The 2010 Days in Solidarity with African People, the annual main campaign of the African People’s Solidarity Committee (APSC), were dynamic events held in five cities throughout the US this fall.
The solidarity events were key to building and consolidating the growing base of white supporters for the movement for African liberation.
Days in Solidarity with African People were held in Gainesville and St. Petersburg, FL; San Diego and Oakland, CA and Philadelphia, PA, winning enthusiastic audiences with the day’s theme, “Beyond Obama: Seeking real solutions to the growing racial divide in the US.”
As an organization of North American or white people working under the leadership of the African People’s Socialist Party, one of APSC’s goals was to challenge the prevailing idea that the “racial gap” in the US is a result of racism.
The events showed that Africans in the US, in Africa and worldwide are one people who face colonialism wherever they are located.
Rather than simply try to eradicate the ideas in the heads of white people known as racism, the Days in Solidarity show other white people that we can answer the call to stand in solidarity with the movement of African people to liberate Africa and all its resources.
Key speakers at the Oakland, St. Petersburg and Philadelphia events included Omali Yeshitela, Chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party; Glen Ford, Executive Editor of Black Agenda Report; Nellie Bailey, Harlem Tenants Council; Diop Olugbala, President of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement; Pam Africa of the International Concerned Family and of Mumia Abu Jamal; and Penny Hess, Chairwoman of the African People’s Solidarity Committee.
Important goals of the Days in Solidarity with African People included raising $10,000 for the work of the African People’s Socialist Party and recruiting new members into the Uhuru Solidarity Movement, APSC’s mass organization.
APSC carried this out through the Reparations in Action campaign which involved a series of pre-event fundraisers as well as educational forums and other events held by North American comrades and supporters in Miami, Boston, Minneapolis, Chicago and New York.
In the major cities where the events were held scores of comrades worked at getting the word out, putting up posters and web outreach.
The momentum to build the Days in Solidarity with African People brought in many new members who are enthusiastic to go out into their own towns and neighborhoods to build the Uhuru Solidarity Movement.
The campaign culminated in the Philadelphia Day in Solidarity with African People on November 6. About 80 people gathered in Philadelphia from as far away as Chicago, Boston, Providence and New York to hear fiery speeches and presentations showing the many fronts of the African Liberation Movement growing inside the US and around the world.
Everyone who participated in A Day in Solidarity with African People left confident that the struggle to build solidarity with African liberation is one that no white person has to fight in isolation. The Uhuru Solidarity Movement is here for all allies to take a stand for justice, liberation and reparations to African people and oppressed peoples everywhere!
APSC is now building for its annual conference, “Beyond the Crisis of Imperialism: The International Conference on White Solidarity with Black Power,” which will be held Jan. 9-11 in St. Petersburg, FL.
For more information on the African People’s Solidarity Committee see www.apscuhuru.org or call 727-683-9949.
