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Why a United Africa is the Polar Opposite to the European Union 

6/26/2016

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Reactions have been swift regarding the dominant vote by the people of Britain to withdraw its membership from the European Union.  Most of the reaction has focused on the vote representing the growing right-wing and xenophobic consciousness of Brits of European/White descent.  This reaction by and large is ignoring the fact that the European Union as a whole represents an organization designed to consolidate Europe's capacity to impose imperialist policies on the rest of the world.  The idea of a  united Europe has to have this goal as its priority because the economies of Europe are run based on exploiting resources that come from outside of Europe.  In other words, there is no oil in Europe.  There is limited access to fruits and vegetables in the UK.  There is virtually no access to all the other vital mineral resources like rubber, uranium, coltan,  diamonds, phosphates, and others needed to sustain a dominant industrial economy.  All of these vital resources Europe steals from the technologically underdeveloped world, like Africa.  For the last several centuries, European countries have engaged in this theft as individual empires, establishing their dominance over the rest of the world with some level of competition against one another.  Examples are the historical dominance of Britain over the rest of the European colonizers as seen through the old saying "the sun never sets on the British Empire" which was designed to speak to the fact Britain maintained colonies on all continents and over all of humanity.  More recent examples are conflicts in Africa, such as Rwanda. The conflict there, portrayed through movies like "Hotel Rwanda" is of Africans being unable to resolve issues among ourselves.  This is a useful analysis for imperialism because it supports the racist theory that we are primitive and uncivilized.  What is never widely discussed is how Belgium and France used their power to gain influence over the Hutu and Tutsi people to pit them against one another as a part of the European strategy to control all of Central Africa.  The Berlin Conference in 1884 served to bring some organization to Europe's colonization of Africa, but the European Union came to take that organization to a much higher level.  With one currency, shared trade relationships, and unified borders, the objective of the Union was and is to strengthen Europe's capacity to maintain its power, which is based on exploiting Africa and other places around the world.  So, no one opposed to imperialism should see the weakening of the European Union as a negative as it relates to our struggle for self determination.  The move to the right in Europe and America is a reflection of the decline of capitalism and its inability to provide privilege to the exploited people inside of the industrialized countries.  The growing awareness of this lack of ability within capitalist countries is logically going to be expressed through xenophobic and racist reactions from the least oppressed in these societies.  We shouldn't equate that negative reaction with a need to support the imperialist objective of the European Union because its agenda of dominance for Europe is against the interests of the masses of people on the planet today.

Although most people in the West, including most Africans, have no idea who Sekou Ture is, this great son of Africa predicted the fall of the European Union long before its emergence.  He wrote in his 1974 article "Revolution, Culture, and Pan-Africanism" that Europe's history, quite different than Africa.  He argued that movement  for unity in Europe would never work because the foundation is based on the exploitation of Africa and its continued reliance on imperialism to fuel its existence at the expense of the African continent.  By the contrary, Ture argued that Africa's rise to unification is fueled by its desire to liberate itself from European dominance.  And, that Africa's march towards unification is based on Africa's advancement from smaller social aggregates to larger social aggregates.  An evolution Ture argues was interrupted by European expansion and colonization in Africa.  He continues that Africa's march towards unification is nothing except the continuation of the path we were engaged in before colonialism broke down our progress.

In other words, Europe's unity is based on maintaining exploitation.  Africa's unity is based on eliminating exploitation.  Europe's interest in a union is designed to consolidate its influence and power, which is based on stealing from oppressed peoples.  Africa's interest in creating one unified socialist Africa is based upon creating the capacity we need to create our own self sufficiency.  Two completely different things that can never be compared because Europe's domination of Africa has been based in keeping Africa separate in order to accommodate European interests.  This is the reason the 59 countries in Africa (including the islands) were created in the first place.  They serve no interest for Africa, only European neo-colonialist interests.  And every reason reactionaries give to justify separation in Africa can easily be disputed by looking at European interests.  The most recent example of the splitting of the Sudan is a clear one.  This action has done nothing to improve the conditions for the people of Sudan.  It has greatly benefited the imperialist interests from the U.S., Europe, China, etc., who are there to extract oil as cheaply as possible.  It has benefited the cultural imperialists who were the primary sources advancing the lies about Arab/African conflict or Islamic/Christian conflict.  Purposely hidden has been the clear statement from the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement of Southern Sudan (the unquestioned voice of Southern Sudan) who have stated since their inception that they want a secular government in Sudan e.g not Islamic or Christian in spite of what imperialism is telling you.

Unity in Africa is necessary to correct the problems indicated above.  As well as to provide resources and dignity to African people outside of the African continent who are only in these European countries and the U.S. and Israel today because of the devastating impacts of colonialism and neo-colonialism in Africa.  There are plenty of examples that can be provided to illustrate this, but I can choose one to make the point quite clearly.  Today, it is a fact that the San Joaquin valley in Central California is one of the five largest producers of produce in the entire world.  Its actually the truth to state that if you are eating fruits and vegetables, you are eating something that originated in the San Joaquin valley.  That entire region is no more than approximately 75,000 hectares of arable land.  There are 400 million Africans who are starving across the world today.  This is true while Africa possesses 600 million hectares of arable land, of which over 500 million hectares are not even being utilized for anything productive today.  This example clearly illustrates why Pan-Africanism or one united socialist Africa is the solution to the problems Africans face.  The organization of just a small percentage of that arable land and its careful development is the key to wiping out hunger for the entire African continent and African people everywhere.  The development of just a  significant portion of that arable land is enough to wipe out hunger for all of humanity.  Africans in the U.S., or Canada, or the Caribbean, or Europe, or any one country in Africa cannot accomplish this achievement, but the unification of Africa can and that is why a united states of Africa under one continental socialist government is necessary.  

There's no question that White people across the world are being faced with challenges most of them are not accustomed to.  The logical reaction to this is racism and the scapegoating of people of color.  This has been the go to card for the imperialists against the masses of white people for centuries and since it continues to work, there is no reason for them to change that strategy.  That doesn't change the fact that Europe will need to come to grips with the reality that its place on the top of the world has days that are numbered.  This is true because that place was never established based on the virtues of Europe, but based on the theft, murder, and subjugation Europe has carried out.  The challenges within the European Union and Britain are just manifestations of that struggle.  And the challenges being faced with the upcoming election in the U.S. is more of the same.  All of this is challenged by the fact the masses of people in the world are marching forward and as Africa unites it makes consolidation of power in Europe much more difficult under the current exploitation capitalist model.  Whether White people like this or not, its inevitable.  No where have you seen White people wearing shirts with all of Europe pictured on them.  No where do European/White musicians sing songs about Europe's unity.  None of this happens because the so-called unity of Europe is a forced component of a dying colonial/capitalist system.  By the contrary, for quite some time now Africans from all over the world, from the Caribbean to South America to Australia, to the U.S., to Canada, to Europe, and across Africa; we are singing about Africa in multiple languages.  We are expressing our cultural connection to Africa.  We are looking more and more to one another across the African world.  Even Africans who previously disputed our claims to Pan-Africanism who are traveling across the world are forced today to acknowledge this growing phenomenon.  This is happening because unlike the European model, we recognize that our future is tied together and our unity is our salvation.  For those of you who are true accomplices to our liberation, your role is to quiet the confusion in your communities from those misguided souls who will attempt to interpret our progress incorrectly.  Our quest isn't an anti-European one and our cry out for African unity isn't a threat to Europe or her descendants.  You must educate your people that we are simply correctly the wrongs of the last 500 years of which the White empires of the world have been built and maintained.  Even European theorists like V.I. Lenin recognized this in his classic work "Imperialism" where he acknowledged that nationalism, being a dialectical phenomenon, has its place as a prerequisite in the struggle for socialism.  You have much work to do with your folks, left and right.  For us, we cannot shed any tears for the European Union.  Yes, its demise will mean suffering for us, but what else is new.  We must educate our people that the suffering of today has to become the key to the freedom of tomorrow.  We must also make sure we understand the clear differences between our quest for unity and what is happening in Europe.  We cannot let imperialism confuse us into believing the history off Europe is the history of the world.  Our path  is different and we have to understand this in order for us to do the work needed to solve our problems.
 





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Gun Control and the Horse and Pony Show in Washington D.C.

6/22/2016

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I've spent time this week watching the piss poor acting job being carried out by U.S. democratic and republican leaders in congress around this gun control issue.  Elected representatives from the democrats are staging a sit in right now to demand that a strange bill focused on keeping people on government watch lists from being able to buy guns be passed.  I realize that the masses of people are so hungry for justice that many of us continue to fall for whatever these thugs drop off their government table towards us, but you can't be that thirsty that you are willing to drink this poison, can you?  A bill to prohibit people on government watch lists from buying guns?  Are you serious?  Two thirds of the terrorist shootings in this country are carried out by European men, born and raised in the U.S.  Men who are not on any list for anything beyond KKK and skinhead membership rolls.  Police agencies continue to shoot us down like dogs while guns are readily and easily supplied to the inner cities at a much greater ease and supply than quality food.  Everyone is acting like we don't know that the people producing these government lists e.g. the Federal Bureau of Investigation, etc., are the most proven terrorist organizations in existence.  Their resume of illegal and terrorist activities against people who have done nothing beyond stand up for their rights as human beings goes back to their brutality against the Universal Negro Improvement Association in the 1920s, to the Communist Party USA and the Socialist Workers Party in the 50s, to the civil rights and Black Power movements and organizations of the 60s and 70s, to activists from all areas of justice and human rights in the present day.  So any list produced by these deranged sociopaths in these federal agencies is only good for repression exercises against those who continue to be the true moral voice in this backward society.  The people on their lists should be getting support and resources, not restrictions of any kind.  Anybody who has studied even a small does of history should know better than to accept this sham representation as progress. 

During this current so-called sit in, we are supposed to be inspired by the likes of John Lewis, who is being identified as the democratic leader of this circus charade.  Lewis is without question a hero in the civil rights movement in the early 60s. As we moved through the mid 60s, he than demonstrated the degree in which his ego outdistanced his sense of justice by how poorly he handled his defeat to Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) as chairperson of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1966.  And he continued to go down hill from there to the point where today, he is an elected member of congress who like all his peers in the so-called congressional black caucus, is beholden to the corporate interests that are the very cause of our oppression.  As a result, instead of the type of real grassroots struggle/push against the system that SNCC represented in 1966 when they decided to reject Lewis as their leader, we are left with Lewis leading a corporate and commercial sit in today that disgraces the real risks and sacrifices that SNCC and others bravely carried out in sit ins 50 years ago.  Sorry Mr. Lewis, but you should have learned in the 60s that millionaire legislators staging a sit in offers nothing beyond a sound bite.  Those people have nothing to risk and nothing to lose.  They don't even have the courage and decency to at least add a hunger strike.  At least that would create some real sacrifice for an otherwise pitiful situation.  This sit in, like the silly bill it is triggered by, is nothing except a show to make it appear as if some work is being carried out that will benefit the masses of people when in reality, nothing except fancy language will come from anything that passes out of Washington D.C.

As someone who has bought guns in every state on the West Coast since the 1980s, and as someone who is actively involved in the struggle for justice, as usual, I have a much different view on the subject than the capitalist U.S. legislature.  Its quite obvious to me that when you build a society based on injustice, violence, lies, and inequity, you are going to produce a population that learns to rely on those very same dysfunctional elements when faced with personal challenges.  Most of these shooters are alienated, unstable people whose dysfunctions are a direct result of the trauma of this backward system.  Men are taught that violence is the honorable way to address problems and every institution in this society, from school to media to church promotes that framework.  If you don't believe that, ask yourself why the vast majority of so-called churches in this country haven't issued a peep of protest against the war efforts this country has waged in the last 20 years.  In fact, most of them openly and actively support war even though any C grade high school student knows that all of those wars were and are unjustified.  So, if anyone in the U.S. legislature was truly committed to resolving this mass shooting problem then they would start by addressing the real political, economic, and social, inequities in this society.  They would prioritize real quality education, insuring the type of mass spending advantage over military expenditures instead of it being the other way around like it is today.  They would seriously address the problems of white supremacy and patriarchy of which this violence is rooted as the byproducts of capitalism.  There's much more, but there's no reason to continue because none of these things will ever happen in this capitalist society.  Instead, all you will ever get is the type of horse and pony show that you are getting right now.

I feel sorry for you if you really believe a protest to produce what they are talking about is progress.  Once a revolution is successful in this society, and the type of people first initiatives I alluded to in the paragraph above are prioritized and implemented, then there would no reason for people like me to feel like protection is necessary, but until then, and while every racist and intolerant element in this society is armed to the teeth, and threatening and violating us more and more, miss me with your gun control talk and you can definitely keep the circus shows.  Has John Lewis digressed so much that he actually believes any talk of gun restriction that isn't even addressing the fact police and other state agents are the poster children of terrorism in the world today is worth the paper its written on.  Then again, its not like I would ever expect the capitalist legislature to ever seriously address police terrorism.

I'm not surprised by Mr. Lewis, Nancy Pelosi, or any of those people.  I am concerned that so many of you who should know better are still so easily impressed.



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Remembering the Impact of the Black Power March of 1966

6/16/2016

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Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) unleashing the new Black Power theme during the March against Fear on June 17th, 1966, in Mississippi. Hundreds of Africans responded enthusiastically while large numbers of white supremacists stood by watching. This night would ignite the modern Black Power movement.
In February of 1992, I had the honor, as I did several times between 1984 and 1997, of coordinating Kwame Ture's (Stokely Carmichael) security for his All African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) presentations throughout Northern California.  In those days, we called them Kwame Ture Recruitment Drives or KTRDs.  Once a year, Kwame would leave Guinea-Conakry and travel to Europe, Canada, the U.S. the Caribbean, and Central and South America for speaking engagements.  We considered his presentations to be our primary method of recruiting people into the A-APRP, thus the title.  During this particular 1992 KTRD, Kwame and our security team of four people had arrived at Sonoma State University to join about a dozen A-APRP organizers who were already there and about 300 students and community members for his highly anticipated speaking event that evening.  As we were checking in with the Student Activities office, the young man sitting at the reception table became very interested in the number of African students who were engaging with Kwame.  These students, so excited that someone of international prestige would come to speak to them, were making a huge fuss about Kwame being present.  The young man - of European descent - and sporting a long ponytail, asked me who Kwame was and why everyone was making such an issue about him being there.  Kwame overheard the young man's question and responded by telling him "I'm one of the reasons you can wear that ponytail!"

The ponytail wearing student didn't understand Kwame's response until I took time to explain it to him.  Before the "Black Power" movement in the late 60s, pretty much everything in the U.S. was status quo European, hetero-normative cultural norm.  Not only was it extremely rare that anyone even challenged this in a public way, but to do so would only confirm that the challenger was someone weird and to be avoided.  European, white, anglo, Christian, hetero-normative was the way everyone was supposed to be and nothing in the media, schools, churches, work places, or any other institution refuted that.  This was true until the Black power movement ushered in a new era where African people began to explore who we are as a people independent of the capitalist White power system.  We began to explore our African personality and identity as it relates to appearance, presentation, and ideology.  This movement brought about a new level of consciousness where African people expressed that we were going to be who we are, whether America liked it or not.  This idea was most radically and effectively communicated through our organizations.  Most notably, the Black Panther Party, Republic of New Afrika, and Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), among others.  By the 70s, the values of the Black Power movement had achieved massive institutionalization within the African community which was most effectively expressed in our push for self determination as a people.  Our efforts were mirrored by other communities, including European women with the radicalization of the women's liberation movement.  Then the (then titled) Gay liberation movement, etc.  Whether these movements admit it or not, they were all very deeply influenced and encouraged by the Black Power movement.  So, this is what Kwame meant that day at Sonoma State.  The fact the young man could wear a ponytail, was because of the Black Power movement which attacked political oppression, but also attacked accepted cultural norms and appearance.  All of which at the time reflected the limited value that imperialism wanted to promote.  These movements, led by the Black Power movement, opened the door for a much expanded cultural expression and space which previously didn't exist.  So, even something as small as how someone wears their hair is a reflection of this mass struggle for justice.

Unfortunately, most of the history of the Black Power movement is still largely untold.  Today, June 17th, represents the 50th  commemoration of the March against Fear in 1966 which for all intent and purposes, launched the Black Power movement of the late 60s.  The march didn't start out that way.  It started as the brainchild of James Meredith who was the first African admitted to the University of Mississippi.  Its almost impossible to convey the sense of dread and fear that permeated the environment for those doing civil rights work in Mississippi during that time.  The idea that someone would hurt and try to kill you for your desire to be able to do basic things like vote, live where you want, eat where you want, was so widespread at that time that civil rights workers lived with the trauma of death on a daily basis.  This was illustrated in the fact Meredith was shot on the second day of the march.  This happened within an atmosphere in Mississippi just 11 years after the brutal murder of Emmet Till.  Where Medgar Evers had been gunned down in his driveway just three years earlier.  Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, murdered just two years before.  Violence by the KKK and other racist elements in Mississippi and Alabama were operating with ease and impunity against the African freedom movement during this time.  It is impossible for people in 2016 to understand the courage of the organizers who placed themselves in extreme danger from violent, deranged racists who had free reign to do whatever to whomever they wanted.  It was in this environment that the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) led by Dr. Martin Luther King, SNCC, led by Kwame Ture, and the Congress of Racial Equality, led by Floyd McKissick, descended upon Mississippi to pledge to pick up the March against Fear from the point Meredith had been shot down.  As the march picked up steam on the hot Mississippi roadway, the marchers were faced with multitudes of White Mississippians lining the shoulder of the march to openly display KKK uniforms, conferderate flags, and other racist symbols while making every effort to physically intimidate the organizers and marchers along the way.  SNCC, undeterred by this terrorism, focused on its strategy to inject further militancy and African self determination into the march.  For three years, SNCC had been openly advocating a change in civil rights strategy.  Instead of multi-racial work, which African SNCC organizers felt exposed the contradictions of white supremacy, these organizers had been calling for sincere White organizers to organize in European/White communities while leaving the African communities to African organizers.  Examples of the need for this were Whites centering the terror on their experiences, Northern Whites not always respecting the very real danger organizers, particularly African organizers, faced by disregarding the protocols set up by the organizations, and the condescending approach many Europeans displayed when engaging the Southern African communities.  Consequently, the new militant leadership of SNCC symbolized by the defeat of John Lewis by Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture), planned to use this march to launch a more militant and African self determination theme.  The generally held and articulated theme of civil rights marches leading up to the March against Fear was "Freedom Now."  SNCC boldly sought to replace "Freedom Now" with "Black Power."  Their strategy for launching the new slogan was based in having organizers branch out ahead of the march to meet with African community people along the way.  As the march neared, the task these organizers had was to meet with sharecroppers and local people and have mini events and rallies around the "Black Power" theme.  The ability of these courageous and determined organizers in the face of overwhelming danger, and with no cover or support, to carry out this work is overwhelming to think about.  Yet, they did it.  People like Dada Mukassa Ricks were assigned to engage in this fearless work and after having several events in advance of the march, Ricks reported back to SNCC late one night that the people were ready for SNCC to unleash "Black Power."

It was a balmly and dangerous night on June 17th when Kwame Ture, prompted by Ricks, delivered the "Black Power" theme to hundreds of Mississippi Africans.  The people, angered by hundreds of years of the blatant legacy of violence and disrespect represented by being an African in Mississippi, responded with complete enthusiasm to the new theme.  From that night forward, the tenor of the march changed.  From that night forward, the tenor of the entire movement changed.  From that night forward, the entire country and the world changed.

Kwame Ture became the poster child of the "Black Power" movement and much more needs to be written about the price he shouldered by taking on that task.  People today have no idea how much he became public enemy number one in America.  All one has to do is go to Youtube and watch his 1966 appearances on shows like "Face the Nation" or his interviews with people like Mike Wallace to get a sense of the degree of hatred and contempt America held for African people in general and this Brother in particular for this courageous stand. 

Of course, three short years after 1966, Kwame Ture was living in Guinea-Conakry, never to live in the U.S. again.  Still, the legacy of the "Black Power" movement and its impact on the world has yet to be measured.  And the role of people like Kwame Ture, Ruby Doris Robinson, and Mukassa Ricks is also yet to be seriously acknowledged.  If you are African, Indigenous, Asian, a woman, LGBTQ, or physically disabled, you owe a strong nod of respect and thanks to SNCC, Kwame Ture, Mukassa Ricks, Cleve Sellers, Ruby Doris Robinson, Ms. Fannie Lou Hamer, and all those who risked their lives for us to be able to express ourselves and live as we are today.  Its also worth noting that Kwame's decision to move to Africa shouldn't be viewed as some sort of deviation from the "Black Power" path.  Kwame himself articulated it clearly many times when he was engaged in one of those speaking tours up to his death in 1998.  He said "in the 60s, we defined our struggle as a struggle against racism so we determined that our best weapon was to affirm that we were Black.  What we learned is that our struggle wasn't just a struggle against racism, it is a struggle for power and power is land and resources.  Thus, we grew to understand that our struggle is actually a struggle for control of land and resources and our land and resources are in Africa.  Therefore, we grew to realize our struggle is one of achieving one unified socialist Africa!"

From Black Power forward to Pan-Africanism.  Reflecting today on some brave people who sacrificed so much to make a contribution to humanity.  I don't know about you, but when I feel down, I think about these people, many of them we know, many nameless, faceless.  I take a moment to drink in their sacrifices.  Their fears.  The very real dangers they faced.  And the fact many of them didn't make it.  And, when I think of what they sacrificed, I immediately feel much better about whatever it is I'm consumed with.



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Orlando's Mass Shooting:  Is Violence as American as Apple Pie?

6/12/2016

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So we woke up today to the sad news of another mass shooting.  This one in Orlando, Florida.  Fifty people reported killed.  This is of course a tragedy to see more pointless loss of life.  The families and communities will be filled with grief for a lifetime and this is truly unfortunate.  Equally if not more unfortunate is our continued inability to move beyond just reacting emotionally in order to place these events into any type of logical perspective.  I don't make this statement lightly and I'm not at all insensitive to the suffering the people who have lost loved ones are feeling today.  In fact, I come from the type of community where people get shot all the time.  Shot by police.  Shot by each other, dead as a result of the oppression of the capitalist system. I've had loved ones shot and killed from senseless violence so I certainly understand the trauma associated with that, actually much better than most who are doing the talking about it.  This is really the point of what will be communicated here.  As I'm writing this, the capitalist media machine is in overdrive using the massacre to paint the picture of Islam as the culprit.  They are continuing their propaganda effort to convince you that you are not safe as long as "these Muslim people" are able to decide they can kill you in the name of "Allah."  That's what they have been messaging all day and they will continue to message the massacre this way in spite of the very real circumstances that demonstrate to us that much more is really happening here than what they are claiming.

I guess when these tragedies occur, we are all supposed to become so wrapped up in our emotional trauma that we are incapable of connecting history to what is happening today.  What I mean is since the days of the so-called colonies, this country has promoted, preached, and demonstrated that violence is an acceptable and preferred method of addressing any contradiction.  Examples?  The violent theft of Indigenous land, and the resulting and continued violent subjugation of the Native peoples.  The forced servitude of Europeans escaping violent religious persecution in Europe, and the continued exploitation, manipulation, and pimping of the White working class.  The subjugation of Africa, the theft, murder, and exploitation of millions upon millions of Africans and the continued exploitation and repression of Africa and African people.  Capitalism was built on violent subjugation and it's maintained on it.  The capitalist countries, all of them, are where they are e.g. industrialized, rich, and technologically advanced, because of their violent subjugation of humanity.  And this society doesn't even deny this.  Instead, they glorify it.  The people who perpetuated the violence are held up as heroes.  Slave holding George Washington.  Indian killing Andrew Jackson.  Slave holding Thomas Jefferson.  War mongering George Bush (both of them).  Prison profiteering and country destroying Bill and Hillary Clinton.  And Barack Obama who is without question a war criminal for his sanctions of war crimes against the people of Somalia, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.  Memorial Day glorifies violence.  Veterans Day glorifies violence.  The Fourth of the Lie glorifies violence.  Thanksgiving glories violence.  In fact, this country's so-called national anthem speaks of "bombs bursting in air."  Nowhere is peaceful resolution of conflict encouraged, taught, and nurtured on a level that can even be confused with being of mass character.  So, in spite of whatever theories people have for why these tragedies happen, whatever reasons you come up with, the fact these tragedies keep happening cannot realistically be a surprise to anyone.  The largest mass murder in U.S. history?  That's a joke right?  What about Tulsa in 1921?  Hundreds of Africans killed by government bombing!  What about Wounded Knee in 1980?  Hundreds of Indigenous people killed by the military you want us to honor.  What about the hundreds of massacres of Africans and Indigenous people's that have taken place over the last several hundred years, where thousands were killed?  There's no question that they are perpetuating pure fantasy that violence is somehow unnatural in this country.  As Jamil Abdullah Al Amin (H. Rap Brown) said in 1968, "violence is as American as apple pie!"

Imperialism knows that people utilizing violence isn't a surprise.  That's why this system works so hard to propagate to you who's suffering you need to view as worthy and who's suffering you don't even need to acknowledge.  Its not that we don't think vigils should be held for victims of senseless killing, we do, but we wonder out loud why whenever a massacre happens to people in the industrialized capitalist countries e.g. the U.S., Belgium, and France, the masses of people mobilize that very same day to pay respects to the dead yet numerically, more people are massacred in Nigeria, Gaza, Syria, and Libya, based on the same pretenses, you say the people in Orlando were killed, yet you don't take the same course of action in those instances?  Why?  Nigeria is no farther from the U.S. than France.  There were over 50 people killed in Chicago over the so-called Memorial Day weekend and Chicago is right here in the U.S.  So, before you change your social media picture to identify with the victims in capitalist countries, take a second to think about this contradiction.  The reasons these things happen like they do is because imperialism has established a clear hierarchy around who's lives matter and what they want you to see as a threat.  This is important because in order to justify their continued subjugation of the masses of people, they have to convince you - subconsciously - that some people's lives matter more than others.  And, they have to convince you that you are not safe and the reason you are not safe is because someone, the Muslims, are after you.  Take it from someone who has traveled all over the world alone with a U.S. passport.  No one is after you.  What people are really after is what imperialism has stolen from them, but imperialism has many of you convinced that you are responsible for what imperialism has stolen and benefits from, even if you don't benefit from it.  They are forcing you to believe you have to be their shock troops because they have tragically convinced you that their enemies are your enemies.

Whatever the reasons for these shootings, we can easily pinpoint it back to the capitalist system and its institutionalized organization of oppression as the cause.  This is true in each case.  That's why when the massacres happen, you can count on capitalism/imperialism to capitalize in seconds on the event to reinforce its interests and to redirect away from the true reasons for these violent occurrences.  Imperialism's interests are to keep the masses of oppressed people divided so that it can continue to conquer all of us.  They focus primarily on working class Whites because you have proven the most easy to manipulate because you want so badly to believe that the lies imperialism has told all of us for centuries are all true.  If you just work hard, you will prosper.  The truth is imperialism has prospered and you have gotten its crumbs, but now, imperialism and capitalism are in a state of severe decline and are therefore unable to provide even those crumbs to so many White working class people.  So they have to create someone to point the finger at for you so you don't recognize that they are the problem.  One hundred and fifty years ago, they told White people your problem is the Africans when slavery ended.  That worked so well that it remains their go to card even to this day, but they have others.  Communism for many years was their culprit.  You hate it and you are against it even though it has never happened and even if it had, you know so little about it that you couldn't properly identify it if communism walked up to you and slapped you in the face.  Now, they are telling you its immigrants and Islam and the fact they are using many of the same arguments they have used to scare you for the last 150 years (Africans were taking your jobs in the 1870s.  Now its immigrants) you are so willing to go along with them that they continue to scare you with the same lies.  Its like the no good parent who continues to disappoint you while keeping you strung along with the promise he will come and pick you up and take you to the park, even though he leaves you sitting by the window waiting for him each and every time.  So, the latest villain is Islam.  They are now the source of your problems.  And, you are so programmed to react to this message on an emotional level that you never stop to think how illogical this argument actually is (and always has been).  You cannot name one job immigrants are doing that would be suitable to you.  If that was so, you would have been doing the job all along.  You can't even name two or three rational aspects of Arab life and culture nor for Islam as a religion.  You don't know anything about the Arab world to even logically argue what it is you have that they want.  Its as if you are so insane that you actually believe people are intent on killing you just because you are wonderful, White, and in this country.  And, besides what imperialism has fed you, you cannot argue cohesively that Muslims have anything to do with the violence taking place.  From what I read, the shooter today was a G4S employee, the same company that exploits Africa as one of its largest employers.  This company produces prisons, while also playing a critical role in maintaining Israeli apartheid against Palestinian people.  Who knows what the connections are here, but you won't consider any of that.  Imperialism has tricked you by calling mass shootings by European men acts of mental disease, instead of terrorism so you will completely and ignorantly ignore the fact that the overwhelming majority of mass shootings happening are being carried out by European/White people.  So, this backward system has set up an informational disconnect where a young white boy can walk in a church and kill nine Africans because he wants to terrorize African people, but you don't see that the way you see today's massacre, but if an Arab man kills people because he wants to terrorize them, its now an international conspiracy to you.  You let someone as ignorant and stupid as Donald Trump tell you he will fix all of this and you have absolutely no tangible or logical method to do that other than creating more terror against innocent people.  You cannot even explain intelligently what he will do that's any different than any other representative of imperialism.  If any of them had the key to your problems you wouldn't be as mad and ill-rational as you are right now, would you?  You are being used to divide working people against one another and you are a willing participant in your own oppression.  If you are mad at anyone, it shouldn't be the Muslim community, it should be the capitalist classes and yourself for being such a historical fool, over and over again.

So, for all those with good intentions, have your vigils and find your peace.  Somewhere along the way, think about why you aren't thinking of a vigil the next time people are massacred in Africa or the Middle East?  Ask yourself why white supremacist terrorists who target people of color are given a pass as confused individuals, but people of color are automatically a part of international networks of violence?  Ask yourself why it is that you believe a system built and maintained on violence would produce people not inclined to commit planned and random acts of violence?  Ask yourself why some people hold less value than others?  Ask yourself  why so many people, primarily White people, who are oppressed by capitalism as this is being written, are so determined to see themselves and the capitalist system as one and the same?  After all those questions are out there and exhausted, than ask yourself who benefits from all of these questions we are raising?  Once you do that, then when you attend the next  vigil, maybe we will finally start getting the answers we are looking for. 
 



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The Current Crisis in Guinea-Bissau for Beginners

6/9/2016

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Up to date pictures transmitted to us by our PAIGC/A-APRP comrades in Guinea-Bissau. The people massing to protest neo-colonialism while the military blocks anyone or anything from getting into our comrades within the presidential compound
I am fortunate to have people read this site who live all over the world, but a large percentage of the people who come here are obviously people within the U.S.  If we are honest, we know that most people within the U.S., even many people born in Africa, know very little about Africa outside of imperialist propaganda e.g. Africa is poor, undemocratic, and chaotic.  For the past 72 hours, the All African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) has been issuing an urgent alert about the current crisis in Guinea Bissau, the small West African country that actually is one of the closest points in Africa to New York City. 

We are not issuing this alert as some charity organization or some group of African people in the diaspora (outside of Africa) who just have an interest and/or concern about Africa.  We are acting as an international, revolutionary, Pan-African, political party based in Africa with many cadres on the ground working to build Pan-Africanism in Guinea-Bissau and all throughout the African world. 

We find that understanding this in the proper context is very difficult for many people in the U.S., even people who do work with the A-APRP, including many of our newer members.  This is because in the U.S., most people are trained in a very deliberate way to see the U.S. as the complete center and absolute finality of the entire world.  This propaganda extends well beyond U.S. borders as even people in most other countries around the world are subjected to this extremely distorted and inaccurate view.  As revolutionary Pan-Africanists, we are consistently faced with this problem from people on the so-called revolutionary white left, African/Black nationalists, as well as from reactionary elements.  So, hopefully, this brief piece can give you some context in which to understand who/what we are in the A-APRP and the current crisis so that you can hopefully act.  By acting, we mean simply making a phone call on behalf of our comrades who are under seige currently.

Some brief history is that Guinea-Bissau (GB) is an extremely small country of just less than 2 million people that borders Guinea, Senegal, and Gambia, in West Africa.  Its an extremely vibrant country that was once a part of the famed Mali Empire which in its height in the 17th century was one of the most advanced civilizations on the planet.  The Portuguese came to colonize GB in the mid 1400s.  By the 1800s, they had consolidated their control of the area.  They came because of the availability of gold, diamonds, bauxite (aluminum products), limestone, and other valuable minerals.  Portugal ruled over GB for centuries and because Portugal was and remains one of the poorest countries in all of Europe, its no accident that it took armed insurrection to remove Portugal's hold over all of its colonies in Africa e.g. Guinea-Bissau, Angola, and Mozambique. 

Of course, just as is the case with all oppressed people, the people of Guinea-Bissau never accepted colonialism and oppression.  In 1957, Amilcar Cabral and his brother Luis Cabral formed the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (Islands off the coast of GB) or the PAIGC-CV.  From 1957 through the 60s, the PAIGC-CV fought the Portuguese in a brutal war for liberation.  As the people of GB moved towards victory, the last critical years of this struggle saw the PAIGC-CV based in neighboring Guinea at the invitation of the Democratic Party of Guinea (PDG) and President Sekou Ture.  In fact, Guinea sustained a murderous invasion by Portugal in November of 1970 as punishment for supporting the PAIGC-CV as well as the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (founded by Amilcar Cabral and Agostino Neto), and the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO - founded by Eduardo Mondlane).  It should be noted that Amilcar Cabral, being based in Guinea, was also one of the original members of the A-APRP along with Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael).  In 1973, Amilcar Cabral was assassinated by agents working on behalf of Portuguese imperialism.  Nine months later, Guinea-Bissau won it's independence from Portugal.

Since independence, the PAIGC-CV has struggled to develop and consolidate itself as the democratic governing party inside of Guinea-Bissau.   This is not unusual.  Like all people, we reserve the right to go through our growing pains as we develop our independence.  This is especially true since we are constantly subjected to sabotage by neo-colonialist elements working on behalf of international capitalism.  Consequently, the PAIGC-CV since independence has had to battle multiple military coups and takeovers as well as a period of separation from the Cape Verde Islands.  Possibly, the most intense struggle has been the ideological struggle to consolidate the revolutionary Pan-Africanist ideology of Amilcar Cabral within the entire country.  Since the early 70s, the A-APRP has been working to strengthen this process of ideological development within the PAIGC and this work has evolved into several significant victories.  Today, the PAIGC is the dominant political party within GB and A-APRP cadre play central roles as ranking officials within the PAIGC.  These roles include being directors/administrators of national programs like Amilcar Cabral African Youth (JAAC) which is the organizing wing for youth within GB.  Note that this integration is the strategy the A-APRP employs in our work to build Pan-African capacity for the All African Committee for Political Coordination (A-ACPC) which is our strategic objective for Pan-Africanism as called for by Kwame Nkrumah in the "Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare."  Another example is when Kwame Ture was alive, he served as the Political Director for the PDG in neighboring Guinea as well as being a Central Committee member for the A-APRP.  There are a number of similar examples in Sierra Leone, Ghana, Kenya, etc. 

A-APRP cadre serve as the militant element in all political formations we function in throughout Africa.  Our objective is of course to bring these formations to the Nkrumahist/Tureist notion of the A-ACPC and the All African People's Revolutionary Army (A-APRA) leading to building the actual A-APRP in its finished version - the fusion of all revolutionary Pan-Africanist political formations within the African world. 

Today, our militant cadre on the ground within the PAIGC in Guinea-Bissau are fighting to prevent the takeover of the country by reactionary elements who wish to keep the country imbued in neo-colonialism or a reliance on capital and international capitalism.  The PAIGC has held government in Guinea Bissau this latest round since 2014.  They won a majority in that national election which all international observers gave high marks for integrity.  These past few days, the crisis has resulted from the president - Jose Mario Vaz dismantling the entire government (an act outside the constraints of his authority) while also firing the democratically elected prime minister Carlos Correia, also in violation of the country's constitutional requirements.  Vaz is calling for a select group of government officials loyal to his actions to create a new government.  The masses of militants within the PAIGC are calling for the masses of people in Guinea-Bissau to resist this attempted coup.  Remember that African political parties are not organized the way European parties are organized.  We have mass political parties, not vanguard.  So, everyone in GB is a member of the PAIGC so decisions and democracy require actions the president has violated.  As a result, A-APRP/PAIGC cadre went to the governmental palace and decided to stay there, demanding that constitutionality and democracy be respected and restored to Guinea-Bissau.  The presidential staff ordered the paramilitary to remove the protestors and were it not for the masses of people who showed up to support the protest, and your calls and emails, our comrades could have been hurt and/or killed.

The latest update is that the funeral of Carmen Pereira, long standing militant comrade within the PAIGC and it's women's wing UDEMA, was held yesterday and the remains of our immortal comrade were driven intentionally to the government palace where our comrades are held without food and water as an act of defiance to this military/neo-colonialist hegemony.  The reports are that some number of militia people have deserted the scene, being unwilling to be accomplices to this immorality.  Of course the struggle is a long hard one and we must continue to apply pressure. 

In the last couple of years, there has been a heightened degree of protest in various parts of the world, including the U.S. around police terrorism.  These are wonderful developments, in spite of the fact there is often much confusion as to the objective of these protests e.g. concrete developments.  In the case of the crisis in Guinea-Bissau, our objectives are very clear.  We want to preserve and consolidate the PAIGC in power in the country so that we can continue to radicalize and implement the revolutionary Pan-Africanist, socialist program of Amilcar Cabral, Sekou Ture, Carmen Pereira, Teodora Gomes, Kwame Nkrumah, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, etc.  If you truly support international solidarity, African self determination, and do not see these things strictly within a context of what you already understand and accept within the U.S., we encourage you to continue to make calls to the forces leading this immoral coup calling upon them to desist from their illegality.  By doing so, you are not pleading with the enemy, you are demonstrating that international solidarity you say you support.  The PAIGC/A-APRP in Guinea-Bissau is quite capable of organizing for self determination and Pan-Africanism.  We just need support as we build capacity to be stronger and more self reliant.  So, if you can make a call, we ask you to call the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and ask for Social Order Director  Marcelino Simões Lopes Cabral aka “Djoy” +245 96 668 2722.  Tell him you are dismayed at the illegal events in Guinea-Bissau and that only the people of the PAIGC can decide who they want to govern them.  Tell them to dismiss the paramilitary and let democracy take its course!!  You can email ECOWAS on their international website if you do not possess international calling capabilities.  We thank you for your strong support!




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Whitewashing Muhammad Ali and all Symbols of African Self Determination

6/6/2016

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Since the physical transition of "the Greatest" last Friday, the capitalist print and screen media has been ablaze with so-called tributes to Ali.  All of those accounts are basically the same.  Ali was a humanitarian.  He was a great fighter and an expert self promoter.  He loved everyone and made everyone happy.  The most militant reflection of Ali they dare provide is to depict him as someone who taught us to stand up for what's right.  The problem with all of this is they never actually tell you what right is. 

Most people have some understanding of Ali's stand against being drafted into the Vietnam war, but the capitalist whitewashing very cleverly re-frames that bold stance as an individual act of self expression that took place 50 long years ago.  In other words, they are very crafty about disconnecting Ali's bold anti war stance in 1967 from the current day hawkish war mentally of the capitalist system.  In fact, just one week ago, this country engaged in its annual war propaganda (Memorial Day) by glorifying any and every military conflict this country has engaged in.  While doing this, they entertain no discussion about the corrupt positions America occupied in each of these wars from the Civil War up to the latest incursions into Iraq and Afghanistan.  So in essence, the sheer impact of Ali's public stance against the Vietnam war is buried beneath the effort to portray him as an American hero.  And, since Parkinson's Disease silenced Ali's strong voice in the late 80s, capitalism has had the benefit of almost 30 years of his actual life to work on creating him in the image they want you to have of him.  That image is of a man who loved and entertained everyone.  The man who held the torch at the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996.  The one who hugged babies.  Who saved hostages in other countries who were captured for engaging in acts supporting U.S. imperialism.  The statesman for U.S. capitalism instead of the man who spoke out against U.S. imperialism.  

Capitalism is so complete with its whitewashing efforts that some of you have already forgotten that there would have been no Muhammad Ali without the Nation of Islam and Malcolm X.  It was Malcolm who did much of the work to bring the young Cassius Clay into the world of Nation of Islam teachings.  In truth, Malcolm had developed a relationship with Clay that placed Malcolm as his spiritual advisor when Elijah Muhammad and the leadership of the Nation of Islam were arguing with Malcolm to distance himself from the future champ because the Nation didn't want to be identified with a loser and no one except Clay, Malcolm, and some of the people in Clay's corner believed Clay had any chance of defeating Sonny Liston in 1964.  After Clay's victory over Liston to become heavyweight champ of the world, the Nation of Islam officially embraced Clay and a few days later, Clay was given the name of Muhammad Ali by Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad.  The truth is some of this occurred as a result of power plays between Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X for influence over the young Ali as Malcolm was on his way out of the Nation of Islam, but what's important to remember is that the Nation of Islam shaped Ali's thoughts and guided his spiritual direction.  So when Ali refused induction into the military in 1967, this wasn't just the actions of a special individual with a strong spirit and self confidence.  This was the result of a disciplined member of a disciplined organization responding to the principles of that organization.  And, contrary to how capitalism tries to spin this part, Ali didn't refuse induction because war is wrong.  Ali was a boxer by trade.  He was no pacifist.  He was refusing to be inducted into the U.S. military because America is a racist country and Ali and the Nation of Islam didn't believe we should risk our lives fighting for a system that oppresses us everyday.  Ali's famous statement "no Vietcong ever called me a n - - - - r" speaks directly to this.  If the U.S. capitalist system didn't see us as citizens worthy of respect and protection, why would any right minded African risk their life to protect this system?  At that time, Africans were burning up hundreds of U.S. cities in open revolt against capitalism. Although we were disorganized, our people were trying to destroy this system, not protect it.  This was the essence behind Ali's militant stance and this is the part the capitalist system is working so hard to help people forget because 50 years later, each and every one of us should be taking the exact same stance regarding U.S. imperialism that Ali and the masses of our people took in 1967.  

It must be stated again that Ali was a Fruit of Islam soldier within the Nation of Islam and his stance against the draft, his statements against white supremacy, all of it, were reflections of this.  And, although Ali hadn't spoken much in public in decades, there is nothing you can find that he said in the last 40 years that takes away from his militancy of the 60s and 70s.  Its not as if he ever renounced his stand against the Vietnam War.  If you listen to capitalism, it wants to paint him as if he didn't have all of his faculties in recent years, but if you study what he did show us, it's clear he was very much in control of what he thought and did.  During these latter years of his life he continued to maintain relationships with revolutionaries like Kwame Ture up through present times and although he didn't actively participate with the Nation of Islam after Elijah Muhammad's death in 1975, he never denounced the Nation.  Another example, there was a controversial dinner from approximately 10 years ago where George W. Bush gave an award to Ali.  Many people felt that this was a slap in the face to the African struggle for justice, but I was focused on the part of the event where Bush said something about Ali, the world, etc., and the "Greatest" seemed to respond to Bush's comments by circling his index finger around his ear to suggest that Bush is lacking in mental stability.  At the time, the media made an issue of this, suggesting Ali was "disrespectful" of the then president.  I remember an undertone that maybe Ali wasn't all there mentally for carrying out this action, but for me, this circa 2005 action was completely consistent with the courage and dignity of the Ali from 1967. 

Well, he's no longer here in his physical form, but his legacy will live forever.  That's why its important that we get that legacy correct.  We cannot let capitalism whitewash our champions for justice.  Ali was a Nation of Islam member who challenged U.S. capitalism for its oppression of African people.  That's the man he was and that's the man he remained.  The system's efforts to paint him as anything less threatening than that is the same corrupt strategy they employ for all of our soldiers for justice.  They want you to think Dr. Martin Luther King was a cheating, cowardly, pacifist, who would let you beat him senseless rather than stand up to you.  They will tell you that Malcolm X was a fire breathing racist (as if either is possible) who changed in his last year (meaning he got soft) to believe that Whites were not devils and that we should all march down the street hand in hand, under capitalism of course.  They have spent the last several decades working on those narratives and for many people, their propaganda is unfortunately working.  Now, they continue to build their profile of Ali.  In fact, you couldn't find a single African freedom fighter that the people embrace that this system isn't attempting to shape their image in capitalism's likeness.  They will tell you anything about our heroes and sheroes except the truth.  They were committed to banging against this backward system because this system isn't for us.  That's why we are here, to tell the truth and to encourage you not to just accept our version of history, but to develop your analytical skills so that you can find out for yourself what happened.  Who Ali actually was.  We want to encourage you to engage in this research not as an academic individual, but as a soldier for justice in your own right who will sit and explore this history with others.  Once you do that, you will become armed enough to understand the forces at work, how they scheme to confuse us and why we must tell our own stories.  Then, the idea is that you will use this information to act on our behalf as oppressed people.  

Ali was a soldier for African liberation and by being that, he automatically is a humanitarian because our struggle is a humanist struggle for justice and as we free African people, we move humanity forward.  The key is you must remember that what made Ali this person was his willingness to sacrifice and stand up on principle.  His willingness to choose justice and his people over the capitalist system and financial reward. 

I believe the only way you can honor anyone is to continue their work.  How many of us are willing to honor Ali by emulating his example?  How many of us will sacrifice financial comfort for justice?  Or as Dead Prez put it "you prefer a Lexus to Justice."  Or, the alternative is to just accept the whitewashing and continue on as wage slaves, oppressed and focused only on finding peace to make space to survive within the system that is killing our people everywhere, everyday.  Ali made his decision and many of us have made ours.  As you reflect on Ali, the question you have to ask yourself is what's your decision?

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Muhammad Ali; The Greatest with an Organization Behind Him

6/4/2016

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Muhammad Ali joking with Kwame Ture in the early 70s
I distinctly remember arguing with my 4th grade friends that morning in 1971 after Muhammad Ali had just lost his first fight to Joe Frazier.  One of my friends had the copy of the San Francisco Examiner and the events of the fight were front page news.  The headline said something to the effect of "How Ali Lost" but we had crossed out "Ali" and replaced it with "Frazier."

None of us had anything against "Smokin" Joe Frazier.  In fact, I recall a great amount of respect I had for him, but Ali was our hero and we could not conceive of our superman being defeated back then.  I remember our school teacher being forced that day to eventually succumb to our emotions around the loss by providing us space to talk about it.  There would have been no way we would have calmed down otherwise.

I was all of eight or nine years old at the time.  I often try and gauge the extent of my revolutionary consciousness at that time, growing up in San Francisco, one of the most politically charged regions in the world, during the height of the Black Power movement.  My conclusion about what I knew and understood is that I probably didn't have many details, but I did have context.  My context was that Muhammad Ali was a member of the Nation of Islam and that he represented a strong and independent African model for self determination.  At that age, I knew of the Nation of Islam very well because they were prominent in my neighborhood and community.  Everyday after school, my friends and I would gather at the small bakery of brother Rodney Muhammad.  Our hope was that he would bless us penniless ghetto children with one of those tasty pastries he had on display or a slice of bean pie.  He understood this and would always come through for us, but only after forcing us to sit and listen to "the teachings" for a bit.  In my neighborhood, there was no one else like the Nation of Islam.  Most of the African men I saw in prominent positions were doing things that were destructive to the community, but not these Africans.  They were strong models of discipline and strength and even at a young age, I understood this.

So, although it has been years since Muhammad Ali had been active within the Nation of Islam, it was always impossible for me to see him separate from them.  The vision of him talking to the European (White) media during my youth was always one of pride and defiance that was provided courtesy of the beliefs of the Nation.  You see, where I came from, hearing him talk about why he refused to go to the Vietnam war made perfect sense.  I recall my father, who himself was drafted, repeating Ali's refrain that "the military is no place for a Black man."  My father was so militant in saying this that he once told me that if I ever joined the military, he would disown me.  Of course, as I grew and my political consciousness grew with me, the idea of my ever doing something like that became a longstanding joke between my father and I up until his death, but only because the message Ali presented resonated with us 100%.

With Ali's passing, the capitalist system will go into overdrive to advance its usual propaganda.  It will present a tale of a man who had charisma and courage who decided to take a stand.  They will suggest that this stand was an individual choice inspired by individual convictions.  They will do their best to ignore the fact that Ali's stance made him public enemy number one in this country during that time.  They will whitewash and individualize this history because the job of the capitalist system is to convince you that the only alternative ever available to you is something, anything, within the realm of the capitalist system.  Never anything, that falls outside the parameters of that system and/or its values.  And individualism is the value that propels the capitalist system.  So, you must be reminded that you are a mere mortal.  Not an icon like someone like Muhammad Ali.  His act was one of individual courage and conviction that you cannot match so since you are not him, you cannot ever achieve the type of personal conviction that he achieved.  That is what capitalism will say.  What we will say is as brave as Muhammad Ali was.  As courageous.  As witty and determined, he was only able to be all of that because he had the support of the Nation of Islam.  We will even go farther and say were it not for his membership within the Nation, he more than likely would have never taken such a courageous stand in the first place.  Acknowledging this takes nothing away from Ali because at the end of the day, he had to make the decision and stand by it, but placing his courageous stand within the context of his organizational affiliation is important because that suggests, properly, that his stand was not an individual act.  It was part and parcel of the struggle of our people for liberation and that he was simply playing his role as a part of that liberation struggle. 

In spite of the fact many people will misunderstand what I'm saying and there will undoubtedly be the usual onslaught of ignorant hate responses, my point is the Nation of Islam had a long standing history of standing up against Africans joining the U.S. military and fighting for U.S. capitalism.  In 1943, long time Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad went to prison for five years for refusing to fight in World War II.  El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, or Malcolm X, the person primarily responsible for bringing Muhammad Ali into the Nation of Islam, used his wit to outsmart the draft board to avoid being drafted into the military in the 40s.  Malcolm was Muhammad's mentor and spiritual advisor and Elijah Muhammad later became Muhammad Ali's spiritual father.  The Nation had a clear position against being drafted and strongly encouraged Ali to submit to that position.  So, it is impossible to recognize Ali's strong stance without acknowledging his membership within the Nation of Islam and their role in leading him to take the position he took against the war.

Its like Kwame Ture was always fond of saying.  "Organization decides everything!"  And our people who took courageous stances were always guided by organization.  W.E.B. DuBois was guided by organization within the Niagara Movement,  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Communist Party, and other organizations to take his bold stance against U.S. imperialism during the 40s.  Marcus Garvey was guided by the principles of the Universal Negro Improvement Association to take on the seemingly unthinkable challenge of "Africa for the Africans at home and abroad" back in the 1920s.  Kwame Ture, Dada Mukassa Ricks, Ruby Doris Robinson, James Foreman, and others within the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee were inspired by their courageous and dangerous work in Mississippi and Alabama to shout "Black Power" on a hot Mississippi night 50 years.  A chant that reverberated across the globe.  Kwame Nkrumah was inspired by our people to build the Convention People's Party in Ghana.  Sekou Ture to build the Democratic Party of Guinea in Guinea.  Amilcar Cabral to build the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau.  Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, inspired by all of this, launched the Black Panther Party for Self Defense with four other brothers in Huey's mother's backyard in West Oakland in October of 1966.  Today, African activists all over the globe are inspired to stand up against police terrorism and injustice.  None of this happens in a vacuum.  Its all apart of our legacy of struggle.  Our legacy of organization.,  This is true because organization does indeed resolve everything.  So, when you think of Muhammad Ali and his contributions the question for me has to be what makes him stand out.  Why was I, and millions of other African and other youth inspired so much by him?  Why not George Foreman or Ken Norton?  Why not Ernie Shavers or Larry Holmes?  All of them were outstanding heavy weight peers of Muhammad Ali yet I've heard many of them respond to his death by proclaiming themselves that he was head and shoulders above them.  Why?  Well, my humble response is that Muhammad was the greatest, but he was prepared to be that by the forces of our liberation struggle.  And when he took the ring and most importantly, when he took his political stand, he was not alone.  He was standing with an organization who's principles guided him every step of the way.  Now some of you who are very skilled at perpetuating negativity, will certainly bring up issues related to his connection to the Nation of Islam.  Did Elijah Muhammad's son Herbert steal Ali's money?  Is that why he fought as long as he did (until he was 40) thus setting up his fate with Parkinsons?  Did the Nation see Ali simply as a cash cow to further their image?  I cannot answer those questions, nor would I want to.  Regardless of the problems, there is no denying that despite whatever problems may have existed, the Nation of Islam took a bold stance against the Vietnam War and as a result, Muhammad Ali had the context to take his equally bold stance.  That's an ill refutable fact and a strong statement in support of Kwame Ture's statement on organization.  So, it is impossible to remember Ali's stance without acknowledging that because it is organization that will produce our future contributors to our liberation.  So, you may not have Ali's boxing skills.  You don't need to have those skills to make a contribution.  You can create and/or strengthen our organizations so that they are ready to accept, support, guide, and influence our youth to take similar stances for justice, freedom, and forward progress.  This reality makes you as important as anyone else at any time in our history.



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Understanding the Difference between Burnout and Fatigue.

6/2/2016

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There is a fundamental difference.  Burnout is when you reach a point where you lose all desire to engage in any elements of the cause, movement, relationship, situation, that you are experiencing the negative emotions around.  This phenomenon typically results from being overwhelmed with all of the issues that are dumped upon you.  More often than not, those issues are steeped in dysfunction which makes the load so much heavier because it is very difficult to see and execute a clear path out of the dysfunction and you burn all of your energy and desire just trying to move, not to mention come to any type of resolution.  Consequently, people who experience burnout seldom return to continue doing and even engaging the work.  Once they reach this point, they are viewing the experience the way you would view being stranded somewhere unpleasant with no way to leave the situation.  Not a scenario you ever want to have to repeat.  In fact, for these folks, even thinking about the situation evokes feelings that will reinforce the desire to avoid being placed in the situation again.  Thus, the reality where that person isn't going to come back to the work.  On the surface, this next remark might rub some of you the wrong way.  Most people with a clear ideological perspective on the political work they are engaged in aren't going to experience burnout.  And, consequently, the people who do experience burnout, are usually not strongly grounded in an ideological framework that prepares them to handle the rigors of the work that must be done.  Of course, there are always exceptions to every rule, but more often than not, the previous statement is going to be current.  Most of the time, folks experiencing burnout have great intentions, but great intentions will never be enough to sustain your will to overcome the challenges you will absolutely encounter while seriously engaging in work to transform society.  Without that ideological foundation and commitment, eventually, we all would wear down.

Burnout should never be confused with fatigue.  Unlike burnout, everyone will experience fatigue throughout your activist/organizer life.  Fatigue is a natural consequence of focusing your energies fully into an objective and direction.  You work hard, you get tired.  You need to recharge.  That's the normal cycle of life.  The difference between burnout and fatigue is that the person who is ideologically centered will get tired, but should never burnout.  That person will engage in the time off they need to recharge.  They will balance their life with things that energize them to keep going and they will never see the work through the lenses of someone who has had a bad experience.  This is all true because the person suffering from fatigue will have a strong ideology that guides their work.  That ideology will prepare them for the times when the work is the hardest and will comfort them during the many errors and problems they encounter.  That ideology will help them view problems within the context of the larger aspects of life e.g. recognizing the difference between battles and the war.  And, seeing the world beyond just our individual circumstances and experiences and being able to connect our lived experiences with the larger material world circumstances that contribute towards our individual life experiences.  Not any ideology will help you accomplish this.  Only an ideology that is based in revolutionary principles as well as the culture from which you arise from.  What this means is since you cannot produce culture as an individual, you cannot have an individual ideology.  No such thing exists because such a thing isn't materially based.  Therefore, if you participating in the work only as an individual, chances are you will burn out because that revolutionary ideology can only exist within a collective context guided by collective culture.

I do not suffer from burnout, but as I write this, I am extremely tired.  Exhausted actually.  And, I have good reason to be exhausted.  I am in large part responsible for the continuance of the breakfast program that we run here in Portland and presently, we are faced with some issues that we will need to overcome that are impacting the program.  Second, I am a significant driving force in developing the school that we are building out of the breakfast program.  This means I am responsible for helping drive many of the pieces that will construct and make our school project a reality.  It also means there are many people, and the list grows all the time, who are depending upon me.  Third, I am responsible for training and helping motivate existing members, no small task, and in helping recruit new ones, an equally formidable level of work.  Finally, I serve, proudly, as a beacon for many people to seek out regarding advice, counseling, and direction for how they can play their proper role in this struggle.  All of this creates a major level of stress, primarily because I care deeply about this work and worry nonstop that I can fulfill all of it.  This is part of my entire mechanism that helps me stay on top of this work to the best of my abilities.  So, I'm tired, but I'm not burnt out.  I'm optimistic about our future and in spite of all of the obstacles, I'm confident in our ability to figure out these problems and win.  I have all of this strength to continue because of the Nkrumahist/Tureist ideology that drives my work.  My ideological foundation gives me great confidence in the ability to carry out the work and a strong belief, based on experience, that we will continue to move in a forward direction.  By following the examples of those who have come before me I have continued to be inspired which has helped me stay focused enough to resolve difficult issues with the help and support of other comrades.  I'm proud to say I believe I continue to play a major role in moving that process forward in all the work that we do.

So, what about the fatigue?  Well, I've learned to recognize and respect it.  In fact, I see it coming before it gets here.  I told myself at the beginning of April that by the end of May (knowing the heavy load these two months would offer), I would be tired, so as I sit here today, having successfully accomplished all of the work goals set out for the last two months, I'm tired.  Yet, I'm satisfied at the same time and I have a plan to address my fatigue.  I understand that my feeling today that I have work to do while I long to be out at the river is my sign that I need to carve out time over the next couple of months to do the things I want to do for myself.  And, I will do that.  I'm taking time to visit my daughter as well as other self gratifying things.  After a couple of months of doing this, and focusing on the mot prioritized work while not engaging in much of what I usually tend to get involved with, I know I'll be missing whatever I haven't been prioritizing, despite the challenges it has been offering, because my ideological foundation has taught me that the work is my calling and I will never succumb to it.  Instead, I will shape it and move it forward.  In fact, I realize that to be my life's mission and no force on Earth will stop me from fulfilling it.  I'm so committed to this thought process that as I write this, I'm already feeling myself getting excited.  Excited about the goals we can achieve.  Excited about the next book I'm writing.  Excited about the continued growth of this blog.  Excited about the capacity we are building as an organization.

So, that's the fundamental difference between burnout and fatigue.  Fatigue is temporary and with proper ideological direction, is always overcome.  Burnout is a symptom of a lack of ideological direction.  You can accept that or reject it, but whatever you do, you have to ask yourself how it is that people like me, and there are many of us, have been able to function in this work at a high level for such a long time, while many folks cannot complete a single project before getting burnt out and moving on to the next thing that they will crash and burn on.  That's not meant to put anyone down.  It is meant to honor the advice of my grandmother who told me there is nothing new under the sun.  There is no reason to recreate the wheel.  Many of the solutions to the problems we have are sitting right beneath us.

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    I don't see disagreement as a negative because I understand that Frederick Douglass was correct when he said "there is no progress without struggle."  Our brains are muscles.  Just like any other muscle in our body if we don't stress it and push it, the brain will not improve.  Or, as a bumper sticker I saw once put it, "If you can't change your mind, how do you know it's there?"

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