Three Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) members participated in the First International Conference Against U.S./NATO Military Bases, a historic gathering that has elevated the global anti-war movement. BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka introduced attendees to Dr. Aleida Guevara, Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara’s daughter, who is an accomplished medical activist. Attendees praised the AFRICOM plenary chaired by BAP Coordinating Committee member Margaret Kimberley, which was elevated with the expert participation of BAP Coordinating Committee member Paul Pumphrey. Anne Atambo, president of WILPF Kenya and Chris Matlhako of South African Peace Initiative also presented.
The importance of BAP was on full display. We have emerged as a critical leadership force in the global anti-war movement. What we have heard and experienced over our 18-month existence re-affirms the importance of being an autonomous Black organization based in the United States.
While some of us were talking war and peace in Dublin, BAP member Asantewaa Mawusi Nkrumah-Ture represented Saturday at the No White Supremacists in Philly rally. More than 1,000 anti-fascist demonstrators turned out, scaring off the few white supremacists who showed up and enjoyed police protection (as usual). Here are more photos from the event.
This week, we heard something that almost sounded like good news. Almost. The U.S. government announced it is pulling 10 percent of its military out of Africa… to focus on threatening China and Russia. This move demonstrates why our U.S. Out of Africa! campaign to shut down U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has been and remains part of a global campaign to shut down all U.S. and NATO military bases. Please sign our petition and share it online. (We need 19 more signatures to reach the 1,500-signature mark!) If you want to be able to print out and circulate the petition in your communities, universities and elsewhere, click here.
Attend these events:
- BAP Coordinating Committee member Jaribu Hill has been organizing the Southern Human Rights Organizers’ Conference (SHROC) for 22 years. Join her and activists from the Global South Dec. 7-9 in Atlanta.
- Celebrate BAP’s second anniversary on April 4 in Washington, D.C., as we demonstrate against the transnational ruling class desecrating the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday by holding a huge party to honor NATO’s 70th anniversary on that day.
No compromise.
No retreat.
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The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP), a founding member of the Global Campaign Against U.S./NATO Military Bases, joined 300 attendees from 36 countries at a historic conference last weekend that re-committed anti-war activists to closing U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military bases throughout the world.
The Global Campaign Against U.S./NATO Military Bases held its first international conference November 16-18 at Liberty Hall in Dublin, Ireland. The conference’s Unity Statement was endorsed by more than 700 individuals and organizations. The Dublin conference convened several months after the U.S.-based Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases held its first conference in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States. Ireland was chosen because of its neutral position, having never joined NATO.
The United States operates more than 1,000 military facilities on six continents. This enormous presence embodies the U.S. policy of Full Spectrum Dominance, which threatens democracy and self-determination for other nations.
BAP reaffirms our commitment to this world-wide initiative and to our recently launched campaign, U.S. Out of Africa!, to shut down U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). This military program is present in 53 out of 54 African countries. BAP is circulating an online petition that makes these demands:
- The complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Africa,
- The demilitarization of the African continent,
- The closure of U.S. bases throughout the world, and
- The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) must oppose AFRICOM and conduct hearings on AFRICOM’s impact on the African continent.
After recent U.S. midterm elections, the Democratic Party now makes up the majority of the U.S. Congress and owes that status to Black U.S. voters. As colonized subjects on stolen land, the U.S.-based Black diaspora wants the nations of their ancestral continent to live freely and independently, which means AFRICOM must be dismantled. The BAP petition calls on CBC members to act as true representatives of their constituents, who are among the most peace loving in the country.
There can be no peace or democracy when a group of nations and their proxies can wage violent action against people around the world. BAP’s mission to re-capture and re-develop the historic anti-war, anti-imperialist and pro-peace positions of the radical Black movement will play a crucial part in the Global Campaign Against U.S./NATO Military Bases.
U.S. out of Africa!
Shut down AFRICOM!
Close all U.S. and NATO foreign bases!
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All images in this article are from BAP
