http://audioport.org en-us Host Davey D spoke with Pan African organizer Obi Egbuna Jr. and activist and cultural producer Russell Shoatz III about *Kotelemela Bolingo*, a two-album musical project honoring Assata Shakur and Pauline Opango Lumumba. Meaning resistance with love in Lingala, the collection features 30 songs across six genres. Egbuna explained that the project emerged from the Assata Shakur Cuba Defense Campaign and is also intended to support approximately 4,000 Cuban doctors serving throughout Africa. The guests highlighted Cubas often-overlooked contributions to African liberation, education and public health, including its response to Ebola, its medical missions across the Global South and its training of Zimbabwean teachers. The conversation also examined culture as a political battleground. Shoatz described the album as more than a tribute: it combines political education, mutual aid, intergenerational organizing and support for politically conscious artists. Davey connected the project to the tradition of Paul Robeson, the Black Arts Movement, Harry Belafonte and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who treated artists as essential movement partners. The guests contrasted that history with entertainment that glorifies gangsters, pimps and billionaires while erasing revolutionary struggle. Egbuna emphasized that the fight is ultimately about the power to define"whether Black people understand Cuba, Africa and liberation through their own history or through narratives manufactured by Hollywood and the U.S. government. Key takeaways: * *Kotelemela Bolingo* honors Assata Shakur and Pauline Opango Lumumba while connecting their legacies to contemporary liberation struggles. * The project supports Cuban doctors working across Africa and challenges dominant narratives about Cubas international role. * Shoatz emphasized that cultural projects should combine political education, mutual aid, intergenerational work and material support for artists. * Davey D argued that successful movements historically prepared artists to become informed public advocates rather than using them as last-minute entertainment. * Culture can either glamorize exploitation and erase resistance or become a powerful weapon for preserving history and advancing liberation. http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Pacifica Audioport Podcast Generator mrdaveyd@gmail.com (Davey D/Hard Knock Radio) omaclay@gmail.com (Audioport Admin) Mon, 10 Aug 2026 01:00:00 EDT mrdaveyd@gmail.com (Davey D/Hard Knock Radio) Mon, 10 Aug 2026 01:00:00 EDT http://audioport.org/index.php?op=program-info&program_id=334978 http://audioport.org/index.php?op=program-info&program_id=334978&file_id=378831 Host Davey D spoke with Pan African organizer Obi Egbuna Jr. and activist and cultural producer Russell Shoatz III about *Kotelemela Bolingo*, a two-album musical project honoring Assata Shakur and Pauline Opango Lumumba. Meaning resistance with love in Lingala, the collection features 30 songs across six genres. Egbuna explained that the project emerged from the Assata Shakur Cuba Defense Campaign and is also intended to support approximately 4,000 Cuban doctors serving throughout Africa. The guests highlighted Cubas often-overlooked contributions to African liberation, education and public health, including its response to Ebola, its medical missions across the Global South and its training of Zimbabwean teachers. The conversation also examined culture as a political battleground. Shoatz described the album as more than a tribute: it combines political education, mutual aid, intergenerational organizing and support for politically conscious artists. Davey connected the project to the tradition of Paul Robeson, the Black Arts Movement, Harry Belafonte and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who treated artists as essential movement partners. The guests contrasted that history with entertainment that glorifies gangsters, pimps and billionaires while erasing revolutionary struggle. Egbuna emphasized that the fight is ultimately about the power to define"whether Black people understand Cuba, Africa and liberation through their own history or through narratives manufactured by Hollywood and the U.S. government. Key takeaways: * *Kotelemela Bolingo* honors Assata Shakur and Pauline Opango Lumumba while connecting their legacies to contemporary liberation struggles. * The project supports Cuban doctors working across Africa and challenges dominant narratives about Cubas international role. * Shoatz emphasized that cultural projects should combine political education, mutual aid, intergenerational work and material support for artists. * Davey D argued that successful movements historically prepared artists to become informed public advocates rather than using them as last-minute entertainment. * Culture can either glamorize exploitation and erase resistance or become a powerful weapon for preserving history and advancing liberation.