Come to the International Conference on White Solidarity with Black Power, Jan 9-11 in St. Petersburg, FL

The African People’s Solidarity Committee, organized under the leadership of the African People’s Socialist Party, invites other North American and European—white—people to participate in “Beyond the Crisis of Imperialism: the International Conference on White Solidarity with Black Power,” January 9-11 in St Petersburg, FL.

This is a call to stand in solidarity with the struggle of African people everywhere to unite and liberate Africa and all its resources.



This call comes at a time when imperialism is facing a serious political and economic crisis that has come as a result of the resistance of oppressed and colonized peoples against imperialist wars of plunder and occupation.

The crisis of imperialism demands that we take responsibility to join in solidarity with the oppressed peoples of the world who are struggling to overturn and transform this parasitic social system built on slavery, genocide, plunder and resource wars targeting the majority of humanity for our benefit.

This call comes as African people from many organizations and political persuasions inside the US and elsewhere have come together in the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations (BIBC), a broad-based coalition formed by the African People’s Socialist Party.

This historic coalition unites on the principle that US president Barack Hussein Obama functions as a neocolonial president, as “white power in black face.”

BIBC states that the problem facing African and oppressed peoples inside the US and around the world is US imperialism, and that the Obama administration has intensified the colonial war against the African and oppressed peoples in this country, even as it is escalating its war agenda against oppressed peoples in the Middle East and elsewhere around the world.

The existence of Black is Back demands that we go beyond a simple stand for “peace” or against “racism,” stands that leave the essence of this imperialist system unchallenged.

As Omali Yeshitela, leader of the African People’s Socialist Party, states, “It’s not enough to stand for ‘peace.’ George W. Bush wanted peace through an end to the struggle of oppressed peoples. We have to stand for victory to the people of Afghanistan and Iraq, victory to the Palestinian people, victory to the people of Cuba and Venezuela and down with imperialism!”

We have to go beyond the simplistic demand to end “racism,” which is the ideological underpinning of a capitalist system that was born on turning the entire continent of African people into its most lucrative commodity.

We are challenged to stand against the fact that African people inside the US, historically and today, live under conditions of colonialism, the political and economic oppression of a whole people for the benefit of the oppressor nation.

We must take a stand against the US war facing African people in the US today, an ongoing public policy of police containment resulting in relentless police murders and brutality, massive imprisonment and deepening poverty and unemployment.

As the economic crisis of imperialism deepens and white people begin to experience job loss, homelessness, and financial insecurity, we are challenged to recognize that this is the natural outcome of a system that from the very beginning has stolen the resources, labor and land of African, Indigenous and other peoples in order to create the highest standard of living in the world for the majority of the white population living on a pedestal at the expense of everyone else.

As oppressed peoples rise up to take back their resources and drive out imperialist armies in order to exercise their right to self-determination and feed their own children with their own resources, the US can no longer move with impunity to dominate the earth and reward the white population which has historically benefited from this relationship.

The challenge for us as white people is not to seek solutions for our crisis at the expense of African and oppressed peoples on whose backs we have lived, but to join in solidarity with them to bring down this system and be part of building a world built on justice, reparations and liberation for African and other oppressed peoples.

Participate in and endorse “Beyond the Crisis of Imperialism: the International Conference on White Solidarity with Black Power.” Join other like-minded white people and stand on the forward side of history in solidarity with African and oppressed peoples worldwide.

Learn more and register for the conference.

Chairman Omali Yeshitela speaks at a Day in Solidarity with African People in Philadelphia

Omali Yeshitela, Chairman of the African Socialist International and leader of the Uhuru Movement, speaks at A Day in Solidarity with African People, November 6, 2010 in Philadelphia.

Penny Hess speaks at a Day in Solidarity with African People in Philadelphia, November 6, 2010

African People's Solidarity Committee Chairwoman Penny Hess speaks at A Day in Solidarity with African People in Philadelphia on November 6, 2010.

African People's Solidarity Committee challenges US racial divide

On Saturday, November 6, the African People’s Solidarity Committee will hold a public event entitled, “Beyond Obama: Seeking real solutions to the growing racial divide in the US.”

The conference will feature presentations by leaders of the “Black is Back!” Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations; Friends and Family of Mumia Abu Jamal; the Black Agenda Report; and the Harlem Tenants Council.

It is the culmination of an effort to raise $10,000 for the Uhuru Movement’s black community justice campaigns.

The event takes place just three days before a hearing during which Philadelphia district attorney Seth Williams will move to reinstate the death sentence for jailed black journalist and internationally recognized political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal.

This impending hearing has put the eyes of the world on Philadelphia while tensions continue to mount between the police and city officials and the black neighborhoods that bear the brunt of social service cutbacks and increasingly aggressive policing.

Conference organizer Alison Hoehne states that, “The black community in Philadelphia is facing a severe crisis of poverty and political repression. It’s urgent that we in the white community take a strong stand in support of black people’s right to organize for real change!”

Hoehne cites a recent Pew study that indicts Philadelphia as having the highest rate of poverty and the second highest rate of hunger in the country. She says that some black neighborhoods have 76% of families living below the poverty level. A recent edition of The Business Insider reports that 43% of all children in the city rely on food stamps to survive.

Many social justice activists have described the climate in Philadelphia as increasingly repressive towards those who speak out in dissent against government policy as well as towards average black working residents.

Police statistics report that nearly three times as many pedestrians are stopped by police annually in the predominantly black Logan neighborhood since Mayor Nutter began to push his “Stop and Frisk” policy. The recent police beating of Askia Sabur, caught on video tape, has provoked outrage from throughout the country.

The November 6 conference will feature voices direct from the front lines of the struggle over black democratic and human rights:

• Omali Yeshitela, leader of the Uhuru Movement and the Black is Back! Coalition will deliver the keynote presentation
  
  
• Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report and the Black is Back! Coalition will discuss the Coalition’s upcoming “March on Washington to Stop U.S. Imperialist Wars”
  
  
• Penny Hess, leader of the African People’s Solidarity Committee will speak on the role and responsibility of white people to support black community struggles
  
  
• Diop Olugbala, the Uhuru Movement leader recently convicted on charges stemming from a protest at Mayor Nutter’s budget presentation will make a call for attendees to “Defend the Right to Resist”
  
  
• Pam Africa will provide updates on the struggle to free Mumia Abu Jamal
  
  
• Naimah Wilson, will discuss the police beating of her brother Askia Sabur, as well as the attacks on African children in the Philadelphia school system
  
  
• Nellie Bailey of the Harlem Tenants Council will review the current situation in Haiti with massive cholera deaths and no aid in sight, and will present a “Vision for Liberated Haiti”
  
  
• A representative of The Dollar Boyz will discuss the struggle for economic and democratic rights
  

The event will take place at the First Unitarian Church, located at 2125 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia.

The program is open to the public and begins at 1:00 p.m. Admission is $10 – $25 sliding scale and includes dinner and cultural performances from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.

The event is part of the African People’s Solidarity Committee’s nationwide “Reparations in Action” campaign intended to popularize support from the white community for the black community demands for reparations and social justice.

For more information, visit uhurusolidarity.org or call 215-387-0919.