All over the world today, people are trying to assess, predict, and prepare, for what will be coming out of the U.S. Trump administration next. Obviously, because of the proximity of the U.S. to world power, there is a logic in taking this approach, but its critically important to remember that there are always multiple ways to view the same thing. Unfortunately, most of the assessments we are observing are only looking at these events through their usual America/capitalist centric perspective that is dripping with white supremacy. And, many well meaning people, who are sincerely dedicated to constructive social change, are just as much a part of this dilemma as the hardcore reactionaries and racists.
By revolutionary view we mean the perspective that there is something different, something better, for humanity than just a re-fried version of this backward capitalist system. That we can do much more than just put lipstick on Lady Liberty's racist face. We start by humbly suggesting that any analysis that begins by looking at what Trump's administration says, thinks, or even does, is already capitulating and resigning itself to the belief that the primary question is what the people who control this system do. Please don't misunderstand, as was previously stated, we realize that this system sits on top of the capitalist world order so whatever U.S. imperialism does reverberates everywhere. Still, in spite of that, our revolutionary perspective is going to always have a different way of looking at the world because we are convinced that only the masses of people make history, not individuals. Consequently, what we see is not that the masses are held hostage to what an imperialist regime does. Instead, our point of view is that the minute the masses of people wake up, than imperialism's time is over. We are fully aware that imperialism has programmed us to believe that toppling it is about as likely as human's growing wings, but objective history tells us a much different story. Even if you take the almost 300 urban rebellions in the U.S. in the late 1960s, the land and freedom movement in Kenya in the early 60s, and the Haitian independence movement in Haiti in the early 1800s as examples, the conclusion is a clear one. In each of those instances, our people - badly outgunned, brutally repressed, and facing a power much better equipped and prepared than we could ever be - managed to hold the imperialist force at bay. And this was done with limited organizational capacity on our part. Imagine what would happen if we had even a little higher level of organization?
So, we are not exaggerating or living in a fantasy when we say confidently that we know that the minute the masses of people decide they have had enough, no matter what Trump's administration, or anyone else, think, they are finished. We know that the moment the masses of African people wake up and realize that as Kwame Nkrumah warned us -"the core of the Black revolution is in Africa and until Africa is free, no Black person anywhere on earth will be free" - there isn't a force on earth that will be able to stop us from gaining our liberation. So, from our perspective, always, its the masses and what they do that is the final determination. That's why our revolutionary work is always focused on the masses of people. Organizing them. Not on making a demand on the capitalist system. This is the fundamental difference between revolutionary organizing work and reform mobilization work. Both are good. Both are necessary. The difference is revolutionary work isn't concerned about publicity from capitalism. It isn't concerned about money. It isn't concerned about anything except imparting knowledge and skills on the masses of people that can move them ever closer to recognizing that the future of the world is in their hands. Not in the hands of pollution spewing corporations. Not in the hands of racist police. And, not in the hands of powerful politicians.
The other hard cold fact revolutionaries must face is that while we are engaging in the day to day work to organize our people, the continued suffering our people face isn't going to take a break. That's why we support the mobilization efforts to stand up against this daily oppression because the revolutionary process cannot be focused on responding to everything imperialism does because our focus has to be creating our own long term plan to topple imperialism. Its also not to say that our approach disregards our people's suffering. We are not apart from our communities so we experience the trials and tribulations that the masses of our people experience. I liken our approach to the scenario where you have a terminally ill relative. There are going to be two approaches to addressing your relative. First, you can decide that your focus is going to be on making your relative as comfortable as possible, as they go through the process of dying. There will be nothing you will be able to do to stop their suffering so you place your emphasis on making their suffering as livable as possible. This to me is similar to the reformist approach. There is a lot of love, sincerity, and commitment in this approach and the people who take this road deserve nothing except respect and admiration. The other approach to addressing the situation with your sick relative is to recognize the hard reality that there is nothing you can do to stop your loved one from dying. So, after careful consideration with them, you decide that your focus is going to be on doing work to move closer towards a cure. Such cure isn't going to be here to help your relative, but the work you are doing which is largely influenced, motivated, and nurtured by what your relative is going through, will contribute mightily towards creating a solution that will eliminate this problem once and for all so that no one else will have to suffer the way you watched your loved one suffer. This approach is akin to the revolutionary organizing approach. This is an extremely honorable approach that has vision, commitment, and courage. Both of these approaches have outstanding merit, and if we had a significant number of people who were doing work in both areas, all would be great. The problem is enough people see the value of the first approach, but very few see the value, merit, and necessity, of the second approach. Very few people see the necessity for revolutionary organizing.
That's why most everyone is evaluating current events from the perspective of what Trump and his people are going to do. I've read all of the perspectives of these activists and I've tried to look at this from their point of view, but I just cannot. I know Trump and his people are causing a lot of harm to good people. I know this. I just don't think the solution to that is anywhere except in people waking up. So, that's where I point my focus and my work. In fact, I don't understand why some people think its a problem that some of us are marching while others of us are organizing. Most of us started out marching. I was marching before many, if not most, of the people doing it today were even thought of. Its that experience that has brought me to where I am today. So, let the marches happen, but I'll probably not be out there. I'll be organizing. Nothing you will necessarily see. Nothing you will know much about. Certainly nothing that will be in the media. And you reform activists should appreciate that because the fact we exist makes you much more viable. If we didn't exist, the system would have no reason to acknowledge you. In other words, you must recognize that each reform you gain is because the system is deathly afraid that if they don't give something, people will turn to our way of thinking. History is full of countless examples of imperialism bending whenever the people show militancy because they know that if they don't do that, the marching will turn into something much more dangerous. Something much more permanent.
So, Trump and his people, all of the racists and imperialists in Europe, Australia, and of course, zionist israel, can do whatever the hell it is they are going to do. The same things they have been doing for centuries. During that span, depending upon the circumstances, they have been everything from fascist to the promoters of bourgeois democracy. Whatever they do isn't going to be good for us. So, while they are doing what they do, we will be doing what we do. The scientific evidence suggests that we are gaining serious ground on them, but our eyes aren't on them. Our eyes are on the finish line and the people who are the makers of our victory. This is true for us and that won't ever change. In spite of all of the despicable things imperialism does to maintain their advantage. We know something and the imperialists know it too. They are so aware of it that they stress over you figuring it out. That thing is the minute you realize that you hold all the power, they will have no where to go and nothing to do except surrender.
By revolutionary view we mean the perspective that there is something different, something better, for humanity than just a re-fried version of this backward capitalist system. That we can do much more than just put lipstick on Lady Liberty's racist face. We start by humbly suggesting that any analysis that begins by looking at what Trump's administration says, thinks, or even does, is already capitulating and resigning itself to the belief that the primary question is what the people who control this system do. Please don't misunderstand, as was previously stated, we realize that this system sits on top of the capitalist world order so whatever U.S. imperialism does reverberates everywhere. Still, in spite of that, our revolutionary perspective is going to always have a different way of looking at the world because we are convinced that only the masses of people make history, not individuals. Consequently, what we see is not that the masses are held hostage to what an imperialist regime does. Instead, our point of view is that the minute the masses of people wake up, than imperialism's time is over. We are fully aware that imperialism has programmed us to believe that toppling it is about as likely as human's growing wings, but objective history tells us a much different story. Even if you take the almost 300 urban rebellions in the U.S. in the late 1960s, the land and freedom movement in Kenya in the early 60s, and the Haitian independence movement in Haiti in the early 1800s as examples, the conclusion is a clear one. In each of those instances, our people - badly outgunned, brutally repressed, and facing a power much better equipped and prepared than we could ever be - managed to hold the imperialist force at bay. And this was done with limited organizational capacity on our part. Imagine what would happen if we had even a little higher level of organization?
So, we are not exaggerating or living in a fantasy when we say confidently that we know that the minute the masses of people decide they have had enough, no matter what Trump's administration, or anyone else, think, they are finished. We know that the moment the masses of African people wake up and realize that as Kwame Nkrumah warned us -"the core of the Black revolution is in Africa and until Africa is free, no Black person anywhere on earth will be free" - there isn't a force on earth that will be able to stop us from gaining our liberation. So, from our perspective, always, its the masses and what they do that is the final determination. That's why our revolutionary work is always focused on the masses of people. Organizing them. Not on making a demand on the capitalist system. This is the fundamental difference between revolutionary organizing work and reform mobilization work. Both are good. Both are necessary. The difference is revolutionary work isn't concerned about publicity from capitalism. It isn't concerned about money. It isn't concerned about anything except imparting knowledge and skills on the masses of people that can move them ever closer to recognizing that the future of the world is in their hands. Not in the hands of pollution spewing corporations. Not in the hands of racist police. And, not in the hands of powerful politicians.
The other hard cold fact revolutionaries must face is that while we are engaging in the day to day work to organize our people, the continued suffering our people face isn't going to take a break. That's why we support the mobilization efforts to stand up against this daily oppression because the revolutionary process cannot be focused on responding to everything imperialism does because our focus has to be creating our own long term plan to topple imperialism. Its also not to say that our approach disregards our people's suffering. We are not apart from our communities so we experience the trials and tribulations that the masses of our people experience. I liken our approach to the scenario where you have a terminally ill relative. There are going to be two approaches to addressing your relative. First, you can decide that your focus is going to be on making your relative as comfortable as possible, as they go through the process of dying. There will be nothing you will be able to do to stop their suffering so you place your emphasis on making their suffering as livable as possible. This to me is similar to the reformist approach. There is a lot of love, sincerity, and commitment in this approach and the people who take this road deserve nothing except respect and admiration. The other approach to addressing the situation with your sick relative is to recognize the hard reality that there is nothing you can do to stop your loved one from dying. So, after careful consideration with them, you decide that your focus is going to be on doing work to move closer towards a cure. Such cure isn't going to be here to help your relative, but the work you are doing which is largely influenced, motivated, and nurtured by what your relative is going through, will contribute mightily towards creating a solution that will eliminate this problem once and for all so that no one else will have to suffer the way you watched your loved one suffer. This approach is akin to the revolutionary organizing approach. This is an extremely honorable approach that has vision, commitment, and courage. Both of these approaches have outstanding merit, and if we had a significant number of people who were doing work in both areas, all would be great. The problem is enough people see the value of the first approach, but very few see the value, merit, and necessity, of the second approach. Very few people see the necessity for revolutionary organizing.
That's why most everyone is evaluating current events from the perspective of what Trump and his people are going to do. I've read all of the perspectives of these activists and I've tried to look at this from their point of view, but I just cannot. I know Trump and his people are causing a lot of harm to good people. I know this. I just don't think the solution to that is anywhere except in people waking up. So, that's where I point my focus and my work. In fact, I don't understand why some people think its a problem that some of us are marching while others of us are organizing. Most of us started out marching. I was marching before many, if not most, of the people doing it today were even thought of. Its that experience that has brought me to where I am today. So, let the marches happen, but I'll probably not be out there. I'll be organizing. Nothing you will necessarily see. Nothing you will know much about. Certainly nothing that will be in the media. And you reform activists should appreciate that because the fact we exist makes you much more viable. If we didn't exist, the system would have no reason to acknowledge you. In other words, you must recognize that each reform you gain is because the system is deathly afraid that if they don't give something, people will turn to our way of thinking. History is full of countless examples of imperialism bending whenever the people show militancy because they know that if they don't do that, the marching will turn into something much more dangerous. Something much more permanent.
So, Trump and his people, all of the racists and imperialists in Europe, Australia, and of course, zionist israel, can do whatever the hell it is they are going to do. The same things they have been doing for centuries. During that span, depending upon the circumstances, they have been everything from fascist to the promoters of bourgeois democracy. Whatever they do isn't going to be good for us. So, while they are doing what they do, we will be doing what we do. The scientific evidence suggests that we are gaining serious ground on them, but our eyes aren't on them. Our eyes are on the finish line and the people who are the makers of our victory. This is true for us and that won't ever change. In spite of all of the despicable things imperialism does to maintain their advantage. We know something and the imperialists know it too. They are so aware of it that they stress over you figuring it out. That thing is the minute you realize that you hold all the power, they will have no where to go and nothing to do except surrender.
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