Conference to Build the ASI - Report from InPDUM President Chimurenga Waller

Uhuru, I want to express my appreciation to the African Socialist International, the organizing committee of the African People’s Socialist Party, and the London branch of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM), who invited me here to speak tonight.

I should mention that in 1982 an international panel of judges, which heard the case of African people for reparations, decided that the U.S. government was guilty of breaching numerous international conventions and international law. That panel also decided that the U.S. government owed African people in the U.S. — just African people in the U.S. — some $4.1 trillion for stolen labor alone.

The judgment was not for all of the lynchings, the police brutality and the horrible crimes that have been committed against African people. This was the judgment for the stolen labor alone. That was in 1982, so you know that there’s some interest that’s been building on that.

The International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement has taken forth a great banner to convene the 12th World Tribunal on Reparations for African People in the U.S. This is a real important event, one that you should try to find a way to attend.

We are bringing brothers, sisters and comrades from all over the world to come bear witness to the evidence and the testimony that will be provided at that 12th World Tribunal. We are establishing an outstanding panel of international judges, including Dorothy Lewis of the National Coalition for Reparations in America and Thami Ka Plaatjie who spoke here yesterday. He is the former Secretary General of the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania. We’ve invited Vernon Belecourt from the American Indian Movement to serve as a judge. There are several others invited as observers.

We would hope that you make some time to be part of this important event. There’s a banquet for reparations on November 14. So November 14, 15, and 16 are the dates of this year’s tribunal in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. You need to be there. In London you can contact 020-826-51731. That’s the local number here in London you can call to speak to Luwezi about getting transportation to the World Tribunal on Reparations for African People in the U.S. Be a part of this tremendous event.

I want to thank you for coming out tonight, I’m very happy to see a room filled with African brothers and sisters and comrades. I would hope that at the end of this process you would see fit to become a part of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement, a part of the African Socialist International, and of course, the African People’s Socialist Party. Be part of something, because organization is key. We can’t win the struggle without organization. Uhuru, Brothers and Sisters.