African Liberation Day 2009 in Pittsburgh

Little Haiti Opposes ALD Revisionists

African Liberation Day has historically played a major role in keeping the revolutionary tradition alive in the US black community. This day has been used to introduce our community to liberation movements around the world. Held to counter xenophobia and racism, as well as to expose reactionaries, ALD has always served as an important event for building Black unity.

Little Haiti is a name given to Pittsburgh's Black community going as far back as Martin R. Delany. He was a physician, a Civil War major, and an African patriot who fought slavery. Delany settled in Pittsburgh and was its leading black citizen. The name Little Haiti derived from the fighting spirit of its community. Haiti was the first revolutionary workers republic in history. The Haitian uprising was also history's only successful slave revolt. So the name Little Haiti is one rich in heritage, and connotes the tradition of struggle associated with the Black community in this city.

This year we have decided, the Black Radical Congress in conjunction with Maroon Society, to reestablish African Liberation Day along its traditional lines of orientation. We want to do something in honor of who we are as African people, without having the government or white money or Imperialist ideology involved in our efforts. This small forum cannot match larger efforts being held around the country. However, it is a rebuilding effort which intends to take back some of the luster, energy and inspiration which has historically marked African Liberation Day as a day of pride and militancy.

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ELEVATE BLACK LIBERATION IN ZIMBABWE AND IN AMERICA

.......[N]eo-colonialism within Zimbabwe's liberation movement tails behind the plague of neo-colonialism which remains rife thru out the United States. Neo-colonialism within our own liberation movement has taken the form of poverty pimps and other sell-outs on the government dole since 1968 up to this day. Many disparate forces contend to hi-jack and water down the legacies of Malcolm X, SNCC, the Black Panther Party, NBIPP, CAP and others. Our people have begun to think that nothing can be accomplished without the government or that the government is omnipotent. Legitimizing Imperialism on any level -- including the pretense that it functions somewhere quietly in the background -- poses a dangerous precedent in terms of our future as African people.

Neo-colonialism just does not take the form of an apparatus. It also shapes up into co-optation within a movement; it may appear as a political line within an organization. While the prefix “neo” means “new”, it also means “somewhat” or “likened to”, and that is good enuf for our purposes.

When Kwame Nkrumah wrote Neocolonialism, the Final Stage of Imperialism, he elaborated on how Imperialism needed the oppressed to maintain their own oppression. We see this see thru out Africa, the Caribbean and North America. Nkrumah showed how Imperialism arrived at its most degenerate moment in history, and how its collaborators exploit their people for the sake of wealth and power rather than throwing off the shackles of capitalism. He said that neo-colonialism poses the greatest danger to African people, since it waters down the concentrated class question (racism) by replacing the historical oppressor with one from your own community.

For that reason, we have decided to show the African liberation movement on film, in the form of a video that interviews black fighters who took up arms and drove out or overthrew colonialism. While many events in this film wrapped up almost thirty years ago, nevertheless it provides valuable lessons for us in terms of organization, resolve and taking back our community. Our struggle against shape-shifting racism has taken hesitant steps forward over the last thirty years or more, because people no longer recognize the enemy. However, by deepening our understanding of Imperialism and class struggle, we can elevate black consciousness and restore faith in our own community, belief in our own forms of struggle. Because, the Struggle continues!

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1. What does the acronym ZANU-PF mean, and who leads the MDC?
2. When did neo-colonialism become entrenched in the black community and why?
3. What is the name of Kwame Nkrumah's book and what does it address?
4. Why is ZANU-PF so popular thru out Southern Africa, and who are some of its supporters?
5. What is Neo-Colonialism and what is Imperialism?
6. Where does Horace Campbell instruct, and what is ZIDERA?
7. Who is Martin R Delany, and what is the legacy of Little Haiti?
8. How did the US invasion affect Iraqi Arab women?
9. What has been taking place in the global economy over the last three years?
10. Who is Jonas Savimbi and who supported him? Who is Luis Posada Carilles?