A Different Kind of Women's March

BAP members Ajamu Baraka, Charo Mina-Rojas, Jose Monzon, and YahNé Ndgo joined about 1,500 of some of the most dedicated people in the country to march Sunday with Cindy Sheehan in the Women’s March on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) continues to stress war is a class issue—but it is also a race and gender issue, with people of color, women, and LGBTQIA2S and non-binary people disproportionately suffering. It is unfortunate forces associated with the “resistance,” who allow themselves to be called forth whenever the Democratic Party beckons, have failed to understand the importance of opposing the permanent war agenda of the duopoly. Opposing this agenda is also why we will be out in force to support the next mobilization in Washington, D.C., called by the Black Is Back Coalition on November 3 as well as the Peace Congress being organized for the week afterward. This really is shaping up to be an Anti-war Autumn.

As part of our #AntiwarAutumn efforts and our contribution to the work of the Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases, we launched a campaign on the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). U.S. Out of Africa!: Shut Down AFRICOM demands the end of war and militarism on the continent of our ancestors. Please sign our petition to the Congressional Black Caucus and U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee (we're almost at 1,000 signatures!).

BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka also spoke with Lee Camp of “Redacted Tonight” about the importance of re-invigorating Black internationalist forces to build an anti-war, anti-imperialist movement inside the imperial core. And BAP member Netfa Freeman wrote about the connection between the attack on Black communities in the United States and the U.S. occupation of Africa in Black Star News.

Please also attend these events:

1. BAP Coordinating Committee members Jaribu Hill and Ajamu Baraka will join esteemed revolutionaries as jurists at the International Tribunal on U.S. Colonial Crimes on Puerto Rico, being held October 27 in New York City.

2. Join BAP member organization Pan-African Community Action for this popular-education program, “From Anacostia to AFRICOM: How Capitalism Creates Killer Cops.”

3. Join Ajamu Baraka and representatives from the Black Is Back Coalition and the United National Antiwar Coalition for a panel discussion to “End the Wars at Home and Abroad” October 31 in New York City.

4. African peoples are asked to participate in the Black Is Back Coalition’s November 3 March on the White House in Washington, D.C.

5. Now that Trump’s military parade is canceled due to mass pressure, BAP is helping organize Peace Congress: End All U.S. Wars at Home and Abroad, being held November 10 in Washington, D.C. BAP Coordinating Committee member Netfa Freeman will speak.

6. Join BAP Coordinating Committee members Margaret Kimberley and Ajamu Baraka at the First International Conference Against U.S./NATO Military Bases, being held November 16-18 in Dublin, Ireland.

7. BAP Coordinating Committee member Jaribu Hill has been organizing the Southern Human Rights Organizers’ Conference (SHROC) for 22 years. Join her and activists from the Global South Dec. 7-9 in Atlanta. Register by October 31 for the early-bird price. Book the group hotel rate by November 13.

No compromise.

No retreat.

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

P.S. Help us organize our people against the U.S. empire by contributing today.

Prison Strike Rattles the U.S. Empire

Tuesday marked the 500th anniversary of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, which escalated the Pan-European colonial project. This endeavor looted whole continents and committed genocide on a scale never before recorded.

The Pan-European colonial project is underway to this day as 2.2 million people (mostly Black and Brown) are incarcerated. But the oppressed are rising up. This year’s National Prison Strike—from August 21 to September 9—is shaking up this racist, capitalist system that profits off incarcerated bodies, forcing inmates to pay exorbitant sums for basic needs like food and phone calls to loved ones. In the face of suppression such as prison lockdowns, concessions have been made that appear coincidental: Texas’ correctional system lowered the cost of making phone calls by 75 percent. BAP Coordinating Committee member Margaret Kimberley writes of this transitional program to get free: “Hopefully, they won’t be betrayed by quisling civil rights misleaders, as in 2010.” Read more. Meanwhile, BAP Coordinating Committee member Netfa Freeman’s radio segment reports on the prison strike, as well as on Black August, its progenitor. Here’s a roundup of reports on the prison strike.

With it being Black August, we have no choice but to talk about the impact of the 2014 Ferguson unrest after the murder of Mike Brown. BAP Coordinating Committee member Lamont Lilly interviewed a Ferguson activist who says, "... as Black people, there are no safe spaces for us—only places of limited intellectual and physical refuge."

This past weekend, the internet and airwaves popped off with revisionism on the life of the late U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). The reaction demonstrated once again that the United States is a right-wing nation. We must come to terms with that reality before we can confront it. It is immoral for oppressed people and people who understand the nature and consequence of U.S. militarism to claim McCain is a hero. For example, U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) said, "Senator John McCain was a warrior for peace.” People should not be surprised by Lewis’ remark. He is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), a body that voted to continue the 1033 program that is largely responsible for militarizing the police, and terrorizing Black and Brown communities in the United States. Lewis also voted to make the police a protected class and voted in favor of the obscene $717 billion military budget. Like McCain, these folks in the CBC are criminals who serve the ruling elite and the imperialist project of this country.

Folks, capitalism has advanced to the point where a leader of an imperialist country is now admitting to being "unashamed" to consider the United Kingdom's "national interests." Theresa May is making a trip to Africa to discuss its aid program. We know "aid" takes poor people deep into neo-colonialism. And we shouldn't be surprised if they withhold that aid unless South Africans and other Africans agree to not take back land stolen by white farmers.

We should all be concerned about the neo-colonialism taking place on the African continent. Aside from the older European imperial powers trying to keep their hands on Africa, the United States has announced it is building a $280 million drone base in Niger by the year 2024. The work BAP is developing on AFRICOM is ever more important as the United States moves further into occupying Africa to exploit it and keep out other potential infrastructure-development partners like China.

We must also be wary of how the United States and its allies start rumors that can turn whole countries against one another. One U.S. member of an independent United Nations body claimed China was interning 1 million Muslims, but failed to name a single source. The Western corporate media ran with it anyway and now we have folks all over social media talking about this, which not only demonizes China—it racializes China and sets up the United States for starting a war.

Folks, we hear from some of you every week, with appreciation for our work. Did you know we are a grassroots organization that doesn’t take money from corporations or foundations? We know some of you are worried about the state’s collaboration with communications and technology corporations. The state is coming for BAP, and it might happen sooner than we think. The only way we will win is with the support of the masses. We’re organizing our first membership meeting for September 21-22 in Atlanta to consolidate our forces. Only you can help us raise $10,000 to make this meeting happen and beat back the U.S. empire.

If you would like to attend, become a member. You will then receive information about how to register for first membership meeting.

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 organize against the empire by contributing today toward our first membership meeting.

National Prison Strike Illuminates the Black Struggle

If you’re on social media, the National Prison Strike in the United States is hard to miss. More than 2.2 million people (mostly Black and Brown) are behind bars, many working for pennies an hour as modern slaves—and being denied their human rights. The white-supremacist ruling class considers Blacks economically redundant and finds us more valuable as slaves. That is why folks are withholding their labor.

In a show of international solidarity, Palestinian prisoners have linked with this rebellion: “We extend a special revolutionary salute to the imprisoned strugglers of the Black Liberation Movement and other liberation movements, including Mumia Abu-Jamal, whose consistent internationalism and principled struggle is known and resonates around the world.”

Here on this stolen land, Black folks in the Black-run city of Baltimore may not be incarcerated. But judging by how vigorously they are policed, they too are being denied their human rights. The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP), along with a number of national and local groups, organized a discussion last Saturday on the connection between domestic repression and global U.S. militarism, with a focus on the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). The program provided a peek into BAP’s campaign on the U.S. re-invasion and occupation of Africa, which will be launched October 1, the 10th anniversary of AFRICOM. Watch the video of our panel discussion, “U.S. Military Occupation of Black Communities and the Age of AFRICOM”.

The unfinished revolution in South Africa took a significant step toward justice with the government moving to take back land stolen by Dutch and English colonialists when they invaded the territory more than 100 years ago. However, even this effort will not reverse the general perception that the interests of the African majority have been subordinated to the interests of the white minority by the Black elites who came to power in the 1990s.

Maurice Carney of BAP member organization Friends of the Congo argues the assassination of Congo’s Patrice Lumumba was the most important of the 20th century: "For both the U.S. and Belgium, keeping Congo weak, dependent and impoverished best serves their strategic interests, which includes access to precious and strategic minerals in order to fuel their military, aerospace, technology, electronics and automobile industries."

Our friends in Latin America are waging their own battle against the Pan-European colonial project. Venezuela has begun using the Sovereign Bolivar (Bs.S.), which will be anchored to the cryptocurrency Petro, which is backed by the oil reserves of the Caribbean, and not tied to the U.S. dollar. This an effort to operate independently of the grip of U.S. imperialism.

Meanwhile, embattled former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is officially running for president after repression by a U.S.-supported right-wing government in Brazil.

In Guatemala, more than 40 social organizations demanded on Sunday that the government stop the murder and criminalization of human rights defenders. Activists charged U.S.-backed President Jimmy Morales with expanding the war.

BAP member Glen Ford writes in Black Agenda Report that “Silicon Valley and the corporate media are far more effective in conjuring alternative realities than the chaotic Trump White House.” Read more here.


EVENTS

Folks are still reeling over the state’s collaboration with communications and technology corporations. It’s clear the state may be coming for BAP soon. The only way we will win is with the support of the masses. We’re organizing our first membership meeting for September 21-22 in Atlanta to consolidate our forces. Only you can help us raise $10,000 to make this meeting happen and beat back the U.S. empire.

Also consider attending the Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases’ 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 organize against the empire by contributing today toward our first membership meeting.

What We Can Learn from Hiroshima and Nagasaki

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

Democrats and Republicans Collaborate on War

On Friday, 139 Democrats joined with Republicans to pass a $717 billion National Defense Authorization Act, which included a rider preventing Trump from reducing the amount of U.S. imperialist troops on the Korean peninsula.

This NDAA was approved on the 65th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended the outright bombing and destruction of Korea, but didn’t end the U.S. war on the Korean people.

Presidents in recent history have all helped the transnational ruling class loot more and more wealth. Obama’s recent Mandela lecture was a prime example of the cognitive dissonance—or perhaps outright fraud—of these servants of the ruling class. In his lecture, Obama described how globalization led to the politics of fear and resentment, but he wouldn’t acknowledge how global capitalism and his presidency created the conditions for it.

BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka also spoke about Democratic Party warmongers and the backwardness of Russiagate in an episode of “Your World News”.

In a recent Black Agenda Report piece, Ajamu writes, “Trump, Sanders, Obama, Mueller, and CNN are mere ideological distractions meant to dull our perceptions and prevent us from coming to terms with the awesome reality of our systemic domination.” So if we want to get angry about reporters and whistleblowers being thrown in jail, we can look at Obama for helping expand the state’s suppression.

It was also during the Obama administration that the United States moved with speed and force into invading and occupying Africa, and developing U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). However, Chinese investment as well as people’s liberation movements are turning the tide.

Democrats like Obama also have supported white supremacist regimes like Israel that have long targeted colonized children like Ahed Tamimi, who was recently freed for defending her people on their land.

In China, the state is punishing 37,000 officials for breaching a frugality code. If we applied that standard in the United States, we’d have no one left in the Senate or the White House but the people who clean those buildings!

One of the congresspeople we know would still be left in the building if a frugality code was enacted would be the late Brother Ron Dellums. The indomitable anti-war, anti-militarism congressman, recently died. He loudly advocated for reparations for Black peoples and for African liberation movements. We recognize his creativity and spirit. Presente, Ron!


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, August 11-12. 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: Ali Al-Saadi/AFP/Getty

Upholding Black Radical Internationalism

A wise person said being attacked by one’s enemies means you have become effective. Events over the last weekend at the Left Forum in New York City prove the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) is now seen as a threat, making our 1-year-old organization a target.

It started with an article circulated against BAP’s national organizer, Ajamu Baraka, calling him an “Assadist” and a Trump supporter for opposing U.S. imperialist intervention in Syria. The weekend ended with a demonstration organized by an obscure group during Ajamu’s presentation at the closing plenary.

We welcome the attacks because we understand why they would see an independent, politically clear formation like BAP as a threat. But we also know that we need to be ready for even more attacks.

A revolutionary formation that upholds peace, social justice, and the struggle against war and militarism within the context of an anti-imperialist frame is a deep threat. But when you consider the base we are attempting to politicize and organize is African/Black working class-oriented activists and organizers, why, that is just too much for the system to handle.

Here are the recorded livestreams of panels we spoke at:

1. A joint UNAC/BAP panel, “Stop the Wars at Home and Abroad”
2. A Black Agenda Report panel, “Russiagate: Muzzling the Black Left and the March to War”
3. “Venezuela Resists the U.S. Empire: Task Force on the Americas”
4. Ajamu’s statement at Sunday’s closing plenary

BAP in Venezuela

BAP member Efia Nwangaza represented BAP as an election observer in the Venezuelan presidential election, which was closely observed around the world as the revolutionary Latin American state faces pressure from the United States to yield to transnational capitalist forces. Efia reported on her trip last week on a national call.


African Liberation Day

BAP commemorated African Liberation Day on May 25 with a statement demanding the United States get out of Africa. We followed up with a call for the Congressional Black Caucus and leaders of the Poor People’s Campaign to demand AFRICOM be dismantled.


Action Teams

We thank our research and Africa teams for meeting and moving the campaign development work forward. If you’d like to join these teams, apply to be a member or supporter.

Research Team:
Work collaboratively with BAP action teams and National Organizer to provide relevant information and analysis related to BAP programmatic work. Team will analyze data and write research findings for BAP public educational and advocacy materials, including policy briefs, blogs, toolkits, petitions and special issue reports. If you are interested, send a message to info@blackallianceforpeace.com with the subject line “Research Team”.

Social Media and Communications Team:
Provide support for press and social media work. Coordinate with staff to develop and maintain press list and update press sections of website. Press component of team will assist with producing press releases and pitch BAP actions, spokespersons and events to press, with special emphasis on developing contacts and pitching to alternative press. Social media component of team will gather news links for circulation, work with communications consultant to maintain our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube accounts. If you are interested, send a message to info@blackallianceforpeace.com with the subject line “Social Media and Communications Team”.

We are only able to do this revolutionary work with support from anti-imperialist folks like yourself. Can we count on you to keep building the Black anti-war movement in the United States?

No compromise.

No retreat.

Struggle to win,
Ajamu, Ana, Jaribu, Kali, Lamont, Lukata, Margaret, Netfa, Paul and Yolande
Coordinating Committee
Black Alliance for Peace

P.S. Help us re-build the Black anti-war movement in the tradition of Black internationalism by contributing today.

War Is a Working-Class Issue

Workers from around the world took to the streets on May 1—International Workers’ Day, also known as May Day—to proclaim on their day they were not going to surrender to the logic of capitalist dehumanization and plunder that the ruling class imposes on the peoples of the world.

Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) joined in by declaring our solidarity with those workers because we are those workers. In our statement, we reminded everyone that it is the working class and poor who end up being the cannon fodder for imperialist wars. We repeated once again what is now becoming our slogan: “Not one drop of blood from the working class and poor in defense of the gangsterism of the capitalist ruling class.”


Read our May Day statement here.


Imperialist wars abroad are linked to capitalist-induced class repression on the stolen, occupied land called the United States. On May Day in 2008, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) proved labor strikes can stop these attacks on humanity.

The people of the U.S. colony of Puerto Rico have suffered since September due to a lack of electricity that is a direct consequence of colonial destruction and austerity measures. On May Day, they faced further violence at the hands of goons who work for the colonial overseer when Puerto Ricans rightfully expressed their indignation in the streets.

In France, the neoliberal policies of President Emmanuel Macron sparked massive demonstrations on May 1. Thousands of workers poured into the streets in opposition to his support for an even more militarized agenda than what his predecessors had proposed. This includes a plan to re-introduce a military draft.

Meanwhile, people in the Cuban socialist state 90 miles from the U.S. imperial core say they don’t need to demand their rights as workers because they already have them in place.


Black Activists Still Imprisoned

Afro-Colombians fear for the lives of two leaders of the Black Communities Process, or PCN, the main organization defending the collective land rights of descendants of African slaves. Sara Quiñonez and her mother, Tulia Maris Valencia, were detained on false charges of collaborating with the ELN guerilla group—an allegation that could mark them for assassination. But the PCN is an organization that “promotes peace and peaceful struggle,” said PCN organizer and BAP member Charo Mina-Rojas, who called on leftists everywhere to demand the two women’s release during an interview with BAP member Glen Ford on Black Agenda Report Radio.

You can find information on how you can support these two freedom fighters here.


Upcoming Event

War, revolution and organizing the Black left is on the agenda for the National Assembly for Black Liberation. We encourage Black left forces to participate. Information on the conference can be found here.

No compromise.

No retreat.

Struggle to win,
Ajamu, Ana, Jaribu, Kali, Lamont, Lukata, Margaret and Yolande
Coordinating Committee
Black Alliance for Peace

P.S. The oppressors won’t dismantle the U.S. war machine—that’s our job. Contribute today!

Defending the Bolivarian Process

BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka represented the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) at a gathering in Caracas, Venezuela, March 5 to 7. It marked the fifth anniversary of the passing of Bolivarian revolutionary Hugo Chavez.

Bringing together grassroots activists from 116 nation-states, the gathering produced the “Caracas Declaration,” a document that forcefully asserts revolutionary peoples from around the world will stand with the Venezuelan people to defend their sovereignty and revolutionary process. Here is a piece that captures the spirit of the gathering.

Below, you see Ajamu sitting in the front row, second from right, while Venezuela's current president, Nicolás Maduro, addresses an audience.
 

Trump’s Military Parade

BAP was one of the lead formations that met on February 28, 2018, to collaborate on actions to oppose the Trump administration’s plan to hold a $22 million military parade. Meeting participants were united in opposition to the military parade and intent to mobilize people to Washington, D.C., or to any location if plans for the military parade change. For now, Trump wants the parade to take place on Veterans’ Day. Our plan is to outnumber parade supporters. However, it is important BAP determine the best way we respond as an organization to this provocation, which is an attempt to normalize war on the part of the Trump administration. In the meantime, for more information, you can go to http://notrumpmilitaryparade.us.


Upcoming Events

BAP is a member of the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations. It will hold its second electoral school from April 7 through April 9 in Saint Louis, Missouri. The electoral school is a means by which the coalition opens up a new front in the struggle for Black self-determination in the United States and elsewhere. It challenges the monopoly on the electoral arena by a select sector of our community with special ties to capitalist white power. You can register here.

Planning is heating up for the Spring Actions to oppose all wars scheduled to take place in the Bay Area, Chicago and New York City. Dozens of organizations have signed on to endorse this national call for regional actions. Check springaction2018.org or how to get involved in organizing before April 14-15, to get your organization signed on as an endorser and to download flyers.


Monitoring the World
BAP members and activists should closely follow the situation in Syria. Unlike others who might have the luxury of being confused about the world, we must at all times be crystal clear on global events. While the attention of the U.S. public was diverted to the Syrian Army battle with insurgents in East Ghouta, Turkey has busily recruited right-wing Islamic extremists and deployed them against the population in the Afrin region of Syria, with the result being a massive ethnic cleansing. Patrick Cockburn captures some of the horror of the latest assault on collective human rights in Syria.

BAP member Margaret Kimberley reminds us we need to continue to monitor the situation with North Korea. But she also points out the bi-partisan reality of militarism in the United States, as Democrats appear to be opposed to any efforts to de-escalate the situation with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

BAP member Mekdes Amare wrote a piece on the devastating impact of war on people of color around the world, making connections the Western media and many Western leftists don’t.

No compromise.

No retreat.

Struggle to win,
Ajamu, Ana, Jaribu, Kali, Lamont, Lukata, Margaret and Yolande
Coordinating Committee
Black Alliance for Peace

P.S. The oppressors won’t dismantle the U.S. war machine—that’s our job. Contribute today!

The Gun Debate and Military Parades: A Culture Gone Mad

Is it really possible to debate gun control and the violence that is supposedly the result of unregulated guns without connecting it to the public’s acceptance of the global U.S. arms industry and the normalization of war? Certainly, Donald Trump believes the two are not connected. Judging from the absence of any real opposition to the U.S. war machine over the last few decades, one might think he is correct.

BAP Coordinating Committee member Margaret Kimberley provides one of the few analyses that links the gun debate to militarism in U.S. culture.

BAP was part of a national call Wednesday night to strategize on how the people can reject Trump's mad call for a military parade. Look out today for a media statement from the anti-war and peace community in the United States.

Beyond mobilizing to stop the latest madness, we continue pushing out the work with our meager resources and volunteer labor.


National Actions Against Guantanamo Occupation

February 23, BAP along with dozens of other organizations that are part of the Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases organized public educational events across the country calling for the closure of the U.S. base and torture dungeon in Guantanamo, Cuba, and its return back to the rightful owners of that land—the Cuban people.  

BAP conducted a national conference call on the topic that can be heard here.


Divest from the War Machine

We encourage members and supporters to support the Divest from the War Machine campaign, of which BAP is a co-sponsor.

The campaign seeks to educate the public on the incestuous relationships that make up the military-industrial complex (MIC). CODEPINK is providing materials and direct support for organizations that want to target the corporations, Congress, colleges and universities, churches, and local and municipal governments that generate their profits from the war industry.

With more resources, BAP would target city governments run by Black folks, members of the Congressional Black Caucus who are supported by the MIC, and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that are invested in the war industry.


Korea

While the contradictions between the economic and social systems of the two Koreas are real, it is clear that absent the colonialist interventions and agitation of the United States the two Koreas might be able to reduce some of the tensions that are providing pretext for U.S. intervention.

BAP supports South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s efforts to avoid military conflict by attempting to encourage talks between the United States and North Korea. The Trump administration demanded North Korea disarm itself before entering talks, which means no discussion will take place at this point.

We say no war with the peoples of Korea.


Venezuela

The United States continues to make moves that indicate it is committed to a policy of armed intervention against the government of Venezuela. BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka provided a critical analysis of the efforts by the Obama and Trump administrations to undermine the Venezuelan experiment at socialist construction.

The work is only getting more difficult and BAP is stretched to our limits. We would really appreciate it if you were able to help us with a generous donation. This is our first ask of the new year but it won’t be the last because we are depending on the people to support our work.

No compromise.

No retreat.

Struggle to win.

In struggle,
Ajamu, Ana, Jaribu, Kali, Lamont, Lukata, Margaret and Yolande
Coordinating Committee
Black Alliance for Peace

P.S. Only your support can help beat the U.S. war machine. Contribute today.

Militarized Police... Everywhere

Trump’s new idea for a $22 million military march is a big, flashy way to normalize militarization.

However, let’s not be fooled.

We see more militarized police and soldiers in airports, train stations and bus stations. We see videos like this one of people on an Amtrak train being asked to produce “papers.”

That’s why it’s all the more important you join us in opposing the increased show of militarization.

The Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases—which BAP helped found—is organizing actions Feb. 16-23 to demand the United States return Guantanamo to Cuba as well as a national action April 14-15 to demand the United States end all of its illegal wars abroad. A national conference call held Saturday attracted dozens of organizers who are ready to coordinate massive events.

Now onto domestic concerns: The FBI set itself up for a snarky comeback.

 

And here’s a piece on the federally subsidized terror group’s “Black-Identity Extremist”  program. Now, we had mentioned Rakem Balogun's arrest in December. Any Black person who thinks the FBI is working in their best interest is delusional. That's why we rail against the Congressional Black Caucus as much as we do. The CBC is the Black mis-leadership class that votes in favor of illegal wars on Black and Brown people and fawns over the FBI.

Speaking of totalitarianism, read what BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka has to say in his latest illuminating piece about the ruling class using Trump as a diversion.

Now, onto another racist, settler-colonial state: Israel. It is merely fulfilling its mission of creating an ethno-state by placing a bounty on African migrants.

Take a moment to read about the linked oppressions of the Vietnamese and Blacks in the United States in this piece by our friend, Abayomi Azikiwe of the Pan-African Newswire.

You can find many events being held around the country on our Events page, including a talk by BAP member organization Friends of the Congo titled, “Militarization of African Communities at Home and Abroad” at 7 p.m. today in New York City.

In struggle,
Ajamu, Ana, Jaribu, Kali, Lamont, Lukata, Margaret and Yolande
Coordinating Committee
Black Alliance for Peace

P.S. Help BAP organize its national gathering to bring together key Black organizers and organizations. Contribute today!

Image credit: Brian Smialowski/Getty

A Killer Cop Walks Free

It’s been a trying week.

Here's a run down:

• Another killer cop walks free in Saint Louis,
• Democrats and Republicans voted overwhelmingly to pass a $75 billion increase in the military budget, and
• Trump threatened to “destroy” North Korea in his address to the United Nations.

It is clear war and repression is at the center of the Empire’s strategy to maintain its oppressive dominance.

And so we must resist with everything we have.

That’s why I come to you again, asking for your support to help us build a resistance movement with the capacity to check the systematic violence that we and the people of the world are subjected to.

Spending more on wars only means more Black, Brown and poor bodies will be sent to the front lines to kill other Black, Brown and poor bodies.

Meanwhile, Black and Brown people will continue to die at the hands of the domestic military referred to as the police.

That’s why it’s crucial you support BAP today.

BAP has already begun educating the public on the war machine:

• We campaigned against the increase in military spending,
• helped develop a coalition to close U.S. foreign military bases, and
• co-sponsored CodePink’s campaign to divest from war profiteers.

Building the capacity of our members and activist community to resist is how we’ll defend against state repression.

Your financial support in the form of a one-time donation or by joining our monthly sustainer program can help us expand our public education program.

Will you contribute today?

Thanks so much for being part of our journey toward peace and social justice.

In solidarity,
Ajamu Baraka
National Organizer
Black Alliance for Peace

P.S. Let’s build a public education program. Become a contributor today.

Photo credit: Scott Olson/Getty

Your Congresspeople Love War

“I rise today to oppose unauthorized, undeclared and unconstitutional war. What we have today is basically unlimited war, anywhere, anytime, any place upon the globe.”

With these words, libertarian Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has become one of the few voices to oppose the obscenity otherwise known as U.S. war policies.

Only two other Senators joined him: Bernie Sanders and Ron Wyden.

The legislation that Paul is referring to is the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act.

It was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and includes a $75 billion increase in the military budget—well over the $54 billion that the President Donald Trump had originally proposed.

But here is the wrinkle: Paul is not concerned with the size of the military budget. He's pointing his finger at the continuation of the Authorization to Use Military Force Act of 2001, which was the “legal” basis for the U.S. global “war on terror.” He wants Congress to re-assess this legislation that has prompted our endless wars abroad.

BAP supports this position.

Yet, we are not just concerned about the AUMF, but also with the obscene theft of almost $700 billion of the people’s money.

But the two parties aren’t concerned with that.

In fact, 117 Democrats—including most of the Congressional Black Caucus—voted in favor of the spending increase.

And of course, the corporate press would rather focus on the issue of undocumented immigrants than military spending because—like the Democrats and most of the ruling class—they support U.S. militarism and war.

That is why BAP is so important. We have a historic responsibility to oppose the game being played on the people. But to do so, we must organize, we must build, and we must educate our people and the general public.

Here are articles we think you would appreciate reading:

From Ferguson to Palestine: Palestinian Women Connect with Struggling Communities in the United States

United States Threatens World Peace

America’s Wars for Peace

U.S. Imperialism: Militarism and Superexploitation in Africa

We'd also love for you to join us for the Week of Action to oppose the escalation of the war in Afghanistan.

Thanks again for supporting BAP!

In solidarity,
Ajamu Baraka
National Organizer
Black Alliance for Peace

P.S. If you are opposed to the rise in war spending, become a monthly sustainer today.

Photo credit: saddahaq.com