#akinyele omowale umoja

[archivyrep]

"Stuck in that amulet": From artifact to Crown Princess [Part 2]

Continued from part 1

Mateo summons Alacazar's chanol, a spirit animal, and learns she needs the wand of Shuriki to free Elena. She somehow grabs the wand and goes with Mateo to an ancient Maruvian temple, which looks a little like an Mayan pyramid. She puts the amulet and wand on the crown of Azaluna. Elena is freed, she jokes about being inside the amulet, hugs Sofia, and in another typical Disney fashion, she somehow sings a song, even though its been less than a minute since she is out of the amulet. I mean, how is that even possible?

Reprinted from my Wading Through the Cultural Stacks WordPress blog. Originally published on Mar 15, 2023.

In some ways, I can see a lot of parallels between Lapis and Elena, in that both were trapped inside of an artifact. In Elena's case, however, it wasn't thousands of years, like Lapis. Even so, she was still imprisoned inside, and it undoubtedly let to some trauma. Despite all this, she bravely confronts Shuriki, exposes her as a person who overthrow the royal family, but it doesn't go well. It appears she has the upper hand, as she locks up Sofia's family, putting them in the royal dungeon, and gets her wand back. They temporarily retreat, with Elena explaining the story of how her sister and grandparents were put in a magical painting, and how Shuriki killed her parents. Sofia encourages her to be a leader, they enter through a secret back entrance to the palace, Elena says that Sofia is the one princess who could free her.

To sum it up, Elena leads a bloodless revolution of the Avaloran people to overthrow Shuriki and restore the royal family to power, with the help of a foreign power (Enchancia). It is almost akin to the French intervention in the American Revolution, turning it into a global war between the French and British, helping turn the tide of the war. In the film, the royal guards are overwhelmed, Esteban throws Elena the wand of Shuriki, and she breaks it, making her powerless. She falls over a waterfall, with the presumption that she died in the process. [1] After saying she has seen enough of the amulet "for a life time" (which is understandable), she declares to the Avaloran people that the people are "free", with Sofia saying she brought a new age of "joy and prosperity" for Avalor. The film ends with Naomi joking that Elena is 57 years old, since she was 16 when she went in the amulet, and was inside the magical object for 41 years, and they leave the waterfall, placing the wand in the treasury.

What the citizens of Avalor is doing is mainly in-line with how the Global Nonviolent Action Database defines nonviolent action: "a technique of struggle that goes beyond institutionalized conflict procedures like law courts and voting, procedures common in many countries". However, the involvement of Enchania in this revolution is not a "physical intervention of a third party into the arena of the conflict in such a way as to reduce the level of violence", i.e. civilian peacekeeping. Instead, the Avaloran people push back the guards. With the help of Enchancia's king, Roland, along with other members of Sofia's family, Elena, and others, they are successful. This revolution results in a coup d'etat, i.e. the "sudden, forcible overthrow of a ruler...by a small group of people" with some political or military authority, [2] as Elena becomes crown princess and ruler of Avalor, when Shuriki is pushed out of power.

What the Avalorans do is no mere movement or campaign. Instead, it has some characteristics of what Akinyele Omowale Umoja defines as spontaneous rebellion, i.e. "unplanned, unorganized, politically motivated collective violence intended to redress justice" and armed resistance, which can mean the "individual and collective use of force for protection, protest, or other goals of insurgent political action and in defense of human rights". But, the struggle is nonviolent, rather than armed, in that the people do not gain state power by military means. Instead, it is a revolution with one goal: restore the royal family (i.e. Elena, as rightful heir) to power and unseat the awful Shuriki. [3]

© 2022 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Continued in part 3

Notes

[1] It is later shown that she survived. She later becomes a major villain in the series proper. In retrospect they should have just thrown the wand off the cliff instead of putting it in the treasury.

[2] Webster's New World College Dictionary (Fourth Edition, ed. Michae Agnes, Cleveland, Ohio: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2007), 333. It is also a revolution, defined on page 1228 in the same book, as the "overthrow of a government, form of government, or social system by those governed and usually be forceful means, with another government or system taking its place". It is more than a revolt or an insurrection.

[3] See Umoja, Akinyele Omowale. "Introduction" in We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement (New York:New York University Press, 2013), 8-9. There is no use of arms, armed self-defense, retaliatory violence, or guerrilla warfare in this Avaloran revolution. He also adds on page 9: "The use of guns is not necessary in my definition [of armed resistance], only the use of force...Fists, feet, stones, bricks, blades, and gasoline firebombs may all be employed to defend, protect, or protest".

[ausetkmt]

We Will Shoot Back: History of Armed Resistance - Republic of New Africa

Watch THE VIDEO FIRST AND ALSO THE BOOK - Get The FACTS

to accompany the video we give you the book - yes you can download it from THE BLACK TRUEBRARY

We Will Shoot Back: History of Armed Resistance - RNA

We Will Shoot Back: History of Armed Resistance - Republic of New Africa

click the title link to download the book for free from THE BLACK TRUEBRARY

In We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement, Akinyele Omowale Umoja argues that armed resistance was critical to the Southern freedom struggle and the dismantling of segregation and Black disenfranchisement.

Intimidation and fear were central to the system of oppression in most of the Deep South. To overcome the system of segregation, Black people had to overcome fear to present a significant challenge to White domination.

As the civil rights movement developed, armed self-defense and resistance became a significant means by which the descendants of enslaved Africans overturned fear and intimidation and developed different political and social relationships between Black and White Mississippians.

This riveting historical narrative reconstructs the armed resistance of Black activists, their challenge of racist terrorism, and their fight for human rights.

click the title link to download the book for free from THE BLACK TRUEBRARY

[forbidden-sorcery]

How do I define “armed resistance”? Emilye Crosby points out “a lack of consistency” in the use of the term “armed resistance” in recent scholarship. I define “armed resistance” as individual and collective use of force for protection, protest, or other goals of insurgent political action and in defense of human rights. Armed resistance includes armed self-defense, retaliatory violence, spontaneous rebellion, guerrilla warfare, armed vigilance/enforcement, and armed struggle. “Armed self-defense” is the protection of life, persons, and property from aggressive assault through the application of force necessary to thwart or neutralize attack. “Retaliatory violence” is physical reprisal for attacks on people or institutions associated with the Movement. “Spontaneous rebellion” is unplanned, unorganized, politically motivated collective violence intended to redress injustice. “Guerrilla warfare” refers to irregular military-tactic efforts utilized by small groups to harass, attack, and strike a larger, better-resourced opponent. “Armed vigilance/enforcement” is the use of coercive force by asocial movement to assert its authority among its constituency and community and to counter the loyalty its population may have for the dominant power structure. Finally, “armed struggle” is a strategy utilized by an insurgent movement to gain state power through military means. All of the forms of armed resistance defined above were employed in Mississippi during the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, with the exception of armed struggle. The use of guns is not necessary in my definition, only the use of force. Guns are merely technology utilized during a particular moment in history. Fists, feet, stones, bricks, blades, and gasoline firebombs may all be employed to defend, protect, or protest.

Akinyele Omowale Umoja - We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement

[rienfleche]

While often omitted from the historiography of the Black freedom movement, the concept of armed struggle and a Black underground has a long history

[radicaleducation]

We Will Shoot Back - Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement by Akinyele Omowale Umoja (2013)

The notion that the civil rights movement in the southern United States was a nonviolent movement remains a dominant theme of civil rights memory and representation in popular culture. Yet in dozens of southern communities, Black people picked up arms to defend their leaders, communities, and lives. In particular, Black people relied on armed self-defense in communities where federal government officials failed to safeguard activists and supporters from the violence of racists and segregationists, who were often supported by local law enforcement. In We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement, Akinyele Omowale Umoja argues that armed resistance was critical to the efficacy of the southern freedom struggle and the dismantling of segregation and Black disenfranchisement. Intimidation and fear were central to the system of oppression in Mississippi and most of the Deep South. To overcome the system of segregation, Black people had to overcome fear to present a significant challenge to White domination. Armed self-defense was a major tool of survival in allowing some Black southern communities to maintain their integrity and existence in the face of White supremacist terror. By 1965, armed resistance, particularly self-defense, was a significant factor in the challenge of the descendants of enslaved Africans to overturning fear and intimidation and developing different political and social relationships between Black and White Mississippians. This riveting historical narrative relies upon oral history, archival material, and scholarly literature to reconstruct the use of armed resistance by Black activists and supporters in Mississippi to challenge racist terrorism, segregation, and fight for human rights and political empowerment from the early 1950s through the late 1970s.

Read it here

[serious2020]

The 1946 Columbia ‘Race Riot’ [Listen to: Afrikan Resistance!]

The 1946 Columbia ‘Race Riot’ [Listen to: Afrikan Resistance!]

This is interesting.

Reminds of the book, ” We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement,” by Dr. Akinyele Omowale Umoja

www.youtube.com/watch

[soulbrotherv2]

We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement by Akinyele Omowale Umoja

The notion that the civil rights movement in the southern United States was a nonviolent movement remains a dominant theme of civil rights memory and representation in popular culture. Yet in dozens of southern communities, Black people picked up arms to defend their leaders, communities, and lives. In particular, Black people relied on armed self-defense in communities where federal government officials failed to safeguard activists and supporters from the violence of racists and segregationists, who were often supported by local law enforcement. 

  In We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement, Akinyele Omowale Umoja argues that armed resistance was critical to the efficacy of the southern freedom struggle and the dismantling of segregation and Black disenfranchisement. Intimidation and fear were central to the system of oppression in Mississippi and most of the Deep South. To overcome the system of segregation, Black people had to overcome fear to present a significant challenge to White domination. Armed self-defense was a major tool of survival in allowing some Black southern communities to maintain their integrity and existence in the face of White supremacist terror. By 1965, armed resistance, particularly self-defense, was a significant factor in the challenge of the descendants of enslaved Africans to overturning fear and intimidation and developing different political and social relationships between Black and White Mississippians. 

  This riveting historical narrative relies upon oral history, archival material, and scholarly literature to reconstruct the use of armed resistance by Black activists and supporters in Mississippi to challenge racist terrorism, segregation, and fight for human rights and political empowerment from the early 1950s through the late 1970s. [book link]

[blacktalkradio]

The C.O.W.S. w/ Dr. Akinyele Omowale Umoja

The C.O.W.S. w/ Dr. Akinyele Omowale Umoja

Wednesday, October 1st 8:00PM Eastern/ 5:00PM Pacific

The Context of White Supremacy welcomes Dr. Akinyele Omowale Umoja. Dr. Umoja is a professor of African American Studies at Georgia State University. We’ll discuss his 2013 publication, We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance In The Mississippi Freedom Movement. Dr. Umoja’s text is an effort to counter the narrative that black southerners were…

[nyupress]

"The thought is, that everybody sat back and just took it..." 

WE WILL SHOOT BACK (NYU Press, 2013) sheds light on armed resistance in the South.