As Black American voters remain entrenched in what’s considered a consequential presidential election, multitudes of people who identify as New Afrikans have their sights set on establishing and gaining recognition as a separate Black nation.
In the spirit of that endeavor, a group of New Afrikans known as the Interim Provisional Government of Republic of New Afrika (Interim PGRNA), recently petitioned the African Union (AU) for renewal of the observer status that the then-Organization of African Unity (OAU) bestowed upon Pan-African human rights diplomat Malcolm X.
This petition came just weeks after an election that resulted in the establishment of the Interim PGRNA, an entity separate from the PGRNA that was founded after Malcolm X’s assassination.
In his Feb. 3 letter to AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, Interim PGRNA Foreign Affairs Minister Siphiwe Baleka cited AU Doc. EX.CL/195 (VII), a provision that encourages “non-African states” to observe the affairs of the continental body. He went on to mention that observer status allowed Malcolm X, founding leader of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU), to garner international support for a New Afrikan armed struggle on U.S. soil.
“Right now, the AU is the place where African heads of state gather,” said Baleka.
In 2003, Baleka was reportedly the only New Afrikan present when the AU adopted an amendment inviting and encouraging the full participation of Africans in the Diaspora in the building of the AU.
“It’s where issues are discussed and it’s still an important forum for diplomacy. In that regard, there’s some value in [the Interim]PGRNA having observer status.” Baleka said. “These African leaders don’t know don’t know about our various armed actions, part of a coordinated liberation movement working in tandem with the liberation movements on the African continent,” he continued. “They have to understand that we are the last liberation movement and haven’t achieved liberation yet.”
The History of the New Afrikan Struggle
Mahamat didn’t respond to an Informer inquiry about the current status of the Interim PGRNA’s request for observer status in the AU. The Informer also unsuccessfully attempted to gather Mahamat’s thoughts on the points Baleka outlined in the Feb. 3 letter about Malcolm X, the OAAU, and the liberation struggle taking place on U.S. soil.
In 1968, three years after Malcolm X’s assassination, and days before that of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Malcolm X Society, under the leadership of brothers Imari and Gaidi Obadele, sponsored the National Black Government Conference in Detroit.
That conference led to the New Afrikan Declaration of Independence, and ultimately PGRNA’s establishment.
Robert Williams, a proponent of militant self-defense, served as founding president while in exile in the People’s Republic of China. Betty Shabazz, Malcolm X’s widow, served as founding vice president. Imari Obadele later became PGRNA president.
Other notable PGRNA members include Audley “Queen Mother” Moore, a comrade of Marcus Garvey; Chokwe Lumumba, an attorney and former mayor of Jackson, Mississippi; Safiya Bukhari, a former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army member who co-founded the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC); and Sanyika Shakur, a gang-member-turned Black nationalist.
The PGRNA centered on three goals: the creation of a majority-Black country that would include Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and South Carolina; reparations to descendants of enslaved Africans for chattel slavery, Jim Crow laws, and racist policies; and a plebiscite during which African Americans would, through a vote, determine their desire for citizenship, whether in New Afrika, Africa, or the U.S.
To the latter point, New Afrikans often point out that, though the Lincoln administration offered all those options through legislation, the U.S. government ultimately limited newly emancipated Africans’ civil and political rights to the single choice of U.S. citizenship after Lincoln’s assassination.
In the decades following PGRNA’s inception, local, state, and federal law enforcement entities targeted, killed and imprisoned members. Despite those hurdles, PGRNA carried on its fight for Black self-determination.
Those efforts continue to this day under the leadership of President Sah Anhk Sa Ma’at and Vice President Ayodele Kofi. However, it has not been without some controversy.
New Afrikan citizens in recent years have expressed discontent with PGRNA leadership. In November, some of them accused the government of committing election fraud. PGRNA officials have since refuted those claims, telling The Informer that PGRNA’s National Election Commission (NEC) proved the elections to be legitimate.
However, New Afrikan dissidents say that PGRNA circumvented NEC’s investigation. In December, they convened a New Afrikan People’s Convention under the Code of Umoja, which led to the formation of the Interim PGRNA.
Weeks later, PGRNA leadership continues to dismiss the interim government’s legitimacy.
“When you pick and choose pieces of the code [of Umoja]to manipulate the masses, it doesn’t make [your perspective]true,” said a high-ranking PGRNA official who requested anonymity. “When they had their ‘people’s convention,’ they were supposed to have all New Afrikans. They had 20 people. That’s not the New Afrikan constituency. There were no elders. None of their votes were there.”
Ongoing Efforts to Educate the Masses
The PGRNA is currently in the throes of a campaign to raise Black people’s awareness of their New Afrikan citizenship. Bomani Shakur, PGRNA’s national minister of information, said he plays his part via an online radio program that features those practicing Black self-determination in politics, agriculture, and other realms.
In remembrance of Malcolm X’s February 21, 1965 assassination, Shakur, currently in his fourth term as minister of information, planned an episode where he would further examine Malcolm X’s impact as a Black nationalist and diplomat for Black America on the world stage.
Shakur said that episode, along with others he recorded over the last few years, serves as part of PGRNA’s strategy to organize and unify New Afrikans. He told The Informer that unity is the precursor to PGRNA’s ultimate goal of a plebiscite.
On March 29-31, PGRNA will commemorate its independence day, known as New Afrikan Nation Day, in Columbus, Georgia. Festivities will include music, dancing, children’s games and presentations about nation building, martial arts, and cooperative economics, along with other topics relevant to Black self-determination.
In the weeks leading up to that commemoration, Shakur continues to reflect on Malcolm X’s legacy, telling The Informer that reading “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” in the late 1990s placed him on a path to Black nationhood.
“Malcolm X believed in self-determination by any means necessary, like building institutions, owning land, and educating people,” Shakur said. “He’s an example of someone who formed a relationship with the African continent. He stressed the importance of Black nationalism and understood how politics encompasses every part of your life.”
