[blackantiwar] ACTION FORUM--

"Pan African Liberation: Building a Strong, African-centered
Mass Movement in the US"

PROGRAM: FORUM SUMMARY

The first forum,
-------------------------
Saturday, December 17th
1-5pm
Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center
100-01 Northern Blvd.
Corona, Queens
--------------------------

In Forum One, there will be three 60-minute panels. Each panel will
include at least 25 minutes of audience interaction. There will be a
30-minute Plenary addressing “How We Move Forward”. The panels, invited
moderators & panelists are:

· Panel One: Linking Critical Sectors and Struggles to Build a Strong
Movement: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”

Panel One
Moderator: Joan Gibbs, Esq.
Panelists: Dr. Sam Anderson, Dr. Shadidi B. Kinsey, Muntu Matsimela,
Dr. James McIntosh, MXGM Fem Rep, Dr. Segun Shabaka
------------------

· Panel Two: Activists and Organizations Must Work Together to
Transform our Movement: “Practicing what we preach is to lead by example”

Panel Two
Moderator: Bernard White
Panelists: Betty Dopson, J. Kazembe Batts, Dr. Ron Daniels, Brenda
Stokely, Eddie Ellis, POP Rep,
---------------------

· Panel Three: Collaborative Strategies and Projects to Bring More of
Our People into Struggle: “Our movement must have quantity and quality.”

Panel Three
Moderator: Camille Yarbrough
Panelists: MMM Rep, Michael Hooper, IBW 21st Cent., Basir Mchawi, Muntu
Matsimela, D12 Rep
***************************

PROPOSED Program: FORUM Details

Welcome * Libation * Forum Introduction: 1:00pm

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”

Panel One: 1:10pm – 2:10pm Linking Critical Sectors and Struggles to
Build a Strong Movement: Moderator: Joan Gibbs

Invited Panelists: Sam Anderson, Dr. Shadidi B. Kinsey, Muntu
Matsimela, Dr. James McIntosh, MXGM Fem Rep, Nana Camille Yarbrough,

Panelists will make strategic and practical connections among a
variety of especially important struggles, issues and sectors of the African
World. This diversity, as well as the local-global character of Pan
African work, ensures that Panel One will be integral throughout the
series. Over time participants will address: Black Nationalism: Culture,
Spirit and Mind; Reparations; Media & Entertainment; Radical & Electoral
Politics: With Plan & Purpose; Health, Nutrition, Science; Education For
Liberation; Labor Issues & Worker Struggles; Black Incarceration;
Cooperative Economics, locally and globally; Burning Issues & Events; Youth,
College Students, Intergenerational Work; Sustainability, Corporate
Globalization, Imperialism; Role(s) of the Church; and much more.

In Forum One, panelists are asked to link: Pan African Culture:
Bringing “Black” Back (Camille); Education For Liberation (Sam); Media Wars in
21st Century (James); Katrina: As We Go Forward (MXG Female Rep); All
Roads Lead to Reparations (Muntu); Local-Global Health Challenges and
Struggles (Shadidi).


“Practicing what we preach is to lead by example”

Panel Two: 2:15pm -- 3:15pm Activists and Organizations Must Work
Together to Transform our Movement: Moderator: Bernard White

Invited Panelists: Betty Dopson, J. Kazembe Batts, Dr. Ron Daniels, MMM
Rep, Brenda Stokely, Eddie Ellis, POP Rep

Panelists will discuss principled ways in which Africans, who are
seriously concerned with fundamental change, can work together, if we are
to actually practice what we preach. Matters to be addressed initially
include: Organizing Ourselves; Operational Unity; Constructively
Combating Sectarianism; ; Dividing the Labor of Labor, Without Dividing the
Movement; Ujima among Black Organizations; Planning & Implementing Joint
Work; United Fronts, Coalitions, Congresses: Lessons Learned.

The matters presented in Panel Two will warrant re-visiting during the
series; and certainly will be a recurring concern in the Movement.
However, if we are serious, we will earnestly & principledly address issues
of divisiveness or sectarianism and move forward. As we improve the
ways in which we work collaboratively, our emphasis will be even more
centered on resolving critical struggle-driven questions. Questions such
as: “How to better engage our people in building the Movement?” “How to
work effectively with allies?” And of course: “How to defeat our
enemies?”
==================================

“Our movement must have quantity and quality”

Panel Three: 3:20pm - 4:20pm Collaborative Strategies and Projects to
Bring More of Our People into Struggle: Moderator: Dr. Segun Shabaka

Invited Panelists: MMM Fem Rep, Michael Hooper, IBW 21st Cent. Female
Rep, Basir Mchawi,

Panelists and participants will discuss and propose a selection of
projects & initiatives which they believe can significantly increase the
numbers of so-called “average Black people” who are purposefully engaged
in Our Struggle; that is, involved in empowering and liberating work
(e.g., areas cited during Panel One discussions

Also, building on experience, and perhaps insights from Panel Two
discussions, panelists and participants will explore “collaborative
organizing” efforts between and among African activists and activist groups. We
expect panelists and other participants to consider projects,
initiatives and campaigns which:

· Require service to our people by our people

· Raise the consciousness of and empower all involved

· Celebrate that we are both “Black” and “African” People

· Address issues from Education to Economics

· Encourage collaborations between and among African communities
and/or Black organizations

· Engage average Black folks on both sides of the Atlantic


Plenary: 4:25pm - 4:55pm “How We Move Forward"

Facilitated by the moderators, the forum body will summarize key
elements of the panel discussions and decisions. The emphasis will be on
Panel Three proposals. The focus will be on following through. The body
will also set a date to re-convene and more thoroughly consider how we
move forward..

---------------------------
NOTE: In implementing proposals generated from Panel Three discussions,
the Forum Series conveners have the following four goals:

(1) Identify replicable projects, campaigns and initiatives in which
average people become engaged and active.

(2) Broaden the base of average people “serving” in the Mass Movement

(3) Swell the ranks of Movement activists

(4) Deepen the understanding and quality of work of Activists
regarding collaborative organizing within Our Movement

(5) Compound the potency and impact of Our Movement