One Africa Worldview

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #68: Africans struggle for Bread, Peace, and Black Power in Southern Africa

From July 9 to July 17 Africans took to the streets of South Africa in protest of the neocolonial government and brutal conditions they live under.  As well, the African working class in the neighboring country of Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, have also risen up in protest.
The colonial media has tried to explain the uprisings in South Africa as support for the jailed former-president Jacob Zuma.  South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has echoed the talking points of the former apartheid regime by blaming the unrests on agitation.
Covid-19, unemployment, and other immediate factors have also been pinpointed by some analysts as the cause for the unrest. 
Our guests in this episode identify the central contradiction that has defined the global uprising of the African working class over the last year--colonialism; the political and economic exploitation of African people by foreign and alien powers. 
Our guests place the uprisings in Southern Africa into the context of the global uprising of African people over the last year.  They identify the current uprisings in Southern Africa as part of the struggle to complete the Black Revolution of the 1960s and place the control of African resources into the hands of African people. 
Our guests talk about a variety of topic:
The South Africa Uprising
The ongoing protests in Eswatini
The history of settler-colonialism in South Africa
Neocolonialism and the ANC government
The culture, education and African Unity from South Africa to the United States; with a focus on the revolutionary use of hip-hop and reggae
The Bread, Peace and Black Power Campaign
We are joined by three organizers on the ground in South Africa: Tafarie Mugeri, Asa Anpu and Zakhele Mkhondo.
 
Tafarie Mugeri is the Chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party Occupied Azania.  Chairman Tafarie is also the Director of Organization for Africa.  Under Tafarie’s leadership, the African Socialist International has grown throughout various regions of Southern, Western and East Africa.  
 
 
Asa is the Secretary General for APSP Occupied Azania.  Asa is also the director of the Better Life Association, a non-profit organization, dedicated to solving the problems of healthcare, education, and skills development in the townships.
 
 
 
Zakhele is the President of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement in South Africa. 
 
 
 
 
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Dexter Mlimwengu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #67: Haiti and the Global Black Revolution

On July 7, Jovenel Moise, the president of Haiti was assassinated at his home in Petion-Ville.  His wife, Martine Moise was critically injured in the attack and was transported to the United States for emergency medical care.  Moise’s presidency had been marked by mass protests and political crises.  Still, his assassination came as a sudden surprise to many.
This news came as a shock to the world and especially to the people of Haiti; even those whohad been demanding that he step down from office as well as those of us who recognized himas a puppet of the white power imperialists and ruling class were caught “off-guard” by thisnews.
People are asking: Who did it and why? Who had access to his house? Who took Martine to the hospital?  Likely, the biggest question is who will will succeed Jovenel Moise in running Haiti, who had ruled by decree since October 2019?
The assassination of Jovenel Moise is not an isolated incident.  It is instead part of a series of events that reflects the deepening crisis of colonial-capitalism.  From Haiti to South Africa to Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland), the African working class has risen up.
On today’s episode of The People’s War show we bring you excerpts from a July 12, 2021 webinar entitled “Haiti:  Global Black Revolution”, organized by the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) to address the current situation.
On this episode you will hear excerpts from Elikya Ngoma, Secretary General Luwezi Kinshasa, Penny Hess, Chairwoman of the African People's Solidarity Committee and Chairman Omali Yeshitela, head of the APSP and Founder of the Uhuru Movement.
Elikya Ngoma's family is from Haiti.  She is the Haiti Editor for The Burning Spear Newspaper.  She is also the author of our theme song "Colonialvirus". 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Luwezi Kinshasa is the Secretary General of the African Socialist International.   SG Luwezi was born and raised in the Congo and speaks multiple languages. He is now based in London and works as an educator and organizer in African communities throughout Europe and the continent of Africa.  He writes a monthly column in The Burning Spear Newspaper titled “The  Kinshasa International”.
Penny Hess is the Chairwoman of the African People’s Solidarity Committee.  Penny describes the legacy of European colonialism and the role of colonial expropriation in building white society. She calls for a self-criticism from white people in the form of reparations.  She is the author of Overturning the Culture of Violence.
 
 
Chairman Omali Yeshitela is leader and founder of the Uhuru Movement.  Over the past five decades, Chairman Omali has initiated campaigns to defend the democratic rights of the African community, to organize and raise up African women, to mobilize opposition to U.S. wars and to popularize the demand for reparations to African people.  He’s built the worldwide Uhuru Movement and the African Socialist International with branches in the U.S., Europe, the Caribbean and on the continent of Africa.
 
 
 
 
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Muambi Tangu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #66: Indigenous People of Canada the genocidal legacy of colonial education

On May 27, 2021 a mass grave with the remains of 215 children was found at Kamloops Residential School in British Columbia Canada. On June 25th, Chief of the Cowess Nation reported that on June 2 they had embarked on a mission to search for unmarked graves, and found a mass grave of 751 remains in the southeast corner of the Saskatchewan province at the cemetery of the former Marieval Indian Residential School.
These discoveries have rocked Canada and soured this year’s commemoration of Canada Day, celebrated as Canada’s birthday, on July 1st.
The Indian Residential Schools was a network of boarding schools created by the colonial government of Canada for indigenous children and usually operated by Christian church organizations. Similar to the Carlisle Indian School in the United States, residential schools operated in Canada from 1883 to 1996.
In response to the discovery of these mass Residential School graves, a series of fires have been set at churches across Canada.
At the same time, we see a rash of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and a continued struggle of Native people in Canada against the foster care system and the prison system.
To discuss this with us today on The People’s War Radio Show, we have Darren Lathlin-Torpe and Xach Williams.
Darren Lathlin-Torpe is a member of the Cree Nation and lives in Calgary, Alberta. Darren has worked in the oil industry in Canada and the United States. Darren’s family has direct experience with the Indian Residential Schools and he and his family have spoken out against them.  Darren is an advocate for the return of Indigenous people to their culture.
Dr. Xach Williams is originally from Seattle WA. Dr. Williams received his PhD in Ethnic Studies from University of California San Diego in 2019 and before that completed a BA in Comparative Ethnic Studies at Washington State University in 2011. Dr. Williams’s dissertation titled Didn’t It Rain? explores the ways that material conditions of anti-black racism, segregation, and exclusion affect the development of the Pacific Northwest from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries.
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Muambi Tangu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #65: Black women athletes spark controversy at U.S. Olympic Trials

The United States Track and Field Olympic Trials were held from June 18 to June 27 in Eugene, Oregon.  The US trials are the first step for US athletes to compete in the Summer Olympic Games.  This year’s Olympic games are shaping up to be historic on many levels.  
African women athletes have taken center stage in these trials, creating a buzz and sparking controversy in both colonial and social media.  At the Olympic Trials, sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson and hammer thrower Gwen Berry have made significant political statements in their performances and protests. 
Slanderous comments about Richardson’s sexuality and gender have been made.  Many critics have disapproved of the record-setting sprinter’s hair, tattoos, and body piercings.  Berry, who has been an outspoken critic of anti-African violence, publicly protested the US National Anthem at the Olympic trials.  We talk about this today and more. 
We place the Summer Olympic Games into the context of colonial capitalism and speak with three track and field athletes about the significance of the sport to the African community. In this episode we discuss:
Gwen Berry's heroic stance
Sha'Carri Richardson's impact on track and field
Covid-19's effect on track and field athletes
The struggles of African people, particularly African women, in Track and Field
The greater impact athletes can have on society
All of our guests challenge athletes, amateur and professional, to put their community first and make a difference outside of the arena.
Our first guest is Kundai Bajikikayi.  Kundai is the membership coordinator for the All African People’s Development and Empowerment Project.  She is also a former track and field coach and standout collegiate runner. 
 
 
 
 
Our second guest is James Boomer Harris.  Boomer was an all-american athlete for Florida State University and now competes professionally.  Boomer has competed for the US team in the past. 
 
 
 
Our final guest is Coach Charles "Chuck" Ryan. Coach Ryan works at the University of California Berkeley and was an all-american runner at the University of South Carolina.  
 
 
 
 
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Muambi Tangu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.
 

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #64: Juneteenth Not Yet Uhuru: Africans fight for control of history, salute African heroes

On June 17, 2021 President Joseph R. Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act making Juneteenth a national holiday.  The establishment of Juneteenth as a federal holiday in the United States marks a particular moment in the African struggle over the power of history and remembrance in the US with international implications.  Some people in the mainstream have celebrated this as a historical landmark but many in the African working class masses have met this with a mixture of skepticism and outright rejection.  They see it as an empty gesture that avoids the meaningful political struggles waging. 
The colonial narration of history suggests that Juneteenth celebrates the bestowing of freedom on Africans in Texas by US Army General Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865.  However, as today's guest notes, Africans were not given freedom, Africans took their freedom!
Juneteenth actually emerged from a long tradition of African holidays created in opposition to colonial-capitalist powers and as a direct antagonism towards the colonial slave holding class and their descendants.  There were a host of other celebrations. Africans celebrated the Haitian Revolution and in Virginia and the Carolinas, African flauntingly celebrated Surrender Day.  Africans were historically ridiculed, attacked, and jailed for their public festivals. This included the earliest of Juneteenth Festivals. 
In this episode we talk to an organizer of the Omowale Kefing Juneteenth Freedom Festival, also known as Juneteenth Not Yet Uhuru, from Houston, Texas, Chiwoniso Luzolo.
Some topics discussed are:
The 2021 Omowale Kefing Juneteenth Freedom Festival
The late African hero Omowale Kefing and his mother Gwen Archie
The meaning of Juneteenth Not Yet Uhuru
The continued struggle of Africans in Texas for Freedom including the problems of gentrification, food apartheid and Covid-19
The All African People's Development and Empowerment Project programs: Project Black Ankh and the Marcus Garvey Youth Programs
Education and history in the hands of Black people
In the spirit of Juneteenth Not Yet Uhuru, we also showcase some great music and a public tribute to Omowale Kefing.  This is the first public Juneteenth Not Yet Uhuru without Kefing. 
Chiwoniso Luzolo is a member of the African People's Socialist Party and serves as the Information and Education Coordinator and Secretary for the All African People’s Development and Empowerment Project.  She coordinates the Marcus Garvey Youth Program where she is developing a curriculum for African children and parents.  Chiwoniso works with the Gwen Archie Community Garden in the 5th Ward of Houston, Texas, the location of the annual Juneteenth Not Yet Uhuru festivals.
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Muambi Tangu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.
 

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #63: To Protect, Preserve, And Perpetuate: Black Music and Black Power

June is Black Music Month.  Black Music Month emerged as a form of resistance to colonial domination of African people, African culture, and the African narrative.  It was created in the late 1970s by the famous music producer from Philadelphia, Kenny Gamble and the Black Music Association. The original theme of Black Music Month was to “preserve, protect and perpetuate black music.”  However, the narrative of Black Music Month has been depoliticized. 
Popular news sources have credited President Jimmy Carter with creating the observance.  As well, President Barack Obama rebranded the month, African American Music Appreciation month and noted that amongst other things Black music, allowed Black people in the US to "defend our country's enduring promise of freedom and opportunity for all."
Our guests on this episode, DJ Eddie Maultsby and Norman Jalali Richmond, give a different narrative.  They uphold the African music tradition as internationalist, anti-colonial, and a source of Black Power.
Some topics discussed are:
Black musicians during the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement
Fela Kuti, Peter Tosh, Aretha Franklin, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, Eddie Maultsby and the Florida Spiritualaires, Sam Cooke and other musicians
The origins of Gospel Music as a form of resistance to colonial slavery
The guests also connect the significance of music to their own personal stories.
This episode includes some great samples of music such as:
Bob Marley and the Wailers "Burnin' and Lootin'"
Max Roach feat. Abbey Lincoln "Freedom Day"
Sam Cooke "A Change is Gonna Come"
Fannie Lou Hamer "Walk with Me" and "Amazing Grace"
Eddie Maultsby and the Florida Spiritualaires  "Ain't No Love Like Jesus"
DJ Eddie is known as Florida’s Blind Boy and the World’s Best Blind DJ, DJ Eddie is the Assistant Station Manager at Black Power 96.  He is born and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida and spent over 35 years playing music for the community in downtown St. Pete.  As soon as he heard about Black Power 96 and its mission, he united with Black Power 96.  He has been with the station ever since. DJ Eddie’s musical specialty is gospel music.
Norman Jalali Richmond, was born in Louisiana and raised in Los Angeles, California.  He moved to Canada in the late-1960s where he became an early leader in the African Liberation Movement in Canada.  Jalali has dedicated his life to revolutionary cultural work. He has worked with a host of musicians such as Bob Marley, Abbey Lincoln, Hugh Masekela, and Fela Kuti.  Jalali is the host and producer of the “Diasporic Music” show on Black Power 96 FM radio in St. Petersburg, Florida. 
“Diasporic Music” provides an all-African mix of music and politics that is quote “made in the West but is not of the West” unquote.  “Diasporic Music” Airs: Every Sunday, 2pm to 4pm Eastern Time
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Muambi Tangu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.
 

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #62: Black communities fight food insecurity and food apartheid and build Black Power

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the contradictions of food insecurity in the African Community and other oppressed communities in the United States.
According to the Journal of Nutrition, Food insecurity is understood as “ the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.”
Nearly 40 percent of black children in the United States are food insecure, this is almost twice the rate of white children.
A symptom of the larger colonial oppression of African people in the US, food insecurity has serious political and economic effects on the African community.  
Food justice organizer, Karen Washington, has suggested the use of another term to understand the intentional unevenly structured access to healthy and affordable food that African people in the US endure, “food apartheid”.  
Black, Brown and Indigenous communities are organizing against food insecurity and food apartheid throughout the US by organizing community gardens, farmers markets, urban food cooperatives, and other grassroots solutions to the problems. 
In today’s episode of the People’s War Radio Show, we will hear about a new farmers market created in the African community of North Saint Louis, the One Africa! One Nation! farmers market. Our guests talk about:
The effects of food apartheid and food insecurity on the black community of North St. Louis and throughout the US.
Covid-19's impact of food insecurity in the African community.
The Gary Brooks community garden in North St. Louis
The One Africa! One Nation! Marketplace in North St. Louis and its grand opening on June 5, 2021
Farmers markets as a counter to big agribusiness
How other organizers can do these projects in their communities.
To discuss this with us, we have Ticharwa Masimba and Marisa Martinez - organizers of the One Africa! One Nation! Farmer’s Market.
Ticharwa Masimba is the project director of the One Africa! One Nation! Farmer's Market.  Ticharwa has also worked with the Black Power Blueprint and the African People's Education and Defense Fund to bring economic development and self-determination to the black community of St. Louis.
 
Marisa Martinez is the market manager of the One Africa! One Nation! Farmer's Market and has many years of experience in the food service industry.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Muambi Tangu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.
 

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #61:Take Back the Dome! Reparations Now!

Reparations is a hot topic in many political topics.  Numerous colleges and universities have implemented reparations plans in response to legacy of colonial slavery that funded their institutions and the stolen and enslaved African labor that built their schools.  
Some cities have begun to draft reparations plans as well.  One that has received a lot of attention is the plan in Evanston, Illinois that has made housing grants available to some members of the African community of the Chicago suburb. 
This has not come out of nowhere. It is the result of the revolutionary upsurge of the African Working Class.  
Today we talk with two organizers, Chimurenga Selembao and Akile Anai, of the Reparations Now! Take Back the Dome! campaign from St. Petersburg, Florida to discuss a truly African Working Class-led campaign for reparations, "just economic compensation," for the devastation that the construction of Tropicana Field and gentrification have caused the black community of St. Petersburg.
Together they discuss:
The Reparations Now! Take Back the Dome Campaign!
The history of the Reparations struggle and the leadership of the Uhuru Movement in that struggle.
The economic, social, and political devastation that the Dome  and gentrification, have caused on the African community.
The 2001 Durban World Conference Against Racism, 9/11 and the impact on the Reparations struggle 20 years ago.
The 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre and the similar colonial violence against Africans in St. Pete and Florida.
The proposed solutions to the problem including the creation of a land reparations authority.
Chimurenga Selembao has been in the struggle for reparations to African people, his entire political life.  Chimurenga is the National Director of Organization for the African People’s Socialist Party USA.  Born and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida, Chimurenga is a lifelong member of the Uhuru Movement.  Chimurenga oversees the work of Uhuru Movement organizations in the United States.
Akilé Anai is editor of The Burning Spear newspaper, a monthly black power journal in continuous publication since the height of the Black Revolution of the Sixties. Four years ago, in 2017, at age 21, and again in 2019, she ran for St Petersburg City Council, the first candidate of any election internationally to run on the platform of reparations.
 
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Muambi Tangu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #60: Free, Free, Palestine

On this episode of The People's War Radio Show, we discuss the historic roots to what is being referred to as the 2021 Israel-Palestine conflict.
In early May 2021, Palestinians were protesting the continued illegal annexation of Palestinian controlled land by Israeli settlements.  The Israeli supreme court was preparing to expel even more Palestinian families from East Jerusalem. This has been part of an increasingly aggressive and illegal Israeli settlement of Palestinian lands since 1967 but is part of more than 100 years of history.
This period is indeed only a recent moment in the Palestinian Arab struggle to keep their land against the onslaught of European settler colonialism. 
We discuss the roots of the crisis in Occupied Palestine by reaching back in history and coming forward. In this episode we explore:
Life in Palestine before British Occupation
The political economic roots of the colonial project beginning with late-19th century Zionism, the British Mandate, and post-WWII European settlement.
Nakba, the exile and forced removal of Palestinians between 1948 and 1967
Israeli settlement in Palestinian land post-1967
The correlation between European colonization of Africa and European Colonization of the Middle East
African-Arab solidarity
Covid-19 and reproductive politics in the Palestine and Israel
To discuss this with, we are joined by two scholar-activists, Bayan Abu-Sneineh and Dr. Maisam Alomar.
Bayan Abu-Sneineh is a doctoral candidate in ethnic studies at the University of California San Diego. Bayan is currently completing her doctoral research project on the intersections between racial and reproductive violence against Palestinian and African people in Israel and Palestine.  Bayan’s family is from Hebron, Palestine.
 
 
 
 
Maisam is an assistant professor in Women and Gender Studies at the University of Colorado.  Her research is on the distribution of healthcare  as part of the larger context of colonial violence.  Maisam received her PhD in Ethnic Studies from the University of California San Diego.  Maisam’s family is from TulKarem in the West Bank of Palestine.  She also has some family in Ramallah. 
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Muambi Tangu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.
 

The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #59: Shut down the St. Louis Workhouse! Free 'em all!

On April 4, 2021, incarcerated Africans rebelled at the St. Louis Justice Center, a city jail in downtown St. Louis.  They broke the locks on their cells, busted out the windows and proceeded to throw chairs, tables and other furniture from the jail and set several fires in effort to draw attention to the inhumane conditions they have experienced.  
This uprising was the most recent in a series of uprisings in local jails and prisons in the St. Louis area in the past years, including a rebellion months earlier in February.  
A 2017 rebellion of inmates at the St. Louis Workhouse, a medium security prison on the North Side operated by the city of St. Louis made national news after several inmates were heard crying for help after enduring temperatures as high as 110 degrees with no air conditioning.
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones, US Congresswoman Cori Bush, and other officials have made news recently with calls to defund the St. Louis police.  Jones, Bush, and others have also focused on the St. Louis Workhouse.  Jones has slated the Workhouse for closure in 2022.
In this episode of The People's War Radio Show we discuss:
Living conditions in the St. Louis Workhouse and St. Louis Justice Center
Covid-19 in St. Louis jails and beyond
The links between colonial-slavery and mass incarceration today
The Black Power Blueprint's African Independence Workforce Program as a form of dual and contending power to the colonial prison system
To discuss this with us, we are joined by Abdullah Alexander.  Abdullah is a member of the African People’s Socialist Party and the Outreach Coordinator for the Black Power Blueprint.
Black Power Blueprint is a program that has refurbished buildings, built community gardens, and provides economic development for the black community of St Louis. Abdullah spent over 27 years incarcerated and now is working to build the African Independence Workforce Program which includes housing and job training for formerly incarcerated African men and women. 
The People's War radio show is produced by WBPU 96.3 FM "Black Power 96" in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is hosted by Dr. Matsemela Odom and Muambi Tangu, bringing an African Internationalist perspective to the important issues of our world.