What Was the Difference Between Marcus Garvey and Theodore Herzl?

I raise this question because both men have inspired me in my quest to establish Nchia Mababu, a homeland for Diaspora Africans, in Africa. Both men sought freedom, justice, and equality of opportunity for their tribe, just like I do today. Their differences were the reason Herzl succeeded immediately, while Garvey’s dream was deferred; until today.

Let’s start with the obvious difference. Marcus Garvey was an African, and Theodore Herzl was a European; and a Jew, which puts the ‘elephant in the room’, front and center.

To implement his plan for the Redemption of Africa, Marcus Garvey had to rely upon Africans in the Diaspora (the North, Central, and South Americas, as well as the Caribbean, who were poor, to help finance his campaign.

Theodore Herzl was financed by the ‘captains of industry’, and the ‘generals of finance’. (Please see the Wikipedia definition of Court Factor). The House of Rothschild’s Bank led the effort to financially support Herzl’s vision of a new State of Israel. (Incidentally, their bank also financed the construction of the Suez Canal (1859–1869) which buried a Nubian Empire; and which cut off 20% of Africa’s land mass to form ‘Arabia’. For you sceptics, please note that the 1917 Balfour Declaration was addressed to Lord Rothschild; assuring him that the British government stood behind his people’s quest for Israel, a homeland of their own.

More importantly, the British East India Company, and the Dutch West Indies Company, both financed by Rothschild banking interests, stood behind Herzl’s effort. The British East India Company laid waste to Asia, pillaging India and doping China, both of which provided additional revenue to finance their continued growth, via Colonialism, nee Capitalism. Simultaneously, the Dutch West Indies Company engaged in the immoral, brutal enslavement of imported Africans to work their plantations, throughout the Americas and the Caribbean, free of charge, for over 200 years.

Stolen land, and stolen people were, and are the basis for European hegemony today. It doesn’t take a genius to produce wealth if you have free land and free labor. Economically, Land + Labor = Produced Wealth, so there is no ingenuity in European wealth creation.

Their genius is the European ‘ruling elite’s’ ability to create and maintain false ideologies like; Democracy, Communism, Marxism, Capitalism, Socialism, Monarchy, Fascism, and last, but not least, Religion (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism, to name a few). Historian Will Durant and Comedian George Carling share 1st place for the best at showing the absolute contradictory teachings of each religion, but that is for another day.

Another difference between the two men is the fact that Marcus Garvey’s motivation was based on his clear assessment that our freedom could never be achieved by ‘integration’ into the European world, and particularly the American colony.

“…That is where the U.N.I.A differs from other organizations. I refuse to stultify my ambition, and every true Negro refuses to stultify his ambition to suit any one, and therefore the U.N.I.A decides it America is not big enough for two presidents, if England is not big enough for two kings, then we are not going to quarrel over the matter; we will leave one president in America, we will leave one King in England, we will leave one president in France and we will have one president in Africa. Hence, the Universal Negro Improvement Association does not seek to interfere with the social and political systems of France, but by the arrangement of things today the U.N.I.A refuses to recognize any political or social system in Africa except that we are about to establish ourselves.

The following quote from Chancellor Williams’ seminal work, The Destruction of Black Civilizations, 1974, expresses Marcus Garvey’s understanding regarding the same issue. This was said almost 50 years ago, and it is just as true today for people of all colors, not just so-called ‘black’ people.

“The outlook is grim. For the Black people of the world there is no bright tomorrow. The Blacks continue to live in their dream world of singing, dancing, marching, praying, and hoping — still trusting in the ultimate justice of the white man, but a thousand years hence their decedents will be substantially where the race was a thousand years before.

For the white people, still masters of the world, are not about to yield. They still own and control the wealth of Africa, directly and indirectly, and from it, along with that from other areas of the world, they have developed technologies and a world commerce [Capitalism] that assure them of continued white supremacy.

This phenomenal success, this unquestionable position of strength, derived from their conquests of others and their wealth, has led them to believe that they are, as a matter of fact, the superior people and therefore, the rightful rulers of this planet.

Why then should they be expected to yield? ‘Human Rights’? ‘Equal Rights’? What are these but narcotic slogans for the masses — even the white masses — which are quickly conceded as ‘ideals’ and ‘principles’ everywhere.”

Marcus Garvey was never an ‘integrationist’, and called for an immediate exodus to Africa. Initially, Herzl was an integrationist. He only became an advocate for a homeland for Jews when he, as a Jew, was rejected from being a member of the Aristocratic European world, particularly high German Society. According to Wikipedia, here is an excerpt regarding Herzl.

…According to Henry Wickham Steed, Herzl was initially “fanatically devoted to the propagation of Jewish-German ‘Liberal’ assimilationist doctrine”. However, Herzl came to reject his early ideas regarding Jewish emancipation and assimilation and to believe that the Jews must remove themselves from Europe. Herzl grew to believe that antisemitism could not be defeated or cured, only avoided, and that the only way to avoid it was the establishment of a Jewish state.”

On a final note regarding the differences between these two historically iconic men, it should be noted that Marcus Garvey’s UNIA never wavered from the principles Garvey established. Ironically, the principles Herzl established for Israel, were similar to Garvey’s, but were ‘lost in translation’. Just ask the Palestinians. Now back to Brother Garvey.

“We are not seeking, as I said before, to destroy or disrupt the society or the government of other races, but we are determined that 400.000,000 of us shall unite ourselves to free our motherland from the grasp of the invader. We of the Universal Negro Improvement Association are determined to unite 400,000,000 Negroes for their own industrial, political, social, and religious emancipation…we are determined to unite the 400,000,000 Negroes of the world for the purpose of building a civilization of their own.

…We are looking toward political freedom on the continent of Africa, the land of our fathers [and mothers]. The difference between the Universal Negro Improvement Association and other movements of this country, and probably the world, is that the Universal Negro Improvement Association seeks independence of government, while the other organizations seek to make the Negro a secondary part of existing governments. We differ from the organizations in America because they seek to subordinate the Negro as a secondary consideration in a great civilization, knowing that in American the Negro will never reach his highest ambition, knowing that the Negro in America will never get his constitutional rights.

…We should say to the millions who are in Africa to hold the fort, for we are coming 400,000,000 strong.” — Marcus Garvey, November 25, 1922

“Yes Africa, we are coming.” — Kojo Lumumba Bandele, January 18, 2023.

Please visit my blog at equism.net to access links to my 2 free books; I Am What Hate Produced; My Journey to Freedom in a Racist World, c 2020, and Capitalism Birthed Racism; When Racism Will End, and What Will Replace Capitalism: Equism is the Harbinger. c2022.

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Peace, Love, and Blessings (I am an atheist, but the definition of ‘Blessings’ has a special meaning to me because I am blessed.