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Memories and Implications of 1960s Movements: Challenging Dominant Structures of Power & Solidarity in Academia and Social Movements
Abstract
What’s the historical resonance of a momentous challenge to dominant structures of power in both academic arenas and social movements? How do we create alternative decolonial educational and political practice? Highlighting the spirit of 1968 (e.g. 1968 SFSU student strike and elsewhere nationwide such as Ocean-Hill Brownsville struggle for decolonial/relevant education; international ‘68 from Paris to Tunisia), this paper will focus on the early decades of the 1960's when social movements created an atmosphere of urgency and change, challenging government and traditional entrenched power holders and legitimizing social movements as the driving force for political and social change, and qualitatively solidifying our notion of freedom, empowerment and social justice. Popular power expressed in long-forgotten and marginalized ideas became popularized and embraced by millions within Indigenous, Black, Latino/a and Asian communities of the US; Crisis of liberalism in the North and throughout the world. The anti­colonial framework of the 1960s internationalist struggles –from Vietnam to Palestine; Cuban and Chinese Revolution–intersected with central debates in Black Struggle, Civil Rights, Black Power, and Southern Freedom Campaign; the crisis of liberalism in the North; and the rise of neoliberalism corporate universities. Finally my intervention will touch upon my own experiences in the Free Angela Davis Campaign, support for the Attica Prison uprising, and Palestinian militants, such as Leila Khaled.
Discipline
Other
Geographic Area
North America
Sub Area
None