Elections

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.

LONDON––The press announced the death of 84-year-old Etienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba on Wednesday, February 1st, 2017. The main leader of the opposition to the regime of Kabila in the Congo was dead, in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, where he was treated for pulmonary embolism. 

Today, Tshisekedi’s UDPS (Union for Democracy and Social Progress) created in 1982, is the largest national organization in the Congo today and enjoys huge support and prestige amongst the poorest and most dynamic sectors of the African working class, as well as support from the African petty bourgeoisie throughout Congo.

Newly hatched mayoral candidate Jesse Nevel officially launched his challenge to incumbent St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman Wednesday morning with a pledge to end poverty and misery on the city's historically black south side.

Nevel, a 27-year-old member of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement—a group of white activists that stands with the African People's Socialist Movement (also known as Uhuru)—launched his bid with a striking slogan: "Unity through Reparations." It's the idea that the city should invest more resources in leveling the playing field for the city's African-American population. Some 20,000 or so people on the south side live below the poverty level and many are plagued with disproportionate rates of addiction and homelessness. And the few opportunities available to many residents are low-wage retail and service jobs that keep the city's tourism economy going. That has to stop, Nevel said.

On Monday, March 6, 2017, 20-year-old Eritha “Akilé” Cainion threw her hat into the race to become the next councilperson for District 6 in St. Petersburg. She made the announcement while standing in front of the recently shutdown St. Petersburg, Florida Walmart with her proud parents and a group of enthusiastic supporters.

 
“I am 20 years old and for all these 20 years I have lived in this city, specifically in this neighborhood. In all these 20 years, the St. Petersburg city government has done nothing but work against the black community. I have entered this election because the black community is and has been under assault by the leaders of this city,” declared Akilé.

After only one week of being in office, U.S. president Donald John Trump signed an executive order that bans immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries from traveling to the U.S. on Friday, January 27, 2017.

The countries included in the ban are Somalia, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan and Iran. They are mostly-Muslim countries but more importantly, their people are involved in active resistance against U.S. and European imperialism.

Trump stated while signing the order that it was to "keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America.” He continued, “We don't want them here."

Donald John Trump was inaugurated as the president of U.S. on January 20, 2017. He became the 45th president to take office.

He began his inauguration speech by thanking the past U.S. presidents that were present at the ceremony, including Barack Obama, whom Trump claimed a fierce opposition to during his campaign.

This shows that Trump is aligned with imperialism and simply used backlash against the black president to consolidate the white working class.

Donald John Trump was inaugurated as the president of U.S. on January 20, 2017. He became the 45th U.S. president to take office.

He began his inauguration speech by thanking the past U.S. presidents that were present at the ceremony, including Barack Obama, whom Trump claimed a fierce opposition to during his campaign.

This shows that Trump is aligned with imperialism and simply used backlash against the black president to consolidate the white working class.

About a week after white people overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump, the Women’s March on Washington was born.

The march, also known as the “White” Women’s March in some black women circles, burst onto the scene claiming to come to the defense of marginalized women who were targeted by the “rhetoric of the past election cycle.”

Like me, you might be asking yourself how the Women’s March organizers intend to come to the defense of the African and Arab women, as well as women of other oppressed nations.

It has been a month and a half since Donald Trump was elected president of the U.S. on November 8, 2016. Since then, he has been busy consolidating the team of people who will assist him in continuing the U.S. legacy of violent imperialist and colonial domination against Africans and oppressed peoples.

He appointed the white nationalist Alabama politician Jeffrey Sessions to position of attorney general. Sessions is quoted by several people as saying how he “admired” the KKK and once called an African assistant general attorney for the state of Alabama “boy,” according to independent journalist Sarah Wildman.