Salute the newly re-established Philadelphia unit of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP)!
The Vanguard Party leading the International African Revolution once again has a base in Philadelphia.
The establishment of this unit is a natural step in the growing resistance to colonial domination led by the Uhuru Movement in Philadelphia, the seeds of which were planted nearly 50 years ago.
Beginnings in the 1970s
The African People’s Socialist Party has an extensive history in Philadelphia. In 1976, the Party participated in a mobilization organized by the Puerto Rican Socialist Party under the slogan “a Bicentennial without Colonies.”
Across the U.S. the bicentennial was being celebrated, representing the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the United States which claimed to be a beacon of peace and freedom while standing on the graves of the Indigenous peoples of this land and the oppressed peoples of the world.
Two short years later, the city of Philadelphia would declare war on the MOVE organization, launching their military assault on a MOVE house on August 8, 1978.
The police would shoot thousands of bullets into the MOVE house, eventually killing one of their own police and pinning the murder on MOVE members.
Later, in 1985, the city dropped a bomb on an entire Philadelphia African community in an attempt to eradicate the MOVE organization once and for all.
Eleven men, women and children in the MOVE organization were killed, many members of the community were made homeless and the entire community was left traumatized.
In immediate response to this attack, the Party mobilized to Philadelphia. The Party refused to allow Philadelphia to use this bombing as a means of terrorizing the African community into submission.
We refused to leave our community vulnerable and in a state of despair. So, under the rallying call “Reinforcements are on the way,” members of our Party began to pour into Philadelphia, and we would begin to establish a presence in the city.
Genuine economic development in Philadelphia
In the years following, the Party would begin to secure an economic foot.hold in Philadelphia through the establishment of the Uhuru Furniture Store & Collectables institution. To this today, the institution is celebrated throughout Philadelphia and has expanded through the establishment of the Uhuru On the Move moving service.
The One Africa! One Nation! Marketplace Flea Market has become another staple of the Philadelphia community.
This institution has, for nearly 20 years, waged the anti-gentrification struggle of bringing economic development to the African community through giving local Philly vendors a space to buy, sell and economically sustain themselves.
The newly re-established Philly Party unit will play a crucial role in the leadership of these institutions.
APSP Philly Chair is ready to build
Speaking to The Burning Spear, APSP Philadelphia Chair Matumb Um Nyobe said, “We’re just carrying out the mandate of the Party which is to establish Party units throughout the regions, and I have full faith in my comrades to push the work forward in Philly.
“One thing high on our agenda is building the One Africa! One Nation! Marketplace, and in order to have the marketplace truly grounded, it’s important that we build the entire movement locally.
“With this new Party unit, we’re also able to effectively build the different mass organizations of the Party. Our role in building the African National Women’s Organization’s (ANWO) recent Arrest CPS mobilization is one example of that.
“We’re ready to get into the communities and win our people to the line of African internationalism. It’s time to get organized.”
InPDUM Philly is the mass front
The International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) also has a Philly branch which will be working under the leader.ship of the Philly Party unit.
InPDUM is the leading mass organization under the leadership of the Party, created for the purpose of re-introducing African and other colonized people back into independent political life.
Through confronting the day-to-today attacks on our people from police murder to poor housing to gentrification and all other aspects of the lives of oppressed peoples, InPDUM adds the organizational and political theory necessary to tie these day to day struggles in our community to the greater struggle for the liberation of African people.
Through intervening in these struggles confronting our community and bringing our people into political organization, InPDUM transforms the oppressed African community into the mass front of the African revolution.
Do you love your brother?
Philadelphia is well known as the so-called “city of brotherly love.” We say that if you really love your brother, then you’ll understand that the ultimate show of love for your brother, or your sister, is joining a revolutionary organization to make sure that your brother is free.
Love by itself won’t protect our brothers and sisters, and we’re damn sure that the police won’t. The only way to ensure a future for our people, the highest expression of love for our people, is to build a revolutionary organization to free our people!
Build APSP Philly!
Build InPDUM Philly!
Reinforcements are on the way!
The Burning Spear newspaper is available around Philly! Get yours today at the following locations:
- Uhuru Furniture & Collectibles
832 N Broad St. - Creative Comp
1951 W. Passyunk Ave. - African Cultural Art Forum
221 S 52nd St. - People’s Barbershop
10 S 3rd Ave, Coatseville