Brooklyn celebrates African Liberation Day
'No recolonization of Africa! Hands off Zimbabwe!'
By Pat Chin
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Cries of "No recolonization of Africa! Hands
off Zimbabwe!" rang out in the streets here May 24 in
celebration of African Liberation Day.
The activity, which started with a long march from
Bedford-Stuyvesant to the sound of drums, was a loud and
spirited protest against U.S. and British imperialist designs
to re-colonize Africa as it has done with the former
Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and now Iraq.
The marchers, who carried banners and the red, green and
black flag of the Black liberation movement, were warmly and
enthusiastically received in each community they traversed.
Demonstrators called for a fight against Washington's and
London's attempt to oust the government of President Robert
Mugabe in Zimbabwe. Mugabe was one of the leaders of the
liberation movements in Zimbabwe that drove the British
colonizers from power in the 1970s. Much of the most fertile
land remained owned by the white racist colonial settler class
and the Black majority remains mired in poverty.
Britain has reneged on a promise to compensate white farmers
for lands the farmers stole in the first place. But when the
Mugabe administration, decades later, finally seized these
lands for Black farmers, an imperialist campaign to demonize
and destabilize Mugabe's government was unleashed by the United
States and Britain.
The ALD activity, which included a delegation from the group
Labor Against the War, was organized by the African Liberation
Day Coalition 2003. Endor sers include the December 12th Move
ment, the All-African People's Revolu tionary Party, Pan
African Liberation Movement, Haiti Support Network, Black Vets
for Social Justice, Bedford-Stuyvesant Coalition for Peace,
African Poetry Theatre, Malcolm X Grassroots Move ment, Friends
of Zimbabwe, National Conference of Black Lawyers, New York
ANSWER, Harlem Anti-War Coalition, Korea Truth Commission,
Workers World Party and others.
At the march, and at the rally at the House of the Lord
church, activists also called for reparations for the
trans-Atlantic slave trade; to deepen the ties of communication
among Africans worldwide; to continue the struggle against the
occupation of Iraq; and for solidarity with Cuba, Venezuela,
Haiti and North Korea. The Palestinian people's liberation
struggle was also hailed.
Participants pledged to revitalize the long tradition of
annually celebrating African Liberation Day. ALD initially took
place as "African Freedom Day" at the first organized
conference on African independence held in Ghana at a 1958
conference of Pan-African leaders working for the unification
of Africa under socialism.
Reprinted from the June 5, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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