KABAILA FORUM

UNDERSTANDING THE GADAA ECONOMIC SYSTEM OF THE OROMO PEOPLE

2011-11-12T16:07:00.000-08:00

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UNDERSTUNDING THE GADA SYSTEM

1. Introduction

2. Structural Aspects

3. Organizational Aspects

4. Summary and Conclusions

1. Introduction

Oromo national history, both its record and analysis, has been suppressed since the time Amhara colonial rule began at the turn of the century. Of course the suppression is no accident or oversight on the part of scholars. The size, strength and unified culture of Oromos to be revealed in the historical account is a great threat to those in the state power who have fought to control the Oromos and our resource-rich territory since the time of Emperor Menelik II.

For school children in the Empire State, and for every student world-wide, the history of Oromia has been wrongly included under the history of the Abyssinian people as part of a calculated effort to force an "Ethiopianist" concept on the people of this empire. The Oromos are presented as a brief interruption if they are mentioned. This systematic avoidance of Oromos unique heritage has been embodied in the policies of the Ethiopian government. Much time and energy has gone into developing and trying to document a "unified national culture" perspective for Ethiopia.

The distortions have been fundamental. The world has been told that the Oromo people originated outside the current boundaries of the Ethiopian Empire. The world has been told that the Oromo have been an exclusively pastoral nomadic people who learned the techniques of agriculture only recently from the Amharas. This is offered as evidence that the Oromos have already broken crucial links with their past and should completely "modernize" by sacrificing their way of life and clinging to the Empire State of Ethiopia. Some have argued that the Oromo GADA system of self-government functioned only in the distant past and is now outmoded, ruined, weak, and useless ritual if not completely dead. The same Amnhara colonial government presenting and encouraging these views of Oromo history and society is trying to replace the Oromo way of life at every crucial point through Amharization-of language, religion, custom, law, form of education, etc.

The process of historical distortion is not new for colonized peoples. In this case as in other colonial situations, the ruling group (Abyssianian/Amhara) is underestimating the cultural strength of the ruled groups (Oromo and others). Amharas have always emphasized their cultural superiority over the Oromos and others by pointing out the similarities between their own and European forms-in religion, art, written works, legal traditions, and so forth. This is not to denigrate Amhara culture, but to point out the weakness of that position and of their claims to superiority based on such criteria. Europeans also underestimated the national strength of those they colonized and paid dearly through periods of war and strong resistance. Oromos, however, have not accepted the view of their own society as static, ruined, or not belonging to the modern era, and have refused to become accomplices in colonialism by consenting to these views.

We Oromos have taken onto our own shoulders the crucially important task of beginning, encouraging, and carrying out the reconstruction of Oromo history-i.e., uncovering data, recording and analyzing the events and finding clues buried in the past and present about the very structure of Oromo society. There is no question that central to any study of the Oromo is the GADA system. GADA is recognized by all Oromos as a key to the unique heritage of Oromo political, social, and cultural life. Whereas most of us do know about the existence of the GADA system from our elders, its specific operations are unclear to most of us. For this reason Oromo intellectuals have decided to spend significant time and energy on the study of GADA. Our study so far has led us to suggest that a beacon and even a blueprint for democracy in Oromia may be found in the kind of society that Oromos maintained in the past and have preserved in various forms into the present. The GADA system is a key since it has been the predominant organizational form in Oromo society.

This paper attempts to analyze GADA as a system. It is also a challenge for thorough, open-minded study of Oromo society in its many aspects. A careful look at the GADA rekindles a vision of how strongly coordinated the Oromo have been throughout history; it focuses on the fundamentals that are shared rather than the historically recent and more superficial differences among Oromos that non-Oromos have always emphasized. This approach forces us to appreciate the valuable knowledge Oromo elders possess about this form of political and social organization that has endured for at least four centuries, and it encourages a respectful, genuine turning to Oromia's own authorities within the country for information, direction, and partnership in planning for an independent, democratic Oromia. Learning from the people is the only way a genuine and complete study of GADA can be made. Even the study of GADA will bring Oromos together and will contribute toward the hope that GADA will insure the survival of the Oromo people as Oromos.

2. Structural Aspects

Our starting point is to deal with GADA as a system structurally. Then we will look at its organization in historical context and in relation to material conditions. This will help us to take a new look at functions or dimensions of GADA that are usually labeled according to Western scholarly categories "political," "social," "economic," "ritual," etc. Also this way we can discuss how the system might have worked before colonial conquerors forcefully replaced GADA's republican structure with an Abyssinian feudal monarchy kept in place first by European, then American and Soviet firepower.

We have decided to approach GADA in terms of its overall rationale or logic and not as much in terms of mere descriptions of its component parts. Among most studies of GADA too much attention to recent amendments, adjustments and local variation has blurred the underlying logic of the nationwide system. Once this logic is grasped, and the principal features put in perspective, the search for details takes on new meaning.

In the most general sense, to discuss GADA as a system is simply to see it as an arrangement of interacting parts. Understanding any one part requires relating it to the whole - that is, knowing how the overall system is fitted together. GADA is (1) an arrangement of social categories usually called grades, (2) 'an arrangement of men into groups usually called parties, "sets," "classes," (3) an arrangement of tasks or work to be performed, and (4) an arrangement of ideas, principles, and rules.

Oromo public life was administered through the GADA system. Each man born or adopted by Oromo parents was automatically placed for life into a ready-made pattern of positions and moved through it performing various services for the public good and also receiving certain privileges. Only after a man together with his group or party had passed through a series of four eight year-grades or periods and entered the fifth grade, could his party act to change or amend the system in any way. Following eight years in the grade of formal power all men retired from public service and entered into a purely advisory role. All positions were given or bestowed by the society as a whole and not earned by some kind of individual achievement.

An important distinction in GADA is between (1) groups of men who move through a series of stages and (2) the stages or periods themselves. We prefer to refer to the groups of men as parties, although other writers have used the terms "classes" or "age-sets." The Oromo word is misenssa or gogesa. And we will use the term grade for the stages (or categories, or eight- year-long periods) through which all parties must pass. So the men are divided into parties and the time is divided into grades. The parties are always named, although the names are sometimes reported differently. For purposes of discussion we will use the five party names most commonly found:

1. Birinaji

2. Horata

3. Bichile

4. Duulo

5. Robale

A man and all of his brothers are in the same party, for example, Birmaji, regardless of the differences in their ages. Together they move through the hierarchy of grades, a complete GADA cycle of forty years behind their father. As sons are born to a man, they are held back and do not enter into active participation in the GADA system until their father retires. For example, if a man is Birmaji, his sons are initiated into the first grade of GADA, when he finishes the fifth grade. If a man continues to have children until he is very old, those sons will enter GADA and move through with their older brothers, even if they enter at the middle of the cycle as infants. The grades, or eight year periods through which parties pass are named:

Gadaa Grade

Number of Yeares in the Gadaa System

Number of years(Expected age of individuals)

Iti Mako

0 - 8

8 - 16

Daballe

8 - 16

16 - 24

III

Folle

18 - 24

24 - 32

III

Qondala

24 - 32

32 -40

Luba

32 - 40

40 - 48

The first column shows the amount of time the individuals as members of a party have spent in the graded system. The second column shows the ages of individuals in those grades. If the system worked like a computer and all men had all their children while they were V. Luba, i.e. 40-48 years old, by the time the fathers were ready to retire, some of their children would be eight years old and others as young as infants. All those children would enter together as Iti Mako, and remain Iti Mako for eight years. When they finished that grade some would be as old as sixteen, others as young as eight, but all would be the same GADA age. Their social age or number of years in GADA would be same as their biological age only if they were born on the very day of their father's retirement. But since people are not machines, the ages of men in each grade varies widely depending on how old their fathers were and their grandfathers when each had sons. Adjustments have been made by adoption and by amendment to keep the greatest number, of able-bodied men into the grades that require the maximum of physical strength to meet the needs of the nation, e.g. for herding livestock and military activities. Technically, however, GADA is not an age-grade system per se as many call it. It is a generation grade or a generation set system. 3~

Let us look at the cycle at a given time, for example when the Robale party is in the LUBA grade (see Figure I), to show how the grade and party are related. Each of the other active parties holds a specific grade; at that time the Dulo party is Qondala, the Bichiles are FOLLE, Horata is in DABALLE, and the Birmajis have just started in GADA as ITI MAKO. It is the nature of this system to force the parties into new grades every eight years when the party acting as LUBA retires. When Robale retires, therefore, the Birmaji party becomes DABALLE, Horata becomes FOLLE, Bichile moves into QONDALA and the DULOS take formal power as LUBA. The sons of the Robale party enter Iti Mako thus pushing the others forward (see Figure 2). Figure 3 shows the full cycle in operation.

Five parties operated at one time in a forty-year cycle. Each group/party was assigned by the rules of GADA to take on specific responsibilities and to engage in certain kinds of work for the collectivity during the eight years that the members held each grade. The scale of grades stood also for a hierarchy in social positions. By the end of his life every man in GADA had held every major position in the system. The requirements of each grade increased in importance and public responsibility up through the final active period, LUBA which obliged the party to govern the nation for eight years. After performance in public office all men of the party were automatically retired or made YUBA celebrated as a Chaffe of completion called gadamaji It was at this point that sons took the name of the fathers' and/or grandfathers' party and started at

GRADES

FIGURES I and II

FIGURE III

The GADA system is the complete sequence of stages, the division of men into parties and the responsibilities to be assumed by each group as they moved into position. It was knitted together by a highly developed political philosophy, a series of legal sanctions, or educational apparatus, and a ritual/ceremonial tradition. GADA organized the entire social order, at least those aspects attributed to males. Over time it has accumulated a great deal of rich and complex detail. Despite its uniqueness and complexity, the fundamentals of the system are easy to grasp. Additional in-depth study of GADA should not lose sight of the functioning whole by focusing on one part alone.

3. Organizational Aspects

To understand the associational logic of the GADA system, it helps to consider its development within specific historical conditions. Very little attention has been paid to the relationship between Oromo social organization and the physical/material environment in which the society developed, mainly because hardly any information is available through written sources, and much of what there is open to suspicion. Despite obstacles, however, it is possible to decipher a logic of Oromo economy and society gleaned from clues in the written and oral record and from new research. Works-in-progress recently presented at a Cambridge workshop (1979) as well as work by Lewis (1966) and Baxter (1978) indicate that Oromos have been involved in both agriculture and herding from their earliest beginnings around Hora Wollabo. Linguistic evidence shows that the words for oats (garbu) and for sycamore trees (oda, the trees where GADA officers gather before Chaffe meetings) are terms as old as the Oromo themselves. Both of these plants thrive in rolling hills that support both agriculture and livestock raising. It appears therefore, that GADA has functioned in Oromo society through a range of productive activities including herding, farming, trading and working for wages. The oldest written accounts of GADA (Bahrey 1954, original 1593-1646) prove that GADA has changed very little in its ideal form from the 15th century to the present. This seems to show that GADA has not only adapted to basic shifts in the productive forces, but that it has also been a shaper of Oromo history. It has been a product and a producer of history. Perhaps this is so because GADA was never a system of ownership, but rather a system of distribution and utilization of the national productive forces.

Before the Oromo nation lost its sovereignty, and colonial conquerors imposed forms of tribute and rent, i.e., feudal relations of production, on the Oromo people, the GADA system was the principal form of social organization.

GADA through history came to organize social life around the series of five generation grades which assign obligations as well as rights to all the males in the society. Females were linked through men. Among other functions, the separation of men into grades is a division of labor. Each man as part of a permanent group, the party, contributes his labor power in different capacities to the society as a whole and is prevented (or discouraged) from settling permanently until he has completed the cycle. The grades were also periods of initiation and training as well as periods of work and performance.

The youngest grade, Iti_Mako are messengers as well as looking after calves and doing errands close to home. Daballe bore a large responsibility in herding, in locating new trading opportunities, in making significant decisions on their own about where to move and how to safeguard one of the society's major resources, the livestock. Folle were the warriors, able-bodied men available for protecting the local community and in joining together to expelling common national enemy from Oromo territory. They organized themselves into military batallions, elected a leader from their ranks-Abba Dula, lived in camps separate from the rest of the people, and more than any other grade put their physical power at the disposal of the nation.

Actually, the whole society relied considerably on the labor of these three younger grades. By design they were prevented from marrying at these stages which enabled them to move around as necessary without any hindrance, and prevented them from accumulating wealth.

The next grade, Qondala, was a transition grade. They acted as a reserve army ready to assist the folle militarily when the national boundaries were threatened. During this time they put a great emphasis on proving themselves with acts of skill and bravery. Also, however, they began to settle, to intensify their learning of the laws and principles of administration, to marry and to select their officials.

Luba was the ruling grade. During the eight years that a party was Luba, its members held all political authority, elected representatives to attend a national covention called Chaffe where the laws of the land were amended by the vote of tens of thousands of Lubas and where officers were selected to administer the nation in a wide variety of capacities. A chairman or chief executive, the HAYYU* was elected along with others whose positions and titles show remarkable similarity to other representative democratic systems. The legislative assembly or convention Chaffe, was run by Abba Chaffe (father of the convention), the Abba Dubbi (a herald or speaker) , the Abba Seera (parliamentarian/historian) . The Executive branch or officers nominated by HAYYU* consisted of positions similar to cabinet officers or ministers e.g. Abba Alange (attorney general) , Abba Saa minister of finance) , Dori and Raba (vice-chairmen) etc. Judicial matters were dealt with by the HAYYU* , Raba and Dori acting as judges assisted by a jury of nine chosen by the plaintiff and defendant.4

In their own local areas, Luba members as a group, were responsible for maintaining peace, nagaa. (Oromos define peace not as the absence of war but as a proper relationship within the localities/and with God, Waqa.) They settled disputes among groups and individuals and apply the laws dealing with the distribution of goods, criminal fines and punishment, protection of property, theft, etc. The principles of GADA that the LUBA were obliged to learn and uphold were not mere philosophizing, but clear-cut criteria and standards for deciding what was right and wrong, where the resources should rightly go, and who was a criminal and should be punished according to the GADA-"akka gada ti. " LUBA were the diplomats, the arbitrators, the councilors. Every clan and every locality had members in LUBA at all times. These LUBAs continued to perform public service wherever they were throughout the eight years in power. They had reached the highest point of obligation and recognition. GADA was kept together primarily by movement of people and commodities. Throughout the eight-year cycle and through the annual cycle, actual practice required mobilizing labor, livestock and products, and then redistributing them through the society. A major economic function of GADA was distributing resources by establishing who had to help whom, when, and why. By settling conflicts between families over goods and by making laws, the LUBAS did not attain personal or group power. They were making decisions about how products should circulate. Dynasties could not be set up ideally; the system prevented them because a father and son could not be in the GADA at the same time.

Following LUBA, men automatically were retired from GADA and moved into an advisory role as YUBA. There they received a great deal of respect as wise experienced authorities and repositories of law, but their decision was no longer law as it had been. They turned the bulk of their attention to private family business or religious activity while their sons entered GADA, the public service.

The formal aspects of GADA as observed and recorded do not focus on the activities of women. The major strategic problem solved by GADA is managing of male activities and the products they are responsible for. Yet men move around settlements occupied by women, who manage most of the stationary resources. Women through history have managed a large and constant portion of the economic activity of Oromo society. The male orientation of all existing studies of GADA prevents a thorough understanding of how women's activity is organized internally and how it is linked to the public life of men in GADA. A genuine and useful analysis of GADA has to grasp the objective realities and not try to lay down the law to reality based on illusion.

By looking at GADA in its historical context, we see that its general characteristics have remained the same: it operated as a nationwide system for organizing and coordinating a large population of people over a huge territory and for regulating their activities according to democratic principles. Viewed in this way, GADA is seen as flexible rather than unstable (as some have called it); rather than being disorganized, it is decentralized. By not looking at the system in its historical development or linking it with its material base observers intentionally or unintentionally introduce a serious error. Oromos must stop historical lies from becoming theoretical faults.

4. Summary and Conclusions

We have looked at GADA as a system, a unity of interacting parts. It organized the social order by dividing men into groups and providing a blueprint which specified:

1. an arrangement of categories (grades) into which all men were placed

2. the relationships among people in different grades

3. the rules for behavior, the rights, and the tasks to be performed by the men in each grade

4. the process by which groups (parties) moved from grade to grade.

The dynamic of the GADA system was the constant movement of men through the cycle.

Through GADA, many socio-political functions were carried out. For example, the system operated as an educational institution by providing periods of training and skill development in each grade and by casting all those YUBA [who had finished the cycle] in the role of teachers and advisors. The system operated as a judicial institution by assigning a Chief Justice, jurors at the national level and making all LUBA wherever they were into arbitrators and councilors ready to defend the national law. And so on. The GADA structure was multi- functional.

Since the time of colonial conquest when Oromia was subordinated to a feudal empire by force of arms, the political, legal, educational, even religious aspects were replaced by government administrators, court houses, schools, and Orthodox Christian churches introduced by the victorious Amhara conquerors. The ritual aspect is all that remains visible in the current political environment. GADA has been reduced to ritual.

Some writers have assumed that ritual is the key to the entire GADA system. This is wrong. Ritual in GADA was an inauguration into power, or a transfer between grades. The inauguration ceremonies continue to be held despite the stripping away of political power of those in GADA. Focusing on ritual blows it out of all proportion in relation to the whole. As with any system, taking it part by part and analyzing those parts misses the essence of the society. Keeping a clear view of the whole in its historical context and in relation to its material conditions is the challenge before Oromos now.

Many aspects of GADA have found some limited expression in current Oromo social life-the resistance to hierarchical relationships, the circulation of labor through mutual aid groups locally organized, the association of men as age-mates and equals in any formal or informal group, the assessment of wealth in terms of cattle, common psychological traits (open direct action, independence, cooperation, and self-reliance) and openness and fairness in residence choice, agricultural cooperation, mutual aid and especially in conflict resolution. At the cultural level Oromos share a community of belief. The local-level democratic principles imbedded in GADA are expressed in custom, daily practice, even in the very language Oromos use to describe and evaluate the world. Oromo men, who are now uniformly placed in the position of peasants paying tribute (tax) to a state power in which they have no say, constantly judge the situation they are in against the standards of GADA. The concepts of democracy and participation in government are not new to the Oromos. They refer to the era of GADA when governments were changed democratically and peacefully, when political power was separated from wealth, when food did not lie in storage while some starved, and when working together in generation grades created equality in rank among men.

It is no wonder that GADA is becoming the symbol and guiding light of Oromo resistance to foreign domination. Its hard core is archaic-we have discussed it as an historically determined system. Its fundamental principles are understood and shared by every Oromo man. Not only did GADA unify a strong nation in the past on principles of solidarity but its blueprint remains engraved on the Oromo society and in the minds of its members to do the same thing in the future.

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Footnotes

1. Descriptions of some parts of GADA can be found in varying degrees of comprehensiveness in Prins (1953) Almeida (1954) , Bahrey (1954) , Baxter (1954), Huntingford (1955), Haberland (1965) , Knutsson (1967) , Legesse (1963, 1973) , and in Baxter and Almagor, eds. (1978).

2. See Beckingham and Huntingford (1954) for a summary of the literature on some of the names of parties.

3. Those who expect to find all men in the same grade to be of exactly the same age, for example, expect all Folle to be between 24 and 32 are often confused and declare that the system does not function properly. That approach uses the wrong assumptions. Men of the same biolo ical age are age-mates, hiriyya, a c ass- ification that is separate from the GADA system.

4. See Knutsson (1967:172ff.) for details about public administration.

Bibliography

* Almeid Manoel de, 1954 "History of High Ethiopia or Abassia," In C.F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford, (eds.) Some Records of Ethiopia 159 3-1646. London: Hakluyt Society.

* "History ofthe Galla," In C.F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford, (eds and trans.) , Some Records of Ethiopia 1593-1646. London: Hakluyt Society,

* Baxter, P.T.W. 1954 Social Organization of the Boran of Northern Kenya. London. Baxter, 1978 P.T.W. Age, Generation, and Time: Some Features of East African Age Organizations. New York: St. Martins Press.

* Beckingham, C.F. and G.W.B. Huntingford 1954 (eds. and trans.) Some Records of Ethiopia 1593-1646, London: Hakluyt Society. Cambridge1979 African Studies Centre Society and History in Ethiopia the Southern Periphery. Workshop proceedings forthcoming.

* Haberland, Eike 1963 Galla Sud-Athiopiens, Stuttgart: Huntingford, G.W.B. 1955 The Galla of Ethiopia. London: Watson and Viney.

* Knutsson, Karl Erik 1967 Authority and Change: A Study of the Kallu Institution Among the Macha Galla of Ethiopia. Goteborg: Etnografiska Museet #29.

* Legesse, Asmarom 1963 "Class Systems Based on Time," Journal of Ethiopian Studies 1:1-19, 1973 GADA: Three Approaches to the Study of African Society. New York: The Free Press.

* Prins, A.H.J. 1953 East African Age-Class Systems: An Inquiry into the Social Order of Galla, Kipsiris, and Kikuyu. Groningon, Djakarta: J.B. Walters.SS OF AFRICAN PE

ON THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT AND BLACKS RELATIONSHIP TO IT

2011-11-05T17:04:00.001-07:00

ON THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT AND BLACKS RELATIONSHIP TO IT
The Occupy Movement is the largest mass movement in the US since the Vietnam War. No doubt, because of the economy it will be around at least up until the election of 2012. The obvious question is how should we, as African people relate to it? I would posit that we can and should play a leading role in it, but only under certain conditions.
1. African People get involved as an Independent Interest Group with pre-determined Principles of Unity and Principles of Cooperation. Our interests should be defined by our group interests and humanitarian concerns, and with clearly enunciated goals and objectives.
2. Economic Parity in the Marketplace
3. Serious consideration of Reparations for African people for slavery and colonialism.
4. Enforcement of Environmental Regulations
5. Laws which adequately address the wealth gap, equitable distribution of wealth, and a progressive tax system which requires the 1% to pay a fair share of the tax burden (trickle down economics is a Ponzi Scheme).
6. No US involvement on African Soil without Advice and Consent of designated Black Political Institutions, selected by the Progressive Black Community.
7. The Education System in this country be totally revamped in the best interests of all students, and not just designed to favor the rich.
8. States be restricted from requiring any special qualification to vote in violation of the Constitution.
9. Arts programs be returned to our schools and community supported programs be funded for Arts Development, as this is critical for Youth Development and Growth.
10. Community Based Advisory Groups be established and empowered, to monitor activities of the banking, mortgage, re-districting, labor and transportation sectors of this country.

I WOULD CONSIDER THIS ESSENTIAL TERMS FOR BLACKS TO BECOME ENGAGED IN THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT. I WOULD INVITE COMMENT, REVISION, AND/OR ADDITION TO THESE TERMS WHICH SHOULD BE DISTRIBUTED TO BLACK CHURCHES AROUND THE COUNTRY AS WELL AS IN AFRICA, THE CARIB, AND SOUTH AMERICA.

2011-09-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

NOTES ON THE FORMATION OF A CONGRESS OF AFRICAN PEOPLE
BY Mwalimu Kabaila

Mission Statement:
The Congress of African People is an organization dedicated to the cultural and material transformation of Africa and its Diaspora, and people of African descent globally. Because of the unique history of African people, unique institutions are required to remedy historical circumstances which deny African people their inalienable right to Self-Determination, i.e. the right to determine their daily lives destiny, as a free, proud and productive peoples. This body is not a political organization, but a cultural organization, which seeks to research, organize, agitate, advocate and harness the collective resources of African People, worldwide, in order to engage in sustainable development, and to assert our unique vision of a world free of want, toil, exploitation and domination. African culture and civilization have given much to the world, and has yet, much more to contribute to human transformation and progress.The Holocost of Enslavement divided these resources, thus weakening them, but today African Peoples everywhere, are prepared to step back on the stage of Human History, ready to speak our special truth to the world. This is the mission of the Congress of African People. We introduce ourselves, proudly!!!

Principles:
The Congress of African People stands on several principles to which its constituent organizations, communities and advocates believe, promote and adhere to.
1. Self determination – In the Pan African context, this principle is best defined as the recognition of the right and responsibility to define, defend and develop our interests as a people and Pan Afrakan Community, and to step back on the stage of human history as a free, proud and productive people.
2. Operational Unity - Entering into and engaging in a principled and practical unity that does not seek to deny autonomy, but rather, to foster a spirit of working together towards common goals and objectives, the ultimate of which, is to build a more perfect and harmonious union in the interests of our Pan African Community.
3. Sovereign Rights as a People and Community – this is recognition of the fact that Afrakan and Diasporan Peoples shares a common history, culture, life experiences, consciousness and therefore the same or similar life chances. Because of these we also have the right and responsibility to build the structural and institutional capacity to create and contribute to human progress in our own image and interests, as a free and self-determined people.
4. The Seven Cardinal Virtues of Ma'at - From Ancient Kemet, these Virtues provide a classical African Ethical System which can guide our development and assist in the process of restoring our people to their tradtional greatness, based on their universal acceptance in the Pan African Community.They are Truth, Justice, Balance, Harmony, Order, Reciprocity, and Propriety. Their goal is to create the righteous man and woman.
5. The Nguzo Saba - which from the basis of Kwanzaa, the holiday which is the singular event which unites African People around dthe world at the same time, and which are, also, universally accepted and practiced. They are, Unity, Self-Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity and Faith.

Goal and Objectives:
The Congress of African People does not seek to duplicate any existing organization, but does draw its inspiration and insights from many organizations, including the UNIA, Pan African Congresses, OAU, Pan African Parliament, OAAU, WADU, as well, as the first formation of CAP, in 1970. While we recognize that these organizations are necessary, it is felt that the myriad needs and aspirations of African Peoples, remain insufficiently met. CAP seeks to fill this gap.CAP's overall scope is Pan African, and yet in recognizes the unique social and historical circumstances of each National African Community. However, there are general defining elements which give Pan Africanism its meaning. These elements can be found in at least seven basic areas of Cultural Activity:
1. History
2. Spirituality/Religion/Ethics
3. Social organization
4. Political organization
5. Economic organization
6. Creative production (Art, Music, Dance, Fashion, Literature, Technology, Theater, Cinema, Spoken Word)
7. Ethos – Collective psychology and it’s defining characteristics

What CAP seeks, is to define a minimum set of program areas which each African Community can engage in, and in doing so, bounds us in common developmental activities, which will build Pan African Consciousness, in the process of transforming our social reality. At a minimum, these program areas might include the following:

PROGRAM OUTLINE FOR THE CONGRESS OF AFRICAN PEOPLE

A.History

1) Writing corrective history of African Peoples and developing historiography. This is important because history is a record (written and oral) of our peoples’ achievements, contributions and role in human progress.
2) Corrected history of African peoples provides critique, models, images, and paradigms of what we have done and can do to rescue and reconstruct our communities locally and with a national scope.

B. Spirituality/Religion/Ethics

1) Developing organizational structures and institutional capacity to promote ethics, values, morality and a spirituality that are people-centered and socially-based within an ecumenical spirit and framework. Promote study of Maat as classical African ethics.
2)Researching, documenting, gaining understanding and teaching the role and history of the black church and other spiritual institutions in our struggles for national liberation and continuing our social justice tradition.
3) Developing ways and means of networking with those in the other six areas, to ensure that the spiritual dimension of our lives is always represented and actualized in all that we do, in keeping with African and Pan African tradition. Collaborating in an ecumenical spirit to develop affirmations, prayers, meditations, stories, myths and other spiritual expressions that uplift and elevate us to higher levels of life.
4) Black churches can serve as institutional conduits to building regional unity. These opportunities should be explored by community organizers and activists.

C. Social Organization

1) Education
Public, Private (Church, etc.), Alternative (African centered), Charter schools, Pre-school, Historical Black Colleges (HBC) program and curriculum emphasis.
Support structures for Black students enrolled at Universities and in Graduate Schools
Support structures and systems for Pan African Studies Programs and Curriculum, particularly in HBC’s
Ways and means of supporting and organizing advocacy groups for education of black students developing a system of communication and disseminating information on progress, models and issues as they arise. Encouraging Pan African students to go into areas of study that pursue our Pan African interests as a Pan African Community of people and that allow us to occupy key areas of social space, i.e. – Law, Science, Medicine, Trade, Commications, Cultural Transformation.

2) Health
Expose’ of the status and critique of, and correctives for health in Pan African communites.
Establishing and submitting agreed upon proposals for Universal Health Care in each of our countries..
Commission to study and report on universal health care and delivery systems in other countries (China, Cuba, Europe, Canada)
Research and Advocacy for Wholistic and people centered (as opposed to profit oriented) medicine and encouraging regular conferences and national formations for support.
Development of a Wholistic Health Care Delivery systems which respond to the needs of Afrakan people.

3) Family
History and current status of the African peoples family structure – African enslavement , post slavery, current; DNA testing
Research and Study of new family and community forms adapted to an industrialized, urban, technological society, multi-cultural and developing societies (Rebuilding the Village).

4) Council of Elders
Definition, Role and Relevance

5) Rites of Passage as means of addressing Children and Gang issues by insisting that children rise up to definable community standards and rewarded (or sanctioned) by family and community rituals.
a.) The Rites of Passage should address:

[1.] Developing a Multi-dimensional Personality...
a. learning one of the arts - music, art, poetry, architecture, computer arts,
b. learning African centered spirituality and values training - Maat, Ifa, Dogon, Zulu, Akhan, etc.
c. Basic knowledge and understanding of Black History - Kemet, Songhay, Mali, Reconstruction, Harlem Renassaince, Black Cultural Revolution, Black Arts Movement,

[2.] Physical development,
a. Martial arts, Kemetic yoga, meditation, etc., capieora
b. routine of running, walking, swimming, hiking
c. Survival training
d. Team sport can be a substitute in this area

[3.] Community Orientation
a. Senior escort service
b. youth corp training curriculum and means of implementation - Community Alert Patrol for gangs and drugs.
c. participation in political campaigns and/or community organizing

[4.] Basic Education and Tutoring
a. Science, Math, Language, writing skills proficiency
b. basic intro to African languages and encouragement to learn at least one extra language.
c. Science, Math, African centered Architecture, computer technology,
d. Maatian governance

[5.] Social Skills
a. relationship training and orientation with reinforcing rituals
b. sexuality from Afrocentric perspective
c. family skills and orientation
d. Communal principles of building community in contemporary society

[6] Economics Value Orientation
a. how to develop, follow and evaluate a personal budget
b. understanding the importance of a personal savings program
c. practicing collective economic investment and/or wealth-building
d. triangular development (Africa, Caribbean, Africa America and other Diasporan communities

[7] Time Management
a. how to plan, use and assess a personal schedule
b. learning to set and accept responsibility for personal priorities
c. practicing collective decision-making and/or organizing

{8} Study Abroad
a. Especially in Africa and the Caribbean

(9) Spiritual Development
a. Maat, Yoruba, Zulu, Akhan, Dogon
b. wellness, massage, acupuncture

Some of the essential goals and objectives here, in my opinion, should be to establish some community standards and expectations for our youth and establish a system of reward and sanctions that reinforce these, and to institute a type of graduation ceremony with progressive African rituals.
a few seconds ago ·

6) Criminal Justice
Research, debate and implementation of nationally accepted standards for equal administration of justice.
Strategies for prevention and re-socialization after imprisonment
Abolition of 3 strikes
Education, training and Job development (particularly Green jobs) for bro’s and sisters returning to community from incarceration.

7) Diasporan Relations
Building stronger social, spiritual, economic and cultural relationships between and among African Americans, Continental and Diasporan Africans.
Promote the building of Universities on each continent that study our respective histories and struggles as African people.

D. Political Organization

1) Electoral Politics
Designing local, national and international strategies to develop, promote and pursue black interests; Use to mobilize the masses, to access resources and organize around definable and relevant issues.

2) Extra-Parliamentary Politics
This involves strategies and tactics of mobilizing and organizing at local, regional, national and Pan-african levels in order to affect, influence, and challenge policies, programs and issues from without the ordinary channels of power, when expedient to do so, in order to get intended results.
Also to research, design and propose other national and Pan-african formations that can pursue and agitate for a National Agenda for Black Americans and progressive policies towards Diasporan peoples.
3) National Black Agenda - Formulating, Proposing and devising strategies and tactics of implementing policies, programs and projects that define, develop and defend the collective interests of people of African descent. To be made up of a consortium of Black Professionals, Community activists, and Union organizers.

4) National African American Congress and corresponding national entities in each country or region.
An issue defining, policy formulating, program implementing alliance, made up of delegates to be chosen from their respective regions of the country; areas of emphasis will include, Political, Economic, Spiritual/Religious, Artistic (creative), Communications, Social (Education, Health, Psychology) Community defense and development. This body is charged with initiating and implementing a multi-disciplinary approach that institutes a comprehensive National Black Agenda.

5) Building the Organizational and Institutional capacity to engage in Pan-African and Diasporan relations
a) Participation in the African Union (AU)
b) development of people to people trade – Creation of Pan African and/or Diasporan Trade Market and Festivals
c) Cultural Exchange and development – Building Pan African Film Festivals and Festpac type of events into institutions
d) Continuing the Pan African Congresses and State of the Black World Conferences and building them into institutions.
e) pursuing duel citizenship, Diaporan reparations (could be debt relief) , and resettling of Diaporans on the African continent.

6) Council of Elders
To be made up of men/women of stature, experience, knowledge and commitment to community interests, whose role shall be defined by their respective communities, but inclusive of conflict resolution, advise and (in some cases) consent of means and ways to implement policy, programs and projects for community growth and development

7) Community Defense and Development
Development of New African Scouts, Simba Wachanga or New Black Panther formations that are conscious, committed and capable of developing and defending black community interests and who are accountable to the Council of Elders and National African American Congress.

8) Building a New Black Political Culture and new paradigms for
Black political action, leadership and community organization.
a) Of greatest import here is develop new paradigms of Black Leadership and ways and means of providing training for emergent leadership who show initiative, innovation and insight in meeting the challenges that our communities face.

9. National Intelligence Force

10. Support and promote the building of an Inter-dependent Woman's Movement that has the capacity to address Women's issues in our struggle for National Liberation.

11. Formulate, Promote and Develop a Diplomatic and Ambassador Corps to represent our interests in Diaspora and Internationally.
12. Exploring the possibilities for establishing a Nation-Entity structure that houses our national aspirations for Self-determination and to have the institutional capacity to control our own communities in our own image and interests. Ending the external occupation and gentrification of urban areas where the masses of our people are concentrated. Gaining UN and AU support for such a movement.

E. Economic Organization
1) properly addressing class relations in the Black community and the impact on community development
2) Definition, Role and Relevance of Black Middle Class
a) Building people to people trade relations with and between Continental Africans and Diasporan
b) Encouraging investment in and between black communities at home and in Diaspora
c) Encouraging and supporting Buy Black campaigns and culture
d) Formulating, analyzing and developing structures and systems that implement Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) in our communities, e.g. Matah, 1IMall, Afrikan Business Development Fund(ABDF LTD.)
e) Coordination of Ways and Means to support N’Cobra and others involved in the struggle for Reparations.
f) Strategies to get the business sector to support Black Ownership
g) develop strategies to engage in the Ecological, Sustainabilty and Green Revolution
(1) This deserves highest priority in terms of developing teams of grant and proposal writers, contractors and negotiators for sustainable and green training programs, work projects, patent development in order to prepare our youth, and former prison inmates for jobs programs.
(2) SEVEN ELEMENTS OF SUSTAINABLE DELOPMENT IN AFRICAN AND THE DIASPORA
Trade and Commerce Missions (Africa, New Africa, Caribbean)
A. Determining which industries are most attractive to and marketable for African/Diaspora people; e.g. Fashion
Industry(African centered designs, textiles, clothing outlets) tourism, agriculture, herbology, sustainable housing
Construction (Esp. African centered architecture designs).
B. Deciding where to place each industrial center/plant in order to maximize production and distribution of the
designated commodities.
C. Determining the most efficient trade/commerce/transportation routes to get products to market, and which
are for export and which need to be imported.
D. Given the above factors, price schedules must be established which allow for affordability, but also enough profit to make the industry sustainable over time/circumstances (market conditions, weather/climate changes competition.
E. Economic Intelligence – defense and development.
F. Determining the best places to begin building African Marketplaces, which would also house museums, learning centers, theaters, Community Administrative centers (Council of Elders, youth/Simba Corps, Cultural/Convention Center, Communication and Response Teams.
G. Training centers for the various trades or a trade college/university.
2. Revenue and Funding Sources
A. dues, taxes, IMF, Foundations, grants, donations, charities
B. The key difference is that these funds will not go to corrupt politicians or civil servants, but will be allocated and administrated by a Foundation, with a Pan African Board of Directors which will determine which projects get funded based on need; how, when, where, and by what means.
C. We propose that any Reparations which comes in monetary form also be allocated through such Foundation, or Foundation approved sources.
D. Immediate debt relief for African and Caribbean Countries and people of African descent, as part of a reparations package
3. Infrastructure Building
A. Transportation – Cross continental Rail System, Modernized air transport system, commercial shipping fleet, trucking system. Roads which facilitate commerce and tourism trade.
B. Sustainable Energy – water (waterfalls, reservoirs, ocean, stream), wind, methanol-ethanol, Solar, Bio-Thermal, which all link up with a continental energy grid.
C. Indigenous Sustainable Sanitation Systems and Water purification
D. Indigenous Communications Systems with the ability to link up with Global systems
E. Reduction of and Penalties for Toxic Waste caused by foreign and/or domestic corporations.
4. Expansion of Cultural and Economic Trade and Exchange
A. Exhibition and Preservation of African People artistic heritage and the progressive character of its culture – Museums, Festivals Seminars, Performing Arts Shows
1) As African people enter into this Renaissance era and new stage of development , new rules of engagement must be designed to enter into the global economy. It is mandatory that institutions are built which preserve the integrity of African and Diaspora art forms, languages, systems of thought (Dogon, Maat, Ifa, Akhan, Zulu, Masai, etc.) and cultural traditions, such as Council of Elders, Rites of Passage, Cooperative Economics, Extended Family, Reverence for Nature and the Spiritual Quest for Oneness with a God Force. These defining elements of African life and culture must not be lost or compromised at the expense of modernization and/or development.
2) Recognition that Africa Culture is one of Africa’s most important , if not the most important exports. It has played a dominant role in the American, South American, Caribbean, and Australian cultures, and now even in faraway places such as Japan. African culture has economic and human value. Thus, it must be packaged to represent the best of what Africa was, is and has the possibility to become, though, it should not just be viewed as a commodity, rather, an expression of who we are as a People in the forward flow of human progress.
B. Employment of Culture in our Collective Struggle for Human Liberation and Transformation
1) Culture must provide the foundation for our:
(a) Identity – who we are, based on our historical Personality as a people
(b)Purpose – based on who we are, what our role and responsibility is in relationship to elevating the quality of life of our people, creating human progress, and transforming society to reflect the best of who we are as Africans and humans.
(c) Direction – the means we choose to achieve the above. To engage in the struggle to define, defend and develop ourselves as African, Pan Africanists and humans. The process(es) of Social Transformation which allows the human personality to realize its fullest potential, and creates a social context which allows for human flourishing.
2) Definition of a Black Aesthetic which gives Black/African art its distinction and unique qualities as an art form.
3) African and African centered Culture is our most valuable product and therefore, must not only be preserved, but promoted among our own people in our quest to regain our historical personality, and overcome the Post Traumatic Shock of Enslavement.
C. Culture as Economic Stimulus for Africa and Diaspora
1) Gain economic dominance in those areas of Culture where we can gain a measure of control, i.e.
(a) African centered Fashion Design, tailoring, textiles, haberdashery, millinery
(b) Control of Music Production, distribution and promotion
( c) African Centered Architectural Design
(d) Sports and Entertainment personalities donating to Foundations engaged in Sustainable Development policy, programs and projects. Research of Pan Afrakan Sports Federation of designated sports.
(e) More exchange between and among African (Nigerian, Ghanaian, Senegalese) and New African filmmakers; building community theaters.
(f) Encouraging youth to become more inventive and innovative in technology and teaching modalities, particularly in Black schools.

5. Modernization of Agricultural Production among African people is mandatory, while Preserving the Quality of Rural, Social and Cultural Life.
A. Low Carbon foods are healthier/while balance must be struck with export/import crops.
B. Irrigation systems must be installed and maintained, esp. in arid and dry areas.
C. Basis for industry-wide growth as Garvey called for; feeding into grocery markets and restaurant chains; developing food and herb coops; Holistic Health Coops and delivery systems which service underserved communities.
D. Methodologies which ensure that African Mineral Wealth benefits indigenous people. Corruption must be challenged and rooted out, and replaced by a system which allows re-distribution of wealth on a level of parity. Quatar and Kuwait might serve as models.
6. Transfer and Exchange of Knowledge, Technology and Science between and among Continental African and Diasporas
Each sector of the African World (Continental Africans, African Americans, African ex-patriates, Caribbeans, Brazilians, Africans in Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, and the rest of Diaspora) must seek methodologies and modalities whereby Science, Knowledge and Technology will be used for human good and progress from an African Worldview, which puts humanity, and Human Good at the center. Emphasis on establishing consortiums, economic clubs, Coops, Conferences and strive to build Pan African Universities which can encourage inventions, study of African languages, architecture, science, Math, Governance, and requirements for re-structuring civil society.
7. Dynamic Development Strategies and Methods -
A. Revolution, as a social phenomena, should never be limited to just struggle from physical bondage, but is inclusive of economic, political and psychological liberation also. Sustainable development strategies and methodologies must be cognizant of this fact, while seeking ways and means of empowering the disenfranchised (peasants, workers and people of color). In this millineum, in todays’ world, Sustainable Development is the sine qua non of today’s revolutionary process. Sloganizing, theorizing nor repeating ideological formulations will no longer suffice. Therefore, we must seek processes of fulfilling the Garvey admonnition "to build industries in every area of human endeaavor which affects oue destiny and daily lives".

3) Instituting Maatian values in the application of Economic Affairs and Relations

F. Creative Production

1) The definition, role and relevance of the black creative experience in raising social and community consciousness.
Is there a Black Aesthetic? Defining the difference between popular art and culture and national art and culture.
2) Sponsoring seminars, forums and town halls on how values, ethics and morality are transmitted and transferred via various cultural expressions, i.e. Art, Music, Literature, Spoken Word (Poetry), Dance, Theater, Cinema, Sports, Comedy, Architecture and Technology and Fashion. Instituting an annual National Unity Tour involving artists in the above categories.
3)Developing Communications networks and outlets that respond to the need of our National Community and Pan African , to be informed and educated on issues, topics and current events in the context of our technological society. Develop ways and means of promoting and supporting our IT community. Promote the learning of African languages as well as French, Spanish and Portuguese.
4) Development of community theater, exhibitions, concerts, art, dance and fashion shows (or some combination of all), that promote national and Pan African culture and the values that flow from them.
5) Means and Ways of building and supporting institutions that promote and project Black art and fashion. This would give jobs, create outlets and context for free and liberating expression for black artists.
6) Artist associations and leagues by which artists develop their crafts as well as creating ways of becoming and being more relevant to black community interests, growth and development.
7) Finding creative ways of making the point that technology should not define our social agenda, but rather, we must find ways of making technology serve our collective community agendas.

G) Ethos/Psychology
1) Developing a unifying and positive self conception as a person, people and national community with definable history, life circumstances, identity, and future.
2) Collective Identity
Defining, developing and educating our people on our collective identity and how it translates into a national one. Developing modalities that bridge the light vs. dark skinned divide.
3) Strategies, methods and treatment modalities which assist in overcoming the effects of Post Traumatic Enslavement Syndrome
4) Defining and developing the relationship between our identity as African Americans,
Pan Africans and Humans and means and ways to institutionalize same.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Congr... IN UNITY WITH ALL PAN AFRICAN PEOPLE, FOR OUR CAUSE IS FOR ONE PURPOSE

copyright @ Simbamaat Consultants

THE HARAMBEE PROJECT: A COMPREHENSIVE TRIANGULAR DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL FOR CAP

2011-07-03T12:08:00.000-07:00

THE HARAMBEE PROJECT: A COMPREHENSIVE TRIANGULAR DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL FOR CAP

RATIONALE, PURPOSE AND MISSION OF THE CONGRESS OF AFRICAN PEOPLE

2011-06-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

Rationale, Purpose and Mission of Congress of African People

The Congress of African People is designed to be/become a direct conduit and representative of the interest and values of African people, globally.This Pan African Congress shall be based in every region of Africa and the Diaspora, will be constitutionally based, and will an agitator and advocate for the full range and spectrum of issues affecting our Pan African Community.Representatives, will first be selected, based on their skill, political/social/cultural consciousness, talents and/or commitment to achieving full and final liberation for our people, everywhere. A Constitutional Convention will be formulated for 2012, at which consensus will be formed to give further direction to the Congress, with its Role, Relevance and Responsibilities. Until then:

1. Each Region shall have at least 1-2 Representatives responsible for conducting Congress business as designated by Circle of Directors. The Chair shall articulate the direction and programmatic emphasis, as determined by the Circle of Directors.

2.The representatives shall serve at the pleasure of the COD until elections are held in 2012, and shall function as a Circle of Administrators who conduct CAP business in the interim (each, on a probationary basis, with quarterly review of performance and/or ethics, by the COD, and if minimum criteria are not met, immediate termination without review is an option)

3. Pursuant to CAP's role of harnessing the collective resources in our Pan African Community, each Regional representative will have the added responsibility of identifying experts, craftspersons, artists, specialists in all sectors of our Community, including Spirituality, Physical and Mental Healers, New Education, Governance, Infra-Structure Development, Environmental Affairs, Energy, African Path to Industrialization, Agriculture and Food Security, Transportation, Housing, Collective Concern, Communications, Finance, Economic Development, Creative Production and Cultural Propaganda, Family, Youth and Child Growth and Development, Judicial Affairs, Community Life and Affairs; Defense, Intelligence and Security. These are at least a minimum.

4. Policy and Program options shall eminate from representatives in each sector and must be applicable for their specific Region. These kinds of consultations are encouraged to be comprehensive in scope, and multi-dimensional in character and content. Before arriving at any policy position, all factors and consideration must be weighed based on its significance and/or value towards achieving stated and common goals, objectives and aspirations.

5. Once a policy option is chosen, consensus should be sought, but is not necessary in every instance, where a majority has voted. Consensus should also be sought by informing the communities via various modalities, e.g. conference calls, rallies, and/or town halls, etc.

The above are subject to amendment, revision and/or refinement thru petition, suggestion or other appropriate means.

Mission Statement Initializing a Pan African Cultural Revolution

Posted by Mwalimu W. Kabaila on March 27, 2011 at 6:41pm in Pan African Development Consortium

Mission:

The mission of engaging a Cultural Revolution among People of African Descent, must begin with a pro-active definition of our collective identity, purpose and direction as a Pan African Community. Further, such purpose shall be defined by our common quest to restore and re-construct a Global African Village based on common views and values, common theories and paradigms, common vision of the world we wish for our children, and a common practice which seeks to transform our current social reality into one in which African people are empowered to realize their fullest potential, as free, proud and productive people. Our methodology for achieving these are inclusive of building indigenous and African centered industries, a Tri-angular (Africa, the Americas, and Caribbean) based Trade and Commerce system, a corrective writing of our history, African centered paradigms of Education, Health and Collective Concern, Governance, Finance, Agriculture, Cultural Tourism, Fashion and Design, and our love of and care for the Environment. In essence, all this is to prepare our people to become the New African Men and Women, which our ancestors died, shed tears, sacrificed and prepared us for. In their honor, we set out on this historic and monumental mission. Ashe', Hotep.

HARAMBEE CONGRESS OF AFRICAN PEOPLE

2010-12-05T01:19:00.000-08:00

HARAMBEE CONGRESS OF AFRICAN

PEOPLE

Mission:

The Harambee Congress of African People is a Pan African formation which seeks to harness and direct the resources of the African Community toward a progressive agenda from a comprehensive and multi-dimensional perspectives. The Harambee Congress of African People will seek to mobilize and organize some of the best minds and organizations in the Black Community in each of the respective areas below, for the above purposes.

Methodology and Objectives:

1. Policy Formulation -

The Congress will be organized into committees and/or task forces which will set up procedures and protocols for arriving at the best policy options on given issues affecting Pan African Communities with consideration for national, regional and local peculiarities.

Policy and Position Statements will be disseminated through various Pan African communications channels, unless for security reasons the Congress shall make another designation.

2. Project Design

Project design shall reflect the needs and aspirations of respective communities , and where at all possible, shall utilize African modalities and paradigms. Projects designs shall be a natural progression and practical expression of policy formulations. Where possible, communities should be involved in this process, and protocols established for how this takes place.

3. Program Implementation

This module will address the most sustainable, energy efficient, and practical ways and means of realizing policy and project goals and objectives. African centered modalities and paradigms shall be sought when possible.

4. Infra-structure Development

This is a separate category because it remains a need in every Black Community, be it organizational, governance and/or capacity enhancing (transportation, communications, railways, airports, hotels, stadiums, waste management, energy efficiency).

Policy Formulation, Project Design , Program Implementation and Infra -Structure Development will take place in Committee/Task Force Structures, in the following areas:

1. Economic Affairs

A. Monetary System - currency, banking, finance and Pan African Stock Exchange.

B. Trade, Commerce and Cultural Tourism

C. Industry - Manufacturing, film, music, Technology, Autos

D. Agriculture

E. Infra-Structure Development – Transportation, Railways, Airports, Energy (solar, bio., geo-thermal, wind, water), Waste Management, Housing

F. Marketplaces – Marketing of goods and services

2. Social Affairs

A. Health - Allio-pathic, Wholistic. Herbs, Traditional African, Native American, Oriental and Indian Medicine.

B. Education – Developing African paradigms of pedagogy and learning modalities.

C. Family and Youth Development - Rites of Passage

3. Governance – Block Clubs, Town Halls, Interest groups

A. Council of Elders, Diplomatic Corps

B. Simba Wachanga, Panthers, New African Scouts

C. Propoganda/Communications Networks

D. National Formations – NAACP, NAAC, Urban League, CBC, NBUF, Fraternities, Professional Assoc.

E. Pan African formations – CAP, PADU, WADU, UNIA, AU

F. UN

4. Spiritual Development

A. Using Ma’at as fundamental basis for Ecumenical Approaches which recognize and respect Yoruba, Christian, Black Hebrew, Islam, Dogon, Zulu

5. History

A. Historiography – Corrective History, Managing Images

6. Cultural Production and Enrichment - Poetry, Art, Music, Theater, Film, Dance, Fashion Design, Sport,

Entertainment (Cultural Theme Parks, Festivals) and their role, relevance and function in community building.

7. Ethos

A. Psychological healing from effects of enslavement and colonialism.

B. Building positive self images, modeling

Structure:

1. Council of Elders – See Maaskelah Thomas’ Book on organization, function and structure. Council must certify all Executive staff. One of committees out of Council will be responsible for the Shield and Spear Forces.

2. Secratariat – Made up of Committee Heads, 2 Representatives of each country inhabited by People of African Descent

3. General Assembly – Each Organization has one vote, and a designated number of at-large votes to be permitted.

The Venus Project

2010-09-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

The Venus Project

Facebook (1) | Mwalimu Kabaila

2010-09-07T10:22:00.000-07:00

Facebook (1) | Mwalimu Kabaila

African Kingdoms Federation - IHF- Project VII Phoenix

2010-09-07T10:18:00.000-07:00

African Kingdoms Federation - IHF- Project VII Phoenix

The HARAMBEE PROJECT

2010-07-14T03:56:00.000-07:00

The Harambee Project: Pan Africans engaging Triangular Development on the African Continent

The Harambee Project:

Is a Comprehensive Plan to build institutional structures on the continent of Africa, on land which is autonomous (Like the Vatican and Italy), which would facilitate communications, planning and strategy building, among and between African people and it's broader Diasporan and Global Community.

1. Commerce, Trade and Cultural Tourism Mission
developing industries such as Organic farming, Textile Manufacturing, African Art, African centered Fashion, Cooperative Healing and Wellness, Patents Procurement, Communications and ways in which triangular development strategies can be implemented in each industry which affects our daily lives and destiny. Protection of indigenous mineral rights and natural resources. Protection of Technology and mineral rights, patents and innovation. Key to this process is the www.kemeticpipeline.com. Cultural tourism will be inclusive of Resort Facilities and Theme Parks which have cultural, spiritual and educational value.

2. Onyx Stock Exchange - to be administered by Pan African economists, investment specialists and Pan African Banking entities which invite investment portfolios for Pan African Development and infra-structure projects such as cross continental rail, road construction, housing, energy companies and airports.

3. Pan African UniversityAfrican
Curriculum which not only focuses on correcting our history, but which builds, develops and sustains our cultural heritage is such areas a science, medicine, math, health, governance, education, and ethics/law. Also a practicum which is broad based, and supportive of demographical, sociological, geographical studies needed to formulate development proposals. roles of rites of passage, Council of Elders. Development and Expansion of our own Communications and Media Systems.

4. Cultural Center and Perfoming Arts Auditorium
this center would focus on the development and preservation of various spiritual and art forms in Africa and the Diaspora, i.e. African yoga, Capeiora, Languages, Dogon, Zulu, Yorubu, Akan. Classes and Promotion of art forms in the areas of music, film, radio, poetry and performing arts, which have African and liberational themes.

5. African Development Bank
development of banking system on the continent and diaspora, which allows our currencies to compete and which lends themselves to investment portfolios which support Pan African development projects. A necessary component part of such institutional structures is www.kemeticpipeline.com.

6. Sports Stadium
self explanatory

7. Parliament House of Congress of African People (CAP)
Staffing to facilitate regular convening of Pan African Congresses to address issues of governance and political culture, in countries inhabited by People of African descent.

Ideally, this Project would operate and function on Land, which was autonomous (much like the Vatican in Italy). This, so it is not partial to any country or region, and is free to address concerns and issues anywhere within the Pan African World.
Sustainable housing communities could be built around such a compound
to house staff and locals needing quality housing. These housing communities would be self sustaining, meaning that they have their own shops, cleaners, community farming, restaurants, movie theaters.Key to this project, is the development of self sustaining industries, of which the most important are Water, Waste and Energy Management. This addition would add a continuous and independent revenue source for the Project, the host community, country and region.
In order to make this project even more attractive and a revenue producing entity, would be to add the Sankofa Theme Park and Isis Spa and Resort. revenues from these could provide sustainable funding for the cultural center activities.

Introducing the CONGRESS OF AFRICAN PEOPLE

2010-07-14T03:49:00.000-07:00

CONGRESS OF AFRICAN PEOPLE

Mission Statement:
The Congress of African People is an organization dedicated to the cultural and material transformation of Africa and its Diaspora, and people of African descent globally. Because of the unique history of African people, unique institutions are required to remedy historical circumstances which deny African people their inalienable right to Self-Determination, i.e. the right to determine their daily lives destiny, as a free, proud and productive peoples. This body is not a political organization, but a cultural organization, which seeks to research, organize, agitate, advocate and harness the collective resources of African People, worldwide, in order to develop in a sustainable manner, and to assert our unique vision of a world free of want, toil, exploitation and domination. African culture and civilization have given much to the world, and has yet, much more to contribute to human transformation and progress.The Holocost of Enslavement divided these resources, thus weakening them, but today African Peoples everywhere, are prepared to step back on the stage of Human History, ready to speak our special truth to the world. This is the mission of the Congress of African People. We introduce ourselves, proudly!!!

Principles:
The Congress of African People stands on several principles to which its constituent organizations, communities and advocates believe, promote and adhere to.
1. Self determination – In the Pan African context, this principle is best defined as the recognition of the right and responsibility to define, defend and develop our interests as a people and national communities
, and to step back on the stage of human history as a free, proud and productive people.
2. Operational Unity - Entering into and engaging in a principled and practical unity that does not seek to deny autonomy, but rather, to foster a spirit of working together towards common goals and objectives, the ultimate of which, is to build a more perfect and harmonious union in the interests of our Pan African Community.
3. Building National Communities in our locales and regions – this is recognition of the fact that Diasporan Community shares a common history, culture, life experiences, consciousness and therefore the same or similar life chances. Because of these we also have the right and responsibility to build the structural and institutional capacity to create and contribute to human progress in our own image and interests, as a free and self-determined people.
4. The Seven Cardinal Virtues of Ma'at - From Ancient Kemet, these Virtues provide a classical African Ethical System which can guide our development and assist in the process of restoring our people to their tradtional greatness, based on their universal acceptence in the Pan African Community.They are Truth, Justice, Balance, Harmony, Order, Reciprocity, and Propriety. Their goal is to create the righteous man and woman.
5. The Nguzo Saba - which from the basis of Kwanzaa, the holiday which is the singular event which unites African People around dthe world at the same time, and which are, also, universally accepted and practiced. They are, Unity, Self-Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity and Faith.

Goal and Objectives:
The Congress of African People does not seek to duplicate any existing organization, but does draw its inspiration and insights from many organizations, including the UNIA, Pan African Congresses, OAU, Pan African Parliament, OAAU, WADU, as well, as the first formation of CAP, in 1970. While we recognize that these organizations are necessary, it is felt that the myriad needs and aspirations of African Peoples, remain insufficiently met. CAP seeks to fill this gap.CAP's overall scope is Pan African, and yet in recognizes the unique social and historical circumstances of each National African Community. However, there are general defining elements which give Pan Africanism its meaning. These elements can be found in at least seven basic areas of Cultural Activity:
1. History
2. Spirituality/Religion/Ethics
3. Social organization
4. Political organization
5. Economic organization
6. Creative production (Art, Music, Dance, Fashion, Literature, Technology, Theater, Cinema, Spoken Word)
7. Ethos – Collective psychology and it’s defining characteristics

What CAP seeks, is to define a minimum set of program areas which each African Community can engage in, and in doing so, bounds us in common developmental activities, which will build Pan African Consciousness, in the process of transforming our social reality. At a minimum, these program areas might include the following:

PROGRAM OUTLINE FOR THE CONGRESS OF AFRICAN PEOPLE

A.History

1) Writing corrective history of African Peoples and developing historiography. This is important because history is a record (written and oral) of our peoples’ achievements, contributions and role in human progress.
2) Corrected history of African peoples provides critique, models, images, and paradigms of what we have done and can do to rescue and reconstruct our communities locally and with a national scope.

B. Spirituality/Religion/Ethics

1) Developing organizational structures and institutional capacity to promote ethics, values, morality and a spirituality that are people-centered and socially-based within an ecumenical spirit and framework. Promote study of Maat as classical African ethics.
2)Researching, documenting, gaining understanding and teaching the role and history of the black church and other spiritual institutions in our struggles for national liberation and continuing our social justice tradition.
3) Developing ways and means of networking with those in the other six areas, to ensure that the spiritual dimension of our lives is always represented and actualized in all that we do, in keeping with African and Pan African tradition. Collaborating in an ecumenical spirit to develop affirmations, prayers, meditations, stories, myths and other spiritual expressions that uplift and elevate us to higher levels of life.
4) Black churches can serve as institutional conduits to building regional unity. These opportunities should be explored by community organizers and activists.

C. Social Organization

1) Education
Public, Private (Church, etc.), Alternative (African centered), Charter schools, Pre-school, Historical Black Colleges (HBC) program and curriculum emphasis.
Support structures for Black students enrolled at Universities and in Graduate Schools
Support structures and systems for Pan African Studies Programs and Curriculum, particularly in HBC’s
Ways and means of supporting and organizing advocacy groups for education of black students developing a system of communication and disseminating information on progress, models and issues as they arise. Encouraging Pan African students to go into areas of study that pursue our Pan African interests as a Pan African Community of people and that allow us to occupy key areas of social space, i.e. – Law, Science, Medicine, Trade, Commications, Cultural Transformation.

2) Health
Expose’ of the status and critique of, and correctives for health in Pan African communites.
Establishing and submitting agreed upon proposals for Universal Health Care in each of our countries..
Commission to study and report on universal health care and delivery systems in other countries (China, Cuba, Europe, Canada)
Research and Advocacy for Wholistic and people centered (as opposed to profit oriented) medicine and encouraging regular conferences and national formations for support.

3) Family
History and current status of the African peoples family structure – African enslavement , post slavery, current; DNA testing
Research and Study of new family and community forms adapted to an industrialized, urban, technological society, multi-cultural and developing societies (Rebuilding the Village).

4) Council of Elders
Definition, Role and Relevance

5) Rites of Passage as means of addressing Children and Gang issues by insisting that children rise up to definable community standards and rewarded (or sanctioned) by family and community rituals.
a.) The Rites of Passage should address:

[1.] Developing a Multi-dimensional Personality...
a. learning one of the arts - music, art, poetry, architecture, computer arts,
b. learning African centered spirituality and values training - Maat, Ifa, Dogon, Zulu, Akhan, etc.
c. Basic knowledge and understanding of Black History - Kemet, Songhay, Mali, Reconstruction, Harlem Renassaince, Black Cultural Revolution, Black Arts Movement,

[2.] Physical development
a. Martial arts, Kemetic yoga, meditation, etc.
b. routine of running, walking, swimming, hiking
c. Survival training
d. Team sport can be a substitute in this area

[3.] Community Orientation
a. Senior escort service
b. youth corp training curriculum and means of implementation - Community Alert Patrol for gangs and drugs.
c. participation in political campaigns and/or community organizing

[4.] Basic Education and Tutoring
a. Science, Math, Language, writing skills proficiency
b. basic intro to African languages and encouragement to learn at least one extra language.
c. Science, Math, African centered Architecture, computer technology,
d. Maatian governance

[5.] Social Skills
a. relationship training and orientation with reinforcing rituals
b. sexuality from Afrocentric perspective
c. family skills and orientation
d. Communal principles of building community in contemporary society

[6] Economics Value Orientation
a. how to develop, follow and evaluate a personal budget
b. understanding the importance of a personal savings program
c. practicing collective economic investment and/or wealth-building
d. triangular development (Africa, Caribbean, Africa America and other Diasporan communities

[7] Time Management
a. how to plan, use and assess a personal schedule
b. learning to set and accept responsibility for personal priorities
c. practicing collective decision-making and/or organizing

{8} Study Abroad
a. Especially in Africa and the Caribbean

(9) Spiritual Development
a. Maat, Yoruba, Zulu, Akhan, Dogon
b. wellness, massage, acupuncture

Some of the essential goals and objectives here, in my opinion, should be to establish some community standards and expectations for our youth and establish a system of reward and sanctions that reinforce these, and to institute a type of graduation ceremony with progressive African rituals.
a few seconds ago ·

6) Criminal Justice
Research, debate and implementation of nationally accepted standards for equal administration of justice.
Strategies for prevention and re-socialization after imprisonment
Abolition of 3 strikes
Education, training and Job development (particularly Green jobs) for bro’s and sisters returning to community from incarceration.

7) Diasporan Relations
Building stronger social, spiritual, economic and cultural relationships between and among African Americans, Continental and Diasporan Africans.
Promote the building of Universities on each continent that study our respective histories and struggles as African people.

D. Political Organization

1) Electoral Politics
Designing local, national and international strategies to develop, promote and pursue black interests; Use to mobilize the masses, to access resources and organize around definable and relevant issues.

2) Extra-Parliamentary Politics
This involves strategies and tactics of mobilizing and organizing at local, regional, national and Pan-african levels in order to affect, influence, and challenge policies, programs and issues from without the ordinary channels of power, when expedient to do so, in order to get intended results.
Also to research, design and propose other national and Pan-african formations that can pursue and agitate for a National Agenda for Black Americans and progressive policies towards Diasporan peoples.
3) National Black Agenda - Formulating, Proposing and devising strategies and tactics of implementing policies, programs and projects that define, develop and defend the collective interests of people of African descent. To be made up of a consortium of Black Professionals, Community activists, and Union organizers.

4) National African American Congress and corresponding national entities in each country or region.
An issue defining, policy formulating, program implementing alliance, made up of delegates to be chosen from their respective regions of the country; areas of emphasis will include, Political, Economic, Spiritual/Religious, Artistic (creative), Communications, Social (Education, Health, Psychology) Community defense and development. This body is charged with initiating and implementing a multi-disciplinary approach that institutes a comprehensive National Black Agenda.

5) Building the Organizational and Institutional capacity to engage in Pan-African and Diasporan relations
a) Participation in the African Union (AU)
b) development of people to people trade – Creation of Pan African and/or Diasporan Trade Market and Festivals
c) Cultural Exchange and development – Building Pan African Film Festivals and Festpac type of events into institutions
d) Continuing the Pan African Congresses and State of the Black World Conferences and building them into institutions.
e) pursuing duel citizenship, Diaporan reparations (could be debt relief) , and resettling of Diaporans on the African continent.

6) Council of Elders
To be made up of men/women of stature, experience, knowledge and commitment to community interests, whose role shall be defined by their respective communities, but inclusive of conflict resolution, advise and (in some cases) consent of means and ways to implement policy, programs and projects for community growth and development

7) Community Defense and Development
Development of New African Scouts, Simba Wachanga or New Black Panther formations that are conscious, committed and capable of developing and defending black community interests and who are accountable to the Council of Elders and National African American Congress.

8) Building a New Black Political Culture and new paradigms for
Black political action, leadership and community organization.
a) Of greatest import here is develop new paradigms of Black Leadership and ways and means of providing training for emergent leadership who show initiative, innovation and insight in meeting the challenges that our communities face.

9. National Intelligence Force

10. Support and promote the building of an Inter-dependent Woman's Movement that has the capacity to address Women's issues in our struggle for National Liberation.

11. Formulate, Promote and Develop a Diplomatic and Ambassador Corps to represent our interests in Diaspora and Internationally.
12. Exploring the possibilities for establishing a Nation-Entity structure that houses our national aspirations for Self-determination and to have the institutional capacity to control our own communities in our own image and interests. Ending the external occupation and gentrification of urban areas where the masses of our people are concentrated. Gaining UN and AU support for such a movement.

E. Economic Organization
1) properly addressing class relations in the Black community and the impact on community development
2) Definition, Role and Relevance of Black Middle Class
a) Building people to people trade relations with and between Continental Africans and Diasporan
b) Encouraging investment in and between black communities at home and in Diaspora
c) Encouraging and supporting Buy Black campaigns and culture
d) Formulating, analyzing and developing structures and systems that implement Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) in our communities, e.g. Matah, 1IMall, Afrikan Business Development Fund(ABDF LTD.)
e) Coordination of Ways and Means to support N’Cobra and others involved in the struggle for Reparations.
f) Strategies to get the business sector to support Black Ownership
g) develop strategies to engage in the Ecological, Sustainabilty and Green Revolution
(1) This deserves highest priority in terms of developing teams of grant and proposal writers, contractors and negotiators for sustainable and green training programs, work projects, patent development in order to prepare our youth, and former prison inmates for jobs programs.
(2) SEVEN ELEMENTS OF SUSTAINABLE DELOPMENT IN AFRICAN AND THE DIASPORA
Trade and Commerce Missions (Africa, New Africa, Caribbean)
A. Determining which industries are most attractive to and marketable for African/Diaspora people; e.g. Fashion
Industry(African centered designs, textiles, clothing outlets) tourism, agriculture, herbology, sustainable housing
Construction (Esp. African centered architecture designs).
B. Deciding where to place each industrial center/plant in order to maximize production and distribution of the
designated commodities.
C. Determining the most efficient trade/commerce/transportat
ion routes to get products to market, and which
are for export and which need to be imported.
D. Given the above factors, price schedules must be established which allow for affordability, but also enough profit to make the industry sustainable over time/circumstances (market conditions, weather/climate changes competition.
E. Economic Intelligence – defense and development.
F. Determining the best places to begin building African Marketplaces, which would also house museums, learning centers, theaters, Community Administrative centers (Council of Elders, youth/Simba Corps, Cultural/Convention Center, Communication and Response Teams.
G. Training centers for the various trades or a trade college/university.
2. Revenue and Funding Sources
A. dues, taxes, IMF, Foundations, grants, donations, charities
B. The key difference is that these funds will not go to corrupt politicians or civil servants, but will be allocated and administrated by a Foundation, with a Pan African Board of Directors which will determine which projects get funded based on need; how, when, where, and by what means.
C. We propose that any Reparations which comes in monetary form also be allocated through such Foundation, or Foundation approved sources.
D. Immediate debt relief for African and Caribbean Countries and people of African descent, as part of a reparations package
3. Infrastructure Building
A. Transportation – Cross continental Rail System, Modernized air transport system, commercial shipping fleet, trucking system. Roads which facilitate commerce and tourism trade.
B. Sustainable Energy – water (waterfalls, reservoirs, ocean, stream), wind, methanol-ethanol, Solar, Bio-Thermal, which all link up with a continental energy grid.
C. Indigenous Sustainable Sanitation Systems and Water purification
D. Indigenous Communications Systems with the ability to link up with Global systems
E. Reduction of and Penalties for Toxic Waste caused by foreign and/or domestic corporations.
4. Expansion of Cultural and Economic Trade and Exchange
A. Exhibition and Preservation of African People artistic heritage and the progressive character of its culture – Museums, Festivals Seminars, Performing Arts Shows
1) As African people enter into this Renaissance era and new stage of development , new rules of engagement must be designed to enter into the global economy. It is mandatory that institutions are built which preserve the integrity of African and Diaspora art forms, languages, systems of thought (Dogon, Maat, Ifa, Akhan, Zulu, Masai, etc.) and cultural traditions, such as Council of Elders, Rites of Passage, Cooperative Economics, Extended Family, Reverence for Nature and the Spiritual Quest for Oneness with a God Force. These defining elements of African life and culture must not be lost or compromised at the expense of modernization and/or development.
2) Recognition that Africa Culture is one of Africa’s most important , if not the most important exports. It has played a dominant role in the American, South American, Caribbean, and Australian cultures, and now even in faraway places such as Japan. African culture has economic and human value. Thus, it must be packaged to represent the best of what Africa was, is and has the possibility to become, though, it should not just be viewed as a commodity, rather, an expression of who we are as a People in the forward flow of human progress.
B. Employment of Culture in our Collective Struggle for Human Liberation and Transformation
1) Culture must provide the foundation for our:
(a) Identity – who we are, based on our historical Personality as a people
(b)Purpose – based on who we are, what our role and responsibility is in relationship to elevating the quality of life of our people, creating human progress, and transforming society to reflect the best of who we are as Africans and humans.
(c) Direction – the means we choose to achieve the above. To engage in the struggle to define, defend and develop ourselves as African, Pan Africanists and humans. The process(es) of Social Transformation which allows the human personality to realize its fullest potential, and creates a social context which allows for human flourishing.
2) Definition of a Black Aesthetic which gives Black/African art its distinction and unique qualities as an art form.
3) African and African centered Culture is our most valuable product and therefore, must not only be preserved, but promoted among our own people in our quest to regain our historical personality, and overcome the Post Traumatic Shock of Enslavement.
C. Culture as Economic Stimulus for Africa and Diaspora
1) Gain economic dominance in those areas of Culture where we can gain a measure of control, i.e.
(a) African centered Fashion Design, tailoring, textiles, haberdashery, millinery
(b) Control of Music Production, distribution and promotion
( c) African Centered Architectural Design
(d) Sports and Entertainment personalities donating to Foundations engaged in Sustainable Development policy, programs and projects.
(e) More exchange between and among African (Nigerian, Ghanaian, Senegalese) and New African filmmakers; building community theaters.
(f) Encouraging youth to become more inventive and innovative in technology and teaching modalities, particularly in Black schools.

5. Modernization of Agricultural Production among African people is mandatory, while Preserving the Quality of Rural, Social and Cultural Life.
A. Low Carbon foods are healthier/while balance must be struck with export/import crops.
B. Irrigation systems must be installed and maintained, esp. in arid and dry areas.
C. Basis for industry-wide growth as Garvey called for; feeding into grocery markets and restaurant chains; developing food and herb coops; Holistic Health Coops and delivery systems which service underserved communities.
D. Methodologies which ensure that African Mineral Wealth benefits indigenous people. Corruption must be challenged and rooted out, and replaced by a system which allows re-distribution of wealth on a level of parity. Quatar and Kuwait might serve as models.
6. Transfer and Exchange of Knowledge, Technology and Science between and among Continental African and Diasporas
Each sector of the African World (Continental Africans, African Americans, African ex-patriates, Caribbeans, Brazilians, Africans in Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, and the rest of Diaspora) must seek methodologies and modalities whereby Science, Knowledge and Technology will be used for human good and progress from an African Worldview, which puts humanity, and Human Good at the center. Emphasis on establishing consortiums, economic clubs, Coops, Conferences and strive to build Pan African Universities which can encourage inventions, study of African languages, architecture, science, Math, Governance, and requirements for re-structuring civil society.
7. Dynamic Development Strategies and Methods -
A. Revolution, as a social phenomena, should never be limited to just struggle from physical bondage, but is inclusive of economic, political and psychological liberation also. Sustainable development strategies and methodologies must be cognizant of this fact, while seeking ways and means of empowering the disenfranchised (peasants, workers and people of color). In this millineum, in todays’ world, Sustainable Development is the sine qua non of today’s revolutionary process. Sloganizing, theorizing nor repeating ideological formulations will no longer suffice.

3) Instituting Maatian values in the application of Economic Affairs and Relations

F. Creative Production

1) The definition, role and relevance of the black creative experience in raising social and community consciousness.
Is there a Black Aesthetic? Defining the difference between popular art and culture and national art and culture.
2) Sponsoring seminars, forums and town halls on how values, ethics and morality are transmitted and transferred via various cultural expressions, i.e. Art, Music, Literature, Spoken Word (Poetry), Dance, Theater, Cinema, Sports, Comedy, Architecture and Technology and Fashion. Instituting an annual National Unity Tour involving artists in the above categories.
3)Developing Communications networks and outlets that respond to the need of our National Community and Pan African , to be informed and educated on issues, topics and current events in the context of our technological society. Develop ways and means of promoting and supporting our IT community. Promote the learning of African languages as well as French, Spanish and Portuguese.
4) Development of community theater, exhibitions, concerts, art, dance and fashion shows (or some combination of all), that promote national and Pan African culture and the values that flow from them.
5) Means and Ways of building and supporting institutions that promote and project Black art and fashion. This would give jobs, create outlets and context for free and liberating expression for black artists.
6) Artist associations and leagues by which artists develop their crafts as well as creating ways of becoming and being more relevant to black community interests, growth and development.
7) Finding creative ways of making the point that technology should not define our social agenda, but rather, we must find ways of making technology serve our collective community agendas.

G) Ethos/Psychology
1) Developing a unifying and positive self conception as a person, people and national community with definable history, life circumstances, identity, and future.
2) Collective Identity
Defining, developing and educating our people on our collective identity and how it translates into a national one. Developing modalities that bridge the light vs. dark skinned divide.
3) Strategies, methods and treatment modalities which assist in overcoming the effects of Post Traumatic Enslavement Syndrome
4) Defining and developing the relationship between our identity as African Americans,
Pan Africans and Humans and means and ways to institutionalize same.

Demo: Create a workspace

2010-02-23T13:46:00.000-08:00

Demo: Create a workspace

ANNOUNCING THE DECADE OF THE DIASPORA

2009-12-24T18:44:00.000-08:00

On this Kwanzaa, the African Diasporan Community is embarking on one of our most ambitious endeavors since the Marcus Garvey Movement. The time is right for this audatious move, and the possibilities for its success have never been better. For those of you who have been reading my posts of late, I have called 2010 the ...Year of the African Renaissance. And now I join my friend and colleage, Dr. David Horne in calling on the Decade of the Diaspora. What irony also, that this occurs on the eve of the first day of Kwanzaa, 2010, which is Umoja (Unity) Day!!!!! I strongly urge all African Diasporan people to join ranks with the Pan African Diasporan Union, the United Front our Fire Prophet, Malcolm X, admonished us to forge. Now is the time!!!! MWK

From: daudipembe@aol.com
Subject: [PAOC-USA] Announcing the Decade of the Diaspora
To: paoc-usa@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thursday, December 24, 2009, 6:15 AM

ANNOUNCING THE DECADE OF THE DIASPORA

By David L. Horne, Ph.D

After thousands of conferences, Ndabas, roundtable discussions, forums and meetings talking about the need to unify for positive action, action is now upon us. From January, 2010 to December, 2010, the DECADE OF THE DIASPORA has now been formally announced in OUR WEEKLY in California by the Sixth Region Diasporan Caucus/PADU. The unity and partnership of African descendant folks now has a specific time frame in which to focus the highest levels of its creativity, innovation, hard work and goal-directed energy to accomplish the United States of Africa, aka, Union of African States, in an all-out progressive assault.. Failure is not and will not be an option. Why that raison d’etre ?

African descendants have flailed away in individual pursuits towards the restoration of dignity, esteem and respect in over 70 countries for a long time. Although there have been notable successes--- the election of President Barack Obama, for example, or the release of Nelson Mandela, the ascendance of Barbados, and the creation of the Central American Black Organization, the continuing attempt to organize the European Diaspora under a common set of principles, among others---Black folks in general are still at the bottom of most measures of power, leverage and significance in the world. As Marcus Garvey and many others have said, until Africa is unified as a force to be reckoned with, Black folks wherever they are will remain disregarded and dispossessed. In order to be truly free, Africa must be operationally united. In order for Africans living in other parts of the world to be truly respected in affiliation with Africa’s transformation, the Diaspora must substantially help push this tremendous rock back up the hill. The Diaspora cannot share in the harvest without fully participating in the tillage and labor.

The DECADE OF THE DIASPORA is the time period in which African folk here, there and across the globe will rise to the challenge of bringing themselves back from obscurity, and within which the Diaspora will demonstrate clearly that it is indeed the 6th Region of Africa and the missing piece of the necessary puzzle to bring all the king’s horses and all the king’s men and women back together again.

During this period, the Diaspora will substantially unify itself internally, so that it can more effectively help continental Africa unify itself totally. That work has already begun in earnest and has begun to bear fruit. PADU, the Pan African Diaspora Union, is a partnership between the SRDC (Sixth Region Diasporan Caucus), WADU (World African Diaspora Union, through an MOU), the UNIA-ACL (Universal Negro Improvement Association- African Communities League), CABO (Central American Black Organization) , African Diaspora Union-Europe, and other such groups, and the list is growing. This coalition of equals brings together a formidable reference point for other Diasporan groups to come together, work together, and actually get significant things done. Wherever Black folks live, love, lay and lose, there are efforts, projects, ideas and events they can participate in, lead, coordinate, announce, and provide credibility to and for that will help achieve the goal of African unification. No one person or group can, will, nor should do it all. This is a collective effort of cumulative microsuccesses. Together it will all work to bring all Africa and Africans together.

The DECADE OF THE DIASPORA is for a better world, an improved set of opportunities to get it right. During this time, African descendant children should be re-acquainted with books, good reading and writing skills and other academic prowess. Barbados and others have already shown how to do that, and there are sporadic reference models of getting it right in other topical areas scattered all over the Diaspora. Those in the Diaspora with insight, vision and heart must bring those models into public view. Speeches, sermons, student activism, community organizing and other dynamism must be focused on work for a purpose—an African purpose-- not just putting in the time to help it pass. Reparations activists must understand that their work is intimately tied to the fate of 21st century Pan Africanism. There will be no reparations victory without African leverage calculated in the equation.

Part of the philosophy and long-time definition of Pan Africanism is that African people deserve to be free, successful and self-determinative. African people are worthy. The DECADE OF THE DIASPORA is to demonstrate that worthiness in more than 360 degrees of achievements. The DECADE OF THE DIASPORA will give the African Experience, in all of its different versions and dimensions, a complete face-lift, make-over and paradigm shift. It will solidify UBUNTU, the foundation African belief in enhancing and preserving humanity as the principal objective in any relationship or engagement, as a healing and merging agent for the world.

Actually, the sole remaining question is what will you do to participate positively in the DECADE OF THE DIASPORA? And, when will you get started? It is not coming, it is here.

TOWARDS A STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABLE AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT:

2009-10-11T22:32:00.000-07:00

TOWARDS A STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABLE AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT:
AN AFRICAN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE

As a graduate student at UCLA in 1976, majoring in Political Science, with a specialization in Southern African politics, the burning question , at that time, was “What Path to Development for Africa”. Today, the answer to the question remains as elusive now, as then, perhaps, even more so. As I’ve wrestled with this question, since my graduate years, I feel much closer to a workable solution and strategy, given the current realities on the ground in the sub-continent. Today, unlike 1976, many African countries have attained a degree of “independence”, in as much as the faces of governance have changed and now, have African origin. However, colonial rule, in many and most instances, has only been replaced by a system of neo-colonialism and a philosophy of neo-liberalism which keeps the African governments subservient, and holds their economies hostage to non-effective aid policies, IMF loans, global corporate greed and exploitation, European and American intervention in internal affairs (political, economic and social), political assassination, sabotage, and divide and rule tactics. Such antics on the part of Western entities, breed internal corruption, unstable governments, social displacement, disempowerment, and outright poverty. We still await the studies investigating whether there has been overt or covert involvement by the West in a conspiracy to spread HIV/AIDS in Africa as a means of population control.
While this kind of behavior is expected and anticipated by Western governments, what is not to be tolerated is the complicity by certain African governments, which allow it, or foster internal strife, thus furthering impoverishment and disempowerment of their own populace. The West’s involvement in the assassinations of Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sankara and Amilcar Cabral are well documented. The loss of such leaders and visionaries such as Sekou Toure, Steven Biko and countless others, have left a leadership vacuum in the sub-continent, which at times, seems insurmountable. Thus, thinking outside the proverbial box is needed if we are to address the question of Sustainable Development in Africa, and by extension, the African Diaspora. This implies an answer that one is not likely to find in academia or institutions of higher learning. This requires a potential solution which is born out of the struggle of African people, everywhere we have found oppression, exploitation and toil. Those of us who have shed blood, tears and sweat in our quest for liberation and a higher level of life, come with different perspectives than those whose experience has been limited to the confines of academia or offices with air conditioners or what the topic of the next lecture should be. The view from the trenches is somewhat different that the one from the hill, and therefore our solutions and approaches should attempt to form a synthesis of both perspectives. This will be the direction and shape of the content of this paper.
In the past, many academic circles have viewed the difference in approaches by W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington, as being mutually exclusive. DuBois’ Talented Tenth would pull the rest of the race up as it made social progress and achievements in various areas of critical social space, i.e. Medicine, Law, Business, religion, Entertainment, Education, Communications, Sports, etc. On the other hand, Booker T. emphasized the learning of basic skills, such as welding, Agriculture, and industrial work. This emphasis even shaped the curriculum of some of the historically Black colleges and universities. Tennessee State, in Nashville, used to be named Tenn. A &I, which stood for Agricultural and Industrial. The Black boarding school I graduated from, Laurinburg N&I, in Laurinburg, N.C., was known back then, as a Normal and Industrial school. The idea was, that in these schools a basic education was all that was necessary to function in society and to get a good paying job. One did not have to learn Shakespeare’s Sonnets, or the Philosophy of Hume, Locke and Descartes by verse. Some scholarly works also make mention of the differences which existed between Marcus Garvey and Washington, with reference to Garvey’s emphasis on developing Africa, using it as a power base for blacks in the Diaspora.
2)

Malcolm X taught us, “that of all our research, history is our best reward”. As we look back now, at these iconic figures in Black History, each of them may have held a key to the intellectual and practical puzzle called, “What Path Development for Africa, and by extension, the Diaspora”? What emerges as we purview each of these tendencies in the Black Liberation Movement is that they may not appear to be as conflicting as they seemed, just a few years ago. In fact, it is looking more like they may even be complimentary to each other, or put another way, each forms a necessary thesis for a synthesis. Our strategy will seek to explore this possibility.
DuBois is not incorrect by stating we need a sector of our community which are knowledgeable, capable and committed to elevating the entire national community up to a level where we all can live freely and provide the kind of prosperity for our future generations, which all people strive for. This sector of our people, what Harold Cruse refers to as the “Negro Intellectual”, but what I will call the Revolutionary and Progressive Intelligentsia, must be prepared to not only function and learn from acting on a “macro level” in the dominant society, but must be willing and capable to also, utilize those skills in carving out “critical social space” (in Medicine, Law, Communications, Transportation, Health, Science and Technology) in the image and interests of our National Community. What we mean by “in the image of”, is that, how we engage these “critical areas” must be guided by African Centered values, laws of governance, and ethics and not the Euro-centric ones we have docilely followed heretofore. Our revolutionary intelligentsia must not cower to Euro-centric paradigms, but must elevate to be/becoming social engineers, who construct theories and ideologies which reflect our (African peoples) vision and view of the world and how we, collectively, wish to shape it, and then build the institutional frameworks and societal structures which house these aspirations, goals, and objectives. However, it is not enough for our intellectuals to just delve into the realm of ideas, but too, must formulate the best means and ways of implementing those ideas in such a way that they lead to human flourishing and the ability of any system, government or institution we devise, to service and satisfy human need. Practice proves the validity of every good idea or theory. The proverb which states, “while it’s true we don’t live by bread alone, we can only come to that conclusion once we’ve eaten”, rings true. The first premise.
The second premise of this syllogism is put forward by, nonetheless, than Booker T. Washington, the ex-slave who rose up to become the Founder of Tuskegee Institute (now University). While much of the critique of Washington is directed at his many questionable political views, his economic programs, when looked at in historical perspective, have much merit, requiring further investigation. It appears, that in the current social millieu, that his emphasis on practical and trade skills, was not misplaced at all. In 1881, the year that Tuskegee was founded, Washington stressed such industrial skills as farming, welding, carpentry, brick making, shoemaking, printing and cabinet making. These skills also helped to involve students in the building and expansion of the school. Just as trade skills were used in the building and expansion of Tuskegee University, those same skill sets, and more, can be used in Community and Nation Building also. What may have been lacking in Washington’s strategy was a theoretical and visionary framework of where these skills sets could take us, as a people united around a set of principles, goals and common objectives. Yet, in the context of building a National Community and an infra-structure for Pan African Unity, trade and other practical skills sets take on new meaning and relevance, especially in the area of Sustainable Development. Not only do we need brick makers, but we now need solar installers and maintenance persons. We need windmill panel makers, installers, water usage and purification systems and mechanisms, and contractors who have the knowledge and skilled worker base, to refurbish and retrofit new and existing housing in order to maximize their sustainability and energy efficiency. These are jobs that would not just be limited to the US, but as the world moves closer to a “Peak Oil” critical moment, these skills will be in demand all over the world and will need a trained workforce to supply and fill that demand. The beauty of Washington’s position is that it occurred at the same time as the Industrial Revolution in the Western world. As a community of people Blacks were not poised, nor was American
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society receptive to, blacks taking full advantage of the economic transformation about to sweep the globe. Booker T. Washington made his transition in 1915. The first Model T Ford was made in 1908. It remains disputed when the first airplane flew. But these two industries alone, revolutionized trade, commerce, and the tourist industries for time immemorial. Yet, the thought lingers, what if Washington had prepared and trained a Black work force to service and permeate these key industries? However, we should not wallow in despair as the Sustainable and Green Revolution afford the same possibilities and potential as the Industrial Revolution. Van Jones, author of the best selling book, “Green Collar Economy”, and former Green Jobs Czar of the Obama administration, points out that Blacks are well suited to take advantage of the jobs and industries which will grow out of the Green Revolution currently gaining momentum in American and other industrialized societies. These could also be the type of good jobs, which ex-felons and at-risk youth could do easily, when trained, giving them a degree of parity in the work force, allowing them to enter back into the social fabric, cutting recidivism, thus, making them productive citizens.
The synthesis we hope to form, is really a combination of the ideology and practice of two historical figures, Marcus Garvey and Kwame Nkrumah. Garvey’s economic policies were fairly advanced for his time, but their value and vision are very relevant in the context of 2009-2010. Garvey , in his wisdom, sought to engage blacks in infra-structure building for what he envisioned as a Black Nation, which could independently trade with other Black Nations in the Caribbean, Africa and throughout Diaspora. This idea took shape and form in the establishment of the Negro Factories Corporation, which, in Garvey’s words, was to “build and operate factories in the big industrial centers of the United States, Central America, the West Indies (sic) and Africa, to manufacture every marketable commodity”. Through his vision and leadership, Garvey’s organization, the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), started chains of grocery stores, restaurants, steam laundries, tailoring and dressmaking shops, a millinery store and publishing house. In no small measure, this accounts for one of the reasons the membership of the UNIA grew into the millions, worldwide, and was able to employ many of its own people, while providing the means to deliver basic goods and services. The West African country of Liberia, founded by ex-slaves, was to serve as a base of operations to build infra-structure for delivery of similar goods and services on the African continent. The Liberia project was launched in 1920, and it sought to build trade schools, colleges, universities, industrial plants and railroads to facilitate trade and commerce. While Garvey is credited with the phrase, “Africa for the Africans”, he did not advocate that all African Americans emigrate back to Africa, just those who chose not to accept to live within the confines of a racist, oppressive and exploitative system which sought to deny people of African descent, basic human and civil rights as expressed in the Constitution. Thus, Africa, in Garvey’s scheme and model, was to serve as a political base for its Diasporan children wishing to “return home”. The final link in this master strategy was the Black Star Line, which was to purchase ships which would be used to transport people and goods across the Atlantic and throughout the Caribbean. Garvey may have made what, in hindsight, was a fatal mistake, and could have learned a valuable lesson from DuBois. Garvey could have had more trained and professional people manage, purchase, register and raise money for the ships in the Black Star Line. Nevertheless, Garvey’s vision was masterful, and serves as a model and paradigm for what is possible, even today.
As a young West African, Ghanaian student, Kwame Nkrumah graduated from Lincoln University, in Pennsylvania, in 1942. As he continued his education, he grew increasingly, under the influence of Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Du Bois and George Padmore, an organizer of the Manchester Conference of 1945, which is credited for laying the establishing the agenda for African decolonization. As Garvey was laying groundwork for building economic infra-structure on the African continent, Kwame Nkrumah was becoming the inspiration and personification of the unity of African people the world over, with his philosophy of Pan Africanism. Nkrumah’s plan was to build Ghana as a model African country, and learn to export the model to other African countries as they gained independence. Working with C.L.R. James and George Padmore to organize the 5th Pan African Congress, Nkrumah was quickly emerging as an
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ideologue for Pan Africanism. Many and most of the African independence leaders attending this conference, began to lay out broad strategies on how they would collectively and particularly, pursue independence in their respective countries. Later, Nkrumah was to become the inspiration and agitator for the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Many organizations in Africa and the Diaspora, still aspire to build the ever elusive Pan African Unity, which DuBois, Garvey and Nkrumah espoused. However, it may be the philosophy and teachings of Booker T. and Garvey which provide us with the paths to achieve this noble goal.
Garvey’s notion of “building an industrial infra-structure which provides every commodity”, may seem a bit ideal in today’s world, but when connected with Booker T’s idea of building a workforce of skilled laborers, it has intrinsic value in the following areas which we will call:
SEVEN FACTORS OF SUSTAINABLE AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA AND DIASPORA
I. Establishing Trade and Commerce Missions (Africa, New Africa, Caribbean)
II. Revenue and Funding Sources – Dues, Foundations, Investment Clubs/corporations, IMF, UN, taxes
III. Infra-structure Building – Garvey’s notion of building in every industry combined with Booker T’s trade skills training.
IV. Expansion of Cultural and Economic Trade and Exchange
V. Modernization of Agricultural Production/Distribution among African peoples
VI. Systematic and Strategic, Transfer and Exchange of Knowledge, Technology and Science between/among Continental and Diasporan Africans
VII. Dynamic Development Strategies and Methods – Triangular (Africa, New Africa, Caribbean); Square (inclusive of African ex-patriates)

SEVEN FACTORS OF SUSTAINABLE AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA AND DIASPORA
1. Establishing Trade and Commerce Missions (Africa, New Africa, Caribbean)
A. Determining which industries are most attractive to and marketable for African/Diasporan people; e.g. Fashion
Industry(African centered designs, textiles, clothing outlets) tourism, agriculture, herbology, sustainable housing
Construction (Esp. African centered architecture designs).
B. Decide where to place each industrial center/plant in order to maximize production and distribution of the
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designated commodities.
C. Determining the most efficient trade/commerce/transportation routes to get products to market, and which
are for export and which need to be imported.
D. Given the above factors, price schedules must be established which allow for affordability, but also enough profit to make the industry sustainable over time/circumstances (market conditions, weather/climate changes competition.
E. Economic Intelligence – defense and development.
F. Determining the best places to begin building African Marketplaces, which would also house museums, learning centers, theaters, Community Administrative centers (Council of Elders, youth/Simba Corps, Cultural/Convention Center, Communication and Response Teams.
G. Training centers for the various trades or a trade college/university.
2. Revenue and Funding Sources
A. dues, taxes, IMF, Foundations, grants, donations, charities
B. The key difference is that these funds will not go to corrupt politicians or civil servants, but will be allocated and administrated by a Foundation, with a Pan African Board of Directors which will determine which projects get funded based on need; how, when, where, and by what means.
C. We propose that any Reparations which comes in monetary form also be allocated through such Foundation, or Foundation approved sources.
D. Immedidate debt relief for African and Caribbean Countries and people of African descent, as part of a reparations package
3. Infra Structure Building
A. Transportation – Cross continental Rail System, Modernized air transport system, commercial shipping fleet, trucking system. Roads which facilitate commerce and tourism trade.
B. Sustainable Energy – water (waterfalls, reservoirs, ocean, stream), wind, methanol-ethanol, Solar, Bio-Thermal, which all link up with a continental energy grid.
C. Indigenous Sustainable Sanitation Systems and Water purification
D. Indigenous Communications Systems with the ability to link up with Global systems
E. Reduction of and Penalties for Toxic Waste caused by foreign and/or domestic corporations.
4. Expansion of Cultural and Economic Trade an Exchange
A. Exhibition and Preservation of African People artistic heritage and the progressive character of its culture – Museums, Festivals Seminars, Performing Arts Shows
1) As African people enter into this Renaissance era and new stage of development , new rules of engagement must be designed to enter into the global economy. It is mandatory that institutions are built which preserve the
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integrity of African and Diasporan art forms, languages, systems of thought (Dogon, Maat, Ifa, Akhan, Zulu, Masai, etc.) and cultural traditions, such as Council of Elders, Rites of Passage, Cooperative Economics, Extended Family, Reverence for Nature and the Spiritual Quest for Oneness with a God Force. These defining elements of African life and culture must not be lost or compromised at the expense of modernization and/or development.
2) Recognition that Africa Culture is one of Africa’s most important , if not the most important exports. It has played a dominant role in the American, South American, Caribbean, and Australian cultures, and now even in faraway places such as Japan. African culture has economic and human value. Thus, it must be packaged to represent the best of what Africa was, is and has the possibility to become, though, it should not just be viewed as a commodity, rather, an expression of who we are as a People in the forward flow of human progress.
B. Employment of Culture in our Collective Struggle for Human Liberation and Transformation
1) Culture must provide the foundation for our:
(a) Identity – who we are, based on our historical Personality as a people
(b)Purpose – based on who we are, what our role and responsibility is in relationship to elevating the quality of life of our people, creating human progress, and transforming society to reflect the best of who we are as Africans and humans.
(c) Direction – the means we choose to achieve the above. To engage in the struggle to define, defend and develop ourselves as African, Pan Africanists and humans. The process(es) of Social Transformation which allows the human personality to realize its fullest potential, and creates a social context which allows for human flourishing.
2) Definition of a Black Aesthetic which gives Black/African art its distinction and unique qualities as an art form.
3) African and African centered Culture is our most valuable product and therefore, must not only be preserved, but promoted among our own people in our quest to regain our historical personality, and overcome the Post Traumatic Shock of Enslavement.
C. Culture as Economic Stimulus for Africa and Diaspora
1) Gain economic dominance in those areas of Culture where we can gain a measure of control, i.e.
(a) African centered Fashion Design, tailoring, textiles, haberdashery, millinery
(b) Control of Music Production, distribution and promotion
( c) African Centered Architectural Design
(d) Sports and Entertainment personalities donating to Foundations engaged in Sustainable Development policy, programs and projects.
(e) More exchange between and among African (Nigerian, Ghanaian, Senegalese) and New African filmmakers; building community theaters.
(f) Encouraging youth to become more inventive and innovative in technology and teaching modalities, particularly in Black schools.
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5. Modernization of Agricultural Production among African people is mandatory, while Preserving the quality of Rural, Social and Cultural Life.
A. Low Carbon foods are healthier/while balance must be struck with export/import crops.
B. Irrigation systems must be installed and maintained, esp. in arid and dry areas.
C. Basis for industry-wide growth as Garvey called for; feeding into grocery markets and restaurant chains; developing food and herb coops; Holistic Health Coops and delivery systems which service underserved communities.
D. Methodologies which ensure that African Mineral Wealth benefits indigenous people. Corruption must be challenged and rooted out, and replaced by a system which allows re-distribution of wealth on a level of parity. Quatar and Kuwait might serve as models.

6. Transfer and Exchange of Knowledge, Technology and Science between and among Continental Africans and Diasporans –
A. Each sector of the African World (Continental Africans, African Americans, African ex-patriates, Caribbeans, Brazilians, Africans in Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, and the rest of Diaspora) must seek methodologies and modalities whereby Science, Knowledge and Technology will be used for human good and progress from an African Worldview, which puts humanity, and Human Good at the center. Emphasis on establishing consortiums, economic clubs, Coops, Conferences and strive to build Pan African Universities which can encourage inventions, study of African languages, architecture, science, Math, Governance, and requirements for re-structuring civil society.

7. Dynamic Development Strategies and Methods –
A. Revolution, as a social phenomena, should never be limited to just struggle from physical bondage, but is inclusive of economic, political and psychological liberation also. Sustainable development strategies and methodologies must be cognizant of this fact, while seeking ways and means of empowering the disenfranchised (peasants, workers and people of color). In this millineum, in todays’ world, Sustainable Development is the sine qua non of today’s revolutionary process. Sloganizing, theorizing nor repeating ideological formulations will no longer suffice as substitutes for designing ways in which we satisfy human need. The degree to which ideologies, theories and slogans contribute to human growth and flourishing, i.e. Sustainable Development, is the new criteria for their validity. Now is the time to make the world we only imagined 60 years ago.

The key dynamic to the above proposal is its Comprehensiveness. Obviously, all of these elements cannot be addressed at the same time or to the same degree. Yet, it remains a Strategic Plan for Sustainable Development which can be debated how it is tactically implemented in phases, based on priority, budgetary constraints, and economic/social conditions. It is important here, to define what is meant by Sustainable Development. There are at least 3 Key Elements: Environmental, Economic and Socio-Cultural. Environmental concerns address how we design and balance environmental policy and programmatic initiatives in a manner which is respectful and cognizant of our responsibility to
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be/become good stewards of the earth and nature. The issue of “Peak Oil” points to the need to manage the earth’s resources with maximum efficiency and conservation. The second element of Sustainability, economics, addresses equitable distribution of goods and services, while respecting each person’ human worth and right to benefit from the bounty of the earth’s resources. The socio-cultural element of sustainability identifies key areas of development such as health, housing, jobs, education, agriculture, transportation, technology, spiritual, ethical, artistic and value dimensions of Sustainable Development. While the African Union (AU, formerly Organization of African Unity) seeks to address issues in these critical areas, it remains the responsibility of “Sustainable Minded Developers” to begin strategic building of these infra-structure modalities. These modalities must seek ways to circumvent current political realities which hinder and impede real sustainable development in African and Diasporan communities. We have attempted to draw key elements from the philosophical thrust of each, Washington, DuBois, Garvey and Nkrumah. By reaching across and outside of the continental divide, we hope to have formulated a policy outline for strategic economic development which is truly a joint venture and Pan African in scope and content.
The last sixty years have been marked by worldwide revolution, in which many of the emerging nations and peoples fought against oppression, exploitation and toil imposed by racist and profit motivated regimes which had very low regard for the well-being of their subjects. Malcolm X pointed out to us, that the Bandung Conference illuminated the fact, that it was essentially people of color and poor people who were victimized by colonialism and the imperialistic designs of Europe and its collaborators. Many of the independence movements which followed did little to improve the economic well-being of the constituent masses, as neo-colonial and neo-liberal policies were instituted, which continued to serve the interests of the former colonizers. This paper seeks to detail, with strategic design, how African peoples the world over, can begin to take back into their own hands, their own “destiny and daily lives, and step back on the stage of human history as a free, proud and productive peoples.”
In December, 2010, the largest assembly of people of African descent in history, will meet at the FESMAN FESTIVAL, in Dakar, Senegal. This assembly is being called the beginning of the African Renaissance. A renaissance is not just defined by the quality of life of its people. If Africa and its Diaspora aspire to reach a real renaissance and achieve full and final liberation, it must seek a quality of unity, which Kwame Nkrumah envisioned in his concept of Pan Africanism. In his book, Consciencism, Nkrumah, correctly points out, that “while each social system has a supporting ideology, a revolutionary ideology seeks to introduce a new social system”. Therefore, it remains incumbent of every African of good will and conscience, to aid in the definition of the impending African Renaissance. The Industrial Revolution and the rise in Technological Superiority defined the era of European and American dominance in Global geo-politics, during the past century. As a student of history, there are clear signs that this era is in decline, while marking the ascent of a New World Order in which the world’s people of color and its disenfranchised will play a key role. It is within this historical context that we wish to place the African Renaissance. To summarize, the following qualities are proposed in building strategies for a Pan African Sustainable Development:

1. Comprehensive and Multi-dimensional aproaches to development.

2. Integrative - Integration of banking, film, communications and media, Fashion and Hair Industries, tourism, etc.

3. Synergism - A synergistic basket of program and projects requiring short and long planning for thier implementation.

4. Triangular Development - fundamental to building Pan African Community is the building of linkages betwwen and among continental Africans, African Americans and Caribbeans.

Towards this end we offer these policy proposals, programs and projects with the hope they lend themselves to African peoples (globally), making a meaningful contribution to the forward flow of creating a world in which, “we, our children and our people, can live, love and create freely, and walk in a warmer Sun”. Though practice is never quite up to principles, our ancestors and our children demand that we represent the best of what it means to be African and human in the World.
Humbly Submitted, Mwalimu W. Kabaila Chair, National African American Congress Forum www.naacforum.ning.com sikivu@aol.com Los Angeles, California USA 323 325 2560

REMAINING AWAKE THROUGH A GREAT REVOLUTION - one of MARTIN LUTHER KING'S last speeches

2009-07-25T06:34:00.000-07:00

REMAINING AWAKE THROUGH A GREAT REVOLUTION - one of MARTIN LUTHER KING'S last speeches
Posted by Mwalimu W. Kabaila on July 25, 2009 at 6:25am
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Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 1:07pm
One of MLK's last speeches before his assassination:

Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution (what a title!)

I need not pause to say how very delighted I am to be here this morning, to have the opportunity of standing in this very great and significant pulpit. And I do want to express my deep personal appreciation to Dean Sayre and all of the cathedral clergy for extending the invitation.

It is always a rich and rewarding experience to take a brief break from our day-to-day demands and the struggle for freedom and human dignity and discuss the issues involved in that struggle with concerned friends of goodwill all over our nation. And certainly it is always a deep and meaningful experience to be in a worship service. And so for many reasons, I’m happy to be here today.

I would like to use as a subject from which to preach this morning: "Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution." The text for the morning is found in the book of Revelation. There are two passages there that I would like to quote, in the sixteenth chapter of that book: "Behold I make all things new; former things are passed away."

I am sure that most of you have read that arresting little story from the pen of Washington Irving entitled "Rip Van Winkle." The one thing that we usually remember about the story is that Rip Van Winkle slept twenty years. But there is another point in that little story that is almost completely overlooked. It was the sign in the end, from which Rip went up in the mountain for his long sleep.

When Rip Van Winkle went up into the mountain, the sign had a picture of King George the Third of England. When he came down twenty years later the sign had a picture of George Washington, the first president of the United States. When Rip Van Winkle looked up at the picture of George Washington—and looking at the picture he was amazed—he was completely lost. He knew not who he was.

And this reveals to us that the most striking thing about the story of Rip Van Winkle is not merely that Rip slept twenty years, but that he slept through a revolution. While he was peacefully snoring up in the mountain a revolution was taking place that at points would change the course of history—and Rip knew nothing about it. He was asleep. Yes, he slept through a revolution. And one of the great liabilities of life is that all too many people find themselves living amid a great period of social change, and yet they fail to develop the new attitudes, the new mental responses, that the new situation demands. They end up sleeping through a revolution.

There can be no gainsaying of the fact that a great revolution is taking place in the world today. In a sense it is a triple revolution: that is, a technological revolution, with the impact of automation and cybernation; then there is a revolution in weaponry, with the emergence of atomic and nuclear weapons of warfare; then there is a human rights revolution, with the freedom explosion that is taking place all over the world. Yes, we do live in a period where changes are taking place. And there is still the voice crying through the vista of time saying, "Behold, I make all things new; former things are passed away."

Now whenever anything new comes into history it brings with it new challenges and new opportunities. And I would like to deal with the challenges that we face today as a result of this triple revolution that is taking place in the world today.

First, we are challenged to develop a world perspective. No individual can live alone, no nation can live alone, and anyone who feels that he can live alone is sleeping through a revolution. The world in which we live is geographically one. The challenge that we face today is to make it one in terms of brotherhood.

Now it is true that the geographical oneness of this age has come into being to a large extent through modern man’s scientific ingenuity. Modern man through his scientific genius has been able to dwarf distance and place time in chains. And our jet planes have compressed into minutes distances that once took weeks and even months. All of this tells us that our world is a neighborhood.

Through our scientific and technological genius, we have made of this world a neighborhood and yet we have not had the ethical commitment to make of it a brotherhood. But somehow, and in some way, we have got to do this. We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God’s universe is made; this is the way it is structured.

John Donne caught it years ago and placed it in graphic terms: "No man is an island entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." And he goes on toward the end to say, "Any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind; therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." We must see this, believe this, and live by it if we are to remain awake through a great revolution.

Secondly, we are challenged to eradicate the last vestiges of racial injustice from our nation. I must say this morning that racial injustice is still the black man’s burden and the white man’s shame.

It is an unhappy truth that racism is a way of life for the vast majority of white Americans, spoken and unspoken, acknowledged and denied, subtle and sometimes not so subtle—the disease of racism permeates and poisons a whole body politic. And I can see nothing more urgent than for America to work passionately and unrelentingly—to get rid of the disease of racism.

Something positive must be done. Everyone must share in the guilt as individuals and as institutions. The government must certainly share the guilt; individuals must share the guilt; even the church must share the guilt.

We must face the sad fact that at eleven o’clock on Sunday morning when we stand to sing "In Christ there is no East or West," we stand in the most segregated hour of America.

The hour has come for everybody, for all institutions of the public sector and the private sector to work to get rid of racism. And now if we are to do it we must honestly admit certain things and get rid of certain myths that have constantly been disseminated all over our nation.

One is the myth of time. It is the notion that only time can solve the problem of racial injustice. And there are those who often sincerely say to the Negro and his allies in the white community, "Why don’t you slow up? Stop pushing things so fast. Only time can solve the problem. And if you will just be nice and patient and continue to pray, in a hundred or two hundred years the problem will work itself out."

There is an answer to that myth. It is that time is neutral. It can be used wither constructively or destructively. And I am sorry to say this morning that I am absolutely convinced that the forces of ill will in our nation, the extreme rightists of our nation—the people on the wrong side—have used time much more effectively than the forces of goodwill. And it may well be that we will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, "Wait on time."

Somewhere we must come to see that human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals who are willing to be co-workers with God. And without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the primitive forces of social stagnation. So we must help time and realize that the time is always ripe to do right.

Now there is another myth that still gets around: it is a kind of over reliance on the bootstrap philosophy. There are those who still feel that if the Negro is to rise out of poverty, if the Negro is to rise out of the slum conditions, if he is to rise out of discrimination and segregation, he must do it all by himself. And so they say the Negro must lift himself by his own bootstraps.

They never stop to realize that no other ethnic group has been a slave on American soil. The people who say this never stop to realize that the nation made the black man’s color a stigma. But beyond this they never stop to realize the debt that they owe a people who were kept in slavery two hundred and forty-four years.

In 1863 the Negro was told that he was free as a result of the Emancipation Proclamation being signed by Abraham Lincoln. But he was not given any land to make that freedom meaningful. It was something like keeping a person in prison for a number of years and suddenly discovering that that person is not guilty of the crime for which he was convicted. And you just go up to him and say, "Now you are free," but you don’t give him any bus fare to get to town. You don’t give him any money to get some clothes to put on his back or to get on his feet again in life.

Every court of jurisprudence would rise up against this, and yet this is the very thing that our nation did to the black man. It simply said, "You’re free," and it left him there penniless, illiterate, not knowing what to do. And the irony of it all is that at the same time the nation failed to do anything for the black man, though an act of Congress was giving away millions of acres of land in the West and the Midwest. Which meant that it was willing to undergird its white peasants from Europe with an economic floor.

But not only did it give the land, it built land-grant colleges to teach them how to farm. Not only that, it provided county agents to further their expertise in farming; not only that, as the years unfolded it provided low interest rates so that they could mechanize their farms. And to this day thousands of these very persons are receiving millions of dollars in federal subsidies every years not to farm. And these are so often the very people who tell Negroes that they must lift themselves by their own bootstraps. It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.

We must come to see that the roots of racism are very deep in our country, and there must be something positive and massive in order to get rid of all the effects of racism and the tragedies of racial injustice.

There is another thing closely related to racism that I would like to mention as another challenge. We are challenged to rid our nation and the world of poverty. Like a monstrous octopus, poverty spreads its nagging, prehensile tentacles into hamlets and villages all over our world. Two-thirds of the people of the world go to bed hungry tonight. They are ill-housed; they are ill-nourished; they are shabbily clad. I’ve seen it in Latin America; I’ve seen it in Africa; I’ve seen this poverty in Asia.

I remember some years ago Mrs. King and I journeyed to that great country known as India. And I never will forget the experience. It was a marvelous experience to meet and talk with the great leaders of India, to meet and talk with and to speak to thousands and thousands of people all over that vast country. These experiences will remain dear to me as long as the cords of memory shall lengthen.

But I say to you this morning, my friends, there were those depressing moments. How can one avoid being depressed when he sees with his own eyes evidences of millions of people going to bed hungry at night? How can one avoid being depressed when he sees with his own eyes God’s children sleeping on the sidewalks at night? In Bombay more than a million people sleep on the sidewalks every night. In Calcutta more than six hundred thousand sleep on the sidewalks every night. They have no beds to sleep in; they have no houses to go in. How can one avoid being depressed when he discovers that out of India’s population of more than five hundred million people, some four hundred and eighty million make an annual income of less than ninety dollars a year. And most of them have never seen a doctor or a dentist.

As I noticed these things, something within me cried out, "Can we in America stand idly by and not be concerned?" And an answer came: "Oh no!" Because the destiny of the United States is tied up with the destiny of India and every other nation. And I started thinking of the fact that we spend in America millions of dollars a day to store surplus food, and I said to myself, "I know where we can store that food free of charge—in the wrinkled stomachs of millions of God’s children all over the world who go to bed hungry at night." And maybe we spend far too much of our national budget establishing military bases around the world rather than bases of genuine concern and understanding.

Not only do we see poverty abroad, I would remind you that in our own nation there are about forty million people who are poverty-stricken. I have seen them here and there. I have seen them in the ghettos of the North; I have seen them in the rural areas of the South; I have seen them in Appalachia. I have just been in the process of touring many areas of our country and I must confess that in some situations I have literally found myself crying.

I was in Marks, Mississippi, the other day, which is in Whitman County, the poorest county in the United States. I tell you, I saw hundreds of little black boys and black girls walking the streets with no shoes to wear. I saw their mothers and fathers trying to carry on a little Head Start program, but they had no money. The federal government hadn’t funded them, but they were trying to carry on. They raised a little money here and there; trying to get a little food to feed the children; trying to teach them a little something.

And I saw mothers and fathers who said to me not only were they unemployed, they didn’t get any kind of income—no old-age pension, no welfare check, no anything. I said, "How do you live?" And they say, "Well, we go around, go around to the neighbors and ask them for a little something. When the berry season comes, we pick berries. When the rabbit season comes, we hunt and catch a few rabbits. And that’s about it."

And I was in Newark and Harlem just this week. And I walked into the homes of welfare mothers. I saw them in conditions—no, not with wall-to-wall carpet, but wall-to-wall rats and roaches. I stood in an apartment and this welfare mother said to me, "The landlord will not repair this place. I’ve been here two years and he hasn’t made a single repair." She pointed out the walls with all the ceiling falling through. She showed me the holes where the rats came in. She said night after night we have to stay awake to keep the rats and roaches from getting to the children. I said, "How much do you pay for this apartment?" She said, "a hundred and twenty-five dollars." I looked, and I thought, and said to myself, "It isn’t worth sixty dollars." Poor people are forced to pay more for less. Living in conditions day in and day out where the whole area is constantly drained without being replenished. It becomes a kind of domestic colony. And the tragedy is, so often these forty million people are invisible because America is so affluent, so rich. Because our expressways carry us from the ghetto, we don’t see the poor.

Jesus told a parable one day, and he reminded us that a man went to hell because he didn’t see the poor. His name was Dives. He was a rich man. And there was a man by the name of Lazarus who was a poor man, but not only was he poor, he was sick. Sores were all over his body, and he was so weak that he could hardly move. But he managed to get to the gate of Dives every day, wanting just to have the crumbs that would fall from his table. And Dives did nothing about it. And the parable ends saying, "Dives went to hell, and there were a fixed gulf now between Lazarus and Dives."

There is nothing in that parable that said Dives went to hell because he was rich. Jesus never made a universal indictment against all wealth. It is true that one day a rich young ruler came to him, and he advised him to sell all, but in that instance Jesus was prescribing individual surgery and not setting forth a universal diagnosis. And if you will look at that parable with all of its symbolism, you will remember that a conversation took place between heaven and hell, and on the other end of that long-distance call between heaven and hell was Abraham in heaven talking to Dives in hell.

Now Abraham was a very rich man. If you go back to the Old Testament, you see that he was the richest man of his day, so it was not a rich man in hell talking with a poor man in heaven; it was a little millionaire in hell talking with a multimillionaire in heaven. Dives didn’t go to hell because he was rich; Dives didn’t realize that his wealth was his opportunity. It was his opportunity to bridge the gulf that separated him from his brother Lazarus. Dives went to hell because he was passed by Lazarus every day and he never really saw him. He went to hell because he allowed his brother to become invisible. Dives went to hell because he maximized the minimum and minimized the maximum. Indeed, Dives went to hell because he sought to be a conscientious objector in the war against poverty.

And this can happen to America, the richest nation in the world—and nothing’s wrong with that—this is America’s opportunity to help bridge the gulf between the haves and the have-nots. The question is whether America will do it. There is nothing new about poverty. What is new is that we now have the techniques and the resources to get rid of poverty. The real question is whether we have the will.

In a few weeks some of us are coming to Washington to see if the will is still alive or if it is alive in this nation. We are coming to Washington in a Poor People’s Campaign. Yes, we are going to bring the tired, the poor, the huddled masses. We are going to bring those who have known long years of hurt and neglect. We are going to bring those who have come to feel that life is a long and desolate corridor with no exit signs. We are going to bring children and adults and old people, people who have never seen a doctor or a dentist in their lives.

We are not coming to engage in any histrionic gesture. We are not coming to tear up Washington. We are coming to demand that the government address itself to the problem of poverty. We read one day, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." But if a man doesn’t have a job or an income, he has neither life nor liberty nor the possibility for the pursuit of happiness. He merely exists.

We are coming to ask America to be true to the huge promissory note that it signed years ago. And we are coming to engage in dramatic nonviolent action, to call attention to the gulf between promise and fulfillment; to make the invisible visible.

Why do we do it this way? We do it this way because it is our experience that the nation doesn’t move around questions of genuine equality for the poor and for black people until it is confronted massively, dramatically in terms of direct action.

Great documents are here to tell us something should be done. We met here some years ago in the White House conference on civil rights. And we came out with the same recommendations that we will be demanding in our campaign here, but nothing has been done. The President’s commission on technology, automation and economic progress recommended these things some time ago. Nothing has been done. Even the urban coalition of mayors of most of the cities of our country and the leading businessmen have said these things should be done. Nothing has been done. The Kerner Commission came out with its report just a few days ago and then made specific recommendations. Nothing has been done.

And I submit that nothing will be done until people of goodwill put their bodies and their souls in motion. And it will be the kind of soul force brought into being as a result of this confrontation that I believe will make the difference.

Yes, it will be a Poor People’s Campaign. This is the question facing America. Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation. America has not met its obligations and its responsibilities to the poor.

One day we will have to stand before the God of history and we will talk in terms of things we’ve done. Yes, we will be able to say we built gargantuan bridges to span the seas, we built gigantic buildings to kiss the skies. Yes, we made our submarines to penetrate oceanic depths. We brought into being many other things with our scientific and technological power.

It seems that I can hear the God of history saying, "That was not enough! But I was hungry, and ye fed me not. I was naked, and ye clothed me not. I was devoid of a decent sanitary house to live in, and ye provided no shelter for me. And consequently, you cannot enter the kingdom of greatness. If ye do it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye do it unto me." That’s the question facing America today.

I want to say one other challenge that we face is simply that we must find an alternative to war and bloodshed. Anyone who feels, and there are still a lot of people who feel that way, that war can solve the social problems facing mankind is sleeping through a great revolution. President Kennedy said on one occasion, "Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind." The world must hear this. I pray God that America will hear this before it is too late, because today we’re fighting a war.

I am convinced that it is one of the most unjust wars that has ever been fought in the history of the world. Our involvement in the war in Vietnam has torn up the Geneva Accord. It has strengthened the military-industrial complex; it has strengthened the forces of reaction in our nation. It has put us against the self-determination of a vast majority of the Vietnamese people, and put us in the position of protecting a corrupt regime that is stacked against the poor.

It has played havoc with our domestic destinies. This day we are spending five hundred thousand dollars to kill every Vietcong soldier. Every time we kill one we spend about five hundred thousand dollars while we spend only fifty-three dollars a year for every person characterized as poverty-stricken in the so-called poverty program, which is not even a good skirmish against poverty.

Not only that, it has put us in a position of appearing to the world as an arrogant nation. And here we are ten thousand miles away from home fighting for the so-called freedom of the Vietnamese people when we have not even put our own house in order. And we force young black men and young white men to fight and kill in brutal solidarity. Yet when they come back home that can’t hardly live on the same block together.

The judgment of God is upon us today. And we could go right down the line and see that something must be done—and something must be done quickly. We have alienated ourselves from other nations so we end up morally and politically isolated in the world. There is not a single major ally of the United States of America that would dare send a troop to Vietnam, and so the only friends that we have now are a few client-nations like Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, and a few others.

This is where we are. "Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind," and the best way to start is to put an end to war in Vietnam, because if it continues, we will inevitably come to the point of confronting China which could lead the whole world to nuclear annihilation.

It is no longer a choice, my friends, between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence. And the alternative to disarmament, the alternative to a greater suspension of nuclear tests, the alternative to strengthening the United Nations and thereby disarming the whole world, may well be a civilization plunged into the abyss of annihilation, and our earthly habitat would be transformed into an inferno that even the mind of Dante could not imagine.

This is why I felt the need of raising my voice against that war and working wherever I can to arouse the conscience of our nation on it. I remember so well when I first took a stand against the war in Vietnam. The critics took me on and they had their say in the most negative and sometimes most vicious way.

One day a newsman came to me and said, "Dr. King, don’t you think you’re going to have to stop, now, opposing the war and move more in line with the administration’s policy? As I understand it, it has hurt the budget of your organization, and people who once respected you have lost respect for you. Don’t you feel that you’ve really got to change your position?" I looked at him and I had to say, "Sir, I’m sorry you don’t know me. I’m not a consensus leader. I do not determine what is right and wrong by looking at the budget of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. I’ve not taken a sort of Gallup Poll of the majority opinion." Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus.

On some positions, cowardice asks the question, is it expedient? And then expedience comes along and asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? Conscience asks the question, is it right?

There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right. I believe today that there is a need for all people of goodwill to come with a massive act of conscience and say in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "We ain’t goin’ study war no more." This is the challenge facing modern man.

Let me close by saying that we have difficult days ahead in the struggle for justice and peace, but I will not yield to a politic of despair. I’m going to maintain hope as we come to Washington in this campaign. The cards are stacked against us. This time we will really confront a Goliath. God grant that we will be that David of truth set out against the Goliath of injustice, the Goliath of neglect, the Goliath of refusing to deal with the problems, and go on with the determination to make America the truly great America that it is called to be.

I say to you that our goal is freedom, and I believe we are going to get there because however much she strays away from it, the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be as a people, our destiny is tied up in the destiny of America.

Before the Pilgrim fathers landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before Jefferson etched across the pages of history the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence, we were here. Before the beautiful words of the "Star Spangled Banner" were written, we were here.

For more than two centuries our forebearers labored here without wages. They made cotton king, and they built the homes of their masters in the midst of the most humiliating and oppressive conditions. And yet out of a bottomless vitality they continued to grow and develop. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery couldn’t stop us, the opposition that we now face will surely fail.

We’re going to win our freedom because both the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of the almighty God are embodied in our echoing demands. And so, however dark it is, however deep the angry feelings are, and however violent explosions are, I can still sing "We Shall Overcome."

We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

We shall overcome because Carlyle is right—"No lie can live forever."

We shall overcome because William Cullen Bryant is right—"Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again."

We shall overcome because James Russell Lowell is right—as we were singing earlier today,

Truth forever on the scaffold,

Wrong forever on the throne.

Yet that scaffold sways the future.

And behind the dim unknown stands God,

Within the shadow keeping watch above his own.

With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair the stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.

Thank God for John, who centuries ago out on a lonely, obscure island called Patmos caught vision of a new Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God, who heard a voice saying, "Behold, I make all things new; former things are passed away."

God grant that we will be participants in this newness and this magnificent development. If we will but do it, we will bring about a new day of justice and brotherhood and peace. And that day the morning stars will sing together and the sons of God will shout for joy. God bless you.

Delivered at the National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., on 31 March 1968. Congressional Record, 9 April 1968.

Learn about the REAL Dr. King...not the myth they sell us to quell us.
www.HustleAndWin.com

Oh and it gets even deeper. His absolute last speech, the one given the day before his assassination can be found at http://www.afscme.org/about/1549.cfm
And if you can't see why he was killed after reading THAT, well you're probably one of those folks who think Michael Jackson committed suicide.

Again...
www.HustleAndWin.com
Get your mind right.

KABAILA FORUM: WHAT PATH AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT? : AFRICAN RENAISSAINCE, FESMAN FESTIVAL AND BEYOND

2009-06-14T16:30:00.000-07:00

KABAILA FORUM: WHAT PATH AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT? : AFRICAN RENAISSAINCE, FESMAN FESTIVAL AND BEYOND

ANNOUNCEMENT OF FESMAN, NEW YORK CITY, 2009

AFRICAN RENAISSANCE - LECTURE BY MOLEFI ASANTE

ECONOMIST, DAMBISA MOYO SPEAKS ON AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES

MINISTER FARRAKHAN IN GHANA, 1994, ON AFRICAN UNITY AND DEVELOPMENT

The FESMAN Festival in Dakar, Senegal, December 1-21, 2009 promises to be a great opportunity for the African world in general, and African Americans in particular, to showcase the wealth, diversity and richness of African culture in all of its global manifestations. We will hear the melodic sounds of the kora from Mali, the high stepping dances of the Watusi and Masai from east Africa, the colorful ghelas and fashion eminating from the West African countries, and the harmonic voices, boot and Zulu dances from Southern Africa. The steel bands, and festive nature of our Caribbean brothers and sisters will fill the atmosphere with joy and delight. We all will look forward to meeting African people from New Zealand, Australia, Surinam, Guyana, Fiji, and yes, Germany, also. We, the Children of Africa will feel, listen and hear the unique stories of what it means to be African peoples dispersed throughout the world in the new millinium. It has been over thirty years since FESTAC was held in Lagos, Nigeria in 1977, which was the last World Festival of African Arts and Culture of this magnitude. We applaud the forsight of President Wade of Senegal, to take lead in this newest endeavor, to showcase Africa, and to play host to these festivities. But it remains paramount that while we take this time to enjoy the breathe and depth of our Global and Pan African cultural heritage, that we also take serious stock of where, we, as African people are on the world stage, in terms of our political, economic and social securityand well being.
When FESTAC met in 1977, many African countries had achieved the goals of the Pan African Congresses, forged by intellectual giants, such as WEB Du Bois, Kwame Nkhrumah, Julius Nyerere, Amilcar Cabral and Sekou Toure, independence from colonial rule, mostly under the domination of European colonialists. By this time the battlefront had mostly moved to Southern Africa, where Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia and South Africa remained locked in vicious struggles against Apartheid, of some variation thereof. In some cases, aid and assistance from Cuba, under the leadership of Fidel Castro, was paramount. It should be said here, that had it not been for Cuban solidarity, with its aid and assistance on the ground, that many Southern African Liberation Struggles might still be locked in protracted struggles, against their European oppressors, who had real and/or tacid support of Israel and the United States government. It is important to lay this cursory background for what is about to happen in Dakar at years end.

Today, the Africa we see, is at a crossroads. What does this mean, how is it related to FESMAN, and how is it relevant to us, and what can we do about it, if anything? While literally all African countries are free of colonial rule, many African countries, if not African people, remain subjugated and exploited by neo-colonial relationships with past colonizers, the IMF and/or Global Corporations whose oppression knows no boundaries and respects no borders. We needn't point out any particular perpetrator. For our purposes here, what is important, is, what will our response be, and with what amount of force and commitment will we be willing to back it up.

The history of African peoples have been marked by distinct periods; the Great Empires and decline, the slave trade and resistance, colonialization and independence. The election of President Barack Hussein Obama, as leader of the most powerful nation on earth, marks the beginning of another era in African history. Though the two events are not necessarily related, one cannot deny the irony that they occur similtaneously. The second event, which is the subject of this paper, is the African Renaissance. What we hope to achieve in this paper, is to make a contribution to what the content and elements of this Renaissance should and can be. We hope to accomplish this by using the following outline format:

Seven Key Characteristics of African and Diasporan Development

1. Exhibition and Preservation of African Peoples artistic heritage and the progressive character of its culture -
When we speak here of African peoples, we refer to all people of African descent, on the continent and in diaspora. As African people enter into a new stage of development which will allow engagement into the global economy, it is mandatory that institutions are built which preserve the integrity of African and Diasporan art forms, languages, systems of thought (Dogon, Maat, Ifa, Akhan, Zulu, Masai, etc.), and cultural traditions, such as Council of Elders, Rites of Passage, Cooperative Economics, Extended Family, Reverance for Nature and the Spiritual Quest of Oneness with a God Force. These defining elements of African life and culture must not be lost at the expense of modernization. We must learn from the mistakes of European and American industrialization which did not allow for its social institutions to keep pace with the changes occuring in their social fabric so quickly. Thus, they experience serious crisis in their families, respect for law, poor distribution of wealth (causing social disparity), poor socialization of their youth, and lack of the ability to integrate minority groups fully into society.

2. Transfer and Exchange of Knowledge, Technolgy and Science between and among Continental Africans and Diasporans -
Each grouping of African peoples must establish consortiums, economic clubs and strive to build Pan African Universities which can encourage, inventions, the study of architecture, science which can benefit African peoples globally.

3. Dynamic Development Strategies and Methods -
Such strategies must, of necessity, be African-centered in order to protect their integrity and the interests of African people. Land development must be done in a manner that dose not compromise the ecological balance.

4. Infra-structure Development on the Continent and Rural Areas in Diaspora
a. Transportation - Cross continent rail system.
b. Roads - paved
c. Sustainable Energy
1.Solar
2. Water - ocean, waterfalls, etc.
3. Wind
4. methanol>ethanol
d. Indigenous Sanitation systems and Water Treatment
e. Indigenous Communication Systems and ability to connect with Global sytems.
f. Reduction of and Penalties for toxic wastes caused by foreign corporations

5. Modernization of the Agricultural Sector While Preserving the Quality of Rural Social and Cultural Life -
This is important in terms of its contribution to health and growing low carbon food for the indigenous, without compromising the export market also. Irrigation systems with purified water is an essential component. The key is balance.

6. Expansion of Cultural and Economic Trade and Exchange -
Festivals such as FESMAN and FESTAC must not only focus on the arts, but also on the Art of building more people to people trade between and among African peoples.

7. Methodologies which Ensure that African Mineral Wealth Benefits Indigenous Peoples-
Corruption must be challenged and fought and replaced by a system which allows re-distribution of wealth on a level of parity. Quatar and Kuwait might serve as models.

The FESMAN Festival is being referred to as the beginning of the the African Renaissance. But the African Renassaince should not seek to duplicate or copy its European counterpart. Also, it should not just be restricted or limited to just a revival of the arts, though, the arts should and will be a necessary component. African culture has influenced almost every peoples on every continent around the globe and remains one of its greatest exports. However, it remains necessary to define the meaning and scope of renassaince as we apply the term in the African socio-economic-political-cultural millieu. We have reached a historical point in time, where people of African descent must become actively engaged in the path to constructive development on the African continent. It is no longer acceptable for Africa's human, material or natural resources to continue to be exploited by foreign interests who have little or no concern for the well being of its indigenous people and the culture that sustains them.

We argue here, for the African American, in particular, to play a key role in the "Engagement of Constructive Development" on the African continent. As a spiritual people, we must not believe that our ancestors would allow us to go through the pains of MAAFA for no reason. Not only did we resist the enslavement process at every chance, we also contributed in substantial ways to the industrialization process in Europe and America that came after. We invented, farmed, labored, became schooled, and since the sixties, have accumulated sizable wealth, in spite of the racism and White Supremacy which seeks to keep us, as a community, supressed and exploited. History has shown us, and it has become apparently and abundantly clear that the development of Africa and the liberation of African Americans are intrinsically linked. African Americans have accrued the wealth, training, education, skills and technological experience which Africa now needs in order for it to develop in accordance with it's capacity for growth. As Africa grows, it too can helps to contribute to the expanded possibilities of all of its children abroad (in Diaspora), through favorable people-to-people trade, distribution and manufacturing opportunities. This was Garveys' dream when he said "African for the Africans", and why Malcolm taught us that we were/are an African people and that our destinies are mutually linked with our brothers and sisters on the continent.

As Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana, would posit, a real Pan African Unity must extend beyond just sentiment and feeling, but must be realized with a material base. This base must be build upon the capacity to satisfy basic human needs of African people; food, clothing, shelter, health and to live in a realm of freedom from oppression, exploitation and domination. Cultural expressions, philosophy and revolutionary theories alone, will not quench the Africans' thirst for a uniquely developed society. The old African American adage is applicable, which says, "While its true we don't live by bread alone, we can only come to that conclusion, after we've eaten". Though it is of paramount importance to maintain the cultural integrity of our Motherland, we must also devise a development strategy that does not compromise the values inherent in the people and their lifestyle. Such a strategy must also be sensitive to the needs and demands of nature and the ecological balance of the continent. Africa's mineral wealth has been exploited too long and those foreign interests who have engaged in such behavior (and we all know who they are) must not only repent, but pay to Africa and its children, fair reparations for their continued rape of Africa's human and natural resources for over 500 years. Yet, in all of this, there is no substitution for the united actions of all of Africa's children to restore Africa to it's proper place of prominence in the world. This can only happen when continental and diasporan Africans decide, together, to take over the areas of Critical Social Space which define the African character and personality and by extention, it's territorial integrity. Africa cannot grow as long as aliens continue to control its means to create its own wealth, and to satisfy the needs and aspirations of its peoples, at home and abroad. It is our hoped that the Development strategies proposed above, will serve as a step in that direction, and begin to answer the crucial question, Which Path to African Development?

This paper is humbly submitted by,
Mwalimu Wesley Kabaila
National African American Congress,
Chair
June, 2009

INTRODUCING THE NATIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN CONGRESS: PRINCIPLES, PROGRAMS AND PRACTICES

The African American Convention Movement has its origin in 1830 with the advent of the National Negro Convention held at the historic, Bethel A.M.E. Church in Philadelphia, Pa. Out of this gathering, an organization was born, The American Society of Free Persons of Color, to be led by Bishop Richard Allen. This monumental organizational effort was among the first of its kind to harness the collective talents, knowledge and energies of African Americans towards the end of defining, developing and defending our interests as a national community. Though the conventions, conferences and movements that followed, sought to raise the aspirations of America’s people of color, none took on the meaning and significance of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), under the able and visionary leadership of the Honorable Marcus Garvey.
The UNIA became a practical expression of what others only theorized about. It encouraged Blacks to be self-determining, to own their own shops and businesses and to profit together from them, to manage the internal and international affairs of our national community, to know, understand and build on our rich history and to pursue our unique interests as a community of free, proud and productive people.
Later, it would be the artists, writers, performers, poets, dancers and even fashion designers such as Madame C.J. Walker, who would inspire a generation to engage in a cultural renaissance that would instill dignity, respect and self-determined action to free ourselves from the triple evils of racism, oppression and exploitation.
As the United States traversed its way through the Industrial Revolution and two World Wars, many of its People of Color sought to realize the ever illusive American dream, leading to the massive migrations to northern urban centers. Awaiting these dream seekers were many influences, including those of Paul Robeson, Mary Mcleod Bethune, A. Phillip Randolph, The Honorable Elijah Muhammed and W.E.B. Du Bois.
Fast forward to the 1960’s, where activism took on a new character as it sought to challenge the power structure of the dominant society, unlike any other time in this country’s history. This period was marked by many contending ideological tendencies; integration, assimilation, black power, black cultural nationalism, Marxism/socialism and Pan Africanism. As Komozi Woodard points out in his book, “Nation within a Nation”, this period, as in the former ones, was punctuated with various Unity Formations, some of which were the three Black Power Conferences, National Black Assembly, Republic of New Africa (RNA), Gary Convention, Independent Black Political Party, Congress of African People (CAP), and later the National Black United Front. In addition to the governments’ COINTELPRO program, other factors leading to the demise of these organizations were lack of leadership and organizational skills, character questions, debasement of woman and ideological conflicts.
In formulating and fashioning the National African American Congress (NAAC), we tried to take the above factors and history into account. Key to building a NAAC structure, is the emphasis of developing a COMPREHENSIVE and MULTI-DISCIPLANARY approach to the myriad issues that affect the National African American community. This calls for black professionals, community activists, scholars and artists to unite towards the goal of formulating policy, positions, analysis, proposals, programs, projects, strategies and tactics in at least seven basic areas of black social and cultural life. These seven basic areas include:
1. History
2. Spirituality/Religion/Ethics
3. Social organization
4. Political organization
5. Economic organization
6. Creative production (Art, Music, Dance, Fashion, Literature, Technology, Theater, Cinema, Spoken Word)
7. Ethos – Collective psychology and it’s defining characteristics

The National African American Congress stands on several principles to which its constituent organizations and advocates believe and adhere to.
1. Self determination – In the African American context, this principle is best defined as the recognition of the right and responsibility to define, defend and develop our interests as a people and national community, and to step back on the stage of human history as a free, proud and productive people.
2. Operational Unity - Entering into and engaging in a principled and practical unity that does not seek to deny autonomy, but rather, to foster a spirit of working together towards common goals and objectives, the ultimate of which, is to build a more perfect and harmonious union in the interests of our National Community.
3. National Community – this is recognition of the fact that African Americans share a common history, culture, life experiences, consciousness and therefore the same or similar life chances. Because of these we also have the right and responsibility to build the structural and institutional capacity to create and contribute to human progress in our own image and interests, as a free and self-determined people.
4. Social Space as Liberation Zones –
The most controversial principle of the National African American Congress is social space as liberation zones. While it is a general truism that land is the basis for all revolutionary movements, as Malcolm admonished us, we also have learned from Cabral, that each national liberation movement must adjust to the social conditions and environment in which it finds itself. NAAC takes the position that we, as a national community, cannot wait until a land base in the south or on the African continent, is secured before building the structural and institutional capacity to control key areas of our social and cultural existence. Many of our national organizations address specific need areas in our communities. The NAACP, for the most part addresses legal issues. The National Urban League addresses the need for jobs. As a national organization, NAAC seeks to address the myriad of issues that affects African Americans in a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary manner. In short, this means to take a total look at any given issue or issues, form analysis, and formulate correctives and/or remedies drawing from multiple disciplines, as needs are assessed. Having a land base or approaching challenges facing us as a collective group in a piecemeal or band-aid manner will not bring the kind and degree of social transformation about that will empower us.
What NAAC argues, is that African Americans need to occupy critical areas of social space that have traditionally controlled our lives. In the dominant society, areas of social space are associated with Law, Medicine, Finance, Science, Technology, Pop Culture, and Media, Industry and Electoral Politics. These areas of social space have worked together to support a system of dominance and White Supremacy for over a 400 year period. Therefore, NAAC posits that there are at least Seven Areas of Social and Cultural Life that Black Americans need to engage as Liberation Zones in order to attain degrees of empowerment in order to control our communities and to create a realm of freedom that allows us to pursue our interests as a national community. In the Angolan, Mozambiquan, Cuban, and Nicaraguan Liberation Movements there was no question about the land base that they were fighting for. Therefore, their Liberation Zones were land based. In our social milleu land based solutions remain problematic. As a matter strategy for struggle, we maintain that by engaging our people in a movement for community control over key areas of social space, i.e., history, spirituality/religion, social organization, economic organization, political organization, creative production and Ethos, we in fact open up new battlefronts at a time and place of our choosing, where conditions are favorable to us, and allows us to provide needed services and goods to our communities. NAAC seeks to identify these key areas as liberation zones, in as much as they determine our cultural and social life, and the more we are empowered in these areas, the less control our oppressor has over our lives. The more we control these key areas of social space over our lives, the closer we move our people to full and final liberation. This strategy is not offered at the exclusion of or alternative to others, but in addition to and to broaden our options as we look for practical liberation strategies.
To achieve this end, NAAC proposes the following:

1. To harness the wealth of talent, intellect, experience, knowledge, creativity and wisdom in our national community and direct them towards nation building projects.
2. To Build the processes and structural capacity to develop national policies, programs, projects, i.e. a National Agenda, that produces models and paradigms that can be implemented at the regional and local level.
3. Formulation and implementation of a Cooperative Economic program from a national perspective.
4. Design and formulation of a National Youth Corps that will have the capacity to develop and defend our community’s interests, both, internally and externally.
5. Support and provide a National Platform for a National Woman’s Movement, which lends itself to development of a National Culture and also integrates women into every fabric of our national life and community.
6. To build and support the building of Pan African relations in the areas of trade, cultural exchange and preservation, people to people relations, Pan African universities, and to engage in meaningful dialogue as to what path to development for the African continent.
7. To support the building of a national governing entity that seeks to develop new paradigms of governance, trains a new generation of leaders who put character first, develops an African-centered political culture and develops a plan to hold national plebiscites when necessary.

PROGRAM OUTLINE FOR THE NATIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN CONGRESS

A.History

1) Writing corrective history of African Americans and developing historiography. This is important because history is a record (written and oral) of our peoples’ achievements, contributions and role in human progress.
2) Corrected history of African peoples provides critique, models, images, and paradigms of what we have done and can do to rescue and reconstruct our communities locally and with a national scope.

B. Spirituality/Religion/Ethics

1) Developing organizational structures and institutional capacity to promote ethics, values, morality and a spirituality that are people-centered and socially-based within an ecumenical spirit and framework. Promote study of Maat as classical African ethics.
2)Researching, documenting, gaining understanding and teaching the role and history of the black church and other spiritual institutions in our struggle for national liberation and continuing our social justice tradition of making America realize its goal of Freedom and Justice for all.
3) Developing ways and means of networking with those in the other six areas, to ensure that the spiritual dimension of our lives is always represented and actualized in all that we do, in keeping with African and African american tradition. Collaborating in an ecumenical spirit to develop affirmations, prayers, meditations, stories, myths and other spiritual expressions that uplift and elevate us to higher levels of life.
4) Black churches can serve as institutional conduits to building regional unity. These opportunities should be explored by community organizers and activists.

C. Social Organization

1) Education
Public, Private (Church, etc.), Alternative (African centered), Charter schools, Pre-school, Historical Black Colleges (HBC) program and curriculum emphasis.
Support structures for black students enrolled at Universities and in Graduate Schools
Support structures and systems for Black Studies Programs and Curriculum, particularly in HBC’s
Ways and means of supporting and organizing advocacy groups for education of black students developing a system of communication and disseminating information on progress, models and issues as they arise. Encouraging Black students to go into areas of study that pursue our interests as a community of people and that allow us to occupy key areas of social space, i.e. – Law, Science, Medicine, Trade, Cultural Transformation.

2) Health
Expose’ of the status and critique of, and correctives for health in the black community.
Establishing and submitting agreed upon proposals for Universal Health Care in America.
Commission to study and report on universal health care and delivery systems in other countries (China, Cuba, Europe, Canada)
Research and Advocacy for Wholistic and people centered (as opposed to profit oriented) medicine and encouraging regular conferences and national formations for support.

3) Family
History and current status of the Black family – African enslavement , post slavery, current; DNA testing
Research and Study of new family and community forms adapted to an industrialized, urban and technological society (Rebuilding the Village).

4) Council of Elders
Definition, Role and Relevance

5) Rites of Passage as means of addressing Children and Gang issues by insisting that children rise up to definable community standards and rewarded (or sanctioned) by family and community rituals.

6) Criminal Justice
Research, debate and implementation of nationally accepted standards for equal administration of justice.
Strategies for prevention and re-socialization after imprisonment
Abolition of 3 strikes
Education, training and Job development (particularly Green jobs) for bro’s and sisters returning to community from incarceration.

7) Diasporan Relations
Building stronger social, spiritual, economic and cultural relationships between and among African Americans, Continental and Diasporan Africans.
Promote the building of Universities on each continent that study our respective histories and struggles as African people.

D. Political Organization

1) Electoral Politics
Designing local, national and international strategies to develop, promote and pursue black interests; Use to mobilize the masses, to access resources and organize around definable and relevant issues.

2) Extra-Parliamentary Politics
This involves strategies and tactics of mobilizing and organizing at local, regional, national and Pan-african levels in order to affect, influence, and challenge policies, programs and issues from without the ordinary channels of power, when expedient to do so, in order to get intended results.
Also to research, design and propose other national and Pan-african formations that can pursue and agitate for a National Agenda for Black Americans and progressive policies towards Diasporan peoples.
3) National Black Agenda - Formulating, Proposing and devising strategies and tactics of implementing policies, programs and projects that define, develop and defend the collective interests of people of African descent. To be made up of a consortium of Black Professionals, Community activists, and Union organizers.

4) National African American Congress
An issue defining, policy formulating, program implementing alliance, made up of delegates to be chosen from their respective regions of the country; areas of emphasis will include, Political, Economic, Spiritual/Religious, Artistic (creative), Communications, Social (Education, Health, Psychology) Community defense and development. This body is charged with initiating and implementing a multi-disciplinary approach that institutes a comprehensive National Black Agenda.

5) Building the Organizational and Institutional capacity to engage in Pan-African and Diasporan relations
a) Participation in the African Union (AU)
b) development of people to people trade – Creation of Pan African and/or Diasporan Trade Market and Festivals
c) Cultural Exchange and development – Building Pan African Film Festivals and Festpac type of events into institutions
d) Continuing the Pan African Congresses and State of the Black World Conferences and building them into institutions.
e) pursuing duel citizenship, Diaporan reparations (could be debt relief) , and resettling of Diaporans on the African continent.

6) Council of Elders
To be made up of men/women of stature, experience, knowledge and commitment to community interests, whose role shall be defined by their respective communities, but inclusive of conflict resolution, advise and (in some cases) consent of means and ways to implement policy, programs and projects for community growth and development

7) Community Defense and Development
Development of New African Scouts, Simba Wachanga or New Black Panther formations that are conscious, committed and capable of developing and defending black community interests and who are accountable to the Council of Elders and National African American Congress.

8) Building a New Black Political Culture and new paradigms for
Black political action, leadership and community organization.
a) Of greatest import here is develop new paradigms of Black Leadership and ways and means of providing training for emergent leadership who show initiative, innovation and insight in meeting the challenges that our communities face.

9. National Intelligence Force

10. Support and promote the building of an Inter-dependent Woman's Movement that has the capacity to address Women's issues in our struggle for National Liberation.

11. Formulate, Promote and Develop a Diplomatic and Ambassador Corps to represent our interests in Diaspora and Internationally.
12. Exploring the possibilities for establishing a Nation-Entity structure that houses our national aspirations for Self-determination and to have the institutional capacity to control our own communities in our own image and interests. Ending the external occupation and gentrification of urban areas where the masses of our people are concentrated. Gaining UN and AU support for such a movement.

E. Economic Organization
1) properly addressing class relations in the Black community and the impact on community development
2) Definition, Role and Relevance of Black Middle Class
a) Building people to people trade relations with and between Continental Africans and Diasporan
b) Encouraging investment in and between black communities at home and in Diaspora
c) Encouraging and supporting Buy Black campaigns and culture
d) Formulating, analyzing and developing structures and systems that implement Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) in our communities, e.g. Matah, 1IMall, Afrikan Business Development Fund(ABDF LTD.)
e) Coordination of Ways and Means to support N’Cobra and others involved in the struggle for Reparations.
f) Strategies to get the business sector to support Black Ownership
g) develop strategies to engage in the Ecological, Sustainabilty and Green Revolution
(1) This deserves highest priority in terms of developing teams of grant and proposal writers, contractors and negotiators for sustainable and green training programs, work projects, patent development in order to prepare our youth, and former prison inmates for jobs programs.
3) Instituting Maatian values in the application of Economic Affairs and Relations

F. Creative Production

1) The definition, role and relevance of the black creative experience in raising social and community consciousness.
Is there a Black Aesthetic? Defining the difference between popular art and culture and national art and culture.
2) Sponsoring seminars, forums and town halls on how values, ethics and morality are transmitted and transferred via various cultural expressions, i.e. Art, Music, Literature, Spoken Word (Poetry), Dance, Theater, Cinema, Sports, Comedy, Architecture and Technology and Fashion. Instituting an annual National Unity Tour involving artists in the above categories.
3)Developing Communications networks and outlets that respond to the need of our National Community to be informed and educated on issues, topics and current events in the context of our technological society. Develop ways and means of promoting and supporting our IT community. Promote the learning of African languages as well as French, Spanish and Portuguese.
4) Development of community theater, exhibitions, concerts, art, dance and fashion shows (or some combination of all), that promote national culture and the values that flow from them.
5) Means and Ways of building and supporting institutions that promote and project Black art and fashion. This would give jobs, create outlets and context for free and liberating expression for black artists.
6) Artist associations and leagues by which artists develop their crafts as well as creating ways of becoming and being more relevant to black community interests, growth and development.
7) Finding creative ways of making the point that technology should not define our social agenda, but rather, we must find ways of making technology serve our collective community agendas.

G) Ethos/Psychology
1) Developing a unifying and positive self conception as a person, people and national community with definable history, life circumstances, identity, and future.
2) Collective Identity
Defining, developing and educating our people on our collective identity and how it translates into a national one. Developing modalities that bridge the light vs. dark skinned divide.
3) Strategies, methods and treatment modalities which assist in overcoming the effects of Post Traumatic Enslavement Syndrome
4) Defining and developing the relationship between our identity as African Americans,
Pan Africans and Humans and means and ways to institutionalize same