ATLANTA — The 68th annual African Studies Association conference, held here Nov. 20-22, drew 1,550 professors, authors, researchers, librarians and others from across the U.S. and nearly every country in Africa. Some came from universities in Australia, Canada, the Caribbean and Europe.
The conference featured more than 300 panel discussions, plenary sessions and other meetings. Participants from Nigeria, Ghana and other countries with a sizable number of attendees held country meetings. The exhibition hall had 30 booths and displays from publishers, bookstores and other vendors, including Pathfinder Press. On the first morning of the conference a volunteer from Pathfinder and other publishers gave presentations to a gathering of ASA librarians.
Pathfinder’s attractive booth featuring a broad range of titles by leaders of the Socialist Workers Party and other revolutionaries engendered nonstop political discussions. For many coming by to talk this was their first ASA conference, while others were regular visitors who stop by the Pathfinder booth each year. And some described how they are using titles like Thomas Sankara Speaks in their classes.
A special leaflet and display at the booth highlighted the upcoming publication of Cuba and the Independence War in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde: The Fall of the Last Colonial Empire in Africa by Cuban revolutionary leader Víctor Dreke Cruz.
Independence war in Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde
Dreke’s firsthand account describes how the decisive victory was won in 1974-75 by the people of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, who finally put an end to 500 years of colonial exploitation. Led by a popular revolutionary movement forged by Amílcar Cabral, their struggle triggered the collapse of Portugal’s entire colonial empire and brought down the 40-year fascist dictatorship in Portugal itself. Cuba’s revolutionary leadership provided vital aid, including Cuban volunteer combatants who joined their fight. Dreke was their leader.
The anti-colonial struggle in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde and Cabral’s leadership were topics in several workshops, where participants welcomed news of the new book. Nine took advantage of Pathfinder’s prepublication offer to order it.
There was also wide interest in the lessons of the 1983-87 revolution in Burkina Faso, led by Thomas Sankara. Of the 134 Pathfinder titles sold at the conference, 33 were books or pamphlets by Sankara, in English, French and Arabic.
Margaret Asho, who is studying law at the University of Indiana and whose family is from South Sudan, had circled Thomas Sankara Speaks in Pathfinder’s ad in the conference booklet. She also got Socialism and Man in Cuba by Ernesto Che Guevara. “I want to learn more about socialism and how it can impact societies, including Cuba.” Titles on the Cuban Revolution and Cuba’s role in the African freedom struggle also sold well, 21 in all. They included Cuba and Angola: Fighting for Africa’s Freedom and Our Own and How Far We Slaves Have Come! featuring speeches by Fidel Castro and Nelson Mandela.
“Oh! I’m so happy you have Malcolm X here!” one of several young people visiting the Pathfinder table for the first time this year said. Many had heard of Malcolm X but had never seen books featuring his speeches and interviews, only what others had written about him. Twelve titles containing his speeches were purchased, along with four copies of Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power by SWP National Secretary Jack Barnes.
Many people wanted to discuss the Oct. 7, 2023, pogrom by Hamas against Jews and others living in Israel, the rise in Jew-hatred worldwide since then, and the importance of supporting Israel’s right to defend itself as a refuge for Jews, including the need for the total defeat of Hamas. Three participants bought copies of The Fight Against Jew-Hatred and Pogroms in the Imperialist Epoch: Stakes for the International Working Class, including one in French.
Several said they were looking for answers to why antisemitism is on the rise and wanted to know more about Israel. Others also wished to learn more about fascism and its history. Three people bought Fascism: What It Is and How to Fight It by Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky.
Books on the fight for women’s emancipation were also popular, with 22 sold, including four of Cosmetics, Fashion, and the Exploitation of Women and two of The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State by Frederick Engels.
Susan Kung’u, a graduate student in communications studies at Presbyterian University of East Africa in Kenya, talked with SWP member Sam Manuel, trying to decide which book to buy. She chose The Communist Manifesto. “I think this is what I need,” Kung’u said. “I want to learn about where capitalism came from and about the working class.”
The last customer of the day was a student from Sudan. His eyes lit up when he saw titles in Arabic. He bought all three: Women’s Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle and We Are Heirs of the World’s Revolution, both by Thomas Sankara, and Voices from Prison: The Cuban Five, about five Cuban revolutionaries framed up by Washington and imprisoned for up to 16 years for defending Cuba from attacks organized by U.S.-based counterrevolutionaries.
Pat Travis from Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this article.