Join the March Today for Venezuela and Against NATO

We invite you to join us today in front of the White House to oppose the scheduled 70th anniversary NATO meeting.

BAP is also organizing an action at the NATO site on April 4 that will be joined by activists from across the country. For more information on the particulars, please monitor our website.

And don’t forget to come out to our second-anniversary event, “No Compromise, No Retreat in the Fight to End Militarism and War” at 7 p.m., April 4 in Washington, D.C.

If you cannot make it to D.C., please sign our online petition to shut down AFRICOM as well as the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement’s petition demanding hands off Venezuela. Yesterday was the deadline for BAP to receive physical sheets that some of you used to collect signatures in your communities.

Please also check out an interview BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka gave this week to RT on the "normalized lawlessness" of the international order, read this BAP article published in Black Agenda Report, and hear BAP member Netfa Freeman discuss on Black Agenda Radio the moral imperative for coming out today.

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Now we must come to you—the people—because unlike the big nonprofits, we don’t get corporate funding or foundation money. In fact, the elites would do anything to stop our grassroots agitation. That’s why we ask you to consider supporting us with a generous donation. We need to raise $5,000 to cover travel, food and accommodations for our activists during this week.

No compromise.

No retreat.

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

P.S. We are completely dependent on the people. Contribute to BAP’s efforts to agitate around Venezuela and against NATO.

What a U.S. Peace Delegation Learned in Venezuela

We mentioned last week that to gather the full range of evidence on U.S. efforts to sabotage Venezuela, a delegation of 13 leaders from peace, civil rights and women’s organizations were heading to Venezuela for five days.

The trip flying in was difficult because many airlines have refused to fly to Venezuela over perceived “danger”. Now, the trip back has been made more difficult because American Airlines refuses to fly to Venezuela. Yet this delegation found the embattled country lively and safe. While delegation members were stuck on the ground until further notice, they livestreamed yesterday.

During their five days in Venezuela, delegation members met with movement leaders and government officials, including President Nicolás Maduro Moros, who recorded a solidarity message that is posted on Twitter and Facebook.

The delegation also visited a community garden in Caracas on the invitation of Minister of Agriculture and Lands Wilmar Castro Soteldo. Delegation members were asked to plant seeds. Check out delegation member Popular Resistance’s on-the-ground videos on its Twitter feed.

Don't believe US lies about #Venezuela. They're drumming up fear to justify war. We feel as safe in Caracas as in any large city.

We went for a walk just now to show you things are normal. We saw some peaceful pro-Chavista rallies yesterday. Is this scary?#HandsOffVenezuela pic.twitter.com/U9qyMyU00H

— Popular Resistance (@PopResistance) March 15, 2019

You can see below Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) National Organizer, U.S. Peace Council Executive Board member and delegation co-leader Ajamu Baraka speaking to the media. Also seen are International Action Center Co-director Sara Flounders and United National Antiwar Coalition Co-coordinator Joe Lombardo.

Ajamu also did a lengthy interview with Telesur that will air next week.

After the delegation returns to the United States, it will report its initial findings at a press conference at the United Nations that will be postponed from its original March 18 date to accommodate the delegation’s travel changes.

However, the U.S. Peace Council, which organized this delegation, still plans to hold a public conference call at 7 p.m., Eastern Time, on Monday.

BAP invites all defenders of peace, social justice, international law and national sovereignty to join us on this conference call.

Please register for the March 18 public call.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

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Back in the United States, a BAP representative will speak at noon today at the ANSWER Coalition’s demonstration in front of the White House, in opposition to the U.S. intervention in Venezuela. Also join anti-NATO events from March 30 through April 4, which will include a BAP-organized street action and evening panel discussion on April 4.

Please consider supporting us with a generous donation. We need to raise $5,000 to cover travel, food and accommodations for our activists during this period of agitation.

No compromise.

No retreat.

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

P.S. We are completely dependent on the people. Contribute to BAP’s efforts to agitate around Venezuela.

Black Alliance for Peace Heads to Venezuela!

If you’re reading this, you’re aware of some of the ways the U.S. empire has manipulated in its latest attempt at a coup in Venezuela. In an act of brazen illegality, the Trump administration has barred the Bolivarian republic from being able to access its own money in foreign banks and has transported “humanitarian aid” that was embedded with materials that could have been used by the largely white supremacist opposition to ferment violence against the Venezuelan government.

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) has been at the forefront of efforts to uncover the truth and spread the word, whether marching in the streets; rallying a crowd as member Asantewaa Mawusi Nkrumah-Ture has done; transporting member Efia Nwangaza to serve as a 2018 election observer in Venezuela; or speaking to a crowd about the connection between Venezuela and the U.S. military occupation of Africa, as you see National Organizer Ajamu Baraka and member Maurice Carney doing March 1 at Yale University in the photo below.

We have also released statements on Venezuela that we encourage you to read and share:

1. Why We Must Oppose U.S. Intervention in Venezuela

2. Black Working Class Will Never Abandon Venezuela!

3. Black Alliance for Peace Says Struggle in Haiti and Venezuela Connected (an in-depth version was published by Black Agenda Report)

To gather the full range of evidence on U.S. manipulations, interference and efforts to sabotage, a delegation of 13 leaders from peace, civil rights and women’s organizations are heading to Venezuela tomorrow for five days.

BAP will be represented on that delegation!

After the delegation returns to the United States, it will report its initial findings at a press conference held the morning of March 18 at the United Nations.

At 7 p.m. that day, the U.S. Peace Council will hold a public conference call, too.

BAP invites all defenders of peace, social justice, international law and national sovereignty to join us on this conference call.

Please register for the March 18 public call.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Finally, BAP is gearing up for actions on March 16 in opposition to the U.S. intervention in Venezuela and from March 30 through April 4 in opposition to NATO, which will include a BAP-organized street action on April 4. Please consider supporting us with a generous donation. We need to raise $5,000 to cover travel, food and accommodations for our activists during that period.

No compromise.

No retreat.

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

P.S. We are completely dependent on the people. Contribute to BAP’s efforts to agitate around Venezuela and NATO.

Photo credit: Reuters/Marco Bello

Uncovering U.S. Lies in Venezuela

This week, representatives from peace organizations throughout the United States announced they had formed a delegation to visit Venezuela on March 10. On this four-day trip, the delegation intends to gather information from Venezuela’s elected leaders and civil society groups to demonstrate what is missing from the U.S. mainstream media narrative: Most Venezuelans oppose the U.S. intervention and CIA-trained puppet Juan Guaidó, who has announced himself Venezuela’s “interim president.” Watch the press conference and read the official statement.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced victory on February 23. That day, he spoke to tens of thousands of Venezuelans who had marched from several corners of Caracas to express their opposition to the attempted U.S. coup aiming to disrupt the Bolivarian process that began 20 years ago under former President Hugo Chavez. The opposition’s goal of taking over the country on February 23 fizzled at border entrances. Trucks supposedly carrying U.S. humanitarian aid turned out to be Trojan horses—according to Venezuelans, nails and wire were embedded in the supplies. These items are regularly used to create road traps. When the U.S. plan to send aid was announced, the International Red Cross and the United Nations denounced it as “politicized” and declined to participate. Watch Max Blumenthal of The Grayzone Project unpack the U.S. narrative of starving Venezuelans in his visit to a Caracas supermarket. RT correspondent Dan Cohen reported from the Colombian-Venezuelan border, where he spoke to a Colombian priest who said the goal is to force the internal situation in Venezuela to devolve via food and medicine shortages, which would ease the way for a coup. An Afro-Colombian activist spoke to “Redacted Tonight”’s Lee Camp about human-rights violations against Indigenous and African peoples in Colombia. The lack of U.S. intervention into the human-rights crisis in neighboring Colombia—a NATO ally no where near the northern Atlantic Ocean—highlights the hypocrisy of U.S. efforts to overthrow Venezuela’s leaders. Maduro also thanked activists who marched in New York City for demonstrating solidarity on the one-month anniversary.

We encourage you to read and re-post our statements on Venezuela:

1. Why We Must Oppose U.S. Intervention in Venezuela

2. Black Working Class Will Never Abandon Venezuela!

3. Black Alliance for Peace Says Struggle in Haiti and Venezuela Connected

An in-depth version of the third statement can be found published by Black Agenda Report.

No compromise.

No retreat.

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

P.S. We are completely dependent on the people. Contribute to our 2019 fund.

Photo credit: V. Arun Kumar / Peoples Dispatch

Rally for Venezuela Today!

Today, we want you to get into the streets to oppose the U.S. intervention in Venezuela. Solidarity events are taking place throughout the world today, which marks the one-month anniversary of the attempted coup. The opposition had announced it would provoke war today. That makes it all the more crucial we show solidarity with the majority of Venezuelan people who support the elected government and Afro-Venezuelans, who are particularly vulnerable to attack as the United States wages its racist, imperialist war.

You can find an event near you by heading to nowaronvenezuela.org.

For those of you who are members of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP), please join the membership call at 11 a.m., Eastern Time. A portion of the discussion will be dedicated to Venezuela. Members will have received call-in info on the internal listserv.

If you are heading to Venezuela solidarity events today, we invite you to use language from our statements on Venezuela in your public comments:

1. Why We Must Oppose U.S. Intervention in Venezuela

2. Black Working Class Will Never Abandon Venezuela!

3. Black Alliance for Peace Says Struggle in Haiti and Venezuela Connected

An in-depth version of the third statement can be found published by Black Agenda Report.

If you haven’t already seen it, check out the Facebook livestream, “Venezuela: Humanitarian Intervention or Imperialism?” It featured BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka and “The Empire Files” creator Abby Martin.

No compromise.

No retreat.

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

P.S. We are completely dependent on the people. Contribute to our 2019 fund.

Photo credit: Eueslei Marcelino/Reuters/Scanpix

Venezuela: A Litmus Test for the Anti-War and Anti-Imperialist Movement

The global Pan-European Colonial/Capitalist White Supremacist patriarchy is conspiring against the Bolivarian revolutionary process in Venezuela—and some Black folks are going along with it. Why?

The Black misleadership class and the media also piled onto Virginia politicians for wearing Blackface, yet they aren’t opposing the white supremacy of U.S. interventions. Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) National Organizer Ajamu Baraka writes about this cognitive dissonance in the West.

We at BAP are attempting to re-connect the internationalist position of the Black radical tradition to the Black masses, who represent 90 percent of Black people in the United States. That is what prompted our February 6 statement: Black Working Class Will Never Abandon Venezuela!

BAP Outreach Coordinator YahNé Ndgo read out loud our initial January 26 statement that explains why we oppose U.S. intervention in Venezuela. Watch her here: Hands Off Venezuela!

We encourage BAP members and our allies in the struggle to organize local actions (particularly targeting the district offices of Congressional Black Caucus representatives) as part of the global mobilization in solidarity with the people of Venezuela on February 23.

Mark your calendars for the evening of February 21 to watch a live discussion on Venezuela featuring a special guest. It will air on BAP’s Facebook page. Like us if you haven’t already. We’ll release the exact time and other details on our Facebook page in the coming days.

The Cuban government released a statement February 14 on Venezuela we want to lift up because of its support for abiding international law as well as a regional pact: “What is being defined today is whether the legitimacy of a government emanates from the express and sovereign will of its people, or from the recognition of foreign powers.”

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BAP members: Please await information to register for the next BAP membership call being held February 23. Besides the usual BAP business, we will focus our discussion on Venezuela. Details to come on the member listserv.

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Despite intervention and election interference by the United States, the Haitian people are once again taking to the streets to defend their national sovereignty. We cannot ignore our African diasporic people in the world’s first Black republic of Haiti responding to racist exploitation.

We continue our work to shut down AFRICOM and request that you continue sharing our petition online and circulate the physical version (find it here) in places you organize: schools, workplaces, houses of worship and prisons. Check out BAP member and Black Agenda Report publisher Glen Ford’s public-service announcement on the U.S. Out of Africa! campaign. Feel free to use the PSA in your community-radio programs and podcasts—and tag us online when you do!

BAP also continues our effort to dismantle the global military arm of the Pan-European colonial-imperialist project: NATO. We support the national mobilizations to oppose NATO’s decision to celebrate its 70th anniversary in Washington, D.C., on April 4—the same day as the 51st anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We see this as a desecration of Dr. King and the Black population’s opposition to war and imperialism.

The national mobilizations include:

1. The No to NATO, War and Racism March, starting at Lafayette Square in front of the White House at 1 p.m., March 30;

2. A Concert for Peace and to End War, sponsors include the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Concert in Franklin Square in Washington, D.C., 1 p.m.-8 p.m., March 31;

3. World Peace Council Anti-NATO Conference, St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C., 3 p.m.-7 p.m., March 31;

4. No to NATO—Yes to Peace and Disarmament Counter Summit, location to be announced, all day April 2;

5. No to NATO—Yes to Peace Festival, St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church, 12 p.m.-10 p.m., April 3;

6. Procession from MLK Memorial to rally at Freedom Plaza, Washington, D.C., day time, April 4, details to come;

7. BAP’s 2nd Anniversary Event: No Compromise, No Retreat in the Fight to End Militarism and War, Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, D.C., 7 p.m.-9 p.m.

No compromise.

No retreat.

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

P.S. We are completely dependent on the people. Contribute to our 2019 fund.

Photo credit: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

Why We're Not Leaving Behind Venezuela

This week, the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) released another statement, delving into why we as internationalists of African descent will never give up on defending the sovereignty and self-determination of another oppressed nation—the Venezuelan people. “The war and militarism being waged against us by the domestic military we call ‘the police’—along with the mass incarceration complex—is part of the global Pan European Colonial/Capitalist White Supremacist patriarchy that is now conspiring against the Bolivarian revolutionary process in Venezuela.”

Considering how dangerous a successful U.S. coup would be for Afro-Venezuelans, folks from that community reached out to us, asking for additional support. That’s what prompted this latest statement: Black Working Class Will Never Abandon Venezuela!

In fact, the drive for imperialist war is not confined to Venezuela. The increasingly wild stories that feed Russiagate are being used as bait to lure the people of the United States into what could potentially be a nuclear war with Russia—that would be devastating for all peoples of the world. BAP Coordinating Committee member Margaret Kimberley writes in her latest Freedom Rider column, “McCarthyism is back and it is being led by liberals.”

We continue our work to shut down AFRICOM and request that you continue sharing our petition online and circulate the physical version (find it here) in your schools, houses of worship, prisons and anywhere else you organize. For inspiration, check out BAP member and Black Agenda Report publisher Glen Ford’s public service announcement on the U.S. Out of Africa! campaign. Feel free to use the PSA in your community-radio programs and podcasts—and tag us online when you do!

We encourage BAP members and our allies in the struggle to organize local actions as part of the global mobilization on February 23 in solidarity with the people of Venezuela.

We also must continue our efforts to dismantle oppressive structures, such as NATO. BAP supports the national mobilizations to oppose NATO’s decision to celebrate its 70th anniversary in Washington, D.C., on April 4—that’s the same day as the 51st anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We see this as a desecration of Dr. King and the Black population’s opposition to war and imperialism.

The national mobilizations include:

1. The No to NATO, War and Racism March, starting at Lafayette Square in front of the White House, 1 p.m., March 30;

2. A Concert for Peace and to End War, sponsored by organizations including the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, in Franklin Square in Washington, D.C., 1 p.m.-8 p.m., March 31;

3. World Peace Council Anti-NATO Conference, St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C., 3 p.m.-7 p.m., March 31;

4. No to NATO—Yes to Peace and Disarmament Counter Summit, location to be announced, all day April 2;

5. No to NATO—Yes to Peace Festival, St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church, 12 p.m.-10 p.m., April 3;

6. Procession from MLK Memorial to rally at Freedom Plaza, Washington, D.C., during the day, April 4, details to come;

7. BAP’s 2nd Anniversary Event: No Compromise, No Retreat in the Fight to End Militarism and War, Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, D.C., 7 p.m.-9 p.m., April 4

No compromise.

No retreat.

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

P.S. We are completely dependent on the people. Contribute to our 2019 fund.

Photo credit: AP

On the White Supremacy of U.S. Interventions

As internationalists, we don’t shy away from defending a people’s right to determine their fate. That is why we have been so ardent in opposing the illegal U.S. intervention in Venezuela. Read and share our statement on Venezuela. (If you already have done so, please share it again!)

We are proud to say BAP members have been on the forefront of U.S.-based voices against U.S interventions. BAP member and Black Agenda Report publisher Glen Ford writes this week, “The same forces that resist Black community control of police and schools in the United States seek to overthrow any government in the formerly colonized world—that is, non-white nations—that claims the right of self-determination and national sovereignty.” BAP Coordinating Committee member Margaret Kimberley condemns warmongering Democrats in her latest piece, writing, “Venezuela is the proverbial line in the sand. One either supports the right of self-determination or not. The obvious fascists like Trump and Bolton and their smarter, smoother collaborators like Trudeau are cut from the same cloth. They must all be opposed.”

As you can see below, BAP member Asantewaa Mawusi Nkrumah-Ture spoke January 26 on behalf of BAP at a Philadelphia rally in opposition to the U.S. intervention in Venezuela.

BAP member Margaret Kimberley also spoke about BAP’s position on Venezuela and the U.S. occupation of Africa on the Wider View Radio podcast and Sputnik Radio’s “Fault Lines with Nixon & Stranahan”. BAP Coordinating Committee member Netfa Freeman appeared on RT America’s “Watching the Hawks” to discuss the link between the United States interfering in Venezuela and in Africa.

In the coming weeks, we ask you to join anti-war groups that are organizing demonstrations to oppose NATO and the U.S. intervention in Venezuela. Check out the United National Antiwar Coalition’s rally on March 30. Sign the Alliance for Global Justice’s petition to oppose the U.S. intervention in Venezuela. Attend the “No to NATO, Yes to Peace Fest” on April 3.

Then join us April 4 for our event that celebrates both our second anniversary and condemns the 70th anniversary of NATO, which falls on the 51st anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. BAP member Glen Ford will keynote the event. He will be joined by organizers and activists including Jaribu Hill, Jacqueline Luqman, Netfa Freeman, Thenjiwe McHarris, Margaret Kimberley and Vanessa Beck. We'll provide more information on the event in the coming weeks.

Curiously, a story that should be big news is not getting the attention it deserves. The United States is involved in talks that could end the 18-year-old quagmire of Afghanistan. Soon, we will have more to say on this matter.

Another important item to follow is the Trump administration’s decision to suspend its participation in the 32-year-old Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which escalates the possibility for a global nuclear war. In response to this dangerous move, Russia suspended its participation as well.

PETITION ALERT: Did you know we’ve extended the deadline to April 4 for gathering petition signatures for the U.S. Out of Africa! campaign to shut down AFRICOM? We chose that date because it is the 51st anniversary of King’s assassination. You can download the U.S. Out of Africa! petition here. Print it out and circulate it in your communities, houses of worship, prisons, universities and in other places you organize. This campaign is BAP’s contribution to the Global Campaign to Close U.S./NATO Military Bases. Learn more about U.S. Out of Africa!

No compromise.

No retreat.

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

P.S. We are completely dependent on the people. Contribute to our 2019 fund.

Why Hands Off Venezuela?

We, at the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP), have always been clear that all peoples and countries have a right to determine their fates, regardless of whether we agree with their internal politics.

As Black internationalists, we say an assault on oppressed peoples anywhere is equivalent to an assault on ourselves.

That is why we have issued this statement: Why We Must Oppose U.S. Intervention in Venezuela

Here’s a list of upcoming solidarity events you can attend:
 

ONLINE EVERYWHERE
Hands Off Venezuela Phone-Zap/E-blast

ATLANTA
Friday, 5 p.m.-6 p.m.
CNN headquarters
No event page is currently available

BALTIMORE
Today, 4 p.m.-5 p.m.
Corner of North Avenue and N. Charles Street
U.S. Hands Off Venezuela Baltimore Protest

CHICAGO
Tuesday, 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.
Federal Center and Plaza
Hands Off Venezuela! Emergency Demonstration

CLEVELAND
Tomorrow, 2 p.m.-4 p.m.
Willard Park
Rally in Solidarity with Venezuela (#HandsOffVenezuela)

DURHAM, N.C.
Tomorrow, 1 p.m.- 3 p.m.
CCB Plaza
U.S. Hands Off Venezuela! Emergency Rally

LONDON, U.K.
Monday, 4: 30 p.m.-7 p.m.
Downing Street
Reject imperialist coup in Venezuela

NEW YORK CITY
Today, 12 p.m.
Cuban Mission
Defend Cuba and Venezuela Rally

NEW YORK CITY
Today, 2-4 p.m.
Union Square
Emergency Rally to Support Venezuela

MIAMI
Today, 1 p.m.
Doral, Florida
Trump: Hands-Off Venezuela!

PHILADELPHIA
Today, 12-2 p.m.
City Hall
U.S. Hands Off Venezuela! Defend the Bolivarian Revolution!

RALEIGH, N.C.
Today, 1-3 p.m.
Halifax Mall
No War on Venezuela!

SALT LAKE CITY
Today, 12 p.m.-1:30 p.m.
Wallace Bennett Federal Building
Hands off Venezuela!

TALLAHASSEE
Today, 1 p.m.-3 p.m.
Florida State Capitol Building
Emergency Action: #HandsOffVenezuela

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA
Today, 2 p.m.-4 p.m.
Vancouver Art Gallery
Rally - No Coup in Venezuela! U.S./Canada: Hands Off Venezuela!

WASHINGTON, D.C.
Today, 1 p.m.-2 p.m.
The White House
No Coup in Venezuela Protest!

WASHINGTON, D.C.
Today, 1 p.m.-3 p.m.
The White House
Rally to Support the Bolivarian Revolution and President Maduro

In response to the FBI’s strange and illegal detention of Black Muslim journalist Marzieh Hashemi, an internationally respected journalist who works for PressTV in Iran, BAP made it clear we were not going to be intimidated into silence. Read our statement on her release.

BAP members called for Hashemi’s release while she was illegally detained. BAP Coordinating Committee member Margaret Kimberley writes, “The demand for Marzieh Hashemi’s freedom is the new litmus test for anyone claiming to fight Trump, fascism, or racism. Those who fail to speak on her behalf are showing their true colors and are themselves unworthy of consideration. Their cowardice must never be forgotten.” Meanwhile, BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka says Hashemi’s detention shows the true nature of the bipartisan police state.

We are happy to see that while liberal totalitarianism rears its head, the people are fighting back. In Chicago, candidates for the upcoming election announced their support for a civilian-led police accountability council. BAP member organization Pan African Community Action, which organizes for community control of police in the Washington, D.C., area, is holding a popular-education event on the radical nature of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

As announced last week, we’ve extended the deadline to April 4 for gathering petition signatures for the U.S. Out of Africa! campaign to shut down AFRICOM. We chose that date because it is the 51st anniversary of King’s assassination. (Don’t forget to join us in Washington, D.C., for our event that day, as well as other coalition actions organizing against the absurd celebration of NATO’s 70th anniversary. We agree with our friends at Popular Resistance that it is time to end NATO’s militarism!) You can download the U.S. Out of Africa! petition here. Print it out and circulate it in your communities, houses of worship, prisons, universities and in other places you organize. This campaign is BAP’s contribution to the Global Campaign to Close U.S./NATO Military Bases.

No compromise.

No retreat.

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

P.S. We are completely dependent on the people. Contribute to our 2019 fund.

Photo credit: Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images

Black Left Unity and Venezuela's Election

Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) members and member organizations from Baltimore, New York City and Washington, D.C., attended the National Assembly for Black Liberation in Durham, North Carolina, this past weekend—they made a significant impact on the historic proceedings to develop a unified Black left in the United States. Below are just some of our members who were in attendance.

BAP introduced a resolution to include anti-militarism and anti-imperialism as part of the reinvigorated effort’s demands. Other resolutions presented by members of the Black left include one censuring the Zionist, genocidal settler-colonial state of Israel, which is armed with nuclear weapons with the help of the United States.

BAP was recognized for bringing a strong presence to the assembly and for leading the discussion during a breakout session called “End All Wars.” The assembly also agreed to abide by BAP’s Principles of Unity.

Sending a delegation of about a dozen people to the assembly cost BAP $3,000. We have already raised close to $1,000.

Can we count on you to help BAP cover the cost of this historic trip to re-build the Black anti-war movement?


BAP in Venezuela

BAP member Efia Nwangaza took a detour this past weekend. Instead of joining us for the assembly in Durham, she got on a plane to Caracas to represent BAP as an election observer in a presidential election being closely observed around the world as the revolutionary Latin American state faces pressure from the United States to yield to transnational capitalist forces.

Register for a call to hear Efia’s reportback and ask her questions at 7 p.m., Eastern Time, on Tuesday, May 29.

Folks in Venezuela have long admired BAP’s work, having also invited BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka as a BAP representative to another historic gathering in March.

Ajamu also recently explained the racist pattern that has helped the pan-European colonial project loot the world’s resources and oppress peoples of the world in this CounterPunch article.

BAP member Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture delivered a statement on behalf of BAP on May 14 at a demonstration against the Philadelphia Orchestra, which has chosen to perform in Israel despite great opposition from the community. The campaign to stop the orchestra is called Philly Don’t Orchestrate Apartheid and it is now in its eighth week. You can watch the video of Asantewaa on this page.

BAP member Netfa Freeman interviewed Ajamu on the “Blue Lives Matter” bill on Netfa’s radio program “Voices with Vision”. Watch the video here.


Join BAP’s Action Teams

This is an opportunity for both members and supporters to build BAP’s body of work to combat militarism and imperialism. You can become a member or a supporter by applying here.

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”.

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.

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!

Venezuela Needs Your Help

This week, BAP has been on the move to defend the Global South.

National Organizer Ajamu Baraka has been at a historic conference in Venezuela with organizers from all over the world. In the photo below, you see him meeting with Manuel Zelaya, former president of Honduras and a friend of the Left.

Folks, Venezuela needs people living in the belly of the U.S. empire to demand the predatory United States end its interventions and bullying in Latin America and around the world.

Being in revolutionary spaces outside of the United States is vitally important for activists of color. The revolutionary centers left Europe and the United States years ago.

Our collective responsibility must not be forgotten: It is to the struggling peoples of the world and must not be influenced by the class collaborationist, pro-imperialist, arrogant faux-left.

But if you are in the United States, you must join BAP and other anti-war organizations that are planning mass actions against Trump’s military parade. We also hope demonstrations take place at U.S. embassies around the world. You can learn more about this parade by reading this interview with one of the organizers, Margaret Flowers.

And we need these mass organizing efforts because as this piece in Foreign Policy notes, the U.S. empire is in a perpetual state of war over money and power.

One of the places the United States has been invading and militarizing for the past decade is the African continent. Download BAP’s four-page fact sheet on the U.S. Africa Command, aka AFRICOM. Use it to educate your people.

Finally, BAP member Maurice Carney spoke at the 60th anniversary celebration of the All African People’s Conference in Washington, D.C. Check out the Q&A discussion that followed.

No compromise.

No retreat.

Struggle to win,
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.

We Stand in Solidarity with a Venezuela in Crisis

Friends,

The Black Alliance for Peace has received troubling news of an impending military assault on the sovereign nation of Venezuela by states and forces allied with the United States.

The objective is to remove the elected government of Venezuela and turn over the country to the right-wing oligarchy. This move is in line with the strategic objective of the last two U.S. administrations that identified Venezuela as a threat to U.S. national interests, which means the Venezuelan process is seen as a threat to the interest of the Euro-American colonial/capitalist project.

We are calling on folks to closely monitor this situation. We will provide as much information on this as possible. Please alert the forces you work with about the situation as you receive it from us or acquire it for yourself, and let’s assist in raising the level of awareness on this situation. We are all part of the “Americas” and as our BAP principles reflect, we stand in solidarity with the struggling peoples of the global South who are resisting U.S. imperialism.

The Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases—which BAP helped found—is organizing actions Feb. 16-23 for the 115th anniversary of the United States occupying Guantanamo. We demand the United States return Guantanamo to Cuba.

If you or your organization coordinate an action next week, please reply to this message with that information so we can include it in the weekly blast and on our event page.

As for BAP, we are organizing a national teleconference call for 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Feb. 23 on the U.S. presence in Guantanamo. We will announce our featured speakers in the next email blast. Tap this link to register for the call.

You will find value in this podcast episode of “Clearing the Fog Radio” that discusses amped up U.S. militarism—going from targeting so-called “terrorists” to outright war with nations. Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, founders of Popular Resistance, also interviewed BAP members Margaret Kimberley and Maurice Carney about the significance of the U.S. military invasion of Africa and what you can do about it.

BAP recently co-sponsored an event in New York City called “Militarization of African Communities at Home and Abroad.” Get insights you won’t hear in the corporate Western media in Part 1 and Part 2 of the recorded livestreams.

If you’re in Washington, D.C., join BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka and BAP member Maurice Carney on Saturday for the “All African Peoples Conference 60th Anniversary”. This event was coordinated by BAP member Netfa Freeman.

Finally, we appreciate the African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS) recognizing BAP’s work as part of the larger radical Black anti-war movement.

No retreat.

No compromise.

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

P.S. Help BAP bring together Black organizers and organizations to beat the U.S. war machine. Contribute today.