The New Afrikan Declaration of Independence was adopted at the founding convention of the Republic of New Afrika in 1968.
We, the [New Afrikan] people in America, in consequence of arriving at a knowledge of Ourselves as a people with dignity, long deprived of that knowledge; as a consequence of revolting with every decimal of Our collective and individual beings against the oppression that for 300 years has destroyed and broken and warped the bodies and minds and spirits of Our people in America, in consequence of Our raging desire to be free of this oppression, to destroy this oppression wherever it assaults mankind in the world, and in consequence of Our indistinguishable determination to go a different way, to build a new and better world, do hereby declare Ourselves forever free and independent of the jurisdiction of the United States of America and the obligations which that country’s unilateral decision to make Our ancestors and Ourselves paper-citizens placed on Us.
We claim no rights from the United States of America other than those rights belonging to human beings anywhere in the world, and these include the right to damages, reparations due Us for the grievous injuries sustained by Our ancestors and Ourselves by reason of United States lawlessness.
Ours is a revolution against – Our oppression and that of all people in the world. And it is a revolution for a better life, a better station for mankind, a surer harmony with the forces of life in the universe. We therefore, see these as the aims of Our revolution:
- To free [New Afrikan] People in America from oppression;
- To support and wage the world revolution until all people everywhere are so free;
- To build a new Society that is better than what we now know and as perfect as man can make it;
- To assure all people in the New Society maximum opportunity and equal access to that maximum;
- To promote industriousness, responsibility, scholarship and service;
- To create conditions in which freedom of religion abounds and man’s pursuit of god and/or the destiny, place and purpose of man in the Universe will be without hindrance;
- To build a [New Afrikan] independent nation where no sect or religious creed subverts or impedes the building of the New Society, the New State Government, or the achievement of the Aims of the Revolution as set forth in this Declaration;
- To end exploitation of man by man or his environment;
- To assure equality of rights for the sexes;
- To end color and class discrimination, while not abolishing salubrious diversity, and to promote self-respect and
- mutual respect among all people in the Society;
- To protect and promote the personal dignity and integrity of the individual, and his natural rights;
- To assure justice for all;
- To place the major means of production and trade in the trust of the state to assure the benefits of this earth and man’s genius and labor to society and all its members; and
- To encourage and reward the individual for hard work and initiative and insight and devotion to the Revolution.
In mutual trust and great expectation, We the undersigned, for ourselves and for those who look to us but who are unable personally to fix their signatures hereto, do join in this solemn Declaration of Independence, and to support this Declaration and to assure the success of Our Revolution, We pledge, without reservation, ourselves, our talents, and all our worldly goods.
Featured photo: Members of the Pan-African Congress in Tanzania. Source: AAIHS.
