Making the Case for Afrocentric Physical Books in the Age of Techno-Imperialism
Join the Strategy & Soul Bookstore at the LA Times Festival of Books
April 26th and 27th Booth #269 in the Purple Section
We carry physical Afrocentric books to combat techno imperialism.
Don’t you just hate that now most devices have forced us to do almost everything digitally, companies and governments can have a say over when you can access your content? They can revoke your access !
So, picture this, you’re all set to travel for vacation, or a family engagement out of town. You have chosen to fly, which means that you will more than likely not have internet access, or you’ll be subject to the commercial content offered on the airline (which by the way can also be regulated mid-flight), or you’ll have to pay for internet access. To combat this, one of the things you do to prepare is download your favorite playlist on Spotify, or Pandora, or Apple Music, etc. Maybe you downloaded that great book you’ve been waiting to have time to read using Kindle or Apple Books. You may log onto Netflix on your device and download a few episodes of a TV show or a few movies.
Some of the content you have paid for, some of it you’re just paying the streaming fee. And so, you think you’re all set. There will be no boredom in this mind! And if it doesn’t work, you’ll just go to sleep.
So, you get on the plane and at first, it’s all working great, you’re in your flow…your reflecting “Damn, I can’t believe I waited this long to read How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney.”
But the plane leaves U.S. air space, or leaves the air space where you downloaded all your content and whatever you’re doing on your device; it stops! It shows you a notification explaining that this content is not allowed in this region of the world.
Just a reminder, you said you’d go to sleep if it didn’t work out.
But now that you have seen this message on your device, you are too riled up for sleep! If the device was a person, you’re on edge to slap the hell out of that device. “How dare they try to tell me that I can’t read my book that I paid my hard-working money for!”
Well Comrade, welcome to a new level of techno-imperialism.
So what is it anyways? Techno-Imperialism, according to Google AI, refers to the concept of powerful technological companies or countries exerting technological influence or control over other countries or cultures, often through economic dependence, data control, and dominance of digital ecosystems.
While this definition is very broad and also relates to everything from exerting control through embargo to Walter Rodney’s discussion on Underdevelopment, in this short article we’re referring to the control of mass information available via books, broadcast, over the internet and on your mobile and stationary devices.
The very control of information has been at the heart of imperialist projects since its inception. And now that there is technology involved that always forces you to sign a user agreement contract that protects companies when they revoke your access regardless of how much you paid and regardless of reasoning, the threat to ideological struggle and access to information is even more heightened now more than it has ever been.
We have now seen over the last few years the escalation of national book bans in grade schools and public institutions by state governments and the federal government. And now the Trump administration is initiating a McCarthyist like hunt to punish any institution that is moving forward with DEI initiatives, race-based programing and dissemination of banned books.
The Call for institution building by the left is even more prescient now than ever and that includes Afro centric, anti-imperialist, anti-racist bookstores like Strategy and Soul Bookstore in the middle of South Central LA and in every city center where there is a nationally oppressed community.
The charge to have our own physical books in our own controlled spaces will be inevitable. So join us this April at the LA Times Festival of Books to build your library and our political collectives that will be instrumental if fighting Trump’s Fascist nightmare.
Co-Director, Labor/Community Strategy Center
