Human Rights Weekend to honor Safiya Bukhari
By Monica Moorehead
New York
The Jericho Movement has declared Dec. 10-11 in New York
City as "Safiya Bukhari Inter national Human Rights
Weekend."
Jericho was founded March 28, 1998, by a dedicated group
predominantly made up of seasoned Black freedom fighters
nationwide--many of whom were once political prisoners and have
since been released. One of those freedom fighters was Safiya
Bukhari. She tragically passed away in 2003, at age 53, after a
long illness.
Inside the U.S., political and community activists have long
used Dec. 10 to tie together important struggles at home and
abroad, especially fighting racist repression.
On Dec. 10, 1948, the then newly formed United Nations
adopted a Universal Declaration of Human Rights in "areas of
peace, humanitarian assistance, sustainable development and
social and economic progress." Notwithstanding the fact that
the UN has since, on the whole, been used as a world body to
condone imperialist war and occupation--especially in the cases
of Iraq, Palestine, Haiti and Afghanistan--Dec. 10 has been
universally recognized as Human Rights Day.
This year the events here will honor Bukhari, a member of
the Black Panther Party and the Black Lib eration Army. She
served as vice president of the Provisional Gov ernment of the
Republic of New Afrika. Since the 1960s, the Repub lic of New
Afrika has promoted the establishment of a separate Black
nation in the Deep South to exercise the right to
self-determination.
Bukhari was one in a long list of victims of the FBI's
Cointelpro operations that targeted and persecuted leaders and
key activists of national liberation and civil rights movements
in the U.S. She spent nine years in prison.
In 1992, she helped form the New York Free Mumia Coalition
which still works diligently to help free African American
journalist and death row political prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Bukhari was also co-chair of the Jericho Movement and the Free
Mumia coalition until her death.
In an essay on U.S. political repres sion, Bukhari wrote,
"We have to build a movement to liberate our people. The issue
of political prisoners is part of that movement that we are
building and in building that movement we must understand that
this is not a separate issue. It is an integral part of that
movement; it can't be put in front of the movement and can't be
an after thought. It must be woven into the very fibers...
Organize, Educate, Liberate to FREE OUR POLITICAL PRISONERS AND
PRISONERS OF WAR!!!" (thejerichomovement.com)
The aim of Jericho is to raise broader awareness of
political prison ers languishing in U.S. jails for many years
and to organize campaigns for their freedom. Jericho supports
Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier, the MOVE 9, Sundiata
Acoli, Eddie Conway, Jalil Mun taqim, Marilyn Buck, Oscar Lopez
Rivera, Kathy Boudin and others.
A calendar of events has been scheduled for Dec. 10-11 in
New York City.
On Dec. 10, a cultural event will take place at Hunter
College, 68th St. at Lexington Ave., from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
On Dec. 11, a "Networking for Activists" is scheduled at the
UN Church Center, 777 UN Plaza, 41st St. and 1st Ave., from 9
a.m. to 1 p.m. Afterward, a demonstration and rally in support
of political prisoners and human rights worldwide will take
place at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza.
For more information, call NYC Jericho, (718) 220-6004.
Reprinted from the Nov. 11, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page