by James BivensGarveyism, despite the attacks and charges hurled against it until recently, was the most perfect, consistent, and brilliant ideology of liberation in the first half of the 20th Century. In no nation in the world was there a philosophical treatment of oppressed people any more creative than Garveyism It was used as a vehicle for a people's uplift as well as a weapon against those whites and blacks who had vested interest in the status quo Garveyism was an idea fulfilling its time. It took the common man of African descent, up-rooted from his culture, and fortified him.
Marcus Josiah Garvey was born in St Ann, Jamaica, on August 17, 1887, to Marcus and Sarah Garvey. From an early age, he expressed an intense desire to see the upward movement of our race. Garvey travelled to Costa Rica, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Columbia In each place, he saw Africans in the worst jobs and in the poorest houses. Leaving South America, he returned to Jamaica for a brief while until he could set sail for London in 1912. In the metropolis of the British Empire, he met the stalwart Pan-African nationalist, Duse Mohammed, publisher of the African Times and Orient Review and later the Comet, based in London and Lagos, respectively. But it was reading Booker T. Washington's Up from Slavery that really moved Garveyism toward the U.S.A and the creation of the Universal Negro Improvement Association He became resolute that he must help to make the black man's nation
By 1914, Garveywas sure that he could unite all of the black peoples of the world into one great body to establish a country and government (Garvey, 1969). His program offered these seven steps:
1. Awakening and uniting all Africans
2. Changing the thinking of the aroused to potential
3. Channeling emotional energies toward constructive racial interests
4. Mass sacrificial work
5. Through education in science and industry and character building, stress mass education
6. Prepare nationalists to run nations
7. Keep the young nations together after they were formed
These steps were rooted in Garvey's undying love for the people. He understood that the assertion and affirmation of the African cultural heritage was necessary for true liberation of Diasporan Africans.The basic idea of Garveyism- Race Power-presents little innovation because race power had always characterized the white view of the world Racial power had been the central idea in European thought since Bartholomew Las Casas. It dominated every major philosopher of Europe; Darwin, Wagner, Nietzsche, and even Marx. These Europeans may have differed in their conceptualizations of race power, but none questioned the central idea itself Whether it is a biological or mechanical idea, it is a prevalent one. Consequently, Garveyism drew upon the dynamic teachings of Edward Biyden, Martin Delaney, and Bishop Henry McNeal Turner. As such, Garvey was in excellent company with the idea of race power.
Garveys work was multi-dimensional Although the press concentrated on the Back-to-Africa concept, it never was a central part of Garvey's program. He instituted cultural symbols which captured the essence of a nationalistic philosophy; his mind was sharp and geared to the media. As a media manipulator, growing from his years as a journalist and printer, Garvey knew how to communicate with his audience. Garveyism was a popular philosophy, understood from the least to the most sophisticated person in his audience. His sweeping images captivated the journalists who observed the movement They seemed taken with the eloquence of his symbols and the substance of his messages.
Garvey was a Pan-Africanist He saw clearly the relationship of Africans on the continent and in the Diaspora as variations of one people, one giant cultural project The complete name of his organization emphasized his Pan-African commitment, the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. Garvey was unabashedly devoted to a race first doctrine, not race only but certainly race first As Tony Martin has shown in his brilliant works on Garvey, the complete Garvey was a PanAfrican nationalist whose entire life was consumed with seeing oppressed and downtrodden Africans respected and respecting themselves.
The teleological assumptions of Garveyism are productive. Garvey sought to produce the new black man, to mold him, civilize and develop him. A strong teleological commitment drives the production of new people, organized in character-building institutions, and building nations for the future. His vision foreshadowed the Afrocentric road to self-respect and dignity. In retrospect, we we can say that Nija was the idea behind Garvey's impact on African people.
As a viewpoint, Garveyism cannot be denied since people rendered their support to his movement, and he outdistanced all of his contemporaries. Garvey made sense, common sense to the people; they went for that position because it rang true. There are no struggles against facts, only struggles for faith. Garveys whole strategy was to attain an overwhelming vote of confidence from the African world Over 10 million paid their dues and pledged allegiance to the recovery of African for Africans. What Garvey showed them and what is demonstrable today and tomorrow is that African people respond to their collective memory of the continent Such acceptance places him into the high echelons of the holy places. Any concrete analysis of Garveyism will reveal the decisive support of powerfully nation-building symbols from us which speak to us.
Garveyism represents the prototype of mass movements generally and nationalist movements specifically. Marcus Mosiah Garvey's spirit is found in every page of nationalist development and ideology. He constructed the framework for future builders. A genius of immense proportions he may have been a university professor, a poet, a playwright, a historian or a military general he was, however, what our history needed in a moment of crisis.
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