The Kwame Ture Black Star of Labor Award (KTBSLA) began as the Black Star of Labor Award in 1987, with Assata Shakur being the first recipient. Following the transition of the immortal Kwame Ture to the Ancestors in 1998, the award was renamed after him. Kwame Ture, formerly known as Stokely Carmichael, spent his entire life in service to African people and all of humanity. This service was manifested in his tireless work to organize African people for revolutionary change against capitalism imperialism and white supremacy and for Pan Africanism: the total liberation and unification of Africa under one unified socialist government.

Some previous winners of the award have been Queen Mother Moore, Fidel Castro, Jafta Masemola, Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), Muammar Qaddafi, the Democratic Party of Guinea-African Democratic Rally (PDG-RDA), Hugo Chavez and many others.

2020 Recipients

Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade
Henry Reeve was a Brigadier General in Cuba’s Army of Liberation) during the First Cuban War of Independence (Ten Years' War) (1868-1878). Named after Henry Reeve, this medical brigade was created by President Fidel Castro in September 2005 after Hurricane Katrina and now travels around the world to help and assist countries who are surviving catastrophes.

Despite U.S. efforts to undermine Cuba's financial ability to survive with U.S. sanctions and also putting pressure on countries not to accept assistance from the Cuban Medical Brigade, Cuba has been able to send aid to over 16 countries, including medical personnel and medicines, to assist in the fight against the latest world pandemic…COVID-19. These countries include many in Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America, such as Togo, South Africa, Jamaica, Venezuela, Italy, and China. The embargo and sanctions is a declaration of war, not only against the country of Cuba, but the people everywhere who need these vital health care services.

 

ELAM (Latin American School of Medicine)
The Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) in Cuba was conceived in 1998 as Cuba’s proactive response to a huge humanitarian disaster in Honduras, Hurricane Mitch. Cuba sent doctors and other medical personnel and in Mitch’s aftermath, Cuban President Fidel Castro proposed the establishment of the Latin American School of Medicine. Full scholarships were provided for thousands of students mainly from Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. Upon completion of their six-year training, these revolutionary doctors, most of whom come from poor families in underdeveloped countries, are expected to return to their communities to serve. There is no contract or
service minimum but rather a moral expectation to utilize their medical training to improve the health of the People. Since its first class of 2005, ELAM has graduated tens of thousands of physicians from 119 countries including the U.S. and thousands are presently enrolled in the school in Havana, half of whom are women.

 

Brahim Ghali (born 16 September 1948) has served as an historic figure and played a key role in the ongoing struggle of the Sahrawi people for self-determination and independence from Morocco. Ghali was one of the original founders and leaders of the Polisario Front in 1973, and was elected as the first General Secretary of the movement
at its constitutive congress. Alongside El Uali Mustapha Sayed, Gali led the El-Khanga raid, the first military action of the POLISARIO against a desert post of the Spanish Army, 1974 El Uali, POLISARIO General Secretary selected Ghali to command the Sahrawi People’s Liberation Army.