Cathy Bergin – författare

An investigation of interwar African American critiques of racism and colonialismThis volume re-publishes key texts produced by African American anti-colonial activists between 1917-1937.  Some of these texts remain well-known, but many have disappeared from view and are once again re-inserted in their original polemical contexts. The context for these writings is the turbulent politics of ‘race’ in the US in the interwar years and the emergence of a particular ‘race’/class politics. The framing of the material in the book stresses those texts which are specifically concerned with finding connections between the plight of African Americans and those who suffer colonial oppression in order to emphasise the dialectical nature of anti-colonial struggle.  The intention of many of these writers was to create a space for interracial class politics. Despite, or because of, the complexities of negotiating ‘race’, class and colonialism, this material gives us access to an historically specific attempt to create a ‘race’/class politics attuned to the challenges of confronting racism of the USA and beyond.Key FeaturesIntroduces a powerful, but neglected, tradition of African American anti-colonial writingLocates African American anti-colonial writing of the interwar years in both a US and global contextStresses the dialectical nature of the relationship between anti-colonial politics and political activismReflects upon the relevance of interwar African American anti-colonial writings to contemporary debates about racism and neo-colonialismEmphasises the relationship between African American politics and the Left during this period

Transnational solidarity excavates the forgotten histories of solidarity that were vital to radical political imaginaries during the ‘long’ 1960s. It decentres the conventional Western focus of this critical historical moment by foregrounding transnational solidarity with, and across, anticolonial and anti-imperialist liberation struggles. The book traces the ways in which solidarity was conceived, imagined and enacted in the border crossings — of nation, race and class — made by grassroots activists.This diverse collection draws links between exiled revolutionaries in Uruguay, post-colonial immigrants in Britain, and Greek communist refugees in East Germany who campaigned for their respective causes from afar while identifying and linking up with wider liberation struggles. Meanwhile, Arab immigrants in France, Pakistani volunteers and Iraqi artists found myriad ways to express solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Neglected archives also reveal Tricontinental Cuban-based genealogies of artistic militancy, as well as transnational activist networks against Portuguese colonial rule in Africa.Bringing together original research with contributions from veteran activists and artists, this interdisciplinary volume explores how transnational solidarity was expressed in and carried through the itineraries of migrants and revolutionaries, film and print cultures, art and sport, political campaigns and armed struggle. It presents a novel perspective on radical politics of the global sixties which remains crucial to understanding anti-racist solidarity today.With a foreword by Vijay Prashad.

Transnational solidarity excavates the forgotten histories of solidarity that were vital to radical political imaginaries during the ‘long’ 1960s. It decentres the conventional Western focus of this critical historical moment by foregrounding transnational solidarity with, and across, anticolonial and anti-imperialist liberation struggles. The book traces the ways in which solidarity was conceived, imagined and enacted in the border crossings — of nation, race and class — made by grassroots activists.This diverse collection draws links between exiled revolutionaries in Uruguay, post-colonial immigrants in Britain, and Greek communist refugees in East Germany who campaigned for their respective causes from afar while identifying and linking up with wider liberation struggles. Meanwhile, Arab immigrants in France, Pakistani volunteers and Iraqi artists found myriad ways to express solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Neglected archives also reveal Tricontinental Cuban-based genealogies of artistic militancy, as well as transnational activist networks against Portuguese colonial rule in Africa.Bringing together original research with contributions from veteran activists and artists, this interdisciplinary volume explores how transnational solidarity was expressed in and carried through the itineraries of migrants and revolutionaries, film and print cultures, art and sport, political campaigns and armed struggle. It presents a novel perspective on radical politics of the global sixties which remains crucial to understanding anti-racist solidarity today.With a foreword by Vijay Prashad.

The legacy of the relationship between African American writers and Communism in the US is a contested one. In Bitter with the Past but Sweet with the Dream, Cathy Bergin argues that in three novels, by seminal mid-century authors (Richard Wright, Chester Himes and Ralph Ellison), Communism is not dismissed as incapable of meeting the demands of black political identity, but is castigated for its refusal to do so. Bergin draws on the complex formations black political agency presumed and reproduced by American Communism during the Depression.