Fear of a rising China has gripped the supposedly “global elites” of the world. G7 member states agreed on Saturday that all wifi connections be dismantled around the room they convened in because they worried China would eavesdrop, part of a years-long narrative that China’s private tech companies are conducting surveillance on its behalf.
At the meeting, U.S. President Joe Biden pitched to G7 member states an alternative project to contend with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an 8-year-old program involving the construction of railways, ports and roads, along with cultural exchange. Already, dozens of countries have signed onto it.
But G7 leaders didn’t seem enthused as talks ended Saturday. Countries like Germany and Italy are heavily invested in the Chinese supply chain. In fact, Volkswagen and BMW cars are top sellers in China. Even though Italy pulled out of the BRI, its officials remember China's generosity when it provided personal protective equipment and medical professionals during the height of Italy's COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. The rift within the Pan-European colonial-capitalist project is obvious.
But the white-supremacist hold remains as the United States continues funding the Zionist state of Israel, which perpetuates a deadly apartheid system on occupied Palestinians.
When U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) tweeted last week, comparing the United States and Israel to Hamas and the Taliban, senior Democrats released a statement disparaging her. However, their statement said the United States and Israel are “governed by the rule of law.” We at the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) find that laughable since the United States and Israel continue to operate outside the rule of law as rogue states, breaking treaties and violating international laws with impunity. Therefore, it is not clear why Omar felt compelled to backtrack from her original comments.
Operating squarely within the Black Radical Internationalist Tradition, BAP minces no words and makes no distinctions between states that commit terror and non-state actors that do the same. We also do not align ourselves with what the pan-European colonial-capitalist powers tell us about countries like China or Russia. We understand relying on the good will of supposed “democracies” is a losing game. Black and colonized peoples from the United States to Colombia and across the Atlantic Ocean in Africa have seen what these so-called “civilized” states have done to our people and to other colonized peoples over the course of 529 years. And so we assert our right to draw our own conclusions based on a framework of People(s)-Centered Human Rights, which comes out of the tradition that produced Black radical organizers like Malcolm X and Fannie Lou Hamer. We say “time out” for waiting for a solution from the white-supremacist colonial-capitalist patriarchy. The people of the world are just a decade away from irreversible climate change as well as increasing militarized force to repress us as capitalism devolves. We must come up with our own solutions. The Black Alliance for Peace is designed to be a step in that direction.
PRESS AND MEDIA
On the June 1 episode of WPFW (89.3 FM-Washington, D.C.)'s “Voices With Vision,” co-hosts Craig Hall and Netfa Freeman, who represents BAP member organization Pan-African Community Action (PACA), took a deep dive into the U.S.-backed Tigray People’s Liberation Front’s (TPLF) war of secession from Ethiopia and its invasion of Eritrea with Simon Tesfarmariam of the New Africa Institute, which issued a report, "Disinformation in Tigray: Manufacturing Consent for a Secessionist War" and Yohana Beyene of BAP member organization Horn of Africa Pan-Africans for Liberation and Solidarity (HOA PALS). They broke down what has been going on, and how the U.S. media and government have formed a “disinformation network” to bolster support for the TPLF. Co-hosts Craig and Netfa took a few minutes to draw attention to the case of political prisoner Keith Davis, Jr., in Baltimore, the U.S.-Colombia-Israel axis of imperialism, and the U.S. troop pullout from Afghanistan that is expected to be completed as early as mid-July. The show began with the latest commentary from political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal, who reflected on the passing of Romaine Chip Fitzgerald, long-time political prisoner and former member of the Black Panther Party, who transitioned on March 28. The episode featured the song/poem, “You So Black,” by Theresa The Songbird.
On the June 8 episode of "Voices With Vision," Craig and Netfa featured a conversation among PACA comrades, who chop it up about former Black Panther Party member Dhoruba Bin Wahad's 1993 essay, "Toward Rethinking Self-Defense in a Racist Culture." Featured in the show is Wise Intelligent's song, "Mama Cry," sound from the motion pictures "Return of the Jedi" and "Ghostdog," a snippet from the animated series "The Boondocks," and the intro of Luis Rodriguez for Olmeca's album, "La Contra Cultura / Counter Culture." Playing in the background of our PACA discussion was George Fields' "A Hip Hop Beat."
BAP member Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture (pictured above on the mic) spoke out at a Block The Boat Solidarity Protest for a Free Palestine on June 12 in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Free Palestine Coalition, which includes The Black and Brown Coalition, Students for Justice in Palestine of Temple University, Jewish Voices for Peace, Socialist Alternative and others, sponsored the event. Asantewaa was wearing a T-shirt that featured the face of Nadeem Nowarah, a Palestinian teen who was shot and killed in May 2014 by an Israeli border police officer. That day, Asantewaa met a young Palestinian man at the rally who was friends with Nadeem.
Solidarity Network Coordinator Julie Varughese joined Radio Sputnik's "The Critical Hour" 84 minutes in to discuss how the U.S. Air Force is considering how it will continue to bomb Afghanistan after its air bases have been evacuated. Biden has stated he will not take his eye off "terrorism" in Afghanistan.
Rising out of the shadows of the Andean highlands, schoolteacher and trade unionist Pedro Castillo appears on the verge of winning the presidency and catapulting Perú toward a future free of neoliberal austerity and U.S. meddling after rallying the oppressed masses of the South American country to support his candidacy. Read BAP member Kayla Popuchet's article for Toward Freedom on the Peruvian election.
Monthly Review re-printed part of Professor Gerald Horne’s transcript from BAP’s African Liberation Day webinar held on May 22 that was published in its in entirety in Black Agenda Report. He discussed what the African diaspora owes Haiti, the first Black republic.
BAP Haiti/Americas Coordinator Dr. Jemima Pierre appeared June 13 on a U.S. Peace Council webinar, "Haiti vs. Imperialism and Neocolonialism: Yesterday and Today." Gerald Horne also spoke.
Erica Caines ripped into Kamala Harris after the vice president's trip to Central America in a piece for Hood Communist.
Rita Jill Clark-Gollub of Friends of Latin America wrote for Popular Resistance that the corporate media is again awash with accusatory articles about Nicaragua, claiming the government is disqualifying political opponents to give the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) an easy win in this year’s elections.
BAP Coordinating Committee member Margaret Kimberley offered insight on mainstream media’s collaboration with the U.S. government to carry the narrative that China is to blame for COVID-19.
Julie Varughese was one of four featured speakers during the Green Party of the United States' Peace Action Committee's webinar, "Biden’s Wars: The First 100 Days." Julie discussed the ideology underpinning the Biden administration's anti-China rhetoric and actions.
BAP member YahNé Ndgo spoke at a rally demanding the freedom of Wikleaks publisher Julian Assange.
Twice a month, the editorial board of Hood Communist holds live conversations on its Telegram channel where it discusses blog articles as well as current events. On May 27, a few board members (BAP Coordinating Committee member Erica Caines, Onyesonwu Chatoyer of BAP member organization AAPRP-New Mexico and Ahjamu Umi of BAP member organization All-African People’s Revolutionary Party) discussed Pan Africanism, African Liberation Day and its collective statement, “We Unify or We Die”.
Hood Communist Editor Ahjamu Umi on the demonization and idealization of individuals and its effects on actual organizing, “Lessons from Eldridge Cleaver and the Black Panther Party."
Press TV spoke to Netfa Freeman about Joe Biden declaring white supremacy the most lethal threat to the United States on the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre. Netfa also spoke to NNV News about the issue 48:50 minutes into its show. Plus, Margaret Kimberley discussed Tulsa and other atrocities on the "Jenerational Change" podcast.
Press TV spoke to PACA organizer Max Rameau about the George Floyd murder after the 1-year anniversary about what has and hasn't changed.
Erica Caines appeared on BAP Coordinating Committee member Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelley's YouTube show on Black Power Media, "The Last Dope Intellectual," with Bilphena Yahwon of The Womanist Reader to discuss the case of political prisoner Keith Davis, Jr., and Baltimore policing.
KPFA's "Flashpoints" spoke with Netfa 20 minutes into the show about the Democratic and Republican struggle over a police reform bill.
Erica Caines spoke to Onyesonwu Chatoyer on the AAPRP-New Mexico's "Weekly Pan African News" to discuss petit-bourgeois African sellouts, identity reductionism and why African women need to reject mammying for empire. Washington Babylon also asked Erica seven questions about a Hood Communist article she wrote on The Squad.
Plus, Margaret Kimberley is among several new Consortium News board members.
EVENTS
June 17: Join BAP for "Voices Against Empire: A Discussion on Black Radical Media." Register here.
June 17: DC Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression will host, "How Community Control Over Police Empowers Women, Trans & Gender Non-Conforming Folx."
June 23: PACA's next Assata Shakur Study Groups (ASSG) event "Ableism, Disability Justice, An Access-Centered Movement, and the Struggle for Black Liberation" will be held 7-9 p.m. ET. Register here.
TAKE ACTION
Sign BAP petitions calling for an end to the 1033 program and peace in Afghanistan.
Dedan Waciuri, who represents Black Workers for Justice on BAP’s Coordinating Committee, is being charged for inciting a riot and damaging government property. Sign this petition to demand charges be dropped.
The Black Latina Girls and Women Fund was created by BAP member organization AfroResistance, a Black Latina women-led organization in the service of Black Latinx women in the Americas. This fund offers financial support by giving money directly to Black Latin womxn, girls and femmes who are experiencing severe financial need across the region, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether in Brazil, Colombia, United States or Panama, Black Latina girls, women, and femmes are organizing in their local communities in the fight against several forms of state violence. You can donate here and people are encouraged to use the hashtag #BlackLatinaGWFund.
Sign up to join BAP’s U.S. Out of Africa Network to receive the bi-weekly AFRICOM Watch Bulletin in your inbox.
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No Compromise, No Retreat!
Struggle to win,
Ajamu, Charisse, Dedan, Erica, Jaribu, Margaret, Netfa, Nnamdi, Paul, Rafiki
P.S. Freedom isn’t free. Consider giving today.
Banner photo: G7 leaders in session, among the topics discussed, was the origin of COVID-19 as the push for confrontation with China by the West, led by the U.S., continues. (Sky News)