December 12th Movement International
The latest front in Black folks’ struggle for reparations is taking place under the radar in the United Nations. Countries are now debating the proposed content of the UN’s upcoming International Decade for People of African Descent (IDPAD) , scheduled to begin January 1, 2015. The main obstacle to reaching agreement is “reparations.” The United States and the other slave-holding countries (in UN language, “WEO,” [Western European and Others, i.e. US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia])have said they will sabotage the IDPAD if the word is even mentioned in the program.
This is not a new tactic on their part. In 2001, Black folks’ organizing led to an historic declaration by the United Nations World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, that the “Trans Atlantic Slave Trade and slavery” was a crime against humanity and that reparations were due the descendants of the victims. In an unsuccessful preemptive attempt to discredit the World Conference, the United States pulled out rather than agree to a final document that recognized African peoples’ right to reparations.
In the 13 years since the victory of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action [DDPA], the WEO group has relentlessly but unsuccessfully tried to “disappear” the DDPA from the United Nations. The proposed theme of the IDPAD is “Recognition, Justice, Development.” The WEO Group will not admit, much less, fulfill its legal, moral and historical obligation to repair the damage caused by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and slavery. This is why we cannot allow there to be an IDPAD which avoids the issue of reparations.
Make your voice heard. Join the struggle for an International Decade for People of African Descent which demands reparations.
They Stole Us! They Sold us! They Owe Us!
Reparations Now
Please Spread the Word!
December 12th Movement International Secretariat (718)398-1766
