No Retreat, No Compromise is the call the grassroots members of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) proclaim as we face the dogs of war, exploitation, and criminal imperialism. We fully expect the crisis of neoliberal capitalism to intensify as the rulers desperately attempt to salvage a world order that is rapidly changing to their disadvantage. 

But we know that in their desperation they will fall back on the one instrument that has been primarily responsible for their global hegemony - naked violence. 

It is imperative that the people of the U.S. Empire take clear moral and political positions in opposition to U.S. warmongering. The illegal and reckless attack on Qassem Soleimani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards of Iran, represents a dangerous escalation of rogue actions by the U.S. government that have been increasing in frequency over the last two decades, at home and abroad.

Yesterday the Trump regime established a military "surge" against the “enemy” in Afghanistan. Today it is bringing a military surge to the U.S. to fight the domestic enemy – the Black working class and poor - under the guise of fighting crime. We are clear, the real crime that the Trump surges are intent on fighting is the crime of resistance that historically has emerged from the African American peoples and the other colonized and nationally oppressed peoples. 

We will be ready. 

BAP is clear: we will not fight for the rich. We understand our objective interests as an oppressed people and will not be moved by appeals to national chauvinism meant to galvanize the poor and working class to support wars of choice initiated by the white supremacist colonial/capitalist oligarchy.  

BAP opposes war with Iran and is supporting the national mobilizations this weekend demanding No War on Iran and the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq. 

And BAP also calls on all progressive forces to join us to fight the domestic military surge, to oppose the training of U.S. police forces by the Israeli state, to struggle to shut down AFRICOM, to demand the closing of the over 800 U.S. bases worldwide, to advocate against the normalization of nuclear war, and to expose the collaboration of  self-defined "progressive and radical" forces with the U.S. war-state. 

The Trump Administration along with the Democrats are united in their objective interests, despite the impeachment charade, to support white power in the form of their imperialist agenda. But they need us – the people – as the cannon fodder and the passive supporters. 

They cannot have us. We will struggle against them, for ourselves and for humanity. 

Dr. King warned about the spiritual death of the U.S. with its addiction to war and militarism, its materialism and extreme social alienation, but he was wrong. 

The spiritual death of what became the United States occurred in 1619 when the settlers imported the first Africans and decided to expand beyond the coast of the country by force resulting in the monstrosity called the United States today.  

We who believe in freedom - in the possibilities of real democracy, of people-centered human rights, of peace and a livable planet - cannot wait. We must understand that our aspirations must be translated into concrete struggle. We must be clear: we cannot win without a sharp understanding of the forces of oppression that must be defeated. For BAP, it is obvious when we look in the mirror “while driving as Black” that the enemy is not the Iraqis, Russians, Syrians or Venezuelans.  

U.S. Out of Iraq and Afghanistan

Oppose the Trump Domestic Surge Targeting Black People

Stop the Department of Defense 1033 Program that Militarizes Police Forces

Shut Down AFRICOM and ALL U.S. and NATO bases

Cut Obscene Military Budget by 50%

YahNé, Paul, Jaribu, Vanessa, Netfa, Margaret, Brandon, Dedan and Ajamu

Black Alliance for Peace, Coordinating Committee