New Afrikan Black Panther Party

The New Afrikan Black Panther Party (NABPP) is a Black Power Marxist–Leninist–Maoist[1] organization in the United States, largely based out of the Red Onion State Prison in Wise County, Virginia[2] and referred to as the New Afrikan Black Panther Party – Prison Chapter (NABPP-PC).

For similarly named organisations, see Black panther (disambiguation) § Political organisations.

New Afrikan Black Panther Party
AbbreviationNABPP
ChairmanShaka Zulu
FoundedApril 2005 (2005-04)
HeadquartersRed Onion State Prison, Wise County, Virginia
IdeologyAfrican-American leftism
Anti-racism
Communism
Marxism–Leninism–Maoism
Pantherism
Political positionFar-left
National affiliationUnited Panther Movement
Colors
  •   Black
  •   Blue

History

The party was founded in 2005 by Kevin Rashid Johnson and Shaka Zulu (born Zulu Sharod) also known as Shaka Sankofa Zulu, with support from Native American activist Tom Big Warrior.[3] The party also claims continuity with the Black Panther prison chapter as developed by George Jackson and W. L. Nolen in 1971.[4]

Party leaders were active in the 2016 U.S. prison strike and claimed retribution from prison authorities for their involvement.[5]

Shaka Zulu was released from prison in 2019. Since his release, the NABPP has been organizing "No Prison Fridays" protests in Newark.[6] The NABPP is also organizing "Serve the People" programs to assist communities in developing their own resources and labor power toward restoring them as base areas of cultural, political and economic revolution.[6]

In recent years, the NABPP has built the "United Panther Movement" (UPM) which involves "parallel constellations of activists from all races and genders".[6] The United Panther Movement includes other minor communist parties such as the Red Heart Warrior Society, the White Panther Organization, the Brown Panther Organizing Committee, the New Afrikan Service Organization (formerly The Black Brigade) and the Old South Organizing Committee.[6]

In January 2021, FBI agents interviewed Shaka Zulu on involvement in the Capitol attack; Zulu denied any involvement and considered the interview "harassment."[7]

2020 split

In December 2020, supporters of Kevin "Rashid" Johnson split off from NABPP and began using the name Revolutionary Intercommunal Black Panther Party (RIBPP). Johnson cited displeasure with the NBPP leadership, lack of internal democracy, and ideological differences as causing the split.[8][9]

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Ideology

According to the party's founder and current leader, Shaka Zulu, the NABPP's ideology is Pantherism, which is an ideology illuminated by Marxism–Leninism–Maoism.[10] He asserts that Pantherism is "a fighting ideology talking about confiscating the wealth of the super-rich exploiters, the bourgeoisie, through a revolutionary war of liberation".[10] Zulu also stated that Pantherism opposes Black bourgeois nationalism and American reactionary patriotism, with a Maoist world outlook and international proletarian socialism.[10]

The NABPP claims to follow the "class-based ideological line of the original Black Panther Party" while rejecting the "race-based, anti-white" politics of the New Black Panther Party.[3]

References
  1. Johnson, Kevin Rashid (August 11, 2014). "The New Afrikan Black Panther Party – Prison Chapter : Our Origin, Where We've Been, Where We Aim to Go". rashidmod.com. Retrieved August 11, 2014.
  2. da Silva, Steve. "Interview with John 'Mac' Gaskins, New Afrikan Black Panther Party". BASICS Community News Service. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
  3. Musgrove, George Derek (September 2019). ""There Is No New Black Panther Party": The Panther-Like Formations and the Black Power Resurgence of the 1990s". The Journal of African American History. 104 (4): 619–656. doi:10.1086/705022. ISSN 1548-1867. S2CID 210503508.
  4. Canada, Kelvin Khaysi. "New Afrikan Black Panther Party-Prison Chapter's 10th Anniversary". San Francisco Bay View. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  5. Newton, Creede (November 9, 2016). "Texas Censors Inmates' Mail to Stop a Nationwide Prison Strike". The Daily Beast. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  6. "Shaka Zulu: New Afrikan Black Panther Party". Resource Center for Nonviolence. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  7. Marcetic, Branko (February 25, 2021). "Republicans Are Using the Capitol Riot as a Trojan Horse to Target the Left". In These Times. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  8. Johnson, Kevin "Rashid" (January 4, 2021). "Let's Get This Party Started: On the Split in the New Afrikan Black Party and Founding of the Revolutionary Intercommunal Black Panther Party". Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  9. Johnson, Kevin "Rashid" (January 18, 2021). "What Is Revolutionary Intercommunalism And Why We Embrace It (January 2021)". Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  10. Zulu, Shaka (November 26, 2010). "The Foundations of Pantherism". 4strugglemag. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
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