Module 5: Dare to Invent the Future
Class: The Struggle for Liberation on the African Continent
Date & Time: Thurs, April 18, 6:30-8:30PM
Description: The period between 1900 and 1960 was crucial in dismantling the European colonial structures on the African continent. As early as 1920, South Africa saw a burgeoning class consciousness as militant proletarian organizations emerged among the striking workers of the docks, factories, and mines. In just a generation, the 1960s marked a peak in anti-imperial and anti-colonial movements, with more than 17 African countries gaining independence from their colonial oppressors. Previous differences among the people, such as language, religion, and gender, were challenged in the name of national liberation, sparking new conceptions of unity. The logic of the 1884 Berlin Conference was coming under attack, igniting a violent reaction characteristic of the European powers. Marked by coups and assassinations of African leaders by Western powers, the political landscape requires rigorous study of the intimately linked struggles for liberation on the African continent in the past and the current developments surrounding national sovereignty in regions like the Sahel. In 2024, Africa’s continued struggles for freedom provide new lessons in the fight against neo-colonialism and capitalism.
Instructor: Mikaela Erksog, is an educator and researcher at the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. She is part of Pan Africanism Today, which coordinates the regional articulation of the International People’s Assembly and is also part of the No Cold War coordination committee, a peace platform promoting multilateralism and maximum global cooperation. She is also part of Dongsheng, an international collective of researchers interested in Chinese politics and society, and hosts The Crane: An Africa-China Podcast.
