2019 Year of Return, Resistance, and Reflection
International Report Back from Ghana, Venezuela, Cuba
Saturday, December 14th, 2019
5 - 8 pm
Kuwasi Balagoon Center for Economic Democracy and Sustainable Development
939 W. Capitol Street, Jackson, MS
Internationalism and Pan-Africanism are important parts of Cooperation Jackson’s practice. Our engagement with both of these ideas and social movements is absolutely necessary in order to build the just, equitable, and regenerative social system that is rooted in economic and social democracy that we aim to build. Join us to hear from members who represented Cooperation Jackson on exchanges to Ghana, Venezuela and Cuba this year.
Our International and Pan-Africanist pursuits this year had a special significance, given the historical significance of 2019. The historic observances of this year mark a critical “return to the source” to paraphrase the African revolutionary strategist and organizer, Amilcar Cabral. 2019 marked the 400th anniversary of the first Africans that were indentured, enslaved, and imported into the English speaking colonies of North America. These populations would go on to form the core of the people now self-designated as Black, African Americans, or New Afrikans in the territories now presently occupied by the United States government. 2019 also marks the 100th anniversary of the Red Summer, a year of profound white supremacist and state sanctioned terror against Black people throughout the United States. However, it also was a spark in the rise of militant resistance by forces like the Hamitic League, the African Blood Brotherhood, the NAACP, and many other Black organizations that constituted the radical Black liberation movement of the 1920’s and 30’s . This year also marks the 50th commemorative anniversary of the birth of the Rainbow Coalition of Revolutionary Solidarity by the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, the return of Robert F. Williams from exile, and the birth of the Freedom Farms Cooperative by Fannie Lou Hamer in Sunflower County, Mississippi, amongst many other crucial events that were instrumental in advancing and further consolidating the socio-economic gains of the Black Power Movement. 2019 was also the Year of Return, as denoted by Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo, for Africans living in the Diaspora. This was called in part to advance the Pan-Africanist aims remembrance and return being promoted through the International Decade of People of African Descent, which Cooperation Jackson has observed since its launch in 2015.
Starting with our Black August Commemoration and Community Arts Festival, we dedicated some particular attention and human resources towards participating in some critical Pan-African and International events towards the latter half of 2019. Some of these events included:
A Year of Return Delegation to Ghana in October by folks throughout the African Diaspora in the United States committed to utilizing the frameworks and tools of the solidarity economy to advance the cause of Pan-African liberation.
A delegation to Venezuela in October to help advance the building of transformative communes and dual power institutions throughout the world.
A delegation to Cuba in November to participate in an International Encounter focused on combating the forces of neo-liberalism and the rise of neo-Fascist forces the world over.
A delegate to the Afro-Descendent International Congress in Venezuela in November to build deeper ties amongst Black radical forces throughout the Diaspora.
And a delegation to Cuba in November to learn explore the methods of permaculture design and how it has transformed Cuba into one of the sustainable and regenerative countries in the world.
We engaged in these critical activities first and foremost to learn from other peoples and communities engaged in advanced social struggles to help us learn how to advance our work here in Jackson. Second, we went to deepen our relationships with various national and international allies and to create new ones, as we know that solidarity is necessary in order for us to advance our mission. To fulfill our commitment to bring what we have learned from these various exchanges and encounters back to our membership and our community, we are holding an interactive report back on Saturday, December 14th, with the theme of “2019 the Year of Return, Resistance, and Reflection”. This event will also serve as a critical close out to the year.
In order to make the report back interactive, we’ll have African drumming and other cultural offerings and collectively create an Altar. Please bring something significant to you that represents internationalism, pan-Africanism, solidarity economy or cooperativism to share for the Altar. So, come join us in the effort to renew our commitments to our guiding vision, i.e “to return to our source”, to advance our collective resistance against the forces of oppression that stand in our way, and to reflect on our individual and collective practice. Don’t miss it.
Some Resources
1. First enslaved Africans arrive in Jamestown https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-african-slave-ship-arrives-jamestown-colony
2. 1619: 400 years of History remembered https://www.essence.com/news/politics/400-years-history-remembered/
3. Red Summer of 1919: How Black WWI Vets Fought Back https://www.history.com/news/red-summer-1919-riots-chicago-dc-great-migration
4. Fifty Years of Fred Hampton's Rainbow Coalition
https://southsideweekly.com/fifty-years-fred-hampton-rainbow-coalition-young-lords-black-panthers/
5. Fannie Lou Hamer Founds Freedom Farms Cooperative https://snccdigital.org/events/fannie-lou-hamer-founds-freedom-farm-cooperative/?fbclid=IwAR3oWKj2E90hyeMz8hOd8Eto8z1p5cQt1xZhtfsLiRMtjycGme8z6e_QQdU
6. An African American Activist in the Court of Mao: the Life of Robert F. Williams https://www.jeremiahjenne.com/the-archives/2018/3/10/an-african-american-activist-in-the-court-of-mao-the-life-of-robert-f-williams
