I will scatter them, and then
I will gather them: Deuteronomy 4:27; 28:64; 32:26; Isaiah 11:12;
Jeremiah 23:8 / Read about the African Slave Trade in Deuteronomy 28th Chapter.
REPARATIONS
NOW IN OUR LIFETIME!
N E W S L E T T E R…….#23
NOVEMBER 2001
*********
WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS, AND WE OWE IT TO OUR CHILDREN TO ESTABLISH AND
DEMAND BETTER LIVES FOR THEM AND FOR OURSELVES!
*********
GIVE POWER AND
MEANING TO
THE
REPARATIONS MASS MOVEMENT - GIVE OF YOURSELF!
*********
“Take direct action against
the U.S. government!” Dr. Robert Brock
*********
Note
from the REPNOW Newsletter Editor:
Potpourri
While it appears – JUST APPEARS, you can be sure – that
the Reparations Movement is on hold, well just perish the thought. I am
assured that the momentum will again pick up steam very soon, and at an even
greater pace.
It seems September 11, is taking quite a bit of media attention as you can see. But because RACISM, INJUSTICE, and TERROR AGAINST BLACKS AND OTHER PEOPLE OF COLOR prevail, we cannot permit this crime against Black humanity to continue. And Reparations is the only answer to our problems. Every other program and plan for Blacks that’s suppose to aid our cause have all failed to remove the degradation and the misery of Blacks in America. It’s time now for Blacks to start making drastic changes in and out of this system, if we are to survive. But Reparations must be acquired first.
Otherwise, our lives will continue to be wishing for a dream that is completely out of our reach if we don’t make our voices heard, demonstrate, and even protest and march if necessary. Congresswoman McKinney demonstrated her dismay and disappointment with US policy that has the least amount of concern for the Blacks whose forebears made it the great and wealthy Nation that it is. And we know that had our forebears been White, we wouldn’t be taking this depressing road.
Inside this edition you’ll find a POTPOURRI mix of sundry articles that will make you wonder about quite a lot of things - especially our forebears who suffered so tragically and under the worst conditions imaginable during the Slave Trade. Could we survive this inhumane treatment were Slavery in existence today? Would we succumb to the hardships and insane lifestyles of the Slaves, as did our forebears, or would we find a way to rise up, and end the nightmare? My People, if we are not at liberty to exercise self determination and improve the conditions of our own people who are literally suffering in ghettoes and in the rural South, then we are in a form of servitude and bondage whether we admit it or not. Hmmm…
Of course I included articles on the September 11, attacks in this issue. How could I not mention this now well-known but infamous date and calamity. While the United States points the finger at “Terrorists,” the powers-that-be of this Nation are totally to blame for the death of all those men and women who died at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The US is as guilty as if it had flown the planes and created the disaster itself. You see, other Nations, too, despise foreigners taking over their country and manipulating its people. I don’t know of any country that wants outside forces occupying its land and ruling its people. I don’t know of any country that DOES NOT want FREEDOM to govern its people as they choose and not as the US chooses. At some point, the US will always be under attack for not minding its own business and for denying nations the very precious freedom it proclaims and enjoys. Those of us who know even the least amount of history know “Why nations hate Americans.” People don’t burn the American flag for naught. And the EU didn’t form its own forces for this region for its health. By now the US government, CIA, and FBI should know that speaking out of both sides of one’s mouth will eventually cause one to stammer.
The attack on America was appalling, and one that I would not ever have imagined. And my heart goes out to those who lost loved ones in this plague on America.
Tziona Yisrael, Editor
REPARATIONS NOW IN OUR LIFETIME Newsletter
www.thelawkeepers.org
(Click on “Repnow”)
*********
NOVEMBER 22, UPDATE – WHY NO
DURBAN
FINAL DOCUMENT
November 22, 2001
TO ALL:
As of today November 22nd, there is still a stalemate on the outcome of the final Durban Document. Assuming that you have read the November 6, update (Why There is Still No Final Durban Document), I won't go through all the details. In essence the Geneva-based African, Asian and Pacific Island and Latin American and Caribbean Groups are maintaining their position - that the three action oriented paragraphs out of Durban (#s 97, 99, 100) relating to the issues of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, slavery, crimes against humanity and reparations must be placed in the Program of Action. Tremendous pressure is being placed on the President of the Conference, South African Foreign Minister Dlamini-Zuma, to cave into these illegal Western demands and leave the paragraphs in the Declaration rather than in the Program of Action. The Third Committee of the General Assembly whose responsibility it is to accept the report and address all of the follow-up resolutions is supposed to begin discussion on it this Monday, November 26. Whether or not this will happen is contingent on the issuance of a final report.
What You Can Do
It is imperative for all of us who care about the
issue of the historically unprecedented and continuing criminal violation of
African people that we bring all the pressure and resources available to us to
bear in this illegal Western attempt to reopen the Durban decisions.
Following is a draft of a letter which this NGO sent to the South
African Foreign Minister. Please feel free to adapt it to your own
language. But however you phrase it,
you must let her know your position on this matter. It must be done As Soon As
Possible.
Should fax your letter to the Permanent Mission of South Africa in New York City (212) 692-2498 or in Geneva (41) 22 849 54 32; E-mail: minister@foreign.gov.za.
Roger Wareham, Esq.,
International Association Against Torture
Durban 400
DATE:
H.E. Madame Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma
Foreign Minister
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Republic of South Africa
RE: Final Durban Documents
Dear Madame Zuma:
It has come to our attention that you may be retreating from the correct position you had taken - i.e. that paragraphs 97, 99 and 100 of the Durban Declaration belong in the Program of Action. If the Durban Conference, Declaration and Program of Action are to have any integrity, these paragraphs must be placed where they belong. If your position has changed I can only conclude that you have succumbed to the coercion and threats of the WEO Group most of whose members still refuse to acknowledge their historic and present culpability for the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, Slavery and Colonialism as crimes against humanity. By bowing to this undue pressure you are:
1) Betraying the issues which the African Group and Africans around the
world fought so hard for at the World Conference; and
2) also letting the UN Secretariat escape responsibility for failing to represent all the UN member States and for acting as a private secretary to the minority of former colonial and settler states which comprise the WEO group.
Finally, as an African in the US who personally participated in the Free South Africa Movement, I encourage you, as a South African leader to resist becoming a vehicle for those forces, which generated and backed apartheid.
We are requesting that you insist, as the Conference mandated you to
do, that these paragraphs be placed in the Program of Action.
>>>“Your” name<<<
***
From: RWare10709@aol.com
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*********
November 10, 2001
Friends:
Apologies for the silence the past weeks, but our ListServe was being updated. We now send the Post-Durban Information Note 2 promised last month, intended as an annex to Note 1.
As stated when we sent out copies of the NGO Declaration and Plan of
Action, a few sections of the document were controversial. This included
the brief explanatory note that introduces the document (changed from the
version that the Drafting Committee had originally prepared); the section on Anti-Semitism, where one
paragraph protesting "anti-Zionism" was deleted by a vote in plenary;
and two paragraphs (418 and 419) on the Palestinians which contained language
that many felt inappropriate and harmful. It was because of these paragraphs that the High Commissioner
stated that she could not commend the document to Governments. Nonetheless, amongst the NGOs in Durban,
there was broad acceptance of the rest of the document, which contains an
analysis of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,
and a programme of action that many agree is a positive, soundly-ground and a
way forward.
Those concerned with the controversy may wish to consult the following documents, which are available at <www.hri.ca/racism (see section on Major! NGO documents) or at <www.icare.to.
Jewish Caucus Walks Out of NGO Forum
against Racism
Press Release, 1 September 2001.
Joint
Statement by Eastern and Central
Europe NGO Caucus and other NGOs at the
NGO Forum of the World Conference Against
Racism!
ERRC Dissociates Itself from WCAR NGO Forum
Press Release, 5 September 2001.
Irish NGOs
Response to the World
Conference Against Racism NGO Forum and
Outcome Documents.
Palestinian and Arab Caucuses of the NGO
Forum for the World Conference Against Racism!
Press Release, 5 September 2001.
Coordination française pour le Lobby
Européen des Femmes (C.L.E.F.)
Press Release, 19 September 2001.
"Open
Letter to Organizers of NGO Forum"
by Dutch Organizations
7 September 2001
Open Letter to the NGO
Forum from
Drafting Committee Members
September 4, 2001
Laurie Wiseberg
NGO Laision WCAR
Tel. (41 22) 917 9393
Fax. (41 22) 917 9050
E-mail: lwiseberg.hchr@unog.ch
Laurie Wiseberg <lwiseberg.hchr@unog.ch
Sent by: "NGO list for the purpose of the WCR." <OHCHR-NGO@LIST.UNOG.CH
Please respond to "NGO list for the purpose of the WCR."
Submitted by Dayton-WCAR@yahoogroups.com,
WCAR-updates@yahoogroups.com
***
POST-DURBAN
November 10, 2001
Friends:
This year, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights will
commemorate International Human Rights Day (10 December) in Geneva, New York
and the field, with an initial stocktaking of activities and plans for the
follow-up to the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. The
focus will be on how States, United Nations bodies and specialized agencies,
international and regional organizations, national human rights institutions
and non-governmental organizations intend to implement the Durban Declaration
and Programme of Action.
Looking back on the Durban Conference, we were fortunate to secure agreement on a strong Declaration and Program of Action just three days before the shocking events of 11 September. Far from being overtaken by these events, 11 September has made the anti-discrimination agenda even more important. While welcoming the unanimous adoption of Security Council Resolution 1373, requiring all countries to take specific measures to combat terrorism, it is also important to safeguard against any erosion of human rights standards which might flow as an unintended consequence of such measures. In this context it has become even more important to promote the international anti-discrimination agenda and to ensure that this agenda is pursued in parallel with international action to combat terrorism.
Therefore we see the initial stocktaking on 10 December as reviewing progress on the follow-up to the Durban Conference, against the background of these more recent developments.
In order to assist our Office in its preparations for 10 December, we are asking NGOs to briefly indicate to us, by 3 December 2001 if possible, any initiatives or activities that have taken place, or that are being planned that would be relevant in assessing the implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. We would also appreciate any views that your organization might have on how the new anti-discrimination agenda might be pursued in parallel to the international response to terrorism. For your information, our Office is planning to carry out a second stocktaking on 21 March, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in order to ensure that the momentum of implementation is not lost.
I look forward to hearing from your organization on how best we can protect and promote the principles and commitments of Durban in the current international context.
Also, for those in the Geneva area, we will be having a small session with NGOs on follow-up on 5 December, from 10:00-12:00 at Palais Wilson. Please let us know if you are able to attend as the room presently booked is a small one.
Laurie Wiseberg
NGO Laision WCAR
Tel. (41 22) 917 9393
Fax. (41 22) 917 9050
E-mail: lwiseberg.hchr@unog.ch
Submitted by lwiseberg.hchr@unog.ch (Laurie Wiseberg)
Sender: OHCHR-NGO@LIST.UNOG.CH (NGO list for the purpose of the WCR.)
Reply-to:OHCHR-NGO@LIST.UNOG.CH (NGO list for the purpose of the WCR.)
[Blacks have been terrorized
since being forcibly brought to the United States and other White dominated
countries, and never has the United Nations yet discussed our plight: gross
human rights violations, ethnic cleansing, exploitation, racism, oppression,
impoverishment, discrimination, repression, and degradation that we have and
yet experience in the countries that took us captive. But because terrorists
attacked “America,” immediately an anti-discrimination agenda to combat terror
is established with an adoption of Security Council Resolution 1373 to boot. Not to mention that the US walked out on
WCAR and turned its back on people who have been suffering from lynchings,
discrimination, AND racism for centuries.
But none of that involved terror, right? Oh well… T.Y. Editor]
*********
DID LINCOLN REALLY FREE MY
FAMILY?
IS A SLAVE MASTER’S DREAM”
November 14,
2001
Lincoln's "Emancipation" Proclamation stands as a virtual indelible landmark of Black freedom in The United States. In actuality, the word emancipation does not appear in the document. The emancipation of slaves in general is a notion that Lincoln himself never purported to achieve with his Proclamation.
The third paragraph of Lincoln's Proclamation on September 22, 1862 is revealing. By Authority of Congress, The Statutes at Large, Treaties and Proclamations, of The United States of America, Volume XII, Boston, 1863, p. 1267, "That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom."
An article entitled, "The President's Proclamation" in the January 3,1868 edition of the New York Times sheds some interesting light. "President Lincoln takes care, by great precision in his language, to define the basis on which this action rests. He issues the Proclamation 'as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing the rebellion.' …He issues it 'upon military necessity.' In our judgment it is only upon that ground and for that purpose that he has any right to issue it at all. In his civil capacity as President, he has not the faintest shadow of authority to decree the emancipation of a single slave, either as an 'act of justice' or for any other purpose whatever. As Commander-in-Chief of the army he has undoubtedly the right to deprive the rebels of the aid of their slaves, just as he has the right to take their horses, and to arrest all persons who may be giving them aid and comfort, _ 'as a war measure' and upon grounds of military necessity."
There are several key points of note here. Firstly, Lincoln's Proclamation was not issued in his civil capacity as President of The United States. The President has a dual role, i.e. his civil capacity during peace time and his specially appointed by the U.S. Congress capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces during wartime. An U.S. President is not a dictator. The President cannot unilaterally undo U.S. Public Law by making a Proclamation. A Proclamation, in fact, is not an U.S. Public Law. It is a public announcement. A Proclamation cannot undo an U.S. Public Law. The seven slave statutes that made Blacks U.S. Slaves, though violations of our Human Rights and illegal under Natural Law, were made "law" in U.S. Constitutional Law (to which Blacks are not party) in a process involving all of the People, i.e. White People and their democratically elected representatives and the U.S. Government. Such a process of U.S. Public Law cannot not be undone by a public announcement, a Proclamation, of any U.S. President. Indeed, none of the original Articles of the U.S. Constitution have ever been repealed. What Lincoln did on the Battlefield of Gettysburg does not come under the category of U.S. Public Law in a primary sense.
Secondly, Lincoln's Proclamation did not seek to address the issue of U.S. Slavery as an institution of profit and oppression of Black People. What Lincoln stated as a war measure on September 22, 1862 is that he was "freeing" the Confederate's slaves in all those states or parts of states still at war with the Federal troops by January 1, 1863. This amounted to a terroristic threat against the rebels during wartime. And as made clear in the above quote from the New York Times, during wartime Lincoln had just as much right to take the rebel's slaves as their property as he did to take their horses as their property. The issue had nothing to do with the Human Rights of the slaves. The context of Lincoln's Proclamation relates primarily to the most valued property of the rebels, their slaves, their very livelihood.
Lincoln makes this context even clearer by stating that no one should interfere with the slaves in the event that they should make any efforts for their "actual" freedom. That is, Lincoln, an attorney himself, understood that he was not freeing the slaves in actuality or in reality. He was stating his intent to "liberate" slaves from their Confederate masters as slave captives under the U.S. Government. In effect, such a "liberation" or capture simply restored slaves to their original status as U.S. Slaves having nothing to do with ending U.S. Slavery as an institution. With The Civil Rights Act of 1866 and The 13th Amendment, slaves became property of the U.S. Congress, who determines the legal status of slaves or Blacks through to the present. The 13th Amendment was to be implemented "gradually". It was not an express repeal of U.S. Slavery.
Understanding that we still do not have Self Determination is key to the acquisition of our true liberties. A slave who does not know that he is still a slave is a slavemaster's dream. The notion that Lincoln freed the slaves is one of the greatest propaganda achievements of the White Supremacy System in the United States.
Did Lincoln Really Free My Family?
merukheop@hotmail.com (Meru Kheop)
Submitted by merukheop@hotmail.com
*********
FROM
(New York City rejected the Saudi Prince’s $10 million donation.)
October 16, 2001
Dear Prince Alwaleed bin Talal:
I would like to take just a moment to thank you for your recent demonstration of empathy with those suffering from the devastating and heinous September 11, attacks on the United States Pentagon and the World Trade Center. I would especially like to thank you for your most generous offer of $10 million to assist those Americans in need as a result of those attacks.
I was disappointed that Mayor Giuliani chose to decline your generous offer and instead criticize you for your observations of events in the Middle East.
Whether he agreed with you or not, I think he should have recognized your right to speak and make observations about a part of the world which you know so well. I think Mayor Giuliani would do well to listen to the words of one of our greatest Americans, former Senator Robert Kennedy. In 1968 he said that America "is a great nation and a strong people. Any who seek to comfort rather than to speak plainly, reassure rather than instruct, promise satisfaction rather than reveal frustration--they deny that greatness and drain that strength. For today as it was in the beginning, it is the truth that makes us free." I believe Senator Robert Kennedy's remarks remain as inspirational and true today as when he first spoke them over 30 years ago.
Let me say that there are a growing number of people in the United States who recognize, like you, that US policy in the Middle East needs serious examination. Indeed, on the same day that you made your remarks about US policy in the Middle East, the Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, The Honorable Henry Hyde, spoke on National Public Radio and said, "There's no question in my mind that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the most important issue in dispute, and has generated a lot of the animosity towards us because of our unwavering support for Israel, which will remain in place." At the same time, CNN played an interview with former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski who stated that America must "deal with some of the issues that animate the hostility" against us, like "the treatment of the population of Iraq" and that "the Israelis are stronger, so they're naturally inflicting much more casualties than the Palestinians on the Israelis and that produces frustration and rage."
Your Royal Highness, many of us here in the United States have long
been concerned about reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch
that reveal a pattern of excessive, and often indiscriminate, use of lethal
force by Israeli security forces in situations where Palestinian demonstrators
were unarmed and posed no threat of death or serious injury to the security
forces or to others. Israeli peace organizations like B'Tselem accuse the Israeli Defense Forces of violating the most
fundamental rules of international law in committing atrocities against
Palestinians. The Israeli Gush Shalom
boldly states that "Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip is
the root cause of the violence and hatred. As long as the occupation
continues, bloodshed will continue and increase." Indeed, Your Royal
Highness, all people of good conscience understand that this kind of
mistreatment breeds a hotbed of anger and despair that destabilizes peace in
the Middle East and elsewhere. Until we
confront the realities of events in the Middle East our nation and the nations
of the Middle East will be at risk.
Your Royal Highness, there are many people in America who desperately
need your generosity. People who have been locked out, marginalized from
America's mainstream. All of those people are poor and too many of them are
people of color. A black baby boy born
in Harlem today has less chance of reaching age 65 than a baby born in
Bangladesh. Your Royal Highness, the
state of black America is not good. It
is painfully visible in Washington D.C., where, just a few hundred yards from
the White House, one can find black man after black man huddled in bus
shelters, doorways, over subway ventilation shafts, sleeping on the street,
thrown away like trash.
Ironically, many of them are Vietnam veterans who, having served
this nation with distinction in Vietnam, now find themselves without adequate
care and accommodation. Unfortunately, this
same scene is repeated in each and every one of our major cities here in the
United States.
I am ashamed to say that my home
city of Atlanta is no exception. Just last night my son was out with members of
Atlanta's Muslim community who, for years, have been feeding Atlanta's
homeless. Sadly, no one in mainstream
Atlanta knows about the tireless and generous work of the local Muslim
community. But the poor know, and I guess at one level that's all that matters.
But on a broader view mainstream America should know. The Justice Department admits that blacks are more likely than whites
to be pulled over by police, imprisoned, and put to death. And, though blacks and whites have about
the same rate of drug use, blacks are more likely to be arrested than whites
and are more likely to receive longer prison sentences than whites. Incredibly,
80% of people in prison in the United States are people of color.
Twenty-six black men were executed last year, some probably innocent; America began 2001 by executing a retarded black woman.
Government studies on health disparities confirm that blacks are less likely to receive surgery, transplants, and prescription drugs than whites.
Physicians are less likely to prescribe appropriate treatment for
blacks than for whites and black scientists, physicians, and institutions are
shut out of the funding stream to prevent all this.
I serve in Congress where the Black Caucus is shrinking. Yet, sections of the Voting Rights Act will soon expire, and quite frankly, after crippling Court decisions, there is not much left of affirmative action to mend.
In the FBI's own words, its counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO) had as a goal, "to expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize" the activities of black organizations and to prevent black "leaders from gaining respectability."
And instead of real leaders, COINTELPRO offers us hand-picked "court priests" who are more loyal to the plan than to the people. Court priests who preach peace, peace when there is no peace.
As you can see, the statistics are very grim for Black America. Although your offer was not accepted by Mayor Giuliani, I would like to ask you to consider assisting Americans who are in dire need right now. I believe we can guide your generosity to help improve the state of Black America and build better lives. My office can provide you with a list of charities who labor under the most difficult circumstances to try and improve the lives of the people they serve. I hope you will consider reaching out to our charities and to our people who are in need. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have.
Sincerely,
Cynthia McKinney Member of Congress
http://www.tbwt.com/content/article.asp?articleid=2058
Submitted by Malik Al-Arkam
alarkam@webtv.net
[Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has the courage of a lion. If only Secretary General Kofi Annan, Rev. Jesse Jackson, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, and other Blacks in “authority” and involved in Civil Rights and Human Rights had but a fraction of the daring assertiveness that Congresswoman McKinney sports so fearlessly. But isn’t this the attitude that all Blacks with X that much “power” are supposed to exhibit? White Jews are represented quite ubiquitously in government, Congress, and the United Nations, and they quite arrogantly demand their interests, as well as that of Israelis, nonetheless, and they get EXACTLY what they want. With a minimum of $10 billion US tax dollars going to Israel every single year, well, I guess that just about says it all. What fraction of that gets to the ghettoes and the rural South every year? We don’t know, do we? But a good guess is nothing much since the garbage collectors don’t even serve these areas satisfactorily. In addition to that, I can’t get responses to my letters to the Presidents of the US, government officials or the Justice Department, UNESCO, Amnesty International, and much less be given the right to speak at the United Nation. If that ain’t a double standard in the raw, then I’d like to know what is! T.Y., Editor]
*********
October 2001 [Volume 26, Number 10]
"Please
forgive us for being the most violent government
on earth."
--Martin Luther King, Jr.
While hundreds reacted heroically in the moments after the tragedy of September 11, the president and most politicians reminded us of the words of Martin Luther King. At a time demanding shock and grief, but also thoughtfulness as to why this horror took place, most spoke of vengeance and retribution, charging there was pure evil in the world, as though we all float on a sea of pure goodness. This is the ultimate 911 emergency. Our theoretical democracy may be further threatened by our reaction to this tragedy, more than by the tragedy itself.
The horrible bombings in New York and Washington gripped most of us with dread, but millions across the globe may have been glad to see us suffer the way that they have, sometimes for ages and not just for one terrible day.
Americans need to understand why others hate us enough to do such a bloody and desperate thing, but they won't if they only hear the hate dogma of our fundamentalist politicians and pundits. The other fundamentalists have their own dogma, if not an air force, to set them on their paths of retribution. And whether in New York, Washington, Baghdad or Belgrade, only the innocent suffer, never the power elites or their toadies, and that is a lesson we must learn from 911.
We can no longer tolerate a double standard that finances Saddam Hussein to kill Iranians, and later calls him a monster; that supports Osama Bin Laden when he kills Russians, but later calls him a demon; that finances terror all over the world, murders hundreds of thousands in Iraq, that in the past 20 years has bombed Libya, Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Haiti, Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq, and Yugoslavia, but only calls it mass murder when it happens to us.
That the horrendous events of 9/11 took place shortly after our performance at the Durban conference on racism may have been a coincidence, but our behavior there exemplified what makes us a rogue nation. 160 countries attended that conference, but the big news here was the walkout of the Israeli and U.S. delegations. These two, historically joined at the wallet and the bible, were distressed that Palestinians called Zionism a racist and colonial policy.
Apparently, settling on other people's territory, making them second-class citizens in their own homeland and killing them when they resist should be seen as western hospitality.
Had there been justice at Durban, the U.S. and Israeli delegations would have been thrown out bodily, given their insufferable arrogance. Turning the old maxim on its head, they believe words speak louder than actions, that calling something democracy in word negates racist bloodletting and murderous disrespect in action.
The cultural collision in Durban
and the murderous tragedies in New York and Washington, were about political
economics as much as anything. Media gas
bags declaiming about our values and freedoms as reasons why we're hated are no
better than the slight-of-word shysters at Durban who deemed the words
"crime against humanity" too strong. They were really in fear of law suits that might result from admissions
of guilt.
Slavery was a crime against humanity, as were the 911 terror bombings, but only the one day tragedy is so labeled, while the hundreds of years of the African Holocaust are deemed something less, in racist retrospect.
The major factors in the walkout
at Durban, and the tragic 911 events, were the
denial of responsibility by the U.S and its colonial junior partner, Israel,
for injustice in the Arab and Muslim world, and the West's refusal to admit
that a major part of the historic base for its economic power rested on slavery
and continues to rely on the debasement and subjugation of billions of people
around the world.
The indebtedness of poor nations
in Africa and elsewhere, reduced to abject poverty at least in part by the
plunder of their resources by the west, is only one reminder of the past. The descendants of slaves still endure
unreasonable hardships in Africa, and in the USA, where long after the sop of
affirmative action there are still more black men in America's prisons than in
America's professions.
Growing support for financial reparations for the crime of slavery was the motivating factor in the walkout at Durban, not the cover story about Zionism. The history of racism and colonialism needs to be faced with responsibility, to amend the savage practices of the past, which continue in forms sometimes more cosmetic, but no less damaging to the body and soul of individuals, nations and cultures. Our corporate leaders won't do it, but we must.
The world-wide terrorism of hunger, disease and oppression torments millions every day of their lives; it is at the root of the unrest sweeping the planet and fomenting atrocities like the terrible slaughter that shocked this nation.
Our behavior towards that global
majority must change. That majority is not western, white, Christian or Jewish,
and not interested in having our values or our religion shoved down their
throats. We need to start respecting
them, and stop respecting the rich despots who rule them, often because they
sell us cheap gasoline and buy our expensive weapons.
And we need to stop supporting politicians who prize money more than democracy, who give a blank check to troubled corporations and a blank look to troubled citizens. Their cowardly support for repressive legislation will make our democracy weaker, if not impossible. And a far more powerful democracy is the only way to end the threat of future horrors worse than the events of 911. These words from America the Beautiful ring more true than ever:
"America! America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law."
Amen, Awomen.
http://www.coastalpost.com/01/10/13.htm
By Frank Scott <frank@marin.cc.ca.us
BRC-NEWS: Black Radical Congress - General News Articles/Reports
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Paper on 911 and Reparations
The crashing of passenger
aeroplanes into the World Trade Centre in New York, the Pentagon in Washington
DC and somewhere in Pennsylvania on 11.09.01, has led to the deaths of over
4,000 people of various nationalities and origins and raised the question of
internal security to higher heights in the USA and the entire western world,
perhaps for the very first time in the history of America. The
death of a single individual in such circumstances is painful and
indefensible. It is even more so with
the deaths of such a number of people as they went about their daily efforts of
making a living, mostly through the forced sale of their labour to capitalist
institutions.
The Afrikan United Action Front (AUAF) recognises the fundamental
importance of beginning our analysis of this horrible episode with the
recollection that it was the two reputed protagonists, i.e. Arabs and
Europeans, who visited and continue to visit the Maafa, the Afrikan holocaust, the greatest horror of all time, the
greatest crime in human history, upon the Afrikan people. It is
urgent that Afrikans everywhere raise the question of how best we can advance
our own interests of Reparations, peace and security in the current situation.
The Afrikan United Action Front considers it important to note that
millions of our people have died and continue to die in Afrika and other parts
of the world as a direct result of the policies of the U.S.A. and the directions of the International
Financial Institutions, which are controlled by the U.S.A. Shockingly, the deaths of these millions
through plots from the Pentagon building or influenced by deals hatched at the
World Trade Centre - among other places in the west - never attracted the
attention and world-wide condemnation that the recent events in the USA have
correctly attracted. Far more than
4,000 Afrikans lose their lives each day as a direct result of American foreign
policy, but these deaths are acceptable; they
are collateral damage. Three
minutes of appropriate silence for the victims of terror, of so far unproven
origin, within the USA is contradicted by the generations of vulgar silence
over the continuing deaths of millions of Afrikans, Palestinians and other
peoples as a direct result of American terror and American sponsored terror in
other parts of the world. Somehow the deaths of millions of Afrikans,
Arabs and Asians do not appear to matter at all or as much as the deaths of
these 4,000, maybe because these millions are not Americans and they die
somewhere else, from blows inflicted by America and the west and not from blows
inflicted, as is believed of the current case, by others upon America and the
west.
Instead of looking at the root cause of the recent events, the governments of the USA, its imperialist allies and its neo-colonial praise singers led by the New Labour government of Britain, have decided to mobilise their armed forces as well as their unarmed forces in the press, the diplomatic core and a largely controlled public opinion and aggravate the situation with a further threat of genocide. The logical consequences of the second half of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's own mantra of being 'Tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime' appear to have completely eluded him and other European leaders on both sides of the Atlantic. Ultimately, security is not merely a matter of who has the most guns or the biggest bombs or the surest grip around the throat of public opinion. Security is fundamentally a question of how one lives with one's neighbours. In a global village in a technological age this can mean only the peaceful co-existence of all peoples everywhere regulated by principles of social justice and the rule of international law.
The African United Action Front (AUAF) draws the attention to all peoples that global social injustice, the refusal by the western capitalist states to address this injustice, and the oppression that accompanies this injustice are ultimately responsible for the events that occurred in the USA on 11.09.01. The persistent refusal by the USA and its western capitalist allies to address the issues of social justice and the aggression wreaked on Afrika and the rest of the world are the root causes driving people to such desperate actions as those of 11.09.01. Besides the painful deaths the events have showed the apparent invincibility of US imperialism to be a myth. The lesson that must be learnt from this is that in our global village no one is safe from terrorism - of whatever origin. Therefore everyone has an interest in security.
Prior to the events of 11.9.01,
the United Nations World Conference Against Racism was held in Azania/South
Afrika from 31.08.01 - 07.09.01 [August 31, - September 7, 2001].
It must be significant that western governments resisted resolutions
acknowledging enslavement and colonialism as crimes against humanity. The AUAF organised a demonstration in London
on 01.09.01 [September 1, 2001], protesting against this political crime of
America, Britain and other western countries.
If there are any acts of terrorism to be combated in today's world then they must include those that have been
wreaked on the peoples of Afrika, the rest of the so-called Third World and all
oppressed and exploited people world-wide by the western governments,
multi-national corporations, international financial institutions, the
military-industrial complex, arms traders, etc.
We call upon America and its allies, including the British government,
to stop their internationally institutionalized terrorism against the oppressed
and exploited people of this world and address the underlying issues of social
justice.
In this regard, we repeat our demand for Pan-Afrikan Reparations, for
which we call upon all Afrikans and all progressive forces world-wide to
support. We condemn the role of the western capitalist states and institutions
in the enslavement of Afrikan people, in colonialism and neo-colonialism and
their accompanying holocaust, which should be acknowledged world-wide as a
crime against humanity. We also
draw attention to the role of the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank
in international debt fraud, terrorism and sabotage of all endeavours for a new
democratic world order of social justice.
We recognise the historically
recent deployment of Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as the main
mechanisms for carrying out the aforementioned crimes in Afrika and the rest of
the so-called Third World.
The AUAF calls on Afrikans wherever they are to mobilise in grassroot and community structures of action to fight for our just demands for Pan-Afrikan Reparations and a stop to the present threat of further genocide by America and its imperialist allies. We call upon all lovers of justice, peace, harmony and international morality to support our just demands.
NO MORE GENOCIDE! STOP
AMERICA/BRITAIN/EUROPE-LED BELLIGERENT ALLIANCE! REPARATIONS NOW!
By Dr. Kimani Nehusi - University of East London
K.S.K.Nehusi@uel.ac.uk
Submitted by BRC-REPARATIONS: Black Radical Congress - Reparations Caucus
[Don’t beats the Truth better than speaking it. T.Y., Editor]
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POSITION STATEMENTof Silis Muhammad
The following is a brief statement of my political position on these
urgent questions: Who are we, the so-called African Americans? What
damage have we sustained from slavery and its lingering effects? What means of reparation would serve to best
restore us? Which legal argument fits
our situation? Are there steps we can
now take domestically and internationally to assure our progress?
We are a unique people in the earth, rising into self-awareness after more than 400 years of slavery and its legacies. The slave master and his children named us niggers, negroes, coloreds, blacks, and African Americans. We have yet to give names to ourselves. We were kidnapped from our homes, families, tribes and nations. We were forcibly denied our mother tongue, our religion and our culture. We were subjected to forced, mixed breeding and rape by the slave masters. These inhumane acts resulted in the destruction of our original identity. We have risen, yet we remain scattered and of many minds. We must now take up the task of joining together, gaining our human rights, obtaining reparations, and restoring (constituting) ourselves.
We have suffered many atrocities, but the greatest damage done to us as
a people is the destruction of our original identity. We
have been made like unto orphans, lost and without international comfort. We possess no mother tongue to connect us to
our place in the homeland, Africa.
We are bound together as a people by our common origin, the experience
of slavery, and our heroic struggle to overcome slavery's lingering
effects. Because of the destruction of our identity, and particularly, the false
picture given by the U.S. Government to the UN about us, we have no
international recognition and no collective human rights.
For years the U.S. Government has been successful in persuading the international community that African Americans expressed their will through the civil rights movement, and that our ultimate desire is integration into America, and equality with the white majority. We know that it was not integration, but a desire for justice that gave rise to the civil rights movement.
When we went to the UN in person, and asked for recognition, reparations, and a process of ethnogenesis of our collective human rights, the UN began to see the African Americans in a different light. We informed them that we are a people deserving of the right to determine our own future, yet we do not have our rights because we are captives within the identity of the slave master's children. We speak their tongue, we practice their religion, and we live their culture: we live as Anglo-Saxon clones.
Upon hearing our prayer, the UN recognized that it had an obligation to
find a place or create a place within international law where we will fit. If we
are to receive reparations that will restore to us the dignity and protection
that other peoples enjoy, we must first gain an internationally recognized
identity, and our collective human rights.
As we step forth to gain our identity, we have the opportunity for the first time to give name to ourselves. In all humility, I offer the name "LOST FOUND Peoples", or in the alternative, "LOST FOUND Nations" for consideration. There is no question we have been lost, in the Islands and in many nations. The UN has begun to search for a place where we will fit. Our collective human rights and our reparations, throughout North, Central and South America, the Caribbean and beyond, can potentially be whatever we determine that we need, falling within the parameters of the UN. We are very diverse peoples, or nations, and we have many different needs.
Our legal argument is based upon international law, ratified by the
U.S. Government, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR), Article 27. The covenant says:
"In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities
exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in
community with other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to
profess and practice their own religion, or to use their own language."
We are a numerical minority in the U.S., and the U.S. Government has recognized us politically as a minority, thus we use this Covenant in order to argue our right to reparations.
We know that this covenant did
not exist during slavery, when we were first denied the human rights of
speaking our own language, practicing our religion and enjoying our
culture. Yet we argue that denying us the right to speak our own language, and
separating us so that we could not retain it, are acts that constitute a
permanent, ongoing denial, as the language is forever lost. Thus the U.S. Government is in violation of
Article 27 of the ICCPR.
In addition, we argue that Article 27 of the ICCPR was in existence at the time the U.S. Government disrupted, through its infamous counter-intelligence program, the movement of our people toward our choice of culture, identity, education, and government. When we sought to identify ourselves as the Lost-Found Nation of Islam, Republic of New Afrika, Black Panther Party and so on, our activities were undermined and our leaders denigrated, incarcerated and assassinated. In fact, the U.S. still is operating its infamous counter intelligence program today, trying to prevent our rise. And finally, we argue that the U.S. Government violated, knowingly, the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which envisages human rights for everyone, everywhere, by keeping our existence hidden from the UN, in 1948.
The UN has given clear direction as to the avenue through which the so-called African Americans can seek recognition. In 1998, after hearing only a small number of interventions on behalf of African Americans, including my written and oral statements, the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights passed Resolution E/CN.4/SUB.2/RES/1998 in which the Working Group on Minorities was called upon to consider how the Sub-Commission in its future work might address the continuing legal, political and economic legacies of the African slave trade, as experienced by Black communities throughout the Americas. Since that time I have addressed the Sub-Commission three times, and the Working Group on Minorities five times, including twice in forums that the Working Group has organized for the specific purpose of hearing the issues of the so-called African Americans.
Domestically, we will continue to
build the government of African Americans that I, along with others, began
establishing some time ago. I am firmly
committed to the Lost-Found Nation of Islam, and I know of nothing or no combination
of things that could alter my resolve.
I presume that others feel the same way about whatever it is they
believe in. Thus, while retaining, internally, the Constitution of the Lost Found
Nation of Islam, we have moved forward to shoulder with you the responsibility
of building a democratically elected government that will include all of our
people: Christians, Muslims and other creeds.
Internationally, we hope that Black leaders throughout the Americas Region and the Diaspora will join us in support of the efforts of the Working Group on Minorities. Information can be gained from an expert paper written by one of the Working Group members, Professor Jose Bengoa. In his writing he demonstrates an understanding of our situation, our rise, and our desire for restoration. He defines it as the process of ethnogenesis.
Silis Muhammad
230 Peachtree Street, Suite 900
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Written Statements of Silis Muhammad and the UN Working Paper of Professor Jose Bengoa are available at www.afre-ngo.org.
Submitted by UnknownSender@UnknownDomain
*********
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS AND
PARTICIPATION:
REPARATIONS AND RACIAL PROFILING
November 12, 2001
Dear Colleague,
We are organizing two sessions at the Southern Sociological Society's annual meetings this April on Racial Profiling and Reparations.
If interested in presenting please send abstracts to me. Also selected papers will be considered
for publication in ABS see below:
Dear Friends and Scholars,
I am pleased to encourage you to submit an abstract for two (2) Special Issues to American Behavioral Scientist that I will be the Editor. One of the Special Issues will deal with the subject of Reparations and the other will deal with Racial, Ethnic and Religious Profiling.
I am looking especially for fresh and new treatments of these two important issues. All perspectives, frames of reference, and disciplines are encouraged.
If you are interested please send to me directly an abstract of no longer than 100 words. Abstracts will be due 1 month from now (middle to late November). From those abstracts submitted, scholars will be invited to submit a finished paper within a 3-4 month period (January or February). We anticipate that the special issues will be published in the middle to late spring and summer of 2002.
--
Send all abstracts and questions to: coatesrd@muohio.edu
Rodney D. Coates
Director of Black World Studies
Professor of Sociology
Miami University
Oxford, Ohio 45056
Reply-to: coatesrd@muohio.edu (Rodney D. Coates)
Submitted by brc-reparations@yahoogroups.com
BRC-REPARATIONS: Black Radical Congress - Reparations Caucus
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November 13,
2001
I have read this entire diatribe. Nowhere is there anything pertaining to the agenda that the FBI has for the African American community. Nowhere!
How many African Americans is it going to take before you wake up and realize that this agenda exists. That is the main reason why I call for reparations. The other is so this government will never forget what it has done to human beings.
I have contacted Minister Farrakhan's office in the hope that a fund would be created for rich people's reparations. People like Oprah and Colin Powell to name just two who do not need the money so that that money could be used as the Korean community uses their money-a Kye-to establish a business with a grant instead of a loan.
In the first edition of True Democracy one of 46 demands is for reparations. There are 20 more demands, which directly pertain to the improvement of African American's lives. That's just in the first edition. Then in the second edition there are more demands, which will greatly help the community.
So, I suggest you read my unique empowering magazine because I'm not even charging for the Top Secret American history that it publishes. Then, someday when you receive your check and your life is saved, if you really don't want the money, you can send it to me as my skin color is not black. My favorite professor's is. She taught me well; she is African American.
I'm risking my life to save yours. The least you could do is send the Demand page to the Speaker of the House in the snail mail as many African Americans have done. My greatest supporters are in the African American community because they know that I care about their welfare.
Thank you.
In peace and solidarity,
Arlene Johnson, Publisher
Proud Member of the Independent Press Association
Password: freedom (first four quarterly editions)
News Source, Inc.
The Company That Cares About People
ajohnsonpresnsi@truedemocracy.net
My Web site: http://truedemocracy.net
To access True Democracy, click on the icon, which says "Magazine." It's on the left side of the Main page; then enter the password. Ignore the screen that says "Try Again" as it disappears in less than 3 seconds.
To open the first edition of True Democracy, click on any word on the cover.
By Arlene Johnson <ajohnsonpresnsi@truedemocracy.net
Submitted by Subj: Digest for TheBlackList@topica.com, issue 867
TheBlackList@topica.com
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November 14, 2001
It is smart for us to be informed and aware of the "plans and schemes" of this government, like the one below, but, what are we to do with it? Should we now go into a defensive mindset? Or, should we make our own collective future plans and concentrate on them? Just like during the time of slavery, our families were fed so many stories about what will be done, if this or that happens, and those stories kept a lot of our families in check - kept them muddling along the way the government wanted them to. Should we constantly repeat history, or change it all together?
Somebody, holla at me, please.
-Meru
The Coming American Holocaust?
Death Camps And Pick-Up Lists Ready?
“http://www.wealth4freedom.com/barbctmfo.gif"
"http://www.wealth4freedom.com/truth/6/nj2.jpg"
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick
themselves up and
hurry off as if nothing had happened"
Winston Churchill
“http://www.wealth4freedom.com/barbctmfo.gif”
NOTE: The following is an interview with 'Mr. Sea' regarding alleged New World Order plans for the U.S. and its citizens. This is being posted as a point of information. We have seen video of the Indiana facility mentioned and it does appear to accurately fit the description in this interview.
[NOTE: Odds are you won't believe this source, so I have included an alternative source including admissions from the Director of Resource Management for the U.S. Army and from Congressman Henry Gonzales (D,Texas). Read it and get very angry. - W.A.C.]
***
In the spring of 1997, Senior Editor, Professor Ian Stewart, met with "Mr. Sea" (real name known but withheld) to discuss what he has learned first-hand about the coming persecution at the hands of the New World Order operatives.
With a seven-inch thick portfolio filled with photographs, news articles, correspondence, etc., Mr. Sea revealed disturbing information about New World Order efforts to destroy and enslave America.
The following are some of Mr. Sea's comments. But first, let's take a look at the man who made the comments.
Mr. Sea, a committed Christian, is a former inspector for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Department of Defense, with 31 years of federal service: 22 in the military, nine with the Department of Defense, including two year with the Air Staff. He's a holder of the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, three awards of the Joint Service Medal, all of the Vietnamese awards, as well as the Joint Meritorious Unit Medal.
When he retired a few years ago, he was awarded the Secretary of Defense Civilian Service Medal. He's been around the world to 31 countries on four continents, and speaks five languages.
Mr. Sea spoke of the coming American Hol