A Zone of Peace Campaign Statement in Solidarity with the Nicaraguan People

Zone of Peace Campaign Congratulates Nicaragua on the National Day of Peace April 19, 2024

April 18, 2024. On the 6th anniversary of the violent coup attempt perpetrated against the people and government of Nicaragua, the organizations of the Zone of Peace Campaign extend their solidarity to the people and government of Nicaragua and in particular, the victims of the terrorism, which was paid for by the US and European governments and implemented by their lackeys within Nicaraguan territory in order to destabilize the country. (See witness testimony here). 

While we mourn the loss of life, severe damage to the Nicaraguan economy and infrastructure, and the violent tactics used to terrorize the Nicaraguan people, we celebrate that our Nicaraguan sisters and brothers defeated this attack on their self- determination and a stable peace has returned to the country.

The United States has been intervening militarily in Nicaragua since the mid-1800s. In more recent years, the empire disguises its attacks in the form of hybrid warfare—a combination of coordinated disinformation, unilateral coercive measures, and attempts to isolate the country internationally–all applied with veiled threats of renewed violence. These tactics are used against any country that asserts its sovereignty, such as Cuba and Venezuela. In fact, the so-called “popular uprising” in Nicaragua in 2018 was based on the guarimbas of Venezuela in 2014 and 2017; and the July 11, 2021 protests in Cuba were orchestrated from social media platforms in the U.S., like the 2018 protests in Nicaragua. 

Unilateral coercive measures, commonly called “sanctions,” have devastated the economies of Cuba and Venezuela, and are threatening to do the same to Nicaragua as they continuously escalate. While human rights agencies at the service of empire criticize Nicaragua for prosecuting those who have committed crimes against the people, they ignore the many Nicaraguans who are enjoying more rights than ever in the history of the nation: the right to food, clean water, health, education, housing, land, food sovereignty, employment, and peace. While agencies at the service of empire turn a blind eye to the public genocide taking place in Gaza, Nicaragua is continuing its tradition of defending our peoples at the International Court of Justice.

We categorically reject all unilateral coercive measures, especially against the anti-imperialist countries of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, as well as campaigns to encourage mass migration:

The American dream is sold to further destabilize our countries that are fighting and stoically resisting a new strategy to depopulate our countryside and our cities. These measures are an attack on our development models and our capacity to produce our own food.” (Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Organizaciones del Campo–CLOC)

The US government is punishing these peoples for exercising self-determination and delivering the same people-centered human rights that all the peoples of the Americas demand. We celebrate the peace that has returned to Nicaragua and congratulate the Nicaraguan people and government on April 19, the National Day of Peace.

Hands Off Nicaragua!

¡Que Viva Nicaragua Libre y en Paz!

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La Campaña de Zona de Paz Felicita al Pueblo de Nicaragua en El Día Nacional de la Paz, 19 de Abril, 2024

18 de abril de 2024. En este 6to aniversario de la violenta intentona golpista perpetrada contra el pueblo y gobierno de Nicaragua, las organizaciones de la campaña Zona de Paz extienden su solidaridad con el pueblo y gobierno de Nicaragua y en particular con las víctimas del terrorismo, pagado por los gobiernos de Estados Unidos y Europa e implementado por sus lacayos dentro del territorio nicaragüense para desestabilizar el país. (Ver el testimonio de los testigos aquí).

Aunque lamentamos la pérdida de vidas humanas, los graves daños causados a la economía y las infraestructuras nicaragüenses, y las violentas tácticas empleadas para aterrorizar al pueblo nicaragüense, celebramos que nuestros hermanos y hermanas nicaragüenses derrotaran este ataque contra su autodeterminación y que se restableciera una paz estable en el país.

Estados Unidos lleva interviniendo militarmente en Nicaragua desde mediados del siglo XIX. En los últimos años, el imperio disfraza sus ataques en forma de guerra híbrida: una combinación de desinformación coordinada, medidas coercitivas unilaterales e intentos de aislar internacionalmente al país, todo ello aplicado con amenazas veladas de reanudar la violencia. Estas tácticas se utilizan contra cualquier país que afirme su soberanía, como Cuba y Venezuela. De hecho, el llamado “levantamiento popular”; en Nicaragua en 2018 se basó en las guarimbas de Venezuela en 2014 y 2017; y las protestas del 11 de julio de 2021 en Cuba fueron orquestadas desde plataformas de las redes sociales en Estados Unidos, al igual que las protestas de 2018 en Nicaragua.

Las medidas coercitivas unilaterales, comúnmente llamadas “sanciones”;, han devastado las economías de Cuba y Venezuela, y amenazan con hacer lo mismo en Nicaragua a medida que se intensifican constantemente. Mientras las agencias de derechos humanos al servicio del imperio critican a Nicaragua por procesar a quienes han cometido crímenes contra el pueblo, hacen caso omiso a los muchos nicaragüenses que disfrutan de más derechos que nunca en la historia de la nación: el derecho a la alimentación, al agua potable, a la salud, a la educación, a la vivienda, a la tierra, a la soberanía alimentaria, al empleo y a la paz. Mientras las agencias al servicio del imperio se hacen la vista gorda ante el genocidio público que sucede en Gaza, Nicaragua continúa su tradición de defensa de nuestros pueblos ante la Corte Internacional de Justicia.

La Zona de Paz rechaza categóricamente todas las medidas coercitivas unilaterales, especialmente contra los países antiimperialistas de Cuba, Nicaragua y Venezuela, así como las campañas para fomentar la migración masiva:

“El sueño americano se vende para desestabilizar aún más a nuestros países que luchan y resisten estoicamente una nueva estrategia para despoblar nuestros campos y nuestras ciudades. Estas medidas atentan contra nuestros modelos de desarrollo y nuestra capacidad de producir nuestros propios alimentos”. (Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Organizaciones del Campo-CLOC)

El gobierno de EE.UU. castiga a estos pueblos por ejercer la autodeterminación y respetar los derechos humanos centrados en las personas—los mismos que exigen todos los pueblos de Nuestra América. Celebramos la paz que ha regresado a Nicaragua y felicitamos al pueblo y gobierno nicaragüense este 19 de abril, Día Nacional de la Paz.

Hands Off Nicaragua!

¡Que Viva Nicaragua Libre y en Paz!

BAP’s Africa Team and U.S. Out of Africa Network Applauds Niger’s Move to Expel AFRICOM

—La traduction en français se trouve ci-dessous

The Black Alliance for Peace’s Africa Team and U.S. Out of Africa Network Applauds Niger’s Move to Expel AFRICOM

The Black Alliance for Peace’s (BAP) Africa Team and U.S. Out of Africa Network (USOAN) commend Niger for its decision to expel the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). We urge all African nations to reject U.S. neo-colonialism and remove AFRICOM from their territories. AFRICOM's presence has led to an exponential increase in terrorism, with more civilian casualties resulting from AFRICOM strikes.

Niger's National Council for the Safeguarding of Our Homeland (CNSP) has declared the U.S. presence in their territory illegal, highlighting the erosion of Niger's sovereignty since the establishment of U.S. military bases in 2014. Despite Niger’s declaration, the U.S. refuses to leave, dismissing Niger’s position as Russian influence. Local organizations in Niger have openly denounced U.S. interference in the country's ongoing transition process and the people have demonstrated in front of the U.S. embassy in Niamey to demand the immediate departure of AFRICOM.

BAP and the USOAN emphasize the need for African people to control their continent's destiny and we oppose all foreign military and all forms of imperialist intervention in Africa. BAP also expresses concern over AFRICOM's plans to expand by placing new drone bases in Benin, Ivory Coast, and Ghana. We denounce such expansions and call for an end to all military agreements between African nations and the U.S.

BAP's Africa Team and USOAN will closely monitor the unfolding situation in Niger.
 

U.S. Out of Africa! Shut Down AFRICOM!

Traduction en français

L'équipe Afrique de l'Alliance Noire pour la Paix (BAP) et le réseau U.S.A. dégage!(USAON) saluent la décision du Niger d'expulser l'AFRICOM

L'équipe Afrique de l'Alliance Noire pour la Paix (ou BAP en anglais) et le réseau U.S.A. Dégage! (ou USOAN en anglais) félicitent le Niger pour sa décision d'expulser le Commandement américain pour l'Afrique (AFRICOM). Nous exhortons toutes les nations africaines à rejeter le néocolonialisme américain et à expulser l'AFRICOM de leur territoire. La présence de l'AFRICOM a conduit à une augmentation exponentielle du terrorisme, avec plus de victimes civiles résultant des frappes de l'AFRICOM.

Le Conseil national pour la sauvegarde de la patrie (CNSP) du Niger a déclaré illégale la présence des États-Unis sur son territoire, soulignant l'érosion de la souveraineté du Niger depuis l'établissement de bases militaires américaines en 2014. Malgré la déclaration du Niger, les États-Unis refusent de partir, et traitent la position du Niger comme une simple expression de l'influence Russe. Les organisations locales au Niger ont ouvertement dénoncé l'ingérence des États-Unis dans le processus de transition en cours dans le pays et la population a manifesté devant l'ambassade des États-Unis à Niamey pour exiger le départ immédiat de l'AFRICOM.

La BAP et l'USOAN soulignent la nécessité pour les peuples africains de contrôler le destin de leur continent et s'opposent à toute intervention militaire étrangère et à toute forme d'intervention impérialiste en Afrique. La BAP exprime également son inquiétude quant aux plans d'expansion de l'AFRICOM, qui prévoit d'installer de nouvelles bases de drones au Bénin, en Côte d'Ivoire et au Ghana. Nous dénonçons cette expansion et appelons à la fin de tous les accords militaires entre les nations africaines et les Etats-Unis.

L'équipe Afrique de la BAP et l'USOAN suivront de près l'évolution de la situation au Niger.

Les U.S.A. Dégage! ! A bas l'AFRICOM !

Banner photo: Demonstrators in Niger against France neocolonialism hold sign that reads “A Dieu La France” (courtesy pbs.org/newshour}.

We Call for the Respect of Haitian Popular Sovereignty and an End to Western Imperialist Intervention

We Call for the Respect of Haitian Popular Sovereignty and an End to Western Imperialist Intervention

A Zone of Peace Campaign Statement in Solidarity with the Haitian People

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA. 19 March 2024 – We denounce the ongoing attempts by Western imperialists to force an armed intervention and another illegitimate government on the Haitian people, as well as the collaboration of regional institutions in this intervention.

After months of the U.S., Core Group, and other imperialist collaborators working to execute an armed intervention into Haiti that they are now calling a “Multinational Security Service,” ex-de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry has resigned from his illegitimately-held position. Those countries calling for military intervention – the U.S., France, Canada – have created the conditions making military intervention appear necessary and inevitable. Now, this same imperialist cabal wants to appoint a favorable “transitional government,” without input from the Haitian people.

As organizations of the Zone of Peace Campaign, we also denounce the role of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) working in collaboration with Western imperialists to deny the Haitian people their national sovereignty and collective self-determination. CARICOM has continued to betray the people of Haiti – in their support of western intervention, through select states’ choice to send troops to Haiti, and by including western imperialists in “negotiations” to which popular Haitian movements and organizations were not invited. CARICOM must reverse its position to one that opposes armed intervention into Haiti, and supports the efforts of the Haitian people to assert their sovereignty and reclaim their country.

We also remind all peoples and organizations of our hemisphere about the Community of Latin America and Caribbean States’ (CELAC) 2014 declaration of Latin America and the Caribbean as a ‘Zone of Peace.’ We recognize the recent CELAC statement by President Pro-Tempore Xiomara Castro, who declared that any “military action that violates the Principle of Non-Intervention and the Respect of Popular Self-Determination” in Haiti must be rejected, and we urge the CELAC “Troika” of Honduras, St. Vincent & The Grenadines, and Colombia to stand firm against imperialist aggression and intervention. It is clear that guaranteeing a true Zone of Peace in Our Americas requires a rejection of imperialist intervention in Haiti and all of our nations. This also requires a recognition of the human dignity of the people of Haiti and refusal to succumb to sensationalist western media and politicians that dehumanize Haitians and disregard the longstanding, organized popular mobilizations against imperialist aggression. 

In addition to rejecting imperialist interventions and militarism, the call for a Zone of Peace in Our Americas means prioritizing People(s)-Centered Human Rights (PCHRs) in the Americas by observing the principles of national sovereignty, equal rights and self-determination of peoples. These are principles that must be defended through popular struggle. We, thus, support the statement of our comrades in MOLEGHAF, calling for organization and unity of revolutionary forces in Haiti against imperialist machinations.

Finally, we recognize and appreciate the forceful words of solidarity by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during and after the most recent CELAC meeting, which recognized that the current crisis is the result of western intervention and imperialist violence. President Maduro also called for “comprehensive economic and social support” and solidarity, instead of an intervention that will only cause more bloodshed.

As organizations of the Zone of Peace Campaign, we recently gathered in Bogota, Colombia, and agreed on the urgent need to support the people of Haiti and their popular mobilizations against ongoing imperialist violence. We call on all progressive, radical, and revolutionary movements and organizations across the Americas to support the Haitian people’s popular sovereignty and self-determination, to reject the “Multinational Security Support” mission, and to struggle for a peoples-centered Zone of Peace in Haiti and in all of Our Americas. 

Hands Off Haiti!

Signed,

Organizations of the Zone of Peace Campaign:

• Black Alliance for Peace

• Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration

• Caribbean Organisation for People’s Empowerment 

• Consejo por la Emancipación Plurinacional de Perú

• Diaspora Pa’lante Collective

• Friends of the ATC (Asociación de Trabajadores del Campo)

• Movimiento Evita

• Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition

• Observatorio de los Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos

• Proceso de Comunidades Negras – PCN

• Red de Organizaciones AfroVenezolanas

• Soli Puerto Rico

• World Beyond War

Llamamos por el Respeto de la Soberanía Popular Haitiana y al Fin de la Intervención Imperialista Occidental

Declaración de la Campaña Zona de Paz en Solidaridad con el Pueblo Haitiano

BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA. 15 de marzo de 2024 – Denunciamos los continuos intentos de los imperialistas occidentales de imponer una intervención armada y otro gobierno ilegítimo al pueblo haitiano, tal como la colaboración de instituciones regionales en esta intervención.

Después de meses de los Estados Unidos, el ‘Core Group’ y otros colaboradores imperialistas trabajando para llevar a cabo una intervención armada en Haití que ahora llaman "Servicio de Seguridad Multinacional" (MSS), el ex primer ministro de facto Ariel Henry ha renunciado a su cargo ilegítimamente sostenido. Esos países que piden la intervención militar – los Estados Unidos, Francia, Canadá – han creado las condiciones que hacen que la intervención militar parezca necesaria e inevitable. Ahora, esta misma camarilla imperialista quiere nombrar un "gobierno de transición" favorable, sin el consentimiento del pueblo haitiano.

Como organizaciones de la Campaña Zona de Paz, también denunciamos el papel de la Comunidad del Caribe (CARICOM) trabajando en colaboración con los imperialistas occidentales para negar al pueblo haitiano su soberanía nacional y su autodeterminación colectiva. CARICOM ha continuado traicionando al pueblo haitiano – en su apoyo a la intervención occidental, a través de la elección de estados selectos para enviar tropas a Haití, y al incluir a los imperialistas occidentales en "negociaciones" a las que no fueron invitados los movimientos y organizaciones populares haitianas. CARICOM debe revertir su posición a una que se oponga a la intervención armada en Haití, y apoye los esfuerzos del pueblo haitiano para afirmar su soberanía y recuperar su país.

También recordamos a todos los pueblos y organizaciones de nuestro hemisferio la declaración de 2014 de la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (CELAC) de América Latina y el Caribe como una ‘Zona de Paz’. Reconocemos la reciente declaración de la CELAC por parte de la Presidenta Pro Tempore Xiomara Castro, quien declaró que cualquier "acción militar que viole el principio de No Intervención y el Respeto a la Autodeterminación de los Pueblos" en Haití debe ser rechazada, y urgimos a la "Troika" de la CELAC de Honduras, San Vicente y las Granadinas, y Colombia a mantenerse firmes contra la agresión e intervención imperialista. Garantizar una verdadera Zona de Paz en Nuestra América requiere el rechazo de la intervención imperialista en Haití y en todas nuestras naciones. Esto también requiere el reconocimiento de la dignidad humana del pueblo de Haití y la negativa a sucumbir a los medios de comunicación occidentales sensacionalistas y a los políticos que deshumanizan a los haitianos y desprecian las movilizaciones populares organizadas de larga data contra la agresión imperialista.

Además de rechazar las intervenciones imperialistas y el militarismo, el llamado por una Zona de Paz en Nuestra América significa priorizar los Derechos Humanos Centrados en las Personas (PCHR por sus letras en inglés) en las Américas observando los principios de soberanía nacional, igualdad de derechos y autodeterminación de los pueblos. Estos son principios que deben ser defendidos a través de la lucha popular. Por lo tanto, apoyamos la declaración de nuestros compañeros en MOLEGHAF, quienes llaman por la organización y unidad de las fuerzas revolucionarias en Haití, contra las maquinaciones imperialistas.

Finalmente, reconocemos y apreciamos las palabras poderosas de solidaridad del Presidente venezolano Nicolás Maduro durante y después de la reunión más reciente de la CELAC, lo que reconoció que la crisis actual es el resultado de la intervención occidental y la violencia imperialista. El Presidente Maduro también llamó por un "apoyo económico y social integral" y por la solidaridad, en lugar de una intervención que sólo causará más derramamiento de sangre.

Como organizaciones de la Campaña Zona de Paz, nos reunimos recientemente en Bogotá, Colombia, y acordamos la urgente necesidad de apoyar al pueblo haitiano y sus movilizaciones populares contra la violencia imperialista en curso. Instamos a todos los movimientos y organizaciones progresistas, radicales y revolucionarios de las Américas a apoyar la soberanía popular y la autodeterminación del pueblo haitiano, rechazar la misión del MSS y luchar por una Zona de Paz centrada en los pueblos de Haití y de toda Nuestra América.

¡Fuera de Haití! ¡Hands Off Haiti!

Firmado,

Organizaciones de la Campaña Zona de Paz:

• Black Alliance for Peace

• Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration

• Caribbean Organisation for People’s Empowerment 

• Consejo por la Emancipación Plurinacional de Perú

• Diaspora Pa’lante Collective

• Friends of the ATC (Asociación de Trabajadores del Campo)

• Movimiento Evita

• Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition

• Observatorio de los Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos

• Proceso de Comunidades Negras – PCN

• Red de Organizaciones AfroVenezolanas

• Soli Puerto Rico

• World Beyond War

BAP- Baltimore and Ujima People's Progress Party Denounce Maryland’s Unjust Juvenile Justice Bill

The Black Alliance For Peace Baltimore Citywide Alliance and The Ujima People's Progress Party of Maryland strongly condemns Maryland House of Delegates for advancing House Bill 814. This legislation  revises consequences for children charged with crimes. Both House and Senate bills will broaden juvenile system oversight and expand the crimes for which young offenders aged 10 to 12 can be charged.

The final amendments to the legislation retreated from its initial proposal announced in January, which would have led to more children being drawn into the juvenile system. However, despite adjustments, the measures in the bill remain punitive and harmful. By introducing more and younger children into the criminal legal system, the legislation continues the hyper-criminalization of African (Black)  youth which does not effectively improve public safety. 

“The bill unfairly targets 10- to 12-year-olds without evidence of their significant contribution to crime. This will ultimately hurt African (Black) children, subjecting them to harsh consequences without addressing any of the underlying issues,” says Sheena Oliver, of Ujima People’s Progress Party, “It would also allow the same minors to be questioned without a parent or legal counsel being present.”

Nationally, the overrepresentation of African (Black) youth in the juvenile justice system is a glaring issue, with higher rates of arrest, detention, and incarceration compared to their white counterparts. Statistics reveal that despite comprising only 15% of all youth in the United States, African (Black) youth make up 42% of those in placement, highlighting the stark racial imbalance within the system.

This disparity is heightened by crime bills like this one, which will expand the spectrum of offenses for which young offenders can be charged. Furthermore it will increase prosecutorial power, and mandate harsher penalties, further contributing to the disproportionate involvement of African (Black) youth in the criminal justice system.

Maryland & Youth Criminalization

As the Baltimore Banner notes, despite substantial expenditures on juvenile incarceration, averaging $414,929 per child annually in Maryland, research suggests that incarceration has not effectively reduced youth crime. Instead, the state has increasingly adopted a rehabilitative approach, leading to decreased youth incarceration rates and a corresponding drop in criminal complaints against youth by 61% over the past two decades. Moreover, community-based support services have emerged as significantly cheaper and more effective alternatives to juvenile incarceration.

In Baltimore City, State Prosecutor Ivan Bates' advocacy for punitive measures aligns with his commitment to cracking down on nonviolent, low-level offenses, reflecting a punitive approach to addressing crime. Bates alleged that the Baltimore City state’s attorney’s office has seen a 99% increase in juvenile charges. Accounts from the head prosecutor cannot be accepted as fact, but serve as more than enough to justify his attempts to reverse many of the reforms made by Maryland State Senator Jill Carter. Bates repeatedly used the word “accountability" in reference to his plans to fast track criminal punishment processes for African youth. These measures include extending probation limits, electronic monitoring devices, and handing down harsher sentences.

While poverty rates are significant in Baltimore City (above the state average), the $330 million proposal for a police and fire department training facility, known as Cop City, should raise questions about the allocation of resources. Rather than addressing the root causes of poverty and crime through sustainable programs, the disproportionate targeting of youth , especially those from colonized communities like African (Black) youth, will only perpetuate cycles of incarceration.

“This proposed legislation to hyper criminalize youth following a proposal to build Cop City will only exacerbate these issues by prioritizing punitive measures over preventive and rehabilitative approaches,” says Black Alliance For Peace Baltimore Citywide Alliance member, Jameela Alexander 

Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy, echoes the sentiments of Bates. The two have worked together implicating youth as participants in organized crime. While they claim they are targeting juveniles, whom they suspect are acting under the instruction of adults, focus on youth crime has long been a part of county officials' “crack down on crime”. According to 2023 data, property and violent crime were up 41% for the first half of the year. Property crimes producing rapid carceral response from the state is not surprising. The Prince George’s County Police Department Chief, Malik Aziz, was quoted saying, “We cannot arrest our way out of a crime problem,” as recently as summer 2023. Yet around the clock media coverage surrounding carjackings and what is often characterized as an epidemic of violent crime is being met with a continued push for tougher laws. Prince George’s County, being predominantly African (Black), guarantees this will result in youth being funneled into the justice system as what has long been proven an ineffective solution to the reported rise in crime.

In neighboring Montgomery County, this phenomenon of juvenile criminalization has been targeted towards black youth. In the 2022-2023 school year, Black Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) students were nearly five times more likely to receive an out-of-school suspension or expulsion than white MCPS students.  This number is more than alarming, as African (Black) students only comprised 14 percent of the total student population in the 2022-2023 school year. The latest publication from the Office of Legislative Oversight in 2023 by Elaine Bonner-Tompkins, Ph.D., Senior Legislative Analyst, titled "Addressing 'Racial' Inequity in the School-to-Prison Pipeline," was released by Montgomery County. In the report  Bonner-Tompkins states , “Racial disparities persist, with Black students facing double the likelihood of suspension or referral to juvenile services compared to their enrollment share. These inequities are rooted in differential treatment within schooling and policing systems. The report advocates for structural solutions…”. Montgomery county’s former Superintendent Monifa B. McKnight in 2022 brought Montgomery county police officers back into public school. This was after local organizations struggled and won to get police out of schools for the first time in 19 years. 

The Schools and the police in Maryland are bedfellows in the criminalization of the youth. Montgomery county has taken the opportunity during an economic downturn to intensify their recruitment of police officers by offering a $20,000 sign on bonus, and making claims that there is a national shortage of police officers. Montgomery county does not apply these same strategies in recruitment with teachers saying they are overworked in 2021. In 2023 Teachers expressed their frustration about being overworked and the county not being able to hire enough substitute teachers and fill MCPS staffing shortages.

Conclusion 

In light of Washington, D.C.'s progression towards passing a crime bill and Maryland's consideration of placing an FBI headquarters in a predominantly African (Black) county, it becomes evident that the current leadership, predominantly comprised of the Black Misleadership Class, is spearheading the enforcement of oppressive measures of occupation. Despite the presence of 'First Black' governors, 'Black' mayors, and 'Black' state attorneys, this has amassed to nothing more than the overt criminalization of African (Black) youth and working-class communities. This trend of existing inequalities that perpetuate systemic injustices can be found in major cities across the country from New York City, to Atlanta to San Francisco, where misleaders in Blackface enact harsher sentences on African (Black) communities.

Those of us who understand what this means bear the most responsibility to speak out against yet another assault on the African (Black) masses. Despite what proponents of this legislation argue, this is absolutely being done with an intentional target on the backs of our vulnerable youth.  We have seen where such measures like HB 814 lead: more incarceration and less community based support which is the real answer to crime. This legislation ignores the data which showed crime trending downward, in favor of policy reminiscent of the Reagan presidency. Therefore, the Black Alliance for Peace and Ujima People’s Progress Party urge a rejection of this bill. Anything less would amount to challenging the definition of insanity which is to do the same thing and expect different results. We need different results and such will require different ideas not offered by either the Democratic or Republican parties. Join us to form and implement those ideas for a better future for our youth and community!

Banner photo: Image of juvenile justice bill on Maryland State House monitor, courtesy foxbaltimore.com

Black Alliance for Peace Says International Women’s Day Must be a Radical Call to Action Against Colonial Domination from Haiti to Palestine

Black Alliance for Peace Says International Women’s Day Must be a Radical Call to Action Against Colonial Domination from Haiti to Palestine

Historically, African (Black) women in the U.S. have contributed to social progress movements, including the fight against  racial oppression,  patriarchy, capitalist exploitation, western imperialism, and colonialism. Women’s struggle for peace and freedom has challenged the U.S.’ push for war and global dominance. During today’s commemorations for International Women’s Day, women celebrated for their achievements highlight a stark reality of how far our communities have departed from the Black Radical Peace tradition.

Since October 7, 2023, Israeli Occupation forces have murdered over 30,000 Palestinians and displaced millions more. Despite the International Court of Justice's ruling, the U.S. has continued to justify and support Israel in its ongoing genocide, employing individuals like Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield to consistently vote no on proposed U.N. Security Council ceasefire resolutions for a toothless “humanitarian pause”. Thomas-Greenfield's willingness to serve as a loyal Blackface of Empire disregards Palestinians as a whole but also the enduring suffering of Palestinian women under settler colonial occupation, who give birth to still-born babies at checkpoints, and face widespread instances of sexualized torture, rape, and castration, irrespective of gender identity.

Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre is celebrated as a “First Black” for Empire, but her Haitian family background obscures the fact that the Biden administration is pushing the latest call for occupation of Haiti. With the impending Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti, we must remember the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti ( MINSUH ) which occupied Haiti after the removal of democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haitian women experienced various forms of violence, exploitation, and marginalization. Haitian workers, predominantly women, have demanded wage increases and protested against the dehumanizing and demeaning sweatshops where they work. However, they have been met with paramilitary forces, used as a pretext for occupation, which will have detrimental effects on women.

Advocating regime change, supporting genocide, and signing draconian bills into law from Washington D.C to San Francisco, African (Black) women are being used as the faces of disparity and military proliferation, exacerbating the challenges faced by working-class African (Black) women. This is a blatant disregard of people-centered human rights and perpetuates full-spectrum domination, inevitably hindering the advancement of liberation struggles of colonized people worldwide. 

The contradictions of celebrating women's achievements while turning a blind eye to the suffering of colonized women, both domestically and globally, highlight the need to broaden the scope and meaning of International Women’s Day to make it a day of remembrance and resistance focused on the objective of overturning the structures and relationships imposed on the world by the Western colonial/capitalist system that degraded and dehumanized women across the planet. For BAP, International Women’s Day is a call to action. A clarion call to sharpen our weapons of opposition in order to strike at the heart of patriarchy, gender-based violence and capitalism.

Banner photo: black and white photo of 4 Black Panther women holding their fists up high ( courtesy aaihs.org).

Statement Against U.S. AFRICOM Airstrikes Feared to Have Killed 2 Cuban Doctors

Traducción al español

Statement Against U.S. AFRICOM Airstrikes Feared to Have Killed 2 Cuban Doctors

The National Network on Cuba, The Black Alliance for Peace, and Lowcountry Action Committee strongly condemn the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) airstrikes in Somalia reported to have killed 2 Cuban doctors. We demand the U.S. release all information about the bombing to Cuba and the victims’ families.

Cuba has deployed more than 600,000 health workers to 165 nations over the last six decades on medical missions. Two Cubans serving in Kenya, Dr. Assel Herrera Correa, a specialist in general medicine, and Dr. Landy Rodriguez Hernandez, a surgeon, were kidnapped there in 2019 and held in Jilib, southern Somalia. Unofficial sources reported that a U.S. drone strike in Jilib on February 15 killed the Cuban doctors; an AFRICOM spokesperson confirmed the bombing but would not confirm any civilian casualties. Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs approached the U.S. government through diplomatic channels on February 18, seeking information, and has yet to receive a response. The President of Cuba’s National Assembly is now traveling to Kenya to carry out urgent negotiations and confirm the status of the doctors’ lives. We will continue sharing in Cuba’s hope of finding the doctors alive until there is official confirmation to the contrary.

We call on the U.S. to cooperate with an investigation and to share all information about the attack with Cuba. This attack shows once again that Cuba’s foreign policy is to save lives, while U.S. foreign policy is to occupy, bomb, blockade, and destroy lives. As Cuban leader Fidel Castro famously said, “Our country does not drop bombs on other peoples, nor does it send thousands of planes to bomb cities…Tens of thousands of Cuban doctors have provided internationalist services in the most remote and inhospitable places…Doctors, not bombs.”

U.S. troops should not be occupying Africa in the first place, nor should they be in Cuba at Guantánamo Bay. Despite the disingenuous altruistic spin the U.S. puts on their stated purpose for AFRICOM, its real and only purpose is to use military power to impose U.S. control over African land, resources, and labor in service to Western finance capital. AFRICOM’s drone operations in Africa have only caused violence, vicious anonymity, and "collateral damage." Primarily in Libya and Somalia, the numbers of confirmed civilian deaths from drones are as high as 3,200 in these two countries, and studies have shown these conditions “have inadvertently aided the growth of terrorist groups in the region.”

We join the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and the Black Alliance for Peace in calling for an international “Zone of Peace” in the Americas. We stand in solidarity with all people facing imperialist violence, from Gaza to Guantánamo.

Unblock Cuba!

Let Cuba live! 

U.S. out of Africa and shut down AFRICOM!

Declaración Contra los Ataques Aéreos del AFRICOM Estadounidense Temidos por Haber Matado a 2 Médicos Cubanos

PARA PUBLICACIÓN INMEDIATA

28 DE FEBRERO DE 2024 – La Red Nacional sobre Cuba, La Alianza Negra por la Paz y el Comité de Acción de Lowcountry emitieron recientemente una declaración conjunta respecto a los ataques aéreos del Comando de África de EE.UU. (AFRICOM) en Somalia, que se informó han matado a 2 médicos cubanos. Por favor, vea la declaración a continuación:

La Red Nacional sobre Cuba, La Alianza Negra por la Paz y el Comité de Acción de Lowcountry condenan enérgicamente los ataques aéreos del Comando de África de EE.UU. (AFRICOM) en Somalia, que se informó han matado a 2 médicos cubanos. Exigimos que EE.UU. libere toda la información sobre el bombardeo a Cuba y a las familias de las víctimas.

Cuba ha desplegado más de 600,000 trabajadores de la salud a 165 naciones durante las últimas seis décadas en misiones médicas. Dos cubanos que servían en Kenia, el Dr. Assel Herrera Correa, especialista en medicina general, y el Dr. Landy Rodríguez Hernández, cirujano, fueron secuestrados allí en 2019 y retenidos en Jilib, sur de Somalia. Fuentes no oficiales informaron que un ataque de dron de EE.UU. en Jilib el 15 de febrero mató a los médicos cubanos; un portavoz de AFRICOM confirmó el bombardeo pero no confirmaría ninguna baja civil. El Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba se acercó al gobierno de EE.UU. a través de canales diplomáticos el 18 de febrero, buscando información, y aún no ha recibido una respuesta. El Presidente de la Asamblea Nacional de Cuba está ahora viajando a Kenia para llevar a cabo negociaciones urgentes y confirmar el estado de las vidas de los médicos. Continuaremos compartiendo en la esperanza de Cuba de encontrar a los médicos vivos hasta que haya una confirmación oficial de lo contrario.

Hacemos un llamado a EE.UU. para que coopere con una investigación y comparta toda la información sobre el ataque con Cuba. Este ataque muestra una vez más que la política exterior de Cuba es salvar vidas, mientras que la política exterior de EE.UU. es ocupar, bombardear, bloquear y destruir vidas. Como dijo famosamente el líder cubano Fidel Castro, “Nuestro país no lanza bombas sobre otros pueblos, ni envía miles de aviones para bombardear ciudades... Decenas de miles de médicos cubanos han brindado servicios internacionalistas en los lugares más remotos e inhóspitos... Doctores, no bombas.”

Las tropas estadounidenses no deberían estar ocupando África en primer lugar, ni deberían estar en Cuba en la Bahía de Guantánamo. A pesar del giro altruista deshonesto que EE.UU. pone en su propósito declarado para AFRICOM, su verdadero y único propósito es usar el poder militar para imponer el control de EE.UU. sobre la tierra, los recursos y el trabajo africanos en servicio al capital financiero occidental. Las operaciones de drones de AFRICOM en África solo han causado violencia, anonimato vicioso y "daños colaterales". Principalmente en Libia y Somalia, los números de muertes civiles confirmadas por drones son tan altos como 3,200 en estos dos países, y estudios han demostrado que estas condiciones “han ayudado inadvertidamente al crecimiento de grupos terroristas en la región.”

Nos unimos a la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños y la Alianza Negra por la Paz en el llamado a una “Zona de Paz” internacional en las Américas. Nos solidarizamos con todas las personas que enfrentan la violencia imperialista, desde Gaza hasta Guantánamo.

¡Desbloquear a Cuba!

¡Que Cuba viva!

¡EE.UU. fuera de África y cierre AFRICOM!

Banner photo: Side by side headshots of Dr. Landy Rodriguez and Dr. Assel Herrera, who were kidnapped in April 2019 by a terrorist group on the Kenya-Somalia border (courtesy plenglish.com).

Haiti Doesn’t Have a ‘Gang’ Problem, It Has a US Imperialism Problem w/ Dr. Jemima Pierre

Haiti doesn’t have a ‘gang’ problem, it has a US imperialism problem, says Dr. Jemima Pierre, Professor of Global Race in the Institute of Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice (GRSJ) at the University of British Columbia and a member of Black Alliance for Peace.

Pierre joins hosts of Break Through News, Eugene and Rania to discuss the nationwide uprisings in Haiti where thousands of demonstrators have flooded the streets calling for the ouster of the unelected Prime Minister Ariel Henry. The unrest follows Henry's call for foreign intervention in October 2022, which sparked repeated waves of protests. Heightened by a deepening humanitarian crisis under his leadership and Kenyan President Ruto’s pledge to send Kenyan police to Haiti, demands for Henry's resignation have intensified.

MOLEGHAF: Public Statement on the Current Situation in Haiti

MOLEGHAF: Public Statement on the Current Situation in Haiti

For Immediate Release     

Media Contact

communications@blackallianceforpeace.com
(202) 643-1136

FEBRUARY 12, 2024 – On February 6th, MOLEGHAF, the National Movement for Liberty and Equality of Haitians for Fraternity (Mouvement National pour la Liberté et L’égalité des Haïtiens pour la Fraternité), a member organization of the Black Alliance for Peace, released a statement that calls for support of the Haitian masses mobilizing for popular sovereignty, and vehemently rejects the continued attempts by the United States and the West to force a military intervention and occupation of Haiti. After the Kenyan High Court clearly and firmly declared this intervention unconstitutional, the U.S. and Kenyan President, William Ruto, have pushed ahead, determined to realize this plan over almost three years in the making.

The pretext for the consolidation of the occupation of Haiti is the escalating “gang” violence. However, MOLEGHAF argues that the real reason is for the U.S. and Core Group imperialists to maintain their criminal political agenda and keep Haiti under control: 

In the political context of recent times, there has been an alliance of armed groups, politicians, and the bourgeoisie, all collaborating to crush any form of popular resistance in the country….At a time when the popular masses are seeking ways to organize themselves, the criminal political agenda is simultaneously seeking ways to renew its power, with de facto President Ariel Henry receiving various types of support for holding fraudulent elections in the country.

As such, the U.S. and the UN/Core Group collude with the likes of Guy Phillipe, the political elite, and the PHTK to support quasi-paramilitary forces to churn fear and instability among the Haitian masses. Now that Haitian people are mobilizing once again to demand the unelected Ariel Henry step down from office, the crackdown has intensified. MOLEGHAF describes how this assault is creating a rapidly declining situation:

Trade is paralyzed, and bandits seize or violate people, killing the poor and vulnerable. Almost the entire population lacks access to basic necessities. This situation helps us understand, at a higher level, how the imperialist system uses gang warfare to systematically attack collective well-being projects.

In support of Haitian sovereignty and MOLEGHAF’s efforts, the Black Alliance for Peace joins the call for the masses in the heart of the empire to stand with Haiti against any foreign armed intervention. We also demand that the Kenyan government abide by its constitution and stay away from Haiti. We say No to Blackface Imperialism and Yes to Haitian Sovereignty!

The ICSGP Calls for Full Funding of UNRWA, Lifting of Blockade of Aid to Gaza and an End to Military Support for Israel

**** For Immediate Release ****

International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine Calls for Full Funding of UNRWA, Immediate Lifting of Blockade of Aid to Gaza and an End to Military Support for Israel

All individuals and states that are complicit in genocidal acts in Palestine must be held accountable.

CONTACT:

• Fuad Abu Saif, UAWC - Union of Agricultural Work Committees (Palestine), fuad@uawc-pal.org, +972599375445 (English, Arabic)

• Rosa Elva Zúñiga López, CEAAL - Latin American and Caribbean Council for Popular Education (Mexico), rosyz_secretariageneral@ceaal.org, +523339043788, (Spanish, Portuguese)

On January 26, 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) released its ruling in the case of South Africa v. Israel in which the court found there was sufficient evidence to support South Africa’s allegations of genocide against the Palestinian people (see our previous press release for more details) and rejected Israel’s claim to be acting in “self-defense.” The World Court ordered the state of Israel to “take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of” acts of genocide, including deaths, harm to mental and physical health and conditions that threaten the well-being of the Palestinian people, in effect, an order for a ceasefire. The ICJ also ordered the state of Israel to immediately provide humanitarian aid to people in Gaza.

The response by the state of Israel and its Western allies to the ICJ decision has not only been to deny that genocide is occurring but to double down on their genocidal acts. Israel has ramped up its attacks with an ongoing brutal military assault on civilians in the previously-designated “safe zones” of Khan Younis and Rafah, in the South of Gaza. It also falsely accused the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) of support for terrorism, following which the United States and Germany, along with Australia, Austria, Canada, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Romania, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom withdrew their financial support from the agency, which is struggling to serve as a lifeline for Gazans, the majority of whom are without homes, food, clean water, health care and other basic necessities. Meanwhile, the Biden administration is continuing its efforts to push through a USD $14.3 billion dollar military package to aid the Israel Occupation Forces in its genocidal operation, which has already killed over 27,000 civilians including approximately 12,000 children.

In light of the ICJ order and finding of a plausible risk of genocide, major international human rights organizations, practitioners of international law and experts on genocide have pointed out that the defunding of the UNRWA itself constitutes a genocidal act. The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention calls the defunding of UNRWA a “serious escalation” of the crisis in Gaza representing “a shift by several countries from potential complicity in genocide to direct involvement in engineered famine.” In its January 31 Statement on Recent Threats to UNRWA and the Shift between Potential Complicity and Direct Involvement in the Crime of Genocide against Palestinians by Several Nations, the Lemkin Institute asserts: “this action is tantamount to increased participation in the on-going genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and constitutes both a violation of the ICJ’s recent ruling and of the participating nations’ responsibilities under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (‘the Genocide Convention’).” It further states: “During a period of famine, to implement either permanent cancellation or a pause of funding potentially puts states that have previously committed funds in violation of the Genocide Convention.” This argument has been echoed by over 800 U.S. and European government officials in their recent “Transatlantic Civil Servants’ Statement on Gaza.”

States that are complicit in genocide can be sued through the Genocide Convention at the ICJ. Several state funders of UNRWA have opted to maintain their funding, despite U.S. and Israeli pressure to stop, including Belgium, Ireland, Denmark, Spain, and Norway. On Wednesday, Israel apparently retaliated against Belgium for its stance, by bombing and destroying Belgium’s federal government development agency (Enabel) building in Gaza.

Also on Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council debated the ICJ decision, but no steps were taken to sanction or otherwise pressure the state of Israel to stop its genocidal activities. Both at the Security Council meeting and at a separate press conference held in Pretoria by South African Foreign Minister Dr. GNM Pandor the same day, the South African government called on the nations of the world to submit declarations of intervention to the ICJ. Said Dr. Pandor: “South Africa welcomes the support expressed by several countries and we encourage States that are so inclined to approach the Court to intervene in the proceedings so as to send a strong message to the international community that the situation in the Gaza Strip is indefensible.”

The ICSGP urges social movements around the world to back South Africa’s request by applying maximum pressure to friendly governments to formally intervene on behalf of South Africa in their case against Israel, and to adamantly condemn governments that are actively participating in the genocide in Gaza by witholding funds from UNRWA, and demand the funds be reinstated immediately. The ICSGP commends Nicaragua for being the first nation to take formal steps to intervene on behalf of the South African ICJ case; and furthermore, for taking the bold step of putting countries that are complicit under the Genocide Convention on notice that they will be subject to legal action if they fail to desist. The ICSGP also urges social movements to continue to use the tactics of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions by pressuring governments and corporations that are sending money and/or weapons to Israel to immediately cease those genocidal activities.

“The recent offensive against UNRWA is a calculated continuation of a long-term strategy to dismantle this crucial agency. Initiated in 2014 by the Trump administration under Israeli government influence, this campaign not only sought to defame but also strategically cripple UNRWA through financial strangulation,” said Fuad Abu Saif, director of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (Palestine). He added, “These efforts are blatantly aimed at eradicating the Palestinian refugee issue and stripping Palestinians of their right to return. The hasty decisions by several Western nations to halt UNRWA funding on the grounds of mere suspicion is deeply disturbing and underscores the extent of Israeli coercion on these governments.”

Rosa Elva Zúñiga López, General Secretary of the Latin American and Caribbean Council for Popular Education (CEAAL) and representative of the World Social Assembly of Struggles and Resistances of the World Social Forum, states: 

The Palestinian people are living through the most heinous violence, which no human being should ever have to endure. Their occupiers have destroyed their lands, their history, and their common goods. We are extremely concerned about the decision by the United States and its allies to halt their funding of UNRWA, which makes them complicit in the genocide of a people fighting for their dignity. It is necessary and urgent to create as much pressure as possible for all humanitarian aid to be able to enter these lands. By cutting off UNRWA funds they affirm that they are orchestrating the annihilation of an entire group of people, and humanity cannot permit this. We need to be in the streets to demand a ceasefire, the opening of the borders and the Palestinian right to self-determination.

As we receive news of the Israeli Occupying Forces attacking aid trucks that enter the Gaza Strip, the ICGSP stresses the urgency of action to end the starvation and annihilation of Palestinians.

The ICGSP reiterates its demands that in compliance with international law:

●      The state of Israel must cease ALL genocidal acts, including inflicting starvation as a weapon of war, against Palestinians.

●      The UNRWA must be fully funded.

●      Humanitarian aid must be provided safely to all Gazans without delay.

●      All states, institutions and individuals that are complicit with genocide must cease their economic, political and military support for the state of Israel and be held accountable in courts of law.

*********************************************

Banner photo: Residents of Syria’s besieged Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp collecting aid, courtesy Sayed / AFP

Black Alliance for Peace’s U.S. Out of Africa Network Deplores Plans to Expand U.S. Drone Atrocities in West Africa

Black Alliance for Peace’s U.S. Out of Africa Network Deplores Plans to Expand U.S. Drone Atrocities in West Africa

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE     

Media Contact

communications@blackallianceforpeace.com

(202) 643-1136

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) and the U.S. Out of Africa Network (USOAN) opposes in the strongest terms the U.S. plans, in collusion with West Africa’s comprador class, to further violate Africa’s sovereignty and right to self determination in the form of three new military drone bases in Ghana, Ivory Coast and Benin. Further, we condemn the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) for not publicly renouncing this proposal in particular, and the existence of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) in general. Their silence around this development confirms their complicity and betrayal of Pan-Africanism and the interests of the African masses struggling against the ravages of neo-colonialism.

More U.S. drone bases in Africa spell more violence, vicious anonymity, and "collateral damage" from drone assassinations. It spells enhanced surveillance capabilities for imperialism to use against any threat to the neocolonial order. U.S. maneuvering to expand its already massive military drone operations is consistent with the U.S. incessant drive to wage war globally and its militarization of the planet. U.S. drone and air strikes in Africa have primarily been in Libya and Somalia with the numbers of confirmed civilian deaths from drones as high as 3,200 in these two countries, and studies have shown these conditions “have inadvertently aided the growth of terrorist groups in the region.” This is what the U.S. proposes now for West Africa.

There are clear and disturbing geostrategic implications regarding the countries they have chosen for these U.S. drone bases. The bases will form a border along the three countries of the Alliance of Sahel States – Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger – countries which have been adopting an anti-imperialist disposition. In fact, Burkina Faso’s entire southern flank would be surrounded by these U.S. drone bases. The last two administrations as well as members of Congress have clearly stated in policy declarations and legislation that the U.S.' primary objective in Africa is to counteract the presence and influence of China and Russia in order to maintain its full spectrum dominance of all regions of the world. This is also consistent with the Global Fragility Act that states the Biden administration’s first sites of focus would be Haiti, Libya, and "West African coastal states," where the U.S. seeks to place the drone bases.

The bases will not be there to end so-called terrorism of extremists in Africa; they will be there for the U.S. to terrorize the region. It is folly to believe that the settler criminals who rule the U.S. state, who can justify the genocidal assault on Gaza, and who systematically murder, sanction, and attack nations globally to maintain white supremacy and global capitalism, are spending hundreds of millions to “fight terrorism” in Africa.

Rather than “an urgent effort to stop the spread of al Qaeda and Islamic State in the region,” according to American and African officials, the USOAN contends that this is more likely a contingency plan to preserve drone capabilities in the event of losing their $110 million U.S. drone base in Agadez, Niger. Niger has also recently temporarily suspended the granting of new mining licenses and ordered an audit of the sector, a move that would invariably raise the eyebrows of the U.S.-EU-NATO axis of domination, concerned over the future of exploitative access to the mineral resources there, such as uranium. Resource sovereignty runs counter to the true colonialist objectives of U.S. foreign policy.

BAP and the USOAN call on all who support African sovereignty to denounce the U.S.’ latest imperialist moves in Western Africa as well as the neocolonial African governments and collaborators like the Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo who, face-to-face with U.S. Secretary Antony Blinken, openly begged for the U.S. to violate the sovereignty of the countries in the Alliance of Sahel States.

BAP and the USOAN will continue to expose the puppets of neocolonialism in Africa and the misleaders masquerading as Black representatives in the legislative branches of the U.S. setter state. We maintain that the U.S. and its Western Europe progenitors are the root cause and primary sustenance for the poverty, displacement, despair, and violence in Africa, born from decades of colonialist plunder.

 #ShutDownAFRICOM!

#USOutofAfrica!

Banner photo: 3 U.S. drones docked on an airfield in Asia. Courtesy didpress.com

NYT: Black Pastors Pressure Biden to Call for a Cease-Fire in Gaza

Black Pastors Pressure Biden to Call for a Cease-Fire in Gaza

Black congregants’ dismay at President Biden’s posture on the war could imperil his re-election bid.

By Maya King - Reporting from Atlanta and Columbia, S.C.

Jan. 28, 2024

As the Israel-Hamas war enters its fourth month, a coalition of Black faith leaders is pressuring the Biden administration to push for a cease-fire — a campaign spurred in part by their parishioners, who are increasingly distressed by the suffering of Palestinians and critical of the president’s response to it.

More than 1,000 Black pastors representing hundreds of thousands of congregants nationwide have issued the demand. In sit-down meetings with White House officials, and through open letters and advertisements, ministers have made a moral case for President Biden and his administration to press Israel to stop its offensive operations in Gaza, which have killed thousands of civilians. They are also calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas and an end to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.

…Full article con’t

International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine Welcomes Today’s ICJ Order; Demands its Implementation

****IMMEDIATE RELEASE****

International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine Welcomes Today’s ICJ Order; Demands its Implementation

The ICGSP encourages governments and global social movements to demand that provisional measures are enforced immediately

In its provisional ruling issued today on the South African Genocide Convention case against Israel, the International Court of Justice (ICJ—also known as the World Court) demanded Israel stop killing civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure and medical facilities; prevent and punish incitement to genocide by its top officials; and permit the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. The International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine (ICSGP) applauds the Court’s Order as a crucial first step toward forcing Israel and its primary sponsor and strongest political ally—the United States—to end the months-long brutal assault on Gaza, and the decades-long denial to Palestinians of their rights to self-determination and return. 

However, the ICSGP also recognizes that Israeli and U.S. government officials have made repeated official declarations in the past week making clear their plan to ignore the ICJ’s legally binding ruling and rejecting the Court’s process as illegitimate, and that the U.S. has been threatening world governments with sanctions and war—a promise it is making good on already by bombing Yemen—for opposing the ongoing genocide. The ICSGP also recognizes that numerous powerful state allies of the U.S. and Israel, including Germany and Canada, have already made clear their intent to back Israel against an ICJ finding of genocide. The dangerous rejection by the United States, Israel and their allies of this process—which was set up through the United Nations precisely to prevent genocide—undermines the legitimacy of that institution and in particular the U.N. Security Council, where the U.S. has long used its veto power as a tool to promote war and genocide. The ICSGP calls upon social movements to demand that world governments uphold international law and protect the integrity of the United Nations by ensuring that the ICJ’s provisional measures are immediately enforced, and to hold Israeli war criminals and their powerful U.S. accomplices accountable for genocide.

The ICSGP stands in full solidarity with its Palestinian coalition members, who have emphasized in their own statements today the need for governments and social movements around the world to double down in their efforts to bring the ongoing genocide in Gaza to an end. Dr. Luqa AbuFarah, North America Coordinator for the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), an ICSGP member organization, states:

“It's clear we have a moral obligation to take action and end our government's complicity with Israel's Gaza genocide. We must have the courage to speak out and take action to advance the struggle for justice. We must end US military funding to Israel which at $3.8 billion USD a year could instead provide more than 450,000 households with public housing for a year or pay for 41,490 elementary school teachers. I also hope that every person outraged with the blatant disregard for Palestinian life will join and escalate our BDS Campaigns and make sure companies know that complicity with Israeli apartheid and genocide is unacceptable. We must take action now more than ever!”

ICSGP, together with numerous legal and human rights organizations including coalition members The PAL Commission on War Crimes and The Global Legal Alliance for Palestine, held press conferences in New York and Chicago following the Court’s Order on the request for the indication of provisional measures this morning, expressing gratitude to South Africa for its steadfast support, and calling on all organizations and countries to support South Africa's legal actions against the Israeli military campaign.

Lamis Deek, cofounder the PAL Commission on War Crimes and convener of the Global Legal Alliance for Palestine, states:

“This historic decision changes international and domestic approaches—military, legal, and political—to stopping the genocide in Palestine. This verdict profoundly reshapes the geopolitical and legal topography, regardless of whether Israel complies or not. Following the Court's decision we must issue calls on state parties to the ICJ and the Genocide Convention as regards their compliance obligations, and address our legal colleagues and our communities regarding the next steps we think will be most critical on the heels of this decision.

The brutal Israeli genocide and torture in Gaza, alongside the targeted assassinations, destruction of civilian infrastructure including all of Gaza’s hospitals and universities, blocking of aid, and use of starvation and spread of disease as a war tactic, constitute a grotesque series of the highest war crimes. We commend the Court’s positive decision. The question now is how to deal with the anticipated US-Israeli obstruction of that decision.”

Monisha Rios, president of SOLI PR, an international network of Puerto Ricans focused on growing solidarity with the Puerto Rican struggle for independence and ICSGP member organization, states: 

“As Puerto Ricans directly involved in the struggle against U.S.-led settler colonial violence, land grabs and the ongoing neoliberal assault, we have a special obligation to stand in firm, unwavering solidarity with our Palestinian cousins. Not only does the Zionist entity’s genocidal regime in Palestine owe its existence as such to U.S. financial and political backing since its inception, Israel has also directly contributed with military technologies, weapons and police training to the violent repression of peoples fighting for self-determination against the U.S. and its puppet regimes around the world, and of Indigenous Peoples and descendants of enslaved African Peoples subject to structural apartheid within the continental United States. Israeli Zionists themselves have recognized the parallels between Palestine and Puerto Rico, for example with the Minister of Heritage—who publicly called for using a nuclear bomb in Gaza—recently calling for a “Puerto Rican” solution to Palestine. The South African Case at the World Court, and the Court’s decision this morning provide Puerto Ricans and colonized peoples around the world a unique opportunity—in recognizing our common struggle and joining together to fight against Zionist fascism, we have tremendous power to both stop the ongoing genocide against Palestinians, and to contribute to our own liberation by shifting the balance of global power away from the U.S. and toward the Global South.”

The ICSGP calls upon the over 2,000 organizational signatories to its original letter, and to social movements everywhere, to hold the profiteers and promoters of the Zionist genocide to account through concrete actions of boycott, divestment, and sanctions; to mobilize to demand the immediate enforcement of the ICJ’s Order of Provisional Measures and denounce accomplices to the genocide; and to continue to pressure all state parties to the Genocide Convention to issue Declarations of Intervention in support of the South African case at the ICJ.

Previous ICSGP press statements are available from January 17, January 8 and January 3, 2024.

Banner photo: Proceedings of the ICJ when ordering Israel to stop killing civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure and medical facilities ( courtesy AP /Patrick Post).

International Coalition Applauds South Africa; Denounces Countries Supporting Israel’s Crimes

****IMMEDIATE RELEASE****

International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine Applauds South African Legal Team; Denounces United States, United Kingdom and Germany for Supporting Israel’s Crimes

The ICGSP calls for three days of action this month: Stop the war on Yemen, support South Africa's case before the ICJ and oppose Germany siding with genocidaires.

CONTACTS:

• Netfa Freeman, Black Alliance for Peace, netfa@blackallianceforpeace.com, +1 301 938-4628

• Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, Progressive International, varsha.gandikota@gmail.com, +91 98735 38708

• Azhar Sakoor, Palestine Solidarity Alliance Youth League in South Africa, azhar@psayl.co.za, +27 81 046 7428

Last week, member groups of the International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine (ICSGP) organized activities around the world, including press conferences at The Hague and outside various South African consulates and embassies, to highlight and support the South African legal team as they presented their evidence of the state of Israel’s acts of genocide against Palestinians to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on January 11.

Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, who was at The Hague representing Progressive International, one of the ICSGP’s founding organizations, stated:

“Every single person who witnessed the hearing was left in no doubt that we were reading the most frightening document of our time and hearing evidence of the most gruesome, illegal, and genocidal assault.

In bringing this case to The Hague, South Africa has issued a resounding call to the Global South to break with the Zionist project and its inextricable links to the history of colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism.

This is not only Israel on trial. It is the ICJ on trial. It is a test of the humanity of the world and whether the institutions we’ve built to protect it — today, this court in The Hague — withstand the test of Western impunity.”

The ICSGP continues to expand with nearly 2,000 signatory organizations from 100 countries on the initial letter calling for mobilization in defense of South Africa’s strong case for genocide. Member organizations are working to press their governments to submit Declarations of Intervention to the ICJ in support of emergency provisional measures on Israel to stop the murder, maiming, starvation and displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and Occupied Territories in the West Bank. At present, countries that have publicly supported South Africa’s case include Algeria, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Comoros, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Maldives, Morocco, Namibia, Nicaragua, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Yemen and the Organization of Islamic Countries, which represents 57 nations.

The full text of the letter and an updated list of signers can be found here: https://bit.ly/Genocide_Convention_Letter Endorsements are still being accepted.

Only three nations have publicly denied that Israel is committing genocide, the United States, United Kingdom and Germany, despite the fact that the world is watching events happen in real time on social media and on outlets that have reporters on the ground. The state of Israel has tried to hide their crimes by targeting and murdering over 100 members of the media in Gaza, which is another violation of international law.

The US, UK and Germany have taken direct actions to stop support for the Palestinian liberation struggle. On January 11, the same day that South Africa presented its evidence at The Hague, the US and UK conducted 73 bombing raids on Yemen killing five people and injuring six. President Biden stated that the bombing is in retaliation for Yemen’s blockade of ships traveling through the Red Sea on their way to Israel. Yemenis view their actions as an obligation as signatories to the Genocide Convention to impose measures to stop Israel’s genocide. The illegal escalation of military aggression in Yemen by the US and UK adds fuel to the fire of a broader regional conflict.

In November, 2023, Germany started banning most demonstrations in support of Palestine. Despite that, thousands of people have taken to the streets across the country in defiance of the ban and in solidarity with Palestine. Hage Geingob, the President of Namibia, which was a victim of German genocide between 1904 and 1908, responded to Germany’s decision in a statement, writing, “Germany cannot morally express commitment to the United Nations Convention against genocide, including atonement for the genocide in Namibia, whilst supporting the equivalent of a holocaust and genocide in Gaza.”

Netfa Freeman, who is the Black Alliance for Peace African Team coordinator, said, “The position of Germany represents the moral confusion and hypocrisy of the current leadership in that state. But even more ominously, for a state that still has not completely atoned for its genocidal campaign against the people of Namibia, the German position in support of genocide in Palestine reaffirms the white supremacist core of German thought that fed the Nazi war machine. For the Nazis and the current leadership of Germany, African and Palestinian lives still don’t matter! “

Attorney Azhar Sakoor, Executive with the Palestine Solidarity Alliance Youth League in South Africa, a member organization of the ICSGP, states:

“We support the call for three days of action this month – calling to stop the war on Yemen, support South Africa’s case before the ICJ and oppose Germany siding with genocidaires.

In South Africa, the parallels between the history of South African Apartheid and the current occupation of Palestine by Israel can be clearly seen.

As South Africans, we felt incredibly proud to see our government hold Israel accountable at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), despite Israel being supported by world ‘superpowers’. South Africa called out current genocide in Gaza, acknowledged Israeli attacks in the West Bank, and also recognized the the Nakba. The significance of this cannot be underplayed.

From the case presented by South Africa at the ICJ, it is clear that not only has Israel ignored international law, they are also committing genocide.

It is no surprise to see countries like the USA, UK and Germany are openly supporting Israeli genocide, given their history as colonizers and occupiers. They continue to attempt to occupy the world, not by taking land, but by forcing their ideologies onto indigenous people across the world.

With the USA and UK attacking Yemen (one of the few countries actively trying to fight for Palestinian rights), we see the hypocrisy of the West, caring more for shipping lanes than for human life. We call for an end to the barbaric attacks of the USA and UK on Yemen and an end to the Israeli Genocide in Palestine.”

At the request of major Palestinian organizations and coalitions, the ICSGP has issued a call for three days of action, starting with an international day of action opposing the war against Yemen this Friday, January 19. The following week, on January 24, as we await the decision by the ICJ, there will be a day of action focused on supporting South Africa’s case and taking action to stop the genocide. On January 31, actions are being planned to protest Germany for its role in enabling the state of Israel to commit acts of genocide with impunity.

Previous ICSGP press statements are available from January 8 and January 3, 2024.

Banner photo: Protestors wave Palestinian flags during a demonstration march outside the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. ( courtesy AP /Patrick Post).

On this Human Rights Day, Let Us Remember that the U.S. is the Greatest Violator of Human Rights in the World

On this Human Rights Day, Let Us Remember that the U.S. is the Greatest Violator of Human Rights in the World

As the international community celebrates December 10th as International Human Rights Day, it is imperative that the world also affirm that violators of the fundamental human rights of peoples and nations will be held accountable.

From the war in Ukraine to mass incarceration of Black, Latino and Native Peoples in the U.S. to Obama’s ongoing war in Yemen to murderous economic sanctions, coups, assassinations, war and abandonment of Afghanistan, international arms sales, commodification of COVID vaccines, illegal military occupations in Syria and Iraq, the pending invasion of Haiti and the resource wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that have cost over six million lives. The one force behind all of this death and destruction is the United States’ culture of death. This culture is the same one that allowed millions – disproportionately working class, African, and racialized peoples – to die from COVID-19 with little support, and that fuels the wider U.S./EU/NATO Axis of Domination globally, fundamentally opposed to the fulfillment of true democracy and human rights.

The current genocide in Gaza and the destruction of Palestinian society and culture perpetuated by the Zionist state of Israel - in full view of the world - with the full support of the United States of America, demonstrates once again what Dr. Martin Luther King pointed out more than fifty years ago:  the U.S. continues to be the greatest purveyor of violence on the planet. The racist right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu could not carry out its genocidal policies in Gaza without the material and political support from the U.S.

Therefore, the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) calls on the international community to demonstrate that it will not allow the normalization of fascist genocidal violence that systematically destroys the credibility of the human rights idea, as well as the structures that are, theoretically, supposed to protect fundamental human rights.

The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1674 on April 28, 2006 that "reaffirmed” decisions from the World Summit of the previous year, where the concept of humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity was adopted. This resolution was framed as a strengthening of international mechanisms for ensuring that the interlinking principles of the United Nations Charter, peace, security, international development - but especially human rights - would be protected. 

The resolution commits the Security Council to act when civilian populations are being subjected to acts that constitute genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. 

The U.S. veto of the December 8, 2023 UNSC resolution calling for a ceasefire in order to address the humanitarian crisis impacting the occupied Palestinian population being subjected to ethnic cleansing and genocide, placed the U.S. in opposition to the very principles of the UN Charter and the international consensus on human rights.  

The people of the world are asking: where is the “humanitarian intervention” and “responsibility to protect” for Palestinians? The sacrifice of the people of Gaza dramatically exposes the cynicism, opportunism, and vacuousness of the Western human rights rhetoric. It is now absolutely clear that so-called humanitarian intervention to protect human rights only occurs when it is in the interests of white Western imperialism. 

The egregious crimes in Gaza should result in the U.S. and Israel being expelled from the United Nations at minimum. But beyond that, charges should be brought against the Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister and U.S. President Joe Biden along with his Secretary of State Antony Blinken, with immediate sanctions imposed on other Israeli and U.S. officials involved in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza. As a peace and human rights organization, we further call on all states to exercise the concept of Universal Jurisdiction to arrest and prosecute those named individuals. 

Yet, we do not see that kind of definitive action being executed by the states that make up the United Nations. 

This is also why on this Human Rights Day, the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) reasserts its commitment to the Black radical People(s)-Centered Human Rights (PCHRs) framework as an alternative to the individualistic, legalistic, conservative and state-centered liberal framework. For BAP, human rights are political, emanating from the demands of the people, collectively committed to social justice, authentic democracy, and self-determination.

As Ajamu Baraka, BAP’s Coordinating Committee Chairperson and leading theorist on PCHRs points out: 

“The idea that Western colonial/capitalist states were defenders of human rights struck many in the colonized South as either delusional or an affirmation that in the eyes of the West they were not human. For the colonized and racialized who were burned alive, tortured, and murdered by these champions of human rights, it was understood that whatever human rights were supposed to be they did not include the racialized and colonized peoples of the world.” 

And what are People(s)-Centered Human Rights?  

PCHRs proceeds from the assumption that the genesis of the assaults on human dignity at the core of human-rights violations is located in the ongoing structural relationships of colonial-capitalist oppression. Therefore, the PCHRs framework does not pretend to be non-political. It is a political project in the service of Africans, as well as the colonized working classes, peasants, and socially oppressed. It names the enemies of freedom: the Western white-supremacist, colonial-capitalist patriarchy.

This conception and practice of human rights is the only way for the human rights idea to have any relevance to oppressed nations, peoples, and even states victimized by the globalized colonial/capitalist world order.  

From this approach, human rights becomes a weapon for the oppressed and provides a vision of the new societies that must be constructed in order for fundamental human rights - the right to food, housing, health, education, the means to earn a living, leisure, and the rights of mother-earth - to be realized.

A fundamental right within the People(s)-Centered Human Rights framework is the collective right of the oppressed to fight their oppressor. This is the right being exercised by the Palestinian resistance against the illegitimate Israeli fascist apartheid occupation state.

Peace is also a fundamental PCHR. BAP’s call to support the demand to make the “Americas” a Zone of Peace was launched with this in mind. On this Human Rights Day, we say that the right of peoples and nations to self-determination in our region must be absolute to counter the hegemonic plans of the human rights monstrosity to the North – the United States of America where one of its military leaders, SOUTHCOM commander, Laura Richardson argues with a straight face why the racist, imperialist Monroe Doctrine is still applicable. 

As a strategic priority, BAP will launch its “North-South Project for People(s)-Centered Human Rights” under the direction of Ajamu Baraka on the commemoration of the assassination  of Malcolm X on February 21, 2024. The objective of the project is to liberate and decolonize human rights, grounding its creation, protections and implementation within the peoples of the world struggling for radical social change. In the meantime, BAP will continue to demand that the state-centered human rights regime take seriously its own mechanisms and principles and end the impunity for outlaw states like the U.S. and Israel.

Banner photo: Rohingya refugees including women and children cross from Myanmar into Bangladesh (courtesy UNICEF / LeMoyne).

Baltimore & Israel: A Global Gang of Colonizers

Baltimore & Israel

A Global Gang of Colonizers

From Haiti to Puerto Rico and from the Congo to Baltimore, African (Black) people suffer from colonialism. Current atrocities happening to the people of Gaza and the West Bank clearly show the colonial reality of life and death in Palestine. What we see daily in Palestine is a project to completely replace the indigenous population with a settler population. The attempt to exterminate the Palestinians is being carried through collusion between Israel, the U.S, the European Union, and all western powers. This is nothing less than a genocidal campaign to occupy Gaza, and slaughter Palestinians trapped in the world’s largest open air prison. Clearly  Palestine is a colony born of a Zionist imperialist project. What is not so clear are the ways that Zionism extends into African (Black) communities like Baltimore.

Zionism is a political movement with a racist western imperialist ideology. The Zionist movement was initiated with an 1895 pamphlet entitled Der Judenstaat written by an atheist Jew named Theodor Herzl. Herzl was a Jewish Austro-Hungarian journalist and political activist, known as the father of the Zionist movement. Herzl’s objective was to obtain a land base that could be utilized as a “Jewish” state with political and economic power.  In 1897, Herzl convened the first Zionist conference in Switzerland to launch the official program of Zionism, the Basel program. By 1917, the global Zionist campaign manifested in Switzerland as the Balfour declaration, named for the British Secretary of State for foreign affairs, Arthur Balfour. This declaration designated Palestine as the place for Jewish people to escape anti-Jewish fascism rising across the European continent.  

The establishment of the Zionist colonial state in Palestine was championed by Britain after World War II. The Zionist movement co-opted Judaism and used it to justify the theft of Palestine from the Palestinians. By 1948, the occupation of Palestine by Western European Jews had become solidified with the Nakba (the great catastrophe). During the Nakba, 750,000 Palestinians were violently removed from their lands and homes. Today, large segments of Palestinians are displaced in a global diaspora (more Palestinians live in Jordan than Jordanians). Palestinians who remain are relegated to specific territories within occupied Palestine; primarily the West Bank, Golan Heights, and Gaza Strip. These Palestinians are prisoners in their own land, living in the racist, settler colonial, murderous apartheid state of Israel.

USA & Israel: Policing the World

Sharing Police Tactics Between the U.S. and Israel

In Gaza, Palestinians are subject to over policing, constant surveillance, indiscriminate beating, incarceration, unjust killings, and unusable water. Baltimore and other U.S cities align themselves with these practices, they fund the Israeli occupation by paying Israelis to train the Baltimore Police Department (BPD). The Original Americans (Indians) are locked on reservations. They are subject to over policing, constant surveillance, indiscriminate beating, incarceration, unjust killings, and unusable water. They are directly policed by the FBI and live the legacy of millions slaughtered by this settler colony called the United States of America. Reservation is another word for Open Air Prison, Concentration Camp, Gaza or Bantu Stand. It is all the same thing.

Policing in the U.S. has a history of racial bias against the colonized people within its borders. Anti-Black racism in this country still reigns in local, state and federal institutions. Like the obscene incarceration rates of the Palestinians, the U.S. prison industrial complex incarcerates African (Black) people at over five times the rate of white people. Today, militarized state violence practiced by the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) on the people of Baltimore is the the Deadly Exchange Program, which brings together ICE, FBI, police, border control and Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF), to share and promote discriminatory and repressive tactics and policies in both countries. Thousands of cops participate in security conferences and workshops with Israeli law enforcement, the IOF, and security officials in the U.S. Baltimore law enforcement officials, along with hundreds of others from Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Arizona, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington state, as well as the DC Capitol police continue to travel to Israel for training. 

There is a solid partnership between the U.S. and Israeli governments to exchange methods of state violence and control over civilians including mass surveillance, racial profiling, and suppression of protest and dissent. Training through the Deadly Exchange Program places Baltimore police in the hands of racist systems that have racked up human rights violations for years. Last May, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates welcomed Israeli Police and thanked them for their annual police unity tour, with the promise to “strengthen” their “partnership.” 

Elijah Cummings Youth Program

Recruiting African Youth to Zionism

Baltimore City spends $8,959,736 each year in Israeli military efforts. But exchanges between Baltimore City and Israel also happen in less overt and more insidious ways with African (Black) youth. For the past 25 years, through the Elijah Cummings Youth Program founded by former Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD), hundreds of African (Black) high school students in Baltimore travel to Tel Aviv to “bridge gaps between the Jewish and black communities” and create “open-minded future leaders.”

Since 1998, the program has funneled Baltimore youth into a two year fellowship, with the goal of strengthening the relationship between African (Black) people in Baltimore and the Baltimore Jewish community This three stage process includes “Leadership Development, The ‘Israel Experience’ (two summers inside of the occupying state of Israel), and Community Service.” 

For two summers, students are hosted by The Yemin Orde Youth Village, a youth village named after the ‘father of the Israeli Occupation Forces,’ British Major General Orde Charles Wingate. At the end of the program, students return and meet with Zionist policy makers in the U.S. capitol, Maryland State House, and Baltimore City Hall (in addition to working within nonprofits, churches and synagogues in the city). The goal is to create the next generation of Africans that think anti-Zionism is equal to antisemitism and hatred for the Jews.

October 2023 marked 25 years of the Elijah Cummings Youth Program which is being continued, posthumously. For the recognition of the 25 years of this program, Maryland’s first Black Governor, Wes Moore, gave the keynote speech for the event aligning with the general sentiments expressed following the Al-Aqsa Flood, standing with “the right of Israel to exist,” dismissing the settler colonial foundations of Israel’s existence. This, ultimately, is the purpose of the youth program, to normalize conditions of settler colonialism for unsuspecting Black youth. 

The youth program does not teach students about the 75-year colonial occupation of Palestine and Gaza, imposed by intolerant, Zionist Israeli leaders. From the Nakba to the present day, the failure to teach the students in the program what has been done to Palestine is by design, in order to support Zionist propaganda—as the only true origin story of Palestine. This propaganda is used to legitimize  the theft of land, homes, assets, and basic human rights from the Palestinian people.

Settler Colonialism and Their Victims

People often ask why African (Black) people in Baltimore or the U.S, should concern themselves with Zionism and Palestine. The fact that the police and military who oppress both the people of Palestine and the people of Baltimore are collaborating should be enough to explain why we should be concerned. More importantly, Palestine is a settler colony just like the U.S, which has uprooted the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island. Both the U.S (Baltimore) and Palestine (Gaza) are lands occupied by western Europeans claiming to flee religious oppression. In both cases their intent was to exterminate the native people and take their lands as their own. Furthermore, the Palestinans are prisoners in their own land. Africans in America have been stolen from our land and held captive in a foreign land (U.S). We have the same enemy and should fight side by side to defeat colonialism, settler colonialism, neo-colonialism, Zionism, capitalism and imperialism.These enemies are the global, white supremacist, capitalist, Axis of Domination. Africans and Palestinians have the same objectives and aspirations. We all want unity, freedom, dignity and self-determination. It is imperative that Zionism is smashed, from Baltimore to Palestine.

Banner photo: Israeli police forces arrest a Palestinian protester in Jerusalem (courtesy Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images)

The Zone of Peace Campaign Calls for an Emergency Day of Action for Haitian Sovereignty

“The Zone of Peace Campaign Calls for an Emergency Day of Action for Haitian Sovereignty”

(Español abajo)

For Immediate Release     

Media Contact
press@blackallianceforpeace.com
(202) 643-1136

OCTOBER 12, 2023 – The leading organizations of the Campaign for a Zone of Peace in Our Americas have called for an Emergency Day of Action for Haitian Sovereignty today, October 12, 2023. In the lead up to this day, nearly 100 social and civic movements and organizations throughout the Americas and around the world came together to draft and sign on to a statement denouncing the approval of armed intervention into Haiti by the United Nations Security Council. This statement lays out a clear position against this intervention that is purporting to respond to issues of violence that are caused by past and ongoing imperialist aggression and policies. 

We call for a day of action – today October 12 – intentionally because it is significant throughout the Americas – notably the day has been reclaimed as “Day of Decolonization” in Bolivia and “Day of Indigenous, Black, and Popular Resistance” in Nicaragua. Given the impending intervention that infringement of Haitian sovereignty and the ongoing illegitimate rule of the Core Group-appointed Prime Minister Ariel Henry, the peoples and organizations of the Americas must recognize the critical role of Haiti in the region and the global struggle against white supremacy, colonialism, and imperialism. We must reject this clear and ongoing violation of a Zone of Peace in the Caribbean and the Americas as a whole. While this will be a long struggle, we can unite locally and globally through solidarity actions in our neighborhoods, cities, and nations – with rallies, teach-ins, mobilizations, call-in campaigns, press conferences, and other actions. This includes a rally at the Kenyan embassy in Washington DC, starting at 12pm.

We also recognize that this day of action comes as the Palestinian Resistance have broken through the gates of the open air prison in Gaza and are fighting in their own struggle for self-determination, human dignity, and land back. We understand the imperialist and zionist aggressions in Haiti and Palestine are linked, and represent the racist violence and absolute contempt for human life that has been the cornerstone of the rise of European rule over the planet. We must act today for Haiti, tomorrow for Palestine, this month against AFRICOM, and forever for the oppressed, exploited, and colonized peoples of the world.

For Haiti, we call on all progressive forces around the Americas and around the globe to be vigilant, denounce this interventionist aggression, and mobilize against the imperialist misery that the US, NATO, Core Group – and their puppets in the governments of Kenya, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, and others –  are imposing on the people of Haiti.

Hands Off Haiti!
Haiti Will Be Free!

See here for a toolkit to support action: https://bit.ly/HaitiToolkitOct12

And here for an incomplete list of known, public solidarity actions and statements (updated regularly): https://bit.ly/HaitiSolidarityOct2023

"La Campaña Zona de Paz Convoca  un Día de Acción de Emergencia por la Soberanía Haitiana"

Para su publicación inmediata

Contacto de Medios
press@blackallianceforpeace.com
(202) 643-1136

12 DE OCTUBRE DE 2023 – Las principales organizaciones de la Campaña por una Zona de Paz en Nuestra América han convocado un Día de Acción de Emergencia por la Soberanía Haitiana hoy, 12 de octubre de 2024. En los días previos a este evento, cerca de 100 movimientos sociales y cívicos, y organizaciones de las Américas y de todo el mundo se unieron para redactar y firmar una declaración en la que denuncian la aprobación de la intervención armada en Haití por parte del Consejo de Seguridad de las Naciones Unidas. Esta declaración expone claramente una postura en contra de esta intervención, que pretende responder a problemas de violencia causados por la agresión imperialista pasada y continuas políticas.

Convocamos un día de acción, hoy, 12 de octubre, de manera intencionada, porque es significativo en toda América, especialmente en Bolivia, donde el día ha sido reivindicado como el "Día de la Descolonización," y en Nicaragua, como el "Día de la Resistencia Indígena, Negra y Popular." Dada la inminente intervención, que infringe la soberanía haitiana y el gobierno ilegítimo continuo del Primer Ministro Ariel Henry, designado por el Grupo Central, los pueblos y organizaciones de las Américas deben reconocer el papel crítico de Haití en la región y la lucha global contra la supremacía blanca, el colonialismo y el imperialismo. Debemos rechazar esta violación clara y continua de una Zona de Paz en el Caribe y en las Américas en su conjunto. Aunque esta será una larga lucha, podemos unirnos a nivel local y global a través de acciones de solidaridad en nuestros vecindarios, ciudades y naciones, con mítines, clases magistrales, movilizaciones, campañas de llamadas, conferencias de prensa y otras acciones. Esto incluye una movilización frente a la embajada de Kenia en Washington DC al mediodía.

También reconocemos que este día de acción coincide con el momento en que la Resistencia Palestina ha roto las puertas de la prisión al aire libre en Gaza y está luchando en su propia lucha por la autodeterminación, la dignidad humana y la recuperación de tierras. Comprendemos que las agresiones imperialistas y sionistas en Haití y Palestina están relacionadas y representan la violencia racista y el absoluto desprecio por la vida humana que ha sido la piedra angular del ascenso del dominio europeo sobre el planeta. Debemos actuar hoy por Haití, mañana por Palestina, este mes contra AFRICOM y siempre por los pueblos oprimidos, explotados y colonizados del mundo.

Por Haití, hacemos un llamado a todas las fuerzas progresistas de las Américas y de todo el mundo a estar alerta, denunciar esta agresión intervencionista y movilizarse contra la miseria imperialista que los Estados Unidos, la OTAN, el Core Group y sus títeres en los gobiernos de Kenia, Jamaica, las Bahamas, Antigua y Barbuda, Barbados y otros están imponiendo al pueblo de Haití.

¡Manos Fuera de Haití!
¡Haití Será Libre!

Para obtener una caja de herramientas de apoyo a la acción, haga clic aquí: https://bit.ly/HaitiToolkitOct12

Una lista incompleta de acciones y declaraciones de solidaridad conocidas (actualizada regularmente): https://bit.ly/HaitiSolidarityOct2023

The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns the Murderous Assault on Occupied Palestine

The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns the Murderous Assault on Occupied Palestine

 We say that a colonized people have a right to resist occupation and fight for self-determination by any means necessary!

The Black Alliance for Peace stands in solidarity with the people of Gaza and all Palestinians under occupation in the racist, apartheid settler state of Israel. We recognize the right of Palestine to exist and the right of the Palestinian people to resist occupation. We call on African/Black people to remember our long tradition of solidarity with Palestine.

We condemn the monstrous and cowardly actions of the racist Zionist entity which is committing mass atrocities against the two million people who are locked in the open air prison of Gaza. As the crazed Zionists indiscriminately bomb civilians in Gaza, while characterizing Palestinians as “animals,” we are witnessing an international crime in real time - a genocide. This is a genocide that is fully supported and celebrated by other Western racist settler states - the morally depraved “international community.” 

The real world, that is the world beyond the 10% of the global population that is the “collective West,” is outraged by the systematic barbarism it is witnessing with the collective punishment of the Palestinian people in Gaza. What is their crime? To rise up against their occupying power, to take the daily war that they have to endure as Israel murders and incarcerates their children, bombs their infrastructure, denies them medical care, cuts off their water and supplies – to take that war to the occupying power itself.

The Black Alliance for Peace condemns the barbarism of the illegal zionist settler-colonial, apartheid state. We fully support the Palestinian people’s right to fight against occupation, and we defend Palestinian calls for decolonization and their right to self-determination. Since there is currently no fair and just “international law” to support the Palestinian peoples, we will continue to call for the right of all peoples to struggle for national liberation, self-determination, and people(s)-centered human rights.

The Congressional Black Caucus in the U.S. congress, as well as most congressional representatives, including the phony “progressive caucus,” have abandoned the Palestinian people and given their support to Israeli apartheid.

But we remember the solidarity that Black people in the U.S. received from Palestinians in 2020 as they fought against the Israeli-trained police forces across the U.S. during the George Floyd protests. We also say that the attack on Gaza mirrors the pending attack on Haiti by the racist, Western colonialist forces. Both represent the racist violence and absolute contempt for human life that has been the cornerstone of the rise of European rule over the planet. The Black Alliance for Peace will not abandon the Palestinian people. Solidarity must be reciprocal. Our peoples both suffer the consequences of living in a white supremacist settler-colonial state; we are bound together in that reality and our collective struggles.

With the full support of the Western “international community,” the insane, fascist Netanyahu government has temporarily displaced the consequences of the internal contradictions in Israel with this war it is waging on Palestinian people. But the ultimate contradiction, the contradiction between the colonial state and the colonized peoples, will be resolved with the victory of all colonized peoples. Of that, we are certain.

Palestine will be free!

Banner photo: Palestinians protest holding up a Palestine flag amidst a Zionist assault in 2018 (courtesy edition.cnn.com)

The BAP-Baltimore Condemns Baltimore Water Crisis As Gross Negligence

The Black Alliance for Peace-Baltimore Condemns Baltimore Water Crisis As Gross Negligence

For Immediate Release:

Media Contact

communications@blackallianceforpeace.com

(202) 643-1136

October 5, 2023—The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) condemns Baltimore City’s Mayor Brandon Scott, Baltimore City’s City Council President Nick Mosby, the entire Baltimore City Council, Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW), and Baltimore City Health Department (BCHD) for their gross negligence in handling the Cryptosporidium parasite in the Druid Hill water supply contamination crisis.

Five days ago, a “routine” test of the Druid Lake Reservoir found levels of the Cryptosporidium parasite inside the uncovered reservoir. The drinking water is used by Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Howard County Maryland citizens. City council member Mark Conway posted on X (formerly Twitter) that this microorganism can “potentially cause gastrointestinal issues in those who are immunocompromised, elderly, or children.” The Department of Public Works (DPW) released a statement, just before noon, with the same information and a graphic. No mention of when citizens should look forward to the water being decontaminated, but just continuing the narrative that the parasite will only potentially cause gastrointestinal problems for those who are “immunocompromised, elderly, or children.” They further stated to “please rest assured that the drinking water remains safe for the general public.” Mayor Brandon Scott has released zero statements outside of one quoted post and a couple of re-posts from DPW on X. Zero press releases from the Baltimore City Council, public pages or websites.

The BCHD shared a fact sheet and re-shared the DPW’s FAQ but no information about where to get free water and when this issue could possibly be fixed. It mirrors a similar scene from last September during the E.coli outbreak. The city waited two days to notify the public after water tested positive for contamination, and even then many residents had to find out from friends and neighbors. In March of this year, it was found that Baltimore City officials violated the federal and state public notice rules for E.coli contamination. The parasite found in the water impacts us all, as the “immunocompromised, elderly, and children” are our neighbors, friends and family. In addition, the COVID-19 virus can weaken immune systems, and we are currently in a surge without mask mandates, meaning many citizens could experience health problems from the parasite before they realize they are at risk. Again, Baltimore City officials are performing an illegal act to its citizens and the rest of Marylanders by not properly informing, educating and providing bottled water for its affected citizens. 

This crisis is in a larger context of continued neglect of Baltimore’s aging infrastructure, including in other systems. For example, the city is refusing to expand a program to help residents clean sewage backups again caused by neglect though it is under a modified consent decree by the EPA and has been directed to do so by state and federal regulators. Instead the city chooses to pump money into bloated police programs such as the “Deadly Exchange” program, a massive exchange between the U.S. and Israeli police. Recently, the city is proposing a new $330 million joint training facility for Baltimore’s police and fire departments on West Baltimore’s Coppin State University campus. Even more, routinely half of Baltimore’s discretionary annual budget is allocated to police such that Baltimore spends the most per capita of any major city in the United States on policing. Rather than spending on absurd police budgets that do not increase public safety, resources should be prioritized to fix the city's debilitated infrastructure. 

The city’s trusted government officials and departments are continuing to be neglectful and misleading the majority of its citizens to believe that only a certain community among them would be affected. In Baltimore, resources are only rapidly mobilized to provide cover for police malfeasance. Similar to the government's messaging on COVID, the city downplays the actual dangers of the situation and does little to protect its citizens. Instead, we demand accurate information be dispersed in a timely manner across platforms that reach majorities of city residents, resources, including water, be accessibly distributed across affected neighborhoods, and city resources directed to improve utilities. Given that there was a problem with the water supply last year around the same time, city leadership should also have a preventative plan to address safety and cleanliness of the city’s water supply permanently.

Sources:

DPW Baltimore:

• https://www.instagram.com/p/CxwKksHsx_i/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D

• https://www.instagram.com/p/CxyOB6lJuez/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D&img_index=1

• https://twitter.com/baltimoredpw/status/1708259945777373202?s=42&t=QajmELtReCd6IqlP3XeATQ

• https://x.com/BaltimoreDPW/status/1707818680996827453?s=20 

• https://x.com/BaltimoreDPW/status/1707819859524862327?s=20

• https://publicworks.baltimorecity.gov/news/press-releases/2023-09-28-dpw-detects-low-levels-cryptosporidium-during-routine-testing-druid#:~:text=Thursday%20Sep%2028th%2C%202023&text=Today%2C%20the%20Baltimore%20City%20Department,microscopic%20parasite%20Cryptosporidium%20were%20discovered

• https://twitter.com/baltimoredpw/status/1708259945777373202?s=42&t=QajmELtReCd6IqlP3XeATQ

• https://publicworks.baltimorecity.gov/cryptosporidium-faqs

Mayor:

• https://twitter.com/mayorbmscott/status/1707535251440910452?s=46&t=QajmELtReCd6IqlP3XeATQ

• https://mayor.baltimorecity.gov/news

City Council President:

• https://www.baltimorecitycouncil.com/

CDC:

• https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/crypto/

BCHD:

• https://health.maryland.gov/phpa/pages/Cryptosporidiosis.aspx

• https://twitter.com/bmore_healthy/status/1707773041856373177?s=46&t=QajmELtReCd6IqlP3XeATQ 

BAP Articles:

• https://blackallianceforpeace.com/newsletter/baltimorefreedomfighter

• https://blackallianceforpeace.com/bapstatements/notocopcitybaltimore

Baltimore pushes back against EPA order to cover more sewage backups

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/environment/bs-md-baltimore-sewage-backups-disagreement-epa-20230726-cmvjhplddba65ks2k3smnx3sli-story.html

Baltimore Won’t Expand a Program to Help Residents Clean up After Sewage Backups

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25072023/baltimore-sewage-backups-epa/

Aging water infrastructure at the root of Baltimore E. coli contamination, city officials say

The city received positive tests of bacteria in the water system on Saturday, Sept. 3, but residents didn’t learn about the contamination until two days later, on Labor Day morning.

https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/politics-power/local-government/aging-water-infrastructure-at-the-root-of-baltimore-e-coli-contamination-city-officials-say-OWQ4VB3FKREYBBLQPYN6DRBGA4/

A Look at Environmental Justice Issues in Maryland

Black Americans in Baltimore are disproportionately impacted by water affordability issues, as water rates have risen more rapidly than the national average, partly due to failing infrastructure. Studies show that by 2022, the average annual water bill for Baltimore citizens will be triple the national average of 2010 water bills. 

https://climate-xchange.org/2022/01/14/a-look-at-environmental-justice-issues-in-maryland/

BALTIMORE’S CRIME NUMBERS GAME

Baltimore spends the most per capita of any major city in the United States on policing.

https://therealnews.com/baltimore-police-spending-violent-crime-statistics 

Despite 'defunding' claims, police funding has increased in many US cities

An ABC analysis of state and local police funding and overall violent crime data in the U.S. between 1985 and 2020 found no relationship between year-to-year police spending and crime rates. An analysis by the Washington Post found similar results from 1960 to 2018.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/defunding-claims-police-funding-increased-us-cities/story?id=91511971#:~:text=An%20ABC%20analysis%20of%20state,results%20from%201960%20to%202018.

Banner photo: Baltimore activists protest for the human right to water (courtesy peopledemandingaction.org, David Card)

We Denounce UN Security Council's Approval to Send a Kenya-led Mission to Haiti

WE DENOUNCE UN SECURITY COUNCIL'S

APPROVAL TO SEND A KENYA-LED MISSION TO HAITI

We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the decision by the United States and its allies to deploy a foreign military force to Haiti. We are adamant that a U.S./UN-led armed foreign intervention in Haiti is not only illegitimate, but illegal. And we support Haitian people and civil society organizations who have been consistent in their opposition to foreign armed military intervention – and who have argued that the problems of Haiti are a direct result of the persistent and long-term meddling of the United States, the United Nations, and the Core Group.

On Monday, October 2nd, 2023, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) voted on a resolution for a Multinational Security Support Mission authorizing the deployment of a foreign  military and police intervention into the Republic of Haiti. Although the vote did not receive unanimous approval as it saw abstentions from two permanent UNSC members, 13 other permanent and non-permanent members voted in support, including 3 African countries (Gabon, Ghana and Mozambique). This is a particularly egregious betrayal of Haiti, which has been for Africans and Black people around the world, a beacon in the fight against slavery, colonialism and imperialism. Yet the U.S. administration, the corporate media, alongside figures such as Linda Thomas-Greenfield, have hailed the vote as a victory. We note, also, that the U.S. has tapped Kenya, another African country, to lead a multinational force of “volunteer” nations to occupy Haiti, leaving their own troops at home while offering at leas t$100 million in support.

There is a long history here. For more than two years now, the U.S. has been pushing for a build-up of the military presence in Haiti to protect the puppet government of the unelected and unpopular Ariel Henry. Yet the U.S. is not willing to put its own boots on the ground, turning instead, first to Canada, then Brazil, then the CELAC and CARICOM countries–all of whom were reluctant to lead the mission, even if they supported the call for military intervention. The Kenyan government leapt at the opportunity to lead the intervention, bought off by a bag of silver and an approving pat on their neoliberal heads. Haiti will now be invaded by the U.S., but with the Black face of Kenya as cover. Kenya erroneously claims this is “Pan-Africanism;” it is, in fact, neocolonialism.

We are told that the interest of the U.S. in Haiti is humanitarian, that the U.S wants to protect the Haitian people from “criminal gangs.” Yet U.S. weapons have flooded Haiti, and the U.S. has consistently rejected calls to effectively enforce the UNSC resolution for an arms embargo against the Haitian and U.S. elite who import guns into the country. Moreover, when we speak of “gangs,” we must recognize that the most powerful gangs in the country are subsidiaries of the U.S. itself: the United Nations Integrated Office (BINUH) and the Core Group, the two colonial entities who have effectively ruled the country since the U.S./France/Canada-backed coup d’etat of 2004. Haiti has no sovereignty and has long been under foreign occupation. The current de facto “Prime Minister” was installed by the Core Group and whatever calls for military intervention are being made by those already occupying Haiti.

We hold in contempt the neocolonial governments that are taking part in this mission to further oppress Haitian people and deny them sovereignty. We denounce the governments of Kenya and the CARICOM nations, such as Bahamas, Jamaica, and Antigua and Barbuda, which have  failed Haiti and have violated the notion of the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.

Furthermore, we demand that:

1. The U.S. and the UN must end their interference in Haiti and the Core Group must be disbanded.

2. The U.S. must stop its criminal gangster actions against Haiti and stop propping up the illegitimate government they installed.

3. Kenya must end its support for a racist and imperialist intervention in Haiti

4. The governments of the U.S. and the Dominican Republic stop dumping arms and ammunition into the country and for the de facto Prime Minister to stop arming paramilitaries in the country. 

5. The United Nations pay restitution for the devastating 2010 cholera outbreak by rebuilding Haiti’s water, sanitation, health, and educational infrastructure.

6. That fuel subsidies for Haiti are reinstated and the minimum wage increased.

7. The CARICOM countries, alongside other regional nations, normalize pathways for work visas and citizenship for Haitian nationals.

We vow to stand on the side of the Haitian people against imperialism! 

SIGNED,

718 Coalition

Acción Afro-Dominicana, RD

ADDI Caribbean

Al-Awda, the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition 

All African People’s Revolutionary Party

Alliance for Global Justice

Anti Displacement NYC

Aquelarre RD

Ban Killer Drones

Black Alliance for Peace, Haiti/Americas Team

Canadian Peace Congress

Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration

Caribbean Organisation for Peoples Empowerment

Caribbean Solidarity Network

Chicago Antiwar Coalition (CAWC)

CODEPINK

Comité Dominicano de Derechos Humanos -CDDH-, RD

Committee of Anti-Imperialists in Solidarity with Iran

Communist Party of Kenya

Community Movement Builders

Consejo de Organizaciones Sociales y Populares del Paraguay

Consejo por la Emancipación Plurinacional Peruana

Cooperation Jackson

COPLAC-Confederación Palestina Latinoamericana y del Caribe

Dar al Janub - Verein für antirassistische und Friedenspolitische Initiative

Decolonial Feminist Collective

Diaspora Pa’lante Collective

Dr. Alejandro Rusconi – Movimiento Evita

Durham Beyond Policing

Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez

G-REBLS

Haiti Action

Haiti Action Committee

Haiti Liberté

Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice

International Action Center

International Manifesto Group/New Cold War

La Articulación Regional Afrodescendiente de las Américas y el Caribe (ARAAC)

League of Young Communists USA

Left Alliance for National Democracy and Socialism - Jamaica LANDS

Malcolm X Center for Self Determination

Massachusetts Peace Action

Memphis 4 Revolutionary Socialism

Michigan General Defense Committee

Midwestern Marx Institute

MOLEGHAF (Mouvman Libèté, Egalite sou chimen Fratènite tout Ayisyen)

Montreal pour un Monde sans Guerre (World BEYOND War)

Movement for People's Democracy

Movimiento Argentino de Solidaridad con Cuba (Mascuba)

Movimiento Caamañista -MC-, RD

Movimiento Popular Dominicano -MPD-, RD

Movimiento por la Paz, la Soberanía y la Solidaridad entre los Pueblos (MOPASSOL)

Movimiento Rebelde -MR-, RD

Movimiento Reconocido

NJ State Industrial Union Council

Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos

Orinoco Tribune

Palestinian Youth Movement - Detroit Chapter

Pan-African Community Action (PACA)

Partido Comunista del Trabajo -PCT-, RD

Partido Movimiento del Socialismo Allendista de Chile

Partido Nuevo Encuentro – Argentina

Partido Socialista de Peru

Peace Action, Network of Lancaster, Pennsylvania

People's Power Assembly

Pro Derechos Humanos Bolivia (PRODEHBOL)

Rasanbleman Pou Ayiti

Reparations United

Rethink New Orleans

Rochester (NY) Committee on Latin America

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

Socialist Unity Party

Socialist Workers League-Nigeria

Socialist Workers' Movement of the Dominican Republic (MST)

SOLI Puerto Rico

Solidaridad Dominicana Con Haití, Rep. Dominicana

Solidarity Committee of the Americas, Minnesota 

The African Diaspora Foundation (Barbados)

The Barbados Sovereignty Party

The Global Pan African Movement (GPAM) North American Chapter

The Global Sovereign Peoples Movement

The International Black Chamber of Commerce and Industry

The Party of Communists USA

The People’s Forum

The Red Nation

The Regional Coordination Committee of the Pan Afrikan and Indigenous Movement of the Caribbean

The Ubuntu Reading Group

Troika Collective

Ubuntu Freedom

Ujima People’s Progress Party

UNAC (United Antiwar Coalition)

US Palestinian Community Network

Women Against Military Madness

Workers World Party

World BEYOND War

Zimbabwe Movement of Pan African Socialists

——-ESPAÑOL——-

DENUNCIAMOS LA APROBACIÓN POR EL CONSEJO DE SEGURIDAD DE LA ONU DEL ENVÍO DE UNA MISIÓN DIRIGIDA POR KENIA A HAITÍ

Nosotros, los firmantes, condenamos enérgicamente la decisión de Estados Unidos y sus aliados de desplegar una fuerza militar extranjera en Haití. Sostenemos firmemente que una intervención armada extranjera liderada por Estados Unidos y la ONU en Haití no sólo es ilegítima, sino también ilegal. Apoyamos al pueblo haitiano y a las organizaciones de la sociedad civil que han sido coherentes en su oposición a la intervención militar extranjera armada y que han argumentado que los problemas de Haití son resultado directo de la persistente e intervención a largo plazo de Estados Unidos, la ONU y el ‘Core Group’ (Grupo Principal).

El lunes 2 de octubre de 2023, el Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU votó sobre una resolución para una Misión de Apoyo de Seguridad Multinacional que autoriza el despliegue de una intervención militar y policial extranjera en la República de Haití. Aunque la votación no recibió la aprobación unánime, ya que se registraron abstenciones de dos miembros permanentes del Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU, otros 13 miembros permanentes y no permanentes votaron a favor, incluyendo a 3 países africanos (Gabón, Ghana y Mozambique). Esto representa una traición especialmente grave hacia Haití, que ha sido un faro en la lucha contra la esclavitud, el colonialismo y el imperialismo para los africanos y las personas negras de todo el mundo. Sin embargo, la administración de Estados Unidos, los medios corporativos, junto con figuras como Linda Thomas-Greenfield, han celebrado la votación como una victoria. También observamos que Estados Unidos ha designado a Kenia, otro país africano, para liderar una fuerza multinacional de naciones "voluntarias" para ocupar Haití, dejando a sus propias tropas en casa y ofreciendo al menos $100 millones en apoyo.

Hay una larga historia aquí. Durante más de dos años, Estados Unidos ha estado presionando para aumentar la presencia militar en Haití para proteger al gobierno títere del impopular e ilegítimo Ariel Henry. Sin embargo, Estados Unidos no está dispuesto a poner sus propias botas en el terreno, recurriendo en su lugar primero a Canadá, luego a Brasil, y luego a los países de CELAC y CARICOM, todos los cuales se mostraron renuentes a liderar la misión, incluso si apoyaban la llamada a la intervención militar. El gobierno de Kenia se lanzó a la oportunidad de liderar la intervención, comprado con una bolsa de plata y una aprobación en sus cabezas neoliberales. Haití será invadido por Estados Unidos, pero con la cara negra de Kenia como fachada. Kenia afirma erróneamente que esto es "panafricanismo"; de hecho, es neocolonialismo.

Se nos dice que el interés de Estados Unidos en Haití es humanitario, que Estados Unidos quiere proteger al pueblo haitiano de las "bandas criminales". Sin embargo, las armas estadounidenses han inundado Haití, y Estados Unidos ha rechazado constantemente las llamadas para hacer cumplir efectivamente la resolución del CSNU para un embargo de armas contra la élite haitiana y estadounidense que importa armas al país. Además, cuando hablamos de "bandas", debemos reconocer que las bandas más poderosas en el país son subsidiarias de Estados Unidos mismo: la Oficina Integrada de las Naciones Unidas (BINUH) y el Core Group, las dos entidades coloniales que han gobernado efectivamente el país desde el golpe de Estado respaldado por Estados Unidos/Francia/Canadá de 2004. Haití no tiene soberanía y ha estado bajo ocupación extranjera durante mucho tiempo. El actual "Primer Ministro de facto" fue instalado por el Core Group, y cualquier llamado a la intervención militar proviene de aquellos que ya están ocupando Haití.

Despreciamos a los gobiernos neocoloniales que participan en esta misión para oprimir aún más al pueblo haitiano y negarles su soberanía. Denunciamos a los gobiernos de Kenia y las naciones del CARICOM, como Bahamas, Jamaica y Antigua y Barbuda, que han fallado a Haití y han violado el concepto del Caribe como una zona de paz.

Además, exigimos que:

1. Estados Unidos y la ONU pongan fin a su interferencia en Haití y que se disuelva el ‘Core Group’.

2. Estados Unidos debe poner fin a sus acciones criminales de gánster contra Haití y dejar de sostener al gobierno ilegítimo que instaló.

3. Kenia debe poner fin a su apoyo a una intervención racista e imperialista en Haití.

4. Los gobiernos de Estados Unidos y la República Dominicana dejen de arrojar armas y municiones al país, y el Primer Ministro de facto deje de armar a los paramilitares en el país.

5. La ONU indemniza por el devastador brote de cólera de 2010 reconstruyendo la infraestructura de agua, saneamiento, salud y educación de Haití.

6. Se restablezcan los subsidios a los combustibles en Haití y se aumente el salario mínimo.

7. Los países del CARICOM, junto con otras naciones de la región, normalizan los caminos para visas de trabajo y ciudadanía para los nacionales haitianos.

8. Nos comprometemos a estar del lado del pueblo haitiano contra el imperialismo.

FIRMADO,

718 Coalition

Acción Afro-Dominicana, RD

ADDI Caribbean

Al-Awda, the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition 

All African People’s Revolutionary Party

Alliance for Global Justice

Anti Displacement NYC

Aquelarre RD

Ban Killer Drones

Black Alliance for Peace, Haiti/Americas Team

Canadian Peace Congress

Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration

Caribbean Organisation for Peoples Empowerment

Caribbean Solidarity Network

Chicago Antiwar Coalition (CAWC)

CODEPINK

Comité Dominicano de Derechos Humanos -CDDH-, RD

Committee of Anti-Imperialists in Solidarity with Iran

Communist Party of Kenya

Community Movement Builders

Consejo de Organizaciones Sociales y Populares del Paraguay

Consejo por la Emancipación Plurinacional Peruana

Cooperation Jackson

COPLAC-Confederación Palestina Latinoamericana y del Caribe

Dar al Janub - Verein für antirassistische und Friedenspolitische Initiative

Decolonial Feminist Collective

Diaspora Pa’lante Collective

Dr. Alejandro Rusconi – Movimiento Evita

Durham Beyond Policing

Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez

G-REBLS

Haiti Action

Haiti Action Committee

Haiti Liberté

Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice

International Action Center

International Manifesto Group/New Cold War

La Articulación Regional Afrodescendiente de las Américas y el Caribe (ARAAC)

League of Young Communists USA

Left Alliance for National Democracy and Socialism - Jamaica LANDS

Malcolm X Center for Self Determination

Massachusetts Peace Action

Memphis 4 Revolutionary Socialism

Michigan General Defense Committee

Midwestern Marx Institute

MOLEGHAF (Mouvman Libèté, Egalite sou chimen Fratènite tout Ayisyen)

Montreal pour un Monde sans Guerre (World BEYOND War)

Movement for People's Democracy

Movimiento Argentino de Solidaridad con Cuba (Mascuba)

Movimiento Caamañista -MC-, RD

Movimiento Popular Dominicano -MPD-, RD

Movimiento por la Paz, la Soberanía y la Solidaridad entre los Pueblos (MOPASSOL)

Movimiento Rebelde -MR-, RD

Movimiento Reconocido

NJ State Industrial Union Council

Observatorio de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos

Orinoco Tribune

Palestinian Youth Movement - Detroit Chapter

Pan-African Community Action (PACA)

Partido Comunista del Trabajo -PCT-, RD

Partido Movimiento del Socialismo Allendista de Chile

Partido Nuevo Encuentro – Argentina

Partido Socialista de Peru

Peace Action, Network of Lancaster, Pennsylvania

People's Power Assembly

Pro Derechos Humanos Bolivia (PRODEHBOL)

Rasanbleman Pou Ayiti

Reparations United

Rethink New Orleans

Rochester (NY) Committee on Latin America

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

Socialist Unity Party

Socialist Workers League-Nigeria

Socialist Workers' Movement of the Dominican Republic (MST)

SOLI Puerto Rico

Solidaridad Dominicana Con Haití, Rep. Dominicana

Solidarity Committee of the Americas, Minnesota 

The African Diaspora Foundation (Barbados)

The Barbados Sovereignty Party

The Global Pan African Movement (GPAM) North American Chapter

The Global Sovereign Peoples Movement

The International Black Chamber of Commerce and Industry

The Party of Communists USA

The People’s Forum

The Red Nation

The Regional Coordination Committee of the Pan Afrikan and Indigenous Movement of the Caribbean

The Ubuntu Reading Group

Troika Collective

Ubuntu Freedom

Ujima People’s Progress Party

UNAC (United Antiwar Coalition)

US Palestinian Community Network

Women Against Military Madness

Workers World Party

World BEYOND War

Zimbabwe Movement of Pan African Socialists

Banner art and flier: by Okra Sanyika

BAP-Baltimore Says No to Cop City

BAP-BALTIMORE SAYS NO COP CITY

The Black Alliance for Peace Baltimore Citywide Alliance strongly opposes the proposal for a new $330 million joint training facility for Baltimore’s police and fire departments on West Baltimore’s Coppin State University campus. The  contradictions of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) fostering growing relationships with the state are sharpened with this proposal on a campus with access to the Department of Defense 1033 program budgets, which transfers military equipment to civilian law enforcement agencies. Any potential existence of a joint training facility for a police department  currently under a consent decree, that names violations of civil liberties, not only serves to create and sustain tensions  negatively impacting the overall campus climate but the surrounding  predominantly Black, working-class communities of West Baltimore. 

Baltimore City’s 1033 program budget is not exclusive to the HBCU campuses of Coppin State University and Morgan State University, allowing them access to weapons such as rifles, glocks, and “riot style” 12-gauge shotguns. Over the last decade, the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) has received roughly $500,000 in military-grade weapons and vehicles.  Alongside access to the 1033 program, the city engages in the “Deadly Exchange” program, a massive exchange between the U.S. and Israeli police and Israeli military where hyper-militarized policing techniques and technology are shared. There is also Operation Relentless Pursuit, making Baltimore 1 of 7 cities, including Detroit, Albuquerque, Cleveland, Kansas City, Memphis, and Milwaukee, selected for the Trump Administration’s “surge” of federal, state,and local resources. More recently, the Johns Hopkins Police Department (JHPD), a private police force, has been approved to work alongside the Baltimore City Police with no community oversight supported by the stakeholders of Johns Hopkins, and not the people of Baltimore or students and workers on campus. All of this is in addition to half of Baltimore’s discretionary (as opposed to recurring) annual budget being routinely allocated to the police. Altogether, the city, state, and federal funds allocated to police amount to more than $900,000,000.

Similar to the push for “Cop City” in Atlanta, this proposed training facility is being championed by the Black Misleadership Class of Baltimore City. Although the status of who controls the Baltimore City Police Department remains in limbo, this project is backed by Mayor Brandon M. Scott and  is spearheaded by Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby, who has a cloud of controversy around him. As the Baltimore Banner notes, “[Mosby] has championed the project for nearly a decade.” Furthermore, Mosby’s time as city council president has had its fair share of issues, from two ethics violations concerning the mishandling of funds, to referring to the veto of the Security Deposits Bill as ”modern-day redlining”, despite how it would have positively impacted working-class Black communities. Yet, Mosby has made this training facility his legacy project. 

“The issue in Baltimore City is not a lack of police training, but instead consistent over-policing that hones in on the colonial status of Africans and other oppressed peoples occupied in their own communities,” says BAP-Baltimore Citywide Alliance member Erica Caines.

What was once a fixation on a “war on drugs,” is now being slated as a “war on crime” to ensure the constant approval of budgets for more policing “to healing the wounds of the past,” while ignoring the ongoing plight of the poor, working class residents of the city that includes a lack of sufficient healthcare, education, housing, and any semblance of People(s)-Centered Human Rights. 

According to Rafiki Morris, a former community organizer of people with opioid use disorders, there are 60,000 people currently living with  addiction or recovery in Baltimore City. Given the criminalization of addiction and the militarization of police, the “citizens are constantly harassed, incarcerated and threatened with incarceration by overzealous police who use them as confidential informants (CI), thus turning a significant portion of the population against their communities. These people also effectively serve as the eyes and ears of the police (CIs), since any minor contact with police or any association with other felons can violate the conditions of parole or probation, thus landing them back in jail. For all intents and purposes, Baltimore, is an internal U.S. colony, kept in check by an occupying armed force called the police.

In Baltimore, 20.3% of the population live on or under the poverty line, which is 131.5% above the state’s poverty line. Rather than developing sustainable programs to address this endless cycle of poverty, Baltimore proposes to spend an obscene amount of money on a police training center that includes classrooms, administration buildings, a firing range, indoor and outdoor fitness, a community plaza, and a tactical training village. The training village combines street widths commonly seen in Baltimore City (avenue, street, and alley) with building typology  (two-story row homes, liquor stores, garden apartments, and convenience stores). This village models real-world scenarios to assist training in maneuvering through Baltimore neighborhoods. The implications of developing expertise in urban warfare without dutifully returning justice and power to the hands of communities only entail the successful advancement of oppression.

Proponents of a Cop City in Baltimore must recognize the relationship intentionally stewarded between the police and city residents. The proposal is not only profoundly offensive but erases the steep historical context of the corruption and injustice African/Black poor working-class communities have been subject to with vocal opposition, dawning the existence of the police state. The absurdity of such notions is perpetuated when analyzing the suggestions of the Community Oversight Task Force responsible for “guiding” the morality of the BPD throughout its Consent Decree obligations. Holding this truth, it becomes clear that there is no intention of the State and its Black Misleadership Class to dismantle and repair the fundamental power imbalances between law enforcement and citizens, making this corruption possible. There is no monetary incentive there, and the ethical burden is too high. This is the message being confirmed by a Cop City proposal. Our college campuses — the only places in the city where our youth can access higher education — are not grounds for grossly underdeveloped, atomistic, violent passion projects of the neocolonialist state. With this, there is no respect for our youth's future nor our institutions' legacy and potential. We are called to protect what is supposed to be ours. 

The existence of a training facility in a predominantly  African/Black poor working class community will only be used to enforce further the status quo of white power and colonial control over the lives of African and other oppressed nations of people. The solution to the issues that plague Baltimore City is not MORE police training but People(s) Centered Human Rights ensuring the needs of Baltimore City  residents are met.  

NO COP CITY IN BALTIMORE! DEFEAT THE WAR ON AFRICANS HERE AND ABROAD! 

Banner photo: A police tactical vehicle leaves the scene with officers in fatigues hanging on. Courtesy WBAL's Robert Lang.