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Give me a break, Arthur: I can't pass public philosophical comment on everything! Nathaniel Nathaniel Adam Tobias Coleman, PhD Research Associate in the Philosophy of 'Race' Department of Philosophy, University College London Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, dtmh.ucl.ac.uk, #DTMH From: arthur torrington [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: 17 March 2015 10:51 To: BASA Subject: EMANCIPATION LECTURE 2000 MY COMMENT ON THE EMANCIPATION LECTURE I got the attached pdf from a friend, but was disappointed that he did not also provide a comment on the Lecture, because of its philosophical nature. Readers may be familiar with many of my postings over the past three years on Windrush Foundation's EMANCIPATION 1838, a ground breaking project that looked at the liberation of nearly a million Africans in the British West Indies. At no time did the project openly discuss mental slavery (a philosophical topic) as a separate theme, but considered more historical facts on Emancipation, as discovered by our researchers. Mental, physical, other forms of slavery existed long before the 1500s, and it is apparent that whenever the word slavery is mentioned most people think of the transatlantic enslavement of Africans. In his lecture, Lewis provides a quote from Professor Higman (1998: 11) who says: Perhaps part of the attraction of the mental slavery model in recent times has been its apparent usefulness in explaining continuing social inequality, the perceived failure of independent politics and the new forms of international bondage associated with globalization and the 'free' market. It goes together with the idea that neo-colonialism is simply another form of slavery, and that Jamaican (black) people are still not truly free, something Rastafarians have regularly contended. I go along with Higman's observation that neo-colonialism is simply another a form of slavery. But he should have done further and say that the post-Emancipation years (200 of them) saw the ugly face of colonialism and, after 1838, colonialism did not change its ugly features. Indentureship and post-Emancipation conditions were forms of slavery. This is also evident in the level of wages colonial and local businessmen paid ex-enslaved Africans and Indians until Independence (so called) in the 1960s. The social and economic conditions in the West Indies did not change for the better under colonialism except for a small number of people (like J.S. Risien Russell, and others whose parents were in positions of wealth and privilege). The vast majority of Africans and Asians in the West Indies remained in post-Emancipation slavery). When Bob Marley sang: Emancipate yourself from mental slavery none but ourselves can free our minds, he was not wrong, but how many listeners have ever bothered to read all of the lyrics? He has had his own philosophy on this matter. Redemption Song makes prophetic statements and provides the feel-good factor for the listeners, but how realistic is the song? For Africans in the Diaspora, entirely emancipating oneself from mental slavery is an aspiration for most of them.