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África roja: Recuperando la política negra revolucionaria
Salvaging a decolonised future
Red Africa makes the case for a revolutionary Black politics inspired by Marxist anti-colonial struggles in Africa. Kevin Ochieng Okoth revisits historical moments when Black radicalism was defined by international solidarity in the struggle against capitalist-imperialism, that together help us to navigate the complex histories of the Black radical tradition.
He challenges common misconceptions about national liberation, showing that the horizon of national liberation was not limited to the nation-building projects of post-independence governments.
While African socialists sought to distance themselves from Marxism and argued for a ‘third way’ socialism rooted in ‘traditional African culture’ the intellectual and political tradition Okoth calls ‘Red Africa’ showed that Marxism and Black radicalism were never incompatible.
The revolutionary Black politics of Eduardo Mondlane, Amílcar Cabral, Walter Rodney and Andrée Blouin gesture toward a decolonised future that never materialised. We might yet build something new from the ruins of national liberation, something which clings onto the utopian promise of freedom and refuses to let go.
Red Africa is not simply an exercise in nostalgia, it is a political project that hopes to salvage what remains of this tradition—which has been betrayed, violently suppressed, or erased—and to build from it a Black revolutionary politics capable of imagining new futures out of the uncertain present.
Red Africa makes the case for a revolutionary Black politics inspired by Marxist anti-colonial struggles in Africa. Kevin Ochieng Okoth revisits historical moments when Black radicalism was defined by international solidarity in the struggle against capitalist-imperialism, that together help us to navigate the complex histories of the Black radical tradition.
He challenges common misconceptions about national liberation, showing that the horizon of national liberation was not limited to the nation-building projects of post-independence governments.
While African socialists sought to distance themselves from Marxism and argued for a ‘third way’ socialism rooted in ‘traditional African culture’ the intellectual and political tradition Okoth calls ‘Red Africa’ showed that Marxism and Black radicalism were never incompatible.
The revolutionary Black politics of Eduardo Mondlane, Amílcar Cabral, Walter Rodney and Andrée Blouin gesture toward a decolonised future that never materialised. We might yet build something new from the ruins of national liberation, something which clings onto the utopian promise of freedom and refuses to let go.
Red Africa is not simply an exercise in nostalgia, it is a political project that hopes to salvage what remains of this tradition—which has been betrayed, violently suppressed, or erased—and to build from it a Black revolutionary politics capable of imagining new futures out of the uncertain present.
200 pages, Paperback
First published October 3, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
May 8, 2024
Incredibly compact, thought provoking book with some very sharp polemics against Afropessimism, literary negritude, misuses of Fanon, and so-called African Socialism. I found its framing of a criticism of some of the politics of “Blackness” being rooted in diasporic politics related to slavery (the authors excellent take-down of Afropessimism especially) and this misses and obscures the politics of Africa itself I found particularly strong and valuable. Its brevity meant that some of the authors championing of the revolutionary politics of what he calls Red Africa is a little thin but still strong and left me very curious to explore some of the thinkers in this tradition he focuses on that I was unfamiliar with. One other question left for me was the author’s appraisal of the relationship of ‘red Africa’ with what the author calls “official Marxism-Leninism”. The influence of the USSR lurks so much in the background and I wish that the same critical energy that the author so deftly deploys on other political trends was used to analyze this influence more.
February 23, 2024
Kevin Ochieng Okoth’s powerful unpacking of the shape, relevance, and potential of African anti-colonial politics is grounded, rather surprisingly (at least it seems so at first) is a critique of a particular form of American exceptionalism; the exclusive particularity of the diasporic Black experience in the USA. Yet even with this sense of particularism (my word, not one he uses), that particularity is also generalised. Focusing on what he labels Afro-pessimism 2.0 (AP2.0; AP1.0 is the persistent negative reporting and imagery in discussions of ‘Africa’) he highlights the pessimism seen in South Africa’s ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ campaign that pointed to irreconcilable differences between Black people and non-Black peoples of colour, a view also widespread in African-American theory, cultures, and politics.
At the risk of reading the book in terms of a series of threes, the seven substantive chapters break down into three sections, the first two chapters look at the decline in collectivist activism and inter-group solidarity, globally initially with what he calls the decline of the Bandung Spirit, and then with his focus on the minority world – the USA primarily but not exclusively – the rise of Afro-pessimism and with it of anti-politics. This discussion traverses issues such as the ‘Third Worldism’ of the Bandung era, in the wake of ‘flag decolonisation’ and the emergence groups such as the Non-Aligned Movement, including elements of analysts such as Vijay Prasad. The second component of this section focuses mainly on the academy in the USA, the deradicalisation of the Black Studies movement arising out of the activism of the 1960s and 1970s in the wake of and pushing the Civil Rights Movement into a more recent tendency influenced by Orlando Patterson and represented by figures such as Frank Wilderson III and Jared Sexton whose work proposes an irrevocable deHumanisation (their elevation of Human in contrast to Slave is a vital component of their approach) of Blackness in the permanent identity of the Slave, distinct from both the proletariat and the neo-colonial subject. The effect is an analysis that sees Black people as suffering social death, and as therefore outside society and unable to align with other struggles. Okoth is a pains to note that there are others who work with the notion of the Afterlife of Slavery, such as Fred Moten and Saidiya Hartman who do find forms of resistance and struggle, bit who are more in the tradition of American anarchism, so who do not propose compelling options for collective struggles.
This opening section then lays the ground work for the next, and exploration of some of the key debates and theorising in contemporary Black studies and activism. Here Okoth further unpacks those notions of the Afterlives of Slavery and the multiple configurations of Racial Capitalism. Stepping away from the problematic approaches seen in recent minority world theorising he spends more of this section – three chapters in all – exploring two of the vital lines of analysis that were developed in mid-twentieth century African settings. The first is the notion of Negritude, which I welcomed having fallen into the conventional view that associated it with the conservatism of political figures such as Leopold Senghor while also influenced by its indictment by Sartre. While Okoth deals with these tendencies he also looks at figures who weave Negritude and surrealism into a politics of resistance. Equally welcome in this section is Okoth’s critical unpacking of AP2.0’s idiosyncratic engagement with Fanon that focuses on his early, psychiatric work while ignoring his later emphasis on anti-colonial struggles and inter-struggle solidarity. Although he doesn’t draw it out, there is a parallel here with his earlier critique of Decolonial Studies as heavily shaped by forms of idealism rather than materialism: it’s a compelling and unsettling argument.
This, then, lays the groundwork for the rebuttal of AP2.0 through a closer look at African revolutionary traditions. This opens with a critique of the tendency for flag independence to lead to neo-colonial situations, often through interventions by colonial states, but also through the problematic romanticisation of ‘primitive communist’ past. Oktoh’s closer reading of the decolonial revolutionary tendency emphasis the case of the Portuguese empire – Angola, Mozambique, and Cape Verde & Guinea Bissau. This section features the closest focus on Marxist and non-Marxist decolonial leaders and thinkers, highlighting in particular commonly overlooked women analysts and activist figures such as Andrée Blouin and Maryse Condé. This is an inspiring and insightful discussion,not only because the former Portuguese colonies have had very little attention from Anglo-phone scholars and analysts.
The other ‘three’ in the analysis are the three theoretical ruptures Okoth explores. The first is what he sees as the retreat of Black radicalism and decolonisation to the academy. The second is the tendency of overplay the place of the diaspora in defining and determining the characteristics of Blackness and its potentialities. The third is the limited analysis of or engagement with the state or the associated politics of national liberation. These combine, he argues, to undermine the ability to develop a praxis that can be applied in day to day struggles.
All in all, this is a compelling and powerful indictment of much of the idealism that marks contemporary social and cultural analysis. Equally, it is a potent challenge to the rejection of internationalism in much of that work. It is not an analysis that necessarily leads to new theorising, but is a powerful reminder of an extensive body of work and praxis that points to revolutionary, collectivist practice, linking analysis and theory to everyday struggles in a way that grounds that theory in a manner that makes it more organic.
I’ve read this twice, but at only 125 pages that’s not too demanding, although the analysis does take us well outside most of the dominant debates in contemporary academia. Challenging and essential. 4.5 stars, but that's not an option....
At the risk of reading the book in terms of a series of threes, the seven substantive chapters break down into three sections, the first two chapters look at the decline in collectivist activism and inter-group solidarity, globally initially with what he calls the decline of the Bandung Spirit, and then with his focus on the minority world – the USA primarily but not exclusively – the rise of Afro-pessimism and with it of anti-politics. This discussion traverses issues such as the ‘Third Worldism’ of the Bandung era, in the wake of ‘flag decolonisation’ and the emergence groups such as the Non-Aligned Movement, including elements of analysts such as Vijay Prasad. The second component of this section focuses mainly on the academy in the USA, the deradicalisation of the Black Studies movement arising out of the activism of the 1960s and 1970s in the wake of and pushing the Civil Rights Movement into a more recent tendency influenced by Orlando Patterson and represented by figures such as Frank Wilderson III and Jared Sexton whose work proposes an irrevocable deHumanisation (their elevation of Human in contrast to Slave is a vital component of their approach) of Blackness in the permanent identity of the Slave, distinct from both the proletariat and the neo-colonial subject. The effect is an analysis that sees Black people as suffering social death, and as therefore outside society and unable to align with other struggles. Okoth is a pains to note that there are others who work with the notion of the Afterlife of Slavery, such as Fred Moten and Saidiya Hartman who do find forms of resistance and struggle, bit who are more in the tradition of American anarchism, so who do not propose compelling options for collective struggles.
This opening section then lays the ground work for the next, and exploration of some of the key debates and theorising in contemporary Black studies and activism. Here Okoth further unpacks those notions of the Afterlives of Slavery and the multiple configurations of Racial Capitalism. Stepping away from the problematic approaches seen in recent minority world theorising he spends more of this section – three chapters in all – exploring two of the vital lines of analysis that were developed in mid-twentieth century African settings. The first is the notion of Negritude, which I welcomed having fallen into the conventional view that associated it with the conservatism of political figures such as Leopold Senghor while also influenced by its indictment by Sartre. While Okoth deals with these tendencies he also looks at figures who weave Negritude and surrealism into a politics of resistance. Equally welcome in this section is Okoth’s critical unpacking of AP2.0’s idiosyncratic engagement with Fanon that focuses on his early, psychiatric work while ignoring his later emphasis on anti-colonial struggles and inter-struggle solidarity. Although he doesn’t draw it out, there is a parallel here with his earlier critique of Decolonial Studies as heavily shaped by forms of idealism rather than materialism: it’s a compelling and unsettling argument.
This, then, lays the groundwork for the rebuttal of AP2.0 through a closer look at African revolutionary traditions. This opens with a critique of the tendency for flag independence to lead to neo-colonial situations, often through interventions by colonial states, but also through the problematic romanticisation of ‘primitive communist’ past. Oktoh’s closer reading of the decolonial revolutionary tendency emphasis the case of the Portuguese empire – Angola, Mozambique, and Cape Verde & Guinea Bissau. This section features the closest focus on Marxist and non-Marxist decolonial leaders and thinkers, highlighting in particular commonly overlooked women analysts and activist figures such as Andrée Blouin and Maryse Condé. This is an inspiring and insightful discussion,not only because the former Portuguese colonies have had very little attention from Anglo-phone scholars and analysts.
The other ‘three’ in the analysis are the three theoretical ruptures Okoth explores. The first is what he sees as the retreat of Black radicalism and decolonisation to the academy. The second is the tendency of overplay the place of the diaspora in defining and determining the characteristics of Blackness and its potentialities. The third is the limited analysis of or engagement with the state or the associated politics of national liberation. These combine, he argues, to undermine the ability to develop a praxis that can be applied in day to day struggles.
All in all, this is a compelling and powerful indictment of much of the idealism that marks contemporary social and cultural analysis. Equally, it is a potent challenge to the rejection of internationalism in much of that work. It is not an analysis that necessarily leads to new theorising, but is a powerful reminder of an extensive body of work and praxis that points to revolutionary, collectivist practice, linking analysis and theory to everyday struggles in a way that grounds that theory in a manner that makes it more organic.
I’ve read this twice, but at only 125 pages that’s not too demanding, although the analysis does take us well outside most of the dominant debates in contemporary academia. Challenging and essential. 4.5 stars, but that's not an option....
October 31, 2023
Really excellent and clarifying collection of essays, particularly the final two chapters. Read it!
April 5, 2024
This book came as a real disappointment. It's not that it was bad, it just wasn't really what it claimed to be.
There's been a recent ripple of interest in 'Red Africa' (i.e. African socialist, marxist, and revolutionary state building projects, aligned more or less explicitly with the Soviet Union during the 60s and 70s). It's an understudied and fascinating subject. There's not loads of stuff published on some of the most high-profile examples (Algeria, Ghana, Ethiopia), and almost nothing on others (Benin, Mali, Madagascar). Possibly because the source material for this history is either hard-to-find or simply non-existent.
With this in mind, I was excited to give this book a go. I was even more enthused after seeing interviews with the author talking about his ambition to push back against the liberalism of Black identity politics and reassert revolutionary Marxism as a basis of Black liberation.
Sadly, despite the author's central critique of the usurpation of Black politics by US academics, the book is frontloaded with a long treatise on... US academics. Ochieng Okoth's critiques are not bad in themselves, but they give the whole book the feel of a US-focused political theory PHD masquerading as a book about Africa.
When it finally turns to an examination of radical African politics, its mostly a discussion of Black Marxist theorists, diarists, and intellectual elites - some African, some diasporic. Even in the infrequent moments the book turns its attention to real African leaders like Kwame Nkrumah and Amilcar Cabral, it is mostly in their capacity as theorists. There's no substantial historical scholarship in here, just textual readings. I learned more about revolutionary Ghana at recent a V&A exhibition about tropical architecture than I did from this book. Although the author is vibrantly anti-post-modernist, this is a work shaped more by post-modernism than by really-existing-Red Africa.
I found I had a similar problem with Adom Getachew's Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination. Both books are more about the idea of Africa then they are about Africa itself.
There is still an excellent 'Red Africa' book to be written, sadly this is not it.
In the meantime I'd recommend:
- The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times
- Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959-1976
- Mecca of Revolution: Algeria, Decolonization, and the Third World Order (Oxford Studies in International History) by Jeffrey James Byrne
- The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World
There's been a recent ripple of interest in 'Red Africa' (i.e. African socialist, marxist, and revolutionary state building projects, aligned more or less explicitly with the Soviet Union during the 60s and 70s). It's an understudied and fascinating subject. There's not loads of stuff published on some of the most high-profile examples (Algeria, Ghana, Ethiopia), and almost nothing on others (Benin, Mali, Madagascar). Possibly because the source material for this history is either hard-to-find or simply non-existent.
With this in mind, I was excited to give this book a go. I was even more enthused after seeing interviews with the author talking about his ambition to push back against the liberalism of Black identity politics and reassert revolutionary Marxism as a basis of Black liberation.
Sadly, despite the author's central critique of the usurpation of Black politics by US academics, the book is frontloaded with a long treatise on... US academics. Ochieng Okoth's critiques are not bad in themselves, but they give the whole book the feel of a US-focused political theory PHD masquerading as a book about Africa.
When it finally turns to an examination of radical African politics, its mostly a discussion of Black Marxist theorists, diarists, and intellectual elites - some African, some diasporic. Even in the infrequent moments the book turns its attention to real African leaders like Kwame Nkrumah and Amilcar Cabral, it is mostly in their capacity as theorists. There's no substantial historical scholarship in here, just textual readings. I learned more about revolutionary Ghana at recent a V&A exhibition about tropical architecture than I did from this book. Although the author is vibrantly anti-post-modernist, this is a work shaped more by post-modernism than by really-existing-Red Africa.
I found I had a similar problem with Adom Getachew's Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination. Both books are more about the idea of Africa then they are about Africa itself.
There is still an excellent 'Red Africa' book to be written, sadly this is not it.
In the meantime I'd recommend:
- The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times
- Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959-1976
- Mecca of Revolution: Algeria, Decolonization, and the Third World Order (Oxford Studies in International History) by Jeffrey James Byrne
- The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World
April 14, 2024
Very disappointing read. I was interested in the title and wanted to learn more about anticolonial African political practices. I found the obsessive critique of Frank B. Wilderson III (whose political biography is certainly not to be disregarded) or of the theorisation of fugitivity (by Fred Moten) unnecessary and too much emphasis put on scrutinising too many anticolonial thinkers and fighters. I would have wanted to read more about who belongs to the tradition of Red Africa and not about who does not deserve to belong to this tradition. Moreover, Marx's ideas are often presented with a somewhat glorifying tone and maybe that isn't necessary either. There is an abundance of theories and practices of liberation that could have been drawn from more (Angela Davis, Ruth Gilmore Wilson, Denise Ferreira da Silva are only quickly mentioned). I would have loved to read more about Lamine Senghor or Andrée Blouin, for example. The author is certainly capable of discussing a huge variety of historical events, biographies, political affiliations, and theories, but I am not certain the quantity benefits the depht of analysis.
The title is somewhat misleading as it creates the expectation for a work more similar to "The Pan-African Pantheon: Prophets, Poets, and Philosophers" (Edited by Adekeye Adebajo).
The title is somewhat misleading as it creates the expectation for a work more similar to "The Pan-African Pantheon: Prophets, Poets, and Philosophers" (Edited by Adekeye Adebajo).
November 1, 2023
Absolutely nothing like what I expected, and almost excruciating to read. Unless I missed it, and I might have in my present furious annoyance with Israel's 2023 ethnic cleansing operations, there is not a single unique thought, concept, idea, or theory in this book. It reads like a Wikipedia article (I love Wikipedia, so it's not some bias against the site) about Black Radicalism crossed with another article about slavery that links to another article about Black Cultural Movements. Plenty of recognizable names, -isms, events, dates, and definitions, but if you read about Marxism, colonialism, Pan-Africanism, Radical Black Thought, Intersectional Feminism, and Black History you will already know all these things. I am quite at a loss as to what the author was trying to propose or encourage that isn't already happening intellectually, socially, politically, or economically in numerous places around the globe.
June 6, 2025
Red Africa is not what I was expecting from the title but nonetheless worth the read. I went in thinking it would be a history or reflection of anti-colonial movements in Africa. A couple of chapters are dedicated to this however the core of Red Africa is in response to Afropessimism and the authors of this movement which Okoth describes as black politics in retreat.
The centre of gravity for this book does at times feel closer to the US and the west than Africa, which was not really wanted from this book, but it is what I deserve for not reading the blurb. I was pleasantly surprised to see China Meiville and Salvage in the acknowledgments. Okoth makes many compelling arguments to defend revolutionary black politics. He is elegantly convincing in his caution to audiences against allowing the perspectives of diaspora to take precedence over local African experience, and against diasporatic movements from attempting to redefine their movements away from solidarity with neo-colonial Africa.
Red Africa is largely in conversation with authors I have not read such as Wilderson who posit a concept Okoth coins as Afro-pessimism 2.0. Not being familiar with the writings he references puts me on the back foot of appreciating his analysis, and as an entry point it leaves me with no choice of doing anything other than nodding along to his critiques. I find Okoth’s writing to be poignant and thoughtful, but i need to do a lot of background research before i can fully commit myself to his description of his opponents.
Okoth’s analysis of the liberation and counter-revolutions of Africa is excellent. He sacrifices breadth for depth, as only a few leaders are chosen. I wish more of the book could have been dedicated to this so he had not sacrificed either. His study of leaders like Frantz Fanon, Amilcar Cabral and Andree Blouin is comprehensive. I appreciate the time Okoth dedicated to recognise the under appreciated role of women in liberatory politics. Additionally his reflections on the complicated influence of French Bourgeois politics on diasporic African leadership that was then brought home and incorporated by many leaders into their respective movements, was some of the strongest areas of this work.
Ultimately a very poignant piece dedicated to the dismissal of pessimism in regards to black liberation, and to re-examine the potential of revolutionary Marxism in Africa. Albeit not what i was expecting from the title, and my desire for more detail on the history of African liberation not fully satiated, it was still well worth reading.
The centre of gravity for this book does at times feel closer to the US and the west than Africa, which was not really wanted from this book, but it is what I deserve for not reading the blurb. I was pleasantly surprised to see China Meiville and Salvage in the acknowledgments. Okoth makes many compelling arguments to defend revolutionary black politics. He is elegantly convincing in his caution to audiences against allowing the perspectives of diaspora to take precedence over local African experience, and against diasporatic movements from attempting to redefine their movements away from solidarity with neo-colonial Africa.
Red Africa is largely in conversation with authors I have not read such as Wilderson who posit a concept Okoth coins as Afro-pessimism 2.0. Not being familiar with the writings he references puts me on the back foot of appreciating his analysis, and as an entry point it leaves me with no choice of doing anything other than nodding along to his critiques. I find Okoth’s writing to be poignant and thoughtful, but i need to do a lot of background research before i can fully commit myself to his description of his opponents.
Okoth’s analysis of the liberation and counter-revolutions of Africa is excellent. He sacrifices breadth for depth, as only a few leaders are chosen. I wish more of the book could have been dedicated to this so he had not sacrificed either. His study of leaders like Frantz Fanon, Amilcar Cabral and Andree Blouin is comprehensive. I appreciate the time Okoth dedicated to recognise the under appreciated role of women in liberatory politics. Additionally his reflections on the complicated influence of French Bourgeois politics on diasporic African leadership that was then brought home and incorporated by many leaders into their respective movements, was some of the strongest areas of this work.
Ultimately a very poignant piece dedicated to the dismissal of pessimism in regards to black liberation, and to re-examine the potential of revolutionary Marxism in Africa. Albeit not what i was expecting from the title, and my desire for more detail on the history of African liberation not fully satiated, it was still well worth reading.
September 21, 2025
3.5-4. It was good! It's just a pretty slim volume. I felt it was just getting good and then the book was done.
August 3, 2024
Fantastic and provocative
October 29, 2023
[A longer 'review' here.]
Serious thinking. Although containing a number of already published pieces, the work fits together very well as a hefty intervention into current thinking on a series of topics (albeit a bit of too brief at points!)
Serious thinking. Although containing a number of already published pieces, the work fits together very well as a hefty intervention into current thinking on a series of topics (albeit a bit of too brief at points!)
October 15, 2023
The author writes in the tradition the Salvage Collective is forging. This involves salvaging from the wreckage of the 20th century the elements of strategies that once held out the hope of change and which have since been repressed by neoliberal fantasies and petty bourgeois pessimism. Okoth work centres on what he calls revolutionary black politics, or Red Africa.
He locates the high point of this radical current in the conference convened in the Indonesian city off Bandung in 1955 which brought together activists from 29 Asian and African countries to consider strategies which would accelerate and deepen the ending of the European empires which was then underway. In the period ahead the ‘Bandung spirit’ was revived in the All-African People’s Conference, the Non-Aligned Movement of nations seeking to establish a road for their development which was not dependent on either Washington or Moscow. The Cuban revolution had created the space for the founding of OSPAAAL (Organisation of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America), all of which forged a positive mood which saw perspectives opening out for what came to be called the Third World which addressed the needs of its peoples rather than the interests of the global powers.
Okoth dates the ending of the Bandung spirit in 1975, with its progress arrested by the CIA-sponsored overthrow of the Allende government in Chile in 1973 and the oil crisis of 1973-4 which hit the non-oil exporting countries of the global south especially hard. The self-reliance movements which encouraged newly independent countries to experiment with public ownership of industries and investment in education and welfare went into reverse and were replaced by the structural adjustment programmes mandated by the global financial capitals. As hope for change was rolled back governments which had enjoyed success in rallying the will of their people either acquiesced to the new, austere, reality, or were overthrown by military coups backed by the metropolitan powers.
This provides the context for a new mood which has come to grip some Black intellectuals, principally in the United States, which Okoth terms Afro-pessimism (or AP 2.0 to distinguish it from an unrelated discourse of the same name). It was nurtured on the Berkley campus of University of California in the 1960s, with its early proponents being former activists in movements like the Black Panthers and the Third World Liberation Front. Frank B. Wilderson III and Jared Sexton. They came to see Blackness as an ‘ontological absence’ which turned the Black person in a ‘Black/Slave’ who was doomed to exist in a condition of ‘social death’. For this line of reasoning anti-Black violence was shorn of a connection to White Supremacy (which had a rationale based on control of land and labour resources) and instead became a product of an irrational desire for violence which served more fundamentally as a ‘mechanism for the usurpation of subjectivity, of lie, of being.’ The oppression of Black people had become a condition for the reproduction of society itself: ‘as long as the world exists, this murder must continue.’
AP 2.0 provoked a reaction withing a Black intellectual community which was both able to register the depths of its despair but also to signpost a way out. It reflected a disenchantment with the idea that the United States was moving along an upward curve of liberation which saw with each passing year the opening up of more opportunities for Black people. What was really happening amounted to an endless reinvention of the slave condition as economy and society evolved through the phases of plantation, monopoly corporation and technocratic subservience. But if Wilderson and his co-thinkers could see no way out, for others it underscored the fact that the predicament of the Black/Slave was socially conditioned rather than an ontological fact.
Okoth is at his best when he traces the engagements with AP 2.0 among Black intellectuals and gradually builds a platform for a return to something closer to optimism, even if on a modest and, for the time being, realistic scale. Understanding the processes that produce racialised Black subjects have been strengthened in recent times by the works of people like Ruth Gilmore Wilson and her location of racism in state structures with the industrial-prison complex and the police being the leading elements. Moreover, a wider acknowledgment of these facts has taken the form of social and political movements, explosive at the times of protests around deaths like that of George Floyd, which had been documented on social media. Solidarity again becomes possible with the linking of police violence to other forms of repression which challenges the US’s claim to be a compassionate, democratic society.
Other chapters in the book look at the fate of African socialism in its various forms across the continent as imperial colonialism was rolled back. The impression given by Okoth’s commentary was that Africa was in the process of experimenting and elaborating different strategies based on colonial experience and the specific features of each society. There are names that we can associate with these movements; Nkruma in Ghana, Nyerere in Tanzania, Kenyatta in Kenya, Toure in Guinne, Kaunda in Zambia, Senghor in Senegal and Keita in Mali are prominent examples of anti-colonial activists who came into government and pursued what might be thought of as distinctly African forms of socialism. Another group can be broadly characterised as revolutionary Marxist and was born out of the conditions of anti-colonial warfare associated with the Portuguese colonial regimes. Among these Okoth gives special consideration to the contribution as theorist and militant Franz Fanon, a French Caribbean who fought for the cause of a free Algeria.
The task off salvaging what is of continuing importance from the work of all these people and movements has hardly been begun in this brief book. But Africa is now approaching the 50th year of subsistence under the regimes imposed by structural adjustment and poverty and exploitation wrought by unequal exchange and indebtedness is more entrenched than ever. If a generation of intellectuals and social movement activists is now appearing across the continent seeking a way out of Africa’s predicament, then a fresh consideration of the legacy of its anti-colonial fighters will be a welcome development.
He locates the high point of this radical current in the conference convened in the Indonesian city off Bandung in 1955 which brought together activists from 29 Asian and African countries to consider strategies which would accelerate and deepen the ending of the European empires which was then underway. In the period ahead the ‘Bandung spirit’ was revived in the All-African People’s Conference, the Non-Aligned Movement of nations seeking to establish a road for their development which was not dependent on either Washington or Moscow. The Cuban revolution had created the space for the founding of OSPAAAL (Organisation of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America), all of which forged a positive mood which saw perspectives opening out for what came to be called the Third World which addressed the needs of its peoples rather than the interests of the global powers.
Okoth dates the ending of the Bandung spirit in 1975, with its progress arrested by the CIA-sponsored overthrow of the Allende government in Chile in 1973 and the oil crisis of 1973-4 which hit the non-oil exporting countries of the global south especially hard. The self-reliance movements which encouraged newly independent countries to experiment with public ownership of industries and investment in education and welfare went into reverse and were replaced by the structural adjustment programmes mandated by the global financial capitals. As hope for change was rolled back governments which had enjoyed success in rallying the will of their people either acquiesced to the new, austere, reality, or were overthrown by military coups backed by the metropolitan powers.
This provides the context for a new mood which has come to grip some Black intellectuals, principally in the United States, which Okoth terms Afro-pessimism (or AP 2.0 to distinguish it from an unrelated discourse of the same name). It was nurtured on the Berkley campus of University of California in the 1960s, with its early proponents being former activists in movements like the Black Panthers and the Third World Liberation Front. Frank B. Wilderson III and Jared Sexton. They came to see Blackness as an ‘ontological absence’ which turned the Black person in a ‘Black/Slave’ who was doomed to exist in a condition of ‘social death’. For this line of reasoning anti-Black violence was shorn of a connection to White Supremacy (which had a rationale based on control of land and labour resources) and instead became a product of an irrational desire for violence which served more fundamentally as a ‘mechanism for the usurpation of subjectivity, of lie, of being.’ The oppression of Black people had become a condition for the reproduction of society itself: ‘as long as the world exists, this murder must continue.’
AP 2.0 provoked a reaction withing a Black intellectual community which was both able to register the depths of its despair but also to signpost a way out. It reflected a disenchantment with the idea that the United States was moving along an upward curve of liberation which saw with each passing year the opening up of more opportunities for Black people. What was really happening amounted to an endless reinvention of the slave condition as economy and society evolved through the phases of plantation, monopoly corporation and technocratic subservience. But if Wilderson and his co-thinkers could see no way out, for others it underscored the fact that the predicament of the Black/Slave was socially conditioned rather than an ontological fact.
Okoth is at his best when he traces the engagements with AP 2.0 among Black intellectuals and gradually builds a platform for a return to something closer to optimism, even if on a modest and, for the time being, realistic scale. Understanding the processes that produce racialised Black subjects have been strengthened in recent times by the works of people like Ruth Gilmore Wilson and her location of racism in state structures with the industrial-prison complex and the police being the leading elements. Moreover, a wider acknowledgment of these facts has taken the form of social and political movements, explosive at the times of protests around deaths like that of George Floyd, which had been documented on social media. Solidarity again becomes possible with the linking of police violence to other forms of repression which challenges the US’s claim to be a compassionate, democratic society.
Other chapters in the book look at the fate of African socialism in its various forms across the continent as imperial colonialism was rolled back. The impression given by Okoth’s commentary was that Africa was in the process of experimenting and elaborating different strategies based on colonial experience and the specific features of each society. There are names that we can associate with these movements; Nkruma in Ghana, Nyerere in Tanzania, Kenyatta in Kenya, Toure in Guinne, Kaunda in Zambia, Senghor in Senegal and Keita in Mali are prominent examples of anti-colonial activists who came into government and pursued what might be thought of as distinctly African forms of socialism. Another group can be broadly characterised as revolutionary Marxist and was born out of the conditions of anti-colonial warfare associated with the Portuguese colonial regimes. Among these Okoth gives special consideration to the contribution as theorist and militant Franz Fanon, a French Caribbean who fought for the cause of a free Algeria.
The task off salvaging what is of continuing importance from the work of all these people and movements has hardly been begun in this brief book. But Africa is now approaching the 50th year of subsistence under the regimes imposed by structural adjustment and poverty and exploitation wrought by unequal exchange and indebtedness is more entrenched than ever. If a generation of intellectuals and social movement activists is now appearing across the continent seeking a way out of Africa’s predicament, then a fresh consideration of the legacy of its anti-colonial fighters will be a welcome development.
January 15, 2025
It’s quite incredible that it’s not until halfway through this book that we are graced with an explanation of what is actually meant by “Red Africa.” Before this, the book is almost obsessively a rebuke of Frank Wilderson’s “Afro-Pessimism,” drowning in jargon that makes some passages almost insufferable — and all with precious little reference to Africa.
The second half of the book is noticeably better. It concerns various African liberations struggles and their interpretations, interspersed with biographical passages on various African activists and leaders, though these often don’t seem to be at all related to any point the author is trying to make.
Overall, not worth reading unless you are interested in a dense rebuke of Wilderson’s Afro-Pessimism and a spattering of anecdotes about admittedly very interesting figures.
The second half of the book is noticeably better. It concerns various African liberations struggles and their interpretations, interspersed with biographical passages on various African activists and leaders, though these often don’t seem to be at all related to any point the author is trying to make.
Overall, not worth reading unless you are interested in a dense rebuke of Wilderson’s Afro-Pessimism and a spattering of anecdotes about admittedly very interesting figures.
June 15, 2025
A great introduction to a bunch of currents within African thought, especially with regards post-colonial and leftist thinking.
The book's description leans on the idea that this is a reading of Marxist or socialist thought through African political currents - and it does do that - but perhaps moreover the book is marking a strong criticism of Afro-pessimism. Or, more precisely 'Afro-pessimism 2.0' [AP 2.0] as the author describes it so as to differentiate it from earlier forms of Afro-pessimism.
It's quite a dense book - not in the sense of being difficult to read or highly theoretical, but in the sense of packing a lot of conceptual work into its pages. So we get critiques of AP 2.0 which negate the notions that blackness is per se 'ontological' and rather that the problem is racialisation; we get valorisations of the work of writers like Franz Fanon and also re-assertions that Fanon's work is more complex than the AP 2.0 reading of it.
The larger picture that emerges from these descriptions is that socialist / left-wing / Marxist thought holds a strong current through the last century of politics in Africa - with particular reference to figures like Ghana's Nkrumah or (latter-day) DRC's Patrice Lumumba. I don't think it's the case that Okoth is making the case for a 'Marxist Africa' but he's certainly making the case for the currents of socialism to be living through African political thought. Further, he's keen to make the case for the complexity of leftist thought - arguments between various groups are detailed carefully (it wouldn't be the left-wing if there weren't strong ideological frictions within the movement) and while it doesn't all strictly fall under (orthodox) 'Marxist' rubrics there's a view of an internationalist and intersectional politics - a Malcolm X citation that's germane to the vision of leftist politics in the book - "As long as we thinkg ... that we should get Mississippi straightened out before we worry about the Congo, you'll never see Mississippi straightened out". That is to say, ideological dissent necessarily requires a political parallelism, that the problems are worked on concurrently.
It feels like a book that could've been longer but that's barely a criticism - I imagine there's a great deal of material that'd fill a second volume. The discussion on Andrée Blouin (a confederate of Patrice Lumumba) intimates towards a feminist (or female-centred) discussion that might spring out from this book - the notion roughly being that Lumumba would've done well to lean more towards her way of thinking, given that her critique of Lumumba worried about actions that might be viewed as capitulation (and God knows DRC could use a figure like Lumumba and Blouin in 2025).
A great book though - it's definitely political theory but it's by no means overbearing and it's a welcome perspective on African responses to colonialism, racialisation, and global solidarity.
The book's description leans on the idea that this is a reading of Marxist or socialist thought through African political currents - and it does do that - but perhaps moreover the book is marking a strong criticism of Afro-pessimism. Or, more precisely 'Afro-pessimism 2.0' [AP 2.0] as the author describes it so as to differentiate it from earlier forms of Afro-pessimism.
It's quite a dense book - not in the sense of being difficult to read or highly theoretical, but in the sense of packing a lot of conceptual work into its pages. So we get critiques of AP 2.0 which negate the notions that blackness is per se 'ontological' and rather that the problem is racialisation; we get valorisations of the work of writers like Franz Fanon and also re-assertions that Fanon's work is more complex than the AP 2.0 reading of it.
The larger picture that emerges from these descriptions is that socialist / left-wing / Marxist thought holds a strong current through the last century of politics in Africa - with particular reference to figures like Ghana's Nkrumah or (latter-day) DRC's Patrice Lumumba. I don't think it's the case that Okoth is making the case for a 'Marxist Africa' but he's certainly making the case for the currents of socialism to be living through African political thought. Further, he's keen to make the case for the complexity of leftist thought - arguments between various groups are detailed carefully (it wouldn't be the left-wing if there weren't strong ideological frictions within the movement) and while it doesn't all strictly fall under (orthodox) 'Marxist' rubrics there's a view of an internationalist and intersectional politics - a Malcolm X citation that's germane to the vision of leftist politics in the book - "As long as we thinkg ... that we should get Mississippi straightened out before we worry about the Congo, you'll never see Mississippi straightened out". That is to say, ideological dissent necessarily requires a political parallelism, that the problems are worked on concurrently.
It feels like a book that could've been longer but that's barely a criticism - I imagine there's a great deal of material that'd fill a second volume. The discussion on Andrée Blouin (a confederate of Patrice Lumumba) intimates towards a feminist (or female-centred) discussion that might spring out from this book - the notion roughly being that Lumumba would've done well to lean more towards her way of thinking, given that her critique of Lumumba worried about actions that might be viewed as capitulation (and God knows DRC could use a figure like Lumumba and Blouin in 2025).
A great book though - it's definitely political theory but it's by no means overbearing and it's a welcome perspective on African responses to colonialism, racialisation, and global solidarity.
February 3, 2024
This is an excellent short primer on the history of communist organizing on the African continent and how it relates to Black diasporic movements and currents. Ochieng engages with older and newer scholarship to advance his argument while keeping the text accessible for non-experts. I personally have not studied communist movements in Africa deeply, and have only a lay understanding of figures like Fanon and Cesaire - that is to say, I have read some of their works, but am not abreast of academic debates about their work.
With that background, I found this book to be thought-provoking, informative, and even hopeful in its prescriptions for strategy. Ochieng offers a thoughtful critique of both Afro-pessimism and the cultural pillars of Negritude, showing how socialist movements in Africa have, through dialogue with diasporic scholars and thinkers, been evacuated of class content periodically. While some national liberation coalitions in Africa during the 1960s self-consciously allied with local bourgeoisie as a matter of revolutionary expedience, other major leaders like Julius Nyerere explicitly advanced the notion that Marxian class analysis was not relevant to Africa, and that a model for utopian socialism could be found in the egalitarian tribal histories of the continent.
Ochieng explains that Amilcar Cabral, Maryse Condé, and Agostinho Neto represented a newer current of Afro-Marxism or "Red Africa" starting in the 1970s. These thinkers advocated for a return to class-conscious organizing within neo-colonial states. Ochieng closes by arguing that returning to and building upon this legacy is the most promising way forward for African politics today. It's a convincing argument, and left me with a long list of other things to read and study about the many countries and regions discussed in the book.
Finally, one of my favorite parts of the book was in a chapter about Fanon where Ochieng discusses a novel called The Stone Face by William Gardner Smith. In the novel, a Black American finds refuge in Paris during the 1930s (I think) and builds community among other Black "expats." While French racism was far less severe than what the main character was used to in North America, he found that Algerians were targeted by vicious attacks as colonial subjects who surfaced the core contradictions of French empire. I had never heard about this particular dynamic before, and so it was profoundly insightful for me.
With that background, I found this book to be thought-provoking, informative, and even hopeful in its prescriptions for strategy. Ochieng offers a thoughtful critique of both Afro-pessimism and the cultural pillars of Negritude, showing how socialist movements in Africa have, through dialogue with diasporic scholars and thinkers, been evacuated of class content periodically. While some national liberation coalitions in Africa during the 1960s self-consciously allied with local bourgeoisie as a matter of revolutionary expedience, other major leaders like Julius Nyerere explicitly advanced the notion that Marxian class analysis was not relevant to Africa, and that a model for utopian socialism could be found in the egalitarian tribal histories of the continent.
Ochieng explains that Amilcar Cabral, Maryse Condé, and Agostinho Neto represented a newer current of Afro-Marxism or "Red Africa" starting in the 1970s. These thinkers advocated for a return to class-conscious organizing within neo-colonial states. Ochieng closes by arguing that returning to and building upon this legacy is the most promising way forward for African politics today. It's a convincing argument, and left me with a long list of other things to read and study about the many countries and regions discussed in the book.
Finally, one of my favorite parts of the book was in a chapter about Fanon where Ochieng discusses a novel called The Stone Face by William Gardner Smith. In the novel, a Black American finds refuge in Paris during the 1930s (I think) and builds community among other Black "expats." While French racism was far less severe than what the main character was used to in North America, he found that Algerians were targeted by vicious attacks as colonial subjects who surfaced the core contradictions of French empire. I had never heard about this particular dynamic before, and so it was profoundly insightful for me.
October 26, 2023
I was very pleased to host a launch for this book at bookhaus on the 24th of October. When I saw this appear in the Verso catalogue months ago I immediately decided to host a launch. I feel that this topic is very unknown and under discussed by Black radicals and the wider Left.
Okoth argues that people interested in Black Radicalism are drawing upon the theories being popularised and propagated by some people in American academia. These people are materially comfortable members of the bourgeoisie who have drifted away from real radical politics and activism and contact with mass movements, who have retreated into more and more abstract and academic theorising which uses the language of radicalism whilst detaching it from it's actual meaning. He takes aim at Afropessimism, which opposes itself to socialism and Marxism, as well as Liberal identity politics. It argues that Black people are always and forever destined to be the most oppressed people in society, they are indelibly and ontologically marked out as 'slaves', that solidarity with other oppressed people and races is impossible because black people are at the bottom of the racial hierarchy and all other races are junior partners in the system of White Supremacy, and that it is foolish to think that the position of Black people in society can ever be changed for the better. Although it is a highly abstruse academic discourse, some elements of it have seeped out of academia into mainstream discourse among activists, such as replacing the universal term 'racism' with the term 'anti-blackness'. He also takes aim at the 'Decolonial Studies', which has moved further and further from the study of actual anti-colonial liberation struggles, and become more and more concerned with culture and abstractions like decolonising language, or decolonising beauty.
He makes the case for activists and Leftists to turn their attention towards the history of Third Worldism, Pan-Africanism and African Marxist revolutionary struggles, as practiced by figures such as Nkrumah, Lumumba, Sankara and Amilcar Cabral. He also makes the case for Universalism and solidarity between oppressed peoples, and for engaging with the theory, history and practice of Marxism. An excellent book that is very short and readable, and which should be read by anyone interested in Black Radicalism and the Left.
Okoth argues that people interested in Black Radicalism are drawing upon the theories being popularised and propagated by some people in American academia. These people are materially comfortable members of the bourgeoisie who have drifted away from real radical politics and activism and contact with mass movements, who have retreated into more and more abstract and academic theorising which uses the language of radicalism whilst detaching it from it's actual meaning. He takes aim at Afropessimism, which opposes itself to socialism and Marxism, as well as Liberal identity politics. It argues that Black people are always and forever destined to be the most oppressed people in society, they are indelibly and ontologically marked out as 'slaves', that solidarity with other oppressed people and races is impossible because black people are at the bottom of the racial hierarchy and all other races are junior partners in the system of White Supremacy, and that it is foolish to think that the position of Black people in society can ever be changed for the better. Although it is a highly abstruse academic discourse, some elements of it have seeped out of academia into mainstream discourse among activists, such as replacing the universal term 'racism' with the term 'anti-blackness'. He also takes aim at the 'Decolonial Studies', which has moved further and further from the study of actual anti-colonial liberation struggles, and become more and more concerned with culture and abstractions like decolonising language, or decolonising beauty.
He makes the case for activists and Leftists to turn their attention towards the history of Third Worldism, Pan-Africanism and African Marxist revolutionary struggles, as practiced by figures such as Nkrumah, Lumumba, Sankara and Amilcar Cabral. He also makes the case for Universalism and solidarity between oppressed peoples, and for engaging with the theory, history and practice of Marxism. An excellent book that is very short and readable, and which should be read by anyone interested in Black Radicalism and the Left.
October 2, 2024
K. Ochieng Okoth, writing in the tradition of African Marxists like A. Cabral, W. Rodney, A. Blouin, E. Mondlane, and A.M. Babu, seeks to argue for/towards the rebuilding of the revolutionary socialist movement in Africa. He devotes much of the book to critiquing Black identity politics and, in the case of the reactionary petty bourgeois school of "Afro-pessimism", anti-politics in the neoliberal academy. Ochieng Okoth offers a strong critique of this tendency, demonstrating its conservative and counterrevolutionary nature, its flawed assumptions, and its rejection of historical fact. Centrally, he takes issue with a sort of diasporic chauvinism inherent to the ideas of the Frank Wilderson, Jared Sexton, and co.; they forward "a concept of race conditioned entirely by the experiences of US chattel slavery." (p. 56) He makes the same critique of the Francophone "Négritude" movement of the 20th century. Ochieng Okoth also defends the revolutionary anti-colonial thought of Fanon from neoliberal professors who selectively read and deliberately misrepresent the latter's work: "Such counterrevolutionary suspicions are evident in the work of scholars like Henry Louis Gates Jr. or Wilderson, who present an imaginary purely psychoanalytic Fanon as the *only* true one...a particularly infuriating example of how anti-colonial thought has been distorted by the neoliberal university and emptied of its revolutionary content." (p. 71) Finally he critiques the petty bourgeois ideologues of "African socialism" before giving a brief exposition of "Red Africa", ie, the revolutionary tradition of creative and principled Marxist politics on the continent. It is the latter that Ochieng Okoth wishes to see reclaimed and rebuilt anew.
This was a good book and it’s very approachable, especially for those unfamiliar with Marxism in Africa. The critiques of the aforementioned reactionaries were sound and useful. But the book has one central flaw: it is too short. I learned a lot but was left wanting more. It's a good outline but I wish it was more comprehensive, went into detail, and concluded with an interesting strategy or projection for the renewal of Red Africa in the 21st century. It is worth a read though, for sure.
This was a good book and it’s very approachable, especially for those unfamiliar with Marxism in Africa. The critiques of the aforementioned reactionaries were sound and useful. But the book has one central flaw: it is too short. I learned a lot but was left wanting more. It's a good outline but I wish it was more comprehensive, went into detail, and concluded with an interesting strategy or projection for the renewal of Red Africa in the 21st century. It is worth a read though, for sure.
March 1, 2024
A clearly written, concise and interesting read that challenges common misconceptions about national liberation by developing a distinctly anti-colonial and Black revolutionary historiographic perspective, echoing Walter Rodney's "view from the Third World", which links the contradictions of postcolonial sovereignty with universal questions about socialist strategy that places anti-colonial Marxism within its proper historical and theoretical context in reviving the political and intellectual tradition of Red Africa
Criticises Decolonial Studies (e.g. Mignolo) for appropriating and depoliticising the work of radical Indigenous scholarship, as well as marginalising them from the very debates that they themselves have started and are still engaged in, which has limited the imaginative power and emancipatory potential of their discourse on "decolonisation".
Also criticises Afropessimism (e.g. Wilderson) for inaccurate reading of Marxism and ignoring the Red Africa literature thus invalidating their criticism of it as wholly eurocentric. Instead the Afropessimism framework that views slavery as "relational" rather than "historical" and USA-centric fails to account for slavery outside of USA chattel slavery, which only accounted for 4% of all enslaved Africans transported to the Americas between the 16th and 18th century
The book leans on Cedric Robinson's work that uncovers the historically contingent relationship between Blackness and slavery
Reiterating that British abolitionists were not simply resting on moral arguments, but economic ones as free trade (based on unequal exchange) replaced slavery as the primary source of profits for industrial development in England
Makes the case that race supplies the discursive basis for the subordination of non-white people, specific studies of Blackness must be placed within the global historical context in which racialised subjects emerged, thus avoiding parochial ontological conceptions of Blackness while simultaneously emphasising the histories of interconnection between Black people across the world
Interesting discussion of the "banal neocolonial framework" that used the language of socialism for the purposes of pro-imperialist policies as exemplified by Kenyatta's government in Kenya, which used the language of African socialism to define a project of national development that relied heavily on private capital and ensured that the country's economy continued to focus on the export of primary commodities, thus removing the terms capitalism and socialism from public discourse and establishing a dependent economy
Criticises neoliberalism that has reshaped the discourse on decolonisation, for example contemporary debates on decolonising museums, art galleries and universities are focused on the more abstract question of decolonising knowledge rather than a critique of political economy
Criticises Decolonial Studies (e.g. Mignolo) for appropriating and depoliticising the work of radical Indigenous scholarship, as well as marginalising them from the very debates that they themselves have started and are still engaged in, which has limited the imaginative power and emancipatory potential of their discourse on "decolonisation".
Also criticises Afropessimism (e.g. Wilderson) for inaccurate reading of Marxism and ignoring the Red Africa literature thus invalidating their criticism of it as wholly eurocentric. Instead the Afropessimism framework that views slavery as "relational" rather than "historical" and USA-centric fails to account for slavery outside of USA chattel slavery, which only accounted for 4% of all enslaved Africans transported to the Americas between the 16th and 18th century
The book leans on Cedric Robinson's work that uncovers the historically contingent relationship between Blackness and slavery
Reiterating that British abolitionists were not simply resting on moral arguments, but economic ones as free trade (based on unequal exchange) replaced slavery as the primary source of profits for industrial development in England
Makes the case that race supplies the discursive basis for the subordination of non-white people, specific studies of Blackness must be placed within the global historical context in which racialised subjects emerged, thus avoiding parochial ontological conceptions of Blackness while simultaneously emphasising the histories of interconnection between Black people across the world
Interesting discussion of the "banal neocolonial framework" that used the language of socialism for the purposes of pro-imperialist policies as exemplified by Kenyatta's government in Kenya, which used the language of African socialism to define a project of national development that relied heavily on private capital and ensured that the country's economy continued to focus on the export of primary commodities, thus removing the terms capitalism and socialism from public discourse and establishing a dependent economy
Criticises neoliberalism that has reshaped the discourse on decolonisation, for example contemporary debates on decolonising museums, art galleries and universities are focused on the more abstract question of decolonising knowledge rather than a critique of political economy
November 12, 2023
An excellent explanation of how neoliberalism and imperialism gave rise to neocolonialism. How these ideas and policies entirely shape or determine one's status as a black person and what it means to be black, especially in those countries, to how liberation movements have failed because of imperialist forces that never desired the complete independence of the African continent. This book does an amazing job of contextualizing how colonial-like relations between former colonies and western powers never disappeared and instead evolved into indirect forms of control with the aid of the political concepts mentioned at the beginning. Special attention is given to Frantz Fanon's work, to Marxism and its relationship to the African continent, and to concepts such as black studies, afro-pessimism, and African socialism. A real eye-opener as to why real genocides are happening right now, from the Congo in the present to Rwanda in the 1990s; why Africa is regarded as a Third World continent; and, lastly, why Africa has never experienced full independence or leaders capable of carrying out that fated project.
August 4, 2025
Concise book exploring little-known African Marxist anti-colonial movements.
I thought the chapter on Frantz Fanon was interesting (Chapter 5), and beautifully written with references to African fiction and literature. However, Fanon's homophobia, as well as his complex writing on women, could at least have been mentioned (or cited).
I learnt a lot about the lasting effects of the Cold War, Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), and neo-colonialism in Chapter 6. Reading about Andrée Blouin and Pio Gama Pinto was really refreshing and exciting.
I didn't enjoy Chapter 4 on négritude. I found the author's polemical tone on this topic, as well as his argument that there is a 'malpractice' of the diaspora, unconvincing and ungenerous.
Still a recommended read!
I thought the chapter on Frantz Fanon was interesting (Chapter 5), and beautifully written with references to African fiction and literature. However, Fanon's homophobia, as well as his complex writing on women, could at least have been mentioned (or cited).
I learnt a lot about the lasting effects of the Cold War, Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), and neo-colonialism in Chapter 6. Reading about Andrée Blouin and Pio Gama Pinto was really refreshing and exciting.
I didn't enjoy Chapter 4 on négritude. I found the author's polemical tone on this topic, as well as his argument that there is a 'malpractice' of the diaspora, unconvincing and ungenerous.
Still a recommended read!
January 10, 2025
What a wonderful book. I don’t think I’ve ever read a left critique of post colonial African leaders such as Nkrumah and Toure. I think we should have more honest conversations about the ideological failings and triumphs of our former leaders in order to avoid those same mistakes in the present.
I also appreciated the critique of Afro pessimism. As a non academic, casual reader of this space I couldn’t help but notice how popular and pervasive AP was in my media diet. I always found the conclusions AP scholars would arrive at to be defeatist at best. I hope more people are able to read this book
I also appreciated the critique of Afro pessimism. As a non academic, casual reader of this space I couldn’t help but notice how popular and pervasive AP was in my media diet. I always found the conclusions AP scholars would arrive at to be defeatist at best. I hope more people are able to read this book
October 24, 2023
Great book if a tad too short. Truly dives into the shortcomings of a parochial diaspora centered approach to radical Black politics, and proves in its short chapters the myopic scope of Afro-Pessimism (AP 2.0) and its inability to radically decolonize or provide a path to revolution as it is so deeply couched in the cushy ivory tower of the university. The book does lean heavily on its influences, drawing from Calbar, Fanon, and Rodney but creating a revolutionary histography from these anti-colonial heavyweights made for quite an enjoyable read.
February 14, 2024
Dos conflictos con el libro. 1) que no haya un análisis aunque sea breve del Burkina Faso de Sankara y lo que aportó a la última ola de red Africa antes (y durante) de la gran crisis de los 80 en el continente. 2) necesitaría 200 páginas más de historia del marxismo y los movimientos revolucionarios de África. Por otro lado, sitúa maravillosamente bien los debates sobre el afropesimismo 2.0. y por qué de lo reaccionario y elitista de su propuesta (al igual que Olukoshi lo hizo del afropesimismo 1.0.).
September 6, 2024
Nice intervention which gives a sharp reading of the 'romantic particularism' of much decolonial & post-90s black studies. Discussion of how AP represents a retreat from Negritude's 'strategic essentialism' was also interesting. But was surprised the actual 'Red Africa tradition' is mostly restricted to one very short chapter near the end. Lots of good questions raised, but that of 'the politics of national liberation & its relationship to the state' in Africa is largely unanswered & cries out for its own study
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January 2, 2025disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
This went over Marxist theory, anti-colonialism, & Afro-Pessimism, which I hadn’t read much on until now. The author shares history where Black radical politics paved the way for how we can move forward now, whenever you read this book. Though I had to re-read certain passages or pages because it sometimes felt academic, I was still very much intrigued by this.
This went over Marxist theory, anti-colonialism, & Afro-Pessimism, which I hadn’t read much on until now. The author shares history where Black radical politics paved the way for how we can move forward now, whenever you read this book. Though I had to re-read certain passages or pages because it sometimes felt academic, I was still very much intrigued by this.
March 3, 2025
I wish that I could spend more time with this book, but it's due back at the library today. I'm certainly not well-versed in African Marxism, or what Okoth calls Red Africa, so this short text was useful in introducing me to additional concepts and writers for further review. I'll need to check it out again and I highly recommend this to others who share my anti-imperial, anti-neocolonial leanings but are only familiar with publications of the Black diaspora, especially scholars from the US or UK.
July 8, 2024
It’s genuinely impressive how much radical knowledge is in such a small book. I also can’t believe how much of it was new to me. This book is a brilliant intervention into how we understand Black revolutionary politics and how it stems from the continent. It also ends on such a hopeful and encouraging note: the tools for revolution already exist, we just need to harness them and make them fit for the current time!
July 28, 2024
A marxist defense of revolutionary black politics from afropessimists, postcolonial and decolonial takes, so prevalent at "radical" or "ethnic studies" departments in the US or in peripheral countries where radical political economic, historical and class analysis is forgotten. It is also written beautifully with clear and insightful commentaries. Long live Red Africa! :) (spanish version)
October 21, 2024
A short overview and reflection on anti-colonialism and Marxism in Africa, and the odd detours away from solid revolutionary politics in Western academia. There was a bit too much emphasis in this book on academic debates for my taste, but the survey of the trajectory of African nationalists and socialists was nice. Would be very interested in reading longer, more in-depth texts by this author.
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March 29, 2025I thought the back half of this book was pretty good, and I probably didn't pay enough attention to the first half. I do think that when you distance your movement from the fight against economic inequality, it becomes impossible to succeed in any fight against any inequality, and this book did a good job explaining why.
October 7, 2025
The writing is not engaging and fell short of what it is claiming to cover. It's mostly very academic, but then has segments that are oddly anecdotal. It's trying to do too much in a very slim volume, and if you're going to be academic and cover so much ground, I think it's incumbent upon the author to have more sustenance to make your case.
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