This week, the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) rallied, marched and struggled, ending by celebrating our second anniversary in Washington, D.C.

At the march against NATO on March 30 in Washington, D.C., we made sure onlookers could not miss us because the wars abroad and in the United States disproportionately affect African/Black people.

BAP Coordinating Committee member Paul Pumphrey spoke about U.S./NATO domination in Africa, while BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka told the crowd Afro-Venezuelans want peace, but are prepared for war.


The march received coverage from The Real News, RT and TeleSUR.


On March 31, Ajamu spoke about the contradictions of the U.S./EU/NATO axis of domination at the World Peace Council's first U.S.-based conference.

Then on April 2, after six months of gathering signatures to demand the United States end militarism in Africa, BAP members went to Capitol Hill and delivered about 3,500 signatures to Congressional Black Caucus Chair Karen Bass and CBC member Ilhan Omar. A letter also was delivered to Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Pramila Jayapal. Read our statement for details.

On the morning of April 4, our people here, here and here marched from Albert Einstein Memorial to the State Department to oppose NATO’s 70th anniversary celebration, a desecration of the 51st anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination. Afterward, folks marched to the MLK Memorial for a program dedicated to King’s anti-racist and anti-imperialist legacy.

That evening, Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in northeast Washington, D.C., was forced to open up the balcony as the hall overflowed for our second-anniversary event, “No Compromise, No Retreat in the Fight to End Militarism and War”. There, we announced we were rolling out our second campaign, No Compromise, No Retreat: Defeat the War Against African/Black People in the U.S. and Abroad.

Solidarity statements by scholars and activists Mireille Fanon-Mendès-France and Cornel West played at the start of the event.

Fanon-Mendès-France said, “On the eve of the second anniversary of Black Alliance for Peace, we must recognize the political and solidarity work done by BAP. This organization tirelessly denounces the hegemony of occidental countries and their supporters; BAP analyzes the situation of people of African descent in many countries and protests constructively against political decisions that do not allow them to obtain recognition and justice. BAP goes beyond the American continent and is mobilizing, through an active campaign, against the AFRICOM bases or against the NATO policy which, both of them, obstruct the possibility of development of many countries.”

West praised BAP: “The critique of capitalism, the critique of white supremacy… but most importantly, having integrity and telling the truth regardless of the consequences.”

Ajamu will do a reportback on his experience with the U.S. Peace Council delegation to Venezuela on April 9 in New York City.

No compromise.

No retreat.

Struggle to win,
Ajamu, Jaribu, Margaret, Netfa, Paul, Vanessa and YahNé
Coordinating Committee
Black Alliance for Peace

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Banner photo credit: Netfa Freeman