With all of the critical issues facing Africa, African people, and all of humanity today, some short sighted souls may wonder why this topic would warrant space. Its precisely because of the title of this piece that its a required topic. As a revolutionary Pan-Africanist e.g. someone who lives my life for Africa's forward progress, I had many, many reasons why I felt the "Black Panther" movie from earlier this year was poorly made. One of the major reasons was the way that the Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) character was portrayed. As is standard fare in capitalist popular culture, the person who supposedly represents revolutionary change, or at least the overturning of the existing social order, is always portrayed not as a person or persons steeped in humanist principles, but someone who is pursuing social change to accomplish some blood thirsty revenge and/or personal grab. The subtle message here is that revolution is never about making life better for the masses. Its all about exchanging one problem system for another, probably worse one. Another misleading formula used to evaluate the legitimacy of revolutionary struggle is to view the "revolutionary" as the rugged individual man. The action figure. The savior. Men like Malcolm X, Che Guevara, Huey P. Newton, or Kwame Nkrumah. They embody the popular culture image of what and who a revolutionary is. Of course, all of those men possessed serious contradictions as individuals and significant flaws, just like all of us. They also each made outstanding contributions to humanity. My intention isn't to tear down any of them as I've spent my entire life studying and attempting the emulate the good they did while trying to understand and deconstruct their shortcomings. I can only hope people after me can consider me worthy enough to conduct the same level of scrutiny on my actions. What I've learned is its absolutely necessary for us to eliminate the patriarchal image of the revolutionary man being someone like Killmonger, or even Malcolm and the others. A revolutionary is and can only be someone who operates not from a position of hate, revenge, or spitefulness against anyone. A revolutionary must be a person who embodies all of the complex components of human existence. Especially within a backward capitalist world. Che, Malcolm, Nkrumah, and all of them represented this dialectical approach to human life as we all should. So, its with that perspective that we think this discussion about revolutionaries and love is a critical part of all the work we must do because revolution is nothing if it isn't the struggle for happiness for all of humanity. And, there is no higher example of human existence than one person's love for another. A person's love for humanity.
Since the dominant image of revolutionaries provided to the masses today is that rugged individual man, most people do not even see women and non-men when they think of revolutionaries and its certainly unlikely that people think of falling in love when they think of revolutionary organizing. I would counter that people genuinely pursuing a revolutionary consciousness and lifestyle are capable of exhibiting some of the highest examples of what a healthy relationship can look like. For example, our revolutionary Nkrumahist/Tureist ideology (not Marxist/Leninist, get that right) inspires us as revolutionary Pan-Africanists to embrace the most healthy expressions of our revolutionary African personality and culture. Our humanist, collectivist, and egalitarian culture. Therefore, if we are serious about our work, we can never be satisfied to see people as a means to an end. Our humanism always requires us to see people as the end all by themselves. That means as men, we cannot see our mates as simply a vessel to channel our sexual desires, etc. We have to be striving to see our mates as our life partners. Our soulmates. People we can build capacity with. People we can make solid and legitimate contributions with. People we can enjoy life with. People we can support to reach their fullest potential.
Revolutionaries cannot be satisfied with being self centered and/or egotistical. Revolutionaries must strive to always be selfless and humble. I'm certainly a work in progress, but I'll place my sincerity and effort against anyone at any time. My commitment to our humanist principles doesn't make me feel strange about expressing my ability to fall in love. Instead, I'm proud to tell all of you all that I'm very much in love. Head over heels in love. But, what does that mean in 2018 in a capitalist society? For this Nkrumahlist/Tureist it means I have a person to build a covenant with. Someone who is worthy of me placing my trust in them. Someone who I am going to be very careful to always cultivate that trust and honor. Unfortunately, we live in a patriarchal, racist, and capitalist dominated world and as a man, I do not possess the ability to escape the pitfalls of that backward system. The beauty of revolutionary love though is having a partner who can and does see that I'm always trying to battle what this backward system has forced upon me. She isn't going to judge me by one thing, but by my body of work. She's going to have the patience to work with me because she knows and trusts I'm going to do the work to get better. On the flip side, I know that this patriarchal system has caused her great pain. I'm always going to ensure I'm as sensitive to that as I can possibly be. I'm going to always go that extra step to make sure she's safe and that she knows I'm here for her the way she needs me to be. Revolutionary love requires that level of humanism.
I'm not saying all of this happens without struggle. Revolutionary struggle is based on principles of dialectical and historical materialism. If you want to become a better soccer player, a better pianist, a better writer, you have to practice. Over and over again. Sekou Ture told us "quantity makes quality." We have to make mistakes in order to learn how to move forward and do things better. I make mistakes all the the time. I worry about things. I have dysfunctional ways of looking at things. I'm a product of this backward society. The difference between revolutionary love and capitalist love is revolutionary love always acknowledges the dysfunction and continuously finds ways to work through it whereas capitalist love spends all its time and energy trying to cover up and dismiss the dysfunctions, thus making them more explosive in the process.
Another problem is that most people in this capitalist reality are unhappy with their lives and all the material possessions purchased do absolutely nothing to eliminate that unhappiness. In fact, the pressure of having to pay for all that stuff usually enhances the stress. As a result of all this trauma, most people, being unhappy themselves, are not positioned to be happy for you. So, when you have a revolutionary love relationship where you are trying to embody the values I've discussed here, don't expect lots and lots of people to be there in support of your union. Its not going to happen. That's why that covenant between you and your partner is so very important. Anyone who tries to create a problem and drama for my partner has an instant enemy in me. And, I'm not going to be anyone's first choice for an enemy, ever. I feel like I have the same value from her so the haters are just going to have to hate because we are committed to not bragging about what we have, but hopefully, helping others learn about what we are doing well. And studying others to figure out how to improve what we can improve upon.
Just imagine for a moment if all of our personal relationships were governed by humanist and collective principles? Our communities would be vibrant and productive. Not destructive. Our relationships would be powerful and forward moving. Not divisive and negative. This is what we all should be striving for. I'm very thankful for the opportunity to make a very important contribution to this crucial area of our lives and our work. The stronger our relationships, the stronger our organizations. The stronger our organizations the stronger our communities. The stronger our communities, the stronger our world will be. So, if you are committed to us becoming stronger, the next time you feel that special something when you look at someone, be thinking about whether you are looking to build a revolutionary covenant with that person? Or, are you just seeing them as a means to an end? Push yourself to rise up. Our future generations are depending upon us.
Since the dominant image of revolutionaries provided to the masses today is that rugged individual man, most people do not even see women and non-men when they think of revolutionaries and its certainly unlikely that people think of falling in love when they think of revolutionary organizing. I would counter that people genuinely pursuing a revolutionary consciousness and lifestyle are capable of exhibiting some of the highest examples of what a healthy relationship can look like. For example, our revolutionary Nkrumahist/Tureist ideology (not Marxist/Leninist, get that right) inspires us as revolutionary Pan-Africanists to embrace the most healthy expressions of our revolutionary African personality and culture. Our humanist, collectivist, and egalitarian culture. Therefore, if we are serious about our work, we can never be satisfied to see people as a means to an end. Our humanism always requires us to see people as the end all by themselves. That means as men, we cannot see our mates as simply a vessel to channel our sexual desires, etc. We have to be striving to see our mates as our life partners. Our soulmates. People we can build capacity with. People we can make solid and legitimate contributions with. People we can enjoy life with. People we can support to reach their fullest potential.
Revolutionaries cannot be satisfied with being self centered and/or egotistical. Revolutionaries must strive to always be selfless and humble. I'm certainly a work in progress, but I'll place my sincerity and effort against anyone at any time. My commitment to our humanist principles doesn't make me feel strange about expressing my ability to fall in love. Instead, I'm proud to tell all of you all that I'm very much in love. Head over heels in love. But, what does that mean in 2018 in a capitalist society? For this Nkrumahlist/Tureist it means I have a person to build a covenant with. Someone who is worthy of me placing my trust in them. Someone who I am going to be very careful to always cultivate that trust and honor. Unfortunately, we live in a patriarchal, racist, and capitalist dominated world and as a man, I do not possess the ability to escape the pitfalls of that backward system. The beauty of revolutionary love though is having a partner who can and does see that I'm always trying to battle what this backward system has forced upon me. She isn't going to judge me by one thing, but by my body of work. She's going to have the patience to work with me because she knows and trusts I'm going to do the work to get better. On the flip side, I know that this patriarchal system has caused her great pain. I'm always going to ensure I'm as sensitive to that as I can possibly be. I'm going to always go that extra step to make sure she's safe and that she knows I'm here for her the way she needs me to be. Revolutionary love requires that level of humanism.
I'm not saying all of this happens without struggle. Revolutionary struggle is based on principles of dialectical and historical materialism. If you want to become a better soccer player, a better pianist, a better writer, you have to practice. Over and over again. Sekou Ture told us "quantity makes quality." We have to make mistakes in order to learn how to move forward and do things better. I make mistakes all the the time. I worry about things. I have dysfunctional ways of looking at things. I'm a product of this backward society. The difference between revolutionary love and capitalist love is revolutionary love always acknowledges the dysfunction and continuously finds ways to work through it whereas capitalist love spends all its time and energy trying to cover up and dismiss the dysfunctions, thus making them more explosive in the process.
Another problem is that most people in this capitalist reality are unhappy with their lives and all the material possessions purchased do absolutely nothing to eliminate that unhappiness. In fact, the pressure of having to pay for all that stuff usually enhances the stress. As a result of all this trauma, most people, being unhappy themselves, are not positioned to be happy for you. So, when you have a revolutionary love relationship where you are trying to embody the values I've discussed here, don't expect lots and lots of people to be there in support of your union. Its not going to happen. That's why that covenant between you and your partner is so very important. Anyone who tries to create a problem and drama for my partner has an instant enemy in me. And, I'm not going to be anyone's first choice for an enemy, ever. I feel like I have the same value from her so the haters are just going to have to hate because we are committed to not bragging about what we have, but hopefully, helping others learn about what we are doing well. And studying others to figure out how to improve what we can improve upon.
Just imagine for a moment if all of our personal relationships were governed by humanist and collective principles? Our communities would be vibrant and productive. Not destructive. Our relationships would be powerful and forward moving. Not divisive and negative. This is what we all should be striving for. I'm very thankful for the opportunity to make a very important contribution to this crucial area of our lives and our work. The stronger our relationships, the stronger our organizations. The stronger our organizations the stronger our communities. The stronger our communities, the stronger our world will be. So, if you are committed to us becoming stronger, the next time you feel that special something when you look at someone, be thinking about whether you are looking to build a revolutionary covenant with that person? Or, are you just seeing them as a means to an end? Push yourself to rise up. Our future generations are depending upon us.
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