GARVEY LIVES! MOSIAH LIVES!Increasing numbers of Afrikans are coming around to the notion that the eighth month of the year is now called Mosiah. In a 1997 message at the Alkebu-Lan Family Forum entitled How Long Shall They Kill Our Prophets… The Apologise? Reparations Now! Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka outlined the rationale behind it:
“As our Ancestors teach us, there is power in the word. And as we speak, we are using an alien language. We must know that we have to correct that as a vital pre-requisite for our liberation. So when we say ‘August,’ we better know that we’re calling upon a European… so this month that we call ‘August,’ we may have to change that month to Mosiah – have to do that, we have to redefine reality. Anybody have a problem with that?”
It was the following year (1998) the full Mosiah season, a 31-day observance honouring the life and legacy of the Most Eminent Prophet and King, His Excellency Marcus Mosiah Garvey was launched in the community and the rest, as they say is history. This year’s observance begins on Mosiah 2nd with a film tribute to the official UNIA-ACL historian and Master Teacher – the late Baba Tony Martin, with the world premiere of his 2007 tour in the UK. The official Mosiah Opening Ceremony takes place on Mosiah 5th at Chestnuts Community Centre 280 St Ann’s Road, Tottenham N15 7PH and feature the Mosiah Libation, Ceremonial Readings, the Inauguration of UNIA-ACL UK Chapters, performances and a keynote Address by Tafadzwa ShakaRa Mbandaka, entitled: Scientific Garveyism & The Power of Black Manhood (see https://www.alkebulan.org/mosiah2016/ for more details).
Some of the subjects that will feature in this year’s community sessions include: Who Is Carlos Cooks; Afrikan Fundamentalism & The Need for Afrikan Centred Education, Mosiah & The Black Arts Revolution; State Of The Race Convention: Black Youth & The Black Image Revolution; The Power Of The Garveyite Woman and Scientific Garveyism: Blackprint For Nation Building, which will be delivered by the UNIA-ACL UK Ambassador, Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka. The staple elements of the programme – Mosiah Children’s Day, Mosiah Day, and Mosiah Storm, this year celebrating ten years of bringing the best in Black Revolutionary Edutainment remain central to the observance.
The official guide for the season, the Mosiah Daily Affirmations, offers a rationale for why the life and legacy of Marcus Garvey is celebrated:
“Some might ask, “but Marcus Garvey is only one man – Why glorify this one man?” Papa Garvey is much more than just one man: he worked night and day – 24/7 for the salvation and liberation of our people. He commanded a movement (The UNIA) of 11 -13 million members at its peak in 1923/24.
It had over 1,000 branches, in over 40 countries world-wide: with a possible following of over 100 million of the estimated 400 million Afrikan people in the world then. His organisation the UNIA Incorporated: two shipping companies; a defence and security unit; manufacturing, wholesale and retail businesses; schools, newspapers, a nursing agency, etc. All of these were put to the service of ‘The Afrikan People of the World.’
Never before nor since have Afrikan people been so globally organised, united and productive. This fuelled a perennial global consciousness which gave birth or momentum to such movements as: The Harlem Renaissance, Rastafari, The Nation of Islam, Anticolonialism, Black Power, The Black Panther Party, Economic Self-Reliance/Black Businesses, Black Studies, Black Theology, Black Arts, Africentricity, Black Books Revolution, etc.” (1)
The 8th month of the year has traditionally been time of epochal occurrences throughout the Afrikan world such as the start of the Haitian Revolution (Bwa Kayiman), the Nat Turner Uprising, the start of the Underground Railroad, Emancipation Day, the March on Washington and Black August.
Black activism, however defined and manifested currently enjoys a higher profile than it has for generations. The underlying challenge is whether it can be converted into meaningful institution building. Amidst the hearty debates around boycotts and establishing an Afrikan economy, highlighting injustices and bringing the state to book and such like, the name of Marcus Mosiah Garvey is curiously often absent. The Mosiah Season provides a timely opportunity to (re) examine the “philosophies and opinions” of Papa Garvey to see how they relate to the present existential challenges to the global Afrikan family.
(1) Mbandaka, Bro. Ldr (Ed) (2009). Mosiah Daily Affirmations. Soul Force Promotions. pp vi-vii.
So tonight we ask the question:
How can todays activists use Marcus Garvey’s legacy?
1. Is it now time for the entire Afrikan community to refer to the 8th month of the year as Mosiah?
2. What about the other months of the year?
3. How do we move the present level of activism towards institution building?
4. Why does Marcus Garvey’s work feature so little in current political discourse?
5. Are there more viable alternatives to Marcus Garvey’s approach?
Our very special guest:
Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and UNIA-ACL Ambassador for the UK and national co-Chair of the interim National Afrikan People’s Parliament. Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of over 30 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An Africentric Guide To Excellence.