African Liberation Day is around the corner!
United African Diaspora (formerly Black People United) is hosting a local celebration on May 27th. This will be Calgary’s second African Liberation Day celebration.
This year, Prudence Iticka, a United African Diaspora (UAD) organizer, is looking forward to a poetry performance by the children involved with the organization.
“We believe children have a role to play and that's why we are so determined to equip them with an education that will allow them to make positive contributions to our movement,” she says. “So it was really important for us to involve them this year in the commemoration.”
A celebration of resistance, history, culture and identity, African Liberation Day is recognized worldwide on May 25th — a date commemorating the founding of African Unity (an intergovernmental organization now called the African Union) in 1963 .
As a grassroots movement, UAD serves Black Calgarians through economic (mutual aid) and educational efforts. In February of 2022, they began offering virtual Pan-African Education classes. Taught by Obi Egbuna Jr., these classes became so popular they are now offered year-round.
“The reason why we started the classes is we saw the necessity to involve our children, at a young age, within our movement,” Iticka says.
While students are mostly in Alberta, children are also tuning in from cities like Toronto and Vancouver.
“The most beautiful thing about the class is the demographic mix,” Egbuna says. “So there are children whose parents were born on the continent and children whose parents were born in the Caribbean.”
A Pan-African education is a decolonized education. Egbuna explains decolonization as a complete cultural, historical and political redemption; this means taking the education of the African diaspora out of the hands of Hollywood and those who thrive off the diaspora’s miseducation.
In these classes, children learn about the geographic layout of Africa. They learn Swahili (locally known as Kiswahili) which is now the continent’s most spoken language. They learn about agriculture, sociology, historical figures, and revolutions such as the New Jewel Movement (1973-1983) and the Harlem Renaissance (1910’s-1930’s).
Struggles for liberation have been violent, but they have also been peaceful. On explaining resistance to children, Egbuna says “what we do teach them is whether we take on arms for self-determination or whether we march for self-determination, the ultimate goal is to have peace — have tranquility — have stability and self-determination, regardless of the method you use to attain that goal. So ultimately, you're in pursuit of a peaceful and humane goal.”
This year’s celebration of African Liberation Day will take place Saturday May 27th from 2-5 pm at the Alexandra Centre Society – 922 9 ave SE.
To learn more about the Virtual Pan African Classes, visit United African Diaspora’s Facebook and Instagram pages (@uadcalgary). Classes are open to children of African descent ages 8 and up. Register for a class by emailing uadcalgary@gmail.com or sending a DM to either social media account.