“Solidarity, not charity!” was one of the chants at the African People’s Solidarity Committee (APSC) 2018 National Conference, on January 7th and 8th themed “Unity Through Reparations.”
Over 70 attendees, mostly white people, from all around the country, gathered in the beautiful Akwaaba Hall in the historic Uhuru House in St. Petersburg, Florida for this annual meeting of white solidarity with black power to learn more about white people’s role under the African Revolution in this period and moving forward. There were also public viewing parties watching the livestream of the conference in Oakland, CA and Seattle, WA, as well as viewers from all around the world.
What is the African People’s Solidarity Committee?
The African People’s Solidarity Committee is the cadre organization of white people which was formed by and works under the direct leadership of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP), the revolutionary political party and vanguard of the African working class.
As Chairman Omali Yeshitela of the APSP stated, “Our objective is the total unification and liberation of African people around the world.”
The African People’s Solidarity Committee, formed by the APSP in 1976, is an organization of the APSP and a part of the strategy for African people to achieve their own liberation through their own means, which includes the control of their own resources which have been stolen from them and hoarded into the white world for over 600 years.
“We owe reparations… No strings attached!”
APSP Chairman Omali cited how the Party’s strategy for the question of white people has been challenged in the past: “Why would white people work against their own interest?” He explained how it is entirely in the interests of white people to take a stand against our own ruling class and this system built on slavery, genocide and rape, thereby “ending your self-imposed isolation from the rest of humanity.”
Chairwoman Penny Hess of the African People’s Solidarity Committee, and the first white person to take the stance of reparations to African people, called for genuine white revolutionaries to go into the white community to win other white people to return the stolen resources from African people hoarded in the white community back into African hands, “no strings attached,” for African liberation. “We owe reparations,” she said with a finality that brought the audience to great applause.
Participants in the conference and online viewers put their money where their mouths were and contributed over $130,000 to the work of the African People’s Socialist Party.
The Black Power Blueprint: African people preparing to govern
The African People’s Solidarity Committee and its mass organization the Uhuru Solidarity Movement’s main work is raising reparations to the economic and political programs and institutions of the African People’s Socialist Party.
In this period, this means raising resources to the Black Power Blueprint campaign which is building independent black power socialist institutions for African self-determination and self-reliance, such as the Uhuru House community center, Uhuru Jiko commercial kitchen, a community garden and a marketplace in St Louis, MO.
As the Chairman says, St. Louis is the “protest center of the world” after the infamous murder of African teenager Mike Brown and the righteous Ferguson rebellions of the African working class against their continuous oppression by The State.
APSP Deputy Chairwoman Ona Zené Yeshitela is boldly marshalling the economic and human resources of the Uhuru Movement and its supporters to achieve success in this historic project.
The Black Power Blueprint is forming institutions and the ability for African people to achieve self-determination and to prepare to seize economic and political power for self-government, a socialist government of the African working class.
“We’re committed to go all the way until Africa is free!”
Leaders of the various projects and initiatives of the solidarity work gave reports on their 2017 achievements and set forth their goals for 2018, in many cases to double and even triple their work from 2017. Various workshops and videos engaged the audience, delving into such topics as revolution, socialism, democratic centralism, and the meaning of cadre.
Several members of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement attending the conference stepped forward to become cadres as new members of the African People’s Solidarity Committee.
APSC Secretary General Alison Hoehne declared, “We’re committed to go all the way until Africa is free!”
For more reports, photos and videos from this life-changing conference, go to apscuhuru.org
