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It fills us with great sadness to hear of the all too sudden passing of Mayor Chokwe Lumumba of Jackson, Mississippi. The Freedom Road Socialist Organization sends our heartfelt condolences and solidarity to the family and friends of Chokwe Lumumba, the members of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and to the people of Jackson, Mississippi.

Chokwe Lumumba was an exemplary leader for Black liberation in the U.S., particularly in the U.S. South. As a founding member of the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, he dedicated his life to the African American liberation struggle and the belief that African Americans in the U.S. have a right to self-determination. As an attorney, he represented many African American political prisoners and people facing state repression, including Assata Shakur and hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur.

On June 5, 2013, Chokwe Lumumba was elected mayor of Jackson, winning 87% of the vote in the general election. His term as mayor was cut short by his sudden death. Chokwe Lumumba will be missed for his revolutionary legacy that taught people all over the world that the struggle for Black liberation in the Black Belt South continues boldly in the 21st century.

Chokwe Lumumba’s passing is felt by working and oppressed people far and wide. The struggle to which he dedicated his life continues.

With regards,
The Freedom Road Socialist Organization

St. Paul, MN – On Feb. 25, Minnesota politicians returned to the State Capitol for the opening of the legislative session and the Welfare Rights Committee and their supporters were there. Over 50 low-income people joined together, despite below-zero temperatures, to send a message to legislators: “Raise the welfare grants. 28 years is too long!”

Lorretta VanPelt opened the rally, reminding people, “In 1986 a family of two received $437 a month. Now, in 2014, a family still only receives $437 a month, despite the cost of living having more than doubled in the last 28 years.”

Over the previous weekend, Welfare Rights Committee members sewed together bed sheets and painted a very large banner that greeted legislators as they entered and exited the chamber. The banner read, “Raise the welfare grants now! Bring 70,000 MN kids out of extreme poverty!”

This session, the Welfare Rights Committee has a bill in the Minnesota legislature to increase the welfare grants – Senate File 1693/House File 2191.

Cherrene Horazuk, president of AFSCME Local 3800, reminded people how working people and unions need to be involved in fighting for raising the welfare grants: “Welfare is the line below which wages are not supposed to be below. Minimum wage continues to be so low partly because they continue to keep welfare grants small.”

In addition to dropping the large banner from the second story rotunda at the capitol, WRC members and supporters walked around the capitol with the banner chanting, “Hey politicians! We’re at your door! Stop the war on the poor!” and “What do we want? Raise the grants! When do we want it? Now!”

The protesters marched with the banner to Governor Mark Dayton’s office, filling both his inner office and waiting room, as WRC members reminded Dayton it’s time he raised the welfare grants for those most in need and help take 70,000 Minnesota children out of extreme poverty.

Tampa, FL – Braving rain and traffic, people from across the Tampa Bay area rallied outside City Hall, demanding “Driver’s licenses for all undocumented!” Over 30 protesters held up umbrellas, signs and a banner reading, “Licencias ahora, licenses now!”

Led by Raíces en Tampa, a community group, the protesters are organizing to pass a Tampa City Council resolution in support of licenses for the undocumented. Last month, they organized a call-in day to City Council members. Now they are out in the neighborhoods gathering signatures for a statewide petition. Today’s event urged city council members to attend. Unfortunately, city council members were attending a banquet.

Ana Lamb, one of the protesters, said, “Is this what tax dollars go to? Fancy banquets instead of licenses?”

Right now, there are an estimated 1 million undocumented immigrants in the state of Florida and over 11 million in the U.S. Most states, like Florida, do not allow the undocumented to have licenses. Still, many drive to jobs, school, hospitals, houses of worship and other places. This puts many at risk for fines, arrest, detention and deportation. In fact, most deportations result from being pulled over without a license. In the U.S. there are approximately 1100 deportations each day. President Obama has amassed over 2 million deportations during his term.

Jared Hamil, with Raíces en Tampa, spoke to the crowd, “We want an end to deportations now. We want the politicians in Tallahassee and those here in Tampa like Mayor Bob Buckhorn and the city council to support ‘Driver’s Licenses for All’ in Florida. We need Governor Rick Scott, who vetoed a bill last year that would’ve given DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] recipients their driver’s licenses, to stand with us, or get out of the way! The politicians must act and give us ‘Licenses for all!’”

LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens), Student-Farmworker Alliance, and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) all joined the protest. People from the neighboring cities of Largo, Clearwater and Saint Petersburg drove in to attend. Several police cars were present as police watched from across the street. When protesters came to the doors of City Hall, they taped a giant letter, signed by all the protesters and addressed to the politicians of Tampa, urging them to support licenses for the undocumented.

At the close of the rally, Marisol Marquez of Raíces en Tampa announced, “We need everyone to join this cause!” Marquez continued, “We want people in their own cities to take up this issue. We want them to organize for driver’s licenses and an end to deportations! Our first step is licenses, our big goal is legalization for all.”

Sign the statewide petition – https://www.change.org/petitions/support-licenses-for-all-undocumented-i…

Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/dl4allflorida

Nashville, TN – On Feb. 25 over 30 youth, mostly African American and Latino, rallied on Legislative Plaza at the State Capitol to demand an end to racial profiling and a repeal of Tennessee’s version of the “Stand Your Ground” law. The event was organized by the American Baptist College chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Protesters marched around the entrance to the Tennessee Legislature holding signs, handing out flyers and chanting, “No justice, no peace! No racist police!” “Brown skin is not a crime!” and “Black skin is not a crime!”

A number of organizations rallied, including Workers Dignity Project, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC). Protesters held signs saying, “Stand your ground is racial profiling,” “Give us peace. Don’t leave us in pieces!” and “50 years later.” This last one was referencing the 50 years since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that SCLC played a pivotal role in winning.

Many at the rally spoke about the murders of African American and Latino youth by police, and by racists such as George Zimmerman and Michael Dunn. They demanded justice for Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, Oscar Grant and all the youth whose lives have been cut short by racist murderers. They spoke of the outrage they felt and the injustice of a system that lets child killers like Zimmerman walk free and allows Dunn to be found not guilty of murder in Jacksonville, Florida. They vowed to continue the fight to end racial profiling and the attacks on African American and Latino youth.

A lead organizer for the event, Evan Regis of the SCLC said, “The lynchings still continue and the lynchings of Black and Brown brothers and sisters allows us to see that the fight for freedom must also continue. Racial profiling has resulted in Black brothers being 80% of the prison population today and we need to stop the lynching and the discrimination against our brothers and sisters. Legislators are holding the noose around our Black brothers! Laws and policies are squeezing the breath out of our Black brothers! Legislators are still holding the noose on Black bodies. The fight for freedom still continues.”

Newark, NJ – The People’s Organization for Progress held a march here, Feb. 26, to commemorate the second anniversary of the murder of Trayvon Martin. Martin was murdered in Sanford, Florida. The state of Florida refused to convict his killer, George Zimmerman.

Dozens of people came out in the freezing cold for the protest. The acquittal of Michael Dunn for the murder of Jordan Davis, also in Florida, gave even greater impact to the march.

POP Chairman Lawrence Hamm told the gathering, “Never forget – because forgetting is the first step toward having it happen again. Violence has been used against us since the first slave ships tore families apart. More states are actually passing ‘stand your ground’ laws, but they all have to be repealed.”

This pamphlet below was published in 1975 and is the beginning of a series on Imperialism in the British Isles we will be publishing in the coming months.

The picture above is from a New book on the British Empire.

Nickglais

Editor of Democracy and Class Struggle

THE MARXIST THEORY OF IMPERIALISM AND THE

BRITISH LABOUR MOVEMENT

By Stuart Macintyre

The British labour

Chokwe Lumumba: Remembering “America’s Most Revolutionary Mayor” Obituary for Mr. Lumumba, Mayor of Jackson Mississippi by Mike Ely Chokwe Lumumba has died. The news just reached me, and has generated great feelings of sadness and loss. We do not yet know the causes, but will watch and listen… for that news. Chokwe Lumumba was a […]