Black Intellectual Traditions and Democratic Thought, from Fanon to Biko
Listen to the public conference held by Achille Mbembe on “Black Intellectual Traditions and Democratic Thought, from Fanon to Biko” delivered at the Great Hall, University of the Witwatersrand and hosted by “Platform for Public Deliberation”.
Achille Mbembe: “Black Intellectual Traditions and Democratic Thought, from Fanon to Biko” delivered at the Great Hall, University of the Witwatersrand, 12 September June 2007
>> Listen to Mbembe: Black Intellectual Traditions and Democratic Thought, from Fanon to Biko, MP3
On September 12th democrats all over the world and throughout our country people will remember one of the most tragic days in our long and brutal history. This is the day when the life of one of the brightest political thinkers our country ever produced was brought to an end by the apartheid police. Steve Biko represented everything that was beautiful and honourable about that long struggle- courageous, witty, intelligent and magnanimous. Together with his peers in the black consciousness movement, Biko gave back identity, meaning and the courage to act to a people who were on the verge of psychological defeat. His greatest achievement was the restoration of consciousness to black people so we could journey on to where we are today. Without his intervention we would literally never have achieved our democracy. But now that we did Biko’s name has often been used to to buttress all kinds of essentialist, nativist discourses – to attack and besmirch opponents and shut down debates. The Platform for Public Deliberation has asked Achille Mbembe, one of the world’s leading thinkers on the postcolonial condition in Africa, to deliver a public lecture on Black Intellectual Traditions and Democratic Thought, from Fanon To Biko.