YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW
THE MESSAGE OF NICOLE KALI
THE STRUGGLE FOR BLACK LIBERATION AROUND THE WORLD
SOME EXAMPLES OF THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM
A WORK IN PROGRESS
MORE COMING SOON
Nicole Kali is a descendant from Central and West African nomadic tribes in Chad, Mali and Nigeria. Their fate as captives was never a choice or consideration by invaders. It's called a 500-Year-War because occupation on our ancestral land persists in the 21st century, a monster with several heads that we call AFRICOM, or NGO's, oil extraction companies or secessionists.
Liberation always has an Indigenous cost, one we cover in other articles like Indigenous American Women and Revolution too. So we're going to revisit over 10 nations, their story and pan-African revolution's honored defenders who risked everything for an alternate reality. This is anti-fascism in Black August, and Black history.
BRAZIL
Brazil has one of the longest ongoing resistance records in modern memory. This gigantic land, with over 30 unique tribal nations, has sustained countless migrations of mankind and wildlife since prehistory in Paleolithic times. The Amazon rain forest truly are the lungs of our oscillating, ancient planet. One trade route and arrival altered Brazil in shameful ways that you can still feel, see on people's faces. Eight million lives were traumatically uprooted, sold and shipped there from African shores. Their origins seep into Brazilian life.
Medieval cities like Rio de Janeiro had auctioning blocks in central squares like Praia 15. But Portuguese elite were squeamish, seeing the Middle Passage's refugees right after their "New World" trip. Valongo Wharf used to be a northern port for offloading them out of sight, out of mind. You can't bury injustice no matter how long.
The Passage left its mark everywhere. Beninese and Nigerian-influenced foods not only fill passerby's hands, they're godly tribute for Candomble devotees. Spiritual ceremonies highlight their relationship to Yoruba lineage, the ancestral orishas, and believers channel the divine respectfully in daily ritual. This inseparable homeland-diasporic memory underlies every rebellion we'll mention, whether a religious, artistic, political grappling with Transatlantic Slave Trade woes like reconstructed identity.
Resilient movements by both Indigenous Brazilian communities (Xingu, Xakriaba, Wapichana) AND African-Brazil of 1500's are mind-blowing in their impact. They drafted survival guides of intergenerational, multi-ethnic free settlements for future generations when banding together. Maroons across Brazil nurtured basic human needs, grew polycultural farms for food and medicinal aid, quilombos like Palmares.
All this kick-ass defiance during Dutch and Portuguese rule. But modern-day Brazil encountered powerful African leaders earlier than we thought. Mansa Musa's brother King Abu Bakr II is said to end his expedition in Pernambuco (Boura Ambouk in Bambara, Malian dialect). A Malian monarch who had contact with South America before the Portuguese? That's some food for thought.
Palmares was a quilombo of 10 separate communities like boroughs within a bigger city. No single founder made the free zone, but it flourished from the early 1600's to 1694. Ganga Zumba particularly stands out as a formidable warrior for Afro-Brazilians. He passed away mid-century and heir Zumbi took his place. This would be the last leader of Palmares.
Dandara, co-leader/wife, also made that sanctuary possible with her multifaceted knowledge. She knew agricultural secrets, military strategy, self-defense. Most importantly, she remembered home. Her innovative ways preserved long-lasting tradition. True Africa mentions these pre-colonial milestones too.
There are attempts all throughout 18th century Brazil to galvanize the Diaspora further, but brutal plantation massacres do a hefty part in silencing them. So by the 1800's, Brazil is independent from Portugal altogether...1888 comes, and the Golden Rule formally outlaws slavery. Yet uprisings only got bloodier like the 1835 Male Revolt (African Muslims deserve more credit here), the Baiana separatists or continual protests in Salvador Square since Black Brazilians got there.
We can see that entire pillars of prosperity revolved around an unrealistic reliance on stolen African laborers. The economy would collapse if certain goods didn't ship. Europe imported 12 million sugar tons in 100 years (1690-1790). Add a chilling truth, each ton cost an African life. Brazil remains a top producer to this day.
We know how that goes. Vicious racism and anti-abolition land owners now faced Afro-Brazilians who engaged armed struggle for civil rights by any means necessary, because change is inevitable. Now it was written into law. 1900's Brazil showed us a whirlwind of revolutionary campaigns, African pride collectives like Movimento Negro that strengthened each other.
Radical heroes Lelia Gonzalez and Abdias Nascimento entered the political arena. Mainstream art entered a definitive era of anti-censorship and respect for Africans' contributions. Music broadcasts anti-capitalist messages on a national scale. This persisted despite dictatorship, terrifying military periods, and disturbing eco-terrorism in protected areas. Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso are among hundreds of 70's peace-makers kicked out for doing the right thing. Fear is a grossly overused tool for eliminating common power.
But Black liberation advocates play a mean long game. They create political awareness for inequality and provide solutions, they build a unification portrait so beautiful that you are impressed as emotional. Marielle Franco, the Amazonian selvas, everyday people answer a higher call. It has been six years since Franco's Bolsonaro-backed assassination, a void hard to fill if it ever will. She lived a radiant and impactful life that prioritized joy. Activists risk their very existence so greater ones can be.
CHAD
Tchad is a criminally overlooked Central African area, has a very complex relationship to abolition and foreign rule. This extremely old nation came from the Neolithic with a firm grasp on farming, the arts, weaponry, spiritual civilization. But there have been recurring disasters. Devastating depopulation by warfare is one. Sultanate raids are related by default and wars over caravan roads across the Sahara. Kanem-Borno State and Ouaddai established way before the 500-Year-War. Chad looks more like a renewed Crusade in this light.
Enter the European invasions now. French presence found themselves in totally unfamiliar territory. Brilliant minds like Sultan Muhammad Sharif absorbed Baguirmi State (a protectorate) so Chad could fend France off. But greed had its victory around 1900 in a lost battle with foreign military. Kon villagers were killed for denying troops. Mbangs (tribal leaders) such a Mode were assassinated. Sara resistance faded like so many others.
Here's an uncomfortable case of regressive life when 'more civilized nations' interfere. Independent Chad had majorly surrendered by 1920. That same year, France forcibly took them into colonial possession. Now resistance had the highest penalty.
French administration officials weren't about bettering Chad or Congo, Gabon or the Sahel. The governor general lazily supervised their sectors from a great distance. Lieutenant governors followed their lead. Communities under colonialism's crushing weight revamped their attacks again. They said hell no to captivity or working for the Man.
Contemporary movements blamed famine on the same sources as we would now: conflict, changing climate, eco-destruction by ignorance. 300,000 Ouaddai residents got no choice but starvation in this conquest. They are not a passive statistic or part of pan-African history. They were ancestors who empowered themselves against very real crimes of the crown.
Crafting a sovereign identity under occupation's eye will never be an easy task for us. Proximity or deference to French monarchy switched Chad's trajectory forever. Accelerated success drastically affected southern Chad the most. So did royal armed forces service. Lines blurred more between pre-colonization and post-. Chiefs sat on French thrones in provinces that never had any.
This was a stateless belt of communes after all. Decentralization is absolutely a trait passed down to Africans outside Africa: the Americas as a start. The tactic gains momentum. Civil war dragged through the 1930's and '40's in central Chad. And we get to Eboue's term, Felix Eboue as a political median of France and traditional Chadean's assimilated leadership candidates. When he passed, hope for an autonomous country was low. Why?
Even in pre-existing states, the structures were unrecognizable. Assemblies could be elected by local voters and sent to a greater Council but a catch: representatives for French parliament. Politicians lacking any relevant experience were divvying out power that was misunderstood. Paris held the keys to Chad's destiny, in a sneaky fine-print deal. This matters.
We should understand duelling influences' destabilization and national aftermath, where dictators like Idriss Deby begin. We should know Chad is where over five million people endure hunger everyday. Ukraine still battles Russia to regain their livelihood and grain supply. Africa is reeling from this schism. Yet Chad and the motherland haven't given up. Protests rage on till a new day comes. France is finally "leaving". But does that only come from defeat, years of splintered democracy? Maybe revolutionary tides are turning.
COLOMBIA
Colombia is a compelling tapestry of African pride, the first peoples who set foot there and uprisings to keep both alive. This place underwent massive shifts in thought, demographic representation that favored power over enslaved non-Europeans. We won't forget 250,000 free Africans on Colombian soil back in colonial times. They are 25% the population today.
Dissent took less than ten years and really kicked off with Santa Marta in 1532. Black Colombia dealt with colonization's broken record of dislocation, reclamation as counter-culture wave. We got to honor examples like Benkos Bioho from Guinea-Bissau who was sent to Cartagena's riverbanks through Portuguese traders. He ran alongside 30 or so others. And they made a monumental choice: San Basilio de Palenque.
The palenque included a trained people's army, a fair election system for community, and enough resources to resist sieges. Bioho plus the Maroons entered a peace treaty with Cartagena's 1605 governor. It was betrayed later. Bioho negotiated terms to seal off San Basilio and stop his emancipation plans. Spain's awful agents still took their life. Garcia Giron resented this charismatic, self-liberated leader 70 kilometers from the city.
He disrupted politics completely. An uneasy truce wavers with Colombian government and Spain's ever since 1691. Benkos Bioho is one likely inspiration. He's resurfaced in movement imagery, Afro-Colombian forums about uneven political power. What rights are Black citizens' if that imbalance appears across the board?
FARC still terrorizes them in El Choco, a hugely Black province, and even government infilitrate untapped reserves without consulting Afro-Colombians at all. Peace is a lingering, unanswered question. Colombia teers between anarchy, distrust and populism. Will they gain their footing soon? It's coming now. Francia Marquez is special. She's a vanguard that became the first Black vice-president of her beloved country. We know this only marks the beginning.
CONGO
The Congo is an immensely relevant republic in Central Africa. Formerly the Kongo kingdom plus northern Angola, over 40 ethnic groups proudly call this home. Patrice Lumumba comes to mind immediately, presidents Kabila to Sese Seko too, it's a multigenerational legacy dating back thousands of years.
Take a closer look at the Congo. Its river flows southwest till Atlantic coastline. Coltan, diamonds, gold, natural oil, rubber and wood are abundant throughout Congo borderlines, but especially the River Basin. Second-largest rain forest on Earth, supporting 40 million humans, 10,000 wide-ranging species in our lifetime. The Congo's bounty of life attracts attention. And this was clear around Columbus' 1492 voyage.
Portugal'd shown Europe a glimpse into Kongo noble life and trade routes. They were shocked by what was normal there. Women were organizational consultants, they determined land acquisition and extra food supply. Kanda is a matriarchal system of inherited property. In Europe, could you even picture women's advice as respected and priority? It rattled the Portuguese to death.
Court leaders met with King Nzinga a Nkuwu for a semi-religious truce. Missionaries were welcomed openly though their political motives stayed unclear at first. Lucrative goods rippled from the Congo to mass excitement. Ivory, salt, silk, exotic animal skins left with more and more "visits".
Soon enslaved Bembe, Bantu, Luba Africans were equally valuable if they could withstand a months-long march to the nearest sea port. Christianity frightened many Congolese people, and Bakongo faith became the dominant belief system again. Could we assign blame to these missionaries for conquest? Are they responsible? Is the gradual coup d'etat another cause for reparations? I think so. European rulers dismissed, outright attacked the Congo for personal gain because they had seen it before with no punishment.
They ignored Nzinga's successor Mvemba, his 24-letter pleas and prohibition of slavery in the Congo. Of course it's true that related profits were something he initially felt entitled to keep instead. Depopulation was staggering. Mvemba could not participate anymore.
"It is our will that in these Kingdoms there should not be any trade of slaves nor outlet for them." And this part is haunting. "Many of our people, keenly desirous as they are of the wares and things of your [European] kingdoms...seize many of our [own] people, freed and exempt men," his insight revealed. This cruelty never was unchallenged, but European arms offered military advantages to divide and conquer tribes like King Affonso realized.
The Kuba Federation emerges in 1568. 17th century Congolese resistance is prototypes of anti-imperialist times ahead of them. Zumbi breaks supremacy's chains in Palmares, Brazil. Ne Nlaza steps up to troops who want a gold monopoly, but pays a horrible price. Revolution's drums beat louder as more prophetic voices speak. Spiritual medium Kimpa Vita is intriguing as heir to past kings and an acclaimed peacemaker. Fate can change course through the toughest times. Kimpa merged tenets of Bakongo worldview (a primeval Creator, Nzambi Mpungu, polytheism) with an Afrocentric Christianity.
In the people's minds, Kimpa Vita became both nganga and civil rights shepherd. She suggested re-migration to the capital again. Thousands took her advice, and it presented a fatal problem as Catholic priests nervously demanded that she renounce any power. Kimpa wouldn't do so. So this incredible woman was betrayed by a rival king (Nusama) to please Portugal. In 1706, 85 years before Haiti's revolution, African ones grow and precolonial religion is one enormous catalyst.
Slavery spiralled out of regulatory control, as a practice that backfired quickly. Plantations had a reasonable fear of counter-strikes from trafficked African workers who had almost nothing. But this still didn't stop imperial investors or vultures of capitalism. Enter David Livingstone, a conniving Scottish missionary who is a bizarre mascot for abolition and dark historical figure.
He hired Arab slave merchants to chart retraceable paths through southern Africa and Luanda, then the Zambezi River. Livingstone reached Victoria Falls and Lake Tanganyika-the Congo River's source. Lualaba was the first sign of karmic danger. For almost two years, he fought diseases or local ambushes. Field diaries show he did see the Congo in 1870. These expeditions were the hottest news and largely shaped misconceptions of Congolese life outside Europe's sphere. They fueled a hunger for Central African commerce.
