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African Perspectives: New Dimensions of an Old Subject ---237
John Henrik Clark


Book Reviews ---------------- Reviewed by
Les Blancs ------------------ David E. Ness 245
Ghana Under Military Rule --- Kofi Ankomah 248
Just Before the Dawn -------- William H. Hayling M.D. 250
Recent Books - Africa ------- 252
Ernest Kaiser


AMONG OUR CONTRIBUTORS

The cover art is by twenty-three year old muralist and illustrator James Calvin. A graduate of the School of Visual Arts, New York City, Mr. Calvin is currently studying at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

David E. Ness is an English teacher and guidance counselor in New York City.His essay-review of Lorraine Hansberry's play, The Sign on Sidney Brustein's Window, appeared in FREEDOMWAYS Vol. 11, No. 4 (1971).

Kofi Ankomah is a Lecturer at Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, Achimota, Ghana.

William H. Hayling, M.D., former president of the New Jersey State Medical Association, is a life subscriber to FREEDOMWAYS.

Poems in this issue, written by Vietnam veterans, are from the book Winning Hearts and Minds: War Poems by Vietnam Veterans edited by Larry Rottmann, Jan Barry and Basil T. Paquet, published by 1st Casualty Press, 208 Dean St., Brooklyn, N.Y. 11217

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WINDOW TO THE WORLD

In this African-Asian issue of FREEDOMWAYS we have chosen the these "Window to the World" as an expression of modest effort to help the U.S. people break out of the parochialism and gross distortion of reality which color so much of the public debate and "dialogue." The urgency of such an emancipation of the American public mind can hardly be overstated.

Some of the material in this issue was provided by historically significant "International Seminar on Imperialism, Independence and the Social Transformation of the Modern World" held in New Delhi earlier this year. This was an international convocation of freedom fighters, scholars and scientist from many parts of the world, which provided a rich body of experience to serve as the basis for internationalizing the final stages of the struggle against colonialism and neo-colonialism.

From yet another source is Professor Mary Terrell's informed and timely article on Bangladesh. This is a most useful contribution to our Movement at this time, especially in the light of Maoist China's recent reactionary act vetoing the admission of Bangladesh to membership in the United Nations. This is but the latest evidence which strongly suggests that it is necessary to draw a sharp dissociation between the heroic Chinese People's Revolution and Maoism as an anti-revolutionary ideology.

The theme, "Window to the World," also provides the occasion for calling public attention to the need to restore normal, civilized diplomatic relations between the United States and the Republic of Cuba. The absurdity of maintaining a U.S. naval base on Cuban soil while at the same time forbidding U.S. citizens to visit Cuba is a kind of insanity in international relations which U.S. public opinion ought to reject. As long as Havana was a brothel for American tourists and black Cubans couldn't go to hotels in their own country, Cuba was held up as an ideal little country. The continued embargo by the United States government against the Cuban nation which has chosen the Socialist road of national development is an anachronistic policy which ought to be dumped into the rubbish heap of the past, where the Jim Crow signs now reside.

"Window to the World" also suggests another reality. That is that the whole world is watching the political behavior of the U.S. public as it prepares to cast its vote in the November presidential elections.

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