That's how CNN can air a propaganda show such as the one they aired this evening, focused on "terrorism in the 70s." Their propaganda efforts are so systemic that within the last hour, they dedicated a portion of the program to the Weather Underground organization. This organization was a group of young Europeans in the U.S. in the 70s who bombed symbols of U.S. imperialism to protest capitalism and white supremacy. This program focused on the bombings without mentioning once that the Weather Underground never harmed a single innocent person in all the bombings they carried out. The only exception to that was the unfortunate and unplanned explosion in their safe house in New York in 1970 where three of their members were killed. The program suggested otherwise. That the Weather Underground was a violent and murderous organization. Then, without giving you any time to let that dishonesty seep in, they moved to labeling Yassir Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as terrorists while incredibly, positioning the zionist state of israel as the victim state in that conflict. The program even placed blame for all acts against isrealis, such as the killings of isreali athletes at the 1972 Olympics, on Arafat, when its common knowledge that there were many factions within the PLO and the more militant ones were not only opposed to Arafat and his al-Fatah organization, but actively sought to kill him on a number of occasions. The program went on to label the United Kingdom as the same type of victim state as israel while calling the Irish Republican movement a terrorist movement.
Hopefully, most of you reading this are not at all surprised by what imperialist outlets like CNN actually do to propagate the masses. That's not the point of this piece. The point is there is absolutely no way in hell that the true forces of justice are going to ever change the tide against us until we make a complete and uncompromising commitment to political education as the primary weapon against the imperialist system. Today, we have millions of well meaning activists who rely 100% on social media for their information. Think about how often you actually see anyone anywhere reading a comprehensive book about history, philosophy, economics, politics, etc.? Rarely if ever do you see that. This is extremely dangerous and should be our top priority in 2018. How can we change the tide and get people focused on reading comprehensive material on a systemic and organized basis? Why is it important that we do this?
The reasons this change is essential is because we have an entire generation of people walking around today thinking they have an analysis of what's going on without them having engaged in five minutes of serious study about the problem. A common phrase used everywhere is "that happened before I was born" as if that's any justification for being ignorant. Isn't that the purpose of books? Plus, that statement defies logic. Millions of people believe in Jesus and Allah and their history came about long before you were born, yet you see the importance of letting someone tell you (because most don't study it themselves) the relevance of these belief systems?
Political education serves the purpose of creating an educated and committed cadre who are dedicated to uncompromising struggle to challenge the power structure. By cadre we mean people who have made that commitment and the only way one can make such a commitment is by understanding the forces at work. And, the only way you can understand the forces at work is to engage them in comprehensive study. Not an internet article, but comprehensive study. The only reason I can instantly recognize the lies on CNN, and anywhere else, is because I have spent my entire adult life in such a comprehensive study process within my political party - the All African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP). I'm going on my 34th year of participating in the A-APRP's work study process. This is an organized political education program where we study and discuss books among the membership. Then, we take what we learn and apply that to our work. That mostly means providing us the nutrients to understand the challenges of this struggle so that we can weather the storms and work through them to keep fighting.
I don't mean to belittle anyone, but frankly, I hate to see people posting and talking about being demoralized and burnt out. To me, that's a manifestation of the lack of political education. I can guarantee you that the Rockerfellers don't get burnt out. That family has been among the leaders within the capitalist ruling class for centuries. They are able to do that because they are the committed cadre for the capitalist system. That means they are our unquestionable enemies. So, how can we ever expect to defeat them unless we are more serious than they are?
Those statements may anger some people, but you cannot refute them. And, I should admit that I have no concern about your anger if its based strictly on emotion. We are revolutionaries and there is no sentiment in revolution. Its unfortunate, but its true. If we are going to actually be victorious against our enemies we are going to have to step up our game folks. Being keyboard warriors is not going to get it done. We are going to need to become scientists who study the objective conditions that face us. There is one statement by Maulana Karenga that I agree with when he said "everyone hasn't earned the right to an opinion."
The good thing about a political education campaign is its something that everyone can and should participate in and its something that everyone has to agree will benefit all of us. The more serious we get about engaging this struggle scientifically, the better prepared all of us will be. We will do better with resolving our internal contradictions and we will become much more proficient in taking care of ourselves (instead of believing that self care is abandoning the struggle). So, if you don't belong to an organization, you have to join one. If you don't, we have no reason to even listen to you because you don't even take seriously what you are saying. You won't even form a unit to bring it into existence because you can't do it by yourself or else you would have done that already. So, stop wasting valuable time and join. For those who are in organizations, you must have a comprehensive political education process. That means, you have to study concepts. Socialism, capitalism, imperialism, class struggle, patriarchy, Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism, Pan-Americanism, Pan-Arabism, Marxist-Leninism, Maoism, Trotskyism, Castroism, Nkrumahism-Tureism. All of this should be studied intensely. A-APRP cadre everywhere on earth are prepared to speak with authority about all of those concepts and we simply wish to share the wealth because we know it will help us. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was correct when he said "a person who doesn't stand for something will fall for anything." Political education, not guns, not accountability processes, not social media callouts, political education. That's what we need. That great son of Africa George Padmore said "revolutionary at 20, moderate at 30, conservative at 40, and reactionary at 50." Without comprehensive and organized political education, Padmore's statement is what unfortunately awaits you because it is impossible to sustain consistency against the forces of evil when all you have powering you is anger. That's why people burn out because the anger, frustration, anxiety, etc., isn't sustainable . Only a clear and committed vision of a better world will sustain you. It is not to say those emotions don't have their place. They do. Political education teaches us to channel those emotions in healthy ways. That's what we need. Political education has been my priority my entire life. Who's with us in 2018?