Seventy-three years ago, atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing more than 100,000 people on the day of the attacks and tens of thousands more in the following months.
The United States is still the only country to use an atomic weapon against human beings. The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) supports a 2017 United Nations treaty to ban all nuclear weapons. We say the right to life is the ultimate human right with war being the ultimate violator of that right. Yet, contemporary policymakers in the Obama and Bush administrations, who had made the Dr. Strangelove character seem rational, had quietly engaged in discussions about the tactical feasibility of limited nuclear war, as if a nuclear war could possibly be contained. Read more about our position in our statement.
The devastation wreaked on Japan by the atomic bombs doesn’t seem to matter to the United States, though. This criminal state has only continued waging war across the globe, with U.S. troops stationed on every continent and murderous invasions and occupations taking place throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Just this week, the Trump administration re-imposed sanctions on Iran, escalating its drive to war in yet another country in west Asia.
Meanwhile, the United States and its vassal states are clearly behind the latest attempted assassination of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday. Venezuelans, a people with a proud Bolivarian tradition who have faced years of U.S. aggression, marched in support of their president.
Colombia, a U.S. proxy state, was cited as an actor in the attack on Maduro. Yet the South American country faces its own internal struggle for peace, especially now that a conservative president has been inaugurated. The Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases—of which BAP is a founding member—expressed its solidarity with the popular movements of Colombia: “We denounce that the Colombian state has become an agent of Empire that threatens its own people, the region, and the planet.”
We are happy to announce our website has been revamped. Please pop over there and take a look at our new home page and campaign pages. If you’re interested in becoming a member or supporter, now is the time to do so as we now have the capacity to smoothly process applications.
EVENTS
The breakdown in U.S. society and the collaboration between leftists and liberals continues to disturb many of us. We must intensify our efforts to build the Black Alliance for Peace as a critical formation in the new anti-war movement. We are moving toward our first membership meeting in September. Please help up raise the $10,000 we need to pull off this meeting. Only you can help rebuild this movement.
Join BAP, member organizations Friends of the Congo and Pan African Community Action (PACA), and others for an August 18 panel discussion in Baltimore about the militarization of Black communities and AFRICOM.
The Black Is Back Coalition will hold its annual conference in Saint Louis, this weekend. BAP is a member of this coalition and we encourage everyone to attend.
Consider attending the Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases’ is hosting the First Annual International Conference Against U.S./NATO Military Bases in November in Dublin, Ireland.
No compromise.
No retreat.
Struggle to win,
Ajamu, Ana, Jaribu, Kali, Lamont, Lukata, Margaret, Netfa, Paul, Vanessa and Yolande
Coordinating Committee
Black Alliance for Peace
P.S. Help us rebuild the Black anti-war movement in the tradition of Black internationalism by contributing today.
Photo credit: Sputnik