2008 InPDUM Convention Program
KEYNOTE PRESENTATION:
Omali Yeshitela - African People’s Socialist Party
THE TRUTH ABOUT BARACK OBAMA
Led by Glen Ford - Black Agenda Report
REVOLUTIONARY NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PROGRAM
Led by InPDUM International President, Ivory Sobukwe - SoDaye
PRESIDENTIAL FORUM
Led by Green Party Vice Presidential Candidate , Rosa A. Clemente
WORKSHOPS TO INCLUDE
- Political Prisoners
- Negative Public Policy of Police Containment
- Economic Development
- Self-Determination
- Special Oppression of African Women
- Reparations
- Community Removal
- Immigration
- Schools
- Legal Defense
PLENARY & RESOLUTIONS
- Solidarity Statements
- Branch Reports
- Outreach
- Membership & Sustainable Funding
- Elections
- International Executive Committee Reports
...and much, much more
Omali Yeshitela
African People's Socialist Party
Fiery, uncompromising and courageous as the leader of the movement for a liberated Africa, Omali Yeshitela has struggled for black freedom for 40 years.
Leader of the Uhuru Movement, and Chairman and founder of the African People’s Socialist Party, Yeshitela continues to be on the frontlines of struggle, building African-worker controlled institutions, developing ground-breaking political theory, writing countless books and articles, speaking worldwide, fighting for reparations, galvanizing allies, influencing the popular culture and bringing African people together to liberate Africa and all its resources.
Omali Yeshitela has faced arrests, trials, imprisonment and personal sacrifice in his struggle to complete the Black Revolution of the Sixties. Chairman Omali never stopped building fighting organizations in the interests of the African working community. He survived the U.S. government's attack on the Black Power Movement of the 1960s that imprisoned, assassinated or silenced most black revolutionaries by driving them underground. For this he has been called "the last man standing.
- Built the African Socialist International, an organization made up of African people in Africa, the U.S., the Caribbean and around the world to liberate and unite Africa and all its resources as the birthright of African working people everywhere. Its founding congress is scheduled for March 2008 in West Africa.
- Made reparations for African people a household word after he launched the first International Tribunal on Reparations for African People in New York in 1982. The Tribunal ruled that African people are owed $4.1 trillion in reparations for stolen labor alone. Twelve subsequent sessions of the tribunal have been held in various cities around the country. The latest session of the Tribunal will be held in Berlin, Germany in June 2007.
Campaigns and organizations:
- Freed Dessie Woods, sentenced to 22 years for defending herself against a white man who tried to rape her in 1975.
- African National Prison Organization, 1980.
- African National Reparations Organization, 1982.
- Measure O, the bold Community Control of Housing Initiative that won 22 percent of the vote in Oakland, CA in 1984.
- Acquitted in 1990 when brought to trial for defending African youth being harassed by the police;
- International Peoples’ Democratic Uhuru Movement in 1991 to defend the democratic rights of the African community.
- Led the community fight back after the police murder of 18 year old TyRon Lewis and the subsequent police attack on the Uhuru House in 1996. The Clinton administration was forced to send in his HUD chief and hold hearings by the Human Rights Commission.
- Ran for mayor of St. Petersburg in 2001, winning all the black and mixed precincts but one.
- Built the Florida Alliance for Peace and Social Justice in 2001, the only African-led anti-war organization.
Built African working class-led institutions and businesses:
- Umoja restaurant, St. Petersburg FL, 1970s
- African Connection Bookstore, Louisville, KY, 1980
- Florida Black Voice newspaper, Gainesville, FL, 1981
- Spear Graphics printing, Oakland CA, 1980s
- Uhuru Bakery Café, Oakland CA, 1987
Historic "firsts," "mosts," and "onlys" are the hallmarks of Glen Ford’s long career.
The son of famed disc jockey Rudy “The Deuce” Rutherford, the first Black man to host a non-gospel television show in the Deep South – Columbus, Georgia, 1958 – Glen was reading newswire copy on-the-air at age eleven. Glen’s first full-time broadcast news job was at James Brown’s Augusta, Georgia radio station WRDW, in 1970 – where ‘The Godfather of Soul” shortened Glen’s surname to “Ford.”
Glen Ford worked as a newsperson at four more local stations: in Columbus, Georgia, Atlanta, Baltimore – where he created his first radio syndication, a half-hour weekly news magazine called “Black World Report” – and Washington, DC. In 1974, Ford joined the Mutual Black Network (88 stations), where he served as Capitol Hill, State Department and White House correspondent, and Washington Bureau Chief, while also producing a daily radio commentary. In 1977, Ford co-launched, produced and hosted “America’s Black Forum” (ABF), the first nationally syndicated Black news interview program on commercial television.
ABF made Black broadcast history. For the next four years, the program generated national and international headlines nearly every week. Never before – and never since – had a Black news entity commanded the weekly attention of the news services (AP, UPI, Reuters, Agence France-Presse – even Tass, the Soviet news agency) and the broadcast networks.
While still host and co-owner of ABF, Ford in 1979 created “Black Agenda Reports,” which provided five programs each day on Black Women, History, Business, Sports and Entertainment to 66 radio stations. The syndication produced more short-form programming than the two existing Black radio networks, combined.
Ford also produced the McDonald’s-sponsored radio series “Black History Through Music,” aired on 50 stations, nationwide.
In 1987, Ford launched “Rap It Up,” the first nationally syndicated Hip Hop music show, broadcast on 65 radio stations. During its six years of operations, “Rap It Up” allowed Ford to play an important role in the maturation of a new African American musical genre. He organized three national rap music conventions, and wrote the Hip Hop column for Jack The Rapper’s Black radio trade magazine.
Ford co-founded BlackCommentator.com (BC) in 2002. The weekly journal quickly became the most influential Black political site on the Net. In October, 2006, Ford and the entire writing team left BC to launch BlackAgendaReport.com (BAR).
In addition to his broadcast and Internet experience, Glen Ford was national political columnist for Encore American & Worldwide News magazine; founded The Black Commentator and Africana Policies magazines; authored The Big Lie: An Analysis of U.S. Media Coverage of the Grenada Invasion (IOJ, 1985); voiced over 1000 radio commercials (half of which he also produced) and scores of television commercials; and served as reporter and editor for three newspapers (two daily, one weekly).
Ford was a founding member of the Washington chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ); executive board member of the National Alliance of Third World Journalists (NATWJ); media specialist for the National Minority Purchasing Council; and has spoken at scores of colleges and universities.
Ivory Sobukwe - SoDaye
InPDUM International President
Ivory Muhammad is the International President of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) with branches in the North America, Europe and Africa.
Born on August 17, 1975 in Jackson, Mississippi, her father was a Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizer in the 60’s whose family’s home was bombed because of his constant agitation against the State and his inspiring determination to free African people. She is also the daughter of Sanovia Muhammad, a former member of the New Afrikan Peoples Organization (NAPO) and former leadership of the New Afrikan Women’s Taskforce.
While growing up, Ivory became more and more aware of the harsh conditions of life for African people as it began to affect her personal life consistently. She witnessed many police raids, and experienced unfair treatment by the police towards her own brothers.
Ivory was introduced to the All African People’s Revolutionary Party (AAPRP) while living in New York. Her family moved from the AAPRP to become members of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement around 1985. While a member of this organization, Ivory participated in the New Afrikan Scouts and the New Afrikan Panthers, which was the youth wing of the movement.
These stepping stones in her life helped her to understand her role in the liberation struggle of African people and opened her up to the strategy of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM). Ivory began to recognize that African Internationalism was the foundation necessary to gain true freedom — politically and socially.
Ivory Muhammad is currently a member of the African Peoples Socialist Party, which gave her a true understanding of the war on African people across the globe and the necessary strategic plan to remove all borders in order for African people to be united as one. She began to recognize that capitalism handicaps African people worldwide, and that socialism is necessary to the healthy survival of African people.
Ivory Muhammad holds a Bachelors degree in sociology and has obtained her Masters degree in social work.
Rosa Clemente
Green Party Vice Presidential Candidate
Rosa Alicia Clemente is a community organizer, journalist and Hip-Hop activist. Born and raised in the South Bronx she is a graduate of the University of Albany and Cornell University. A much sought after commentator, political activist, community organize and independent reporter, Rosa has been delivering workshops, presentations and commentary for over ten years.
Rosa's academic work has been dedicated to researching national liberation struggles inside the United States, with a specific focus on the Young Lords Party and the Black Liberation Army. While a student at SUNY Albany, she was President of the Albany State University Black Alliance (ASUBA) and Director of Multicultural Affairs for the Student Association. At Cornell she was a founding member of La Voz Boriken, a social/political organization dedicated to supporting Puerto Rican political prisoners and the independence of Puerto Rico.
Rosa has written for Clamor Magazine, The Ave. magazine, The Black World Today, The Final Call and numerous websites. She has been the subject of articles in the Village Voice, The New York Times, Urban Latino and The Source magazines. She has appeared on CNN, C-Span, Democracy Now and Street Soldiers. In 2001, she was a youth representative at the United Nations World Conference against Xenophobia, Racism and Related Intolerance in South Africa and in 2002 was named by Red Eye Magazine as one of the top 50 Hip Hop Activists to look out for. In 1995, she developed Know Thy Self Productions, a full service speakers bureau, production company and media consulting service. Seeing a need for young people of color to be heard and taken seriously she began presenting workshops and lectures at colleges, universities, high schools, and prisons. In the past ten years she has presented at over 200 colleges, conferences and community centers on topics such as; African-American and Latino/a Intercultural Relations; Hip-Hop Activism; The History of the Young Lords Party; and Women, Feminism and Hip Hop. KTSP now includes an expanded college speakers bureau which has produced three major Hip Hop activism tours, "Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win" with M1 of dead prez and Fred Hampton Jr.; "The ACLU College Freedom Tour" with dead prez, DJ Kuttin Kandi, Mystic and comedian Dave Chapelle; and the "Speak Truth to Power" Tour a collaborative tour of award winning youth activists.
In 2003, Rosa helped formed and coordinate the first ever National Hip Hop Political Convention that drew over 3000 activists who came together to create and implement a national political agenda for the Hip-Hop generation. 10 days after Hurricane Katrina ravaged parts of the south, Rosa traveled to the areas as an independent journalist and her on the ground reports were reported on independent radio stations all over the world, including Air America, NPR, Pacifica Radio, Democracy Now, Indy media, Hard Knock Radio and many more independent and mainstream media outlets.
