Dhoruba al-Mujahid bin Wahad, former member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army, and later a prisoner in the USA for 19 years, will recount the path of his life from membership in a South Bronx street gang to his ultimate self-realization in the organization and ideology of the Black Panther Party.
Along the way, he experienced a first stretch of incarceration for youthful offenses, a break with this past after the murder of Malcolm X, and his conversion to Islam.
Why does he tell this story? He wants to make it clear to the current generation of marginalized and socially discriminated people of color, Muslims, and those struggling for survival in the regions afflicted by imperial wars that organizing and the overcoming of individualism and egoism are the keys to winning rights and dignity.
Dhoruba is a person with unique consciousness and personal experiences. He is a witness of his times, an activist, and an academic, who does not describe historical developments in abstruse and intellectualized terms that are designed to extinguish the flame of activism. Dhoruba speaks from experience and from his reflections on this experience to share a picture with his audience that differs markedly from the coopted narrative that is fabricated in the West.
Questions will be raised about the compulsive violence of colonialism and consequently about the legitimacy of resistance; reasons for the current paralysis of those who need to take their fate into their own hands will be named, and challenging ideas about Islam and liberation will be raised.
Location:
Seminar Room 1 (1st floor)
Department of African Studies, University of Vienna
Spitalgasse 2, Hof 5, 1090 Vienna, Seminar
Organised by:
Dar al Janub - Verein für antirassistische und friedenspolitische Initiative
Institut für Afrikawissenschaften, Universität Wien
Forschungsplattform „Mobile Kulturen und Gesellschaften”, Universität Wien