2023 and The Showdown between Colonized and Colonizer

2023 and The Showdown between Colonized and Colonizer

In 2023 the U.S. colonial capitalist order stepped up its war against collective humanity. Despite the attempts by the U.S.-Israeli settler regimes to confuse and intimidate the masses into accepting war crimes perpetrated against the Palestinian people, people around the world have registered their outrage through sustained protests for a Free Palestine. In their maniacal support for the zionist terrorist entity, the imperialist U.S. is also stirring up what will likely be a regional war involving Yemen, Lebanon, Iran, and Iraq. Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to finance its proxy war in Ukraine.

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) says that for the colonized residing in the bowels of the U.S. capitalist settler state and its Western European counterparts, we must recognize that our populations are an extension of the Global South and become more resolute in consolidating our alignment with the masses there. The domestically colonized in the U.S. still face state violence, poverty, constant surveillance, incarceration, and extrajudicial killings by the police, armed agents of the state whose power is being enhanced by plans for Cop Cities across the country. Black workers struggle to organize for their human rights against racist systems and the predation of Amazon and other corporations. Accordingly, the people, especially Black people, must build the structures needed to fight and defeat the warmongering U.S. colonial/capitalist setter state.

While the imperialist powers are notorious for waging wars that kill and cause widespread destruction, they rarely win.

BAP spent 2023 fighting back against the western enemies of humanity. Through protests, teach-ins, interviews, articles, and sociopolitical events, BAP members and member organizations highlighted the connections between western imperialist interests and policies in Niger, Haiti, and Cop Cities in the U.S. In battling western imperialism and its propaganda, BAP member organizations have also supported the people's centered movement for democracy that has gained momentum in Guinea Bissau. This movement is exposing the hypocrisy of compradors in Africa who claim to care about democracy in Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso. The African Party of Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which is spearheading this movement, is on the Steering Committee of BAP's U.S. Out of Africa Network.

2024 must be a year of intensifying the class struggle. The western-supported ongoing settler colonial genocide of Palestinians, the NATO proxy Ukraine-Russia War, and the upcoming U.S. presidential election - all are opportunities to expose and take advantage of the contradictions of western white supremacist imperialism.

BAP will continue to mobilize wherever there is agitation against imperialism and capitalist structures, whether in Haiti or Atlanta or Palestine or Guinea-Bissau. As a counter to the Black misleader legislators espousing unconditional support for the zionist entity and the snake oil Pan-Africanists who peddle notions that the Palestinian struggle has nothing to do with Black/African liberation, or that a Kenya-led Blackface U.S.-sponsored invasion and occupation of Haiti is a form of “Pan-Africanism,” BAP has produced a cutting edge webpage of Black radical Resources on Palestine that dispels the falsities of these forces, while continuing to update its Haiti/Americas page.

With the coalition to counter impunity that BAP helped to establish at the very end of the year in response to the historic filing by South Africa in the International Court of Justice a case against the state of Israel for the crime of genocide, 2024 promises to be a year in which BAP’s work to link the international and the domestic will probably invite more scrutiny from the national security state. But organizationally, we are prepared. BAP has embraced our historic task to revive the “Black radical tradition” and will not let any obstacle divert us from successfully realizing that objective.

Where others might wither under the pressure and look for ways to accommodate the demands of the colonial state, betray our people by remaining silent in the face of oppression, BAP boldly proclaims that we will intensify our opposition. Because when it comes to serving our people and advancing the revolutionary project - there will be No Compromise and No Retreat!

BAP IN THE STREETS

On October 1, BAP kicked off the 2023 Month of Action Against AFRICOM with the webinar “From Niger to Haiti to Cop City, Defeat The War Against African People,” which was the theme for the month. The BAP Atlanta Citywide Alliance dropped a banner that read “U.S. Out of Africa Shutdown AFRICOM” over I-75 South near southwest Atlanta. On October 9, BAP Atlanta screened “Walter Rodney: What They Don't Want You to Know” followed by a discussion on how Rodney’s life relates to our current struggles, including the fight to Shut Down AFRICOM and Stop Cop City. 

BAP Baltimore on October 13, along with Archive Liberia, hosted a screening of “The Land Beneath Our Feet” which included a presentation from Erica Caines on AFRICOM. On October 21, BAP Baltimore partnered with member organization Maryland Council of Elders on the town hall “AFRICOM, Cop City, and You” which connected AFRICOM as the flip side of the domestic war and occupation being waged via Cop City by the same repressive state structures against African/Black and poor people in Baltimore. On October 26, BAP Baltimore partnered with student group Anti-Imperialist Action: UMBC (AIA) on a teach-in focusing on how the university is directly implicated in AFRICOM, which included a discussion on the Black Misleadership Class, the current situation in the Sahel, and Cop City. 

BAP DC & Mid-Atlantic hosted a virtual teach-in on November 5 focusing on the connections between the struggle to Shut Down AFRICOM in Africa with liberation struggles against U.S. militarism and repression in African communities in the U.S. and among Palestinians. 

BAP NYC joined KOMOKODA in protest at Kenya’s UN consulate in New York City on October 6 after the United Nations approved a new occupation of Haiti with Kenya playing the lead in Black face imperialism. Clau O’Brien Moscoso, JP Sloan, and Margaret Kimberley participated. 

In October, the BAP Haiti/Americas Team called for an Emergency Day of Action for Haitian Sovereignty on October 12th. On this day, BAP DC led, and BAP Mid-Atlantic members participated in a rally at the Kenyan Embassy in DC and marched to the Jamaican Embassy.

The team also organized a Diplomatic Day of Action Against Intervention and In Solidarity with the People of Haiti on December 4th. BAP DC coordinated a mobilization to deliver letters and informational packets to the embassies of 16 countries involved in the MSS at their embassies in Washington DC.

BAP participated in the Free Palestine Rally on November 4, the largest pro-Palestine protest in U.S. history with 300,000 people marching. A BAP-Philly member spoke on behalf of BAP. 

On the same day and also in DC, BAP also participated in the 15th Annual Black People’s March on the White House organized by the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations. 

On November 9, BAP-Atlanta joined activists from Atlanta Jews Against Genocide, The Ruckus Society, Blackout Collective, Movement 4 Black Lives and Community Movement Builders to disrupt the GILEE headquarters, spreading the names of the tens of thousands Palestinians killed by the zionist occupiers over the past month and held a press conference by the sign for the GILEE office.

On November 10, BAP-Atlanta co-hosted “Stop Cop City and Free Palestine: Teach-In and Movement Building” with Palestinian Youth Movement and Community Movement Builders. The event kicked off with a discussion of the current reality in Gaza, historical context, settler colonialism, Deadly Exchange programs, GILEE, and Cop City. It was followed by breakouts in which there were discussions around the role of students in the movement, propaganda, anti-doxxing, and direct action, as well as a break out room dedicated to creating art.

On November 11, BAP-Atlanta members joined Palestine Action-US, the Atlanta Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and Atlanta residents at City Hall to demand a complete end to the occupation, end to the GILEE program, end to Cop City, and an end to the zionist state.

On November 12, BAP-Atlanta hosted a screening and discussion of “COINTELPRO 101” with special guests Jihad Abdulmumit and Masai Eheosi of the Jericho Movement and Black Liberation Army.

In November, BAP Coordinating Committee member and Black Agenda Report Executive Editor Margaret Kimberley traveled to Cairo, Egypt, where Black Agenda Report and the Black Alliance for Peace were among the organizations invited to participate in an effort to bring attention and help to the people of Gaza. The 20-person delegation planned to travel in an aid convoy to Rafah, a city on the border of Gaza. 

On December 16, community members in West Baltimore joined BAP Baltimore Citywide Alliance and the Maryland Council of Elders at the Douglas Memorial Community Church to discuss the Democratic Party and the Black Misleadership Class. We discussed the role this class of Africans play in the lives of African workers. Petros Bein and Sister Sheena of BAP organization member, Ujima People’s Progress Party, discussed the broader and local manifestation of the Black Misleadership Class. Chawki Irvin of BAP organization member, All African People’s Revolutionary Party and Friends of Latin America talked about the legacy of revolutionaries combating this class of Africans and centered the importance of organization. 

BAP members participated in the Southern Human Rights Organizers Conference (SHROC) in Nashville during the weekend of December 15- 17. In the photo are BAP members with Chris Smalls, leader of Amazon Union.

PRESS AND MEDIA

On the December 12th episode of “Voices With Vision” Imani Umoja of the PAIGC (African Party of Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde), BAP member organization All-African People's Revolutionary Party, and the steering committee of BAP’s U.S. Out of Africa Network, gave an update from Guinea-Bissau on the political situation there and explains why it is important to the African continent and to the diaspora. The interview starts at 25:12 into the show. Imani also appeared on Remix Morning Show at 1:06:13 into the show, and on Black Agenda Radio.

On the January 2nd episode of “Voices With Vision,” - a great first show of 2024 hosted by Craig Hall and BAP Coordinating Committee member Netfa Freeman - they speak with Libyan PhD student at the University of Illinois, labor organizer with the graduate workers union, and member of the Global Pan-African Movement, Essam Elkorghli about how the education of Palestinian youth is under constant criticism for “promoting violence” against the Zionist settler state, while the entire structure of Israel – including its education system - is oriented to generate an environment of violence against Palestinians. They also take a different look at how the colonization of Africa has superimposed gender social constructs in an interview with Pan-African Community Action (PACA) organizers Bree Hemphill and Oliver Robinson, who go into the takeaways from a two-part PACA Assata Shakur Study Group session that discussed “The Invention of Women,” a book by Oyeronke Oyewumi.

Netfa was one of several guests on Chicago's "Keep Hope Alive: Rev Jesse Jackson Show” hosted by Santita Jackson to talk about the liberation struggle in Palestine and the genocide being carried out by the Israeli and U.S. settler states on October 29  and November 19.

The Activist News Network hosted, on November 10, 2023, the Dar Al Janub webinar with Dhoruba Bin-Wahad, Kambale Musavuli & Netfa Freeman to discuss the geopolitics of Al-Aqsa Flood & Solidarity with Gaza. Netfa was on Black Policy Lab discussing the Congo on December 6. 

The Real News Network published Haiti/Americas Team Co-Coordinator Jemima Pierre’s article Haiti as Empire’s Laboratory. Jemima was also interviewed on the December 14th episode of The Critical Hour, starting at the 1:11:56 mark, about the U.S. trials of suspects of the assassination of Haitian president, Jovenel Moise; and explains, on the Maisha Kazini Channel, how the global dynamics of race distorts Black people’s understanding of ourselves worldwide and why Kenya and some Caribbean countries agree to send police to Haiti as part of an imperial occupation project. Millennials Are Killing Capitalism talks with Jemima about the UN Security Council approved so-called "intervention" in Haiti and how it relates to the struggle of Palestinians.

BAP’s Haiti/Americas Team member, Peter James Hudson wrote on Walter Rodney in Los Angeles in the essay "History, Method, and Myth: Walter Rodney and the Geographies of Black Radicalism" that appears in a special issue of the journal Small Axe dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Walter Rodney's How Europe Underdeveloped Africa.

BAP Coordinating Committee member Margaret Kimberley was a guest on a November 30th excerpt of Revolutionary Blackout Network to discuss U.S. support of Israel and on December 14th’s episode of the Sabby Sabs Podcast to discuss Congo and other foreign policy issues and in Black Agenda Report, Margaret wrote about how “Black Agenda Report Joins in Gaza Relief Effort.” 

BAP Coordinating Committee Vice Chair and Co-Coordinator of the BAP Haiti/ Americas Team, Erica Caines joined BAP Mid-Atlantic region and A-APRP member, Dr. Jared Ball, alongside authors Dr. Todd Steven Burroughs and Dr. Orisanmi Burton for a discussion on the Star Wars series Andor, colonialism, resistance and Dr. Burton’s book, "Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt."

Erica and BAP Coordinating Committee Chairperson Ajamu Baraka, came together on The Critical Hour to discuss the U.S. government's machinations in South America, including stirring up tensions between Venezuela and Guyana. Hood Communist Blog transcribed Erica’s discussion during the Rights of Indigenous and Afro-Descendant Peoples Session #1/4: International Solidarity webinar, connecting the Zone of Peace Campaign to the domestic fight for community control. Austin Cole, also a BAP Haiti/ Americas Team Co-Coordinator and Erica connect the colonial histories and current occupations of Haiti and Palestine.

Also in Hood Communist Blog BAP Haiti/Americas Team member Krys Cerisier connects Panama, Congo and Palestine through extractivist imperialism and Petros Bein, a member of Ujima Peoples Progress Party and BAP-Baltimore writes about Montgomery County's decision to side with Zionists over the people. 

In Struggle La Lucha, BAP member and organizer for the San Diego Coalition to Free Mumia and All Political Prisoners, Gloria Verdieu writes about “Mobilizing to Free Mumia and all Political Prisoners” on the 44th anniversary of Mumia's unlawful arrest and how “Criminalizing homelessness solves nothing – Socialist planning could end the crisis,” focusing on San Diego which has recently become the most expensive city in the U.S. to live in. BAP's John Parker also wrote a report back from his recent trip to Egypt, as part of an international delegation of activists who traveled to Egypt for the Global Conscience Convoy initiated by the Egyptian Syndicate of Journalists, a grassroots effort to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. John and 3 others were detained for 37 hours by Egyptian authorities.

BAP regional Coordinators Nick Thompson and Tunde Osazua appeared on the podcast Revolutionary Left Radio to discuss the life and legacy of Kwame Nkrumah. 

Musa Springer participated in a panel discussion about the role of artists against imperialism and apartheid that took place on November 29, 2023 in Atlanta, GA and was co-hosted by the Black Alliance for Peace-Atlanta.

Salome Ayuak contributed to this timeline of Black Palestinian Solidarity. The purpose of the timeline is to visually organize the rich history of solidarity among and between Black Palestinian, African, Non-Black Palestinians and Black-Arab solidarity around Palestine. The timeline is part of a project, West End 2 West Bank, which is meant to remind everyone in Atlanta (and across the world) that we all have a role to play in destroying settler colonialism. 

EVENTS

January 10: the topic of BAP member organization Pan-African Community Action (PACA)’s next Assata Shakur Study Group is “Remembering Alonzo Smith” from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET. Participate in-person at Black Workers & Wellness Center, 2500 Martin Luther King, Jr., Ave., SE, Washington, D.C. or for online, register here.

January 17: PACA’s Assata Shakur Study Group will be “The Radical MLK Jr.” from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET. Participate in-person at Black Workers & Wellness Center, 2500 Martin Luther King, Jr., Ave., SE, Washington, D.C. or for online, register here.

January 20: Join BAP-Atlanta and BAP member organization Friends of the Congo for  “Lumumba Lives: From the Congo to Atlanta,” an event to celebrate the life and legacy of Patrice Lumumba, a prominent figure in the struggle for independence in the Congo, 3 - 6pm EST at Little Five Points Center for Arts and Community, 1083 Austin Avenue Northeast, Atlanta, GA. More info here. 

January 15: The Pittsburgh Black Socialist Study Group (PBSG), a project of the Pittsburgh Black Worker Center, is hosting the hybrid event U.S. Out of Africa: #shutdownAFRICOM for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, 6pm EST at 3401 Milwaukee Street, Pittsburgh PA. Get more info and register.

No Compromise, No Retreat!

Struggle to win,

Ajamu, Austin, Dedan, Erica, Jacqueline, Jaribu, Jemima, Margaret, Matt, Netfa, Nnamdi, Paul, Rafiki, Tunde, and Yasmin

Coordinating Committee

P.S. Freedom isn’t free. Consider giving today.

Banner Photo: Young people celebrate PAI victory - Terra Ranka in Bissau (courtesy dw.com, Alison Cabral/DW)