GARVEY LIVES!
MOSIAH LIVES!
The Most Eminent Prophet and King, His Excellency – Marcus Mosiah Garvey ‘s expansive vision sought to develop the necessary institutions that would render Afrikans globally self-reliant and self-sufficient. Thus, from the earliest initiatives like the industrial farm in Jamaica, through the Negro Factories Corporation, The Negro World, The African Orthodox Church, The Black Star Line, The Black Cross Nurses, the Universal African Legion, The Universal Motor Corps and the Liberia Programme were marshalled in pursuit of this objective. (1)
Although the Garvey Blackprint has been in existence for over a century few (if any) organisations since have come close to fulfilling this mission. Yet the irresistible thirst for liberation continually energizes new generations of freedom fighters. In this we can include the Black Star Action Network International (BSANI Movement):
“Founded on July 15, 2011, in Tampa, Florida with the intentions of sparking a new movement that combined philosophical Garveyism and practical community-based organizing as an implementation vehicle connecting grassroots organizers serving the global interests of Africa and African people, into a vast and expansive international activists network.” (2)
One of more ambitious projects that BSANI are involved is the Food and Seeds Farmers Assistance Project taking place in rural and urban area in Sierra Leone, West Afrika. Founded by husband and wife team of Foday Ajamu Mansaray and Kenya Malinke Mansaray who repatriated to Sierra Leone from the USA are also working in association with the UNIA-ACL Freetown Division #717. (3)
(1) Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka (2007) Garvey Lives!!! The Black Star of hope shines forever. The Whirlwind, Edition 5, p. 6-7
(2) Black Star Action Network International (2020) BSANI About. http://bsani.org/about/
(3) Ibid.
We ask the question:
Where can we find practical Garveyism?
1) Why was BSANI established?
2) How important is repatriation in our liberation agenda?
3) What would it take to develop a new “Black Star Line”?
4) How best can Afrikans in the diaspora support programmes in the Motherland?
Our special Guests:
Chief Foday Ajamu Mansaray: is the founder and executive director of the Black Star Action Network International (BSANI) and has dedicated 20 years of his life as a community activist and international organizer to the cause of Pan-Afrikan unity, liberation and economic emancipation for Afrika and Afrikan people; those at home and throughout the diaspora.
At the age of 20 he followed his mother’s footsteps of volunteer community organizing when he joined the South George Street Community Partnership, where he received Americorps training in his hometown of York, Pennsylvania. Since then he has developed and expanded his outreach and grassroots activism far beyond the borders of the USA. He has spent over a dozen years organizing against violence and police brutality in the community and gang intervention from the USA to Afrika.
Foday also inherited his Gullah Geechee roots from his late mother, a native of Orangeburg, South Carolina, and the discovery of the special connection between the Gullah Geechee people and Freetown, are what lead him to repatriate to Sierra Leone in 2013. Some of his notable works in Sierra Leone have included an awareness campaign throughout the 2014-2015 West Afrikan Ebola Outbreak including preventative measures; organizing local youth led educational programmes and violence intervention; Operation Freetown to the Mosiah (Aug) 14, 2017 deadly floods and mudslide, and the launching of an annual “Be Clean Campaign” to address the sanitation and hygiene dilemma in the country’s capital city and draw attention to the scarcity of portable water.
A lover of Hip-Hop, Foday also uses rap music and its grassroots culture as a vehicle to reaching the youth. He believes that positive Hip-Hop can be used to promote a message of unity, peace, and freedom in communities worldwide. He works with a number of Sierra Leonean and American artists to produce and promotes a new generation of Afrikan Hip-Hop.
Foday is also a Paramount Chief of the Gullah Nation of North America (GNONA) and President of the Peters-Blyden-Johnson UNIA-ACL Freetown Division #717. He believes in balanced gendered leadership and that is integral to overall struggle.
“There is no ‘one-man revolution’ and organization is essential.” – Foday Ajamu. (http://bsani.org/)
Kenya Malinke Mansaray: is the co-founder and chairwoman of the Black Star Action Network International (BSANI). She is also a social entrepreneur, international organizer, women’s empowerment activist and holistic healer. In addition to her contributions to BSANI she serves as the International Ambassador for Gullah Nation of North America (GNONA) and lady president of Peters-Blyden-Johnson UNIA-ACL Freetown Division #717.
She has a professional background in media, journalism and cultural heritage research. Some of her previous work includes co-creator and co-host of “Food for Medicine” a radio show that focused on health and wellness, published articles in Platium Press Newspaper (Freetown 2014-2016) and Dunia Magazine (2016).
Kenya has committed her life to serving Afrikan people with an emphasis on women’s empowerment, educational training, training, and health awareness. Her mission is to educate and empower Afrikan women and help improve their overall quality of life. (http://bsani.org/)