The Importance of Race, Class, and Territorial Sovereignty in Panama Amid Trump’s Canal Threats

Analysis: The Importance of Race, Class, and Territorial Sovereignty in Panama Amid Trump’s Canal Threats

by Chevy Solís Acevedo y Janvieve Williams Comrie

Donald Trump’s recent threats to reclaim control of the Panama Canal represent an attack on Panamanian sovereignty and reflect imperialist attitudes that have historically marginalized Black communities. These statements, made in the context of a complex political landscape in Panama, require analysis through the lenses of race, class, and territorial sovereignty. From the labor of Caribbean workers who built the Canal to the current struggles for equitable resource distribution, understanding these intersections is essential to addressing U.S. intervention threats and the policies of Panama’s right-wing administration.,,

Banner photo: Man holding sign at “demostraciones contra la mineria extractivista” in Panama. 2023 (courtesy afroresistance.org).

The Biden Administration Fails to Win Imprisonment of the Uhuru 3

The Biden Administration Fails to Win Imprisonment of the Uhuru 3

Members of the Uhuru Movement, Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess, and Jesse Nevel – the “Uhuru 3” – were sentenced to three years probation and community service after being convicted in September 2024 of supposedly conspiring with the Russian government to interfere in U.S. elections. The Black Alliance for Peace recognizes that this sentence is confirmation that the charges against Uhuru members by the Biden Administration Justice Department were baseless. While any sentence handed down from imperialist courts for actions that are supposed to be legally protected are, in themselves, illegitimate, the refusal of the judge to incarcerate the Uhuru 3 is a victory in the fight against a repressive US regime, regardless of which wing of the finance capital bird leads it.

“The attack on the African People's Socialist Party and Uhuru Movement was intended as an attack against the Black liberation movement in a pathetic move to intimidate into silence and non-resistance the most consistent anti-imperialist force in the United States of America - the revolutionary African working class,” stated Ajamu Baraka, Chair of the Coordinating Committee of the Black Alliance for Peace. “What the state did not understand was that, no matter what the outcome would have been in the sentencing of the Uhuru 3, the resistance efforts on the part of our movement were going to intensify in 2025. Our movement cannot be intimidated by state actions.” 

The government’s weak case was punctuated by its own witness admitting, under oath, that no evidence was found that proved the three defendants were agents of the Russian government. But the overwhelming volume of that meaningless “evidence” also confused the jury into finding the three guilty of conspiring to do something that there was no evidence that they did. This is not logical. But logic is never the goal of the government when it comes to silencing dissent, which was certainly the goal of the Biden Administration in this case.

It is interesting to note that it was a Trump-appointed judge who exposed the glaring contradiction in the indictment and conviction of the Uhuru 3. During the sentencing, he declared that the group’s actions were protected political speech that caused no harm, and must be allowed – “or it gets chilled.” The irony of a Trump appointee defending free speech in a trial meant to imprison Africans for exercising it should be lost on no one.

The U.S. left also played a role in this two-year ordeal by acquiescing to the threat of Democrat-led government repression with little resistance and deafening silence. Whether due to fear of being next, because of their belief in the Democrat-created lie of Russiagate, or because of their own internal Russophobia, or worse, anti-communism (even though Russia is not a communist country any longer), the lack of support given to the Uhuru 3 reminds U.S.-based African anti-imperialists that we are largely on our own. We understand, therefore, that our greatest strength is in international solidarity with like-minded and focused peoples around the world.

BAP reiterates its unwavering support for the Uhuru 3 and congratulates them on this outcome. We also recognize that this is but one small victory in a larger, ongoing battle against imperialist repression that we must continue to fight. The 60 Stop Cop City protesters facing RICO charges in Atlanta are next on the firing line of the same repressive Democrat-led government. We should not merely hope for a sympathetic judge, Trump-appointed or otherwise, to stand between the people exercising our rights and the state trying to deny them and criminalize us.

BAP declares that we are at war. We must fight against this system regardless of who is in power.  But we are not fighting alone. We fight with the entire anti-imperialist world already engaged in the struggle against a U.S. regime that represses us all.

No Compromise, No Retreat

Banner photo: Uhuru 3 and supporter outside of the Sam Gibbons U.S. District Courthouse in Tampa after their sentencing hearings. (Courtesy, Douglas R. Clifford | Tampa Bay Times)

Syria: The Return to the Scene of Obama’s Crime

Syria: The Return to the Scene of Obama’s Crime 

The U.S. Must Stop Supporting Right-Wing Forces to Advance Its’ Geopolitical Agenda

Around the world, many hoped that the Russia-negotiated agreement in 2020 between the Syrian, government and the coterie of right-wing Jihadist forces, common criminals and other forces against the government of President Bashar Al-Assad, would finally end the nightmare of war, displacement, torture, and mindless destruction suffered by the Syrian people – victims of  U.S. plans to overthrow all the major nations in the Middle-East that might challenge continued U.S. domination. However, just a few days ago, like cancer, the disease of U.S. imperialism has suddenly metastasized. The Black Alliance for Peace argues that current U.S. imperialist actions in Syria need to be placed in a historical context. It is important to remember that the vicious subversion of Syria, which began in earnest in 2011, was only one of the two criminal assaults that year on nations perceived to be obstacles to U.S. regional hegemony. The other under U.S. assault was  Libya. In Libya, however, the Western-orchestrated assault resulted in not only the overthrow of the government but the country’s leader, Muammar Gaddafi, being raped and murdered by the right-wing Jihadist friends of the U.S.

Linking the U.S. imperialist assault on Syria to that of Libya is important because it informs how the few authentic anti-imperialist forces that still exist in the U.S. understand and articulate opposition to the moves being made by U.S. and Western imperialism in their desperate attempts to avoid the inevitable end of white world dominance. Our positionality in relationship to the Pan-European white supremacist colonial/capitalist patriarchy compels us to remind our friends and sometimes allies, that they cannot pretend to be in solidarity with Palestine and then cheer on the overthrow of one of the few states in the world that has never turned its back on Palestinian people, no matter what one might think of the internal politics of the Syrian state.

Such concerns about the nature of the Syrian state became a cover for defending U.S. imperialism and were expressed by dishonest actors or those who were politically naive. Now that the U.S.-backed jihadists have emerged triumphant hope for authentic self-determination for the Syrian people has once again been delayed. 

Trump’s absurd claim that the U.S. does not have anything to do with Syria is only a reflection of why he will never gain full control over the state and non-state apparatus that is directing U.S. foreign policy. The notion that whoever is sitting in the white house represents the final and only power of the U.S. state is dangerously naive. Just recall when Secretary of State John Kerry negotiated a ceasefire with Russia in Deir Ezzor, Syria only to have it ignored by his generals and CIA.   

Reigniting the war in Syria will prolong the tragedy experienced by the people of Syria since 2011. The Black Alliance for Peace will continue to monitor the situation and will not hesitate to reveal the facts as we find them.

Black Alliance for Peace Welcomes Amnesty International’s Report on Genocide in Gaza

Black Alliance for Peace Welcomes Amnesty International’s Report on Genocide in Gaza

For Immediate Release

Media Contact

press@blackallianceforpeace.com

(202) 643-1136

December 5, 2024 — The Amnesty International report unambiguously recognizing the barbaric assault on the occupied and oppressed people of Palestine and Gaza specifically as a genocide is a welcome departure from many of the tentative and unprincipled allusions to genocide without calling it genocide issued by a number of other human rights organizations and United Nations bodies, including the International Criminal Court.

According to Ajamu Baraka, director of the Black Alliance for Peace’s forthcoming “North-South Project for People(s)-Centered Human Rights, “The deliberate, systematic degradation and dehumanization of Palestinians resulting in the physical destruction of tens of thousands of Palestinians, the majority of whom are women and children have all occurred right before the eyes of the world. As we watched the wholesale obliteration of their cities, refugee camps, hospitals, civilian infrastructure, cultural and religious sites, food storage facilities and schools, the starvation policy, blockage of medical supplies, murdering doctors and medical workers, torture chambers where prisoners are raped and tortured to death, the Western world not only turned away from the horrific suffering of Palestinians but rationalized and cheered it on. That is why we say that the racist crimes of the fascists in Israel are also the crimes of the “collective West,” who fled to protect the fundamental human rights of the Palestinian people,” 

The Amnesty International report states that the government of Israel “imposed conditions of life in Gaza that created a deadly mixture of malnutrition, hunger and diseases, and exposed Palestinians to a slow, calculated death.” These actions by the Israeli regime correspond precisely with three of the definitions of genocide reflected in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; “a) Killing members of the group; b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”

However, something significant about the Amnesty report is that it concludes that the actions by the Israeli authorities did not merely “appear to be genocidal” or “be perceived to be corresponding to genocide,” but declares definitively that there was “genocidal intent.”

“Palestinians are human and have human rights, but the vaulted “responsibility to protect” asserted by the liberal Western human rights industry and Western states was not executed to protect Palestinians. Why? The Black Alliance will say what the report and others will not say. The genocide being carried out by Israel and the United States is supported because the Palestinians have been racialized as non-white, and, therefore, “killable.” This crime is the crime of the century and makes all who did not actively oppose it, rationalized it, or voted for it, morally complicit” says Mr. Baraka.

The Black Alliance for Peace “North-South Project for People(s)-Centered Human Rights will launch on December 10, 2024. 

Banner photo: Woman standing amidst rubble (courtesy Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The Face of the White People's House May Have Changed but the War on the Oppressed Working Class Hasn't

No Matter Who Sits in the White Peoples’ House the War Being Waged by the U.S. Colonial/Capitalist Class Against the Black Colonized Working Class and All Oppressed Peoples and Nations Will Continue

“Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories...” (Amilcar Cabral)

It was under the Democrats and the first “Black” president that the Department of Defense 1033 program that militarizes local police forces was expanded by 2,400%; the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) expanded by 1,900%; Libya, the most prosperous African and Pan African nation was attacked and destroyed; the war on Yemen began; the Occupy Wall Street Movement was smashed; the FBI created the “Black Identity Extremist” label; the banks were bailed out from the economic collapse that they created, but not the working class; Black people lost more wealth  than was lost at the end of Reconstruction in 1870s; and, despite police killings across the country, including Mike Brown in Ferguson, the Obama administration only brought Federal charges against one killer-cop.  Yet, with the return of Trump, opportunists in our communities and beyond are telling us that the real culprits in our oppression and the targets for opposition are Trump and republicans. 

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) rejects this kind of ahistorical opportunism.

We are clear. The anti-democratic duopoly is made up of representatives of the capitalist class and provides cover for what is, in reality, the dictatorship of capital. In this, the duopoly reveals the class nature of the state. This dictatorship, the true enemy of the people, is the target of our agitation and organizing.

Focusing attention on the Trumpian wing of the capitalist class as the primary or principal contradiction facing the people in the U.S. or in the world, obscures the reality that the dominant wing of capital, finance capital, along with the U.S. based transnational corporations, have captured and are operating through both parties. However, it is the democratic party wing of the dictatorship of capital that has championed what is popularly referred to as neoliberalism. Neoliberalism, first given coherence under Ronald Reagan, eventually migrated to the democratic party under Bill Clinton and the Democratic Leadership Council, whose “third way politics” aligned with both neoliberals and neoconservatives (neocons). Trumpism is the particular (national) manifestation of the global crisis of neoliberal capitalism. The republican party’s capture of the executive and all branches of government will not resolve the structural contradictions of neoliberal capital. What we can expect, then, is the strengthening of the repressive state apparatus and more targeted repression. To be clear, this process would have continued under a Harris administration because Harris promised to maintain the same trajectory of state repression in the name of capital. Because of the bipartisan jettisoning of liberal democratic and human rights in favor of the capitalist order, it does not matter which individual is sitting in the white peoples’ house. Therefore, the correct approach for opposition forces is one that grounds the people’s understanding of the objective structural contradictions of the capitalist order and that builds their capacity to struggle against that order  – regardless of which wing of the duopoly represents it. Focusing on only one part of the duopoly is akin to focusing on only one faction of the capitalist class.

Despite any rhetoric to the contrary, BAP expects Trump will govern as a neoliberal. That is why certain elements of the ruling class turned to him again.  Continued austerity, especially at the state and local levels, will persist, as well as privatization of public assets, tax breaks for the capitalist class, the suppression and repression of labor, fiscal and monetary policies that prop-up capitalist profits and undermine human rights and, of course, the targeted use of military power to advance the interests of the capitalist dictatorship. We believe, however, that Trump will make as his main mission the primary concern of the neoliberal elite:  smashing the movement toward de-dollarization.

We cannot afford to have any illusions or harbor any sentimentality about the nature of this system. As we organize in political spaces controlled by Black democrats, it would be suicidal if we did not understand the role these neocolonial puppets play – primarily against any organized opposition – in the war that capital is waging against the people. Under Biden-Harris, we saw  police, judicial, and media suppression of mobilizations in solidarity with the Palestinian people, the student intifada, the Uhuru 3, African Stream media, and many others. And it is no coincidence that so-called “cop cities” are being constructed across the country in those urban areas being managed by Black democrat party functionaries or, what Black Agenda Report refers to as the “Black Misleadership Class.”  

This corrupted Black petit-bourgeois professional/managerial class, positioned in government, corporate and non-profit sectors, provides the buffer and role models for individual material advancement at the expense of the Black working class.

And while we are dealing with cop cities, we also understand what is coming with the mass deportations of non-white migrants and the violent law and order rhetoric that is already emanating from the Trumpian forces. But let us not forget that, under the Biden-Harris regime, mass deportations rose by 250 percent, of which Harris campaigned on being “tough” on the border. Anti-immigrant rhetoric is also bipartisan.

Like all people, we want to live decent, prosperous lives in peace and in harmony with all humanity and nature. But we are going to have to fight for peace. And for that struggle BAP is guided by the principles of the Black radical peace tradition that states clearly: 

Peace is not the absence of conflict, but rather the achievement by popular struggle and self-defense of a world liberated from the interlocking issues of global conflict, nuclear armament and proliferation, unjust war, and subversion through the defeat of global systems of oppression that include colonialism, imperialism, patriarchy, and white supremacy.

That is the task and the responsibility that we take on. We are not afraid of any individual or oppressive system. We gladly take on this fight with the certainty that one day we will defeat the Pan European white supremacist colonial/capitalist patriarchy that is the enemy of collective humanity. 

The struggles and sacrifices being made by the Palestinian peoples to defend their dignity and popular sovereignty is the example we embrace. This is why we say that, no matter the circumstances, no matter the challenge, no matter the intensity of the repression, we are building on the sacrifices of our people and guided by revolutionary principles. Our call will always be:

No Compromise, No Retreat! 

Coordinating Committee, Black Alliance for Peace

Banner photo: split image of U.S. Presidents Joe Biden, Barak Obama, Donald Trump, and Ronald Reagan, courtesy Fox News.

MOLEGHAF: UPDATE ON ARMED ATTACKS IN Port-au-Prince

MOLEGHAF: UPDATE ON ARMED ATTACKS IN Port-au-Prince

For Immediate Release

Media Contact

communications@blackallianceforpeace.com

(202) 643-1136

OCTOBER 22ND, 2024 – On October 20th, 2024, the National Movement for Liberty and Equality of Haitians for Fraternity (Mouvement National pour la Liberté et L’égalité des Haïtiens pour la Fraternité, MOLEGHAF), a member organization of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP), issued a statement on the increasing violence perpetrated by the paramilitary group “Viv Ansanm” (or “Live Together”) in Solino, Fò Nasyonal, Nazon, Kriswa and other nearby popular neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince. 

MOLEGHAF asserts that this escalation in paramilitary violence is rooted in the neocolonial Haitian state’s collaboration with the United States and other colonial powers, all working to maintain their criminal political agenda and keep Haiti under occupation: 

The sellout Haitian bourgeoisie, at the service of U.S. imperialism, controls our country. This is Full Spectrum Dominance. The ruling class seeks to break the back of all forms of Haitian resistance. By burning our neighborhoods down, they exterminate our very ability to resist. While the United Nations is allegedly sanctioning and embargoing weapons and bullets, the murderous group “LIVE TOGETHER” magically has access to hundreds of thousands of U.S. weapons. 

MOLEGHAF stresses that “US and Western imperialism” have targeted their neighborhoods since “at least our national uprising in 2021.” The attacks on their communities continue “even though hundreds of Kenyan troops now occupy us”. As the Haitian elite uses paramilitaries to crush popular Haitian resistance, MOLEGHAF describes the deteriorating situation:

None of us are free to leave our homes. We don’t know which way to go. The bloodthirsty death squads kill the poor and unfortunate inside their shacks.They burn through homes and memories. We, the population of Solino, have resisted this barbarism for 1 year and 7 months. Stand with us, We need help! The neocolonial Haitian state lays the basis of these massacres. We cannot continue in this situation.Solidarity is our only hope. 

The Black Alliance for Peace calls on the masses, especially those within the heart of the empire, to stand in solidarity with MOLEGHAF. We reiterate that if there is no peace, justice, and popular sovereignty for the Haitian masses, there can be no Zone of Peace in the Americas. We support MOLEGHAF’s efforts to provide the correct, radical analysis of its current predicament: that the ruling classes in Haiti, under the supervision of Western imperialists, “are seeking to break the back of the popular social movements.” We say NO to US-sponsored violence and repression in Haiti and YES to self-determination and freedom!!

Until the last rock is thrown

Until the last poem is written

Until the last voudou is sung

MOLEGHAF will resist alongside the heroic Haitian people!

Support MOLEGHAF’s fight for democracy in Haiti.
Donate to our people-to-people fundraiser here: ttps://www.gofundme.com/f/support-moleghaf-peoples-democracy-in-haiti

MOLEGHAF: ACTUALIZACIÓN DE LOS ATAQUES ARMADOS EN PUERTO PRÍNCIPE

Para publicación inmediata
Contacto con los medios de comunicación
communications@blackallianceforpeace.com
(202) 643-1136

22 DE OCTUBRE DE 2024 - El 17 de octubre de 2024, el Movimiento Nacional por la Libertad y la Igualdad de los Haitianos por la Fraternidad (Mouvement National pour la Liberté et L'égalité des Haïtiens pour la Fraternité, MOLEGHAF), organización miembro de la Alianza Negra por la Paz (BAP), ha emitido un comunicado sobre la creciente violencia perpetrada por el grupo paramilitar “Viv Ansanm” (o “Vivir Juntos”) en Solino, Fò Nasyonal, Nazon, Kriswa y otros barrios populares cercanos de Puerto Príncipe. 

MOLEGHAF afirma que esta escalada de violencia paramilitar tiene sus raíces en la colaboración del estado neocolonial haitiano con los Estados Unidos y otras potencias coloniales, todos trabajando para mantener su agenda política criminal y mantener a Haití bajo ocupación: 

La burguesía haitiana vendida, al servicio del imperialismo estadounidense, controla nuestro país. Es la dominación de espectro completo. La clase dominante busca quebrar la espalda de toda forma de resistencia haitiana. Al quemar nuestros barrios, exterminan nuestra capacidad de resistencia. Mientras las Naciones Unidas supuestamente sancionan y embargan armas y balas, el grupo asesino “VIVIR JUNTOS” mágicamente tiene acceso a cientos de miles de armas estadounidenses. 

MOLEGHAF subraya que «el imperialismo estadounidense y occidental» han atacado sus barrios desde «al menos nuestro levantamiento nacional en 2021». Los ataques a sus comunidades continúan «a pesar de que cientos de tropas kenianas nos ocupan ahora». Mientras la élite haitiana utiliza a los paramilitares para aplastar la resistencia popular haitiana, MOLEGHAF describe el deterioro de la situación:

Ninguno de nosotros podemos salir de nuestros hogares. No sabemos qué camino tomar.                                      Los sanguinarios escuadrones de la muerte matan a los pobres y desafortunados dentro de                                  sus chozas. Queman hogares y recuerdos. Nosotros, la población de Solino, hemos resistido a esta                barbarie durante 1 año y 7 meses. Apoyenos, ¡necesitamos ayuda! El estado neocolonial haitiano                    sienta las bases de estas masacres. No podemos continuar en esta situación. La solidaridad es                      nuestra única esperanza. 

La Alianza Negra por la Paz llama a las masas, especialmente a todos ubicados dentro del corazón del imperio, a solidarizarse con MOLEGHAF. Reiteramos que si no hay paz, justicia y soberanía popular para las masas haitianas, no puede existir una “Zona de Paz” en las Américas. Apoyamos los esfuerzos de MOLEGHAF para proporcionar el análisis correcto y radical de su situación actual: que las clases dominantes en Haití, bajo la supervisión de los imperialistas occidentales, «están tratando de romper la espalda de los movimientos sociales populares.» Decimos NO a la violencia y la represión patrocinadas por EEUU en Haití y ¡SÍ a la autodeterminación y la libertad!

Hasta que se lance la última piedra
Hasta que se escriba el último poema
Hasta que se cante el último voudou
¡MOLEGHAF resistirá junto al heroico pueblo haitiano!

Apoya la lucha de MOLEGHAF por la democracia en Haití.

Haz un donativo a nuestra recaudación de fondos pueblo a pueblo aquí: ttps://www.gofundme.com/f/support-moleghaf-peoples-democracy-in-haiti

We Must Not Surrender to Totalitarianism

Resistance to Oppression is a Human Right

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) recognizes that we are in a moment of increased and increasingly dangerous political repression. Peoples’ resistance to oppressive, militaristic, and genocidal policies enacted by the U.S. national security apparatus are once again being met with persecution, marginalization, violence, and even lawfare. The latest example being the sanctioning of Samidoun, an organization advocating on behalf of Palestinian prisoners, as an operation supporting a group that the U.S. state designated as a “terrorist” organization. 

BAP is not interested in debating the merits of these charges because the weight of evidence on state actions suggests that the state bears the responsibility to prove that it is not engaged in another crude effort to smash all opposition to zionist settler colonial fascism. Having lost the narrative on its support for the zionist apartheid state and bogged down in another militaristic adventure in Ukraine, we see an almost desperate attempt by the U.S. political elite (and its Western minions) to crush dissent. It is using a variety of tools: federal and local police, the propaganda apparatus in the form of the corporate media, and the legal system.

Just in the last year, this infrastructure of repression has been weaponized against independent media such as African Stream, which was deplatformed from Meta, Google, and TikTok after U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken claimed, without evidence, that the site is controlled by Russia. Radio Sputnik was also forced to end its programming, and the U.S. FBI convicted the “Uhuru 3” – Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess & Jesse Nevil – on conspiracy charges. Meanwhile, the violent crackdown of pro-Palestine/anti-genocide student protests across college campuses continues. 

The punishment of those who openly oppose U.S. government policies, particularly in opposition to U.S. support of zionist occupation and genocide, is in full swing as the state and its foreign state agents, like AIPAC and the ADL, move to designate organizations, entities, or individuals that support Palestinian resistance as “terrorists” or supporters of “terrorism.” The objective of this repression is not just to silence political opposition, but to criminalize it – totalitarianism in practice.  

We in the Black Alliance for Peace fully understand the dangerous times we are in. Yet, we remain unyieldingly committed to our principles, to People(s)-Centered Human Rights, to people’s liberation struggles, and to the right of all individuals and people to resist colonialism, dictatorship, global imperialist warmongering, and all forms of oppression. For BAP, “No Compromise, No Retreat!” is more than a slogan. Ultimately, it is our response to the deepening repression; and it is an affirmation of the ongoing struggle that must be waged in order to finally defeat the dark forces of oppression and build a new world.

Black Alliance for Peace Denounces the Renewal of the U.S.-Kenya Mission to Haiti // La Alianza Negra por la Paz denuncia la renovación de la misión de EE.UU. y Kenia en Haití

The Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti Needs to End

• OCTOBER 14, 2024— The Haiti/Americas Team of the Black Alliance for Peace strongly denounces the UN Security Council’s vote to extend the U.S. funded, Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission in Haiti. We assert that any U.S./UN-led armed intervention in Haiti is not only unjustifiable but also unlawful. We stand with the Haitian people and civil society groups who have consistently opposed foreign armed intervention, arguing that Haiti’s issues stem from ongoing and long-standing interference by the U.S., the UN, and the Core Group. 

On Monday, September 30th, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution extending for one year the authorization for the MSS mission to Haiti, which claims to help quell rampant gang violence. Yet, the mission will only be the latest in a line of failed interventions aimed at denying the popular sovereignty of the Haitian people. Prior to this vote, members of the Black Alliance for Peace’s Haiti/Americas Team delivered letters to the permanent UN Missions and Embassies of several countries represented on the UN Security Council, asking them to support the Haitian masses and oppose ongoing U.S.-orchestrated armed intervention. A public version of this letter appears here. While our letters were unsuccessful, we will continue to mobilize against this expanding intervention, which lacks legitimacy: the MSS was authorized under an illegitimate U.S.-installed Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, and deployed through the nine-member “Presidential Council” and Prime Minister, neither of which has any legal status or legitimacy in Haiti.

Though the Biden administration has halted its efforts to convert the MSS into an official United Nations Peacekeeping operation, we understand that a full, long-term foreign military occupation of Haiti is the eventual goal of the U.S. and its neocolonial proxies. We warn that the U.S. aims to use Haiti as a staging ground for a permanent military base in the region to, as articulated in its foreign policy documents, secure “U.S. national security and interests” and manage rival powers, presumably Russia and China.

In a time of global upheaval, marked by a live-streamed genocide in Gaza and violent clashes between cartels and police in Mexico, it is perplexing that the U.S., France, and Canada continue to call for the foreign occupation of Haiti — a country that, while facing internal conflicts, does not threaten regional or global security. We once again call on the international community to respect Haitian sovereignty and support the Haitian masses in their ongoing struggle against the relentless occupation by foreign powers. Allowing continuous U.S. and Western control over Haiti’s political apparatus not only threatens to extinguish the nation’s hard-won sovereignty, but also weakens the sovereignty and self-determination of every other nation in the Caribbean, and Central and South America. There can be no “Zone of Peace” in the Americas if there is no peace and freedom for the people of Haiti.

U.S. out of Haiti!

Kenya out of Haiti!

No to Another Occupation!

Free Haiti!

La Misión Multinacional de Apoyo a la Seguridad (MSS) en Haití debe terminar

14 DE OCTUBRE DE 2024- El Equipo Haití/Américas de la Alianza Negra por la Paz (BAP) denuncia enérgicamente el voto del Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU para prorrogar la misión Multinacional de Apoyo a la Seguridad (MSS) en Haití, financiada por Estados Unidos y dirigida por Kenia. Afirmamos que cualquier intervención armada dirigida por Estados Unidos o la ONU en Haití no sólo es injustificable, sino también ilegal. Estamos con el pueblo haitiano y los grupos de la sociedad civil que se han opuesto sistemáticamente a la intervención armada extranjera, argumentando que los problemas de Haití se derivan de la interferencia continua y de largo plazo de EE.UU., la ONU y el “Core Group”. 

El lunes 30 de septiembre, el Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU adoptó por unanimidad una resolución que prorroga por un año la autorización de la misión de la MSS en Haití, que pretende ayudar a sofocar la violencia desenfrenada de las bandas. Sin embargo, la misión sólo será la última de una serie de intervenciones fallidas destinadas a negar la soberanía popular del pueblo haitiano. Antes de esta votación, los miembros del Equipo Haití/Américas de la Alianza Negra por la Paz entregaron cartas a las misiones permanentes de la ONU y las embajadas de varios países representados en el Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU, pidiéndoles que apoyaran a las masas haitianas y se opusieran a la actual intervención armada orquestada por Estados Unidos. Una versión pública de esta carta aparece aquí. Aunque nuestras cartas no tuvieron éxito contra la votación, seguiremos movilizándonos contra esta intervención en expansión, que carece de legitimidad: el MSS fue autorizado bajo un Primer Ministro ilegítimo instalado por Estados Unidos, Ariel Henry, y desplegado a través del “Consejo Presidencial” de nueve miembros y el Primer Ministro, ninguno de los cuales tiene estatus legal o legitimidad en Haití.

Aunque la administración Biden ha detenido sus esfuerzos para convertir el MMS en una operación oficial de mantenimiento de la paz de las Naciones Unidas, entendemos que una ocupación militar extranjera completa y a largo plazo de Haití es el objetivo final de EE.UU. y sus apoderados neocoloniales. Advertimos que EE.UU. pretende utilizar Haití como punto de partida para una base militar permanente en la región para, como se articula en sus documentos de política exterior, garantizar «la seguridad nacional y los intereses de EE.UU.» y controlar a las potencias rivales, presumiblemente Rusia y China.

En una época de agitación mundial, marcada por un genocidio retransmitido en directo en Gaza y violentos enfrentamientos entre cárteles y la policía en México, resulta desconcertante que Estados Unidos, Francia y Canadá sigan pidiendo la ocupación extranjera de Haití, un país que, aunque se enfrenta a conflictos internos, no amenaza la seguridad regional ni mundial. Una vez más, hacemos un llamado a la comunidad internacional para que respete la soberanía haitiana y apoye a las masas haitianas en su lucha constante contra la implacable ocupación por potencias extranjeras. Permitir el control continuo de Estados Unidos y el Occidente sobre el aparato político de Haití no sólo amenaza con extinguir la soberanía de la nación que tanto ha costado conseguir, sino que también debilita la soberanía y la autodeterminación de todas las demás naciones del Caribe y de América Central y del Sur. No puede haber una «Zona de Paz» en las Américas si no hay paz y libertad para el pueblo de Haití.

¡EE.UU. fuera de Haití!

¡Kenia fuera de Haití!

¡No a otra ocupación!

¡Que viva Haití libre!

Rechazamos la política de injerencia y agresión contra Venezuela y Honduras / We Reject the Policy of Interference and Aggression Against Venezuela & Honduras

La Campaña Nuestra América una Zona de Paz, espacio integrado por diversas organizaciones y movimientos sociales de América, rechazamos las acciones de agresión e injerencismo por parte del imperialismo estadounidense contra el pueblo de Venezuela y Honduras, durante los últimos días.

El abultado expediente de acciones violatorias del derecho internacional, del respeto a la soberanía de los pueblos y de intromisión en los asuntos internos por parte de EE.UU, ha marcado la historia de este país, y la forma en la que ha pretendido imponer su hegemonía  y dominio global y con particular atención en América Latina y el Caribe, cuyo territorio ha considerado como su patio trasero.

Luego de las elecciones del 28 de Julio en Venezuela, el imperialismo ha abierto un capítulo más en la larga lista de agresiones contra el pueblo venezolano, que ha incluido desde golpes de Estado, promoción de planes desestabilizadores y violencia interna, acciones terroristas, incursión de fuerzas mercenarias en el país, intentos de magnicidio, sanciones y bloqueos, incluyendo hasta amenazas de intervención militar.

Desde la campaña Nuestra América una Zona de Paz, queremos expresar nuestro rechazo a las declaraciones del gobierno de EE.UU, de la Unión Europea y de algunos países de América Latina, y  quienes se han alineado a los intereses de recomposición de la dominación imperialista en América Latina y el Caribe, quienes pretenden desconocer la soberanía y la voluntad popular en Venezuela. 

Condenamos de manera contundente la imposición de nuevas sanciones contra el pueblo de Venezuela, así como el robo del avión con bandera venezolana, que se encontraba en República Dominicana, todo esto es una muestra más de la conducta recurrente del gobierno de EE.UU de pretender rendir por hambre al pueblo de Venezuela, violando las más elementales normas del derecho internacional.

Igualmente alertamos sobre los posibles planes de intervención militar contra Venezuela, y que han sido solicitados por sectores aliados al imperialismo y quienes pretenden utilizar al comando sur cómo brazo ejecutor de la política de dominación imperialista hacia los diferentes países en el continente, en particular con los pueblos que han levantado la bandera de la resistencia y lucha por su liberación.

Cómo parte de la estrategia de dinamitar los procesos de integración y unidad regional, el imperialismo estadounidense también ha arremetido contra Honduras y su presidenta, quien ejerce hoy la presidencia pro-tempore de la CELAC, las presiones e intentos de desestabilización y crear las condiciones para un golpe de Estado en el país, similar al golpe ejecutado por EE.UU en el 2009, planificado y ejecutado desde la base militar estadounidense  "Soto Cano", son una clara representación de que el imperialismo no está dispuesto a permitir que nuestra región consolide los caminos de construcción hacia una paz con justicia social, y un destino común de liberación y mejores condiciones de vida de los pueblos en esta región.

Nuestros movimientos y organizaciones seguiremos trabajando en materializar la proclama de la CELAC en el año 2014 en La Habana, hacer de América Latina y el Caribe una zona de Paz, libre de bases militares, armas nucleares y que permita la construcción de un mejor futuro para nuestros pueblos.

The Zone of Peace Campaign, a formation of various organizations and social movements across Our Americas, rejects the acts of aggression and interference carried out by U.S. imperialism against the people of Venezuela and Honduras in recent weeks.

The extensive record of violations of international law, disregard for the sovereignty of nations, and interference in internal affairs by the U.S. has shaped the history of this country and its efforts to impose its global hegemony and dominance, particularly over Latin America and the Caribbean, which it has considered its backyard.

Following the elections on July 28 in Venezuela, imperialism has added another chapter to its long list of aggressions against the Venezuelan people, which includes coups d'état, the promotion of destabilizing plans and internal violence, terrorist actions, the incursion of mercenary forces, assassination attempts, sanctions, and blockades, even including threats of military intervention.

From the Zone of Peace campaign, we want to express our rejection of the statements made by the U.S. government, the European Union, and some Latin American countries, which have aligned themselves with the interests of imperialist domination in Our Americas and seek to undermine the sovereignty and popular will in Venezuela.

We strongly condemn the imposition of new sanctions against the people of Venezuela, as well as the theft of the Venezuelan-flagged plane that was in the Dominican Republic. This is yet another example of the recurring behavior of the U.S. government to try and subdue the Venezuelan people through hunger, in blatant violation of the most basic norms of international law.

We also warn of possible plans for military intervention against Venezuela, which have been encouraged by sectors allied with imperialism who aim to use the U.S. Southern Command as an execution arm of imperialist policy towards different countries on the continent, particularly against those peoples who have raised the banner of resistance and struggle for their liberation.

As part of its strategy to undermine regional integration and unity processes, U.S. imperialism has also lashed out against Honduras and its president, who currently holds the pro tempore presidency of CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States). The pressures, attempts at destabilization, and efforts to create the conditions for a coup in the country, similar to the coup carried out by the U.S. in 2009 and executed from the U.S. military base "Soto Cano," are a clear indication that imperialism is not willing to allow our region to consolidate paths toward building peace with social justice and a common destiny of liberation and improved living conditions for the people in this region.

Our movements and organizations will continue working to realize the proclamation made by CELAC in 2014 in Havana: to make Nuestra América (Our Americas) a Zone of Peace, free of military bases and nuclear weapons, and to enable the construction of a better future for our peoples.

The Meaning of October 7th: An Oppressed People Will Always Find a Way to Resist Oppression

The Meaning of October 7th: An Oppressed People Will Always Find a Way to Resist Oppression.

Black Alliance for Peace will never abandon the Rights of Palestinian People to Resist Zionist Colonialism “By Any Means Necessary” 

“Peace is not the absence of conflict, but rather the achievement by popular struggle of … the defeat of global systems of oppression that include colonialism, imperialism, patriarchy, and white supremacy.” (BAP Principle of Unity)

Today, October 7, 2024, the world commemorates – some in horror, others in celebration – a full year of a genocidal war, prosecuted in real time in occupied Palestine. In spite of the commonly accepted lie that the Al Aqsa Flood on October 7 was the beginning, this “war” actually began on November 29, 1947, with the passing of the UN resolution that led to the creation of the Israeli settler colonial state. For the next seventy-six years, with the backing of Western governments the state of Israel would lead a war of conquest, ethnically cleansing and massacring hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, displacing and maiming millions, and establishing an apartheid state. Therefore, the Black Alliance for Peace views the Al-Aqsa Flood as a legitimate resistance operation by the besieged Palestinians – the only party with an internationally recognized right of resistance. We support Palestinian resistance against the violent military domination by white supremacist imperialism and colonialism that began, first in the form of British colonialism, and continues in the form of zionism.

In response to the prison breakout of October 7, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IDF) unleashed a horrific wave of state terror with indiscriminate bombing, targeting of civilian infrastructure, rape, torture and starvation with an obvious and specific target – the non-combatant civilian population. The result – a second Nakba – another catastrophe for the Palestinian people, with tens of thousands slaughtered with impunity. This systematic state terrorism has now engulfed Lebanon, with Israel replicating its depraved, anti-human tactics from Gaza. It began with an attempt to terrorize the resistance group Hezbollah including the killing of the group’s revered leader and anti-colonial fighter, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah. This terrorism has continued with the indiscriminate massacre of civilians in an attempt to force the Lebanese people into submission. 

Over the last year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ) along with all the other Western-run international bodies that claim to defend human rights have proven themselves complicit, acting as mere puppets of U.S. imperialism. As global protests erupt in fury, Israel continues its slaughter, understanding clearly that the U.S. settler-state and the white West will continue to provide it protection.  

What the last year has reconfirmed for BAP is that the violence we have witnessed is part of a global system of white supremacism dependent on unrestrained state terror in order to continue the extraction of value from still colonized and oppressed non-European peoples, working classes and nations.  The militarization of police, from the Israeli Occupation Force in Gaza to the deadly exchange programs in domestic colonized communities, is the extension of fascist settler colonialism. If we understand the U.S. as a settler project, then its global expansion can only result in one thing – replicating systems of dominance and repression everywhere. Here, we must also recognize that the attacks on Gaza and Lebanon mirror the looming assault on Haiti. Both represent the deep-rooted racist violence that has always been at the core of the Pan-European colonial/capitalist white supremacist patriarchy since this system of oppression emerged in 1492.

Speaking out against this system of global white supremacy, whether here or abroad, is met with criminalization. From resisting austerity and Cop Cities in the U.S., to the prosecution of the “Uhuru 3” as agents of Russia, to curtailing speech and protest in hopes of dismantling the ‘student intifada’ across campuses, to the Palestinians and Lebanese fighting occupation, the message is clear: dissent is dangerous. But we must stand firm in truth. The real terrorists are those upholding the illegal zionist settler-colonial apartheid regime. The Black Alliance for Peace condemns Israel's decades-long barbarism and fully supports the Palestinian people’s right to resist occupation. Decolonization and self-determination are not simply demands – they are central to the realization of human rights. And since there is no real justice for Palestinians in Western-controlled international laws, we stand by their right to fight for their humanity. Collective resistance is a central principle of the People(s)-Centered Human Rights framework that guides BAP’s approach to the human rights issue. 

Fifty years into the future, the zionist massacre of Palestinians and invasion of Lebanon will be widely recognized for the war crimes that they are. But in the same way that it takes little courage today to oppose the segregation of the 1950s, the time to stand up against genocide and colonialism is right now - today. And we do not have the luxury of waiting for history to vindicate the Palestinians’ just struggle; we must act to help end the zionists’ ever-expanding genocidal war now, once and for all.

 Our struggles are intertwined: we are bound by the shared reality of living under white supremacist, settler-colonial states. When one of us suffers, we all do. And together, we will resist. Long live the resistance. Glory to the martyrs. Palestine will be free – and so will the world once our peoples unite to defeat the U.S./EU/NATO Axis Domination. 

Resist the U.S./EU/NATO Axis of Domination

Defeat the war in the U.S. being waged against the resisters

Smash the Duopoly

No Compromise! No Retreat!

Banner photo: Palestinian young men hold a Palestinian in celebration around a destroyed tank of Israeli forces in Gaza City: (courtesy - Hani Alshaer – Anadolu Agency)

NO TO FOREIGN MILITARY INTERVENTION IN HAITI! YES, TO HAITIAN SELF-DETERMINATION!

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) urges the leaders of the nations of the Americas to oppose the upcoming United Nations’ decision to renew the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) in Haiti for another 12 months. Additionally, we call on these regional leaders to challenge the United States' proposal to convert this MSS into a full-fledged UN Peacekeeping mission by 2025.

On October 16, 2022, the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) sent a letter urging the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation to “respect Haitian sovereignty and support the Haitian masses in their stand against the ongoing occupation of their country by foreign powers” by using their veto power and voting against another armed intervention and occupation into Haiti. In this letter, we outlined why the Haitian people perceive the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) as a foreign occupation that has undermined their independence and sovereignty since 2004. On October 3, 2023, we and over 100 social and civic movements and organizations throughout the Americas, including in Haiti and the diaspora, issued a joint statement denouncing the UN Security Council's approval of the U.S.-orchestrated, Kenya-led MSS to Haiti. In these, we laid out demands in line with those of Haitian civic and social organizations. The Haitian people are resolute in their opposition to foreign intervention and remain steadfast in their commitment to self-determination.

As we articulated in our previous letter and statement, Haiti has endured a long history of U.S. intervention and occupation. The Haitian people recognize that their current challenges stem directly from the persistent meddling of the United States, the United Nations, and the Core Group. They are unequivocal in their belief that all U.S.-led foreign interventions over the past decades have been illegal and illegitimate. Notably, the current Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) lacks legitimacy, having been authorized under the auspices of an illegitimate and U.S.-installed Prime Minister, Ariel Henry. Subsequently, the U.S., with the support of CARICOM, established a nine-member “Presidential Council” and Prime Minister, neither of which has any legal status or legitimacy in Haiti, all without the backing of the Haitian populace or the opportunity for a democratic selection process. Importantly, the U.S. demanded that those permitted on the “Presidential Council” consent to foreign intervention (the MSS). Thus, the entire process that led to the imposition of a foreign force in Haiti is fundamentally fraudulent. 

We find it extremely worrisome that the U.S. has enlisted foreign proxies—such as police and military forces from Kenya, Jamaica, and Belize—to implement its foreign policy objectives in the region. It is equally alarming that these foreign forces, as part of the MSS, enjoy effective immunity for their actions in Haiti. Given the traumatic legacy of the last UN peacekeeping mission (MINUSTAH, 2004-2017), which was marred by violence, sexual exploitation, and a cholera epidemic, we view the MSS as a threat not only to Haiti’s sovereignty but also to the health and wellbeing of its people, particularly its children.

The Black Alliance for Peace also challenges the U.S. claim of addressing “gang violence” in Haiti. We assert that the U.S. and the so-called “international community” (including France and Canada) are fully aware that the current “gang violence” is funded and supported by Haiti’s oligarchs and the U.S.-backed political elite. This group imports weapons into the country and pays young men to instigate chaos, which is then used to manufacture consent for further invasion and occupation of Haiti. This is similar to the way the U.S. and France have increased the problem of “terrorism” in West and East Africa as a ruse to create U.S. military forces in that region, which we see in the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). The awareness of these underlying dynamics is underscored by the sanctions imposed by the U.S. and Canada on several members of Haiti’s economic and political elite, including former Haitian president Michel Martelly, who was installed by the U.S.

In a time of global upheaval, marked by a live-streamed genocide in Gaza and violent clashes between cartels and police in Mexico, it is perplexing that the U.S., France, and Canada are advocating for foreign occupation of Haiti—a country facing internal conflicts that do not threaten regional or global security. We must question the U.S. insistence on maintaining a military presence in Haiti at this juncture. 

As an anti-war and anti-imperialist organization, the Black Alliance for Peace warns that the U.S. aims to use Haiti as a staging ground for a permanent military base in the region to, as articulated in its foreign policy documents, secure “U.S. national security and interests” and manage rival powers, presumably Russia and China.

We once again call on your countries to respect Haitian sovereignty and support the Haitian masses in their ongoing struggle against the relentless occupation by foreign powers. Only the Haitian people can determine their own solutions. Their leaders must not be selected by the U.S. or any other foreign entity. Allowing continuous U.S. and Western control over Haiti’s political apparatus not only threatens to extinguish the nation’s hard-won sovereignty, but also weakens the sovereignty and self-determinative capacities of every other nation in the Caribbean, Central, and South America. 

As we know, Haiti is a laboratory for U.S. and Western imperialist policies and practices of domination and intervention. What is visited upon Haiti will inevitably be visited upon other nations in the hemisphere. We have seen this in Honduras as the U.S. ambassador acts like a government representative in a foreign land, against the sovereignty of that nation and its President, Xiomara Castro. This is a strategy that was fine-tuned in Haiti under the Obama-Clinton foreign policy apparatus and continues to this day. 

We ask that you, leaders throughout the Americas, reject the old colonial divisions that have made the region more susceptible to U.S. intervention, sabotage and neocolonial rule, and use regional mechanisms like CELAC to support Haitian sovereignty. As nations have stood in solidarity with Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua against imperialist assaults, sanctions, and subterfuge aimed at undermining their sovereignty, so should you oppose the interventionist crimes and colonial impositions visited upon Haiti and its people by the U.S., UN and Core Group. As the overwhelming majority of nations and people of the Americas have decried the zionist genocide in Gaza and the ongoing violation of the sovereignty of Palestine and Lebanon, so should you fight against the imperialist actions that have resulted in instability, violence, and mass death in Haiti. There can be no “Zone of Peace” in the Americas if there is no peace and freedom for the people of Haiti.

The Black Alliance for Peace, in alignment with the wishes of the Haitian masses and their supporters, unequivocally opposes continued foreign armed intervention in Haiti. We stand firm in our demand for an end to the relentless meddling by the United States and Western powers in Haitian affairs. We urge your governments and nations to stand in solidarity with the Haitian people in their fight for liberation by opposing the extension of the MSS and any future plans to convert this mission into a UN peacekeeping operation.

Signed,

The Black Alliance for Peace, Haiti/Americas Team

NO A LA INTERVENCIÓN MILITAR EXTRANJERA EN HAITÍ!

SÍ A LA AUTODETERMINACIÓN DEL PUEBLO HAITIANO!

Una Carta Abierta a los Líderes de las Naciones de las Américas

La Alianza Negra por la Paz (BAP) insta a los líderes de las naciones de las Américas a oponerse a la próxima decisión de las Naciones Unidas de renovar la Misión Multinacional de Apoyo a la Seguridad (MSS) en Haití por 12 meses adicionales. Además, hacemos un llamado a todos los líderes regionales a desafiar la propuesta de Estados Unidos de convertir esta MSS en una misión de mantenimiento de la paz de la ONU para el año 2025.

El 16 de octubre de 2022, la Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) envió una carta instando a la República Popular de China y a la Federación Rusa a “respetar la soberanía haitiana y apoyar a las masas haitianas en su lucha contra la ocupación continua de su país por parte de potencias extranjeras”, utilizando su poder de veto y votando en contra de otra intervención armada y ocupación en Haití. En esta carta, explicamos por qué el pueblo haitiano percibe a la Oficina Integrada de las Naciones Unidas en Haití (BINUH) como una ocupación extranjera que ha socavado su independencia y soberanía desde 2004. El 3 de octubre de 2023, junto con más de 100 movimientos sociales y organizaciones cívicas a lo largo de las Américas, incluyendo Haití y su diáspora, emitimos una declaración conjunta denunciando la aprobación por parte del Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU de la MSS liderada por Kenia y orquestada por Estados Unidos. En estos documentos, presentamos demandas en línea con las de las organizaciones cívicas y sociales haitianas. El pueblo haitiano es firme en su oposición a la intervención extranjera y permanece decidido en su compromiso con la autodeterminación.

Como señalamos en nuestra carta y declaración anteriores, Haití ha soportado una larga historia de intervenciones y ocupaciones por parte de Estados Unidos. El pueblo haitiano reconoce que sus desafíos actuales provienen directamente de la injerencia persistente de Estados Unidos, las Naciones Unidas y el Core Group. Son claros en su convicción de que todas las intervenciones extranjeras lideradas por EE.UU. en las últimas décadas han sido ilegales e ilegítimas. Cabe destacar que la actual Misión Multinacional de Apoyo a la Seguridad (MSS) carece de legitimidad, ya que fue autorizada bajo los auspicios de un Primer Ministro ilegítimo impuesto por EE.UU., Ariel Henry. Posteriormente, EE.UU., con el apoyo de CARICOM, estableció un “Consejo Presidencial” de nueve miembros y un Primer Ministro, ninguno de los cuales tiene estatus o legitimidad legal en Haití, y todo esto sin el respaldo del pueblo haitiano ni la oportunidad de un proceso de selección democrático. Es importante señalar que EE.UU. exigió que aquellos permitidos en el “Consejo Presidencial” consintieran la intervención extranjera (la MSS). Por lo tanto, todo el proceso que llevó a la imposición de una fuerza extranjera en Haití es fundamentalmente fraudulento.

Nos preocupa profundamente que EE.UU. haya reclutado proxies extranjeros, como fuerzas policiales y militares de Kenia, Jamaica y Belice, para implementar sus objetivos de política exterior en la región. Igualmente alarmante es que estas fuerzas extranjeras, como parte de la MSS, disfruten de una inmunidad efectiva por sus acciones en Haití. Dado el legado traumático de la última misión de paz de la ONU (MINUSTAH, 2004-2017), marcada por la violencia, la explotación sexual y una epidemia de cólera, consideramos la MSS como una amenaza no solo para la soberanía de Haití, sino también para la salud y el bienestar de su pueblo, en particular sus niños.

La Alianza Negra por la Paz también desafía la afirmación de EE.UU. de que está abordando la “violencia de pandillas” en Haití. Afirmamos que EE.UU. y la llamada “comunidad internacional” (incluyendo Francia y Canadá) son plenamente conscientes de que la actual “violencia de pandillas” está financiada y respaldada por los oligarcas haitianos y la élite política respaldada por EE.UU. Este grupo importa armas al país y paga a jóvenes para que generen caos, lo que luego se utiliza para fabricar consenso a favor de más invasiones y ocupaciones en Haití. Esto es similar a cómo EE.UU. y Francia han aumentado el problema del “terrorismo” en África Occidental y Oriental como un pretexto para crear fuerzas militares estadounidenses en esa región, como vemos en el Comando África de EE.UU. (AFRICOM). La conciencia de estas dinámicas subyacentes se refleja en las sanciones impuestas por EE.UU. y Canadá a varios miembros de la élite económica y política de Haití, incluyendo al expresidente haitiano Michel Martelly, quien fue instalado por EE.UU.

En un momento de agitación global, marcado por un genocidio transmitido en vivo en Gaza y enfrentamientos violentos entre cárteles y policías en México, resulta desconcertante que EE.UU., Francia y Canadá estén abogando por la ocupación extranjera de Haití, un país que enfrenta conflictos internos que no amenazan la seguridad regional o global. Debemos cuestionar la insistencia de EE.UU. en mantener una presencia militar en Haití en este momento.

Como organización antiimperialista y antibélica, la Alianza Negra por la Paz advierte que EE.UU. pretende utilizar Haití como plataforma para una base militar permanente en la región, con el fin de, como se articula en sus documentos de política exterior, asegurar la “seguridad e intereses nacionales de EE.UU.” y gestionar potencias rivales, presumiblemente Rusia y China.

Una vez más, hacemos un llamado a sus países para que respeten la soberanía haitiana y apoyen a las masas haitianas en su lucha continua contra la incesante ocupación de potencias extranjeras. Solo el pueblo haitiano puede determinar sus propias soluciones. Sus líderes no deben ser seleccionados por EE.UU. ni por ninguna otra entidad extranjera. Permitir que continúe el control de EE.UU. y Occidente sobre el aparato político de Haití no solo amenaza con extinguir la soberanía tan duramente ganada de la nación, sino que también debilita la soberanía y la capacidad de autodeterminación de todas las demás naciones del Caribe, Centro y Sudamérica. Sabemos que Haití es un laboratorio para las políticas imperialistas de EE.UU. y Occidente de dominación e intervención. Lo que se impone sobre Haití, inevitablemente se impondrá sobre otras naciones del hemisferio: lo hemos visto en Honduras, donde el embajador estadounidense actúa como un representante del gobierno en una tierra extranjera, en contra de la soberanía de esa nación y de su presidenta, Xiomara Castro. Esta es una estrategia perfeccionada en Haití bajo la política exterior de Obama-Clinton y que continúa hasta el día de hoy.

Pedimos que ustedes, líderes de toda América, rechacen las viejas divisiones coloniales que han hecho a la región más susceptible a la intervención, el sabotaje y el dominio neocolonial de EE.UU., y utilicen los mecanismos regionales como la CELAC para apoyar la soberanía haitiana. Así como las naciones se han solidarizado con Cuba, Venezuela y Nicaragua contra los asaltos imperialistas, las sanciones y la subversión que buscan socavar su soberanía, así deben oponerse a los crímenes intervencionistas e imposiciones coloniales que Estados Unidos, la ONU y el Core Group han impuesto sobre Haití y su pueblo. Así como la mayoría de las naciones y pueblos de las Américas han denunciado el genocidio sionista en Gaza y la violación continua de la soberanía de Palestina y Líbano, deben luchar contra las acciones imperialistas que han resultado en inestabilidad, violencia y muerte masiva en Haití. No puede haber una “Zona de Paz” en las Américas si no hay paz y libertad para el pueblo de Haití.

La Alianza Negra por la Paz, en alineación con los deseos de las masas haitianas y sus seguidores, se opone de manera inequívoca a la continua intervención armada extranjera en Haití. Mantenemos firme nuestra demanda de poner fin a la incesante intromisión de Estados Unidos y las potencias occidentales en los asuntos haitianos. Instamos a sus gobiernos y naciones a solidarizarse con el pueblo haitiano en su lucha por la liberación, oponiéndose a la extensión de la MSS y a cualquier plan futuro de convertir esta misión en una operación de mantenimiento de la paz de la ONU.

Firmado,
La Alianza Negra por la Paz, Equipo Haití/Américas

Organizations Globally Condemn the Fascism of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM): Launch of A Month of Action

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Media Contact
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Organizations Globally Condemn the Fascism of the 

U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) 

Launch Annual Month of Action to Shut Down AFRICOM

SEPTEMBER 26, 2024 — October 1, 2024, marks the start of the 4th International Month of Action Against AFRICOM (U.S. Africa Command), organized by the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP). Every year, hundreds of organizations around the world endorse and participate in this Month of Action, standing united against the United States’ ongoing military presence in African nations across the continent.

International Month of Action Against AFRICOM will kick off with an international webinar featuring voices from the African continent and diaspora expressing the need for the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops and a complete end to the combatant command. Following the webinar individuals and organizations will engage in a month of autonomous and semi-autonomous actions and events designed to elevate this issue in the public consciousness around the world and encourage the continuation of the resistance against U.S. imperialism.

AFRICOM is the brainchild of the Heritage Foundation, the think tank also known for the creation of Project 2025. The plan was incubated twenty-one years ago, with an eye towards low-priced natural resources and control over African security affairs under the guise of the “Global War on Terror.” Launched by the George W. Bush administration and brought to full operation by the Barack Obama administration, AFRICOM is most known for the destruction of Libya resulting in tens of thousands dead, and millions displaced. The U.S. continues to refine and expand the tactics employed in Libya across the continent.

This year’s Month of Action Against AFRICOM comes at a pivotal geopolitical moment for Africa. The continent is experiencing widespread anti-neocolonialist movements including: (1) the successful expelling of AFRICOM from Niger, (2) admission and evidence that U.S. ally Ukraine has supported terrorism in Mali, and (3) popular mass mobilizations against governments propped up by the U.S. that are facing state repression, ie. Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda etc.

The Month of Action Against AFRICOM does not represent the full extent of BAP’s work against the neocolonial occupation of Africa. BAP continues to call for the dismantling of NATO, AFRICOM and all imperialist structures. Africa and the rest of the world cannot be free until all Peoples can exercise their sovereignty and the right to live free of domination.

BAP’s Demands include:

• The complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Africa;

• The demilitarization of the African Continent;

• The closure of U.S. bases throughout the world; and

• The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) oppose the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and conduct hearings on AFRICOM’s impact on the African continent, with the full participation of members of U.S. and African civil society.

To learn more about BAP’s International Month of Action Against AFRICOM, please visit our web page. You can also see informational materials about the Month of Action in our media kit.

The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns U.S. Convictions of Uhuru 3 As A Fascist Farce

The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns U.S. Convictions of Uhuru 3 As A Fascist Farce

After being forced to acquit Omali Yeshitela, Jesse Nevel, and Penny Hess – the “Uhuru 3” – on being agents of Russia, a U.S. federal court jury resorted to the sham conviction of “conspiracy,” in what amounted to them being guilty of internationalism and the work of liberating African people. The state’s claim is that the defendants are guilty of “planning to sow discord and inflame American political tensions at the behest of Russia,” a charge carrying a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Although the conspiracy charge is being regarded as the less serious of the two changes, it presents a threat to all anti-imperialists and internationalists working in the bowels of the capitalist, U.S. settler state. “Conspiracy” is a U.S. legal fiction that can mean almost anything. From the definition, it is clear that determining what counts as conspiracy is often left up to the creativity of prosecution. In other words, “conspiracy” should be understood as the state deploying anything vague and circumstantial to use against our movement when it cannot get a conviction on anything else. 

The Black Alliance for Peace sounds the alarm about the danger this particular ruling represents – the severe undermining of the human right to free speech and the free flow of information. It is the creation of Orwellian, totalitarian legal precedence in support of “thoughtcrimes,” the offense of thinking in ways not approved by the U.S. settler state.

The trial of the “Uhuru 3,” members and supporters of the African People’s Socialist Party, is “proving to be one of the most important First Amendment cases thus far in the 21st century,” according to the group’s attorney Jenipher Jones. The case also exposes the fact that the U.S. has no regard for human rights. It violates Articles 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which protects the right to freedom of expression and opinion and freedom of association, as does Article 19 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

It is also significant that a small Pan-Africanist group is the first to face legal charges and other overt repression for speaking out against the racist and imperialist policies of the U.S. regime. 

After the verdict Omali Yeshitela said:

“The most important thing is that they were unable to convict us for working for anybody except Black people, that's the most important thing. They could not convict us for working for anybody except black people. They had to say we were not working for the Russians and I am willing to be charged and found guilty of working for black people.”

But BAP suspects that this is a test case for what is to come from the racist U.S. settler state. All activists and anti-imperialists should be concerned about what has happened to the “Uhuru 3.” 

As we declared in our September 10th statement: “BAP and our movement will not be intimated. We recognize that the complete abandonment of constitutional and human rights by the U.S. and other Western states represents an irreversible crisis of legitimacy. We will continue to stand in support of the right to resist as a core human right.”

No Compromise!
No Retreat!

BAP Coordinating Committee

BAP Condemns U.S. Plans for Yet Another UN Military Occupation of Haiti

We urge people of conscience around the world to stop another United Nations invasion of Haiti.

SEPTEMBER 10,  2024 – Once again, the Haiti/Americas Team of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) strongly denounces the latest attempts by the U.S. to push for yet another UN military occupation of Haiti. We condemn this action and the relentless assaults on Haitian self-determination by the US and its criminal allies. We also urge Caribbean and Latin American governments to stand in solidarity with Haiti – just as they have stood with one another against violations of national sovereignty in Venezuela, Cuba, Honduras, etc. – as the Haitian people continue to bear the brunt of U.S. imperial policies and actions in the region. 

On September 5th and 6th, the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In Haiti, Blinken met with members of the US- and CARICOM-imposed “presidential council” and the illegitimate Prime Minister of Haiti to discuss support for the Kenyan and U.S. occupation forces currently present in the country. 

On September 5, 2024, a group of Haitian and Dominican organizations released a statement denouncing Blinken’s visit to the island (English translation here). The statement titled, “Repudiation of the Presence of the Representative of Yankee Imperialism in Haiti and the Dominican Republic,” declared:

This interventionist visit will bring no good to the Haitian people, nor to the Dominican people. Rather, it will seek to consolidate the neocolonial domination imposed on Haiti since the first U.S. military occupation (1915-1934) and on the Dominican Republic (1916-1924). In fact, Blinken’s only mission is to protect the interests of imperialism in Haiti and those of Haiti's small, repugnant elite class. He will do the same in the Dominican Republic.

Soon after Blinken’s departure from the island, Western media revealed the true U.S. objective of his visit: transforming the illegal, unpopular, and inept U.S.-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission of 400 Kenyan police officers into a full-scale UN occupation (cynically referred to as a “peacekeeping operation.”). This was further confirmed by reports that the UN Security Council is considering a resolution to deploy a military force to Haiti.

BAP’s position has been consistent and unwavering: we support Haitian self-determination. We will continue to struggle against foreign invasion and occupation of the country. Since 2021, we have advocated against U.S. imperial machinations in Haiti, including the continuing renewal of the mandate of the UN office in Haiti (BINUH), which Haitian people see as an occupation force, and the establishment of the MSS. BAP challenged the narrative of “gang violence” as a pretext for occupation and argued that it is the U.S.’s own puppets and Haitian oligarchs that are arming young men in Haiti. We warned that the MSS was a temporary cover for a more permanent military occupation of Haiti through proxies, and with the blessing of the UN. And we continue to remind people of the brutal repercussions of the two decades-long 2004 UN intervention and occupation of Haiti.

In solidarity with Haitian and Dominican organizations opposing U.S. imperialism, and in defense of Haitian self-determination and sovereignty, the Haiti/Americas Team of the Black Alliance for Peace demands an end to the current occupation of Haiti, calling for the closure of the BINUH office in Haiti, and the removal of Kenyan and U.S. militarized police from the country. We also demand that the UNSC cease its interference in Haitian affairs on behalf of the U.S. 

We urge people of conscience around the world to help stop another UN invasion of Haiti and, we also warn leaders of the Caribbean and Latin America – who have either remained silent or are actively participating in the U.S. usurpation of Haitian sovereignty  – that if Haiti is not free from U.S. bullying and imperial control, no other country in the region will be free.

DEFEND HAITIAN SOVEREIGNTY!

U.S. OUT OF HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC!

END THE U.S./EU/NATO AXIS OF DOMINATION!

Responsibility for the Kenya Crisis Lies At the Feet of US Neo-Colonialism

Responsibility for the Kenya Crisis Lies At the Feet of US Neo-Colonialism

The excessive support and public adoration the U.S. government has given to Kenya’s President William Ruto represents the racist contempt this settler state has for all of Africa and for the domestic population of descendants from the continent. Two days before African Liberation Day on May 25th and one month before the Kenyan police’s brutal crackdown on protests against the US-IMF backed Finance Act that increases taxes up to 35% on essential goods, U.S. President Biden rolled out a red carpet for Ruto at a White House state dinner.

The debt that this bill is supposed to address only exists because of the incessant and indiscriminate borrowing by the previous government of Kenya, for which Ruto was vice-president. Ruto is a Grade A lackey for U.S. interests reminiscent of the dictator Mobutu of the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire) who U.S. imperialism supported for 32 years in order to plunder the Congo.

U.S. neo-colonialism praised as an “endearing” and “enduring” democracy, the Ruto presidency, a puppet government that unleashed its notoriously vicious police to reportedly arrest more than 300, kill as many as 23 and injure dozens of Kenyan citizens in the demonstrations over the past week. These police are the same force U.S. imperialism has maneuvered into being dispatched to Haiti to contain the people’s resistance against imperialism in that Caribbean nation.

An elevation in the parlance of U.S. statecraft is the paternalistic promise of granting Kenya the status of a “Major Non-NATO Ally,” a role granted to the African Union’s African Standby Force. This designation is in sharp contrast to the Alliance of Sahel States newly formed confederation which is a declaration of African self-determination.

The Africa Team of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) and the organizing arm U.S. Out of Africa Network (USOAN) stands in uncompromising solidarity with the masses of Kenyans fighting against the proposed Finance Bill 2024. We denounce in the strongest terms the complicity of the U.S., especially its Black misleaders in Congress, in passing this legislation. In fact the day the bill was introduced in the Kenyan parliament, members of the  U.S congress were present including Barbara Lee. 

Ruto must go! U.S. Out of Africa! BAP and USOAN salute the courage and determination of the masses of youth throughout Kenya "Gen Z"! The blood spilled will not be in vain. Our martyrs are alive along-side of the living. We stand unwaveringly with the Gen Z Movement, our people of Kenya!

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Banner photo: A police officer with a walkie-talkie confronting a protest against the Finance Bill 2024. courtesy: Mathare Justice Center

US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) Factsheet

Today, the United States is leading the world's largest multinational maritime war exercise from occupied Honolulu, Hawai'i. 25,000 personnel from 29 nations, including NATO allies and other strategic partners, are participating in the Rim of the Pacific, or RIMPAC, under the command of the US Pacific Fleet, a major component of the US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM).

With RIMPAC now underway, the lands and waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands are being intensively bombed and shelled as participating forces practice amphibious landings and urban combat training, and the Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) find their sovereignty once again violated after more than 130 years of colonization by the US.

RIMPAC aims to fortify the colonization and militarization of the Pacific, ensuring the security of the West's imperialist agenda against the rise of China and other threats to the US-led capitalist system. 

In the interest of advancing a political education around the history and purpose of INDOPACOM as part of U.S. militarism, the Solidarity Network for the Black Alliance for Peace has published this comprehensive Fact Sheet on INDOPACOM.

View Here

Black Alliance for Peace Condemns US Black (Mis)Leaders for their Support of US Military Intervention and Occupation of Haiti

The Haiti/Americas Team of the Black Alliance for Peace rebukes the US Black “misleadership” class for its support of the latest US invasion and occupation of Haiti. We condemn the participation of this class in discussions with the US security state and its promotion of imperialist foreign policy objectives aimed at undermining Haitian sovereignty and dignity. 

On March 29, 2024, US Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer led a meeting on Haiti policy with a selected group of “leaders of U.S.-based Black civil rights groups.” The White House’s Readout lists the participants as Reverend Al Sharpton of the National Action Network, Ron Daniels of the Institute of the Black World (IBW21), Marc Morial, President of the National Urban League, Derrick Johnson, President of the NAACP, and Jocelyn McCalla, Senior Policy Advisor for the Haitian-American Foundation for Democracy. Why would the U.S. National Security office sponsor a meeting about Haiti with these groups? The readout claims the U.S. is committed to “ensuring a better future for Haiti.” But the most significant aspect of the meeting was the need, according to the White House, to rally support for “the UN-authorized Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission to Haiti and lifting up Haitian-led solutions to the political impasse.”

It seems that these Black misleaders huddling around the latrine of white power were given their marching orders to manufacture Black consent for continued US occupation and oppression of Haiti. Since that meeting, there has been a ramping up of US Black voices supposedly speaking on behalf of Haiti and Haitians. From Jesse Jackson to Al Sharpton, the main goal seems to be to rally the US Black community to support US foreign policy objectives, using Haiti as staging ground. 

Ron Daniels of IBW21 has been the most egregious, using the crisis in Haiti to raise funds for his organization, while propagating vile stereotypes about Haitian society and supporting US imperialism. In his recent “Haiti on Fire” articles, Daniels describes the country as a “virtual failed state” and a “narco-state” controlled by “vicious gangs,” calling for the Core Group to take the lead in Haiti, and claiming that only a US-ordered, Kenya-led mercenary mission can solve Haiti’s problems. 

By intent or ignorance, Daniels does not once mention the role of the US, France, and Canada in fomenting the crisis in Haiti, portraying it instead as a recent, self-inflicted problem caused by gangs and a few elites. Daniels does not acknowledge that this latest racist western media fascination with "gangs" only began in 2022 as the US was trying to keep its puppet Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, in power. What is most disturbing is that Daniels accepts that the Core Group, the foreign occupying force in Haiti, has legitimacy and has the right to take rule over Haiti. Never mind that Haitian people see the Core Group as a criminal, colonial entity. Daniels also celebrates the US-installed “Presidential Council” in Haiti, stating that this will lead to a “people-based democracy.” Someone should remind Daniels that there is no democracy under occupation.

But we know that it was the US and Core Group – under the cover of pliant misleaders of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) – that handpicked the Haitian participants in the Presidential Council. We also know that all participants in this Council had to first agree to this illegal foreign military invasion of Haiti. In effect, Daniels is not only calling on the same white supremacist arsonists to put out the fire that they themselves lit in Haiti, he also supports another US-led military invasion and occupation of Haiti!

BAP calls on those who support Haiti to not fall for the language of "solidarity" with Haiti when these Black hucksters of western hegemony are using their platform and the language of "brotherhood" and "sisterhood, and a cynical co-optation of “Pan-Africanism" to help US imperialism snuff out Haitian sovereignty. We must remember that the crisis in Haiti is a crisis of imperialism.

Ron Daniels and the IBW21, as well as these other Black misleaders, should be condemned for supporting US imperial policy against the First Black Republic in the modern world. These selected “Leaders of Civil Rights Groups” would do well to know that they are just the third group of Black faces that the US is instrumentalizing,  to invade Haiti, following the pattern set by the CARICOM countries and Kenya (which the U.S. is bribing with $300 million to pretend to lead this disastrous mission). Are they wondering why the US, France, or Canada are refusing to lead the mission, or why they are only now involving them in the discussion? As we have said of the Kenyan government and the CARICOM governments providing armed mercenaries to kill Haitian people, this is Blackface imperialism. 

We would also like to point out to these Black “leaders” that this planned invasion of Haiti, though heralded as a “UN” mission, is actually not. It has the sanction of the UN Security Council, but the UN did not want to take responsibility for the mission because it would need to apply too much “robust use of force” on Haitian people. 

The Black Alliance for Peace continues to denounce US imperialism. But we especially condemn the Black faces of imperialism. We call on all those committed to a world without colonies to reject the Black faces of empire and their lies. Disband the Core Group! End the BINUH occupation! Stop all efforts to impose a new invasion on Haiti!

Dump the Imperialists in Blackface! Solidarity with the resistance! Long live a free Haiti!

The Facts about ECOWAS by The Black Alliance for Peace Africa Team

The US and EU states work with intergovernmental regional organizations like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as a geo-strategy to give cover for neo-colonialist interests. As developments in Africa have reached a crucial point, it becomes more important to critically understanding the origin of ECOWAS and its current essential function.

The people have protested against ECOWAS sanctions in response to the military transitional governments in the new Alliance of Sahelian States (AES) viewed by many as a step towards African self-determination. In turn, the leaders of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have decided to leave ECOWAS, declaring that it has deviated from its original purpose and is now an impediment to their sovereignty.

In the interest of advancing a political education around the history and current role of ECOWAS the Africa Team of the Black Alliance for Peace has published this comprehensive FACT SHEET on ECOWAS.

BAP member Margaret Kimberley Speaks to the UN Security Council

Margaret Kimberley, BAP member and Executive Editor of Black Agenda Report, was invited to brief the United Nations Security Council on May 20, 2024, as a civil society representative. The subject of the meeting was weapons supplies to Ukraine as a threat to peace and security.

Reposted from Black Agenda Report

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you all for this opportunity to address the Security Council and to provide a briefing on the issue of peace as it relates to Ukraine and its connections with people in this country and all over the world.

As a journalist, Executive Editor of Black Agenda Report, and a member of the Black Alliance for Peace and of the United National Antiwar Coalition, and as a citizen of the United States, the nation which has taken a lead role in continuing this crisis, I am very eager to speak to this issue. As of now, the U.S. government has allocated nearly $175 billion for the Ukrainian war effort and to support the workings of Ukraine’s civilian government.

For the last two years we have seen a terrible war which would end if this country and others would stop providing arms and instead seek peace. There were opportunities for that very thing to happen in March and April of 2022, when the government of Turkiye hosted peace talks between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. The possibility of peace was lost when my country and others subverted these talks by promising the government of Ukraine that it would receive an endless supply of weapons with which to achieve a military victory. Not only has that victory been elusive, but thousands of Ukrainians, the people this country claims to care so much about, have lost their lives. And of course, many Russians have also perished in the fighting. The goal should be for the death toll to end for both nations.

We don’t have to guess why this huge sum of money has been spent. We need only recall what the president of the United States and his foreign policy team have said publicly. The Secretary of Defense famously said in a rare moment of candor, that the U.S. wanted to “see Russia weakened.” This is a dangerous goal for the United States to have at all. The world needs cooperation. It is the only way to avoid escalation and disastrous outcomes between the major powers. The U.S. shouldn’t be attempting to weaken any nation but should be continuously engaged in finding ways to prevent and to end conflicts.

Not only is the Secretary’s confession dangerous, but it has surely failed. President Biden himself said that U.S. imposed sanctions against Russia would “turn the ruble to rubble.” No such thing has happened, but other nations have suffered economically from the futile effort to keep Russian oil off of world markets. Global South nations in particular were most impacted by what turned out to be a failed effort against Russia. More developed nations, those in Europe, have been deprived of affordable gas supplies they reliably received from Russia for decades.

There have been other serious consequences and some of them have fallen on people in this country, the one most responsible for continuing the crisis. Project Ukraine as it is called is a bipartisan effort, with both Democrats and Republicans supporting the continued infusion of huge sums of money to the defense industry, the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) and to dubious projects in Ukraine itself. This funding is not just spent on the military but is literally supplying many domestic government functions within that country. Most Americans are unaware that small businesses in Ukraine are being supported with their public funds. At least $25 billion in non-military aid has been spent.

It isn’t as if people in this country aren’t in need of help. Money for weapons continues thanks to consensus among the political class while needy people here are being removed from the Medicaid program which pays for health care for low-income people, as well as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Students take on thousands of dollars in debt to attend universities. The same administration which is committed to spending money on weapons has never presented a plan to help the estimated 500,000 people in the U.S. who are unhoused. There are constantly calls to cut or end these programs altogether but the funding stream for war remains untouched. Democracy itself is in crisis because of these endless conflicts. War is not the only indicator of violence in the world and peace is not just the absence of conflict. War making leads to immiseration, which is antithetical to the concept of peace.

The U.S. public do not have the unanimity of opinion on Ukraine that one would expect considering that billions of dollars have been allocated. Even those who say they support this effort also say that they would like to see negotiations too. A recent poll indicated that 71% of people in this country would like to see a negotiated settlement instead of ongoing conflict.

But the millions of Americans who want an end to the conflict have been deprived of the representation we are supposed to have. Not only does the administration refuse to reconsider its position, but there are reports that President Biden wants to prevent future presidents from playing a different role. According to President Zelensky, he is working with the U.S. and other NATO nations on a ten-year plan to provide weapons. Joe Biden can only serve for a maximum of four and a half more years, meaning that he wants to make a commitment that a future president could not change. In so doing, he invalidates the concerns of voters in this country and of the people who are supposed to represent them.

As a citizen of the United States, I am frankly shocked by the lengths this country will go to in order to pursue a dangerous plan that is doomed to failure. The most recent tranche of U.S. weapons funding is dependent upon Ukraine mobilizing more men, approximately 500,000. Several million Ukrainians fled to nearby states in 2022 but now they are told they cannot renew their passports abroad. They must return to Ukraine where we see videos of men literally being press ganged into service, dragged off the street and forced to join the military. The freedom that is allegedly being fought for seems to require a lack of freedom for Ukrainians who face the risk of death on the battlefield. This corruption requires a steady stream of indoctrination and propaganda to keep the U.S. population from asking questions or actively opposing the war. I suppose that is why Secretary of State Antony Blinken thought it wise to perform with a Ukrainian band on his last visit to Kiev. Not only that, but neither the Secretary nor his handlers were aware that the song he performed, “Rockin’ in the Free World,” is a lament about poverty and hopelessness in a supposedly free world which isn’t truly free for millions of people. The administration is so divorced from reality that they thought it wise for Secretary Blinken to play this song as men are rounded up to be cannon fodder.

I want to add that this conflict didn’t begin in February 2022. It began years earlier with the U.S. plan to have Ukraine join NATO. In 2008 William Burns, then U.S. Ambassador to Russia, revealed in a cable known to us, because of the work of Wikileaks, that doing so would cross a Russian red line and potentially lead to “a major split, involving violence or at worst civil war.” As we all know Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange languishes in a UK prison, facing extradition to the country that has made an example of him because he has revealed secrets such as this cable.

I reiterate that there have been peace proposals in the past two years, with the most recent attempt being made by the People’s Republic of China, which has developed a comprehensive 12-point plan that could mean the end of destruction and suffering if it is given serious consideration.

Lastly, I would like to make a plea to the United Nations to use its power to investigate a catastrophic event that is tied to the Ukraine conflict. On September 26, 2022, the NordStream pipelines were destroyed in an explosion which also sent approximately 15 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, thus contributing to global warming.

Investigations have been closed without conclusion and at least one internationally known investigative journalist has provided evidence of U.S. responsibility. Sadly, no one in a position to investigate in this country has demanded an investigation. It is imperative that the United Nations undertake an independent investigation of its own. This is only possible if fantasies about domination are finally and firmly rejected. Doing so would free nations to be honest with one another, to struggle over issues but to resolve them without death or expenditures of money that are better used for human needs.

I end by thanking you profusely for this opportunity and for the work of the Security Council in upholding the United Nations Charter on behalf of the people of the world. Thank you so much.

Margaret Kimberley is the author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents . You can support her work on Patreon and also find it on the Twitter , Bluesky , and Telegram platforms. She can be reached via email at margaret.kimberley@blackagendareport.com .