My Life with OMALi YESHITELA Abuy Nfubea

 Political Memoirs of Abuy Nfubea, Volume IV, a work in which he records his memories and reflections on the political events that personally experienced during the struggle to build Garveyism in Spain (Fourth International), as well as the key figures, theorists, and thinkers who influenced him. Undoubtedly, one of them was Omali. My Life with OMALi YESHITELA is a Hip-Hop BIOGRAPHY OF one of THE most important HEROIC MAROONS on 21th CENTURY 

Mi vida junto a Omali Yeshitela

Abuy Nfubea 

Introducción

He terminado de trabajar en el enorme impacto del Presidente Omali Yehsitela en mí mismo, en el movimiento de liberación negra y en el panafricanismo de España y del mundo hispano en general, en las hermanas y hermanos de Chile, Venezuela, Guinea Ecuatorial, España, Colombia, Cuba, Brasil y Portugal. El trabajo presentado incluye la obra de Omali como pensador moderno del africanismo y la afrocentrismo, al estilo de Cheick Anta Diop, en áreas como la filosofía, la cultura cimarrón, la orgánica, la epistemología, el emprendimiento, el garveyismo, la lingüística, el nkrumismo, la doctrina, la visión, pero sobre todo, la comprensión teológica de la libertad como divinidad.¡Uhuru! para hacerlo contacté a Omali por varias vias  WhatsApp, SMS, correo electrónico, etc. y conversamos en varias ocasiones. "cAmarada Abuy, jaaaa  como estas", Presidente, ¿cómo estás? le dije y le felicité por su cumpleaños . Como dije, Chimurenga, no olvides que, a pesar de toda la represión que el amo le infligió, él y su esposa Ona, tienen mucha gente aquí en España que les ama. Esta es una breve biografía sobre el gran Omali. Ahora solo queda... reírnos y festejar las victorias (Mi vida con Omali) no es una biografía típica, sino un relato y reflexión del impacto que la obra, la visión y el espíritu de Omali tuvieron en los africanos en España y en la evolución de los movimientos panafricanistas en  el mundo hispanohablante. Actualmente es un proyecto modesto pero muy personal, ya que muchas de esas experiencias moldearon mi vida y contribuyeron a la persona que soy. En el futuro, buscaremos financiación para traducirlo y publicarlo también en inglés. Alguien que se ha sacrificado tanto por el pueblo africano, como él, se merece eso y mucho más. Como le dije a Chimurenga, aunque Omali no cree en el Dios de las Iglesias, gracias a su predica y a la teología de su obra —si Jesús es revolucionario, ¿por qué sus predicadores son como tíos Tom?— ha ayudado a millones de personas africanas oprimidas a comprender la necesidad de una dimensión históricista afrocentrada y sociopolítica de la espiritualidad libertaria. Creo que Omali, sin duda, ha entrado en la historia africana a lo grande, como Winnie Mandela, Cabral, Sekou Touré, Sankara, Kwame Touré, Lumumba, Malcolm X, Ogsayefo, etc. Nos corresponde a nosotros, sus discípulos que hemos presenciado sus enseñanzas y teología, dar testimonio de ello. Ese es el tema de mi humilde obra.

CHIMURENGA

I have occasionally spoken with brother Chimurenga Waller, Brother leader Mbandaka and Runuko Rashidi, about the deep significance and enormous impact that Omali Yeshitela's leadership has play in our life and how it had on the liberation struggles of those whom Malcolm X called Field Negroes. Im talking to the grassroots movements, and how this has had a strong impact on the spirituality of my generation or  the hip-hop generations well as the immense love that many of us feel for him and his example of life. He sends a bold message, calling on African people worldwide to unite their homeland, liberate their people and dispense with colonial borders that continue to divide and oppress. Fiery, uncompromising and courageous as the leader of the movement for a liberated Africa, Omali Yeshitela has struggled for black freedom for 40 years. Omali Yeshitela has built the African Socialist International, bringing together African people from throughout the world to unite and liberate Africa. He has exposed the basis for poverty and suffering throughout the African world, and document the expropriation of Africa’s resources through the slave trade, direct colonialism and the economic and political domination that continues today. 

ÑAMBORO

In fact, at 82 years old, Omali Yeshitela is the most powerful proponent of the African Liberation Movement today, as well as the foremost black political thinker of our time. He is a speaker, activist, theoretician and organizer of campaigns such as “All diamonds are blood diamonds.” Following in the footsteps of previous black leaders such as Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, Mangaliso Sobukwe, Patrice Lumumba and Malcolm X, Omali Yeshitela points to a positive future for the African Continent through the slogan made famous by the Garvey Movement of the 1920s, “Africa for Africans, at home and abroad.” This is what we call in the Fang language and Bantu tradition: Ñamboro. Chairman Omali is one of the few African revolutionaries intellectuals, activists, philosophers, community leaders, and internationalist visionaries from the Black Power movement and the Garvey tradition who are still alive in the 21st century. His teachings and influence have been crucial to the resurgence of more than 12 generations of Pan-Africanist activists focused on the liberation of the continent worldwide. I believe it's important for our children of the Trap generation to know, and I would humbly like to share my story of how and my relationship with him, and how, where, and why I met him. I do so from Spanish and Equatorial Guinea context, in  a very subjective, personal, emotional, and militant Garveyist perspective, whose personal and activist growth has been shaped by Chairman Omali's pedagogy and his enormous personal and collective example of love for African people. During the final years of the Cold War, Omali was a symbol, a role model in the rearmament of African internationalism, serving as a reference point for many people, especially young people; his name resonated constantly in demonstrations. Our Tomas Sankara... Almost fifty years have passed, forty-eight, since Omali tore down that wall as a member of JOMO, the local franchise of the Black Panathenaic Movement in Florida. Omali Yeshitela developed the political theory of African internationalism, which addresses the root causes of poverty and oppression affecting Black people globally.From then on, he was a key figure in the birth of African internationalism, both in the socialist paramilitary movement of African peoples in the spring of 1972, and later in 1976, he formed the African Peoples' Solidarity Committee, a mass organization and economic institution that brings together white people from various organizations to build political and economic power in the hands of the African working class. All this strong work was the drafting of the report from the 1982 World Tribunal on Reparations to African Peoples, held in New York. All these mobilizations and hard grassroots work would give rise in the 1990s in Chicago to the Uhuru movement. Omali spent his youth in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he was born in 1941. Those who knew him as a child and young man before he enlisted in the army for Europe remember him as a sensitive person with a compassionate and participatory perspective. In the 1960s, he studied at Jonathan C. Gibbs Junior College, an all-Black college, during which time he established the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in St. Petersburg. He possessed a charm that inspired trust, spoke calmly, and always with a smile. In addition to being a leader of JOMO, he was a key figure in the formation and consolidation of mass organizations (especially in the community, political, and cultural spheres). He was a politician by training, who dedicated his life to activism, organizing, and recruiting activists and supporters. His priority was a self-governing Africa and a Black community, with social justice, an end to unemployment, and an end to drugs like crack, which was ruining African families across the country and was the government's excuse to repress the Black liberation movement. Omali's work and vision made Black people from the working classes more aware of their nation and its history, which would have given impetus to cultural revolution and normalization through participation and prominence. Omali Yeshitela (nacido como Joseph Waller el 9 de octubre de 1941) es un activista político y autor estadounidense de extrema izquierda . Ideológicamente panafricanista y socialista africano , es cofundador y actual presidente del Partido Socialista del Pueblo Africano . Yeshitela ha abogado por reparaciones para los afroamericanos debido a la esclavitud de las personas negras , que duró de 1619 a 1865 en Estados Unidos, y a las leyes de Jim Crow , que estuvieron vigentes de 1877 a 1965.  

Antecedentes iniciales

Su padre trabajaba en el ferrocarril 

Omali Yeshitela nació con el nombre de esclavo como Joseph Waller, Jr. en San Petersburgo, Florida, el 9 de octubre de 1941. Yeshitela creció en una comunidad anteriormente conocida como Gas Plant District, una comunidad africana en el lado sur de San Petersburgo. Hoy Gas Plant District ya no existe, pues los negros fueron desalojados y el lugar fue demolida para construir el Tropicana Field, sede de los Tampa Bay Rays. Yeshitela asistió a la escuela primaria Jordan, a la escuela secundaria Sixteenth Street y a la preparatoria Gibbs durante su juventud. Yeshitela pertenece a lo que la historiadora Donna Murch llama "la Generación del Black Power", activistas negros de clase trabajadora que alcanzaron la mayoría de edad entre el linchamiento de Emmett Till en 1955 y el asesinato de Malcolm X en 1965. Yeshitela es menos de dos meses menor que Till y tenía 13 años cuando Till, de 14 años, fue linchado en Drew, Mississippi, el 28 de agosto de 1955. Yeshitela ha señalado que el linchamiento de Till impactó su visión del mundo y la visión del mundo de las personas negras en los Estados Unidos. 

Años en el ejército estadounidense

A finales de la década de 1950, el Movimiento Moderno por los Derechos Civiles y las luchas por la descolonización africana estaban en pleno auge. Todos los sectores de la sociedad negra debatían sobre estos temas. Yeshitela era un estudiante sobresaliente en la escuela secundaria Gibbs. En 1959, durante su último año en dicha escuela, se llevó a cabo un debate en clase sobre "el progreso del pueblo africano".  En este debate, un profesor declaró que las personas negras tendrían que "demostrar" su valía a las personas blancas si querían ser libres. Fue entonces cuando Yeshitela decidió dejar la escuela y unirse al Ejército de los Estados Unidos. Yeshitela completó su entrenamiento básico en Carolina del Sur. Posteriormente fue destinado a Alemania. Yeshitela ha señalado que fue en Alemania donde comenzó a aprender sobre el imperialismo. «Como soldado estadounidense en Berlín, que también estaba ocupada militarmente por tropas británicas, fui sometido a sermones de oficiales británicos blancos que contaban historias humillantes y "racistas" sobre la guerra colonial que se libraba contra nuestro pueblo en el Congo, que, bajo el liderazgo de Patrice Lumumba , luchaba para derrocar la dominación colonial de los belgas y otros colonialistas, incluidos los británicos y los estadounidenses», escribe Yeshitela. En el ejército, Yeshitela pudo relacionar el imperialismo y el colonialismo con el trato que recibía como africano en Estados Unidos. Durante un convoy militar rumbo al sur de Florida, en plena Crisis de los Misiles de Cuba , el dueño blanco de un restaurante le negó el servicio a Yeshitela por ser negro. En Fort Benning, Georgia, Yeshitela fue acusado de intentar tomar de la mano a una mujer blanca en un bar porque se negó a darle dinero (una práctica común que impedía que los blancos tocaran la piel de las personas negras). En protesta por la política colonial de Estados Unidos, Yeshitela escribió una carta de 12 páginas al presidente John F. Kennedy, declarando su incapacidad para servir en un ejército "que protegía a individuos como George Wallace y una tradición de opresión del pueblo africano". 

Entrada al Movimiento por los Derechos Civiles y al Movimiento del Poder Negro.

Yeshitela regresó a San Petersburgo, Florida, tras su baja del Ejército de los Estados Unidos en 1963.  Trabajó en diversos campos, como obrero en un almacén de venta e instalación de alfombras, y como ayudante de redacción, corrector de pruebas y aprendiz de impresor para el St. Petersburg Times. Yeshitela también asistió al Gibbs Junior College. Yeshitela se involucró con otros estudiantes universitarios que se organizaron contra las políticas de Jim Crow en San Petersburgo, Florida. Yeshitela exploró diversos movimientos y organizaciones. Asistió a reuniones y participó en algunas acciones lideradas por la Asociación Nacional para el Progreso de las Personas de Color (NAACP), pero no compartía sus tácticas ni objetivos. Investigó la Nación del Islam debido a su admiración por Malcolm X , pero no decidió unirse a ellos. Yeshitela se asoció con el Congreso de Igualdad Racial (CORE) . Fue organizador de un proyecto de registro y educación de votantes en comunidades africanas del norte de Florida. Tras su trabajo con CORE, Yeshitela se unió al Comité Coordinador Estudiantil No Violento . 

líder estudiantil Comité Coordinador Estudiantil No Violento

Yeshitela participó en el Movimiento por los Derechos Civiles durante su juventud en las décadas de 1950 y 1960 como miembro del Comité Coordinador Estudiantil No Violento (SNCC), una organización influyente. Fundado en 1960, el SNCC se desvinculó de la política de la Conferencia de Liderazgo Cristiano del Sur (SCLC). El SNCC se fundó en 1960. Desde entonces, el SNCC se había comprometido a organizar a las bases en el Sur. El SNCC también había comenzado a desarrollar relaciones internacionales. Los organizadores del SNCC se reunieron con Ahmed Sekou Touré de Guinea y otros líderes de la independencia africana. El SNCC había forjado una estrecha relación con Malcolm X. Yeshitela se unió al SNCC en 1966. Ese mismo año, Stokely Carmichael (más tarde conocido como Kwame Ture) fue elegido presidente del SNCC. Yeshitela señala que Carmichael había "capturado la imaginación del mundo cuando pronunció el lema/demanda" Poder Negro .  El SNCC también había organizado la Organización por la Libertad del Condado de Lowndes en Alabama. En 1966, Omali Yeshitela organizó la primera sección del SNCC basada en la membresía. Originalmente, el SNCC había funcionado como una organización de voluntarios con personal. La estructura basada en la membresía le dio a la sección del SNCC en San Petersburgo, Florida, el mismo carácter que al Partido Pantera Negra para la Autodefensa , que se formó casi al mismo tiempo en Oakland, California . El SNCC se organizó en defensa de la comunidad africana en San Petersburgo, Florida (como ya lo había hecho en otros lugares). Omali Yeshitela señala que una de sus preocupaciones era una subvención federal de 50 millones de dólares para la ciudad de San Petersburgo, que el gobierno municipal había destinado a "embellecer" el centro. Yeshitela y el SNCC creían que los fondos se utilizarían mejor para generar empleo, impulsar el desarrollo económico y realizar otras mejoras para la comunidad negra de San Petersburgo. Yeshitela destaca que la lucha por el desarrollo económico fue el trasfondo importante de su famosa acción de derribar el mural racista de George Snow Hill que colgaba en el Ayuntamiento de San Petersburgo. 

Demolición del mural del Ayuntamiento

Yeshitela había intervenido en el pensamiento radical con su distinción entre colonialismo y racismo. Yeshitela señala que "el racismo es simplemente el fundamento ideológico del imperialismo capitalista".  Yeshitela continúa afirmando que "la ideología burguesa del 'racismo' sirve para unir a la gran mayoría de los blancos e incluso a algunos africanos en apoyo de la agenda imperialista". Esto proporciona contexto al incidente del mural. El SNCC de San Petersburgo organizó una manifestación y una rueda de prensa en el Ayuntamiento de San Petersburgo al mediodía del 29 de diciembre de 1966.  El propósito de la manifestación era utilizar el tema del mural para movilizar a la opinión pública y lograr los cambios que el SNCC había estado impulsando.  El mural degradante reflejaba la cultura de los espectáculos de juglares que era popular en los medios estadounidenses durante el apogeo de las leyes de segregación racial (Jim Crow). "Picnicking at the Pass-a-Grille" de George Snow Hill era una de las dos imágenes que se habían exhibido en el Ayuntamiento de San Petersburgo desde 1945. "Picnicking at the Pass-a-Grille" representaba a músicos con la cara pintada de negro , rasgos exagerados y pintura blanca alrededor de la boca, entreteniendo a los bañistas blancos. Su obra compañera, titulada "Fishing at the Pier" (Pesca en el muelle), representaba a familias blancas con rasgos normales disfrutando de un relajante día de pesca. Bill DeYoung, antiguo corresponsal del St. Petersburg Times, señaló que se sugirió que estos murales representaban "la vida cotidiana en San Petersburgo". La comunidad negra se había opuesto al mural durante dos décadas, desde su instalación.  Para la comunidad africana de San Petersburgo, "El mural representaba amargamente el lugar al que se veían relegados los negros colonizados en esta ciudad, donde los africanos se veían obligados a funcionar como sirvientes oprimidos de la industria turística blanca y de los ancianos jubilados blancos".  Asimismo, "El mural ofensivo representaba una ciudad donde los africanos, durante décadas, estuvieron confinados a viviendas en una pequeña área cuadrada de dos millas al sur de San Petersburgo, que estaba sujeta a un toque de queda después de las 9 p. m. todas las noches". 

Herman Goldner, alcalde de San Petersburgo, rechazó las demandas de Yeshitela y el SNCC, declarando: «Nuestras minorías debían aprender a ser menos sensibles».  Goldner también afirmó: «No encuentro nada ofensivo en la representación de trovadores paseando y excursionistas en la playa Pass-a-Grille... Creo que saben que yo, personalmente, no soy racista. Creo que todos nuestros grupos minoritarios deben madurar hasta el punto en que la timidez no sea un factor que motive las quejas». 

Yeshitela y los activistas del SNCC no tenían intención de derribar el mural. El incidente se originó cuando periodistas y policías blancos se rieron de una anciana africana que habló en la manifestación del 29 de diciembre de 1966 en el Ayuntamiento de San Petersburgo. La anciana, pobre y anciana, se había unido a la marcha de protesta cuando pasó frente a su casa. Habló del sistema de seguros abusivo que la clase trabajadora africana tenía que soportar en San Petersburgo, Florida. Yeshitela escribe que la anciana "hablaba un inglés chapurreado, usaba dobles negaciones e infinitivos separados, y los medios de comunicación y la policía la encontraron graciosa, tratándola como si fuera un espectáculo".  Yeshitela entró inmediatamente al ayuntamiento y arrancó el mural de 2,1 x 3 metros.  El incidente llegó a las agencias de noticias y fue cubierto por diversos medios de comunicación en todo Estados Unidos, incluyendo la revista Jet , que publicó un reportaje de dos páginas. Yeshitela fue condenado a cinco años de prisión estatal por el incidente del mural. Durante su estancia en prisión, Omali Yeshitela organizó la Junta de Organizaciones Militantes (JOMO).

Fundación de la Junta de Organizaciones Militantes (JOMO) Black panthers

La Junta de Organizaciones Militantes (JOMO) se formó en San Petersburgo, Florida, en mayo de 1968.  JOMO surgió tras el asesinato del Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. en Memphis, Tennessee, el 4 de abril de 1968, y de Little Bobby Hutton, el miembro más joven del Partido Pantera Negra, en Oakland, California, el 6 de abril de 1968. Este fue también el período de la huelga de trabajadores de saneamiento de San Petersburgo . Omali Yeshitela creó JOMO mientras estaba encarcelado, cumpliendo condena por el incidente del mural de diciembre de 1966. En español, junta significa consejo. Además, las letras fueron elegidas porque formaban el nombre de pila de Jomo Kenyatta . En ese momento, se creía que Kenyatta era responsable del Ejército de Tierra y Libertad de Kenia , popularmente conocido como Mau Mau . Yeshitela señala: «A pesar de la comprensión errónea de quién era el neocolonialista Jomo Kenyatta, África estaba claramente presente en mi mente como elemento central de nuestra identidad como pueblo y como punto de partida para comprender nuestra situación en Estados Unidos y en el mundo. La palabra suajili para libertad, "Uhuru", introducida en el léxico político mundial por los Mau Mau, se convirtió en mi guía». JOMO se convirtió en la principal organización revolucionaria africana anticolonial en Florida. [ 26 ] [ fuente no primaria necesaria ] JOMO también desarrolló una fuerte presencia en otras partes del sur de los Estados Unidos, incluyendo Louisville, Kentucky. JOMO representó una forma de organización de movimientos de masas que las organizaciones posteriores dentro del Movimiento Uhuru adoptaron en los años venideros. En 1968, JOMO fundó el periódico The Burning Spear , el periódico del Poder Negro más antiguo en impresión continua. En 1969, JOMO creó el Banco de Sangre JOMO en el Hospital St. Anthony en San Petersburgo, Florida. El banco de sangre se creó "debido al alto precio de la sangre y la naturaleza cruel de los hospitales capitalistas estadounidenses", donde una pinta de sangre costaba a los africanos hasta 45 dólares; lo que equivale a unos 300 dólares en 2022. El 1 de enero de 1970, el banco de sangre donó 14 pintas de sangre a dos mujeres africanas, ahorrándoles 600 dólares (unos 4000 dólares en la actualidad). 

JOMO presentó las siguientes siete demandas en defensa de la comunidad africana:

Control de nuestras escuelas: el plan de estudios, las contrataciones y los despidos, y la determinación de cuánto dinero se asignará a las escuelas.

Una junta de revisión policial compuesta por un amplio sector de la comunidad negra.

Se acabará la explotación por parte de comerciantes blancos que tienen negocios en el gueto.

Control de todas las viviendas públicas para personas negras.

Todos los propietarios de viviendas en barrios marginales que tengan propiedades de alquiler en la comunidad negra deberán ceder dichas propiedades a la ciudad, la cual retendrá el alquiler en depósito y entregará la propiedad a los ocupantes después de un período de tiempo determinado. Que se rediseñen los límites de nuestros distritos de manera que la zona donde la población negra sea mayoría constituya un distrito, dando a la población negra el poder de elegir representantes locales negros que no tengan que depender del voto blanco para ser elegidos. Control total de la comunidad negra.  Como organización de masas, JOMO contaba con una amplia membresía y un gran impacto. Muchos años después, Geronimo Pratt, por ejemplo, le comentó al presidente Omali Yeshitela que había sido miembro de JOMO a finales de la década de 1960, cuando estaba destinado en Florida. En 1972, JOMO se unió a otras dos organizaciones de Florida, los Luchadores por los Derechos Negros de Fort Myers y el Grupo de Estudio Negro de Gainesville , para crear el Partido Socialista del Pueblo Africano. 

Fundación del periódico The Burning Spear

El periódico The Burning Spear es la institución más antigua del Movimiento Uhuru y es anterior a la formación del Partido Socialista del Pueblo Africano . The Burning Spear se fundó en diciembre de 1968, en el segundo aniversario del incidente del mural del ayuntamiento, en San Petersburgo, Florida. El The Burning Spear original era un boletín de cuatro páginas mimeografiadas de 8x11 pulgadas. En diciembre de 1969, The Burning Spear se convirtió en un periódico impreso. Yeshitela fue el primer editor del periódico. El Burning Spear fue producido inicialmente por la Junta de Organizaciones Militantes (JOMO), la organización que Yeshitela fundó en 1968. El título del periódico refleja la traducción del nombre JOMO. Jomo significa "lanza ardiente" en el idioma kikuyu. Al igual que con la adopción del eslogan "Uhuru", el título del periódico pretendía vincular el Movimiento Uhuru en los Estados Unidos con el Ejército de Tierra y Libertad de Kenia de Dedan Kimathi , comúnmente conocido como Mau Mau . Omali Yeshitela explicó el periódico The Burning Spear y su surgimiento del Movimiento del Poder Negro: «The Burning Spear nació de la lucha: de las ardientes contradicciones de los años 60 que dieron lugar al Movimiento del Poder Negro, y de las reacciones de palizas, encarcelamientos y asesinatos por parte de diversos funcionarios de la ley estadounidenses. Desde el principio, The Burning Spear fue un intento de visibilizar nuestra lucha para nuestra gente y nuestros aliados». Omali Yeshitela describió a The Burning Spear como una institución de poder dual y en pugna. Yeshitela explicó esto en el foro de 1985 "¿Dicen los medios la verdad?" celebrado en Berkeley, California: "No nos consideramos medios alternativos. Nos consideramos una fuerza en pugna". Más tarde continuó explicando: "[Nos vemos en una feroz disputa con los medios". [ 30 ] La portada de The Burning Spear de diciembre de 1969 mostraba el mural de Snow Hill que Yeshitela había derribado tres años antes.

El periódico The Burning Spear alcanzó una amplia circulación en Estados Unidos y a nivel mundial. Bakari Olatunji, miembro veterano de la APSP y residente de Oakland, señaló que incluso miembros del Partido Pantera Negra en Oakland distribuían el periódico junto con el suyo propio. [ 31 ] En la década de 1980, Omali Yeshitela se encontró con un hombre blanco británico en una librería de propietarios negros, de pie en medio de la sala, con The Burning Spear en la mano, ensalzando la virtud del periódico como un proveedor honesto de la verdad. El periódico también elogia a Rusia  y apoya plenamente la invasión de Ucrania por parte de Vladimir Putin , calificándola de operación defensiva. 

Fundación del Partido Socialista del Pueblo Africano

Yeshitela cofundó el Partido Socialista del Pueblo Africano en mayo de 1972 mediante la fusión de tres organizaciones con sede en Florida: la Junta de Organizaciones Militantes (JOMO), con sede en San Petersburgo, Florida, dirigida por Yeshitela, los Luchadores por los Derechos Negros con sede en Fort Myers, Florida, dirigidos por Lawrence Mann, y el Grupo de Estudio Negro con sede en Gainesville, Florida, dirigido por Katura Carey.  Ese mismo año, el APSP adoptó el periódico de JOMO, The Burning Spear , el periódico del Poder Negro de mayor duración en los Estados Unidos, como su publicación oficial. Yeshitela declaró desde el principio que la misión de la APSP era "completar la Revolución Negra de los Sesenta", describiendo un período de derrota resultante de la guerra de contrainsurgencia emprendida por el gobierno estadounidense contra el movimiento del Poder Negro de la década de 1960. Mediante programas de contrainteligencia del FBI como COINTELPRO , la contrainsurgencia del gobierno estadounidense contra la Revolución Negra de los Sesenta implicó el asesinato de líderes como Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Bobby Hutton y Fred Hampton, y la destrucción de sus organizaciones. Yeshitela también fue arrestado y encarcelado en numerosas ocasiones.  La APSP adoptó su Constitución en su Primer Congreso, celebrado en Oakland, California, en 1981.

Tribunal Mundial de Reparaciones de 1982

La Plataforma de Trabajo del Partido Socialista del Pueblo Africano fue adoptada el 23 de septiembre de 1979. De los 14 puntos de la plataforma, el Partido Socialista del Pueblo Africano (PSPA) impulsó la demanda de reparaciones. Para el PSPA y los internacionalistas africanos, las reparaciones se han descrito como una demanda revolucionaria. La postura del PSPA sobre las reparaciones se recoge en el punto 11 de la Plataforma de Trabajo. La Plataforma de Trabajo fue revisada y adoptada, una vez más, en el Primer Congreso del Partido Socialista del Pueblo Africano, celebrado en Oakland, California, en noviembre de 1981. El trabajo que emprendieron inmediatamente tras el Primer Congreso incluyó la campaña de reparaciones. Omali Yeshitela escribe que el objetivo del Partido Socialista del Pueblo Africano era:

Para que el concepto de reparaciones se convirtiera en algo común, fuimos nosotros quienes popularizamos la demanda de reparaciones en Estados Unidos. Antes de la intervención de nuestro Partido, el tema de las reparaciones consistía esencialmente en esfuerzos por obtener algún tipo de reconocimiento legislativo o judicial en los tribunales estadounidenses o por parte del gobierno estatal o federal. No existía una participación masiva real. Reconocimos que las reparaciones debían convertirse en propiedad de las masas para que fueran una cuestión política significativa. El presidente Omali Yeshitela y la APSP organizaron el primer Tribunal Mundial sobre Reparaciones a los Pueblos Africanos en los EE. UU. los días 13 y 14 de noviembre de 1982 en Brooklyn, Nueva York. El Tribunal declaró a Estados Unidos culpable de robar mano de obra a los pueblos africanos. A diferencia de otras interpretaciones de las reparaciones, la APSP y el Tribunal Mundial no limitaron su análisis a la esclavitud colonial, sino que lo extendieron a la época contemporánea. El Tribunal cuantificó la deuda contraída con los pueblos africanos en los EE. UU. en 4,1 billones de dólares. [ 37 ] Esta cantidad se expuso en el libro Trabajo Negro Robado: La Economía Política del Colonialismo Doméstico. [ 38 ] Las actas del Tribunal Mundial se publicaron en el libro ¡Reparaciones Ahora!: Informe abreviado del Tribunal Internacional sobre Reparaciones para los Pueblos Negros en los EE. UU. 

Actividades posteriores

En su activismo cívico en su San Petersburgo natal, Yeshitela ha enfatizado su opinión de que el desarrollo político y económico pondrá fin a la opresión de las comunidades africanas en todo el mundo. Se mudó a Oakland, California , en 1981, donde vivió y trabajó.  Yeshitela formó parte del Comité Directivo del programa Challenge 2001 del alcalde de San Petersburgo, David Fischer, y del Comité Asesor de Hope VI de la Autoridad de Vivienda de San Petersburgo, dos proyectos dedicados a atraer empleos e inversiones al sur de San Petersburgo. También presidió el comité de acción política de la Coalición de Liderazgo Afroamericano, integrada por varias iglesias afroamericanas y grupos de derechos civiles de la zona, y fue miembro de la junta directiva de la emisora ​​de radio comunitaria WMNF. Junto con otros ocho candidatos, Yeshitela se postuló para alcalde en febrero de 2001. Aunque no llegó a la segunda vuelta, ganó en todos los distritos electorales afroamericanos y mixtos de la ciudad, excepto en uno. En 2019, Yeshitela participó en el debate sobre África de la Oxford Union titulado "Esta Cámara apoyaría una Unión Africana cada vez más unida". 

HIP-HOP GENERATION

we said that Omali Yeshitela was born Joseph Waller, Jr. in St. Petersburg, Florida, on October 9, 1941. Yeshitela was raised in a community formerly known as the Gas Plant District, an African community on the South Side of St. Petersburg. The Gas Plant District no longer exists, as it was razed to create Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays. Yeshitela attended Jordan Elementary School, Sixteenth Street Junior High School, and Gibbs High School as a youth. Yeshitela belongs to what historian Donna Murch calls "the Black Power Generation", black working-class activists who came of age between the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till and the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X. Yeshitela is less than two months younger than Till and was 13 years old when the 14-year-old Till was lynched in Drew, Mississippi on August 28, 1955. Yeshitela has noted that the lynching of Till impacted his worldview, and the worldview of Black People in the United States.

US Army Years

In the late 1950s, the Modern Civil Rights Movement and African decolonization struggles were advancing. All sectors of black society discussed these topics. Yeshitela was a standout student at Gibbs High School. In 1959, during his senior year at Gibbs High School, a class discussion was held on "the advancement of African people."[8] In this discussion, a teacher declared that black people would have to "prove" themselves to white people if they wanted to be free. That is when Yeshitela decided to leave school and join the United States Army. Yeshitela completed his basic training in South Carolina. He was subsequently stationed in Germany. Yeshitela has noted that it was in Germany where he began to learn about imperialism. "As a U.S. soldier in Berlin, which was also occupied militarily by British troops, I was subjected to lectures by white British officers who told humiliating, "racist" stories of the colonial war being waged against our people in Congo who, under the leadership of Patrice Lumumba, were fighting to overturn colonial domination by the Belgians and other colonialists, including the British and U.S.," Yeshitela writes. In the army, Yeshitela was able to connect imperialism and colonialism to his treatment as an African person in the United States. While in a military convoy to South Florida, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a white restaurant owner was allowed to deny Yeshitela service because Yeshitela was black. In Fort Benning, Georgia, Yeshitela was accused of attempting to hold the hand of a white woman at a snack bar because he refused to drop money in her hand (a common practice that prevented white people from having to touch the skin of black people). In protest at the colonial policy of the United States, Yeshitela wrote a 12-page letter to US President John F. Kennedy declaring his inability to serve in an army "that protected the likes of George Wallace and a tradition of oppression of African people."

GEORGE  FLOYD

In 2012, the African Peoples' Socialist Party launched Black Star Industries, placing all the Party's economic institutions under a single umbrella and creating partnerships with community members. The value I have always placed on him, both during the years we maintained a very close political relationship and when we went our separate ways regarding the tactics the APSP should employ at that time, is unwavering. From 2004 to 2014, Omali and I had many conversations about political activity. In 2007, in Huelva, we spent hours together for a week. It was here that I met someone very important to the success of APSP today: Ona Yeshitela. We spoke on the phone. The fact that the ASI Executive Summit was held in London, which we both attended, helped us to maintain a close relationship later on, when he moved to St. Louis, Missouri, during the George Floyd mobilization campaign. Omali was very focused on building the foundations of a pan-Africanist economic and cultural organization called the Black Power Blueprint and "How to Change the World Through African Self-Determination..." At that time, we didn't talk much about each other's personal lives and political pasts. Therefore, it was only many years later, while writing an article about the influence of Emalcolmx on Omali, that he gave me details I didn't know about his life before serving in the North African Army, stationed in Germany. Omali remembered several activists from the Black Trade Union Organization of Florida who joined the movement, some of whom had already passed away... and he also spoke of the connection to the African cultural identity struggle. He stated that he was the one who had managed to master internet technology for propaganda purposes (to denounce police brutality, murders, and arrests). 

FREE HUEY FREE MUMIA

In the 1990s, thanks in part to journalists and political activist or Hip-Hop artist such Tupac shakur, the struggle of African American political prisoners gained significant impact, with a presence on almost every continent, uniting forces committed to defending the self-determination of African peoples. He also played  an active role in several international meetings for the release of Mandela and political prisoners like Mumia Abu Jamal, Motulu Shaku, Sundiata Acoli. Omali was considered the most respected person in California after the assassination of Dr. Huey P. Newton in 1989. In fact, as Chairman of the African People's Socialist Party gives a brilliant dialectic and outstanding and laudable explanation on the role of Chairman Huey P. Newton played in the revolution in the 20th Century and new African Liberation Movement. In fact, after Huey's assassination in 1989, Omali organized numerous mobilizations in Oakland and other parts of the country, such as Philadelphia, Florida. Additionally, Chairman Omali clarifies that Huey was not killed due to drugs as the mainstream explanation for his death goes,  but rather was assassinated for his historic opposition to the repression of the imperialist state,  kindling the minds of others revolutionaries and providing a role model of bravery in the face of the most repressive and powerful government  the world has ever seen. Before his death, Huey P. Newton, whose last political will is considered to have been expressed in San Francisco, said: "We may not have the Panthers newspaper anymore, but we have the Burning Spear Newspaper. You might not have the Panthers, but you have the Uhuru House." With this, he practically handed Omali Yehsitela the torch and burning spear of the Black revolution's continuity. It is not possible to understand Africa today without sovereignty, without Pan-African unionism, without all the people who have made and continue to make the Garveyist homeland, a project that moves forward without renouncing its history and culture, as it were, by placing Africans at the center of every task and objective. This does not mean exclusivism or isolation, but it is enough to review the historical process of African  internationalism to verify, in ideas and deeds, that Afrikan sovereignty has always been defended as a contribution to the richness of the historical and cultural diversity of humanity. Omali was one of those exemplary activists who gave everything, even his own life, without asking for anything in return, for an Africa that is master of its present and future.

Izwe Lethu i Afrika! 

I rumember when I was a child, I heard, at some church gathering with my mother or aunts, a cry made by Winnie Mandela and other ANC militants fighting against Apartheid in South Africa. It was an essential part of the resistance movement: the 1980s in AzaniA, Zimbabwe, Malawi, angola, Mozambique, and the ANC against white supremacy through strikes, labor disputes, agitation, dirty war, crises, repression, unemployment, disillusionment, torture, heroin, and bombs. Amidst rubber bullets, checkpoints, funerals, tear gas, and beatings, the hopeful future without apartheid, without institutional racism, was a mobilizing utopia that forged a path within the Black resistance, a powerful and heterogeneous resistance movement composed of young people from diverse ideological backgrounds. Pan-Africanists, nationalists, trade unionists, anti-militarists, socialist, libertarians, intellectuals, environmentalists, feminists… will unite around a dense network of counter-information, reggea music wit people like Luky Dube, and student, media  and hip-hop ; they will move from concert to concert and from protest demonstration to protest. In contrast, Omali embraced this entire historical cultural tradition of political resistance against oppression, a culture of popular struggle that the African lumpenproletariat and subaltern masses created during almost a century of armed anti-colonial, anti-racist resistance against apartheid. In a short time, Mandela's neoliberal policies not only impoverished the Black working classes but, above all, dismantled the popular culture of resistance in Soweto. In fact, after his release, we never heard from him again. We had forgotten him. It was at a Uhuru movement meeting where the cry of this slogan, launched by Omali, resonated within me again: Izwe Lethu i Afrika! (Africa Is Our Land). It wasn't at university, but Omali taught us to shout it like a mantra that functioned as psychological medicine, and we would then repeat it backwards: I afriKA izwe lethu. Doing so sent a shiver through your body, for the cry created a psychological impulse of affirmation and empowerment within you, making you lose your fear of political commitment to the African cause. With this, Omali rescued from extinction a dynamic embedded in the political and militant tradition of a broad sector of Africans.

BIG THEORETICAL

The first thing to say is that he is one of the great thinkers and theorists that the Pan-Africanist world has produced in the last 50 years. According to Malcolm Garvey University, Omali represents one of the most important grassroots Garveyist (non-academic) intellectuals in keeping alive the factual and central elements of Garveyism. He is someone who was formed in or comes from the tradition of revolutionary intellectual thought of Black liberation, of the Black Panthers, Aldridge Cleaver, Huey P. Newton, Runoko Rashidi, Akinyele Umoja, Kwame Touré, James Baldwin, Chokwe Lumumba, and Malcolm X in the 1960s, and whose hermeneutics have conditioned the relevance of the Black Power movement. He is also known, in addition to his wonderful texts, because he was first a militant of the Socialist Party and then, more importantly, a founder of the Socialist Party in the USA. So, without going into too much detail, and inviting you to also study his life of struggle in addition to reading Omali's texts, let's begin with the texts we have been... Reading a selection of his texts in which Omali addresses the topic of the Black Power revolution of Garveyism helps us enter the debate: what is the Garveyist revolution in broad strokes? The origin of the concept, first, where does this concept of revolution of African internationalism arise from? And then, how is this term applied to understand the formation of modern African states that emerged after the French Revolution of 1958 in Ghana under Nkrumah? Making the term the concept? And the historical moments to which Omali applies? A permanent analysis of the revolution, passive or occupation of the minds and consciences of the Black elite. So, Omali's texts helped me think about this and also, perhaps, to try to understand the direction of political and economic affairs from an international perspective, which were betrayed in a context by the Black bourgeoisie or Uncle Tom. The Social emancipation, national emancipation / Omali building an undeniable and formidable Vigenete School of Cadres (who argued, based on his own life experience and the struggle of the Black people, that national liberation and social emancipation go hand in hand. As an activist, political leader, and African intellectual, Omali guided the discussion in my generation. We can say that Omali's figure in his youth is, on the one hand, a normal figure, typical of those times of an African youth that was bursting forth with force against a situation of imperialist and neocolonial oppression systematic in his biography. He says that from the beginning, on the one hand, but on the other hand within that revolutionary youth of the 50s imbued with the spirit along with others, he was also characterized by something that is relatively anomalous, right? A critical spirit and a tremendous capacity for analyzing the concrete, right? A critical spirit that always led him to even enter into not tension, but rather into debate with his His own colleagues, who were following the usual path, were lagging behind, and so, well, they didn't have the capacity that he had, and that others had as well, but now we're talking about him. That capacity, and the second characteristic of this second point is that capacity for analyzing the concrete, right? And then that critical spirit, with that capacity for analysis, led to a capacity for original proposals, original proposals that have been the basis of sustained support for 60 years for what we could define as the emergence of a revolutionary theory for an oppressed nation emancipated on the theoretical plane of theoretical domination, well, of reformism, of Spanish and European reformism, that entrenched reformism that has faces at this moment like the NAACP, pro-Western dictatorships and regimes like OBIANG in Equatorial Guinea or the Democratic Party, like other liberals that have to be anchored in a vision, let's say, that doesn't break with the central neocolonial structure, right? Those contributions of Omali that reflect all the Pan-Africanist fervor In Ghana, the figures of Nkrumah, Nasser, and Lumumba, who were there at the time, remain a necessary and essential part of our understanding of the present.

RBG

Omali Yeshitela is not only a political activist, writer, and leader of the Black Power and African American civil rights movement. He is widely known as the president of the African People's Socialist Party and the founder of the Uhuru Movement. He is a prolific theorist and thinker in the critique of Pan-Africanism who has written many works that I have read, all of them published by Burning Spear Uhuru Publications. He has self-published several books with Burning Spear Uhuru Publications: Among them: On African Internationalism, Tactics and Strategy for Black Liberation in the US, The Struggle for Bread, Peace and Black Power, Stolen Black Labor, Reparations Now!, A New Beginning and Not One Step Backwards, The Road to Socialism is Painted Black, Izwe Lethu i Afrika! (Africa Is Our Land), Social Justice and Economic Development for the African Community: Why I Became a Revolutionary, The Dialectics of Black Revolution: The Struggle to Defeat the Counterinsurgency in the U.S., Overturning the Culture of Violence, with Penny Hess, One Africa! One Nation!, Omali Yeshitela Speaks: African Internationalism, Political Theory for Our Time, One People! One Party! One Destiny!, An Uneasy Equilibrium: The African Revolution Versus Parasitic Capitalism, Vanguard: The Advanced Detachment of the African Revolution. Historically, Yeshitela's work and teachings have focused on Pan-Africanism, Black Power, reparations, economic self-determination, Black self-liberation, theology, socialism, Revolution and the struggle against colonialism and the systemic oppression of Black communities. Ultimately, this is what is known as African internationalism. Although it has gone largely unnoticed,

THEOLOGICAL BASES

His theological work is very important. His work, presented in "If Jesus Was A Revolutionary, How Can Your Preacher Be Such An Uncle Tom?", developed in me a reorientation of my theological perspective that consolidated my initial orientation, influenced by James Cohen, Jean Marc Ela, Bodipo Malumba, Tamayo, and Cyprien Melibi, regarding the need, from a dialectical materialist perspective, for a true Black theology of liberation. His approach had a strong impact on me. The theological contribution of Omali Yeshitela focuses on the ideas of pastors such as Nat Turner, John Brown, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X, specifically on the concept of revolution and Black responsibility. He argued that the message of loving one's neighbor, as taught by Christian pastors and priests, contradicts the anti-colonial action and orientation of Jesus during his life, among other reasons because it demands not only a certain attitude from these priests but also a transformation of unjust structures through revolution, arguing that "the duty of every Christian is to be revolutionary." Indeed, Jesus argued that charitable assistance was insufficient. For him, love had to be demonstrated scientifically and effectively (effective love) by solving the structural problems of the poor and oppressed: of Black people. If the capitalist system or the oligarchy generated hunger and exclusion, the Christian priest had a moral duty to destroy it and build a new society. in which social integration based on faith in Christ is expressed in the Revolution, and not in the betrayal that priests, imams, and Black pastors commit against their own Afro-descendant parishioners. His great contribution was to build a practical and theoretical bridge between Marxism (as a tool for social and political analysis) and Christianity (as the ethical driving force and of dialectical materialism). He maintains that the Back Power revolution was not incompatible with faith, but rather the highest expression of the commandment of love in the African context. Omali Yeshitela's theological contribution draws from the traditions of pastors like Nat Turner, John Brown, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X, focusing on the concepts of faith, revolution, and Black responsibility. Omali argued that the message of loving one's neighbor, championed by Christian pastors and priests, has been co-opted by the colonizer. This is because the colonizer opposes action against injustice with a strong and absolute anti-colonial orientation, the same one that fueled Jesus's life. Among other things, this is because it demands not only a different attitude from these deeply sodomized and domesticated Black priests, but also a profound commitment to transforming the unjust structures that Jesus fought against by any means necessary, arguing that "the duty of every good Christian is to be revolutionary." Omali is a Marxist, but above all, he is African. Therefore, he does not deny the reality of the cultural foundations of spirituality, or as Cheik AnTa Diop would say, the foundations of Blackness. Rather, he seeks to make this spirituality, through his priests, functional to the divine project of Black liberation implicit in the life project of the Black Jew crucified in Palestine two thousand years ago. The Dialectics of Black Revolution, by Chairman Omali...This perspective already appears in the second edition of his work, 'The Dialectics of Black Revolution,' where Omali Yeshitela presents a critical analysis of the Black power movement of the 1960s. I read it with enthusiasm and, as Cyprien Melibi would say, with apology. He employs this same analytical logic in his masterful work, "If Jesus was a revolutionary, why are priests, imams, and pastors all such Uncle Toms?"Omali argues that charitable assistance was insufficient. For him, love had to be demonstrated scientifically and effectively (effective, not abstract) by solving the structural problems of the poor and oppressed: of Black people. If the capitalist system or the oligarchy generated hunger and exclusion, the Christian priest had a moral duty to destroy it and build a new society in which social integration based on faith in Christ is expressed through revolution, and not through the betrayal perpetrated by priests, imams, and pastors. However, Omali answers a question that generations of Africans and oppressed people have asked themselves: If Jesus Was A Revolutionary, How Can Your Preacher Be Such An Uncle Tom? He argues that priests have clearly betrayed the will and libertarian message of Jesus, since he affirms, through an Afrocentric hermeneutic, that Jesus was a revolutionary and never an Uncle Tom. Therefore, many of these religious institutions, such as churches, mosques, and synagogues, for the most part, do not serve to bring the oppressed, and Black people in particular, closer to God as a synonym for liberation. Instead, they deliberately—through a neocolonial theology that excludes the life and work of Jesus as a man from study and debate—center its entire essence on the divine aspect wielded by the power and supremacy of the wealthy white elite in Rome or any other Protestant church. They deny or minimize the contradictions that Jesus, as a Black person close to and alongside the oppressed, had to endure (racism, persecution, occupation), contradictions which, as Omali demonstrates, are found in the Bible itself. This is what I call pure drugs, whose arguments serve as a narcotic to keep Black and oppressed people distracted, on the sidelines, or out of Black consciousness regarding their own liberation struggle

SPANISH NEW BLACK PANTHER PARTY 

In 1995, FOJAH's internal debate was about to culminate with the discussion of the paper "The Final Call" at our Second Congress. The Spanish section of the Black Panther Party was not yet under the leadership of Dr. Khalid Mohamed, but rather under the international guidance of Aroon Micheal. Thus, it was a debate with a clear strategic focus, proposing to move towards a scenario that would definitively overcome, through military means, the consequences of the political conflict against terrorism. Therefore, we centered the debate and the agreements on returning the "question of Black self-defense" to the center of the Pan-Africanist political agenda. The internal debate and the organization's lines of action defined the milestones of the New Strategic Direction: The party's foundational paper proposed a profound restructuring of the organization, prioritizing its integration as a driving force within a future coalition that later became the Pan-Africanist Federation in Spain OEUA (Organization of the United States of Africa) of Ras Babiker and sister organization Rufi in Barcelona. We advocate for a renewed strong African internationalist momentum, aiming to lay the groundwork for a leadership renewal. Following the congress debate and the approval of the Black Panthers' programmatic foundations, held on November 17-18, 1995, at the Rafael Alberti Theater in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, under heavy security, the party culminated in the election of a new leadership. Junior assumed the position of general coordinator, incorporating the ideological framework and amendments that guided this historic political debate.

2 PAC SHAKUR 

I recall that this occurred a year before the murders of 2Pac and Biggie, amidst the social debate following the extraordinary global mobilization known as the A Million Men March, convened that year by Minister Lois Farrakhan and the NOI. At that time, I was the field marshal and head of the ideological apparatus, along with the information officer of the Spanish section of the Black Panthers, José "Tigre" Méndez. We had both led the Spanish delegation to the historic march on Washington, D.C. As I mentioned, it was in this context that I first met President Omali Yeshitela in October 1995. This moment was marked by two decisive circumstances and debates. On the one hand, we were immersed in the internal debate surrounding the political platform of the Second State Congress. Upon my return, I participated in several media outlets discussing the significance of that mobilization. Almost all of them were racist white journalists or sensationalists in the style of Vito Quiles today, with the exception of two that I highlight: on the one hand, the invitation extended to me by the journalist Carmelo Encinas on Cadena SER and Curro Castillo on Radio España for a debate with the sociologist and professor at the Complutense University of Madrid.... Among the souvenirs I brought back in my suitcase were copies of several black newspapers and magazines that I bought in Baltimore such as Jet, EBony, Nation Time, Amsterdam News and Burning Spear. Spanish public television broadcast a report on the program Informe Semanal about the alternative mobilization carried out in Oakland and San Francisco. The report also featured Penny Hess, a white activist and writer, president of the African People’s Solidarity Committee (APSC), and author of the bestseller *Overtuning the Culture of Violence*. This book, written by Penny Hess and published by Burning Spear Publications, was, I must admit, the first time in my life I had heard about reparations for slavery, colonialism, and apartheid—reparations we would achieve years later at the 2001 Durban Conference. However, prior to this, Omali Yeshitela and her movement and party had already held more than three world congresses for Black reparations before Durban. All of this, explained by a white woman, deeply impacted me.

THE CLASS QUESTION !

Let's say, it was interesting when reading Omali´s text, to start by thinking precisely about why his biography, I don't know, why the militant experience somehow determines the place from which Omali explains things there, in terms that let's say some readers or some scholars of Marxism might not necessarily be used to this way of narrating from lived experience because the first parts of the text, which is almost 40%, place you directly in the biography and make you understand, well, where those concerns arise from, and that, let's say, is striking and is one of the characteristics of the text that immediately stands out, right? Because of the importance of lived experience, right? The importance of militancy. Right, right. That's what I was referring to earlier, omali's ability to reflect the concrete. And he understands the concrete as a concrete phenomenon of his own, but at the same time concrete for a lot of young people. For example, practically from the beginning, he insists a lot on his inability to communicate in African Lenguege (swahili, fang, wolof or mandinga) with his mother, his grandmother, and his family, because they spoke African languages ​​and preserved many religious and cultural aspects, and he didn't know Basque because it had been completely forcibly eradicated by a military dictatorship that was sustained by terror and torture. And he insists a lot on the fact that he can't speak with his grandmother. His mother refuses to speak to her own culture, her own language, or has so much contempt for it, that she doesn't speak it. His father, who came from a Garvey family—that is, very African and defined by maroonage—had lost a great deal of Basque. That's what has happened to many of us. That's precisely where he starts, because he narrates a point that anyone who has read Delano Roostvel, Charles De Ghaule will immediately recognize. Anyone who has lived in countries that suffered and continue to suffer Eurocentric cultural penetration will understand perfectly. Those who have lived in oppressed nations in Africa, Latin America, or other European countries, and have been forbidden from recovering family unity, tradition, and connection to their roots, and who, in childhood, in the earliest moments of life, have been cut off from communication, prevented from speaking with their own family in their own culture and language—the white revolutionaries don't know what that implies, they're unaware of it, aren't they? One of the problems with the incapacity of the Eurocentric left is its ignorance of the rupture that, for the African people, for a Black person, is meant by being forbidden from, and even amputated from childhood, from a basic experiential unity such as communication with one's environment and with one's family. That is devastating for a child. And at the same time, imposing a slave-like, neocolonial, or French-influenced education, as happens in Senegal, Equetorial Guenea, Ivory Coast, Gabon, or the black communities of the US, also speaks of the problems that this entailed with his father and his family, who were all black nationalists, and how he assumed, and logically because it was his first and only political language, he assumed the lies of the black people in the house and the family tensions that this implies. Now it's interesting because in this autobiography, Omali revisits his early life, initially steeped in Christianity through ideology, and then his approach to a perhaps less radical conception of Pan-Africanism, but already with a kind of social affinity. Later, he incorporates Marxism as a fundamental tool for truly understanding the historical, political, and economic position of his people in a struggle for emancipation and dual self-determination. So, if we could reach that moment when Omali begins to study his own Black reality from the perspective of Black political history and Marxism as an analytical tool—and I want to emphasize this factor, these conditions, because many of us from the Public Enemy hip-hop generation have lived under these conditions—this advance toward a critique of Black impoverishment, toward a critique of reality, this advance toward learning Marxism, implies a profound internal tension in theoretical thought because it stems from a personality imposed frontally from the outside and suffered within the family. It's a personal rupture. Where an educated Black person—someone who has had problems in their linguistic, psychological, and other historical contexts—doesn't suffer that tension within their own country or Afro-national culture. So, Omali develops this strategic vision, working from a perspective that is first critical Christianity, always operating clandestinely, even within the army. We must understand that Omali's vision of the structure of oppression is already corroborated by his own struggle with the denial of revolution as an instrument of liberation.

AFRICAN SOLIDARITY

Among other things, because she refuted the widespread fallacy among white people: the cynical and anti-Black argument that “Africans enslaved themselves.” This argument points to the presence of Africans who collaborated with European slave owners and “sold” other Africans, thus shifting the responsibility for the slave trade from the shoulders of the European colonial slave owner to the backs of the colonized and enslaved African. Today, as the voice of the enslaved African community grows stronger globally and demands reparations increase, the “African collaborators” argument, which shifts the blame, may be gaining traction in universities and bourgeois historical publications, not as a historical argument but as a political defense against the legitimacy of the reparations demand.

The third factor in my infatuation with Omali at that time was that we were immersed in the guerrilla warfare in the streets of Alcalá and the rest of Spain against the impunity of the racist terrorism perpetrated by the Nazi skinheads who had killed Lucrecia Pérez (Dominican), Ndombele, Murab, Guillem Agulló, and Ricardo Rodríguez; a bomb with an incendiary device exploded at the Complutense Institute where Frank Pérez studied; and another bomb threat was thwarted by the bomb squad and the police at the Pedro Gumiel high school against Principal Concha Albertos for being, literally, "a friend of Black people," etc. The Black Panthers FOJAH party was focused on defending the physical integrity of the Black community from both police brutality and, above all, from those murdered by the racist terrorism that the media called urban tribes. So, my infatuation with Omali occurred a year before 2Pac and Biggie were killed. So I never dreamed that years later we would meet in person in Florida, London in 2004, Madrid in 2005, and that I would be able to bring Omali to Huelva, Spain in 2007. 

PRINCE OF ZAMUNDA

In that first televised encounter in 1995, Omali had the bearing of an African prince, a kind of Kunta Kinte with a touch of the lumpenproletariat. My mother said he smelled like a mix of Wutan Klan, Sista Souljha, Run DMC, Miriam Makeba, and a good dose of Fela Kuti. A breeze of Bantu nobility spoke with a majestic pose, something like a mix of Malcolm X, Dedan Kitmati's Mau Mau, Huey P. Newton, Winnie Madikizela, and Eddie Murphy's Prince of Zamunda. I think I had seen him before at the funeral services for Dr. Huey P. Newton in 1989 in Oakland, California, but I didn't remember him or know who he was. It was in this context that I met this figure who would contribute to and shape the rest of my life: the word Uhuru.

UHURU

Although he was Dedan Kitmati in Kenya, "Uhuru" means "freedom" in Swahili. Historically, it was the battle cry of the Mau Mau movement (1952-1960), which fought against British colonial and slave rule to reclaim usurped lands. The Mau Mau Rebellion: Origin: It was an armed uprising, primarily by the Kikuyu people, against the British colonial administration, which had appropriated the most fertile lands in the country. In a conflict where the rebels resorted to sabotage, the cry of "Uhuru" was used: The fighters used the word as a password and slogan to inspire unity in the fight for independence. The person who truly ensured the political survival of this term into the 21st century and popularized it was undoubtedly Omali Yeshitela when he founded the Uhuru democratic movement in Chicago, Illinois in 1992. Why white people must study dialectical materialism Omali Yeshitela's series of courses on Dialectical Materialism, which I can see on The Burning Spear Newspaper, were taught. I began attending and studying the Sunday training that Yeshitela gave: Dialectical Materialism. I couldn't attend all of them because they conflicted with my work schedule. I read many of his publications. The result was that I acquired a deep hermeneutics of Materialism and the Dialectical Method, and especially On How To Make The Black Family Stronger, and other aspects that Omali developed more than anyone else as an African philosophical thinker. I read this document discusses the ongoing struggle for African liberation, highlighting the importance of understanding historical materialism and the systemic issues... but there was something in it that was very familiar to me, like Yeshitela's criticisms of Marx. ) first of all he seriously disagrees with Marx's...How would the state just wither away? : or that communism is a 'moneyless' system. I subscribed to your newspaper The Burning Spear where  upholds the truth: that liberation must come from and be led by the oppressed. This theoretical and intellectual leadership of Omali reached academic places like the University of Florida and Huelva University in Spain . The entire world is now locked into a single dialectical process, a unity of opposites, whereupon the gross extraction of life and... led me to become more and more questions What is the theory of dialectical

ONE AFRICA ONE NATION

One Africa! One Nation!" is a prominent pan-African socio-political slogan by Nkrumah. A deep Political Vision Historically championed by leaders like Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah, the sentiment advocates for dismantling colonial borders and the introduction of a single, unified African passport to freely connect the diaspora and the continent. It is deeply tied to the vision of a unified African continent and the liberation of African people worldwide. This concept encompasses several distinct cultural and political initiatives.The BookThe phrase is the title of a book written by political activist Omali Yeshitela. Published by the African People's Socialist Party (APSP), the book outlines the movement's goal to build the African Socialist International and unite and liberate African people everywhere.The Market & Community MovementIn the United States, "One Africa! One Nation!" is the name of a community marketplace and book fair. Managed by the African People's Education and Development Fund (APEDF), the market aims to foster community self-reliance, support Black-owned businesses, and fund educational and health programs in underrepresented neighborhoods. You can check out their scheduled events on the One Africa! One Nation! Marketplace platform.

At the end of the conference a year later, Omali invited participants from different countries in Africa and the black paratic world to participate in the play One Africa One Nation. I was one of them, I made two chapters of the work. In that text what we saw happening is that In the 1960s Black Revolution swept the U.S. and the African world. How did the promise of the 1960s degenerate into the dismal reality that Africa and the majority of African people everywhere are confronted with now? What can we learn about the struggles of the period represented by the 1960s that can help us to liberate and unite Africa and African people today? One Africa! One Nation! addresses these questions.Since the 1970s the African People's Socialist Party has worked to complete the Black Revolution of the Sixties. In 1981 APSP began the work to build the African Socialist International, to unite and liberate Africa and African people everywhere. Featuring over 30 presentations by African organizers from Africa, Europe, the U.S., Caribbean, and elsewhere in the African world, this book is about the realization of the goal to build the African Socialist International as it becomes a powerful moving force. The text was a successful seller, so for me it was a great honor to put my ideas together with a giant of AFRICAN love and liberation like Omali.

BROTHER LUWENSHI

Furthermore, we launched a special issue of the magazine "African Cultures" from Spain about the Haitian Revolution, which was commemorating its 200th anniversary. During that time, I spent almost a month in London working hard on the Pan-Africanist Community reception committee for Chairman Omali's visit. Before traveling, I spoke several times with Omali about the paradigm of the ASI project. The idea behind ASI is to overcome the borders imposed on Africans by the colonial pact and create a Movement for the Unity and Liberation of Africa and all African people worldwide. I contacted Lwenshi Kinshasa, the highly trusted leader and top director of ASI. International Socialist African, the international organization that Omali was successfully launching in Sierra Leone, South Africa, Ghana, Colombia, and other places worldwide: as soon as I arrived, I placed myself under the service and leadership of the Congolese Luweshi and his wife Patricia. They were true revolutionary militants. I love and respect these people very much; they were so committed, disciplined, and dedicated, working very hard on campaign tasks, posters, newspaper distribution, and daily political work in support of the Peckham community in London. In addition to caring for their children and family, we worked very hard for the ultimate success of the ASI Conference 2005.

MADRID 2005

In pursuit of the effectiveness required by that political phase of the post-Durban Black reparations process, and the accumulation of liberation struggles during the following decade, which involved enormous effort, at the 6th Political Conference held in Bilbao, we led the Maroon movement to take a qualitative leap. We decided to bring forward the Second Political Congress of the Pan-Africanist Movement of Spain: "Taking into account the oppression of migrants as an expression of the African working class, as well as the 2001 Durban agreement to demand reparations for centuries of slavery and colonialism, Apartheid, and now migration, we have concluded that there are more than enough reasons to continue organizing and therefore agree to bring forward the Congress that was to be held in January 2007." So, at the very beginning of the political year, during Mariano Rajoy's government, we marked the first milestone in addressing the congress process: In Bilbao, we approved the Guarantees Commission and the timetable. Under the title of Democracy, Clusters, and Reparations, the Congress was held at the UNED Faculty of Humanities in La Vallès from November 2-5, 2005. The militants approved and discussed the political and organizational principles, as well as my election and the replacement of Fulgencio Ngaga as president of the permanent secretariat of the National Council. I will be accompanied in the new leadership by a great team composed of the best: Mbolo Etofili, James Valencia, Antumi Toasije, DJ Moula, Marcelino Bondjale, Lamine Sagna, James Valencia, Baldw Lumumba, Antumi Toasije, Laura Valencia, Raquel Pereira, Mady Ba Cisse, Tcham Bissa, thus formalizing what consolidated a shift towards Garaveyism and Reparation. The conclave was an unprecedented success in terms of participation in Spain to this day. It hosted more than 600 delegates, as well as local and international representatives, and a prominent group of activists, trade unionists, and militant academics such as Ana Yenenga, Molefi Asante, Mbuyi Kabunda, and Celestino Okenve. We had plastered the Lavapiés neighborhood with posters bearing Omali's photo, announcing his arrival and awaiting him, but due to a health and family setback—I don't recall exactly—the APSP delegation was headed by Diop Olugbala and Bakari Olatunji. The wonderful Omar Boella, who was in charge of logistics and transportation for the delegations, and I went to Madrid-Barajas Airport to pick them up. Brother Bakari is a prominent local leader and activist in Oakland, California, best known for his longstanding role as the Western Regional Representative for the African People's Socialist Party (APSP) and as a central organizer within the city's Uhuru Movement. Key Background and Roles as Political Organizer: He has been a fixture in Oakland's social justice and reparative justice movements for decades. He frequently leads mobilization efforts and is involved in grassroots initiatives advocating for African community control of housing, healthcare, police, and food. In fact, Brother always carried a jar of seasoning to spice up the typical bland European meals, which he used at the hotel during dinners, lunches, and breakfasts (laughs). On the first night in the dining room, we spoke via video call with Omali. I already knew Diop from London: he was younger and resembled Bunchy Carter. He was president of the Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) and I think he was a member of the Central Committee. Diop's understanding of the police and the government grew more and more. During his youth period he listened to political hip hop artists like Ice Cube, Public Enemy and Boogie Down Productions. These artists were talking about what was really going on with African youth. Meanwhile Diop and his friends saw African resistance happening around the world.

UHURU RADIO 

Since 2005 the Pan-Africanist movement had identified with many of Omali's postulates and we had been trying to bring Omali to Spain without success in 2006. At that time as Secretary General of the IV International I advanced in my collaboration and Omali and I worked a lot politically through the new instrument that he put in the hands of the popular and subaltern African classes in Spain: Uhuru Radio. It was a Media & Radio International Pan-African Network: associated with the African People's Socialist Party's media outlet (Uhuru Radio/Uhuru Movement) based in Florida. There were very good Music & Radio Stations: The name is also widely used by stations playing roots reggae and Afrobeat worldwide. (Listening in Spain: While they do not have a terrestrial FM frequency in Madrid, we could stream the international Uhuru Radio Network via digital directories like myTuner Radio.) Through Uhuru Radio, Omali contributed to raising Black consciousness and strengthening their struggle by democratizing access to information and Pan-Africanist politics, breaking the monopoly of corporate media. This station was important because it guaranteed freedom of expression for marginalized African refugee and immigrant groups, and radio offered plurality and fostered direct citizen participation in building a more politically self-critical community in the face of the crisis of Black elites. Uhuru Afrika was very effective because it laid the foundation for what would later become the second phase of Radio Vox de Afrika and, above all, Uhuru Afrika TV. Its democratic contribution as a voice for African civil society allowed Black social movements to broadcast information and debate local issues internationally, issues that are often ignored by large commercial networks. Creating a counterpower that acted as a tool for counter-information and social control, exposing injustices such as typical police abuses and crimes against the Black population and serving as a counterweight to hegemonic neocolonial racist discourses. It enabled participation: They foster an assembly-based and self-managed governance model. Any Black person can be trained and actively participate, avoiding the traditional sender-receiver model. Defense of human rights: They promote popular education, local culture, and basic democratic values ​​such as equality, solidarity, and social justice. With historical challenges and a current situation where a history of Black resistance is present: Omali played a key role in social struggles and Black mobilization (such as in the campaigns for free paperwork).This radio gave me the possibility in Spain to create popular power; in fact, as a journalist, it gave me the possibility to connect with my people. After my specialty, we focused on counter-information and the struggle for the narrative. (Pan-African Movement in Spain, we created the Platform for Aliu) which was a racist assassination of Aliu. We launched a March against racism and for reparation in Barcelona, ​​which was a great success. Crying for Justice for Aliu Uhuru! And all Africans killed by Spanish institutional racism or police. 310 community members including the members of Aliu families and other Afrikan leaders and artist left with Garvey flags RBG who brought sister Obono in a festive mood with music and Dead prezz and bob Marley but very militant attitude. The Rally started in a square urquinaona at 12:30 h to Plaza Sant Jaume escorted by more than 14 mossos-cop and too much gave us support and knowing looks or the horns of their cars. The family and other members of the platform for Aliu, includes already more than 14 African organizations coalition. and this was an African counterpower that was achieved by fighting standing up thanks to the uhuru radio that allowed us not only to internationalize but also to socialize African suffering but also the response and struggle of African. African People's Socialist Party, I worked in international promotion of the congress under the slogan One Africa! One Nation! Freedom we translated documents now published by Congress as: The Political Report, Proposed Resolutions and Constitutional, Amendments : where Omali analyzes this period of struggle, the continually intensifying crisis of imperialism, the incredible history of our Party, the most recent period of Party work characterized by the "One People! One Party! One Destiny!" Campaign, and what must be done to seize this time and take the International African Revolution to its completion! The Party Congress is one of the most important events that distinguishes the Party from a host of other organizations that present themselves to African people as leaders of our movement. the 5th Congress we managed to create sufficient objective and subjective conditions to Bring Omali Yeshitela to our Spanish campus and community in Huelva Andalucía

HUELVA 2007 Pan-African conference in Spain 

BERLIN 2009 preparatory tribunal on Reparation 

REPRESION

En septiembre de 2024, Yeshitela fue ACUSADOen un tribunal federal estadounidense de conspiración para actuar como agente del gobierno ruso .  Yeshitela conspiró con Alexander Ionov , un agente ruso que recibía instrucciones del FSB para difundir propaganda prorrusa en Estados Unidos.  En diciembre de 2024, Yeshitela fue sentenciado a tres años de libertad condicional y 300 horas de servicio comunitario. 

Influencia de la cultura pop

Fragmentos de un discurso de Yeshitela se reproducen en varias canciones del álbum Let's Get Free del dúo de hip-hop Dead Prez . Fragmentos de un discurso de Yeshitela se reproducen en la película de Chris Fuller , Loren Cass (2006). En la película Loren Cass , de 2006, se reproduce un fragmento de un discurso de Yeshitela , que se centra en las consecuencias del tiroteo de TyRon Lewis en San Petersburgo en 1996. Benny the Butcher utilizó un extracto de Sanyika Shakur recitando un discurso de Yeshitela como tema de apertura en su EP de 2019, The Plugs I Met .