Linking Palestine Solidarity with African Liberation

Linking Palestine Solidarity with African Liberation

"The managers of the colonial/capitalist world understand the terms of struggle, and so should we. It must be clear to us that for the survival of collective humanity and the planet we cannot allow uncontested power to remain in the hands of the global 1%. The painful truth for some is that if global humanity is to live, the Pan-European white supremacist colonial/capitalist project must die." -Ajamu Baraka, Black Alliance for Peace National Organizer


Like Indigenous people throughout the world, the Palestinian people demand a life of dignity, sovereignty and self-determination.

What prevents Palestinian national self-expression is the constructed state of Israel. The United Kingdom helped settle the first Zionists in Palestine in 1922 after the Balfour Declaration. Later, a brutal Nakba took place when the U.K. aided the newly created state of Israel's settler-colonization. Meanwhile, the United States has armed and funded Israel for years. But lately, that support has come at a cost of $3.8 billion per year, plus an additional $8 billion in loan guarantees.

100 Days of Biden's Bait and Switch

100 Days of Biden's Bait and Switch

U.S. President Joe Biden and the Democrats pretended to support an increase in the minimum wage to $15 per hour and a stimulus payment of $2,000 per person. They also claimed to be outraged by former President Donald Trump's moves to dismiss the result of the 2020 election and remain in office no matter what. Then last week, with full support from the corporate media, Biden released “The American Jobs Plan" and "The American Families Plan,” both meant to revive the so-called “American dream” by bringing Keynesianism back from the dead, along with FDR!

Once in office, though, Biden, who was put in place by neoliberal finance and corporate transnational capital, dutifully began the process of scaling back on his “progressive” stances. The $15/hour minimum wage proposal was scrapped using a shady parliamentary device that gave cover to Democratic Party backtracking. Then the $2,000 check became $1,400. Plus, although Democrats loudly condemned Trump's anti-democratic moves, the Biden-Harris administration gave the green light to its puppet in Haiti to ignore the requirement to leave office February 7. This came despite thousands of Haitians marching in the streets in opposition.

Who Will Save the World from the Saviors?

Who Will Save the World from the Saviors?

The ruling class has long deployed propaganda meant to obscure the rule of capital and normalize capitalist interests as the general interest of society. But lately, the liberal Western intelligentsia has elevated that deployment to a science.

The concept of humanitarian intervention and its logical derivative, the Responsibility to Protect, have proven to be one of the most innovative ideological weapons ever produced. By combining normalized assumptions of white Western civilizational superiority and the liberal anti-authoritarianism encoded in the DNA of the liberal project, imperialism has been able to win broad support for everything from direct military interventions and drone warfare to punitive sanctions against whole societies. These actions are framed as defending human rights, and even as “democracy.”

Afghanistan: Demand an End to the Second Longest U.S. War

Afghanistan: Demand an End to the Second Longest U.S. War

War was the primary instrument used to establish the U.S. settler state and expand U.S. hegemonic global power after the end of the Second World War. War has become so normalized that the U.S. state's two-century-long horrific war of conquest against the Indigenous peoples of the landmass that eventually became known as the United States, as well as the war with North Korea that technically has not ended, have been erased from the U.S. public's awareness.

The two-decade war on Afghanistan, therefore, is the second longest continuous war. That fact increasingly is being lost because of the corporate press's lack of coverage, resulting in vast swaths of the U.S. public being completely unaware of the peace process initiated in 2020 and the Biden-Harris administration's subsequent moves to undermine or completely gut that process.

That is why the Black Alliance for Peace is once again attempting to bring attention to this issue. We are organizing an International Day of Action on Afghanistan on April 8 to demand the Biden-Harris administration adhere to the agreement and withdraw U.S. troops from the country by the May 1 deadline. Find out how to get involved.

We Must Say to Biden and Democrats: 'NO War!'

We Must Say to Biden and Democrats: 'NO War!'

The reactionary character of U.S. politics is on full display as the corporate media—in alignment with the military-industrial complex—the lunatic elements of the foreign policy community and right-wing neoliberal Democrats seem committed to conditioning the public to accept yet another insane military confrontation. This time, with a real opponent—China!

What makes this situation even more absurd is the public voted for Biden and the Democrats because they were led to believe the United States and the world would be a safer place with them in charge. This comes even though the historical evidence has always demonstrated the opposite. Outside the disastrous decision by the Bush administration to attempt to wage imperialist war in two theaters, almost every other major and minor conflict that the United States engaged in since the end of the Second World War took place during a Democrat Party administration.

On International Working Women's Day, Re-dedicate to Ending War and Imperialism

On International Working Women's Day, Re-dedicate to Ending War and Imperialism

International Working Women’s Day is being celebrated today in various parts of the world to bring attention to the plight of non-men. But very few of these commemorations address the relationship between women, war and imperialism, particularly how non-European, colonized and working-class women are impacted.

Therefore, Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) member organizations are using this day to remind the world that—in the spirit of the original International Working Women’s Day actions, where women took to the streets of Saint Petersburg, Russia, calling for “Bread and Peace”—this day must center the fight against war and imperialism.

Erica Caines, member of BAP-Baltimore and BAP’s Coordinating Committee, organized a webinar last year that highlighted how militarized policing domestically and U.S. global military aggression conspires to limit and degrade the fundamental human rights of African and colonized women. According to Caines, “In the last 10 years, as U.S. imperialism expanded—coinciding with the increase of police repression backed by Department of Defense programs—there has been a deliberate attack on internationalism. That makes it harder for colonized people in the United States to understand why and how what happens abroad directly affects us here—especially working-class Black women in the binds of triple oppression."

‘Building Back Better’—Via Neoliberal Warmongering

‘Building Back Better’—Via Neoliberal Warmongering

It is the white rulers who spent millions building prisons in Haiti and funding and training the Haitian police and military. It is the white rulers who have turned a blind eye to the atrocities of the Moïse administration. It is the white rulers who have condoned the lack of parliamentary elections, the ruling of the country by decree, and the rewriting of the Haitian constitution. Most importantly, it is the white rulers who have affirmed Moïse’s illegal extension of his ruling mandate. —Jemima Pierre, “Haiti: Black Despots and White Rulers”

After the “anti-democratic” Trump forces were defeated, the Biden-Harris administration assured it would re-commit to neoliberal orthodoxy in both domestic and foreign policy with its slogan, “Build Back Better.” That promised a return to the “traditional” U.S. values of decency, democracy and human rights.

Yet, the Biden-Harris administration, as well as most U.S. policymakers and political representatives, employ a double standard: While expressing concern for oppressed people and rhetorically supporting “democratic” processes and human rights in their domestic and foreign policies, they inflict harm on millions of people around the world through their wars, subversions and sanctions.

The Biden Administration: The Return of Neoliberal Madness?

The Biden Administration: The Return of Neoliberal Madness?

The picture had started to form in Biden’s first 48 hours, but now it is crystal clear: The Biden-Harris administration intends to pick up exactly where the Obama-Biden administration left off in 2016, with an aggressive assertion of U.S. military power to offset its declining global economic, political and moral position.

All signals appear to be heading in that direction. The Atlantic Council, a right-wing structure that is a mouthpiece for NATO and the Western alliance, issued a 26,000 word screed against China, arguing for eventual war if regime change and other “containment” polices fail to coax China into surrendering to the United States. This is utter madness.

But it continues. In another highly publicized comment, Admiral Charles A. Richard warned, “There is a real possibility that a regional crisis with Russia or China could escalate quickly to a conflict involving nuclear weapons.”

Biden’s First 48 Hours Affirm U.S. ‘Greatest Purveyor of Violence’

Biden’s First 48 Hours Affirm U.S. ‘Greatest Purveyor of Violence’

Every year, we fight a battle on the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

On one side is the U.S. state. Forced to offer a concession to the middle-class elements of the Black civil-rights movement in the form of a birthday observance for Dr. King, the state has suspended Dr. King from the movement that produced him and reduced his legacy to banal statements made by Black misleaders like Barack Obama, which only reinforce the fantasy of U.S. exceptionalism.

On the other side is the Black resistance movement. We counter with a Dr. King in transition, one who was being influenced by the analysis and politics of the radical Black Liberation Movement that was grounded in the realities of the urban and rural working classes and poor.

January 6th: Blowback and the Ongoing Crisis of Legitimacy

January 6th: Blowback and the Ongoing Crisis of Legitimacy

Two Januarys ago, an obscure politician from a minor political party named Juan Guaido assumed a one-month chairmanship of the Venezuelan National Assembly. Then he promptly declared himself the interim president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

The bizarre declaration had no legal standing. But that did not stop the Trump administration and later, the European Union, from recognizing this fictional presidency.

For most in the world, this was yet another in a series of illegal U.S. efforts to control the politics of countries in the global South. Supporting dictators, overthrowing governments with violence and destroying nations have been at the center of each of the U.S. global policies since the United States became the leader of the colonial/capitalist Western alliance in 1945.

But as Malcolm X once said, “The chickens have come home to roost.”

People(s)-Centered Human Rights: Reasserting the Black Radical Human Rights Tradition

People(s)-Centered Human Rights: Reasserting the Black Radical Human Rights Tradition

The global economic crisis of neoliberal capitalism—exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic—has exposed the ethical, moral and political contradictions of the liberal interpretation of human rights that contends these rights can be viewed separately from the political economy, global structures and power relationships. Operating from the false premise that human rights are objective and politically neutral, neoliberals began weaponizing the framework in the 1990s as an instrument that rationalized naked imperialist interventions. Humanitarian interventionism and the “responsibility to protect” became the contemporary white-supremacist expression of the “white man’s burden” that involved “saving” natives in the global South from their autocratic rulers.

It had escaped most people that the rulers to be deposed usually were in nations that attempted to resist U.S. domination with the help of European allies. From Cuba, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Iran to North Korea and Venezuela, subversion, direct military interventions, proxy wars, and sanctions were all deployed to “save” the people from their oppressive rulers. It did not matter that hundreds of thousands would die in the process, even being denied medicine amid COVID-19. The white West had determined in capitals thousands of miles away that these losses were acceptable collateral damage to preserve “democracy” and “human rights.”

U.S. Centrism: The Radical Betrayal of Global Solidarity

U.S. Centrism: The Radical Betrayal of Global Solidarity

“… Somebody must say to America, America if you have contempt for life, if you exploit human beings by seeing them as less than human, if you will treat human beings as a means to an end, you thingafy those human beings. And if you will thingafy persons, you will exploit them economically. And if you will exploit persons economically, you will abuse your military power to protect your economic investments and your economic exploitations.” —Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Where Do We Go From Here?” (1967)


In the United States, a liberal or a self-identified radical can rationalize supporting a candidate who throws Palestinians under the bus in order to get elected to the U.S. Senate. These same people can remain silent on murderous U.S. economic sanctions. They also can avoid any comment on U.S. imperialist aggression. They can do all of these things and their “progressive” or “radical” credentials would not be questioned.

That is why Joe Biden can 1) fill his cabinet with neoliberal war hawks, 2) signal obscene spending on the U.S. military will continue, and 3) tell the rulers they can rest assured knowing he is committed to the imperialist agenda of “Full Spectrum Dominance” that has been the U.S. state’s bipartisan-supported national security policy for the last two decades—and what amounts to “the left” shrugs its shoulders.

How Do the Dead Celebrate? The Bipartisan Culture of Death

How Do the Dead Celebrate? The Bipartisan Culture of Death

It is becoming more and more evident that despite the strengthening calls to ‘Free Palestine’ and more recent actions to ‘End Sars,’ internationalism will again become a backburner issue. How will Africans in the US combat this and re-establish the anti-war internationalism politics that cemented the Black Radical Tradition and politics of the past? —Erica Caines, Hood Communist


Like most political formations in the United States, Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) members and supporters represent different tendencies. For BAP members, however, elections have always presented a strategic question. That is, the intent is to understand how the election might facilitate or impede our organizing and power building processes.

That is how we have avoided much of the emotionalism and irrationality that seems to infect so many in the United States. For our alliance, a question that helped us maintain a sober perspective was considering the impact of the election of any candidate on the lives of colonized peoples and nations in the global South.

The Contours of Resistance Beyond the Election

The Contours of Resistance Beyond the Election

No matter which party wins the White House on November 3, one thing is certain: The objective crisis of the system will force the winning political party to be guided by a logic that concludes domestic repression and warmongering abroad are necessary.

From occupied Philadelphia to occupied Palestine, the people in the colonized spaces of empire will find it hard to discern a difference between how Democratic and Republican oppressors treat them. In Philadelphia, Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors borrowed a page from the Obama administration’s DOJ playbook. If folks recall, after the Baltimore uprisings in 2015, Obama’s DOJ slapped federal charges on the resisters Obama had referred to as “thugs and criminals.” Just last week, the Trump DOJ swept into Philly and nationalized a local law enforcement by arresting and slapping federal felony charges against four African activists.

Candidate Accountability: Demand a Commitment to a Peace-and-Human-Rights Agenda

Candidate Accountability: Demand a Commitment to a Peace-and-Human-Rights Agenda

The novel coronavirus pandemic both revealed and accelerated the irreversible crisis of the global capitalist system and, consequently, the domestic conditions shaping the 2020 U.S. presidential election and every level of U.S. governance.

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) asserts the deepening structural crisis is causing unprecedented forms of capitalist structural violence that can be measured in unnecessary deaths, sickness, hospitalizations, mass hunger, homelessness and collective trauma. This crisis, along with climate change and the interlocking issues related to imperialist war, militarism and domestic repression, are the main challenges facing the public.

Yet, the diversionary psychodrama passing itself off as politics in the United States has consigned these issues outside of the pre-approved range of items for public discussion.

However, BAP took on the task to raise the issues that others have avoided during this election season to suggest the people must demand from public officials a minimum program that opposes war, repression and imperialism.

We launched the Candidate Accountability Pledge as part of our broader campaign, No Compromise, No Retreat: Defeat the War Against African/Black People in the U.S. and Abroad, to say public officials coming to our people for support must embrace an agenda that in the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., addresses the ongoing issues of “racism, materialism and militarism” that characterize the politics of the United States as the “greatest purveyor of violence on the planet.”

In these last few weeks of this effort, we highlight our demands. They go beyond the election because we know the state is increasingly relying on the use of violence domestically and abroad, and that both Democrats and Republicans are committed to this strategy to maintain the power of the capitalist dictatorship. So, we suggest the people demand their elected officials and candidates:

  • Oppose the militarization of U.S. police through the Department of Defense’s 1033 program

  • Oppose Israeli training of U.S. police forces

  • Call for and work for the closure of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM)

  • Advocate for the closure of 800+ U.S. foreign military bases

  • Oppose Trump’s “Operation Relentless Pursuit”

  • Commit to opposing all military, economic (including sanctions and blockades) and political interventions

  • Advocate for an end to U.S. participation in NATO

  • Support efforts to cut the U.S. military budget by 50%

  • Demand the U.S. Department of Justice document and investigate the use of lethal force by domestic police officers

  • Commit to passing resolutions that commit the U.S. to uphold international law and the U.N. Charter

  • Sponsor legislation and/or resolutions to support the U.N. resolution on the complete global abolition of nuclear weapons

Over the last few weeks, we have attempted to raise the visibility of these demands. 

For example, our September 24 webinar, “Full Spectrum Dominance: From AFRICOM to Indo-Pacific Command”, focused on our ongoing work to shut down AFRICOM, but we also drew attention to another U.S. command structure, the Indo-Pacific Command, which is being used to strengthen U.S. offensive capabilities against China.

Then on October 1, over 300 organizations from global civil society joined us by endorsing and taking action in support of the International Day of Action on AFRICOM. For that day, we asked organizations and individuals to call on the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) to investigate the impact of AFRICOM on the African continent. The effort to sign onto that letter continues.

We are disseminating an especially important conversation BAP members hosted and presented on October 7 on Black Women and Anti-Imperialism. 

On October 14, BAP co-sponsored and National Organizer Ajamu Baraka participated in a discussion on policing in Nicaragua and the Caribbean that is receiving international attention.

BAP member organization Friends of the Congo yesterday launched “Congo Week in Harlem”, an annual 7-day event that draws attention to the ongoing struggles in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and to its rich history and culture. Many believe the DRC would be one of the richest countries if it was allowed to exercise real national sovereignty, free from predatory U.S. and Western companies.

BAP is a member of the Black is Back Coalition (BIB), which is organizing the “Black People’s March on the White House” on November 7-8. For BIB, the election’s outcome will not change that Black and Brown colonized workers in the United States and abroad have no choice but to resist the U.S. state’s criminal activity as it desperately attempts to shore up the capitalist order.

And we are still moving toward our fundraising goal of $30,000, so we can continue to work for peace and People(s)-Centered Human Rights. Help us.

 

PRESS AND MEDIA


On the October 6 episode of WPFW’s “Voices With Vision”, Netfa Freeman, who represents Pan-African Community Action (PACA) on BAP’s Coordinating Committee, and co-host Craig Hall, interviewed Qiana Johnson, a core organizer with Black Lives Matter-DC and executive director of Life After Release, about a model for challenging mass incarceration called “Participatory Defense.” That model was highlighted with the song "New Tribes" by Dahk Matter (PACA's Ahmed Malik Braxton). PACA organizer Max Rameau discussed the presidential debate and the mention of Community Control of Police (CCOP). Netfa and Craig spoke to Rwandan genocide survivor and African Great Lakes Action Network (AGLAN) Executive Director Claude Gatebuke about Congo Week (October 18-24) and the case of Paul Russesabagina—hero of the film, "Hotel Rwanda"—recently kidnapped by the Rwandan government and being held as a political prisoner for criticizing the Rwandan occupation of the DRC and its culpability in atrocities there. As is customary on "Voices With Vision", political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal provides commentary. This time, on Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis.

The October 13 episode of “Voices With Vision” featured an interview with Erica Takeo, who coordinates the solidarity network for the Asociación de Trabajadores del Campo, or the Rural Workers Association, in Nicaragua. Takeo spoke about Friends of Latin America’s October 14 webinar that delved into the Nicaraguan experience with CCOP.

For The Real News Network, BAP member Jacqueline Luqman interviewed Dr. Akinyele Umoja, professor in the African-American Studies Department at Georgia State University and author of the book “We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement,” about armed self-defense for Black people. 

Netfa was featured 9 minutes into KPFA’s Evening News to break down the Trump/Biden debate mentioning CCOP. Plus, Dedan Waciuri, who represents Black Workers for Justice on the BAP Coordinating Committee, spoke about the need for CCOP on Black Agenda Radio. Mapinduzi, an organization Dedan belongs to in Greenville, North Carolina, held an online panel discussion October 17 on the role of police.

KPFA's “Flashpoints” interviewed Netfa about militia groups caught plotting to kidnap Michigan’s governor and the white-supremacist roots of militias and U.S. police.

BAP member Erica Caines wrote in Hood Communist about the possibility of a Trump coup, the material purpose of the Supreme Court and the focus of Black collective organizing.

BAP Coordinating Committee member Margaret Kimberley appeared 60 minutes into Radio Sputnik’s “The Critical Hour” to analyze the Trump administration’s response to wildfires ravaging California and other western states, the Barrett nomination, and a Sentencing Project report showing nearly 5.2 million people will be disenfranchised in the 2020 U.S. elections because of felony convictions. 

A CodePink video showed Netfa breaking down how U.S. elections are used to misdirect the people’s struggle.

Erica hosted a forum, “Black Women and Anti-Imperialism”, featuring speakers Nnennaya Amuchie of #8ToAbolition⁣; Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture of BAP and the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign in Philadelphia; and Onyesonwu Chatoyer of BAP member organization All African People’s Revolutionary Party-New Mexico, Anti-War Coalition of Albuquerque and the Hood Communist blog. The conversation aimed to show Black women in the United States why they should care about the symbiotic relationship that exists between the military industrial complex and militarized policing. The history of Black women radicals in anti-imperialist movements in the United States, domestic imperialism, internationalism and AFRICOM were also discussed.

BAP’s U.S. Out of Africa Network Coordinator Tunde Osazua spoke to Anticonquista’s L@s Hij@s de Fidel podcast—hosted by BAP member Kayla Pop and professor Danny Shaw—about the imperialist roots of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and its implications for Africans around the world. WORT’s “8 O’Clock Buzz” interviewed Tunde about how AFRICOM uses U.S. military power to impose U.S. control on African land, resources, and labor to service the needs of U.S. multinational corporations and the wealthy in the United States.

Popular Resistance interviewed Ajamu, who spoke about the history of AFRICOM and its impact on the continent. He also discussed why anti-imperialist and internationalist perspectives are necessary, the changing power dynamics in the world, the upcoming elections in the United States, and where activists should focus their time and energies.

Meanwhile, Netfa was interviewed for Press TV's “Africa Today” on the cost of terrorism on 18 African countries. 

 

EVENTS


October 18-24: Friends of the Congo is commemorating Congo Week XIII by hosting a series of virtual events this year with special presentations from the Andree Blouin Center in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

October 22: Stand with thousands across the country for National Day of Protest to express our collective outrage, creativity and resistance in response to the crimes of this system. Uphold the tens of thousands of lives stolen by U.S. law enforcement over the past quarter century. Join a National Day of Protest event in your area. Create one if you are in an area where no one is organizing. On October 22, “WEAR BLACK, FIGHT BACK!” To endorse this call, complete this form. For more information, visit october22.org. Provide details of an action by emailing oct22national@gmail.com.   

October 24: A march and caravan co-initiated by BAP member organization Ujima People’s Progress Party will demand housing justice in Baltimore, Maryland.

October 27: The Claudia Jones School for Political Education, along with the New Dawn Podcast, are hosting Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly and Boots Riley to discuss anti-capitalism. Register here.

November 7-8: The Black Is Back Coalition calls on all to march, rally and convene in Washington, D.C., during the “Black People's March On White House.” Registration is requested. Read their article in Black Agenda Report.

 

TAKE ACTION

  • The Black Latina Girls and Women Fund was created by AfroResistance, a Black Latina women-led organization in the service of Black Latinx women in the Americas. This fund offers financial support by giving money directly to Black Latin womxn, girls and femmes who are experiencing severe financial need across the region, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether in Brazil, Colombia, United States or Panama, Black Latina girls, women, and femmes are organizing in their local communities in the fight against several forms of state violence. You can donate here and people are encouraged to use the hashtag #BlackLatinaGWFund.

  • Ask your local, state and federal candidates to sign BAP’s 2020 Candidate Accountability Pledge. If you are a candidate, distinguish yourself from the other corporate warmongering candidates by signing the pledge.

  • Sign up to join BAP’s U.S. Out of Africa Network to receive the bi-weekly AFRICOM Watch Bulletin in your inbox.

  • Make sure you keep up with us throughout the week by subscribing to our YouTube channel, liking us on Facebook, and following us on Instagram and Twitter.

No Compromise, No Retreat!
 
Struggle to win,
Ajamu, Dedan, Jaribu, Margaret, Netfa, Nnamdi, Paul, Vanessa, YahNé

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

Photo credit: Robert W. Kelley/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Is AFRICOM Moving to South Carolina?

Is AFRICOM Moving to South Carolina?

Individuals and organizations from around the world joined the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) on International Day of Action on AFRICOM, calling for the U.S. government to shut down its African command (AFRICOM) and withdraw its bases and military personnel from Africa.

When AFRICOM was launched October 1, 2008, U.S. authorities—understanding the political ramifications—realized it would be impossible to house the command headquarters in Africa. Hence, the German city of Stuttgart was chosen as the base of operations.

The Obama administration and NATO attacked and destroyed Libya, whose leader, Muammar Gaddafi, chaired the African Union, the continent-wide structure committed to African unity and cooperation. But with Libya in disarray and no African leader to voice opposition, the U.S. Department of Defense has floated the idea of moving AFRICOM’s headquarters to Africa. Then this past week, it suggested placing it in the U.S. state of South Carolina because the Trump administration has plans to move thousands of U.S. troops out of Germany.

The arrogance involved in considering basing AFRICOM in South Carolina is exactly why an International Day of Action on AFRICOM and our ongoing campaign, U.S. Out of Africa: Shut Down AFRICOM, is so important. The hubris and psychopathology of white supremacy could easily lead it to make the error of attempting to bring AFRICOM to the Black-Belt South, where it would be met with ferocious opposition—all despite U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-South Carolina).

BAP is clear. We are not moved by paternalistic pandering from politicians, who pretend Black lives matter in the United States while they support racist U.S. subversion, sanctions, and warmongering against Africans and other non-European peoples and nations. 

We intend to shut down AFRICOM, close all U.S. foreign military bases, and dismantle the U.S. war machine for ourselves and for the world. 

 

PRESS AND MEDIA


On this week's episode of WPFW’s “Voices With Vision”, Netfa Freeman, who represents BAP member organization Pan-African Community Action (PACA), and his co-host, Craig Hall, interviewed Green Party presidential and vice presidential candidates Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker, who spoke about policing, healthcare, foreign policy, and why they want “progressives” to vote for what they believe in, and not throw their vote away on the “lesser of two evils.” Then Brother Jihad Abdulmumit of the National Jericho Movement discussed the good news that former Black Panther and political prisoner Jalil Muntaqim has won his parole hearing. The second half of the show featured remarks by Affiong L. Affiong, executive director of the Moyo Pan Afrikan Solidarity Center in Nigeria. Those remarks are from the U.S. Out of Africa Network’s Sept. 24 virtual symposium, “Full Spectrum Dominance: From AFRICOM to Indo-Pacific Command.” That event featured the music of Dee The Peacemaker.

Mark Fancher, a member of BAP's Africa Team and an organizer in the All-African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP), was interviewed on WRFG's RAP (Revolutionary African Perspectives) about the International Day of Action on AFRICOM BAP organized for October 1.

Tunde Osazua, BAP’s U.S. Out of Africa Network Coordinator, discusses AFRICOM and the situation in Somalia on WBAI News with Paul DeRienzo.

Netfa joined Sean Blackmon and BAP member Jacqueline Luqman on Radio Sputnik’s “By Any Means Necessary” to talk about the U.S. military’s recent attempts to expand its drone warfare campaign to Kenya, the CIA- and  MI6-backed "Rendition Operations Team" operating with impunity in Kenya, and the links between imperialism in Africa and oppression in the United States.

BAP Coordinating Committee member Margaret Kimberley and BAP Supporter Network Co-Coordinator Danny Haiphong discussed U.S. human rights abuses on Black Agenda Report’s The Left Lens. 

Netfa was on “By Any Means Necessary” to discuss the first U.S. presidential debate of the 2020 campaign season, Trump's suggestion that the Proud Boys should "stand down and stand by," and the refusal of the Kentucky attorney general to indict the Louisville police officer who killed Breonna Taylor.

WBAI News with Paul DeRienzo interviewed Netfa about community control of the police taking the stage at the debates. Meanwhile, Margaret discussed the European Union and the United States breaking on Venezuela 57 minutes into Radio Sputnik's “The Critical Hour” and the presidential debate 58 minutes into another episode of “The Critical Hour”. BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka also discussed the debate 58 minutes into KPFA’s “Hard Knock Radio”.

PACA organizer Max Rameau was a featured speaker for Freedom Inc.’s webinar, "A Righteous Rebellion,” which focused on Black Resistance.

Netfa was interviewed on “The Critical Hour” about U.S. sabotage of Cuba's efforts in combating COVID-19.

Ajamu wrote an essay featured in a new book, “Capitalism on a Ventilator: The Impact of COVID-19 in China & the U.S.”. Other authors included Margaret, political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal and the now-deceased BAP supporter Kevin Zeese.

Ajamu also discussed 57 minutes into Radio Sputnik’s “By Any Means Necessary” the consistent failure of the Democratic Party to offer serious solutions to the COVID-19 crisis as the virus appears to spread rapidly among their GOP counterparts, the vital importance of alternative media outlets and educational platforms in a hegemonic capitalist cultural environment, and the long history of shared struggle between revolutionaries in racialized communities both within and outside the United States.

BAP members Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture and YahNé Ndgo represented at “Fists Up! Fight Back!”, a Philadelphia rally and teach-in held in solidarity with the people of Louisville, Kentucky, and the late Breonna Taylor. Asantewaa can be heard 54 minutes in and YahNé appears after her.

EVENTS

October 7: Register for an 8 p.m., EST, webinar, “Black Women and Anti-Imperialism: Forum on the Importance of Internationalist Politics For Black Women in the U.S.”

October 12: The All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (GC) is holding an outdoor rally at 12 p.m., EST, in Washington, D.C., for Indigenous People’s Day.

October 14: PACA's Assata Shakur Study Group will be held online at 7 p.m., EST. PACA requests non-Africans who wish to attend bring an African.

October 14: Ajamu will speak on a Friends of Latin America 7:30 p.m., EST, webinar, “Power to the People! Policing & Caribbean Autonomy in Nicaragua,” where he will help draw the connection between repression and people’s struggle in Nicaragua and in the United States. Simultaneous English and Spanish interpretation will be available.

October 15: Join BAP member organization AfroResistance for a 1 p.m., EST, conversation on police brutality and the invisible war against Black Women and Girls, as well as strategies to target and dismantle the systems that produce them. Register here.
 
Una conversación sobre la brutalidad policial y la guerra invisible contra las Mujeres y Niñas Negras, así como estrategias para atacar y desmantelar los sistemas que las producen. Jueves, 15 de Octubre, 2020. 1 p.m. EST / 12 p.m. Colombia. Registrarse aquí.
 
Uma conversa sobre a brutalidade policial e a guerra invisível contra as Mulheres e Meninas Negras, assim como estratégias para desmantelar os sistemas que as produzem. Quinta, 15 de Outubro de 2020. 1 p.m. EST / 2 p.m. Brasil. Registre-se aqui.

October 18-24: BAP member organization Friends of the Congo is commemorating Congo Week XIII by hosting a series of virtual events this year with special presentations from the Andree Blouin Center in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

October 22: Stand with thousands across the country for National Day of Protest to express our collective outrage, creativity and resistance in response to the crimes of this system. Uphold the tens of thousands of lives stolen by U.S. law enforcement over the past quarter century. Join a National Day of Protest event in your area. Create one if you are in an area where no one is organizing. On October 22, “WEAR BLACK, FIGHT BACK!” To endorse this call, complete this form. For more information, visit october22.org. Provide details of an action by emailing oct22national@gmail.com.   

October 22: Join "A Call for Unity of the National Black Liberation Movement in the Age of Capitalist Decline,” at 7 p.m., EST. This first in a series of national webinars will open a national dialogue on the state of the National Black Liberation Movement, how to establish national unity of all forces seeking Black Liberation, and how to rebuild a national movement that has earned the trust and support of the African American people in our 400-year historic struggle to end oppression. This webinar is sponsored by BAP, BAP member organization Black Workers for Justice, Cooperation Jackson and Community Movement Builders. This is an invitation-only event.

November 7-8: The Black Is Back Coalition calls on all to march, rally and convene in Washington, D.C., during the “Black People's March On White House.” Registration is required. Read their article in Black Agenda Report.

 

TAKE ACTION

  • The Black Latina Girls and Women Fund was created by AfroResistance, a Black Latina women-led organization in the service of Black Latinx women in the Americas. This fund offers financial support by giving money directly to Black Latin womxn, girls and femmes who are experiencing severe financial need across the region, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether in Brazil, Colombia, United States or Panama, Black Latina girls, women, and femmes are organizing in their local communities in the fight against several forms of state violence. You can donate here and people are encouraged to use the hashtag #BlackLatinaGWFund.

  • Ask your local, state and federal candidates to sign BAP’s 2020 Candidate Accountability Pledge. If you are a candidate, distinguish yourself from the other corporate warmongering candidates by signing the pledge.

  • Sign up to join BAP’s U.S. Out of Africa Network to receive the bi-weekly AFRICOM Watch Bulletin in your inbox.

  • Make sure you keep up with us throughout the week by subscribing to our YouTube channel, liking us on Facebook, and following us on Instagram and Twitter.


No Compromise, No Retreat!
 
Struggle to win,
Ajamu, Dedan, Jaribu, Margaret, Netfa, Nnamdi, Paul, Vanessa, YahNé

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

Photo credit: Senior Airman Joshua R. Maund/JBC

Racism, Militarism and Materialism = AFRICOM

Racism, Militarism and Materialism = AFRICOM

A year before the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was murdered, he declared the United States was the greatest purveyor of violence on the planet. 

Some people today focus on the moral implications of this statement, disconnected from the groundings Dr. King also provided that helped to explain why the United States was addicted to war and violence. He correctly connected the drive for profit and capitalist exploitation—materialism—with the means to enforce individual and national plunder—militarism—and the racialization of the peoples of the Global South that historically has been used to dehumanize them and thereby justify the seizure of their lands, lives and independence.

On October 1, the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) will highlight the latest expression of colonial hubris and white supremacist arrogance by organizing an International Day of Action on AFRICOM.

Officially launched on October 1, 2008, AFRICOM (the U.S. Africa Command) is just one part of the U.S. global command that covers the planet—and as of 2019, the United States has colonized outer space, too, with the U.S. Space Force.

However, very few ordinary people in the United States know about AFRICOM or the other command structures.

This lack of knowledge about what the U.S. state is up to outside its borders extends even to Congress. When four U.S. military personnel were killed in Niger last year, members of Congress were shocked to learn the extent of U.S. military involvement in Africa. Even in this election season, almost no attention has been given to U.S. foreign policies and global activities. The lack of conversation stems primarily from this fact: No real, fundamental differences exist between the two major political parties because both are firmly committed to the U.S. imperial project.

This is why BAP focused on AFRICOM as part of our work as a member organization of the Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases, which BAP helped co-found.

BAP’s Africa Team explains in the call for support for the International Day of Action on AFRICOM: “The U.S. Out of Africa!: Shut Down AFRICOM campaign is demanding the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Africa and the demilitarization of the African continent. The campaign is an integral element of the Black Alliance for Peace’s general opposition to U.S. global militarization, with its offensive command structures, approximately 800 to 1,000 overseas bases, and the United States’ status as the number one arms merchant on the planet. The International Day of Action on AFRICOM (October 1, 2020) aims to raise the public’s awareness about the U.S. military’s existence in Africa, and how the presence of U.S. forces exacerbates violence and instability throughout the continent.”

BAP launched on April 4, 2017, the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's famous speech, in which he broke his silence so he could come out in opposition to the Vietnam War. With our launch, we pledged to fearlessly take up the fight to end the scourge of racism, materialism and militarism against what remains to be the greatest purveyor of violence on the planet.

Organizations are invited to endorse the International Day of Action on AFRICOM.


 

PRESS AND MEDIA

92820 Asantewaa pic.jpeg

BAP member Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture, pictured above with the bullhorn, spoke out at a rally in Philadelphia organized in support of the three Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) activists who were recently scooped up by Denver police and railroaded with draconian charges for participating in a protest after the murder of a Black man at the hands of police. Netfa Freeman, who represents BAP member organization Pan-African Community Action (PACA), interviewed PSL organizer Eugene Puryear on WPFW’s “Voices With Vision”. All three activists have been released since this interview took place.

BAP member Erica Caines participated on a panel with the Albuquerque Anti-War Coalition to discuss Operation Relentless Pursuit in Baltimore, the militarization of police and the importance of internationalism. The panel was organized to address the increasing presence of federal agents in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with the 2019 launch of Operation Relentless Pursuit and the recent launch of Operation LeGend. These operations connect the violence police and federal agents bring to neighborhoods with the violence the U.S. empire deploys around the world.

BAP Coordinating Committee member Margaret Kimberley moderated BAP’s webinar, Full Spectrum Dominance: From AFRICOM to Indo-Pacific Command. It featured among several activists, BAP Supporter Network Co-Coordinator Danny Haiphong. 

Margaret also participated in a few webinars this week: She can be heard 76 minutes into the No Cold War International Peace Forum, 24 minutes into Pivot to Peace’s Standing Against Racism and War—the Only Road to Peace, and the In Defense of Julian Assange webinar.

In Black Agenda Report, Danny wrote Joe Biden and the Democrats have no plan to stop the bleeding in the United States and around the world. Meanwhile, Black Agenda Report Executive Editor Glen Ford wrote, “...the guardians of corporate hegemony at the New York Times seek to divert attention from the real root of the nation and world’s problems—the Dictatorship of (white) Capital—by narrowing the definition of ‘power’ to what can be achieved by climbing the corporate (or corporate party) ladder.”

Plus, Margaret provided analysis on defense spending and COVID-19 budget negotiations 75 minutes into Radio Sputnik’s “The Critical Hour”.
 

EVENTS


September 28: The Claudia Jones School for Political Education will host a webinar, Worker Cooperatives and the Movement for Socialism.

September 30: BAP member organization AfroResistance is hosting an anti-oppression workshop, “Dominant Culture: A Virtual Anti-Oppression Workshop.” Registration is required.

October 1: BAP is organizing an International Day of Action on AFRICOM. Find out how to take action.

October 1: The African Great Lakes Action Network and Africans Rising along with BAP member organization Friends of the Congo will host a webinar, In Pursuit of Justice in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. It will be a discussion on peace and justice in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Great Lakes Region on the 10th anniversary of the United Nations Mapping Exercise Report. Panelists will discuss the measures needed from the international community to address questions of impunity, lack of accountability and justice in the Congo and the Great Lakes Region of Africa. This discussion is of particular importance in the wake of the Rwandan government's illegal rendition and jailing of Paul Rusesabagina, the hero of Hotel Rwanda and the death threats levelled against Congolese Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Denis Mukwege.

October 14: PACA's Assata Shakur Study Group will be held online at 7 p.m., EST. PACA requests non-Africans who wish to attend bring an African.

October 18-24: BAP member organization Friends of the Congo is commemorating Congo Week XIII by hosting a series of virtual events this year with special presentations from the Andree Blouin Center in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

October 22: Stand with thousands across the country for National Day of Protest to express our collective outrage, creativity and resistance in response to the crimes of this system. Uphold the tens of thousands of lives stolen by U.S. law enforcement over the past quarter century. Join a National Day of Protest event in your area. Create one if you are in an area where no one is organizing. On October 22, “WEAR BLACK, FIGHT BACK!” To endorse this call, complete this form. For more information, visit october22.org. Provide details of an action by emailing oct22national@gmail.com.   

October 22: Join "A Call for Unity of the National Black Liberation Movement in the Age of Capitalist Decline,” at 7 p.m., EST. This first in a series of national webinars will open a national dialogue on the state of the National Black Liberation Movement, how to establish national unity of all forces seeking Black Liberation, and how to rebuild a national movement that has earned the trust and support of the African American people in our 400-year historic struggle to end oppression. This webinar is sponsored by BAP, BAP member organization Black Workers for Justice, Cooperation Jackson and Community Movement Builders. More information will be available in an upcoming newsletter.

November 7-8: The Black Is Back Coalition calls on all to march, rally and convene in Washington, D.C., during the “Black People's March On White House.” Registration is required. Read their article in Black Agenda Report.

TAKE ACTION

  • Ask your local, state and federal candidates to sign BAP’s 2020 Candidate Accountability Pledge. If you are a candidate, distinguish yourself from the other corporate warmongering candidates by signing the pledge.

  • The Black Latina Girls and Women Fund was created by AfroResistance, a Black Latina women-led organization in the service of Black Latinx women in the Americas. This fund offers financial support by giving money directly to Black Latin womxn, girls and femmes who are experiencing severe financial need across the region, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether in Brazil, Colombia, United States or Panama, Black Latina girls, women, and femmes are organizing in their local communities in the fight against several forms of state violence. You can donate here and people are encouraged to use the hashtag #BlackLatinaGWFund.

  • BAP is raising $30,000 to help expand our membership support capacity and revamp our website. Donate and share our GoFundMe campaign with your networks today.

  • Sign up to join BAP’s U.S. Out of Africa Network to receive the bi-weekly AFRICOM Watch Bulletin in your inbox.

  • Make sure you keep up with us throughout the week by subscribing to our YouTube channel, liking us on Facebook, and following us on Instagram and Twitter.


No Compromise, No Retreat!
 
Struggle to win,
Ajamu, Dedan, Jaribu, Margaret, Netfa, Nnamdi, Paul, Vanessa, YahNé

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

Photo credit: Takisha Miller

Today Is International Day of Peace

Today Is International Day of Peace

Since 1981, September 21st has been used to focus and re-dedicate global efforts toward achieving peace. But like many days created by the United Nations and global civil society to reflect the highest values and aspirations of collective humanity, the struggle for peace has been soiled by the moral hypocrisy of global oppressors.

Those states see peace as a threat. In the United States, 83-year-old Dr. W.E.B. Dubois was branded a criminal in 1951 for being the director of the Peace Information Center. In 1967, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. asserted racism, materialism and militarism were maladies of U.S. society that, if not corrected, would result in a spiritual death for the United States. When the Black Liberation Movement embraced an anti-imperialist and anti-war position and Dr. King correctly identified the United States as the greatest purveyor of violence in the world, brutal repression took place—his life was taken and the movement was smashed. Today, peace activists and the peace movement are relegated to the fringes of political discourse, making direct repression unnecessary.

But, as Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton said, you can kill a revolutionary, but you can’t kill the revolution. The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) took up the historic task to fight for peace and human rights on April 4, 2017, exactly 50 years after Dr. King broke his silence on Vietnam.

We are committed to peace. But we say without equivocation or apology that without justice, there will be no peace—and for justice, we must fight for it. What compels us to resist? We see in the United States and around the world the barbarism of war, repression and imperialism. We see the structural violence of capitalism dramatically revealed by the coronavirus pandemic. We see the oligarchy’s cavalier disregard for human life has unsealed for the public a deeper level of understanding of what it has to mean to be anti-war.

So today, we celebrate the aspiration we all have for peace by re-dedicating ourselves to this cause: Extricating the power to wage war against humanity from those rogue states lorded over by the world’s rapacious, white-supremacist colonial/capitalist minority.

We say end the war in Afghanistan and prosecute the war criminals in the Obama and Trump administrations that provided weapons of war to the fascist Saudi state to wage genocidal war in Yemen. Say no to the new cold war with China, shut down the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and close the estimated 800 to 1,000 U.S. military bases around the world.

Peace, human cooperation, substantive equality and commitment to People(s)-Centered Human Rights are possible. These values represent the only rational basis for sustaining human life on the planet. Join us at 4 p.m., EST, September 24, for our webinar, Full Spectrum Dominance: From AFRICOM to Indo-Pacific Command, where we will discuss and strategize on how we can put a brake on the global bi-partisan war machine. 

And thanks to all who supported our effort toward raising a modest $30,000 to help us continue to wage peace. We reached the $10,000 mark, which helped us win a $10,000 matching grant from a generous person. Now please consider helping us meet our goal before the end of the month by giving today.

 

PRESS AND MEDIA


Last week, BAP Coordinating Committee member Margaret Kimberley and Black Agenda Report Executive Editor Glen Ford interviewed Sam Martinez of Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar Clark in Minneapolis. Sam shared Community Control of Police (CCOP) is the only way to stop murders at the hands of police, saying, “There’s nothing being disbanded, dismantled or defunded, unfortunately, at this time.” Check out the Black Agenda Radio interview. Plus, PACA organizer Max Rameau discussed CCOP on WPFW’s “Community Watch & Comment” starting at the 45-minute mark.

Margaret spoke to Deutsche Welle about the city of Louisville, Kentucky, settling with the family of police-murder victim, Breonna Taylor.

Netfa appeared on Press TV’s “The Debate” to talk about U.S. election fraud and the recent U.S. upheavals. Margaret was interviewed on the Macro N Cheese podcast to talk about the U.S. presidential election, climate change, protests and more.

BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka questioned how Joe Biden’s foreign policy would make any difference for the world in CounterPunch. Margaret did similarly on Radio Sputnik’s “The Critical Hour.”

Netfa appeared on Radio Sputnik’s “By Any Means Necessary,” co-hosted by BAP member Jacqueline Luqman, to discuss the breakdown in talks between the Mali coup leaders and the civilian government on a peaceful transition of power, the involvement of coup leaders in previous U.S. operations in the region, and the role French and German imperialism played in laying the groundwork for conflicts in the West African country. 
         
BAP’s U.S. Out of Africa Network Coordinator Tunde Osazua joined Talk Nation Radio to discuss the U.S. role in militarizing Africa and BAP’s U.S. Out of Africa!: Shut Down AFRICOM campaign.

Netfa interviewed on “Voices With Vision” Aziz Fall, founding member of GRILA (Group for Research and Initiative for the Liberation of Africa), who spoke about his organization and the lesser known history of anti-AFRICOM resistance outside of the United States.

Michael Sawyer, professor at Colorado College, told Margaret and Glen on Black Agenda Radio that were he alive today, Malcolm X “would be a harsh and clear critic of everything that’s happening” under the Black Lives Matter banner. Historian Gerald Horne also appeared on Black Agenda Radio to discuss his latest book, “The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century.”

On Saturday, a live memorial service took place in English and Spanish for activist and BAP supporter Kevin Zeese. BAP Supporter Network Co-Coordinator Danny Haiphong has been among many who have written tributes to Kevin, who Danny writes, “never wavered in his opposition to the corporate duopoly, white supremacy, and the forces of militarism.”

 

EVENTS


September 21: The Connecticut Peace & Solidarity Coalition will host a webinar, “Moving Money from the Military to Human Needs: Demanding Candidates Confront the $741 Billion U.S. Military Budget,” at 7:30 p.m., EST. Registration is required.

September 23: PACA's Assata Shakur Study Group will be held online at 7 p.m., EST. PACA requests non-Africans who wish to attend bring an African.

September 24: Mark your calendars for 4 p.m., EST, for BAP’s next webinar, “Full Spectrum Dominance: From AFRICOM to Indo-Pacific Command.” Registration is required.

September 24: ABQ Antiwar Coalition presents an 8 p.m., EST, webinar to discuss the connection between police terrorism and U.S. imperialist violence around the world, with a special focus on Operation Relentless pursuit and Operation Legend. Register here.

September 26: All-African People’s Revolutionary Party will host a webinar, Revolutionary Solutions: Mass Based Alternatives Towards Community Empowerment, at 11 a.m., EST. Register here.

September 26: Cuban doctors from the Henry Reeve Brigade will soon celebrate the medical brigade’s 15th anniversary by discussing what it’s like to work on the frontlines of a pandemic at 8 p.m. EST. Register here.

September 26: No Cold War is organizing a second international webinar for 9 p.m., EST, to discuss global trends and how to organize to stop a new cold war. Registration is required.

September 30: BAP member organization AfroResistance is hosting an anti-oppression workshop, “Dominant Culture: A Virtual Anti-Oppression Workshop.” Registration is required.

October 1: BAP is organizing an International Day of Action on AFRICOM. More information will be available in the next newsletter.

October 18-24: BAP member organization Friends of the Congo is commemorating Congo Week XIII by hosting a series of virtual events this year with special presentations from the Andree Blouin Center in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

October 22: Join us for "A Call for Unity of the National Black Liberation Movement in the Age of Capitalist Decline,” at 7 p.m., EST. This first in a series of national webinars will open a national dialogue on the state of the National Black Liberation Movement, how to establish national unity of all forces seeking Black Liberation, and how to rebuild a national movement that has earned the trust and support of the African American people in our 400-year historic struggle to end oppression. This webinar is sponsored by BAP, BAP member organization Black Workers for Justice, Cooperation Jackson and Community Movement Builders. Registration information will be available in upcoming newsletters.

November 7-8: The Black Is Back Coalition calls on all to march, rally and convene in Washington, D.C., during the “Black People's March On White House.” Registration is required. Read their article in Black Agenda Report.

 

TAKE ACTION

  • The Black Latina Girls and Women Fund was created by AfroResistance, a Black Latina women-led organization in the service of Black Latinx women in the Americas. This fund offers financial support by giving money directly to Black Latin womxn, girls and femmes who are experiencing severe financial need across the region, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether in Brazil, Colombia, United States or Panama, Black Latina girls, women, and femmes are organizing in their local communities in the fight against several forms of state violence. You can donate here and people are encouraged to use the hashtag #BlackLatinaGWFund.

  • Ask your local, state and federal candidates to sign BAP’s 2020 Candidate Accountability Pledge.

  • Sign up to join BAP’s U.S. Out of Africa Network to receive the bi-weekly AFRICOM Watch Bulletin in your inbox.

  • Make sure you keep up with us throughout the week by subscribing to our YouTube channel, liking us on Facebook, and following us on Instagram and Twitter.


No Compromise, No Retreat!
 
Struggle to win,
Ajamu, Dedan, Jaribu, Margaret, Netfa, Nnamdi, Paul, Vanessa, YahNé

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

Photo credit: Staff Sgt. Michael B. Keller, U.S. Air Force

Who Really Wants Peace in Afghanistan?

Who Really Wants Peace in Afghanistan?

Despite several hurdles, peace talks between the Taliban and the U.S.-created Afghan government began September 12 in Doha, Qatar. However, instead of expressing an interest that the longest war in U.S. history may be coming to an end, the response from the U.S. news media, congressional representatives and even some elements of the peace movement has ranged from silence to indifference.

Donald Trump made withdrawing from “endless” U.S. wars a signature promise of his 2016 presidential campaign. That might account for the paucity of media coverage and the lack of acknowledgment that a possibility existed for the United States to extricate itself from the quagmire that previously trapped the British and Soviets in Afghanistan.

It is somewhat of a minor miracle that the peace process made it this far. At every turn, the military-industrial complex, the neoliberal media, the foreign policy community and members of Congress had conspired against a peace process that would have significantly reduced the U.S. presence in the country. Lurid stories of Russian bounties paid to the Taliban for dead U.S. personnel filled the media a few months after the Trump administration brokered an agreement between the Taliban and the Afghan government to enter into a process of direct negotiation. Because of that story, Congress passed legislation to prevent Trump from completely withdrawing U.S. personnel from the country.

For the people of the world watching this shameful behavior, it provided more evidence of the corrupt nature of both U.S. parties, as well as the moral bankruptcy of the liberal global order and the depravity of the U.S. ruling class. 

 

PRESS AND MEDIA


WPFW’s “Voices With Vision” paid tribute to BAP supporter Kevin Zeese, who suddenly passed away September 6. The episode included BAP Coordinating Committee member Jaribu Hill reading BAP’s September 7 newsletter, which was dedicated to Kevin’s memory. Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo also wrote a tribute to Kevin in Black Agenda Report. 

“Voices with Vision,” co-hosted by Netfa Freeman, who represents BAP member organization Pan-African Community Action (PACA) on the BAP Coordinating Committee, featured an interview last week with Freedom Mazwi, a researcher at the Sam Moyo African Institute for Agrarian Studies, in Harare, Zimbabwe, about disturbing developments for Black liberation in Zimbabwe. Plus, BAP Coordinating Committee member Margaret Kimberley was featured on the show reading from a recent article she wrote about the natural connection between law enforcement in the United States and white supremacist organizations.

Black Agenda Report Executive Editor Glen Ford asks in his piece for Black Agenda Report why Black Lives Matter chapters are withholding support for Community Control of Police, which he writes puts people on the path to both defunding and abolishing the police.

Ahjamu Umi of the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party writes the Black bourgeoisie will continue to derail African/Black people with “their empty promises of inclusion.”

BAP member Jacqueline Luqman interviewed historian Gerald Horne on the settler-colonial roots of property rights with The Real News Network.

Margaret and BAP Supporter Network Co-Coordinator Danny Haiphong break down on The Left Lens why Kamala Harris represents a “negation of everything that the Black liberation movement and U.S. political prisoners currently fighting for freedom stand for.” Margaret also was featured on WBAI’s “La Voz Latina” to discuss lesser evilism in the 2020 election, starting 30 minutes into the show. Then she appeared with BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka on Radio Sputnik’s “The Critical Hour” to discuss 9/11, 19 years later. Their discussion starts 59 minutes into the show. You also can hear Margaret on Radio Sputnik’s “Fault Lines” talking about the protests and the 2020 election 85 minutes in.

BAP member YahNé Ndgo was featured on 6ABC Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Facebook and Instagram discussing the work she’s been doing in Philadelphia around the housing crisis, including participating in an encampment. YahNé and BAP member Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture also were featured on CBS3 Philadelphia. Additionally, YahNé was interviewed on 6ABC Philadelphia about a community healing and building event she organized. 

Meanwhile, BAP member organization Black Workers for Justice was featured on local TV station WRAL for playing a key role organizing a Labor Day rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, for a higher minimum wage and better working conditions.

Then on the foreign affairs front, Danny wrote about how Barack Obama was brought into the NBA strike to silence African/Black resistance against capitalism. And Margaret discussed how both the Democrats and Republicans support the endless U.S. wars abroad.

 

EVENTS


September 16 and 30: BAP member organization AfroResistance is hosting an anti-oppression workshop, “Dominant Culture: A Virtual Anti-Oppression Workshop.” Registration is required.

September 19-20: Labor and Community for an Independent Party is organizing a two-day online conference, “Break the Grip of the Two-Party System Program Agenda.” Registration is required.

September 23: PACA's Assata Shakur Study Group will be held at 7 p.m., EST, online. PACA requests non-Africans who wish to attend bring an African.

September 24: Mark your calendars for 4 p.m., EST, for BAP’s next webinar, “Full Spectrum Dominance: From AFRICOM to Indo-Pacific Command.” Registration is required.

November 7-8: The Black Is Back Coalition calls on all to march, rally and convene in Washington, D.C., during the “Black People's March On White House.” Registration is required. Read their article in Black Agenda Report.

 

TAKE ACTION

  • The Black Latina Girls and Women Fund was created by AfroResistance, a Black Latina women-led organization in the service of Black Latinx women in the Americas. This fund offers financial support by giving money directly to Black Latin womxn, girls and femmes who are experiencing severe financial need across the region, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether in Brazil, Colombia, United States or Panama, Black Latina girls, women, and femmes are organizing in their local communities in the fight against several forms of state violence. You can donate here and people are encouraged to use the hashtag #BlackLatinaGWFund.

  • Ask your local, state and federal candidates to sign BAP’s 2020 Candidate Accountability Pledge. If you are a candidate, distinguish yourself from the other corporate warmongering candidates by signing the pledge.

  • Sign up to join BAP’s U.S. Out of Africa Network to receive the bi-weekly AFRICOM Watch Bulletin in your inbox.

  • Make sure you keep up with us throughout the week by subscribing to our YouTube channel, liking us on Facebook, and following us on Instagram and Twitter.

  • We are raising $30,000 to help expand our membership support capacity and revamp our website. Donate and share our GoFundMe campaign with your networks today.


No Compromise, No Retreat!
 
Struggle to win,
Ajamu, Dedan, Jaribu, Margaret, Netfa, Nnamdi, Paul, Vanessa, YahNé

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

Photo credit: Tauseef Mustafa/AFP/Getty Images

¡Kevin Zeese, PRESENTÉ!

¡Kevin Zeese, PRESENTÉ!

The anti-imperialist and anti-war movement suffered a great loss early Sunday morning with the sudden passing of activist Kevin Zeese.

Margaret Flowers, his life partner, captured the sentiments of many of us who knew Kevin and were shocked by his passing, when she said to know Kevin is to know how ”... amazing, kind and selfless a person Kevin was. He never asked for anything, but was always there for others. He had such great knowledge and wisdom. He was a gentle giant and his death is a huge loss for me personally and I know for many people who are a friend or who worked with him over the years.”

It was that kind of solidarity and commitment to people that compelled Kevin, along with Margaret and all of the activists who became known worldwide as the Embassy Protection Collective, to hold the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, D.C., for 37 days to prevent it from being taken over by the unelected, right-wing forces who aligned with Juan Guaido. It was an amazing and heroic act of internationalist solidarity that will go down in the annals of the people’s history.

Another country Kevin was especially concerned about that now finds itself in the crosshairs of U.S. criminal aggression is Nicaragua. The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) shares those concerns and pledges to the memory of Kevin to raise the visibility inside the United States of the heroic struggle of the Nicaraguan people to preserve the integrity of their project.

Central to Kevin’s concerns was respecting the will and sovereignty of peoples around the world. That is why he adamantly opposed U.S. and European sanctions. Kevin recognized sanctions were acts of war, and that they usually target the civilian population with inevitable death, suffering and destruction. We at BAP will go even further and say sanction regimes are acts of state terrorism when they are applied unilaterally by rogue states, such as the United States.

So, while our hearts are heavy, we know Kevin would tell us not to mourn too long and get back to fulfilling our duty to organize and fight at the center of the U.S. empire. That is how Kevin will be present—as our inspiration, both as we struggle and once the people win! 

 

PRESS AND MEDIA


Last week's episode of WPFW’s “Voices With Vision,” hosted by Netfa Freeman, who represents Pan-African Community Action (PACA) on the BAP Coordinating Committee, featured familiar voices. BAP member Jacqueline Luqman exposed how the new March on Washington obscured the problems that have continued to be ignored since the first march held in 1963. The show featured music by Dahk Matter (aka PACA's Ahmed Malik Braxton) and BAP Coordinating Committee member Margaret Kimberley explaining why "Democrats are officially Republicans.”

BAP member Mark Fancher questions the value of marches and protests after police murder Black people in his latest piece for Black Agenda Report.

The U.S. crisis of legitimacy has been on display as millions have lost their jobs and homes amid an economic crisis exacerbated by the lockdowns. BAP member Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture was featured in a Philadelphia Inquirer article on Pennsylvania’s statewide eviction moratorium coming to an end.

Press TV’s “The Debate” interviewed Netfa about ongoing racial tensions in the United States. Meanwhile, Press TV interviewed Margaret on Trump’s latest move to ban anti-racism training. Plus, Margaret spoke to Radio Sputnik's “Political Misfits” and “The Critical Hour”, as well as Al Mayadeen (only available in Arabic), about the uprising in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and the 2020 election. BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka also discussed Kenosha on Al Mayadeen (only available in Arabic).

Ajamu wrote in Black Agenda Report that the U.S. human rights record—domestically and internationally—is filled with hypocrisy, deceit and denigration.

BAP’s August 23 webinar, “How the International War Against Black People Is Being Waged Locally and Unifying Our Fight Against It,” is now available on YouTube and Facebook. 

A video that explains BAP’s mission can be viewed on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This video wouldn’t have been possible without BAP member Jelani Fraser, who scripted and produced the video, and BAP Coordinating Committee member Jaribu Hill, who lent her voice as narrator.

 

EVENTS


September 9: PACA's Assata Shakur Study Group will be held at 7 p.m., EST, online. Non-Africans who wish to attend are asked to bring an African.

September 19-20: Labor and Community for an Independent Party is organizing a two-day online conference, “Break the Grip of the Two-Party System Program Agenda.” Registration is required.

September 24: Mark your calendars for 4 p.m., EST, for BAP’s next webinar, “Full Spectrum Dominance: From AFRICOM to the Indo-Pacific Command.” Registration information will be available in an upcoming newsletter.

November 7-8: The Black Is Back Coalition calls on all to march, rally and convene in Washington, D.C., during the “Black People's March On White House.” Registration is required.

 

TAKE ACTION

  • The Black Latina Girls and Women Fund was created by BAP member organization AfroResistance, a Black Latina women-led organization in the service of Black Latinx women in the Americas. This fund offers financial support by giving money directly to Black Latin womxn, girls and femmes who are experiencing severe financial need across the region, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether in Brazil, Colombia, United States or Panama, Black Latina girls, women, and femmes are organizing in their local communities in the fight against several forms of state violence. You can donate here and people are encouraged to use the hashtag #BlackLatinaGWFund.

  • Ask your local, state and federal candidates to sign BAP’s 2020 Candidate Accountability Pledge. If you are a candidate, distinguish yourself from the other corporate warmongering candidates by signing the pledge.

  • Sign up to join BAP’s U.S. Out of Africa Network to receive the bi-weekly AFRICOM Watch Bulletin in your inbox.

  • Make sure you keep up with us throughout the week by subscribing to our YouTube channel, liking us on Facebook, and following us on Instagram and Twitter.

  • We are raising $30,000 to help expand our membership support capacity and revamp our website. Donate and share our GoFundMe campaign with your networks today.


No Compromise, No Retreat!
 
Struggle to win,
Ajamu, Dedan, Jaribu, Margaret, Netfa, Nnamdi, Paul, Vanessa, YahNé

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