Southern African Liberation Movements and the Global Cold War ‘East’

Southern African Liberation Movements and the Global Cold War ‘East’
Author: Lena Dallywater
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 347
Release: 2019-06-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 3110639386

In the global context of the Cold War, the relationship between liberation movements and Eastern European states obviously changed and transformed. Similarly, forms of (material) aid and (ideological) encouragement underwent changes over time. The articles assembled in this volume argue that the traditional Cold War geography of bi-polar competition with the United States is not sufficient to fully grasp these transformations. The question of which side of the ideological divide was more successful (or lucky) in impacting actors and societies in the global south is still relevant, yet the Cold War perspective falls short in unfolding the complex geographies of connections and the multipolarity of actions and transactions that exists until today. Acknowledging the complexities of liberation movements in globalization processes, the papers thus argue that activities need to be understood in their local context, including personal agendas and internal conflicts, rather than relying primarily on the traditional frame of Cold War competition. They point to the agency of individual activists in both "Africa" and "Eastern Europe" and the lessons, practices and languages that were derived from their often contradictory encounters. In Southern African Liberation Movements, authors from South Africa, Portugal, Austria and Germany ask: What role did actors in both Southern Africa and Eastern Europe play? What can we learn by looking at biographies in a time of increasing racial and international conflict? And which "creative solutions" need to be found, to combine efforts of actors from various ideological camps? Building on archival sources from various regions in different languages, case studies presented in the edition try to encounter the lack of a coherent state of the art. They aim at combining the sometimes scarce sources with qualitative interviews to give answers to the many open questions regarding Southern African liberation movements and their connections to the "East".

Women's Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle

Women's Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle
Author: Thomas Sankara
Publisher: Pathfinder Press (NY)
Total Pages: 44
Release: 1990
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

"There is no true social revolution without the liberation of women," explains the leader of the 1983-87 revolution in Burkina Faso. Workers and peasants in that West African country established a popular revolutionary government and began to combat the hunger, illiteracy, and economic backwardness imposed by imperialist domination.

Transnational Histories of Southern Africa’s Liberation Movements

Transnational Histories of Southern Africa’s Liberation Movements
Author: Jocelyn Alexander
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 444
Release: 2020-05-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 1000750906

Transnational Histories of Southern Africa’s Liberation Movements offers new perspectives on southern Africa’s wars of national liberation, drawing on extensive oral historical and archival research. Assuming neither the primacy of nationalist loyalties as they exist today nor any single path to liberation, the book unpicks any notion of a straightforward imposition of Cold War ideologies or strategic interests on liberation wars. This approach adds new dimensions to the rich literatures on the Global Cold War and on solidarity movements. The contributors trace the ways that ideas and practices were made, adopted, and circulated through time and space through a focus on African soldiers, politicians and diplomats. The book also asks what motivated the men and women who crossed borders to join liberation movements, how Cold War influences were acted upon, interpreted and used, and why certain moments, venues and relations took on exaggerated importance. The connections among liberation movements, between them and their hosts, and across an extraordinarily diverse set of external actors reveal surprising exchanges and lasting legacies that have too often been obscured by the assertion of monolithic national histories. Tracing an extraordinarily diverse set of interactions and exchanges, Transnational Histories of Southern Africa’s Liberation Movements will be of great interest to scholars of Southern Africa, Transnational History, the Cold War and African Politics. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Southern African Studies.

Fidel Castro and Africa’s Liberation Struggle

Fidel Castro and Africa’s Liberation Struggle
Author: Sabella Ogbobode Abidde
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2020-10-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1793611467

The post-1959 Cuban government’s engagement with Africa, which was led by its charismatic and revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, had two connecting dimensions: military internationalism and humanitarian internationalism. While African states and societies benefited immensely from these engagements, it was Fidel Castro’s military assistance towards the decolonization of and the pushback of Apartheid South Africa that received the loudest attention and ovation in the developing world. Fidel Castro, this book argues, was never motivated by economic, selfish, or geopolitical considerations; but rather, by the altruism and the certainty of his worldview and by the historical connection between the peoples of Cuba and Africa. The principle of international solidary, socialism, and the emancipation of Africa was a much-desired aspiration and attainment. Beginning covertly in Algeria in 1961 and the Congo and Guinea-Bissau in 1964; and more conspicuously in Angola in 1975, Fidel Castro and his socialist government was at the forefront supporting liberation movements in their struggle against colonialism. Defining Castro’s engagement with Africa was his support for the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) against the United States-backed Apartheid South Africa, which supported the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

National Liberation Movements as Government in Africa

National Liberation Movements as Government in Africa
Author: Redie Bereketeab
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 443
Release: 2017-09-08
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1351588834

Africa is well known for the production of national liberation movements (NLMs), stemming from a history of exploitation, colonisation and slavery. NLMs are generally characterised by a struggle carried out by or in the name of suppressed people for political, social, cultural, economic, territorial liberation and decolonisation. Dozens of NLMs have ascended to state power in Africa following a successful violent popular struggle either as an outright military victory or a negotiated settlement. National Liberation Movements as Government in Africa analyses the performance of NLMs after they gain state power. The book tracks the initial promises and guiding principles of NLMs against their actual record in achieving socio-economic development goals such as peace, stability, state building and democratisation. The book explores the various different struggles for liberation, whether against European colonialism, white minority rule, neighbouring countries, or for internal reform or regime change. Bringing together case studies from Somalia, Somaliland, Uganda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Namibia, Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Algeria, the book builds a comprehensive analysis of the challenges NLMs face when ascending to state power, and why so many ultimately end in failure. This is an ideal resource for scholars, policy makers and students with an interest in African development, politics, and security studies.

Dialectics of Liberation

Dialectics of Liberation
Author: Abdul Alkalimat
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2022
Genre: Africa
ISBN: 9781569027783

"The Dialectics of Black Liberation: The African Liberation Support Committee is a study that analyses the important ideological debates (Marxism and Nationalism), anti-imperialist social movements, and support for African liberation. Over four key years grass roots organizing was the basis for a vibrant national movement"--

Young Women Against Apartheid

Young Women Against Apartheid
Author: Emily Bridger
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2021
Genre: History
ISBN: 1847012639

Provides a new perspective on the struggle against apartheid, and contributes to key debates in South African history, gender inequality, sexual violence, and the legacies of the liberation struggle.

Cold War Liberation

Cold War Liberation
Author: Natalia Telepneva
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2023-04-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 1469665875

Cold War Liberation examines the African revolutionaries who led armed struggles in three Portuguese colonies—Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bissau—and their liaisons in Moscow, Prague, East Berlin, and Sofia. By reconstructing a multidimensional story that focuses on both the impact of the Soviet Union on the end of the Portuguese Empire in Africa and the effect of the anticolonial struggles on the Soviet Union, Natalia Telepneva bridges the gap between the narratives of individual anticolonial movements and those of superpower rivalry in sub-Saharan Africa during the Cold War. Drawing on newly available archival sources from Russia and Eastern Europe and interviews with key participants, Telepneva emphasizes the agency of African liberation leaders who enlisted the superpower into their movements via their relationships with middle-ranking members of the Soviet bureaucracy. These administrators had considerable scope to shape policies in the Portuguese colonies which in turn increased the Soviet commitment to decolonization in the wider region. An innovative reinterpretation of the relationships forged between African revolutionaries and the countries of the Warsaw Pact, Cold War Liberation is a bold addition to debates about policy-making in the Global South during the Cold War. We are proud to offer this book in our usual print and ebook formats, plus as an open-access edition available through the Sustainable History Monograph Project.

Liberation Movements in Power

Liberation Movements in Power
Author: Roger Southall
Publisher:
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2016
Genre: Namibia
ISBN: 9781847011343

Analyses the ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe, SWAPO in Namibia and the ANC in South Africa and to what extent their promises of democracy have been effected in government.