On November 5, 2011, Black is Back UK protested outside the U.S. embassy in London,
joining the international mobilization against imperialist wars on Africa and the African community.
This event came at a time of growing resistance against David Cameron's policies aimed at working and oppressed peoples of the UK. It also came at a time when the neocolonial government of Kenya sent troops to suppress African resistance in Somalia.
Outside the U.S. embassy, we were joined by other African campaign groups that were feeling the impact of UK-led policies on our homeland.
Brother Made on behalf of Comite Des Patriotes Ivoirians condemned not just imperialist attacks on Ivory Coast, but also their onslaught in Libya and in Africa in general. He reinforced the spirit of African Internationalism when he ended with the slogan "Touch one Touch all!"
Brother Duale Yusuf, from the Somali Youth Congress, whose group actually managed to shut down the Kenyan embassy in London the previous week with their protest, re-emphasized the need for peace and denounced the U.S. bombing of Somalia.
In his conclusion, he expressed the aspirations of all African parents; for our children to study and live in peace, free from war and oppression.
Representatives from other oppressed nations joined in solidarity with Africans
We were also delighted to have solidarity speakers from other oppressed groups who united with our struggle and demands.
One of the speakers included Alessandra Bajec, an independent writer from Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Protestors united with her slogans of freeing Palestine from white settler colonialism.
Tahrir Swift, an Iraqi activist, gave a passionate speech against U.S. imperialism in North Africa and Iraq.
The age mix was dynamic with the youngest being an activist aged 19 and the oldest, veteran activist comrade Tongogara, who refuses to retire from the struggle.
Tongogara from Free Mumia Coalition UK spoke of African struggles in the UK and alerted us to the U.S. government's latest attempt to execute Mumia Abu Jamal and invited us to a Free Mumia Coalition march this December.
Uhuru Movement wins key support
Kwabena Gyakye, President of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement UK, made links between U.S. wars against the African community and UK’s wars against the African community.
He praised the resistance of African youth witnessed during the Black August Rebellions, which was a response to decades long incidences of police murders and police harassment of African people.
He called the community to organize around the demand for self-determination for the entire African Community (see the article on London marches against police containment for analysis on the Black August rebellions: http://uhurunews.com/story?resource_name=enough-is-enough-time-for-organized-african-resistance-across-the-uk).
He also called for the release of Chelsea Ives and all other youth arrested for rebelling against the UK's colonial oppression.
Makola Libanga from African People's Socialist Party London echoed this sentiment, explaining that the youth rebellion showed how "Touch one, Touch all!" can be effective!
"If British troops were fighting us in North London, then they can't be successful fighting us in North Africa," he pointed out.
He also went on to highlight the crisis of imperialism in the Congo, where the U.S. army has sent 100 troops into Eastern Congo to supposedly help fight the Lord Resistance Army.
He revealed that this imperialist operation only succeeds in proving that the neocolonial armies of Uganda and Rwanda are unable to crush the African resistance.
The protest was well organized. What was noticeable was the quality of the people we had managed to attract and are now working with.
Winning other Africans to organize beyond our borders is no easy task; just to have Africans from Somalia, Ivory Coast and Congo has taken months of work and intense imperialist aggression for them to be drawn toward the same conclusion.
The speeches and chants were concluded in African Socialist International Secretary-General Luwezi Kinshasa's powerful summation.
He began by dubbing Obama a Wall Street puppet and united with the Occupy London City movement, exclaiming "We say occupy London, but not the African community!"
He ended with the message that Africa will be free.
