A Rapper for Korea

Marcel Cartier speaking

By New Worker correspondent

A packed public meeting last week at Housmans Bookshop in Kings Cross, London on the theme 'From Socialist Korea to Ferguson’ heard a wide range of speakers recall ties between Democratic Korea and the black power movement in the US dating back to the 1960s, and connecting present-day struggles in Britain and the US with the need to defend the DPR Korea and other socialist countries.

 Among the impressive line-up was Marcel Cartier, an anti-imperialist American rapper working with the Tricontinental Anti-Imperialist Platform, Pan African News Wire editor Abayomi Azikiwe speaking via Skype from the US, and Yong Ho Thae of the DPRK embassy.

 Cartier said when he visited the DPRK there was “a feeling of relaxation and being at ease,” and American athletes joining the Pyongyang marathon told him they were treated “like brothers and sisters” by their hosts. Azikiwe sent “revolutionary greetings” and said “the US practises systematic oppression every day, yet accuses countries round the world”. He said “we stand in solidarity with the DPRK and all revolutionary and socialist governments and movements”. Minka Adopo of the United Friends and Families Campaign also urged those at the meeting to support last Saturday’s march for justice for black Britons who have died at the hands of the police.