Free the UHURU 3: Defend anti-imperialist organizing

We are told that a hallmark of “democracy,” capitalism style, is freedom of speech. Turns out though you’d better not speak up against the war machine, or else militarized SWAT teams will knock down your door, especially if you support Black liberation. 

That is what happened on July 29, 2022, to the African People’s Socialist Party — UHURU homes and offices in multiple cities. Then, it took nine more months to concoct the indictment of the UHURU 3, APSP Chairman Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess, and Jesse Nevel, charging them with failing to “register as foreign agents” and conspiracy. The trial is scheduled for Sept. 3 in Tampa. An August 31 demonstration is planned for St. Petersburg, the site of one of the raided offices. 

If the issue really was a failure to register, the government had other legal avenues to notify alleged violators other than massive, excessively violent early morning raids using flashbang grenades at long-standing residential addresses. 

“The completely bogus government narration claims they “conspired with Russia to sow discord in the U.S. (18 U.S.C. § 371, 18 U.S.C  § 951). This a precedent-setting case that spells the end of the First Amendment by criminalizing dissenting speech and opinion. These racist charges imply that Black people are incapable of developing a theory, strategy, and practical programs for African liberation, as the Uhuru Movement has done over more than 50 years,” Uhuru responded to the indictments. 

At issue is the right of people in the United States to speak, write, and organize disagreement with the federal government’s policies and practices — particularly its foreign policy — and associate with co-thinkers internationally. 

International solidarity and anti-imperialist collaboration are growing in our globalized world. Instantaneous communication using webinars, meetings, conferences, social media, and communication chats potentially involves participants spanning continents. 

Don’t let the government use its massive anti-Russia propaganda to win this attack on all who fight for peace and just causes. Uhuru owns a 50-year history of exposing genocide against Black communities, international collaboration, and organizing. 

Find out how you can donate and support the UHURU 3 at https://handsoffuhuru.org/events/.