Henning Melber
9 October 2008
(Page 2 of 2)
Frantz Fanon's revolutionary convictions were not least a result of the humiliation and alienation he was exposed to when studying in France during the late 1940s. He summarised his rude awakening to the realities of being black in a white dominated society in Black Skin, White Masks. In this challenge of white dominance he stated more than half a century ago 'that man is a yes... Yes to life. Yes to love. Yes to generosity. But man is also a no. No to scorn of man. No to degradation of man. No to exploitation of man. No to the butchery of what is most human in man: freedom.' (2)
Pambazuka News is practicing both the 'yes' and the 'no', sometimes under painful circumstances, where choices of solidarity are a reflection of sobering insights requiring consequences to be drawn and to part from what had been believed to be established common ground. Former liberation movements now executing political power and control as governments are a point in case. By doing so, this forum contributes through all those, who use it as their platform, to the humanity we are striving for. A humanity as a form of human solidarity, which embraces and reflects more than intellectual honesty, analytical rigor and political commitment. A humanity, which only through our empathy becomes truly human. An empathy, without which we would not be able to act in true solidarity. Pambazuka News will change over time and with circumstances, to stand firmly in solidarity with those, who fight for more equality, justice and human dignity.
Footnotes
(1) Kala Subbuswamy and Raj Patel, 'Cultures of domination', p.537.
(2) Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks, p.222.
References
Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks. New York: Grove Press 1968.
Reinhart Kößler/Henning Melber, 'International civil society and the challenge for global solidarity'. In: Global civil society - More or less democracy?, Development Dialogue, no. 49, November 2007, pp.29-39.
John Sanbonmatsu, The Postmodern Prince: Critical Theory, Left Strategy, and the Making of a New Political Subject, New York: Monthly Review Press 2004.
Kala Subbuswamy and Raj Patel, 'Cultures of domination: Race and gender in radical movements'. In Kolya Abramsky (ed), Restructuring and Resistance: Diverse voices of struggle in Western Europe, (no place, no publisher) 2001, pp.535-545.
* Henning Melber is Executive Director of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation in Uppsala, Sweden.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/
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