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A Critical Assessment of China's Trade Relationships in Africa

7/31/2019

This graph, showing China bypassing the U.S. to become Africa's largest trade partner currently, is a critical talking point for revolutionary Pan-Africanists and those concerned about Africa and the future of African people

This piece is written specifically for those people who hold a specific interest in African politics, particularly Pan-Africanist movement politics. We say Pan-African because particularly within the industrialized capitalist countries, Africa is primarily discussed and viewed as an ancillary place with secondary importance to the European Judeo-Christian, capitalist dominated societies across the planet. For Pan-Africanists – and when we say Pan-Africanists we mean revolutionary Pan-Africanists who are committed to the total liberation and unification of African under scientific socialism, a process that will happen only with organized revolutionary struggle – this question of China’s participation in Africa is hotly debated, discussed, and assessed. What we know from these discussions is that the issue is extremely complex with many different moving parts. The objective of this piece is to provide some insight into the reasons for, benefits of, and challenges from China’s political and economic activities in Africa today.

The complexity of the issue results primarily from two factors. First, the overall political and economic condition of Africa. Officially divided up between European powers for the benefits of those emerging capitalist countries 150 years ago (colonialism), Africa today consists of 54 countries, approximately 58 if you include the surrounding islands. The continent is adversely impacted by neo-colonialism which dominates Africa today. Neo-colonialism is the system where Europeans for the most part have physically left the African continent, but the actual political and economic mechanisms that are in place throughout Africa are set up to continue to benefit the industrialized capitalist world. For example, all the infrastructure for electricity, roads, banking, international commerce, travel, etc., are all systems set up to run through the management and banking accounts of Europe and the U.S. Neo-colonialism is the reason that 50 to 60 years after most African “nations” obtained their nominal political independence, Africa is still overwhelmingly poor while the industrialized capitalist countries have been able to build unprecedented wealth from exploiting Africa. And, that unprecedented wealth is the development and maintenance of the capitalist system where the mechanisms of production are controlled by private entities for private profit. These are the problems Africa faces today which make it impossible for Africa as it currently exists to exhibit any level of political and economic self-determination and independent thinking and action.

The other element of the complexity comes from the history and direction of the most populous country on Earth – China. Descending out of a feudal and technologically undeveloped reality up through the 1940s, China emerged victorious with revolution in 1949 and since that time, China has gradually implanted its footprint on the world stage as a developing power. Competing with the former Soviet Union in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, for leadership of the socialist world, with the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 90s, and the resulting consolidation at that time of the U.S. as the unquestioned leader of the capitalist world and the industrialized world as a whole, China continued on its path to establish itself as an independent power able to compete with the U.S. as a world superpower.

The raging question among revolutionaries in general and revolutionary Pan-Africanists in particular is has China abandoned its socialist principles in exchange for market economies and a capitalist path? This question is center to the challenge of China in Africa. Since the late 1970s, after the death of Mao Tse Tung and the policies of the then Deng Xiaping government, China has implemented massive market “reforms” designed to stimulate the infusion of currency into the Chinese economy. These changes have led to the development of prosperous private corporations, personal wealth/millionaires, and distinct class disparities. Its these changes that have led to charges that China has completely abandoned socialism, but a critical analysis requires a much deeper inspection. While the previously stated is undoubtedly true, China has also continued to ensure that education, healthcare, and other essential services are available to all its people. No small task for a country with over 1 billion people. China has also been exemplary in eliminating disease and improving the quality of life for millions of its people, including many of its almost 600 million peasants. All of these latter things are unquestionably principles of socialist development. So, the question here is can we say China is socialist or not? And how does how that question is answered impact what China is doing in Africa today?

We believe the question about China’s commitment to socialism cannot be completely answered today because the necessary variables to answer that question are still incomplete. In other words, we believe the majority of Chinese desire socialism and are committed to seeing it develop in China. The Chinese know as well as anyone that a country with over a billion people, over half of who are peasants, cannot organize an economy around principles of profit over people and expect stability and growth. There are still enough people alive from the 1949 revolution who know such a move to capitalism would be disastrous for the Chinese masses.

Their challenge is since socialist development is rooted in the ability of that system to provide for the needs of its people, the industrialization of production in a socialist society is essential. History has proven that due to this requirement, it is extremely difficult to develop socialism in a country with antiquated production capabilities. Since China emerged out of that antiquated feudal era in 1949, the ability to produce on a high technological level did not exist. The only way to those technological capabilities is to be able to finance the development of the mechanisms necessary to facilitate that development. That requires the infusion of cash/currency to facilitate the development of mechanization. Another way to look at this is the U.S. would be an ideal socialist country because all the required technology is available. The technology in the U.S. exists because of capitalism’s exploitation of Africa and everyone else, not because of better efficiency by capitalism (as capitalists would argue). Still, since the world today is capitalist dominated. So, in order to develop, China and any other socialist country, will need that cash flow to purchase technological advancements which the capitalist world controls. The more success they develop in this process the better able they are to create and sustain socialist institutions. With its over 1 billion people, China has a much larger burden than any country on Earth in developing ways to feed and keep its people healthy. It can be argued that China’s expansion into market “reforms” has been very successful in bringing in much needed cash to permit them to create sustained development while providing for their people. It can also be argued that China’s continued commitment to a one party system – governed by its Communist Party – is indication that they see what they doing with capital as a simple method to industrialize so they can develop socialism as just described. The problem is the permission of market economic “reforms” comes with it values committed to capitalist development and practices. With the millionaires and capitalist values that the influx of cash brings, if this is the vision of China’s leaders, it remains to be seen if they can successfully accomplish that task. Right now, it can easily be said that revolutionary political education in China is at a very low ebb. Significant numbers of people want material items and they are willing to sacrifice the good of society to get them. Racist and patriarchal ideals are commonplace in China. All of this is the result of capitalist ideology and practices. This is the reason we say the verdict on their socialist path is still very much up for debate, but it certainly is still a debate.

On a related note, the question of whether China is pursuing capitalism or socialism is crucial to the answer of whether their involvement in Africa is classic imperialism – as many claim – where they are simply in Africa to continue to exploit African resources. Or, if China’s objective as an emerging socialist power is to develop relations with Africa to utilize its mineral wealth to facilitate China’s development while providing Africa with much of the infrastructure it needs to pursue its own development?
When we look at China’s specific operations in Africa its quite clear that what they intend to take away from these relationships are the materials they need to facilitate their technological march to progress. Its also clear that China is willing to provide much needed capacity to Africa in exchange for those resources. For example, China continues to prefer to negotiate trade deals with African countries where China will do things like build and/or provide roads, airports, airplanes, infrastructure like water and power grids, technological equipment like transfer stations, water delivery systems, telecommunication systems, etc., in exchange for oil or other rare Earth materials instead of currency (which wouldn’t be possible with African currencies anyway). The preference of China to negotiate deals this way probably proves that they are not focused on profiting from these relationships. Instead, they are interested in getting what they need in exchange for providing what African countries need. There is also little evidence that China, unlike Western imperialist countries like Britain and the U.S., is setting up infrastructures in Africa that will serve the future interests of China. There is also no evidence of China engaging the level of imperialist education and training in Africa that the imperialist countries have institutionalized.

What China has done is negotiate endless deals structured around infrastructure for resources in Africa. In 2010, China’s China Industrial Fund (CIF) – a National state investment bank in China – negotiated a 7 billion dollar deal with Guinea in West Africa. The deal required China to build transportation, water/power development, electricity infrastructure, and urban housing development in Guinea in exchange for exploration rights to bauxite and oil reserves. That same year, CIF initiated a similar deal with Zimbabwe for similar infrastructure projects in exchange for mining rights to diamonds, platinum, and gold. Similar trade deals were established in the following years in Mozambique, Angola, and a host of other African countries.

The question regarding China’s establishment of these trade deals and relationships is again, are these relationships exploitative or common interest deals? As we said previously, we have no evidence that can question the official current and long term intentions and objectives of China in Africa, but what we can say is because of the state of Africa today, China’s intentions should really be a secondary concern for Africa and Africans regarding this relationship. As was stated, Africa is dominated by neo-colonialism today. And imperialism – the system where one country steals another country’s resources – is the order of the day in Africa. Since the political leadership in Africa has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are beholden not to the masses of people in Africa, but to the interests of the capitalist/imperialist countries, the only safeguard we have to ensure our people’s interests are being protected are the voices of the masses of people in Africa. This voice happens through mass protests against the exploitation of mining workers, service workers, and other exploited workers and peasants in Africa. Also, the voices/protests are for land reclamation, or the return of land to African people. These voices have no faith in the corruption from neo-colonial puppet leaders. The very leaders who are negotiating away African resources to China in these trade deals. The relationship is practically the social equivalent of a poor person who has an automobile to sale. The seller is desperate for money so the person who buys their car could offer them a fair price for it, or they could also prey on the desperation to cheat them out of their car. Either way, the looming question is in the long run, does the fact the seller had to make that transaction in order to survive place them in a better position or not?

We suggest it does not place them in a better position and until Africans are in the position where we control our resources in a way where we can determine what we sell them for, or even if we want to sell them at all, we have to be extremely careful about any efforts we participate in at anyone’s negotiating table. The corruption exposed during the 2008 CIF oil deal with Angola is a case in point. In that instance, $40 million allocated by the Angolan government to help facilitate payment on a trade deal came up unaccounted for. This is indicative of the corrupt system of neo-colonialism which revolutionary Pan-Africanists will not ignore when evaluating Africa’s dealings with anyone, despite the potential trade partner’s intentions. Of course, there are many more instances of corruption in these dealings because that’s essentially the common business practice of these corrupt leaders in Africa today. In fact, we have no way to ensure how these deals are being negotiated because the standard practice of these crooks is to never reveal correct accounting for how their country’s currency and resources are allocated. There are also many social factors related to neo-colonialism and Africa’s depressed state that speak to the problems these trade deals with China represent, despite China’s intentions behind them. It needs to be restated that Chinese is entering these relationships in Africa primarily because of their economic need to do so. As a result, when they are building these infrastructure projects in Africa, they have the need to employ their own people, primarily men. So, there are hundreds of thousands of Chinese men performing these jobs in Africa. Jobs that desperately need to be available to African people, but aren’t. And, since people evolve together socially once placed in the same social conditions, there are many children being produced today from these Chinese men and African women in Africa. Many of these children are being left with one parent once the work project is completed and the men go back to China. Also, since the Chinese are bringing this infrastructure there is the tendency on behalf of African countries to cater to their new Chinese guests. There are overwhelming cases of social prejudice, and even institutional discrimination, against Africans when they become engaged with Chinese people in Africa around issues ranging from minor traffic accidents to business opportunities, to access to jobs and living conditions. All of these social contradictions have created some antagonisms from Africans and rightfully so. We believe these social contradictions must be seen in the context of Africa being powerless and disorganized. As a result, even the best intentions can become less then beneficial in many ways for an oppressed people when they have no ability to shape the conditions of those relationships.

In summary, there are several questions. Should we view China’s involvement in Africa as a necessary step towards providing Africa the infrastructure it needs to prepare us for one unified socialist Africa? This is the position of many Pan-Africanists, even revolutionary Pan-Africanists. And, they are undeniably correct by stating that the infrastructure is desperately needed. Another view is should we see China’s involvement as that of mutual exchange, but because of the lack of political development in Africa, these exchanges will provide that infrastructure, but at a price of unintended consequences that further hinder our growth and ability to grow our own movement for self-determination.

We will end by saying infrastructure is desperately needed, but it cannot exist e.g. through trade relations with China or anyone else, independent of strong revolutionary Pan-African organizing on the continent and throughout the African world. The ability of our people to apply pressure on these neo-colonial governments who are inking these deals with China is an absolute must and this cannot happen on a consistently sustainable level without that organization taking place. This focus on the future of African unity is so important that this must become the focal point of these negotiations e.g. how any deal impacts Africa’s development as a whole, inclusive of the people in the particular country/area. We must develop this consciousness and organization to ensure that it is so strong in the process that it cannot be ignored. This approach has to become a focus for revolutionary Pan-Africanists and we must develop a way to ensure this work is a part of our overall Pan-African work. This is the only method to stem the corruption of neo-colonialism while ensuring that any infrastructure developed is going to benefit the construction of a United States of Africa under one continental socialist government, not continued maintenance of capitalist exploitation in Africa. As for China, as was stated, that country is trying to provide for its people. We believe they are also focused on positioning themselves to become the pre-eminent world power, taking that mantle from the U.S. That’s their mission and whatever engagement they have with us is designed to help them facilitate their objective. As revolutionary Pan-Africanists, we have to view Africa’s future the same way. Anything that happens for Africa has to be within that framework of building Africa’s capacity to be independent of anyone else. So we don’t believe China to be an imperialist country and we do believe the infrastructure being developed in Africa can help build up Africa. We also believe that the current model of Chinese engagement with neo-colonialism in Africa is dangerous for Africa. Until we have a level of independence for the masses of our people, it is wise for us to distrust anyone coming into Africa seeking business relationships with us as well as the people in Africa facilitating these arrangements. My father always told me that you pay the cost to be the boss. Until we are in the driver’s seat, meaning the masses of African people, for Africa’s forward progress, it would be naïve for us to believe anything currently happening is going to be linked in any strong and committed way to our liberation.

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The Origins of the Lie that We are Not Africans, Period

7/28/2019

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White supremacy, the chief appendage of the capitalist system, is eternally wicked. It conspires with imperialism, the action arm of capitalism, to viciously steal the human and material resources of non-white people everywhere on Earth. To justify this international pirating, capitalism/white supremacy creates historical myths to convince all colonized peoples, and all Europeans, that the colonization and subjugation is all necessary to ensure the development of this European focused world we live in today. A consequence of this dysfunction is colonized people are pushed and forced into believing that we make no quality contributions to world civilizations. That we serve no purpose unless we submit to complete imitation of European culture, values, and human existence. A major portion of this mind altering experience is the complete denigration of any origins we have because to acknowledge our historical legitimacy would completely unravel capitalism's plot foundations. The core ingredient for capitalism's continued exploitation of Africa's rare earth minerals and cheap human labor to extract them is the indifference to this profitable system displayed by the African masses the world over. Capitalism/imperialism are aware that as long as they can convince Africans in the U.S. that their interests lie with identifying with the "prestige" of U.S. hegemony e.g. having access to a cell phone (instead of us resisting the reality that industries like the cell phone are based on keeping Africa and Africans poor). The systems of oppression are invested in keeping Africans in the Caribbean, Central, and South America convinced that their road to salvation is in becoming as close to Europeans in physical appearance, personality, and culture, as they possibly can instead of realizing that the key to their continued development is in strengthening their connection to Africa. The consequences of all of this are that today, instead of Africans everywhere recognizing that the solutions to our problem is in reclaiming Africa and her riches (while driving out the foreign forces currently controlling those riches), we are running around doing everything we can to avoid any connection to Africa because we are convinced that all the other things we are doing will bring us closer to the development we desperately crave. Meanwhile, imperialism relishes in our confusion because all it does is keep our enemies in power.

This confusion is reflective in many ways today. There are Africans running around claiming we have been indigenous to the Western Hemisphere for thousands of years. These people claim that the actual Indigenous peoples of this hemisphere are our descendants. Besides the fact the proponents of this myth cannot offer one shred of evidence to substantiate this insane prospect, its extremely disrespectful to Indigenous people because it negates all of their historical contributions to world civilization. Its also equally as disrespectful to our African ancestors because it also denigrates our cultural contributions. As to the evidence piece, Africans who have origins in slave states within the U.S. are denying that as their legacy. They are using concocted scientific theories about the percentage of Africans who were actually enslaved (while completely ignoring the impacts of births in the Western Hemisphere as well as the lack of clear data on exactly how many Africans were stolen from Africa).

The people who are advancing these absurd arguments also promote the incorrect theory that Africans did not resist enslavement and that Africans in Africa willfully permitted the slave trade to happen. This backward thinking is at the core of why these people advance these notions. Since they believe this version of history, they are ashamed of our legacy and instead wish to create a more favorable version of history that they believe bestows more honor on our history. This is overwhelmingly sad and disgusting. There is no legacy of struggle on Earth more honorable than that of our African ancestors. Unfortunately, the people who believe otherwise cannot demonstrate one bit of scholarship they have engaged in to study our history so they know nothing about the Mandinka, Wolof, Labodi, Ashanti, Bakongo, East African, Maroon, and numerous other slave revolts that took place from all over Africa to the Americas to liberate our people. They know nothing about the Africans who were almost eliminated as ethnic entities or the victories we imposed on our enemies. They don't know of the many African women from Nanny to Carlota in the so-called new world to Asantewaa and Nzinga at home in Africa to defeat European oppression of our people. Also, they question enslavement by foolishly challenging the physical existence of slave ships as their proof that the slave trade wasn't the widespread industry that history clearly demonstrates that it was. They do this with amateur experience in understanding the process of material destabilization that takes place with all materialist products within the universe. There is a process that explains how molecules that make up metals and materials from ships decompose over a period of time. This is a commonly known process that people within ship industries use to recycle ship parts to build new ships over generations. A process the proponents of fictional theories of our history are painfully and embarrassingly ignorant of. Finally, this theory of our historical connection to the Americas would require concrete evidence of this existence. For example, the actual Indigenous people can point you to centuries, even thousands of years, of civilizations and existences that tie them to those legacies. Examples of spiritual worship, cultural practices, languages, etc., that cement their existence in this hemisphere. These African proponents of this theory haven't a single shred like that to back up their version of history. Instead, they rely on misquoting people like the scholar Ivan Van Sertima in his classic work "They Came Before Columbus" to misinterpret his words to try and argue that he was saying we were always here when a clear reading of his work confirms that he was arguing that we made physical appearances here, from Africa, long before European colonization. There are many of us who were here when Van Sertima lived. We physically witnessed him making his arguments. And more importantly, we read his works ourselves. We are not relying on tampered youtube videos for our analysis.

The other denial of Africa is the related belief that the Indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere are not our descendants, but that we are actually the true Indigenous people and that the actual Indigenous people are impostors. This backward theory has many similarities to the first one. Inclusive of the sad concept that the Indigenous people enslaved African people. Besides the obvious contradiction that if we were enslaved, where were we enslaved from, this theory is sad because of its complete dismissal of factual history of human class relations. Sekou Ture in his classic work on "The History of Class Struggle" explains in clear terms that human history is the history of class struggle. And, by class struggle he means that humans have evolved through various class epochs where dominant class structures were established based on the pace in which class systems developed. For example, Ture correctly argues that after the communal phase in human history (by phase we mean the dominant period) passed, the next dominant phase was slavery. By this, Ture means that slavery as a system of human production became the dominant form in which human beings interacted. This period of slavery several thousand years ago reflects the period in which class struggle intensified because it represented the first time in human history that one group of people (The slave owners) had class position over another sector of society (the enslaved). Again, this period was the dominant period in history so that meant it existed everywhere e.g. there were no places on Earth where there is evidence slavery didn't exist. So, when people make uninformed statements and analysis such as "the Arabs enslaved Africans. The Indigenous enslaved Africans, etc. Of course, this is true. Africans enslaved Africans is also a true statement, but this is a reflection of that period of slavery as an economic system on Earth. It was not the same period as the transatlantic slave trade that birthed capitalism and the existence of Africans in the Western Hemisphere in the numbers we occupy today.

One area of confusion about this history is the question of dominant periods. Today, the dominant system is is capitalism, but there are still in 2019 existing vestiges of all previous economic systems in existence. You can find communal practices in the world today. You can find slavery practiced. You even have monarchies or vestiges of the dominantly feudal era, but none of those other previously dominant systems are dominant today. That is the confusion about economic history that these people suffer from. And this particular belief conflates all periods of history together to create a fantasy version where Africans were always here as Natives and that some strange pairing of peoples resulted in the biological make ups we have today. Fantasy with no evidence, but one of the poor manifestations of a world based on injustice is that evidence is secondary to our ability to express our individualistic interpretations of reality. Yes, rampant individualism, one of the core components and weapons of capitalist ideology is again at the center of this dysfunctional vision of the world.

The glue that forms around all of these shameful fantasies is the reality that not one of these people promoting this nonsense can tell you anything substantial about Africa. Nothing. They have studied nothing about Africa. They know practically nothing about Africa and they don't want to know. This again is a victory for imperialism because capitalism/imperialism needs us to be as ignorant as possible about Africa to continue to ensure they can control the narrative about Africa. Its like being able to convince someone that their devoted partner is not working in their interest so that they can instead focus their attention on someone else who has nothing except exploiting them as their objective. For people who are not good at paying attention to material reality, it is of course possible to confuse them in these instances and that is what is happening with our people about Africa. We are not angry at our people for this. We know the mechanisms of capitalism/imperialism. We know that they will do anything to keep us confused about Africa because their pocketbooks depend upon our confusion. They know that once we figure out that we can end our poverty and powerlessness by connecting our future to Africa's future, they are finished. Our task is simply that of exposing the truth to our people. And, we have absolutely no doubt that although it will take time, we will succeed in bringing historical light to this misinformation about our glorious Mother Africa.

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Why "Go Back if You Don't Like It Here" Shouldn't Faze Us

7/22/2019

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Clearly, when they say those words to any of us, they mean it as an insult. When they say that, what they're really saying is "we built this great country without any contribution from you so if you are so ungrateful, why don't you just leave?" The problem is nothing could be farther from the truth. Not only was this country built primarily through the labor and resources of colonized people e.g. Africans, Indigenous/Natives, Asians, etc., but "they" pretty much made little to no contribution at all.

There is far too much written and/or said about the true history of how this country came to be. How the wealth in this country has evolved from imperialist theft of people's labor and resources. So, if you don't know that by now, we are not going to spend time doing your work for you. The point is anyone who tells you to go somewhere has absolutely no moral and/or legal authority to do so. Whether its 500 years or 50,000 years, the only true caretakers of this land are the Indigenous people's of the Western Hemisphere and by that we mean so-called Natives as well as so-called Latinos, Mexicans, etc. The African masses not only in the U.S., but throughout the Western Hemisphere, are only here due to the transatlantic slave trade despite the empty headed conspiracy theories of some misguided Africans who subscribe to made up theories about why we are in this part of the world. Here's a tip Africans. If your family descends from slave states and/or you have a European name, there is a 99.9% reality that you descend from that slave trade, period. Let's stop the fantasies that are being spread around to say otherwise because some of us are too lazy to learn anything about Africa.

The point is the mostly Europeans who are telling colonized people to "go back" have been doing so for centuries. Its nothing new and those people have no more legitimate right to tell us that today than they did 100 years ago. Those people are the descendants of settler terrorists who committed mass acts of devastation against colonized people. Those people are no different than a common murderer and/or thief. And, it makes no difference that they themselves may not have committed the crimes against humanity/our ancestors if they justify it. By doing so, they are no less guilty than those who carried the acts out. Especially since the system set up as a result of our carnage permits them to benefit from our suffering.

Nothing in the last paragraph can be disputed in any logical and historical way. So, the real question is why after so many years of this dysfunction do we still permit them telling us this to impact us so? The answer is in the psychology of our oppression. A major aspect of colonialist ideology is to convince the colonized that colonialism represents what's best for them. This is the logic behind telling someone something like "go back to Africa." The inference is that this country, the one they created without any involvement from us, is so much better. So much more blessed by God. So much higher in quality content, that we should just be happy to be here with the great white saviors who rescued us from a life of misery in Africa, etc. This concept is 100% based in fiction so how is it able to work on us? Because colonial ideology has convinced us that the racist manifest destiny ideology that Europeans are the masters of all civilization is an ideology that is pretty much believed by everyone on Earth today. The way we can confidently make such a bold statement is because we know that 98% of the houses of worship, regardless of the religion, that our people are devoted to, promote this racist colonial history. We know that 98% of the schools our children are indoctrinated in promote this anti-human racist history. We know that every holiday this backward country celebrates from thankstaking to the fourth of the lie is nothing except a validation for imperialism. On the flip side, there is no comprehensive education happening on a mass scale anywhere on Earth today about Africa's contributions to humanity. The contributions of the Indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere, etc. With no information about those civilizations and cultures, a person's only option is to believe the misinformation that has been propagandized 24/7 by imperialism e.g. Africa, etc. is primitive. The people are barbaric. They are incapable of governing themselves. That's why the racists say "you'd be living in huts in Africa without slavery."

Of course, the only reason such a stupid statement like the last one could gain any traction is because a large percentage of us know no better and actually believe the statement, at least on some level. We actually believe that we are better off in capitalist U.S. than in Africa. And, after having hundreds of thousands of organizing conversations about this with people for decades, I have met thousands who do believe that nonsense while not meeting a single person who believes that who knows even the slightest thing about African history, the transatlantic slave trade, etc.

For those of us who know our African history, we don't need make believe stories about us being in the Western Hemisphere for thousands of years. And, we don't flinch when racist people tell us to "go back." We know that of all the people currently in the U.S., the Europeans have the least amount of credibility to tell anyone to do anything. In fact, we are so confident about our history, meaning our people's resolute commitment to resisting oppression at every turn. At the unmatched level of dignity our people display at every affront to our humanity, that we actually look forward to having people confront us with such nonsense. We look forward because the ancient axiom that "the truth will set you free" is accurate. When you have truth and that truth shapes your convictions there is really no force on Earth that can ever intimidate you away from that truth. If someone tells us to "go back" we have multiple answers for them that preserves our humanity while reminding them of theirs (either in a humanistic way or in a way that reaffirms their mortality - its up to them).

For us, the question isn't why promoters of white supremacy are so insensitive and anti-human to spur our humanity. We expect nothing less from them. We also have no expectations that the majority of Europeans are ever going to confront those among them who harbor these anti-human philosophies. Our revolutionary African personality informs us to love ourselves which qualifies us to love all of humanity. By the same token, we respect your humanity just about as much as you respect ours because we recognize that taking this position is a reflection of our dignity. Nothing about our existence depends upon the validation of any anti-human forces in this world. Our ideological commitment to humanism and African culture permits us to see the value of humanistic Europeans while understanding that anti-human Europeans (and other people as well) will never represent more than enemies that we have to continue to fight against to win back justice for humanity.

So, if being told to "go back" offends you that probably means you need to think about why you are in a place where the inhumanity of our enemies can so readily impact your psychosis. You will never be validated and/or accepted by them and to us, we wonder why you would even want "in" with people such as this. We prefer to define our own terms for how to advance against injustice and we invite you to join us. Our best weapon is our dignity because it fuels our resistance. Each time you respond to the inhumanity of these people you give away your power. Morality and the force of nature is on your side of history. We intend to impact human culture, not in a way that pleads with our enemies to open their minds, but by creating a strong enough movement for justice that they have no choice except to respect our mission or be moved out of the way. We don't ever "go back." We're too busy moving forward, ever, and backwards never.

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Stop Trying Logic. Bullies Only Understand Consequences

7/18/2019

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This piece probably isn't going to be for anyone who characterizes themselves as a "liberal" or "conservative" within the capitalist paradigm. This is true because those titles only really mean that the people who identify under them are committed to maintaining the current status quo. Those people cannot see a world outside the parameters provided to us courtesy of the multi-national corporations whose business it is to shape your worldview. People who accept this model can generally only see anyone who dares think outside of that paradigm as insane, so this isn't for you if you are afflicted by this nonsense that way.

In order to get the message in this post you have to be a type of person who doesn't let anyone limit your thinking. Someone who thrives to see the world in your own hard developed vision that seeks to overthrow the oppressive status quo. This is revolutionary thinking we are engaging here. And, the first principle of revolutionary thinking is you never let your enemy define the methods in which you engage the war you are involved in.

The current reality is that the international decline of capitalism is undeniable. There was a time not that long ago, in the 1980s, where industrial and service jobs were so plentiful that wages experienced consistent growth in capitalist countries. Of course, the problem with that economic model is that "growth" has always been predicated on the continued exploitation of the majority of technologically challenged countries e.g. Africa, Asia, Central/South America, the Caribbean. As those exploited countries have gradually stepped up their opposition to their continued servitude to Western imperialism, the ability of capitalism to operate unfettered has been challenged at levels that have no historic equivalent. In other words, if you look at the world today, there is mass unrest everywhere. Sudan, the Congo, Guinea, Kenya, Azania (South Africa), Ghana, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Jamaica, Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, South Korea, etc. And, in all of those places the core element driving the unrest is people's mass opposition to continued exploitation. Maybe the symbol of that oppression differs from place to place e.g. the president, the economic policies of certain industries, etc., but the underlining issue is the inability of the capitalist system to continue to maintain its grip on the masses of humanity. People all over the world see clearly that the few capitalists are making their lives miserable while destroying the planet in the process and people are rising up. The resistance is primarily spontaneous presently, but as George Clinton sings in the song "P-FUNK" that "is a temporary condition too!"

What all of this has unleashed is the realization on the part of the bourgeoisie (the elite classes who represent the capitalist classes) is the need for them to consolidate their forces to protect their interests. The methodology they have always used - effectively - is division and fear among the masses of people. Fear, not of them and what they are doing to destroy humanity, but fear of poor people, oppressed people - taking something from them that doesn't belong to them in the first place. Its important to understand this context because if you don't, you will be fooled into believing the myth that the elevation of Trump and other reactionary regimes throughout the capitalist world is some sort of organic manifestation all by itself. If you study history, you can see previous examples e.g. Germany after World War I. Downtrodden and defeated, the dye was cast for the rise of the Third Reich and Nazi Germany. This time, we are talking about much more than just the set back of a single capitalist country due to war. We are now talking about the complete decline of the entire capitalist system. In other words, this is huge people.

And, even if you cannot comprehend what's happening, the bourgeoisie classes understand this phenomenon fully. That's why they unleash their propaganda - "the immigrants are taking your jobs! The Africans are ready to steal your hard earned wealth, your daughter, and everything else you, and nobody but you, deserves. The s - - thole countries are threatening to take something from you by coming here and don't even think about the fact that they are coming here because you have robbed and destabilized their countries blind." So, now the environment in the world, particularly in the capitalist countries of Europe, zionist Israel, Australia, Canada, the European population of Azania, and without question the United States, is that no matter how inhumane, no matter how devoid of justice, they don't care, they are entitled and have the right to do whatever they want to maintain their position on top of the world. Even if that position is simply symbolic, at least they will have that. Or, as Lyndon Johnson said in 1967 - "if you want to get a white man to support you, just remind him that no matter how badly you exploit him, he's still better than a negro!"

Now, there's an army of people who think like this. Most of them are European (white). but since class struggle always drives other social factors like race, many of them are brown/colonized people who see a pathway for them to achieve economic prosperity by siding with the oppressors against the oppressed. This is the very same class struggle that has been predicted for centuries by people like Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Ture, Amilcar Cabral, Franz Fanon, Walter Rodney, Ibn Kaldoun, Karl Marx, V.I. Lenin, Mao Tse Tung, Rosa Luxumberg, and countless other women and non-men who have been written out of the history books. And if the forces of justice are going to win this class struggle, we are going to have to learn how to play by our own rules and not those provided to us by our enemies.

I'm sick to my stomach from seeing openly the people infected by bourgeoisie ideology openly using white supremacy, patriarchy, homophobia, etc., without any regard for humanity, and the forces of justice disgustingly responding to this at every turn with overwhelming patience and continued attempts to use logic to confront this anti-human behavior. Kwame Ture - formally Stokely Carmichael - addressed the ineffectiveness of this approach 50 years ago when he said using morality in a struggle for justice only works if your enemy has a conscience. In the case of the U.S., and all capitalist entities, there is no conscience so morality is a completely ineffective method from which to seek social change. Ture went on to epxlain that in this instance, the issue isn't morality, but power. The bourgeoisie have it and the oppressed masses do not. In order to change the conditions, the oppressed masses must achieve power. They must create the conditions where disrespect and oppression against them comes with serious consequences for those who carry it out. Ture argues this is the only way the oppression will stop and he was absolutely correct.

So, stop trying to use civility, patience, and logic, to confront anti-human behavior. White people chanting "send her home" about an African woman who has been in the U.S. over two decades is about as clear an analysis as you can ever find to illustrate that those people don't care about logic and civility. They don't care about humanity and justice. This is inches away from lynch mobs running out into the street. Its time to meet this primitive element on levels they understand. When they start to express their vision of the world, its time for people to start telling them to shut the hell up. Come back and talk after you have read some books. Despite the fact I'm highly visible and my entire wardrobe consists of radical, revolutionary, Pan-African, socialist propaganda of some sort, these people never confront me. They mean mug, but they dare not say anything because bullies have to learn how to sense how to identity their prey. They know I'm not their prey. I'm a bigger predator than they are. They made me that way. They created and/or supported the conditions that forced me to grow up in a community where aggressiveness was a necessary survival technique. I've had decades to learn how to utilize that aggressiveness in politically progressive ways. And although people rarely confront me in person, their cowardly existence has trained them well on how to use the internet to do what they are not courageous enough to do in person. So, when people tell me to "go back to Africa" I tell them to them contribute financially to my ability to do just that (or shut the hell up). When they tell me they voted for Trump I tell them I doubt its humanly possible for me to care less what they did, what they think, or what they do. When they say if I don't like it here I should leave, I tell them this capitalist empire has stolen our African wealth for centuries so I'm just here to oversee the transfer of as much of our wealth back to us until our organized revolution is strong enough to take it all back. When they offer their opinions about white supremacy, etc., I ask them what books and/or work have they done around the topic because without those credentials it would be the same as me telling women about childbirth, worthless. I put them on the defensive. I meet their rudeness and callousness with a stern approach of my own and refuse to let them get away with passing off their foolishness on me. That's what justice loving people have to learn to do. And, when we do began to do this on organized levels we will begin to change the cultural climate which will make positive change much more possible.

This is why I attempted to weed out "liberals/conservatives" because those people will produce endless arguments about how we have to be civil, etc., because their primary interest is in sweeping the conflict under the table because that's the best way to preserve this system which is the primary objective these people have. For those of us interested in turning this backward system on its head, the best way to do that is the change the narrative and the best way we do that is by getting organized and pushing forward like we mean it instead of cowering down to nonsense and acting like we're shocked that this stuff is still happening.

So, embrace the time. These leaders are racist, xenophobic, patriarchal, homophobic, and anti-human because they have millions of supporters who support them being that way because being that way upholds capitalism and these people are convinced its in their best interests to ensure this happens. We have to recognize we are at war over people's hearts and minds. Our best weapon is dignity e.g. standing up to bullying by fighting back, not continually acting like bad acting people are just going to start doing the right thing just because its the right thing to do. Power will never concede anything without a demand. Its time for the demand to start becoming impossible to ignore.

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When Your Child Organizes an Event for You to Do Your Work

7/17/2019

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I'm excited today! I'm excited because my most intelligent, lovely, and all around impressive daughter, my only child, is organizing an event for me to come to the city she lives in to lead a community discussion about my book and work we need to do to create a better future for all of us.

I'm genuinely excited about any opportunity I get to talk about the concepts within my literary fiction books. In truth, that's my primary motivation for writing the stories. By doing so, I can engage the challenges that have confronted me my entire life e.g. how to build organizational strength to combat this enemy system. How to work together through adversity. How to address white supremacy, patriarchy, homophobia, etc., in healthy and productive ways that contribute to our work to create a better society. My latest book - "The Paradox Principles" is 740 pages of all of that. And in the short time its been released I've been fortunate to have had multiple opportunities in different cities to lead discussions that evolve into talks about what each of us can do to fight injustice. As I move towards 60 years old, this approach is my vision for how I'll primarily engage this work moving forward. I've spent a lot of years intentionally engaging front line, place my body out there, work. And, my body and soul have paid an overwhelming price so as I transition my work to this different realm, I'm truly thankful for every opportunity because when you are African, independent, and have a message that challenges the very core and fabric of this reactionary system, those opportunities are going to be few, far, and very difficult to obtain. That's true because most people, good intentions and all, are not emotionally and materially situated to concretely help carry out a message. So, although its simple enough to create a flyer, Facebook page event, email blast list, etc., to have an event, 98% of the time - because we don't have big money or even medium or small money sponsors - the initial talks about hosting events fall apart before they are ever even started. Or, in other words, if I had a dime for every event that was going to happen, I'd already be retired from my capitalist job and living in Africa. So the word grateful doesn't even capture my enthusiasm at any opportunity, but because this next event is being organized by my daughter, there's a very special joy attached to this upcoming experience.

I say experience because I'm really working hard to train myself to learn and enjoy the experiences of these book events. Its turning out to be very challenging to focus on the experience and not how many people come, how many books I can bring, or how many people even buy books. I've made a lot of progress in this area and I'm happy about that because no matter what happens with this next event in terms of all those variables, I'm going to ensure its a wonderful time.

My daughter, who's 32 now, grew up in movement circles. I was an active member of the All African People's Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) three full years before she was born so without question, she was a product of the movement. The people she was around the most while she grew up were A-APRP comrades and their children. By the time she was five years old, she was quite familiar with the University of California Davis, Berkeley, and Los Angeles campuses, along with Sacramento State, San Jose, and San Francisco State Universities, Sacramento City College, and other campuses. During those days, we did 100% of our A-APRP work on college campuses as a part of our strategic focus on recruiting the revolutionary intelligentsia. Today, people can say whatever they want about that strategic decision, but I do know is that's how I joined the party and I, and others, have put in a lot of very quality and productive work. So, my daughter was always at events, meetings, etc. I remember May of 1987, just 30 days after she was born. We were organizing African Liberation Day (ALD) in Sacramento and in those days, the University of California at Davis had an annual event they called "Black Family Week" that culminated with "Black Family Day" always exactly one week before ALD. Continued generations of African faculty and students keep those activities alive today, but back in 1987, the day event attracted no less than about 30,000 Africans from the Bay Area, Sacramento, etc., onto the Davis campus for a Saturday of vendors, speakers, etc. I was responsible for organizing a fundraiser for ALD and I had observed in previous years that the people who secured the first food booth at the family day event in Davis would be the most popular and successful because based on where the booths were situated, the first booth represented the shortest walk from the shaded areas of the main quad. In the May heat of the Sacramento Valley, every step matters. So we decided to sell fried fish and that night before we filleted about 100 pounds of fish until about 3:00am Than, at 5:00am, the grill, fish, drink holder, booth materials, A-APRP ALD propaganda, and at least one or two people as a I recall, were loaded up into my Nissan Pickup and we made our way, dropped almost to the ground, out to Davis to claim that prized first spot. Sitting next to me in the cab was my 30 day old daughter. Her mom worked Saturdays so responsibility fell 100% on me. I had to ensure I had all her diapers, her moms milk, containers, ice, and my trusty bottle heater. I had probably about 20 responsibilities that day and that was often how it was, but besides the fact my strategy worked (we sold out by 2pm as I remember), a constant was I had to take care of my little girl and I had to play a significant role in making sure our work was successfully carried out. Those last two things were every time. Those days taught me how to organize and her participation in it made me hope sincerely that one day, when she grew up, it would all rub off on her.

Regardless of my personal feelings, I was always conscious to make sure that while my daughter was growing up, I never placed pressure on her to follow in my or her mom's footsteps. This was true on everything. On religion, I told her what I believed, but also encouraged her, and made it possible, for her to have ample experience around Muslims, Christians, Yoruba, Ife, Santeria, Judaism, etc. Even atheism. As it relates to revolution, it was always made clear to her where I stood and as she got older she certainly came to her own level of understanding about what that meant. There are two times during her teen years that stand out for me. Once, when she was about 13, she told me she wanted to be a millionaire when she grew up. I was greatly disappointed, but I didn't chastise or criticize her thinking. Instead, I tried to explain to her why she should consider taking a different career path. I tried to help her see that socialist thinking was much more humanistic and that seeing people as an end all by themselves, instead of a means to an end as capitalism trains us to see people was an Umi family value, but I didn't push her. Despite my desire to push, I didn't. The other instance was when she was 17 and we had a discussion about demonstrations. She admitted to me that she was afraid of being arrested and/or hurt at a demonstration and I was again disappointed, but I continued in that discussion reminding her that she'd grown up going to various demonstrations, but she still maintained that day that doing so at 17 was not her objective.

The next year she went away to college and of course we continued, and still continue, to talk daily about the issues of the world. Mostly, this dynamic consisted of general discussion, but about five years ago, I realized that I had spent a lot of time explaining to her what the work looks like, but I had never explained to her what the work meant to me. What the hardships of the work are and how those hardships have impacted me over the years. I began to unpack all of that and what started to happen was phenomenal. I started to open up to her about how much I stress about balancing visiting her and traveling other places to do A-APRP work as that is something I struggle with every day. We began to talk about how valuable it is for me to be doing what I'm doing and how not many people are going to do it at this stage and how I needed to continue. In the course of that process, she began asking me pointed questions about the A-APRP's work. Questions she'd never asked before. She began calling herself an open anti-capitalist and where she was telling me 15 years ago that she was afraid of demonstrations, today, she's active in organizing and participating in them herself. Still, when I started churning out the books 10 years ago she never had much to say about it although she was always open to listening to me talk about it. Then, in the last two years, she began to ask me about my writing and much the same way I opened up about my insecurities in the organizing work, I did the same with the writing. Soon, she was my primary support person in hearing about the traumas of the publishing industry and with the publishing of this most recent book, she participated in the steps of the process right along with me.

Now, on July 30th, she will be hosting an event in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S., with me talking about Pan-African fiction, my book, and how we organize to build a better world. For this event I can say truly that if two people attend it will be a resounding success and I'm excited, but with the strong organizing skills my daughter has developed, she of course has great confidence that our turnout that night will be good.

I don't know if my daughter will ever join the A-APRP or not. I know that one of the challenges to this has been her mom and myself will each never be confused as being people with docile personalities. I recognize that my daughter, being the product of us, never wants to operate within our shadows. Besides, our line is join some organization working for justice. Its a line I've always believed in 100%, even as it relates to my daughter. She has an organization and she's doing work (her organization is one of the organizations sponsoring the event on the 30th). That's more than good enough for me. And, no matter what happens going forward, I'll always have this memory of this event she organized to permit her circle of people to hear her dad do his work. If an attorney is excited when their daughter goes to law school, that's the feeling I'm having right now. We've come an awful long way from dreams of becoming a millionaire.

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Social Justice & European (White) Male Superheroism/Adventurism

7/15/2019

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What's the difference between a European (white) person who attacks a church on a racist rampage and a white person who attacks an illegal and immoral detention center full of Indigenous people? The answer? It really does remain to be seen. First, we use the word "person" instead of "man" because we've seen ample evidence to confirm that the demarcation line of white supremacist toxic macho behavior between European men and so-called femme (women presenting) persons is so thin that we find it hard to differentiate. And, the reason we say the answer is still pending is because the method in which primarily white left leaning people embrace individualistic acts, even acts against the state, without any concrete analysis attached to it suggests that to most of them, the act itself is what's important, regardless of the circumstances surrounding said action.

A few days ago, a 69 year old European named William Van Spronsen approached the Tacoma, Washington state, U.S., detention center (where mostly Indigenous people are being detained illegally, immorally, and with all of the racist and anti-human backdrops that define this backward society) and allegedly threw incendiary devices at the building. For his efforts, Mr. Van Spronsen was confronted by police and quickly placed into his final resting place.

For us, the critical question here is what about Mr. Van Spronsen's actions has so many people (mostly white and left, but there are a significant number of colonized people chiming in support also) praising him as a "martyr" and the first person to take action against the detentions. Of course, the last statement is absolutely absurd. People have been taking action and liberating people escaping repression created by this country by entering this country for decades, centuries, but that's a side point. The main focus of this piece is about why we should hesitate to reap praises on actions that provide very little inspiration and guidance towards achieving legitimate liberation.

We understand that the actions and work of the majority white left is so paltry and pitiful that most of them are desperate for anything that they can claim as a victory. We also understand that much of this white left culture, illustrated by the "punch a nazi" popular phenomenon, reveals to any critical minds observing that for most of these people, their objective isn't to eliminate oppression, but to feel ok about having to coincide with it. We can say this confidently because if they wanted to eliminate oppression they would be taking steps to build capacity to do so. Instead, they consider actions like that of Mr. Van Spronsen as "brave and courageous examples of people taking the war to the state." Really? The man threw some devices that burned up somebody's automobile and he was killed for it. He did nothing to penetrate the building. He did nothing to help a single person inside. In fact, he probably caused more heartache for the families as I would imagine they were prohibited for a time from receiving visitors as a result of his actions. He didn't even disable a single ICE agent for not even 10 seconds. Sorry, and no disrespect to the dead, but there's very little beyond the symbolism of striking out that gives his action even the slightest bit of credibility. Actually, his actions represent a clear example of individualistic white male adventurism. And, the reason we started out this piece by suggesting that is we believe the individualism and entitlement that defines most white males today is the same dominant driving force that not only led Mr. Van Spronsen to carry out his "actions", but its also the driving force that carries out any white supremacist anywhere to do the same.

This discussion is primarily irritating for us because due to this type of adventurism, we are forced to spend so much of our time defining and redefining what revolutionary organizing actually looks like compared to individualistic adventurism because most people don't know the difference. There are plenty of people praising Mr. Van Spronsen because in their minds, his act was a revolutionary act. We couldn't disagree more.

Revolutionary struggle is about mass organization to dislodge the oppressor classes and insert the people's classes. The key word is mass. Revolutions do not consist of a tiny minority of "leaders." Nor can they be actualized by the actions of individuals independent of any organized process. You can't name one revolution that has been carried out that was initiated based on the approach Mr. Van Spronsen took. And, if revolution wasn't his objective that does nothing to diminish the point because we don't know what his objective was because he didn't take time to work with others who could clearly articulate it. He didn't work with others to organize a group of people who could have strengthened his efforts. He, like most of us, did nothing to build the type of movement we need to successfully wage these types of struggles.

Individual actions like this really represent an elitist strand of thinking anyway. A bourgeoisie concept that "if I want something done, I have to do it myself." This anti-people's class thinking advances the false notion that the masses cannot be trusted. Its elitist and with elitism always comes impatience, another cornerstone of bourgeoisie ideology. In fact, what Mr. Van Spronsen did is not different than any number of actions carried out by the great white left that did slim to none towards alleviating the suffering of the masses of humanity.

Revolution differs sharply from these individualistic egotistical elitist actions. Revolution is about engaging people. Obviously to do that successfully, humility is essential. And, its that humility that gives us the foundation to successfully build capacity among people. Its the more difficult route to action, but its the only route that completes the mission. Individualism, the staple ideology of capitalism, has never liberated anyone, despite capitalism's efforts to convince us that it has. Revolutionary organizing takes humility, patience, love for people, and an unshakable determination to overcome all adversity, and there will be lots of adversity because capitalism has convinced us (even those of us who believe we know better) that people cannot be trusted. And, very, very few people have to political maturity to own their shortcomings so instead, revolutionary work consists of spending an inordinate amount of your time navigating through people's emotional s - - t. The only way anyone can gain the necessary skills to continue to work through all of those challenges is through consistent and constant political education because its that process that gives you the fuel to see the finish line. The more challenges you have, the more you have to regroup and see that finish line. All of this is the work that's necessary to build revolutionary capacity. Most people today don't seem much interested in doing this work because they want the easy way out and to them, individualistic actions seem like that easy way because it makes them feel good, but for us, feeling good is ill-relevant. Our objective is victory for humanity. Whether we are there for it is not the question. The only question is what contribution we can make towards moving us closer to victory.

Finally, the reasons we say "nah" to the individualistic European man model of action is that this model has not only failed millions of colonized people, LGBTQ people of all genders, and the overwhelming bulk of humanity, but most of us have plenty of trauma due to this model. The best way to ensure no colonized people, and even many white women, stay away from supporting your work is to throw out a white man with a gun. No thanks. And because history has prepared me to anticipate the haters and their absurd responses, I should use this time to remind you all that we are in no way avoiding the eventual need to challenge the state on physical levels. We just believe that time should be based on strong on the ground organizing principles that result in collective action to move our struggle forward. Not actions that end up being mostly suicide actions by another white man. Long before most white people even had dreams about physically challenging the state we should remind you that we were doing it. In fact, our organizations like the Black Liberation Army (BLA) have provided us with ample analysis to critique their actions in productive ways. Their assessment of the failed Brinks takeover in 1981 included many references to decisions on the part of participating persons to take a much more individualistic arch during the action which led to a complete breakdown of the plan. The result was valuable comrades like Mutulu Shakur, Marilyn Buck, David Gilbert, (tow true white comrades), and others, spending decades in prison. The BLA has also given us just enough ideas about the 1979 successful liberation of Assata Shakur from prison (this November 2, 2019, represents 40 years since her liberation). It doesn't take a genius to figure out that busting someone out of a maximum security prison would require a number of people in order for the work to be successful. It would require a clear plan of where to go, what to look for, how to address challenges, etc. All to which those who carried out that action clearly understood on all levels, together. This is not to mention the multitudes of people who helped protect Assata once she was out of prison. Its possible that she spent three or four years operating within the U.S. from 1979 until 1984 when she officially surfaced in Cuba where she resides today. The point being she is free, and a clear symbol of resistance against an imperialist system that prides itself on suffering few loses. And, her liberation clearly only happened because of collective action involving all types of people of different nationalities, genders, etc.. The exact opposite of the individualistic white male model.

We understand how much people desperately want to see victory against this backward and oppressive system, but that victory can be achieved if we just accept the reality of what's required to generate it. The longer people hold onto to fantasies of victory based on Hollywood John Wayne models, the longer victory will allude us. As the state demonstrated again with Mr. Van Spronsen. They are more than ready to give us suicide if that's all we have properly prepared our actions for.

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How ICE & Detention Centers are a Priority African (Black) Issue

7/14/2019

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I attended a rally at the Yuba City, California, U.S., County Jail House Friday evening. The rally was to express opposition to the existence of the last 170 detainees in Northern California who are being held for allegedly entering the U.S. "illegally." Yuba City is a town of about 62,000 people just northeast of Sacramento. The rally attracted about 300 people from as far away as San Francisco, over two hours away. Of the 300 people in attendance, approximately 5% of the attendees were African (Black). The low percentage of African participants in rallies focused around that critical issue shouldn't be viewed as our lack of concern and/or interest in the problem.

The issue itself is one of human dignity and justice. No other group of people within the U.S. has been more in the forefront historically than the African masses here. In fact, as Kwame Ture aptly stated often, "the African masses in the U.S. have civilized this country!" So, anyone who reads our lack of participation in these rallies and actions as a statement about our apathy about this issue is wrong.

At the rally Friday night the initial dominant theme being expressed by the people taking the microphone was one of people in the U.S. coming together to stop this unusual activity of detaining families who attempted to come into this country simply because they were trying to escape oppression in their birth countries. The undercurrent of this thinking is that there is a criminal and anti-human element in power right now e.g. Donald Trump - and the primary struggle is the "majority" of right thinking people needing to overturn his rule. The end thought being once he's gone, something as heinous as the detention centers would not exist. Its the fallacy of this thinking which I believe accounts for why more African people don't participate in those types of actions. The paradox exists when the leaders of Friday's action began attempting to lead the crowd in singing "This Land is our Land." When the song started, I looked to the Indigenous sister standing next to me who was holding the sign and wearing a tee shirt which each expressed anti-colonial, U.S. is Indigenous people's land slogans. After we exchanged briefly about how much of a contradiction the song was, we both began somewhat heckling the song out loud. To the credit of the people leading the song, they heard the challenges we were posing to them and they called the Indigenous sister up to the microphone to which she spoke eloquently about the tribe who's land Yuba City was built upon and that the U.S. is a settler colony and the fact Indigenous people are being locked up for entering their own lands speaks to the real contradiction.

African people understand probably better than most colonized people the challenge of building a movement that involves European (white) voices. Imperialism programs and trains all of us to defend the empire at all times. We are taught that despite our grievances against the U.S., it is still the "best country on Earth" and the fact these oppressed souls are risking life and limb to get here is used by the reactionary apologists for capitalism as proof of that American Exceptionalism thinking. And, 98% of the time, conversations go no deeper than that because if they did, we would have to talk about the real contradictions. We would have to discuss that our grievances are not acceptable due to U.S. exceptionalism, they result because of it. Capitalism as an international economy was created, built, and is maintained based on exploiting Africa's human and material resources. America e.g. the U.S. is only exceptional in its unmatched ability to rob, steal, and murder more people than any other entity in human history to advance its own agenda of world conquest. Conscious Africans and other colonized people are tired of having to deal with protest signs, and especially the ideology behind the signs, that says "this is not who we are!" The country in its present form was founded on stealing African babies from their parents. That was the exact purpose of slave auctions, to sell us off. That industry, which is the reason Africans walk the Western Hemisphere today, wasn't created to keep African families together. Meanwhile, the Indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere were treated to mass warfare to steal their lands and like us Africans, their families were attacked on all levels to facilitate the trauma being carried out against them. So, we don't want to hear any nonsense about this not being what this country is. What's happening with caging up people who are only escaping destabilization that U.S. policies have enacted in their home countries is all nothing except the continuation of the type of anti-human policies that have defined this and all capitalist countries since their inception. No one understands this any better than our people.

Its not to say other people, particularly colonized people, don't understand these contradictions. They certainly do, but African people do benefit today from the Black power movement of the 1960s. It was that movement that presented the notion that this empire does not represent, nor can it ever reflect, the values and interests of the majority of African people. And, although its true that class struggle is active with us as it is with everyone, and therefore we have our fair share of people who push integration into U.S. capitalism, we know the majority of our people understand on some level that this system will never accept the majority of us. The Black Power movement planted that seed of independence from U.S. capitalism within the African consciousness and our similar movements around the world have germinated that seed in all our people everywhere. Another thing the Black power movement did for us was advance the notion that we have to lead our own movement. That the voices of European people are not relevant to our struggle. That movement addressed that issue by calling for white people to leave African organizations and form their own organizations in their communities to organize their own people against this backward system. That last development within the Black power movement is the core reason why the dominance of white voices in African organizing circles which was a constant in the civil rights movement of the early 60s, is no longer prevalent today. For the most part, Europeans tend to stay away from African articulated movements and if they come, they either understand - or they are made to understand quickly - that their voices are not going to define our movement's direction. Other colonized communities have yet to engage a movement similar to our Black power movement. And that is the reason their actions are still heavily participated in and dominated by European voices. By "this land is our land" thinking. Its not our place to tell other colonized people how their movements should proceed, but since we have already been through that process with Europeans, we know that most of them will never listen to colonized voices beyond tokenism, so therefore, when we see them, we prefer not to engage. That's why you won't see us in mass at these actions and events.

And, just because we are not there doesn't mean we are not doing work around the problem. Imperialism of course works overtime to confuse us all the time and this confusion is aimed at our people as militantly as its aimed at anyone because of our historical relationship to the capitalist empire e.g. our propensity to be the most militant segment in the society. Therefore, you can find elements and pockets of Africans who will parrot the anti-human "illegal immigrant, they are taking something from us" line. Fortunately, most of our people understand on some basic level that we were stolen from Africa. That means we understand this land was stolen from other peoples. That means we know that the fact Africans are in different countries is an artificial reflection of how colonialism has split up and divided our people. What sense does it make for us to see Africans from Guatamala or Honduras as different from us when the reality is we could be biologically related to them? The slave raids that brought all of us here to the West most certainly sent family members to different parts of the Western Hemisphere. This is an ill refutable fact that Africans understand on different levels of consciousness. So it makes no sense for us to adopt capitalism's analysis on immigration. I would argue that because of our historical relationship, our conversations with our friends, families, neighbors, co-workers, etc., around this question are doing a lot to shift consciousness around this issue in the country. And, while other communities are moving to the point where they are willing to openly confront imperialist institutions like ICE, it is the African masses who have proven time and time again that we will raise up at any time and challenge not just one U.S. imperialist agency, but the entire capitalist empire. The step we need to take is in moving that resistance beyond just spontaneous disruption towards mass organization. These detention centers are a crime against humanity and they are a slap in the face to all of us who recognize this land as colonized land. Actions and rallies are great and its good that all people are out there, but the time for controlled expressions of outrage based on ultimately protecting the capitalist empire from destruction is not the spirit that going to seriously challenge this contradiction. The ICE centers are the 2019 version of how this country has always handled its encounters with the colonized populations within its borders. On this one, everyone would do well to take the lead of the African masses. This land isn't your land and the problem is much deeper than regime change. We would never choose one rapist over another so you know we refuse to pick one capitalist over another.

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Getting Past Malcolm X the Icon to Malcolm the Man - the Human

7/10/2019

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Malcolm X with Kwame Nkrumah in Harlem, New York, U.S. From high school dropout to petty hustler to convicted felon, Malcolm emerged to become one of the most effective leaders of the 20th century

Imperialism, the organized system that employs international capitalism as its methodology to control the entire planet, has every motivation to dehumanize and discredit genuine revolutionaries like El Hajj Malik El Shabazz - better known as Malcolm X. The absolute best weapon imperialism possesses is its ability to keep the majority of people on earth convinced that imperialism is invincible. In order to promote this false concept, imperialism must start by attacking and attempting to destroy any symbol of resistance against its dominance. Malcolm X certainly represented, and probably represents even more through his legacy, one of our best examples of how to stand up against this unjust system. As a result, imperialism has spent the last 50+ years working overtime to attempt to destroy his image. They have promoted concepts presented about Malcolm in books written by people like Bruce Perry, Eric Lincoln, and most recently - Manning Marable, to paint a picture of Malcolm as something less than the shining example of resistance that he was. Those people and others have suggested that Malcolm was overbearing at times, less than cooperative with his wife Betty (later Dr. Betty Shabazz), and that Malcolm was unclear and confused about exactly what direction he wanted to proceed towards after his break with the Nation of Islam (NOI) in early 1964. Starting with the biopic Spike Lee film about Malcolm in 1992 ("Malcolm X), and virtually every other cinema depiction of Malcolm ("Ali", etc), all have fallen far short of providing a comprehensive perspective of who Malcolm was, what he was working for, and why we should honor him as we have done since his assassination on February 21, 1965.

The masses of African people everywhere, and all of peace loving humanity, are very familiar with the tactics of imperialism. We listened to Malcolm when he told us that the friends of U.S. imperialism are our enemies and the enemies of U.S. imperialism are our friends. Consequently, plenty of our people have never been fooled by imperialism's hatchet job against Malcolm or any of our independent leaders and fighters for justice. The mass response to imperialism's efforts to destroy Malcolm have been a resurgence in his ideas and presence since the mid to late 1980s. When the power structure's movie studios refused to give us the real Malcolm X, our youth responded - worldwide - by mixing records with Malcolm's own words woven into their music. Malcolm's image was painted on walls from San Francisco to Sierra Leone. For the last 30 years, Malcolm's image on shirts, hoodies, etc., are still commonly found everywhere on Earth. There are very few faces that are more recognizable in more places on Earth today.

In balancing Malcolm's important legacy, one of the critical questions in 2019 and beyond is how much of the criticism against Malcolm was valid and how much of it was fictitious? How much of the credit Malcolm received was valid and how much of it was fictitious?

Without question, Malcolm was a guiding light in building the Nation of Islam. Despite what anyone says, there is no questioning the fact that the membership within the Nation grow substantially after his arrival in the early 50s and that growth was consistent with the cities e.g. Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, New York, etc., where Malcolm did much of his initial work establishing himself as a leader within the NOI. There is also little doubt that Malcolm played a significant role in establishing the NOI's propaganda arm - the newspaper "Muhammad Speaks" which you can argue still exists today through Minister Louis Farrakhan's "Final Call" which is still widely read in African communities all over the planet. In fact, versions of "Muhammad Speaks" still exist today also through various versions of the NOI still operational in the Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. area, etc.

Malcolm played a strong role, especially during the last eleven months of his life, in centering Pan-Africanism as an objective and movement among Africans within the U.S. His work to establish the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) and his crystal clear analysis of the concrete connections between Africans born in any part of the world are still very reliable today in defeating all the white and black faced imperialist arguments designed to keep Africans born in different countries separated. Also, Malcolm's unique ability to take some of the most complex concepts and break them down into language any of us could easily manage is crucial in helping millions understand the primary contradictions we face today. Malcolm actually took Karl Marx, Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Ture, and many other theorists and converted their wonderful works into words someone without any formal education could easily digest. His classic breaking down of class contradictions with his "house slave, field slave" analysis is just as biting and relevant in 2019 as it was in 1964. Finally, Malcolm's raw courage and willingness to confront the forces oppressing us provided a model for younger activists in the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, Black Panther Party, Revolutionary Action Movement, Republic of New Afrika, Democratic Party of Guinea, Convention People's Party, Kenyan African National Union, Zimbabwan African National Union, African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau, and others, that influenced the essential work of those organizations that has done much to shape the current world we live in and what our world will look like moving forward.

Dialectics, the study of the struggle of opposites, tells us that we cannot have one side without other sides operating in contradiction. As a result, its not possible to give essential credit to Malcolm for helping build the NOI without also acknowledging his role in helping build up some of the less than positive elements that evolved within the organization. Yes, he did do much to start the "Muhammad Speaks" newspaper. The first issue was reportedly laid out in the basement of his house, but he wasn't the only person who put that first edition together. There were others who played a role such as the man then known as Abdul Allah Muhammad who was Elijah Muhammad's minister in the Washington D.C. Mosque for years and who served under Minister Louis Farrakhan's revised NOI for many years as well. There is the belief that Malcolm's perceived lack of acknowledgment of the role of others in helping launch "Muhammad Speaks" caused some resentment when he received the Lyon's share of the credit for the newspaper and there are other examples of this type of contradiction surrounding Malcolm. Many people have wondered how people who started as close associates to Malcolm eventually became bitter and open enemies of Malcolm during the period - primarily throughout 1964 - when Malcolm became public enemy number one within the Nation of Islam. People like John Ali, the NOI's National Secretary, who at the time of Malcolm's assassination was one of the primary consultants to Elijah Muhammad - the NOI's patriarch from 1934 until his death in 1975. Today, there is overwhelming evidence that Ali was a paid Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informant who was used by imperialism to widen the antagonistic gap between Malcolm and Elijah Muhammad during that turbulent period, but another much more interesting case is that of Imam Yusef Shah, formally Joseph Gravitt who was better known in the 60s as Captain Joseph. Known as somewhat of a pugnacious personality within Mosque Number 7 as the captain of the Fruit of Islam (the NOI's well trained membership who's responsibility it is to protect their membership), the late Shah was considered second in command in Mosque Number 7 to Malcolm. He often delivered the sermons in that Mosque, one of the NOI's fastest growing, during the times of Malcolm's absence (Malcolm traveled often in his work to build up several NOI Mosques). According to Shah's own words, Malcolm "saved me from the gutter" when the former Joseph Gravitt was struggling with alcoholism and drug abuse before Malcolm preached to him about the "life saving teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad." By the time of Malcolm's break with the NOI in March of 1964, he and Shah were bitter enemies with Shah having provided NOI headquarters with multiple accounts of Malcolm's "violations" of the now famous suspension Malcolm received from Elijah Muhammad for his wildly accurate and classic critique of John F. Kennedy and the U.S.'s role in Patrice Lumumba's assassination and destabilization of the Congo, Central Africa, in 1961. What caused the bitter split between these two men? Multiple reports from a wide range of people from Charles 37X Kenyatta, a close Malcolm associate after Malcolm left the NOI, Benjamin 2X Karim, another associate like Kenyatta, as well as enemies of Malcolm within the NOI, stated that during his time as a leading minister within the NOI, Malcolm was a strict disciplinarian. Almost a brutal one at times. There are widespread reports that Malcolm required women in the mosques he led to weigh themselves and that if they exceeded certain weights, they were expelled from the Mosque. Also, when Malcolm received his suspension for his "chickens coming home to roost" comment about Kennedy, he responded by stating that "if I carried out discipline than I have to be willing to accept and receive discipline." His remarks here are attributed to his administration of harsh treatment to those who violated NOI rules and Shah, formally Captain Joseph, was said, by himself and others, to be the victim of Malcolm's discipline. Resentment of Malcolm's sometimes tyranny has been echoed by numerous people in the Mosques he headed, including comments often stated by Muhammad Abdul Aziz, formally Norman 3X Butler, one of the three persons accused and convicted of assassinating Malcolm X. There is no doubt from anyone who has even studied the assassination of Malcolm X on a cursory level that Aziz had absolutely nothing to do with Malcolm's murder, yet Aziz, while steadfast denying his involvement in the assassination (Thomas Hayer or Hagan, who certainly was a participant in Malcolm's assassination cited from the beginning that Aziz and the other person falsely convicted had nothing to do with the assassination), has made it clear he was no fan of Malcolm due to Malcolm's practices while leading Mosque Number 7. Finally, some of Malcolm's own practices while in the NOI revealed his lack of good judgement in several instances. Without question, it was a breach of integrity for Malcolm to agree, along with then Atlanta Minister Jeremiah X Shabazz (Pugh) to meet with Ku Klux Klan "officials" in Georgia in 1961 to establish a treaty with the violently racist organization in order for the NOI to operate safely in that state. Along with that, Malcolm permitted himself to be used that next year to serve as somewhat of a host to American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell when the latter was shamefully invited to speak at the Nation of Islam's annual Savior's Day event. These types of actions, along with some of the patriarchal actions already mentioned and the brutality aimed at members, are the behaviors that come when people follow orders instead of thinking logically for themselves. That's why instead of advocating the central all mighty leader concept we prefer the model of mass political education and mass cadre leadership. Its that latter model that we believe Malcolm was attempting to pursue in his development of the OAAU in the latter months of his life in late 1964 and early 1965, but unfortunately, he never got the opportunity to fully correct his earlier NOI errors and move forward.

We do believe that Malcolm's errors take nothing away from his effectiveness as a leader as illustrated in the early part of this article. There is absolutely no way that I would be here today, believing and doing the work I do, without the guidance of Malcolm and his vision for our people and humanity. That's why I think its important to analyze his efforts, critique his errors, and build on them so that the venom of our enemy's efforts to discredit his work are defused. Malcolm, like all of us, made errors, but the beauty of Minister Malcolm X is his errors can never diminish his outstanding contributions to our struggle for Pan-Africanism and justice for humanity. If we are to truly benefit from those contributions, its essential that we learn to see Malcolm, and everyone, as the complex and multi-faceted people that we are and not as perfect icons who made no errors. If we see people are perfect, than we will never be able to see ourselves as being able to match or even exceed their contributions. We believe the next Malcolm X's are here among us. We believe that these new people have potential to exceed Malcolm's contributions, but only if we permit ourselves to critically learn from our errors, engage in constant political education, and continue to move forward to advance our struggle in every way that we can. As the Honorable Marcus Garvey said "they may have sabotaged me, but the cubs of Garveyism are growing up all around us!"

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Dissecting Bitter Contractions & Why We Permit Them to Exist

7/6/2019

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After spending 12 hours driving back to Northern California today, I decided to stop for the night and finish my return trip tomorrow. As my thoughts wandered during today's long drive, I thought about how much I enjoyed my wonderful partner during my visit and how great Thursday's anti-Fourth of July (Fourth of the Lie) program was in New Mexico. I left there feeling refreshed and ready to confront the challenges waiting for me. I also thought about the contradictions of Thursday as a so-called holiday. I thought about the large number of people in this society who would be so offended if they had experienced the U.S. flag burning portion of Thursday's anti-program. I know that many of the people I know and adore wouldn't really understand why we would burn the U.S. flag. Lots of people just see doing that as antagonistic or hurtful. What's amazing about that is how is it that those people can elevate any feelings of remorse for the burning of a worthless flag above them recognizing why the flag is being burned in the first place?

Let's state clearly that we understand that for many people, Thursday isn't, and has never been, about celebrating anything about the U.S. I know many people who just want an opportunity to relax from the rigors of capitalism and a day when most people don't have to report to their wage slave is clearly the best day to have such gatherings. We get that and since we understand how brutal this system is on us daily, we definitely support anything healthy people can do to hang onto their sanity. The thought we pondered the most today was how it is that so many people can freely act like the logic behind protesting the U.S. flag has no validity? I'm talking about people who are generally reasonable in every other area of life, but who defiantly express outrage at burning the flag while ignoring the injustices that facilitate the flag burning in the first place. Its not like anyone can claim in 2019 that they didn't know the reasons. The people who signed the so-called declaration of independence - you know, folks like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, etc., were signing this document, which we are all told represents freedom and democracy, while those same individuals bought and sold Africans, routinely raped African women, and beat and engaged in dehumanizing treatment against the human beings - our ancestors - that they owned. Meanwhile, they carried out a program of systemic genocide against the Indigenous people so that they cannot even properly participate in their own homeland today. This is all common knowledge in 2019. So, the people who arrogantly send out bourgeoisie imperialist support for July 4th can obviously do so if they desire, but they don't get to act like they don't understand why people are protesting those symbols. Yet, they do act like they don't understand and the environment here in this society is so in favor of their blatant ignorance that they can do so without even being challenged in most cases which certainly reinforces their arrogance.

If you understand and acknowledge the reasons why we challenge the symbols of U.S. capitalism, its as if you are a school teacher who has been given a class full of children who firmly believe 1 + 1 = 20. And, since most of them believe they are correct, they are convinced you are the one who is wrong. The question is if you were faced with this type of challenge, what would you do? Would you just say to hell with them and leave the class? Or, would you use your skill and wit to figure out how to convince them of the truth?

What we need today are more people who will work to carry out the latter. Its not to say we have to argue with these self righteous and arrogant people. It is to say that we have to figure out how to create an environment where ignorance is not comfortable like it is today. If we can create that type of environment, the children who are so confident they are correct about 1 + 1 equaling 20 will soon realize their confidence may be misplaced once enough people begin to demand that their thinking be challenged. That's the problem now. No legitimate challenge is being waged against the backward thinking. Instead, the tide is so much in the opposite direction that people are comfortable challenging us for protesting, but this is to be expected. The confused children will initially challenge the one who declares that 1 + 1 = 2 until enough people are saying it. Since the confusion isn't based in material reality, although its foundation appears invincible when most people believe it, once its seriously questioned, that foundation will shatter almost overnight.

I'll be completely honest also. This type of work is organizing work. Revolutionary organizing work at that. We need much more of it which means we need more people who are willing to engage work this way. Our motivation for engaging this work should be because the fact this arrogant ignorance is so comfortable is more a reflection on those of us who are supposed to know better than it is on the people who are confused. When the parents walk into your classroom and all the children are saying 1 + 1 = 20, the parents will rightfully question your commitment to creating a learning environment. We cannot just be satisfied in punching white supremacists. That would be the equivalent of pushing recess as a way to avoid engaging the youth because punching a single white supremacist while this entire system is white supremacist, is just a way to avoid the problem while appearing to be doing something about it.

Its time for us to figure these things out. What ideas do you have as to how we can change this environment? This culture? By now, you should have been able to figure out that once we change people's thinking around issues like this we are well on our way to changing this society. That's why I spent so much time thinking of this today because that's what I think about most of the time - how to change this world one conversation to thousands at a time. People have to crawl before they can walk so no one who understands revolution is going to be talking about any weapons right now. The war we are fighting is for people's consciousness. So, what are your thoughts? You don't need to share them with me. Just start practicing them. That would do quite a bit to shake things up for the better. Someone reading this who believes no one listens to them has ideas about this that are probably much better than any of mine. Please bring it to life. Our futures depend upon it.

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