The Network for Pan-Afrikan Solidarity (NPAS), Justice Is Not Colour-Blind, International League of Peoples’ Struggle/Canada, Group for Research and Initiatives for the Liberation of Africa (GRILA) and the Pan-Afrikan Solidarity Network (U of T)
present
an Afrikan Liberation Month forum on the the relevance of the Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verdean revolutionary theoretician, military strategist and practitioner Amilcar Cabral to the struggle for the self-organizing and mobilization of the masses, economic and social justice and resistance against neocolonialism, patriarchy and imperialism.
PROGRAMME FOR FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15TH
FILM SCREENING: “Afrikan Leaders: Amilcar Cabral”
Using rare archival footage, director Ana Lucia Ramos Lisboa accurately chronicles both the personal and public sides of an African icon in Amilcar Cabral. The founder of the African Party for Independence of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC), Amilcar Cabral led the Liberation Movement against Portugal for those countries.
Excerpt from the film AFRICAN LEADERS: AMILCAR CABRAL: http://www.youtube.com/
PANEL DISCUSSION:
Ameth Lo, Cabral, Pan-Afrikanism and Today’s Challenges, Organizer with Group for Research and Initiatives for the Liberation of Africa (GRILA)
Wangui Kimari, The (Ir)responsibility of the Intelligentsia and Other Middle-class Elements in the Afrikan Revolution, Organizer with the Network for Pan-Afrikan Solidarity, student leader and doctoral student, York University
Crisostomo Tavares, Guinea-Bissau Now & The Post-independence Political Situation
WHEN: Friday, February 15, 2013
WHERE: 252 Bloor Street West, Room 5-170 at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/ University of Toronto (next to the St. George subway station)
TIME: 6:00 – 9:00pm
Free Public Event – suggested donation of $5 or Pay What You Can (PWYC)
January 20, 2013 was the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Amilcar Cabral by Afrikan opportunists and collaborators as well as Portuguese colonialism.
TRIBUTES TO AMILCAR CABRAL
“Cabral was widely known as one of the most important figures in the Third World comparable in stature to a Ho Chi Minh or a Fidel Castro. His assassination thus sent shock waves throughout Africa and around the world.” – Gerard Chaliand, a major writer on revolutionary struggles and socialist developments in the Third World
According to Fidel Castro, “one of the most lucid and brilliant leaders in Africa, Comrade Amílcar Cabral, who instilled in us tremendous confidence in the future and the success of his struggle for liberation.” – comment on Cabral’s contribution at the 1966 Tricontinental Conference in Havana, Cuba, which was gathering of revolutionaries from Asia, Afrika, Latin America and the Caribbean
CABRAL WORKSHOPS:
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16TH
SEE POSTER ABOVE
For further information, please contact NPAS:
network4panafrikansolidari
Join us for a discussion on our relationships as Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in common struggle to protect the Land and water, as guided by the Two Row Wampum.
In the context of both an inspiring Idle No More movement and the 400th year anniversary of the Two Row Wampum agreement between Haudenosaunee people and settler authorities, it is an important time to discuss building a united front.
In Southern Ontario, Indigenous and non-Indigenous people are on treaty land, making us all treaty people. As we see that the capitalist Canadian government will not uphold the treaties it is bound by on this land, we believe that it is up to the people to educate ourselves and struggle to honour them.
This discussion will be guided by reflections on the work of Haudenosaunee Land Defenders, organizers from the CUPE 3903 First Nation’s Solidarity Working Group, and the Two Row Society.
Light refreshments will be provided
ASL and child care will be available. Please email [email protected] 48 hours before the event if you require these services.
PLEASE NOTE: there are two series of steps into the building. A ramp system is available. Washrooms are in the basement down a flight of stairs
Hosted by the Law Union of Ontario’s Prison Justice Committe
http://www.facebook.com/#!/
Help promote the event: Omnibus Crime Bill Event Poster in PDF
Video from Mass Art-illery concert on Saturday, November 10. Featuring: Acalanto, Rise Up, James Blood (from Tru Rez Crew), Dbi Young and LAL.
[Versión en español sigue] [La version Française suit]
an initiative of the International Conference on Progressive Culture – People’s Art Network
February 20, 2013
Registration Form - The deadline for registration is January 13
All over the world, artists, writers, journalists, and cultural workers of all disciplines who lend their craft as a tool for progressive social change, challenge the status quo, or simply expose the truth, face various forms of persecution and attack from state apparatuses.We call on those artists, cultural workers and journalists to join us and to build a global event to celebrate and defend people’s culture from February 20.
Events will take place in numerous cities throughout the world showing the power of our crafts to advance peoples’ struggles for fundamental social change.
We hope to build bridges across borders with fellow artists, writers, journalists and cultural workers and to contribute to the building of a united global movement to foster progressive grassroots culture and to protect freedom of expression.
If you would like participate or organize an event, please fill out the following form online. If you have any questions, you can reach us at [email protected]. The deadline for registration is January 13.
Under the brutality of the state that seeks to silence them, some of these cultural workers have paid the ultimate price for their artistic creations and visions that advance the cause of people’s liberation, such as Chilean artist Victor Jara, who was brutally tortured and murdered by the Chilean state in 1973.
And still today, cultural workers continue to face state brutality. Argentine songwriter and singer, Facundo Cabral, an icon of Latin American folk and protest music, was shot to death in the early morning of July 9, 2011 by unknown gunmen who intercepted his car in Guatemala City.
Others have been unlawfully arrested and imprisoned in order to keep them from creating works that give hope to the people such as Ericson Acosta, a poet, thespian, singer and journalist, who was arrested without warrant by the Philippine military on February 13, 2011 while serving as a volunteer researcher in a highly-militarized, poor, rural village in the Philippines.
Ferhat Tunç, Kurdish singer and composer, has faced severe repression from the Turkish state for his songs that protest the oppression of Kurdish people, language, and culture. He was recently sentenced to two years in prison on terrorism related charges due to his invocation during a speech where he mentioned names of three deceased Turkish leftists.
In Russia, three members of the punk rock collective, Pussy Riot, were recently sentenced to two years in prison after performing a song in Moscow’s main cathedral criticizing Vladimir Putin.
In the US, journalist and former Black Panther Party member Mumia Abu-Jamal, has spent nearly 30 years on death row and remains held in strict isolation and solitary confinement for a crime many believe he did not commit.
Still other artists face continuous state harassment and threats to their lives such as Arundhati Roy, an award-winning novelist and essayist, who faces continuous hostility from the Indian government for her outspoken criticisms against media censorship and state brutality in Kashmir, and the state’s counter-insurgency operations against the Adivasi peoples. She also faces harassment from the state for writing and speaking sympathetically towards the Adivasi peoples and the Naxalites who have taken up arms to defend themselves against large foreign dominated mining and dam projects backed by the Indian state..
Wikileaks founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange became the target of the US State Department when Wikileaks released classified documents on the US military occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan that exposed the disturbing extent of US involvement in said occupations.
Despite these obstacles, genuine peoples artists and cultural workers defy state repression and continue to create works that serve the interest of the oppressed, risking their lives everyday.
For more information visit: http://peoplesart.info/
*The Global Concert to Defend People’s Culture is an initiative of the People’s Art Network and the International Conference on Progressive Culture. The conference, held in July of 2011, in the Philippines, consisted of over 80 visual artists, musicians, filmmakers, writers, media practitioners and cultural workers from around the world.
Artists Break the Chains - February 20, 2013
Registration Form - The deadline for registration is January 13
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20 febrero 2013
Formulario de Inscripción - La fecha límite de inscripción es el 13 de enero
Por todo el mundo, artistas, escritores, periodistas y trabajadores culturales de todas las disciplinas que prestan su arte como una herramienta para el cambio social progresista, desafiar el statu quo, o simplemente exponer la verdad. Se enfrentan a diversas formas de persecución y ataque de los aparatos estatales.
Hacemos un llamado a los artistas, trabajadores culturales y los periodistas a unirse con nosotros por crear un evento mundial para celebrar y defender la cultura de los pueblos el 20 de febrero.
Los eventos se llevarán a cabo en numerosas ciudades de todo el mundo mostrando el poder de nuestras obras para avanzar en las luchas populares para el cambio social fundamental.
Esperamos de vincular a través de las fronteras con otros artistas, escritores, periodistas y trabajadores de la cultura y contribuir a la construcción de un movimiento mundial unido para fomentar la cultura popular progresista y proteger la libertad de expresión.
Si desea participar u organizar un evento, favor de llenar el formulario en línea siguiente. Si usted tiene alguna pregunta, puede comunicarse con nosotros por [email protected]. La fecha límite de inscripción es el 13 de enero.
Bajo la brutalidad de los estados, que busca silenciarlos, algunos de estos trabajadores de la cultura han pagado el precio más alto por sus creaciones artísticas y las visiones que promueven la causa de la liberación popular, como el artista chileno Víctor Jara, quien fue brutalmente torturado y asesinado por el estado de Chile en 1973.
Y todavía hoy, los trabajadores culturales siguen haciendo frente a la brutalidad del estado. Compositor y cantante argentino Facundo Cabral, un icono folclórico latinoamericano y la música de protesta, fue muerto a tiros en la madrugada del 9 de julio de 2011 por hombres armados desconocidos que interceptaron su automóvil en la ciudad de Guatemala.
Otros han sido ilegalmente detenidos y encarcelados a fin de evitar que la creación de obras que dan esperanza a las personas, como Ericson Acosta, el poeta, cantante, actor y periodista, que fue detenido sin orden judicial por el ejército filipino el 13 de febrero de 2011, mientras sirviendo como voluntario como un investigador en una villa pobre, rural, y altamente militarizada en las Filipinas.
Ferhat Tunç, el cantautor kurdo, se ha enfrentado a una dura represión por parte del gobierno turco por sus canciones de protesta que la opresión del pueblo kurdo, y su lengua y cultura. Fue condenado recientemente a dos años de prisión por cargos relacionados con el terrorismo debido a su invocación durante un discurso en el que mencionó los nombres de tres izquierdistas turcos fallecidos.
En Rusia, los tres miembros del colectivo punk rock, Pussy Riot, fueron condenados recientemente a dos años de prisión después de realizar en la principal catedral de Moscú una canción critíca a Vladimir Putin.
En los Estados Unidos., Mumia Abu-Jamal , el periodista y ex miembro del Partido Pantera Negra, ha pasado casi 30 años careciendo la pena de la muerte y permanece detenido en aislamiento estricto y el confinamiento solitario por un crimen que muchos creen que no cometió.
Aún otros artistas carecen al hostigamiento estatal y las amenazas a su vida, como Arundhati Roy, una novelista premiado y ensayista, que se enfrenta a la hostilidad continua del gobierno indio por sus abiertas críticas contra la censura en los medios de comunicación y la brutalidad del estado de Cachemira, y las del estado del contador operaciones de contrainsurgencia contra los pueblos del adivasi. Ella también se enfrenta acoso del estado para escribir y hablar con simpatía hacia los pueblos adivasi y los naxalitas que han tomado las armas para defenderse contra las grandes mineras extranjeras dominado por proyectos de represas y apoyado por el estado indio.
Julian Assange, el fundador y editor en jefe de Wikileaks , se convirtió en el objetivo del Departamento de Estado de EE.UU. cuando Wikileaks publicó documentos clasificados sobre las ocupaciones militares estadounidenses de Irak y Afganistán, que expusieron el punto inquietante de la participación de EE.UU. en dichas ocupaciones.
A pesar de estos obstáculos, los pueblos sinceros de artistas y trabajadores culturales desafían la represión estatal y siguen de crear obras que sirven a los intereses de los oprimidos, arriesgando sus vidas todos los días.
Para más información: http://
* El Concierto Mundial para Defender la Cultura Popular es una iniciativa de la Red de Arte Popular y la Conferencia Internacional sobre la Cultura Progresista. La conferencia, que se celebró en julio de 2011, en las Filipinas, formado por más de 80 artistas visuales, músicos, cineastas, escritores, profesionales de los medios de comunicación y trabajadores de la cultura de todo el mundo.
Artistas Rompen las Cadenas el 20 de febrero 2013
Formulario de Inscripción - La fecha límite de inscripción es el 13 de enero
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une initiative de la conférence internationale sur la culture progressiste – réseau de l’art du peuple
le 20 février 2013
Formulaire d’inscription - La date limite d’inscription est le 13 Janvier
Partout dans le monde, des artistes, des écrivains, des journalistes et des travailleurs culturels de toutes disciplines prêtent leur art comme un outil pour le changement social progressif, défient le statu quo, ou tout simplement exposent la vérité, face à diverses formes de persécution et d’attaques des appareils de l’État.
Nous invitons ces artistes, travailleurs culturels et journalistes à se joindre à nous et de construire un événement mondial visant à célébrer et défendre la culture des peuple le 20 février.
Des événements auront lieu dans de nombreuses villes à travers le monde démontrant la puissance de nos métiers pour faire avancer les luttes des peuples pour le changement social fondamental.
Nous espérons construire des liens à travers les frontières avec d’autres artistes, écrivains, journalistes et travailleurs culturels et de contribuer à construire un mouvement mondial visant à promouvoir la culture progressive et de protéger la liberté d’expression.
Si vous souhaitez participer ou organiser un événement, s’il vous plaît remplir le formulaire en ligne. Si vous avez des questions, vous pouvez nous joindre au [email protected]. La date limite d’inscription est le 13 janvier.
Certains de ces travailleurs culturels ont payé le prix ultime pour leurs créations artistiques et leurs visions qui font progresser la cause de la libération des peuples, tel que l’artiste chilien Victor Jara, qui a été brutalement torturée et assassinée par l’État chilien en 1973.
Même aujourd’hui, les travailleurs culturels font face à la brutalité de l’État. Auteur-compositeur et chanteur argentin Facundo Cabral, une icône du folk et de la musique latino-américaine de protestation, a été abattu tôt le matin du 9 juillet 2011 par des inconnus armés qui ont intercepté sa voiture dans la ville de Guatemala.
D’autres ont été illégalement arrêtés et emprisonnés afin de les empêcher de créer des œuvres qui donnent de l’espoir aux peuples. Ericson Acosta, un poète, thespian, chanteur et journaliste, qui a été arrêtée sans mandat par l’armée philippine le 13 février 2011, tandis qu’il servait comme chercheur bénévole dans un village rural aux Philippines très militarisée et pauvre.
Ferhat Tunc, chanteur kurde et compositeur, a fait face à une sévère répression de l’Etat turc pour ses chansons qui contestent l’oppression du peuple, langue et culture kurde. Il a récemment été condamné à deux ans de prison sur des accusations liées au terrorisme en raison de son invocation des noms de trois décédés gauchistes turcs lors d’un discours.
En Russie, trois membres du collectif punk rock, Pussy Riot, ont été récemment condamné à deux ans de prison après avoir effectué une chanson dans la cathédrale principale de Moscou qui critiqué Vladimir Putin.
Aux États-Unis, journaliste et ancien membre du Black Panther Party, Mumia Abu-Jamal, a passé près de 30 ans dans le couloir de la mort et est encore détenu en isolement strict pour un crime que beaucoup de personnes pensent qu’il n’a pas commis.
Encore d’autres artistes font face au harcèlement de l’État et des menaces à leur vie. Arundhati Roy, un romancier primé et essayiste, qui fait face à l’hostilité du gouvernement indien pour ses critiques franches contre la censure des médias et de la brutalité d’État au Cachemire ainsi que les opérations anti-insurrectionnelles de l’État menées contre les peuples Adivasi. Elle est également confrontée au harcèlement de l’Etat pour écrire et parler avec sympathie envers les peuples Adivasi et les Naxalites qui ont pris les armes pour se défendre contre l’exploitation minière et des projets de barrage à grande dominé par l’étranger et soutenu par l’État indien.
Fondateur de Wikileaks et rédacteur en chef Julian Assange est devenu la cible du Département d’Etat américain après avoir publié des documents classées sur les occupations militaires américaines en Irak et en Afghanistan qui ont exposé l’ampleur de l’implication américaine dans ces occupations.
En dépit de ces obstacles et au péril de leur vie quotidienne, véritables artistes et travailleurs culturels des peuples défient la répression d’Etat et continuent à créer des œuvres qui servent l’intérêt des opprimés.
Pour plus d’information, visitez: http://peoplesart.
* Le concert mondial de défendre la culture populaire est une initiative du réseau de l’art du peuple et de la conférence internationale sur la culture progressiste. La conférence, qui s’est tenue en juillet de 2011, aux Philippines, se composait de plus de 80 artistes plasticiens, musiciens, cinéastes, écrivains, professionnels des médias et des travailleurs culturels du monde entier.
Formulaire d’inscription - La date limite d’inscription est le 13 janvier
What: A discussion on independent media in Mathare, Nairobi Kenya (East Africa’s second-largest slum)
Where: UofT, OISE Rm. 5250 (252 Bloor W.)
When: 22 November, 7-9pm
Why: To share our knowledge of Nairobi and Toronto independent media and build solidarity
https://www.facebook.com/
www.facebook.com/LiberationCoop
Independent media in the heart of East Africa’s second-largest slum? Talk of an under-reported story! Yet for the approximately 300,000 residents of the Mathare estate in Nairobi Kenya, where most are young and live on less than $1 a day, community-controlled media is a key platform for articulating social struggles and building collective solutions to pressing problems.
Together, the people of Mathare have established their own independent media groups to share issues and generate conversations relevant to their lives. Workers from two Mathare-based collectives, Liberation Cooperative Organization (LCO) and Mathare Radio, are pleased to welcome you to a presentation and group discussion on the role of independent media in our Nairobi and Toronto communities.
Whether you want to learn more about independent media in East Africa or to get involved, we hope to see you on Thursday, 22 November at 7pm, Rm 5250, OISE (252 Bloor W.), University of Toronto.
Title: Leila Khaled, M-1 (Dead Prez), Jan Myrdal, & Maria Augusta Calle – IMPERIALISM & PEOPLES’ STRUGGLE
Location: 252 Bloor St W (OISE)
Link out: Click here
Start Time: 17:00
Date: 2012-11-08
This keynote event is part of the “Right to Exist, Right to Resist” Conference. Advance registration for conference required; visit here to register. Visit the website of the “Right to Exist, Right to Resist” Conference.
Leila Khaled – “Criminalizing the Palestinian Resistance and the Right to Rebel”
Palestinian leader Leila Khaled is a member of the Palestinian National Council and has been a prominent figure in the struggle to liberate Palestine since the 1960s. One of the most legendary Palestinian leaders, she is also an embodiment of the leading role of Palestinian women in resisting colonization, occupation and imperialism.
Khaled will be speaking about the ongoing criminalization of the resistance in Palestine by Israel and through the imperialist ‘War on Terror’ and the effects on the ‘shatat’– the Palestinian diaspora.
M1 / Mutulu Olugbala – “Culture is a battle ground: Imperialism and People’s Culture”
As one-half of the revolutionary hip-hop group, Dead Prez – which just dropped the much-anticipated 2012 album ‘Information Age’ – M-1 (Mutulu Olugbala) has been setting the bar for revolutionary hip-hop in the belly of the imperialist beast for more than a decade since the album ‘Let’s Get Free’.
M-1 will be speaking about the imperialist globalization and its effects on culture and the resistance of anti-imperialist people’s culture; in addition to performing at the ILPS-Canada concert on Saturday, November 10 at the Annex Wreckroom.
Jan Myrdal – A life’s reflections on anti-imperialist struggle
Jan Myrdal is an internationally renowned author from Sweden and an anti-imperialist thinker and activist with decades of work. From his first book on the socialist transformation in China in 1963, Report from a Chinese Village to Confessions of a Disloyal European (1967) and his first book on India, India Waits (1984), Myrdal has long been a supporter of the struggle of the oppressed for liberation.
From his membership in the communist youth movement in Sweden in 1943 to his break from Euro-communism’s incorrect stance on national liberation in the oppressed countries to his most recent publication of Red Star Over India (2010) on the Maoist movement in India – for which Jan Myrdal was banned for life from re-entering the country by the Indian parliament – Myrdal brings decades of reflections and experiences on anti-imperialist politics.
Jan Myrdal will be sharing his reflections building anti-imperialist solidarity from within anti-imperialist countries, with some discussion on the solidarity with the people’s war in India taking place in Sweden.
Maria Augusta Calle – “From Manta to Julian Assange: Ecuador’s Challenge to the Anglo-American Imperialists”
Maria Augusta Calle is an elected Member of Ecuadorian National Assembly, representing Alianza Pais and currently the Vice President of the Food Sovereignty, Agriculture and Fisheries Development Commission of the Ecuadorian National Assembly.
Calle played a leading role in drafting constitutional reforms which explicitly prohibit any kind of foreign military base in Ecuador aiming, resulting in the permanent closing of the US military base of Manta from Ecuador in September 2009. More recently, Maria Augusta was central to the efforts within Ecuador advocating for the granting of asylum to Julian Assange in Ecuador.
With a Degree in Sociology and Communication, her media experience includes founding Altercom, the first independent and alternative news Agency of Ecuador and serving as the the Ecuadorian correspondent for TELESUR. Additionally, she has a long history as an organizer with women’s organizations and with the Indigenous Movement in Ecuador.
Title: Human Rights in the Philippines: A Continuing Struggle
Location: Room 280N, 2nd Floor York Lanes, York University (Keele Campus)
Link out: Click here
Description: Panel Discussion: Tuesday October 16th 6.00pm – 8.00pm
Location: Room 280N, 2nd Floor York Lanes, York University (Keele Campus)
Free Admission, Refreshments provided, all are welcome.
In September 1972, democratic freedoms were suspended in the Philippines when President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law. Tens of thousands of Filipinos were arrested and imprisoned. Although martial law was lifted in 1981, the struggle for human rights, democracy and development continues into the present. Even today, over 300 political detainees remain imprisoned and extra-judicial killings have been widespread.
Marking the 40th anniversary of martial law, a panel of former political prisoners and activists will tell their own stories of detention and describe the ongoing struggles against human rights abuses in the Philippines. The panel is intended to connect students at York University with the histories of struggle undertaken by their parents’ generation, and to raise their awareness of contemporary human rights issues in the Philippines.
Organizer:
Philip Kelly – Director, York Centre for Asian Research
Panelists:
Ricky Esguerra – former political prisoner; Philippine Solidarity Network; Vice-Chair for Education, Community Alliance for Social Justice, Toronto.
Hermie Garcia – former political prisoner; Editor, The Philippine Reporter; President, Community Alliance for Social Justice.
Bern Jagunos – Asia Program Coordinator, United Church of Canada.
Perry Sorio – former political prisoner; Secretary-General, Migrante Canada.
Discussant:
François Tanguay-Renaud – Associate Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School; Director, Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security, York University.
Moderator:
Alex Felipe, BAYAN-Canada, Toronto.
Sponsored by:
York Centre for Asian Research
Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security, York University
Migrante-Canada
Community Alliance for Social Justice
BAYAN-Canada
- – -
Photo Exhibit: https://www.facebook.com/events/434568393245296/
In association with the panel, a photographic exhibition on human rights in the Philippines will be shown in York University’s Scott Library, starting on October 1st. Curated by photographer Alex Felipe, the exhibit will provide a graphic account of struggles for human rights over the last 40 years in the Philippines
The exhibit will open on Monday October 1st and will be located on the ground floor of York’s main library.
Start Time: 18:00
Date: 2012-10-16
Media Release
For immediate release October 11, 2012
Network for Pan-Afrikan Solidarity (NPAS) / Group for Research and Initiative for the Liberation of Africa (GRILA) / International League of People’s Struggles-Canada
Commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Assassination of Thomas Sankara
Struggle Against Imperialist Impunity in Afrika!
Toronto, ON – The Group for Research and Initiative for the Liberation of Africa (GRILA), Network for Pan-Afrikan Solidarity (NPAS), and International League of People’s Struggles (ILPS) will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Thomas Sankara on Saturday, October 13, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. This public education event will take place in room 5-170 (5th Floor) of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), which is located at 252 Bloor Street West (next to the St. George subway station).
Thomas Sankara, Pan-Afrikan revolutionary and former President of Burkina Faso (1983-1987), led a revolution in Burkina Faso during which the country saw unprecedented participation of the masses toward a collective goal of self-sustained development. Sankara helped to inspire new hope for millions of oppressed Afrikans (on the Afrikan continent and in the Diaspora), who were and continue to b
e weary of and resistant to agents of global imperialist forces who pillage resources of their lands and people. As stated in a petition by the Justice for Sankara, Justice for Africa campaign, “Africa’s difficulties can be traced back to the international networks which initiate wars and assassinations in order to maintain their control over
the continent’s resources – this, with the complicity of many western countries and certain African leaders.”
Those committed to any meaningful concept and material reality of justice must pool our resources to resist oppressive forces. As asserted by Andrew Abraham of NPAS, “if we are serious about our promotion of and commitment to Pan-Afrikanism or the Afrikan Revolution, we need to take stock of our capacity to carry out the work that fate has willed us. Frankly, we are not effectively using the resources at our disposal to fight the forces of oppression.”
We must critically examine the work of revolutionaries like Thomas Sankara, who is widely recognized and celebrated for his efforts to liberate Afrika from the control of international financial institutions, deepening poverty, war, and the pillage of its resources. We must learn to better organize our people and resources – we need to engage in public education about our revolutionary movements to gain and share concepts, strategies, and tactics to continue and intensify the work of the Afrikan Revolution. Dr. Ajamu Nangwaya of NPAS reminds us that “the achievements of the Burkina Faso Revolution are inspiring and indicate what the Afrikan Revolution can accomplish with appropriate leadership practices and a motivated and involved peasantry and working-class.”
Steve da Silva of ILPS explains that, “the groundbreaking developments in agriculture, health, education, and women’s rights and empowerment commenced in Burkina Faso under the Sankara government is a reminder of the only form of ‘development’ that benefits the people: that which cuts off parasitic economic ties with imperialism. What was achieved in Burkina Faso a quarter century ago bears many lessons for liberation and development of the Nepals and Haitis of the world today.”
Sankara promoted a quality of development that was centered on self-determined resistance to and freedom from domination. The aim of this public education initiative is to surface some of the lessons we must learn from the Burkina Faso Revolution and apply in our continued organizing to resist forces of oppression where we live and throughout the Pan-Afrikan world. The movie “Burkina Faso: A Revolution rectified” will be screened, followed by panel discussion featuring Omme-Salma Rahemtullah (GRILA), Steve da Silva (ILPS), and a representative from NPAS. We hope that the relevance and lessons of the Burkina Faso Revolution will interest and inspire Afrikans and people of good conscience in Toronto and everywhere.
For more information please contact: [email protected]
11th annual Caribbean Studies New College conference on Racism and National Consciousness
Location: WILLIAM DOO AUDITORIUM, 45 WILLCOCKS @ SPADINA
Date: October 27
Time: 10:00 am
This is a peoples conference. It is free and open to all. For each of the last 10 years about 350 engaging scholars, students, activists, writers, community and cultural workers, primarily concerned peoples of the global south, resident in the imperial north, have found it informative, stimulating, and important, and look forward to attending.
Please register through <[email protected]> or <[email protected]
ahead of the date so we can cater for enough food for everyone. There is no registration
fee. Lunch will be provided at no cost.
