USM Holds 2nd Annual Earth Day in Philadelphia

USM members Miah O'Malley, Becca Woestman, and our awesome team of Temple University student volunteers

Coco Sol rocks the Earth Day stage in Clark Park with songs of African liberation!

2nd Annual Earth Day Fest & Flea Market in Philadelphia Calls for Community to Unite With Social Change to Fight Climate Change

With the mobilizing call for "Social Change to Fight Climate Change," the Uhuru Solidarity Movement in Philadelphia organized its 2nd annual Earth Day Festival & Flea Market in Clark Park in West Philadelphia on Saturday, April 18th, 2010, to a delighted attendance of over 1000 people! Combining the successful, 5-years-running Uhuru Flea Market in Clark Park with a unique festival celebrating sustainability through social justice, the event was a fundraiser for the African Village Survival Initiative (AVSI) Uhuru House Kitchen project, an Uhuru Movement-led campaign.

The AVSI projects are an African communityled response to the economic crisis in the U.S. that is hitting the black community the hardest. These projects include a fully functional community commercial kitchen in the Uhuru (Freedom) House in St Petersburg, FL – a community center and the "Embassy to the African World" that is a real prototype for the vision of organizing centers in African communities throughout the world. The kitchen is an economic development project that will keep the resources in the community and develop small businesses, making the African community's economy stronger in these times and build up the community's ability to come together and solve problems.

The Uhuru Solidarity Movement was well represented at the festival, with USM members from New York City and Lancaster PA doing community outreach, and over 25 volunteers throughout the day contributing to a smooth operation! We really appreciate all our members and volunteers in Philadelphia and the Northeast coming out in full to support this festival, and to all the businesses, organizations and neighbors in the West Philadelphia community who support the efforts of the Uhuru Movement to bring real solutions for a sustainable future through the African Village Survival Initiative.

The stage at the all-day festival was full of musicians, workshops and political speakers. Ramona Africa, the sole adult survivor of the May 13, 1985 Philadelphia police and U.S. government aerial bombing of the MOVE organization, spoke on the 25th anniversary of this criminal assault on the African community, and on the continuation of the black revolution of the 1960s that MOVE represents and that the Uhuru Movement has consistently been leading. Ayesha Fleary, representing the All-African People's Development & Empowerment Project, an Uhuru Movement organization carrying out African community-led development projects throughout Africa and in black communities in the U.S., spoke on the conditions facing African people the world over and the need for sustainable projects like rainwater harvesting, community farming & fishing, and health care to come from an African organization struggling for independence, not from charity NGOs.

We thank everyone who supported this festival and the AVSI programs, especially our vendors, speakers, performers and volunteers, and we will see you next year in Philly!