East African Marxism-Leninism, Pan Africanism, Imperialism and the Dar es Salaam Debates with Zeyad El Nabolsy

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Mar 11, 2024

Zeyad El Nabolsy, an Assistant Professor at York University specializing in African philosophy, delves into the intricate connections between Marxism-Leninism and anti-colonial struggles in East Africa. He discusses the influential roles of figures like Abdul Rahman Mohamed Babu and the historical significance of the Dar es Salaam Debates. The conversation also addresses the complexities of neocolonialism, local adaptations of Marxism, and the revolutionary potential of the peasantry, all while emphasizing the need for open-access research in the academic community.

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ANECDOTE

Babu's Political Journey

Abdulrahman Mohamed Babu, a Zanzibari revolutionary and Marxist, served as foreign minister.
He was later imprisoned by Julius Nyerere for criticizing his African socialism.

INSIGHT

Nabudere's Critique of Imperialism

Western Marxists should rediscover imperialism theories developed by Third World Marxists like Dani Nabudere.
Nabudere argues that even small overseas investments can be crucial for core countries.

INSIGHT

French Imperialism in Africa

French imperialism in Africa persists through monetary policy, even without direct political control.
Coercion is used when these economic structures are threatened.

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In this conversation we talk to Zeyad el Nabolsy about two of his recent pieces on Marxism-Leninism in the East African context. One piece is entitled, "Lenin in East Africa: Abdul Rahman Mohamed Babu and Dani Wadada Nabudere" from The Future of Lenin: Power, Politics, and Revolution in the Twenty-First Century and the other is "Questions from the Dar es Salaam Debates" which is in the book Revolutionary Movements in Africa: An Untold Story which was recently released from Pluto Press.

Zeyad El Nabolsy is an Assistant Professor at York University, he has written extensively on African philosophy, and we hope to have many more conversations with him in the future. I will note as a caveat again that this is one of the conversations that we recorded prior to October 7th so if it feels like Palestine, or the Congo or Haiti or Sudan or even more discussion on Fanon might be meaningful for us to engage with in this discussion given recent events, there is a reason that we do not and that the context that we do discuss in passing are the anticolonial coup d'etats in West Africa.

Zeyad has done some interesting work on Edward Said and some work on western philosophy and Islam so hopefully we can have another conversation with him soon that is able to weave together some more current events with his historical and philosophical research interests. Nonetheless, this is a very interesting discussion and highlights some East African Marxists that we should be more familiar with given the importance of their thought and their political formulations, but who are often not well known outside of circles who are more knowledgeable about African Marxism or African Marxism-Leninism.

In this discussion we do talk about East African-Marxism Leninism, Pan Africanism, African Socialism, and the famous Dar Es Salaam Debates. We also talk about Dani Nabudere's work on imperialism, taking Lenin's theory of imperialism and updating and applying it to the African context. There's much more to say, but we'll leave for the conversation itself.

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Aidan Elias and Jared Ware co-produced this episode.

Sources/Links:

"Lenin in East Africa: Abdul Rahman Mohamed Babu and Dani Wadada Nabudere" from The Future of Lenin: Power, Politics, and Revolution in the Twenty-First Century

"Questions from the Dar es Salaam Debates" from Revolutionary Movements in Africa: An Untold Story

Zeyad El Nabolsy's PhilPapers site (where you can download free pdfs of his pieces)