Netfa started at IPS as Director of the Institute’s Social Action & Leadership School for Activists (SALSA) from 2000 to 2010 and is now the Events Coordinator for the other IPS projects. Netfa is also an organizer in Pan-African Community Action (PACA), on the Coordinating Committee of the Black Alliance for Peace, and is Co-Producer/Host for the radio show and podcast Voices With Vision on WPFW 89.3 FM that airs Tuesdays from 9-10 am EST. His writings have been published in Black Star News, Black Agenda Report, Pambazuka News, Common Dreams, Global Research, and beyond and he is often interviewed on radio and TV outlets.

Netfa holds a B.A. in History from the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) and has been a political organizer/activist since 1985. He served as coordinator of the Committee for Political Education at the Pan-African Resource Center (1985-1989) and has worked as a phone-bank fundraiser for the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES 1988-1990).

Netfa has been intimately involved with many movements, such as the 1986 International Peace Gathering in response to the U.S. bombing of Libya, the 1997 Advocates Plus Save UDC movement, and the People Before Profit Community Healthcare Project that was organizing DC residents to take their healthcare needs into their own hands. He served for many years as board member for Empower DC, as well as on the advisory board of M.O.M.I.E.S. TLC, was U.S. liaison for the Ujamma Youth Farming Project in Gweru, Zimbabwe, and a founding member and a lead organizer in the DC-Havana Sister City Project and the No War On Cuba Movement. He was an organizer in the International Committee for Peace, Justice & Dignity for the People, formerly the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5. In 2011 Netfa was a recipient of the Washington Peace Center’s Activists of The Year Awards and was a workshop facilitator as part of the Educator’s Collective for the Wayside Center for Popular Education and for Train the Movement: A Trainers of Color Collaborative.

Latest

Community Control vs Defunding the Police: A Critical Analysis

More trainings and body cameras aren’t enough. We need power over the institutions that impact our lives, including the police.

Expect Police-Military Repression Amid the Crisis of COVID-19 and Its Aftermath

The pre-existing crisis of legitimacy for the rulers is compounded by the government’s inept response to the pandemic.

Trump Targets Cuba’s Tourism and Small Businesses

Trump administration sanctions imposing new travel restrictions on Cuba will have no effect on Cuba’s support for Venezuela.

Why Should Americans Care About NATO/US In Africa?

The anti-war movement rightfully focuses on the expansion of US military action around the world, but militarism also impacts poor and Black communities in the U.S. as well.

Black Alliance For Peace Revives Black Anti-War Tradition

Netfa Freeman and Vanessa Beck discuss global militarism and what it means for black people domestically and abroad.

John Bolton Says He Wants to Protect Africa from ‘Predatory’ Chinese Behavior. What About Washington’s?

Chinese investment may come with strings attached, but Africa deserves an alternative to U.S.-led neoliberalism and militarization.

Trump’s Regime Change List Revealed

Netfa Freeman discusses ‘Troika of Tyranny,’ why the U.S. targets these three socialist countries, and the recent election of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil.

U.S. Out of Africa — Shut Down AFRICOM

Netfa Freeman breaks down the U.S. military presence on on the continent and explains the importance of the U.S. Out of Africa campaign

Why Recolonization of Africa Must Be Resisted

Dual War and Repression as US Domestic and Foreign Policy on Black People

10th Anniversary of United States Africa Command

From the destabilization of the African continent to the militarization of local police, parallels between AFRICOM and the repression of Blacks in America are evident.

Zimbabwe Open for Business, Code for International Finance Capitalism

Zimbabwe’s new president offered an open invitation to international capital investment and latecomers for Zimbabwe’s trek down the neoliberal development road.

What Western Imperialism Is Up to in Zimbabwe

The media misrepresentation of recent events in Zimbabwe is just as dangerous as the efforts to appropriate its labor and land.

Clearing the Smoke and Mirrors Around Zimbabwe

The West, led by Britain and the U.S., have been engaged in a regime policy against the Southern African nation for the last 18 years.

The Real Reason Trump’s Trying to Derail Cuba Advances

Trump’s motivations to reverse Obama-era policies have less to do with human rights, and more about fear of an example of a different kind of society, Netfa Freeman tells Rising Up with Sonali.

Briefing: Scholars and Organizers on Cameroon’s State-Sponsored Human Rights Abuses

IPS to host panel on conditions that have created Cameroon’s Internet refugees.

Fidel Castro’s Impact on Africa

Guest host Esther Githui-Ewart and her guests take an in-depth look at Castro’s impact on Africa; with Professor Abdi Ismail Samatar, Melvin Foote, Netfa Freeman, and Professor Piero Gleijeses.

Remembering Fidel Castro: “This Was a Life That Got Things Done”

One of the things that made Castro a giant was that he knew it wasn’t just about him, he prepared the people to be in charge in his absence, Freeman said.

National Prison Strikers Protesting the Same Deplorable Conditions as 1971 Attica Uprising

IPS’ Netfa Freeman explains on Sputnik Radio that this demonstration illustrates one of the goals of the Movement for Black Lives — to ultimately dismantle mass incarceration that disproportionately impacts African Americans.

C-SPAN: The Emerging Racial Justice Agenda

The Institute for Policy Studies hosts “The Emerging Racial Justice Agenda,” a brown bag honoring the just-released policy agenda of the Movement for Black Lives.

Diplomatic Relations Open the Door to a New Perspective on Cuba

IPS scholars James Early and Netfa Freeman talk about how new diplomatic relations with Cuba give us a chance to see the response from the Cuban people and move forward in the battle to end the embargo.