President Diop Olugbala arrested by the NYPD! Take action now!!
**URGENT** PRESIDENT DIOP OLUGBALA WAS ARRESTED BY THE NYPD! TAKE ACTION NOW! CALL-IN TO DEMAND HIS RELEASE! USE HIS LEGAL NAME, WALI RAHMAN – AKA, DIOP OLUGBALA! CALL-IN 718-287-3211 FOR COMMANDER LEHR!
-Demand the immediate release of Wali “Diop” Rahman
-Let the NYPD that we hold them responsible for President Diop!
-Let them know where you are calling from! Tell them, “The eyes of the world are watching you.”
-We have a right to protest the police brutality and murders against the African community in New York!
InPDUM President Diop Olugbala was arrested by the NYPD tonight, 5/16/2013 during a political action led by the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement to serve the people’s subpoena during the 67th Precinct Community Council meeting.
The people’s subpoena was issued as part of the process to build a Court for Black Justice in response to the police terror waged against the African community of NYC including the recent murders of Kimani Gray and Shantel Davis.
Diop Olugbala is the President of InPDUM and a respected activist and leader in defense of the democratic rights of the black community.
The police are saying that President Diop has 11 warrants against him which is completely bogus!
Uhuru! Let us know when you call. If you are a lawyer or you know one who can go down to the precint, please contact the Uhuru Movement at 727.821.6620 or info@uhurunews.com
“Why I joined Uhuru Solidarity Movement”: Special broadcast of Reparations in Action today at 1pm on UhuruRadio.com!
Tune in to “Reparations in Action” today at 1pm Eastern on UhuruRadio.com for our special Membership Weekend edition of RIA! Members of Uhuru Solidarity Movement will be calling in from throughout the country to talk about why they joined this organization – the anti-imperialist, activist organization of Euro-Americans working under the leadership of the African People’s Socialist Party! Join USM today!
USM National Membership Weekend
Check out the full schedule for USM’s National Membership Weekend!
See what’s going on in your area and how you can get involved!
“We must unite with the rest of humanity”: USM organizer Kefira Baron reports back from InPDUM Convention
The following report back from the 2013 International Convention of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement was written by Kefira Baron, a Miami-based organizer in the Uhuru Solidarity Movement and the Secretary of the USM National Steering Committee.
We call on all of our members and supporters to tune in to the livestream broadcast of our special event on Thursday night, April 25, 6pm est called “Overturning the Culture of Rape and Violence” on livestream.com/uhurunews or in person at 1245 18th Ave S., St. Pete, FL and mark your calendar for the June 15-16 National Convention of the USM, “Overturning the Racial Divide”, in St. Pete, FL. Join the Uhuru Solidarity Movement today. Uhuru!
Report back from the 2013 InPDUM Convention
by Kefira Baron, Uhuru Solidarity Movement
On the weekend of March 23-24, 2013, I drove from Miami to “the city of African resistance”, St.Petersburg. This Florida city houses the international headquarters of the Uhuru Movement. “Uhuru”, meaning freedom in Swahili, represents just what this mass movement is building and fighting for in the US and around the world. As a member of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement, I work directly under the leadership of the African People’s Socialist Party. APSP created USM as a way for white people to organize in solidarity with African liberation and self-determination. We raise money in our communities and turn those resources over to the African liberation movement as an expression of reparations. We recognize that the resources in our communities have come at the expense of the colonization of African people for the past five hundred years.
The resources raised by USM are turned over to organizations of the Uhuru Movement to build programs of economic development, like the recently completed Uhuru Jiko kitchen, which promotes self-determination in the African community. This challenges the tradition Euro-American charity model; we say “Solidarity, not Charity!”
We not only support the work of building these programs with material solidarity, we unite with the principles of African Internationalism. African Internationalism is the theory upheld by the Uhuru Movement and sets the terms for African liberation. It is the theory developed by Chairman Omali Yeshitela that explains how capitalism was born from the enslavement of African people and why the struggle against capitalism must be led by the African working class. By embracing African Internationalism as our own worldview, white people can begin to see the world through the eyes of the majority of the people on the planet earth.
Building for dual contending power means building organizations set to carry out all facets of the Uhuru Movement internationally. The revolutionary mass organization building across the world is the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM). To build their work InPDUM holds conventions annually to “build revolutionary organization to protect and defend our own!” as President Diop Olugbala explained at the start of the two days.
Held at the Uhuru House, Akwabba Hall was packed with international organizers of the Movement. Comrades from Sweden to New Jersey cheered “One Africa! One Nation!” before starting with opening speakers. President Diop introduced the program by explaining the importance of “being held during a time when the crisis of imperialism, the vicious bloodsucking social system responsible for the misery of African and the world’s oppressed people, has become deeper than it has ever been.”
As President Diop explained, with the majority of the world’s people suffering, “no African is safe” in the US or around the world. Such conditions heighten the importance for building an organization fighting for dual and contending power.
InPDUM is building under the leadership of APSP to fight against colonialism. As part of the political education, in order to overturn social conditions, it is necessary to understand the issue is colonialism and not racism. Colonialism explains the material conditions that cause “state imposed poverty” in the African community and why we see intensifying attacks on Africa and the Middle East as Obama loots resources. President Diop stated with confidence “oppressed peoples will not back down, this is the final stage of parasitic capitalism.” As President Diop wrapped up his speech, he made a call for Africans to organize all over the world as InPDUM is growing in Africa, the US, and in Europe.
Chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party, Omali Yeshitela, the keynote speaker, elaborated and developed President Diop’s point by addressing InPDUM’s purpose to mobilize the masses of the African working class under cadre leadership. Chairman Omali harkened back to the pivotal moment when InPDUM attended an Obama rally at Gibbs High school where they questioned, “What about the black community, Obama?” to which he had a stuttering response, all the more of an emphasis of Obama’s neo-colonial agenda as US President. Read the rest of this entry
Special Event: Overturning the Culture of Rape and Violence
Uhuru Solidarity Movement invites you to attend this special event. Thursday, April 25, 2013 @ 6 pm in St. Pete, FL at Awkaaba Hall, 1245 8th Ave S.
Why is sexual violence so prevalent in our society? What are the root causes of this “culture of rape”? How we can be a part of transforming a culture built on rape, oppression, slavery and genocide? With keynote presentations from Gaida Kambon – a veteran leader of the African Liberation Movement and Secretary General of the African People’s Socialist Party – and Penny Hess – author of Overturning the Culture of Violence and Chair of African People’s Solidarity Committee – this event will address these questions and show the way forward.
If you can’t attend in person this event will be available for viewing via Livestream and questions will be taken through chat. The event will also be broadcast on livestream.com/uhurunews
For more information email st pete@uhurusolidarity.org or call 727-683-9949.
“Being White In Philly – In Solidarity with African Resistance” – TONIGHT at 7pm in Philadelphia AND on Livestream.com/reparationsinaction
Uhuru Solidarity Center Philly
3733 Lancaster Ave, West Phila – #10 Trolley
Not in Philly? Can’t make the event?
White people can take a stand in solidarity with the right of African people to overturn the conditions in their community and have control over their lives & resources!What does it really mean to “be white in Philadelphia”
How can we take a stand from the white community in solidarity with the African community organizing to:
• stop the closing of 23 Philadelphia public schools – all in the black community
• oppose the brutal attacks on African people by the police, and slanderous criminalization by the media
• take an active role in ending the ever-widening racial divide between whites & Africans in this city and the country at large?
Featuring Diop Olugbala
Danita Bates
School District of Phila parent
and community activist
And speakers from:
• Uhuru Solidarity Movement
• African People’s Education & Defense Fund
Check out the statement by Uhuru Solidarity Movement
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Also, join us for the “African Resistance Now” community meetings
every Sunday at 4 pm
at the Uhuru Solidarity Center Philly
3733 Lancaster Ave, West Phila – #10 Trolley
AND on http://inpdum.org
Uhuru Solidarity Movement is an organization of white people and other allies working under the leadership of the African People’s Socialist Party, organizing in our communities to support the African liberation movement. We unite that reparations are due and participate in “Reparations in Action” work. Learn more about how you can be part of this growing movement in support of genuine solidarity – not charity!
Every Member! Every Supporter! One Meeting!
Unveiling the Road to the USM Convention
The National Steering Committee of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement would like to invite every member and supporter of the organization to attend one meeting at which we will announce our theme and plans for the upcoming USM National Convention. Sunday, April 14th at 1 pm EDT
USM works directly under the leadership of the African People’s Socialist Party which is leading on every question facing African people in the U.S. and around the world, uniting African people and organizing to win power over their own lives and their resources.
USM is the organization of white people and other allies who unite with that struggle. We work in the white communities, we raise reparations, and you are part of it.
The USM Convention will be held under the theme “Overturning the Racial Divide Through African Liberation” in St. Petersburg, FL on June 15 and 16, 2013. Attend this meeting to find out 1) how you can make plans now to attend the USM Convention, 2) how you can participate in building for the USM Convention no matter where you are located, 3) how you can raise reparations wherever you are to support the work of the African People’s Socialist Party and 4) how you can play a role in the Uhuru Solidarity Movement.
RSVP for this meeting by replying to info@apscuhuru.org. You will receive the invitation for the AnyMeeting.com meeting.
Donate to the Uhuru Radiothon today at 1pm on “Reparations in Action!”
Click image to view radiothon
Uhuru! Tune in today at 1pm Eastern time to http://www.livestream.com/uhurunews for a special episode of “Reparations in Action” as part of the 2-day Uhuru Radiothon that is taking place to raise resources for Uhuru Radio and Burning Spear media, the voice of the international African Revolution! You can donate at uhurunews.com/donate. The African People’s Solidarity Committee, the organization of Euro-Americans working under the leadership of the African People’s Socialist Party, is holding a special edition of RIA today to raise 3000 dollars towards Uhuru Radio as an expression of reparations to African people through material solidarity with the African Liberation Movement! Long live Uhuru Radio! Long live the African Revolution! Uhuru!
Join the USM Viewing Parties for the UHURU RADIOTHON April 6-7!
On April 6-7, Burning Spear Media will hold it’s annual Radiothon fundraiser. It’s a 20-hour 2-day online broadcast of special guests, music and a showcase of the African liberation programs and campaigns of the Uhuru Movement.
Attend online or JOIN US in person at the following locations throughout the country:
Join the live studio audience! Come see Chairman Omali Yeshitela and participate in the “Reparations in Action” show – during the hours between 11am and 2pm on Sunday, April 7:
ST PETE:
Uhuru House
1245 18th Ave S.
St. Petersburg, FL 33705
Join a viewing party:
Live Video
Live Audio
Donate by phone
1-800-420-5593
1-727-821-6620
Why give to the Uhuru Radiothon?
Burning Spear Media is your media.
We are The Burning Spear newspaper, the longest running African revolutionary journal in continuous publication since the 1960s.
We are Uhuru News, the online voice of the international African revolution.
We are Uhuru Radio, bringing you news, music, analysis and information every week, to every corner of the African world.
We need your support to survive and grow.
Uhuru Radio has plans to upgrade in 2013 – with a new and improved sound and a more interactive website. We will also apply for an FM radio license in St. Petersburg and other cities.
Tune in April 6 and 7 – We aim to raise $15,000 in immediate and monthly donations.
Here’s where your donations will go:
- New mixing board = $300
- 1st new microphone = $600
- Radio automation software = $500
- 3 refurbished computers = $270
- Remote broadcasts = $150
- Promotional materials = $400
- Engineering study for St. Pete FM license application = $500
- Computer monitor = $100
- 2nd new microphone = $600
- Soundproofing and renovations for Uhuru Radio = $5000
- New computer = $700
So check out the Radiothon Program and tune in April 6-7.
Donate now and avoid the rush!
Liberate your media with your dollars! Tell your friends. Organize a viewing party. Spread the word. Africa is on the rise and the future is black!
Program Schedule
(Watch this page for updates. Times listed are U.S. Eastern Time)
Saturday, April 6, 9am-5pm
9:00 am Caribbean Forum
Hosted by award-winning actor and journalist Ron Bobb-Semple.
11:00 am African People’s Socialist Party – a fighting history and future plans
1:00 pm Burning Spear Media Showcase
3:00 pm Africa International
A mix of today’s music from throughout the African world.
Sunday, April 7, 10am-10pm
10:00 am Omali Yeshitela Speaks
Video / audio selections spanning 40 years.
11:00 am Africa Live
Reports from around the African world, from Haiti to London, Sweden to Washington, D.C., West Africa to Chicago.
1:00 pm Reparations in Action
Euro-Americans in the struggle for African liberation.
2:00 pm Diasporic Music
Hosted by award-winning broadcaster Norman (Otis) Richmond aka Jalali.
4:00 pm African Resistance Now
Reports from the frontlines of struggle.
5:00 pm Africa’s Future in African Hands
Healthcare, agriculture, clean water and sustainable energy – by and for African people.
6:00 pm Africonomy
African + Economy = Africonomy. Laying the foundation for an independent, united and prosperous Africa.
7:00 pm – 10:00 pm Golden Sunday Sounds
Wind down with a delightful mix of music and talk, hosted by Ron Bobb-Semple.
APEDF and Community Partners Hold Press Conference: “Stop the School Closings & End the Disparities in Philly!”
APEDF and Community Partners Hold Press Conference: “Stop the School Closings & End the Disparities in Philly!”
Kianga Danielle, International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement
On Thursday, March 14th, 2013 the African People’s Education & Defense Fund (APEDF), Uhuru Furniture Philadelphia, the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement, Uhuru Solidarity Movement and other community partners held a press conference at Uhuru Furniture in Center City Philadelphia to put forth the African community’s demand for the City of Philadelphia to stop the closing of 23 public schools and end the achievement gap and disparities in education, health and economic development for the African community in this city.
The press conference, MCd by Uhuru Furniture Business Campaign Manager Tina Mouzone, featured Alison Hoehne, Manager of Uhuru Furniture in Philadelphia speaking on behalf of APEDF (statement below), Kianga Danielle of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement, Philadelphia public schools parent and community activist Denita Bates, Uhuru Solidarity Movement Philadelphia chair Harris Daniels, and statements sent by healing practitioner Ajua Hawkins and the Bush Medicine Partnership (also below).
Don’t miss the “Being White in Philly – In Solidarity with African Resistance” forum held by Uhuru Solidarity Movement:
“BEING WHITE IN PHILLY — IN SOLIDARITY WITH AFRICAN RESISTANCE!”
THURSDAY APRIL 11TH. 7PM
Uhuru Solidarity Center
3733 Lancaster Ave, West Philly
215-387-0919, philly@uhurusolidarity.org
Below is the full statement delivered by USM organizer Harris Daniels:
Harris Daniels, Uhuru Solidarity Movement
UHURU! Uhuru Means Freedom! My name is Harris Daniels and I am the local chair of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement here in Philadelphia. We fully unite with APEDF and the black community’s demand for economic development instead of police containment and we reject the attacks and vicious criminalization of the African community being expressed through the school closings, the intensified police containment and brutality of the African community, and mostly recently in Philadelphia Magazine’s cover article, “Being white in Philadelphia.”
As an organization of white people working under the leadership of the African-led Uhuru Movement, we believe it is high time for us to examine what it really means to “be white in Philadelphia” – a city where Africans face horrendous conditions of poverty, police violence, mass incarceration and healthcare disparities – and how we can take an active role in rectifying the ever widening racial divide between whites and Africans in this city and the country at large.
Gentrification is able to move forward rapidly due to a long-standing unity between the white homeowners and the police. Much destruction to African communities is done under the guise of making the neighborhood “safer” and “better” while pushing out the black community. But in reality, this keeps the communities “unsafe” and the race relations hostile. We need to work together to solve this. If everyone in Philadelphia opposed the school closings, the poverty, the police brutality and mass imprisonment, it would have to end!
Today, Africans in Philadelphia face conditions of abject poverty, with 31% of the African community living below the official poverty line. With one hand the government forces Africans out of their communities and into conditions of dire poverty and exploitation, and with the other hand they contain the African community through the imposition of police. The City’s 2013 budget allocates 33% to police, courts and prisons, and only 6% to Health and Social Services.
The “Being White in Philadelphia” article assumes that the entire black community in North Philly is criminal and dangerous. The reality is that the 22nd and 39th District Police have been exposed and even imprisoned for massive frame-ups of thousands of Africans – in that exact area of North Philly – planting drugs & falsely testifying against them, sending them to prison, stealing their money from individuals including grandmothers, and from corner bodegas. This “scandal” was actually opened up by a Temple University student who was framed himself for drugs planted on him by the police.
Hundreds of young African and Puerto Rican men have been murdered by these same police in the past 30 years. A cop was just found not guilty of punching a Puerto Rican woman in the face, caught on video, in the Puerto Rican Day Parade.
The real criminals and drug dealers– the bankers, politicians and pharmaceutical industry executives who hide behind neckties and business suits –never face a day in prison.
We have to face the fact that while our white children are going to college, African children in this city are being locked down in droves in the children’s prison in West Philadelphia, known as the “Youth Studies Center” – where over 80% of youth locked down are black males.
Tina Mouzone, Uhuru Furniture Business Campaign Manager
White people own 22 times the assets of African families even in this time of economic downturn — for white people these are assets passed down from generation to generation. As much as no one wants to talk about it, the conditions of the African community are the result of an unbroken reality resulting from the enslavement of a whole continent of people and the theft of the land of the indigenous people, something that built the economic infrastructure of the U.S. and Philadelphia in particular.
The fact that the bodies of enslaved Africans lay under the so-called “Liberty Bell” tells the story that from the very beginning the deck has always been stacked on the side of white people at the expense of Africans and the Native people. We could say that gentrification began around 1492 when the first white people set foot in this hemisphere. Hundreds of years later, those who got the land, the jobs and opportunities still justify their trampling on other communities by assuring themselves that the victims of their gentrification are not truly human beings.
Philadelphia is closing 23 public schools – over 10% of district schools – dislodging and undermining the education of 14,000 African students & disrupting African communities throughout the city.
One out of five of all young African men in the city of Philadelphia is under the grip of the criminal “justice” system, either serving time in jail, on probation or parole, or in juvenile detention. Seventy-five percent of those on probation or parole for supposed “robbery”, and nearly 80 percent of those in juvenile detention, are young African men. These are the conditions that form the basis for any interaction between a white person and an African person in the city of Philadelphia and in this country.
There is no “reverse racism”. There is the relationship of the oppressor to the oppressed. If we want to rectify this relationship we have to take a stand of genuine solidarity with the rights of African people to resist these foul conditions and fight for what is rightfully theirs – economic self-reliance, self-determination for African people.
Denita Bates, Philadelphia Public Schools parent and community activist
Our “safety” cannot come at the expense of bullet ridden bodies of young Africans murdered by the police. If we want to have safe communities for all people and the ability to relate to each other and to Africans without fear or anger, then we have to start by facing the truth about what it really means to “be white in Philadelphia.” It means living at the expense of African people.
We have a responsibility and an interest in supporting the struggles of African people working to overturn this reality. Only an organized African community fighting back can make that happen. The Uhuru Movement is precisely that. And the Uhuru Solidarity Movement is part of that organization, created specifically for white people to join in solidarity with this positive vision by organizing in material solidarity with African liberation. How much longer do we expect we can get away with living off the misery and poverty of African people? It’s time for us to take action!.
We invite all forward-thinking, freedom minded people who wish to be active allies of the African community’s struggle for self-determination to join us for a Community Forum on Thursday, April 11th at 7pm at the Uhuru Solidarity Center in West Philly. Community speakers will address these conditions and offer solutions – and we want YOUR participation. UHURU!
