Book launch: "The Threat of Liberation: Imperialism and Revolution in Zanzibar" by Amrit Wilson

Key information

Date
Time
6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Venue
Russell Square: College Buildings
Room
G3

About this event

Amrit Wilson, Dr Ama Biney, Mohamed Saleh, Salma Babu

The Threat of Liberation: Imperialism and Revolution in Zanzibar returns to the tumultuous years of the Cold War, when, in a striking parallel with today, imperialist powers  were seeking to institute ‘regime change’ and install pliant governments. Using iconic photographs, declassified US and British documents, and in-depth interviews, it examines the role of the Umma Party of Zanzibar and its leader, the visionary Marxist revolutionary, Abdulrahman Mohamed Babu. Drawing parallels between US paranoia about Chinese communist influence in the 1960s with contemporary fears about Chinese influence, it explores the new race for Africa’s resources, the creation of AFRICOM, how East African politicians have bolstered US control, and the ‘War on Terror’ in East Africa today.

About the Speakers

Amrit Wilson is a writer and activist. Her earlier books include US Foreign Policy and Revolution: The Creation of Tanzania, Pluto Press, 1989; Women and the Eritrean Revolution: the Challenge Road, Africa World Press, 1991; The Future that Works, Selected Writings of A.M. Babu (co-edited with Salma Babu), Africa World Press, 2002; Dreams, Questions, Struggles: South Asian Women in Britain, Pluto Press, 2006.

Dr Parvathi Raman is an anthropologist and historian and is the Chair of the Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies at SOAS.

Dr Ama Biney is the editor Pambazuka news. She is the author of The Political and Social Thought of Kwame Nkrumah, Palgrave Macmillan 2011 and co-editor of Speaking Truth to Power: Selected Pan-African Postcards of Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, Pambazuka Press 2010.

Mohamed Saleh is an anthropologist and writer on issues of race, gender and human rights in Zanzibar, and has contributed  to Resisting Racism and Xenophobia: Global Perspectives on Race, Gender and Human Rights, Rowman, 2005.

Salma Babu is the daughter of Abdulrahman Babu and co-editor of The Future that Works, Selected Writings of A.M.Babu.

More details

The Threat of Liberation Imperialism and Revolution in Zanzibar .

Organiser: Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies

Contact email: ch37@soas.ac.uk