African Revolution builds in North America
with conference over African Liberation Day weekend
May 22-24 in Washington, DC

What: First North American Regional Conference of the African Socialist International
When: May 22nd-24th, 2009
Where: The Carlos Rosario Charter School NW, Washington, DC
Contact: Lisa Watson, 612.203.6621, [email][email protected]

On the weekend of May 22-24, African organizers from across the U.S. and Canada will converge on Washington, D.C. for a conference recognizing African Liberation Day (ALD) with the theme, “One Africa, One Nation: Separated by Colonial Slavery, Reunited by Revolutionary Resistance!” The event, organized by the African People’s Socialist Party, will serve to formally establish the North American Region of the African Socialist International (ASI), a worldwide party uniting African workers to liberate Africa and its people wherever they have been dispersed.

A simultaneous ASI conference will take place in Manchester, England to consolidate the organization’s presence in Europe. These conferences come on the heels of a well-attended West African ASI regional conference held in October 2008 characterized as the largest socialist gathering in the region since the 1930s and one in East Africa scheduled for April. They represent the growing popularity of African Internationalist political theory throughout the world.

From recent rebellions demanding an end to French colonialism in the Caribbean, to the ASI resolving that foreign mining companies in West Africa must leave, to African working class-led farming projects in Zimbabwe; African people are demanding an end to the oppressive relationship that has fueled the economic systems of the U.S. and Europe for so long.

“African people suffer the worst conditions of poverty and brutality, all because we have been separated from our freedom, our resources and our homeland, Africa,” says Chioma Oruh, Secretary of the ALD Organizing Committee in North America. “The African Socialist International will serve as one revolutionary party to unite the struggles African people face in Washington, D.C., and in other North American cities, with the worldwide African revolution. While we live in poverty and police terror in D.C., our brothers and sisters on the continent live on less than $1 a day. Only a revolutionary organization led by the African working class will save us from these brutal conditions. We must fight for Africa and all our resources if we are ever to know freedom and happiness again.”

The African Liberation Day / ASI North America Conference kicks off with a banquet on Friday, May 22nd and continues on May 23rd and 24th with a dynamic program including a keynote address given by African People’s Socialist Party Chairman Omali Yeshitela. Participants will also hear from the All African People’s Development and Empowerment Project (AAPDEP), which is organizing food, energy and economic sustainability projects in anticipation of the deepening economic crisis. And as African people in the U.S. and Canada face massive imprisonment, rampant police murder and lack of quality education, the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) and the African Internationalist Student Organization (AISO), both under the umbrella of the African People’s Socialist Party, have programs addressing democratic rights, self-determination and education. Conference attendees, coming to D.C. from campuses and black working class communities across North America, will take with them the tools to build these and other programs in their areas.

For more information or to schedule an interview with an African Liberation Day / African Socialist International organizer, contact Lisa Watson at 612.203.6621, [email][email protected] or visit http://www.alduhuru.org