Will Siphiwe Baleka and the Guinea Bissau Swimming Federation be Blocked from the Olympics Again?

An Open Letter to the World, Especially to the International Olympic Committee,  and particularly World Aquatics and the international swimming community

from Siphiwe Baleka

President, Guinea Bissau Swimming Federation

“According to the World Aquatic rules, we have until 23.59 GMT on June 13, 2023 to register for the World Aquatics Championships – Fukuoka 2023. Failure to participate in Fukuoka will disqualify the GBSF from entering 1 boy and 1 girl at the 2024 Paris Olympics under the Universality Places procedure. Unfortunately, we are being prevented from registering because World Aquatics refuses to recognize GBSF which received its Certificate of Registration from the Ministry of Justice on April 12, 2022.”

It should be noted that Siphiwe Baleka has contracts with three schools in Guinea Bissau and has been coaching about 50 students for over a year.

I urge everyone reading this to review the materials below, contact World Aquatics, The Guinea Bissau National Olympic Committee, and journalists the world over and donate to Swimming In Guinea Bissau: Hope For The Nation

Siphiwe Baleka, President 

Guinea Bissau Swimming Federation

fedenatacao.gb@gmail.com

secretaria.fedenatgb@gmail.com 

https://www.facebook.com/Fedenatgb 

https://linktr.ee/fedenatgb 

WhatsApp: Guinea Bissau +245 956931329

Guinea Bissau National Olympic Committee

Mr. Sergio Mané (COGB President): comiteolimpicogb@gmail.com

+245955214443 / +245966687783

Mr. Alexandre J.M. Vieira (Vice président): ajmvieira@yahoo.com.br

  +245955252347 / +245966613344

Mr. Eugenio de Oliveira Lopes (Secretary General): sgcog2013@gmail.com

+245955990822 /+245966677627

THE DOCUMENTS

  1. Letter to Director of World Aquatics, Brent Nowicki - April 6, 2023

2. The Court Case: Response to the mandato in english followed by the original portuguese followed by the english and portuguese translations of the mandato filed by duarte ioia against siphiwe baleka and the guinea Bissau swimming federation

Timeline: Establishment and Recognition of the Guinea Bissau Swim Federation

3. REPORT OF THE TRANSITION PERIOD  OF THE  GUINEA BISSAU SWIM FEDERATION

4. Letters to World Aquatics (FINA) July 11 and July 21, 2022

5. previous and continuous efforts to promote swimming in Guinea Bissau:

Siphiwe Baleka’s Sorcery Dominates 1st International Masters Swimming Championships - October 2019

Guinea Bissau Invites Olympic Legend Jackie Joyner Kersee to Her Ancestral Homeland for Launch of the Decade of Return Initiative - February 2020

HOW SIPHIWE BALEKA IS PRESERVING HIS ANCESTRAL CULTURE AND LANGUAGE - April 2020

Siphiwe Baleka on the cover of Sports Illustrated - December 2020

BBHAGSIA to Renovate Headquarters and Provide Olympic Training Center for Guinea Bissau Olympic Swim Team - January 2021

SIPHIWE BALEKA INTERVIEWD ON NBC ACCESS DAILY, - January 2021

MYSWIMPRO AMBASSADOR SIPHIWE BALEKA DISCUSSES HIS RETURN TO COMPETITION FOR THE 2021 OLYMPICS IN TOKYO - February 21, 2021

SIPHIWE BALEKA RETURNS TO COMPETITION IN PURSUIT OF BECOMING OLDEST OLYMPIC SWIMMER - February 22, 2021

Guinea Bissau names American Siphiwe Baleka to its Olympic Swim Team - June 2021 (press release provided by Claytown Productions)

OLDEST OLYMPIC SWIMMER IN HISTORY: BALEKA TO COMPETE FOR GUINEA-BISSAU AT 50 - June 23, 2021

GUINEA-BISSAU’S SIPHIWE BALEKA BLOCKED FROM OLYMPICS OVER FINA DEADLINE RULE - July 1 2021

SIPHIWE BALEKA TAKES OLYMPIC APPEAL TO COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT - July 15, 2021

CAS DENIES TEMPORARY INJUNCTION IN SIPHIWE BALEKA’S APPEAL OF OLYMPIC BID - July 18, 2021

COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT REJECTS SIPHIWE BALEKA’S APPEAL TO RACE IN TOKYO - July 29, 2021

Setting an Example for Afrodescendant Athletes From America: Siphiwe Baleka Represents Guinea Bissau at the 14th African Swimming Championships - October 2021

GUINEA BISSAU SWIM FEDERATION AND BAN-FAABA CELEBRATE WORLD SWIM DAY - October 2021

Duarter Ioia Takes Responsibility for Olympic Fiasco - October 25, 2021

AFRODESCENDANT PERFORMS WATER RITUAL, SWIMS ACROSS CACHEU RIVER FOR AFRICAN ANCESTORS WHO RISKED DEATH AND DROWNED RATHER THEN BECOME ENSLAVED - November 2021

INTERIM PRESIDENT OF THE GUINEA BISSAU SWIMMING FEDERATION, SIPHIWE BALEKA GIVES MOTIVATIONAL TALK TO GIRLS FUTBOL TEAM MEMBERS IN ENTERREMENTO, BISSAU - January 2022

Siphiwe Baleka’s Biggest Challenge - January 27, 2022

Siphiwe Baleka: ‘I Felt Betrayed by My Sport and by FINA’ After Olympic Snub - January 29, 2022

NEW UNIFORMS FOR GIRLS TEAM PROVIDED BY INTERIM PRESIDENT OF THE GUINEA BISSAU SWIMMING FEDERATION SIPHIWE BALEKA - January 2022

Swim Clinic and FIRST 50-METER OLYMPIC SWIM TRAINING FACILITY BUILT IN GUINEA BISSAU - February 2022

TEAM SDGB CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY OF GUINEA BISSAU SWIMMING FEDERATION INTERIM PRESIDENT SIPHIWE BALEKA - April 2022

Press Conference - April 19, 2022

Interview on Radio Jovem - April 21, 2022

Siphiwe Baleka on TGB TeleJournal discussing the FNGB - April 24 2022

Siphiwe Baleka discusses the FNGB plans on National Radio - April 2022

Guinea Bissau Swim Federation General Assembly - April 30, 2022

GBSF President has inspected several swimming pools, including those of FARP, Ledger, Azalai, Bolama, PAIGC, Vereda Tropical, Old Embassy of Angola - May 5, 2022

AFRICAN AMERICAN ATHLETE TO LEAD NATIONAL SWIMMING FEDERATION IN AFRICA - May 16, 2022

SIPHIWE BALEKA STATEMENT TO THE MEDIA: LEGALIZING THE GUINEA BISSAU SWIMMING FEDERATION - May 17, 2022

Fundraiser - May 21, 2022

CONTROVERSY AGAIN AS GUINEA BISSAU SWIMMING FEDERATION ARRIVES AT CANA ZONE 2 WEST AFRICA CHAMPIONSHIPS - May 27, 2022

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT FOR GUINEA BISSAU’S SWIMMERS: 1ST "DASH FOR CASH" EVENT AND ELITE TEAM SELECTION - June 2022

Dash for Cash Fundraiser - June 7, 2022

GUINEA-BISSAU EMBROILED IN CONTROVERSY OVER WHICH PARTY IS ACTING GOVERNING BODY - June 8 2022

CORRUPT WATERS: FINA AND THE GUINEA BISSAU OLYMPIC COMMITTEE - A STATEMENT FROM SIPHIWE BALEKA REGARDING THE DECISION IN THE CASE OF 2021/A/8134 SIPHIWE BALEKA V. FINA June 9, 2022

UNDERSTANDING THE SPORTS LANDSCAPE IN GUINEA BISSAU AND A PLAN TO FIX IT - June 15, 2022

Dash for Cash Radio Promotion - July 2022

Dash for Cash - July 8, 2022

GUINEA BISSAU SWIMMING FEDERATION HOSTS “DASH FOR CASH” EVENT - July 18, 2022

Donation to GBSF - November 19, 2022

GBSF President inspects swimming pool in Bafata - November 20, 2022

FIGHT AGAINST SIPHIWE BALEKA AND THE GUINEA BISSAU SWIM FEDERATION ESCALATED BY THE GUINEA BISSAU NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE ATHLETE COMMISSION PRESIDENT - December 13, 2022

AN OPEN LETTER TO EPSY CAMPBELL BARR IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE CLOSE OF THE 2ND SESSION OF THE PERMANENT FORUM ON PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT

Ms. Epsy Campbell Barr, President, Permanent Forum on People of African Descent:

I have been told that “people treat you the way you allow them to treat you.” Since I don’t like being ignored, I will persist until I get a response from the Forum.

On December 6, 2022, from the floor of the first session of the Forum, I (Siphiwe Baleka) said, “we call on this Forum to vigorously request an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on our status as prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention as well as our right to conduct plebiscites for self determination including the right to secede from the jurisdictions of colonial successor states in the Western hemisphere and form our own independent governments.” My statement, made on behalf of the Balanta B’urassa History & Genealogy Society in America, is included on the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner’s webpage for the Forum.

I was thus encouraged to see in the Preliminary Conclusions and Recommendations of the Forum’s first session the acknowledgement under the section Reparatory Justice point 22 that,

“The human rights, legal and institutional grounds for pursuing reparatory justice at the UN, including the International Court of Justice, should be examined to clarify the possibilities of pursuing reparatory justice at the UN and to identify possible gaps” and especially section 22(d) that states, “The General Assembly and other relevant United Nations organs and specialized agencies should consider requesting an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the legal question of reparatory justice for histories and legacies of colonialism and enslavement.”

I was further encouraged when, less than a month after my friend and colleague Kamm Howard also took the floor at the first session of the Forum “requesting that the Forum raise the reparations presentment to an internationally recognized legitimate instrument for laying out reparatory justice claims,” you, as President of PFPAD, made reference in your letter to Pope Francis on January 3rd to Kamm’s efforts delivering the PRESENTMENT TO THE HOLY SEE IN FURTHERANCE OF REPARATIONS at the Vatican on July 18, 2022. This I explained to you in my letter of April 5th, that included a Mandate from the Afro Descendant People Issued to the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent to Request an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice on their Status as Prisoners of War Under the Geneva Convention that was signed by 248 individuals and organizations from over twenty countries, many of them lawyers and activists. The mandate laid out the firm basis of this forum’s ability to make such a request under UN Charter Article 96, Article 65 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, and Resolution 75/314 establishing the Forum. Resolution 75/314 specifically states that the Forum can “request the preparation and dissemination of information by the United Nations system on issues relating to people of African descent . . .”  

On April 11, the PFPAD Secretariat confirmed receipt of my letter as well as the supporting letter from former African Union Ambassador to the United States,  H.E. Ambassador Arikana Chihombori-Quao, and stated that “they will be transmitted to the members.” I quite expected the Forum to respond before the start of its 2nd Session. Why wouldn’t I? After all, it was a direct response to the Forum’s preliminary recommendation 22. 

On May 9 I sent a follow-up letter that said, “We are looking forward to the 2nd session of PFPAD which is just twenty-two (22) days away. However, we have received no response yet . . . To help us prepare for your upcoming visit to New York, we would like to know the status of our submitted Mandate. What are the necessary steps for PFPAD to initiate our requested Advisory proceedings by filing a written request addressed to the ICJ Registrar?” After a week, we still had received no response, so I sent another email on May 19 pleading, “Please acknowledge receipt of our letter emailed 13:05/2023.” That same day, the PFPAD Secretariat replied stating, “This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter. Please note that it is being transmitted to the Members, and they will respond in due course.” Also that same day, your colleague, Justin Hansford replied,

“Although I cannot speak on behalf of the permanent forum as a whole since the issue has not been discussed formally, I can tell you that on my own behalf I wholeheartedly support the concept. If indeed this is an action that the permanent forum has the standing to take, we should do so, and you can mark me down as a supporter.” 

Justin’s response was informative. First, I wondered, why after a month, had the Forum not formally discussed this? This led me to ask some important questions, in light of the fact that the Forum only has 1.5 staffers for its secretariat: 

1. What happens to the statements that are sent to PFPAD?

2. How are the statements processed?

3. Who actually reads the statements?

4. What policy or procedures are there concerning statements submitted to PFPAD?

5. How often do the PFPAD members meet to discuss the statements?

6. How was it decided that PFPAD President Epsy Cambell Barr would write a letter to the Pope on January 3?

7. How many people have received any feedback from PFPAD on their statements?

8. How do we know that the input process is nothing more than a performance?

9. Which part of the PFPAD mandate can PFPAD act on now?

10. How will PFPAD decide what it will DO in the next three months?

Second, it appeared as if Forum members doubted their standing to request an ICJ advisory opinion. Short-staffed and unsure of its mandate, I took the liberty of assisting the Forum by drafting a Request to the Registrar of the ICJ for an Advisory Opinion on the Forum’s behalf, requiring only a review and your signature. 

As I could not attend the Forum in New York, I submitted a written statement and waited to make a virtual statement. I attended every meeting of the 2nd session online for the entire duration with my “hand up”, but as you know, there was no remote participation from civil society.

Nevertheless, my organized colleagues did manage to get copies of the Request to most of the PFPAD members. Maynard Henry and DaQuan Lawrence managed to speak to Justin Hansford while Pastor Elías Murillo Martínez referred to the Mandate and expressed his support during one of the side events. As both my written and prepared virtual statement said, 

“We believe that a “crowning jewel” of this second session would be the ceremonial signing of the Request, showing a true working partnership between people of African descent, their civil society organizations, and this forum while demonstrating that it does not take months and years to get things done.” 

President Barr, if I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to make a statement virtually, I was dis-satsified and frustrated that you didn’t sign the request. Many PFPAD Members, including yourself, and other states members and distinguished delegates called for “concrete actions” during the opening of the 2nd Session.

I find it ironic that while you were calling for urgent, concrete actions by UN organs and member states, we, civil society, were calling on YOU to take concrete action by exercising the mandate establishing the Forum and signing the Request to the Registrar of the ICJ that was prepared for you signature. To my great discontent and dismay, no mention or explanation was made in the closing meeting on why you yourself failed to take the simplest of concrete actions: signing a document. Rather, Gaynel Curry made the following statement on behalf of PFPAD:

Here, I call to your attention a critical distinction between adudicating a claim at the ICJ and requesting an advisory opinion.

As it is true that the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) as well as the ICJ are inadequete for adjudicating reparatory justice claims concerning the enslavement of African people and subsequent violations of their human rights, including crimes of genocide and ethnocide, there is nothing that prevents the ICJ from exercising its mandate to give an advisory opinion on any legal question. On January 20, 2023, the General Assembly of the United Nations requested an advisory opinion from the Court in its resolution A/RES/77/247 on “Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”. Moreover, on April 13, 2023 the Court authorized the African Union to participate in the proceedings. If the ICJ can answer legal quetions pertaining to the Palestinian people, certainily it can also answer legal questions pertaining to people of African Descent and in particular, the Afro Descendent people who are prisoners of the Dum Diversas war. Thus, in light of the reparatory justice limitations and restrictions at both the ICC and ICJ, requesting an ICJ advisory opinion is the best practical action at this time.

Additionally, Michael McEachrane presented the 2nd Session of the Forum’s Preliminary Conclusions and Recommendations. Point 16(b) calls for a specialized international tribunal constituted to adjudicate reparations claims following the proposal from Barbados and 16(c) calls for an international UN Task Force of Reparatory Justice, ostensibly following the proposal made by Justin Hansford in his opening address which is worth quoting:

“So I come to you today with a novel proposal, that we begin to think our own thoughts, propose our own vision of justice, and implement that justice, as part of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. So I also propose today that we create a new Bar Association, including lawyers and non-lawyers, to discuss what it means to be repaired in 2023 for crimes that have been done to us and continue to be done to us for over 500 years. . . . 

So for your consideration, Madam Chair, I propose that today we create a new community of legal thinkers that is not limited to lawyers, but includes anyone who is passionate about justice. And we come together and demand that many of the states in this room that have benefitted from the legacy of our oppression start the process of apology and reparation, but not on their terms, but on our terms.”

So it is with some chagrin, therefore, that I am compelled to write to you because, upon close examination, Justin Hansford has proposed what I have already done - organized a new community of legal thinkers, passionate about justice, thinking our own thoughts and vision of justice on our own terms. Of the 248 signatories to the Mandate issued to PFPAD on April 5, among the vast number of activists were seven members of national reparations commissions, four professors, and at least three lawyers. Rather than recognize this New Bar Association initiated by the people and African civil society themselves and has come up with its own legal strategy to be implemented, the Forum chose to ignore this, and start from scratch as though it had never received our Mandate from April 5th. 

The Forum stated that its Preliminary Recommendations will be included in a report to the Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly in the fall of this year. Thus, the Forum sees inputs from civil society merely as recommendations to be forwarded to the Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly. However, the Mandate Issued to the Forum Requesting an Advisory Opinion from the ICJ is of a different nature: it specifically references the Forum’s mandate under UN Resolution 75/314 that enables it to “request the preparation and dissemination of information by the United Nations system on issues relating to people of African descent . . .” Since the people’s “New Bar Association” has studied the Forum’s mandate and shown without a doubt that the Forum has standing to make a request for an ICJ advisory opinion, it behooves you, as President of the Forum, to explain why, given such a people’s mandate, you refuse to exercise the Forum’s right to do so. This is especially poignant given that a similar request was made of the ICJ in January of this year on behalf of the Palestinian people vis-a-vis Israeli policies affecting them. Significantly, on April 13, the African Union was invited to take part in these advisory proceedings. This begs the question: are not the people of African descent deserving of such consideration of their legal questions? Will the Forum do nothing on its own without permission from the Human Rights Council? What good is the Forum if it still requires us to go through the Human Rights Council, which has always been there and has never asked the ICJ for an Advisory Opinion on our status....?

Before the creation of this forum, Afro Descendents needed a nation state to raise their case at the ICJ. Malcolm X died for this. With a stroke of a pen, today, sixty years later, you can complete the unfinished business of Malcolm X.

Madam President, you made the decision to act, to send a letter to Pope Francis. For this I commend you although Kamm Howard notes that there has been no report on results from Vatican interaction, no firm statement of agreement to consult with Civil Society on  initiatives that the Forum may join that civil society initiated and are ongoing before the Forum engaged the initiatives - like the Vatican action. I ask, what made you decide to send the letter to Pope Francis? 

In closing, I urge you to take concrete action like you did after the 1st session of the forum by signing the letter of Request for an ICJ Advisory Opinion which you and the members of the Forum just received. I repeat the words of former African Union Ambassador to the United States,  H.E. Ambassador Arikana Chihombori-Quao, whose letter to the Forum closed by stating,

“We are certain that such an effort by [the Forum] will help solidify the Forum’s reputation as a champion of African people everywhere.” 

Respectfully,

Siphiwe Baleka, 

Founder, Balanta B'urassa History & Genealogy Society in America (BBHAGSIA)

Coordinator, 8PAC1 Agenda Committee,

Member, Inclusive Policy Lab of the UNESCO E-team for the People of African Descent and the Sustainable Development Goals

Member, International Civil Society Working Group for the United Nations Permanent Forum of People of African Descent (ICSWG-PFPAD)

Member, NCOBRA International Affairs Commission & Health Commission

Coordinator, #savesoil Guinea Bissau

Coordinator, Lineage Restoration Movement (LRM)

balantasociety@gmail.com

WhatsApp Guinea Bissau +245 956 931 329






Webinar: I made $100 in my first month posting on the Backroom social media platform - the "Black Facebook". Here's how I did it. Saturday, June 10 at 1:00 pm CST

Webinar: I made $100 in my first month posting on the Backroom social media platform - the "Black Facebook". Here's how I did it. Saturday, June 10 at 1:00 pm CST

I joined the Backroom social media platform on April 30, 2023. On June 1, I had made over $100 posting just like I do on Facebook. This is because, unlike Facebook, Backroom has “monetization” features and including “tips” from people who like what you post.

Wallet showing $9.33 in the first month from tips.

Monetization page showing money earned from subscriptions to my exclusive pages and groups on Backroom

On Saturday, June 10 at 1:00 pm CST, I will be hosting a webinar teaching people how to migrate onto the Backroom platform and how to start monetizing your content and making money just like I did. Why post on Facebook when we have our own social media platform where you can also monetize your content?

Justin Hansford's Remarks at the Opening of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD)

JUSTIN HANSFORD’S OPENING REMARKS TO PFPAD2

excerpt:

“Why can’t those grassroots citizens begin to determine their own terms for what reparations should look like? . . . . 

So whenever reparations is framed not as justice, not as repair. . .  but as charity, as a gift, the terms will always be self serving. It wouldn’t make sense for a bank robber to determine how much of the heist he will return or a selective panel of experts to dole out the stolen money according to its own vision of what's fair. 

So this is perhaps the most appropriate legal question to ponder - crimes against humanity, governed by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court adopted in 1988 is one perhaps interesting legal concept that we could apply to what happened to our people. Genocide, determined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted by the General Assembly in 1948 shortly after the Holocaust is another interesting legal claim that could be brought. But so far we have left it to the scholars of the past, the lawyers of the past, the white scholars, white lawyers, to determine the bounds of our legal imagination, to determine the narrow structures that we will use to determine what justice looks like for our own people. 

So I come to you today with a novel proposal, that we begin to think our own thoughts, propose our own vision of justice, and implement that justice, as part of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent. 

So I also propose today that we create a new Bar Association, including lawyers and non-lawyers, to discuss what it means to be repaired in 2023 for crimes that have been done to us and continue to be done to us for over 500 years. . . . 

So for your consideration, Madam Chair, I propose that today we create a new community of legal thinkers that is not limited to lawyers, but includes anyone who is passionate about justice. And we come together and demand that many of the states in this room that have benefitted from the legacy of our oppression start the process of apology and reparation, but not on their terms, but on our terms. 

Thank you.”

SIPHIWE BALEKA’S COMMENTARY

The first example of Justin Hansford’s charge to “think our own thoughts, propose our own vision of justice, and implement that justice, as part of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent” is the  MANDATE FROM THE AFRO DESCENDANT PEOPLE ISSUED TO THE PERMANENT FORUM ON PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT TO REQUEST AN ADVISORY OPINION FROM THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE ON THEIR STATUS AS PRISONERS OF WAR UNDER THE GENEVA CONVENTION. This is yet another interesting legal claim, like the ICC and Genocide examples that Justin Hansford mentioned, that is perhaps the most promising at this moment.

Many of the opening statements at the 2nd Session urged PFPAD and the United Nations system to “concrete action.”

Fortunately, that can be achieved by PFPAD President Epsy Cambell Barr signing the

Request for an ICJ Advisory Opinion.

We are thankful that Justin Hansford is in full support of this effort.

Statement to the 2nd Session of PFPAD: Mandate to Request an Advisory Opinion from the ICJ

Attorney Maynard Henry, who serves as the 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐂𝐎𝐁𝐑𝐀 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐟𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 calls on the 2nd Session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent to take "Concrete Actions" by urging PFPAD President Epsy Campbell Barr to sign the MANDATE FROM THE AFRO DESCENDANT PEOPLE ISSUED TO THE PERMANENT FORUM ON PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT TO REQUEST AN ADVISORY OPINION FROM THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE ON THEIR STATUS AS PRISONERS OF WAR UNDER THE GENEVA CONVENTION

8PAC1 Conversations: Curtis Murphy on the Fihankra Repatriation and CIA Sabotage

⁣⁣Curtis Murphy, Fihankra Coordinator and Special Assistant to the Chair (Odikrohene) for the Greater Accra Governing Council reveals explosive new allegations of CIA involvement in sabotaging the Repatriation movement. Curtis and Siphiwe also discuss some of the agenda for the upcoming 8th Pan African Congress Part 1 in Harare, Zimbabwe.

CLICK TO WATCH THE 1-HOUR VIDEO

(Note: You must click “Purchase $1.50” to see the entire video)

HISTORICAL BLACK CONTENT CREATORS (HBCC) is the platform created by Michael Thompson to give the Global Afrikan Community of Black People everywhere its own youtube. Let’s be about Pan Africanism and exercise self determination and build and use our own social media and support our own, independent content creators!!!

CIA IN GHANA

THE CIA GUIDE TO DESTROYING ORGANISATIONS*

*In the 1970s, all cells and chapters of the All-African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) had to study and discuss this together with the DESTRUCTION OF BLACK CIVILIZATION by Chancellor Williams.*

One of our colleagues of the Washington, D.C. chapter, who was a lecturer at Howard University, exposed attempts by the CIA to recruit her. Kemba Maish paid dearly for her bravery but she and her son remained loyal to the PanAfrican revolutionary cause. Kemba always attended Work/Study classes with her young son, Nicholas.

It was revealed to me three years ago that there are over 100,000 CIA human assets in Ghana and mostly it is Ghanaian who volunteer information to curry favour. CIA and US military penetration in Ghana is now an open secret and such is the Dukadaya foreign policy of subservience to the US, its NATO allies and Israel: the very nations who combined their intelligence and security to undermine and eventually overthrow the Nkrumah regime. Such is the duplicitous and subversive character of the ruling Dukadaya Mafioso Cabals.”

The Unfinished Business of Malcolm X and Imari Obadele: Taking Our Claim to the International Court of Justice

“Wow! I don’t know about all of you all on this call, but I’m in tears. The level of scholarship, commitment, insistency, to produce this report, with all those details, weaving this tapestry of incredible observation and study is remarkable . . . is remarkable. . . . I am in awe. Nothing less . . . this brilliance we have just witnessed together . . . You have witnessed something phenomenal.” - Dr. Onaje Muid, NCOBRA Health Commission Co-Chair

“I came here to learn! And I have just been learning and smiling. . . . As someone who sat at the feet . . . of Imari Obadele, it’s just so nostalgic listening to Brother Siphiwe because it sounds like brother Imari reincarnated! . . . Give me marching orders! . . . All this is passed on to y’all’s generation.” -Nkechi Taifa, Executive Director, Reparation Education Project, Inc. and author of Reparations on Fire: How and Why It’s Spreading Across America

“Brother, that’s very powerful and dynamic information. . . . that we need to share with our people to make us more concsious of what our rights and possibilities are, even to help us imagine. I applaud you and salute you on carrying the work of our ancestors to a new level and educating us all.” - Akinyele Omowale Umoja, New Afrikan Independence Movement Strategist and author of the book, We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement

“We will do what is necessary if the international bodies do not do what is necessary.” - Maynard Henry, Esq. Member of NCOBRA International Affairs Committee and Plebiscite Committee Chair

Saturday, May 27, 2023 - The 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐖𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 sponsored by the NCOBRA Health Commission and the NCOBRA Education commission discussed the new opportunities in international forums to pursue reparations and advance Afro Descendant people’s struggle for justice and repair using the interrelated and interdependent arguments derived from genetic testing, transgenerational epigenetic, ethnocide and prisoner of war status under the Geneva Convention.

Siphiwe Baleka, a scholar activist and New Afrikan/AfroDescendant Diplomat, who is fast becoming recognized as the “peoples’ expert” on these issues, presented the first workshop entitled, The Unfinished Business of Malcolm X and Imari Obadele: Taking Our Claim to the International Court of Justice

Outline: 1. Malcolm X and the Unfinished Business at the World Court; 2. What is the ICJ?; 2. Why go to the ICJ?; 3.What is PFPAD?; 4. Why is PFPAD important?; 5. Our Prisoner of War claim under the Geneva Convention; 6. What if we get a favorable opinion? 7. What if we don’t get a favorable opinion?

Future workshops include,

Ethnocide: Genocide’s Twin Sister & Making Your Ethnocide Claim

Transgenerational Epigenetics and Siphiwe Baleka’s Case at the IACHR

Understanding the History and Requirements of a Plebiscite

WATCH THE FULL PRESENTATION

ILLINOIS PASSES HR292 RESOLUTION TO PROVIDE DNA TESTING AND REPARATIONS FOR VOLUNTARY REPATRIATION TO ANCESTRAL HOMELANDS IN AFRICA - HIGHLIGHTS BALANTAS FROM AMERICA

Declares the State of Illinois should take the lead on issues of Pan-Africanism, citizenship in Africa, and reparatory justice, and the State should champion the Eighth Pan-African Congress Part 1 (8PAC1) and its agenda to develop a continental-wide diaspora citizenship plan, establish the African Diaspora as the 6th Region of the African Union (AU), and determine a permanent headquarters for the 6th Region. Calls upon the State to immediately, through its African Descent-Citizens Reparations Commission (ADCRC), provide matrilineal and patrilineal DNA testing through African ancestry to determine the ancestral lineages and territories of origin of its Black residents so that they can seek citizenship in their ancestral homelands, if so desired. Calls upon the State to become the first to conduct a repatriation census in preparation for honoring President Abraham Lincoln's desire for voluntary repatriation with compensation and to make conducting the repatriation census its immediate priority.

Balanta Society Statement to the 32nd Session of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent Economic Empowerment of People of African Descent Geneva, Switzerland, May 1-5, 2023