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EVENT POSTPONED: Welcome Delbert Africa & MOVE 9 to NYC!

3-10-2020: EVENT POSTPONED DUE TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS. STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER UPDATES.

Sat., March 14, 2020 • 5-8 pm
Holyrood Episcopal Church,
715 W. 179 St., NYC

take A train to 181 St. – see map/directions
For more info contact: 347-641-2773 & 617-388-5445 &
https://www.facebook.com/events/holyrood-episcopal-church-iglesia-santa-cruz/a-peoples-victory-celebration-of-the-release-of-the-move-9/191258728630876/

  • 1978 … 2020
  • Welcome Home!
  • Delbert Africa and his loving daughter Yvonne
    Delbert & Daughter
  • Delbert Africa

Filed Under: Delbert Africa, event, new york Tagged With: Delbert Africa, Holyrood Episcopal Church

FRAMED IN AMERICA: THE MAKING OF POLITICAL PRISONERS

Free the MOVE 9 - 40 Years Too Long!Sat., February 24, 2018,
The National Black Theatre,
2031 5th Avenue (corner 125th St.),
Harlem, NY  10035

Join:
Ramona Africa, Fred Hampton Jr., Pam Africa, Roger Wareham, Betty Davis, Ralph Poynter, Johanna Fernandez
As They Rally For Parole For Move Political Prisoners in 2018

Program: 5 – 8 pm
Dinner on sale: 4 pm
Vendors Village: 4 pm

For Program and Vending Reservations call (347) 641-2773 or go to OnaMove.com

Event live streaming at PictureTheStruggle.org

FREE THE MOVE 9!

For more info contact  (215) 386-1165 and onamovellja@aol.com

Filed Under: event, new york, news Tagged With: Betty Davis, Fred Hampton Jr., Johanna Fernandez, MOVE, MOVE 9, MOVE Organization, National Black Theatre, Pam Africa, Ralph Poynter, Ramona Africa, Roger Wareham

MOVE bombing will be the subject of Philadelphia opera fest world premiere

David Patrick Stearns, Music Critic
Philadelphia Inquirer/Daily News/Philly.com

MOVE OperaWhat started as a “hip h’opera” involving student poets in public schools has evolved into what will be perhaps the most daring show in Opera Philadelphia’s O17 festival this fall: We Shall Not be Moved, about modern-day displaced kids confronting the ghosts of the notorious 1985 MOVE bombing.

Details about the project have just been released in advance of the Sept. 16-24 performances at the Wilma Theater. The Philadelphia world premiere will be followed by runs at New York’s Apollo Theater and London’s Hackney Empire. The message from the creative team, most of whom are not from Philadelphia, is this: The opera doesn’t take a position or even dramatize the showdown between MOVE and local police that ended with the bombing that burned an extensive section of West Philadelphia.

“We’re not reopening the wound. The wound is present … and that’s true of so many things in American history,” said librettist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, 41. “It’s about how do we responsibly ask questions … in a past that’s never really lost.”

“First and foremost, this is … a musical theater experience with serious questions at its core,” said the much-honored director/choreographer Bill T. Jones, 65. “People are kind of nervous about it … and though we’ve watched many hours of documentary footage … the question is what is truth and reconciliation here.”

Those posing the questions are five teen runaways who take refuge in abandoned buildings on the original MOVE site (which was on Osage Avenue in West Philadelphia). Each teen represents a particular aspect of modern urban life: one is transgender, another is white yet identifies as African American, and so on. All are haunted by the ghosts of children who died in the 1985 fire. Added to all that is a tough Latina police officer whose provocative lines include “The one with the gun has the moral high ground, no?” The operatic score is not likely to sound like Carmen. The eclectic composer is Haitian American Daniel Bernard Roumain, who has worked intensively with Jones in years past.

Modern parallels with police violence were almost accidental, said Joseph. The project began around 2013, when he was working with student poets, in conjunction with the City of Philadelphia and Art Sanctuary. He had a mandate from Opera Philadelphia: determine whether an operatic theater piece could be drawn from their work. What struck Joseph was the absence of active awareness of the past in a social-media generation that exists in the present amid a near-forgotten yesterday, not to mention a major historic event such as the MOVE bombing. He first drafted the libretto in 2014, and by the end of the year, he pitched the idea to Opera Philadelphia. Nobody flinched.

What started as a “hip h’opera” involving student poets in public schools has evolved into what will be perhaps the most daring show in Opera Philadelphia’s O17 festival this fall: We Shall Not be Moved, about modern-day displaced kids confronting the ghosts of the notorious 1985 MOVE bombing.

Details about the project have just been released in advance of the Sept. 16-24 performances at the Wilma Theater. The Philadelphia world premiere will be followed by runs at New York’s Apollo Theater and London’s Hackney Empire. The message from the creative team, most of whom are not from Philadelphia, is this: The opera doesn’t take a position or even dramatize the showdown between MOVE and local police that ended with the bombing that burned an extensive section of West Philadelphia.

“We’re not reopening the wound. The wound is present … and that’s true of so many things in American history,” said librettist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, 41. “It’s about how do we responsibly ask questions … in a past that’s never really lost.”

“First and foremost, this is  … a musical theater experience with serious questions at its core,” said the much-honored director/choreographer Bill T. Jones, 65. “People are kind of nervous about it … and though we’ve watched many hours of documentary footage … the question is what is truth and reconciliation here.”

Those posing the questions are five teen runaways who take refuge in abandoned buildings on the original MOVE site (which was on Osage Avenue in West Philadelphia). Each teen represents a particular aspect of modern urban life: one is transgender, another is white yet identifies as African American, and so on. All are haunted by the ghosts of children who died in the 1985 fire. Added to all that is a tough Latina police officer whose provocative lines include “The one with the gun has the moral high ground, no?” The operatic score is not likely to sound like Carmen. The eclectic composer is Haitian American Daniel Bernard Roumain, who has worked intensively with Jones in years past.

Modern parallels with police violence were almost accidental, said Joseph. The project began around 2013, when he was working with student poets, in conjunction with the City of Philadelphia and Art Sanctuary. He had a mandate from Opera Philadelphia: determine whether an operatic theater piece could be drawn from their work. What struck Joseph was the absence of active awareness of the past in a social-media generation that exists in the present amid a near-forgotten yesterday, not to mention a major historic event such as the MOVE bombing. He first drafted the libretto in 2014, and by the end of the year, he pitched the idea to Opera Philadelphia. Nobody flinched. 

As much as the MOVE disaster has been examined, the librettist had some startling revelations from interviewing survivors. “There were white children who died in the fire,” he said. “MOVE is painted as a separatist group, which is probably right, but also segregated, which is totally wrong.” The libretto, in fact, wasn’t finished until March, which makes the final gestation of the piece incredibly fast by operatic standards. This process usually takes years.

Jones describes the project as being in “mid-stroke,” with creative-team members making their own lists of priorities. However, dance is likely to be prominent, if only because Jones is a choreographer, and he has hired Raphael Xavier, an alum of Philadelphia dance company Rennie Harris Puremovement, to supply more hip-hop elements. Joseph calls the approach “choreographic poetry … the idea that poetry can be spoken through the body.” Especially the ghosts.

Roumain wasn’t available for comment, but Jones pointed out that the term opera has been defined more loosely in recent years. The score is expected to have the gravity of opera but with surface elements of  gospel, jazz, and African folklore. A video element is particularly in a state of artistic flux but may be used to set the historic context of the original MOVE tragedy.

Much will be decided after rehearsals begin in August, during which We Shall Not Be Moved will be in production along with four other productions: a Komische Oper Berlin production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute Sept. 15-24 at the Academy of Music, Kevin Puts’ Elizabeth Cree Sept. 14-23 at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater, a Monteverdi/Lembit Beecher double bill titled War Stories Sept. 16-23 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and David Hertzberg’s The Wake World Sept. 18-25 at the Barnes Foundation.

The We Shall Not Be Moved company has roughly a month to pull together a hybrid work for which few clear templates exist. Yet Jones is tentatively confident: “We don’t often work in such a complicated palette. But I’m committed to keeping things smiling,” he said. “They [the collaborators] are ambitious and talented, and I think it’s going to be all right. Sometimes I’m very stern. The [set building] shop is doing three or four productions. But they’re very organized and the spirit is in a good place right now.”

Note from Ramona:

ONA MOVE, family, and friends! You may be aware that an opera based on MOVE (We Shall Not Be Moved) has been produced and opens at The Wilma Theatre in Philadelphia on Saturday, September 16th. What you, our NYC area friends, may not know is that this same opera will be at The Apollo Theatre on Friday, October 6th and Saturday, October 7th. I understand that tickets are $28.50 and $53.50 but double check that. For our friends in and around London in the UK, this opera based on MOVE, will open at The Hackney Empire from October 14th through the 21st. Ticket prices depend on where you want to sit. Hope some of our friends in and around the London area will be able to attend one of the performances. Be well and lots of love—–Ramona

Filed Under: event, new york, philadelphia Tagged With: Apollo Theater, bombing, MOVE, Philadelphia, We Shall Not Be Moved, Wilma Theater

Save the Date: MOVE Art Exhibit and Commemoration

August 5, 2017 - Free the MOVE 9 Program at House of the Lord Church in Brooklyn, NYSaturday, August 5, 2017,

2 – 4 pm: MOVE Art Exhibit – With The Art of Sophia Dawson
$20 – Fundraiser

5 – 8 pm: Program – 39 Years Too Long: Free The Move 9
Free
Featuring:
Ramona Africa (Move Org), Pam Africa (ICFFMAJ), Lawrence Hamm (POP), Suzanne Ross (Free Mumia Coalition), James McIntosh (CEMOTAP), Inez Barron (NYC Councilperson) & Charles Barron (NYS Assemblyperson), and more to be added

House of The Lord Church
415 Atlantic Avenue (bet. Bond & Nevins Sts.) – see map
Brooklyn, NY

For more info: (215) 386-1165 & onamovellja@aol.com

Get flyer

Filed Under: event, new york Tagged With: Chuck Africa, Debbie Africa, Delbert Africa, Eddie Africa, Janet Africa, Janine Africa, Merle Africa, Mike Africa, MOVE, MOVE 9, MOVE Organization, Phil Africa, Philadelphia, Ramona Africa, Sophia Dawson

Report Back: Updates on MOVE and Mumia Abu-Jamal

MOVE Family and Friends at MOVE Conference on May 7, 2017
** Click for larger version **

Thursday, June 1, 2017,
6 – 9 pm,
Solidarity Center, 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Fl.,
New York, NY 10011 – See map.

Presenting: Pam Africa – Ramona Africa – Bob Boyle, Esq. – Rachel Wolkenstein, Esq.
MC: Suzanne Ross

Event free. Light supper available at low cost at 6 pm.
More info call: (212) 633-6646 or (212) 927-2924

Filed Under: event, new york Tagged With: Bob Boyle, MOVE, MOVE 9, MOVE Organization, Mumia, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Pam Africa, Rachel Wolkenstein, Ramona Africa, Solidarity Center, Suzanne Ross

Fri. April 10th: Emergency Demo & Meeting for Mumia in NYC!!

stand-with-mumia-200x200pxStop the Execution By Medical Neglect of Mumia Abu-Jamal!

– Rally at Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building, 163 West 125th St
Fri., April 10, 2015, 5:00PM – 6:30 PM

– Indoor meeting at 7 PM, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 521 West 126th St, between Old Broadway & Amsterdam Ave, Harlem, NY

Filed Under: advocacy, new york Tagged With: Harlem State Office Building, Mumia Abu-Jamal

A Celebration of Life with MOVE at Ta-Merry Temple, NYC

A Celebration of Life – Support MOVE – Free All Political Prisoners
Sat., April 11, 2015  –  4-8pm
Ta-Merry Temple
104-106 East 126th St. #1A (ring bell)
(bet. Lexington and Park Aves.)
Panel on May 13th and MOVE Political Prisoners and Beyond
Speaking Carlos Africa, Ramona Africa, Pam Africa
Cultural Presentation: ESA Taina
More info contact (347) 641-2773
2015-04-11 Ta-Merry Temple

Filed Under: new york Tagged With: Carlos Africa, ESA Taina, Pam Africa, Ramona Africa, Ta-Merry Temple

Sat. April 11, 2015 – EMERGENCY RALLY IN DEFENSE OF MUMIA!

lincoln-for-mumiaOn Saturday, April 11th, there will be an emergency rally in defense of imperiled revolutionary journalist and political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal, who is now gravely ill because of apparent medical neglect and malpractice.

The rally is cohosted by the Newark AntiViolence Coalition and the People’s Organization for Progress. The rally will take place at the Lincoln Monument, Newark at 1pm.

Contact Zayid Muhammad 973 202 0745

Filed Under: new york Tagged With: newark, Newark AntiViolence Coaltiion, People's Organization for Progress

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All MOVE members freed from prison! LLJA!

Debbie Sims Africa, June 2018

Mike Africa Sr, October 2018

Janine Phillips Africa

Janet Holloway Africa, May 2019

Eddie Goodman Africa, June 2019

Delbert Orr Africa, January 2020

Chuck Sims Africa February 2020

And, we always remember the two MOVE members who died suspiciously in prison:

Merle Africa, March 1998
Phil Africa, January 2015

42 years after the Aug. 8, 1978 confrontation in Philadelphia, FINALLY all of the “MOVE 9” prisoners are out of prison!

Also, check out: move9parole.blogspot.com for more information.

The MOVE family was bombed in an attempt to stop their work to free all Life.  They remain steadfast. Long Live John Africa!

Life

All living beings, things that move, are equally important, whether they are human beings, dogs, birds, fish, trees, ants, weeds, rivers, wind or rain. To stay healthy and strong, life must have clean air, clear water and pure food. If deprived of these things, life will cycle to the next level, or as the system says, ‘die’. - John Africa

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