Black Power Talks

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #80: 55th Anniversary of ”The Battle of Algiers”: Anticolonialism, Revolutionary Film, and Afro-Asian Solidarity

'Battle of Algiers' - Gillo Pontecorvo by kndynt2099 - Creative Commons
 
At the height of the African Revolution of the 1960s, Italian Communist Filmmaker Gilo Pontecorvo released what is possibly his magnum opus, the greatest work of his career, The Battle of Algiers.  The Battle of Algiers was shot in the streets of Algiers in a documentary style, dramatizing a key period in the Algerian independence struggle against French colonialism.
The film has much to teach us now, as the struggle against western colonialism and neo-colonialism rages around the world. It explores the role of Islam in anti-colonial resistance throughout Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas, and it shows how an out-gunned people can win against a powerful oppressor.
The Battle of Algiers film was released in September 1966, 55 years ago, and made a crucial mark on the International African Revolution, including the formation of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense which was founded just weeks after the release of the film on October 15, 1966 in Oakland, California. The film brings to life the tactics and strategies that the Algerian people used to win their liberation from French colonial rule.  For African viewers, the film displayed examples of anticolonial struggle and African unity. 
To discuss this with us today, we have Professor Sohail Daulatzai .  Born on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, Sohail is currently a Professor in the Department of Film and Media Studies, the Department of African American Studies, and the Program in Global Middle East Studies at UC Irvine. His research-based practice explores the afterlives of empire and utilizes scholarship, essay, short film, video, and the curatorial.
He has directed short films and videos with Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def), Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine and the band Algiers. Sohail has also authored and co-edited a total of five books: Born To Use Mics: Reading Nas’s Illmatic, Return of the Mecca: The Art of Islam and Hip-Hop, With Stones In Our Hands: Writings on Muslims, Racism and Empire, Black Star, Crescent Moon: The Muslim International and Black Freedom Beyond America, and Fifty Years of The Battle of Algiers: Past as Prologue.
Prof. Daulatzai addressed a variety of topics that gave deeper context to the film such as:
The anticolonial politics that informed the film
Frantz Fanon's influence on the film and the Third Cinema revolutionary film movement
National Liberation Front leader Ahmed Ben Bella
Malcolm X and the Algerian Revolution
Afro-Asian Solidarity and the Bandung Conference
Hip-Hop Culture, Islam and anticolonial solidarity
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Dexter Mlimwengu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #79: The Road to Socialism is Painted Black!

There is a growing interest in socialism amongst Black people in the United States.  A recent poll by Axios/Momentive found that a growing sector of the US public favors socialism and a decreasing number of people favor capitalism.  While the poll found that 41 percent of people in the US favored socialism and 49 percent favored capitalism, a number that has dropped in recent years, the numbers out of the African community have risen profoundly.  Sixty percent of Africans in the US favor socialism.  That number is up from 53 percent in 2019.  These rising numbers reflect a clear political awakening amongst the African community in the US.  AS WE SAY IN THE UHURU MOVEMENT, THE ROAD TO SOCIALISM IS PAINTED BLACK!
The rising popularity of socialism amongst African people also represents Imperialism in Crisis.  Imperialism is suffering because the colonized peoples who came under imperialist rule are now fighting back and reclaiming our resources.  It also represents the leadership of the African People’s Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement for the past 49 years.  In 1972, the African People’s Socialist Party was founded with the expressed goal of reviving and completing the African Revolution of the 1960s.  As Chairman Omali Yeshitela notes, the movement had been ideological successful but was militarily defeated through the strategy of US Counterinsurgency.  Amongst the counterinsurgency tactics deployed against African people was the assassination and imprisonment of our leaders, the infestation of our community with drugs and guns, and the mass demoralization of African people.  The US Counterinsurgency used neocolonialism (white power in black face) and the promotion of Black Capitalist ideologies to mislead and confuse the masses of African people.
The 2021 Convention of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement was entitled It’s 2021, African Workers Unite, Let’s Get it Done.  The final panel of this convention was entitled, Completing the Black Revolution.  This panel consisted of talks from Akile Anai, director of Agitation and Propaganda for the African People’s Socialist Party, Penny Hess, Chairwoman of the African People’s Solidarity Committee, and Chairman  Omali Yeshitela, head of the African People’s Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement.   To hear that panel in its entirety, visit the Burning Spear TV Youtube Channel.
In this episode, Chairman Omali Yeshitela is discusses Capitalism Versus Socialism and what is needed to complete the Black Revolution of the 1960s.  He outlines the distinguishes democratic socialism from revolutionary socialist thought, identifies the struggle against colonial-capitalism as the true class struggle, and layouts out what needs to be done to complete the Black Revolution.
This episode also features the song, "Uhuru Means Freedom" by Elikya Ngoma featuring Chairman Omali Yeshitela.  
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Dexter Mlimwengu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #78: Organizers demand the US Stop the Deportations and Reparations to Haiti and All African People

In this episode we look at the mass deportations and brutal violence inflicted on African people from Haiti taking place at the colonial border between the US and Mexico.  In late September 2021, images of Haitian refugees, being corralled by US border patrol agents mounted on horseback at the border crossing in the southwest Texas city of Del Rio. One image showed a mounted border cop wielding a whip as he attacked African refugees. These photographs sparked immediate comparisons to images from the colonial enslavement of African people.
As many as 15,000 women, children, and men from Haiti were being held captive in barracoons under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas.  Over the past few weeks, thousands of people from Haiti have arrived at the US-Mexico border.  The Biden administration has been deporting them upon arrival.  At least 2,000 migrants have been flown to Haiti and 8,000 others have been forced to return to Mexico.
The events in Del Rio, Texas are not separated from the anticolonial struggle for African Liberation. Haiti was the site of the first workers revolution and the people of Haiti will surely play an essential role in the freedom of Africans and all colonized and oppressed people.  
To discuss this with us today, we have Elikya Ngoma.  
Elikya is the Haiti Editor for The Burning Spear Newspaper where she provides revolutionary analyses on the struggles in Ayiti. Her family is from Haiti, she speaks Kreyol and maintains a close connection to politics in Haiti.  She has done extensive research on Haiti, the Haitian Revolution and other cultural and political events coming out of Haiti and the Caribbean.
Elikya is known as the Revolutionary Musician.  Elikya’s recording, “Colonial Virus' ' serves as the Intro and Outro music for our very own People’s War radio show.
In December 2020, Elikya released the album Freedom in The Mix, an African Internationalist album that combined a variety of African musical genres and promoted a way forward for African unity and liberation.  In this episode, we feature some selections from that album:
Lanmou Pou Ayiti (ft. Gessica Généus
Pa Di m Ayiti Pòv
Get Up and Do Something (ft. Fannie Lou Hamer)
Make the Struggle (ft. Ella Baker)
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Dexter Mlimwengu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #77: “The Truth About Afghanistan - Colonialism: the graveyard of imperialism Part 2”

In this episode we present Part Two of a 2-part series titled “The Truth About Afghanistan - Colonialism: the graveyard of imperialism”. That was the title of a September 7th web broadcast, put on by the African People’s Socialist Party to discuss the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and the implications that this defeat has for the liberation struggle of African and other colonized peoples.
That broadcast featured presentations by Luwezi Kinshasa, Secretary General of the African Socialist International; Yejide Orunmila, President of the African National Women’s Organization; Tafari Mugeri, Director of Organization for the ASI Africa Region; Omali Yeshitela, Chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party; and Penny Hess, Chairwoman of the African People’s Solidarity Committee.
In part one we heard presentations delivered by Secretary General Luwezi Kinshasa, Penny Hess, Chairwoman of the African People’s Solidarity Committee and Yejide Orunila, President of the African National Women’s Organization.  Today we’ll hear from Director Tafarie Mugerie of the African Socialist International Africa Region and Chairman Omali Yeshitela.
First up was Director Tafarie Mugeri an organizer on the ground in Occupied Azania, commonly known as South Africa.  In his address, Director Tafarie began by offering a salute to the people of Afghanistan and notes that the defeat of the US in Afghanistan happened amidst a moment of imperialist crisis.
Tafarie goes on to expand his analysis of the anti-imperialist victory of the Afghan people.  He notes that Africans must also not compromise in our pursuit of total liberation and self-government.  Tafarie urges people to reject notions of the moral superiority of the Western Imperialist powers.  He notes that anticolonial resistance is the only way forward for African people.
Chairman Omali Yeshitela, who delivered the main presentation.  Chairman Omali Yeshitela began his presentation by recognizing that it as an anti-colonial philosophy that led to victory.  Chairman identified colonialism as the mode of production for this society. It was colonialism that gave birth to capitalism, not the other way around. He went on to recognize Afghanistan’s victory as an indicator of a drastically weakening US hegemony.
He explained that a system whose survival relies on the continued subjugation of the people will not survive the masses of the people rising up and concluded by emphasizing the African socialist international as the vehicle through which the masses of African people will rise up and overturn the system of colonial capitalism.
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Dexter Mlimwengu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.
 
 

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #76: “The Truth About Afghanistan - Colonialism: the graveyard of imperialism”

In this episode we present Part One of a 2-part series titled “The Truth About Afghanistan - Colonialism: the graveyard of imperialism”.
That was the title of a September 7th web broadcast, put on by the African People’s Socialist Party to discuss the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and the implications that this defeat has for the liberation struggle of African and other colonized peoples.
That broadcast featured presentations by Luwezi Kinshasa, Secretary General of the African Socialist International; Yejide Orunmila, President of the African National Women’s Organization; Tafari Mugeri, Director of Organization for the ASI Africa Region; Omali Yeshitela, Chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party; and Penny Hess, Chairwoman of the African People’s Solidarity Committee.
First is the presentation delivered by Secretary General Luwezi Kinshasa. SG Luwezi was born in the Congo and is currently based in London. He is affectionately known as Mwalimu, which means “teacher” for his extensive knowledge and engaged story-telling about the history of the world’s peoples.
Next up, Penny Hess gave a recap of the CIA’s role in the creation of modern so-called Islamic Fundamentalist forces, under U.S. president Jimmy Carter, to draw in and defeat the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. She critiques the failure of the white peace movement to mount effective opposition to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and credits the African People’s Socialist Party for its consistent stance in active solidarity with the right of colonized peoples to resist colonial war and occupation.
Then we heard from President Yejide Orunmila of the African National Women’s Organization (ANWO).  In her talk, President Yejide reaffirms her complete solidarity with Afghan women.  President Yejide dispels international propaganda that suggests that the imperialist invasion of Afghanistan was done to liberate Afghan women.  She notes that the largest abusers of women’s rights in the region are US allies and that the US remains silent on French government abuses against Muslim women in France as well as the oppressive anti-abortion laws in Texas.  President Yejide notes that US intervention stopped the progress of Afghan women and noted the anti-imperialist organization that existed amongst Afghan women before the US instigated war with the Soviet Union.  President Yejide views this victory as a victory for Afghan self-determination and the future of Afghan women.
In Part Two we’ll hear from Director Tafarie Mugeri of the African Socialist International Africa Region and Chairman Omali Yeshitela.
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Dexter Mlimwengu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #75: Getting Fit for the Revolution

Today’s show is entitled “Getting Fit for the Revolution” and incorporates excerpts from a panel by the same name that was presented at the 2021 International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement Convention from September 3 through 5th.
The convention observed the 30th anniversary of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement as well as the 50-plus year of Uhuru Movement mass organization.  The panels were designed to confront the crises the African community face and provide an African Internationalist way forward.
African health is one arena the movement has always led on. In 1969, the Junta of Militant Organizations (JOMO), a precursor to the African People’s Socialist Party, founded the JOMO Blood Bank. 
From the 1970s to 1990s, the Burning Spear Newspaper ran a regular column entitled Colonialism is Dangerous to Your Health. In 1985, the Uhuru Movement opened the Lil Bobby Hutton African People’s Free Health Clinic.
This all laid the groundwork for the Uhuru Movement’s establishment of the All African People’s Development and Empowerment Project and their Emergency Response Program, Project Black Ankh.
"Getting Fit for the Revolution" features
Kobina Bantushango, with tips on healthy eating and exercise and shares the stories behind the establishment of the All Peoples Tyron Lewis Community Gym and the Uhuru Health Festivals.
Michael Parker is a certified trainer and member of the All-African People's Development and Empowerment Project who adds to the conversation on healthy eating and exercise
Michelle Odom speaks on African mental health. She organizes the Aya Resistance Circles and leads the All-African People's Development and Empowerment Project's Mental Health Working Group
Chairman Omali Yeshitela presents on the relationship between healthy eating and exercise to brain health which are all important for emotional fitness.  He calls on revolutionaries to set an example for the masses of African people to maintain a high level of discipline in regards to fitness practices.
Dr. Aisha Fields, Director of the All African People’s Development and Empowerment Project, gave an update on the Covid-19 health and safety protocols prepared by project Black Ankh.
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Dexter Mlimwengu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #74: It‘s 2021! African Workers Unite! Let‘s Get it Done!

This episode looks at some history of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement which is celebrating its thirty year anniversary this year, 2021.  The International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement was founded in 1991 by the African People’s Socialist Party, as a mass organization designed to defend the democratic rights of the black community and to bring African people back into political life after the military defeat  our Black Power movement of the 1960s had suffered.  
Since its creation, InPDUM has fought courageously for the African community. The precursor to today’s formation, was founded in Oakland, California in 1985 under the name People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement.
When the organization went U.S.-wide in Chicago in 1991, it was founded under the name the National People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement and then with the establishment of branches throughout Africa and Europe, it became the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement. 
The organization’s first President was Akua Njeri, also known as Deborah Johnson, widow of assassinated Black Panther leader Fred Hampton. An important campaign that came out of Chicago was one to free Free Hampton Jr. who had been framed for attempting to carry on the political legacy of his father.
Throughout the years, InPDUM has led many dynamic campaigns in defense of the African working class.
Taking a look back at more than three decades of grassroots organizing, we’ll hear excerpts of historic speeches, conversations, and even rap songs that help us chart the history of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement.  
We’ll hear from Chairman Omali Yeshitela, Bakari Olatunji, Kalambayi Andenet, Ntambwe Bhekizitha and the legendary rap group dead prez.
The InPDUM Convention on September 3rd through 5th will be broadcast on the Burning Spear TV channel on YouTube and on InPDUM’s Facebook page. It’s free and open to the public. 
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Dexter Mlimwengu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #73: The Revolutionary Power of Black Poetry

In this episode, we’re going to showcase several African poets and talk about the role of poetry and culture in the African anti-colonial struggle.
We know that the spoken word is powerful.  If not, colonizers would not have stripped Africans of their names, their language, their traditions and their songs. 
The anticolonial writer from Martinique Aime Cesaire wrote extensively on the power of poetry, the spoken word and culture.  In the important essay, “Poetry and Knowledge”, Cesaire argued that poetry was an anticolonial tool because it challenged the conventions of colonial society and allowed the oppressed to imagine new worlds.
In the essay, "Poetry is not a luxury," Audre Lorde wrote, “poetry is not a luxury.  It is a vital necessity of our existence.  It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hope and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into tangible action.  Poetry is the way we can help give name  to the nameless so it can be thought.”
 There is not a time in the struggle for African liberation that we have not seen the power of spoken word, poetry and music as anticolonial cultural influencers.
Today we will speak with revolutionary culture workers including FoFeet Alkebulan. FoFeet is the Economic Development Coordinator and organizer with the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement in St. Louis.  As part of her organizing efforts, FoFeet organizes the Musa Abantu Poetry Nights for the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement.
FoFeet is joined by Valerie VKween Young from St. Louis Missouri, Jheanelle Owens from Jamaica, and Dzidzor from Boston.
We also showcase the poetry of Claude McKay and Gil Scot Heron. 
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Dexter Mlimwengu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #72: Long Live Marcus Garvey!

Today on the People’s War Radio Show, we are celebrating the birthday of Marcus Mosiah Garvey.  Every week, the People’s War Radio show brings you an African Internationalist perspective of world issues.  African Internationalism, the theory of the African Working Class has its origins in the ideology and practices of Marcus Mosiah Garvey.   
Marcus Garvey organized one of the most important anticolonial African organizations in history.  Garvey’s revolutionary journal, the Negro World, had a weekly circulation of at least 200,000 copies.
Garvey understood the power in Africans reclaiming control of the historical narrative and embraced the African revolutionary tradition.
Marcus Garvey organized the largest African Revolutionary organization in history--the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).  The UNIA was formed in Jamaica in 1914 following Garvey’s return to the country of his birth.  Marcus Garvey brought the UNIA to the United States in 1916.
On this episode of the People’s War Radio show, Dexter and I will discuss the legacy of Marcus Garvey and our place in it.  We will share some of the music that has upheld Marcus Garvey, discuss his significance to political organization nowadays, and present excerpts from a speech given by Chairman Omali Yeshitela on the continued significance of Marcus Garvey.
This episode features the following:
Excerpts from Chairman Omali Yeshitela's speech to the 2020 InPDUM Convention on Garvey entitled "100 Years Later, It's Still Red, Black and Green"
A conversation between Dexter and Matsemela about the internationalist significance of the Red, Black and Green Flag that linked the African Nation to anticolonial struggles in the Middle East
A variety of cultural pieces such as:
Elikya Ngoma's "Liberate the Minds" featuring Marcus Garvey
Amy Jacques Garvey's "This Flag of Mine" performed by Michelle, Mayasa and Malika Odom
Bob Marley's "Redemption Song"
Lauryn Hill's "So Much Things to Say"
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Dexter Mlimwengu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.
 

The People's War Radio Show, Episode #71: Black August: Free our political prisoners!

Today’s episode is dedicated to the struggle for the release of African political prisoners, in honor of Black August. 
The roots of Black August are in the uprisings and rebellions of African freedom fighters who were imprisoned as a result of their political activity during the height of the Black Power Movement of the 1960s.
Black August was started by incarcerated Africans in California in observance of the death of George Jackson. It’s now honored as a month-long salute to the African liberation struggle, recognizing such historic milestones as the Haitian Revolution, the birth of Marcus Garvey, and the deaths of Jonathan Jackson and George Jackson.  
Black August is a month of Remembrance and Resistance, especially dedicated to our African warriors imprisoned for their heroic stance fighting for African liberation.
In this episode, we bring you excerpts from presenters at the 12th Annual Convention of the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, held August 7th and 8th 2021.
The theme of this year's Convention was “Deepening the Resistance to Police Terror: Honoring our Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War, Black Community Control of the Police”. 
In this program, we hear from:
Omali Yeshitela, Chairman of the African People's Socialist Party and of the Black is Back Coalition.
Sekou Odinga, former political prisoner, released in 2014 after spending 33 years in prison. Sekou a was a member of Malcolm X's Organization of Afro-American Unity, a founding member of the New York chapter of the Black Panther Party and a combatant in the Black Liberation Army. 
Jaan Laaman, member of the Ohio 7 who was convicted of “seditious conspiracy,” along with other members of the United Freedom Front. He was released from McCreary federal prison in May 2021, after 37 years in captivity.
For more information on the Black Is Back Coalition, visit blackisbackcoalition.org. To request a free monthly subscription of The Burning Spear newspaper for a prisoner, visit theburningspear.com.