UHURUposition paper on Marches, writen after the Millions More Movement
Watu Mwariama (Head of APSP Security, St. Petes, Florida)
It is the position of the African People's Socialist Party, the masses of
Africans who attended the march came in an attempt to get some direction as
to how our people need to move in order to secure some type of future for
ourselves.
For the past decade, there have been a number of "millions" marches that
have galvanized masses of African searching for a way out of the brutal
conditions that we are subjected to as colonized people- oppressed and
exploited for the benefit of U.S. colonialism.
In 1996, there was the Million Man March held by the Nation of Islam.
There was a sense that finally today, at this event, we will get a plan,
some direction as to how to get this beast off our backs. There was great
disappointment when those in attendance were told by numerous national
luminairies that we the masses were the beast and we needed to atone for our
sins and ask for forgiveness. But before forgiveness was to be granted, we
were asked to fill up the refrigerator size boxes with money. This march was
followed by the New Black Panther Party in 1998. Then came the Million Woman
March of 1999, which was organized by a coalition of black nationalist and
feminist forces.
In 2003, the Millions for Reparation March was held by a coalition of
several reparations organization. Even the white left got a piece of the
action with the Million Workers March of 2004.
Ten years after the first millions march, the Nation of Islam has
returned with the Millions More Movement, which among other things will
serve as a commemoration of the 1996 march.
It has indeed become a movement. The question that confronts us, however,
is where are we moving to?
While most of these marches have been significant in their ability to
mobilize masses of African workers, none have been successful or have even
articulated the need to unite the African working class around its own class
interest.
At each of these marches, including the one just concluded, there have
been various speakers representing various viewpoints and class interest.
Speakers have attempted to define the critical issues confronting African
people and have offered up the solution as being everything from "atoning
for our sins" to joining the Democratic Party.
At best, our people have left these marches with mixed messages and with
no more clarity or leadership than they came with. This lack of clarity is a
weakness that does not serve the African masses nor our struggle for social
and economic justice.
The African People's Socialist Party, which has been on the forefront of
the African Liberation Movement for over 30 years , has generally supported
and even participated in some of these marches. However we are clear that
these marches are not capable of overturning the conditions that African
people suffer under.
We live in a world whose structure was given birth to through the attack
on Africa and the theft of her resources and her people. The U.S.
and Europe maintain their wealth by holding Africa and African people - both
within U.S. borders and around the world- in this parasitic chokehold.
There can be no social and economic justice without ending the
exploitative relationship that African people have to U.S. and European
imperialism. As APSP Chairman Omali Yeshitela has stated, "The slave must
kill the slavemaster and destroy the system of slavery.
Because the marches do not articulate the interest of the African working
class- the most consistently revolutionary sector of people in the U.S. upon
whose backs the whole capitalist edifice rests- they are incapable of
bringing the African liberation struggle to fruition.
The African middle class, as a class, has interest "opposed" to those of
the working class African masses. Instead of struggling to end the
exploitation of the African masses, they are trying to get an "equal
opportunity" to make wealth off our exploitation. As long as these marches
do not consciously represent the interest of the African working class they
will be trapped serving the interest of the African "middle class and their
imperialist masters.
The issue of Hurricane Katrina was on the forefront of discissions at
this past march. It is an issue that unites the broadest sectors of the
African community into necessary discussions around our relationship with
the U.S. government. However, again, just as there are diverse class
interest in the African who attended the march, so was there diversity in
terms of the analysis of the Katrina question.
It is the responsibility of a capable leader to cast aside and
superstitious notions about what could have caused the carnage we see in the
aftermath of the hurricane and provide a scientific analysis that enables us
to prevent such circumstances in the future.
Hurricane Katrina exposed several things: One, it exposed the fact that
the U.S. government wil not protect the interest of African people, even
when our lives are at stake. Two, it exposed the fact that African people
must organize ourselves to have the power to defend ourselves not just
against natural disaster, but the colonial violence imposed on us by the
U.S. government itself.
It will take the leadership of a revolutionary organization itself led by
the African working class to overthrow this colonial relationship with
imperialist white power and to take control over our own lives.
We need millions more Africans to make a revolution. Any discussion
around Katrina has to end with African people coming to the conclusion that
the U.S. government is hostile to African people. The U.S. is our colonizer,
and when it sees fit it will attempt to destroy us.
We must develope a plan of action to ensure that whitepower does not
have the ability to attack us- in New Orleans or anywhere on the planet!
Uhuru. This document represents the views of the African People's Socilaist
Party. Visit our website at
http://www.asiuhuru.org for more details
concerning the document.
UHURU means FREEDOM!
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