“Settle your quarrels, come together, understand the reality of our situation, understand that fascism is already here, that people are already dying who could be saved, that generations more will die or live poor butchered half-lives if you fail to act. Do what must be done, discover your humanity and your love in revolution. Pass on the torch. Join us, give up your life for the people.” -George Jackson
Its official, fascism is here. As the United States economy continues to deteriorate leading to imperial collapse, all pretenses of democracy are abandoned. Moreover, as political commentator Glen Ford notes fascism in the U.S. has distinguishing features from previous forms such as those that developed in twentieth century Russia, Italy, and Germany.
The most striking contemporary example is the state of Michigan which passed a law giving broad powers to declare a municipality insolvent, dissolve its local government and unions, and establish an appointed emergency “financial manager”. This new law and others like it will have a disproportionate negative impact on Blacks, particularly Black workers, due to the distinct form of national oppression they experience.
Beginning in the early twentieth century, large numbers of Africans in the southern United States began to migrate to Northern and western cities to escape white terrorism, legal segregation, and overall lack of economic opportunities.
One of those émigrés was a man from Alabama named James Boggs who migrated to Detroit. While a factory worker he wrote several tracts discussing Black liberation from a communist perspective. He wrote “automation replaces men. This of course is nothing new. What is new, is that now, unlike in earlier periods, the displaced men have nowhere to go.” Prefiguring Sidney Wilhelm’s Who Needs the Negro by several years, Boggs foresaw that deindustrialization and automation would have a devastating impact on Black workers recently arrived from the south who had secured work in the industrial sector.
Similarly, William Robinson in his work on global capitalism discusses the exclusion of almost one third of humanity from the global economy. In other words, large numbers of oppressed nationalities inside and outside the United States are surplus labor. In the 1960’s the frustration of these economic conditions resulted in urban rebellions all over the United States including Benton Harbor. In 2003, following a police chase that ended in the death of a young Black male, Benton Harbor, which is 92% African, exploded in three nights of rebellions.
Looking at the numbers it’s easy to see why. At the time, in neighboring St. Joseph, which is majority white, the median income was $37,032, Benton harbor’s was only $17,471. In addition, 32% of St. Joseph residents were college graduates but only 4% of Benton Harbor residents were college graduates. Today, nearly half of Benton Harbor lives below the poverty line.
In order to further the agenda of 21st century corporate fascism the governor of Michigan dissolved the city government and appointed a “financial manager”, who is paid $11,000 a month. The elected officials of the city are essentially now only allowed to open and close meetings. Andy Kroll, in an enlightening article in MotherJones titled “Behind Michigan's "Financial Martial Law” describes how the neoliberal think tank, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy has promoted union busting, privatization, and emergency financial measures such as the one currently effecting Benton Harbor.
Furthermore, between 2002 to 2009 the Mackinac Center collectively received over $350,000 from right wing elites such as the Walton (Walmart), Davos (Amway), Koch, Prince (Blackwater now Xe) foundations. The current situation in Benton Harbor is an example of what Naomi Klein refers to as disaster capitalism. In short, disaster capitalism is an attempt by elites to push through extreme economic measures during periods of duress such as now, that normally would be rejected by the general population. The question is what do we do to confront and eliminate corporate fascism?
In 1969, James Boggs published a pamphlet “The Manifesto of a Black Revolutionary Party.” In the document he argues for the creation of an All-Black political party with the goal of overthrowing imperialism and capitalism and establishing a socialist system. Such a party is needed today. With the rise of corporate fascism, electoral politics loses even more credibility; therefore, the primary focus of the party should be organizing outside the electoral system. Using national liberation movements such as the Black Panther Party and Hezballoh (minus “Islamist” ideology) as a model, the party should orient its work around social programs such as liberation schools, free clinics, and other basic necessities that are needed by the majority of our community who have been virtually excluded from the American economy.
The goals of the social programs are to become full self-sustaining institutions, vehicles for recruitment, and to demonstrate to our people what socialism and self determination truly look like in a concrete way. The decline of the U.S. Empire has presented Black revolutionaries with an excellent opportunity but will they take advantage of this historical moment? Only time will tell….
FREE THE LAND!!!!
Boggs, James. “Manifesto of a Black Revolutionary Party” in Pages from a Black Radical’s Notebook: a James Boggs Reader (ed.) Stephen M. Ward. Wayne State University: Detroit, MI. 2011.
Davey, Monica. “A State Manager Takes Over and Cuts What a City Can’t.” New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/us/27michigan.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1&ref=us
Ford, Glen. “Michigan’s “Emergency” Financial Regime: What Fascism Looks Like.” http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/michigan%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cemergency%E2%80%9D-financial-regime-what-fascism-looks
Kroll, Andy. “Behind Michigan's "Financial Martial Law": Corporations and Right-Wing Billionaires” Mother Jones. http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/michigan-snyder-mackinac-center
Paulson, Amanda. “Michigan Riots: Tales of Two Cities and the Gulf Between” Christian Science Monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0620/p01s04-ussc.html
Jackson, Jesse. “Time for an Uprising in Benton Harbor” Chicago Sun Times. http://www.suntimes.com/news/jackson/5013203-452/time-for-an-uprisingin-benton-harbor.html
Klein, Naomi. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Metropolitan Books: New York, NY. 2007.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Book Review of "We Are Our Own Liberators" by Jalil Muntaqim
This review originally appeared in Howard University student newspaper "The Hilltop" on April 10, 2011. It can be seen here
On May 18, 1975 Jalil Muntaqim, Herman Bell, and Albert "Nuh" Washington were sentenced for the murder of two police officers. The organization of which they were members, the Black Panther Party, was a target of the FBI's CounterIntelligenceProgram (COINTELPRO).
Although Cointelpro was created in 1956 to repress the Socialist/Communist Party, by the late 1960s its principle goal, according to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, was to "disrupt, discredit, and otherwise neutralize" revolutionary Black Nationalist organizations such as the Black Liberation Army, Revolutionary Action Movement, and Republic of New Afrika. The objective of these organizations was to form an independent Black nation out of five states in the southeastern U. S. where Black people have historically lived and developed through their labor.
Muntaqim follows in a long line of African freedom fighters that have used armed struggle to win land and independence in the Black Belt South. Herbert Aptheker states that in 1526 a group of enslaved Africans in contemporary South Carolina revolted then fled to the hills where they formed an independent maroon community. He asserts there were over fifty maroon communities in the U.S. and many more throughout the Americas. Moreover, exactly two hundred years ago, in 1811, Charles Deslondes led an insurrection of enslaved Africans in Louisiana for complete independence.
During the Reconstruction period, Tunis Campbell set up an independent government and army for Africans in America in what is today the South Carolina Sea islands. In short, as an activist and writer, he is not without precedent.
In the second edition of We Are Our Own Liberators, Muntaqim advances a political and economic program so that another generation can complete the objectives of the Black Power Movement. Following the maxims that "there has never been a successful revolutionary movement without revolutionary theory" and "without a revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary practice" he utilizes the principles of dialectical and historical materialism. This political theory has been employed by such illustrious revolutionaries as W. E. B. Dubois, Kwame Nkrumah, Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael), Mao Tse-Tung, Che Guevara and many more.
Muntaqim argues "the approach of most New Afrikans to social problems has always been a pragmatic or problem solving approach which is essentially anti-intellectual." The current generation can no longer afford to attempt to solve each problem as though it were an isolated phenomena.
Towards this end, in the chapter "National Strategy for FROLINAN" he develops a Three Phase Theory for National Independence: 1) Class Struggle for National Unity 2) National Unity for self government and 3) Self Government for National Independence.
In the first stage, we must directly challenge the current comprador negro leadership that collaborates with the U. S. government such as the CBC, NAACP, Urban League, National Action Network etc. At the same time, we must provide basic goods and services to the Black community then demand the Black elite take political positions that serve not just their own class interests but the masses as well.
In clear and unflinching language Muntaqim proclaims "the United States is an empire of monopoly-capitalist domination. The country's existence is based upon the domination (colonization) and exploitation of internal (domestic) and external nations."
Therefore, like Paul Robeson, Dubois and others he posits that the case of political prisoners must be taken to international organizations such as the United Nations and not stay confined to U.S. national borders. According to the U.N., all people have a right to a nationality and end colonial domination by any means necessary. Thus, Muntaqim was well within his human rights to engage in armed resistance against the state.
This book is pregnant with ideas that can give birth to a renewed spirit of Black political mobilization. Suffice to it to say this book must be thoroughly studied by the current generation of Black college students for its lesson from a person educated in revolutionary practice. This edition even includes Muntaqim's poetry which is "spewing molten volcanic ash of revolutionary ideas, casting pregnant black clouds of notions, castigating institutionalized white supremacy."
On May 18, 1975 Jalil Muntaqim, Herman Bell, and Albert "Nuh" Washington were sentenced for the murder of two police officers. The organization of which they were members, the Black Panther Party, was a target of the FBI's CounterIntelligenceProgram (COINTELPRO).
Although Cointelpro was created in 1956 to repress the Socialist/Communist Party, by the late 1960s its principle goal, according to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, was to "disrupt, discredit, and otherwise neutralize" revolutionary Black Nationalist organizations such as the Black Liberation Army, Revolutionary Action Movement, and Republic of New Afrika. The objective of these organizations was to form an independent Black nation out of five states in the southeastern U. S. where Black people have historically lived and developed through their labor.
Muntaqim follows in a long line of African freedom fighters that have used armed struggle to win land and independence in the Black Belt South. Herbert Aptheker states that in 1526 a group of enslaved Africans in contemporary South Carolina revolted then fled to the hills where they formed an independent maroon community. He asserts there were over fifty maroon communities in the U.S. and many more throughout the Americas. Moreover, exactly two hundred years ago, in 1811, Charles Deslondes led an insurrection of enslaved Africans in Louisiana for complete independence.
During the Reconstruction period, Tunis Campbell set up an independent government and army for Africans in America in what is today the South Carolina Sea islands. In short, as an activist and writer, he is not without precedent.
In the second edition of We Are Our Own Liberators, Muntaqim advances a political and economic program so that another generation can complete the objectives of the Black Power Movement. Following the maxims that "there has never been a successful revolutionary movement without revolutionary theory" and "without a revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary practice" he utilizes the principles of dialectical and historical materialism. This political theory has been employed by such illustrious revolutionaries as W. E. B. Dubois, Kwame Nkrumah, Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael), Mao Tse-Tung, Che Guevara and many more.
Muntaqim argues "the approach of most New Afrikans to social problems has always been a pragmatic or problem solving approach which is essentially anti-intellectual." The current generation can no longer afford to attempt to solve each problem as though it were an isolated phenomena.
Towards this end, in the chapter "National Strategy for FROLINAN" he develops a Three Phase Theory for National Independence: 1) Class Struggle for National Unity 2) National Unity for self government and 3) Self Government for National Independence.
In the first stage, we must directly challenge the current comprador negro leadership that collaborates with the U. S. government such as the CBC, NAACP, Urban League, National Action Network etc. At the same time, we must provide basic goods and services to the Black community then demand the Black elite take political positions that serve not just their own class interests but the masses as well.
In clear and unflinching language Muntaqim proclaims "the United States is an empire of monopoly-capitalist domination. The country's existence is based upon the domination (colonization) and exploitation of internal (domestic) and external nations."
Therefore, like Paul Robeson, Dubois and others he posits that the case of political prisoners must be taken to international organizations such as the United Nations and not stay confined to U.S. national borders. According to the U.N., all people have a right to a nationality and end colonial domination by any means necessary. Thus, Muntaqim was well within his human rights to engage in armed resistance against the state.
This book is pregnant with ideas that can give birth to a renewed spirit of Black political mobilization. Suffice to it to say this book must be thoroughly studied by the current generation of Black college students for its lesson from a person educated in revolutionary practice. This edition even includes Muntaqim's poetry which is "spewing molten volcanic ash of revolutionary ideas, casting pregnant black clouds of notions, castigating institutionalized white supremacy."
Saturday, January 15, 2011
'Where Do We Go From Here?' or Reclaiming Martin Luther King Jr.
(Warning: This is a repost from August 26, 2010)
Because it should never be
Just because some cannot see
The dream as clear as he
that they should make it become an illusion
And we all know everything
That he stood for time will bring
For in peace our hearts will sing
Thanks to Martin Luther King
-Stevie Wonder "Happy Birthday"
This Saturday August 28, 2010 is the 47th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. At this demonstration, Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) gave his most well-known and, at the same time, misunderstood speech. However, over the past few decades a controversy has erupted over the true legacy of MLK. The proto-fascist far right wing represented by Glenn Beck and the Tea party movement is sponsoring a march that, allegedly, supports the ideals of MLK. Similarly, the National Action Network and Al Sharpton are sponsoring a march to “Reclaim the Dream.” The truth is, neither one of these groups represent MLK. This weekend, as we are inundated with white corporate media propaganda, it is important to recall the final years of Dr. King’s life and legacy.
Following the passage of civil rights legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, MLK began to focus more on issues of economic justice. The economic problems that existed in the urban north were not the same as the segregated south. King began to question the very economic system itself stating “that something is wrong…with capitalism…there must be better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move towards a Democratic Socialism.”
His move towards socialism was also influenced by events in the so called Third World. King joined the Anti-War movement and took a stance against the War in Vietnam. In 1967, at Riverside Baptist Church in New York in a speech titled “A Time to Break the Silence” he called the United States “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world” because of the destruction caused by napalm and other mass killing devices used by “his own government.” And finally, influenced by the anti-colonial movements occurring in Africa and Asia he started to refer to the slums and ghettos of America as a “a system of internal colonialism.”
As writers such as Frantz Fanon have shown, colonialism is not just economic but cultural and psychological as well. Centuries of oppression in the form of enslavement and segregation have had devastating effects upon the self-image and consciousness of African people. He noted that the assertiveness and confrontational style of the Civil Rights Movement helped to develop self-respect among Africans in the south.
Moreover, as Black Power advocates such as Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party gained ascendancy, he rejected complete assimilation into American society and strove for community empowerment. King stated “we must use every constructive means to amass economic and political power. This is the kind of legitimate power we need. We must work to build racial pride and refute the notion that [B]lack is evil and ugly.”
After the civil right victories and his move to advance community empowerment, Dr. King prophetically warned of the rise of the right-wing in the United States. He stated “the line of progress is never straight. For a period a movement may follow a straight line and then it encounters obstacles and the path bends….we are encountering such a period today. The inevitable counterrevolution that succeeds every period of progress is taking place.” In 1968 Republican Richard “tricky dick” Nixon won the Presidency and by 1980 the counterrevolution was complete with the election of Ronal Reagan.
These two elected officials would usher in a period of fiscal conservatism, state repression, color blindness, and personal responsibility. Unlike some of today’s negro leaders, King didn’t describe our problems as laziness, poor morals, or lack of personal responsibility but as a result systemic forces. He stated “true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it understands that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring” and “the roots of [economic injustice] are in the system rather than in the faulty operations of men.”
At the end of his life Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. argued for a “radical restructuring of society” and “a revolution of values.” Before his assassination, he was in the process of building a multi-racial Poor People’s campaign for economic and racial justice. Any march that claims to follow in his tradition should continue where he left off. His political and economic program included: a guaranteed annual income, free housing, free education, free healthcare, and an end to all wars of foreign aggression. He believed this could be achieved by a massive civil disobedience campaign in major urban centers that causes the political and economic life of this country to come to a halt until issues affecting the poor are completely eliminated. Unfortunately, neither of these marches represents the real MLK, therefore, it is on those who believe in his vision today to build a real social movement for a revolutionary transformation of human society.
Forgotten MLK Quotes
“We must rapidly shift from a ‘thing’-oriented society to a ‘person’-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”
“Although genuinely popular [Negro] leaders are now emerging, most are selected by white leadership, elevated to position, supplied with resources and inevitably subjected to white control.”
“I contend that the debate over the question of self-defense was unnecessary since few people suggested that Negroes should not defend themselves as individuals when attacked. The question was not whether one should use his gun in his home was attacked, but whether it was tactically wise to use gun while participating in an organized demonstration.”
Cone, James. (1992). Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare. New York: New York, Orbis Books.
__________. “Martin Luther King Jr. and the Third World.“ The Journal of American History. Vol. 74, No. 2 (Sep., 1987), pp. 455-467.
Dyson, Michael. (2000). I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King Jr. New York: New York, Free Press.
Washington, James (ed). (1986). A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King Jr. New York: New York, Harper One.
Because it should never be
Just because some cannot see
The dream as clear as he
that they should make it become an illusion
And we all know everything
That he stood for time will bring
For in peace our hearts will sing
Thanks to Martin Luther King
-Stevie Wonder "Happy Birthday"
This Saturday August 28, 2010 is the 47th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. At this demonstration, Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) gave his most well-known and, at the same time, misunderstood speech. However, over the past few decades a controversy has erupted over the true legacy of MLK. The proto-fascist far right wing represented by Glenn Beck and the Tea party movement is sponsoring a march that, allegedly, supports the ideals of MLK. Similarly, the National Action Network and Al Sharpton are sponsoring a march to “Reclaim the Dream.” The truth is, neither one of these groups represent MLK. This weekend, as we are inundated with white corporate media propaganda, it is important to recall the final years of Dr. King’s life and legacy.
Following the passage of civil rights legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, MLK began to focus more on issues of economic justice. The economic problems that existed in the urban north were not the same as the segregated south. King began to question the very economic system itself stating “that something is wrong…with capitalism…there must be better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move towards a Democratic Socialism.”
His move towards socialism was also influenced by events in the so called Third World. King joined the Anti-War movement and took a stance against the War in Vietnam. In 1967, at Riverside Baptist Church in New York in a speech titled “A Time to Break the Silence” he called the United States “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world” because of the destruction caused by napalm and other mass killing devices used by “his own government.” And finally, influenced by the anti-colonial movements occurring in Africa and Asia he started to refer to the slums and ghettos of America as a “a system of internal colonialism.”
As writers such as Frantz Fanon have shown, colonialism is not just economic but cultural and psychological as well. Centuries of oppression in the form of enslavement and segregation have had devastating effects upon the self-image and consciousness of African people. He noted that the assertiveness and confrontational style of the Civil Rights Movement helped to develop self-respect among Africans in the south.
Moreover, as Black Power advocates such as Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party gained ascendancy, he rejected complete assimilation into American society and strove for community empowerment. King stated “we must use every constructive means to amass economic and political power. This is the kind of legitimate power we need. We must work to build racial pride and refute the notion that [B]lack is evil and ugly.”
After the civil right victories and his move to advance community empowerment, Dr. King prophetically warned of the rise of the right-wing in the United States. He stated “the line of progress is never straight. For a period a movement may follow a straight line and then it encounters obstacles and the path bends….we are encountering such a period today. The inevitable counterrevolution that succeeds every period of progress is taking place.” In 1968 Republican Richard “tricky dick” Nixon won the Presidency and by 1980 the counterrevolution was complete with the election of Ronal Reagan.
These two elected officials would usher in a period of fiscal conservatism, state repression, color blindness, and personal responsibility. Unlike some of today’s negro leaders, King didn’t describe our problems as laziness, poor morals, or lack of personal responsibility but as a result systemic forces. He stated “true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it understands that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring” and “the roots of [economic injustice] are in the system rather than in the faulty operations of men.”
At the end of his life Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. argued for a “radical restructuring of society” and “a revolution of values.” Before his assassination, he was in the process of building a multi-racial Poor People’s campaign for economic and racial justice. Any march that claims to follow in his tradition should continue where he left off. His political and economic program included: a guaranteed annual income, free housing, free education, free healthcare, and an end to all wars of foreign aggression. He believed this could be achieved by a massive civil disobedience campaign in major urban centers that causes the political and economic life of this country to come to a halt until issues affecting the poor are completely eliminated. Unfortunately, neither of these marches represents the real MLK, therefore, it is on those who believe in his vision today to build a real social movement for a revolutionary transformation of human society.
Forgotten MLK Quotes
“We must rapidly shift from a ‘thing’-oriented society to a ‘person’-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”
“Although genuinely popular [Negro] leaders are now emerging, most are selected by white leadership, elevated to position, supplied with resources and inevitably subjected to white control.”
“I contend that the debate over the question of self-defense was unnecessary since few people suggested that Negroes should not defend themselves as individuals when attacked. The question was not whether one should use his gun in his home was attacked, but whether it was tactically wise to use gun while participating in an organized demonstration.”
Cone, James. (1992). Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare. New York: New York, Orbis Books.
__________. “Martin Luther King Jr. and the Third World.“ The Journal of American History. Vol. 74, No. 2 (Sep., 1987), pp. 455-467.
Dyson, Michael. (2000). I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King Jr. New York: New York, Free Press.
Washington, James (ed). (1986). A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King Jr. New York: New York, Harper One.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
"Update: From The Traditional Diaspora To Hip-Hop"
This presentation was part of an event titled "Update: From The Traditional Diaspora To Hip-Hop," held December 17th, 2010. The panel featured Dr. Jared Ball, Dr. Quito Swan, and Benjamin Woods and was followed by an audience open forum/Q&A. Footage from other panelists can also be found on our YouTube channel.
To order a copy of the DVD of this event and/or the program held on 12/18 ("Put Your Maroonage Where Your Mouth Is"), please contact blackorganizing@gmail.com.
The Black Organizing Network is a Phoenix based group whose mission is to mobilize Black communities by empowering ourselves through education, grassroots community organizing and community development initiatives that provide opportunities for equity and redress. Please visit our site and contact us about how to become involved with our efforts!
www.blackorganizing.net
To order a copy of the DVD of this event and/or the program held on 12/18 ("Put Your Maroonage Where Your Mouth Is"), please contact blackorganizing@gmail.com.
The Black Organizing Network is a Phoenix based group whose mission is to mobilize Black communities by empowering ourselves through education, grassroots community organizing and community development initiatives that provide opportunities for equity and redress. Please visit our site and contact us about how to become involved with our efforts!
www.blackorganizing.net
Thursday, August 26, 2010
'Where Do We Go From Here?" or Reclaiming Martin Luther King Jr.
“Tell the children the truth, yeah, the truth tell them about Martin Luther King, tell them the truth.”
-If I Were President Wyclef Jean
This Saturday August 28, 2010 is the 47th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. At this demonstration, Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) gave his most well-known and, at the same time, misunderstood speech. However, over the past few decades a controversy has erupted over the true legacy of MLK. The proto-fascist far right wing represented by Glenn Beck and the Tea party movement is sponsoring a march that, allegedly, supports the ideals of MLK. Similarly, the National Action Network and Al Sharpton are sponsoring a march to “Reclaim the Dream.” The truth is, neither one of these groups represent MLK. This weekend, as we are inundated with white corporate media propaganda, it is important to recall the final years of Dr. King’s life and legacy.
Following the passage of civil rights legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, MLK began to focus more on issues of economic justice. The economic problems that existed in the urban north were not the same as the segregated south. King began to question the very economic system itself stating “that something is wrong…with capitalism…there must be better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move towards a Democratic Socialism.”
His move towards socialism was also influenced by events in the so called Third World. King joined the Anti-War movement and took a stance against the War in Vietnam. In 1967, at Riverside Baptist Church in New York in a speech titled “A Time to Break the Silence” he called the United States “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world” because of the destruction caused by napalm and other mass killing devices used by “his own government.” And finally, influenced by the anti-colonial movements occurring in Africa and Asia he started to refer to the slums and ghettos of America as a “a system of internal colonialism.”
As writers such as Frantz Fanon have shown, colonialism is not just economic but cultural and psychological as well. Centuries of oppression in the form of enslavement and segregation have had devastating effects upon the self-image and consciousness of African people. He noted that the assertiveness and confrontational style of the Civil Rights Movement helped to develop self-respect among Africans in the south.
Moreover, as Black Power advocates such as Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party gained ascendancy, he rejected complete assimilation into American society and strove for community empowerment. King stated “we must use every constructive means to amass economic and political power. This is the kind of legitimate power we need. We must work to build racial pride and refute the notion that [B]lack is evil and ugly.”
After the civil right victories and his move to advance community empowerment, Dr. King prophetically warned of the rise of the right-wing in the United States. He stated “the line of progress is never straight. For a period a movement may follow a straight line and then it encounters obstacles and the path bends….we are encountering such a period today. The inevitable counterrevolution that succeeds every period of progress is taking place.” In 1968 Republican Richard “tricky dick” Nixon won the Presidency and by 1980 the counterrevolution was complete with the election of Ronal Reagan.
These two elected officials would usher in a period of fiscal conservatism, state repression, color blindness, and personal responsibility. Unlike some of today’s negro leaders, King didn’t describe our problems as laziness, poor morals, or lack of personal responsibility but as a result systemic forces. He stated “true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it understands that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring” and “the roots of [economic injustice] are in the system rather than in the faulty operations of men.”
At the end of his life Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. argued for a “radical restructuring of society” and “a revolution of values.” Before his assassination, he was in the process of building a multi-racial Poor People’s campaign for economic and racial justice. Any march that claims to follow in his tradition should continue where he left off. His political and economic program included: a guaranteed annual income, free housing, free education, free healthcare, and an end to all wars of foreign aggression. He believed this could be achieved by a massive civil disobedience campaign in major urban centers that causes the political and economic life of this country to come to a halt until issues affecting the poor are completely eliminated. Unfortunately, neither of these marches represents the real MLK, therefore, it is on those who believe in his vision today to build a real social movement for a revolutionary transformation of human society.
Forgotten MLK Quotes
“We must rapidly shift from a ‘thing’-oriented society to a ‘person’-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”
“Although genuinely popular [Negro] leaders are now emerging, most are selected by white leadership, elevated to position, supplied with resources and inevitably subjected to white control.”
“I contend that the debate over the question of self-defense was unnecessary since few people suggested that Negroes should not defend themselves as individuals when attacked. The question was not whether one should use his gun in his home was attacked, but whether it was tactically wise to use gun while participating in an organized demonstration.”
Cone, James. (1992). Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare. New York: New York, Orbis Books.
__________. “Martin Luther King Jr. and the Third World.“ The Journal of American History. Vol. 74, No. 2 (Sep., 1987), pp. 455-467.
Dyson, Michael. (2000). I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King Jr. New York: New York, Free Press.
Washington, James (ed). (1986). A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King Jr. New York: New York, Harper One.
-If I Were President Wyclef Jean
This Saturday August 28, 2010 is the 47th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. At this demonstration, Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) gave his most well-known and, at the same time, misunderstood speech. However, over the past few decades a controversy has erupted over the true legacy of MLK. The proto-fascist far right wing represented by Glenn Beck and the Tea party movement is sponsoring a march that, allegedly, supports the ideals of MLK. Similarly, the National Action Network and Al Sharpton are sponsoring a march to “Reclaim the Dream.” The truth is, neither one of these groups represent MLK. This weekend, as we are inundated with white corporate media propaganda, it is important to recall the final years of Dr. King’s life and legacy.
Following the passage of civil rights legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, MLK began to focus more on issues of economic justice. The economic problems that existed in the urban north were not the same as the segregated south. King began to question the very economic system itself stating “that something is wrong…with capitalism…there must be better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move towards a Democratic Socialism.”
His move towards socialism was also influenced by events in the so called Third World. King joined the Anti-War movement and took a stance against the War in Vietnam. In 1967, at Riverside Baptist Church in New York in a speech titled “A Time to Break the Silence” he called the United States “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world” because of the destruction caused by napalm and other mass killing devices used by “his own government.” And finally, influenced by the anti-colonial movements occurring in Africa and Asia he started to refer to the slums and ghettos of America as a “a system of internal colonialism.”
As writers such as Frantz Fanon have shown, colonialism is not just economic but cultural and psychological as well. Centuries of oppression in the form of enslavement and segregation have had devastating effects upon the self-image and consciousness of African people. He noted that the assertiveness and confrontational style of the Civil Rights Movement helped to develop self-respect among Africans in the south.
Moreover, as Black Power advocates such as Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party gained ascendancy, he rejected complete assimilation into American society and strove for community empowerment. King stated “we must use every constructive means to amass economic and political power. This is the kind of legitimate power we need. We must work to build racial pride and refute the notion that [B]lack is evil and ugly.”
After the civil right victories and his move to advance community empowerment, Dr. King prophetically warned of the rise of the right-wing in the United States. He stated “the line of progress is never straight. For a period a movement may follow a straight line and then it encounters obstacles and the path bends….we are encountering such a period today. The inevitable counterrevolution that succeeds every period of progress is taking place.” In 1968 Republican Richard “tricky dick” Nixon won the Presidency and by 1980 the counterrevolution was complete with the election of Ronal Reagan.
These two elected officials would usher in a period of fiscal conservatism, state repression, color blindness, and personal responsibility. Unlike some of today’s negro leaders, King didn’t describe our problems as laziness, poor morals, or lack of personal responsibility but as a result systemic forces. He stated “true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it understands that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring” and “the roots of [economic injustice] are in the system rather than in the faulty operations of men.”
At the end of his life Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. argued for a “radical restructuring of society” and “a revolution of values.” Before his assassination, he was in the process of building a multi-racial Poor People’s campaign for economic and racial justice. Any march that claims to follow in his tradition should continue where he left off. His political and economic program included: a guaranteed annual income, free housing, free education, free healthcare, and an end to all wars of foreign aggression. He believed this could be achieved by a massive civil disobedience campaign in major urban centers that causes the political and economic life of this country to come to a halt until issues affecting the poor are completely eliminated. Unfortunately, neither of these marches represents the real MLK, therefore, it is on those who believe in his vision today to build a real social movement for a revolutionary transformation of human society.
Forgotten MLK Quotes
“We must rapidly shift from a ‘thing’-oriented society to a ‘person’-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”
“Although genuinely popular [Negro] leaders are now emerging, most are selected by white leadership, elevated to position, supplied with resources and inevitably subjected to white control.”
“I contend that the debate over the question of self-defense was unnecessary since few people suggested that Negroes should not defend themselves as individuals when attacked. The question was not whether one should use his gun in his home was attacked, but whether it was tactically wise to use gun while participating in an organized demonstration.”
Cone, James. (1992). Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare. New York: New York, Orbis Books.
__________. “Martin Luther King Jr. and the Third World.“ The Journal of American History. Vol. 74, No. 2 (Sep., 1987), pp. 455-467.
Dyson, Michael. (2000). I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King Jr. New York: New York, Free Press.
Washington, James (ed). (1986). A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King Jr. New York: New York, Harper One.
Friday, July 23, 2010
The Age of Reagan, 1980-present
In this year that we have now declared
the year from Shogun to Reagan,
I remember what I said about Reagan…meant it.
Acted like an actor…Hollyweird.
Acted like a liberal.
Acted like General Franco
when he acted like governor of California,
then he acted like a republican.
Then he acted like somebody was going to vote for him for president.
Gil Scott Heron “B-Movie”
Two weeks after the 2008 presidential elections, Cornel West, the preeminent negro intellectual in the world today, stated on Democracy Now! that the election of Barack Obama signals the beginning of the end of the ‘Age of Reagan.’ The Harvard trained intellectual proves that Carter G. Woodson’s famous saying remains true “Harvard has ruined more good negroes than bad whisky ever will.” In fact, the new administrations neoliberal economic advisors, bank bailouts, and support for wars of foreign aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrate the current period of right wing conservatism has not ended. Actually, the Tea party activist and politicians might represent a move from the current form of democratic or covert fascism to the openly white supremacist fascism seen during the era of segregation.
The seeds of the contemporary period begin, oddly enough, at the highpoint of the African Freedom Movement and World Revolution in the late 1960s. In 1968, Richard Nixon was elected President of the United States on a ‘law and order’ platform that appealed to the white middle class and southern segregationist. In addition, the FBI through its COINTELPRO targeted African and other revolutionary organizations for infiltration, imprisonment, and assassination. Although in the 1970s there were attempts to rebuild the movement from its peak of 1968, by the late 70s it was apparent this moment of African insurgency had ended unsuccessfully.
The consolidation of the right-wing national security elites, the moral majority, and fiscal conservatives in the 1970s culminated in the election of Ronald Reagan. In order to prove his White Nationalist credentials, Reagan kicked off his campaign in Philadelphia, MS where three civil rights workers were murdered by white supremacists in the 1960s. Dr. Ronald Walters, former chair of political science at Howard University, states “White Nationalism might be defined as that radical aspect of the Conservative Movement that intends to use both unofficial power and official power of the state to maintain White Supremacy by subordinating Blacks and other non-Whites.”
At the same time, the Reagan administration adopted neoliberal economic policies advanced by the University of Chicago Economics department. According to neoliberal ideology, human beings are primarily rational, self-interested actors, therefore, the state should be eliminated as much as possible so that human nature can flourish. Its characteristics are 1) removal of trade barriers 2) privatization 3) elimination of social services and 4) liberalization of financial markets.
In relation to Africans in America, the most debilitating aspect of this period is the emergence of the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC). For example, according a study reported in the New York Times, there were 143,000 African men in prison or jail in 1980 but by 2000 the number had exploded to 791,600. Moreover, African women are one of the fastest growing prison populations in the U.S.
This process of mass incarceration was facilitated by the passage of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, the Crime Control Act of 1994 and other draconian drug laws. Currently, in the United States a person convicted of possessing 5 grams of crack receives the same sentence in federal court as a person convicted of possessing 500 grams of powder cocaine. That is, literally, 1:100 ratio. What is the difference: the crack form of the drug is primarily used by lower income Africans and the powder form is the drug of choice for middle class and elite Whites. Then, in 1998, Rep. John Conyers entered into the congressional record a document called “A Tangled Web: A History of CIA Complicity in Drug International Trafficking” to show the role of the US government in the drug trade.
In 1994 the so-called ‘Republican Revolution’ facilitated the passage of White Nationalist legislation such as the previously mentioned drug laws. After gaining control of the House and Senate in 1994, the republicans revealed their Contract with America which focused on restoring so called traditional American values and fiscal conservatism. In an attempt to help the democratic party remain relevant, Bill “slick willie” Clinton began to chip away at the New Deal and Great society programs so that the democratic party platform corresponded to the Contract with America.
For example in 1996 Clinton signed welfare reform or PRWORA into law. The bill limited the amount of time a family could be on welfare to five years and had stringent work requirements. Unfortunately, the primary jobs available to undereducated and poor people are low-wage service jobs that do not offer a living wage. And, since Africans are disproportionately poor, they were and are unduly affected. Several of Clintons cabinet members resigned in protest asserting that the new law would cause increased poverty among children. Although these policies are a component of the White Nationalist assault, Africans are told the U.S. is a color blind, now post-racial, society. Therefore, according to the White Nationalists, their problems are the result of their bad morals and pathological behavior.
But don’t be fooled, Reagonmics is global. In 1980, Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister of Britain. Both countries, particularly the U.S. uses the Bretton Woods institutions (IMF, World Bank, and United Nations) to project imperial power. The IMF and World Bank utilize the Washington Consensus to impose structural adjustment programs (SAP) on Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In short, poor formerly colonized countries with little to no capital must accept a neoliberal agenda to receive loans with interest thereby undermining their self-determination and further impoverishing the countries. For example, Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel prize for economics, claims that the policies of the IMF and World Bank have negatively impacted the economies of poor countries.
Iraq isn’t new, the U.S. will stop at nothing to impose its will on smaller countries. A case in point, in 1983 following a socialist revolution in Grenada led by the New Jewel Movement, the U.S. invaded the predominantly African nation of 100,000 people. Maurice Bishop, the prime minister, warned that the “state department views us as a threat because we represent a different path of socio-economic development.” A few years later in 1991, the CIA backed a coup on the predominantly African island of Haiti. Then, only returned Aristide, the democratically elected leader, to the country after he agreed to a SAP.
White Nationalist policies from Reagan to Obama are too long to list here. But, how can we transition out of this period? First, African activists, artists, intellectuals, and journalists must engage in an intense ideological struggle with, white and negro, White Nationalists who state “Black people are to blame for their own problems.” We have to unequivocally and boldly state our problem: imperialism and capitalism. This requires us to move from a defensive posture to an offensive posture. In other words, i am calling for something akin to Mao’s Cultural Revolution or the Black Consciousness Movement that challenges bourgeois values and elements in society. Finally, White Nationalism can only be defeated, i think, by Revolutionary Black Nationalism.
Butterfield, Fox. “Study Finds Big Increase in Black Men as Inmates Since 1980” New York Times August 28, 2002.
Cha-Jua Sundiata. “The New Nadir: The Contemporary Black Racial Formation” Black Scholar Spring 2010
DemocracyNow! Cornel West on the Election of Barack Obama: "I Hope He Is a Progressive Lincoln, I Aspire to Be the Frederick Douglass to Put Pressure on Him."
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/11/19/cornel_west_on_the_election_of
Harvey, David. (2005). A Brief History of Neoliberalism. New York: Oxford University Press.
Mitchell, Alison. “TWO CLINTON AIDES RESIGN TO PROTEST NEW WELFARE LAW” New York Times September 12, 1996.
Stiglitz, Joseph. (2003). Globalization and Its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Umansky, Eric. “History 101: The CIA & Drugs.” MotherJones.
http://motherjones.com/politics/1998/06/history-101-cia-drugs
Walters, Ronald. (2003). White Nationalism, Black Interests: Conservative Public Policy and the Black Community. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.
the year from Shogun to Reagan,
I remember what I said about Reagan…meant it.
Acted like an actor…Hollyweird.
Acted like a liberal.
Acted like General Franco
when he acted like governor of California,
then he acted like a republican.
Then he acted like somebody was going to vote for him for president.
Gil Scott Heron “B-Movie”
Two weeks after the 2008 presidential elections, Cornel West, the preeminent negro intellectual in the world today, stated on Democracy Now! that the election of Barack Obama signals the beginning of the end of the ‘Age of Reagan.’ The Harvard trained intellectual proves that Carter G. Woodson’s famous saying remains true “Harvard has ruined more good negroes than bad whisky ever will.” In fact, the new administrations neoliberal economic advisors, bank bailouts, and support for wars of foreign aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrate the current period of right wing conservatism has not ended. Actually, the Tea party activist and politicians might represent a move from the current form of democratic or covert fascism to the openly white supremacist fascism seen during the era of segregation.
The seeds of the contemporary period begin, oddly enough, at the highpoint of the African Freedom Movement and World Revolution in the late 1960s. In 1968, Richard Nixon was elected President of the United States on a ‘law and order’ platform that appealed to the white middle class and southern segregationist. In addition, the FBI through its COINTELPRO targeted African and other revolutionary organizations for infiltration, imprisonment, and assassination. Although in the 1970s there were attempts to rebuild the movement from its peak of 1968, by the late 70s it was apparent this moment of African insurgency had ended unsuccessfully.
The consolidation of the right-wing national security elites, the moral majority, and fiscal conservatives in the 1970s culminated in the election of Ronald Reagan. In order to prove his White Nationalist credentials, Reagan kicked off his campaign in Philadelphia, MS where three civil rights workers were murdered by white supremacists in the 1960s. Dr. Ronald Walters, former chair of political science at Howard University, states “White Nationalism might be defined as that radical aspect of the Conservative Movement that intends to use both unofficial power and official power of the state to maintain White Supremacy by subordinating Blacks and other non-Whites.”
At the same time, the Reagan administration adopted neoliberal economic policies advanced by the University of Chicago Economics department. According to neoliberal ideology, human beings are primarily rational, self-interested actors, therefore, the state should be eliminated as much as possible so that human nature can flourish. Its characteristics are 1) removal of trade barriers 2) privatization 3) elimination of social services and 4) liberalization of financial markets.
In relation to Africans in America, the most debilitating aspect of this period is the emergence of the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC). For example, according a study reported in the New York Times, there were 143,000 African men in prison or jail in 1980 but by 2000 the number had exploded to 791,600. Moreover, African women are one of the fastest growing prison populations in the U.S.
This process of mass incarceration was facilitated by the passage of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, the Crime Control Act of 1994 and other draconian drug laws. Currently, in the United States a person convicted of possessing 5 grams of crack receives the same sentence in federal court as a person convicted of possessing 500 grams of powder cocaine. That is, literally, 1:100 ratio. What is the difference: the crack form of the drug is primarily used by lower income Africans and the powder form is the drug of choice for middle class and elite Whites. Then, in 1998, Rep. John Conyers entered into the congressional record a document called “A Tangled Web: A History of CIA Complicity in Drug International Trafficking” to show the role of the US government in the drug trade.
In 1994 the so-called ‘Republican Revolution’ facilitated the passage of White Nationalist legislation such as the previously mentioned drug laws. After gaining control of the House and Senate in 1994, the republicans revealed their Contract with America which focused on restoring so called traditional American values and fiscal conservatism. In an attempt to help the democratic party remain relevant, Bill “slick willie” Clinton began to chip away at the New Deal and Great society programs so that the democratic party platform corresponded to the Contract with America.
For example in 1996 Clinton signed welfare reform or PRWORA into law. The bill limited the amount of time a family could be on welfare to five years and had stringent work requirements. Unfortunately, the primary jobs available to undereducated and poor people are low-wage service jobs that do not offer a living wage. And, since Africans are disproportionately poor, they were and are unduly affected. Several of Clintons cabinet members resigned in protest asserting that the new law would cause increased poverty among children. Although these policies are a component of the White Nationalist assault, Africans are told the U.S. is a color blind, now post-racial, society. Therefore, according to the White Nationalists, their problems are the result of their bad morals and pathological behavior.
But don’t be fooled, Reagonmics is global. In 1980, Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister of Britain. Both countries, particularly the U.S. uses the Bretton Woods institutions (IMF, World Bank, and United Nations) to project imperial power. The IMF and World Bank utilize the Washington Consensus to impose structural adjustment programs (SAP) on Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In short, poor formerly colonized countries with little to no capital must accept a neoliberal agenda to receive loans with interest thereby undermining their self-determination and further impoverishing the countries. For example, Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel prize for economics, claims that the policies of the IMF and World Bank have negatively impacted the economies of poor countries.
Iraq isn’t new, the U.S. will stop at nothing to impose its will on smaller countries. A case in point, in 1983 following a socialist revolution in Grenada led by the New Jewel Movement, the U.S. invaded the predominantly African nation of 100,000 people. Maurice Bishop, the prime minister, warned that the “state department views us as a threat because we represent a different path of socio-economic development.” A few years later in 1991, the CIA backed a coup on the predominantly African island of Haiti. Then, only returned Aristide, the democratically elected leader, to the country after he agreed to a SAP.
White Nationalist policies from Reagan to Obama are too long to list here. But, how can we transition out of this period? First, African activists, artists, intellectuals, and journalists must engage in an intense ideological struggle with, white and negro, White Nationalists who state “Black people are to blame for their own problems.” We have to unequivocally and boldly state our problem: imperialism and capitalism. This requires us to move from a defensive posture to an offensive posture. In other words, i am calling for something akin to Mao’s Cultural Revolution or the Black Consciousness Movement that challenges bourgeois values and elements in society. Finally, White Nationalism can only be defeated, i think, by Revolutionary Black Nationalism.
Butterfield, Fox. “Study Finds Big Increase in Black Men as Inmates Since 1980” New York Times August 28, 2002.
Cha-Jua Sundiata. “The New Nadir: The Contemporary Black Racial Formation” Black Scholar Spring 2010
DemocracyNow! Cornel West on the Election of Barack Obama: "I Hope He Is a Progressive Lincoln, I Aspire to Be the Frederick Douglass to Put Pressure on Him."
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/11/19/cornel_west_on_the_election_of
Harvey, David. (2005). A Brief History of Neoliberalism. New York: Oxford University Press.
Mitchell, Alison. “TWO CLINTON AIDES RESIGN TO PROTEST NEW WELFARE LAW” New York Times September 12, 1996.
Stiglitz, Joseph. (2003). Globalization and Its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Umansky, Eric. “History 101: The CIA & Drugs.” MotherJones.
http://motherjones.com/politics/1998/06/history-101-cia-drugs
Walters, Ronald. (2003). White Nationalism, Black Interests: Conservative Public Policy and the Black Community. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Two Sides of the Same Coin: Global Capitalism & U.S. Militarism
The Washington Post published a provocative article on June 4th 2010 entitled “U.S. ‘secret war’ expands globally as Special Operations forces take larger role.” The article shows that the Obama administration has continued the militaristic policies of the Bush administration by swelling the number of special operations troops in 75 countries compared to 60 at the beginning of last year. This illustrates that Black faces in high places (neocolonialism) doesn’t necessarily mean a change in policy. Therefore, its important to remember that the primary problem is not US militarism but imperialism and capitalism.
As the global economic situation worsens and the US is bogged down in wars, breaks in the system will occur which allow social movements to arise. To counter this trend, the United States, the military arm of transnational capital, will display more military aggression. Of course, the president is simply continuing the expansionary and imperialistic policies of the white settler regime in North America that started with the theft of First Nation (Native American) lands and enslavement of African people.
In 2008, the US navy reactivated the Fourth fleet. The Fourth fleet was established during World War II to combat the German Navy in Latin American waters. Following the end of the war, the fleet was deactivated. Although the US military contends the Fourth fleet’s reactivation is not a fundamental change in policy, governments in the region assert its purpose is to stop the rise of social movements in Latin America.
These fears are a product of the US Monroe doctrine beginning in the 1820s that stated the entire Western Hemisphere is the United States ‘sphere of influence.’ In keeping with the Monroe Doctrine, the US has overthrown virtually every government in Latin America from Guatemala (1954) to Chile (1973). The more recent coup attempts were in Venezuela (2002) and Bolivia (2008). Also, the leadership of the recent coup in Honduras (2010) was trained at the infamous ‘School of the Americas ’ in Fort Benning, Georgia.
Furthermore in 2008, the United States established the Africa Command (AFRICOM). While the US military declares that AFRICOM is only a restructuring of their command system due to Africa‘s ‘renewed importance’, African governments argue AFRICOMs creation is dependent upon the fact that the US will soon receive 25% of its oil from the African continent. These fears are not unfounded. The beginning of US diplomatic relations with the African continent were the European slave trade. Later, during the Cold War, the CIA supported several assassinations and coups such as in the Democratic Republic of Congo (1960) and Ghana (1966).
Moreover, in May 2008 the US conducted a war games exercise at the US Army War College in Carlisle, PA called “Unified Quest 2008.” The war games included a US response to continued “piracy” and insurgency in Somalia set in 2025 and the collapse of the Nigerian government in 2013. Although the details of the Somalia response were not disclosed, the response to the Nigerian scenario included the deployment of thousands of US troops to West Africa.
As a political commentator stated “you can’t have empire abroad and democracy at home.” Increased US militarism does not bode well for domestically colonized nations in the United States such as Chicanos and Africans. For example, the state of Arizona passed SB 1070 which de facto legalizes racial profiling and forces immigrants to provide documentation on request or risk being detained.
It must remembered, that Arizona was stolen from Mexico during the Mexican-American War. A case in point, in his newspaper the North Star Fredrick Douglass stated the US government “succeeded in robbing Mexico of her territory, and are rejoicing over their success under the hypocritical pretense of a regard for peace.” Similarly, in NYC residents are subjected to stop and frisk policies where upon ‘reasonable suspicion’ NYPD can search any individual for concealed weapons. The American Civil Liberties Union states over 80% those stopped were African or Latino. In addition, similar to checkpoints in Palestine or Afghanistan, in 2008, the DCPD set up checkpoints in the majority African neighborhood of Trinidad in Washington DC.
The African Freedom Movement in the United States has a long history of self-defense against state repression. Two notable works and organizations that should be studied by committed African activists, intellectuals, and street organizations (gangs) are the African Blood Brotherhood (ABB) and Kwame Nkrumah’s The Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare. Founded in 1919, the ABB was a revolutionary Black Nationalist organization that operated on a clandestine basis. They were crucial in the defense of Africans during white attacks on Black communities in the Red Summer of 1919. The Handbook describes how to conduct rural guerilla warfare on the African continent. The coming period of reaction will test our movement for national liberation and self determination.
Blum, William. Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II. Common Courage Press. 1995.
DeYounge, Karen & Jaffe, Greg. "U.S. 'secret war' expands globally as Special Operations forces take larger role." New York Times Friday June, 4 2010
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/03/AR2010060304965.html
Douglass, Frederick. “Frederick Douglass on the Mexican America War,” in Herbert Aptheker, ed. A Documentary History of the Negro People. vol. 1 (New York: Citadel Press, 1967), 267.
Kozloff, Nikolas. “U.S. Fleet in Venezuelan Waters” CounterPunch May 24-25, 2008.
http://www.counterpunch.org/kozloff05242008.html.
Nkrumah, Kwame. The Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare: A Guide to the Armed Phase of the African Revolution. (International Publishers 1968).
Volman, Daniel. U.S. Military Involvement in Nigeria. September 2009.
http://concernedafricascholars.org/african-security-research-project/?p=83
African Blood Brotherhood (1919-1925): An Organizational History http://www.marxisthistory.org/subject/usa/eam/abb.html.
“NYCLU Class-Action Lawsuit Challenges NYPD Stop-and-Frisk Practice of Keeping Innocent New Yorkers in Database for Criminal Investigations” May 19, 2010
http://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/nyclu-class-action-lawsuit-challenges-nypd-stop-and-frisk-practice-keeping-innocent-n.
As the global economic situation worsens and the US is bogged down in wars, breaks in the system will occur which allow social movements to arise. To counter this trend, the United States, the military arm of transnational capital, will display more military aggression. Of course, the president is simply continuing the expansionary and imperialistic policies of the white settler regime in North America that started with the theft of First Nation (Native American) lands and enslavement of African people.
In 2008, the US navy reactivated the Fourth fleet. The Fourth fleet was established during World War II to combat the German Navy in Latin American waters. Following the end of the war, the fleet was deactivated. Although the US military contends the Fourth fleet’s reactivation is not a fundamental change in policy, governments in the region assert its purpose is to stop the rise of social movements in Latin America.
These fears are a product of the US Monroe doctrine beginning in the 1820s that stated the entire Western Hemisphere is the United States ‘sphere of influence.’ In keeping with the Monroe Doctrine, the US has overthrown virtually every government in Latin America from Guatemala (1954) to Chile (1973). The more recent coup attempts were in Venezuela (2002) and Bolivia (2008). Also, the leadership of the recent coup in Honduras (2010) was trained at the infamous ‘School of the Americas ’ in Fort Benning, Georgia.
Furthermore in 2008, the United States established the Africa Command (AFRICOM). While the US military declares that AFRICOM is only a restructuring of their command system due to Africa‘s ‘renewed importance’, African governments argue AFRICOMs creation is dependent upon the fact that the US will soon receive 25% of its oil from the African continent. These fears are not unfounded. The beginning of US diplomatic relations with the African continent were the European slave trade. Later, during the Cold War, the CIA supported several assassinations and coups such as in the Democratic Republic of Congo (1960) and Ghana (1966).
Moreover, in May 2008 the US conducted a war games exercise at the US Army War College in Carlisle, PA called “Unified Quest 2008.” The war games included a US response to continued “piracy” and insurgency in Somalia set in 2025 and the collapse of the Nigerian government in 2013. Although the details of the Somalia response were not disclosed, the response to the Nigerian scenario included the deployment of thousands of US troops to West Africa.
As a political commentator stated “you can’t have empire abroad and democracy at home.” Increased US militarism does not bode well for domestically colonized nations in the United States such as Chicanos and Africans. For example, the state of Arizona passed SB 1070 which de facto legalizes racial profiling and forces immigrants to provide documentation on request or risk being detained.
It must remembered, that Arizona was stolen from Mexico during the Mexican-American War. A case in point, in his newspaper the North Star Fredrick Douglass stated the US government “succeeded in robbing Mexico of her territory, and are rejoicing over their success under the hypocritical pretense of a regard for peace.” Similarly, in NYC residents are subjected to stop and frisk policies where upon ‘reasonable suspicion’ NYPD can search any individual for concealed weapons. The American Civil Liberties Union states over 80% those stopped were African or Latino. In addition, similar to checkpoints in Palestine or Afghanistan, in 2008, the DCPD set up checkpoints in the majority African neighborhood of Trinidad in Washington DC.
The African Freedom Movement in the United States has a long history of self-defense against state repression. Two notable works and organizations that should be studied by committed African activists, intellectuals, and street organizations (gangs) are the African Blood Brotherhood (ABB) and Kwame Nkrumah’s The Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare. Founded in 1919, the ABB was a revolutionary Black Nationalist organization that operated on a clandestine basis. They were crucial in the defense of Africans during white attacks on Black communities in the Red Summer of 1919. The Handbook describes how to conduct rural guerilla warfare on the African continent. The coming period of reaction will test our movement for national liberation and self determination.
Blum, William. Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II. Common Courage Press. 1995.
DeYounge, Karen & Jaffe, Greg. "U.S. 'secret war' expands globally as Special Operations forces take larger role." New York Times Friday June, 4 2010
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/03/AR2010060304965.html
Douglass, Frederick. “Frederick Douglass on the Mexican America War,” in Herbert Aptheker, ed. A Documentary History of the Negro People. vol. 1 (New York: Citadel Press, 1967), 267.
Kozloff, Nikolas. “U.S. Fleet in Venezuelan Waters” CounterPunch May 24-25, 2008.
http://www.counterpunch.org/kozloff05242008.html.
Nkrumah, Kwame. The Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare: A Guide to the Armed Phase of the African Revolution. (International Publishers 1968).
Volman, Daniel. U.S. Military Involvement in Nigeria. September 2009.
http://concernedafricascholars.org/african-security-research-project/?p=83
African Blood Brotherhood (1919-1925): An Organizational History http://www.marxisthistory.org/subject/usa/eam/abb.html.
“NYCLU Class-Action Lawsuit Challenges NYPD Stop-and-Frisk Practice of Keeping Innocent New Yorkers in Database for Criminal Investigations” May 19, 2010
http://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/nyclu-class-action-lawsuit-challenges-nypd-stop-and-frisk-practice-keeping-innocent-n.
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