Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte is a memberof the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Policy Studies and serveson the Advisory Board of the Rosenberg Fund for Children.

The Sanders Institute Founding Fellow

The Sanders Institute Introduction email dated June 7, 2017

Jane Sanders launch video for The Sanders Institute June 2017

Harry Belafonte was a founding fellow of The Sanders Institute. From an introduction mass email signed by Jane O'Meara Sanders dated June 7, 2017 titled "Welcome to The Sanders Institute":

"I am pleased to announce the launch of a new progressive organization, The Sanders Institute, and respectfully request your participation.

During Bernie's presidential campaign, I had the pleasure of traveling around this country - seeing its beauty and experiencing the passion and dedication of its people. I learned so much from meeting people who were involved in making their communities better and I came away with a determination to ensure those voices would be heard.

I wanted to start an organization that would bring people together to learn from each other and discuss how to make our country and our democracy better. I wanted to actively engage individuals like you, along with the media and other organizations, in learning about progressive solutions to economic, environmental, racial, and social justice issues. A true democracy requires an informed electorate and we have so much to learn from each other.

That’s what The Sanders Institute is all about - and we need your participation and support to make it a reality. Please visit our website, take a look, delve into the issues and ideas that interest you, and contribute to the conversation.

We have brought together some of the most prominent progressive thinkers from around the country: Bill McKibben, the Honorable Nina Turner, Ben Jealous, Dr. Cornel West, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, Danny Glover, Dr. Stephanie Kelton, Harry Belafonte and Prof. Robert Reich. Our work draws from their ideas and writings, other progressive and educational sources, and people like you who are engaged and interested in progressive solutions in their communities.

We look forward to your participation.

Sincerely,

Jane O'Meara Sanders

50th Anniversary of the Institute for Policy Studies

50th Anniversary of the Institute for Policy Studies, Fri, Oct 11, 2013 through Sun, Oct 13, 2013.

Who: Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!; Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation; Ai-jen Poo, National Domestic Workers Alliance; Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research; George Goehl, National Peoples Action; Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist; Ariel Dorfman, Argentine-Chilean writer, scholar, activist; Harry Belafonte, American actor, artist, activist; John Cavanagh, Institute for Policy Studies; over 600 activists, students, and scholars.

Where: Liaison Hotel, 415 New Jersey Avenue NW, Washington DC; Union Station, 50 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Washington DC.; Busboys and Poets, 5th and K Sts. NW.

March on Washington

The March on Washington brought sharecroppers and college students, housewives and clergy, factory workers and school teachers from every part of the country. It attracted big-name celebrities, including actors Burt Lancaster, Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, Marlon Brando, Ossie Davis, Dihann Carroll and Charlton Heston, singers Harry Belafonte, Bobby Darin, Josephine Baker, Lena Horne and Sammy Davis, Jr., athletes Jackie Robinson and Bill Russell and writer James Baldwin. Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, opera star Marian Anderson and folk singers Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Odetta, and Peter, Paul and Mary performed for the vast crowd.

Arrests at South African consulate

Steven Pitts February 15 2018.

"Bill Hall, Cleveland Sellers, Willie Ricks, James Forman, and John Lewis at South Africa’s Consulate Office in New York after being arrested for protesting in memory of the Sharpeville Massacre. Harry Belafonte provided their bail. Sidney Poitier was a member of the SNCC Fund Raising Brigade."

Peace for Cuba Appeal

In 1994 Harry Belafonte was an initiator of the International Peace for Cuba Appeal, an affiliate of the Workers World Party dominated International Action Center.

Other prominent initiators included Cuban Intelligence agent Philip Agee, academic Noam Chomsky, Congressman John Conyers and Charles Rangel.

IPS event

On September 23, 2003 the radical Institute for Policy Studies held its 27th annual Letelier-Moffitt Memorial Human Rights Awards.

• International Award Recipient: Nancy Sanchez Mendez

Presented by Jan Schakowsky, United States Representative

• Domestic Award Recipient: CASA de Maryland

Presented by Harry Belafonte

• Special Recognition Award: Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil-in absentia

Presented by John Sweeney, President, AFL-CIO

With special musical performance by Isabel Aldunate in remembrance of the 30th anniversary of the military coup in Chile

Venezuela delegation

The American singer and activist Harry Belafonte called President Bush “the greatest terrorist in the world” August 2006, and said millions of Americans support the socialist revolution of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.

Belafonte led a delegation of Americans including the actor Danny Glover and the Princeton University scholar Cornel West that met the Venezuelan president for more than six hours late Saturday. Some in the group attended Chavez’s television and radio broadcast.

“No matter what the greatest tyrant in the world, the greatest terrorist in the world, George W. Bush says, we’re here to tell you: Not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of the American people ... support your revolution,” Belafonte told Chavez during the broadcast. The 78-year-old Belafonte, famous for his calypso-inspired music, including the “Day-O” song, was a close collaborator of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and is now a UNICEF goodwill ambassador. He also has been outspoken in criticizing the U.S. embargo of Cuba.

Chavez said he believes deeply in the struggle for justice by blacks, both in the U.S. and Venezuela.

“Although we may not believe it, there continues to be great discrimination here against black people,” Chavez said, urging his government to redouble its efforts to prevent discrimination.

Belafonte accused U.S. news media of falsely painting Chavez as a “dictator,” when in fact, he said, there is democracy and citizens are “optimistic about their future.”

Dolores Huerta, a pioneer of the United Farm Workers labor union also in the delegation, called the visit a “very deep experience.”

Chavez accuses Bush of trying to overthrow him, pointing to intelligence documents released by the U.S. indicating that the CIA knew beforehand that dissident officers planned a short-lived 2002 coup. The U.S. denies involvement, but Chavez says Venezuela must be on guard. Belafonte suggested setting up a youth exchange for Venezuelans and Americans. He finished by shouting in Spanish: “Viva la revolucion!”

Free Mumia Abu-Jamal

In 2008 Harry Belafonte signed a statement circulated by the Partisan Defense Committee calling for the release of convicted “cop-killer” Mumia Abu-Jamal.

SNCC re-union

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee held its 50th anniversary conference at Shaw University here, April 15-18, 2010.

At its founding here on April 17, 1960, the now-legendary civil rights organization adopted its first formal program. Life long Communist Party USA activist Debbie Bell was a founding member, serving alongside Julian Bond, Harry Belafonte, John Lewis (now a member of Congress from Georgia), Freedom Singer and Sweet Honey in the Rock founder Bernice Johnson Reagon, the Revs. David Forbes and James Lawson, Joyce Ladner and Dick Gregory.

All these founders spoke at the anniversary event. There were speeches too by Attorney General Eric Holder and actor Danny Glover.

Harry Belafonte also gave a global perspective with the admonition that we need to stop worrying about the Democratic Party and looking to it as the solution. He urged seeking our own independence and solutions with a recognition that strategies of the past might be useful, but the enemy is different and therefore requires new strategies..

Advancement Project board member

Both Advancement Project's National Office in Washington, D.C. and Advancement Project California are governed by a 16-member board of directors. As of 2019, the board included Bill Lann Lee, Joe Alvarez, Arlene Holt Baker, Harry Belafonte, Stephen R. English, Rinku Sen, Helen Kim, Daniel Leon-Davis, Ash-Lee Henderson, Alberto Retana, Barrett S. Litt, Molly Munger, Katherine Peck, Constance L. Rice, Tom Unterman, and Jesse Williams.

Board members of the Advancement Project, as of March 2013;

• Joe Alvarez
• Harry Belafonte
• Stephen R. English, Esq
• Penda D. Hair, Esq
• Gerry Hudson
• Bruce Iwasaki
• Bill Lann Lee, Esq
• Barrett S. Litt
• Pam Martinez
• Molly Munger, Esq
• Sheila Thomas
• Gerald Torres, Esq
• Zack Walker

Sanders Institute Fellows

The Sanders Institute Fellowship is comprised of leaders dedicated to transforming our democracy through the research, education, outreach and advancement of bold, progressive ideas and values.

Dr. Jane O'Meara Sanders, Prof. Robert Reich, The Honorable Nina Turner, Harry Belafonte, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, Dr. Cornel West, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Bill McKibben, Danny Glover, Benjamin Jealous Dr. Stephanie Kelton, Michael Lighty, Shaun King.

References

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