On May 19, the world commemorated the centenary of Malcolm X, who remains a towering figure among the 20th-century revolutionaries that fought to dismantle systems of repression and degradation. His contributions to the struggle against racist oppression, his advocacy for the right to self-defense, and his unwavering demand for self-determination for the Black diaspora have left an indelible mark on the history of liberation movements.
Malcolm X continues to symbolize revolutionary resistance and militant struggle by the exploited and oppressed. Revered as “Our Shining Black Prince,” el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz—Malcolm X—embodied the justified rage and rebellious spirit of the Black Nation. Even 100 years after his birth, his ideas continue to light the path to freedom. Because he advocated revolution and armed self-defense, he has often been obscured and vilified in dominant narratives.
A brilliant and penetrating thinker, Malcolm was relentless in his pursuit of knowledge and constantly evolving in his ideas. In the ongoing fight against racism, colonialism, and capitalism, his positions remain more relevant than ever. A self-taught intellectual from a working-class background, he envisioned a world where the exploited and oppressed could govern their own lives and reclaim what was denied to them because of class and race. As an organizer, Malcolm was exceptional—creating networks and institutions, both religious and secular, across the U.S., and forging strong bonds between the Black Liberation Movement and national liberation movements across the world.
Born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925, he grew up amid Jim Crow segregation and Ku Klux Klan terror. His parents were taken from him during childhood, and his siblings were separated. He left school after the eighth grade when a white teacher crushed his aspirations to become a lawyer using deeply racist language.
Malcolm X was deeply shaped by Garveyism, raised within the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)—the largest Black organization in the Americas. His father, a UNIA leader, was murdered by a collusion of police and KKK-style vigilantes. As a young man, Malcolm worked various jobs but also turned to crime, eventually serving over six years in prison. There, he educated himself and joined the Nation of Islam (NOI), adopting the name Malcolm X. Upon release, he quickly rose through the ranks, organized against police brutality, and dramatically expanded NOI’s membership. His growing influence brought him under FBI surveillance.
Malcolm was inspired by Paul Robeson and followed his life closely while in prison. It is no surprise that he found alignment with Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam. Like the UNIA, the NOI championed Black dignity and solidarity with anti-colonial movements worldwide. The NOI’s vision of a separate Black nation aligned with the “Black Belt Thesis” once advanced by the Communist Party and Black communist Harry Haywood.
Though initially a proponent of Black nationalism, Malcolm’s philosophy evolved. He ultimately rejected the NOI’s vision of separatism, criticizing its calls for a “Black state” and advocating instead for a society based on equality for all. After breaking from the NOI, he abandoned the term “Black nationalism,” recognizing its limitations and denouncing the NOI’s capitalist leanings.
Malcolm X served as a catalyst for many liberation movements, including the Black Panther Party, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Black Liberation Army, the Young Lords, and the Republic of New Afrika. Although assassinated 60 years ago, his phrase “by any means necessary” continues to echo in struggles across the globe. His transition from Islamic separatism to Marxist internationalism marked a key shift in his political life.
Internationalism was central to Malcolm’s vision. As minister of Harlem’s NOI mosque, he regularly engaged with African diplomats and liberation leaders, often inviting them to speak to Harlem audiences. He welcomed figures like Kwame Nkrumah and Fidel Castro, and met with leaders including Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, Guinea’s Sekou Touré, and Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda. He also met Patrice Lumumba and Algeria’s Ahmed Ben Bella.
After leaving the NOI, Malcolm deepened his efforts to forge global alliances. He toured Africa and visited Gaza, meeting with leaders of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. His efforts to link the Black Liberation struggle with anti-colonial and anti-imperialist movements alarmed the U.S. government. In 1964, the State Department contacted the CIA to investigate his circle, while the FBI, in coordination with President Lyndon B. Johnson, monitored him closely.
Malcolm studied post–World War II revolutions and recognized the shifting world order. He witnessed anti-colonial uprisings in China, Algeria, Vietnam, and Cuba, the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, and the Bandung Conference of 1955—all of which reshaped his worldview. He came to understand the interconnectedness of global struggles and the rise of U.S. imperialism as the dominant capitalist force. His views increasingly emphasized internationalism and class unity.
In a lesser-known visit to Gaza in September 1964, Malcolm toured the Khan Younis refugee camp and later wrote “Zionist Logic,” in which he likened Zionism to a new form of colonialism threatening both Palestine and newly liberated African states. This was an early gesture of solidarity with the Palestinian people against the U.S.-backed Israeli regime.
Malcolm saw the United Nations as a venue to raise the plight of oppressed Black Americans and envisioned a global united front against imperialism. He admired Mao Zedong and the Chinese Revolution. He noted that Mao welcomed his comrade Robert F. Williams—who had armed himself in defense against white supremacists in North Carolina—and issued statements supporting Black struggle in the U.S. Malcolm saw China as a model of revolutionary transformation and praised its eradication of “Uncle Toms.”
Malcolm was also a fierce critic of capitalism. He argued, “It is impossible for capitalism to survive, primarily because the system needs some blood to suck... it can only suck the blood of the helpless.” He warned that as formerly colonized nations gained independence, capitalism would weaken and ultimately collapse. In one forum, when someone stated that the real enemy of justice and equality was capitalism, Malcolm called it “the most intelligent answer I’ve ever heard on that question.”
His support for armed self-defense offered a vital counterpoint to the Civil Rights Movement’s nonviolent approach. Malcolm’s recognition of the systemic violence inflicted on Black communities laid the groundwork for groups like the Black Panther Party and Black Power activists.
Despite his deep internationalist vision, Malcolm was overly optimistic about the support that post-colonial states might provide to other oppressed peoples. In reality, few states have fulfilled this role consistently—perhaps with the partial exception of Gaddafi’s Libya, which had its own contradictions. It is also worth questioning how Malcolm’s speech at Oxford was facilitated by BBC-aligned Eric Abraham, who later supported U.S. military intervention in Grenada.
Though Malcolm advocated African-Asian unity, such coalitions were thwarted by colonial-state opposition and internal contradictions.
In the final months of his life, Malcolm was negotiating with SNCC, speaking in Alabama, and hosting activists like Fannie Lou Hamer in Harlem. He was scheduled to speak in Jackson, Mississippi at an SNCC event just days after his assassination. His outlook had shifted decisively toward anti-imperialist internationalism. Despite ideological differences, he sought unity with Civil Rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., proposing joint efforts to bring human rights violations before the UN. Dr. King was, by then, reciprocating this outreach.
Until his death, Malcolm worked to build connections with forces both in the U.S. and globally to combat racism, colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism. He emphasized forming lasting organizations and infrastructure to challenge these systems. He also exposed the hypocrisy of liberalism under President Johnson—highlighting U.S. aggression in Vietnam, the role of the two-party system in diffusing social movements, and the entrenchment of white supremacy. He condemned American democracy for its complicity in violence, including the murders of civil rights workers like James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner in 1964.
Just a month before his assassination—believed to have been orchestrated by the U.S. government—Malcolm declared, “It is incorrect to classify the revolt of the Negro as simply a racial conflict of Black against white or as a purely American problem. Rather, we are today seeing a global rebellion of the oppressed against the oppressor, the exploited against the exploiter.”
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*Freelance journalist
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