Thursday, September 29, 2011

Call President Obama and Demand Rene Gonzalez of the Cuban 5 be returned to Cuba

 
Call President Obama and Demand Rene Gonzalez be returned to CUBA!
 
On October 7th, Rene Gonzalez, of the Cuban 5, will be released on parole after 13 years of unjust incarceration. The U.S. government is forcing him to serve his three year probation in Florida; where he has no family and will be at the mercy of the hostile community of right-wing Cuban Americans that helped secure his incarceration.
 
The Popular Education Project to Free the Cuba 5 is calling on all Cuban 5 supporters to pick the telephone and call President Barack Obama and demand that Rene Gonzalez be returned to Cuba, where he belongs.
 
Tell your family and friends to call!
 
Forward this message out to your entire Address book, post on twitter, Facebook, or Google +!
 
Thousands of phone calls can make a difference!
Call President Obama at
202-456-1111 and leave a message!
 
Judge Lenard’s Cruel and Bizarre Decision against Rene

The Popular Education Project to Free the Cuban 5
free the cuban 5 hotline: 718-601-4751
 
 

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Panel Discussion 2011 Cameroon Election, Columbia U., Tuesday Oct. 4


2011 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN CAMEROON - PANEL DISCUSSION
hand voting with ballot paper in Cameroon election Stock Photo - 1187228
.
Tuesday October 04th 2011
From 4pm to 6pm
Columbia University, International Affairs Building
420 West 118th Street, Room # 1501, 15th floor,
between Amsterdam Ave and Morningside Drive
Take train #1 to 116th Street
Tel: 212-854-4633
.
Panelists:
.
Patrick Nganang ("Contre Biya, Proces d'un tyrant, Tribunal Article 53", Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, Stony Brook University, New York)
.
Dickson Eyoh ("Ethnicity and democracy in Africa", Political Science and African Studies, University of Toronto, Canada)
.
Dominique Malaquais ("Architecture, pouvoir et dissidence au Cameroun", Political Science, CEMAf- Universite Paris 1, Pantheon-Sorbonne)
....
.
Fanny Pigeaud ("Au Cameroun de Paul Biya", Agence France Presse)
....
.
Moderated by Etienne Smith ("L'Afrique: histoire et defis", Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University)
....L'Afrique : histoire et défis
.
Ruling Cameroon since 1982, President Paul Biya is running for yet another term. This year's election will be a test case of challenging hegemony and authoritarian rule for the divided opposition and civil society. Key questions include: Will the Biya regime manage to thwart "alternance"? Are elections in Cameroon a farce, an empty ritual of democracy? Is the 1990s democratizing momentum of the youth lost? Is the Arab Spring having an impact in Cameroon? Can we imagine a post-Biya Cameroon and what would that look like?
.
Presidential Palace, Etoudi, Yaounde, Cameroon
 
"You cannot plow a field by turning it over in your mind" Unknown 
 
See full size imagePaule-Sylvie Yonke
Balafon Communications
Re-branding the image of Africa
212-510-8512
 


Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Support the Black Inventors Gifting Challenge


Terry Boykins
CEO, Street Positive ~


"I want to honor you." Imagine a young person hearing you say these words.

Imagine the positive impact it would have on their self-esteem to know someone cares.

I would like your support in the "Black Inventors Gifting Challenge" between now and Black History Month 2012. Objective: Nationwide "Each One, Reach One" outreach to create greater awareness
and resources for A/A and Hispanic student achievement in S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

Details of the campaign are available at:

Your support at any level is a turn for the positive!

"Get In Where You Fit In" and lets partner to make a difference in student achievement coast-to-coast.

If you know of any organizations or groups that we can present this "Challenge" to, please advise.
We have promotional materials available.

Thank you for devoting your valuable time for the positive.

"If we don't spend time with our youth, someone else will." 









AU Diaspora Task Team meets to forward the visioning of the African Diaspora as the 6th Region of the African Continent



AFRICAN UNION DIASPORA HIGH LEVEL MEETING

 
The biggest gathering of selected high caliber African Diasporan will take place on Thursday, October 6, 2011, during the African Union Diaspora High Level meeting organized by the African Union Diaspora Task Team to aggressively pursue the concrete realization of the dream and mission indicated when the African Union created and recognized the African Diaspora as the 6th Region of the African continent.  

The meeting will be held at the Conference Hall of the African Union Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations, 305 East 47th Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10017, between 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
 
The African Union Diaspora Task Team was created by the African Union during a two-day meeting on October 21st and 22nd, 2010, titled "Building Bridges Across the Atlantic: African Union Consultation with the African Diaspora in the United States."  Some of the objectives of the meeting included, among others:
 
a) To establish the foundation for a solidarity platform that would facilitate a stream of continuous dialogue and discourse within the global African family that would promote and sustain African renaissance;
 
b) To use this platform to strengthen the framework of engagement between the African Union and the African family in the United States in particular with a view to consolidating appropriate legal and participatory frameworks for effective participation of the African Diaspora in the building of the African Union; and
 
c) To brief and sensitive the African Diaspora on needs and developments within the AU system and obtain their inputs for assisting its growth and developments.
 
According to the Chairman of the AU Diaspora Task Team, Dr. Chika Onyeani, the African Union Diaspora High Level meeting is aimed at bringing together a group of high caliber African Diasporan who have consistently empowered the aspirations and issues of the African Diaspora as well as the African continent in realizing the objectives African Diaspora as the 6th Region of the African continent.
 
Many African Diaspora personalities have already accepted to attend and speak at the conference, including Ambassador Tete Antonio, Prof. Molefi Asante, Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari, Ambassador Dudley Thompson, Mayor Wayne Smith, Prof. Bereket Selassie, General Ishola Williams, Dr. Julius Garvey, M.D., Dr. Ron Daniels, Chief Tunde Olatunji, just to name a few, plus a high-powered delegation from the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.


For more information, please contact:
Chika Onyeani, 917-279-4038
Georgina Falu, 646-246-8302
Dorothy Davis, 646646-413-0058


 
Dr. Chika A. Onyeani, Chair; Mr. Omowale Clay, 1st Vice Chair; Engr. Daniel Ochweri, 2nd Vice Chair; Dr. Georgina Falu, Secretary; Mr. Sidique Wai, Member; Ms. Dorothy Davis, Member; Ms. Miriam Omala Gauvin, AU Rep.





African Union Diaspora Task Team
c/o The Permanent Observer Mission of the African Union to the United Nations
305 East 47th Street, New York, NY  10017
Tel. : 212-319-5490, Fax: 319-7135 


Monday, September 26, 2011

Free Cuban 5 Month Film Festival and Benefit for POW Sekou Odinga

The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign is asking folks to support these two events in NYC dedicated to the Cuban 5 and our brother Sekou Odinga!

FREE THE CUBAN 5 MONTH/FILM FESTIVAL!

 Friday Sept. 30th, 2011 at 7pm-10pm
Casa de Las Americas 182 E. 111th St. (Btwn. Lexington and Third Ave.)
Take the 6 train to E. 110th St.
Suggested donation: $5 (No one will be turned away)

¡Salud!:

 
A timely examination of human values and the health issues that affect us all, ¡Salud!looks at the curious case of Cuba, a cash-strapped country with what the BBC calls ‘one of the world’s best health systems.’ From the shores of Africa to the Americas, !Salud!hits the road with some of the 28,000 Cuban health professionals serving in 68 countries, and explores the hearts and minds of international medical students in Cuba -- now numbering 30,000, including nearly 100 from the USA. Their stories plus testimony from experts around the world bring home the competing agendas that mark the battle for global health—and the complex realities confronting the movement to make healthcare everyone’s birth right.

A feature documentary, ¡Salud! is directed by Academy Award nominee Connie Field and co-produced by Gail Reed. The film spans three continents to look at the philosophy and health professionals placing Cuba on the map in the worldwide movement to make health care a global birthright. Today, Cubans are among the world’s healthiest people, despite the island’s poverty. Cuba’s volunteer corps now posts 28,000 health professionals in 68 countries; and Cuban medical schools will graduate an unprecedented 100,000 new doctors from developing countries over the next decade.
 

A Benefit for POW Sekou Odinga

Support One of Cointelpro's Victims!

Film, Discussion, Culture
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Riverside Church
490 Riverside Drive, Room 9T
(120th and Claremont, Manhattan)
6 to 10 pm


Host: dequi kioni sadiki
Panelists: Pam Hanna, andrew of NYCABCF
Other Panelists and Cultural Performances
to be Announced!

COINTELPRO began in 1956 and continued through the 1960s and into the 1970s, focusing particularly on the Puerto Rican Independence, Black Liberation, Chicano Liberation and American Indian Movements. COINTELPRO racked up a number of assassinations, false imprisonments and ruined lives. No government official was ever punished for actions taken under the program’s auspices.

The film by Freedom Archives details this history through the artful use of still photos and moving images of the period covered. Films of police attacks and protests; still photos of revolutionary leaders and police murders graphically remind the viewer of Washington’s willingness to do whatever it takes to maintain its control. Organizers who began their political activity during the time of Cointelpro discuss the effect the program had on them and the organizations and individuals they worked with. Indeed, several of the interviewees were themselves targets and spent years in prison (some under false accusations, as in the case of Geronimo ji-Jaga Pratt) or on the run.

Former Black Panther member Kathleen Cleaver states toward the end of the film that COINTELPRO represented the efforts of a political police force making the decision as to what is allowed politically and what is not. Anything outside the parameters set by this force was fair game. Nothing that was done by government officials or private groups and individuals acting on the government’s behalf was perceived as wrong or illegal. As Attorney Bob Boyle makes clear in his final statement in the film, COINTELPRO is alive and well. The only difference now is that most of what was illegal for the government to do during COINTELPRO’s official existence is now legal. The PATRIOT Act and other laws associated with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security have insured this.

COINTELPRO 101 is a well made and appealing primer on the history of the US police state. Produced, written and directed by individuals who have themselves been the target of tactics documented in the film, it has an authenticity and immediacy that pulls the viewer in. Although too short to cover the history in as full detail as some may desire, the film’s intelligence and conscientious presentation of the historical narrative makes it a film that the student, the citizen and the activist can all appreciate.

Dinner will be Served for $5!


The ProLibertad Freedom Campaign
718-601-4751


Sponsored by: Sekou Odinga Defense Committee,
Riverside Church Prison Ministry
For more information:
www.jerichony.org
nycjericho@gmail.com
• 718-512-5008

Sunday, September 25, 2011

N’COBRA 20th Anniversary - “A Weekend for Reflecting, Assessing and Celebrating the Reparations Movement”

N’COBRA 20TH ANNIVERSARY

Educating, Mobilizing and Organizing for Black Reparations
October 26th – 27th, 2007
Washington, DC

“A Weekend for Reflecting, Assessing and Celebrating the Reparations Movement”

October 26th Friday
Wachovia Bank Demonstration and Protest
N’COBRA Divest From Wachovia Campaign
At Branches Around the City

National Press Conference:
Main Issues
· An assessment of the Regrets and apologies statements from corporations, universities & States
· A Call for Divestment From Wachovia Campaign
· Statements of solidarity from various Black leaders

N’COBRA National 20th Anniversary Rally:
National, Local and International Organization Leaders and Scholars

6:00 PM – 11:00 PM 
at 
Plymouth Congregational Church
                                    5301 North Capitol NE
                                    Washington, DC 

October 27th Saturday
THE NATIONAL REPARATIONS PEOPLE's ASSEMBLY and
2nd NATIONAL REPARATIONS CONGRESS 

NCOBRA will host a mass Reparations People’s Assembly to celebrate the growing Reparations movement, evaluate the last 20 years struggle for Reparations, and plan its next stages. All events will take place in Washington, DC, the city of NCOBRA's birth. This meeting is not just for N’COBRA members. Rather it is for all Reparations activists and supporters. In the spirit and practice of N’COBRA's Leadership Roundtable and The National Reparations Congress (2004), ALL organizations and individuals, past and present, working for Reparations for African descendants are invited. We will hear updates from Reparations national, local, and international leaders at Friday’s night National 20th Anniversary Rally. Saturday will be the time for Reparations leaders and workers to listen to the People. Every person will have an opportunity to share their views and recommendations. The Reparations Movement is entering a new stage and your views and work must be included.

9:00 AM – 3:00 PM at Nationhouse (www.nationhouse.org)
770 Park Road NW, Washington, DC

N’COBRA 20TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY with a Purpose
7:00 PM – 11:00 PM Pier 7 Restaurant
650 Water Street SW
Washington, DC
__._,_.___

"Reparations For African" listserv is operated by the Information & Media Commission of the National Coalition Of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA). For more information on N'COBRA visit: www.NCOBRA.org

We encourage public discussions, led by the injured, to determine an equitable remedy for the African Holocaust of Enslavement. All African descendents have a right and responsibility to work towards defining and achieving Reparations. The opinions and actions reported on Reparations For Africans are those of the person(s) representing them and in no way should be viewed as N’COBRA’s unless clearly stated.

Egyptologists Anthony "Tony" Browder and Dr. Robert Bauval to Lecture in Philadelphia

On Thursday evening, October 6, 2011, the d'Zert Club and the IKG Cultural Center will present world renown authors and Egyptologists, Anthony "Tony" Browder and Dr. Robert Bauval.

Tony Browder is an author and publisher, educational consultant, cultural historian and graphic artist and "symbologist". He is the designer of the famous "Egypt on the Potomac" Field Trip, which he has conducted for over 20 years. Tony Browder was explaining the significance of the design and symbolism in Washington, DC long before Dan Brown popularized it in his novel The Lost Symbol. Since 1987, he has led over 40 study tours to Egypt. He is the author of From the Browder File and Contributions of the Nile Valley Civilization. Currently, Mr. Browder is leading and funding an excavation in Egypt, the first African American to do so. He has lectured extensively throughout the United States, Caribbean, Africa, Mexico, Japan and Europe, on topics pertaining to African and African American history and culture.

Robert Bauval is an author, lecturer, and Ancient Egypt researcher. His most recent work, "Black Genesis: The Ancient Origins of Egypt", presents evidence that an advanced black African civilization inhabited the Sahara long before Pharaonic Egypt and reveals black Africa to be at the genesis of ancient civilization and the human story. Mr. Bauval has appeared on BBC, History Channel, National Geographic Channel, CNN, ABC, NBC, RAI 2 and several other European, Middle Eastern and Asian Channels.

The lectures and book signings will take place from 5pm-9pm at the African American History Museum, 701 Arch Street, Philadelphia. Refreshments will be served. Admission is $10 per person. Proceeds benefit the ASA Restoration project which is funding the excavation in Egypt.

For further information, please call 215-284-1926 or email dzertclub@aol.com.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Celebrate The Harlem Arts Alliance's 10th Year and Honor Harry Belafonte -Monday, October 3


Greetings!

Join The Harlem Arts Alliance's 10 Year Anniversary Celebration
With
Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, & Danny Simmons
In Salute To
"Harlem Arts Advocacy Week"
Harlem Arts And Culture: Resurgence And Renewal
Luther Advocacy
Click Image For Advocacy Week Schedule!!!

Rediscovering the African Burial Ground - 20th Anniversary Commemoration


African Burial Ground
National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior
African Burial Ground National Monument

Rediscovering the African Burial Ground Schedule for the 20th anniversary commemoration
Oct. 4-8, 2011

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

10:30AM: Film Series — Eric V. Tait, Jr., director of the film, “Then I’ll Be Free to Travel Home,” will conduct a screening of the documentary, and provide commentary about the making of the film. Part 2 (56 min.) of the film will be shown. A question and answer period will follow the screening of the film. RSVP required.

NOON: 60 Seconds of Silence: The African Burial Ground National Monument will honor the lives of the estimated 15,000 enslaved and free Africans and African descendants who are buried in the African Burial Ground cemetery by observing 60 seconds of silence at 12 noon on each day of Youth Week (October 4-8, 2011). During this time frame, everyone is encouraged to stop, think and reflect upon the lives of those who are buried in the African Burial Ground and the horrors of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

12:15PM: Gallery Talk — “The Slave Revolt of 1741” 1:00PM: Children’s Story Time

2:00PM: An Introduction to Ancient and Early African Writing Systems and the Philosophical Language of Adinkra by Pat Leonard. RSVP required.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

11:00AM: Workshop presentation on other rediscovered African Burial Grounds. RSVP required.

NOON: 60 Seconds of Silence

NOON: Children’s Story Time

1:00PM: Film Series — “George Washington Carver” (29 min.)

2:00PM: Rev. Pat Singletary from the Harlem African Burial Ground Project. RSVP required.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

11:00AM: A workshop on “Proverbs, Aphorisms and Mother Wits — Learning from the Wisdom of and Elders” by Pat Leonard. RSVP required.

NOON
: 60 Seconds of Silence

12:30PM: “For Freedom’s Sake” — A first-person presentation by Nicola and Rufus James about the African presence in New York during the 18th Century. RSVP required.

1:00PM: Children’s Story Time

2:00PM: Children’s Entertainment: face painting, a magician and animal balloons

3:00PM: Gallery Talk—Burial Practices and Pinkster

3:30PM: Film Series — “The Maggie Walker Story” (12 min.)

Friday, October 7, 2011*

10:45AM: F.R.E.E.D.O.M. Academy performance

11:00AM: Ceremony commemorating the 20th anniversary of the rediscovery of the African Burial Ground

NOON: 60 Seconds of Silence

1:00 PM onward — “Ceremony of Receiving African Names” conducted by Queen Mother Dr. Delois Blakely for the general public

1:15PM: African Drum and Dance performance by F.R.E.E.D.O.M. Academy

1:30-4PM: Exhibit on slavery in New York in the visitor center. Gene Peters, the exhibit’s curator and an African Burial Ground NM volunteer, will be on-hand to answer questions.

2:00PM: Film Series — Shawn Utsey will conduct a screening of his documentary, “Meet Me in the Bottom” (45 min.) a film about the Richmond Burial Ground in Virginia. A question and answer period will follow the screening. RSVP required

4:30PM: Caroline Evans will bring history alive through first-person interpretation of two African-American women who changed the world: Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth. RSVP required

6:00PM: Ifetayo Cultural Arts Academy (The name Ifetayo comes from the West African Yoruba word meaning, “love is enough for joy.”)

6:30PM: Universal Creative Arts Ensemble-Universal African Dance and Drum Ensemble — traditional African songs, instruments, dance and stilt walker

7:15PM: Performance by the African Caribbean group Something Positive, Inc. (30 minute performance)

*Memorial and Visitor Center will remain open until 8:00PM

Saturday, October 8, 2011

10:00AM: Libation ceremony with Gregory Carr featuring a drum circle

11:00AM: Family Memory Box Workshop. RSVP required

NOON: 60 Seconds of Silence

1:00PM: Poetry Slam, “A Shout Out to the Ancestors”

2:00PM: Red Storm Drum and Dance Troupe — This program offers insight into Native American history, art and music. It also showcases the music and dance traditions of America’s indigenous nations.

6:30PM: Candle lit “A Broader View” walking tour will leave from Federal Hall National Memorial and conclude at African Burial Ground National Monument’s outdoor memorial. RSVP required

6:30PM: Candle lit “Abolitionist” walking tour will leave from African Burial National Monument and conclude at the site’s outdoor memorial. RSVP required

All events are free. Schedule is subject to change.

For more information visit www.nps.gov/afbg or follow us at twitter.com/AFBurialGrndNPS


Submitted by t. Rasul Murray

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Akua Taylor Live! Casa Atabex-Ache, Bronx, Sat. 9/24


New Workshop Launch

Thank you for your support of the new song "Approve." The song has sold marvelously since it's release. It's done so well, Akua has developed a workshop to further spread the message of self-love and she's launching it this Saturday. Join us for the new healing affirmation workshop, "Approve." Participants will identify their goals and design affirmations to manifest them. Through chanting and ritual, the group will collectively attract the power to heal, change and progress their lives.

P.recious M.essenger P.roductions
presents.....
Akua Taylor
at
Casa Atabex-Ache
471 East 140th St. Bronx NY 10454

Saturday, Sept 24th 2-5pm
Cost:
$25 suggested donation or gift of these specific items needed at Casa Atabex Ache:


Throw pillows to sit on the floor
Back Jack chairs

Bean bags
Healing stones, crystals

Healing music-meditation, drums
Florida water/rose water
Candles in every color (7 day candles preferably)
Incense/ Nag Champa



Casa Atabex-Ache (House of Womyn's Power)
Casa Atabex-Ache is a grassroots non-profit organization designed to tap into the innate power of healing, transformation, and action that often lies dormant in womyn and girls of color, so that we may strengthen and improve our lives, families and communities. P.M.P. is thankful to work with the powerful womyn of Casa Atabex-Ache to further Akua's work as a motivational performing artist. Click here for more information about Casa Atabex-Ache.

Last Appearance This Year
It's been a productive and prosperous year. "Reach Higher!" had great success with students in New Jersey. Akua performed at New York City's first ever "Soul Lounge" twice in Brooklyn and Harlem. Akua spread her actor's reel among the industry's most notable agents. And most recently, we were featured at the MVMT and MoCADA sponsored "Late Summer Sounds" show. Akua now heads to Accra, Ghana for 2 months. We would love to have you at this last event, to celebrate a great 2011 and send Akua off in style.







Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Should African-Americans Vote For Pres. Obama Again?


Listen to
The African History Network Show,
Thursday, September 22nd
8:00pm-11pm EST
Educating, Empowering & Inspiring people of African Descent
"Should African-Americans Vote For
Pres. Barack Obama Again?"
Also The Troy Davis Case
with guest, Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor of The Pan-African Newsire
The last time we had him on the show we got into a heated
debate about Pres. Obama's record. Tune in Thur. for another HOT show.
Call in and Listen LIVE/ask questions at (914) 338-1375.
(313) 396-5396 for more info.
Did you miss our interview with Prof. Mathu Ater about
"Imhotep & The African Origins Of
Math, Science and Architecture?"
Listen to the podcast here:

Check out our wide selection of
African History DVD Lectures and CDs.
Buy 4 DVDs Get 1 FREE!!!