Our Liberation Tank can be purchased at skreened.com/progressivepupil.
Our Liberation Tank will keep you cool through all your summer fun. Throw it on with shorts and jeans on your way out for a bike ride or spontaneous trip to the beach. Made with 100% cotton, this tank is as carefree as you are this season. We carry different sizes that will fit all genders. The tank is available in white, silver or athletic grey and all proceeds support our work making Black studies for everybody.
Posted by Progressive Pupil on July 30, 2013
https://progressivepupil.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/hotter-than-july/
Fidel Castro outlines his July 26th Movement before the Rotary Club of Havana. Photo courtesy of The Rotarian, 1959.
Condemn me, it does not matter. History will absolve me.”-Fidel Castro, from his four-hour trial defense speech following capture at the start of the Cuban Revolution.
This month marks the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban Revolution, and it is an apt time to reflect on this pivotal moment in history. Fidel Castro, a young lawyer, was appalled by the misery of the Cuban people under the rule of U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. Castro petitioned the Cuban courts to oust Batista, accusing him of corruption and tyranny. When legal means proved unsuccessful, Castro decided to take up arms and overthrow the government. Fidel and Argentine revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara led the July 26th Movement as a vanguard organization intent on toppling the Batista regime. The Movement’s name originated from a failed attack on an army facility, named the Moncada Barracks, in the city of Santiago de Cuba on July 26, 1953. Many of the revolutionaries were captured or killed in the battle. Shortly after the July 26th siege, Fidel Castro and his brother Raul were seized by Batista’s forces and put on a highly politicized trial. The men were convicted and sentenced to fifteen and thirteen years in prison, respectively. In 1955, growing political pressure forced the Batista government to free all political prisoners in Cuba. The Castro brothers joined other exiles in Mexico, regrouping and receiving training from Alberto Bayo, a leader of Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War. In that same year, Fidel met Guevara, who agreed to join the July 26th Movement as one of its leaders.
Posted by Progressive Pupil on July 25, 2013
https://progressivepupil.wordpress.com/2013/07/25/the-first-cuban-revolution/
Battle of Algiers Movie Poster, image courtesy of IMDB
The Battle of Algiers is not for the faint of heart. The film, made in 1967 by Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo, is shockingly violent in its depiction of the Algerian War of Independence during the 1950s. The movie centers on underdog hero, Ali La Pointe and follows his path from hustling street kid to high-ranking leader in the National Liberation Front (FLN), the principal revolutionary movement against French colonial forces. The Battle of Algiers remains a cinematic classic because of its portrayal of an iconic moment in African history. The movie memorializes the defeat of a colonial power by a popular mobilization of marginalized people. At times jarring and tense, at other times heartbreakingly sad, the film feels like a documentary. Violence is portrayed with a gritty realism that is often unsettling.
Posted by Progressive Pupil on July 23, 2013
https://progressivepupil.wordpress.com/2013/07/23/the-battle-of-algiers/
Former intern Carmen Medina and her aunt Tamara. Photo taken by Carmen Medina.
Are you AfroLatin@ and beautiful? Snap a selfie or childhood photo and email us a 100 word caption about what makes you Negr@ & Beautiful. You can be a part of our AfroLatin@ Heritage celebration on the Progressive Pupil blog this September and October. Whether you’ve grown to love your hair, work hard as a teacher in an urban school or are involved in campaigns for immigrants’ rights and against mass incarceration, we want to see you and learn about you. If you are an artist, musician or filmmaker, be sure to include information about your latest project. Our former intern Carmen Medina wrote about her journey to self-love on our blog and was later featured on AfroLatinidad. You can learn more about AfroLatino community advocacy from the afrolatin@ forum.
Posted by Progressive Pupil on July 20, 2013
https://progressivepupil.wordpress.com/2013/07/20/negra-and-beautiful/
There are very few people whose actions effectively change the course of history. As the face of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, Nelson Mandela has devoted his life to social justice, spent 27 years imprisoned for his convictions, has served as an inspiration to political prisoners all over the world and has been a consistent crusader for democracy. After being released from Robben Island in 1990, he was elected as South Africa’s first democratically elected president in 1994 and served until 1999. He has since traveled the world as a global statesman, speaking in opposition to the NATO intervention in Kosovo and the US-lead invasion of Iraq. In 2004, Mandela stepped away from the public spotlight to focus on spending time with family and friends.
Posted by Progressive Pupil on July 18, 2013
https://progressivepupil.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/sixty-seven-steps-to-nelson-mandela/
Libya and Angola OSPAAAL posters. Their posters often feature a small weapon of defense. Large weapons of destruction, such as planes and bombs, are only used by the imperial oppressor.
In the post-colonial era, new and sometimes unexpected coalitions have been built that address the lasting effects of colonialism and imperialism. The term “tricontinental solidarity” focuses on alliances that have been built among people from Africa, Asia and Latin America, as these continents were the focus of colonial expansion. The Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America (OSPAAAL) is a Cuban political movement dedicated to building solidarity between these three continents while addressing issues of globalization, imperialism, neoliberalism and human rights abuses. Their publication Tricontinental Magazine and their brightly colored posters serve as one way they promote global social justice. The organization was founded in 1966 after the Tricontinental Conference in Havana, Cuba, which included over 500 delegates from various countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The conference was inspired by the Bandung Conference in 1955, an African-Asian alliance that worked to confront colonialism by the West.
Posted by Progressive Pupil on July 16, 2013
https://progressivepupil.wordpress.com/2013/07/16/when-africa-asia-and-the-americas-unite/
We now offer an adorable Progressive Pupil Liberation onesie for the special infants and toddlers in your life. A great baby shower or birthday gift for loved ones who are part of the solution. 100% cotton. All proceeds support our work making Black studies for everybody.
Posted by Progressive Pupil on July 13, 2013
https://progressivepupil.wordpress.com/2013/07/13/get-liberation-baby/
This digitally altered photo re-imagines the iconic World War II image of soldiers raising the American flag.
Under this system, eventually certain traits of the usually economic and militaristic dominant culture are enmeshed with the original culture to the point that they are no longer inextricable from one another. Cultural imperialism can either be imparted formally, through government policies, or informally through general attitudes and perceptions. It is a form of imperialism different from other types, which are gained through military or economic force – like war or economic sanctions. Cultural imperialism does not necessarily need the military or economic policies in order to significantly impact the culture of another country.
Posted by Progressive Pupil on July 11, 2013
https://progressivepupil.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/glossary-cultural-imperialism/
Patrice Lumumba, photo courtesy of The Guardian
July 2nd marks the 88th birthday of revolutionary hero Patrice Lumumba. Hailing from what is now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, his name may be foreign to younger generations of U.S. change-makers. However, his passion for justice and call to action in 1960 rang throughout the Congo and resonated with Black communities worldwide. After a series of nationalist rebellions which led to Congo’s independence from Belgium in 1960, Lumumba became the county’s first democratically elected leader and took up the task of organizing the country’s first government. An ardent supporter of Pan-Africanism, which called for solidarity among African-descendant people, Lumumba fought tirelessly to unite the Congolese people. Lumumba envisioned an independent and thriving Congo nation. Yet, he was feared and resented by Western governments for his Leftist views and his insistence that African people could flourish without foreign intervention. Labeled a Communist threat by the U.S. and its European allies, Lumumba was tortured and assassinated in 1961.
Despite his short time in office , Patrice Lumumba left an indelible mark on his country, his continent and social movements throughout the African diaspora. Lumumba’s commitment to unity amongst marginalized groups greatly influenced Black revolutionaries like Malcolm X. His legacy is memorialized in Lumumba, a French biopic released in 2000.
Today, organizations like Friends of the Congo and the Patrice Lumumba Coalition keep these hopes alive, working to educate and unite Africans and members of the diaspora. Friends of the Congo advocates for an end to predatory practices in resource extraction which have fueled violent conflict in the Great Lakes region, sharing Lumumba’s dream of a peaceful Democratic Republic of the Congo.
by Courtney Cook is an M.S. Candidate in Nonprofit Management at The New School of Public Engagement
Posted by Progressive Pupil on July 9, 2013
https://progressivepupil.wordpress.com/2013/07/09/dream-for-the-congo/
Special discount rates for HBCUs, HSIs and Community Colleges
Watch this award-winning documentary that follows street-smart Ivy League students as they adventure to Cuba, whose population is 60% Black.
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