Zimbabwe Update
February 25, 2019
Friends of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
CBC opposes Trump, except for Venezuela and Zimbabwe?
By the December 12th Movement
The Congressional Black Caucus [CBC] has been conspicuously silent on Trump’s intervention in Venezuela, a sovereign country which has had democratic elections and which, also, has provided benefits, e.g., subsidized heating oil, to Black communities around the U.S. Trump and his people have made it clear that the U.S. involvement in Venezuela is about controlling the oil and destroying socialism and that they intend to effect regime change by any means necessary.
The CBC was birthed out of the Civil Rights and Black Power. struggles of the 1960s as a body to speak for and on behalf of Black people. Over its 48 year history it has taken correct stands against white supremacy, Apartheid South Africa, voter suppression and police brutality.
The current CBC, however, has sunken so low that it is co-signing a coup d’etat rather than denouncing the Trump actions in Venezuela as a violation of “democracy”, international law and the United Nations Charter. Unfortunately, this CBC retreat from its progressive origins is not a surprise. Its 2018 support of the Congressional Amendment to increase the sanctions against Zimbabwe had already indicated the CBC’s willingness to support the Trump policy of regime change in a country which represents no threat to the U.S. Trump is punishing Zimbabwe for having the audacity to take back the lands stolen by white settler-colonizers and returning them to the indigenous population.
Over 60 years ago W.E.B. DuBois stated that “I believe that democracy has so far disappeared in the United States that no two evils exist. there is but one evil party with two names.” The CBC position on Venezuela and Zimbabwe illustrates the continuing truth of Dubois’s observation. If it is not going to stand for Black folks’ interests, it has no reason to exist.
It is not too late for the CBC to return to its roots and actively and vocally oppose Trump’s plans for regime change in Venezuela and Zimbabwe. Black people and the times demand it.
#Venezuela #NicholasMaduro #StopTrumpCoupInVenezuela
Trump Stiffens Sanctions on Zimbabwe
by Amadi Ajamu
While President Trump decries Africa as “shithole” nations and unworthy of immigration to the United States, he has no problem sticking his nose in the internal affairs of the sovereign nation of Zimbabwe. In the midst of their presidential elections, handily won by President Mnangagwa and ZANU-PF, Trump added more restrictions to the economic sanctions (Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act 2001 – ZDERA) imposed after their land redistribution from European colonizers to indigenous Zimbabweans took effect in 2001.
“The 2018 amendment to ZDERA (S 2779), signed into law on August 8, further stiffens the original act signed into law in 2001. It aims directly at property rights and financial restraints that will affect the quality of life of all the people of Zimbabwe,” Roger Wareham of the December 12th Movement International Secretariat, stated. Mr. Wareham recently returned from Zimbabwe where he participated in the elections as an official observer invited by the Zimbabwe Election Commission. “The amendment was passed by the House and the Senate. The United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and European allies are trying to control the political economy of Zimbabwe now that former President Mugabe has retired. The baseless election impasse serves as an opening for western manipulations and interference. Elections were deemed ‘free and fair’ by my delegation, the African Union, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Russia and China, among many others. Zimbabweans must remain vigilant. Zimbabwe will never be a colony again!”
South Africa Broadcasting Corp News report August 8, 2018 SEE ATTACHED VIDEO
March and Rally for Zimbabwe
March and Rally for Zimbabwe
September 16, 2017
Meet at 12 noon at 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue
Proceed to United Nations Dag Hammarskjold Plaza for Rally
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December 12th Movement
456 Nostrand Avenue – Brooklyn, NY 11216
(718) 398-1766/d12m@aol.com
Press statement
September 4, 2017
The December 12th Movement International Secretariat is organizing a major march and rally in support of Zimbabwe on September 16th during the upcoming UN General Assembly session.
While Zimbabwe has received little media attention recently, it remains squarely in the crosshairs of the United States and Great Britain. These Atlantic “Cousins” remain committed to reversing the “land reform program” which returned Zimbabwe’s stolen land to its indigenous inhabitants and set a “dangerous” precedent in Africa where political independence did not develop into economic self-determination. The U.S. and UK are determined to remove President Robert Mugabe and his party ZANU-PF.
International human rights attorney Roger Wareham stated that “in this period of time, with the US under a racist, reactionary Presidential leadership, it is crucial to demonstrate the U.S. Black community’s support for an independent and unapologetic Zimbabwe.
The December 12th Movement, a US-headquartered international NGO in consultative status with the UN’s Economic and Social Council, defends the human rights of African people in the US and throughout the African Diaspora. The organization acts on the credo of Malcolm X who said that the freedom of African people in the U.S. is inseparable from the existence of a truly independent Africa. Zimbabwe exemplifies that independence.
Assembly at 12 noon at 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue and then proceed to United Nations Dag Hammarskjold Plaza for the rally.
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MARCH: Assemble: 12 pm, 53 St. & Lexington Ave., New York, NY. See map. Public restroom nearby.
RALLY: United Nations, 1 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 47nd St. & 2nd Ave.
4 & 6 trains to 51st St. stop is close; E, M to 5th Ave./ 51 St. stop
Robert Taylor: A hero battles for life
Amadi Amaju
August 10, 2017
Reprinted from Amsterdam News (link to original)
A throng of family, friends, comrades, and activists gathered together this past Sunday (Sun., August 6th) for a “Jazz and Poetry Get Well Jam Session” at Sistas’ Place in Brooklyn for Robert “RT” Taylor. After decades of fighting for Black self-determination, the Dec. 12 Movement’s chief of staff is now fighting for his life.
Taylor, son of veteran political activist Viola Plummer, has been hospitalized because of his lifelong battle with Type 1 diabetes and stroke. He is in serious condition at New York Presbyterian Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn.
Sistas’ Place was jam-packed. An honor guard of uniformed Black men holding African symbols stood at attention on the sidewalk outside. Renowned musicians, including trumpeters Ahmed Abdullah (Sistas’ Place musical director) and Robert Rutledge, bassists Radu Ben Judah and Stanley Banks and master pianist/vocalist Donald Smith, were in rare form. A moving spoken word presentation was offered by Monique Ngozi Nri.
Taylor’s tremendous contributions began as a teenager with the February First Movement, a Black Student Movement in 1974. He has been on the frontline of the Mobilization Committee Against Police Brutality, the New York 8, the Black Men’s Movement Against Crack and the People’s Militia. Taylor also represented the Dec. 12 Movement International Secretariat at the United Nations’ Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland and led delegations to Zimbabwe, Libya, Ghana, and Vietnam.
“He is a soldier, a freedom fighter,” said Coltrane Chimurenga, the host of the event. “He sets the standard in terms of dedication and commitment. He held the point and never vacillated in our struggle for freedom. He loves our people; he is a patient and talented teacher, and many of us are his students.”
Others spoke and read poems, including his teenage son Chimwhi Brown, whose eloquent statement touched everyone. Representatives from the Permanent Mission of Zimbabwe to the U.N. also attended. Robert Taylor is truly loved and many people are hoping and pulling for his full recovery.
Hold on RT!
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Also see August 12, 2017 post “Robert Taylor Transitions.”