We Need a Mau Mau in Mississippi: Malcolm X’s Political Lessons for Today
http://georgehartley.blogspot.com/2009/01/we-need-mau-mau-in-mississippi-malcolm.html
Jomo Kenyatta, Oginga Odinga, and the Mau Mau will go down as the greatest African patriots and freedom fighters that that continent ever knew, and they will be given credit for bringing about the independence of many of the existing independent states on that continent right now. There was a time when their image was negative, but today they’re looked upon with respect and their chief is the president and their next chief is the vice president.
I have to take time to mention that because, in my opinion, not only in Mississippi and Alabama, but right here in New York City, you and I can best learn how to get real freedom by studying how Kenyatta brought it to his people in Kenya, and how Odinga helped him, and the excellent job that was done by the Mau Mau freedom fighters. In fact, that’s what we need in Mississippi. In Mississippi we need a Mau Mau. In Alabama we need a Mau Mau. In Georgia we need a Mau Mau. Right here in Harlem, in New York City, we need a Mau Mau.
I say it with no anger; I say it with very careful forethought.
Roundup: Kenya’s ex-freedom fighters to sue Britain for war crimes
Kenya’s ex-freedom fighters said on Friday they would institute legal proceedings against the British government for reparations.
Addressing a news conference in Nairobi, a high-powered legal team based in Nairobi and London said they were working to ensure that the Mau Mau fighters are compensated for war crimes committed by the British.
“There is no question that the Mau Mau have strong case against the British in terms of the terrible things that happened to them back in the 1950s. I am very pleased that the Kenyan people are giving their support to enable this case to be brought,” said Martyn Day of Leigh Day and Co. Advocates, one of the London-based legal teams.
Speaking during a news conference in Nairobi to launch the fund- raising for the ex-fighters legal fee, Day said there was overwhelming evidence to win the case, which will be filed in a London court on October 20 of this year.
The Mau Mau, drawn largely from Kenya’s biggest tribe, the Kikuyu, launched their rebellion against colonial rule in 1952, especially in the “white” highlands favored by settlers, waging war from the Aberdare and Mount Kenya forests.
According to official figures, more than 11,000 rebels were killed, along with up to 100 Europeans and up to 2,000 African loyalists, many from the Kikuyu Home Guard.
The ex-freedom fighters said they intended to sue the British government for an unspecified sum of money that will be used to pay reparations to survivors of British colonial brutality in Kenya.
“We are primed and ready to go with the legal case; the only thing we are waiting for is our Kenyan team to find the funds to enable the case to be brought,” Day told reporters.
“We remain hopeful we can get the case off the ground here in the near future. There are many legal hurdles for us to overcome in the months ahead but I am optimistic that justice in the end will prevail,” he said.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200605/06/eng20060506_263297.html