Black Alliance for Peace (also referred to as BAP) is a people(s)-centered human rights project against war, repression, and imperialism. The Open Collective is the fiscal sponsor of the formation.
| Founded | April 2017 United States |
|---|---|
| Location |
|
| Services | Human rights, Anti-war, Anti-imperialism |
| Fields | Advocacy, Media attention, Direct-action campaigns, Coalition & movement building |
| Website | blackallianceforpeace.com |
The mission of the organization is "to recapture and redevelop the historic anti-war, anti-imperialist, and pro-peace positions of the radical black movement."[1]
History
editFounded in April 2017 by Ajamu Baraka, the Black Alliance for Peace is part of the renewed effort to organize the anti-war movement based within the Black community in the United States. The organization's founding members agreed to ten points of unity: the right to self defense; self determination; anti-imperialism; working-class foundation; intersectionality; anti-patriarchy; decolonization; prisoner support; black unity; and southern roots.[2]
Coordinating Committee
editThe Coordinating Committee of the Black Alliance for Peace currently consists of sixteen representatives of BAP internal structures and member organizations.
Current members:
- Ajamu Baraka, Coordinating Committee Chairperson and former National Organizer
- Erica Caines, BAP-Baltimore and Coordinating Committee Vice-Chair
- Margaret Kimberley, BAP Africa Team and Coordinating Committee Treasurer
- Austin Cole, BAP Haiti/Americas Team and Coordinating Committee Secretary
- Dedan Waciuri, Black Workers for Justice
- Jacqueline Luqman, BAP-DC
- Jaribu Hill, Mississippi Workers Center for Human Rights
- Jemima Pierre, BAP Haiti/Americas Team
- Julie Varughese, BAP Solidarity Network
- Matt Almonte, BAP Solidarity Network
- Netfa Freeman, Pan-African Community Action (PACA)
- Nnamdi Lumumba, Ujima People’s Progress Party
- Noah Tesfaye, BAP Research and Political Education Team
- Paul Pumphrey, Friends of the Congo
- Rafiki Morris, All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (A-APRP)
- Tunde Osazua, BAP Outreach Team
- Yasmin Forbes, BAP-Atlanta
Objectives
editThe organization is simultaneously campaigning on nearly a dozen various issues, with a focus on peace, people-centered human rights, and anti-imperialism education.[3]
Domestically, BAP opposes Israeli training of American police forces and the Department of Defense's 1033 program that allows military grade equipment to transfer into the possession of civilian police departments.[3][4] In addition to calling for accountability for police brutality and the elimination of Operation Relentless Pursuit, the organization is calling for a 50% reduction in the U.S. military budget to finance the human-rights needs of the American public.[3][5] The organization is calling on the U.S. Congress to pass legislation in support of the abolition of nuclear weapons.[6]
On foreign affairs, BAP's primary campaign is its demand to shut down the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and end all U.S. intervention on the continent of Africa.[7] This is reinforced by BAP's other aims to abolish NATO, close the 800+ U.S. foreign military bases, end all foreign interventions and illegal sanctions, and to uphold global norms by complying with international law.[3]
BAP, along with key partner organizations, is leading an effort to activate the popular movements in our region in support of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) 2014 call to make the Americas region a “Zone of Peace.” This campaign will be informed by the Black Radical Peace Tradition. With its focus on the structures and interests that generate war and state violence—colonialism, patriarchy, capitalism and all forms of imperialism—the fight for a Zone of Peace is an attempt to expel all of these nefarious forces from our region.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Background & Rationalization". Black Alliance for Peace. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
- ^ "Principles of Unity". Black Alliance for Peace. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
- ^ a b c d "Campaign". Black Alliance for Peace. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
- ^ Rosemary Kean (February 16, 2021). "Demilitarize the Police, Abolish the 1033 Program". Massachusetts Peace Action. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
- ^ "The contours of resistance beyond the election". Monthly Review. November 9, 2020. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
- ^ "Black Alliance for Peace Call to Make War and Militarism Central Topics of 2020 Elections". World BEYOND War. September 1, 2019. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
- ^ Netfa Freeman (October 30, 2018). "U.S. Out of Africa — Shut Down AFRICOM". Institute for Policy Studies. Retrieved August 4, 2021.