Difference between revisions of "Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement"

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Latest revision as of 07:34, 15 March 2021

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement was published on January 25th, 2016 by Haymarket Books. The book was written by Angela Davis. The book explains how state brutality and persecution intersect with struggles that occur around the world from the Black Power Movement to the Palestine situation[1].

Plot

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle Book Cover[2]

Angela Davis writes about the heritage of the civil rights movement from the fight against the Apartheid Wall in South Africa, the black power movement in the USA, and the freedom struggle in Palestine. Davis explains what the struggle was like in the 1960s with the Black Panthers and its Ten-Point Program as the symbol of the Black Lives Matter movement. She tells that the principle of the Apartheid Wall in South Africa are applied in the same way as the ones that are done on the Mexican border. Or the weapons and tactics used in Ferguson, Missouri are the same as the ones that are used in West Bank, Palestine. She makes clear that the achievement of Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King was not their individual accomplishments but collective successes. It is important that people need to see the fight for equality and freedom as solidarities and unity. She states that we need to learn from what has been done in the past and study history in making sure that we do not make unnecessary mistakes. Eventually, historical changes can only be made with the well-organized mass movement, not only one individual who leads the campaign movement[3].

Black Empowerment

Davis aspires many people to take action on upholding their rights and belief. Her writing implies that creating a progressive movement must be brought by the people who are taking action. For instance, when people scrutinized Obama's presidency for not raising massive progress on the state. She believes if the people unite and protest the state massively, the situation can be changed into what people believe was right. It was not about who the leader is but, it was the well-organized mass movement that can bring progressive changes. Of course, if the people successfully protest and order to create a difference in the civil rights movement or Guantanamo Bay. She hopes the mass transactional movement such as the Ferguson movement supported by the Palestinians can create a rapid movement in freedom and equality. The mass transactional movement that was done was as simple as a tweet from Palestinians to Ferguson saying "Don’t Keep much distance from the Police, if you’re close to them, they can’t tear Gas. To #Ferguson from #Palestine" has created the unity and solidarities to urge a movement on civil rights. To conclude, Davis blatantly writes that changes were not brought by an individual but, it was from the voice of the mass-movement "ev]ery change that has happened has come as a result of mass movements"[4].

Controversy

The tragedy in Ferguson, Missouri, which killed Michael Brown, an innocent black teenager, had a shocking result. The police officer who shot Michael was not charged by the jury. This had provoked black Americans and others to protest in Ferguson which eventually lead to fully armed police officers. The officers set off tear gases in the streets and assaulted several unarmed black Americans. While the police are trained by fully trained specialty forces such as Israeli security forces. Davis has reminded us that even though the emancipation act and civil rights had been issued, the black Americans still endure inequality and prejudice which lead to the existence of poverty, illiteracy, and violence. The slavery-era might have ended, yet, Davis says that we "fail to recognize the extent to which cultural and structural elements of slavery are still with us."[5].

References

  1. Freedom Is a Constant Struggle. Goodreads. Retrieved January 29 2021
  2. Freedom is A Constant Struggle Book Cover Amazon. Retrieved January 29 2021]
  3. Frank Barat. Freedom is a constant struggle AlJazeera. Retrieved January 29 2021]
  4. Fazeela Siddiqui. Lessons Learned from Angela Davis’ Book: Freedom is A Constant Struggle Law at the Margins. Retrieved January 29 2021]
  5. Emily Eaton. Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement Briarpatch Magazine. Retrieved January 29 2021]