Ken Olende
@kenolende.bsky.social
Writer on history, race and politics. PhD researcher. Tai Chi teacher.
Ten best books read in 2025 (not in order).
MOUNTBATTEN’S SAMURAI / BRING JUDGMENT DAY / TRANSCRIPTION / MY COUNTRY AFRICA / THE OWL SERVICE / SAINT LEIBOWITZ & THE WILD HORSE WOMAN / BOUND FOR THE PROMISED LAND /PALESTINE, IMPERIALISM & THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM / LAST ON HIS FEET / BLACK SPARTACUS
MOUNTBATTEN’S SAMURAI / BRING JUDGMENT DAY / TRANSCRIPTION / MY COUNTRY AFRICA / THE OWL SERVICE / SAINT LEIBOWITZ & THE WILD HORSE WOMAN / BOUND FOR THE PROMISED LAND /PALESTINE, IMPERIALISM & THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM / LAST ON HIS FEET / BLACK SPARTACUS
January 1, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Ten best books read in 2025 (not in order).
MOUNTBATTEN’S SAMURAI / BRING JUDGMENT DAY / TRANSCRIPTION / MY COUNTRY AFRICA / THE OWL SERVICE / SAINT LEIBOWITZ & THE WILD HORSE WOMAN / BOUND FOR THE PROMISED LAND /PALESTINE, IMPERIALISM & THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM / LAST ON HIS FEET / BLACK SPARTACUS
MOUNTBATTEN’S SAMURAI / BRING JUDGMENT DAY / TRANSCRIPTION / MY COUNTRY AFRICA / THE OWL SERVICE / SAINT LEIBOWITZ & THE WILD HORSE WOMAN / BOUND FOR THE PROMISED LAND /PALESTINE, IMPERIALISM & THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM / LAST ON HIS FEET / BLACK SPARTACUS
The Review of African Political Economy special issue on the great anti-colonial thinker Frantz Fanon is now out, with many fascinating pieces. It includes my article ‘Frantz Fanon, Kenya’s anti-colonial rebellion and the role of the working class’. www.scienceopen.com/hosted-docum...
Frantz Fanon, Kenya’s anti-colonial rebellion and the role of the working class
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<i>The Wretched of the Earth</i> (1961), Frantz Fanon used Kenya’s ‘Mau Mau’ independenc...
www.scienceopen.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:14 PM
The Review of African Political Economy special issue on the great anti-colonial thinker Frantz Fanon is now out, with many fascinating pieces. It includes my article ‘Frantz Fanon, Kenya’s anti-colonial rebellion and the role of the working class’. www.scienceopen.com/hosted-docum...
Just saw wonderful Laurie Anderson at London’s Roundhouse supported by wonderful Lonnie Holley and Maria Somerville. First concert I’ve ever been to that finished with a tai chi form!
November 8, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Just saw wonderful Laurie Anderson at London’s Roundhouse supported by wonderful Lonnie Holley and Maria Somerville. First concert I’ve ever been to that finished with a tai chi form!
Reposted by Ken Olende
I’m in this piece talking about the Manchester links with the fifth Pan African Congress…
‘A sense of freedom’: 80 years on from the Pan-African Congress in Manchester
‘A sense of freedom’: 80 years on from the Pan-African Congress in Manchester
The legacy of this pivotal event in Black history continues to echo across countries and generations with its call for unity
www.theguardian.com
November 2, 2025 at 2:56 PM
I’m in this piece talking about the Manchester links with the fifth Pan African Congress…
Twenty odd books on race and racism in Britain from the 60s & 70s turn up at the Oxfam shop. Surely I already have enough books on this subject? “No, Precious! We needs them all!!”
October 9, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Twenty odd books on race and racism in Britain from the 60s & 70s turn up at the Oxfam shop. Surely I already have enough books on this subject? “No, Precious! We needs them all!!”
Reposted by Ken Olende
Mocking Gaza's murdered babies on national television.
We are living through a depraved period of history.
But this is what genocides do.
They're only possible because of the dehumanisation of their victims.
New post 👇
www.owenjones.news/p/mocking-ga...
We are living through a depraved period of history.
But this is what genocides do.
They're only possible because of the dehumanisation of their victims.
New post 👇
www.owenjones.news/p/mocking-ga...
Mocking Gaza's murdered babies on national TV
A nauseating case study into the dehumanisation of Palestinians
www.owenjones.news
October 7, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Mocking Gaza's murdered babies on national television.
We are living through a depraved period of history.
But this is what genocides do.
They're only possible because of the dehumanisation of their victims.
New post 👇
www.owenjones.news/p/mocking-ga...
We are living through a depraved period of history.
But this is what genocides do.
They're only possible because of the dehumanisation of their victims.
New post 👇
www.owenjones.news/p/mocking-ga...
Went for a walk round Connaught Water in Epping Forest (by London) and saw a figure in the water. We pulled it out and it’s Chinese Taoist wealth god Caishen (財神). I hope he sends us some wealth for rescuing him. I believe people send paper boats out on lakes for luck.
October 5, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Went for a walk round Connaught Water in Epping Forest (by London) and saw a figure in the water. We pulled it out and it’s Chinese Taoist wealth god Caishen (財神). I hope he sends us some wealth for rescuing him. I believe people send paper boats out on lakes for luck.
Local fatcat in our back garden demanding entry (and presumably food), but behind them is a portentous Bergmanesque memento mori!!!
September 26, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Local fatcat in our back garden demanding entry (and presumably food), but behind them is a portentous Bergmanesque memento mori!!!
Remembering my Dad, Shem Arungu-Olende, on what would have been his birthday. Here we are newly arrived in London in the mid 1960s. Behind us is the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens (& Dad is the one with the cool hat) .
September 23, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Remembering my Dad, Shem Arungu-Olende, on what would have been his birthday. Here we are newly arrived in London in the mid 1960s. Behind us is the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens (& Dad is the one with the cool hat) .
Reposted by Ken Olende
30th national protest in central London against the ongoing starvation and ethnic cleansing in Gaza
September 6, 2025 at 3:01 PM
30th national protest in central London against the ongoing starvation and ethnic cleansing in Gaza
1/11 There is a lot of bunk talked about Victory in Japan Day. The media wants to recall the forgotten British Army left thousands of miles from home and how the Japanese were the most brutal imperialists, no one wants to mention a strange alliance between the defeated Japanese and the British…
August 15, 2025 at 5:08 PM
1/11 There is a lot of bunk talked about Victory in Japan Day. The media wants to recall the forgotten British Army left thousands of miles from home and how the Japanese were the most brutal imperialists, no one wants to mention a strange alliance between the defeated Japanese and the British…
1/3 Finally finished #BLACKSPARTACUS, the magnificent biography of #ToussaintLouverture by #SudhirHazareesingh. The detail it goes into is remarkable showing his (occasionally contradictory) revolutionary development. If you only read one book #CLRJames’ #BLACKJACOBINS is still it, but to fully…
August 13, 2025 at 4:32 PM
1/3 Finally finished #BLACKSPARTACUS, the magnificent biography of #ToussaintLouverture by #SudhirHazareesingh. The detail it goes into is remarkable showing his (occasionally contradictory) revolutionary development. If you only read one book #CLRJames’ #BLACKJACOBINS is still it, but to fully…
1/4 George Orwell wrote in 1944 on extreme belief about who was in the pay of who, ‘Anyone acquainted with the [far right/fascist] type will know that no assurance, no demonstration, no proof of the most solid kind would ever convince the writer of this that [left wing paper Orwell wrote for]…
August 9, 2025 at 8:40 PM
1/4 George Orwell wrote in 1944 on extreme belief about who was in the pay of who, ‘Anyone acquainted with the [far right/fascist] type will know that no assurance, no demonstration, no proof of the most solid kind would ever convince the writer of this that [left wing paper Orwell wrote for]…
Reposted by Ken Olende
This juxtaposition says it all.
August 9, 2025 at 5:22 PM
This juxtaposition says it all.
‘At home, racism, nativism, and xenophobia have been bolstered by learned ignorance of imperial history.’ #PaulGilroy in his introduction to #StuartHall: Selected writings on Race and Difference. LEARNED IGNORANCE is a great term here
July 28, 2025 at 2:47 PM
‘At home, racism, nativism, and xenophobia have been bolstered by learned ignorance of imperial history.’ #PaulGilroy in his introduction to #StuartHall: Selected writings on Race and Difference. LEARNED IGNORANCE is a great term here
While celebrating Cleo Laine’s jazz, recall her racial legacy. Born 1927 in London to a Jamaican dad and a white mum (disowned by her family). Laine & husband John Dankworth fought racism through the Stars Campaign for Interracial Friendship. Read about it in Rick Blackman’s Forty Miles of Bad Road!
July 26, 2025 at 6:58 PM
While celebrating Cleo Laine’s jazz, recall her racial legacy. Born 1927 in London to a Jamaican dad and a white mum (disowned by her family). Laine & husband John Dankworth fought racism through the Stars Campaign for Interracial Friendship. Read about it in Rick Blackman’s Forty Miles of Bad Road!
Online meeting to discuss recent Kenyan uprising tomorrow (Sunday). Annoyed I won’t be able to attend as in London we have anti-fascist protest (so I hope it is recorded).
July 26, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Online meeting to discuss recent Kenyan uprising tomorrow (Sunday). Annoyed I won’t be able to attend as in London we have anti-fascist protest (so I hope it is recorded).
Reposted by Ken Olende
1/2 Since I last visited Glasgow’s #KelvingroveArtGallery and Museum has had a #BlackLivesMatter moment. There is a large noticeboard in the central hall admitting to links with enslavement. So now they mark empire related produce and have special exhibitions on colonised countries…
July 12, 2025 at 8:19 PM
1/2 Since I last visited Glasgow’s #KelvingroveArtGallery and Museum has had a #BlackLivesMatter moment. There is a large noticeboard in the central hall admitting to links with enslavement. So now they mark empire related produce and have special exhibitions on colonised countries…
In Glasgow’s #KelvingroveArtGallery, currently overrun by coachloads of multinational teenagers. In the cafe many are rearranging tables & creating mess. I see a mutinous ‘Pirate Jenny’ rage in the eyes of the 2 young female museum staff trying to keep some semblance of order. Hope all survive OK!
July 12, 2025 at 4:12 PM
In Glasgow’s #KelvingroveArtGallery, currently overrun by coachloads of multinational teenagers. In the cafe many are rearranging tables & creating mess. I see a mutinous ‘Pirate Jenny’ rage in the eyes of the 2 young female museum staff trying to keep some semblance of order. Hope all survive OK!
Reposted by Ken Olende
Emma Bernard, 33, from Ancoats, finds it difficult to decipher social situations at the best of times – yet has mysteriously managed to last three entire decades without playfully spanking a colleague.
Wow! Autistic woman who struggles to read a room manages not to sexually harass people
Despite having an autism diagnosis, a woman has survived a whole lifetime without sexually harassing anybody in the workplace, it has been reported. Emma Bernard, 33, from Ancoats, finds it difficult ...
thedailytism.com
July 10, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Emma Bernard, 33, from Ancoats, finds it difficult to decipher social situations at the best of times – yet has mysteriously managed to last three entire decades without playfully spanking a colleague.
Kenya police killed all ten confirmed fatalities during Saba Saba protests. The nationwide revolt continued with Saba Saba (7/7) demos commemorating attacks on democracy protesters on 7 July 1990. #Kenya #SabaSaba socialistworker.co.uk/internationa...
Police murder protesters in Kenya
Police murdered at least two protesters in the capital of Kenya, Nairobi on Monday. People came out to oppose president William Ruto
socialistworker.co.uk
July 8, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Kenya police killed all ten confirmed fatalities during Saba Saba protests. The nationwide revolt continued with Saba Saba (7/7) demos commemorating attacks on democracy protesters on 7 July 1990. #Kenya #SabaSaba socialistworker.co.uk/internationa...
Reposted by Ken Olende
The final tally from today’s protests in #Kenya. All killed or injured by the police. (KNCHR is the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights).
July 7, 2025 at 4:27 PM
The final tally from today’s protests in #Kenya. All killed or injured by the police. (KNCHR is the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights).
Jeremy Corbyn MP talking at the #Marxism2025 festival in London on why he’s launching a new party.
July 5, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Jeremy Corbyn MP talking at the #Marxism2025 festival in London on why he’s launching a new party.