Pam Africa on Wisconsin tour

Pam Africa, minister of confrontation for MOVE and chairperson of the uncompromising International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, toured Milwaukee and Madison, Wis., June 26-27, speaking and visiting with a variety of progressive and revolutionary activists.

During the tour, called “Conversations with Pam Africa: The MOVE 9, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Political Prisoners & State Violence,” she spoke at the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America’s national conference, the Nation of Islam Mosque No. 3 in Milwaukee, and a Young Gifted and Black coalition-sponsored event in Madison. Other stops included a Wisconsin Coalition to Normalize Relations with Cuba event for the Pastors For Peace caravan to Cuba and an interview with the people’s radio station ­Riverwest Radio.

Everywhere Africa went, she declared her solidarity with those fighting all forms of austerity, including union busting in Wisconsin and worldwide. She made special mention of youth and students fighting against all forms of capitalist state violence, including racist police terror, starvation and imperialist wars. Africa’s appeals for Mumia Abu-Jamal were met with renewed vigor to fight for the life of this internationally renowned political prisoner, who the state is presently trying to murder through medical neglect.

At every tour stop Africa also described in detail the unrelenting war of Pennsylvania state officials against the MOVE organization, including the frame-up of the MOVE 9 in 1978, the suspicious deaths of two MOVE activists in prison and the bombing of the MOVE home on May 13, 1985, that killed 11 men, women and children. City officials allowed the fire from the bomb to rage, burning down 62 Black-owned homes in the immediate neighborhood.

A variety of organizations supported the tour. Sponsors Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement and the youth group Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST) sent delegations from the Rockford, Ill., chapter to all tour events. Organizations such as the the Latin American Solidarity Committee and the Madison chapter of Socialist Alternative assisted in publicizing the tour through social media.

At the Nation Of Islam event, the speakers’ panel included representatives from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression and Freedom Road Socialist Organization (Fightback), who raised the case of Palestinian freedom fighter Rasmea Odeh. Other speakers included the Nation of Islam, the Pan African Revolutionary Socialist Party, Rockford FIST, Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement, Wisconsin Jobs Now and Workers World Party.