On September 3, the first day of the Uhuru 3 trial, members of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) – South Africa from the Kokosi branch and greater Evaton branch, together with supporters of the Hands Off Uhuru Fight Back Coalition converged in Pretoria to march on the U.S Embassy. The message was clear and simple: drop the charges against the Uhuru 3.
This message was clearly visible from our placards and banners that we carried, as well as our voices that sang the songs and shouted the chants throughout the streets and at the embassy. When we got to the embassy, we read the memorandum that was to be delivered to the administrators. The memorandum laid out the political background of the indictments, as well as citing all the events that took place leading up to the September 3 trial. Our representative signed the memorandum together with the representatives of the U.S Embassy and the police as witnesses.
At the march, we were escorted by state police as per the protocol of demonstrations in the cities and towns of South Africa. The police, though they may individually come from the working class, when they are in uniform, they represent the ruling class. Based on their class and national background, it is possible to win their sympathy by exposing them to the relationship between the colonial mode of production and the superstructure.
It is from the objective of maintaining the colonial mode of production that Africa continues to be divided by bogus borders. Also it is with the same objective that the FBI indicted Chairman Omali Yeshitela and the Uhuru 3 on bogus charges of being agents of a foreign government. They do this and we beat them. The March on the Pretoria U.S Embassy, together with all the actions across the world to defend the Uhuru 3, led to the victory of a not-guilty verdict on the more serious charge of being agents of the Russian government.