The Universal Zulu Nation Celebrates 37 Years

This past November marked the 37th Anniversarry of The Universal Zulu Nation, and Professor Dawn Elissa Fischer has written an article giving insight to the significance of the force that is UZN.

The Universal Zulu Nation Celebrates 37 Years
by Dawn Elissa Fischer

November is Hiphop History Month. The Universal Zulu Nation (UZN) celebrates 37 years on November 12, 2010. Events, rituals and remembrance will be planned all month long as November has long been donned Hiphop History Month. Events in NYC this year will also host anniversaries of X-Clan, celebrating 20 years as well as Hiphop culture itself, which is narrated to be in its 36^th year.

These are the times to reminisce and re-center on the key elements that make Hiphop fly and why one appreciates it in the first place. I <3 how Hiphop, more often than not, supports an antiracist agenda for human equality.  This agenda is intersectional with other identities that matter to me, including but not limited to gender, sexuality, socioeconomic class, language and citizenship. While not all Hiphop meets the mark for all intersections at all times (e.g., the oft-cited homophobia within certain Hiphop genres), there is a fundamental aesthetic in Hiphop to meet standards and transcend the status quo. It is at this nexus that many are attracted to Hiphop and operationalize it for redress and political mobilization.

The story of Afrika Bambaataa's founding of the UZN, explains Hiphop's genesis in past social movements as well as its influence on new social movements. Bambaataa, inspired by a number of black liberation movement art and cultural history, reformed gangs in the Bronx to unite and work for political causes as well as social service. Beginning as the Bronx River Organization and later The Organization in 1973, it was renamed Zulu Nation a year later. It became called the Universal Zulu Nation as its influence spread around the world.

UZN was founded amidst the aftermath of major structural violence that was exacted against the people of the Bronx by local government agencies and their corporate conspirators. It was founded after the "turbulent 1960s" in an era when families were suffering from policy influenced by the Moynihan Report, the Vietnam War and "Redlining."

UZN threw parties and other social events that gave youth a venue to explore and create culture that promoted recuperation rather than conflict. At meetings, UZN members gathered to construct lessons and political agendas akin to other national black political agendas (cf., the Black Panther Party Ten Point Plan, The Afro-American League Eight Point Plan). The "lessons" resonated with other spiritual organizations' "lessons" that were popular at the time, including but not limited to the Five Percent Nation (also called the Nation of Gods and Earths), the Nation of Islam, the Moorish Science Temple of America, Kemetic faith and philosophy, and Christianity, among other faiths and philosophies. UZN's Infinity Lessons are most often likened to the Five Percent Nation's teachings in popular writing.

                  There are Chapters with dedicated social programs all over the world in hundreds of nations ranging from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Tokyo, Japan. The constant touring of its artistic leaders such as Afrika Bambaataa along with the Infinity Lessons and other belief systems and practices associated with the organization keep its members active and committed. In this way, UZN is a prime example of a transnational social movement organization (TSMO). UZN's leadership (as well as its many members spread throughout the world) meet and plan in a similar manner that many NGOs in the NGO Forum of the United Nations do.

                  This month, take some time to reflect on the Infinity Lessons. Remember what attracted you to Hiphop, or if you were born in this culture, ask yourself why you choose to stay. Let us continue to honor our past and we work together for peace, harmony and unity in the future. Harambee.