On November 9th and 10th students from all over the U.S., and some of the world’s most prominent activists and leaders for social justice in the African community will converge on Alabama A&M University in Huntsville for the Founding Conference of the African Internationalist Student Organization (AISO). Initiated by the African People’s Socialist Party to expand the struggle of the Uhuru Movement to students, the organization puts forward the slogan, “Education for Liberation!” Kobina Bantushango, Chairman of the AISO Committee states that, “Ever since African people have been held in bondage, we have fought to make sure our children have the right to decent education. Our hope has always been that education would be used to better the conditions for our people as a whole.”
During the 1960’s African people in the U.S. and around the world fought to radically transform the system that delivered daily oppression and exploitation. The Black Power Movement of the 1960’s found its way into the colleges and universities themselves and organizations like SNCC and the Black Panther Party had a recruitment pool largely made of students. In addition, the struggle for Community Control of Schools in New York City was primarily led by students. However, since the U.S. government’s defeat of the Black Revolution of the ‘60s, the struggle for African liberation has become little more than a topic of research in black studies departments.
Conference organizers say AISO will be a way for students to use their skills, expertise and labor for the development of Africa and all African people, as opposed to contributing to the capitalist system that oppresses the majority of Africans around the world.
For more information contact (256) 348-6478,
aisouhuru@yahoo.com or visit
AISOuhuru.org.