Special Features

According to the World Heath Organization, there is an estimated 125 million girls and women throughout the world who have been subjected to a practice called female genital mutilation (FGM), a majority of whom lives in Africa and the Middle East.

FGM is the removing or altering of the external genitalia of girls and young women, which is a centuries-old practice that predates modern religion.

Supporters of this practice provide various reasons for maintaining it, often citing cultural traditions. Opponents of FGM provide a long list of medical and moral reasons why it should end.

Whatever the medical or cultural reasons given for or against FGM, the African National Women’s Organization (ANWO) is clear that, at its core, female genital mutilation further limits the freedom of African women and girls who are already suffering under colonial domination.

Therefore, we unite with the African People’s Socialist Party’s position to end the mutilation of women that reads:

“African women also find themselves locked into backward social practices that have assumed the weight of culture. Genital mutilation is one of the most obvious of such practices.

“While there is a debate on whether this practice was introduced into Africa by Arabs or other external forces, the fact remains that genital mutilation is a brutal method used in attempt to guarantee male inheritance rights by limiting the sexual freedom of women.”

There has been much discussion in both bourgeois and independent media centered around the bodies and identities of transgender people.

This has especially been the case over the course of the current political period generally characterized by deepening imperialist instability as well as conscious and unconscious struggle against the status quo.

We see the visibility of transgender and gender nonconforming people in popular culture.

We also see the LGBTQIA+ struggle for equality against discriminatory policies such as the so-called bathroom bills.

These bills, under the pretense of public safety, deny transgender and gender nonconforming people the right to utilize the public restroom accommodations that best correspond to their gendered identity.

Somewhere amidst the bourgeois feminist milieu is mention of the persisting murder, dehumanization and brutalization of African transgender people.

It is through African Internationalism that the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP), the Uhuru Movement and its component mass organizations have on different fronts offered a dialectical and historical materialist accounting of the colonial, capitalist social system that gives life to the oppression of African and other colonized people throughout the world

Uhuru Buzz Words is the glossary of the African People's Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement. The Buzz Words appear in every issue of The Burning Spear newspaper and function to help outline for our readers the meanings of some of the terms that appear in our article.

Many of the buzz words, though very much applicable to today's struggle for African liberation, are bastardized by the bourgeoisie or may seem like "dead words" to the general masses.

Hence, the Uhuru Buzz Words help to deepen the political education of the masses.

I have seen my fair share of sell-out politicians try to sell their lies to the black community to get our votes. So when two honest and committed comrades who I know and have worked with for years told me they were entering the electoral arena, I was ecstatic.

Jesse Nevel announced his candidacy for Mayor of the City of St. Petersburg, Florida on March 8th, 2017.

The 27-year-old is best known for his work as the National Chair of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement (USM), the organization of white people working under the leadership of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP), organizing for reparations to the black community.

ST. PETERSBURG, FL––Eritha “Akilé” Cainion Cainion threw her hat into the race to become the next councilperson for District 6 in St. Pete on Monday, March 6, 2017. The 22-year-old African woman made the announcement during a press conference held in front of the recently shutdown Walmart with her proud parents and a group of enthusiastic supporters.

Eritha’s participation in the local white ruling class electoral process of St. Pete is different from any other election in recent U.S. history due to her committed relationship and work within revolutionary organizations.

Ever since I came into adulthood, I have always understood my oppression as a non-white woman, gender non-conforming and same-gender-loving person, among other marginalized, intersecting identities. However, this understanding was steeped in liberal ideology; my understanding was initially informed by a white, colonial narrative.

Jesse Nevel, candidate for Mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida, explains the mission of his campaign to "unite the city around a progressive agenda" centered on reparations and economic development for the black community, social justice and empowerment of the people and neighborhoods.