The recent report by the U.S. fascist state attacking Cuba and its allies serves as a glaring call for urgent and strategic unity among the broadest sectors of the U.S. left, and all people of conscience.
Originally published in Black Alliance for Peace.
The recent declaration of war published by the U.S. fascist state attacking Cuba and its allies serves as a glaring call for urgent and strategic unity among the targeted organizations, the broadest sectors of the U.S. left, and all people of conscience. It comes as no surprise that a scrambling empire would see organized, sustained resistance that refuses to silently accommodate its lawless, genocidal attacks on human rights globally as a credible threat. Directly out of their imperialist playbook, it is quite clear that this is an attempt to criminalize Cuba’s existence while intentionally omitting the actual cause of suffering for the Cuban people - the decades-long blockade systematically depriving them of food, medicine, and fuel, designed to strangle the revolution by all available means.
Although the report’s intention is not new, it provides renewed consideration of the question of what is to be done. That is, in its naming of various “guilty parties” among the U.S. left, it reiterates who has been, and will continue to be, on the cutting edge of repression. Both in its historical references to African revolutionaries like Assata Shakur and Kwame Ture, and recalling the nationwide opposition to the execution of George Floyd, the state continues to point its repressive apparatus at colonized and oppressed populations, first and foremost, at Africans fighting for self-determination.
Our resistance must be rooted in the politics of African/Black liberation, not just in ideology and practice, but in the organizational structures that will allow for such a path to be charted and achieved - one that is driven by African/Black leadership. Through the framework of People(s)-Centered Human Rights, we understand that the process of decolonization can only be advanced when it is led by those most oppressed by the U.S. settler state.
For non-Africans, the task ahead requires that we show up more fully and with more principle and discipline alongside African revolutionaries - not as an act of charity, but as a political commitment of mutual comradeship that materializes the inextricable link uniting our collective struggle against our common enemy.
When politics command our organization, we effectively strategize and commit to action in a way that reflects our unwavering solidarity with African liberation and the Black Radical Peace Tradition. In other words, the social, economic, and political benefits that stand to be gained by compromising or retreating on our principles must be rejected if we are to commit to an authentic application of our anti-colonial, anti-oppressive, and anti-imperialist politics.
Kwame Ture reminds us of the necessity to move from mere influence to collective power. We are at a precipice where the call for a unified resistance requires the rejection of liberalism and siloed leftist “influence,” and the embrace of swift and strategic unification that leverages our collective power against state violence intended to neutralize anyone unwilling to submit to its oppressive forces. The path to win is before us and has been laid out by Africans leading this struggle - historically and today.
We do not underestimate the power of our enemy. Their militarized forces occupy our streets and our psyches. These violent systems of repression lay the groundwork for the intensification to come. Our response demands a resistance rooted in collective struggle for systemic change that shifts power to the people: the heart of People(s)-Centered Human Rights. Most importantly, we will continue, relentlessly, in our unbending solidarity with Cuba, in defense of its people, its sovereignty, and the integrity of its revolutionary process.
The Black Alliance for Peace Solidarity Network
Nodutdol
CODEPINK
National Lawyers Guild
Diaspora Pa’lante Collective
National Students for Justice in Palestine
Nolympics
CUNY for Palestine
Taxpayers Against Genocide
United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)
Workers World Party
Palestinian Youth Movement
National Jericho Movement
NYC Jericho Movement
The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign
South Central About Face - Veterans Against the War
No Compromise, No Retreat
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Orisanmi Burton is an assistant professor at American University’s Department of Anthropology.
Shannon Jones is a member of the Spirit of Mandela’s Peoples' Senate Coordinating Committee.
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