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September 18, 1970

Statement on Palestine by Eldridge Cleaver, Minister of Information, Black Panther Party, International Section, Alger, Algeria, September 18 ,1970

Founded in 1966 in Oakland, California, by college-educated and -socialized Huey Newton (1942-1989) and Bobby Seale (born 1936), the Black Panther Party (BPP) was a particularly influential part of Black Power from the later 1960s to the 1970s in the United States. During its heyday Black Power was quite distinct from the civil rights movement (CRM), which had begun in the 1950s, in terms of its separatist-nationalist aims, its readiness to use arms as a means to that end, and its revolutionary style, which included exercising the right to carry firearms. However, as Nico Slate’s introduction to the edited volume Black Power beyond Borders: The Global Dimensions of the Black Power Movement (2012) stresses, the extent of changes from the CRM to Black Power is a still debated and deeply political issue. Thus, there were political and personnel overlaps between the CRM and Black Power. And regarding the BPP, both it and the CRM were fundamentally focused on African Americans while both also nurtured relationships abroad. This being said, certainly to white Americans the BPP’s Marxist-inspired internationalism was more radical than the CRM’s, and more radical, too, was the anticolonial politics of the BPP’s foreign friends like the Vietcong and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Soon after the BPP’s foundation, its leaders started stressing internationalist relationships and linking US black liberation to anticolonialism. They would continue to do so in several stages and places of the BPP’s existence. As Sean Malloy’ Out of Oakland: Black Panther Party Internationalism During the Cold War (2017) in general and in particular Michael Fischman’s Black Power and Palestine (2018) show, it was already in 1967 that the Palestinian cause started interesting BPP members, when all were still in the United States. After the Arab-Israeli War of June 1967, the influence and visibility of the political-military organization Fatah—officially founded in 1959 and led by Yasser Arafat (1929-2004) who in 1969 took over the PLO—rose fast. BPP members identified with Fatah/PLO fighters’ bravery and long odds more than with perhaps any other non-US anticolonial cause.

This recognition soon turned into a relationship in the United States with PLO representatives and with Arab American organizations. The relationship deepened in 1969. That year, Eldridge Cleaver (1935-1998), his wife Kathleen Neal Cleaver (1967-1987), and additional BPP members landed in Algeria after a stay in Cuba, on the run from the US government. In Algiers, they associated inter alia with Fatah/PLO officials. When in September 1970 the Algerian government granted the BPP the status of a liberation organization, it issued the below statement, in English. Its context was the Jordanian army’s attack that month—since called Black September—on the PLO and on Palestinian refugee camps, which forced the PLO to relocate to Lebanon. BPP members in the US and the organ Black Panther used language similar to that of this text. At the selfsame time, however, Newton began invoking Arab-Jewish co-existence. Tellingly, this move mirrored a domestic reorientation of his, away from armed struggle for revolutionary separatism towards social services for black communities and towards electoral participation in order to challenge white racism from within. All this contributed to BPP-internal tensions that, partly due to FBI misinformation, split the party in 1971, with Newton’s faction ending up in control of most BPP assets.

1970

Eldridge Cleaver Notebooks, 1970

Eldridge Cleaver's handwritten notes from his travels to North Korea in 1970 for the "U.S. People's Anti-Imperialist Delegation."

September 1969

Eldridge Cleaver Notebooks, September 1969

Eldridge Cleaver's handwritten notes from his travels to North Korea in September 1969 for the "International Conference on Tasks of Journalists of the Whole World in their Fight against U.S. Imperialist Aggression."

September 9, 1971

Message to Kim Il Sung from Eldridge Cleaver

Eldridge Cleaver sends a message to Kim Il Sung celebrating the twenty-third anniversary of the founding of DPRK. Cleaver praises the Juche principle and the Korean revolution for national independence against the Japanese fascists and US imperialists. Koreans are described as the prime mover of the international revolutionary movement and as having built a powerful independent socialist country. Cleaver praises North Korea's efforts in reaching out to the southern hemisphere that is suffering from US neo-colonialism.

1970

Eldridge Cleaver's Statement on Robert Scheer

Eldridge Cleaver recommends that Robert Sheer join the "U.S. People's Anti-Imperialist Delegation" to North Korea in 1970.

1970

Statement from the US Peoples' Anti-Imperialist Delegation to Korea

Eldridge Cleaver praises Kim Il Sung and the Korean people as models of the anti-imperialist struggle and suggests that US imperialism has been crumbling since its "defeat" in the Korean War. Cleaver praises North Korean economic development in heavy industry and light industry and in agriculture which serves the purpose of liberating the people. Suggesting that the Korean peninsula can only be unified by the Koreans themselves, Cleaver indicates his support for North Korea's efforts to unify Korea against US imperialism, warning that the US imperialists that they will suffer a heavier loss if they provoke another war.

1970

Welcoming Message to Eldridge Cleaver, Kathleen Cleaver, and Robert Scheer upon their Arrival in North Korea

The speaker thanks the Black Panther Party for supporting North Korea's efforts to achieve independence without the influence of US and Japanese imperialist forces and expresses North Korea's hope for solidarity against imperialism. The speaker argues that Korean unification can only be achieved by the Korean people themselves.

1970

Revolutionary New Year's Greetings to the 40 Million Heroic Korean People

Eldridge Cleaver applauds the North Koreans for being the beacons of the anti-imperialist revolution and praises Kim Il Sung's leadership against U.S. imperialism and Japanese colonialism. According to Cleaver, the Black Panther Party supports and join hands with the North Koreans against fascism, imperialism, and the ruling class. Cleaver also criticizes South Korea for being a puppet state of U.S. imperialism.

1970

Speech at the Pyongyang City Mass Rally Held on the Occasion of the "Day of Struggle for the Withdrawal of the US Imperialist Aggression Army Away from South Korea"

A speech given at the Pyongyang City Mass Rally by Eldridge Cleaver in which he suggests that U.S. imperialism first became evident with the Korean War. North Korea has developed around the leadership of Kim Il Sung and has established a strong military and industry to as countermeasures in the case of a new war. According to Cleaver, if the anti-imperialist Asian countries join against US imperialism, they will be able to knock it down and ensure the victory of their cause.

1971

Eldridge Cleaver's Introduction to Kim Il Sung's Speeches

Eldridge Cleaver praises North Korea's efforts toward national liberation and suggests that Kim Il Sung's speeches should be inspiring to Americans.