Conscientization 101 James Stone and Zari Sundiata

Dr. Walter Anthony Rodney (March 23, 1942 – June 13, 1980)

Although it has been over forty years since the cowardly and brutal assassination of our dearly beloved brother Dr. Walter Anthony Rodney (aka Dr. W.A.R.), his intrepid spirit lives on with us today. While the quisling, pelf worshipping assassins succeeded in destroying Dr. Rodney physically, they paradoxically immortalized him. Dr. Rodney’s life was/is the personification of an uncompromised intellectual who committed, what Amilcar Cabral called, class suicide in service of the people. Assiduously devoted to theory and practice, or better said conscientization, the life of Dr. Walter Anthony Rodney, from an African cosmological perspective, can be seen as an orisha or loi. The relevance of Dr. Walter Rodney’s life and work is now an eternal guiding principal or law that future generations can call upon to fortify themselves when in struggle and service to the people.

In this episode of Conscientization 101 Podcast, we proudly present a Conscientization 101 digitally remastered disquisition by Dr. Walter Anthony Rodney called Crisis in the Periphery: Africa and the Caribbean.

In addition, we also discuss the following:





* Walter Anthony Rodney’s magnum opus How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

* Cultural hegemony as it relates to the European worldview

* The recent passing of novelist, essayist, and poet George Lamming, and his relationship to the work of Dr. Walter Anthony Rodney

* The writings of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and how they relate to Dr. Walter Anthony Rodney. Also, the coincidental relationship between us finishing Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s novel Devil on the Cross in 2012, with the release of Akala’s 2013 album The Thieves Banquet



and much more, such as our charm, ironic humor, sardonic quips, and wit to boot! You do not want to miss this episode!  

This episode features music from:





* Cyclonious – “We Back At it” from his album Heroes For Hire 2

* Conscientization 101– "Decolonize This? Properly Defining Settlers – Part 1" from our Musical Commentaries collection

* Akala – “The Thieves Banquet” from his album The Thieves Banquet

* Raggo Zulu Rebel – “99 Names” from his album God Complex

* Cyclonious – “Live Up” from his album Heroes For Hire



 Books referenced in this episode:





Walter Rodney Speaks: The Making of an African Intellectual by Walter Rodney

a href="https://www.amazon.com/Europe-Underdeveloped-Africa-Walter-Rodney/dp/0882580965?crid=XTAQGAD0WF48&keywords=How+Europe+Under...

On the long-awaited conclusion of our two-part series, Raggo Zulu Rebel Emeritus: The Eloquence of a Scribe, we discuss the following with Raggo Zulu Rebel:



* An in-depth analysis of Raggo’s album Necromancy

* The importance of understanding political economy, specifically understanding the superstructure as it pertains to Africanity/Blackness in Western societies

* The comfort in the malaise and isolation people experience due to social media and how that relates to Guy Debord’s Society of the Spectacle

* A critical critique of hashtag movements.



and, much more!



In addition to and in conjunction with the dialogue with Raggo, we discuss how Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Ayi Kwei Armah’s Two Thousand Seasons, and Anthony Sampson’s Black & Gold Tycoons, Revolutionaries and Apartheid work elucidates the necessity of imperialism (via colonial domination) to foster divisions amongst the colonized population. The divisions created by the colonizer are merely the first tools of ideological and psychological domination of the colonized, for the goal of the colonizer is cultural hegemony. The apogee of this phenomena is apparent when the colonized internalize the colonizer’s most potent ideological weapon…INDIVIUALISM!!!



This episode features music from:



* Raggo Zulu Rebel – Garden of Afrika

* Fela Kuti – “Confusion Break Bones” from his album Underground System

* Raggo Zulu Rebel: the tracks are “Elevator Musak", “First Stone”, and “Mac Cheez” from his album Necromancy

* Raggo Zulu Rebel: the tracks are “Where You Going” and “...

Emeritus is an appellation bestowed upon a person who has personified excellence in their respective profession, (usually a former holder of an office, especially a college professor) having retired but allowed to retain their title as an honor. On this 54th episode of Conscientization 101 podcast, we present part one of a two-part dialogue with Raggo Zulu Rebel to discuss his retirement from his over two decades musical career, and why he is deserving of the designation of emeritus.

It has been an honor to be privy to the eloquence of this scribe, our dear brother, Raggo Zulu Rebel.

In part one of this trenchant, evocative, and sapient series we discuss the following:





* The thin line the music industry creates between commodifying music and true cultural expression

* Bourgeois privilege given to artists

* African-centered dilettantes/opportunists vs. growing into a real understanding of building an African-centered, working-class political economy, and much more!



This episode features music from:





* Chairman Maf – This World from his album MUFF

* Tha 4orce – My Brother’s Keeper (Instrumental) ,and

* Raggo Zulu Rebel from his albums God Complex, Holy War, WildFire mixtape (official mix by D.J. Anansa),  God MC, Arthur Fleck, Necromancy, and No Sleep (No Days Off): the tracks are “Milli", “Shut Em Down (feat. Doc4”, “Star of David (feat. Tony As)”, “No Gas (feat. Big Dutty Deeze & Dah1)”, “Magic Forest”, “Game of Thrones”, “Lonely People (feat. ID3AL), and “Study”, respectively.



Raggo Zulu Rebel social media and affiliated websites:





* Twitter @raggozulurebel

In the riveting conclusion of our three part series with acclaimed American Indian Movement activist-intellectual Ward Churchill about his venerable book Wielding Words Like Weapons: Selected Essays In Indigenism, 1995-2005, we discuss the effects of the settler colonial polity of Canada on American Indians.

We investigate this phenomenon by examining the chapter titled “Kizhiibaabinesik”. The chapter is a poignant dedication to brother Ward’s late wife Leah Renae Kelly.

This episode features music from:





* Conscientization 101– "Decolonize This? Properly Defining Settlers – Part 1" from our Musical Commentaries collection

* Wise Intelligent feat. Black Page – "By Design" from his album Ponzie



Be on the lookout for the forthcoming book from Ward Churchill available for pre-order, From a Native Son: Selected Essays in Indigenism, 1985–1995.

And for more works by Ward Churchill, click here.









The Podcast Was Just A Snippet Of  The Interview. Want To Listen To The Unabridged Interview? Click Here!

We continue with part two of our three part dialogue with Ward Churchill regarding his august book Wielding Words Like Weapons: Selected Essays In Indigenism, 1995-2005.



In part two of this puissant series we discuss Indigenous people in Western cinema. Specifically we discuss the functionality of pejorative depictions of Indigenous people in cinema to the settler colonial project known as the Americas, its effects on Indigenous people, and much more. We also begin a discussion about postality (i.e. post–colonial, post–racial, post–modernism, etc.), and why it is meretricious.



This episode features music from:



* Conscientization 101 – "Decolonize This? Properly Defining Settlers – Part 1" from our Musical Commentaries collection

* Big Cakes – “One Thing I know (Remix)” feat. Majical, Paperboi Enj, & Big Frizzle from his album No Expenses



Books mentioned in this episode include:



* Kwame A. Akoto’s Nationbuilding: Theory & Practice in Afrikan Centered Education 2nd ed.

* Kobi K.K. Kambon’s Cultural Misorientation: Misorientation: The Greatest Threat to the Survival of the Black Race in the 21st Century

* Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee: An Indian History of The American West



And for more works by Ward Churchill, click here.







The Podcast Was Just A Snippet Of  The Interview. Want To Listen To The Unabridged Interview? Click Here!

Sagacious, trenchant, and decisive are just a few ways to describe the writings of American Indian Movement activist–intellectual Ward Churchill. Informed by praxis, Churchill’s decades of work demonstrate a keen understanding that the fulcrum of the world’s political–economic contradictions are found in attenuating indigenous people’s political–economic independence and creating a helotized population.

It was/is colonialism (settler colonialism in the case of the Americas), that lies at the heart of the current world’s misery, and any analysis to the contrary is not only unrealistic, but utterly naive and puerile. While others with the same level of Churchill’s public notoriety are content to vacillate in their commitment to decolonial struggle, and genuflect with imperialism without the slightest bit of ignominy, he—understanding the exigencies of TRUE decolonial struggle—has resolutely held true to the veracity of this analysis through the decades via the solemnity of his work. His book Wielding Words Like Weapons: Selected Essays In Indigenism, 1995-2005, is a primary example of his fidelity.

In this episode of Conscientization 101 podcast, we present part one of a multipart dialogue we had with Ward Churchill regarding his perspicuous book Wielding Words Like Weapons: Selected Essays In Indigenism, 1995-2005.

In part one of this evocative series we discuss the following:





* The importance of cultural understanding through reading and examining political-economy

* The concept of understanding the past to shape the future

* Defining of the term “Indigenism”

* The political–economic implications of the blood relations between Africans and American Indians

and much more!



Oh yeah, and we open this episode with one hell of a salvo!!!

This episode features music from:





* Buggin Malone – "Peltier’s Beat Goes On" and Deeskee “Right This Wrong (Instrumental)” from the album Free Leonard Peltier: Hip Hop's Contribution to the Freedom Campaign

* Akala – “Let It All Happen” from his album The Thieves Banquet

* Conscientization 101– "Decolonize This? Properly Defining Settlers – Part 1" from our Musical Commentaries collection



Books and other works mentioned in this episode include:





* Ward Churchill’s In A Pig’s Eye: Reflections On The Police State, Repression, and Native America and a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1629632244/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=conscienti101-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1629632244&linkId=00eb4d522ed2760e46...