From January 9th through January 11th, activists from around the U.S. will meet in St. Petersburg, Florida to discuss programs for building solidarity from the white community with the African liberation movement. The 3-day “International Conference on White Solidarity with Black Power” is an annual gathering of members and supporters of the African People’s Solidarity Committee (APSC).
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According to APSC Chairwoman Penny Hess, “As the worldwide economic crisis deepens and white people experience increasing job loss, homelessness, and financial insecurity, we are challenged to recognize that this is the natural outcome of a system that from the very beginning has stolen the resources, labor and land of African, Indigenous and other peoples in order to create the highest standard of living in the world for the majority of the white population living on a pedestal at the expense of everyone else.
“The challenge for us as white people is not to seek solutions for our crisis at the expense of African and oppressed peoples on whose backs we have lived, but to join in solidarity and create a new system built on justice, reparations and liberation for African and other oppressed peoples.”
Omali Yeshitela, Chairman of the African Socialist International and leader of the Uhuru Movement, will deliver the keynote presentation. Recently recognized by the University of South Florida Library with a special collection of his writings, the St. Petersburg-born revolutionary has traveled throughout the world spreading his message of African unity and self-determination.
Diop Olugbala, President of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement will present a multi-media review of the campaigns of the African People’s Socialist Party, from it’s inception in 1972 through its present day work in defense of the democratic rights of the black community. Olugbala led the contingent at Gibbs High School asking then presidential candidate Barack Obama, “What about the black community?” He is currently appealing a conviction stemming from a free speech protest of Philadelphia’s policing and budget policies.
The Conference program will include presentations and workshops on:
· A World Without Borders; The Significance of the African Nation
· Protest Movements vs. Struggle for African Workers’ State Power
· Practical Reparations and Material Solidarity with African Liberation
A special panel discussion on “Prisons, the Drug War and African Resistance – Military Occupation of the African Community and the Right to Resist” will take place on Monday, January 10 at 6:30pm.
Conference attendees will also receive trainings designed to prepare them to organize solidarity campaigns in their own neighborhoods, schools and churches, including to stop gentrification and police brutality, and to participate in fundraisers such as a Day in Solidarity with African People, the Uhuru Holiday Auction, Uhuru Foods and Uhuru Furniture stores.
The Conference takes place at the Uhuru House, located at 1245 18th Avenue S. in St. Petersburg, Florida and is open to the public. For registration information and a complete agenda, visit www.apscuhuru.org or call 727-683-9949.
