Volume 22 • Issue 1 • The Official Publication of the UNIA-ACL • January 2009

Garvey’s

VOICE

Senghor Jawara Baye

-G

9th Successor to Marcus Mosiah Garvey

Forever Forward

The Foundation of African-Centered Education

Definitions andOther TruthsGrowing FoodIn These Hard TimesMakes You Wanna Holla! Women of the UNIA

A Foto Essay

reetings to all Garveyites and Afrikans around the worldfrom the office of the 10th President-General and 9thsuccessor to the Honorable Right Excellent Marcus MosiahGarvey, first President General and founder of the UNIA-ACLbetween 1914 to 1940. Our ancestors Stewart, Sherrill, Harvey, James, Maddox and Battle continued excellent service in theirrole as President General. Their individual and collective ancestralenergy is and forever will be with us in the whirlwind of MarcusGarvey for Garvey Lives in us! The Honorable Marcus Garvey Jr., the 7thPresident-General of the UNIA-ACLbetween 1992 and 2004 and the first bornson of our founder, resides in the usa andnow serves as a Special Representative of the UNIA-ACL High Executive Council. TheHonorable Nwalimu Gee, 9th President-General between January 2008 and August23, 2008, who resides in Detroit, Michigancontinues to serve as the District 6Commissioner and Special Representativeon the High Executive Council. With therecent election, I am honored to now serve you as the 9th successor to Marcus MosiahGarvey. I bring greetings from Washington,DC and give thanks to the delegates of the51st International Convention for yourconfidence. I pledge to keep Garvey’slegacy alive, serve with integrity, honestyand dedication to the members of thisgovernment, and continue the work of informing the world about the UNIA-ACLas we restore it to its place of greatness of the 20th century and make it relevant inthe 21st century.As President-General of this global government, elected duringthe 51st International Convention held in Philadelphia, PA onAugust 19- August 25 2008, I call on the UNIA -ACL of the 21stcentury and all Afrikans at home and abroad, to join us as we work to increase self-determination and self-reliance which is in keeping with the original goals and objectives of our founding Mothers andFathers. Far too many of our children are crying and dying and ourancestors are still waiting and watching for us to release apathyand increase the activities which will return us to our traditionalgreatness. No longer can we allow the system of white supremacyand our own ignorance to stop us from reclaiming our God-givenhuman rights and the destiny of Garveyism and the UNIA here onearth. Mother Africa has been and will continue the call. She is inneed of help from all of her children regardless of where we are inthe world and we need Mother Africa. She is the wealthiest conti-nent in the world with 53 countries. She has the richest naturalresources and the largest land mass in the world. She wants totake care of her children and her children must take care of her!Many of us have given more to this world than to and forourselves and yet, I would wager, most of us have onlyrecognized a few aspects of Garvey’s and the UNIA-ACL’s great94 year old legacy and history. In my new role as PresidentGeneral, as I did in previous positions within this greatgovernment, I once again call on us to take an even closer look.Begin now to prepare yourselves for the UNIA-ACL of the 21stcentury. The current administration, under my leadership, ismaking serious plans and working our plans. You (U) are thepurpose (NIA) for which we firmly stand and we encourage you to begin to plan your own work and see your own part inhelping uplift this global government and movement. TheWhirlwind of Garvey, the Most High andour ancestors stand behind and stand infront of our works today. The HighExecutive Council Parent Body of thisgovernment is a phenomenal team of committed and dedicated workers and thisbody shall continue to expand with moreof the same. Plans are underway to reachout and establish new divisions throughoutthe world, renew old relationships withthose who have lost contact with theParent Body, and revitalize the work andpractices of the UNIA-ACL divisions as a whole. Active membership is growingtoday in the UNIA-ACL and shall continue.My Sisters and Brothers, we are blessedto be living in a very critical and spiritualuniversal time period. Pan AfrikanNationalists and others who overstand what our real problems are that are resultsfrom a world gone drunk with guns, greed,genocide and corruption can and mustinterface with those working on thesolutions to these problems. Within theUNIA-ACL we always say “Up You Mighty Race We CanAccomplish What We Will!” With authentic Afrikan power,deep integrity, self reliance, and proper organizing We CanAccomplish What We Will! This administration will lead the way in establishing practical ways and means to return us to ourtraditional greatness within the 21st century. Our Legal DefenseCommittee, Garvey’s Voice Staff, the President General and eachof the Assistant President Generals will be held accountable.Likewise we will be holding UNIA-ACL members and allmembers of the Afrikan race accountable as we practice self-reliance and self-determination now and into the future.As we Sankofa towards our ancient foundations of MA’AT andour traditional greatness, we will be building bridges for each of you to join us in functional unity. We will engage in science parexcellence as taught by Garvey to use technology as we moveforward in nation building. We have begun to establishreputable working relationships with business people of our race who uphold and practice the utmost integrity, respect, andlove for our people. We will work to reeducate our youth andcommunity about Garvey’s legacy and the UNIA-ACL. OurMinister of Education, along with support from all our divisions, will be expanding our outreach and producing educational

Message f

rom the President General

after the 51st International Convention

Congo: One Hundred Years ofColonialism, Dictatorship andWar (1908 - 2008)

Saturday, November 15, 2008, marked the 100-year anniversary of the removal of the Congo from King Leopold II of Belgium as his own personal property. Globaloutrage of the King’s brutal rule resulted in his losing the Congo treasure trove onNovember 15, 1908.Leopold II accumulated spectacular wealth for himself and the Belgian stateduring his 23-year dominion (1885 – 1908) over the Congo. During this period anestimated 10 million Congolese lost their lives while Leopold systematically lootedthe Congo of its rubber and ivory riches. Congo was handed over to belgium whoruled as a colonial power from 1908 to 1960. Congo finally got its independenceon June 30, 1960, when Patrice Emery Lumumba, its first democratically electedprime minister took office. Unfortunately, the western powers, primarily the unitedstates and belgium could not allow a fiercely independent African to consolidatehis power over such a geo-strategic prize as the Congo. He was removed frompower in a western backed coup within weeks and assassinated on January 17,1961. Belgium apologized for its role in Lumumba’s assassination in 2002 and theus still downplays its role in Lumumba’s assassination. The us replaced Lumumba with the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and backed him until he was overthrown in1997. The overthrow of Mobutu unleashed an ongoing resource war that hascaused deep strife and unbearable suffering for the Congolese people, particularlythe women and the children. It is estimated that Congo has lost nearly six millionpeople since the 1996 invasion by Rwanda and Uganda with support from theunited states and other western nations.A century later, Congo is at another crossroads. In spite of the advances intechnology and the shrinking of the world, it is curious that there is such silencearound the suffering of the Congolese people due to the exploitation of powerfulcorporate and foreign forces beyond its people’s immediate control. Unlike theearly 1900s, remarkably, today there are few if any voices the likes of Mark Twain who wrote King Leopold’s Soliloquy, Joseph Conrad, The Heart of Darkness (Oftenmisread as Congo or Africa being dark but he was referring to the dark hearts of theexploiters of the Congo), and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame who wrote Crime in the Congo. The Congo Reform movement that drew from the work of African americans such as William Sheppard and George Washington Williamsand led by european figures such as Robert Casement and E.D. Morel gave birth tothe modern international human rights movement.One hundred years later we are again calling on the global community to be atthe side of the Congolese. This time, there is one fundamental difference –theCongolese are agents in this narrative and the call this time is not a hand-over to a colonial power or neo-colonial institutions but rather to the people of the Congo. The clarion call is for the combating of the forces (local elites and rebels, foreigngovernments, foreign corporations, and multi-lateral institutions) that have theCongolese people in a death trap. The charity prism of the humanitarian industry isnot the answer. It only perpetuates dependency and dis-empowerment. ShouldCongo be truly liberated, the Darfurizaton (emptying of agency from the afflictedpeople) of the global movement in support of the Congo must be avoided at allcost. Congolese must be agents rather than objects in the pursuit of the control of their land and their lives. The sovereignty of the people and control and ownershipof the riches of their land is the fundamental human right for which we mustadvocate. It is a call not only for the Congo but the entire African continent.Become a part of the global movement to Break the Silence as the Congolesepursue true sovereignty and liberty.Ka

ale Mus

avuli, Student CoordinatorMaurice C

ey, Executive Directormaterials.Membership in the UNIA-ACL is highly suggestedand recommended for allAfrikans. We are working forthe cause of Afrikans acrossthe globe and are nowsoliciting all to come homeas members of the UNIA-ACL. Reach out and bring a family member and friendinto this social, friendly,humanitarian, charitable,educational, institutional,constructive and expansivesociety. The Whirlwind of Marcus Mosiah Garvey istaking the world by stormand the UNIA-ACL underthis administration is up forthe challenge of working tohelp ameliorate the manyproblems which nowconfront our peoplethroughout the world. Join us as we help youreclaim your rightful placein this world. Up youMighty Race...We CanAccomplish WhatWe Will!G

ey Lives!

Inside...

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Forward Forever

Page 05•

Touching the Soulof a Sista

Page 08•

Women of theUNIA Foto Essay

Page 10•

Drusilla DunjeeHouston

Page 15•

Definitions andOther Truths...