The Revolutionary Spirits of LUMUMBA and BISHOP Lives! (Report #4 from Copenhagen)

The Revolutionary Spirits of PATRICE LUMUMBA and MAURICE BISHOP Lives!
(Live from Copenhagen Report #4)

Baba Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at

12 December 6249 KMT/2009


Greetings of IMANI (FAITH) Esteemed Elders, Sister and Brother Leaders, Youthful Reparationists and to All Our Relations:

As always, it is my sacred thought that our Divine Creator and Beloved Ancestors finds you and (y)our extended families in healing spirit.

Here in the frigid capital of Denmark, WE continue our long and difficult work to achieve REPARATIONS NOW! for Afrikan and Indigenous nations and ascendants, women and girls, and all in and on our sacred earth. Without sounding too pretentious, our mission and assignments are to not only help save ourselves; but (as the sub-title of my two most recent books suggest) to assist in developing just remedies to repair and save all of humanity, our environment, as well as all our relations. Asé. Amen.

As i mentioned in my Live from Cope Report #3 (International Human Rights Day, 10 December 6249 KMT/2009), WE non-government activists and workers have produced a profound, but imperfect, Declaration from our “People’s Summit,” known as Klimaforum09. Please review at http://www.klimaforum09.com and consider endorsing and forwarding to your networks. Your support can help us make another powerful statement to the abusers of humans and nature globally—especially the selfish, destructive imperialist and profit-first corporations and politicians in the united capitalist prison states (u.c.p.s.a.), England (aka, uk), the European Union, Japan, etc.—that the people of the world will not settle anymore for their business-as-usual (pun-intended).

Today (Saturday), WE participated in major marches to demand immediate and sustainable actions for climate justice and Reparations. My guesstimate is that over one hundred thousand people braved the elements to walk and carry banners, posters, flags and/or children. Our participants were so diverse: Indigenous youth from Alaska and the upper canadian capitalist prison provinces; islanders from their non-threatened Tuvalo homeland; my traditionally-attired Massai brethren from Kenya; and, a majority of Europeans, young and old. i peeped almost as many cops here as in the people’s show-downs with the then-fascist mayor of new york Rudolph Giuliani. Later today WE were informed that at least 600, possibly up to one thousand, of our mostly youth protestors had been arrested and detained. WE are checking out this situation right now. Still, on this glorious day, the people’s energy was as bright as the welcomed glow of our great Amen-RA Sun God-Goddess, which shined so brilliantly after days of cloudy, gray skies.

Speaking of brilliant and welcomed, i am so thrilled to have met with two of our world’s brightest and righteous leaders in government. They come forth, or shall i say have been sent forth, in the revolutionary spirit of Ancestors PARTRICE LUMUMBA and MAURICE BISHOP. Offering much-needed spiritual leadership and superb political clarity at this critical moment in time are Brother Ambassador Lumumba Stanislaus Kaw Di-Aping of Sudan Afrika, and Sister Ambassador Dessima Williams of Grenada Caribbean* (the homeland of my son Chioke Bakari’s grandmother, Queen Cecile Louisa Herbert-Malloy).

Though, like many of you, i have major problems with the government of Sudan, Brother Di-Aping is the chief negotiator for the G77, mostly Afrikan and developing nations and the People’s Republic of China. Sister Williams Chairs the AOSIS, which stands for the Alliance of Small Island States. Both hail from rich, political traditions. Brother Lumumba is named after the great Pan African revolutionary and trade union organizer who was elected as the first Prime Minister of the nation of Congo. As he sought to bring justice and return the world’s most abundant natural resources to his people— after centuries of brutal exploitation, enslavement and robbery by the Europeans, and especially Belgium—Patrice Lumumba was murdered by the combined forces of Belgium, the then outgoing u.c.p.s.a. president Eisenhower and incoming president Kennedy and their c.i.a.; and the reactionary military generals like Mobuto Sese Seko.

Sister Williams was part of the New Jewel Movement and Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), led by Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. Brother President Bishop was overthrown, place under arrest and killed in a 6223 KMT/1983 murderous coup led by forces aligned with the u.c.p.s.a. under then-president Ronald Reagan. After giving a “Peace in the Caribbean” speech a year later at Howard University in dc, Sister Williams was viciously forced into a car by six, large white men. She was later charged with by the i.n.s. of being in the u.c.p.s.a. “illegally,” though she had been traveling back and forth for more than a dozen years. She was also charged with “weapons possession” and jailed based on her carrying “Maurice Bishop’s Spirit Lives” buttons. According to the fascist authorities of the u.c.p.s.a., these “dangerous” buttons had “extremely sharp points on them.”

More than any other government officials at these COP 15 meetings here in Copenhagen, these two profound leaders have stressed the seriousness of the current and developing climate, environmental and economic situation. Both were on point in stating that “the nations of Africa, Asia and the small island states around the world have done the least to produce this (climate) problem… but are already suffering its worst affects… However, we are not going to allow our nations to drown, burn or starve to death!”

And, thus, it is representatives Lumumba and Williams who are placing the most advanced solutions on the negotiating table: “Not one Annex I country (referring to the European Union, u.c.p.s.a. and President Barack Obama, Japan, etc., Editor) has come close to offering the measures and amounts needed to adequately address these crises… like lack of drinking water, lost of agricultural land, relocating residents to higher ground and more trauma that will soon affect more countries. The proposal of euro 2.4 billion (approximately, $3.6 billion in U$ dollars) over the next three years by the E.U. is an insult! It is too little even for the short term, and does not address medium and long-term dynamics… Nor, does it speak to the funding sources (meaning the E.U. and u.c.p.s.a. may try to trade current funding for the climate fund)” Furthermore, the two cited the figures of 1.5 to 2 C (of centigrade lowering in temperature, Editor) as criminal. “It is asking us to commit suicide! We can’t do that…” and won’t allow the Annex I nations to do this to themselves. “The world needs, and the I.P.C.C. confirms, 3 to 4 C! This is our moral, legal and financial responsibility.”

In our brief discussion, this author shared with the two leaders our recently-completed Klimaforum09 People’s Summit Declaration. The documents contains many of the principles they are advocating. Both agreed to review it, and welcomed collaboration and mutual support. i then pressed them both on more specific monetary demands of Reparations for climate crimes that the grassroots civil society could mobilize around. Brother Di-Aping graciously offered his own figures: “Dear Sir, what we need to begin addressing these major crises in the world is around $400 to $450 billion per year, for the next five to six years. This would cover issues of mitigation, adaption, financing, technology transfers, renewable energy to shift our economies, new oversight mechanisms and more. This could come from a mixture of public and private sources.” He reminded me that this amount is less than “your government” (meaning u.c.p.s.a., Editor) spends for the financial bail-outs and military each year. Long-term, Brother Di-Aping concluded that “five percent of world GNP, especially from Annex I, is needed up to the year 2050 to transform our world from its sick state.” Sho ya right, my good Brother! Asé. Amen.

And, so it is. The revolutionary spirits of Lumumba and Bishop are alive here in Copenhagen. WE feel such gratitude for the opportunity to participate in this process and to, in a sense, be your true representatives at this monumental event. Please, please share with us your ideas, suggestions, questions and solutions… as WE continue our struggles for Reparations and MA’AT for Afrikan and Indigenous nations and people, women and girls, our planet and all our relations.

*NOTE: Respectfully, WE do not use the European-centric and incorrect term “west indies” or “indian” in relation to the people or (is)lands in the Caribbean sea or on north, south and central Turtle Island.

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Baba Jahahara is a veteran justice/community/labor/environmental organizer, writer and musician. He is a past National Co-Chairperson of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA); as well as the author of the new book MANY PATHS TO KUGICHAGULIA and recently-released cd “ELEVATE: RISE UP You Might Afrikan People!” If you are receiving this article by email, you are also getting a special Gift from Jahahara, a free download of his 6224 KMT/1984 song titled “RUNNINOUTTATIME!!! (RUNNING OUT OF TIME).” Reach Baba Jahahara c/o FONAMI, P.O. Box 10963, OHLONE (aka oakland, ca 94610 usa) or support [at] wedemandreparations.com