First Published: The Call, Vol. 1, No. 3, July 1973.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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Although they first were brought to this country in chains as slave over 350 years ago, the Afro-American people have not forgotten their origins in Africa and the oppression of the African peoples by colonialism and imperialism. Today, as it was in the days of the slave trade, the Black peoples of Africa are subject to the most vicious racial and national oppression of any people in the world. The notorious apartheid policies of the white settler state of South Africa, and the “reservations” or concentration camps which imprison thousands of tribesmen in Southern Africa today are renowned for their brutality and inhumanity.
On May 26 over 100,000 Afro-American people marched and rallied to show their solidarity with the African Liberation Support Committee (ALSC) a broad coalition of Black organizations. The demonstrations this year were in 30 cities, the largest being in Oakland, California. Rallies and marches were also held in Washington, D. C., Raleigh, N. C., Portland, Ore., Detroit, Indianapolis, Newark, New Orleans, Rochester, Los Angeles and many others.
In addition to the large turn-out at the rallies, nearly $50,000 was raised to support the liberation fighters in Africa. A benefit concert for African Liberation Day was held in L. A., featuring Stevie Wonder, Oscar Brown and Jean Pace, Pharoah Sanders, and other Afro-American artists.
This year’s demonstrations marked the recent death of Amilcar Cabral, leader of the national liberation movement of Guinea-Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands, who was assassinated in January of 1973 by Portuguese agents.
The theme of the rallies this year was, “African people are at war with imperialism,” and many of the rallies demonstrated at the embassies of colonial governments or the offices of imperialist corporations with major holdings in the African economy.
High points of the rallies in Oakland, New York, Houston, and Chicago were speeches by African representatives of major liberation groups and statesmen of some of the independent African states. These included a spokesman from ZANU-ZAPU Joint Military Command of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe is its correct African name). Amed Sekou Toure, nephew of Guinean President Sekou Toure, spoke to the Chicago crowd.
A South African freedom fighter spoke to the Houston, Texas, rally where Gulf Oil’s headquarters was the target. ALSC has called for a boycott of Gulf products because of Gulfs economic investments in colonized African countries.
A representative of the PAIGC, Amilcar Cabral’s organization, spoke at the New York Rally. The audience was strongly moved by his prediction:
The dastardly, cowardly assassination of our beloved Secretary-General, Amilcar Cabral, indicated that the Portuguese and their imperialist supporters are running scared… I can tell you today that we do intend to declare Guinea-Bissau a free state within this year!
Besides demanding freedom arid independence for the colonized African countries, the demonstrators expressed support for the anti-imperialist struggles in North Africa and the Middle East, especially for the Palestinian peoples fight for their homeland. This year there was a high level awareness that the African struggle is part of a world-wide struggle of oppressed people against imperialism.
This was the second year that African liberation Day has been marked in the U. S., and it was extremely successful, despite dire predictions of failure by various capitalist publications that Black Americans “no longer care about their ancestors in Africa.” The persistent fight of the African people for independence has won the respect of the people of the world.