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Wikipedia

Ajamu Baraka

February 16, 2024

Ajamu Sibeko Baraka (/əˈʒɑːmuː bəˈrɑːkə/ ə-ZHAH-moo bə-RAH-kə; born October 25, 1953)[2] is an American political activist.[1] In 2016, he was the Green Party nominee for Vice President of the United States on the ballot in 45[a] states and received 1,457,216 votes (1.07% of the popular vote).

Ajamu Baraka
Born
Ajamu Sibeko Baraka

(1953-10-25) October 25, 1953 (age 70)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
EducationCity College of New York
University of South Florida (BA)
Clark Atlanta University (MA, PhD)
Political partyGreen
Military career
Allegiance United States
Service/branch United States Army
Battles/warsVietnam War[1]
WebsiteOfficial website

Baraka currently serves as the national organizer and spokesperson for the Black Alliance for Peace.[3]

Early life edit

Baraka was born in 1953 and grew up on the South Side of Chicago.[4] He served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Upon discharge, he moved to the southern United States, where he became involved in anti-segregation activism.[5]

Baraka received his BA in international studies and political science from the University of South Florida, Tampa in 1982 and his MA and PhD in political science from Clark Atlanta University in 1987.[6] Baraka has said the work of W.E.B. Du Bois was important in the formation of his black internationalist worldview, and he attended Clark Atlanta, where Du Bois had taught. Baraka became involved in the Central America solidarity movement, organizing delegations to Nicaragua in support of the Nicaraguan Revolution. He then became an Amnesty International volunteer, eventually moving up to the board of the organization.[5]

Career edit

From 2004 to 2011, Baraka served as the founding executive director of the US Human Rights Network, a national network that grew to over 300 U.S.-based organizations and 1500 individual members. Baraka has served on the boards of several human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Africa Action.[7]

As the Southern Regional Director of Amnesty International USA Baraka was instrumental in developing the organization's 1998 campaign to expose human rights violations in the United States.[8] Additionally, Baraka directed Amnesty's National Program to Abolish the Death Penalty and was involved in most of their major death penalty cases.[8]

Baraka has taught political science at the university level and is currently an editor and contributing columnist for the Black Agenda Report and a writer for CounterPunch.[8]

Activism edit

 
Baraka (left) with other recipients of the Vicki Sexual Freedom Award, 2011

In 2008, Baraka worked with the US Human Rights Network and over 400 organizations to develop a CERD Shadow Report, which concerned US compliance with the terms of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. They felt the US government's reports did not adequately address racial profiling, displacement from Hurricane Katrina, and land rights for the Western Shoshone, among other issues. A large delegation presented their findings.[9]

In September 2016, a Morton County, North Dakota judge issued an arrest warrant against Baraka and Jill Stein, after the two were charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing and criminal mischief in connection with their protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline.[10][11][12] Baraka had spray-painted the word "decolonization" on a bulldozer during the protest.[10] In an interview shortly afterward, Baraka said that he and Stein were "in discussions with our legal team about how we're going to deal with this" and described his action as an act of resistance against "corporate America and the colonial state."[13]

Views and writings edit

Writings by Baraka have appeared in Black Agenda Report, Common Dreams, Dissident Voice, Pambazuka News, CounterPunch, and other media outlets.[14]

Foreign policy edit

 
Ajamu Baraka

Israel edit

In October 2014, Baraka traveled to the Palestinian territories as a member of the African Heritage Delegation organized by the Interfaith Peace-Builders group.[15] After its visit, the delegation issued six "findings and demands" signed by the sixteen members, including Baraka: specifically, they called the expansion of Israeli settlements "ethnic cleansing and 21st century colonialism"; called for an end to U.S. aid to Israel; accused Israel of apartheid; and praised the "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions" (B.D.S.) movement as "an essential tool in the struggle for Palestinian liberation."[16]

Baraka questioned news stories about the June 2014 kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers, which Israel blamed on Hamas members and which led to Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip against Hamas. One month after the kidnappings, which he called a "false flag operation," Baraka indicated in an interview his belief that "the kids were supposed to be kidnapped but they weren't supposed to be murdered. That was an accident. But nevertheless it gave Israel the pretext that they were setting up for, and that was the opportunity to basically attack Hamas in order to destroy the unity government."[17]

Syria and Iraq edit

Speaking in 2014 on U.S. involvement in Iraq, Baraka characterized U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East over the previous 20 years as "disastrous" and said that "what has occurred in Iraq was predictable."[18]

In a 2014 interview on Kevin Barrett's Truth Jihad Radio, Baraka stated his belief that the U.S. had a part in creating the "boogeyman" of ISIS "to basically garner significant public support for an argument that says that this monster, these evil forces—that, by the way, we helped to create—we are the only ones that can go in and slay this monster."[19] In the interview, he suggested that control of natural resources, such as the proposed Qatar-Turkey and Iran-Iraq-Syria natural gas pipelines, is one of the underlying reasons for U.S. and Turkish interests in the region:

These are not just geopolitical fights based on principle, but these fights are based on real material realities, real material advantages. So you look at the routes of these various pipelines that are being proposed and actually built to bring natural gas from Central Asia to the European markets. Turkey felt that it was in their interest to make sure that they can influence the best deal possible that will allow them to be positioned to take full advantage of these pipelines. That's one of the reasons many people argue that Syria had to go: that when there were proposals to run these natural gas pipelines from Iran through Iraq and through Syria, that it was a direct threat to some of the ambitions that Erdogan has for Turkey.[20]

Baraka rejected the U.S. position that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and the 2014 Syrian presidential election are illegitimate.[21] He characterised Syria's opposition as "Salafi-Wahhabi fundamentalists who reject representative democracy and support the imposition of sharia law in Syria".[22] In a 2014 article, he wrote that the idea of Assad's illegitimacy had been "carefully cultivated by Western state propagandists and dutifully disseminated by their auxiliaries in the corporate media."[23][24]

According to Muhammad Idrees Ahmad writing in Al-Jazeera, in 2019 Baraka travelled to Syria to participate in the Third International Trade Union Forum, presided over by President Assad.[25]

Ukraine edit

After the 2014 Odesa clashes, which resulted in the deaths of 42 pro-Russian and six pro-Ukrainian protestors, Baraka wrote that he was "outraged by the murder of people defending their rights to self-determination at the hands of U.S.-supported thugs in Odesa."[26]

Two days after the event, Baraka expressed his suspicions that the shootdown of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine was a "false flag" operation, saying: "Someone wrote about three weeks ago that we should expect a major false flag operation in eastern Ukraine that's going to be then blamed on the Russians. And that's exactly what has happened. They're trying to say in the Western press that the Ukrainian government does not have access to that kind of weaponry, when it's clear that they do."[27][28] He criticized Western media coverage of the event for "undermining anything coming from Russia Today. That's where you see the story being advanced that there is a possibility that this story is a little more complicated than people realize."[29] Baraka also claimed that observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe were "sent in basically as spies who showed up on the scene to quote-unquote 'monitor'."[30]

Nigeria edit

Baraka has criticized calls for Western military action against the jihadist rebel group Boko Haram, arguing that "a purely military response will only exacerbate an insurgency whose roots lie in the complex socio-historical conditions and internal contradictions of Northeast Nigeria."[31] In May 2014, a month after Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from the northern Nigerian town of Chibok, he expressed skepticism about the official version of events and the number of victims, saying that "even if there was a kidnapping, there's some people who are suggesting that the numbers are in fact inflated."[32] Baraka also stated that while he was "outraged" by the kidnapping, he was also suspicious of U.S. humanitarian concerns in the region: "U.S. policymakers don't give a damn about the schoolgirls in Nigeria because their real objective is to use the threat of Boko Haram in the northern part of the country to justify the real goal of occupying the oil fields in the south and to block the Chinese in Nigeria."[26]

Je suis Charlie movement edit

In a January 2015 essay, Baraka described the Republican march in Paris in reaction to the Charlie Hebdo shooting as a "white power march," and the Je suis Charlie movement in general as an "arrogant rallying cry for white supremacy".[33] Baraka condemned what he perceived as the disproportionate interest in the Charlie Hebdo attacks, and the relative lack of interest in the Baga massacre in Nigeria by Boko Haram, which took place days before the Charlie Hebdo shooting and resulted in many more deaths. Baraka also criticized the "degrading ritual" of assimilation that Arabs and Muslims undergo in France, the "arrogant lack of respect for the ideas and culture of non-European peoples" that led to the French ban on face covering in public spaces, and the "racist" and "Islamophobic" character of Charlie Hebdo's recent publications.[33] Baraka's "Je suis Charlie" article was republished in January 2016 in an anthology about the November 2015 Paris attacks, titled ANOTHER French False Flag? Bloody Tracks from Paris to San Bernardino. This was controversial because the editor, Kevin Barrett, is widely considered a denier of the Holocaust and the 9/11 attacks, although Baraka said he was unaware of this and disassociated himself from Barrett's views.[34][35][36][37][38]

In an article titled "No 'Je Suis Charleston'?" Baraka contended that a collective response similar to "Je suis Charlie" was absent after the Charleston church shooting at the Emanuel AME Church, and criticized Obama for not calling suspect Dylann Roof a terrorist.[39] As a longtime opponent of the death penalty, Baraka has also criticized the Department of Justice's decision to seek the death penalty for Roof, saying that it "should be seen as no more than another tactical move by the state as part of the last phase of the counterinsurgency launched against the black liberation movement. ... By appealing to African Americans, the group in the country most consistently opposed to the death penalty, state propagandists saw this as a perfect opportunity to undermine opposition to capital punishment and facilitate the process of psychological incorporation."[40]

Reception edit

Writing for Politico, Christopher Hooks claimed Baraka "has a long history of fringe statements and beliefs."[41]

Critique of public individuals edit

Baraka has described Ta-Nehisi Coates, Beyoncé and Bernie Sanders as "media-driven pseudo-opposition".[42][36]

Bill Clinton edit

In June 2016, Baraka criticized the family of Muhammad Ali for inviting Bill Clinton to deliver the boxer's eulogy.[43][44] Baraka described Clinton as a "rapist" and "petty opportunist politician."[43][44]

Barack Obama edit

Baraka referred to President Barack Obama as an "Uncle Tom president" after Obama condemned the 2014 riots and violence in Ferguson, Missouri that occurred in the wake of the police killing of Michael Brown.[28][45] Defending his use of the term, Baraka later said that he was speaking to a "specialized audience" and was attempting to "shock people into a more critical look at this individual."[46] Baraka has also argued that Obama has shown "obsequious deference to white power,"[47] and that Obama and Loretta Lynch are members of the "black petit-bourgeoisie who have become the living embodiments of the partial success of the state's attempt to colonize the consciousness of Africans/black people."[43]

Baraka was critical of the Obama administration's decision to not attend the 2009 UN World Conference Against Racism in Geneva.[48] In 2013, Baraka stated that inviting Obama to the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington "should be taken as an insult by everyone who has struggled and continues to struggle for human rights, peace and social justice."[47] More recently, he has argued that "the Obama Administration collaborated with suppressing the 2009 report from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which identified violent white supremacist groups as a threat to national security more lethal than the threat from Islamic 'fundamentalists'."[39]

In an October 2016 interview with The Detroit News, Baraka described Obama as a "moral disaster" and one of "the worst things that has happened to African-American people".[49]

Cornel West edit

In September 2015, Baraka initially criticized Cornel West for supporting Bernie Sanders, saying that West was "sheep-dogging for the Democrats" by "drawing voters into the corrupt Democratic party".[50] West later endorsed the Stein/Baraka ticket after Sanders endorsed Hillary Clinton.[51][52]

2016 U.S. vice presidential campaign edit

 
Baraka and Stein, August 2016

On August 1, 2016, Green Party presumptive presidential nominee Jill Stein announced that Baraka would be her running mate.[53] Stein and Baraka were formally nominated by delegates at the 2016 Green National Convention on August 6, 2016.[54] In his acceptance speech, Baraka said that he joined the Green Party effort to "build a multinational movement here in this country based on the needs and the aspirations of working people".[55]

The Stein/Baraka ticket received over 1% of the national popular vote from 1,457,218 voters in the 2016 election.

Awards and recognition edit

 
The US Peace Prize plaque awarded to Baraka in 2019

In 1998, Baraka was one of 300 human rights workers honored by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.[4] In 2001, Baraka was named "abolitionist of the year" by the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty for his efforts to end the death penalty in the United States.[4][7]

In 2019, the US Peace Memorial Foundation awarded Baraka with the US Peace Prize for his "bold antiwar actions, writings, speeches, and leadership that provide an inspiring voice against militarism."[56] In the same year, Baraka was also awarded with the Serena Shim Award for "Uncompromised Integrity in Journalism"[57]

Publications edit

  • Ajamu Baraka (2013). "Praxis from the Centre Back to the Margins: Amílcar Cabral's Method as a Guide for Reconstructing the Radical Black Political Subject". In Firoze Manji; Bill Fletcher Jr. (eds.). . Codesria. ISBN 9782869785557. Archived from the original on 2021-01-27. Retrieved 2016-08-05.
  • Ajamu Baraka (2014). "Socialism Is the Highest Expression of Human Rights". In Frances Goldin; Debby Smith; Michael Smith (eds.). Imagine: Living in a Socialist U.S.A. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062305589.
  • Ajamu Baraka (2014). "For a national alliance for racial justice and human rights". In Kevin Alexander Gray; Jeffrey St. Clair; JoAnn Wypijewski (eds.). Killing Trayvons : an anthology of American violence. CounterPunch Books. ISBN 9780692213995.
  • Ajamu Baraka (January 6, 2016). "The Paris Attacks and the White Lives Matter Movement". In Kevin Barrett (ed.). ANOTHER French False Flag?: Bloody Tracks from Paris to San Bernardino. Sifting and Winnowing Books. ISBN 9780996143011.

Notes edit

  1. ^ Howie Hawkins stood in Baraka's place for Vice President on the ballot in Minnesota.

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Who are the Green Party candidates?". CNN. August 17, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  2. ^ "Ajamu S Baraka". Quanki. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  3. ^ "Coordinating Committee". The Black Alliance for Peace.
  4. ^ a b c . Common Dreams. October 19, 2001. Archived from the original on November 22, 2006. Retrieved August 1, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  5. ^ a b "Meet Ajamu Baraka: Green VP Candidate Aims to Continue the Legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois & Malcolm X". Democracy Now!. August 18, 2016. Retrieved August 19, 2016.
  6. ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-12-24. Retrieved 2017-07-05.
  7. ^ a b . Woodhull Freedom Foundation. Archived from the original on August 6, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  8. ^ a b c "Ajamu Baraka". Green Party of the United States. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  9. ^ Dawkins, Tanya (December 15, 2009). . YES! Magazine. Archived from the original on August 15, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  10. ^ a b "Arrest warrants issued for Jill Stein, running mate after N.D. protest". USA Today. Retrieved September 7, 2016.
  11. ^ "Green Party's Jill Stein Charged in N. Dakota Pipeline Protest". NBC News. Associated Press. 7 September 2016. Retrieved September 7, 2016.
  12. ^ "Warrant out for Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein's arrest in ND". CBS news. 7 September 2016. Retrieved September 7, 2016.
  13. ^ Dennis J Bernstein (September 10, 2016). "Green Party Candidates Face Arrest: An Interview with Green Party VP Candidate Ajamu Baraka". reader supported news.
  14. ^ "Articles--Ajamu Baraka". A Voice from the Margins. Baraka. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
  15. ^ "Thu, Dec 11, 3pm – Ajamu Baraka Reports on African Heritage Delegation to Israel/Palestine". Carolina Peace Resource Center. December 2, 2014. from the original on September 29, 2022.
  16. ^ "Statement of the 2014 African Heritage Delegation". Interfaith Peace Builders. April 15, 2014. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  17. ^ Kevin Barrett (July 19, 2014). "Sander Hicks, Jim Fetzer, Ajamu Baraka — on Kevin Barrett's Truth Jihad Radio". No Lies Radio (Podcast). Event occurs at 1:22:12. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  18. ^ Moore, Chris (June 15, 2014). "Ajamu Baraka Discusses American Involvement In Iraq". CBS Pittsburgh. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  19. ^ O'Connor, Brendan (August 11, 2016). . Gawker. Archived from the original on August 12, 2016. Baraka wrote: 'There has never been any question in mind about the genocidal madness of the Nazi Holocaust throughout Europe during the second world war. I abhor and reject any individual or group that fails to understand the tremendous suffering of Jewish people during that dark period.'
  20. ^ Kevin Barrett (October 17, 2014). "Ajamu Baraka & Ibrahim Soudy on ISIS & 9/11 deceptions — on Kevin Barrett's Truth Jihad Radio". No Lies Radio (Podcast). Event occurs at 10:00. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  21. ^ Yair Rosenberg, Friends Don't Let Friends Vote for Jill Stein, Tablet (August 10, 2016).
  22. ^ Sandlin, Evan (30 October 2016). "Dereliction of Duty? The Left and the Syrian Civil War". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  23. ^ Weindling, Jacob (2016-08-17). "Why the Green Party is For Dupes (It Has Nothing To Do With Trump)". pastemagazine.com. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  24. ^ Lazdins, Erik (2016-09-07). "The 2016 Election Is a Referendum on U.S. Policy on Russia - The Northern European :: UpNorth". The Northern European :: UpNorth. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  25. ^ Ahmad, Muhammad Idrees (2019-09-15). "Junket journalism in the shadow of genocide - Syria News". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  26. ^ a b Baraka, Ajamu (May 14, 2014). . Black Agenda Report. Archived from the original on September 21, 2015. Retrieved August 13, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  27. ^ Kevin Barrett (July 19, 2014). "Sander Hicks, Jim Fetzer, Ajamu Baraka — on Kevin Barrett's Truth Jihad Radio". No Lies Radio (Podcast). Event occurs at 1:31:00. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  28. ^ a b Resnick, Gideon (August 17, 2016). "The Wild Beliefs of Ajamu Baraka, Jill Stein's Green Party Running Mate". The Daily Beast. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  29. ^ Kevin Barrett (July 19, 2014). "Sander Hicks, Jim Fetzer, Ajamu Baraka — on Kevin Barrett's Truth Jihad Radio". No Lies Radio (Podcast). Event occurs at 1:33:40. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  30. ^ Kevin Barrett (July 19, 2014). "Sander Hicks, Jim Fetzer, Ajamu Baraka — on Kevin Barrett's Truth Jihad Radio". No Lies Radio (Podcast). Event occurs at 1:34:15. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  31. ^ . Common Dreams. January 30, 2015. Archived from the original on December 17, 2015. Retrieved August 13, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  32. ^ Kevin Barrett (May 20, 2014). "Ajamu Baraka: Boko Haram part of US destabilization agenda _ on Kevin Barrett's Truth Jihad Radio". No Lies Radio (Podcast). Event occurs at 10:13. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  33. ^ a b "The Charlie Hebdo White Power Rally in Paris: A Celebration of Western Hypocrisy". Dissident Voice. January 14, 2015. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
  34. ^ Bachner, Michael; Wootliff, Raoul; Jeffay, Nathan (2016-08-16). "US Green Party VP pick disavows Holocaust denial". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  35. ^ "The Wild Beliefs of Ajamu Baraka, Jill Stein's Green Party Running Mate". The Daily Beast. 2016-08-17. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  36. ^ a b Mindock, Clark (2020-12-07). "Who Is Ajamu Baraka? Green Party VP Is Civil Rights Activist, Critical Of Obama, Beyoncé And Bernie Sanders". International Business Times. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  37. ^ Stuart, Tessa (2016-09-01). "The Case Against Jill Stein". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  38. ^ "Friends Don't Let Friends Vote for Jill Stein". Tablet Magazine. 2016-08-10. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
  39. ^ a b Baraka, Ajamu (June 30, 2015). "No 'Je Suis Charleston'?: The De-Politicization of Black Oppression". Black Agenda Report. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  40. ^ "Muhammad Ali and Dylann Roof: Contested Meanings and Contested Lies". Black Agenda Report. June 14, 2016. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
  41. ^ Hooks, Christopher (August 7, 2016). "What If the Green Party Stopped Being Kooky and Started Getting Real?". Politico.
  42. ^ Zoom, Doktor (2016-08-04). "Jill Stein Didn't Want You Dumb Old Bernie Voters Anyway". Wonkette. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  43. ^ a b c "MUHAMMAD ALI AND DYLANN ROOF: CONTESTED MEANINGS AND CONTESTED LIES". Ajamu Baraka.
  44. ^ a b Scher, Bill (August 6, 2016). "Can the Green Party Win With 'Jill, Not Hill'?". Politico Magazine. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
  45. ^ Baraka, Ajamu. . Archived from the original on 2016-09-27. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  46. ^ Cahn, Emily (August 18, 2016). "Jill Stein's VP doubles down on calling Obama "Uncle Tom" in truly wild town hall". Mic.com.
  47. ^ a b Baraka, Ajamu (August 19, 2013). "Martin Luther King: "My Dream is Not Obama"". Popular Resistance. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  48. ^ Mann, Eric (May 11, 2009). . The Labor/Community Strategy Center. Archived from the original on August 7, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  49. ^ Baraka, Ajamu (October 18, 2016). "Green Party's Baraka: Obama has been 'moral disaster'". The Detroit News. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
  50. ^ Baraka, Ajamu (September 9, 2015). "Why is Cornel West Sheep-Dogging for the Democrats Again?". Dissident Voice. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  51. ^ "Cornel West: Why I Endorse Green Party's Jill Stein Over "Neoliberal Disaster" Hillary Clinton". Democracy Now. July 18, 2016. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  52. ^ Hensch, Mark (July 14, 2016). "Sanders ally Cornel West backs Green candidate". The Hill. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  53. ^ . August 1, 2016. Archived from the original on October 13, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  54. ^ Nelson, Eliot (August 6, 2016). "The Green Party Picks Its Presidential Ticket". The Huffington Post. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  55. ^ "A New Day & Another Way: Green VP Nominee Ajamu Baraka Urges Progressives to Reject Two-Party System". Democracy Now. August 8, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  56. ^ "Ajamu Baraka Awarded 2019 US Peace Prize". USPeacePrize.org. US Peace Memorial Foundation. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  57. ^ "Laureates". Serena Shim Award for Uncompromised Integrity in Journalism. 5 March 2019. Retrieved January 31, 2021.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ajamu Baraka.
  • Official website
  • Stein/Baraka 2016 campaign website 2020-10-28 at the Wayback Machine
  • Appearances on C-SPAN
  • Mindock, Clark (2020-12-07). "Who Is Ajamu Baraka? Green Party VP Is Civil Rights Activist, Critical Of Obama, Beyoncé And Bernie Sanders". International Business Times. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
Party political offices
Preceded by Green nominee for Vice President of the United States
2016 		Succeeded by
Angela Nicole Walker
Affiliated, Presumptive

February 16, 2024
ajamu, baraka, neutrality, this, article, disputed, relevant, discussion, found, talk, page, please, remove, this, message, until, conditions, january, 2021, learn, when, remove, this, template, message, ajamu, sibeko, baraka, ɑː, ɑː, zhah, born, october, 1953. The neutrality of this article is disputed Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met January 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message Ajamu Sibeko Baraka e ˈ ʒ ɑː m uː b e ˈ r ɑː k e e ZHAH moo be RAH ke born October 25 1953 2 is an American political activist 1 In 2016 he was the Green Party nominee for Vice President of the United States on the ballot in 45 a states and received 1 457 216 votes 1 07 of the popular vote Ajamu BarakaBornAjamu Sibeko Baraka 1953 10 25 October 25 1953 age 70 Chicago Illinois U S EducationCity College of New YorkUniversity of South Florida BA Clark Atlanta University MA PhD Political partyGreenMilitary careerAllegiance United StatesService wbr branch United States ArmyBattles warsVietnam War 1 WebsiteOfficial websiteBaraka currently serves as the national organizer and spokesperson for the Black Alliance for Peace 3 Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Activism 4 Views and writings 4 1 Foreign policy 4 1 1 Israel 4 1 2 Syria and Iraq 4 1 3 Ukraine 4 1 4 Nigeria 4 2 Je suis Charlie movement 4 3 Reception 5 Critique of public individuals 5 1 Bill Clinton 5 2 Barack Obama 5 3 Cornel West 6 2016 U S vice presidential campaign 7 Awards and recognition 8 Publications 9 Notes 10 References 11 External linksEarly life editBaraka was born in 1953 and grew up on the South Side of Chicago 4 He served in the U S Army during the Vietnam War Upon discharge he moved to the southern United States where he became involved in anti segregation activism 5 Baraka received his BA in international studies and political science from the University of South Florida Tampa in 1982 and his MA and PhD in political science from Clark Atlanta University in 1987 6 Baraka has said the work of W E B Du Bois was important in the formation of his black internationalist worldview and he attended Clark Atlanta where Du Bois had taught Baraka became involved in the Central America solidarity movement organizing delegations to Nicaragua in support of the Nicaraguan Revolution He then became an Amnesty International volunteer eventually moving up to the board of the organization 5 Career editFrom 2004 to 2011 Baraka served as the founding executive director of the US Human Rights Network a national network that grew to over 300 U S based organizations and 1500 individual members Baraka has served on the boards of several human rights organizations including Amnesty International the Center for Constitutional Rights and Africa Action 7 As the Southern Regional Director of Amnesty International USA Baraka was instrumental in developing the organization s 1998 campaign to expose human rights violations in the United States 8 Additionally Baraka directed Amnesty s National Program to Abolish the Death Penalty and was involved in most of their major death penalty cases 8 Baraka has taught political science at the university level and is currently an editor and contributing columnist for the Black Agenda Report and a writer for CounterPunch 8 Activism edit nbsp Baraka left with other recipients of the Vicki Sexual Freedom Award 2011In 2008 Baraka worked with the US Human Rights Network and over 400 organizations to develop a CERD Shadow Report which concerned US compliance with the terms of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination They felt the US government s reports did not adequately address racial profiling displacement from Hurricane Katrina and land rights for the Western Shoshone among other issues A large delegation presented their findings 9 In September 2016 a Morton County North Dakota judge issued an arrest warrant against Baraka and Jill Stein after the two were charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing and criminal mischief in connection with their protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline 10 11 12 Baraka had spray painted the word decolonization on a bulldozer during the protest 10 In an interview shortly afterward Baraka said that he and Stein were in discussions with our legal team about how we re going to deal with this and described his action as an act of resistance against corporate America and the colonial state 13 Views and writings editThis biography of a living person relies too much on references to primary sources Please help by adding secondary or tertiary sources Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately especially if potentially libelous or harmful Find sources Ajamu Baraka news newspapers books scholar JSTOR December 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message Writings by Baraka have appeared in Black Agenda Report Common Dreams Dissident Voice Pambazuka News CounterPunch and other media outlets 14 Foreign policy edit nbsp Ajamu BarakaIsrael edit In October 2014 Baraka traveled to the Palestinian territories as a member of the African Heritage Delegation organized by the Interfaith Peace Builders group 15 After its visit the delegation issued six findings and demands signed by the sixteen members including Baraka specifically they called the expansion of Israeli settlements ethnic cleansing and 21st century colonialism called for an end to U S aid to Israel accused Israel of apartheid and praised the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions B D S movement as an essential tool in the struggle for Palestinian liberation 16 Baraka questioned news stories about the June 2014 kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers which Israel blamed on Hamas members and which led to Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip against Hamas One month after the kidnappings which he called a false flag operation Baraka indicated in an interview his belief that the kids were supposed to be kidnapped but they weren t supposed to be murdered That was an accident But nevertheless it gave Israel the pretext that they were setting up for and that was the opportunity to basically attack Hamas in order to destroy the unity government 17 Syria and Iraq edit Speaking in 2014 on U S involvement in Iraq Baraka characterized U S foreign policy in the Middle East over the previous 20 years as disastrous and said that what has occurred in Iraq was predictable 18 In a 2014 interview on Kevin Barrett s Truth Jihad Radio Baraka stated his belief that the U S had a part in creating the boogeyman of ISIS to basically garner significant public support for an argument that says that this monster these evil forces that by the way we helped to create we are the only ones that can go in and slay this monster 19 In the interview he suggested that control of natural resources such as the proposed Qatar Turkey and Iran Iraq Syria natural gas pipelines is one of the underlying reasons for U S and Turkish interests in the region These are not just geopolitical fights based on principle but these fights are based on real material realities real material advantages So you look at the routes of these various pipelines that are being proposed and actually built to bring natural gas from Central Asia to the European markets Turkey felt that it was in their interest to make sure that they can influence the best deal possible that will allow them to be positioned to take full advantage of these pipelines That s one of the reasons many people argue that Syria had to go that when there were proposals to run these natural gas pipelines from Iran through Iraq and through Syria that it was a direct threat to some of the ambitions that Erdogan has for Turkey 20 Baraka rejected the U S position that Syrian president Bashar al Assad and the 2014 Syrian presidential election are illegitimate 21 He characterised Syria s opposition as Salafi Wahhabi fundamentalists who reject representative democracy and support the imposition of sharia law in Syria 22 In a 2014 article he wrote that the idea of Assad s illegitimacy had been carefully cultivated by Western state propagandists and dutifully disseminated by their auxiliaries in the corporate media 23 24 According to Muhammad Idrees Ahmad writing in Al Jazeera in 2019 Baraka travelled to Syria to participate in the Third International Trade Union Forum presided over by President Assad 25 Ukraine edit After the 2014 Odesa clashes which resulted in the deaths of 42 pro Russian and six pro Ukrainian protestors Baraka wrote that he was outraged by the murder of people defending their rights to self determination at the hands of U S supported thugs in Odesa 26 Two days after the event Baraka expressed his suspicions that the shootdown of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine was a false flag operation saying Someone wrote about three weeks ago that we should expect a major false flag operation in eastern Ukraine that s going to be then blamed on the Russians And that s exactly what has happened They re trying to say in the Western press that the Ukrainian government does not have access to that kind of weaponry when it s clear that they do 27 28 He criticized Western media coverage of the event for undermining anything coming from Russia Today That s where you see the story being advanced that there is a possibility that this story is a little more complicated than people realize 29 Baraka also claimed that observers from the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe were sent in basically as spies who showed up on the scene to quote unquote monitor 30 Nigeria edit Baraka has criticized calls for Western military action against the jihadist rebel group Boko Haram arguing that a purely military response will only exacerbate an insurgency whose roots lie in the complex socio historical conditions and internal contradictions of Northeast Nigeria 31 In May 2014 a month after Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from the northern Nigerian town of Chibok he expressed skepticism about the official version of events and the number of victims saying that even if there was a kidnapping there s some people who are suggesting that the numbers are in fact inflated 32 Baraka also stated that while he was outraged by the kidnapping he was also suspicious of U S humanitarian concerns in the region U S policymakers don t give a damn about the schoolgirls in Nigeria because their real objective is to use the threat of Boko Haram in the northern part of the country to justify the real goal of occupying the oil fields in the south and to block the Chinese in Nigeria 26 Je suis Charlie movement edit In a January 2015 essay Baraka described the Republican march in Paris in reaction to the Charlie Hebdo shooting as a white power march and the Je suis Charlie movement in general as an arrogant rallying cry for white supremacy 33 Baraka condemned what he perceived as the disproportionate interest in the Charlie Hebdo attacks and the relative lack of interest in the Baga massacre in Nigeria by Boko Haram which took place days before the Charlie Hebdo shooting and resulted in many more deaths Baraka also criticized the degrading ritual of assimilation that Arabs and Muslims undergo in France the arrogant lack of respect for the ideas and culture of non European peoples that led to the French ban on face covering in public spaces and the racist and Islamophobic character of Charlie Hebdo s recent publications 33 Baraka s Je suis Charlie article was republished in January 2016 in an anthology about the November 2015 Paris attacks titled ANOTHER French False Flag Bloody Tracks from Paris to San Bernardino This was controversial because the editor Kevin Barrett is widely considered a denier of the Holocaust and the 9 11 attacks although Baraka said he was unaware of this and disassociated himself from Barrett s views 34 35 36 37 38 In an article titled No Je Suis Charleston Baraka contended that a collective response similar to Je suis Charlie was absent after the Charleston church shooting at the Emanuel AME Church and criticized Obama for not calling suspect Dylann Roof a terrorist 39 As a longtime opponent of the death penalty Baraka has also criticized the Department of Justice s decision to seek the death penalty for Roof saying that it should be seen as no more than another tactical move by the state as part of the last phase of the counterinsurgency launched against the black liberation movement By appealing to African Americans the group in the country most consistently opposed to the death penalty state propagandists saw this as a perfect opportunity to undermine opposition to capital punishment and facilitate the process of psychological incorporation 40 Reception edit Writing for Politico Christopher Hooks claimed Baraka has a long history of fringe statements and beliefs 41 Critique of public individuals editBaraka has described Ta Nehisi Coates Beyonce and Bernie Sanders as media driven pseudo opposition 42 36 Bill Clinton edit In June 2016 Baraka criticized the family of Muhammad Ali for inviting Bill Clinton to deliver the boxer s eulogy 43 44 Baraka described Clinton as a rapist and petty opportunist politician 43 44 Barack Obama edit Baraka referred to President Barack Obama as an Uncle Tom president after Obama condemned the 2014 riots and violence in Ferguson Missouri that occurred in the wake of the police killing of Michael Brown 28 45 Defending his use of the term Baraka later said that he was speaking to a specialized audience and was attempting to shock people into a more critical look at this individual 46 Baraka has also argued that Obama has shown obsequious deference to white power 47 and that Obama and Loretta Lynch are members of the black petit bourgeoisie who have become the living embodiments of the partial success of the state s attempt to colonize the consciousness of Africans black people 43 Baraka was critical of the Obama administration s decision to not attend the 2009 UN World Conference Against Racism in Geneva 48 In 2013 Baraka stated that inviting Obama to the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington should be taken as an insult by everyone who has struggled and continues to struggle for human rights peace and social justice 47 More recently he has argued that the Obama Administration collaborated with suppressing the 2009 report from the Department of Homeland Security DHS which identified violent white supremacist groups as a threat to national security more lethal than the threat from Islamic fundamentalists 39 In an October 2016 interview with The Detroit News Baraka described Obama as a moral disaster and one of the worst things that has happened to African American people 49 Cornel West edit In September 2015 Baraka initially criticized Cornel West for supporting Bernie Sanders saying that West was sheep dogging for the Democrats by drawing voters into the corrupt Democratic party 50 West later endorsed the Stein Baraka ticket after Sanders endorsed Hillary Clinton 51 52 2016 U S vice presidential campaign edit nbsp Baraka and Stein August 2016On August 1 2016 Green Party presumptive presidential nominee Jill Stein announced that Baraka would be her running mate 53 Stein and Baraka were formally nominated by delegates at the 2016 Green National Convention on August 6 2016 54 In his acceptance speech Baraka said that he joined the Green Party effort to build a multinational movement here in this country based on the needs and the aspirations of working people 55 The Stein Baraka ticket received over 1 of the national popular vote from 1 457 218 voters in the 2016 election Awards and recognition edit nbsp The US Peace Prize plaque awarded to Baraka in 2019In 1998 Baraka was one of 300 human rights workers honored by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan 4 In 2001 Baraka was named abolitionist of the year by the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty for his efforts to end the death penalty in the United States 4 7 In 2019 the US Peace Memorial Foundation awarded Baraka with the US Peace Prize for his bold antiwar actions writings speeches and leadership that provide an inspiring voice against militarism 56 In the same year Baraka was also awarded with the Serena Shim Award for Uncompromised Integrity in Journalism 57 Publications editAjamu Baraka 2013 Praxis from the Centre Back to the Margins Amilcar Cabral s Method as a Guide for Reconstructing the Radical Black Political Subject In Firoze Manji Bill Fletcher Jr eds Claim No Easy Victories The Legacy of Amilcar Cabral Codesria ISBN 9782869785557 Archived from the original on 2021 01 27 Retrieved 2016 08 05 Ajamu Baraka 2014 Socialism Is the Highest Expression of Human Rights In Frances Goldin Debby Smith Michael Smith eds Imagine Living in a Socialist U S A HarperCollins ISBN 9780062305589 Ajamu Baraka 2014 For a national alliance for racial justice and human rights In Kevin Alexander Gray Jeffrey St Clair JoAnn Wypijewski eds Killing Trayvons an anthology of American violence CounterPunch Books ISBN 9780692213995 Ajamu Baraka January 6 2016 The Paris Attacks and the White Lives Matter Movement In Kevin Barrett ed ANOTHER French False Flag Bloody Tracks from Paris to San Bernardino Sifting and Winnowing Books ISBN 9780996143011 Notes edit Howie Hawkins stood in Baraka s place for Vice President on the ballot in Minnesota References edit a b Who are the Green Party candidates CNN August 17 2016 Retrieved August 24 2016 Ajamu S Baraka Quanki Retrieved 20 September 2016 Coordinating Committee The Black Alliance for Peace a b c Amnesty International Death Penalty Opponent to Receive Abolitionist of the Year Award Common Dreams October 19 2001 Archived from the original on November 22 2006 Retrieved August 1 2016 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint bot original URL status unknown link a b Meet Ajamu Baraka Green VP Candidate Aims to Continue the Legacy of W E B Du Bois amp Malcolm X Democracy Now August 18 2016 Retrieved August 19 2016 Alaska Division of Elections Green Primary Candidates PDF Archived from the original PDF on 2016 12 24 Retrieved 2017 07 05 a b Ajamu Baraka VA Woodhull Freedom Foundation Archived from the original on August 6 2016 Retrieved August 1 2016 a b c Ajamu Baraka Green Party of the United States Retrieved January 31 2021 Dawkins Tanya December 15 2009 Human Rights in the Age of Obama YES Magazine Archived from the original on August 15 2016 Retrieved August 1 2016 a b Arrest warrants issued for Jill Stein running mate after N D protest USA Today Retrieved September 7 2016 Green Party s Jill Stein Charged in N Dakota Pipeline Protest NBC News Associated Press 7 September 2016 Retrieved September 7 2016 Warrant out for Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein s arrest in ND CBS news 7 September 2016 Retrieved September 7 2016 Dennis J Bernstein September 10 2016 Green Party Candidates Face Arrest An Interview with Green Party VP Candidate Ajamu Baraka reader supported news Articles Ajamu Baraka A Voice from the Margins Baraka Retrieved August 7 2016 Thu Dec 11 3pm Ajamu Baraka Reports on African Heritage Delegation to Israel Palestine Carolina Peace Resource Center December 2 2014 Archived from the original on September 29 2022 Statement of the 2014 African Heritage Delegation Interfaith Peace Builders April 15 2014 Retrieved August 11 2016 Kevin Barrett July 19 2014 Sander Hicks Jim Fetzer Ajamu Baraka on Kevin Barrett s Truth Jihad Radio No Lies Radio Podcast Event occurs at 1 22 12 Retrieved August 13 2016 Moore Chris June 15 2014 Ajamu Baraka Discusses American Involvement In Iraq CBS Pittsburgh Retrieved August 1 2016 O Connor Brendan August 11 2016 Stein Campaign Says Running Mate Didn t Realize He Was Talking to and Being Republished By Holocaust Denier Gawker Archived from the original on August 12 2016 Baraka wrote There has never been any question in mind about the genocidal madness of the Nazi Holocaust throughout Europe during the second world war I abhor and reject any individual or group that fails to understand the tremendous suffering of Jewish people during that dark period Kevin Barrett October 17 2014 Ajamu Baraka amp Ibrahim Soudy on ISIS amp 9 11 deceptions on Kevin Barrett s Truth Jihad Radio No Lies Radio Podcast Event occurs at 10 00 Retrieved August 13 2016 Yair Rosenberg Friends Don t Let Friends Vote for Jill Stein Tablet August 10 2016 Sandlin Evan 30 October 2016 Dereliction of Duty The Left and the Syrian Civil War Los Angeles Review of Books Retrieved 2020 12 21 Weindling Jacob 2016 08 17 Why the Green Party is For Dupes It Has Nothing To Do With Trump pastemagazine com Retrieved 2022 01 04 Lazdins Erik 2016 09 07 The 2016 Election Is a Referendum on U S Policy on Russia The Northern European UpNorth The Northern European UpNorth Retrieved 2022 01 04 Ahmad Muhammad Idrees 2019 09 15 Junket journalism in the shadow of genocide Syria News Al Jazeera Retrieved 2020 12 21 a b Baraka Ajamu May 14 2014 From Benghazi to Boko Haram Why I support the Benghazi Inquiry Black Agenda Report Archived from the original on September 21 2015 Retrieved August 13 2016 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint bot original URL status unknown link Kevin Barrett July 19 2014 Sander Hicks Jim Fetzer Ajamu Baraka on Kevin Barrett s Truth Jihad Radio No Lies Radio Podcast Event occurs at 1 31 00 Retrieved August 13 2016 a b Resnick Gideon August 17 2016 The Wild Beliefs of Ajamu Baraka Jill Stein s Green Party Running Mate The Daily Beast Retrieved August 17 2016 Kevin Barrett July 19 2014 Sander Hicks Jim Fetzer Ajamu Baraka on Kevin Barrett s Truth Jihad Radio No Lies Radio Podcast Event occurs at 1 33 40 Retrieved August 13 2016 Kevin Barrett July 19 2014 Sander Hicks Jim Fetzer Ajamu Baraka on Kevin Barrett s Truth Jihad Radio No Lies Radio Podcast Event occurs at 1 34 15 Retrieved August 13 2016 Our Girls are Still Not Home Boko Haram and the Politics of Death Common Dreams January 30 2015 Archived from the original on December 17 2015 Retrieved August 13 2016 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint bot original URL status unknown link Kevin Barrett May 20 2014 Ajamu Baraka Boko Haram part of US destabilization agenda on Kevin Barrett s Truth Jihad Radio No Lies Radio Podcast Event occurs at 10 13 Retrieved August 13 2016 a b The Charlie Hebdo White Power Rally in Paris A Celebration of Western Hypocrisy Dissident Voice January 14 2015 Retrieved August 7 2016 Bachner Michael Wootliff Raoul Jeffay Nathan 2016 08 16 US Green Party VP pick disavows Holocaust denial The Times of Israel Retrieved 2021 03 22 The Wild Beliefs of Ajamu Baraka Jill Stein s Green Party Running Mate The Daily Beast 2016 08 17 Retrieved 2021 03 22 a b Mindock Clark 2020 12 07 Who Is Ajamu Baraka Green Party VP Is Civil Rights Activist Critical Of Obama Beyonce And Bernie Sanders International Business Times Retrieved 2021 03 22 Stuart Tessa 2016 09 01 The Case Against Jill Stein Rolling Stone Retrieved 2021 03 22 Friends Don t Let Friends Vote for Jill Stein Tablet Magazine 2016 08 10 Retrieved 2021 03 22 a b Baraka Ajamu June 30 2015 No Je Suis Charleston The De Politicization of Black Oppression Black Agenda Report Retrieved August 1 2016 Muhammad Ali and Dylann Roof Contested Meanings and Contested Lies Black Agenda Report June 14 2016 Retrieved August 7 2016 Hooks Christopher August 7 2016 What If the Green Party Stopped Being Kooky and Started Getting Real Politico Zoom Doktor 2016 08 04 Jill Stein Didn t Want You Dumb Old Bernie Voters Anyway Wonkette Retrieved 2022 01 04 a b c MUHAMMAD ALI AND DYLANN ROOF CONTESTED MEANINGS AND CONTESTED LIES Ajamu Baraka a b Scher Bill August 6 2016 Can the Green Party Win With Jill Not Hill Politico Magazine Retrieved August 16 2016 Baraka Ajamu Black Lives Don t matter in Racist Capitalist America Archived from the original on 2016 09 27 Retrieved 2016 09 24 Cahn Emily August 18 2016 Jill Stein s VP doubles down on calling Obama Uncle Tom in truly wild town hall Mic com a b Baraka Ajamu August 19 2013 Martin Luther King My Dream is Not Obama Popular Resistance Retrieved August 1 2016 Mann Eric May 11 2009 Ajamu Baraka The UN World Conference Against Racism Obama and the US boycott The Labor Community Strategy Center Archived from the original on August 7 2016 Retrieved August 1 2016 Baraka Ajamu October 18 2016 Green Party s Baraka Obama has been moral disaster The Detroit News Retrieved October 19 2016 Baraka Ajamu September 9 2015 Why is Cornel West Sheep Dogging for the Democrats Again Dissident Voice Retrieved August 9 2016 Cornel West Why I Endorse Green Party s Jill Stein Over Neoliberal Disaster Hillary Clinton Democracy Now July 18 2016 Retrieved August 12 2016 Hensch Mark July 14 2016 Sanders ally Cornel West backs Green candidate The Hill Retrieved August 2 2016 Jill Stein Selects Human Rights Activist Ajamu Baraka as Vice Presidential Running Mate August 1 2016 Archived from the original on October 13 2016 Retrieved August 1 2016 Nelson Eliot August 6 2016 The Green Party Picks Its Presidential Ticket The Huffington Post Retrieved August 6 2016 A New Day amp Another Way Green VP Nominee Ajamu Baraka Urges Progressives to Reject Two Party System Democracy Now August 8 2016 Retrieved August 9 2016 Ajamu Baraka Awarded 2019 US Peace Prize USPeacePrize org US Peace Memorial Foundation Retrieved 22 January 2020 Laureates Serena Shim Award for Uncompromised Integrity in Journalism 5 March 2019 Retrieved January 31 2021 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ajamu Baraka Official website Stein Baraka 2016 campaign website Archived 2020 10 28 at the Wayback Machine Appearances on C SPAN Mindock Clark 2020 12 07 Who Is Ajamu Baraka Green Party VP Is Civil Rights Activist Critical Of Obama Beyonce And Bernie Sanders International Business Times Retrieved 2020 12 21 Party political officesPreceded byCheri Honkala Green nominee for Vice President of the United States2016 Succeeded byAngela Nicole WalkerAffiliated Presumptive Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ajamu Baraka amp oldid 1207475470, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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