NEW AFRIKAN LIBERATION FRONT IS LAUNCHED
Black Nationalist Organizations Unite at Historic Atlanta Summit
After two years of negotiation, representatives of several political
prisoner defense committees, women's groups, labor organizations, human
rights groups and community-based formations met in Atlanta, Georgia,
on August 18-19, 1995, to hammer out a set of working principles and agendas
to unite the various Black nationalist political tendencies within the U.S.
The New Afrikan Liberation Front (NALF) is in many respects the response
to the political demand made by such celebrated Republic of New Afrika ,
Black Panther Party, and Black Liberation Army prisoners of war as Dr. Mutulu
Shakur, Sekou Odinga, Geronomo Pratt, and Jalil Muntaqin. These freedom
fighters called for the formation of an umbrella organization which
could coordinate the varied political activities of the constituent bodies
in what is often referred to as the Black nationalist community.
"The objective of the NALF is to politically engage and organize
the nationalist community into an effective foil to both Black liberal
and Black conservative political leadership today," explained Herman
Ferguson, a founding member and head of the Administrative Unit of the NALF.
"We stand as a fighting political alternative to both the Jesse Jacksons
and the Clarence Thomases who we feel mislead and betray the political aspirations
of oppressed Black people in this country," Ferguson said.
The NALF coalesced around the slogan "Black Power, Land and Independence."
As such, each constituent member of the Front is committed to attaining
"self-determination for the descendants of enslaved Africans-whom the
Front denotes as 'New Afrikans'-and international recognition of the New
Afrikan nation's right to sovereignty and political independence."
The NALF will initiate its coordinated activities by launching a nationwide
campaign to pressure the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) to open congressional
investigations and hearings on the role of the FBI and other police agencies
in the assault on the Black Power Movement during the 1960s and '70s. Under
the FBI's COINTELPRO (counter-intelligence program) hundreds of Black
activists across the U.S. were murdered, jailed, or driven into political
exile. COINTELPRO was a coordinated government campaign to destroy the Black
nationalist movement. The NALF seeks internationally-recognized prisoner-of-war
(POW) status for the scores of activists who still remain behind bars today.
It also demands amnesty for these unjustly imprisoned Black men and women.
"Given the congressional attention given the FBI's botched raid on
the white supremacist encampment of Randy Weaver-the government granted
a $3 million our-of-court settlement for the killing of Weaver's wife and
son-Black legislators would be remiss in remaining silent about similar
government atrocities which were and continue to be deliberately
carried out against Black activists," said Ferguson. The NALF recently
sent a representative to the Beijing, China, International Women's Conference
as part of its ongoing campaign to internationalize the struggle of Black
people in the U.S. and to expose the systematic human rights abuses perpetrated
against Black people here today. Likewise, the NALF has put its case before
the United Nations and human rights conferences in Europe and Africa.
The New Afrikan Liberation Front is optimistic about the outcome
of its ongoing activities. Explained Ferguson, "Many people believed
that Eastern Europe would remain under Soviet domination forever. But in
the space of only a few years, nobody even thinks about the Soviet Union
anymore. It's gone. That tells us something. For just as the U.S. had dominated
New Afrikans, Indians, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Hawaiians, and others for
centuries, it doesn't have to be that way forever."
Ferguson added that "If we work hard and take care of the day-to-day
needs of New Afrikans, while fighting for a revolutionary nationalist political
agenda, then we can win. There will be freedom for the New Afrikan nation."
Principles of Unity of the NALF 1. Land. The primary objective of
the NALF is self-determination through a national liberation struggle for
land (territory within the historic southeastern Black Belt), independence
and reparations.
2. Who is the enemy? For over 400 years, our nation has been enslaved, first
by the European settlers in North America, and currently we are colonized
by the political descendants of those settlers, represented by the government
of the United States of America. We are united in fighting for the destruction
of imperialism and white supremacy, the twin evils of our national
oppression which is forced on our Nation by the U.S. imperialist State.
3. Self-defense/Armed Struggle. We recognize the right to self-defense
as well as the right to armed struggle for self-determination.
4. Political Prisoners/POWs/Exiles. We seek amnesty for prisoners
of war, political prisoners, and exiles as a non-negotiable self-determination
demand.
5. Social liberation. The fight against racial, sexist, class, and
all forms of social oppression is fundamental to New Afrikan/Black self-determination.
6. Unity and autonomy of organizations-methods of resolving contradictions.
We accept the leadership and discipline of the NALF as determined by a consensus
of its membership organizations. The ideological integrity and autonomy
of each organization within the NALF is mutually respected. We will practice
constructive criticism and self-criticism for the purpose of resolving contradictions
and internal differences.
7. A New Afrikan Consciousness Movement. We recognize that culture is a
weapon of resistance. In that light we are committed to building a movement
to develop the national consciousness and culture of the New Afrikan
people.
8. Our cultural symbols. We recognize the Red, Black and Green flag,
the new Afrikan creed, the New Afrikan Declaration of Independence and the
Code of Umoja as the unifying historical and cultural symbols of our New
Afrikan Liberation Front and our independence movement.
For information:
Herman Ferguson, P.O. Box 340084, Jamaica, NY 11434, (719) 949-515
NCX Feb/Mar 1996