an outlaw, that point towards new ways of being human. These heroes are rehabilitated and cast in a new, less negative light.

One such legend I will be looking at is the story of Jamalo Sheedi, immortalised in the popular folk song, Ho Jamalo. Jamalo Sheedi too is one of the unlikely heroes that emerge as folk songs and tales are revitalized. Jamalo Sheedi’s story takes place in the late nineteenth century. Not only this but it features a lot of characters we associate with modernity- railways, prisons and British colonial administrators. Jamalo Sheedi is a death row prisoner who takes on the task of test-driving a train across the then newly constructed Sukkur Bridge. This is a task that the British administrators have been unable to find volunteers for. Sheedi agrees to drive the train on the condition that he be released if he successfully completes the journey. Sheedi manages to beat the odds and crosses the bridge. The British colonial administration is forced to release him and on his return his wife is said to have composed the song Ho Jamalo. Jamalo Sheedi makes an unlikely hero with his criminal past and his wits. Not only this, the story is also unique in how it can be easily placed into a time frame and is not a tale from an ossified past that the colonizer’s literature subjects the stories and heroes of the colonized to. The project is significant because it will be looking at how stories evolved and modernized with recent struggles and events in the foreground. Although it might be a stretch to see Jamalo’s legend as an act of resistance against the colonizer, stories like these are important because they help show how the folklore of the colonized is a dynamic entity that has the capacity to reinvent and reinvigorate itself.

I will be looking for similar legends and stories. Another possible source for this project would be literature on the Thuggee culture in Southern India (might be referring to Philip Taylor’s Confessions of a Thug.

This project will most likely be an essay because it would be referring to secondary sources and tales.

References:

Fanon, Frantz. “On National Culture.” Wretched of the Earth.

Saving brown women from brown men

Is first-world feminism imperialist?

Chandra Mohanty would say yes. Mohanty’s article draws on the similarities between the representation of the colonised populations by the colonisers and the ways women of the developing world are represented by Western scholars to illustrate the imperialist tendencies of first world feminism. Representation of third world women is a critical issue because of the effects such representation goes on to have. Scholarship on women is deeply intertwined with feminist practices and discourse. The ways of knowing third world women have remarkable consequences for the way of being and doing in third world contexts. Much like colonisers, Western feminists too end up homogenising the experiences of women in third world. Third world women are never seen in their own right but always in comparison to their Western counterparts. Just like the Western man defines himself in opposition to his colonised subject, the Western scholar ends up defining herself against her characterisation of the third world women. The Western woman is educated, has bodily autonomy and has control over decisions that concern her while the women in the global South are illiterate, sexually repressed and subject to violence by the men in their lives, their families and their religion. The Western woman hence comes to see her counterparts in the third world as “ourselves undressed”. The category of “third world woman” that is constituted is denied any socio-historical context- what oppresses her is static, absolute and has no room for variation within it. Her oppression is taken as a given; she is powerless and her life is reduced to her being affected by or not being affected by one of the following: Islam, the Arab family, a formerly colonised nation and the economy of a dependent nation. People in the third world are divided according to a very uncomplicated understanding of how patriarchy works- men are oppressors and the women their victims. With these characterisations, first world feminists often end up sounding a lot like the misogynists they rally against who too draw on biological differences to paint women as weak and feeble-minded.

But what does representation have to with imperialism? The way women of the global South are represented leads to a very paternalistic (perhaps maternalistic might be a better word here) attitude towards third world women. Since they are defined as the lack of everything that makes the Western woman “empowered”, they cannot be expected to improve their lot on their own. They think it is falls on white men and white women to show them how they should be empowered. This is where first world feminism fails in making meaningful connections with third world movements. These movements rarely reflect on their privilege and display a blatant ignorance of how it is not just religion or family that hinders women but also the exploitative economic systems that tie them to the West. This is how they end up reinforcing existing structures of power with their practices. Ignorance like this is exemplified by the “This is what a feminist looks like” T-shirts that were sported by celebrities who identified as feminists. The producers of these T-shirts, women who laboured in Mauritian sweatshops, received only a paltry wage of 62 pence for each shirt.

Laura Bush’s radio speech on the tribulations of Afghan women and children under Taliban rule was a means of gathering support for the War on Terror her husband had began. The cause of women and feminism here was co-opted by warmongers to justify their actions. Many feminists too ended up lending support to a war that was never about the Afghan women and had little concern for them. American presence in Afghanistan had inconclusive results and now as American troops withdraw from there, the question of Afghan women remains unanswered.

“Because of our recent military gains, in much of Afghanistan women are no longer imprisoned in their homes. They can listen to music and teach their daughters without fear of punishment. Yet, the terrorists who helped rule that country now plot and plan in many countries, and they must be stopped. The fight against terrorism is also a fight for the rights and dignity of women.”

However, for Mohanty, it is not only first world women who are guilty of painting the women of third world countries as passive subjects. Women who belong to the third world and reside in first world countries or women who belong to and live in the third world can be equally guilty of presenting women of third world countries as ahistorical subjects. First world feminism is not limited by geographical boundaries; it is a set of attitudes that deny third world women agency and ends up inadvertently lending support to the existing domination of formerly colonised nations by the West.

Cabral on Culture

Amilcar Cabral’s 1970 speech reads like a forewarning of what is to befall the then newly liberated nations of Africa- a liberation that does not bring any significant material changes in the lives of the citizens of these nations. Culture is a variable that cannot be overlooked within national struggles because it is both a means of maintaining colonial domination by creating a class of native elite that is alienated from its own cultural context and has few or no qualms about upholding colonial systems that repress their own people. For him, the political and economic domination of a population is very closely intertwined with the denigration and domination that the colonised people’s cultures are subject to. Culture is more of less a manifestation of the politics and economy of a society and is tied to the forces of production and the means of the production. Long after the local people’s means of organising themselves and their means of production are made unsustainable by colonial rule, the culture that emerged out of them continues. The national liberation struggle becomes an instrument for the development and perpetuation of the nation’s culture as people from different segments of society mingle, reaffirming a common culture and deriving a sense of pride from it.

“Not without a certain surprise, they discover the richness of the spirit, the capacity for argument and for clear exposition of ideas, the ease with which they understand and assimilate concepts that the masses have- they the masses, who only yesterday were ignored if not despised and considered by the colonisers and seen by some nations, as lesser beings.”

(page 45)

The African continent’s cultures are dynamic entities that are not stuck in time. His speech affirms that a culture, that is capable of growing and undergoes multiple stages of development, is not the purview of only European people. Cabral’s speech becomes an indictment of the depiction of Africa and her culture as static. His description of African culture does not present it as a monolith

Cabral’s national liberation is different in that it does not hark back to a romanticised past for inspiration and neither does it idealise culture. His vision of liberation looks to the future where culture can evolve to accommodate the material realities of the world. He acknowledges the negative aspects that exist within a culture and does not justify them out of misplaced loyalty. Instead, he calls for a complete disavowal of all that is wrong with the colonised people’s cultures including the disparity between genders, nepotism, traditions and rites that pose a risk and gerontocracy. His speech paves way for an Africanization that contributes to a more egalitarian and participatory society. Cabral’s speech advocates for a popular culture that is inclusive of all classes, both urban and rural residents and women. He ponders on questions of what a new nation must look like and is adamant that it does not end up becoming one where the national culture is reduced to that of the petty-bourgeois and urban elite but reflects adequately the culture and conditions of all sectors of society. The mission of liberation is not just to free the elite of colonialism but also rid masses of the exploitation they face at the hands of the coloniser and his abettors.

Toiler of the East, Join the Ranks of the Builders of Socialism!

Dada Amir Haider’s account of his stay in the Soviet Union illustrates how radical the Soviet Union was; it was not radical just in its conceptions of the state and economy but also in its internationalist vision of a world where disenfranchised people were placed at the forefront of change. People of color from colonised lands, people of color from a very racialised United States of America, peasants and women all of whom who had been previously consigned to the backdrop of revolutionary movements were now heroes who spearheaded progress and development in the Soviet Union. This comes across in works of Socialist Realism where the subjects in the posters are often steel workers, peasant women, factory workers and engineers. Socialist Realism relies on ordinary heroes like these who overcome hardships to succeed to shape the consciousness of the masses. These heroes represent what the Socialist society is supposed to be like, presenting an ideal that the toiling masses must strive towards.

The Socialist project is not confined by state boundaries but extends to the entire world- a vision that is embodied in the university education that Dada Amir Haider Khan receives at the University of the Toiling Masses of the East. University programmes like these aimed to provide literacy and training to people from colonised lands and elsewhere to enable them to administer and build territories that were premised on the interests of the working classes. The students at this university were expected to, once they finished their programme, to assist in the anti-colonial liberation struggles and organise communist parties in their respective homelands. Class oppression, in Leninist-Marxist conceptions, was tied with colonial exploitation that stunted the development of nations. Soviet posters too take up the cause of anti-imperialism with representations of multiple nationalities.

‘**All hail the world October revolution!’ – a poster from 1933**

This poster helps illustrate how the newly formed Soviet Union (which is placed at the centre of the globe) emerged as a major centre for political dissidents and revolutionaries. This and accounts like that of Dada Amir Haider Khan represent a de-centring of the world from Western Europe, which up to that point had been viewed as the intellectual and revolutionary breeding ground of ideas. Moscow became a safe haven for those who had been driven out of their own homelands by repressive regimes and those who wanted to escape the class system and other forms of oppression that they were subject to in their homelands. The funds raised in USSR to support the British workers on strike and the excitement generated by the British strike in Moscow, mention of which appears in Dada Amir Haider’s account, is a testament to how connected the Soviet Union’s regime was to struggles elsewhere. Moscow is a place where the colonised people, their languages, their culture and their struggles find recognition. Their lack of formal education and their lack of proficiency in English and/or Russian is not a hindrance to their training and they are instead taught in their own native languages.

If we don't bring up an internationalist, we will not manage to build socialism Soviet poster, 1930 — “If we don’t bring up an internationalist, we will not manage to build socialism” Soviet poster, 1930

The internationalist dimension of socialism is also revealed in this poster. It is not enough for the workers of the Soviet Union to be liberated; their freedom is tied to the freedom of other workers in the world and as long as they remain unfree, the work of Soviet Union remains incomplete. Imperialism is not just a threat to countries subject to this but also to the prosperity of socialism. The Soviet Union acknowledges contributions by other communist leaders and workers across the globe as signified by the state funerals accorded to Bill Heywood and Comrade Ruthanbarg. Also significant is the participation and leading of funeral processions by Dada Amir Haider Khan and his non-Soviet comrades. Works of socialist realism usually depict fit-looking youth, something that can be seen in this poster too. The Soviet Union, in its propaganda, associates itself with muscled, fit, radiant youth, signifying a break from a past deemed to be withered and ancient much like capitalists are depicted in other posters.

Peasant woman! Be ready to leave the old life for the new.jpg — “Peasant woman! Be ready to leave the old life for the new”

Another prominent agent of change in the new order is the peasant woman as exemplified by Noora in Dada Amir Haider’s account. No matter how different the reality in Soviet Russia was, the Soviet state did put forward “The New Soviet Woman” – one who was educated, one who was as much a part of the workforce as the man, one who was relieved of the burden of domestic work and one whose care work was acknowledged by the state. Nurseries were seen as being as instrumental in the progress of the nation as tractors were. In Amir Haider’s account, there is an incident where women protest when the university administration attempts to close down nurseries due to budget cuts. Amir Haider’s account refers to subsidies that were provided to young women like Noora who could have not afforded education otherwise. Peasant women like Noora were to harbingers of change, encouraging collectivisation in their own villages. Peasant women and women workers came to symbolise ideal femininity. This can be seen in the regard and admiration that Amir Haider has for Jenny, a young black woman distinguished by her discipline in the military camp.The idealisation of women from proletariat origins is also seen in the censure that the Indo-American group is subject to for fraternising with upper-class women. Women before the revolution look rather washed-out in contrast to the brighter hues used to depict the same women after the revolution. The women are seen as the ones leading discussions post-revolution in sharp contrast to the humiliation they were seen as being subject to before the revolution. It is unclear how much gender roles changed in the Soviet Union, but the possibilities available to women did increase.

References:

https://www.britannica.com/art/Socialist-Realism

http://soviethistory.msu.edu/1934-2/socialist-realism/

Representation in Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman

“The night is not at peace, ghostly one. The world is not at peace. You have shattered the peace of the world forever. There is no sleep in the world tonight.”

Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman chronicles the damage that the British colonizers inflict on the native populations’ way of life in attempts to undermine a culture that is perceived by them to be backwards and irrational. What is incomprehensible to the white man is seen as insensible and is described as “savage”, “feudal”, “barbaric custom” and “callous”. The representation of natives as simple-minded and narratives of “white man’s burden” are used to impose European culture upon the colonised. Conversations between the District Officer, Simon Pilkings, and his wife Jane illustrate how the natives in Nigeria are characterised by Europeans. When the native administration policeman, Amusa, expresses his shock at the Pilkings wearing the egungun dresses, he is scorned by the Pilkings for his “big pagan heart”. Amusa’s shock and reaction is dismissed as him being overly sentimental as compared to the Pilkings who fail to see what is offensive about them appropriating a costume. The native is guided by emotions and is therefore inferior while the coloniser is superior because he relies on logic alone. Amusa’s beliefs about the sacredness of the dresses are seen as incompatible with his Muslim identity. The use of the egungun dresses as “costumes” by the Pilkings for the ball shows how native rites exist only as props for Europeans. Pilkings is quick to poke fun at the sacredness of these rites and religion but has no qualms about appropriating objects associated with them to appear exotic. The native population is described in very childlike ways by the couple- as people who need excuses to make noise, are prone to yapping about personal lives and exaggeration. The coloniser sees his work and restrictions as a favor to the colonised who cannot be trusted to do what is best for them which is why Pilkings and other colonial officials feel it their their duty to intervene in rites they deem cult-like. These notions about the natives are challenged later in the play in Jane Pilking’s conversations with Olunde.

When those subjected to colonial rule do oppose the colonial government’s policies and point out inconsistencies within the European cultures, it is perceived as a result of a European education because the colonized are seen as incapable of critical thinking and logical argumentation themselves. The colonized are seen as incapable of articulating their grievances without help from the Europeans themselves. This is exemplified when Olunde points out that Elesin’s self-sacrifice is not much different from that undertaken by thousands of young European men in wartime, Jane implies that Olunde has learnt a lot other than medicine during his time in England.

The denigration of the natives’ culture and their intelligence paves way for colonial intervention in the community’s rites and customs. The interventions are seen as a way of saving the native population from itself. The imposition of European values and culture by the colonial power disrupts a way of life as seen when the king’s horseman is not allowed to take his own life after the king dies. Interventions like these by the colonisers render all possibilities that were previously available to the Yoruba impossible. The honor that is associated with Elesin, as the king’s horseman, no longer holds any meaning as the rite is disrupted forever. The devastation extends far beyond Elesin, who no longer has a role to play in his society once he has been stopped from performing the duty that his rank and honor rested on. The loss extends to the other characters too- the women of the market who venerated the king’s horseman and the praise-singer whose art revolved around the feats of the king’s horseman and other figures who were now shunned to the past. Elesin, the praise-singer and Iyaloja point to the uncertainty that the Yoruba people face as they know not what to aspire for or fear as the colonizer’s presence and their interventions reconfigure the world for them in such a way that they no longer have a best case scenario to strive for a worst case scenario to avoid. This is best described by Soyinka when Elesin states:

“..white skin covered our future, preventing us from seeing the death our enemies had prepared for us.”

The colonial conquest was not just physical but also an epistemic one where the Yoruba way of thinking has been invalidated along with their way of life.