Podcast
Blossom of Thought
Hosted by Life Nkam · EN
Join me and our guests as we speak about Health, Politics, Economics, Spirituality, Education, Psychology, and living an inspired life.
28episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Ahjamu Umi: Dialectics and Democratic Centralism
Feb 1000:32:47Tap to summarizeWhen we talk about Democratic Centralism one name keeps coming up, that is V.I Lenin. We are not chatting about Lenin today but democratic centralism. Democratic centralism emerged from Marxist-Leninist revolutionary theory, aiming to consolidate power to achieve socialist transformation. It has been practiced in states like the Soviet Union, China, and Cuba and we may even add, Vietnam. On the other hand, liberal democracy evolved from capitalist development, exemplified by systems in the United States, India, and European states.To talk about democratic centralism, Ahjamu Umi joins me. Ahjamu is a dedicated activist/organizer/author who has engaged in on the ground work throughout Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and throughout the U.S. for 4 decades now. He recently returned from organizing work in Africa, Azania/SA. His latest work is "A Guide for Defense against White Supremacist, Patriarchal, and Fascist Violence." It's a manifesto designed to provide guidance for how to organize neighborhoods on a block by block basis. Ahjamu is an organizer with the AAPRP.COnnect with Ahjamu's work @https://www.abetterworld.me/
Transcribe →Mukasa Dada: Paying Homage to Dr. Martin L King
Jan 1400:25:26Tap to summarizeThe 3rd Monday of January every year is celebrated as Martin Luther King Day in North America and this day is close to his birthday, Jan 15th. Baba Mukasa Dada formerly known as Willie Ricks who mobilized with Dr King, Joins me on this episode to talk about Dr King - a man he knows a lot about. Dr king talking about Mukasa Dada he referred to him as the little minister. M Dada is an organizer with the AAPRP and was formerly with the BPP and Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee - SNCC. For decades he has been involved in the organizing and building of Pan-Africanism in both North America and Africa.
Transcribe →Anthony T. Browder: The African Origins of Christmas
Dec 2500:12:51Tap to summarizeFor this episode, we pick from Black Liberation Media - I Mix What I Like - (YouTube) Dr. Jared Ball’s interview with Anthony T. Browder on Religion, Africa and The World. The interview relates to the holiday season - “Christmas." This interview was done about 8 years ago. Browder is an author, publisher, cultural memory restoration specialist, historian, and an educational consultant.The significance of the discussion of this subject by Browder helps us shift from the Western conception of religion, Christmas and we return to the source - African mythology and spiritual science. After listening to this African perspective to Christmas, our current views of Christmas will change. So much value can be extrapolated from understanding the politics of mythology, symbolism/metaphor and imagery. For the African, says Dr Nana John Henrik Clarke: “To control a people you must first control what they think about themselves and how they regard their history and culture. And when your conqueror makes you ashamed of your culture and your history, he needs no prison walls and no chains to hold you.”
Transcribe →Mukasa Dada: From Black Power to Pan-Africanism Pt.1
Dec 1400:22:28Tap to summarizeToday we are joined by Mukasa Dada formerly known as Willie Ricks, an organizer who served as a crucial bridge between the non-violent direct action of the early 1960s and the more militant, empowerment-focused Black Power movement of the late 1960s and 1970s. As aMobilizer and organizer, he risked his life to challenge segregation in interstate travel in the Jim Crow South - Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi. He is a living epitome of a committed advocate for black liberation and Pan-Africanism. If Kwame Ture / Stokely Carmichael was the national voice that announced "Black Power" to the world, Mukasa DWillie Ricks was the grassroots organizer who lit the fuse.
Transcribe →Luis Malik: Capitalism & California Ecological Cycle of Large Fires
Nov 2900:28:46Tap to summarizeThe California ecological cycle of large fires is the subject matter of this episode, and my guest, Luis Malik, speaks about the profound and unjust double standard in how the capitalist system addresses fire disasters and how wild fires intersect with industrial development. We further discuss the history of wild fires and the political economy of fire in California.
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Ahjamu Umi: Interpreting Kwame Ture's Teachings
Nov 1400:29:47Tap to summarizeThis episode is dedicated to our ancestor, Kwame Ture, who made his physical transition to be with the Ancestors on November 15th 1998. Ahjamu Umi joins me to discuss the teachings of Ture. Ahjamu is a dedicated activist/organizer/author who has engaged in on the ground work throughout Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and throughout the U.S. for 4 decades now. His latest work is "A Guide for Defense against White Supremacist, Patriarchal, and Fascist Violence." It's a manifesto designed to provide guidance for how to organize neighborhoods on a block by block basis. He is an organizer with the AAPRP.We have chosen 3 sections of his teachings relative to political ideology and African liberation:Organizing, Organization and UnityLove for Your PeopleThe Conscious and the unconsciousAfrica and Africans Will Win (will be liberated) Ahjamu Umi, being a seasoned organizer who loves his people, does an exceptional job in interpreting the immortal words of Kwame Ture. The following are some of the teachings/sayings of Kwame TureYou mustn't think that since everybody is against the same thing means that everybody is for the same thing…And unity does not represent what you are against. It represents what you are for. Consequently, when one speaks of unity, one must speak of organization.When you love your people, you must hate the enemies of your people. If you don't hate the enemies of your people, it is because you don't love your people.A people cannot be free unless they are conscious. Irrespective of all the struggle they wage, once they remain unconscious, they shall never be free. No people can be free, no people will ever be free unless they are consciously organized.We are going to win because of our culture.Kwame Ture’s teachings and service to his people (Africans) and humanity echoes through space and time. His love for his people remains timeless and was shown in his service to them. It can be said of him: He lived for his people and died for his people.
Transcribe →Imani Na Umoja: Guinea Bissau - The People vs a Neo-colonial Puppet
Oct 1900:32:04Tap to summarizeIn this episode we connect with Imani Na Umoja in Guinea Bissau (GB) to talk about the recent political developments in the country. And the center of attention in Bissau is the neocolonial puppet and illegal president, Umaro Sissoko Embalo who is breaking every rule in the book to stay in power and continue selling out the Pan-African project in GB. My guest, Imani, serves in the Political Beaureu of African Party of Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), serves on the National Secretariat of the PAIGC as a Director of PAIGC Amilcar Cabral Political Ideological Training School. Imani is a member of the Central Committee of the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (AAPRP). He also serves on the Coordination Counsel of West African Peoples Organization WAPO, and is a member of the Steering Committee of Black Alliance for Peace US Out of Africa Network. Find Imani @ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1000187046523
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Ahjamu Umi: Homage to Assata Shakur
Oct 900:31:29Tap to summarizeSister Assata Shakur transitioned to be with the ancestors on September 25th, 2025 in Cuba aged 78. In this episode we pay tribute to this giant of the African world and our guest is Ahjamu Umi - a dedicated activist/organizer/author who has engaged in on the ground work throughout Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and throughout the U.S. for 4 decades now. His latest work is "A Guide for Defense against White Supremacist, Patriarchal, and Fascist Violence" - it's a manifesto designed to provide guidance for how to organize neighborhoods on a block by block basis. He is also a longtime organizer with the All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party (AAPRP). Ahjamu explains who sister Assata was/is, her coming to consciousness, her conflict with the injustice system of the US, her prison life and birth of her daughter while in prison, her unjust conviction in 1973 for allegedly killing a New Jersey state trooper, her 1979 political asylum in Cuba and Ahjamu’s visit with sister Assata in Cuba in 1994. Finally, Ahjamu states: “the revolution is an act of love” - commenting on Assata’s poem on Love in page 130 of her book (Assata: An Autobiography).“It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains:...” - Assata ShakurFind Ahjamu's blog where he writes extensively politics and economics at: https://www.abetterworld.me/blog and his weekly YouTube program - Our Ancestors Voices - at https://www.youtube.com/@umifam
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Ahjamu Umi: The HealthCare System Extorts and Profits out of Peoples Suffering
Dec 29, 202400:40:11Tap to summarizeAhjamu Umi returns to the show to talk about the insurance industry from a Pan-African perspective, at the wake of the killing of the United health care CEO Brian Thompson. Ajamu is an organizer for over 40 years with the All African People’s Revolutionary Party. Ahjamu is an author, and his recent work, which has been gaining more attention and traction after the re-election of Donald Trump is title “A guide for Organizing Defense Against White SUpremacy, Patriarchy, and Fascist Violence” - a manifesto designed to provide guidance for how to organize neighborhoods on a block by block basis. Ahjamu speaks about the genesis and the historical development of the insurance industry on the backs of Africans. He argues that it is an industry that extorts and exploits the people to make super profits - just as it has been said that all insurance companies have an incentive to chisel their customers in order to increase profits as apparent in the government data below: National Health Expenditure (NHE) grew 7.5% to $4.9 trillion in 2023, or $14,570 per person, and accounted for 17.6% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Out of pocket spending grew 7.2% to $505.7 billion in 2023, or 10 percent of total NHE. Prescription drug spending increased 11.4% to $449.7 billion in 2023, faster than the 7.8% growth in 2022. Ahjamu also speaks about other industries that feed off or support the insurance industry, namely, the Collection Agencies, lawyers, etc. Regulation is not the solution here since these companies outlive regulation, says Ahjamu. In the final analysis, political education and organizing, says Ahjamu, will advance the masses towards liberation not one person shooting another. To interact with Ahjamu and his writing, go to https://www.abetterworld.me/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/africanism/support
Transcribe →Joseph Kaluba: The Scourge of Racism in Utah
Dec 15, 202400:34:48Tap to summarizeMalcolm X is accredited with these words: You cant have capitalism without racism. Joseph Kaluba, originally from Zambia, now living in the US, is my guest today to speak about the challenges of racism in Utah. In recent years, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney’s Office for Utah had a settlement agreement with Davis School District in Utah - an attempt to address race discrimination in the district’s schools, including serious and widespread racial harassment of Black and Asian-American students. As a parent, Joseph has children that have been heavily hit by racism, including being called a “monkey.” With such a traumatic experience continuing unabated despite taking the issue to the highest echelons of the school system in the district, a decision had to be made for the best interest of the kids whose mental health was spiraling down. They were sent away from the parents to live in Africa, a mega decision that proved fruitful to both parents and children. Change of environment defined with clarity the effects on the individual of the Western culture of individualism and the African culture of Ubuntu or collectivism. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/africanism/support
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