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After two years of negotiation, representatives of several political prisoner defense committees, women's groups, labor organizations, human rights groups and community-based formations met in Atlanta, Georgia, on August 18-19, 1995, to hammer out a set of working principles and agendas to unite the various Black nationalist political tendencies within the U.S.
The New Afrikan Liberation Front (NALF) is in many respects the response to the political demand made by such celebrated Republic of New Afrika , Black Panther Party, and Black Liberation Army prisoners of war as Dr. Mutulu Shakur, Sekou Odinga, Geronomo Pratt, and Jalil Muntaqin. These freedom fighters called for the formation of an umbrella organization which could coordinate the varied political activities of the constituent bodies in what is often referred to as the Black nationalist community.
"The objective of the NALF is to politically engage and organize the nationalist community into an effective foil to both Black liberal and Black conservative political leadership today," explained Herman Ferguson, a founding member and head of the Administrative Unit of the NALF. "We stand as a fighting political alternative to both the Jesse Jacksons and the Clarence Thomases who we feel mislead and betray the political aspirations of oppressed Black people in this country," Ferguson said. The NALF coalesced around the slogan "Black Power, Land and Independence." As such, each constituent member of the Front is committed to attaining "self-determination for the descendants of enslaved Africans-whom the Front denotes as 'New Afrikans'-and international recognition of the New Afrikan nation's right to sovereignty and political independence."
The NALF will initiate its coordinated activities by launching a nationwide campaign to pressure the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) to open congressional investigations and hearings on the role of the FBI and other police agencies in the assault on the Black Power Movement during the 1960s and '70s. Under the FBI's COINTELPRO (counter-intelligence program) hundreds of Black activists across the U.S. were murdered, jailed, or driven into political exile. COINTELPRO was a coordinated government campaign to destroy the Black nationalist movement.
The NALF seeks internationally-recognized prisoner-of-war (POW) status for the scores of activists who still remain behind bars today. It also demands amnesty for these unjustly imprisoned Black men and women. "Given the congressional attention given the FBI's botched raid on the white supremacist encampment of Randy Weaver-the government granted a $3 million our-of-court settlement for the killing of Weaver's wife and son-Black legislators would be remiss in remaining silent about similar government atrocities which were and continue to be deliberately carried out against Black activists," said Ferguson.
The NALF recently sent a representative to the Beijing, China, International Women's Conference as part of its ongoing campaign to internationalize the struggle of Black people in the U.S. and to expose the systematic human rights abuses perpetrated against Black people here today. Likewise, the NALF has put its case before the United Nations and human rights conferences in Europe and Africa.
The New Afrikan Liberation Front is optimistic about the outcome of its ongoing activities. Explained Ferguson, "Many people believed that Eastern Europe would remain under Soviet domination forever. But in the space of only a few years, nobody even thinks about the Soviet Union anymore. It's gone. That tells us something. For just as the U.S. had dominated New Afrikans, Indians, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Hawaiians, and others for centuries, it doesn't have to be that way forever." Ferguson added that "If we work hard and take care of the day-to-day needs of New Afrikans, while fighting for a revolutionary nationalist political agenda, then we can win. There will be freedom for the New Afrikan nation."
Principles of Unity of the NALF
1. Land.
The primary objective of the NALF is self-determination through a national liberation struggle for land (territory within the historic southeastern Black Belt), independence and reparations.
2. Who is the enemy?
For over 400 years, our nation has been enslaved, first by the European settlers in North America, and currently we are colonized by the political descendants of those settlers, represented by the government of the United States of America. We are united in fighting for the destruction of imperialism and white supremacy, the twin evils of our national oppression which is forced on our Nation by the U.S. imperialist State.
3. Self-defense/Armed Struggle.
We recognize the right to self-defense as well as the right to armed struggle for self-determination.
4. Political Prisoners/POWs/Exiles.
We seek amnesty for prisoners of war, political prisoners, and exiles as a non-negotiable self-determination demand.
5. Social liberation.
The fight against racial, sexist, class, and all forms of social oppression is fundamental to New Afrikan/Black self-determination.
6. Unity and autonomy of organizations-methods of resolving contradictions.
We accept the leadership and discipline of the NALF as determined by a consensus of its membership organizations.
The ideological integrity and autonomy of each organization within the NALF is mutually respected. We will practice constructive criticism and self-criticism for the purpose of resolving contradictions and internal differences.
7. A New Afrikan Consciousness Movement.
We recognize that culture is a weapon of resistance. In that light we are committed to building a movement to develop the national consciousness and culture of the New Afrikan people.
8. Our cultural symbols.
We recognize the Red, Black and Green flag, the new Afrikan creed, the New Afrikan Declaration of Independence and the Code of Umoja as the unifying historical and cultural symbols of our New Afrikan Liberation Front and our independence movement.
For information: Herman Ferguson,
P.O. Box 340084, Jamaica, NY 11434,
(719) 949-515
 Left to right: Amina Baraka, Iyaluua Ferguson,
Suzanne ross, Larry holmes, Amiri Baraka &
Herman Ferguson in Harlem, N.Y., March 28. 08 WW photo: Anne Pruden
See:
New Afrikan Liberation Front Statement Via NY Transfer News
NEW AFRIKAN LIBERATION FRONT STATEMENT
TO
THE NEW AFRIKAN NATION
From:
The NALF Decision Making Body
April 11, 2000
All across the nation, Black people generally, and revolutionaries in particular, are under attack by every branch of the enemy's law enforcement troops. Our nation is clearly under a state of siege unparalleled in recent memory. Our political prisoners and prisoners of war languish in our enemies prisons, many of them well into their third decade of incarceration with no indication that amnesty or clemency will be offered during their lifetime.
Albert Noah Washington is dying of terminal cancer in a New York State prison. Yet the governor refuses to commute his sentence to time served so he can spend his last few weeks with his family. Mumia Abu-Jamal continues to fight valiantly for his life from death row in Pennsylvania. Low level warfare increases in intensity both behind the walls and outside the walls and the casualty rate grows larger with each passing day.
The recent move on our revered senior freedom fighter Brother Jalil Al-Amin is a clear indication that the government's Cointelpro is still alive and more vicious than ever. Freedom Fighters are its number one target with the Black Liberation Movement and the New Afrikan Independence Movement receiving the full force of its military machinery. Brother Al-Amin was closely identified with that period of time when the Black Nation was up in arms and the battle cry was "Burn Baby Burn!" Although Brother Al-Amin has utilized his talents for the past 32 years in building a self-reliant Muslim community in Atlanta, Georgia, the Cointelpro had marked him as a revolutionary leader, and this label was to remain with him, in their assessment, for all of his natural life. This accounts for the continuous surveillance he has been kept under, and the attempts at entrapment, which he has so skillfully avoided, until recently. As far as the enemy is concerned they have finally brought down a potential revolutionary messiah who, if he decided, could re-appear on the scene firing up the masses and re-invigorating the old battle cry "Burn Baby Burn!" One of the major goals of the Cointelpro was to keep any charismatic revolutionary leader fro emerging who could galvanize and organize the masses of Black folks into a revolutionary army capable of waging a national liberation struggle. This move on Brother Al-Amin drives home the point that once targeted by the government's Cointelpro, there is no let up until the targeted person has been rendered null and void. The strategy of the enemy has taken on a new dimension.
The counterintelligence program that has worked so well in our community since the 1920's, relying largely on the cooperation of an army of negro snitches, is no longer producing the desired results, as the masses of our people have begun to become more politically astute and more determined to express their simmering anger through organized self-defense tactics that Malcolm X spoke about. Because of this new awakening, these Judas goats can no longer be relied on by their white masters to keep the New Afrikan Independence Movement contained. The unleashing of the police on the Black communities across amerika has signaled that the war has moved to a more virulent stage where the police have been tasked with provoking our people into a spontaneous reaction which will result in the use of the army, with its more processionally trained killers, to destroy our growing national liberation movement, In the face of all the evidence, which clearly shows our Black Nation is facing a military crisis, the New Afrikan Liberation Front takes the position that our nation cannot put any trust or reliability in slave mentality politicians, weak-kneed preachers, accommodationists, collaborationists, integrationists, or any of the turn-the-other-cheek organizations to speak for us. These individuals and organizations are traitors and lackeys for their slave masters. They sell us out for a few crumbs and access to the 6 o'clock news where they buck dance and brown nose for all to see.
We feel that it is only the New Afrikan Liberation Movement (NAIM), that can speak for the masses of our people. The people want liberation. So does the NAIM. The people want self-determination. So does the NAIM. The people want the capability to defend themselves against police invasion and terror. So does the NAIM. The people want land and a government that they control. So does the NAIM. The National Liberation Front applauds these demands and is a part of the struggle to make them a reality. The New Afrikan Liberation Front is fully committed to supporting Brother Al-Amin in any way the New Afrikan Independence Movement and the brother himself call for. He has been a staunch and consistent defender of the right of Black people to self-defense and self-determination. Never once has he compromised these principles. His love for his brothers and sisters has never wavered over the past 32 years.
We call on all conscious New Afrikans to support Brother Al-Amin unconditionally.
Organize People's Militias in every Black community.
Defeat this new wave of state terrorism.
Take back our streets.
FREE THE LAND!
Herman Ferguson
For the NALF Decision Making Body
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