The International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) has endorsed the McKinney/Clemente ticket in the U.S. presidential race. The endorsement was based on the support that Green Party V.P. candidate Rosa Clemente expressed for InPDUM's "Revolutionary National Democratic Program," during her participation in InPDUM's 17th Annual Convention, held September 27 – 28, 2008 in St. Petersburg, Florida.
On August 1, 2008, InPDUM leader Diop Olugbala led a widely publicized protest at a Barack Obama pep rally that raised the question, "What About the Black Community?" Dissatisfied with Obama's response, the organization invited all of the presidential candidates to attend its convention to respond to that question. InPDUM spokespeople had indicated that, based on a candidate’s willingness to embrace the group’s "Revolutionary National Democratic Program," it would make an endorsement in the U.S. presidential race.
InPDUM’s International President Ivory Sobukwe-SoDaye stated, "We are here today to put forward a Revolutionary National Democratic Program that we would like to see all institutions, organizations, candidates and individuals to forward in the world. This is the program of the African community. At the foundation of this program is self-determination. We say that self-determination is the highest expression of democracy.
"Democracy is not the right to vote for a white power candidate. Democracy is not the power to vote on a bill by George Bush. Self-determination is the ability to have control over every aspect of our lives; to have access to our full resources as African people; to have independence; to be able to control every move of our lives.
"At the core of the Revolutionary National Democratic Program is Black Power; it's the need for African self-determination as a nation of African people the world over. We unite with all other programs for self-determination we see throughout the world with other oppressed peoples struggling for their freedom."
Speaking at the InPDUM Convention, Rosa Clemente expressed her support for the group's program for national liberation and self-determination for African people. With its endorsement, InPDUM promises to participate in the Clemente/McKinney "Power to the People" campaign through various means, including the distribution of campaign literature by its branches, members and supporters in Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, Washington D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois, Minnesota, Texas, and California.
For more information, contact the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement at 727-821-6620 or visit
www.inpdum.org.
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