Blood in the Streets, Banners on the World Stage

U.S. officials have chosen to operate outside the bounds of law and basic morality — from supporting Israel’s genocide in Gaza and illegal settlement expansion, to launching a direct military strike on Venezuela that kidnapped President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, to escalating repression against migrants and racialized communities inside the U.S. that has led to murder. These are not isolated policies, but interconnected expressions of an empire that relies on illegal violence abroad and domestically to enforce dominance. Friday January 23rd was one of the largest labor mobilizations in recent U.S. history with 10s of thousands of Minnesotans taking to the street to end the tyrannical violence of ICE and its anti-immigrant operations.

One day later, ICE agents in Minnesota have murdered another person — this time a 37-year-old man. The federal government is systematically violating the most fundamental of human rights: the right to life. While federal officials run cover for their crimes, state and local officials do nothing but stand by, make statements but take no action. We must demand that these democratically elected officials act immediately to defend their constituents and combat all attempts to clean the image of this neo-fascist state.

This includes the World Cup, which should not be used to launder state violence or normalize genocide and international gangsterism. We must hold state and local authorities accountable and demand they use their power to defend the human rights and safety of the people they claim to represent. Organizations and people of conscience must demand that FIFA move the games out of the U.S. and take a stand for people-centered human rights rather than empire, repression, and impunity. Sign the petition demanding that FIFA and the IOC ban the U.S. and Israel from hosting or participating in international sporting events.

bit.ly/BANFIFA

More information on the printable 1-pager here. 

The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns U.S. Convictions of Uhuru 3 As A Fascist Farce

The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns U.S. Convictions of Uhuru 3 As A Fascist Farce

After being forced to acquit Omali Yeshitela, Jesse Nevel, and Penny Hess – the “Uhuru 3” – on being agents of Russia, a U.S. federal court jury resorted to the sham conviction of “conspiracy,” in what amounted to them being guilty of internationalism and the work of liberating African people. The state’s claim is that the defendants are guilty of “planning to sow discord and inflame American political tensions at the behest of Russia,” a charge carrying a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Although the conspiracy charge is being regarded as the less serious of the two changes, it presents a threat to all anti-imperialists and internationalists working in the bowels of the capitalist, U.S. settler state. “Conspiracy” is a U.S. legal fiction that can mean almost anything. From the definition, it is clear that determining what counts as conspiracy is often left up to the creativity of prosecution. In other words, “conspiracy” should be understood as the state deploying anything vague and circumstantial to use against our movement when it cannot get a conviction on anything else. 

The Black Alliance for Peace sounds the alarm about the danger this particular ruling represents – the severe undermining of the human right to free speech and the free flow of information. It is the creation of Orwellian, totalitarian legal precedence in support of “thoughtcrimes,” the offense of thinking in ways not approved by the U.S. settler state.

The trial of the “Uhuru 3,” members and supporters of the African People’s Socialist Party, is “proving to be one of the most important First Amendment cases thus far in the 21st century,” according to the group’s attorney Jenipher Jones. The case also exposes the fact that the U.S. has no regard for human rights. It violates Articles 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which protects the right to freedom of expression and opinion and freedom of association, as does Article 19 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

It is also significant that a small Pan-Africanist group is the first to face legal charges and other overt repression for speaking out against the racist and imperialist policies of the U.S. regime. 

After the verdict Omali Yeshitela said:

“The most important thing is that they were unable to convict us for working for anybody except Black people, that's the most important thing. They could not convict us for working for anybody except black people. They had to say we were not working for the Russians and I am willing to be charged and found guilty of working for black people.”

But BAP suspects that this is a test case for what is to come from the racist U.S. settler state. All activists and anti-imperialists should be concerned about what has happened to the “Uhuru 3.” 

As we declared in our September 10th statement: “BAP and our movement will not be intimated. We recognize that the complete abandonment of constitutional and human rights by the U.S. and other Western states represents an irreversible crisis of legitimacy. We will continue to stand in support of the right to resist as a core human right.”

No Compromise!
No Retreat!

BAP Coordinating Committee