We salute the incredible work of Uhuru Pies, who launched their annual holiday pie sales campaign beginning in November and lasting throughout December. This work has brought the campaign to St. Louis with the launch of the Uhuru Bakery and Cafe!
This isn’t simply about the baking of delicious pies. Uhuru Pies is an institution of the Uhuru Movement that forwards African self-determination and helps set the ground for our independent African economy.
Uhuru Pies was born out of fundraising campaigns for the Uhuru Movement, under Chairman Omali Yeshitela’s leadership: from selling cookies at Grateful Dead concerts to food stands raising resources for the Free Dessie Woods campaign, Uhuru Foods and Pies for decades has been building economic power in our own hands–which has also meant the power of food production and distribution.
This is especially important because, as Chairman Omali says, under the colonial mode of production, Africans have been forced to produce and reproduce life for the colonizer, which has also included growing the food, preparing the food, teaching how to preserve the food, just to turn around and not have access to the food we’ve produced.
The value of the labor to produce the food, as well as the value of the food itself, is constantly robbed from Africans, making it impossible to produce and reproduce life for ourselves and guarantee our quality of life. With Uhuru Pies, we are seeing in real time what it looks like for African workers to seize the means of production.
This is why we also have to salute the brilliant work of Deputy Chair Ona Zene Yeshitela, who leads the economic work of the Uhuru Movement, which includes the exciting Uhuru Pies institution.
The work of Uhuru Pies involves local and global communities, taking in volunteers, working with local businesses and farmers for ingredient sourcing, and with the Bakery Cafe in St. Louis; and with the upcoming Uhuru Farm and our community garden, we’ll be able to grow and utilize our own ingredients for the pies and other menu items.
Supporting the work of Uhuru Pies is an active way we can organize to destroy the colonial mode of production. Purchasing a pie, volunteering in person or remotely, or even donating establishes your stake in this struggle.
You’re not simply a customer, you’re a comrade. You can join the fight with every bite!
Visit UhuruPies.org to learn more about how to get these tasty pies and/or how you can support this institution!
Power in our own hands!
Build African self-determination!
