Amiri Baraka

Afrikan Revolution: a poem by Imamu Amiri Baraka [First Edition]

Newark: Jihad Publishing Co., 1973. Saddle-stapled. Offset on brown stock. 8pp. First Edition. 4 x 5 ½ in. One spot of light discoloration on back wrap (< 1/3 in.); else near fine. Item #6794

The first edition of Amiri Baraka’s Afrikan Revolution: a poem, published by Jihad Publishing Company, an editorial and publishing enterprise started by Baraka to amplify the work of The Jihad Cultural Center in Newark.

The poem was written in Conakry, Guinea on February 4th, 1973, days after the funeral of Marxist revolutionary leader and Pan-African intellectual Amilcar Cabral. The head of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), Cabral helped wage 10 years of guerilla warfare against an occupying Portuguese army; he was assassinated in 1973, just months before Guinea-Bisseau and Cape Verde achieved independence.
Baraka had traveled to Conakry to attend Cabral’s funeral, and was among the few speakers in the symposium held by the revolutionary party in honor of Cabral; there, delegates from 80 sovereign nations, guerilla movements, and supporting groups from Europe gathered to honor Cabral’s achievements and reflect on the state of anti-imperialist struggle. Notably, the North Vietnamese delegation received a standing ovation for their continued resistance to the U.S. offensive. Baraka’s poem captures the mournful and militant anger after the funeral.

A remarkable document of the literary production of the Black radical tradition.

“All capitalists, racists, liars, Imperialists, All who can not change
they also must be eradicated, their lifestyle, philosophies
Habits, flunkies, pleasures, wiped out — eliminated”.

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