As Bright as the Morning Rising

She is waiting
as all ancients do
till time turns
her borning
and vibrating
from flame
from fire
a nascent beat returning
and unbounded


Struggle is the
Particular shade of
Black and earth brown
Bolding her eyes
Chains the grooves
Weaving her skin
Revolution sounds
Her heart


She is coming
Earth Rendered and
Unwombed
Hurt healing so
deep scarred but
unembittered


Embleming beauty
Her poised lips
Withholding herstories
And ours
An untrained sensuality
Lain long and alone
In the silent memory
of womb


She is rising
Like potent prayers
Bellowed from belly
From soul
To the hearts
Of Goddesses


Oh but she comes
With that graceful gift
of sweetly sown
Love
and brings not simple hope
But Truth
Spirited from the
bosom of eternity
mothering fathering
life not wars


She is rising
Spirit catching
Spirit
She is rising
With the
tenderest light
beaming her face


she is dawning
scenting rain
sounding something
a long time lost
but now made new
blazoning heart
stirring spirits
sunning fresh
blades and resplendent
blooms
perfecting paths
of unencountered journeys


She is rising
yielding
Sacred power
And I chant
In the hidden secrecies
Of her eyes
And I cry
for unity
And I call
For unfolding mysteries
That will take us there
To the perfecting of peace
she is coming
sounding from her heart
the subtle untangling of keys.

Top Artwork by Fowokan "As Bright as the Morning Rising"
Poem - Michelle Yaa Asantewa

Second Art Work - a portrait of my mum by my niece Leah.
Photo - Yaa in nubiance.

Take a tour of Fowokan's website where the poem is featured. http://www.fowokan.com/odds-and-sods/as-bright-as-the-morning-rising/

Refuge

Where do we go when pressures become too much, when burdens seem more than our fair share? What happens when we fall? Who do we blame if not ourselves for our confident stride into stumbling blocks? And why were we not able to perceive those blatant boulders ahead of us which others could easily identify and steer clear from? How do we process the experiences of a significant moment in our spiritual/personal development so that we can know – not merely believe that everything, good or bad, happens for a reason?

‘Good’ and ‘bad’ are like two heads of the one coin. Some one might divine that ‘tales you win’, or ‘heads you win’, another might divine that ‘tales you lose’, ‘heads you lose’. They are quite arbitrary. The Pendulum (another means of divining) swings any which way as a means of directing a serious query. This means that any energy force the Pendulum accesses will provide answers for deeply probed questions – by tapping into recent or distant experiences that are troubling us. In trying to respond to the above questions, I’d like to contemplate the significance of the ‘Death’ and ‘Tower’ Tarot divination cards, as well as ‘The Crucifixion’, ‘Death’ and ‘Resurrection’ of Jesus Christ.

There is a physical certainty or temporal reality that most of us fear. As sure as we are alive, confident, youthful, happy, prosperous, arrogant, proud, hurt/hurting, doubtful, wise, humble, wicked, good, healthy, poor and so forth, we are going to die. So why do we fear death? If we were suffering from a debilitating illness which was severely hampering our life, most of us would prefer to live in that condition rather than call on Death to relieve us. For we know or rather we believe that where there is life there is hope of a miracle, and that belief sustains us. And so it should. Hope is, after all, connected to faith. The trouble with hope (and not faith), however, is that it is a lullaby – it lulls us into the belief in a positive outcome. And as a lullaby it does not endure. Faith on the other hand is a certainty, an assuredness - complete knowing that a positive outcome is inevitable. Knowing what is and what is to come makes us feel secure. But although we know that death will come, we do not know what death is, so we fear it.

In Tarot the Death card is not the final one. It comes way before the end of the 22 major cards and is numbered 13. In Tarot, Death represents transition, the necessity of movement by going through (experiencing) a period of darkness. Death is both necessary and re-warding. It rewards the spiritual pursuant with a new phase of life by necessarily demolishing those aspects of life that are inhibiting our journey. The point that death is a period of darkness alludes to the image of death as a door painted black, which once opened brings new light and thus regenerates a new cycle of life.

Here’s a brief outline of the Tower card. It will likely depict a broken/cracked tower -perhaps the top is on fire or being struck by lightning. A person or people are falling from the Tower; they might be naked as they fall. It is a dramatic expulsion and to me seems more frightening than the skull or skeleton of the Death card. I mean by this that there’s no indication of where the person or people are going to land when they fall. In fact it seems hardly as if they are falling, but as if they have been abruptly, brutally evicted, pushed, thrust from the tower without any chance of being rescued. On the contrary, the Death card is more settled, the matter has been decided, there is no state of limbo.

The Tower represents those things (ideas, concepts) that we believe in – our worldview. These are the things we feel we know that are the strong blocks of our foundation, they are our guiding principles in some cases; we love them, we value them we hold them dear to us. The Tower, the physical make up, is a fixed placed, and appears to be enduring (towers are usually old), as they are constructed with bricks. Bricks are used to build the foundation for houses. We have built our own Tower, though sometimes we find ourselves woefully trapped in someone else’s tower. (Perhaps, I shouldn’t say trapped, but we may have willingly taking up position – rooting – ourselves there.)

Now imagine if the foundation of your house were not merely to crack (which might be fixable) but dismantle completely. What would be your response? You might reflect on the unheeded warnings (the surmountable cracks that were hurriedly patched up) or you might feel that there were no such signs and that the collapse was sudden and unforeseen. Either way your foundation will have to be rebuilt. Would you reclaim and reuse the old bricks to rebuild it or would you go in search (reflecting on self) to find new bricks (ideas, concepts, knowledges) to rebuild your new foundation? If you choose to find new bricks, what would you do with the remnants of the previous foundation? Would you be like Lot’s wife in the Bible and look back at the past (to the glorious illusions or evident successes there) to the extent of freezing into that time and space or would you grab what precious little you can make use of and tear tail towards a new, though unknown and uncertain journey?

You might have perceived that the Tower does not represent ready answers to a given circumstance or experience. Because ultimately it requires serious depth of spiritual inquiry before you can be sure about what recent experiences are trying to convey. So although you may fall from the Tower, it will become necessary to look for/at the instigator of the fall – if the Tower was struck by lightning or if there is fire; what do these symbols convey – rebirth (baptism) through fire, illumination/spark of truth/revelation? Indeed, they may point to a greater truth to which you were blind and which made your foundation or parts of it illusory. Whilst in the Tower did you love someone or something so much that it literally put blinkers on everything else? Would that not be an extreme existence or experience? This surely identifies that one of life’s aspirations should be to find some better balance – or in terms of Tarot to know Temperance.

Let’s see how this might link to Crucifixion of Christ. Why did Christ have to be crucified? And what does ‘crucify’ mean exactly? Is there a difference between ‘crucify’ and ‘death’? Maybe Christ was crucified because he had to be. It was the order of things. As the embodiment of all that is illuminating, just and right, he had to experience that which we must also experience since we are supposed to ‘follow him’ and since ‘he is the way’ (Truth). How, after all does light know that it is dark(ness) – how does dark know that it is now light.

Through the transient experience of one moment of extreme and then another, we, like Christ, can affirm that ‘I am the light, I am the truth and the way’ (my self reflections are clarifying my purpose, journey, responsibilities, sense of self and so on). I have sought truth (having experienced Death/been crucified, having fallen from the Tower) and in my dark hour (when I entered the black door of death, burdened by more than my fair share, experiencing shock/betrayal and so forth) Truth found(ed) me (provided me with a new foundation).

Jesus had to be forsaken by Father, Mother and everyone (being thrust from the Tower), but he also had to forsake them. His cry of ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani’ (my God, my God why has thou forsaken me) did not yield a response that basic scripture reveals. Yet Jesus was not truly forsaken by God, for he was experiencing the cycle of regeneration necessary to attain unto heights and become Christ – anointed, illumined. This leads me to the consideration of ‘crucify.’ According to Collins Dictionary crucify means to ‘put to death by crucifixion’. In the context of Jesus’ crucifixion the cross on which he died represents current beliefs – those things he stood for- the accumulation of ideas/concepts/experiences that he carried through his cycle (of life) unto his death (regenerating a new cycle).

In Truth these ideas are more than beliefs in the case of Jesus, for it was his destiny to experience light and dark, to exemplify that which the spirit has always (deep down) known. Where crucify and death meet is referenced in scripture by Golgotha – the place of the skull (or the ‘head’). Crucifixion makes necessary the renunciation of personality to submit to spirit (entirely). Spirit is real as opposed to the fleeting reality of flesh (or mind/head consciousness). It is at this point, of total abdication of temporal obsessions/material possessions (physical body/being), that Jesus becomes his destiny to be Christ (illumined, conscious).

Jesus’ body is entombed in a sepulchre, which again Collins Dictionary tells us is ‘a burial vault’. When the two Marys go to the site, the stone (locking the tomb) has been rolled away. Imagine how dark the sepulchre must have been. Yet once opened, the only scene that should spring to mind is an intense light piercing in. This is when we’re told that Jesus’s (dead) body is not there. There is instead someone clothed in white – the blazing light of illumination – revealing the new Jesus as the anointed one of Christ.

Resurrection is inevitable when we consider the necessary renunciation of tempo-realities. It is in the order, it is regeneration and newness of cycle – in short the extraordinary rhythm of life. Having been put to death, new ideas must be formed by upliftment of mind consciousness so that it confers with the Divine will of spirit and soul through what the body must experience. Resurrection is the culmination of fulfilling the Divine will, accepting/knowing/realising one’s destiny. This is why the body of Jesus was transformed. The body must regenerate; it must be revived once it has experienced crucifixion. But it must do so by acknowledging spiritual reality, its Divine purpose by which it can now completely, assuredly be guided. To be resurrected is to relinquish the old traits that are limiting The Way/Path. It is to now see (re-view) the world anew. It is to know and embrace Truth, love and peace (this is embodied in Christ consciousness as Salome – one of the female disciples of Jesus). To experience Christ consciousness is to desire to spread that newly found love, Truth and peace in order to establish a temperate (balanced) universe (internal self and physical).

The resurrection allows us to accept that the sum of the world comprises many personalities, realities and experiences of which ours is no insignificant part. How to weave in and out of this vast universal tapestry to be a meaningful thread becomes the humbling focus of one who has experienced the Death and expulsion from the Tower in Tarot, as well as the death, crucifixion and resurrection as Christ. So whilst it is necessary to seek refuge and to dwell in God’s fortress - hiding from life, taking refuge, retreating), we ought not to take up permanent residence there, lest from there too we are brutally, inevitably evicted.

Shout out

The Art of Loving People

For Kathy who always gives.

“People must prove to the people
A better day is coming for you and for me
With just a little bit more education
And love for our nation
Would make a better society”

Curtis Mayfield


We can probably all name someone in our lives we consider supremely special -someone whose generosity and love is immeasurable. Living without them is unimaginable. If we’re conscious of the trappings of idealism we avoid believing they are an angel or guardian bequeathed to us by some divine power. Yet we feel wonderfully blessed to have them in our lives.


To pedestalise anyone comes with certain consequences. For one thing a pedestal is a height from which they could fall. And if they’re tempted to bask in our glorification of them how would this impact their ego? If we put someone on a pedestal how do we place ourselves? Are we always looking outwards and upwards – anywhere but inwards for salvation (I use this word in the sense of a ‘salve’ - that which soothes/relieves). Self reflection can seem too abstract - if not terrifying. But I think we need that special someone as much as we heed the “still small voice.” (There is no typo – ‘heed’ spirited itself into the sentence and I think it fits.)


I would like to dedicate this Shout to those people who have that precious capacity to love in spite of a life traumatised by suffering and loss. That could be said for many people since love is the common human factor around which the world revolves. Even when our lives are embattled and embittered we’re still able to squeeze some portion of love for our significant (and sometimes insignificant) others. But it is not that ‘squeezed out portion’ of love that concerns me here, for truly that comes naturally. I speak of love that is consciously crafted towards perfection; of love that is unbounded, that fearless kind of love that propels the human spirit. Put another way it is love borne of a creative impulse and thus designed for the unshackling of humanity. This is what I mean by the ‘art of loving people.’


How do we cultivate this art? Is it more natural and therefore easier for some people than others? If so why? Is it perhaps derived from the experience of and commitment to struggle? Recently at the 7th Annual Huntley conference Sculptor Fowokan explained that his art was a reflection of his life. As an African his life has been one of struggle and therefore his work embodies resistance to imperialist domination. Thus in his work we find strong, brazen figures of male and female warriors or queens and the spirited people memorialised from childhood in Jamaica. It is this politics of his art I love. For me art so engaged is imbued with transformative power. The power to positively and progressively transform people, society and the world has to the basis for cultivating the art of love.


At school a destiny was laid before me which I skilfully averted. Racist teachers directed me towards Athletics. I wasn’t particularly good but they thought it was all I was good for. And maybe I could have excelled in the field, mastered the discipline involved in sprinting, long jump, high jump etc but I resented the inference. I later observed that the next possible field in which I could be gainfully employed was Social Work. Sociology degrees seemed a natural course of study for a number of Black people/Africans. I wondered why? Certainly I felt straitjacketed, my choices limited. Though a number of Africans are Teachers now and yet more, Teacher Assistants, I didn’t imagine I could become one back then. My mother’s generation were mostly nurses – the men worked in public transport. A number of Africans also work as Carers in Residential Housing. The point being made is that these are people focussed roles. Excepting that racism barred many of us from diverse opportunities I have often wondered whether these society enriching roles were a natural choice for us as Africans. Again, is cultivating the art of loving people determined by our affinity with struggle and suffering?


Suffering is experienced by most people which means that this ‘affinity’ should not seem absurd. But are we conscious that we can generate creative power through the expression of love for others? Or do we transfer this power to someone or something else? It may be possible for some of us to experience pain and suffering without attuning ourselves to the shared experience of others. But how do we advance our humanity this way?


We live in a society which from time to time advises us how to be human. Before Feminists fought for women’s rights, Africans struggled for their rights as human beings. Neither battle is won – women throughout the world are still engaged in the struggle for their rights; Africans continue to be oppressed throughout the world. Age-discrimination (imagine!) is a (re)newed topic of human interest. Doctors, Nurses and I presume carers are being told to be more ‘compassionate’ when dealing with elderly patients. This is bizarre. Addressing an elderly as ‘dear’ will now be deemed ‘agist’ – actually a law will be passed to restrict (criminalise people for) usage of the term (along with ‘bed-blocker’ – fair enough!). Should we be concerned that this society feels it necessary to instruct us how to be ‘compassionate’ towards elders?


That a law is required to encourage compassion suggests a prevalence of anti-humanness in our society. We shouldn’t be surprised. We live in a capitalist society which drives us to individualism. But capitalism can only compromise our humanity if we are not conscious of our power to express love in the face of extremes. The current economic situation imposes burdens on all of us that can make us want to hide, if not do something more drastic to escape the rut. I have a friend who constantly questions why although she works so hard she never has that magical surplus income. She does not desire the surplus for lavishness. If she works another day or for a few more hours she will give the money earned to someone who needs it, in spite of her own needs. Capitalism has never been about egalitarianism or humanism. We live under a system that steers us toward anti-humanness for it developed from the enslavement of people (not from love of people). My friend pumps more of her labour into the system in order to express her love to people. It is an unnatural bind but her efforts are a literal labouring for love.

Commitment to the struggle for human fulfilment is an empowering act and art of love. The self that struggles only for itself also expresses a measure of anti-humanness. The self that can find no way to attune itself to the experience of others, to love greatly, freely, fearlessly; to involve itself with the collective human spirit is unconscious of their creative power. The creative expression of love embodies the threads that pulls together the colourful, beautiful tapestry of which we all are part. We must therefore resist systems and ideas that attempt to bind our humanity, and thus blights our creative expression. Those engaged in struggle do so by attuning themselves to suffering, hurt and oppression. I extend a note of tribute to some of those loving people who continue the struggle despite the recycling of these human ordeals. By their example a new, better world is possible.

The Awakening

To the memory of W.E.B. Du Bois

No sweeter sound
will enliven my heart
than the unchaining of
beautiful Andromeda


But if Perseus lapses
will we simply wait
till perchance he sets her free?
Or will we Rise from
our eternal slumber
and tackle
the monsters’ talons
Our Will to reclaim our home?


If Libya loses her bravest fight
Perseus his enviable might
will we remain splintered?
Or will we Unite?


How long can be a dream?
How deep a sleep?
Monsters have no manners
their will is perpetual plunder
to attack and devour
it matters not how nor when
in the night’s stillness
when we pray and sleep
in the day’s brilliance
when we play and toil

They have no care
for punctuated prayers
lamentations and tears
they too have dreams
of reigning terror
and War Cries
from babies
mothers
brave men
warrior women
From you and me
terrorised
on opposing sides
of their power
of permanent victory
and belief
That you and me
cannot ever win
That our prayers have
exasperated the heart of God
That like us
our gods are sleeping
Or struck silent
That our ancestors have
abandoned our pleas
That we who once hoped
now despair
That our faith without works
have made us all mad

But the monsters’ dream is not mine
Their ill-gotten gains
Must be revoked
If poor Perseus is slain
I Will Birth Heru
I Will not
Stand Still
And wait

To embrace the peace
I seek
I Will adorn my
Warrior’s vestments
I Will not only set
but SOUND the great alarm
Blow with every breath
And might
The War Horns
Surrounding
Nkrumah’s stride

My faith is not dimmed
I am not made mad
By the monsters’ wicked meddling
My Will is the tide of
Victory

Cast their for centuries
my ancestors will
tear Poseidon to pieces
And even hell wont welcome him
They do not sleep
I tell you
Lumumba’s laughter
has not wilted
The three Toures are
yet pounding fists
and exchanging hearts
Fanon’s fury with the French
still inspires revolt
And Yaa is my name and muse
Garvey’s Black Star
is still docked in Ghana’s flag
see how it waves in the wind
The gentlest breeze is a good sign
Can you feel it
freshening your face,
whistling in your ear,
tickling its way through your hair?
They do not sleep
I tell you
I do not sleep
You do not sleep
We do not sleep
Dreams alone cannot
design your destiny
nor envision
Human dignity
I am reaching for your hand
I feel it folding in mine
Reach for your sister’s hand
Your brother’s is outstretched
Each Together Arise

Haitian Pride has not worn
Congo no longer wails
from tyranny and greed
Her riches enrich her own
And Azania, Zimbabwe, Rwanda
Nigeria, Uganda, Sudan South
Egypt and Burkino-Faso too
Can you hear my horn?
Are my drums
pounding your hearts?

I Am U N C H A I N E D
And so are You...
I Am AWAKE
And so are You...
I Am FREE
And so are You.


M. Yaa Asantewa

Note, Sculpture is from Artist Fowokan's site:
http://www.fowokan.com/

Fanon and The Sahu: Awakening the Masses

This I have learnt:
today a speck
tomorrow a hero
hero or monster
you are consumed!

Like a jig
shakes the loom;
like a web
is spun the pattern
all are involved
all are consumed!

Martin Carter, ‘You are involved’

Throughout December, commemorations across the world marked the 50th year of the transition of Frantz Fanon. His contributions to Pan-Africanism and insights into the psychological trauma imposed on the colonised by European imperialism remain relevant to our collective struggle to ‘free Africa’ and decolonise the African’s mind. As a revolutionary, Fanon used his psychiatry to articulate the “psychopathology” that must be overcome in the liberation struggle. In other words, the struggle for liberation must, in no small part, be understood at the level to which colonialism, as dis-ease (that which damages, and imposes an unhealthy condition) has traumatised the psyche of the colonised. Collectively freeing ourselves from this psychological condition is inseparable from the overall objective of Pan-Africanism.

Perhaps much is assumed when we talk of ‘collectivism.’ For one thing it might be assumed that all Africans recognise the psychological trauma that has been imposed on us by imperialism and colonialism. And therefore we all seek to be freed from this condition. Certainly, Fanon’s Black Skins, White Masks had the collective experience at heart when it examined the impact of colonialism on the psyche of the young Martiniquan boy whose contact with the French Metropolis (the white ‘man’) implied an ‘amputation’ of self, which aimed to ‘fix’ him (in a kind of a psychotic straitjacket) as a racially inferior ‘other.’ This is not Fanon’s experience alone. His self-reflections are not for individualistic indulgent purposes. Fanon’s deliberations are channelled towards the revolution that will liberate Africa and Africans. For Fanon no one is exempt from the responsibility of the suffering endured by any individual. As illustrated by Carter’s poem, ‘all are involved.’ Each of us make up the pattern, we comprise the whole. This is why for Kwame Nkrumah independence for Ghana was only a preliminary victory to the total liberation of Africa. Unless the whole is free, none is free.

But I think I have steered too far ahead. The first assumption about ‘collectivism’ may be that not all Africans identify with Africa. So when I speak of the psychological damage imposed on us by colonialism/imperialism, this might sound like an abstraction to many. It is to this ‘many’ that I dedicate my last Shout for this year. For some time now I have considered whether the many – the ‘masses’ are aware what ‘collectivism’ means as a force for liberation? I wonder whether the power of the ‘masses’ is merely political sloganising which has yet to be acknowledged by that veritable force? For if the people (the masses) are not aware of their potential, how so? And what will it take for this realisation – rather – this awakening of the masses; from unconsciousness to consciousness; from being masked by the self-annihilating extremes of cultural imperialism to becoming unmasked by recognising that Africa is not in our blood alone, but is our soul? I’d like to consider these questions with reference to Ra Un Nefer Amen’s discussion about Sahu men/women as an inherent aspect of Kamau tradition and the individual’s spiritual journey.

In terms of spiritual evolution, the Sahu are the majority of people who are yet to be awakened to attain the heights of Ausar. Ausar is the illuminated, the fully developed spiritual aspirant. Whilst Ausar ‘man’ is perfection, meaning completely awakened, the Sahu are in a state of, not quite darkness, but unconsciousness and therefore unaware of the their potential for spiritual elevation. On the Kamitic Tree of Life the Sahu Division of Spirit is governed by three spheres that together form a unit: Sphere 9 (Auset), Sphere 8 (Sebek) and Sphere 7 (Het Heru). These three influence the behaviour of the Sahu. Being lower numbers on the Tree of Life the Sahu division of spirit is dominated by animalistic tendencies (relating to emotions and sensuality). Here, the influence from the higher parts of spirit (spheres 6 through 1) that signify spiritual assent toward Ausar, are absent. The spiritual aspirant must work through the spheres to attain the heights of Ausar.

The influence from the Auset faculty (sphere 9) relates to our receptivity (the way in which we take in/consume information), gullibility (whereby the information we take in is not critically analysed but taken for granted). Here we are impressionable, in a state of spiritual slumber and we derive inspiration from role models rather than strive to be role models. If we relate this to Christianity, we would be followers of Christ, the sheep of his pasture. Christ is seen as the Shepherd whilst his disciples are considered sheep. Kamitic tradition posed that the individual proclivity was to assent toward Ausar - the Divine realisation of Self – God-in-man- that is, in Christian terms -being Christ- not merely to follow him. The power of collectivism needs to be understood in light of this because, as we’re told by Ra Un Nefer Amen, 5% of the world’s population control 85% of the world’s wealth (Metu Neter, Anuk Ausar, p.132). That 5% of the population, let’s call them the elite, know the power of collectivism which is why they rely on metaphysical idealism that gives power to a shepherd, or role models and celebrities whom we blindly follow (actually idolise) instead of cultivating our own divine consciousness. The Auset faculty influences us in terms of polarity, separativeness and opposition whereas the influence of Ausar is one that tends toward unity.

The Sebek faculty (Sphere 8) influences the way we take in verbal information – what we are told becomes what we perceive to be reality. What we know is what we are told to know; we need to hear it for it to be. When we congregate, say in church, and are preached to – that tends to be what we accept as reality; the external information is taken in by us without critical reflection. The Het Heru faculty (Sphere 7) influences our imagination. Images reinforce the ways we should react in given situations – it is a conditioning of our spirit. Although visualisation through the imagination can be used for success – for what we desire to be, it can also be used to set us up for failure. Images fed to us over and over are used to manipulate and control us, thus keeping us in a state of slumber, unable to rise to Ausar. An example is the increased number of TV Channels with programmes that feed us banal, spiritually deadening information. The countless channels give us a false premise of choice. But this choice is from one sedative to another. Programmes like Big Brother, Eastenders, I’m a Celebrity..., all the main stream News etc keep us entertained and sedated. We immerse ourselves in these programmes as if they represent reality. But truly they feed our animal spirit, which is a self-gratifying pursuit. In this way we are unable to perceive the essence of collectivism; for we alone are in this; satisfying our selves, indulging our individual personalities. We have no time, nor the desire to meditate because everything is external to us and at the ready. It is too much of a burden to delve deeper and deal with the ‘wretchedness’ of our collective condition. We cannot turn off the TV, stop and dwell in stillness and endure the humming silence. We must consume; extend hair, nails and lashes but never a hand to our brother and sister suffering while we stuff our lives with false images.

When Fanon writes that “every one of my silences, every one of my cowardices reveals me as a man” (BSWM,p.89) it is to acknowledge his personal responsibility for the well being of another’s suffering. For him God is not responsible for man’s hatred of one another. Again, ‘all are involved, all are consumed’. His involvement, my recognition of my sister’s suffering (being also consumed, being also involved) are examples of collectivism and the unity necessary for our collective liberation. When the individual transcends the separativeness of Sahu she begins the journey of spiritual elevation that will assent toward Ausar and her design in the pattern, her part in the whole – the empowerment that comes from unity. The liberation of Africa, and really the world - from the monstrous self-annihilating system that is capitalism and imperialism- will not come unless we start recognising our part in the collective.

To do this might mean experiencing the dissociation that comes from aligning oneself with Africa. As Fanon writes: ‘I was responsible at the same time for my body, for my race, my ancestors. I subjected myself to an objective examination, I discovered my blackness, my ethnic characteristics, and I was battered down by Tom-toms, cannibalism, intellectual deficiency, fetischism, racial defects, slave ships’ (BSWM p.112). The masses are not prepared to endure this weight of responsibility, if indeed they perceive it is theirs. The Sahu do not yearn for freedom, which has its dear price. The Sahu’s paradise is self-imprisonment. They live for the party to wind and dance, consumed by a perpetual ‘seeing and blind, hearing and deaf’ rhythm. But for Fanon, the objective examination was necessary and liberating. The mirror to which he turned did not completely shatter before him; the self-reflection set him free from false affiliations. He defeated the enemy within first and then steadied himself to fight the bigger war. He knew catharsis could be violent. He recognised that trance, possession and all those excitable extremes we associate with Africa and which terrify us are necessary for our psychological reconditioning for ‘this disintegrating of the personality [that comes from possessions], this splitting and dissolution [of the composite self], all this fulfils a primordial function’ (Wretched, p.45). This function is a liberating power that unites our soul with Africa.

The Sahu are not aware that they are in a state of trance (sedated) insofar as they cleave to habits, are slave to emotions and desires that permit them a ‘personality’. For the most part this ‘personality’, through memorisation (and as in a trance) is performed over and over until it becomes fixed. Therefore, as Ra Un Nefer Amen asserts, “spiritual cultivation from this perspective is a process of detrancing or dehypnotising consciousness away from the personality in order to re-establish the identity with the divine Self. In other words it is a process of awakening” (1994, p.88, my italics). For the Sahu to awaken, they must be willing to. So maybe if the people, the many, the masses, the Sahu do not recognise their power, it is because they do not desire to. For oblivion is a sweet seduction. The objective peering into the psyche is an unbearable burden. Muscles are too weak to be flexed for a fight that seems too far removed from their reality. The meaning of ‘mass power’ is lost on the masses because it’s identified as what the majority is doing. For example, the cross cultural majority watch Eastenders; the majority of African women wear weave, an increasing cross-cultural majority bleach their skin. And because the majority are doing ‘it’, the individual feels compelled to join them in the given action. Now if that alignment was for political mobilisation (as the various Occupy movements have attempted) then the people would assume the collective power to liberate themselves from oppressive systems.

As the year closes I pay tribute to the memory of Frantz Fanon and the work on Pan-Africanism he bequeathed to us. Though the amputation by European cultural imperialism was attempted, it did not succeed. For as he writes “with all my strength I refuse to accept that amputation. I feel in myself a soul as immense as the world, truly a soul as deep as the deepest of rivers, my chest has the power to expand without limit” (BSWM, p.140). That exhilarated feeling – from unconsciousness to consciousness – was channelled toward the African liberation struggle. Until the masses, the Sahu are prepared to take that self-reflective leap into the psyche and transcend the separatism, individualism and polarisation that Western culture promotes, the power of collectivism, of ‘all being involved’ will remain largely an aspiration of political mobility.

Shout Out

Rebirth and Revolution: the Return of Yaa Asantewaa’s body PART II

Continued…


The invasion of Libya (and subsequent barbaric public execution of its Head of State –Muammar Gaddafi) by US and NATO is a perpetuation of imperialist aggression against Africa. Although some might choose to forget a geographical reality that Libya is part of Africa, the recognition of this reality is necessary if we are to fully activate the vision of Pan-Africanism and confront the forces of imperialism and neo colonialism. The recent experience of the ACCRA 25, which includes members of the A-APRP and CPP (Nkrumah’s Conventional Peoples Party) highlights the persistence of the struggle in Ghana and Africa generally. On the 21st September (which officially celebrates Nkrumah’s birthday) activists began a peaceful, legal march toward the US embassy in Accra to protest against the US/NATO led invasion of Libya. Ghanaian police swarmed the demonstration claiming that the march was illegal because the protesters had disregarded a prohibition order. 25 (hence the dubbing of ‘Accra 25’) of the protesters were arrested, taken to the police station in Accra before being handed over to the BNI (Bureau of National Investigation - Ghana’s FBI/MI5) where they were interrogated and detained overnight. Local and International pressure and the acknowledgement by the Ghanaian officials that the demonstration was in fact legal led to the swift release of the protesters.


A few things are noteworthy here. First –unity of consciousness, that is the Pan-Africanist ideology in action saw the linking together of various organizations and people from across the world who pressured the Ghanaian authorities into releasing the protesters. Second - this unity of consciousness identified the enemy as neo-colonialism and imperialism; for how else must we regard the response by the Ghanaian authorities when their interest of protecting Ghana/Africa and taking a stand against any form of aggression against its sovereignty should have been aligned with the demonstrators. Instead they sought to suppress an activism the like of which Kwame Nkrumah advocated and which led Ghana to independence. Third – and I’ll leave it here (though other conclusions can be drawn) the power of Social Media/Networking was instrumental in spreading the word about the incarceration of these freedom fighters. The significance of this is that activism and the Revolutionary impulses that we’re presently experiencing are taking on new forms which we must embrace. Facebook and Twitter will not seem so technical, pointless or cumbersome when we can use these as means of mass resistance, political education and organisation. But you don’t need to rely on these new forms of technology – forwarding relevant emails can be equally effective in participating in revolutionary activism. Still – we can never underestimate the power and impact of word of mouth.

How does the foregoing relate to my time in hospital as outlined in Part I of this Shout?

The battle over my body was fought during August the same time as the UK uprisings which was catalysed by the killing of a young African man Mark Duggan. I say ‘killing' because I’m tired of the euphemisms used by the IPCC (and the Media) in its claim of ‘independence’ from the Met Police: “it is regrettable that someone has died...” This death did not occur peacefully in his sleep or from any natural circumstance. This was the consequence of an assault; a confrontation. Mark Duggan’s death has the sign of an assassination (murder by design). But why might this be the case? The answer may be found in David Cameron’s words to parliament about ‘empowering the police,’ ‘fighting back’ and identifying the ‘face of the rioters’, about ‘supporting the victims’ of the uprisings. Undoubtedly Mark Duggan’s killing and the ensuing uprisings enforce the image of black (mostly male) youth as the prevailing enemy in our society.


To “empower the police” there must be perceived disorder and chaos (‘rebellion’, ‘rioting’) in society. That disorder must have its face. Who are the victims that will now be supported? Is the government really concerned about small businesses? Of course not! It is orchestrated so that the general population see themselves as the victims who are in danger of attack from black youth. Given that the general population (comprising the working and lower middle class) is suffering socially and economically from the zealous measures by the government, the creation of disorder strategically relocates the image of the enemy. In other words don’t blame your impoverishment, unemployment and disenfranchisement on the government - and its headstrong involvement in invasions into other countries – look over there at those young black boys -rather at black people including community figures like Darcus Howe.


The image of black people as enemy persists through institutions like the BBC allowing so called intellectuals like David Starky unwarranted airtime to vent his incendiary notions solely to add fire to fire. This puts us constantly in a reactionary position. Brazen persistent attacks and offences by Western Europeans have placed Africans wherever we are in a position of perpetual struggle whether we care to identify with it or not. This of course is not to disregard the fact that there are genuine social, cultural and economic deprivations that are impacting us generally and which were the underlying triggers of the uprisings. Cost of living is high; hiked university fees denies opportunities to young people, especially those in African communities; there is a severe lack of opportunities for young people (but also generally with whole sections of work forces being made redundant); public services are severely reduced (closing of libraries, community centres in areas with larger numbers of Africans – like Haringey and Hackney); public sector jobs (where a number of Africans work) are being drastically cut. Although the diabolical squeeze is felt by working and lower middle classes whether Africans or Europeans, the face of these problems culminating in the uprisings has been assigned to African youth.


So while I slept, London burned, but ever so briefly; enough time though to signal a stirring in consciousness. Starky’s comments are simply the code of racism – nothing new about it. This code is systemic in institutions like the BBC. Generally the British Media imposes unconsciousness – tells you what to think, how to perceive the world. In hospital I heard an African patient denouncing the ‘rioters’/’looters’, claiming that they were opportunists and should all therefore be locked up. Contrarily a European patient countered that the uprisings were the consequence of a lack of opportunities for the youth, working and lower middle classes and condemned the government for its blatant alliances with the banks. I am trying to show here that unity of consciousness as called for by Pan-Africanism will identify clearly that the enemy of oppressed and exploited people is racism, capitalism, imperialism and neo-colonialism. Those structures enrich the few through the labour and exploitation of the mass. Some of us may believe the struggle against these forces is outside of our present cultural experience, and therefore remote - in Libya, Iran, Egypt, Venezuela, Iraq, Congo, Ivory Coast, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad, Brazil- an endless list of States impacted by the demonic tentacles of neo-colonial/imperialism/capitalism - and therefore has nothing to do with us. Some of us might think that the Mark Duggans, Smiley Cultures, Mumia Abu Jamals and Troy Davises of our world got something they deserved owing to erroneous criminal charges against them. But for me these are the conclusions of unconsciousness (that is not thinking or rather being seduced into thinking/accepting something that doesn’t make sense) which, empowered by governments to dominate the thoughts of the general public, the Media goes to all lengths to engender.


Thus it is that I have been considering my time in hospital amidst the period of ‘uprising’ in relation to Yaa Asantewaa in her exile and the woman in Revelations 12 who was forced into the wilderness. My body had been under siege (as a site of struggle) by a number of fibroid tumours for years. Though considered benign (in that they wont cause death) they are still harmful and mostly affect African and Asian women. Research about the cause is emerging but this doesn’t appear to seriously consider the specific causes of fibroids as they relate to African and Asian women. Diet is not a lone contributor; hormonal imbalances are also considered (your doctor may not relate this to you though) as causes as well as a stressful lifestyle. I can only allude to what may have caused mine – I have no accurate way of being sure. But removing them was an unavoidable necessity. After the operation to remove them risks manifested and ignited a deepening battle to preserve my life – and ultimately my regenerative function.


The regenerative function – that is life (rebirthing) – is expressed out of Love. Thus a body riddled with tumours can be said to reflect Love in stagnation. It is a body embattled (under siege), confused, stressed and un-liberated. The body has to be freed of limitations imposed upon it by these inhibitors of Love. I’m not here speaking about love in the reconstituted and false form pertaining simply to romance and sex. I’m speaking of Love as the driver of humanity; Love as the apex of spiritual evolution; Love as manifestation of the Universal and Creative Life Force. Full expression of this Love - in essence Divine Consciousness - is realised when its inhibitors are challenged and defeated. Yaa Asantewaa’s struggle against the forces of colonialism (inhibitors - oppressors, colonisers, imperialists) was borne of that Love (of her people and for humanity). The pregnant woman in Revelations 12 was pursued by inhibitors (Satan, the ‘deceiver of the world’ – capitalism, imperialism, neo-colonialism) of the Love she carried in her regenerative capacity. Love then as driver of humanity cannot complement oppression but is relentlessly pursued by such forces (capitalism/imperialism) that seek to destroy it.


This Love of which I speak is that of Auset when she challenged Set (an inhibitor, oppressor – our unconsciousness- reflecting our spiritual and creative dormancy) by collecting the dis-membered pieces of Ausar’s body. Her immaculate conception of Heru (rewritten in the Bible as the Mary/Jesus story) is symbolic of the conquering, transformative force of Love when actualised by Truth, Wisdom and Justice. This power of Love as the driver of humanity underpins the struggle for liberation against forces of oppression; for it was Heru - the son of Auset and Ausar -who eventually defeated the oppressor Set. Victory over Set was not easy. Heru and his followers were outnumbered by Set and his army. But Heru adhered to the admonitions of Tehuti (“Wisdom”). He became conscious that the battle against Set may be won only by his awakening consciousness, developing an understanding of spiritual intelligence and better organising his followers -his angels- metaphoric disciples that are faculties of spiritual consciousness.


In his book Metu Neter Anuk Ausar Ra Un Nefer Amen puts it this way: “[Heru’s] victory came from humbling himself to the intuitive guidance of the wisdom faculty [Tehuti] which is received through perfection in meditation, or oracles, or counsel from a sage. Intelligence has always defeated might and steel...Set will be defeated through truth, but one must stand up to him at all costs, and confront him with all means possible”(pg.151, my bolds). The African Revolution then requires an awakened consciousness that will in the fullest light direct our economic empowerment, social, cultural and spiritual evolution. Our collective activism toward achieving the objectives of Pan-Africanism underlies a powerful act and expression of Love.

Victory over the fibroids and comprehension of my purpose in the Pan-African struggle could not be attained without elimination and renunciation of the inhibiting factors in my consciousness. For that process of elimination would signal my readiness for Love- that my regenerative function was attuning itself for my rebirth. But it would be some time before my consciousness was thus awakened. After the fibroids were removed I was told there was an obstruction in my bowels which initiated the second operation. This obstruction and the resulting laparotomy compounded the length of time I was in hospital. Although the fibroids were removed, their mark of distress (oppressing my body) remained in the form of this obstruction. We recall here the wrath of the ‘great red dragon’ who pursued the remnant seed of the woman who had given birth to a male child (associations between this story and the story of Ausar, Auset and Heru are not strains of the imagination but a reality). In a similar way we may recall the slithery, vile and pernicious reach of imperialism and neo-colonialism aggressing against Africa. The struggle to restore my regenerative function I liken to the struggle to unify Africa; to re-member (bring its dismembered parts or body) into realignment. For this to manifest the objective of Pan-Africanism is paramount. Unconsciousness has to be replaced by consciousness and that consciousness has to become unified. The UK uprisings lacked unity of purpose, and therefore the organisation to make a more significant impact that we could identify as revolutionary. But small steps build pyramids.


Becoming conscious requires elimination/renunciation of redundant ideas and experiences; the relinquishing of harmful emotional and psychological experiences. A bowel obstruction can be said to express an unwillingness to release and let go those harmful experiences that entrap the emotions and psyche. This hinders spiritual development and that awakening consciousness that would enable ascension to the Divine (God within, not without and abstract) through the route of love. For it is Love that opposes oppression; it is Love that must be born (as Heru) to challenge ‘the great red dragon’ (Set); it is Love that must defeat imperialism, capitalism and colonialism in the revolutionary struggle for the unification of Africa and the saving of humanity.


So I was prepped for a third procedure, which I had seriously considered was a signal of my demise. But I chanted to the Creative and Universal Life Force and all my ancestors to relieve me. The result was that I didn’t have to have this third operation after all. We all exhaled. I have had to relearn everything as though I were a baby again. But I give thanks for everything; for the Love all around me without which my body would now be mere bones. I have scars; physical, emotional, psychological. But like Africa, remapped, divided and desecrated the struggle of my rebirth continues. And I know that day will come. Heru will defeat Set; the Red Dragon will be destroyed. The precision of my rebirth was marked by the birth of my grand niece on my birthday 16th October. This for me is a wonderful sign of life’s perfecting rhythm through which I feel most humbled and truly blessed.

Shout Out

Rebirth and Revolution: the Return of Yaa Asantewaa’s Body PART I

Momma yenkafo no eeei,
Yaa Asantewaa eeei,
Obaa basia a oko aprem ano eeei,
Obaa Yaa eeei!’

(‘Hail her!
Yaa Asantewaa
A mere woman
Who fought against the cannon!
The Woman Yaa’)

Folk Chant as homage to Queen Mother Yaa Asantewaa


I was told that I would be in hospital four days following the operation. It had taken over two years for me to decide to have the operation but by now I felt assured that I was in good hands (Divine Order). Instead of four days, however, I remained in the hospital for four weeks. Complications from the first caused me to have a further operation. My immune system became severely compromised (it didn’t exactly break down – I was on a drip and unable to eat or drink for three weeks) for which reason the medical team insisted I have a blood transfusion (I had instructed that this should be given only as a matter of life or death). I wasn’t dying but my haemoglobin had fallen way below the level at which they would normally transfuse (my cries of resistance now seemed futile and irrational). As well as this, my wound became infected and had to be opened to release inflammation.


Due to the severity of the infection and the discovery of yet another internal obstruction it was decided that I should have a third procedure. By this time my family and friends feared I might not make it. In truth when I was told about this third procedure I felt that some greater force was seeking to utterly destroy me; not satisfied that the two earlier/major operations had failed to do this. My chanting intensified. I called on my family to add their prayers and chants to mine – rather I needed them to intensify their support -which had so far been remarkable- in uplifting me. Early one morning I was prepped to have the third procedure at which point psychologically I felt I was about to complete the battle with an unrelenting enemy. It would be a final confrontation out of which there could only be one victor. Who would be the victor and what “victory” would mean to me is what I’m hoping to express in this Shout. To do this I will consider the story of Yaa Asantewaa whose name I have claimed as a cultural realignment with my ancestry. I use her story to link some issues upon which I’ve been reflecting since coming out of hospital. These relate to my spiritual development (rebirth), my renewed commitment to Pan-Africanism as a stance against racism, imperialism, capitalism and neo-colonialism and my activism in the revolution which objective is to dismantle these oppressive, dehumanising forces and thus to further the cause of humanity.


Most of us know the legend of Yaa Asantewaa. Her death is recorded as 17th October 1921 so in honour of the 90th anniversary of her transition this very day I will briefly outline her story for those who might not be aware of this remarkable African warrior and ancestor. Queen Mother of Edweso (Ejisu) part of the Asante region of Ghana she led a war (otherwise referred to as ‘rebellion’) against the British Colonials who sought complete dominance of the Asante Empire. This war (1900-1) was the last in a series of such wars between the Asante and Britain throughout the 19th Century. It is also remembered as the last war in Africa to be led by a woman. Having seized power of Kumasi, the Asante capital and exiling its King Prempeh I and other members of Asante government, including Yaa Asantewaa’s grandson, Edwesohene (Chief of Edweso) Kofi Tene to the Seychelles, the British demanded the Golden Stool which symbolised the soul of Asante.


This brazen and offensive demand by Frederic Hodgson, the British governor of the Gold Coast (now Ghana) incensed Yaa Asantewaa. She wondered why members (men) of the Asante Government were allowing Hodgson airtime to insult them by his facetious demand when instead they should be demanding the return of King Prempeh. She declared that where the men exhibited cowardice, contrary to the fighting spirit of Asantes of old, like Nana Osei Tutu I she would rouse other women to fight the British and thus liberate her district Ejisu, Asante generally, its King Prempeh and her grandson from their exile. Her brave campaign lasted a year before she was captured and also exiled to Seychelles. There she died on October 17th 1921. Prempeh I was repatriated to Kumasi in 1924 whereupon he later negotiated the return of all exiled Asantes. Yaa Asantewaa’s body along with others was exhumed and returned to the Gold Coast in 1930 where she received a royal burial.


Following a trip to Ghana in 2002 I adopted the name of this remarkable African woman who sacrificed her life for her people. At the time I didn’t know very much about her. I was born on Thursday, like Yaa so the adoption made sense. It would take me several years later to register a spiritual precision in our birth and death. I was born on 16th October. My name was changed by Deed Poll which was signed 9 years ago on 17th October 2002. This was not a deliberate convergence. I was not aware of her birth and death dates when I chose the name – just about the campaign she led against British Colonials – which was for me inspiring enough. It might be considered coincidental but I prefer to see this as an intuitive activation, a spiritual vibration that signalled the poignancy of my rebirth. Thus more than a symbol of patriotism, resistance, liberation and womanhood, Yaa Asantewaa for me also represents continuity and the incarnatory vibration of struggle. This vibration of struggle would see Ghana achieve Independence in 1957, the first Sub-Saharan African country to do so. Yaa as (earth – “Asase Yaa”) mother, as warrior, as freedom fighter metaphorically birthed a son of revolution, Kwame Nkrumah. The significance of this is that her exile to the Seychelles didn’t halt the struggle for liberation.


The return of Yaa Asantewa’s body (remnants of her spirit one might say) to Ghana in 1930, the same year Nkrumah had completed his theological studies, symbolises a re-memberment of the struggle not only for Ghana’s liberation but that of Africa. Nkrumah pursued the struggle for liberation with a new emphasis – Pan-Africanism. Inspired by the ideas of Marcus Garvey and others he called for unity of all Africans, diasporic and continental for mass organisation and politicisation which movement would confront and ultimately defeat the forces of imperialism and colonialism. This Revolution as underpinned by Pan-Africanism calls for the participation of the mass without which it carries little force. Thus it is that Nkrumah declared that, "all people of African descent whether they live in North or South America, the Caribbean, or in any other part of the world are Africans and belong to the African Nation." Nkrumah called for the creation of an All-African People’s Revolutionary Party - as we find in the A-APRP - which was realized by Kwame Ture, amongst others in 1968 and which continues to activate towards the liberation and unification of Africa and its people. The party also works with other organizations committed to the freedom of all oppressed and exploited peoples across the world.


Yaa Asantewaa’s body then (as depicted here, emaciated and frail) can be regarded as a symbol of struggle and resistance; as Africa under the siege of colonialism. Metaphorically I also relate her story to that pregnant woman in Revelations 12 who was pursued by the ‘great red dragon’ - her pregnancy being a symbol of rebirth, renewal, freedom, the emergence of self, transformation of society, liberation (awakening consciousness)- in essence the battle for humanity. The ‘red dragon’ by which the woman was viciously pursued I relate to the evil hands of imperialism, capitalism and neo-colonialism clutching at every corner of the earth to destroy humanity. Like that woman who had to ‘flee into the wilderness’ whilst a battle ensued between Archangel Michael (“and his angels!” – support from the mass) and the Devil (“and his angels” - forces of oppression/exploitation), Yaa Asantewaa was exiled whilst Ghana remained a site of struggle for its independence. This was achieved when colonialism (‘the great dragon’) ‘was cast out’.


But the story didn’t end there. The last verse in Revelations 12 writes: ‘and the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed.’ An indulgent interpretation sees this ‘woman’ (and therefore Yaa Asantewaa) as Africa (by extension the oppressed world) and the ‘remnant seed’ as Africans who are perpetually confronted by the instruments of racism throughout our lives and the forces of imperialism, capitalism and neo-colonialism (incarnatory vibrations of the ’great red dragon’) which continue to blight our reach toward self-determination.


TO BE CONTINUED: you’ll have to wait for the second installment to hear how I relate the foregoing to my time in hospital which will be posted at the end of the month.