Between the late 1940s and the 1990s, movements for independence, decolonization and Black Power emerged and flourished. While these movements altered the terrain of the global south, they had a profound echo effect on the culture, politics, and artistic expression of the global north. In Europe, support committees for Black political prisoners, anti-Apartheid actions as well as the Black Panthers provided “hot flashes” during the Cold War. Across social movements, “solidarity” became an alternative current to encompass modalities of difference, with activists working together against capitalism and racial separation. The result was a reshifting of racial and national boundaries, and an enduring hope for a different society.
We will explore the legacies of Global Black Solidarity, and what it means today through a conversation with
Ginga Eichler and scholar
Dr. Robyn Spencer, moderated by
Kazembe Balagun.
Ginga Eichler was a member of the African National Congress Solidarity committee in the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
Dr. Robyn Spencer is a historian who focuses on Black social protest after World War II, urban and working-class radicalism, and gender. She teaches survey and seminar courses on African American Heritage, Civil rights and Black Power, and Black women's history at the Graduate Center at CUNY. She is the author of
The Revolution Has Come: Black Power, Gender and The Black Panther Party in Oakland.
Kazembe Balagun is a Project Manager at Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung New York Office. Born in Harlem, NY, Kazembe received his B.A. in Philosophy from Hunter College. From 2007 to 2013, he was the Education/Outreach Coordinator at the Brecht Forum. Kazembe recently contributed an essay on “We Be Reading Marx Where We From: Socialism and the Black Freedom Struggle” to the book
Imagine: Living in a Socialist USA (2014).
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