| Transmittal Letter
To: Members of the African and African Descendants Caucus
The Interim Steering Committee (ISC) of the African and African
Descendants Caucus is pleased to present for your use the official
Report of the African and African Descendants Caucus Work at the NGO
Forum and World Conference Against Racism. As there has been
considerable misinformation and distortion of our work at the WCAR , we
are requesting that everyone use all available mediums to publicize this
Report to our community. This Report encapsulates the historic bonding
and outstanding advocacy of African and African Descendants throughout
the WCAR planning process, preparatory meetings and at the Durban NGO
Forum and WCAR. The ISC will work to place the Report in newspapers and
on various internet listserves. We need your assistance in circulating
this Report to reach the broadest numbers of African and African
Descendants possible to inspire our brothers and sisters to be active in
building a new movement for our people.
After the Durban WCAR adjourned, our efforts to meet were greatly
hindered by the aftermath of September 11th and the backlog
of work so many confronted upon returning home from Durban.
Nevertheless, we persevered and held small teleconferences beginning in
late September, 2001, to facilitate the transition from the Coordinating
Committee that presided over the preparatory and Durban meetings to the
ISC. The first conference call of the ISC was held in November, 2001 and
it has met monthly since then. So far there are 22 participants on the
ISC including advisors. We are most anxious to have the full complement
of representation of those from the Carribean, Central America and South
America on the ISC in accordance with the structure adopted in Durban.
Another challenge is to increase the actual participation of
representatives from Africa as many of those who signed up have been
inactive.
Predictably, a lot of our initial work focused on combating the
opposition by some of the Western governments to the placement of the
paragraphs pertaining to slavery and the transatlantic Slave Trade and
crimes against humanity, colonialism and reparations in the Programme of
Action and other efforts to negate the WCAR documents. We wrote letters
to Kofi Annan, UN Secretary, Ms. Dlamini Zuma, President of the WCAR,
and Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and engaged in
other direct advocacy to influence this process. In addition a number of
members of the ISC attended and represented the African and African
Descendants Caucus at the December, 2001 NGO meetings in Geneva. During
this same timeframe, the ISC prepared and reviewed the Report. Another
activity involved compiling all of the names collected in Durban and
from other preparatory meetings into a comprehensive listserve. At this
time the ISC is working to develop a proposal for a permanent governance
structure. Regional meetings are also being planned to be held by July,
2002. The ISC is planning to send representation to the UN’’s March
meeting of the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.
It is important to note that all of the work of the ISC has been done
on the basis of volunteer and personal funding as there is no bank
account for this embryonic organization. Much appreciation is expressed
for all of those who have dedicated their time and efforts to the work
of the Africans and African Descendants Caucus.
At our last conference call we decided to designate the month of
August, 2002, as an "International Month of Mobilization for
Reparations" to encompass many planned events of African and
African Descendants including the August 9-13th Barbados Conference and
the August 17th Millions for Reparations March in Washington,
D.C.
Looking forward, we need everyone receiving this Report to become
active in building the permanent organization for African and African
Descendants. Be sure to contact your representatives on the ISC to
inform them of information, provide additional addresses for the
listserve, and to assist in this organizing period.
[Editor's Note: the Official Report is
attached]
The ISC contact information is as follows:
Abdelbagi, Advisor, abdelbagi@freesurf.ch
Adjoa Aiyetoro, Advisor, Aaiyetoro@aol.com
Alioune Tine, Africa Representative, atine34@hotmail.com
Amani Olubanjo Buntu, Youth Representative/ [Southern] Africa
Representative, bababuntu@blackworld.com
Bahiya Cabral, Advisor, bcabral@afsc.org
Barbara R. Arnwine, United States Representative, barnwine@lawyerscomm.org
Bona Godwin Okigbo, mailto:boan@law.comAfrica Representative, Inactive,
correct e-mail address needed
Brima Conteh, Europe Representative, Diaspaf2k@aol.com
Cikiah Thomas, Canadian Representative, cikiah.thomas@mto.gov.on.ca
Dexter Culbert, Central America Representative, dexcut@ibw.com.ni
Humberto Brown, United States Representative, hbrown@downstate.edu
Joan Grant-Cummings, Carribean Representative, bracelets59@yahoo.com
Joseph Champagne, Youth Representative and french translator, jchampag@vermontlaw.edu
Joss Rovelas, Europe Representative, rovelas@sudptt.fr
Linda Roots, Advisor, lroots@courts.state.ny.us
Margaret Parsons, Canadian Representative, parsonsm@olap.org
Martha Vega, US Representative, Alternate, mmvega@aol.com
Muntu Matsimela, Advisor, moon2mat@aol.com
Rollin Tobie, Central America Advisor, rtobie@tmx.com.ni
Roger Wareham, US Representative, rwarehamlaw@aol..com
Sandra Carnegie-Douglas, Canadian Representative, nacexc@web.net
Victor Misamu Nzabi, Europe Representative, eurodaf@yucom.be (Inactive,
if anyone has better e-mail address please advise)
Thank you for your support as we build a permanent and lasting voice
for African and African Descendants in the international arena. |
