Black Antifascism and the Hands Off Ethiopia Movement
Schedule
Thu, 16 Mar, 2023 at 04:30 pm
Location
Norlin Library - University of Colorado at Boulder | Boulder, CO
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A roundtable discussion featuring Minkah Makalani, Joseph Fronczak, and Anna Duensing. Moderated by Chad Kautzer Time & Livestream
The event begins at 4:30 pm MT (or 3:30 pm PT, 5:30 pm CT, and 6:30 pm ET).
You can watch the livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/@April_Institute/streams
You can register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/black-antifascism-and-the-hands-off-ethiopia-movement-also-livestreamed-tickets-570054246597
Overview
Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 galvanized a grassroots, transnational social movement known as the Hands Off Ethiopia campaign. Around the world, a broad multiracial coalition of antifascist, anticolonial, and antiracist activists engaged in mass meetings, public demonstrations, street fights, work stoppages, and strikes to challenge Fascist Italy’s pursuit of a new Roman Empire in the Mediterranean and Northern and Eastern Africa.
The Black Left was at the forefront of these efforts, merging Pan-Africanism, Black nationalism, and the Communist internationalism of the era to make a bold stand against Fascist imperial domination of a free African country. This panel explores the nuances and significance of the Hands Off Ethiopia movement and the broader impact of the Black antifascist left in the interwar period.
Sponsored by the April Institute, an independent nonprofit dedicated to research and education about fascism and antifascism in the United States. Supported by the Center for the Humanities and Arts, the President's Fund for the Humanities and the Departments of English, History, and Geography. For further information, contact Professor Julie Carr, [email protected]
Panelists
Minkah Makalani is Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University. His first book, In the Cause of Freedom: Radical Black Internationalism from Harlem to London, 1917-1939, explores how early twentieth century Caribbean radicals in Harlem and London drew on their experiences with racism, colonial domination, and political organizing to forge a black internationalist politics that engaged with Marxism but pushed beyond its organizational and theoretical parameters. He is currently working on two book projects, one about C. L. R. James’s return to Trinidad (1958-1962) and the other a collection of essays on how diverse modes of black intellectual production offer the possibility of moving beyond established theoretical frames and practices.
Joseph Fronczak is Associate Research Scholar in the History Department at Princeton University. His book Everything Is Possible: Antifascism and the Left in the Age of Fascism was just released by Yale University Press. It explains how antifascism became a global political cause in the mid-1930s and explores how the antifascist left of these years helped shape today’s political world. His article “Local People's Global Politics: A Transnational History of the Hands Off Ethiopia Movement of 1935” (Diplomatic History, April 2015), was selected by Oxford University Press for its 2016 Must-Read Foreign Relations History List.
Anna Duensing is a historian and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies at the University of Virginia.
Chad Kautzer is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Lehigh University and co-founder of the April Institute.
The April Institute for Antifascist Research and Education
The April Institute is a nonprofit organization for interdisciplinary research and public education about fascism and antifascism in the United States. We celebrate the history of creative and courageous efforts to counter fascist threats in the United States and to build more resilient, safe, and democratic communities. Our exhibitions, teaching resources, publications, and public memorialization projects are opportunities to learn from this history and enhance our ability to identify and confront fascist threats in our own time.
Temporary Website: https://aprilinstitute.org/
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Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/april-institute-events-1153519
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Where is it happening?
Norlin Library - University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays: