News - World Afrikan Diaspora Union (WADU)

PRESS RELEASES

Interim Diaspora President in Barbados Urged Unity, Now.

August 29, 2007

Part 1 - Speech by His Excellency Dudley Thompson at the Barbados Bicentennial Global Dialogue on the 25th Day of August 2007. The most Honorable Thompson was recently elected President of the Diaspora at the Jamaica Pan African Summit.

Let me explain what that word stands for and its relevance. Pan Africanism is a socio-political movement, Afrocentric in nature, firmly opposed to racism and endeavoring to ensure Black empowerment, politically, socially, economically, technologically, and otherwise to accomplish our destiny as a people the Black Renaissance which will achieve the establishment of a new global order based on justice and equality for all.

Pan Africanism is the modern name of a Black universal movement, added to the political dictionary by a Black Trinidadian lawyer named Sylvester Williams in 1900 when he led a delegation of some 30 African, Caribbean and African Americans to the Archbishop of Canterbury in London to advocate greater respect for Black people all over the Diaspora and Africa . The two elements notable were the request for the right to be treated with equal dignity and secondly it was on behalf of all Black people over the world. This meeting suppliant in nature was attended by such leaders as Dr. WEB Dubois, Benito Sylvain of Ethiopia , Bishop Johnson of Nigeria and others.

The subsequent congresses were led by WEB Dubois was highlighted by the important Pan African Congress of 1945. The 5th Pan African Conference in Manchester , England marked the high water of the movement. It differed from the previous ones in that it had much greater attendance and composed of activists, intellectuals, trade unionists, students, workers, etc. Secondly, it was militant in tone and directly attacked the colonial system. Thirdly, it no longer included white sympathizers who usually attended. From now on the Africans were determined to take matters into their own hands. Finally and most importantly, it issued a single message, a united call for independence from colonial status. It is to be noted that of the hundreds that attended, only three countries were independent, Ethiopia , Haiti and Liberia .

I was present at that 5th Pan African Conference in 1945. I saw Kwame Nkrumah rise from his seat two chairs away from me and delivered a heart stirring speech that electrified the audience "Go back to your colonies and fight for political independence by all means at your disposal." His voice rang out "seek ye the political kingdom and all things will follow." The entire meeting was galvanized in silence, I was there. I saw those leaders leave that meeting silently, thoughtful men, I saw Ken Hill from Jamaica, Grantley Adams form Barbados, Jomo Kenyatta from Kenya, leave for their own respective countries with determination in their hearts and minds. Within two score years of that meeting over fifty countries got their independence. Leaders like Solanke and Nnamdi of Nigeria, and first of all Kwame Nkrumah succeeded in their struggle for independence. Little did I dream as I walked with Jomo Kenyatta out of that meeting nor could I know that in little over 10 years I would be his lawyer defending him with others in a court of law at Kapenguria charged with leading the Mau Mau, an insurrection which eventually brought forth Kenya’s independence.

Pan Africanism is a movement which had started like a flame for freedom in the hearts and minds of our ancestors when they were cruelly wrenched from the heart of Africa, their homes and their families, they could not be put out by the bloody waters of the Atlantic as they were horribly chained and packed like goods in those ferries o f infamy that made them slaves fro planters who worked them mercilessly under the lash. Men, women and children were scattered throughout the Diaspora. Barbados sugar planters grew rich of their labour and blood. The cotton fields of America , the coffee plantations and mines of Brazil and South America made the white slavers wealthy while our ancestors remained in poverty for generations our ancestors built the rich cities and universities of Europe and America our women and children and men chopped sugar cane and reaped tobacco in the sun until darkness fell upon them. They got not a cent for their labour, this went on for years, but in their song and suffering that spark for freedom that God put within them refused to go out...

There are millions of us in the Caribbean, millions more live in North America, and Canada , Millions in Brazil and other parts of Central and South America and other parts of the Diaspora. Today, the Government of Barbados has given everyone here today a great opportunity to send a message to these brothers and sisters in the Diaspora. Barbados gives you the opportunity to use this platform to ensure that they force that invincible chain of millions to give that strength of unity which would enable us as a most powerful family in world affairs to solve our own affairs to solve our own challenges. Each of you here and beyond must drop our habit of dependence. This is a time of many dangers. Among them is the growing spectre of globalization designed to maintain the status quo, leaving us at the bottom of the totem pole.

Are you training our youth to assume their responsibilities, to keep the flame alive by creating a conscious of solidarity? Where is the voice of Pan Africanism today? Are they responding to the fire of freedom in the strident call for unity from that great Pan Africanist as he brought his country into independence in March 1957 stating that "The independence of Ghana if it is meaningless not linked with the freedom of a united Africa . "Has the blood of our ancestors turned to water in our veins. The truth is that our scattered millions consist of several small groups promoting incongruous ideas seemingly determined to remain victims of division and necrophobia. One hundred years ago, Marcus Garvey called upon us to unite under mother Africa . It is your individual duty to fan the flames within you.

For your children’s sake organize in the Diaspora wherever you are, in clubs, associations in Churches, lodges and any other association which will make this Diaspora strong enough to support a single government of Africa. It is our only hope. Ask yourself today, each one of you what can you do to raise the awareness of our race? How can I organize and build the solidarity of our people? How can I make this world a better place for my children and their children and their children to come? It is not sufficient to give ovations at meetings, we need immediate commitments and actions now. The Durban conference succeeded in placing reparations on the main agenda. It is no longer a footnote for history. That conference further produced a plan of action. It appealed to us to mobilize and unite.

I am approaching the ninety first year of my life. As a veteran Pan Africanist, I implore you in the last years of my life to unite the Diaspora and make yourself worthy of becoming the sixth region, a province of the African Union. I long for the day when I shall obtain my united African passport. I long for the day when we shall have our own African international news service. I long for the day when our women will be treated as equals in all respects and full dignity. I long for the day when our Black mothers all over the world will smile upon the Black babies in their arms, happy confident that they will never again grow up in the shadows of injustice and inequality. May God Bless you all!

(The next meeting of the World African Diaspora Union (WADU) is October 27, 2007. To participate and support, please contact Mama Anna Swanston at 404-527-7756 in Atlanta , GA ).

Summit in Jamaica Named Dr. Dudley Thompson

Chief Elder & President of Diaspora Region

Contact: Rev. P.D. Menelik@ 404-527-7756

July 19, 2007

"Not only are they wicked for enslaving our ancestors but worse, they have stubbornly and consistently refused to confess their crime against humanity... They must pay for their debts because we expect them to respect our full dignity" stressed His Excellency Dudley Thompson at both Marcus Garvey’s Liberty Hall and at the Mona Campus, University of the West Indies in Kingston , Jamaica . With great anticipation and greater satisfaction the participants of the Pan African Movement Summit they elected Honorable Dudley Thomson was elected as the first Chief Elder and President of the African Diaspora region of Africa during a challenging but unforgettable gathering of Africans.

The participants were mainly from the U.S. , the Caribbean ( Jamaica ), Canada , Europe, Central America and Africa . According to His Excellency, "The result of the Summit is historic and a great leap forward for the full integration of the Africans of the Diaspora as a powerful family partner for the rebuilding of our Motherland, Africa ." The esteemed elder is one of few Pan Africanists still alive from the 5th Pan African Congress of 1945 and the anti-colonial freedom struggles. For decades, he has worked with major leaders such as President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana , President Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya , Prime Minister Michael Manley of Jamaica and President Moshood Abiola of Nigeria .

The theme of Summit in Jamaica from July 16-18, 2007 was Political Determination - for Cultural and Economic Rebirth. The PAM Summit resolution called for Honorable Dudley Thompson to hold the office of Chief Elder and President of the Interim Secretariat of the African World (Diaspora) Union (ISAWU) for the year 2007-2008 and to immediately organize a Council of Leaders for the Africans in the Diaspora. The Summit resolution also called for the: Interim Secretariat of the World African Diaspora Union (WADU) leaders to be chosen mainly from among nominations submitted at the Summit; development of a Pan African Plan for the reconstruction of African communities; organizing cultural programs and campaigns for the re-education of African people; convening annual summits across the Diaspora leading to the first Pan African Convention of Diaspora leaders in 2010; expansion the African Union troops in Somalia and the Sudan and the withdrawal of foreign bases from Africa; and for African leaders to prioritize their work for a central government in Africa. Other resolutions called for Africans to support the rights Africans in Columbia , repatriation, reparations and the Ethiopian/African Millennium Celebration in September.

The priority of the Jamaica Summit was to begin forming a structure for the building a strong Diaspora Region that will influence the creation of an All African government in Africa as a mandate of Pan Africanism and in light of the recent African Union failure to unify Africa under one central government during the 2007 AU Summit’s "Grand Debate" in Ghana. During the AU Summit, the leaders of Senegal , Libya , Ethiopia , Liberia , Chad and Zimbabwe championed the cause for an immediate united states of Africa but were strongly opposed by leaders of Uganda , Nigeria and South Africa . Elombe Brath, Co-convener of the Summit lamented that "After the 50th anniversary celebration of President Kwame Nkrumah pushed for a united states of Africa and an African High Command, African leaders are collaborating with European powers to subjugate Africa under neo-colonialism."

The failure of the AU Summit in Ghana has indeed already led volatile states such as Liberia to submit to U.S. Africom (military command center) to be based in Liberia . Minister P.D. Menelik Harris, the RHAWPAM Summit Organizer pointed that the failure in Ghana highlights "a peculiar (colonial) disdain and disregard by too many African leaders for African people, our interests and vision, to the point of cursing oneself." The minister was a student organizer during the anti-apartheid movement to liberate South Africa and other frontline states and has helped to spearhead both the Nigerian Democracy Movement and the recent fair trade for Africa bill with the African Diplomatic Corp.

Some key other participants and presenters of the 2007 Summit in Jamaica were: Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Vice President of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations (ASCAC); Nana Norma Yaa Farika, former official Diaspora delegate to the OAU 6th Pan African Congress (PAC) & 7th PAC organizer; Minister Akbar Muhammad, Nation of Islam (NOI) Representative to Africa; Elombe Brath of Patrice Lumumba Coalition (PLC)/December 12th Movement; Mutabaruka, Artist and Activist; Dr. Roselea Hamilton, Office of the Prime Minister; Ms. Maxine Stowe, Jamaican Creative Artist Network; Michael Henry, Representative of the Jamaica Parliament; The Dr. Karen Carpenter, Jamaican Language Unit, UWI; Dr. Ashe Hamilton-Taylor, Science and Technology, UWI, Queen Mother Moses, Rastafari; Zaki Baruti, Universal African Peoples Organization (USA); Sister Vivine Abena, All African Peoples Revolutionary Party (England); Osei Bandele, USA; Jumoke D. Abrahams, Traditionalist; and Elder Ma Shanti, Rastafari. .

The Summit was only the second of a series of annual summits to unify the African Diaspora with Africa . The first Summit was held at Clarke Atlanta University (CAU) in Atlanta , Georgia . Some key leaders and participants of the 2006 Summit were Elombe Brath, PLC, Prof. James Small, OAAU, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, ASCAC, Del Jones, African Activist, Dr. Shelby Lewis, Africa Advisor & Consultant; Dr. Asa Hilliard, ASCAC; Charles Barron, NY City Council/former Black Panther Party; Joe Beasley, RainbowPush Coalition/Africa Ascension; Traditional High Priest Wande Abimbola of Nigeria; Cardinal Mbuyi Chui, Shrine of the Black Madonna/Pan African Orthodox Christian Church (PAOCC); Njeri Algahnee, National Coalition Of Blacks for Reparations in America (NCOBRA)/Rastafari Movement, Dr. Jewel Crawford, Global African Congress; Joe Kumasi, WHADN/PAOC; Sobukwe Shakura, the All African Peoples Revolutionary Party (AAPRP); Prince Rahm, African Hebrew Israelites; and Atty. Mzee Tate, Concern Black Clergy of Atlanta; Nana Prempe, UNIA. Additionally, representatives of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Republic of New Africa , NAACP, Progressive National Baptist Convention, the Presbyterian Church, USA , African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, etc. have participated and supported the PAM Summit.

The Summit in Jamaica was also the celebration of the 107th anniversary of the first Pan Africanism at the Conference and Congress in July 1900 in England . The 1900 Conference was the first bold attempt by Pan Africanists to build a blueprint for a global coordinated movement for the liberation and reunification of Africans. The 1900 Conference was also a response to the 1885 Berlin Conference, when European imperialist powers formed an alliance for the complete control of African people and Africa ’s resources. Finally, the Summit in Jamaica was a continuation of the recent work of Dr. John Henrik Clarke whose prophetic warning calls for Africans to unite around the vision of "Pan Africanism or Perish

." Nana Farika Birhane, former delegate of both the 6th and 7th Pan African Congresses and Co-convener of the 2007 Summit stated African Diaspora leaders are ready to forge Africans forward because "Pan Africanism and the conditions of Africans demand action now." Reverend Dr. Ndugu T’Ofori-Atta, Founder of the RHAWPAM Summit calls the summit result "a fulfillment of the prophetic promises of our ancestors to rebuild Africa ’s broken walls, to free the African captives in everyplace and to lead in ushering in the beloved African community." Dr. Atta is a veteran African activist and former Instructor of African Sacred Heritage and a Member of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Fellows. For more information and to participate or support WADU and the next Summit in 2008 contact us @ 404-527-7756 or WADU.ORG.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 2006

Contact: Rev. (Mganga) P.D. Menelik Harris/404-527-7756

Pan African Summit in USA Calls for Actions

Dr. Leonard Jeffries declared in his opening address to the Pan African Movement Summit on March 3, 2006, "We are called to this sacred space by our Ancestors... By John Henrik Clarke, Kwame Nkrumah, Queen Mother Moore, Marcus Garvey, Chancellor Williams...to make the vision of Pan Africanism a reality in our lifetime... to work with the African Union for the rebirth of African people in the world." He continued, "We are participating in the building of an African political, economic and cultural structure for an African World Community." Dr. Leonard Jeffries is one of the foremost Pan African scholar-activist who has worked tirelessly over the last 50 years to promote Pan Africanism. The Pan African Movement (PAM) Summit was a gathering of hundreds of Africans from across the United States in Atlanta with leading Pan African scholars, activists, students and officials. Under the theme "Political Determinism for Economic and Cultural Rebirth", the purpose and goals of the Summit were to commemorate the 106th anniversary year of the formal launching of the Pan African Movement in July 1900 and to begin the process of organizing a comprehensive action plan for the African Union 6th Region that is tailored for Africans in the U.S. Some specific Summit goals were to set programs of action to mobilize Africans in the U.S. to effectively respond to critical challenges on the African continent and other parts of the Diaspora. Another goal was to ensure African heritage and values are prioritized in the work to promote Pan Africanism and also to explore opportunities for Africans to promote fair trade and participate in investments and other business initiatives.

Elombe Brath, another veteran of the Pan African Movement and Chair of the Patrice Lumumba Coalition, called the Summit a "historic Pan African gathering to establish a principled and revolutionary position to help prevent the re-colonization of Africa by European and Arab interests in African oil and other natural resources." More importantly, he pointed to African Liberation Month (ALM) in May for immediate actions to be taken on the Summit ’s initiatives. May 25 is the historic celebration of the founding of the African Union/Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963. During the full month of May, Africans are urged to intensify support to protect and promote the liberation struggles in Zimbabwe , Darfur, the U.S. Gulf Coast, Haiti and the Congo as critical issues for Africans in the world. The support for Zimbabwe is especially of immeasurable consequence because of the neo-colonial policies of the Anglo-American regimes to undermine and destroy the hopes of Africans for land and resource control in Africa . Mr. Wilbert Gwashavanhu of the Embassy of the Republic of Zimbabwe in Washington , D.C. impressed upon Africans in America "to redouble your interests and commitment to African liberation for African ownership over our land and resources."

Dr. Shelby Lewis, a leading Pan African activist, scholar and the Summit ’s primary economic workshop leader, insisted that Africans in the U.S. become more serious about organizing resources and investing in Africa because "the time is now." One of the key issues Dr. Shelby highlighted from the economic workshop is for the establishment of a development fund for Africans to invest in promoting health, education and food security for Africans. Also, the workshop leaders urged Africans in the U.S. to participate in the transfer and the flow of skills, technology and capital to Africa for the development of the continent and the Diaspora. Additionally, Africans should commit to promoting African markets in villages throughout the U.S. with the cooperation of Black farmers and African business leaders.

In several sessions of the Summit , Prof. James Small of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) stressed the great importance of Africans re-learning African culture to "re-immunize ourselves from the barbaric experiences of centuries of multi-layered genocidal warfare against African people by our enslavers." The other cultural imperatives of the Summit are for Africans to: Participate in at least one pilgrimage to Africa; publish and promote a guide for Pan Africanism; learn an African language; encourage African pilgrimages to African Diaspora sacred spaces; promote youth rites of passage programs; participate in Maafa (African holocaust) remembrance ceremonies and establish family/ancestral sacred spaces in our homes.

Some of the other leading conveners, participants and speakers at the Summit were Dr. Asa Hilliard, a vice president of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilization (ASCAC) and Professor at Georgia State University; Councilman Charles Barron (NYC), former member of the Black Panther Party and Congressional Candidate; Minister Akbar Muhammad of the Nation of Islam; Priest Prince Rahm of the African Hebrew Israelite Community; High Priest Wande Abimbola of Nigeria; and Cardinal Mbuyi Chui of the Shrine of the Black Madonna/Pan African Orthodox Christian Church; Dr. Jewel Crawford of Global African Congress; Joe Beasley of African Ascension and RainbowPush Coalition; Mama Anna Swanston, author and former secretary for Dr. J.H. Clarke; Sis. Njeri Algahnee of NCOBRA and Atty. Mzee Tate of the Concern Black Clergy of Atlanta ; Joe Kumasi Palmer of WHADN; James Brown of MATAH; and Sobukwe Shukura of the All African People Revolutionary Party (AAPRP).

At the conclusion of the Summit , Minister P.D. Menelik declared that "this is a campaign for the very lives of Africans to make right and recreate an eternal bond with African family members scattered and broken everywhere due to the enslavement and colonial subjugation of Africans." The Summit leaders and attendees urged Africans to immediately commit to: Promoting and supporting African issues such as Zimbabwe, Darfur, New Orleans and Reparations during African Liberation Month (ALM) in May and the Pan African Movement anniversary month in July; join a cultural, political or economic PAM Task Force; support the call for African Diaspora citizenship in Africa; contribute financially and support to the ongoing work of the Summit and other AU 6th Region programs; convene monthly programs annually in May and July on Africa with leading Pan Africanists; and promote the 2007 Summit.

Finally, the PAM Summit is calling for the support of the PAM Convention in July 2010, the 110th anniversary of the formal launching of the Pan African Movement. The Pan African Movement Summit 2006 was convened at the historic Clark Atlanta University (CAU) from March 3-5, 2006. For more information, please contact rhawpan.org or call 404-527-7756.