Women's Marches, MLK, & Tearing the Bandage off the Wound

Commemorations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Women's Marches should focus in reclaiming the radical and uncompromising visions of Dr. King and women like Ms. Ella Baker

This weekend in the town I live in, and in other cities around the globe, thousands of people will be marching to commemorate the birthday holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and for justice against patriarchy for women and all non-men.  Its not an exaggeration to say that hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, will be marching for these worthy commemorations.  This is a signal that people are waking up.  They are being inspired to step out and contribute towards the type of world that they want and deserve.

The capitalist system, a system where profit is always the priority over people, knows what these marches represent.  That's why the capitalist system doesn't rest from attempting to derail and disconnect the people from using these occasions to build real capacity to change this backward system.  This is the reason capitalist corporations have worked for years to slow down the radical elements of Dr. King's work.  Before the national holiday in 1986, marches demanding the holiday were militant and uncompromising. I know because I participated in many of them.  People who were scheduled to work (their capitalist jobs) on MLK's birthday, refused to go in that day.  The U.S. Department of Labor was reporting that call outs on that day were up around 30% by the time the holiday became official.  Since the institution of the national holiday, capitalism has worked to ensure the militancy was tamed.  Corporations stepped in to sponsor MLK commemorations.  The very same corporations - General Electric, Chevron, etc., who's business policies and practices were in direct conflict with the ideas of Dr. King.  The very corporations who collaborated and celebrated when Dr. King was murdered.  Now that he was gone, and the people have adopted him as a symbol of their resistance, these corporations cleverly step in to shape his image for you.  Their work is to ensure that you don't view Dr. King as the militant and uncompromising moral leader for justice that defined him for everyone who worked with him.  This generic capitalist media version of Dr. King is one of a pacifist who just pleads for acceptance from a racist society.  This is a great narrative for the capitalist to position Dr. King because it perpetuates the myth that our struggle is really one of seeking acceptance from the very societies that enslaved and oppress us.  Clearly, there is no victory when operating within that dysfunctional vision.

The Dr. King who will not be present at most of the events this weekend is a King who grew to oppose the profit over people principle of the capitalist system.  Absent is the King who had much more than a "dream."  The absent King understood clearly that the U.S. is the "number one purveyor of violence on the planet Earth" so how the hell did we come from the man who uttered those words to the pasty image they portray today who they would have you believe supported the capitalist war machine's imperialist assault on the world's populations?  Absent is the King who stated clearly in 1961 that efforts to rob workers of their rights is immoral.  Gone this weekend is the King who spoke against the very so-called "right to work" destruction of labor unions that the so-called U.S. Supreme Court has made national law in 2018.  In fact, those very same so-called "justices" will be out this weekend caricaturing themselves as supporters of Dr. King when even the lightest surface study of his work illustrates he opposed everything these people represent.

The militancy in the King marches this weekend will be gone.  Instead, what we will get is the same superficial focus on people "getting along."  The issue has never been getting along. It has always been building a system that provides for people's needs.  When we create that, getting along becomes organic, but creating a new system will not be on the agenda at King events this weekend.  The very thing this moralistic man gave his life for will be replaced with a focus on how to go along to get along, the very opposite of everything Dr. King stood for.

As for the women's march, the capitalist system will invoke the same shaping of the narrative on this event as they do on the King commemorations.  Instead of these marches focusing on the capitalist system's reliance on patriarchy to enforce the oppression of women and non-men, the message of the marches will be convoluted with the capitalist vision of the struggle really being about positioning enough women on the same plane as men in upholding the capitalist system.  The same status quo analysis will be promoted in order to do this.  The so-called controversy about some of the national leaders supporting Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam is a clear example of this.  Regardless of what you think you know or believe about Farrakhan, the reality is that he has been fighting within his organization for 60 years within African communities.  Communities many of these current so-called activists and many of you wouldn't even have the courage to step into.  Anyone who makes even a casual study of the history of the zionist movement to rob the Palestinian people of their national homeland knows that the efforts to label Farrakhan, and any anti-zionist activists, as anti-semitic is old, tired, and full of holes and contradictions.  Yet, in 2019, it still works because the dominant narrative of everything, even mainstream social justice movement, is controlled by the capitalist system.  That's why this issue of Farrakhan has garnered more attention for the women's marches this year than the critical issues facing women and non-men such as disparities in health care, increasing incarceration of women, particularly for crimes related to their connections and/or interactions with men, violence and abuse against women and non-men, increasing poverty among women, and the capitalist system's inability and incapacity to respond to all of that, etc.  

As we have stated many times in this platform, any activism is good because as Sekou Ture taught us; "bad organization is better than no organization."  In other words, if someone is attempting to engage in a journey, but has no vehicle, you don't critique the vehicle they choose.  Instead, whatever vehicle they use to initiate their journey will make them stronger in defining their journey as they go.  Along the way, they will figure out the journey that will serve them the best.  So, since we understand this principle, we don't waste time criticizing marches and actions as to reformist, etc.  We encourage people to participate in these events this weekend because those who aren't participating in anything must start somewhere in order for them to understand what's good and what's not so good.  If we have faith in people, which anyone who is truly revolutionary must have, then we must believe that by participating, people will figure out what is correct for themselves.  So, go to these events, but struggle over these concepts expressed here.  Let's think in terms of how we can restore the King and women's events to a place where the ideals and principles that molded those events is prominent and the illusions and disinformation that is dominant today is challenged at every point.