[Note: Program originally aired in August 2016] In a speech delivered in 1971 in Cape Town, South Africa, Steve Bantu Biko proclaimed that the: “The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.” This time-less expression is currently fueling grassroots organizing and resistance efforts in South Africa. We see the echoes of this axiom in movements across South Africa from the Rhodes Must Fall/Fees Must Fall uprisings to the organizational expressions of resistance through organizations such as Black First, Land First or Abahlali baseMjondolo [Shack Dwellers Movement] and Landless People’s Movement; and outside of SA, with the Homeless Workers’ Movement [Brazil]. Before we begin our conversation with Andile Mngxitama, it is important to hear and think with Steve Biko. One of the Africana world’s foremost activist---thinkers, Steve Biko is mostly remembered through the work and ideas of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). Although Steve Biko was not alone in forging the Black Consciousness Movement; he was nevertheless its most prominent leader, who with others guided the movement of student discontent into a political force unprecedented in the history of South Africa. As a consequence of his potent political mind and activity, he is inextricably linked the development and evolution of the Black Consciousness Movement, which spread across the African world, finding it’s lasting expression in Afro Brazilian communities. To understand more about the life and contributions of Steve Biko, there is no other place to start than to read him, you can start by reading and thinking through I Write What I Like…but for now, we can listen to him #ThinkingBlackOutLoud. After thinking with Bantu Biko, we explore movement building in a ‘post’ Apartheid SA, with Andile Mngxitama, a leading black consciousness thinker and organizer. He co-edited Biko Lives! Contesting the Legacies of Steve Biko, has published four essays in the New Frank Talk journals. He is frequent contributor to various multimedia outlets that explore Africa in general, South Africa specifically. Enjoy the program! __________________________________________________ Additional resources: Africa is A Country [video]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksgrJyOrd7A Quartz Africa: https://qz.com/africa/1111666/feesmustfall-black-south-african-students-had-a-better-chance-at-graduating-during-apartheid/ Al Jazeera English [video]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOGkWCfcq-o Andile Mngxitama [Twitter]: https://twitter.com/mnxitama?lang=en South African History Online [https://www.sahistory.org.za/]: https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/stephen-bantu-biko South African History Online [https://www.sahistory.org.za/]: https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/quotes-steve-biko South African History Online [https://www.sahistory.org.za/]: https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/biko-lives-contesting-legacies-steve-biko-edited-andile-mngxitama-amanda-alexander-and All Africa [multimedia new source]: http://allafrica.com/stories/201507311433.html More on Andile Mngxitama: http://mg.co.za/author/andile-mngxitama-comment-author South African History Online [https://www.sahistory.org.za/]: http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/apartheid-legislation-1850s-1970s Black Opinion [media http://blackopinion.co.za/ Black First Land First: https://blf.org.za/ https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/a-conversation-with-guilherme-boulos-leader-of-brazils-homeless-workers-movement/ South African History Online [https://www.sahistory.org.za/]: https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/landless-peoples-movement Abahlali baseMjondolo: http://abahlali.org/ Image: https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2015.97.27.6