by David Austin
Pluto Press (UK)
10/15/2018, paperback
SKU: 9780745338651
In 1968, as protests shook France and war raged in Vietnam, the giants of black radical politics descended on Montreal to discuss the unique challenges and struggles facing their black comrades all over the world. Against a backdrop of widespread racism in the West and ongoing colonialism and imperialism in the Global South, this group of activists, writers, and political figures gathered to discuss the history and struggles of people of African descent and the meaning of black power.
For the first time since 1968, David Austin brings alive the speeches and debates of the most important international gathering of black radicals of the era. With never-before-seen texts from Stokely Carmichael, Walter Rodney, and C. L. R. James, these documents will prove invaluable to anyone interested in black radical thought and political activism of the 1960s.
Reviews:
"Reading Moving Against the System as an activist and organizer is to experience time folding in on itself... much of our struggles today are informed in part by some of the men whose speeches and arguments appear here... the documentation of this incredibly important Congress in an accessible book format is sure to remain relevant and instructive for years to come."--Sandra Hudson, co-founder of Black Lives Matter - Toronto
"Like Stokely Carmichael and so many others who participated in the 1968 Congress of Black Writers in Montreal, David Austin seeks to transform the paradigm... With this book, Austin further establishes himself as a leading light within that tradition." --Steven High, Department of History, Concordia University
About the Author:
David Austin teaches in the Department of Humanities, Philosophy, and Religion at John Abbott College. He is the author, most recently, of Fear of a Black Nation: Race, Sex, and Security in Sixties Montreal and the winner of the 2014 Casa de las Americas Prize.