Revolutionary Summer School 2023

PAN AFRICANISM

AND THE STRUGGLE FOR OUR FUTURE

Revolutionary Summer School 2023

PAN AFRICANISM

AND THE STRUGGLE FOR OUR FUTURE

  • Revolutionary Summer School @ TPF was a hybrid course for organizers, visionaries and all people advancing resistance to oppression. This year, we invited all who want to join us in a collective study of the histories, constructions, and current projects of Pan Africanism on the African continent and across the world.

    Through seminars, classes, collective discussion and collaborative work, participants developed their methodology to analyze the past and present, build capacity for organizing struggle by studying examples of revolutionary processes around the world, and expand their vision of a transformed future. It was a chance to meet new friends and comrades, study, discuss, debate, and then put theory into practice!

    This program is based on the methodology of popular and political education, and on the politics of working-class internationalism.

  • “We must dare to invent the future.” -Thomas Sankara

    The struggle for liberation on the African continent and in the diaspora has a rich history that has spanned centuries and has initiated political and cultural paths that still guide our struggles today. Pan Africanism—a term used to describe the ways of thinking, of relating, and of building organizations and ties of solidarity, that are united in the common purpose of liberation for all African peoples and their descendents—is an ongoing project that we must study, not only to recover history that has been hidden, but also to see the horizon that we are fighting for with more clarity. From W.E.B. Du Bois to Amilcar Cabral, from the early abolitionists in the Americas to the experiences of building socialist societies on territories liberated from European colonialism, the people and struggles of the African continent have been and remain on the front-lines of the global struggle against capitalism and imperialism.

    Today, the African continent’s fight for self-determination is facing significant challenges. As the US escalates its battle for global domination, it is rapidly intensifying its aggressions on the African continent. With its eyes on the wealth of natural resources and cheap labor, the US empire has used every tool available — from military invasions, occupations, sanctions, and misinformation, to keep the continent, its peoples and its wealth under its control. With the urgency needed to respond effectively to shifts in the current moment, our summer school intends to not only expose the US imperialist agenda and its global consequences, but also to deepen our understanding of the interconnected histories and futures of African and American peoples. We will uplift the concrete proposals that Pan Africanism has generated, historically and today, for an alternative future for humanity and a path to liberation that is guided by socialist forms of organization and internationalist values.

  • *Only the self pace track is only as the class concluded in August 2023.

    Everyone is welcome to apply, from all contexts, backgrounds, and identities! We encourage applications from those who are involved in, or seeking to become involved in, an organization in struggle.

    Participants can choose to engage in the SELF PACED TRACK, which gives access to all live classes, recordings, and optional discussion groups, or the COLLECTIVE WORK TRACK, which in addition to the above, also places you in a group with other participants to engage in collective discussion and a collaborative project.

    Our instructors include movement leaders, intellectuals, and popular educators, including:

    David Austin

    Essam el-Korgle

    Eugene Puryear

    Grieve Chelwa

    Kambale Musavuli

    Mikaela Erskog

    Hakim Adi

    Manolo De Los Santos

    Sonia Vaz Borges

    Joshua Myers

    Samar al-Bulushi

    Ambassador Sophia Tesfamariam

    …and more!

  • The school ran from July 5–August 12, with an orientation on June 29. Each week, most classes were held on Wednesday, Thursday, and Fridays at 6:30 PM ET, with some exceptions. The Collective Work track met on Saturday afternoons for facilitated discussion and time to work with your group.

    For those in different time zones or with work and life schedules that complicate live participation, recordings will be made available to you.

  • Revolutionary Summer School was a hybrid program, so you can participate from anywhere in the world!

    For those in the New York area, please join us in-person at The People’s Forum, on 320 W 37th Street, New York NY 10018 (between 8th and 9th avenues).

    To get to TPF, you can take the 1, 2, 3, 7, A, C, E, M, N, Q, R trains. TPF is an accessible building, with elevators and wheelchair-accessible gender-neutral bathrooms.

    For participants who will be attending virtually, a zoom link will be sent prior to each session.

  • The application for the Collective Work track is now closed but you can still sign up for the Self Pace Track, which gives you access to all live classes, recordings, and optional discussion groups.

    If you have any questions, please contact us at education@peoplesforum.org.

  • Our courses are free for all participants, but we need your support! All donations will go towards helping us to bring educators and movement leaders that are on the forefront of struggle today, and producing accessible materials to strengthen the collective study for all who attend. Click here to donate!