steve biko i write what i like chapter summary

in which Black will compete with Black, using each other as rungs up a step ladder leading them to white values. 'an integration based on exploitative values. He rejects white values as being inextricable from the culture of domination, exploitation and oppression and he argues the type of integration the liberals wanted was flawed: 'expecting the slave to work together with the slave-master's son to remove all the conditions leading to the former's enslavement'

He analyses white racism in the South African context and is critical of the role of white liberals in these terms: They want things for themselves and all by themselves' 'Blacks are tired of standing at the touchlines of a game that they should we playing. His life is depicted in the film Cry Freedom, Denzel Washington playing Biko.īiko outlines the development of SASO and the BPC and the need for black people to organise themselves without the help or support of whites: He was also involved in the founding of the Black People’s Convention (BPC).

In 1968 he helped to found the South African Students Organisation (SASO). Biko was an anti-apartheid activist and African socialist. Killed whilst in custody at the age of thirty, he is often regarded as one of the foremost thinkers about racism and was influential in the development of the Black Consciousness Movement. Biko was an icon for those of us on the left when I was at university and developing my political thinking. The collection also includes a preface by Archbishop Desmond Tutu an introduction by Malusi and Thoko Mpumlwana, who were both involved with Biko in the Black Consciousness movement a memoir of Biko by Father Aelred Stubbs, his longtime pastor and friend and a new foreword by Professor Lewis Gordon.īiko's writings will inspire and educate anyone concerned with issues of racism, postcolonialism, and black nationalism.Ī collection of writings by Steve Biko, remarkable, perceptive and articulate. I Write What I Like contains a selection of Biko's writings from 1969, when he became the president of the South African Students' Organization, to 1972, when he was prohibited from publishing. They also reflect his conviction that black people in South Africa could not be liberated until they united to break their chains of servitude, a key tenet of the Black Consciousness movement that he helped found.

'The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.' Like all of Steve Biko's writings, those words testify to the passion, courage, and keen insight that made him one of the most powerful figures in South Africa's struggle against apartheid.

Steve biko i write what i like chapter summary