collective freedom in the shadows of black radical tradition

The ideas stemming from black radical tradition have constituted an important dimension of modern black lives. It has found ways to impact their intellectual capabilities and simultaneously politicized their struggles as it builds upon centuries of rupturing history embodied with displacement, dispossession and disenfranchisement. This reconstruction of black lives through the black radical tradition offers an sense of belonging that collectively provides a vantage from which a shared past can be narrated, and a common future can be imagined. Underlying this imagination of the future are key ideas centered around emancipation and what it truly means to be free.  

“We’ve struggled so long/we’ve cried so long/we’ve sorrowed so long/we’ve moaned so long/we’ve died so long/we must be free, we must be free … But are we really free?”  

-Angela Davis (2016) 

In the grand scheme of things, the issue of freedom situated in the working of the black radical tradition has incited me with thoughts about the existence of these theoretical ideas in the real world and how can one think of achieving it. In such contemplation the work of Angela Davis speaks volumes to me in efforts to conceptualize the fundamental question of freedom and how it aims to abolish all forms of subjugation that have denied oppressed people their rightful freedom.  

The freedom that is put forth by Davis situates itself in stark contrast to individualistic approach to freedom and the meaning it entails in our lives. It builds upon the work of earlier black radical theorists such as that of Frantz Fanon, Malcom X, Dr Luther King and others to transform its individualistic interpretation it into a more expansive and radical possibility of collective freedom. Drawing from the injunction of Karl Marx stating that “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it”, she advocated freedom as something to be struggled for every day in hope to overcome the obstacles lying in its way.  Her definition of collective freedom in her book ‘the struggle for freedom’ is “to earn a livelihood and live a healthy, fully realized life; freedom from violence; sexual freedom; social justice; abolition of all forms of bondage and incarceration; freedom from exploitation; freedom of movement; freedom as movement, as a collective striving for real democracy.” Therefore her ideas of freedom transform into a more contemporary understanding of the world, new ways of inhabiting the present and participating in civic life. It is this idea of freedom that compels me to understand the prioritization of collective well-being and imagining collective ways to structure the world.  

However, on the other hand, it also instigates a thought process of explores different methods of achieving this form of collective freedom. Where do we begin? And more importantly how do we dismantle the liberal conceptualization of freedom? The starting point perhaps lies in the notion of unity which can gradually pave way towards a unified struggle for collective freedom. In this instant, just as we envision collective freedom as a possibility, it is paramount to think of ways of unifying ourselves under the same banner. This is where Davis’s ideas drive me to think about a radical conception of community, of fostering loving relationships with one another and transcending simplistic definitions of such bonds. Sukarno’s speech in the Bundang Conference sheds light upon the idea of recognizing “unity in diversity”. This was perhaps the first time the thought of this recognition along with the possibility of thinking along the lines of collective freedom emerged in the post-colonial discourse. More so, even Malcom X substantiates this idea of presenting a unified front in the struggle for emancipation in his “message to the grassroots”. Just as we begin to recognize the interplay of cohesion and diversity within our ranks, freedom becomes an act of loving, of being able to acknowledge difference within unity and imagining ways of collective freedom through this unified struggle.    

These ideas of freedom not only expand our imagination but also give us the ability to question the given world. It gives us the ability to look at the world around us from a gaze of suspicion and propels us to think of ways to undo such wrong. When we look at movements like black lives matter standing still having to stand up against systematic racism and violence, when we look at the injustices embedded in the law like in the US penal code or even in the lives of millions still being dictated by the aftermath of slavery and colonization, we know that the everyday is the struggle for freedom. It is necessary to eradicate all forms of racism, oppression and supremacist attitudes that continue to shape individual lives around the world. For only then freedom can have a collective meaning attached to it, where we can truly be free to live, love and be creative beings in our own terms.