Articles by Salim Muwakkil

Source: In These Times

The statement revives the internationalism of the ’60s and ’70s, when black activists saw themselves as part of a global fight against Western colonialism

Long before the killing of Michael Brown by a Ferguson cop coincided with the bombing of Gaza by Israeli forces, there were parallels between the Palestinian and African-American freedom struggles. On Nov. 1, 1970, black activists published an ad in the New York Times titled, “An Appeal by Black Americans Against United States Support of the Zionist Government of Israel.” Signed by more than 50 writers, educators, students and union leaders, the statement opened, “We, the black American signatories of this advertisement, are in complete solidarity with our Palestinian bothers and sisters, who, like us, are struggling for self-determination and an end to racist oppression.” read more

Source: In These Times

Our first black president’s approach to Africa doesn’t feel like a first.

In the new race for Africa, the United States staked its position in early August, when President Obama convened four dozen African heads of state for the first-ever U.S.-African Leaders Summit. The three-day gathering was the most direct expression of the United States’ growing concern with China’s deepening influence on the continent.

According to the Brookings Institution, China overtook the United States as Africa’s largest trading partner in 2009 and has been widening the margin ever since. China’s not acting out of altruism, of course. It has developed an insatiable appetite for Africa’s mineral and petroleum resources. read more

Source: In These Times

Despite this nation’s adamant refusal to address the damaging legacy of 250 years of slavery and another 100 years of Jim Crow apartheid, the issue of reparations has made a decided comeback in American discourse.

The latest jolt of revival began in the Caribbean. On March 10, the 15-nation Caribbean Community (CARICOM) approved a 10-point plan to demand “reparatory justice for … the victims of Crimes Against Humanity in the forms of genocide, slavery, slave trading and racial apartheid from former European colonizers.” According to attorney Martyn Day, of Leigh Day, the British human rights legal firm that represents CARICOM, the firm will file a class-action suit in the International Court of Justice if European officials fail to take the plan seriously. read more