Make It Plain: Understanding the Historical Task In Front Of Us

The Completion of the Rebuilding The Pan-African Liberation Movement/Revolution And Understanding The Effects Of COINTELPRO On Our Movement

By Abdul Jabbar Caliph

“Specific steps should be taken to inhibit coordinated activity of the Black movement in the U.S. …Bing into effect a special program designed to perpetuate division in the Black movement to neutralize the most active groups.” (U.S. National Security Council Interdepartmental Group for Africa, National Security Memorandum No.46 [NSC-46]” 1973 Carter Administration 

Uhuru Comrades

I greet you with the Kiswahili word meaning freedom, the most important word in the vocabulary of a Pan-African Revolutionary and the number one priority in the minds of any real Pan-African solider! Currently we are faced with the incredible task of rebuilding a movement that was crushed during the mid-seventies by a ruthless anti-African counterinsurgency program. 

It is because of this defeat that today we find our movement in such a dire state of weakness, a weakness that has kept the people in servitude to the colonialist-capitalist structure that exist in the United States. Meanwhile, the rest of our people are forced in a live of political oppression and economical exploitation throughout the Diasporas by an internationalist monster known as imperialism because of the natural resources that exist in Mother Africa. Those resources being the human labor that we supply and the natural resources that are unearthed daily. 

In order to overcome this crisis we must examine the tactics that were used to halt the Pan-African Liberation Movement (PALM) of the 60’s and 70’s. The counterintelligence program of that decade, better known as the COINTELPRO was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had five stated goals and objects that had a global impact on our movement while it was in its infancy. Those stated goal and objectives were as follows:

1. The prevention of the coalition of any black militant nationalist organization, for in unity there is strength. They realized that this might be the first step towards a real “Mau Mau” in America, the beginning of a true black revolution; 
2. The prevention of the development and raise of a “Messiah” figure that could have the ability and the desire to direct a unified black militant nationalist movement
3. The prevention of violence on the part of black militant nationalist organization, this was of primary importance to this program. The identification and neutralization of any potential troublemaker to the internal security of this nation and its oversea interest
4. The prevention of any black militant nationalist organization from gaining any type of respectability
5. The prevention long-range growth of black militant organizations, especially among the youth.

It is because of this counterinsurgency program that we have lost many of our noble son and daughters of Africa due to political assassinations, imprisonment, forced exile and political slander conducted by this government. This program has not only affected us physically but it has damaged us psychologically. Many of our comrades are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder due to the affects of being under the constant threat of death in war time situation, low-intensity-conflict.

Comrades what we need to understand is that no domestic counterinsurgency program can be successful without it’s international counterpart. The Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, National Ssecurity Aagency, and all the other US spook organizations, have made it a habit to practice the domestic repression campaigns overseas. While many of us recognize the counterinsurgency program COINTELPRO many of us are unaware of the counterinsurgency program established by the CIA in the United States of America to destroy the domestic part of the Pan-African Liberation Movement.

Three such programs have been identified as being launched by the CIA domestically to help crush the movement. The United States Senate reveled this information after they conducted an investigation into the illegal activities of the CIA during the late 1960s and the early 1970s. The first counterinsurgency program was identified as Project CHAOS which involved illegal tampering with mail by the agency of those organizations identified as security threats on its “watch list”. The next program to be identified was named Project RESISTANCE which illegally gathered and compiled counterintelligence information on a number of alleged radical organizations. The last program to be identified during this period was called Project MERRIMAC which illegally operated in this country from the years of 1967 to 1973. Its primary mission was to conducted anti-black operations of infiltration of various Black political organizations.

During the 60’s many of us were already aware of the CIA involvement in Africa to a certain extent. They were responsible for the death of Patrice Lumumba and overthrowing Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana through the use of the military, through the use of coups d’état. They attempted to assassinated Castro of Cuba over 100 times, only to fail. We know that they followed Malcolm X while he was overseas and are even believed to have tried to assassinate him. Who can forget the assassination of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark here in the United States? Yes, this is the type of stuff that the United States government does to those who wish to free their people from political oppression and economical exploitation and establish justice under a socialist government that will truly offer real change.  Hell, in 1969 we witnessed the death of 28 panthers and the arreste and imprisonment 749 people who were activists.

"The nationalist liberation movement in Black Africa can act as a catalyst with far-reaching effects on the American Black community…(D)ue weight must be given to the fact there are 25 million American Blacks whose roots are African and who consciously or subconsciously sympathize with African nationalism.”    (U.S. National Security Council Interdepartmental Groups for Africa, National Security Memorandum No.46 [NSC-46])."                                          

The international implications of this counterinsurgency programs on the movement is not really understood nor is it discussed among us. We have to realize that every since 1963 the FBI has been requesting CIA intervention in the illegal investigation of Americans abroad. It was through these procedures that the FBI secured the assistances of the CIA in conducting illegal investigations of black militant leaders and antiwar activists who went overseas.  The United States Government is no fool, they recognized the fact that Pan-African Liberation Movement in Africa could act as a catalyst with far- reaching effects on Black people here in America. 

"With Africa now a crucible of great-power maneuver, we cannot afford to have our Africa policies hostage to the bitter memories still cherished by those who struggled for racial equality in America. We cannot let Africa become a stage on which America act out their psychic traumas. (Richard M. Nixon, The Real War, p.9)"

It is not widely known to the public that all law enforcement agencies, which are considered paramilitary organizations, receive some sort of counterinsurgency or counterintelligence training. This training is often masked as gang identification training. Those that are unfortunately labeled as such are identified under the label as “security threat groups” or “person of interest” and or often placed in photo binder with a photo of the individual(s) along with important information. Organizations such as Homeland Security, FEMA and other private agencies such as MARGIN and MACGLOCEEN often are given federal grant money to conduct such training programs. The majority of public gun ranges even conducted such training as well as the military with joint law enforcement agency.

Sister Comrade Assata Shakur was not wrong when she stated the fact that she believed that this program still existed just in another form. It doesn’t matter if you call it Safe Streets, Officer Friendly, McGruff the Dog, Weed and Seed, a War on Crime/Gangs or call it a War on Drugs they all are counterinsurgency programs designed to cripple the movement for the liberation of African People. Today we see the emergence of another counterinsurgency program designed to further oppress the people called the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which allows you to be illegally arrested and detained without questioning or due process of law, as if due process every really existed for  Black people. Under this act you can housed in a secret prison without anyone knowing for an undisclosed amount of time and be charged as a terrorist for what every crime the government see fit to charge you with: even for speaking out against this government.

It is because of this counterinsurgency program that we see the massive incarnation of the African working class today in the penal system of this country. Comrade Mumia Abu Jamal, a political prisoner points out the following in his article “From the Realm of the Dead” about the drastic effects of the COINTELPRO:

“The 1970’s marked a pivotal phase in U.S. history, as a time of the emergence of the Black Liberation Movement via militant groups like the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), The Republic of New Africa (RNA), and The Black Panther Party (BPP). The striking emergence, the author argues, gave rise to the often startling disparity reflected in statistics which show, in 1990 rates, how whites, roughly 90% of the U.S. population, can become a minority percentage (46%) of those admitted to state prisons, and how blacks (to be precise, black men), roughly 12% of the U.S. population, can balloon upwards to a majority percentage (53.2%) of state prison admissions.”

State Repression is an everyday occurrence if you’re Black and a member of the African working class. It doesn’t matter if you are born in the United States, Africa or any part of the African Diaspora. Under the current global political administration, you have everything to lose including your life. If you’re down for the freedom and liberation of African people then you are at war with Imperialism and it Neo-colonialist, boot-licking henchmen

What do you think AFRICOM is doing in Africa? They are running another counterinsurgency program under the disguise of an aid for humanity program which is designed to destabilize African countries. No matter how much aid they offer we must never let our guards down. AFRICOM is there for one reason and that is control of the resources in Africa! If that means the death and destruction of Africa as we know it, then so be it, they are prepared to do what they deem needs to be done in order to maintain their control over Africa. The questions for us is: are we prepared to do what it takes to win the freedom and independence of Africa? 

Comrades I leave you with the following quote from the late Fred Hampton of the BPP, brutaly murdered by the State of Chicago on December 4, 1968: 

“You can kill the revolutionary, but you can’t kill the revolution. You can jail the liberator, but you can’t jail the liberation. You can run the freedom fighter all around the country, but you can’t stop freedom fighting.”

 

References:

1.       “Black Prison Movements” NOBO, 1995

2.       “Racial Matters” Free Press,1989

3.       “An Unlikely Warrior” By Iyaluua & Herman Furguson ,2011

4.       “Lockdown America” By Christian Parenti ,1999

5.       “The Plot to Destroy” By Ahamadiel Ben Yehuda

6.       “Agents of Repression” By Ward Churchill & Jay Vander Wall, 1998

7.       “Fugitive Thought” By Michael Hames-Garcia, 2004 

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Equality in Marriage: An Issue of Human Rights

By Abdul Jabbar Caliph

“We’ve got to find a way to reconcile ourselves to living in a community, one group with the other. To be successful, the struggle must be waged with resolute efforts that are kept strictly within the framework of our democratic society. This means reaching, educating and moving large enough groups of people of both races to stir the conscience of the nation.” Martin Luther King

All across the United States we are seeing a highly political charged issue being debated that will determine the future of millions of colonized subjects trapped within the decadent boarders of this country. Some have called it disgusting while others have come out in support of it. Whether you call it a civil union, domestic partnership or gay marriage it is an issue that has divide the community not just along racial lines but class lines as well.  

Here in the State of Maryland we have seen the contradictions around this issue; and we have seen how the capitalist power structure has used this issue to divide the masses of the people. This issue has and is being used to elevate a few individuals and professional political operatives to a higher political office at the expense of the masses. It is an issue that keeps the people’s attention misdirected, focused away from the real contradictions that exist in this capitalist society: the contradiction of political oppression and economical exploitation.

We in the Pan-African International Coordinating Committee (PICC) have taken the following political position on this issue. First, we recognize the fact that this a highly charged political issue that is being used to divided the masses. Second, this is not a civil rights issue but an issue of human rights, humanity’s treatment of humanity. Third, we have taken the political position of the original Black Panther Party (BPP) on this issue: as along as a comrade is doing the political work to be free from political oppression and economical exploitation then we have to respect their rights to be a part of humanity, and live the kind of lifestyle they choose. As long as that lifestyle is not harming the interest of the people involved, or the community at large, we have no right to interfere and you had better not touch them. Finally, we also realize that this issue opens the door for other forms of marriage to be accepted such as polygamy. Maryland State must recognize the fact that they cannot regulate true love or what consenting adults do in the privacy of their own homes.  

We realize that gay bashing can only stop when humanity decides to stand up and end capitalism as a tool of oppression, only under Socialism will gays be able to be recognized as human beings. Second, in order to win their rights of equality the LBGT community must close ranks if this is too be achieved? They are too divided among themselves right now. Third, that which passes itself off as the progressive left in this country must take a stand and stop vacillating on this issue. This community has reached out for help and they deserve an answer. We recommend that instead of waiting and looking for support on this issue that the LBGT take charge and push forward their political campaign.

The LBGT community has not awakened to the fact that the issue homosexual couples being able to marry is being used to elevate certain political officials to higher office. Even through the issue passed both the Senate and the House the bill will not be signed into law by legislators. It will go to a referendum and the people will decide the issue.

This is a tool that relives Maryland States political officials of having any real commitment to the issue, not only that but the bill can still be defeated by gathering 18,579 signatures to stop it from going to the November 6, 2012 ballot. Del. Neil Parrot, a Western Maryland Republican is believed to be heading up the opposition to this bill. He has established a websites making it easier for people to see exactly how their names are listed on the Maryland voters roll so that you can see if the petition is signed correctly. The Ujima People’s Progressive Party (UPP) is establishing such a program in order to become the first Black official independent political party in the State of Maryland.

As we have suggested to a few of our comrades in the Liberate Baltimore Coalition (LBC), the LBGT community must take the lead on this issue. They must be willing to establish and give direction within the campaign, not only must these members be willing to do this they must seek the support of the coalition in order to develop strategy and tactics (goals and objectives) that can be achieved realistically. They need to recognize the fact that this campaign is far from being over.

Malcolm X was right when he said that we have to demand Human Rights not Civil Rights. Civil Rights get passed as Amendments into law and or voted on every 10 or 20 years to see if they are still of importance. The Voters Rights Act is such an issue. Human Rights are the right that you are born with and the rights that everybody must recognize

In closing I want to encourage the people involved in the fight for human rights for the LGBT community keep their heads up and come out swinging with both fist on this issue. If they wait for someone else to take charge of this campaign, they may never get another chance.  

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The D.C. Job's Hustle and the Reality of the African Working Class

By Abdul Jabbar Caliph 
 

For the past five months we in the Ujima Peoples Progressive Party (UPP) have been struggling to build a broader coalition of progressive and revolutionary organizations to address the needs of the masses around the contradictions that exist here in this country, contradictions which have left the masses of the African working class suffering from massive unemployment and underemployment issues. These contradictions have revealed a host of other promenaded issues that non-whites in the United States of America of are suffering from under this current capitalist regime.

In September of 2011, Americas’ neo-colonialist President Barack H. Obama introduced a bill to the joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives. This bill was entitled the “American Jobs Act”, he then introduced a proposal for $447 billion dollars to congress to create job amidst what is perceived to be the worst economical crises since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The economical issues of this nation can never be solved without first solving the political question first!   

The question that America must ask herself, particularly the African working class is if the Obama administrations plan can put us back to work and relive the suffering of untold millions in this nation?

We in Ujima believe that the answer to this question is no! With the massive issue of unemployment and underemployment growth being so rapid in this nation there is no way that we can trust the Capitalist administration of this nation, which has historically been an enemy of not only the African working class but also an enemy to all non-white people who have also been historically oppressed and exploited by this regime. For this regime has a Capitalist- Imperialist agenda for the suppression of all people and organizations that are opposed to it. 

The issues of unemployment and underemployment for the members of the African working class and other non-white people far exceed the numbers of whites in this country. The overall unemployment rate in this nation has been officially reported to be at 9.1 percent which means approximately 15 or 16 million people are struggling to find some form of employment in the artificial created colonialist boarder of this nation. In reality we believe that the numbers far exceed this amount that has been reported, we believe that the number is in reality about 30 million after you take in to the equation the ethnic characteristics of this nation.

The official unemployment/underemployment rate of the Latino community is reported to be around 11.3 percent.  While the massive unemployment/underemployment rate for the African working class is estimated to be around 16.7 percent a drastic increase from 15.9 percent since July. This figure does not take into account the amount of males who are members of the African working class who have a rate around 18 percent according to a report in August. For those among our youth, the African working class youth these figures are estimated to be at an astounding rate of 46.5 percent.

We here in the city of Baltimore, Maryland under the leadership of Chairman Nnamdi Lumumba of the Ujima People’s Progressive Party have purposed a “Living Wage Campaign” to address the need of not only the African working class but the entire population of oppressed and exploited people who make the working class movement of this city. This is something that the Occupy Baltimore Movement has refused to do; the fact it is under the leadership of Red Emma, a white middle class anarchistic organization explains why!

We also realize that Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and her neo-colonialist cronies in her administration cannot solve the current political problems that plague this city and its residents. Baltimore city is a city that has a population of 620,961 plus with unemployment/under employment figure of 107,575 people. The African working class represents 418,951 or 64.34 percent of this city population; white working class members represent 205,982 or 31.63 percent of this city population and the fast growing members of this city population are the Hispanic community which have a population of 651,154 people.

Ujima People’s Progressive Party “Living Wage Campaign” addresses the following issue which affects the masses, particularly the African working class:

1.      The immediate end of unemployment/underemployment  as it relates to this nations domestic policy, full employment for all or employment for non (each according to his needs);

2.      The immediate end to all discrimination of descent and fair housing for of this nations population with an end to foreclosures and discrimination in housing and also the immediate end to the brutality practice of Homelessness;      

3.      The immediate end to mass incarceration which is directly reasonable for this nations vast growth of its prison population with an immediate end to police brutality on the streets and inside of this nations prison system;  

4.      The immediate end to all of this nation’s colonialist educational policy as it relates to the so-called citizens of this nation;

5.      The immediate end of gender and racial discrimination, we believe that these two issues have been exploited to their maximum degree to keep the masses divided.

6.      The demand for decent and acquitted health care for all, our motto is “Health before wealth”, this must be a reality in our life time;

7.      The immediate end of all imperialist war of aggression particular against Africa and her people. We believe that the money being used to wage these wars of aggression can be used to develop full employment for the citizens of this nation, let’s put America back to work under the governments full employment act;

8.      The immediate end to this parasitic relationship that exist between capitalism and the African working class by granting the immediate approval of Reparations to the African working class;  

9.      The immediate end to suffering and abuse that our elderly population has to endure, they deserve better treatment and our respect, don’t mess with their Social Security or their retirement benefits or Medicare;

10.  The immediate end of high tuition fees that are currently being charged students that are striving to receive a higher education that will allow them to be better productive members of society. 

We believe that by addressing these issues and building the first independent black political party in the state of Maryland that represents the African working class this will give us a chance to fight back along with the issue of networking with other progressive and revolutionary formations such as the Liberate Baltimore Coalition; the All People Congress and Fannie Lou Hamer Political Action Committee will be able to achieve our objectives of securing the rights of the African working class and building and establish a protracted movement under and around the development of the African working class leadership.

We also believe that the current capitalist political regime cannot address the issue of poverty that has run amok due to the issue of wide spread unemployment and underemployment here in this country. Currently the poverty rate in this country is at one out of eleven people in America live in poverty which equates to 22.3 million people who now trapped/reside in America’s lowest socially economical areas (America’s domestically colonized community’s/ghettos). Between 2000 and 2009, the number of people dwelling in these “high-poverty areas”, (low social economic areas) grew by approximately 10 million that is an estimated population up from 33 million to 43 million making it a poverty rate of 14.3 percent.

For members of the African working class that means one in four people live in poverty approximately 7.6 million people and for the Hispanic community that means one in six people live in poverty approximately 7.1 million people.  According to the census tract 30 percent or more of America’s citizens live in poverty. This is what capitalism means to the average member of the working class community who share slavery and misery, and who understands this better then the African working class. Capitalism was after all build and founded on the back of African slaves who were brutality treated as human beings by white America and native population, look at and study the history of this country Indian population particularly the Cherokee nation’s ownership of human beings, African slaves.

In 2003 the United States government defined poverty as an annual income for a family of four, one adult and three children to be less than $18,392.00 dollars a year about $8.89 an hour. Comrades you need to understand this important fact, the Census Bureau has been using the same formula that was designed by the Social Security Administration since 1964. This nutty formula was developed around the spending patterns of 1955. They have been robbing and tricking people for the past 56 years using this formula.

We in Ujima realize that the only formula that can alleviate the crippling conditions of unemployment/underemployment and poverty is the total transformation of this plague ridden capitalist economy to that of a socialist economy that will render justice to the working class which can only be accomplished under the leadership of the African working class, the most oppressed and exploited class of people on the planet. 

Comrades we are calling on all Pan-African forces, progressive and revolutionary in this country to adopt a “Living Wage Campaign” and to organize the African working class to fight back against the oppressive and exploitive conditions that they may find themselves within. We believe that this tactic will allow us to best expose the contradictions that exist under this Capitalist-Imperialist Administration and its relationship to the African working class.  As Pan-African Internationalist we realize the current global economy and it parasitic relationship to the African working class movement is based on the rape, looting, and murder of African people. It is our job to awaken the masses and to organize the people to strike a blow against their former slave master and put an end to the parasitic relationship that exist between us, white supremacy and their neo-colonialist allies.

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Haitian Education Deepens Its Ties to Colonial Education

By Nnamdi Lumumba
 

On December 13, 2011 the Haitian government announced a partnership with two well known tools of U.S. imperialism, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Non-governmental organization Teachers Without Borders. Both organizations are front organizations for carrying out U.S. policy in formally colonized and neo-colonialized nations.

Supported by the neo-colonial U.S. puppet government in Haiti, Dr Frantz Casseus, chief of staff of the Education Minister, was quoted as commending the OAS for this initiative and reiterated continued support from his ministry. Over the next three years, the OAS will facilitate training for more than 260 teachers.

Dr. Casseus is commending the OAS, an organization formed by the infamous imperialist General George Marshall when he was the U.S. Secretary of State. The OAS was created with the explicit purpose of fighting socialist democracies from taking root in the Americas.

As early as 1960, the Cuban administration correctly characterized the OAS as the "Ministry of Colonies" of the United States of America.  In 1962, at the instruction of the U.S., the nation of Cuba was suspended from the OAS as an active member.  The wording of the resolution put forward for Cuba’s suspension spoke directly to the fact that Cuba was a worker’s state that defeated and expelled blood sucking white nationalist and capitalists. It called Cuba’s socialist democracy, “… incompatible with the principles and objectives of the inter-American system.”

Teachers Without Borders are an NGO founded in the U.S. in 2000. It puts forward an agenda that articulates itself as a tool to help teach educators in poor nations teach its children better. It promotes its agenda with the following programs: Certificate of Teaching Mastery, Emergency Education, Peace, Education, Millennium Development Ambassadors, Voice of Teachers Radio Show and Voice of Teachers Journal. None of these education programs seem capable of criticizing imperialism, capitalism and the oppression of the laboring peoples of the world by parasitic ruling classes.

Teachers Without Borders, like so many of programs that send young U.S. teachers throughout the world are similar function similar to the Peace Corps. An organization that on its face pretends to be about helping people but in reality helps feed the U.S. intelligence gathering services.

No nation of formally enslaved, colonized and oppressed people can be gullible enough to believe an imperialist nation like the U.S. is sincerely interested in education of the masses. Within the U.S. borders, the education system provided to domestically colonized Africans, colonized Mexican and other indigenous people serve to reinforce the socio-economic relationship of parasitic white power.  There is no education to teach African people how to be free and self-determined. There can be no such education exported outside the U.S!

The education received by colonized peoples only attempts to deepened their dependency and allegiances to the forces of imperialism. This is not an education that can be used to answer our issues and solve our problems. In the words of Chairman Fred Hampton Sr, “ You’ll get answers that don’t answers and conclusions that don’t conclude…”

Pan-African Internationalists must build the capacity to develop our own programs that will train and transport educators throughout the African and oppressed world. We must engage in the work of building dual and contending institutions so the people can clearly see what forces in the world represent their true interests.  African educators must not only be committed to educating the people but also arming the people with knowledge that serves their need to be free and independent on their own terms.

Pan-African Internationalists must be clear that Dr. Casseus’ support of the OAS is a veiled support for U.S. imperialist control of Haiti and the brains of our African people.  It is doubtful that any support by the OAS and Teachers Without Borders that does not come without a struggle by progressive and revolutionary nations in the Americas can be good for Haiti or any member state.

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Understanding the Socialist Economy Theory: A Pan-African Internationalist Analysis

Bcde. Abdul Jabbar Caliph, Chief Editor, African World Report Online

When one thinks about the socialist theory of economics I can think of no better example then that of Venezuela and Cuba. These two countries, which have born the brunt of capitalist-imperialist attacks against revolutionary socialism by Western Imperialism. Under the leadership of President Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias and Fidel Castro these countries have been able to successfully intertwine their national and political objectives with the social and economical problems of their countries.  

 

The transformation from capitalism to socialism has been no easy task for either of these two giants. For the past fifty-one years the proud revolutionary government of Cuba has had to fight a lengthy campaign against the illegal, inhuman embargo that has been imposed against it by the capitalist-imperialist regime of the United States of America.  This harsh embargo has resulted in illegal sanctions being imposed against the proud people of Cuba who refused to bow down to the imperialist pressures of the United States of America. 

These illegal sanctions were designed to accomplish the following objective:

1. To establish a climate in which the people would organize to overthrow the current government of Cuba;
2. To prevent U.S. companies from during business with Cuba thereby forcing the economy to suffer;  
3. To prevent the travel of citizens from traveling to Cuba. African people need to understand our relationship to Cuba and its’ importance to our struggle for the liberation of African people;

Despite these obstacles the proud nation of Cuba has been able to survive. This is due the courage of the Cuban people and the bold leadership of Fidel Castro. The abandonment of Imperialist Russia has also not made it easy on the Socialist economical survival of the people against the Capitalist-Imperialist embargo of the United States. 

The second nation that I have selected as an example is the proud nation of Venezuela that is currently under the leadership of President Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias a leader that displayed what it means to be a true socialist. Hugo Chavez has been able to establish a host of revolutionary programs that not only have benefited his people but also the vast majority of the socialist governments in Latin America and    the Caribbean’s.

These programs consist of the following:

1. The establishment and implementation of a new constitution that respect and represent the people of Venezuela. This allow for the advancement of a Socialist government inside of this country that allow for the participation of the people in the nationalization of several key industries; 
2. The establishment of Tel Suv television network;
3. The establishment of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas – this organization has allowed for the international cooperation of organizations based on the ideas of social, political and economical integration between the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean’s;
4. The establishment of the Bank of the South-an intergovernmental union integrating two previous existing custom unions into one to meet the new needs of the people. This union is based on and model after some concepts of the European Union;      
5. The establishment and implementation of the Union of South America Nations.

 It is because of the path that these two giants have paved that many other Socialist nations have been able to with the vast isolation that rest of the world has shown towards them. Countries such as Bolivia; Ecuador and Nicaragua have indeed been able benefit from their mutual cooperation to improve the lives of their people. This is what it means to establish a Socialist economy along the lines of political and social theories that not only involve the nationalization of key industries for your people but allow for the mutual cooperation and befit of fellow Socialists nations. 

  

Both of the leaders of these countries have attempted to developed a political relationship with the United States and this relationship has been refused by all the Presidents of the United States. Hugo Chavez has even went as far as to offer President Obama pointers on the transition from a Capitalist economy to that of a Socialist economy which was reject out right

No one knows how far they will be able to succeed but from a Pan-African Internationalist point of view it is safe to say that they are off to a good start. They understand what V.I. Lenin meant when he said it was possible for an underdeveloped country to develop a socialist economy along a non-capitalist path. This is accomplished by moving towards the establishment of a Socialist government that is ruled by the working class of that nation in order to meet the needs of the people.

We need to understand that it is not just the state that is against the development of Socialism but it is the petty bourgeoisie, neo-colonialists element  and private capitalist formations that aid them, that are fighting tooth-and-nail to keep us from tearing down this oppressive, exploitative capitalist-imperialist regime. They fear change; they fear the lost of their power of the working class, particularly the African working class that is keeping this rotten edifice alive and breathing. 

   

They, the force inside of the United States of America government understand fully that the elements for the establishment of a Socialist government exist right here in this country.  You may be asking yourself what are the forces that he is talking about?  Here are the forces that I am talking about listed below:

1. The Urban working class element that is currently suffering from massive unemployment and underemployment issues, particularly the African working class element that been forced to turn to semi-Lumpen or Lumpen activity ( criminal) activity in order to survive;
2. The Lumpen element that are involved in criminal activity who currently make up this country’s prison population, particularly the masses of African people who make up at half of the population; 
3. The Rural working class element that is made up of farmers, share choppers and peasants;
4. The socialist element which is made up of progressive and revolutionary forces that are working to develop a new order under the leadership of the working class, mainly the Pan-African Internationalist Coordinating Committee(PICC) that realizes no country can exist for long without the assistant of other Socialist nations;
5. The State Capitalist structure that seeks to keep using oppressive and exploitative measures to arrest the peaceful transformation from a capitalist society to a socialist government.

If Africa is to know true independence and freedom then she must completed the revolution of the 60’s and move into a new age of Socialism. Africa must realize that she only completed phase one of the revolution and therefore must fight to abolish neo-colonialism, a parasitic disease that tries it to the capitalist-imperialist structure that is causing massive havoc to her political-economical structure.  Upon doing this she can form a Republic of Africa under the leadership of the African working class and establish a socialist economy through the nationalization of state industry that will befit all African citizens.  

As members of the African working class we must realize that the seizure of power is only the first step in this process the consolidation of power is the most important step. The consolidation of power will allow for the transformation from a capitalist economy to a socialist economy.  A socialist economy would allow Africa to feed herself; it would destroy the parasitic relationships that exist between non-whites and people of African descent. This would allow for a real global economy to be established that would meet the needs of the people.

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The Occupy Wall Street Movement: Opportunity for Revolution or Opportunism Instead of Revolution?

In this period of the African struggle against imperialism and neo-colonialism, internationally capitalism – military and economic white supremacy is in crisis; a crisis that has shaken the U.S. financial markets and promises to destabilize the European Union. It is a crisis reaching the scale of the depression era in the early 1930's in the U.S., Japan and many countries in Europe. 

For African people the economic ramifications of this current crisis has long been felt and has gotten worse for us than any other community of people in the U.S. Currently there is a listed unemployment rate of 16.5% for all Black people looking for work, there is a 22% unemployment rate for Black men and for Black youth 16 - 25 the unemployment rate is a staggering 45%. Again, this is for those looking for employment, it does not take into account those who have given up looking and those who are underemployed working part-time. 

Because of the U.S. banking system crisis in 2008, Black families have suffered the hardest in the lost of homes to foreclosures. Baltimore has the second highest number of foreclosures for African people in the whole U.S. One of the root causes of the banking system crisis the uncontrolled speculation and manipulation of the market by banks as they used predatory lending policies disproportionately against African families. African families were tricked into taking incredibly exploitative loans that would steal billions of dollars from our community on the initial promise of affordable home ownership.

In addition to the predatory lending policies, which extracted greater amounts of wealth from our community, discriminatory hiring practices in the labor market and the increased incarnation of African people cut into the overall economic stability of the African community. We are now in a situation where the wealth gap between Black and White families is reported to be the largest in the history of this country. White families are now on average 20 times wealthier than African families ($113,150 compared to $5,680) and some estimating it would take centuries for the gap to be closed.

The crisis in capitalism however is so deep that now the precious white middle class of America is feeling the effects. Once able to feel secure about their future and bribed by imperialism to be content with the exploitation and oppression of the African, Latino and other oppressed nations, the economic crisis now threatens white workers comfortable lives. Now the wealth gap between the average white person and the elite 1% ruling class has expanded into all time proportions. The national ratio for CEO-to-worker pay grew 20 percent from last year to hit a whopping 325 to 1.

In response to the crisis for finance capitalists and the military industrial complex, the U.S. government initiated a stated $700 billion bailout of banks. Many predict the actual amount spent to be in trillion-dollar range. The U.S. government also increased its spending of trillions of dollars to make war on Arab and African people abroad. All this was done at the expense of jobs, homes, and education for white people, a violation of the unwritten rules of class peace between the ruling class and the so-called white working class, pushing the white community to the edge.

Currently there is a national mobilization in various cities called the Occupy Wall Street movement. It obviously started in New York on Wall Street and has spread to Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Seattle, Detroit and Baltimore as well as others. It has allowed for white people to express their narrow petty disagreements with U.S. imperialism about how they have been treated and want to share more in the looting of the world's resources. 

In almost every case, attempts by African, Latino and Indigenous people to participate on behalf of the contradictions that exist in our own communities have been met with hostility and suspicion. In addition, issues with woman and the LGBT community have also sprung up, exposing the true nature of these demonstrations as not being progressive and revolutionary but instead opportunist, racist and sexist.

In Baltimore, a city with 65% African population, we have the opportunity to turn the Occupy Baltimore mobilization into a showcase for the issues of the African community. We are able to expose the opportunism, opportunism, classism, and racism of the white middle class and the so-called white left for the lack of unity with the plight of the majority of people in this city and the world. Instead of unity with the demands of African people for real social justice and economic justice, the participants in the Occupy Baltimore action have attempt to be as vague as possible about the goals and objectives of the demonstration and have attempted to minimize all attempts by non-white and oppressed people to get our interests on the platform.

Just days ago, members of the Ujima People’s Progress Party (UPP) went to a meeting in East Baltimore at community church to participate in a meeting between white leftist and oppressed community forces who were upset with the state of the mobilization in Baltimore to this time. There were about 30 people there with the ratio being about 12 Africans to 18 white people. However as the meeting had no agenda and no formal leadership, the UPP was able to seize the moment and take over the meeting.

Comrade Jabbar took charge by being the facilitator of the whole meeting, he was able to control the flow of the meeting and recognize speakers. I was able to set out many of the goals the African community needed addressed and struggled with opinions that attempted to minimize a platform that spoke directly to African people. Essentially everyone at the meeting had to interact with the UPP as though we called the meeting.

Given the crisis of leadership in the African community and the long track record of opportunism in the white left, it was the most correct action available to the UPP comrades to take control of the discussion on behalf of the interests of African workers and other oppressed people.

At the end of the meeting, we had Comrade Chris volunteer to help craft a preamble statement to the Occupy Baltimore organizers and to the community in general. This preamble was a criticism of the Occupy Baltimore mobilization and pointed to the correct stance that should be taken. We also worked to create goals that would be presented to the Occupy Baltimore movement to challenge the rudderless leadership and as well as to speak to our own community about why they should participate in the local mobilization.

We summarize our basic goals for participating in this mobilization as the following:

1. Use the Occupy Baltimore mobilization to get signatures for the UPP and to recruit young/new African activists into working with our organization to build the party.

2. Push the mobilization to acknowledge and address the contractions and interests of the African community as we make up the largest segment of people in the city.

3. To make contact with organizations that can have principled unity with us to help push the UPP work forward and to build work in the community in general.

In addition to the goals consolidated in the meeting, we also won support for not bringing in the emerging body as a “People of Color” committee. In several locations around the country, oppressed people have consolidated themselves as an auxiliary committee in the Occupy Wall Street mobilization.

We resist submitting ourselves to the opportunist, racist and sexist leadership of the Occupy Baltimore movement, instead we stand as a separate “Power to the People” committee who come to the mobilization in support of our goals. We also resist using the term “People of Color” to define ourselves, we are Africans, and many of the committee attendees are left forces looking for concrete goals and objectives. The term “people of color” is a term used by white society to define what they believe to be minority populations but as Africans, we understand we are billion strong!

The goals we were able to push for and win with the meeting of organizers were:

1. End Gentrification of the African community and to end foreclosures on people's homes

2. Demand for jobs and a living wage.

3. Ending Police Brutality and the occupation of Baltimore by Baltimore City Police

4. End the school to prison pipeline and stop the Prison Industrial complex

5. Healthcare for all and the ending of Food Deserts in the Black community

6. More funding to public education

7. More funding to Youth Programs

8. Ending of the war on drugs and the racist immigration policies

9. End the wars in the Middle East and Africa

Bcde. Nnamdi Lumuma,

State Organizer,

Ujima People's Progress Party

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The Political Situation in Baltimore City - Rotten As Every

 

The political situation inside of Baltimore City is just like that of many domestically colonized communities, rotten as ever. Between the corruption in the mayor’s office and the corruption inside the police department everybody is losing, except for the rich and their neocolonialist agents. As members of the African Working Class grow poorer, we find ourselves more oppressed and exploited then every by the white capitalists-colonialist ventures of Maryland State.

Recent events in this city have proven the above statement to be true as every. Approximately one year ago we witnessed the previous mayor, Sheila Dixon, lose her position for petty theft; about $500 dollars worth of gift cards were stole from the poor. These gift cards were given to her by the capitalist vultures of this state as minor gifts to comfort the poor while they attempted steal from the poor, through trickery and lies the vermin infested housed that they lived within, adding to the displacement of thousands. Through a corrupted court hearing she was given two years probation and allowed to keep an $83,000.00 dollar a year pension, that should of went back to the people of this city. To add further insult to this illegal, betrayal of the people after her two year period of probation of community service she will have her record wiped clean! She has expressed interested in running for reelection in 2014 as the Mayor of his city once again. This happened once before in my lifetime when Washington D.C. Mayor Marion Berry was reelected after being convicted of smoking crack cocaine during a drug sting.

Upon the force removal of this petty bourgeois, neo-colonialist bootlicking agent of imperialism we saw yet another replacement of the same charter by the name of Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Under the current administration of Rawlings-Blake we have witnessed numerous police corruption cases. The first being the illegal murder of an innocent former marine by a ruthless, drunk PIG by the name of Gahiji Tshambar. This bitch ass motherfucker, punk shoots and murdered an unarmed civilian for talking to a woman that he was said to be interested in and only received 15 years and this was not the first time that he shoot a person in a dispute while being drunk. Next, we witnessed approximately 50 cops be criminally charged with being involved in an illegal towing operation. They allegedly received numerous kick backs for telling people to have their cars towed by a company that didn’t have a contract with the city. Finally we witnessed another cop with the mentality of a drug dealing government agent allegedly get caught on the phone while in the parking lot of Northwestern police station conducting a drug deal. This isn’t his first time that he was alleged to have been involved in an illegal operation such as this; he was just cleared after a three year investigation of similar charges!

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is attempting run for election as the second neo-colonialist female mayor in the history of Baltimore city. She is currently running on an anti-black ticket which calls for harsher sentences being imposed on various members of the African Working Class for who continuously get locked up for gun and drug violations. In a city of approximately 600,000 residents between 65 to 67% of it’s’ members being of the African working class it is hard to not participate in illegal activity. Many of the residents of this city are unemployed or underemployed due to the capitalist-colonialist education that they have received which has resulted in many of its African Working Class members going straight to prison! It should be noted and understood that Baltimore city, Prince George County and the Eastern Shore, Maryland represent the three largest concretion areas of African Working Class membership; they also represent the three largest area from which members of the African Working Class are send to prison. These three areas also have a history of African Working Class rebellion against the State!

And once again we see an ill attempted being made to entertain the masses in order to keep their minds diverted from focusing on the real problems at hand, the massive political and economical crises that plague the city residents. Problems such as unemployment and underemployment that has led to approximately about 135,000 people a year going through central booking for public nuisance crime and minor drug processions charges. At least two-thirds of those who are arrested have been lock up and charged at least once are twice before.  This is the nature of petty bourgeois politics; they never seek to solve the problems of the people they only seek to oppress and exploited the people by divert ding their attention in order to keep the masses from rebellion and overthrowing this rotten government.  

Over Labor Day weekend the city of Baltimore is sponsoring a Grand Prix Race that is coasting the residents’ million of dollars. Only a fraction of the money that is being spent is expected to be made back from such a wasteful event of the tax payer’s money. Similar events have been sponsored before in Washington, Detroit and in San Jose, California. They all have meet with dismally failure! The African Working Class and the rest of the residents of this city deserve better. They deserve to be represented and heard, they have a right to expect more from their elected officials. 

Comrades, Brothers and Sisters it doesn’t matter who runs for political office in this city or any city in the United Snakes of Amerikkka if they don’t have a platform that represents the people, particularly the African Working Class the most oppressed and exploited class in Amerikkka. As a Pan-African Internationalist it is important that we understand that in order to seize power from the state is only the first step in winning our people to participate in their own liberation. This can be accomplished by establishing liberated zones and setting up an alternative government structure to govern the people. By allowing the people to participate in such a structure we would be eliminating or limiting the problems that an African Working Class Community would be faced with day-to-day. 

Comrades by establish such an area we would be able to control police brutality, establish effective survival programs for the people and consolidating the power of the people in  that area. This would give the people some democratic living space to operate in and to better organize the people to wage an effective campaign for the liberation of African people trapped within the domestically colonized borders of these vermin infested neighborhoods. We could establish a dual- competing economy for the people that would enrich their lives.

Comrades this is what all progressive and revolutionary forces should be working for if they loved the people. It doesn’t matter if they live in the city or in rural areas, they must “cast down their bucket” and effectively organize the people, educate the people rising their political consciousness and start mobilizing the people towards their own liberation! This can be easily accomplished by establishing a unity front based on principal unity under the leadership of the African Working Class who understand the revolutionary ideology of Pan-African Internationalisms, the true path for the liberation of Africa and her people. This is the only way we can end government and police corruption that oppressed and exploited the people for years.

Join the revolution

Free Africa and her people

Follow the ideology of Pan-African Internationalisms

By Abdul Jabbar Caliph  & Cde. Obasi Camara

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African Community Refuses to Participate in Neo-Colonial Elections in Baltimore

Baltimore, MD – On Tuesday, September 13, 2011, voter turnout for the primary elections for Baltimore city local government officials hit an all-time historic low for the city. Only 17% of eligible voters in the city bothered to participate in the elections that would pick Democratic Party and Republican Party candidates for Mayor and 14 city council positions. Despite the attempts by the bourgeois media and pundits to cast the low participation numbers on voter apathy, the lack of participation in choosing between contending elements of the two ruling class parties represents a continuation of the breakdown in the people’s perception of the legitimacy of the state and its leadership.

Baltimore is a city of nearly 630,000 people with 64% of the population being Africans. the African working class is the largest sector of people in the city; but with 21% of all families living below the poverty level  African workers are also some of the poorest. Baltimore is a city with an overall unemployment rate of 11.4% which is higher than the 9.7% national average. Take into account that nationally 16.7% of African people, 19.4% of African men and a whopping 45% of African youth ages 16-24 are unemployed, the economic situation in the city of Baltimore for African people is critical.

The Democratic Party attempts to project itself as the liberal party in the United States and a friend of the African and other minority causes. Simultaneously, it has vilified the Republican Party as the party of the rich and the enemy of African people. However, in the face of all this, the Democratic Party has ruled the Baltimore city government for over 44 years and in that time, the economic, educational and health conditions of African people have steadily declined. It has not been the policies of the Republican Party which has failed the African community in Baltimore but the policies and leadership of the Democratic Party. The fact is both the Democratic and Republican parties are capitalist-imperialist parties that serve the interests of the white ruling class in the United States. Both parties are united in the philosophical and ideological belief in maintaining the domination of parasitic white power over all the oppressed peoples and nations of the world. Practically, they really only differ in the tactics and strategies they implement in order to achieve these goals.

Elections are non-violent contests between contending elements of the ruling class to determine which sector will have control of the state apparatus for a specific period of time. Once they have control of the state apparatus, they begin the work of implementing and maintaining policies that advance the economic and social agenda of their supporters. Elections legitimize the authority of these sectors of the ruling class even as they operate in opposition to the needs of the electorate.As a result of the large African population in Baltimore, there is also a large Black middle class that functions as gate keepers in the administration of resources and services. This Black middle class has proven itself to be visionless and traitorous to the interests of the general African population. Therefore it can only be recognized as performing a neo-colonial function in relationship to the masses of African and poor people in the struggle against the U.S. parasitic white ruling class.As a class, the Black petite-bourgeoisie can not be counted on as a social force to transform the poverty and disenfranchisement experienced by African people. As a class, it has attempted to consolidate its gains off the backs of African workers, the youth and other poor people.

The mayoral campaign was contested by 6 Africans and one white man. With the exception of one lone, under funded African worker in the campaign, all the other class elements were middle class African people who refuse to raise the issues the masses needed to have addressed.The mayoral election was won by the incumbent mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, an African woman with a long history of serving the Democratic Party machine and only ascended to the mayor position when her fellow Democratic Party crony, Shelia Dixon, was kicked out of office for a scandal in which she stole monies allotted for poor families and made backdoor deals with capitalist developers.

Other petite-bourgeoisie African forces in the race were Catherine Pugh, a current Democratic State Senator and former Baltimore City councilmember and former chief of state to the former mayor Dixon Otis Rolley. Despite being African, neither of these candidates dared to speak directly to the issues of the masses of African and poor people in this city. Neither was able to make a class distinction between themselves and the incumbent mayor. Many feared the lone white candidate, Jody Landers, a former city council member and local businessman would be able to steal the election with so many African candidates splitting the Black vote. However he finished a distant fourth in the election and could not inspire working class white voters to come out to support his campaign.

Ultimately, the refusal of the vast majority of people to participate in the local election is a key indictment of the current political process. The people when inspired have shown they will come out to vote and can be energized but when given the choice of one neo-colonialist agenda against another, they would rather stay home

Now is the time to put forward a party and candidates that take the issues of the people and make them primary to their campaigns. Now is time to build a political machine that is connected to the interests and needs of African workers and poor people in the region to expose the class orientation of the current crop of misleadership that rules local politics.

Brother-Comrade Nnamdi Lumumba, UPP State Organizer 

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From the Negro World to the African World Report: Picking Up the Legacy

Uhuru Sasa, and welcome to the first edition of the African World Report – News and Information from African People, for African People. The African World Report Online (AWRO) is a production of the Ujima People’s Media Group, a Pan-African Internationalist media organization that is part of the overall African independence movement. For those who are not familiar, if you check around the site you’ll find information that will explain Pan-African Internationalism, African independence, and other subjects.

As the Lead Coordinator of the UPMG and one of the editors for AWRO, I am personally proud as today marks the beginning of a new period of our work. For little more than a year now, the members of the UPMG have worked to establish the AWRO and after some significant struggle and a long time coming, the AWRO is finally a reality. On this day, August 17^th, 1918, almost one hundred years ago, another publication was launched that would forever change the way that African people struggle for our freedom and independence: the Negro World.

The Negro World was the main news organ of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, organized and lead by Marcus M. Garvey. After having struggled to establish an organization like no other in the U.S. and the Caribbean, the UNIA went on to begin publishing its newspaper, the first of a number of do-for-self projects that would separate the UNIA from other black organizations during that time. Engaged in the fight for African human rights, dignity, and independence, the Negro World, under Garvey’s leadership, would become a significant weapon to combat the ideology of racism and its destructive effects on the African community. It would go on to assist the UNIA in exposing white power and engaging it all over the globe. The Negro World was, at its height, a place where African artists, writers, and scholars were introduced to African people. It reached out to upwards of a half million people and helped to extend the UNIA’s abilities in the real world. The UNIA tool on the struggle to build factories, commercial businesses, and so on, it employed thousands of African people during the height of the “Great Depression”, and made the first steps towards an African Unity throughout the Diaspora. Every step of the way, the Negro World was there and at critical points, it was the deciding factor in the success of the UNIA programs. The Negro World would become one of the first institutions that would proclaim the beauty of being black, the dignity of being African, whether by birth or descent. And so, as the first organization to seriously organize and mobilize the African working class continued to make leaps towards ending the oppression and uniting the African world, it was the Negro World that was one of the weapons the UNIA used to achieve its success. It is this great legacy that the African World Report Online attempts to pickup and carry forward.

It is common knowledge that African people are still locked in a fight for our dignity, for our freedom, and for our independence. We have been struggling for this for centuries, and until we reach the objective of true justice, we will continue. A big part of this struggle is the struggle for the hearts and minds of African people, and the African working class in general. Daily, our people are bombarded with the ideas of white supremacy and capitalist imperialism. We are, every moment of our lives, overwhelmed with the ideas of the forces that are responsible for creating the current situation we find ourselves in. Throughout our struggle we have fought these ideas and developed better ideas that have served our interests and helped us to move forward. A main battleground in this war of ideas has been the news media.

Since the inception of corporate media, the news has been used to undermine African people while winning us to unite with our oppressors. The task of the AWRO is to reverse that trend. We don’t pretend to be unbiased or without slant. In fact, we are clear from the very beginning that reporting the news is never done without some kind of bias. Every news outlet answers to someone and the people that the media answers to dictate the agenda for the news media it controls. We answer only to African people, and so we take it as our job to tell the truth about what is happening in the world and to show how current events affect the lives of African people. The AWRO joins the ranks of the information warriors who battle daily to defeat the ideas and practices of white supremacy, exploitation and oppression. We salute those who have been carrying this struggle forward and look to add to the impact they are making.

So, in celebration of the founding of the Negro World, we are proud to bring you the African World Report. We hope our contributions are helpful.

Uhuru Sasa!

(Freedom Now!)

Brother-Comrade Abasi ShomariBaruti, UPMG Lead Coordinator

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