Students hear about Pan-Africanism/US Imperialism at Rally in Mountain View

Members of a new youth organization, Youth Alliance for Justice, heard about Pan-Africanism and the struggle for true independence in Haiti as they rallied in Mountain View against US terrorism on January 28th.

The group of high school students marched to publicly demand that the US government join the International Criminal Court, thereby making possible the prosecution of high US officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Speakers included Akubundu Lott, an organizer for the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party. He said the US displays its imperialist role when it sends aid in the form of troops to countries requesting humanitarian aid. In addition, Lott said, the US has helped Israel set up an apartheid state in the Middle East. This is possible, he said, because the U.S. government is exempt from the International Criminal Court.

Haiti solidarity activist Pierre Labosierre is a much honored spokesman for Haiti independence who lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. He said that millions of American dollars have propped up Haiti’s dictators and with it support shifted abruptly away from democratically elected leaders. Labriosse held a sign with a picture of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, one of the most vocal opponents of the 2004 coup d’etat that ousted President Jean Bertrand Aristide. Pierre-Antoine is said to have been "disappeared" by the US and its allies, who would do anything to crush opposition.

The Raging Grannies, who support student activists whenever they can, joined in with chants and songs.