Thursday 26 May 2011

WHO EXACTLY IS A JEW.

By Dr. JOHN HENRIK CLARKE

And, we can not separate folklores from facts. Too many times we swear by folklores not knowing that it has nothing to do with facts. Who exactly is a Jew? There was no word called Jew in the ancient world. The word Jew did not come out of Africa, it did not come out of western Asia. It is a European word. There are people of the Hebrew faith all over the world. There are black Hebrews, there are brown Hebrews, there are yellow Hebrews. How is it that a bunch of Europeans called Jews dominate the word Jew to the extent of making you think that the very faith, Hebrew is exclusive to them, leaving out all other people?  We become prisoners to circumstances in history, and we still react to this conquest of the mind. In slavery, we wanted to associate ourselves with people who had escaped from something. So we read a Jewish escape story called The Exodus, and we believed it without examining the story. Because if you examine the story you will find that the story is told to instill faith in a people. And sometimes if a story is told to instill faith and truth, the illustration used to get the final cause need not be true. How can 600,000 people cross the Nile? Cows, children, sheep, goats and on the other side the Nile just dried up, to less than muddy, (because they didn’t even get their feet muddy)? You can do it with imagination but in fact you can not do it. Western Asian people copied Nile Valley folk stories, personified themselves into the story and sold you, (African people); your own story and you bought it! 

Now let’s go back and deal with where they copied the story from.  There is a three volume work by the University of Chicago on Egyptian literature. And there is a story in the three volumes dealing with a Pharaoh who got somewhat despondent and his magician decides to take him rolling on the Nile. And to make him happier, the boat would be roared by beautiful ladies. The lead lady stops roaring and starts crying and the Pharaoh was very much concerned at what had happened. He asks the lead what happened and she said she had dropped her necklace in the Nile. The Pharaoh told the magician to take care of it. At this time in history, all kings or Pharaohs chaired with a magician. Instead of you and I having a fight, we would have a contest between our respective magicians. So this magician parted the water and dried up the Nile, stepped out and picked out the lady’s necklace and gave it back to the lady and then the water gets back and the boats gets roaring again and that’s where the Jews copied the story. 

What I’m saying is that at this period in history, there was no such thing as a Jew. There were western Asian people who later joined the Hebrew faith. There was an extensive series on the history of the Jews. They gave them an artificial history, before Babylonia but they had no clear history before their entry into Africa as visitors seeking food and shelter. There in Africa, they sought and found food and shelter. They entered Africa with no clear language, no clear religion, and clear culture. They came seventy in number and left six hundred thousand in number. They had a culture, a language and a religion when they left, all taken from Africa. They were not Hebrews when they got there but they were Hebrews when they left.

Now you join the religion as though you have got to seek their permission, because the European Jews of the faith gave you the illusion that every thing must be dispended to you, (the African) because you invented nothing and you have achieved nothing, and there in the Nile Valley, the real valleys of Africa, you had set in motion the social thought of what would be the foundation of what you know as western civilization. Yet you have forgotten how to claim it.

These visitors came into Africa in 1700 B.C., led by their patron father Abraham. In 1675, Africa was invaded through western Asia. Instead of taking the side of the Africans, they took the side of the invader. But while under the invaders, the collaborators and clerks and betrayers of their African friends they produced the world’s politician called Joseph the provider. The Africans came back to power and said, “Those who now wish to obey African rule may stay and the rest will have to go.” The African King came to power and that is the King who knew Nile Joseph, the King who owed the Jews no favor and the politician Joseph did not have any power around the throne because the throne was now an African throne. And it was after their contact with us that they entered human history. They have never been our friends when we needed them. The concept of a historical alliance between African people and people called Jews is a lot in a myth and a misconception. They over played every event in history when they came in contact with us. 

After this period, we have to deal with it now because we are not dealing with, because there are no Jews at this point in history. There is no Europe at this point in history. We are talking about the Western Asian people. At this point what you call the Middle East, that I call Western Asia, was Northwest Africa. This is documented I a book called “When Egypt Ruled the East. All of those Mediterranean Mulaterals and Indo-Europeans, who were shipped out to this area later, weren’t there at this time in history. We are not arguing about the color of that vast number of people because the only semi-European people and they were mixed were the Romans and the Greeks. We are not arguing about the color of Christ, I don’t argue his blackness, I argue his Europeaness! His non whiteness. There is no possibility that he could have been white.
When we look at what we are talking about in the change of the world, let’s look at this event in history and the reaction to it. Is it incidental that while he carried the cross up the hills, with twelve disciples, none of them stepped forward to help him with the cross?  Who came forward, An Ethiopian, Simon of Sardinia? Could this have been a brother helping a brother? Otherwise why did no body else help him take that cross up the hill? I’m trying to show you where we related to the humanity of all people, but all people have not related to our humanity. We have been the true believers. 

After the Romans destroyed the last temple of the Hebrew faith, 70 A.D., now you’ve got to watch it. You’ve got to study the migration patterns of the world. Where did those western Asian people go? There is no migration pattern that took them to Europe. A migration pattern that too many of them into inner West Africa is evident though. For a large number of people of the Hebrew faith lived in ancient Ghana and lived in peace until 770 A.D. when they tried to collaborate with the Arabs to takeover the country and the Africans expelled them from the country. We have illusions about people. I would not be surprised when the day would come when I see the Jews and Arabs in the same political bed against the African people. Competent historians do the same thing to prove their cases as competent lawyers, they cite precedence. They point why it has already happened. There has already been a relationship between Africans and Jews and Arabs in Spain but 800 years when the African was the military arm that held Spain in the Mediterranean. And when they lost the power, the Arabs and the Jews came together against the Africans and began to enslave them. The Jews went to Holland and found the Dutch-East India and the Dutch-West India and subsequently they found South Africa.

The same thing is happening in Detroit right now where there is a large Arab population and a Jewish population. The same thing is happening in Georgia where they are pushing the blacks out those Islands in Georgia to build condors. Jews’ and Arabs’ money together against blacks. My point is that these two people allegedly Semitic, neither one happened to be our friend.

As the population calling themselves Hebrews flourished in North Africa and in Western Asia (and this continued in the population in Africa), until the twelfth century in Europe, most of these Europeans were Christians in other European denominations. There was a fierce fight between the Arabs and the Christians. One group would not want belong to either one, sought in option, and the option and the option was the Hebrew faith. So what you are calling Jews are Europeans of the Hebrew faith. Many times they live in communities of their choice. They did send kinds of work that other Europeans did not want to do and became so good at it, they dominated it, portable wealth, gold, jewelry. And because they became so small things called jewelry, out of which came the word “Jew,” a European word that has nothing to do with origins in western Asia or northern Africa, when they were just Western Asian people of the Hebrew faith. You find large numbers of people of the Hebrew faith in India; you find some in China, and some in the south Sea Island. But the European tries to dominate every thing he is a part of. And nothing came from the European mind that did not have as its intention the facilitation of the European domination of t he world. This is the accentual mission of every European whether he is a capitalist, or a communist, or a Christian, or a Roman.

Their crisis now is that they are realizing that the Africans and the Asians and the people of the South Sea Island keep on having increased birth rate and they keep on going to bed and not bringing it off but on. And soon there is not only going to be a minority but a tiny minority. They can not say that Africa or Asia has their intention of conquering Europe because neither one of them wants a third out of ice bergs that are agriculturally dying and politically dead. So the greatest punishment we can inflict on them is to leave them in their misery. Because of difference of opinion on religion and finance, the people in Europe of the Hebrew faith in their various branches became good at say bargaining things, money lending, fabric design and fabric manufacturing, theatre management, department store management and in Germany where they had department stores they had the fabrics, they had communication and they were literary asked to yield some thing. When didn’t, a mad man said, “I’ll take everything.” 

I have no problem condemning Adolf Hitler’s murders, but this was a European problem in Europe started by Europeans. In the 1880s, a lot of people of the Hebrew faith had the illusion that they were just like other Europeans, that they were integrated. And once they had their behinds kicked and were excluded out of things, they began to have the idea of having a state of their own. They didn’t exactly know what a state would be bur they drew the idea of a state from mythology because they never had a state. Their homeland of the European Jew is Europe. They can go back into folklore and mythology and tell you about a god named Yahweh, who told them to leave and go to their homeland in Palestine. But who told you that God was ever in a real estate building? And who told their god that Palestine was un-occupied? (Occupying land that is already occupied, throwing away some one).

The rock stars occupied the place of Napoleon. He offered them Palestine and they coughed at it. (Who wants that sea of sand)? They didn’t want it then. They were doing alright in Europe, in the banking industry, the theatre industry. When things began to pinch them, they began to reconsider. They considered Brazil once in space big enough to call a home land. Look at Palestine; it’s a door that swings three ways. It’s at the back door of Europe, the side door of western Asia and the front door of Africa. Strategically it is well located. It never belonged to any European people and it didn’t belong to the Arabs either. It was an African country. The Arabs only got there at about 1600 A.D.


Tuesday 17 May 2011

ROME BEFORE THE ROMANS


By ARTHUR LEWIN

Rome, why Rome? Why did Rome rise to such great heights in ancient times? Much of the credit must go to the Etruscans in fact, much of what we think of as Roman is, in reality Etruscan…

The Etruscans fled Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) around 1000 B.C. They were part of the Mycenaean culture of the eastern Mediterranean. This Mycenaean civilization was thoroughly disrupted as primitive Greek bands came pouring in from the north around 1000 B.C., and so, one element of the Mycenaean, the Etruscans, fled eastwards across the Mediterranean, eventually landing in Italy.

In essay 33, of the Global African Presence Home Page, “Minoan Crete African Forerunner of European Civilizations,” Master teacher Runoko Rashidi describes the pivotal role of Crete in European history. Crete was destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Thera around 1400 B.C. This cataclysm badly damaged every city in the western Mediterranean, and was also felt as far as Egypt. It took centuries for the region to get back on its feet, and when it did, the new culture that developed has come to be called Mycenaean. The Etruscans, living in Lydia in Asia Minor, were a key Mycenaean element. Their statues show them to be dark complexioned and resembling the Cretans, who were related to their forebears. 

At any rate, the Etruscans migrated to Italy, in the face of the invasion of primitive Greeks around 1000 B.C. (Note the Greek “Classical Era” would not arrive for 600 years.) the area where the Etruscans settled, immediately to the north of Rome, came to be known as Etruria, sometimes called Tuscany, both derivatives of the word “Etruscan.”

Note that Etruria is on the western, or far, side of the Italian peninsula, when approaching from the east. It is also Italy’s most fertile quarter. This indicates that the Etruscans doubtless probed the peninsula before picking out the most desirable area. Etruscan technology was far in advance of the natives they encountered. They easily conquered them, conscripted them and then used them to further their conquests (Howe, 301).

The area immediately to the south of Etruria, across the Tibet River, was called Latium. Its inhabitants were called Latins. Around 600 B.C the Etruscans conquered Rome and an Etruscan king ruled the city. Rome emerged as the pre-eminent city in Latium precisely because it was closest to Etruria. Here a series of direct quotes from, Albert Rever’s 1939, History of Ancient Civilization, taken from pages 22 and 23, Volume II, The Roman World, published by Harcourt, brace and Company. He was a “mainstream,” conservative historian, and what he says is supported any number of writers, and can be found today in standard encyclopedia entries on the Etruscans and the early history of Rome:

“Since the Etruscans brought with them from the orient, an advanced culture, they may truthfully be called the civilizers of early Italy and Rome an urban civilization where before had been only scattered, agricultural villages. They transformed Rome from a loose group of farm villages to a powerful, populous city (urbs), gave the city its name, Roma, and started it on its later carrier of expansion and power in Italy…. The judicial, ceremonial, religious ritual and much in the Roman festivals and shows, were Etruscan before they were Roman.
“The Greek alphabet came to Rome probably through the medium of the Etruscans, early in the seventh century, as did many other of Rome’s loans from Greece. In religion, also, Rome owed much to the Etruscans. Her Capitoline tradition of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, hr use of augury and diviation… (And also), her gladitorial contests.”

“One of the greatest debts of Italy and Rome to the Etruscans was in building, for from them they learned to build permanently with hewn stone, and to undertake great public works such as temples, fortifications, bridges, dikes and sewers…. It was under Etruscan influence in the sixth century that Rome was first fortified by a wall. The fruitful principle of the arch was introduced into Italy by the Etruscan immigrants.” (Trever, pp. 22, 23).

So we see that much of what we call Roman today was, in fact, Etruscan. We must also note that they were trading partners and allies of African Carthage. And there is evidence that they shared the same divinities as the Carthaginians (Davies, p. 154) Five centuries after fleeing the Greeks, the Etruscans again encountered them Italy. “In opposition to the Hellenic (Greek) colonial expansion in the west which tended to encircle them, they were allied with Carthage against the Greeks in the Battle of Alalia in 538 B.C.” (Trever, p. 18)

What eventually happened to the Etruscans?  It is an old story. Their pupils, the Romans eventually conquered, and incorporated them. The Etruscans had a league of 12 cities, but it appears to have been mainly a religious confederation. As Rome grew in size and power, she attacked and conquered the Etruscan cities one-by-one. They failed to unite, and retake Rome, and so were thus swallowed by their offspring.

Sources:
Davies, Norman. 1996. Europe: A History. Harper Collins: New York
Howe, Herbert. “The Etruscans,” World Book Encyclopedia. Chicago: 1975.
Rashidi, Runoko. “Minoan Crete – African Forerunner of European Civilizations,” Global African Presence Home Page, #33
Trever, Albert A. 1939.  History of Ancient Civilization, Volume II, The Roman World. Harcourt, Brace: New York.

HANNIBAL, THE AFRICAN WARRIOR


By Yvonne Clark 

In 218 B.C., Hannibal began the most daring military move in history, that of invading Rome by way of the Alps. But why did this military genius decide to war against Rome?

Before Hannibal’s birth, the Romans ruled Italy, and the Carthaginians ruled Carthage in North Africa. The Carthaginians also ruled the Mediterranean Islands of Corsica, Sardinia and Syracuse (now known as Sicily). The Carthaginians were content as things were but the Romans were military expansionists. So the Romans broke their treaty with the Carthaginians by expanding their empire into Sicily, and the First Punic War began (264 B.C.).

In 247 B.C., Hamilcar Barca took command of the Carthaginian army and his son Hannibal was born. Hannibal was born to one of the distinguished families in Carthage—the Barcas.
After losing a decisive sea battle, the Carthaginians recalled Hamilcar Barca and sued for peace. Rome, however, demanded not only Sicily, but Corsica, Sardinia, and all the islands between Sicily and Africa. In addition the Carthaginians were compelled to pay a large tribute. In order to recoup their losses, the Carthaginians rebuilt their empire in Spain. In 237 B.C., Hmilcar and Hannibal left for Spain. It took nine years for Hamilcar to conquer or win over the native tribes of Spain. These tribes were no match for the Carthaginian’s training in disciplined warfare. As a result, all the land south of the Ebro River in Spain became new Carthage. In 230 B.C., Hamilcar was killed in battle, and command of the army was left to his son-in-law, Hasdrubal. 

During all Hannibal’s years in Spain, first under his father and then under his brother-in-law, Hasdrubal, he was taught the world of a soldier. When Hasdrubal was murdered in 221 B.C., there was never a doubt to his successor. It was inevitable that upon the death of Hasdrubal, Hannibal would succeed him. At the age of twenty-six, he was chosen by the army as their new commander. 

Saguntum was a province of New Carthage inhabited by the Greeks. After the Greeks attacked some of the tribes in New Carthage, the Romans sided with them and declared them selves protectorates of Saguntum. Knowing that the long term goal of the Romans was to gain control of new cathage, Hannibal decided to make the first move. He attacked Saguntum, beginning the Second Punic War (218 B.C.). The Romans prepared to invade new Carthage, but Hannibal was not preparing a defense strategy.


With thirty-seven elephants, Hannibal’s army climbed through the Pyrenees, across the Rhone, over the Alps and into Italy. The Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio tried unsuccessfully to check Hannibal’s advances into Italy. Attempting another strategy, he attacked Carthage but was defeated and killed. For the next sixteen years, Hannibal successfully waged war against every Roman legion sent to defeat him. He left a path of destroyed cities and bridges and a huge Roman death toll. 

Rome had lost half a million men in battle, when Publius Cornelius Scipio’s son, called Scipio the younger, took command. Scipio the younger decided to take the risk of striking at Carthage. In 294 B.C., Scipio and an army of 25,000 men landed in Carthage. Hearing of the invasion, Hannibal headed back to North Africa. On the plain of Zama, Scipio and Hannibal aligned their armies for battle. Hannibal’s soldiers fought a courageous fight but they were outflanked and defeated by the powerful Roman legions. Hannibal then sent word to Carthage, “We have lost not only battle but war. Accept the terms of peace offered.”

After the ratification of a peace treaty, Hannibal became the chief magistrate of Carthage. Hannibal increased the stability and prosperity of Carthage so well that Carthage soon regained its place as the commercial capital of the western Mediterranean. The Romans were not only nervous about a quick recovery for Carthage, but were afraid that Hannibal would wage another war. In 195 B.C., the Romans demanded his arrest. Hannibal fled Carthage beginning a life of wandering and exile. In 182 B.C., to avoid capture by the Romans, Hannibal committed suicide by drinking a vial of poison. 

An interesting fact: the Roman General, Scipio the Younger, became forever known as Scipio Africanus, honoring his defeat of the Great African General Hannibal.

Source: Rome in Africa, by Suzan Raven

Monday 16 May 2011

ETHIOPIA: ANCIENT LAND OF AFRICA


By YAW DAVIS 

“Ethiopia is the land of our fathers, the land where God loves to be.”


ETHIOPIA TRULY STRETCHES FORTH HER HANDS TO GOD

Ethiopia is one of the oldest continuous civilizations in the world. Most of us identify Ehtiopia with Emperor Hailie Selassie or the queen of Sheba (Saba). The land of Sheba was referred to as Saba by the Ethiopians. The actual name of queen of Sheba was Queen Makeda. The time span between the reigns of queen Makeda and Emperor Hailie Selassie is approximately 3000 years. Most of the world is familiar with this period of history wherein Ethiopians ruled a great civilization. Most people are unaware of the existence of at least 97 other sovereign rulers who reigned prior to Queen Makeda. Once we include the rule of these 97 sovereigns, Ethiopian civilization can be tracked back to 3000 B.C.

We are familiar with Ethiopia from passages in the Old Testaments of the bible. Genesis Chapter 2, Verse 13 refers that flowed out of Eden. One of these is River Gihon which is the river that encircles Cush (sometimes in the bible Cush and Ethiopia are used interchangeably). The Gihon is another name for the Blue Nile River of Ethiopia. In addition to Ethiopia being one of the oldest civilizations in the world, Ethiopia is also one of the oldest Christian Nations in the world. The Ethiopian court was first introduced to Christianity in approximately the year 42. Some of you may remember the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch as written in Acts Chapter 8, Verse 27: “Then the angel of the Lord said to Phillip, Start out and go south to the road that leads down from Jerusalem to Gaza. So he set out and was on his way when he caught sight of an Ethiopian. This man was a eunuch, a high official of the Kandake (Candace) Queen of Ethiopia in charge of all her treasure.”

The passage continues by describing how Phillip helped the Ethiopian understand one passage of Isaiah that the Ethiopian was using. After the Ethiopian received an explanation of the passage, he requested that Phillip baptize him, which Phillip obliged. I cross referenced some of my Ethiopian materials and discovered that Queen Gersamot Hendeke VII (very similar to Kandake) was the Queen of Ethiopia from the year 42 to 52. 

The aforementioned reveals that the Ethiopian court was introduced to Christianity in the 1st century.
Another very interesting fact with respect to Christianity that remains hidden is the fact that Christianity became the official state religion of Ethiopia in the year 320 (the forth Century) during the rule of emperor Ezana. Further the Ethiopians commemorated the event (acceptance of Christianity as the state religion) by removing the image of the crescent from their coins and replacing it with the Christian cross!! The Ethiopians of what was known as the Axumite Empire minted, distributed and utilized coins for money. Hundreds of varieties of coins were minted in gold, silver and bronze during the Axumite Empire over a period that spanned 700 to 1000 years. The Axumites also built numerous monuments, palaces, temples and other structures in northern Ethiopia. Some remain standing after 2000 years.

Monday 9 May 2011

CELEBRATION OF GREAT BLACK WOMEN

By MACOLLVIE JEAN-FRANCOIS

On February 8, 2000 Baruch hosted one of its liveliest lecture presentations. World-renowned author and public lecturer Runoko Rashidi delivered “The African Woman as Heroine—Great Black Women in History.”

The forth annual Donald H. Smith lecture, named in honor of one of Baruch’s first black administrators, opened by a song and a dance by an African troupe. Drums added to the richness of the performance, by providing a rhythmic background.

 
Soon Rashidi commanded the stage with his pictures. While going from slide to slide, he offered explanation for each picture. Their places of origin, cultural significance, and other relevant information, were relayed in a clear, witty manner that the audience enjoyed. 

Rashidi started off by showing the earliest bones of an African woman (known as Lucy) ever found in Ethiopia. Throughout the lecture, he alluded to historical facts on which he based his discoveries. He showed pictures of black women as leaders in different dynasties of Kemet (or ancient Egypt). Many of them were women warriors, doctors and queens. Among these he mentioned were Queen Nefertari, Makeda (Queen of Sheeba) and Queen Nzingha. These women were mothers of great kings and warriors through civilization and antiquity. 

“That is what folks in ancient Egypt looked like,” said Rashidi, referring to the picture of an African woman’s statue whose features were pronounced and very distinct. “But how many of you have seen that on the cover of a book?” Rashidi emphasized that some of the pictures shown had their facial features, mostly the noses, intentionally cut off by Europeans like Napoleon Bonaparte. Rashidi elaborated that it was important for colonizers and enslavers to strip Africans of their true history by distorting the past. 

From North Africa, Rashidi’s pictures moved to those of women in Western and central Africa. Women from such countries as Djibouti, Ghana, Angola and Congo (formerly Zaire) were represented. Following that, Rashidi moved eastward to the women of Arabian Peninsula. He showed blacks living in Yemen, Oman, Israel and Turkey, among others. 

“There are perhaps a billion Africans scattered around the world,” Rashidi explained. “That is why during this period of time, we don’t look just at America but we look at Africans globally.”

Rashidi’s description of a group of outcastes living in southern India called the Untouchables (or Dalits), most of whom are black, brought groins of pain from many in the audience. According to Rashidi, these are the most oppressed people in the world even though their numbers total more than the combined populations of England, France, Belgium and Spain. 

Some of the Dalits have light skin while others resemble Africans in Nigeria. One photo was of three Dalit women each holding rifles with angry facial expressions. Rashidi explained that these people are tortured, burned alive, raped and murdered daily for the smallest offences such as taking bread to keep from starving, or for no reason at all. 

Moving eastward, Rashidi displayed photos of Blacks in Southeast Asia. His search of Blacks worldwide has been disappointed. There are black people living in Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

Even down under in Australia and Tasmania, an island off the Australian coast, Rashidi met Blacks who admitted that their ancestors had migrated from Africa thousands of years before. The government of Australia did not recognize these indigenous inhabitants as human beings until 1967. Currently, the percentage of original, Black Australians is less than two percent due to the white’s violent colonization techniques. 

One woman photographed was called the “Black Saint” mostly because of the care she provided to many orphaned children. 

From the South Pacific, Rashidi moved north to the archipelagos and the ancient and modern Americas. The faces shown from those regions were more familiar to the audience. The spectators sighed and nodded their heads in recognition of Amy Jacques and Amy Ashwood Garvey, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells and Sybil Clarke. Other pioneering faces included those of the first woman licensed to practice medicine in South Carolina, journalists, aviators, educators and activists. 

 
Rashidi brought the presentation full circle by bringing it back to Africa. The lecturer spoke of Black goddesses such as Mut and Hathor. One picture that elicited looks of surprise from some young spectators was that of Black Madonna and child.

“We were taken out of Africa,” said Rashidi,” but we took some Africa with us. Get comfortable with it. He was referring to the similarities between Africans in the Diaspora and those in Africa.


Last but not least, Rashidi concluded the presentation with the picture of an old, stooped Black woman sitting on a chair, eyes closed, holding her cane under her chin. For Rashidi, the woman represents the state of black people today: “ancient and wise but kind of asleep.”