Ubuntu Praxis

Over the summer, I realized that I knew many amazing people with great ideas. If only I had a way to bring them together, I was convinced sparks would fly and powerful results could emerge from their exchanges and networking. This drove me to start a group blog in order to connect all these people and their ideas, interests, current and future projects in hopes that it would help create major changes in their respective communities and globally. The result is Ubuntu Praxis: an online space for communities, groups, thinkers and activists to exchange ideas about the future of African peoples, humanity and the world, and to network. The blog mainly targets contributors and readership with two things in common:

I. A shared belief that the Liberation of oppressed people must be achieved through collective struggle, and

II. A solution-driven attitude and commitment to action.

In order to understand Ubuntu Praxis and the need for it, not so much as a blog but as a way of life, it is important to know what Ubuntu and praxis mean, respectively.

What is Ubuntu?

Ubuntu is a concept that says a person is a person through other persons. It is an affirmation of our humanity as we acknowledge the humanity of others. While the word has Bantu origins, this deeply communal philosophy is one that can be found in cultures all over Africa and the world. There is an Ashanti Proverb which gives deeper insight into the humanist concept : "I am because we are; without we I am not and since we are, therefore, I am".

Archbishop Desmond Tutu describes a person living this philosophy:

"A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed."

Why Praxis?

Praxis is the process of putting theoretical knowledge into practice. We frequently discuss change, but easily get caught up participating in an 'armchair revolution' : brooding over the same old problems but just waiting- waiting for the fateful moment when things will go in uproar. However, I believe that the things we DO to make a difference on a day to day basis are what will culminate into powerful movements. It is crucial we start finding and applying possible solutions to our problems, instead of only seeing the problems we are confronted with. Thought and consensus-building must be an integral part of our struggle, but visions only become realities in the 'doing', through our actions.

The path of relentless struggle isn't an easy one- having a support community to encourage us, to remind us, to help us and to share mistakes and successes with is essential. Many of you have been a part of my community, and as of today, I want to bring all of us together - because together, the possibilities are endless.

Sincerely,

Masake Kane

Facilitator

Ubuntu Praxis