One of the foremost Black writers and intellectuals of his era, Claude McKay (1889-1948) was a central figure in Caribbean literature, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Black radical tradition. McKay's ...life and writing were defined by his class consciousness and anticolonialism, shaped by his experiences growing up in colonial Jamaica as well as his early career as a writer in Harlem and then London. Dedicated to confronting both racism and capitalist exploitation, he was a critical observer of the Black condition throughout the African diaspora and became a committed Bolshevik. Winston James offers a revelatory account of McKay's political and intellectual trajectory from his upbringing in Jamaica through the early years of his literary career and radical activism. In 1912, McKay left Jamaica to study in the United States, never to return. James follows McKay's time at the Tuskegee Institute and Kansas State University, as he discovered the harshness of American racism, and his move to Harlem, where he encountered the ferment of Black cultural and political movements and figures such as Hubert Harrison and Marcus Garvey. McKay left New York for London, where his commitment to revolutionary socialism deepened, culminating in his transformation from Fabian socialist to Bolshevik. Drawing on a wide variety of sources, James offers a rich and detailed chronicle of McKay's life, political evolution, and the historical, political, and intellectual contexts that shaped him.
Abstract
The last three decades have witnessed a burgeoning scholarship on Black radicalism in the United States and abroad. Much of it concerns Black radicalism’s relationship to international and ...transnational currents linked to the Soviet Union. The vast bulk of this literature is concerned with the years 1928–1935—dubbed the Third Period by the Communist International (Comintern). This essay registers and analyzes the responses of US-based Black radicals to the Russian Revolution, Comintern policies, and developments in early Soviet Russia and its successor, the Soviet Union (1922–91). It focuses on a moment truncated in the literature: the outbreak of both the February and October Revolutions of 1917 up to Vladimir Lenin’s death in January 1924. Important in its own right, that moment also laid the foundations for the later and more substantial involvement of African Americans in leftist politics in the United States. The essay examines the policies of the Bolsheviks—especially as articulated through the Comintern—that proved particularly compelling to Black radicals. What was Bolshevism’s attraction for Black radicals, both leftists and Black nationalists? The answer is less self-evident than it may at first appear. The profound impact of the “heroic period” of Bolshevism (1917–24) set in place Black radical loyalties to the Soviet Union that became entrenched and difficult to disavow.
If I know my own heart, I can truly say, that I have not a selfish wish in placing myself under the patronage of the American Colonization Society; usefulness in my day and generation, is what I ...principally court.Sensible then, as all are of the disadvantages under which we at present labour, can any consider it a mark of folly, for us to cast our eyes upon some other portion of the globe where all these inconveniences are removed where the Man of Colour freed from the fetters and prejudice, and degradation, under which he labours in this land, may walk forth in all the majesty of his creation - a new born creature - a Free Man! - John Brown Russwurm, 1829.John Brown Russwurm (1799-1851) is almost completely missing from the annals of the Pan-African movement, despite the pioneering role he played as an educator, abolitionist, editor, government official, emigrationist and colonizationist. Russwurm's life is one of firsts: first African American graduate of Maine's Bowdoin College; co-founder of Freedom's Journal, America's first newspaper to be owned, operated, and edited by African Americans; and, following his emigration to Africa, first black governor of the Maryland section of Liberia. Despite his accomplishments, Russwurm struggled internally with the perennial Pan-Africanist dilemma of whether to go to Africa or stay and fight in the United States, and his ordeal was the first of its kind to be experienced and resolved before the public eye.With this slim, accessible biography of Russwurm, Winston James makes a major contribution to the history of black uplift and protest in the Early American Republic and the larger Pan-African world. James supplements the biography with a carefully edited and annotated selection of Russwurm's writings, which vividly demonstrate the trajectory of his political thinking and contribution to Pan-Africanist thought and highlight the challenges confronting the peoples of the African Diaspora. Though enormously rich and powerfully analytical, Russwurm's writings have never been previously anthologized.The Struggles of John Brown Russwurm is a unique and unparalleled reflection on the Early American Republic, the African Diaspora and the wider history of the times. An unblinking observer of and commentator on the condition of African Americans as well as a courageous fighter against white supremacy and for black emancipation, Russwurm's life and writings provide a distinct and articulate voice on race that is as relevant to the present as it was to his own lifetime.
With high levels of obesity and related illness, improving the health of the nation is a major public health concern. This study aimed to identify factors that prevent healthy eating among doctors, ...and that are associated with satisfaction with catering services.
Cross-sectional survey of 328 NHS doctors working in two NHS Trusts with on-site hospital canteen. Questionnaire to establish perceived barriers to healthy eating, weekly use and satisfaction with the hospital canteen, lifestyle and dietary habits, gender, age, height, weight, job details, and affect.
70% of doctors reported using their hospital canteen each week, with 2 visits per week on average.Canteen opening times, lack of selection and lack of breaks were the most commonly perceived barriers to healthy eating. Availability of healthy options caused the most dissatisfaction. Only 12% felt the NHS was supportive of healthy eating. 74% did not feel their canteen advocated healthy eating. Canteen use is associated with younger age (r = -0.254, p < 0.0001) and health score (r = 0.123, p = 0.049).
Interventions to encourage regular meal breaks, eating breakfast and drinking more water each day need developing. Improved canteen accessibility and availability of healthy options at evenings and weekends may be beneficial.
Abstract
These two rare documents – one previously unpublished, the other published almost a century ago, never republished and still almost completely unknown – capture some key dimensions of the ...revolutionary thought of Claude McKay in the pregnant years after the Russian Revolution and the Great War. A committed revolutionary socialist and early advocate of Bolshevism, McKay urged Marcus Garvey, the founder and leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, the largest black organization the world has ever seen, to forge alliances with progressive whites in the common struggle against capitalism and imperialism while maintaining the autonomy and independence of the black movement. The second document, written for Garvey’s newspaper, Negro World, tells the poignant story of black (Caribbean, African and African American) and other non-white colonial veterans of the war living in London. McKay, residing in London at the time (he lived there for more than a year – 1919–21) highlighted the transformation in their political consciousness as a consequence of the racism they experienced while serving in the war and while living in London. The radicalization of these soldiers portended an upsurge in the anti-colonial struggle, McKay reckoned. And he was right. The import of these documents extends beyond the person of Claude McKay. They capture the pain as well as the yearning and optimism of millions around the world in the global turmoil that emerged out of the blood-soaked debris of the Great War and the aftermath of the October Revolution a century ago.
Between 1919 and 1921, Claude McKay (1889-1948), best known as a distinguished black poet and novelist, spent 14 months in London, a crucial and transformative moment in his life and work. Yet this ...is the least studied and understood period of McKay's life and oeuvre. Drawing upon newly discovered archival sources, the essay documents and analyses the extraordinary impact McKay's British sojourn had on his radicalisation. He met and befriended disgruntled black and colonial veterans of the Great War, spent most of his spare time at the International Socialist Club in the East End of London, a key venue for radicals of various stripes and nationalities. He became an important member of Sylvia Pankhurst's Workers' Socialist Federation, the first British group to embrace and join the Communist International (Comintern). He was at times the de facto editor of its newspaper, the Workers' Dreadnought, for which he penned some of his most remarkable articles (including his very first) and radical poems. The moment that McKay arrived in Britain and the radical milieu in which he lived and worked turned out to be profoundly influential in the decolonisation of his mind and his full embrace of revolutionary socialism in general and Bolshevism in particular.
The contemporary historical situation suggests fascinating parallels with that period of the 13th/7th century when the massive destruction of the Mongol invasions opened the way for popular new forms ...of Islamic life and practice that eventually spread Islam throughout Asia. Today, as in earlier periods of dramatic upheaval, we can witness those processes of inspiration and awakening that give rise to the spiritual pathways of future centuries, through each soul’s gradual discovery of its unique challenges and demands of ihsan.One way of describing this transformation, to use the Qur’anic language adapted by Ibn ‘Arabi, is in the terms of the process of spiritual realization (tahqīq) by which people discover their guiding inner relationship to those divine qualities or “Names” that eventually come to define the meaning and purpose of their lives. Through our life long movement of service (‘ibda) to the “Lord” (rabb) constituted by each divine Name, the transformation of the soul follows a familiar, naturally ascending trajectory. It begins with a curiosity drawing us toward some particular dimension of the Real (al-Haqq); then a compelling striving leading to heightened discipline and awareness; and ultimately to the creative manifestation of that devotion through the appropriate means of teaching, communication, and new communities of fellow- seekers—the Qur’anic “servants of the All-Merciful”—that slowly emerge from this shared spiritual work of devotion, discovery and creative response. Here we point to some ways this process of civilizational renewal is unfolding around the world, focusing on three of the most far-reaching of those divine Names: the “servants of the All-Wise” (al-Hakīm), in their exploring and deciphering the infinite Signs of God’s Wisdom “on the horizons”, in all of the sciences of nature and society; to those muhsinūn and “servants of the Beautiful” (al-Jamīl) whose creative acts of beauty help awaken that love and awe which mark the beginnings of each spiritual journey; or to those “servants of the Subtly-Gracious” (al-Latīf) whose lives are dedicated to deepening our understanding of the presence and meaning of each of the divine Signs “in our souls,” in the emerging science of spirituality. These “servants of the all- Merciful” and their communities are themselves the first seeds of an emerging global civilization.
Although several trials of early dexamethasone therapy have been completed to determine if such therapy would reduce mortality and chronic lung disease (CLD) in infants with respiratory distress, ...optimal duration and side effects of such therapy remain unknown.
The purpose of this study was: 1) to determine if a 3-day course of early dexamethasone therapy would reduce CLD and increase survival without CLD in neonates who received surfactant therapy for respiratory distress syndrome and 2) to determine adverse effects associated with such therapy.
This was a prospective multicenter randomized trial comparing a 3-day course of dexamethasone therapy beginning at 24 to 48 hours of life to placebo therapy. Two hundred forty-one neonates (dexamethasone n = 118, placebo n = 123), who weighed between 500 g and 1500 g, received surfactant therapy, and were at significant risk for CLD or death using a model to predict CLD or death at 24 hours of life, were enrolled in the trial. Infants randomized to receive early dexamethasone were given 6 doses of dexamethasone at 12-hour intervals beginning at 24 to 48 hours of life. The primary outcomes compared were survival without CLD and CLD. CLD was defined by the need for supplemental oxygen at the gestational age of 36 weeks. Complication rates and adverse effects of study drug therapy were also compared.
Neonates randomized to early dexamethasone treatment were more likely to survive without CLD (RR: 1.3; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.7) and were less likely to develop CLD (RR: 0.6; CI: 0.3, 0. 98). Mortality rates were not significantly different. Subsequent dexamethasone therapy use was less in early dexamethasone-treated neonates (RR: 0.8; CI: 0.7, 0.96). Very early (</=7 days of life) intestinal perforations were more common among dexamethasone-treated neonates (8% vs 1%).
We conclude that an early 3-day course of dexamethasone therapy increases survival without CLD, reduces CLD, and reduces late dexamethasone therapy in high-risk, low birth weight infants who receive surfactant therapy for respiratory distress syndrome. Potential benefits of early dexamethasone therapy at the dosing schedule used in this trial need to be weighed against the risk for early intestinal perforation.
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