Black First Land First (BLF) welcomes the signing of the decree on “International Decade for People of African Descent” this past Saturday in Caracas by President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela. We are encouraged by Maduro’s acknowledgement of the struggles of black people the world over. Moreover his commitment to facilitate execution of the objectives of the decree, namely; reparations, justice and recognition of people of Afrikan descent via the establishment of a Non Aligned Movement (NAM) team is most inspirational.
Like Venezuela and the rest of the oppressed world, we are saddened by the assassination of Rio de Janeiro’s people’s leader, Marielle Franco. Countless black leaders (Steve Biko, Thomas Sankara and Chris Hani are a few examples from Africa) are systematically murdered at the hands of the forces of capitalist imperialism and colonialism who in turn act with impunity. To this end the assassination at the hands of the Colombian government of 15 black leaders in just one month (January 2017) and of the countless black political activists and other leaders everywhere else is of no coincidence. The past and continued persecution of political leaders and other activists for their radical beliefs also cannot be ignored.
The forces of capitalist imperialism by necessity have no consideration for reparations for blacks as this will compel their own destruction if they had to truly pay for all their sins against our people. In this context the initiative of Maduro towards a NAM team to realize reparations, amongst other things, for people of Afrikan descent is groundbreaking. BLF supports this initiative.
BLF believes that the envisioned process for black reparations, justice and recognition requires a thorough conceptualization (as well as elaboration) of colonialism which is based on the historical theft of black lands as well as the destruction of the African belief systems, values and identity.
BLF would in due course be making submissions towards the establishment of a reparations process to address the historical and contemporary injustices suffered by black people. In this context we would, at the appropriate occasion, elaborate on the establishment of an Anti Racism Council to lead such a process and to quantify black loss resulting from colonialism. We believe that our elaboration of our political line and ideological perspective will add value to realizing the strategic objective of the NAM team initiative and to this end help to inspire the translation of programs into political actions.
ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE OF THE BLACK FIRST LAND FIRST MOVEMENT (BLF NCC)
30 March 2018
Black First Land First Email:[email protected]
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Website: www.blf.org.za
Zanele Lwana
(Deputy President)
Cell: +27799867225
Lindsay Maasdorp
(National Spokesperson)
Cell: +27 79 915 2957
Brian Tloubatla
(Head of Media & Communications)
Cell: +27 82 216 7664