SPRC x PRALER

On the 4th of December 2025, we began our collaboration with PRALER with a preliminary discussion on the legacies of post-colonialism in Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe. This transnational academic collaboration opened the space to rethink notions of a global community and postcolonial sovereignty in Africa. The speakers who led the discussion were George Shire, a cultural theorist and veteran of the Zimbabwean liberation war, and ​​K.Jean de Dieu Zabre, a Pan-African researcher and member of the Toega Internationalist Solidarity Centre Management Committee in Burkina Faso. 

“American and European archives will not liberate us, they eat their own children!” were the words spoken from Shire on the current state of post-colonial affairs. By drawing on his diasporic connections with Zimbabwe, he cautioned our western dependency to search for examples of liberation in the West. Instead, we must look to Africa for answers. In a similar way, Jean shared the different activities undergoing in the Toega centre to sustain postcolonial freedom in Burkina Faso.

Next Event 

Building on these initial conversations, our next event will explore the role of internationalist diplomacy as a tool for world-remaking. Bringing together community organisers, academics, researchers and activists, the workshop will create a space for knowledge exchange on the possibilities and practices of internationalist solidarity across borders.

The day will begin with an introduction to the concept of internationalist diplomacy from the event co-chairs, delving into the meaning, relevance and history of People to Peoples Internationalist Diplomacy (PPID). Followed by reflections from the SPRC – led by its researchers and students – on how universities can engage with and support internationalist approaches. Alongside opportunities for discussion and collaborative workshops, participants will explore the role of culture, art and creative practice in sustaining international solidarity. Through music, food and networking, the event seeks to foster meaningful connections that extend beyond the workshop itself.

At the heart of this collaboration is a commitment to building and sustaining global solidarity through reciprocal learning and collective action. We hope to create spaces where knowledge is shared from the ground up, recognising the expertise held within communities, movements and lived experience alongside that of academic institutions.

We also seek to bridge the divide between academia and action. Universities remain important spaces for preserving and accessing archives, histories and knowledge that can help us understand the struggles for liberation across time and place. Yet archives are never complete; they are shaped by relations of power and often leave important voices, experiences and forms of knowledge unheard. By bringing academic research into dialogue with organisers, activists and communities, we hope to illuminate these silences and create new forms of knowledge that are grounded not only in historical records, but also in lived experience and collective action. Through this exchange we aim to strengthen internationalist solidarities capable of responding to contemporary challenges.