the anitafrika method

*content awareness - this episode contains descriptions of heinous crimes committed by the british against african peoples*

in today's episode of the anitafrika method podcast, I read an open letter to prince william and the duchess of cambridge kate, from the advocates network, signed by jamaicans from all over the world, calling for apologies and reparations from the british monarchy for the heinous crimes against humanity committed during and after the transatlantic enslavement holocaust. the letter, which invites the monarchy to take accountability for the violence it unleashed onto african peoples for 500 years, also includes 60 reasons why it is crucial that britain not only apologise for its crimes, but that it also pays reparations to black people. 

shout out to the advocates network for advocating for a just and balanced world on our likkle planet name earth. the advocates network: advocatesnet@gmail.com.

this episode is livecated to visionaries dub poet jean binta breeze & feminist bell hooks. thank you for embodying di chant of resistance. rest in peace, rise in powah. 

intro: global village what-a-gwaan? welcome to the first episode of the anitafrika method podcast. I am your host d’bi.young anitafrika. join me now, here, in the depths of a black hole, inna the midst of the timeless omniverse, where root networks of deep dark forests converge, converse-in infinite languages of baobab tree trunk branches, innerspanding di verbal riddims from outer space to inner grace, dubbin di vibes, overstanding the legacy of dub poetry, the rhizomatic roots of the anitafrika method. the method of anitafrika. the anitafrika method  is a freedom song-in-dub, wailing to be chanted by anyone who desires decolonial freedom from within, emancipating di conditioned colonial capitalist constructions of race, gender, class, ability, sexuality & other such outdated limitations of body, mind & spirit. reconceptualising, reimagining, re-envisioning our joyful, liberated, beautiful black selves as whole, wholistic, intrinsic, integrated, magically melanated. healed  healing. transforming, transitioning. learning. growing. living. questioning the bullshit. 

pon today’s episode we hear stories of 1970s 80s jamaica from anita stewart herself, pioneer dub poet & moddah to me & my breddah, big up yuhself johari. we also hear from winston young, master auto-engineer, aka pie eye, aka cool bwoy, aka my faadah, who as di telling goes was di one to get my moddah hooked pon theatre. last but not least, I am di dub poet. inna di multiverse, multiple verses diverge.dem say the apple don’t fall from the tree, well I am basically a tributary of my mommy and daddy, descended from african ancestry via the transatlantic colonial enslavementocracy, da land me inna jamdown, aka jamaica, aka Xamaca, the original indigenous name of my homeland. welcome to jamrock global village, di dub poetry side. di first chant is 'beggin is a ting' originally by anita stewart, check di remake version by yours truly. run di riddim selectah

outro: in this episode we heard from my parents—anita stewart & winston young—about what it was like growing up in kingston jamaica in the 70s/80s. the episode also features the prophetic dub poetry of louise 'miss lou' bennet'—considered the mother of dub poetry—jean binta breeze & anita stewart. these womxn, along with cheryl byron, afua & high times players headlined the 1986 dub poetry album woman talk: caribbean dub poetry, produced by mutabaruka. the woman talk album was the soundtrack of my childhood along with mikey smith's mi cyaan believe it. my mom would put the vinyl on the record player and I would chant to every single poem over & over & over again, until the words became my private rebellion before I understood what I needed to be rebel against. little did I know that dub poetry by black womxn, was to be my entry point into decoloniality, feminism, intersectionality. these stories form the roots of the anitafrika method, emerging from a long legacy of resistance, celebration & the profound love of freedom & community. join me next time global village for another dub session of the anitafrika method podcast where the vibes is always onwards & in-words.

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