tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14119086609960162882024-03-13T16:42:00.196-07:00Revolution from Egypt to the Americaswww.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-36550260209305571442011-05-09T17:28:00.000-07:002011-05-09T17:31:52.045-07:00Egyptians March to Gaza Concentration Camp<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_5qMLcSuhuo/TciHOYYGI1I/AAAAAAAAE4w/9Dd0khfAydw/s1600/_46986233_gazamilitan126x71.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604878417394017106" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 126px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 71px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_5qMLcSuhuo/TciHOYYGI1I/AAAAAAAAE4w/9Dd0khfAydw/s400/_46986233_gazamilitan126x71.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a title="Permanent Link to Egyptians to mark Nakba with a march to Palestine" href="http://gazatvnews.com/2011/05/egyptians-to-mark-nakba-with-a-march-to-palestine/" rel="bookmark"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Egyptians to mark Nakba with a march to Palestine</span></strong></a><br />Posted on 09 May 2011.<br /><a title="Permanent Link to Egyptians to mark Nakba with a march to Palestine" href="http://gazatvnews.com/wp-content/woo_custom/160-gtv.jpg"></a><br />On 15 May, the annual commemoration of the creation of the state of Israel and the expulsion of Palestinians, known as Nakba, Egyptians plan to march to Palestine under the slogan “Cairo’s liberation will not be complete without the liberation of Al-Quds [Jerusalem].”</div><br /><div><br />Following Egypt’s January 25 Revolution, Egyptians are pushing for some of the country’s foreign relations policies to change, especially those related to Israel and Palestine. Aid or protest convoys to Gaza were frequently stopped or arrested during the Mubarak era by the ousted president’s regime, and now for the first time since the revolution thousands of activists are planning to march to the Rafah border town.</div><br /><div><br />Ahmed Doma, member of the Justice and Freedom Youth Movement, said “we are organising this event as part of the Arab internet call for a third Palestinian Intifada and as part of what has now been termed ‘the Arab mass march’.” The call went out on Facebook for all Arabs to march en masse towards the borders to besiege Israel from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan and demand the right of all Palestinian refugees to return.</div><br /><div><br />The Egyptian convoy departing from Cairo added several demands besides the right of return, including the permanent opening of the Rafah border to allow the movement of people and goods; ending the export of Egyptian gas to Israel; ending all “humiliating agreements with the Zionist state;” and releasing all Palestinians in Egyptian prisons.<br /><br />The Cairo march will start in Tahrir Square, the hub of Egypt’s revolution, on 14 May at 12pm and is expected to reach Gaza in the evening and to join the Nakba rallies in Gaza on 15 May.<br />Parallel to the march to Palestine, demonstrations are planned in front of the Israeli embassy in Giza and the ambassador’s house in Maadi.</div><br /><div><br />Arwa, member of “We are All Resistance,” says “other convoys heading to Palestine are moving from Alexandria, Suez, Damietta and North Sinai. People will also join convoys from Gharbiya, Beni Suef, Assiut, Qena and Sohag.”</div><br /><div><br />The groups participating from Cairo include The National Front for Justice and Democracy, Supporters of the Palestinian Revolution (Cairo University), Justice and Freedom Youth Movement, Kifaya, We are All the Resistance Movement, Resistance Movement (Helwan University), a group of Ahly Club football Altras, likewise a group from the Zamalek Club (White Knights), Activists for Palestine, The Palestinian Women’s Coalition, April 6 Movement and The Nasserist Party. Several independent activists are also organising and publicising the event.</div>www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-8095772603921866572011-05-05T07:08:00.000-07:002011-05-05T08:59:47.866-07:00Revolution Against Fear<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2oAvoiFabdo/TcLFV-GivQI/AAAAAAAAE4I/9Ke6m_SGftE/s1600/E3BB9194.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5603257867640683778" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 268px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2oAvoiFabdo/TcLFV-GivQI/AAAAAAAAE4I/9Ke6m_SGftE/s400/E3BB9194.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">The Revolution Against Fear</span></strong></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"></span></strong></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>"The only thing to fear is fear itself."--President Roosevelt</div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>No human progress is possible while people are paralyzed by fear. Fear is the great monster of the mind that prevents people from standing against oppression. Once the great monster fear is cut off, we see people can stand tall in the face of any challenge, whether from the guns of state terror, the tanks, police, jails, prisons and ultimately death. Overcoming the fear of death is the ultimate challenge of man. Once a man or woman accepts that his/her life and death are all for God, transcending the self, fear is discarded into the dustbin of history. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>We see this occurring in North Africa and the Middle East at this hour. The people have cast off the illusion of fear and are standing tall against oppression from regimes long supported by American Imperialism. America has been the major arms supplier, the guns, bullets, poison gas, equipment for torture chambers and dungeons that were established to allow the most wicked and repressive regimes to flourish for the last forty years.</div><br /><br /><br /><div>Let us be clear that America has a history of oppressing its own citizens, of filling their bodies and minds with fear, of reducing them from Kunta Kinte to Toby en mass. We have yet to learn the true story of resistance to the American slave system by North American Africans, who mastered fear during three centuries of chattel enslavement, not recognized as humans or citizens. And yet from within the slave system, North American African resisted by any means necessary, ultimately taking up arms in the Civil War, only to be betrayed by those who won the war and those who were defeated, especially when the 200,000 African soldiers were disarmed.</div><br /><br /><br /><div>It is this disarming that allowed fear to return in the from of state terror in the guise of the KKK, the lynchings, virtual slave labor and disenfranchisement during the short lived Reconstruction.</div><br /><br /><br /><div>Imagine, for a time the people who were banned from learning to read and write, upon emancipation exercised a thirst for learning so great the children had to be beaten out of the classroom and made to go home. Today we have flipped the script, the children must be beaten or taken to juvenile hall for refusing to attend school. School districts have gone broke because their daily attendance was so low they could not qualify to fund their budgets.<br /></div><br /><br /><div>How did the fear of knowledge become pervasive? How did it become a hip fad to be ignut? We need only examine the lives of men who read books and not only transformed their lives but the lives of their people, e.g., Fredrick Douglass, Malcolm X, George Jackson, Eldridge Cleaver. These men cast aside their fears, stood up and made their people stand. Imagine the eternal words of Harriet Tubman, "I could have freed more slaves if they had known they were slaves."</div><br /><br /><br /><div>We see here the need for the slave system, today the neo-slave system, to keep people in ignorance and fear. The slave system rules through ignorance and fear. The Civil Rights movement was on the road to success once the people in the South cast off their fears, especially the fear of death, the fear of jail, prison and retaliation.</div><br /><br /><br /><div>The 2.4 million people in US jails and prisons are special examples of the fearless. Most people who commit crimes are somewhat fearless, otherwise they would not take penitentiary chances, as they say. Those addicted to fear may be those who decide to hold down a job, to never consider economic independence, until of late when it is crystal clear the job for life is a myth. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>We see a college education is no guarantee of a job. Our children will thus need to cast away their fears to configure a fair market system of economic justice. Free market capitalism is exhausted, surely America and her gang of global bandits are in their last days before being rounded up and divested of their ill gotten gains.<br /></div><br /><br /><div>By what right should 400 people possess the wealth equal to 150 million? There must be a redistribution of the wealth stolen from the deaf, dumb and blind, yes, those robbed and left half dead on the roadside, those who are victims of American capital accumulation since the beginning of the slave system, i.e., the founding of this nation. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>And yet the greatest robbery is not what occurred yesterday, but the robbery of the present global finance bandits who have ripped off the people with their pyramid schemes and sub prime loan scams that stole trillions from people and nations, since the blood suckers of the poor care nothing about people or nations.<br /></div><br /><br /><div>The jobless and homeless of today will not rise from this condition until they cast away all fears and seize the means of production and the housing they need. Every human being needs a job and a dwelling. There is no mystery about the human right to a job and a place to stay. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>Every human being should have a home with a life estate. This is the true and final solution to homelessness. The home with a life estate cannot be sold or transferred, thus a person will become free of the anxiety of homelessness. And then we consider the reality that all persons need a way to earn money to survive and thrive. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>A society that cannot provide its people with economic security shall have no national security, for it is a failed society, a society in chaos, such as we see in America today. There are almost three million people in prison, mostly due to economic crimes, crimes of necessity.<br /></div><br /><br /><div>And yet many of these criminals are fearless, some have the very creative minds we need to address the issues of society. And yet they are locked down, many for the most trivial offences, 80% were drug addicted at the time of their arrests and perhaps 50% have severe mental health issues, so what we have in American prisons and jails are drug addicts and the mentally ill or the dual diagnosed.<br /></div><br /><br /><div>Still, we have seen that some of our greatest minds came from prison, recall Malcolm, George Jackson, Eldridge, Tookie. Even today we have millions of fearless minds locked down, e.g. Ruchell McGee, and so many other men and women, not to mention our greatest mind on death row, Mumia Abu Jamal. If a man can be productive as Mumia has been on death row, what excuse do we have out here on the big yard?</div><br /><br /><br /><div>As Amiri Baraka asked, "Is it difficult for you?" And so I ask, is it difficult for you out here on the big yard? I especially ask the people of the Bay Area who have the legacy of the Black Panther Party who taught one essential lesson which was to discard our fears and stand tall in the face of oppression, is it difficult for you? I say smash your fear of the police, politicians, blood sucking merchants who refuse to hire you yet you do not protest. Challenge the oil and gasoline bandits who reap quarterly profits in the billions by manipulating the markets. But no, you won't dare confront Shell, Mobil, Exxon, Chevron, but you want to kill a brother who jumps ahead of you in the line at the gas station.</div><br /><br /><div>It is time to be informed and fearless. Use your cell phone to be informed, Google words you don't understand rather than spend the entire day asking your mate, "Where you at?" Ask yourself where your mind is at, where is your heart and soul at? Where is the fearlessness of your ancestors at? </div><br /><div>--Marvin X<br /></div><br /><div>5/5/11</div>www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-31270481443223322982011-04-28T21:54:00.000-07:002011-04-28T21:55:30.929-07:00Profile: Oakland's Imam Alim Musa and the American Islamic Revolution<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_RrLHf6Kzro/TbkdAl-d0oI/AAAAAAAAExw/UtwG3EbC7_w/s1600/Imam%2BAbdul%2BAlim%2BMusa.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600539507643241090" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 208px; height: 156px;" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_RrLHf6Kzro/TbkdAl-d0oI/AAAAAAAAExw/UtwG3EbC7_w/s400/Imam%2BAbdul%2BAlim%2BMusa.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><br /><a href="http://www.adl.org/main_Anti_Israel/sabiqun_anti-semitism.htm?Multi_page_sections=sHeading_2"></a><br /><strong><span style="font-size: 180%;">Oakland's Imam Abdul Alim Musa<br />and the American Islamic Revolution</span></strong></div><strong><span style="font-size: 180%;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size: 180%;"><br /><div><br /></div>Imam Abdul Alim Musa, an African-American convert to Islam, is the head of the Masjid Al Islam mosque in Washington DC and founder of Sabiqun. He advocates for an Islamic revolution in the U.S. and promotes anti-Semitism. Despite his extremist views, Alim Musa is often invited to speak to Muslim student groups, in particular at events organized by the <a title="http://www.adl.org/main_Anti_Israel/Anti-Semitism+at+UC+Irvine.htm" href="http://www.adl.org/main_Anti_Israel/Anti-Semitism+at+UC+Irvine.htm">Muslim Student Union (MSU)</a> at the University of California, Irvine.<br /><div></div><br /><div>These events often feature a handful of radical speakers who espouse anti-Semitic rhetoric, including Imam <a title="http://www.adl.org/israel/al_asi.asp" href="http://www.adl.org/israel/al_asi.asp">Mohammad al-Asi</a> and <a title="http://www.adl.org/israel/malik_ali.asp" href="http://www.adl.org/israel/malik_ali.asp">Imam Amir Abdul Malik Ali</a>. Though he claims that some of the major Muslim organizations try to avoid him because of his ideology, Alim Musa has participated at events organized by prominent Muslim-American community organizations including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, Muslim American Society, Islamic Circle of North America and the Islamic Society of North America. He also makes regular appearances at the large annual conferences of the Muslim Congress, a Houston-based Shia community group. </div><br /><div><br />At some of these events, Alim Musa has sold copies of an anti-Semitic book written by Imam Mohammad al-Asi. The book, The Ascendant Qur'an, blames Jews for conspiring against Islam.<br />Alim Musa has also spoken at mass antiwar rallies, including one of the largest pro-Palestinian rallies ever held in this country, which was organized by the <a title="http://www.adl.org/israel/answer.asp" href="http://www.adl.org/israel/answer.asp">ANSWER Coalition</a> on April 20, 2002 in Washington, DC. Musa served as moderator. </div><br /><div><br />In addition, Alim Musa is a founder and former member of the governing body of the Muslim Alliance in North America, a community organization that involves prominent American-born Muslims, mostly African-Americans. <strong>In 2004, the San Francisco Bay View described Alim Musa as "one of the highest-ranking Islamic leaders in the Black community, nationwide and specifically in the Islamic movement."<br /></strong></div><br /><div><strong>Born Clarence Reams in Arkansas, Alim Musa grew up in Oakland, California. According to his own account, as a young man in the 1960s in Oakland he was dealing with illegal drugs and later fled the country. He claims to have spent time in Algeria where he met fugitive activists in the Black Panther movement and to have also been involved in cocaine trade in Columbia. Alim Musa returned to the U.S. and was jailed in a federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, where he converted to Islam, based on his account.</strong> </div><br /><div><br />Alim Musa is a "senior" member of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT), an international pro-Iranian, pro-Hezbollah Islamist think tank that distributes anti-Semitic propaganda in its magazine, Crescent International. He claims to have travelled several times to Iran, implying in various speeches that he has met with Hezbollah and Hamas representatives in Iran, as well as with groups fighting Indian forces in Kashmir during a visit to that region.<br /><br />In addition, he maintains contacts with other extremist groups in the U.S. and abroad, including the anti-Semitic and racist <a href="http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/Black_Panther.asp">New Black Panther Party (NBPP)</a> and <a title="http://www.adl.org/main_Anti_Israel/jamaat_baltimore_conference.htm?Multi_page_sections=" href="http://www.adl.org/main_Anti_Israel/jamaat_baltimore_conference.htm?Multi_page_sections=sHeading_2">Jamaat al-Muslimeen</a>.<br />Below is a sample of extremist and anti-Semitic statements that Alim Musa has made:<br />June 4, 2010: During a sermon at a Dallas mosque, Alim Musa argued that "the whole Western world is out against Islam" and that the U.S. government is implementing a policy that targets African-American Muslims because they are not as susceptible to intimidation as immigrant Muslims. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>He argued that it was therefore the responsibility of African-American Muslims to establish an authentic "liberation-based" Islamic movement, which he describes as a "re-Africanization" and "de-Israelization of the Islamic movement in America."<br /><br />January 5, 2010: Alim Musa appeared on Press TV, a state-funded Iranian TV news channel, to discuss the <a title="http://www.adl.org/main_Terrorism/Christmas_Day_Bomber.htm?Multi_page_sections=" href="http://www.adl.org/main_Terrorism/Christmas_Day_Bomber.htm?Multi_page_sections=sHeading_2">attempt to blow up an American airliner heading for Detroit on Christmas Day</a> 2009. During his appearance, Musa claimed that the Israeli Mossad and the U.S. government were behind 90 percent of the terror attacks in the U.S. and abroad since the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, including the Christmas Day plot. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>He argued that this continuous Israeli-American terrorist campaign not only provides an excuse to launch attacks against Muslims but also allows those in power to strengthen their grip in the U.S. </div><br /><div><br />July 4, 2009: Alim Musa spoke at an event organized by the Muslim Congress, a Houston-based Shia community group, in Dearborn, Michigan. At the event, which was reportedly attended by 1,200 people, Alim Musa reportedly distributed fliers that called the U.S. government "Zionist occupied" and the FBI "Gestapo." In his speech, Alim Musa reportedly "accused U.S. leaders of fabricating a Muslim threat to national security so Americans could stop the global spread of Islam." </div><br /><div><br />September 26, 2008: Alim Musa spoke at an anti-Israel event at the Islamic House of Wisdom, a Shiite Muslim mosque in Dearborn, Michigan. At the event, which was held to commemorate Iranian-inspired Al Quds [Jerusalem] Day, Alim Musa sold copies of a book by Mohammad al-Asi, an exegesis of the Quran that interprets much of the Islamic holy text as a warning of a Jewish conspiracy against Islam. During his lecture, Alim Musa expressed his support for Hezbollah, stating:<br />"The Hezbollah…it stands to the Zionists on behalf of their Palestinian cousins." </div><br /><div><br />May 9, 2007: During his appearance at an anti-Israel event that was organized by MSU at UC Irvine, "Holocaust Memorial Week," Alim Musa said:<br />"Who ran the slave trade…who funded [it]? You'll study and you will find out: the Jews…It was the Jewish bankers…in Vienna, with pockets full of money, funding and insuring, that's who did it…you can't tell us about no holocaust. Between the African Americans and the Native Americans, everybody else's stuff was small potatoes." </div><br /><div><br />October 5, 2006: Alim Musa spoke at a protest organized by the antiwar group World Can't Wait outside the White House in Washington, DC. Claiming September 11 was a conspiracy by the American government, Alim Musa stated:<br />"We got to get rid of this new Hitler…Just like Hitler burned the Reichstag…to gain full power over the people…George Bush brings down the World Trade Center, blames it on us [Muslims] and then claims himself dictator over the world. So we're here to say it's all over for George." </div><br /><div><br />January 2004: In an interview in the San Francisco Bay View, Alim Musa talked about September 11 and other issues. In the interview, Alim Musa stated:<br />"When 9/11 happened, the only people who understood it really was Black people. They know that when you have an election-stealing president that has no credibility, he needs something to make him presidential…."If you remember before 9/11, the big conference they held in Durban, South Africa, Black people was attuned to Zionism is racism—we know that as a people. Amerikkka [original spelling] needed something to take them off of the most-hated list, but it never worked." </div><br /><div><br />April 20, 2002: Alim Musa served as the moderator of an <a title="http://www.adl.org/anti_semitism/arab/as_rallies.asp" href="http://www.adl.org/anti_semitism/arab/as_rallies.asp">anti-Israel rally</a>, sponsored by <a title="http://www.adl.org/israel/answer.asp" href="http://www.adl.org/israel/answer.asp">ANSWER</a>, during which many speakers called for the destruction of Israel. A large Hezbollah flag was on display from the stage throughout much of the event next to where Alim Musa stood. </div><br /><div><br />March 22, 2002: Alim Musa spoke at an event at the National Press Club in Washington DC that was organized by the NBPP, titled: "National Opposition Town Hall Meeting." At the event, <a title="http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/malik_zulu_shabazz/default.asp?LEARN_Cat=" href="http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/malik_zulu_shabazz/default.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=2&item=shabazz" learn_subcat="Extremism_in_America&xpicked=" item="shabazz">Malik Zulu Shabazz</a>, national chairman of the <a href="http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/Black_Panther.asp">New Black Panther Party (NBPP)</a>, praised Alim Musa as an authentic and courageous leader. During his speech, Alim Musa hailed Hezbollah and Palestinian groups fighting Israel and berated the U.S.:<br />"A little group like Hezbollah, 'the Party of God'…and in the world there are only two parties: Hezbollah and Hizb-ul-Shaytan [Party of Satan]…you're either in the party of God or Satan—America, the British, the French…You're either in that party or the Party of God, the Hezbollah… </div><br /><div><br />"They have caused so much trouble for the Zionists…they're getting paranoid. Zionists are shooting other Zionists…that's the way the Jews are doing…because they're paranoid…and that's the way they need to feel…because when it come to Islam and peoples' willingness to achieve martyrdom, you can't beat them…. </div><br /><div><br />"We don't want to be a part of the American system. We want to see it wrapped up, bundled up like they do in them garbage trucks…take it and dump it into the dust bin of history." </div><br /><div><br />October 31, 2001: Alim Musa joined Shabazz for a <a title="http://www.adl.org/Anti_semitism/Shabazz_cspan_conference.asp" href="http://www.adl.org/Anti_semitism/Shabazz_cspan_conference.asp">news conference</a> at the National Press Club<a name="top"></a>. At the event, Shabazz blamed Jews and Israel for the September 11 terrorist attacks. During his speech, Alim Musa said: "America placed this sword, this cancer, this Zionist state, in the center of the crossroads of the world." He also assailed "Zionists in Hollywood, the Zionists in New York, and the Zionists in D.C." who, he claimed, "all collaborate" to oppress Blacks and Muslims.<br /></div><br /><div>October 28, 2000: Alim Musa spoke at a rally in Washington DC that was organized by some of the premier Muslim community organizations in the country and in which speakers expressed support for Hamas and Hezbollah. Referring to Palestinian casualties in the second intifada, which broke out the previous month, Alim Musa said:<br />"We celebrate our young brothers…those shuhada [martyrs]. They're not dead….The Zionists, when they get hit they're dead. They are dead and gone…But our people, when they leave this world they're headed for jannah [Paradise]." </div><br /><div><br />June 2000: At a gathering in Baltimore organized by Jamaat al-Muslimeen, Alim Musa spoke about Imam Jamil al-Amin, a Muslim activist who has since been convicted for killing an Atlanta, Georgia, deputy sheriff:<br />"Al-Amin…turned his ideas, his belief in Islam, into practical solutions for society. And they can't stand that….the Zionist are the same today as they was then. In those days [in Arabia before the ascendance of Islam] they controlled the liquor market in Madina… and the Zionists kept the Arab leaders broke and drunk…the yahud [Jews, in Arabic] were seating back and had each one of them [Arab clans] fighting each other because the leaders was both drunken and they was all in owe (sic) to the same Yahud… he was manipulating the Arabs…then Islam came [and abolished riba, or interest]…"We're the pioneers here of Islam in America… Islam went everywhere in the world… so why can't Islam take over America… We are on the right road."</div></span></strong>www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-89355690009971778262011-04-28T21:48:00.000-07:002011-04-28T21:49:14.894-07:00Oakland and the American Islamic Revolution<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YADk5E6oE78/TbeOuf8i0GI/AAAAAAAAExQ/M0nKhAHOy5E/s1600/jamil_al-amin08-07-2007b.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600101591159066722" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 249px; height: 307px;" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YADk5E6oE78/TbeOuf8i0GI/AAAAAAAAExQ/M0nKhAHOy5E/s400/jamil_al-amin08-07-2007b.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size: 180%;">Oakland and the American Islamic Revolution</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size: 180%;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size: 180%;"></span></strong><br /><br /><br />Imam Jamil Alamin (H. Rap Brown)<br />of Atlanta GA<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NlqxshIj20c/TbeIt5yDXsI/AAAAAAAAExI/xrjoHClVlD4/s1600/Imam%2BLuqman%2BAmeen%2BAbdullah.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600094983844748994" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 240px; height: 142px;" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NlqxshIj20c/TbeIt5yDXsI/AAAAAAAAExI/xrjoHClVlD4/s400/Imam%2BLuqman%2BAmeen%2BAbdullah.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Imam Luqman of Detroit (RIP)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eG41m-ZoF7M/TbeFApXDNHI/AAAAAAAAExA/1PwBvDOnaMc/s1600/Imam%2BAbdul%2BAlim%2BMusa.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600090907807528050" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 208px; height: 156px;" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eG41m-ZoF7M/TbeFApXDNHI/AAAAAAAAExA/1PwBvDOnaMc/s400/Imam%2BAbdul%2BAlim%2BMusa.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Imam Musa of Oakland<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size: 130%;"></span></strong></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size: 130%;">Cause Célèbre Islam: Racism, Revolution, Black Nationalism<br /></span></strong>Written by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Madeleine Gruen<br />Friday, 20 November 2009 14:16<br /><br /></div><br /><br /><div>“We can’t just be saying, ‘O.K., everything is run by the U.S. government,’ we got to take out the U.S. government. The U.S. government is nothing but Kuffars.”<br />—Luqman Abdullah, imam of Masjid al-Haqq and Detroit representative to al-Ummah<a name="109text"></a><a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#109end">2</a><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div>“So the goal of the government is to destroy this group [al-Ummah] and to send the message to other African Americans that the federal government will not allow any unified, organized Islamic activities to be carried out inside of the United States of America. But we have a message for them. We will not be intimidated by the government of the United States of America.”<br />—Abdul Alim Musa, imam of Masjid al-Islam and founder of al-Sabiqun<a name="110text"></a><a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#110end">3</a></div><br /><br /><div><br />The shooting of Luqman Abdullah, the imam of Detroit’s Masjid al-Haqq and a representative to al-Ummah, provided a glimpse into a movement that blends conservative Sunni Islamic practice with the legacy of black nationalism. Abdullah’s rhetoric weaves references to the Qur’an and ahadith together with the language of militant jihadism and assertions of injustice perpetrated against African-American Muslims by the U.S. government in the form of harassment, targeted raids, arrests, and “assassinations.” Other preachers similarly fuse these themes, resulting in a distinctive understanding of the faith that can be described as “cause célèbre Islam.”<br /></div><br /><br /><div>For Abdullah and his followers, this doctrine provided justification for criminal behavior. In other cases, cause célèbre Islam prepares adherents for an inevitable violent revolution against the U.S. government: this revolutionary vision is at least as indebted to the ideas of men like Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, and Malcolm X as it is to more typical advocates of Islamic revolution like Sayyid Qutb. Those who share this view tend to be suspicious of outsiders, and outside influences.</div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size: 180%;">Cause Célèbre: An Indigenous </span></strong><strong><span style="font-size: 180%;">American Islamic Movement</span></strong></div><br /><br /><br /><div><br />The “cause célèbre Islam” movement arose from a combination of uniquely American conditions and experiences. Because many of the movement’s leaders were children of the civil rights era and were active in the black nationalist movement, or had significant exposure to members of that movement, the leaders’ rhetoric fuses black nationalist themes with conservative or militant Islamic ideas.</div><br /><br /><div><br />Antecedents of this movement include quasi-Islamic sects that catered to African-Americans by trying to frankly address the reality of racism in America, such as the Moorish Science Temple and the Lost-Found Nation of Islam. However, unlike these groups, there is nothing within the cause célèbre Islamic movement—such as the Nation of Islam’s belief in W.D. Fard’s divinity and the prophethood of Elijah Muhammad—that clearly places it outside the mainstream of Islamic theology.<br /><br />This issue’s article “Jamil al-Amin” profiles a significant leader within the cause célèbre Islam movement, a man who continues to serve as an ideological inspiration and who has himself become one of its causes célèbre following his conviction and life sentence for shooting two police officers in Atlanta. Al-Amin’s supporters claim he was framed because the U.S. government feared his power and influence.</div><br /><br /><div><br />Abdul Alim Musa, originally from Oakland, CA, is an associate of Jamil al-Amin, and the leader of the Washington, D.C.-based group As-Sabiqun, which subscribes to the same cause célèbre brand of Islam as al-Ummah. Speaking of al-Amin’s trial, he commented: “You know a different America than I do. I know America coming from Arkansas of lynchings, of burning, and of torture. I don’t know an America of a fair trial. I don’t know America of a Bill of Rights. I have never seen that America. Imam Jamil came out of a generation coming up out of Louisiana.”<a name="111text"></a>4<br /></div><br /><br /><div>He has further explained his deep admiration for al-Amin, describing him as a living legend:<br />You know who Imam Jamil al Amin is? I’m gonna tell you who he is. You see all these movies, a last man standing, right? A guy who goes through houses being blown up. Ran over by a train. Legs ripped off, sawed in half, buried alive. Isn’t that right? And he’d come out the last man standing. Imam Jamil al Amin, they tried to blow him up in 1967. They tried to assassinate him on several occasions. Isn’t that right? They ran him into exile in the late 60’s and the early 70’s. But he came on back. The last man standing. Martin Luther King is dead. Malcolm X is dead. Medgar Evers is dead. Isn’t that right? [Huey] Newton is dead. Eldridge Cleaver is dead. Everyone you read about in a black history book that struggled against what we used to call the “white man” is dead. Isn’t that right?<a name="112text"></a><a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#112end">5</a></div><br /><br /><div><br />This article now turns to the revolutionary threads and criminal threads within cause célèbre Islamic ideology.</div><br /><br /><div><br />Revolutionary Threads<br /><br />Revolution and potential confrontation with the U.S. government are overarching themes within the movement’s thinking. They featured prominently in Luqman Abdullah’s rhetoric, for example. “[W]e should be trying to figure out how to fight the Kuffar,” he said. “You see, we need to figure out how to be a bullet.”<a name="113text"></a><a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#113end">6</a> Further, he said, “you cannot have a non-violent revolution.” <a name="114text"></a><a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#114end">7</a></div><br /><br /><div><br />There are various gradations of how revolution is seen within the movement. At their most extreme, the revolutionary ideas are pegged to the notion of establishing an Islamic state within the U.S., or more ambitiously seizing the instruments of government and imposing Islamic rule throughout the nation. At other times, the idea of revolution within the movement’s rhetoric is more secularized, with “the oppressed” (and not just Muslims) rising up against the institutions that hold them back. And in their mildest form, the movement’s revolutionary ideas are inward-looking, with fighting against ignorance and addiction seen as transformative in themselves.<a name="115text"></a><a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#115end">8</a></div><br /><br /><div><br />The revolutionary theme fosters an “us versus them” mentality, putting the U.S. government in the role of the community’s oppressor. This can isolate members of the movement from outsiders, and also cultivate a lack of respect and trust for the government’s authority. Members of the movement will see law enforcement action that has an impact on those within their community as calculated, part of a grand strategy to keep the movement weak. One example of this conspiratorial view is an article in New Trend Magazine, an online Islamist publication, which remarked that “Muslims of America, especially African Americans, are leaderless. The government knows this and wants to keep Imam Jamil in prison on a bogus case which should have been thrown out long ago.”<a name="116text"></a><a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#116end">9</a></div><br /><br /><div><br />Criminal Threads</div><br /><br /><div><br />Though Luqman Abdullah and his associates were heavily involved in criminal activity, this is certainly not the case for all adherents of this brand of Islam. Indeed, many antecedents of the cause célèbre Islamic movement, such as the Nation of Islam, prided themselves in giving followers with a criminal past the self-discipline necessary to avoid lapsing back into criminality.<br />Many within this movement have served time in prison, but in part this may be due to the fact that Darul Islam and similar groups have systematized prison dawah programs. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>Often Islam provides an attractive alternative to the violent and degrading prison environment. “Acting through the principle of freedom of worship, Islam meets these challenges and shows a remarkable capacity to redefine the conditions of incarceration,” writes Robert Dannin. “A new Muslim repeats the attestation of faith, the shahada, before witnesses at the mosque. His Islamic identity then means a fresh start, symbolized by the choice of a new name, modifications to his physical appearance, and an emphasis on prayer.”<a name="117text"></a><a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#117end">10</a></div><br /><br /><div><br />But not all converts to Islam leave behind their criminal past. Among other reasons, some of them may not be able to shake old worldviews and habits after adopting their new faith. Others may not even try to shake off them at all, and may in fact use their new Islamic framework to justify criminality. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>Luqman Abdullah, who served two prison terms (one for carrying a concealed weapon, the other for assaulting a police officer), continued to justify theft and crimes of violence after his conversion to Islam. After his conversion, he used religious justifications to argue that such activities were legitimate; when he helped arrange for a new VIN for a truck that he believed to be stolen, he described it as an act of jihad.<a name="118text"></a><a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#118end">11</a> He encouraged members of Masjid al-Haqq to carry firearms, which many did even though their criminal records made it illegal.</div><br /><br /><div><br />The shooting of Abdullah now gives the movement the opportunity to establish his status as a martyr, and to create another cause célèbre to rally around. As Abdul Alim Musa has declared: “[W]hat the government is doing by assassinating Imam Luqman is it’s trying to intimidate the Muslim community, especially the black community. And I say that because the immigrant community, which is about half of the Muslims in the United States, and the African American Muslim community, which form the other half, have different views about Islam in America and how it should be fostered.”<a name="119text"></a><a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#119end">12</a></div><br /><br /><div><br /><strong><span style="font-size: 130%;">As-Sabiqun</span></strong></div><br /><br /><div><br />Certainly, one cannot draw complete analytical conclusions about a movement’s theology, doctrine, and strategy based on what is disclosed in court documents: criminal complaints and other such documents are used to support a criminal prosecution, and are not meant to provide a comprehensive history or account of the subject’s activities. Therefore, in assessing the movement’s priorities it is helpful to look beyond Abdullah, and toward an active group that is part of the cause célèbre Islamic movement.<br /><br />As-Sabiqun, which is another offshoot of Darul Islam, is one such group. Group leader Abdul Alim Musa was a close associate of Jamil al-Amin, and is very active in the campaign to free him from prison. In his public statements, Musa often warns of a war on African-American Muslim converts by the FBI at the behest of a “Zionist-controlled U.S. government.”<br /></div><br /><br /><div>He uses every incident involving law enforcement actions against African-American converts as an opportunity to bolster his claim. He also speaks of the need for dramatic change to the government:<br />[I]t is the responsibility of God-serving people to champion the right of self-determination—to alter that government, and to institute a new form of administration that is in conformity with the eternal principles and values of God’s Law; a government which is both human-friendly and earth- friendly. Prudent and just means must be employed to accomplish the establishment of such a government. The timeless prescribed methods to address tyranny are threefold: the usage of the hand (physical or military might), the tongue (to raise our voices in defense of Truth and justice), or the heart (to detest it internally and implore for God’s assistance).<a name="120text"></a><a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#120end">13</a></div><br /><br /><div><br />One of Musa’s favorite themes is the use of “snitches and FBI informants” as a tool of the government to eliminate the movement’s leaders. In June 2007, he delivered a lecture at his mosque entitled “How to Punk the FBI,” which included such pointers as: “How to bring the sissy out of your local FBI agent. Counter-harassment techniques (Did your mamma buy that shirt?) Laugh your fears away by laughing in your oppressor’s face.”<br /><br /></div><br /><br /><div>And in July 2009, Musa hosted another seminar to discuss the position of the African- American Muslim community toward the FBI entitled “RE-PUNK THE F.B.I.: Practitioners of Tyranny & Oppression.”<br /><br />The justification for holding the meeting was described in a release issued by As-Sabiqun in June 2009. It read, in part: “The history of the Zionist-occupied United States government has been one of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an oppressive and tyrannical world order. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>Prudence demands that we, the oppressed, list some of our outstanding grievances in this regard.” The release asserts that “actions, on the part of the Zionist-occupied U.S. government, has created an atmosphere of pervasive fear, that exists both nationally (via the FBI, Homeland Security, Immigration, and others) and internationally (via the CIA and its partners in crime throughout the globe).” </div><br /><br /><br /><div>The announcement then asked supporters to join them at their masjid “for an afternoon of courage and clarity, where Imam Musa will, insha’Allah, give a detailed discussion on two very critical and timely topics: the Re- Africanization of the Islamic movement in North America & the De- Israelization of the global Islamic movement.”<a name="121text"></a><a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#121end">14</a></div><br /><br /><div><br />Many followers of As-Sabiqun are ex-convicts who converted to Islam while in prison, as did Musa, who spent several years in the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas after being convicted of charges that included drug trafficking. As-Sabiqun engages in dawah efforts directed at prison inmates, and offers them a community where they can go after their release. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>According to Musa’s biography on his personal MySpace page, “His ‘street’ background helps explain part of his appeal to inner-city youths and ex-convicts, with whom he can identify through personal experience.”<a name="122text"></a><a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#122end">15</a> In addition, Musa travels extensively to lecture, often speaking to Muslim youth groups and Muslim student associations at U.S. universities.</div><br /><br /><div><br />As-Sabiqun’s web site is a first place to look to understand the group ideologically:Carrying on the torch lit by El-Hajj Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X) and past homegrown Islamic movements such as the Darul Islam movement and the Islamic Party of North America, As-Sabiqun aspires to:<br />make Islam a living force by challenging and breaking the grasp of social and political forces seeking to suppress and destroy the Deen. </div><br /><br /><div><br />obliterate the hold of jahiliyyah through moral and spiritual development. </div><br /><br /><div><br />establish Islamic homes and build model communities where Islam is lived. </div><br /><br /><div><br />work toward total economic independence. </div><br /><br /><div><br />stand up against those who oppress Muslims and all other human beings across the globe as well as the earth and Allah’s creation itself. <a name="123text"></a><a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#123end">16</a> </div><br /><br /><div><br />As-Sabiqun members are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the writings of thinkers like Abu Ala al-Mawdudi, Hasan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb, Malcolm X, and Ayatollah Khomeini. This list is telling in itself: though a number of conservative and militant Sunni Muslims were heartened by Iran’s 1978-79 Islamic revolution, they largely turned against Khomeini in the 1980s due to their problems with Shia theology. Not so for Musa, for whom being a revolutionary seems to be a top concern.</div><br /><br /><div><br />As-Sabiqun’s stated goal is to establish the “Islamic State of North America” no later than 2050. <a name="124text"></a><a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#124end">17</a> However, Musa has given somewhat contradictory guidance about this aspiration. On the one hand, he tells his followers to invite people to Islam peacefully; on the other, he glorifies suicide bombers as heroes.<br /></div><br /><br /><div>In a June 2008 speech delivered to a group in Dearborn, Michigan, honoring Ayatollah Khomeini, Musa said, “My enemy is the United States…. We are living under a dictatorship in the U.S.” Though he preceded these comments by telling his audience to “invite people to Islam instead of shooting,” he went on to say that “we are being harassed to a point.”<a name="125text"></a><a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#125end">10</a> Perhaps, then, Musa is suggesting that violence is now justifiable, given the extremes to which the Muslim community in the U.S. has been “pushed.”</div><br /><br /><div><br /><strong>Conclusion</strong></div><br /><br /><div><br />The shooting of Luqman Abdullah does not eliminate potentially violent groups that fuse Islamism with black nationalist grievances. This movement, which we dubbed “cause célèbre Islam,” is broader than Abdullah, with a traceable ideological foundation based on the heritage and experience of African-Americans. It is certainly a movement that will remain on the radar of those who are concerned about the possibility of homegrown terrorism.<br />.......................................<br /><a name="108end">1</a>Portions of this article were originally published in Madeleine Gruen & Frank Hyland, “The Threat Here—2008: As Sabiqun,” Counterterrorism Blog, July 28, 2008.<a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#108text">return</a><br /><a name="109end">2</a>Gary Leone, Criminal Complaint, United States v. Abdullah, No. 2:09-MJ- 30436 (E.D. Mich., Oct. 27, 2009).<a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#109text">return</a><br /><a name="110end">3</a>“Washington’s Imam Musa: FBI Assassinated Luqman Ameen Abdullah to Intimidate the Black American Muslim Community,” Press TV (Iran), Nov. 2, 2009.<a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#110text">return</a><br /><a name="111end">4</a>Abdul Alim Musa, speech at Jamil al-Amin Fundraiser, University of California at Irvine, Sept. 9, 2001, accessed from the Investigative Project on Terrorism web site, Nov. 20, 2009.<a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#111text">return</a><br /><a name="112end">5</a>Leone, Criminal Complaint, United States v. Abdullah, ¶ 18.<a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#112text">return</a><br /><a name="113end">6</a>Ibid.<a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#113text">return</a><br /><a name="114end">7</a>Ibid. See also ibid. ¶ 24, in which Abdullah states: “We are going to have to fight against the Kafir.”<a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#114text">return</a><br /><a name="115end">8</a>Examples of this framework can be found in Jamil al-Amin, Revolution by the Book: The Rap is Live (Beltsville, MD: Writers’ Inc., 1994).<a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#115text">return</a><br /><a name="116end">9</a>Kaukab Siddique, “Dr. Siddique Interviews Sister Karima al-Amin,” New Trend Magazine, Sept. 9, 2009.<a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#116text">return</a><br /><a name="117end">10</a>Robert Dannin, Black Pilgrimage to Islam (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 175.<a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#117text">return</a><br /><a name="118end">11</a>Leone, Criminal Complaint, United States v. Abdullah, ¶ 33.<a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#118text">return</a><br /><a name="119end">12</a>“FBI Assassinated Luqman Ameen Abdullah to Intimidate the Black American Muslim Community,” Press TV.<a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#119text">return</a><br /><a name="120end">13</a>“RE-PUNK THE F.B.I. (Practitioners of Tyranny & Oppression,” posted to Abdul Alim Musa’s Facebook page on June 24, 2009 (accessed Nov. 20, 2009).<a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#120text">return</a><br /><a name="121end">14</a>Ibid.<a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#121text">return</a><br /><a name="122end">15</a>This page can be accessed at <a href="http://www.myspace.com/imammusa2" target="_blank">http://www.myspace.com/imammusa2</a> (last visited Nov. 20, 2009).<a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#122text">return</a><br /><a name="123end">16</a>As-Sabiqun’s web site can be accessed at <a href="http://www.sabiqun.net/" target="_blank">http://www.sabiqun.net/</a> (last visited Nov. 20, 2009).<a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#123text">return</a><br /><a name="124end">17</a>This statement can be found at <a href="http://www.sabiqun.net/join.html" target="_blank">http://www.sabiqun.net/join.html</a> (last visited Nov. 20, 2009).<a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#124text">return</a><br /><a name="125end">18</a>Video of this speech can be seen at <a href="http://www.shiatv.net/view_video.php?" target="_blank" viewkey="'7dbc9960ae158598a6a9">http://www.shiatv.net/view_video.php?</a> (accessed Nov. 20, 2009).<a href="http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11787279&Itemid=343#125text">return</a> </div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a class="contentpagetitle" href="http://www.fighthatred.com/profiles-in-hate/religious-figures/486-imam-abdul-alim-musa"><strong><span style="font-size: 130%;">Imam Abdul Alim Musa</span></strong> </a><br />Monday, 22 March 2010 14:12<br /><br />Press TV</div><br /><br /><br /><div>Imam Abdul Alim Musa is a radical Muslim American activist and public speaker. Known for his openly anti-Semitic remarks, Alim Musa is a well known figure in the Muslim world.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div>He grew up in Oakland, California amid the drug dealing turf of East Oakland. During his serving time in prison for heroin smuggling, currency smuggling and assaulting a federal agent, Musa converted to Islam. Upon release, he established a masjid in East Oakland. Soon after, he went to Iran, where he showed his staunch support for the 1979 Iranian revolution. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>During his travels, he met many top Islamic leaders and scholars.Musa is on the leading members of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought, an international intellectual center promoting a global Islamic movement. He is also the founder and director of As-Sabiqun, an American organization advocating an establishment an Islamic state in the United States.Alim Musa had made many extremely anti-Semitic statements. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>He has stated that the U.S. was controlled by the Jews, has glorified Palestinian suicide bombers as heroes and has claimed that the Zionist Jews were responsible for most terrorist attacks worldwide, including the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center.Musa has accused the Jews of running the slave trade. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>At an anti-Israel event at University of California Irvine, Musa said the following: “Who ran the slave trade…who funded [it]? You’ll study and you will find out: the Jews…It was the Jewish bankers…in Vienna, with pockets full of money, funding and insuring, that’s who did it…. you can’t tell us about no holocaust. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>Between the African Americans and the Native Americans, everybody else’s stuff was small potatoes.”Despite his openly anti-Semitic views, Musa is a frequent speaker and has given speeches at events organized by such prominent Muslim-American organizations as Muslim American Society, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Islamic Circle of North America, Muslim Public Affairs Committee and Islamic Society of North America. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>In addition, he has spoken at many pro-Palestinian rallies nationwide.Alim Musa is strongly associated with the Muslim Student Union at University of California Irvine, where he organization frequently disrupts Israeli guest speakers and stages anti-Israel events..As of April 2009, Musa became banned from entering the United Kingdom for supporting terrorism and propagating extremist ideology.</div><br /><br /><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size: 180%;">Imam Luqman </span></strong><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><div>Detroit Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah Killed by FBI Agents in Dearborn<br /><a title="photo sharing" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/53911892@N00/4054337971/"></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/53911892@N00/4054337971/">Detroit Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53, was killed in Dearborn by FBI agents. The Islamic leader had been active in the city for decades. The federal authorities claim that his mosque was involved in illegal activities.</a></div><br /><br /><br /><div>Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/53911892@N00/">Pan-African News Wire File Photos</a><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><div>October 28, 200<br /><br /></div><br /><br /><div>FBI kills leader of radical Muslims; 12 charged</div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>BY BEN SCHMITT, NIRAJ WARIKOO AND ROBIN ERBFREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS</div><br /><br /><br /><div>The leader of a local mosque who authorities also are calling the head of an Islamic fundamentalist group was killed in a shootout with federal agents this afternoon during a series of raids that resulted in charges against a dozen men.<br /></div><br /><br /><div>Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53, leader of the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque in Detroit, is accused in a federal complaint of heading a Sunni Muslim group with a mission of establishing a separate Islamic nation within the United States. Abdullah, also known as Christopher Thomas, was gunned down after firing on officers as the FBI raided a Dearborn warehouse, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>An FBI canine also was fatally shot. Raids also were conducted in Detroit."The eleven defendants are members of a group that is alleged to have engaged in violent activity over a period of many years and known to be armed," a joint statement from the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office said. A 12th man was arrested late Wednesday in connection with the investigation. Three of the men charged were at large Wednesday night.</div><br /><br /><br /><div>Abdullah and the others were charged with conspiracy to commit several federal felony crimes, including illegal possession and sale of firearms and theft from interstate shipments.Abdullah spoke of attacking Super Bowl XLAbdullah believed he and his followers were soldiers at war against the government and non-Muslims."Abdullah told his followers it is their duty to oppose the FBI and the government and it does not matter if they die," FBI agent Gary Leone said in an affidavit unsealed today. "He also told the group that they need to plan to do something."</div><br /><br /><br /><div>Abdullah, 53, of Detroit stayed true to his word as armed FBI agents raided a Dearborn warehouse at Michigan Avenue and Miller. Authorities said he refused to surrender, opened fire and then died in a shootout in which an FBI dog also was killed. Agents also raided two Detroit homes in the 4400 block of Tireman and the 9200 block of Genessee. The affidavits and returns for those warrants were sealed today.The U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI in Detroit unsealed a 43-page document describing a sinister, radical fundamentalist group headed by Abdullah. </div><br /><br /><br /><div>The document notes conversations he had with undercover agents and federal informants that ranged from talking about attacking Super Bowl XL in Detroit to blowing himself up as a final act of courage."If they are coming to get to me, I'll just strap a bomb on and blow up everybody," he said in a March 21, 2008, conversation.<br /><br /></div><br /><br /><div>Federal officials said Abdullah was the leader of a group that calls itself "Ummah, a group of mostly African-American converts to Islam, which seeks to establish a separate Sharia-law governed state within the United States."<br /></div><br /><br /><div>"The Ummah is ruled by Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown, who is serving a state sentence ... for the murder of two police officers in Georgia." Brown came to prominence in the 1960s as a leader of the Black Panther Party."He regularly preaches antigovernment and antilaw enforcement rhetoric," Leone said of Abdullah in the affidavit.<br /></div><br /><br /><div>"Abdullah and his followers have trained regularly in the use of firearms and continue to train in martial arts and sword fighting."Why Abdullah and his followers chose Detroit as their haven remains unknown, Detroit FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said today.Authorities said none of the charges levied today are terrorist-related. Abdullah and 11 suspects were charged with felonies including illegal possession and sale of firearms, mail fraud to obtain the proceeds of arson, theft from interstate shipments and tampering with motor vehicle identification numbers.</div><br /><br /><br /><div>Seven of the suspects appeared today in U.S. District Court, one was in custody and three were still being sought.Imad Hamad, senior national adviser and regional director of the Dearborn-based Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, said he received a call from the head of the FBI's Detroit office mid-day to tell him about the raid.<br /></div><br /><br /><div>Hamad said FBI Special Agent Andrew Arena told him that the case was "solely criminal" and had to do with "smuggling and fraud." He said Arena revealed few details of the investigation, but said it had been ongoing for about two years.Hamad said he didn't know the defendants."Agents were trying to chase some people," Hamad said Arena told him about the raid. "They were giving instructions to lay down. He resisted. He pulled a gun. They exchanged fire, he was shot down, killed. A dog ... was dead as well."The warehouse is near the heavily commercial intersection of Miller and Michigan.Dawud Walid, head of the Michigan Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Arena called him as well.</div><br /><br /><br /><div>Walid said he knew Abdullah."I know him as respected imam in the Muslim community," Walid said.At some point after the raids and shootout, the FBI landed a helicopter with the wounded dog at 12:25 p.m. on normally busy John R, just south of 12 Mile Road, "right in front of the hospital," Madison Heights police said.<br /></div><br /><br /><div>FBI agents then carried the wounded dog into Veterinary Emergency Services at 28223 John R. There were no injuries and no traffic mishaps as a result of the unusual landing, although the police department received so many calls about the landing that Police Chief Kevin Sagan issued a written news release Wednesday explaining what happened.Shadi Saad, the owner of Wellcare Pharmacy on Oakman in Dearborn, said he stepped outside before lunchtime to see several people in FBI jackets with guns going toward the warehouse across the street. He heard noises like shots and a short time later a helicopter descended.</div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div>"It was like a movie scene for a minute," he said. He opened his business, he said, just 10 days ago. "This isn't the way I wanted it to start."Contact BEN SCHMITT : 313-223-4296 or bcschmitt@freepress.com. Staff writers Bill Laitner, Zlati Meyer and Amber Hunt contributed to this report.The suspectsThe FBI targeted 12 people believed to be engaged in violent crimes over many years. After raids Wednesday, police still are searching for three of them. Killed Luqman Ameen Abdullah (a.k.a. Christopher Thomas), 53, of Detroit during the raids. He had been charged with conspiracy to commit federal crimes, sale or receipt of stolen goods transported in interstate commerce, providing firearms or ammunition to a person known to be a convicted felon, possession of body armor by a person convicted of a violent felony and altering or removing motor vehicle identification numbers....</div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div><br /><strong><span style="font-size: 130%;">Imam Jamil Al-Amin</span></strong></div><br /><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size: 130%;"></span></strong></div><br /><br /><div>By Askia Muhammad</div><br /><br /><div>Senior Correspondent</div><br /><br /><div>Final Call</div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div>Updated Aug 14, 2007 - 10:51:00 AM<br /><br />WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) - From his jail cell on K-Block in the state prison at Reidsville, Ga., to his supporters all over the country—an unambiguous demand is being sounded for prison authorities and for the legal system itself, to end the unjust persecution of Imam Jamil Al-Amin.<br />“My husband says he feels he has been sentenced two times. He has been sentenced for a crime, number one, that he did not commit and that someone has confessed to it, and confessed shortly after the incident. And he’s been sentenced by the Department of Corrections,” Karimah Al-Amin, wife of Imam Al-Amin, told The Final Call.</div><br /><br /><div><br />In March 2002, Imam Al-Amin was convicted of murdering a Fulton County, Georgia Sheriff’s Deputy and wounding another in an incident March 16, 2000. Mr. Al-Amin steadfastly maintains his innocence. His supporters insist that he was convicted not based on the evidence, but because he is a Muslim, because of his militant past and his former association with the Black Panther Party.</div><br /><br /><div><br />There is a consensus among Imam Al-Amin’s supporters that he was convicted long before the jury announced its verdict and that prosecutors intentionally ignored the truth in order to punish someone with whom Atlanta authorities have had a long-running feud.<br /></div><br /><br /><div>Law enforcement officials “know they’ve got the wrong people, but as long as they can do it in the darkness, or as long as there’s no mass protest, then they can just say, ‘Hey. We got another leader off the streets. So what if he didn’t do it. We’ve been after him since the ’60s’ <a href="http://www.noi.org/cointelpro/">COINTELPRO</a>,’” complained Hodari Abdul-Ali, executive director of the Imam Jamil Action Network. </div><br /><br /><div><br />“What’s needed is more public awareness of the fact that he’s an innocent man. He’s a political prisoner who is serving time for a crime that he did not do. If he’s guilty, he’s guilty of fighting for the rights of African Americans and, fighting for the rights of Muslims. And trying to make America the democracy that it claims to be. Yeah, he’s guilty of that,” said Mr. Abdul-Ali.<br /></div><br /><br /><div>Imam Al-Amin’s second unjust sentence, his supporters insist, is his treatment in the Georgia prison system where he has been on 23-hour lock-down since 2002, despite many public complaints, even petitions from among the Muslim population at Reidsville that he join them for Jumu’ah prayers as their Imam. </div><br /><br /><div><br />He gets one hour out of the cell to shower and also to walk around, what is considered a ‘Dog Pen’ for exercises, according to Mrs. Al-Amin. Authorities even tried recently to humiliate him by passing his meals to him through a slot on the floor, his supporters pointed out. That practice was ended after many vocal complaints.</div><br /><br /><div><br />“The [Prison] Commissioner, when questioned on the phone [recently] by [Imam Al-Amin’s] brother Ed Brown, said, ‘We’ll consider [modifying his conditions] once the situation changes.’” said Sister Al-Amin. “He was asked, ‘What is the situation?’ He could not come up with anything. He doesn’t have any infractions against him. He would be considered a model prisoner anywhere else.”</div><br /><br /><div><br />And there is the fundamental injustice of his conviction, insists Imam Al-Amin’s wife. The Imam has been a target of government harassment since the 1960s when he was the leader of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). At that time he was known as H. Rap Brown and was known for militant civil rights rhetoric.</div><br /><br /><div><br />The fiery civil rights leader was singled out individually, by name, as a threat by FBI Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) agents. “Spiro Agnew, who was then governor of Maryland said: ‘Throw Brown in the jail and throw away the key,’” Nkechi Taifa, then Director of the Equal Justice Program at Howard University School of Law told The Final Call at the time of Imam Al-Amin’s trial in January 2002.</div><br /><br /><div><br />The facts in the case also strongly support Imam Al-Amin’s claims of innocence. There was testimony during the trial that within minutes of the shootout March 16, 2000, in which deputy Ricky Kinchen died, a caller to Atlanta’s 911 Emergency Telephone line reported seeing a bleeding man a few blocks from the scene of the confrontation, begging motorists for a ride. That fact is important because both Deputy Kinchen and his partner, Aldranon English, claimed to have wounded their assailant.</div><br /><br /><div><br />There was also testimony of a trail of fresh blood leading from the scene to an abandoned house, which was not investigated by the police, according to Sister Al-Amin, and “the Imam’s fingerprints were not found on any firearm associated with the crime,” she wrote in The Weekly Mirror. When Imam Al-Amin was arrested three days after the shooting in White Hall, Alabama, after a massive manhunt, authorities were shocked that he had no injuries.<br /></div><br /><br /><div>Prosecutors managed to stack the jury, said Mrs. Al-Amin, excluding Muslims, Black women who might be old enough to recall COINTELPRO involvement in civil rights and campus rights activities.<br /></div><br /><br /><div>Another puzzling development is the recent appearance of an un-dated and unsigned letter, purportedly written by a Mr. Otis Jackson who in the typewritten letter identifies himself as Mr. Bey. In his confession letter, Mr. Bey writes: “I pulled out and opened fire with my 9 mm hand gun. I then went to my car and got my M-14 and fired off some rounds. Deputy Kinchen shot me two times in the arm so I shot him. I shot Deputy English as well. I remember standing over him and him telling me about his family, but I was upset and hurt and I hate cops so I shot him anyway. </div><br /><br /><div><br />“I got in my car, went to the home of [redacted] She along with [redacted] removed the bullet. One went in and came out. The one that was in there, they got it out. I went home, on the 17th or 18th I found out that they were looking for Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin. So I called my parole officer and told her what I had done,” the confession letter continues. “I was sent back to Vegas. I had to beg the FBI to investigate and I was told that I was not the one that they wanted. I was told that I should be honored that I had gotten away with killing a police.”</div><br /><br /><div><br />With such potentially convincing evidence available for his legal team, why is he still behind bars?<br /></div><br /><br /><div>“That’s what we’re dealing with right now,” said Sister Al-Amin. “We’ve been in court in the county where he’s being held with a habeas corpus (petition). We have two new attorneys, not the original trial attorneys. We raised 14 grounds for reversal and for him to have a new trial,” she continued.<br /></div><br /><br /><div>The plight of Imam Jamil Al-Amin is not new in the persecution of freedom fighters. We must not forget, and continue to organize and mobilize our community to support, defend, and with God’s help, gain the release of our Brother, another political prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been on death row in a Philadelphia, Pa. prison for the past 25 years.<br /></div><br /><br /><div>Like the case of Imam Al-Amin, wicked forces do not desire to look at the truth of the evidence in his case that would free him.<br /></div><br /><br /><div>The Final Call will continue to monitor, investigate and report on the legal proceedings of both cases involving Imam Jamil Al-Amin and Mumia Abu-Jamal.</div>www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-51356343972393946302011-04-26T11:01:00.000-07:002011-04-26T11:07:07.634-07:00The Bolivarian Revolution<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4NlpY-O7KQ8/TbcJSnWX8AI/AAAAAAAAEw4/qXm0fcVbuDE/s1600/chavez.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599954877063622658" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 160px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 277px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4NlpY-O7KQ8/TbcJSnWX8AI/AAAAAAAAEw4/qXm0fcVbuDE/s400/chavez.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">Toward a Definition of the </span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">Bolivarian Revolution<br /></div></span></strong><br /><div>Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sits under a painting of Simon Bolivar on March 6, 2003, in Caracas.</div><br /><div>(Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images)<br /><br /></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Question: What does Hugo Chavez mean by a Bolivarian Revolution? </div><br /><div><br />Answer: Hugo Chavez came to power in Venezuela in 1998, and the following year a new constitution was adopted that replaced the country's 1961 constitution. This renamed the country the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, as an ode to Simon Bolivar, who is credited with the 19th century liberation of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Bolivia from Spanish colonial rule. The <a href="http://worldnews.about.com/od/ad/g/bolivarian.htm">Bolivarian</a> philosophy named for Bolivar is a form of democratic socialism that repels perceived imperialism and rewards nationalism while promoting economic self-sufficiency of the nation as a whole. </div><br /><br /><div>Philosophy in practice </div><br /><br /><div>The Bolivarian philosophy pushed by Chavez incorporates the Marxist influences gleaned from another hero and mentor of Chavez, Fidel Castro. Unlike Castro's insulated Cuba, though, Chavez has tried to push his agenda onto the regional stage and use Venezuela's oil power to give a higher profile to this brand of Latin American leftism. Chavez has gradually clamped down on freedoms within the country, though, closing media outlets, tamping down opposition movements, and nationalizing various industries. </div><br /><br /><div>Latin American partners </div><br /><br /><div>Chavez is not alone in his push for a "Bolivarian Revolution." The Bolivarian Alternative for the People of Our America (ALBA) was launched in 2004 by Venezuela and Cuba as an alternative to the U.S.- backed Free Trade Area of the Americas. By June 2009, when the group had grown to nine member states, the name was changed to the Bolivarian Alliance for the People of Our America. </div><br /><br /><div>Think of it as a traditional trade bloc that doesn't advance economic growth through the free market, but through government involvement, welfare, trade, and social reform.<br />The member states of ALBA are Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela. Though the concept of a Bolivarian Revolution is most often associated with Chavez's plans in Venezuela, it's fair to say that Chavez's political partners in Latin America are implementing similar philosophies to one degree or anther in their home countries with the intent of bringing all of Latin America on board in a united effort.</div>www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-74476150986391506702011-04-26T10:25:00.000-07:002011-04-26T10:32:05.544-07:00White Supremacy and the Arab RevolutionApril 11, 2011<br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">The Jersey Shores of Tripoli: MTV and Arab Revolution<br /></span></strong>By <a href="http://www.religiondispatches.org/contributors/haroonmoghul/">Haroon Moghul</a><br /><br /><br />If you've ever been through New York's Museum of Natural History, and you're a person of color, conscience, or a student of critical race theory, I'm sure you walked out feeling deeply offended. The museum organizes human populations as if they’re animals along a Darwinian ladder of civilizational evolution. All sorts of “exotic” — the right word here, with all the right implications, might be “ethnic” — populations are represented in their native costumes, excepting, of course, white Westerners.<br /><br />Why aren’t they also present? Because the “ethnic” populations are dropped into motionless display cases, showcasing how red, yellow, brown, and black peoples have worked, eaten, and mated from time immemorial—apparently doing so for generations until white Westerners discovered progress, swept in, and forcibly liberated them. Then these same folks learned a) they have no ability to change unless it’s through Western civilization or b) they are incapable of modernization because of who and what they are.<br /><br />This worldview, namely that the Westerner, coextensive with a certain type of Christianity and a certain type of whiteness, creates the progress of history is so shockingly pervasive that persons who do not fit within this privileged category can find themselves negatively disposed toward their own race, culture and religion — usually without realizing it. I'm sure you've heard of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_and_Mamie_Clark" target="_blank">the famous experiments</a> asking black children whether they preferred white dolls or black dolls. That's what I mean.<br /><br />The same kind of race consciousness (it also doubles as religion consciousness; read Gil Anidjar’s <a href="http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?book_id=5694%205695" target="_blank">Semites</a> for more) feeds into politics across the Third World, as people who are not white doubt whether they can develop their societies in any meaningful way, and begin to wonder if their negative circumstances are not the product of mutable historical realities but instead their lacking an irreproducible cultural, religious (or non-religious—civilized peoples being those who have either tamed religion, or transcended it altogether) and racial essence.<br /><br />Then Japan Beat Up Russia Twice<br /><br />Around 1908, a wave of revolutions swept across the Middle East, but a major influence on these revolutions was actually distant Japan. Because, in 1904, Japan went to war with Russia. The world powers’ consensus was that the white European power would handily defeat the Asian nation, as had been the case across the world for the previous century. But Japan did something its race and continent was not supposed to allow it to. Japan won.<br /><br />For the first time in a very long time, a non-white power had handed it to a white one. Not only had Japan won, but decisively so. Japan defeated Russia in East Asia, then sat around waiting for Russia's European navy to show up (it took many months to navigate around Africa), and then, once that showed up, they sunk all of that, too. People across the Middle East found inspiration in a non-white, non-Christian, non-European power, thinking: If they can do it, why can't we?<br />The tyranny of low expectations, of longstanding assumptions of inherent cultural inferiority, was shaken, but not overthrown. During today’s Arab revolutions, we heard elites argue that their populations were not ready for democracy. In other words, while a frequently slave-owning, patriarchal, racially exclusive elite in 18th century America could birth a tremendously vigorous democracy and achieve world power, somehow Arabness and Muslimness is too static, violent, backwards, and irrational to handle a vote.<br /><br />I'm Not Thomas Friedman<br /><br />The inexplicably popular Times columnist recently published a frankly <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/opinion/02friedman.html" target="_blank">weird list of influences</a> on the Arab revolutions. Check the tyranny of the paradigm: Most of his influences were Western and American, like Barack Obama, alternate side parking, Google Earth, Subway’s $5 foot-longs, and our tremendous fiscal discipline.<br /><br />Friedman likely made a list of 50 things that could possibly explain the Arab revolutions and was too uncritical of his own consciousness to realize his own bias. He then pulled as many of these reasons as he could fit into his regular column. But Friedman shortchanged China (he sort of got that), and missed both Turkey and MTV's Jersey Shore.<br /><br />China<br /><br />In the last 10 years, as we’ve been bogged down in wars and economic crises, China’s become a global power. Much like Japan a century ago, here's an Asian power capable of competing on a global stage. If an ancient civilization such as China can rapidly modernize, why not an ancient civilization such as Egypt?<br /><br />Maybe there was nothing to the myths — and there’s nothing to them — that Islam is resistant to change, Arabs are unsuited to democracy, and only certain types of people can enjoy certain success. Educated young professionals like <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12400529" target="_blank">Wael Ghonim</a>, the Google executive who helped organize the Egyptian revolution, were deeply aware of China’s rise, and began to look to their own country with dissatisfaction.<br /><br />Turkey<br /><br />Turkey brings it even closer to home. In the last few decades, the average Egyptian has barely seen his salary rise, while Turkey’s GDP rose by 300 percent. Turkey has raced past Iran to become dominant in the Middle East, and has done so with a curious blend of secularization and an originally Islamist party repeatedly elected to power.<br /><br />In short: Egypt watched its star dim, while watching a close neighbor, of similar size and religious composition, become a regional power. Turkey is largely Sunni Muslim, it is a democracy and it is part of Western security architecture. The Turkish Navy is now off the coast of Libya; I'm sure perceptive Libyans notes the awkward anniversary: 100 years ago, in 1911, the Ottoman Empire lost its last African territory, Libya, to Italy.<br /><br />And speaking of Italy—the mother country of our favorite ethnic white reality show cast—this brings us to the most profound, insistent and unexpected influence on the Arab revolutions: Jersey Shore.<br /><br />Season Zero<br /><br />I met my first "ethnic" white person when I was well into my third decade, after I’d spent some years in New York City. The experience still confuses me. Because where I grew up, I was one of the few minorities. My white friends, classmates and pretty much every white person around me had no specific ethnic identity. They often claimed that they were this percentage Irish or that percentage Lithuanian, but these differences seemed perfunctory. They were just white Americans, to me and to themselves. Their subcultures were formed by class, music, sports, and other local criteria, and rarely by either faith or ethnicity.<br /><br />Here's a secret, white people: For us brown people, you were long part of a magical, all-powerful civilization, and we had no idea how in the hell you did it (these days, it seems, you're desperately wondering the same thing). Everywhere whites went, they prospered, dominated, succeeded, kicked butt, took names and persuaded lots of people to change their names. You can go to the bottom of the world and find glittering skyscrapers in a vibrant Australian democracy.<br /><br />But travel the Muslim world and it seems each country is a variation of the other in all the wrong ways: corruption, instability, underperformance. It's depressing. It makes you doubt yourself. It makes you think that the current malaise lasted backwards through time, like you really do belong in that static museum display. It makes you think there's something wrong with your faith and culture, and that these cannot provide any resources for reform or change.<br />But along comes Jersey Shore with its cast of self-described Italians.<br /><br />These are not the magical white folks of world-conquering, democracy-building myth-but they’re still “white”. They behave like the Museum assumes only people of my color behaved. (Then again, they are my color, suggesting that Italy's inclusion in the European continent is the consequence of unavoidable plate tectonics.) The sum total of their television life is a kind of late-capitalist tragic anthropology: doing laundry to go to parties, in order to have sex.<br /><br />They're kind of like a savage tribe, except they do not admit to any interest in higher values or realities. They exist to reproduce, but they use birth control, so it's not really clear what primitive instinct compels them to wash their clothes and get not merely some, but a lot. They exist to consume (goods and people), and their consumption generates massive profits. As well as pride: For me, it's been tremendously liberating to know that people of my color and faith are not the only people who are embarrassing to watch on television.<br /><br />And the same goes for people who are classified, like me, in the “other” category. I'm sure that for the youth of Tunisia, this show felt like Japan's victory in 1905. Maybe Western civilization — which, for many in the region, remains a “white” phenomenon, and therefore inaccessible and irreproducible — isn't all that. Maybe, they're thinking, we've been too hard on ourselves — and for the wrong reasons. The next thing you know Libyan civilians are storming army bases.<br /><br />Gym, (Already) Tanned, Liberation<br /><br />When pundits debate whether or not to support Libya's rebels, they annoyingly use the same trope: Even if these rebels aren't "Jeffersonian Democrats," we should support them. Perhaps we would prefer they be staunch elitists, who fight for and sustain a brilliant political structure that nevertheless excludes women and unpropertied members of the allegedly privileged racial group from the vote and keeps people of color in chains.<br /><br />Much of the democracy we enjoy in the West today was formed in dialogue with minorities and marginalized peoples: Black Americans, women and, of course, the colonized peoples of the Third World. (Would Martin Luther King happen without Gandhi?) Democracy is not the product of one part of the world, nor did it emerge spontaneously and perfectly, so that it can be described as the product of a peculiar culture's genius, inaccessible to people of other cultures, colors, or religions.<br /><br />But this is often how history is told, and how we sell ourselves to the world. So it's not hard to see how people in the Arab world might lose hope that their regimes, and their societies, facing myriad problems, could ever change. They would believe that white folks were somehow just superior. And then they watch some guy punch Snooki in the face, and they know in their heart: Yes, we can, too.<br /><br />The magic power of white culture is taken away, revealed to be human, the product of historical events and decisions, and thus susceptible to change, transformation, failures and successes. Just like any other culture. So too Arab cultures, and so too Muslim cultures, and Arabs and Muslims now know that the way is open to them to build their own democracies and their own modernities. Forget Facebook. It's Jersey Shore that's keeping Bashar Assad up at night, as he wonders what in this goofy cycle of gyms, tanning, and laundry, shakes the foundations of his regime.<br />--<a href="http://www.religiondispatches.org/contributors/haroonmoghul/">Haroon Moghul</a><br /><br />Haroon Moghul, Executive Director of <a href="http://themaydan.org/" target="_blank">The Maydan Institute</a> and fellow at the <a href="http://www.ispu.org/" target="_blank">Institute for Social Policy and Understanding</a>, teaches at Adelphi University. Mr. Moghul holds a B.A. from NYU in Philosophy and Middle Eastern Studies and an M.A. from Columbia University in Middle Eastern Studies, where he is a doctoral candidate. His first novel, The Order of Light was published by Penguin in 2006 and his work has appeared or he has been otherwise featured on CNN, BBC, The History Channel, The New Yorker, and Tikkun.www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-25701244508071516152011-04-26T07:35:00.000-07:002011-04-26T07:43:22.893-07:00Libya: An African Viewpoint<a href="mailto:bankiebf@gmail.com&gt" ymailto="mailto:bankiebf@gmail.com">bankiebf@gmail.com&gt</a>;<br />Thabo Mbeki.<br />April 2, 2011.<br />Libya and African Self-Determination.<br /><br />The popular uprisings in North Africa affecting Tunisia, Egypt and Libya took the whole of Africa by surprise.Stunned by the events we watched unfolding on television, and unable quickly to decide how we should respond, instinctively, as Africans, we resolved that we had no choice but to stand and wait.We hoped that events in this part of our Continent would evolve in a manner which would give us the possibility publicly to pronounce ourselves correctly.<br /><br />The stark choice we faced was – should we side with the demonstrators or with the governments they demanded should resign!Our challenge was not made easier by the political interventions of various Western countries which offered unsolicited opinions and made unilateral interventions to influence the outcome of the uprisings.Because of our history as Africans, we could not but ask ourselves the question – is it possible for Africa to share the same interests with the West in terms of the outcomes of the popular uprisings?<br /><br />Whenever has the West ever been truly concerned to encourage genuine democracy in Africa, not driven by self-interest?These considerations suggested to us that there was something very suspect about the attempts of the West to identify itself as an ally of the popular uprisings in North Africa, to the extent that these represented real democratic revolutions.These considerations reinforced our feeling that we should tread carefully instead of rushing to intervene.This attitude did not cause Africa any significant embarrassment with regard to Tunisia and Egypt.<br /><br />In the end all we needed to do was merely to endorse the outcomes determined by the peoples of these two African countries.However, what has happened and is happening in Libya has exposed many fault lines in the African project to determine its destiny.The Libyan uprising began in Benghazi on February 15. Almost immediately, unlike in Tunisia and Egypt, this uprising also took the form of an armed insurrection, while the Gaddafi regime resorted to brute force to suppress the uprising and insurrection, claiming that it was inspired and led by Al Qaeda.Eight days after the beginning of the uprising, on February 23, the inter-governmental African Union Peace and Security Council (AU PSC) spoke for all Africa when it condemned “the indiscriminate and excessive use of force and lethal weapons against peaceful protestors, in violation of human rights and International Humanitarian Law”, and affirmed that “the aspirations of the people of Libya for democracy, political reform, justice and socio-economic development are legitimate” and urged that “they be respected.”<br /><br />At the same meeting the AU PSC resolved to send “a mission of Council to Libya to assess the situation on the ground.” Unfortunately the AU failed to make even this limited intervention.Because of Africa’s weak capacity to communicate even with itself, many of us in Africa did not even hear of the February 23 decisions of the AU PSC until many days later.In reality the international media virtually ignored the AU PSC decisions.<br /><br />Rather, the world was exposed to the dramatic television images of what was happening in Libya and the public communications of the actors in this drama, including those of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and his son, Saif al-Islam.In other words, the AU and therefore African message withered on the vine, making no impact whatsoever on African and world opinion of what might be done to resolve the conflict in Libya.<br /><br />This is but one of the manifestations of the fault lines I have mentioned relating to Africa’s determination to define its future.Almost three weeks after its February 23 meeting, on March 10, the AU PSC decided to constitute a five-nation ‘AU Ad Hoc High Level Committee on Libya’, made up of African Heads of State and Government mandated to intervene to resolve the Libyan conflict.The Committee was directed to “facilitate an inclusive dialogue among the Libyan parties on the appropriate reforms”, which would lead to the peaceful resolution of the Libyan crisis.The AU PSC also expressed its “rejection of any foreign military intervention, whatever its form.”But a week later the UN Security Council adopted its Resolution 1973, which prescribed exactly the “foreign military intervention” which Africa had rejected.<br /><br />The historical fact is that as should have been the case, the African Union moved ahead of the United Nations in terms of prescribing what should be done to address the Libyan, and therefore African, crisis.The reality, however, is that the UN Security Council made absolutely certain that it ignored the views of the African Continent about what needed to be done to resolve a crisis in a member state of the AU.<br /><br />This was later emphasised by the refusal of the UN to allow the AU Ad Hoc Committee to visit Tripoli and Benghazi on March 18 and 19 respectively, to promote a peaceful resolution of the Libyan crisis, precisely to reduce the loss of human lives while promoting democratic rule in Libya.This meant that had the African peacemakers flown to Libya to carry out their mission, they stood the danger of their planes being shot down!<br /><br />The African leaders sought to visit Libya because the Gaddafi regime had accepted that it should engage its opposition, under the auspices of the AU, to achieve the immediate cessation of all hostilities, delivery of humanitarian assistance to the affected populations, the protection of foreign nationals, and the adoption and implementation of the necessary political reforms to eliminate the causes of the current crisis, based on the legitimate aspirations of the Libyan people for democracy, political reform, justice, peace and security, as well as for socio‐economic development.<br /><br />The marginalisation of Africa in terms of helping to determine the future of Libya paid absolutely no regard to the fact that failure to end the Libyan crisis correctly will have a long term impact on the Continent, and especially the countries of North Africa and the Sahel, such as Sudan, Chad, Niger and Mali, with little effect on the Western countries.<br /><br />The Western countries have also underlined this marginalisation of Africa by insisting, to this day, that what is important for them is the support of the League of Arab States, with absolutely no mention of the African Union.Nobody knows how many Libyans will be killed and injured as a result of the ongoing civil war in that country and the evolving military intervention of the West, which, has unquestionably evolved into support for the armed insurrection in Libya to achieve the objective of regime change.<br /><br />The reality is that the Libyan conflict will claim many casualties. Because the space has been closed for the Libyans to sit together to decide their future, it is almost guaranteed that for many years Libya will experience sustained and debilitating instability, whoever emerges ‘victorious’ from the current armed conflict.Tragically, one of the other casualties will be Africa’s efforts, sustained since the 1990s, independently to determine its future as a Continent of democracy, peace, stability and shared development and prosperity.<br /><br />The countries of the West, acting through the UN Security Council, have used their preponderant power to communicate the message to Africa that they are as determined as ever to decide the future of Africa, regardless of the views of the Africans, as they did during the years of the colonial domination of our Continent.It should not come as a surprise if, over the years, the peoples of Africa lose confidence in the will of multilateral institutions, such as the UN, to help them change their condition for the better.<br /><br />This will happen because we will have come to understand that powerful countries beyond the oceans reserve the right and have the capacity ultimately to decide the future of Africa, with no regard for our views and aspirations as Africans.History will record that the moment of the re-assertion of this deadly malaise was when the West, acting through the UN Security Council, dismissed the notion and practice of finding African solutions to African problems.Denied the right to solve its own problems, Africa will inevitably fall victim to ever-continuing conflict and instability.Will it be that, paradoxically, the occasion of the Libyan popular uprising, which portended welcome democratic transformation, will also mark the moment of the asphyxiation of the dream of an African renaissance!www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-52636820080792174462011-04-25T18:38:00.000-07:002011-04-25T19:06:02.047-07:00My people are rising by Mohja Kahf<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vh0siv-CBNU?fs=1" frameborder="0" width="425" height="344" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /><br />Syrian poet/novelist/professor Dr. Mohja Kahf is full of passion about current events in her beloved Syria and the Middle East. We love her and her work, especially her thesis that the Black Arts Movement is the foundation of Muslim American literature. She asserts that Marvin X's collection of poems Fly to Allah, 1968, is the seminal work in Muslim American literature.<br /><br />Her classic poem My Little Mosque appears in the Journal of Pan African Studies Poetry Issue, Guest Edited by Marvin X. A recent novel is The girl in the tangerine scarf, Carrol & Graf, 2006.<br />Mohja was born in Damascus, Syria, and came to the US as a child. An associate professor of comparative literature at the University of Arkansas, she is the author of Western Representations of the Muslim Woman: From Termagant to Odalisque, and winner of an Arkansas Arts Council award. Her first book of poetry, E-mails from Scheherazad, was a finalist in the 2004 Paterson Poetry Prize.www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-55051333856045884172011-04-24T14:16:00.001-07:002011-04-24T15:41:00.992-07:00Toward North American African Statehood<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ff7WZdmkCLA/TbSm7l3ZUxI/AAAAAAAAEvg/HMQ6M4dbb5c/s1600/E3BB9403.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ff7WZdmkCLA/TbSm7l3ZUxI/AAAAAAAAEvg/HMQ6M4dbb5c/s400/E3BB9403.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599283779435320082" /></a><br /><strong>Toward North American African Statehood</strong><br />The dream of a Black Nation carved out of the USA is a notion that may one day become a reality. It is no more a dream than was the state of Israel, the coming state of Palestine, the Southern Sudan and elsewhere. <br /><br />North American Africans have a human right to self determination and sovereignty, especially we never exercised such since our sojourn in the wilderness of North America, and yet our condition deteriorates with each passing day, yes, despite a so called black President, after all, he hardly ever utters the word black, so we must dismiss him as a charade, a puppet created by the Wall Street Bankers and Global financiers to expedite their scheme of global hegemony with a black face since the majority of the world is non white. What better way to hoodwink and bamboozle the non-white global majority than with a black face white man?<br /><br />He has had his opportunity to bring the change he promised, but it is simply more of the same, the same old white supremacy BS in disguise of something new and progressive, although his policies never approach anything progressive, they simply appear as such to those suffering the myopia of blackness, blinded by their emotions at the presence of a Negro in the White House. And yet this Negro capitulates (his favorite word is compromise) at every turn, even when it is unnecessary. We are well aware compromise is the nature of politics, but when compromise becomes capitulation and surrender, this is a useless exercise of politricks.<br /><br />When was the last time this Negro mentioned a job program to relieve the 30 million unemployed? How long shall America remain the biggest prison house in the world, 2.4 million incarcerated at fifty to sixty thousand dollars per inmate per year? For juveniles it is $200,000 per inmate per year. Has he the brain power to imagine a general amnesty, after all he knows most of the incarcerated are being held unjustly due to a racist criminal justice system that discriminates at every turn.<br /><br />Wars and rumors of wars. We thought things would change after the Bush era, but they've actually gotten worse: wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya and elsewhere. Is this the change he promised? For sure, it's not the change we need, maybe his generals need it, maybe the military-corporate-university complex needs it.<br /><br />And yet world events are moving rapidly to alter the status quo in the global village. Any thinking person can see it is only a matter of time before revolution reaches the shores of North America. Are any political leaders preparing the America people for radical change? Such change will of necessity alter the economic state, bringing a most needed redistribution of the wealth stolen by the blood suckers of the poor, the greedy corporate bosses and the Wall Street bankers who only fund both sides of the political spectrum, Democratic and Republican, who are essentially two sides of the same coin, a coin tossed about by lobbyists who care less about any- thing other than their benefactors.<br /><br />With all the above, where shall we find ourselves in the endgame? We are without any plan derived from independent thinking, for our socalled leaders have little time for such since they are beholden to this political/economic masters, leaving them no time for critical thinking outside the box of pax Americana, hence our people exist in perpetual crisis, a crisis in leadership, critical thinking that is independent and radical since our situation is radical. With the dire economic situation in the hood comes crimes for survival, pathological acts of desperation when men and women have no vision, no solution other than to engage in self destructive behavior that only complicates an already sad situation. <br /><br />If we could only retreat to a space for a breath of fresh air, we might be able to see a way out of this nothingness and dread. Instead, we run south, north, east and west, up and down the mountain in the manner of Sisyphus, never reaching the mountaintop Martin Luther King, Jr. claimed he accomplished. If Obama represents us at the mountaintop, I suggest we descend to the valley, for it is crystal clear to me the Democratic nor Republican party will decide our future in this land.<br /><br />No, we need a body of men and women grounded in African and spiritual philosophy, yet with a clear political ideology and economic perspective that can direct our people into the future, that can derive plans for the next fifty to one hundred years. We need planners and thinkers astute enough to see into the future, to realize we must have national independence apart from the the United Snakes of America. <br /><br />Any clear thinking person knows we shall continue existing in a hostile environment until we decide to make a space for ourselves wherein we can live in peace. White America has no intention to give up the privileges of White Supremacy culture. And why should we call upon them to do so? Let them revel in their whiteness but let us be about the business of construction our own society based on our reality and meta physicality.<br /><br />In fifty years, you witnessed the state of Israel become a powerful entity, so why cannot you envision yourself doing a similar state formation? What prevents you from the adventure into statehood is fear and sloth, mental laziness and magnetic attraction to the world of make believe perpetuated by the Monkey Mind Media, along with white supremacy education and socialization that has addicted you to the Great White Way!<br /><br />No wonder your children dismiss elders as fools, for what path have we charted for them, what road map have we provided except the capitulation and passivity of second class status? We convinced them to attend college, yet they return home brainwashed talking gibberish and acting out white supremacy mythology. The supreme irony is that for every one black male who attends college four go to prison. And it is no long term solution that our women attend colleges in high numbers, for as Dr. Wade Nobles says, the women are imprisoned in academia, suffering the mental atrophy of the classic colonial elite education, many graduating with gender identity problems of the most severe nature, partly the result of not being able to fulfill their natural biological need for a mate to procreate. Many of our college educated women, and our women in general, are no longer thinking about marriage, especially with a husband from the rapidly deteriorating pool of black males stable enough to sustain a marriage. <br /><br />In short, our problem is not reparations, for we possess within our community wealth that makes us the 16th richest nation in the world. What we need is mental reparations, to answer the call of the self accusing spirit that tells us we are wrong to continue down this path of nothingness and dread, in full blown denial that we are navigating a perilous mental landscape that is a total break with reality.<br /><br />The healing needed is quite simple, for as Dr. John Henrik Clark told us, what made us great throughout the eons and allowed us to achieve the foundations of world culture and civilization were unity and high morals. <br /><br />When we get it in our heads that there is no other way, no half stepping, no quick fix, no Miller Lite solution, no voting, no jobs at slave wages, no criminality, none of this will suffix until we conjure the ineluctable energy to unite for the greater cause and do so in the spirit of righteousness, justice and peace. <br /><br />The hour is upon us to seize the land, to claim what is due us for the centuries of free labor, for the kidnapping, rape and plunder of our Motherland, and ourselves, the mental trauma and post trauma we suffer at this hour, and yet if we continue in denial, like the drug addict, things shall only go from bad to worse. Seize the time!<br />--Marvin X, <br />Prime Minister of Poetry,<br />First Poet's Church of the Latter Day Egyptian Revisionists<br />4/24/11<br />www.firstpoetschurch.blogspot.com<br />www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comwww.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-85634137791876157182011-04-23T08:02:00.000-07:002011-04-23T08:03:32.631-07:00On the Arab RevoltA LUTA CONTINUA: 'If power is not seized, counter-revolution will rise': Vijay Prashad on the Arab revolt <br /><br />Posted: 22 Apr 2011 09:16 PM PDT<br />Neogriot<br /><br /><br />'If power is not seized, <br /><br />counter-revolution will rise'<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Monday, 31 January 2011 <br /> <br /><br />Vijay Prashad is a prominent Marxist scholar from South Asia. He is George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies at Trinity College, Connecticut. He has written extensively on international affairs for both academic and popular journals. His most recent book The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World (2007) has been widely acclaimed as the most authentic rewriting of the world history of the postcolonial Global South and the idea of the "Third World".<br /><br /><br /> <br />Pothik Ghosh (PG): In what sense can the recent events in the Arab World be called revolutions? How are they different from the colour revolutions of the past two decades?<br /><br />Vijay Prashad (VP): All revolutions are not identical. The colour revolutions in Eastern Europe had a different tempo. They were also of a different class character. They were also along the grain of US imperialism, even though the people were acting not for US but for their own specific class and national interests. I have in mind the Rose Revolution in Georgia and the Orange Revolution in the Ukraine. Otpor in the Ukraine, among others, was well lubricated by George Soros's Open Society and the US government's National Democratic Institute. Russian money also swept in on both sides of the ledger. These Eastern European revolutions were mainly political battles in regions of the world still unsettled by the traumatic transition from state socialism to predatory capitalism.<br /><br />The Arab revolt that we now witness is something akin to a "1968" for the Arab World. Sixty per cent of the Arab population is under 30 (70 per cent in Egypt). Their slogans are about dignity and employment. The resource curse brought wealth to a small population of their societies, but little economic development. Social development came to some parts of the Arab world: Tunisia's literacy rate is 75 per cent, Egypt's is just over 70 per cent, Libya almost 90 per cent. The educated lower-middle-class and middle-class youth have not been able to find jobs. The concatenation of humiliations revolts these young people: no job, no respect from an authoritarian state, and then to top it off the general malaise of being a second-class citizen on the world stage - second to the US-Israel and so on - was overwhelming. The chants on the streets are about this combination of dignity, justice and jobs.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />PG: Does the so-called Jasmine Revolution have in it to transform the preponderant character of the politico-ideological topography of oppositional politics - from Islamist identitarianism to an organic variant of working-class politics - in West Asia and the Maghreb? Under what circumstances can this series of general strikes, which seem to be spreading like a brushfire through the region, morph into a constellation of counter-power? Or, would that in your eyes merely be a vicarious desire of Leftists from outside the region?<br /><br />VP: I fear that we are being vicarious. The youth, the working class, the middle class have opened up the tempo of struggle. The direction it will take is not clear. I am given over to analogies when I see revolutions, largely because the events of change are so contingent.<br /><br />It is in the melee that spontaneity and structure jostle. The organised working class is weaker than the organised theocratic bloc, at least in Egypt. Social change of a progressive type has come to the Arab lands largely through the Colonels. Workers' struggles have not reached fruition in any country. In Iraq, where the workers movement was advanced in the 1950s, it was preempted by the military - and then they made a tacit alliance.<br /><br />One cannot say what is going to happen with certainty. The Mexican Revolution opened up in 1911, but didn't settle into the PRI regime till the writing of the 1917 constitution and the elevation of Carranza to the presidency in 1920 or perhaps Cardenas in 1934. I find many parallels between Mexico and Egypt. In both, the Left was not sufficiently developed. Perils of the Right always lingered. If the Pharonic state withers, as Porfirio Diaz's state did, the peasants and the working class might move beyond spontaneity and come forward with some more structure. Spontaneity is fine, but if power is not seized effectively, counter-revolution will rise forth effectively and securely.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />PG: What are, in your opinion, the perils if such a transformation fails to occur? Will not such a failure lead to an inevitable consolidation of the global neoliberal conjuncture, which manifests itself in West Asia as fascistic Islamism on one hand and authoritarianism on the other?<br /><br />VP: If such a transformation fails, which god willing it won't, then we are in for at least three options: (1) the military, under Egyptian ruling class and US pressure, will take control. This is off the cards in Tunisia for now, mainly because the second option presented itself; (2) elements of the ruling coalition are able to dissipate the crowds through a series of hasty concessions, notably the removal of the face of the autocracy (Ben Ali to Saudi Arabia). If Mubarak leaves and the reins of the Mubarakian state are handed over to the safe-keeping of one of his many bloodsoaked henchman such as Omar Suleiman…. Mubarak tried this with Ahmed Shafik, but he could as well have gone to Tantawi….all generals who are close to Mubarak and seen as safe by the ruling bloc. We shall wait to see who all among the elite will start to distance themselves from Mubarak, and try to reach out to the streets for credibility. As a last-ditch effort, the Shah of Iran put Shapour Bakhtiar as PM. That didn't work. Then the revolt spread further. If that does not work, then, (3) the US embassy will send a message to Mohamed El-Baradei, giving him their green light. El-Baradei is seen by the Muslim Brotherhood as a credible candidate. Speaking to the crowds on January 30 he said that in a few days the matter will be settled. Does this mean that he will be the new state leader, with the backing of the Muslim Brotherhood, and certainly with sections of Mubarak's clique? Will this be sufficient for the crowds? They might have to live with it. El-Baradei is a maverick, having irritated Washington at the IAEA over Iran. He will not be a pushover. On the other hand, he will probably carry on the economic policy of Mubarak. His entire agenda was for political reforms. This is along the grain of the IMF-World Bank Structural Adjustment part 2, viz., the same old privatisation agenda alongside "good governance". El-Baradei wanted good governance in Egypt. The streets want more. It will be a truce for the moment, or as Chavez said, "por ahora".<br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />PG: The Radical Islamists, their near-complete domination of the oppositional/dissident politico-ideological space in the region notwithstanding, have failed to rise up to the occasion as an effective organisational force - one especially has the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt in mind. What do you think is the reason?<br /><br />VP: The Muslim Brotherhood is on the streets. It has set its own ideology to mute. That is very clear. Its spokesperson Gamel Nasser has said that they are only a small part of the protests, and that the protest is about Egypt not Islam. This is very clever. It is similar to what the mullahs said in Iran during the protests of 1978 and 1979. They waited in the wings for the "multitude" to overthrow the Shah, and then they descended. Would the MB do that? If one says this is simply the people's revolt and not that of any organised force, it's, of course, true. But it is inadequate. The ‘people' can be mobilised, can act; but can the ‘people' govern without mediation, without some structure. This is where the structured elements come into play. If there is no alternative that forms, then the Muslim Brotherhood will take power. That the Muslim Brotherhood wants to stand behind El-Baradei means they don't want to immediately antagonise the US. That will come later.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />PG: What does the emergence of characters like El-Baradei signify? Are they really the "political face" of the resistance as the global media seems to be projecting?<br /><br />VP: El-Baradei comes with credibility. He served in the Nasserite ministry of external affairs in the 1960s. He then served in the foreign ministry under Ismail Fahmi. One forgets how impressive Fahmi was. He resigned from Sadat's cabinet when the Egyptian leader went to Jerusalem. Fahmi was a Nasserite. For one year, El-Baradei served with Boutros Boutros Ghali at the foreign ministry. That was the start of this relationship. Both fled for the UN bureaucracy. Boutros Ghali was more pliant than Fahmi. I think El-Baradei is more along Fahmi's lines. At the IAEA he did not bend to the US pressure. Given that he spent the worst years of Mubarak's rule outside Cairo gives him credibility. A man of his class would have been coopted into the Mubarak rule. Only an outsider like him can be both of the ruling bloc (in terms of class position and instinct) and outside the ruling apparatus (i. e. of Mubarak's cabinet circle). It is a point of great privilege.<br /><br />With the MB careful not to act in its own face, and the ‘people' without easy ways to spot leaders, and with Ayman Nour not in the best of health, it is credible that El-Baradei takes on the mantle.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />PG: Is the disappearance of working-class and other avowedly Left-democratic political organisations, which had a very strong presence in that part of the world till a few decades ago, merely the result of their brutal suppression by various authoritarian regimes (such as Saddam Hussein's in Iraq, Hafez Assad's in Syria and Nasser's and Mubarak's in Egypt) and/or their systematic physical decimation by Islamists such as the Muslim Brotherhood? Or, does it also have to do with certain inherent politico-theoretical weaknesses of those groups? Has not the fatal flaw of left/ communist/ socialist forces in the Islamic, particularly the Arab, world been their unwillingness, or inability, to grasp and pose the universal question of the "self-emancipation of the working class" in the determinateness of their specific culture and historicity?<br /><br />VP: Don't underestimate the repression. In Egypt, the 2006 budget for internal security was $1.5 billion. There are 1.5 million police officers, four times more than army personnel. I am told that there is now about 1 police officer per 37 people. This is extreme. The subvention that comes from the US of $1.3 billion helps fund this monstrosity.<br /><br />The high point of the Egyptian working class was in 1977. This was the bread uprising. It was trounced. Sadat then went to the IMF with a cat's smile. He inaugurated the infitah. He covered the books by three means: the infitah allowed for some export-oriented production, the religious cover (al-rais al-mou'min) allowed him to try and undercut the Brotherhood, and seek some funds from the Saudis, and the bursary from the US for the deal he cut with Israel. This provided the means to enhance the security apparatus and further crush the workers' movements.<br /><br />Was there even space or time to think about creative ways to pose the self-emancipation question? Were there intellectuals who were doing this? Are we in Ajami's Dream Palace of the Arabs, worrying about the decline of the questions? Recall that in March 1954 the major Wafd and Communist unions made a pact with the Nasserite regime; for concessions it would support the new dispensation. That struck down its independence. The unions put themselves in the service of the Nation over their Class. In the long run, this was a fatal error. But the organised working class was small (as Workers on the Nile<br /><br />shows, most workers were in the "informal" sector). The best that the CP and the Wafd could do in the new circumstances was to argue that the working class plays a central role in the national movement. Nasser and his Revolutionary Command Council, on the other hand, heard this but did not buy it. They saw the military as the agent of history. It was their prejudice.www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-12448633340109647842011-03-24T09:59:00.000-07:002011-03-24T10:52:04.958-07:00Why Do So-called Progressives Support Dictators<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VG4-aiKvK_Q/TYuErSXg7jI/AAAAAAAAEYE/2HvW9bSe30s/s1600/Marvin%2Bpic.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 272px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VG4-aiKvK_Q/TYuErSXg7jI/AAAAAAAAEYE/2HvW9bSe30s/s400/Marvin%2Bpic.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587705641882938930" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Why Do So-called Progressives Support Dictators</span></span><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />It is amazing to know the long time support many progressives have given to rotten, slimy dictators around the world. Of course there is often a time lag in catching up with the one time revolutionaries who eventually discard their revolutionary garb to don the persona of the brutal dictator, president for life.<br /><br />The former revolutionary did indeed liberate his people but then somehow decided he is the new messiah of his "children" who must be ruled with an iron hand, even after he has thrown in the towel of the consent of the governed.<br /><br />There is no need to call names for you know who these pitiful former revolutionaries are, who came into political power decades ago but only of late decide to institute the fundamental item on their revolutionary agenda: land reform. There are a plethora of personalities on the African Continent who fit this description, in Asia, Middle East, Europe and the Americas.<br /><br />We support all truly radical regimes but condemn reactionary governments and the leadership that hides under the revolutionary banner.<br /><br />We are amazed to see how these reactionary, corrupt, dictatorial bastards stick together, yes, like birds of a feather. African proverb says one white dog will not bite another white dog.<br /><br />But what is more amazing is how many <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">socalled</span> American radicals and progressives will chime in with the rats of the world, and yet we know many of them have ulterior motives, yes, many pledge allegiance to the rats because they are paid to do so.<br /><br />There are those radicals who take money to promote the propaganda machine of rotten dog, oppressive leaders around the world. No matter how brutal they are, no matter how full their dungeons are with opposition leaders, poets, playwrights, journalists, these <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">sycophants</span> continue kissing ass for a few bucks. Even when opposition leaders are murdered in broad daylight, the sycophant media magicians continue perpetuating the world of make believe.<br /><br />From time to time the opposition forces in various countries must speak directly to American so-called progressives to stay out of their business. Work on your own revolution in the belly of the Beast, since it is clear you have no understanding nor desire to understand our condition.<br /><br />We talk about ideological clarity that is beyond revolutionary romanticism and idealism, but when reality stares us in the face we run and hide behind rose colored glasses. At the present hour the president we championed, although there were wise brothers and sisters who warned us not to do so, has turned into an imperialist of the worse kind, and yet there are those who refuse to criticize the brother because he is a brother. What difference does it make if the hangman is black?<br /><br />The universe is calling upon us to get in harmony or get off the planet. All fakism, As-Salaam Afakum, pseudo revolutionary personalities that cover their darkness with word magic and the assistance of sycophants, must be rejected. And those who support them must be exposed and rejected as well for selling out truth for a mess of pottage.<br />--Marvin X, Prime Minister of Poetry,<br />First Poet's Church<br />www.firstpoetschurch.blogspot.com<br /><br /><br /></div></div>www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-5535111425566142852011-03-23T21:57:00.000-07:002011-03-23T22:55:11.712-07:00Crusader Hypocrisy<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UduDaYr9q8I/TYrYAlzVeXI/AAAAAAAAEX0/Qaa86BX7Vb8/s1600/Clinton.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 302px; height: 330px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UduDaYr9q8I/TYrYAlzVeXI/AAAAAAAAEX0/Qaa86BX7Vb8/s400/Clinton.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587515792365549938" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cyQP5VLrKpI/TYrXv_N_ijI/AAAAAAAAEXs/4Kjdbm1DNW4/s1600/King%2BFahd%2Bof%2BSaudi%2BArabia.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 103px; height: 125px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cyQP5VLrKpI/TYrXv_N_ijI/AAAAAAAAEXs/4Kjdbm1DNW4/s400/King%2BFahd%2Bof%2BSaudi%2BArabia.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587515507130468914" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Crusader Hypocrisy in North Africa and the Middle East</span></span><br /><br />The Crusaders have entered the freedom quagmire in North Africa and the Middle East. Oh, what a conundrum the Crusaders shall find themselves attempting to unravel. They have been caught off balance by the speed of events that their political and military strategists never imagined.<br /><br />A single spark began in Tunisia and has now ignited a prairie fire from North Africa to the Persian Gulf. The American and European Crusaders run here and there in a useless effort to stop the tide of freedom raging in the lands, cherry picking a nation to support, when we know all of those neo-colonial regimes that Euro-American Crusaders have propped up for decades must and will fall into the dustbin of history, it is only a matter of time and time is running out with each passing day, each hour.<br /><br />Why would the Crusades attack Libya but not Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia? Why Libya, or perhaps this is only a test case, a trial balloon to figure a strategy for the climax sure to come soon in Saudi Arabia when its people cry Allahu Akbar and defy the guns, tanks, planes, bullets and tear gas supplied by the Crusaders to prop up decadent rulers who have been complicit with the Crusaders to allow oil to flow to the West in a sick siphoning of a people's resources to benefit the few. Hence the present crisis.<br /><br />And yet the sick irony is that the Crusaders care nothing about the cry for liberation, only how to continue their addiction to white supremacy with oil as the necessary byproduct, for white supremacy cannot survive without the petrochemical drug so vital to a military and in food production that is essentially oil based, full of herbicides, insecticides, fertilizers to the degree the food is grown in oil not earth, leading the people directly from the petrochemists to the pharmacists , in a slow dance of death for the ten percent who rule the deaf, dumb and blind eighty-five per cent.<br /><br />The people cry for freedom and justice, echos the Eloquent Peasant of 4,000 years ago in Egypt. But these present day pharaohs were not like the pharaoh who was bewildered and bemused by the eloquence of that ancient peasant, these modern pharaohs are hard headed and hard hearted. A ruler should know his time is up at the moment his people unite and rise up against him, yet, with the backing of the Crusaders, these modern pharaohs will dance until the midnight hour, until every grain of sand has slipped to the bottom of the hour glass.<br /><br />The Crusaders shall not be able to save them because they shall be too busy fighting fires on their turf, as their people also rise up in the name of Ma'at, freedom, justice, balance, reciprocity, truth.<br /><br />It is indeed a lesson that the first African president of the Crusader America has now attacked his fatherland. Now we see the matter is far beyond color. Imperialism has no color, nor does neo-colonialism. We know it is far beyond religion as well, for are not the Muslim nations in bed with the Crusader? He has been the supplier of weapons for their leaders to oppress and suppress the people now rising up throughout the lands of the Middle East and North Africa.<br /><br />Why haven't the Crusaders entered Yemen on the side of the people? Why did not the Fifth Fleet of the Crusader support the suffering people of Bahrain? What is this selective suffering that chose Qadafy as the villain when so many other villains run amok, committing mass murder of their people, not to mention the genocide in Gaza and the West Bank?<br /><br />Why do we think the Palestinians shall not again rise up in unity for their long deprived nationhood? Yet, the Crusaders shall block them at every turn until it is too late, for the Apocalypse shall await them at the precipice. The modern pharaohs are in bed with the Zionists and the Crusaders, they all dance together in the den of iniquity that shall be ephemeral.<br />--Marvin X,<br />Prime Minister of Poetry,<br />First Poet's Church<br />3/23/11www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-65016342851142083132011-03-21T11:13:00.000-07:002011-03-21T11:13:58.310-07:00The Rite of Spring Part 1<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bjX3oAwv_Fs?fs=1" allowfullscreen="" width="425" frameborder="0" height="344"></iframe>www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-71451373005611453442011-03-21T11:04:00.000-07:002011-03-21T11:05:28.980-07:00<h2 class="date-header"><span>Monday, March 21, 2011</span></h2> <a name="6154297688762682803"></a> <h3 class="post-title entry-title"> Message from the Pope of Poetry, First Poet's Church </h3> <div class="post-header"> </div> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IGznuI2AhH0/TYeFUWqL5XI/AAAAAAAAETs/ExZU6aUTP3k/s1600/AB%2Bis%2BMX.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 223px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IGznuI2AhH0/TYeFUWqL5XI/AAAAAAAAETs/ExZU6aUTP3k/s400/AB%2Bis%2BMX.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586580447502787954" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 85%;">-<br /><span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Message from the Pope of Poetry, Imamu Amiri Baraka</span> </span> </span><br /> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <div> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The New Invasion of Africa</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So it wd be this way</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">That they wd get a negro</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">To bomb his own home</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">To join with the actual colonial</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Powers, Britain, France , add Poison Hilary</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">With Israeli and Saudi to make certain</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">That revolution in Africa must have a stopper</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So call in the white people who long tasted our blood</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">They would be the copper, overthrow Libya</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">With some bullshit humanitarian scam </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">With the negro yapping to make it seem right (far right)</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But that’s how Africa got enslaved by the white</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A negro selling his own folk, delivering us to slavery</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the middle of the night. When will you learn poet</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And remember it so you know it</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Imperialism can look like anything</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Can be quiet and intelligent and even have</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A pretty wife. But in the end, it is insatiable</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And if it needs to, it will take your life.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span> </span>AB 3/21/411</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">www.firstpoetschurch.blogspot.com<br /></span></span></p></div></span></div>www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-38533759310811013312011-03-08T07:31:00.000-08:002011-03-08T07:43:52.734-08:00I Am A Revolutionary<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UeU1CdKO93Y/TXZOnfNkEtI/AAAAAAAAEEE/v5nSjxjbHSo/s1600/Patrice%2BLumumba1.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 96px; height: 128px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UeU1CdKO93Y/TXZOnfNkEtI/AAAAAAAAEEE/v5nSjxjbHSo/s400/Patrice%2BLumumba1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581735228472562386" border="0" /></a><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:180%;">I am a revolutionary</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Before man black</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Muslim</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Husband</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Lover</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Father</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I am a revolutionary I am a Revolutionary</p> <p class="MsoNormal">revolution or death</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Whatever comes first</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Don’t matter</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Test me</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Kill me and I shall return</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Like Garvey</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In the Whirlwind</p> <p class="MsoNormal">haunt you</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Curse you</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Spit in your face</p> <p class="MsoNormal">For your decadence</p> <p class="MsoNormal">putrid life style</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Of nothingness and dread</p> <p class="MsoNormal">a stunted man woman child<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Too pitiful to stand erect</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Homo erectus</p> <p class="MsoNormal">You rather slither snake like</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Before Pharaoh and his magicians</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Not me</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Take me to your dungeons</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Where humanity lives</p> <p class="MsoNormal">brothers finally come together in unity</p> <p class="MsoNormal">the black hole of Santa Rita County Jail<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">they show love for each other</p> <p class="MsoNormal">they read and share all they have</p> <p class="MsoNormal">zoo zoos and wham whams</p> <p class="MsoNormal">gourmet meals they cook and beg you to eat</p> <p class="MsoNormal">precious food they starve for each day</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Spending the day searching cooking sharing<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Raman noodles and Doritos into casserole </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Divided shared for all</p> <p class="MsoNormal">the black hole</p><p class="MsoNormal">you must shower your funk or die<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">They knew me</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Passed me on the street selling books</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Said they were high priced too</p> <p class="MsoNormal">So I knew they passed by</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I am a revolutionary</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I teach in jail</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Like on the street</p> <p class="MsoNormal">no difference</p> <p class="MsoNormal">A punk out here is a punk in there</p> <p class="MsoNormal">A warrior here is a warrior in the dungeon</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I am a revolutionary</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I stand on the shoulders of George, Eldridge, Huey,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Booker, Alonzo Batin</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Douimbia</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Aaron Ali</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Ali Sharif Bey</p><p class="MsoNormal">Brother Edward who raised the college generation single handed<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Men unknown who stood up to the beast at every turn</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I am a revolutionary</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I fear nothing</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Want nothing from you</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Your money your women your drugs</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Nothing</p> <p class="MsoNormal">You cannot buy me</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I am not for sell</p> <p class="MsoNormal">You sold the last negro long ago</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I am not the one</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I am a revolutionary</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Only warrior women can stand beside me</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Women in the tradition of Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Mae Mallory, Fannie Lou Hamer, Queen Mother Moore, Ella Collins, Clara Muhammad, Betty Shabazz, Angela Davis<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Stand with me warrior women</p> <p class="MsoNormal">To the death or to the life</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I am a revolutionary</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I bring forth a new world order</p> <p class="MsoNormal">With the consent of the governed</p> <p class="MsoNormal">No dictatorship</p> <p class="MsoNormal">No presidents for life</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Kings</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Prime ministers for life</p> <p class="MsoNormal">No tribal domination</p> <p class="MsoNormal">No religiosity</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Only plain truth</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Simple for a child to understand</p> <p class="MsoNormal">No pyramid scheme</p> <p class="MsoNormal">No trickle down Voodoo economics</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Let power trickle up</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Bottom rail top</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Revolution</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I am a revolutionary</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I am beyond your tricks and games</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Your slimy schemes and dreams</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Of delay postponement pseudo stability<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">No delay</p> <p class="MsoNormal">No stalling</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Up against the wall motherfucker</p><p class="MsoNormal">Baraka said<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This is revolution</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I am a revolutionary.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">--Marvin X</p> <p class="MsoNormal">4/8/11</p>www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-85726286175187600852011-03-07T19:43:00.000-08:002011-03-11T11:09:44.679-08:00Navigating the perilous Mental Landscape<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-napIZwrLeFk/TXWyR-YYJ7I/AAAAAAAAED8/1hfOYoXYx5k/s1600/demons.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 136px; height: 170px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-napIZwrLeFk/TXWyR-YYJ7I/AAAAAAAAED8/1hfOYoXYx5k/s400/demons.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581563335068362674" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Navigating the perilous Mental Landscape<br /><br />Like the earthquake in Japan, man too is in mental motion, a mind quake of the most devastating degree that is rocking his mental equilibrium to the core!<br /></span></span><br />We must be aware of the times and what must be done. A blind man named Ray Charles told us "the world is in an uproar, the danger zone is everywhere...." And so it is, ancestor Ray, there is turbulence in the land and in man, woman and children. As the earth enters another 25,000 year cycle of history with the coming New Age of high spiritual consciousness, there are many who remain deaf, dumb and blind to present and future events, even though the news is full of rapidly changing events in the global village. One would need to be in worse shape than Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder not to see the earth is in transformation, even Nature itself. The ice is melting, the sea rising, the forests burning, earthquakes and tsunamis , drought, famine, pestilence, in diverse places, just as Jesus predicted.<br /><br />Apparently, many do not believe what Jesus said even when they see events he predicted before their very eyes, on the news, Twitter, Facebook, Cable TV and elsewhere. He said mother would be against child and child against mother and father. Did he not say brother would be against brother and sister against sister? And do we not see this in our social relations today.<br /><br />It is crystal clear to me we are in times in which a friend is no longer a friend, a wife and husband no longer wife and husband. There is no love between them. Husbands and wives say the horrible things to each other. Daughters and sons say the most wretched things to their parents, often when the parents are helping them.<br /><br />But when the danger zone is everywhere, no one, no relationships are exempt from the turmoil sweeping the old order out and ushering in the New Era. But there is an almost organic relationship between the earth quaking and the minds of men, women and children becoming totally unbalanced. In this time of radical change of Nature and man, those with no understanding shall become unglued, losing their fragile mental equilibrium or simply tripping out. Ultimately, they become a danger to themselves and others and must be committed, for they are not the person we knew only yesterday. Today they are a total stranger who does not know us, cannot even recognize us, yet we have known them since childhood. They could be a sibling yet they do not act like there is any blood relationship between us. We behave like total strangers.<br /><br />It could be parent/child relationships that come to such a low point children will sue parents or visa versa. In short the love is gone. Amiri Baraka tells us in his play A Black Mass, "Where the souls print should be there is only a cellulose pouch of disgusting habits...."<br /><br />As we walk the streets be very careful what you say to people, for they are on edge, on the precipice, ready to strike out at the slightest perceived negative incident, or wrong word uttered.<br />Yes, they are ready to kill, so be aware as you make your daily round.<br /><br />The political/economic atmosphere is charged with venom, but it is misplaced aggression, for no one is going after the bankers, the loan sharks, the Wall Street financiers who were casino gamblers with the wealth of the people, stealing 13 trillion dollars in the sub prime housing scam.<br />And yet hardly a banker is in jail, meanwhile 2.4 million mostly poor are incarcerated for petty crimes, additionally they suffer drug abuse and mental illness, not to mention lack of proper legal representation at the time of their trials. The only white man doing time is the one who stole from the rich, not the poor. Those who robbed the poor are yet receiving multimillion dollar bonuses while 30 million workers are unemployed and millions are now homeless.<br /><br />It is this atmosphere that is so unsettling to the mental state of those who were already suffering stress from the general hostile environment, from bad food, the media dispensing<br />information from the world of make believe and promoting the addiction to white supremacy conspicuous consumption<br /><br />How do we move from problem to solution, from addiction to recovery, from sickness to healing?<br />The Buddhists says knowledge plus the right action. We must first understand the time and what must be done. These are perilous times, very dangerous, thus one must tip through the tulips, through the mind fields that lay before us, behind us, to the right and to the left.<br /><br />We must practice eternal vigilance and stay on guard against being deceived. There are those who wish to deceive us so that we remain victims of the slave system. They will not tell us all the institutions are exhausted, political, economic, educational, religious, marital. None of these shall continue with business as usual. They must and shall undergo radical structural change, if not simply thrown into the dustbin of history where they belonged long ago.<br /><br />Those not prepared for radical change shall be blown by the wayside where they shall inhabit the lower realms of an animal existence until they die or recover from savagery and come into the era of civility and spirituality beyond religiosity.<br /><br />Those who are a danger to themselves and others will need to be confined to a program of long term recovery, a rehabilitation of their disgusting habits, namely greed, ego, pride, lust, arrogance, and other deadly sins, and most importantly the inability to practice freedom, justice and equality, constitutionally unable to share the wealth and practice democracy or the consent of the governed.<br /><br />The end is the beginning and the beginning is the end, or rather what goes around comes around. What we are witnessing and experiencing is not linear time but circular, for we shall continue, but only those who are able to jump out of the box of the old structures into the new.<br /><br />The fearless ones, they shall be successful. Those not motivated by the illusions of the monkey mind shall be successful. We pray for the others who persist in their inordinancy, blindly wandering on, as the Qur'an says.<br />--Marvin X<br />4/7/11www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-63408352815022696472011-03-06T23:52:00.000-08:002011-03-07T00:20:24.608-08:00Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the US Monkey Mind Media<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cBJBGawEt54/TXSUDnd4cgI/AAAAAAAAEDs/xCx3NAKGABk/s1600/Clinton.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 302px; height: 330px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cBJBGawEt54/TXSUDnd4cgI/AAAAAAAAEDs/xCx3NAKGABk/s400/Clinton.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581248628073722370" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Secretary of State Hillary Clinton<br />and the US Monkey Mind Media</span></span> </div><br /><br />Secretary of State Clinton dropped a bombshell on the US Monkey Mind Media when she declared Al Jazeera News is far superior to the US Monkey Mind Media that can only perpetuate the white supremacy world of make believe. We welcome the Secretary to the real world, a world that transcends the airless room Americans live in, as James Baldwin once said.<br /><br />And yet the American media confessed its sins shortly after 9/11, when it declared that it was guilty of keeping Americans ignorant of world affairs, thus Americans had no clue why someone would want to attack her so viciously as happened on 9/11. They are so ignorant of history and current events that they could not understand there are people who are tired of having their drawers pimped off by the capitalists swine corporations, blood suckers of the poor around the world- yes, the American pimps who support the worse regimes on the planet to insure the American way of life, or death!<br /><br />The Monkey Mind Media is the main vehicle that perpetuates the world of make believe by diverting attention to meaningless chatter, sport and play, entertainment, news about the Hollywood stars, rap artists and other garbage that has absolutely nothing to do with the real world, including the 30 million unemployed that shall remain unemployed for the foreseeable future. The America people are ignorant of the fact 13 trillion dollars of housing wealth was sucked from them by the Wall Street casino gamblers in cahoots with the Federal Reserve. And yet not one banker has gone to jail, meanwhile 2.4 million men and women languish in jails and prisons for petty crimes compared to the thieves in suits and ties.<br /><br />No, the Monkey Mind American media will tell you nothing of truth. And its pitiful excuse of possible danger in reporting on the ground about events in North Africa and the Middle East is so lame. All they need do is use indigenous people to report rather than send their white faced journalists to the scene so they will indeed get their asses whupped as did CNN's Anderson Cooper. Didn't the Monkey Mind Media learn from the 60s riots and rebellions in America when they suddenly discovered they needed North American African journalists and reporters to cover events in the hood?<br /><br />The truth is that the Monkey Mind Media ain't about truth, but only the spread of lies and misinformation to divert attention from the daily robbery in broad daylight of the American people and people around the world. The Monkey Mind Media is thus a critical instrument in perpetuating the white world of make believe that is on its death bed. And this time Dr. Nigger will not save you when you hit code blue.<br />--Marvin Xwww.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-59815949509601982522011-03-05T09:53:00.000-08:002011-03-05T10:53:31.694-08:00Oakland's Youth Revolution<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NnRgYzTW_S0/TXKAqmI2WsI/AAAAAAAAEDI/3_nKSfkAmmI/s1600/mx4%2Bwith%2Bog%2Bposter.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NnRgYzTW_S0/TXKAqmI2WsI/AAAAAAAAEDI/3_nKSfkAmmI/s400/mx4%2Bwith%2Bog%2Bposter.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580664357545990850" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3fVnwePN7CI/TXJ_uCEab7I/AAAAAAAAEDA/jYuCWvbqKJw/s1600/grantmx.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 226px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3fVnwePN7CI/TXJ_uCEab7I/AAAAAAAAEDA/jYuCWvbqKJw/s400/grantmx.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580663317071556530" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OXgJ86lBXBQ/TXJ-ZNQmYsI/AAAAAAAAECw/2Z67_C-N0mA/s1600/academy%2Bof%2Bda%2Bcorner1.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 324px; height: 239px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OXgJ86lBXBQ/TXJ-ZNQmYsI/AAAAAAAAECw/2Z67_C-N0mA/s400/academy%2Bof%2Bda%2Bcorner1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580661859786580674" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RiEIkkdR2yg/TXJ-MctWSXI/AAAAAAAAECo/hD2_rSs5F_k/s1600/angela%2Bd.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 132px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RiEIkkdR2yg/TXJ-MctWSXI/AAAAAAAAECo/hD2_rSs5F_k/s400/angela%2Bd.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580661640595392882" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tbnu0Pj5L3U/TXJ99-CYBMI/AAAAAAAAECg/M2jFtMuq0hk/s1600/1Mehserle11_1.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 210px; height: 170px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tbnu0Pj5L3U/TXJ99-CYBMI/AAAAAAAAECg/M2jFtMuq0hk/s400/1Mehserle11_1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580661391843919042" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oakland's Youth Rebellion at Academy of da Corner </span></span><br /></div><br />Marvin X's (Plato Negro) Academy of da Corner is probably the most dangerous classroom in the world. It is located at the epic center of Oakland's crossroads, 14th and Broadway, downtown, across the street from City Hall and Frank Ogawa Plaza. The area is a frequent site for protest rallies and rebellion. Academy of da Corner was the location of Oscar Grant riots, when youth took over the area and other streets of Oakland to protest the murder trial and light sentencing of the BART police official who executed young Oscar Grant on New Year's Day. Youth who often stop at the Academy participated in the rallies and civil disturbance (who disturbed whom?) that followed the 2 year sentence given the officer for murder under the color of law.<br /><br />A few doors from Plato Negro's Academy is the Footlocker that was looted, and next door is the law office of Attorney Walter Riley who was beaten by the Oakland Police as he tried to enter his office at the height of the civil unrest. The OPD didn't bother to stop the looters as they liberated some needed pairs of shows at Footlocker.<br /><br />Yesterday as Marvin met students and writers at his academy, a march of youth from East Oakland ended in the middle of 14th and Broadway, closing down the intersection to protest a recent gang injunction that prohibits gang members from gathering and associating within a proscribed area. The injunction mainly affects black and Latino youth. The sit down in the middle of the intersection was mostly Latino youth from the Fruitvale Area, although they were accompanied by several movement folks. After their sit down in the middle of the street that stopped all traffic, they moved to City Hall for a rally that featured Angela Davis.<br /><br />An Oakland Tribune reporter asked Marvin X what he thought about the gathering? He replied, "This is great, in harmony with events around the world that are shaking up the old order. I am honored to see the youth taking power over their lives. I am so happy to see they can do something other than walk around like ducks with pants sagging off their behinds. As per the gang injunction, it should be directed against the Oakland police gang, this is the gang that brings in drugs and guns. We know this is a common occurrence below the border, so why wouldn't we expect similar behavior by the OPD? They have a history of drug dealing, money laundering, shakedowns and false arrests, also planting false evidence. Who are the real gangsters? Oakland has a revolutionary tradition so I am elated to see youth in the tradition!" The reporter took notes and walked away. Nearby was a full contingent of OPD officers who accompanied the marchers from East Oakland and stood by patiently while they blocked traffic and proceeded to rally in front of City Hall.<br /><br />Marvin X attended the rally with one of his top students, Jermaine. Another student came to met The Teacher, Jasmin Conner, a young author featured on the front page of this week's Oakland Post. A poet, novelist, essayist, she will participate in the Women's History Month event sponsored by Bay Area Black Authors and the Post Newspaper Group, Saturday, March 19, 3-6pm at the Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th Street at Franklin. Other women poets, authors, actors in the March 19th event are Jerri Lange, Ayodele Nzingha, Tureada Mikell, Phavia Kujichagulia, devorah major, Aries Jordan, Mechelle LaChaux.<br /><br /><h1 id="articleTitle" class="articleTitle">Scores rally at Oakland City Hall to protest proposed Fruitvale gang injunction</h1><div id="articleByline" class="articleByline">By Scott Johnson<br />Oakland Tribune</div><div id="articleDate" class="articleDate"><br /></div><span></span><div id="articleBody" class="articleBody"><div class="articleViewerGroup" id="articleViewerGroup" style="border: 0px none; width: 202px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;"><span class="articleEmbeddedViewerBox"><div id="photoviewer" style="width: 200px;"><span class="clicktoenlargephoto"></span><div class="photocontainer" style="height: 140px;"><div class="photocell" style="width: 200px;"><div class="photo"><a id="gallery_link" border="0px" href="http://www.insidebayarea.com/portlet/article/html/render_gallery.jsp?articleId=17543171&siteId=181&startImage=1" target="_new"><img id="image" src="http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site571/2011/0304/20110304__eoak0305rally%7E1_VIEWER.JPG" style="visibility: visible;" height="134" width="200" /></a></div></div></div><div id="caption" class="caption" style="height: 60px;"> Members of the Asian Pacific Islanders Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership protest at...</div><span class="footer"></span></div><img src="http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site571/2011/0304/20110304__eoak0305rally%7E1_VIEWER.JPG" style="display: none;" /><img src="http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site571/2011/0304/20110304__eoak0305rally%7E2_VIEWER.JPG" style="display: none;" /><img src="http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site571/2011/0304/20110304__eoak0305rally%7E3_VIEWER.JPG" style="display: none;" /><img src="http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site571/2011/0304/20110304__eoak0305rally%7E4_VIEWER.JPG" style="display: none;" /><img src="http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site571/2011/0304/20110304__eoak0305rally%7E5_VIEWER.JPG" style="display: none;" /></span><span></span><span></span></div><span></span><p class="bodytext">OAKLAND -- Several hundred East Bay high school students organized and led a winding march through Oakland's Fruitvale district on Friday afternoon before holding a peaceful two-hour rally at City Hall to protest a proposed gang injunction. </p><p>"We feel the injunction is a way to push us out of our communities," said Stephanie Olage, 17, a San Leandro High School student who came to Oakland to support the protest. "This is affecting our whole community, not just the gang members." </p><p>Oakland City Attorney John Russo has pushed hard to get the injunction, and next Wednesday a judge will decide whether to impose a preliminary version which would pave the way for a more robust order later on. If it passes, some 40 alleged Norteño members will have restrictions placed on their movements within the 400 square blocks of the Fruitvale district. </p><p>Carrying signs, shouting slogans and songs, the students joined a large group of adults on the steps of City Hall at 4 p.m. A succession of speakers then took the stage, saying the injunction unfairly targeted Latino youth, cast a criminal pall over the neighborhood and was a waste of tax dollars. </p><p>"Instead of an injunction, we want better after-school programs, better education facilities, things that will make a positive difference in the community," said Aurora Castellanos, 20, a junior at UC Berkeley who grew up in the Fruitvale neighborhood and believes the injunction could unfairly target her family, who migrated here from Mexico. </p><p>Michael Siegel, an attorney representing a coalition of interests that is opposing the injunction in court, also attended the rally as a "legal observer."</p><p>"Police just dismiss these guys as irretrievable, but to me, it's a policy choice," Siegel said. "Are you going to devote resources to incarceration or prevention?" </p><p>Siegel said the injunction is overbroad and vague, and could lead to abuse down the road.</p><p>"It could result in a lot of people being surveilled," he said. "My concern is that the police will err on the side of over-inclusion." </p><p>Protesters howled their support of the succession of speakers at the rally. Distrust of the police was a constant theme. </p><p>"Injunctions Against Police, Not People," read one sign. "Fight Like An Egyptian," read another. </p><p>"The police are shooting us in the back," shouted Ruben Leal, one of the 40 young men on the injunction list, to wild applause and shouts of support from the crowd. "You think they're gonna make an exception for me?"</p><p>Leal was referring to the exceptions made for curfew violations in special circumstances like commuting to work, or emergencies. </p><p>The possibility of the injunction taking effect loomed large, however. </p><p>"We'll just have to get more people out on the streets," said Olage. </p><p>"I think it's a good thing," said Sgt. Arturo Bautiste, an Oakland policeman who patrols East Oakland. "The violence is out of control in part of the community. I think the injunction has a lot of community support." </p></div>www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-74004100517582080042011-03-05T09:41:00.001-08:002011-03-05T09:41:51.604-08:00Can You Feel the Spirit?<h2 class="date-header"><span>Sunday, February 27, 2011</span></h2> <a name="4383346548955571415"></a> <h3 class="post-title entry-title"> Can You Feel the Spirit? </h3> <div class="post-header"> </div> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kOmyW8yBKps/TWp4ipLEVnI/AAAAAAAAD_c/fB6FBHrHSJQ/s1600/24269_1369891174090_1436061303_2166210_2074349_n.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 113px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kOmyW8yBKps/TWp4ipLEVnI/AAAAAAAAD_c/fB6FBHrHSJQ/s400/24269_1369891174090_1436061303_2166210_2074349_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578403625014941298" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2F2svvE3OdI/TWp32K3pWCI/AAAAAAAAD_U/lb1Vipo7Afc/s1600/790cfbd5697e550c.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 96px; height: 145px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2F2svvE3OdI/TWp32K3pWCI/AAAAAAAAD_U/lb1Vipo7Afc/s400/790cfbd5697e550c.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578402860966172706" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Can You Feel the Spirit?</span> </span><br />Can you feel the spirit<br />in the air in the hair<br />people dancing in the street<br />singing freedom songs sea to sea<br />what a wonderful world<br />a time to be alive<br />to breathe again<br />stand tall not stunted<br />men and women<br />hail to the youth<br />invincible<br />challenging the kings<br />presidents for life<br />lying in front of tanks<br />repelling bullets tear gas<br />all power to the people<br />let there be freedom in the lands<br />in the homes<br />let the women be free of abuse<br />physical, verbal, emotional<br />let the men be free to be men<br />not oppressors of women and children<br />let the oppressors flee to the moon<br />or anywhere but here<br />let there be peace on earth<br />let the wealth be shared<br />no hunger in the world<br />no thirst<br />no disease<br />no wage slavery<br />no ignorance<br />no conspicuous consumption<br />no world of make believe<br />no white supremacy<br />no dogmatic religiosity<br />let the people be divine<br />let the earth be divine<br />it is time<br />it is time.<br /><br />Let the spirit move you<br />to higher ground<br />to minds above animal<br />and yet animals love<br />who is really the beast<br />or less than beast<br />animals love<br /><br />Let the spirit move you.<br />Jump out the box of negrocities<br />wretched habits of the worse kind<br />that cripple the mind<br />back to the cave days<br /><br />Let the spirit shake you<br />make you shout<br />talk in tongues<br />see the spirit working<br />better listen to that voice<br />the precious sound of God<br />talking.<br />--Marvin X<br />2/27/11www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-10255600572645004672011-03-05T09:34:00.000-08:002011-10-04T07:19:42.600-07:00America's White Revolution<table class="gsc-branding" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gsc-branding-text"><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ehn6dHj9ok4/TXEZA8P2i2I/AAAAAAAAECQ/KIbZo-K-yYg/s1600/Christina%2BTaylor%2BGreen.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 304px; height: 171px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ehn6dHj9ok4/TXEZA8P2i2I/AAAAAAAAECQ/KIbZo-K-yYg/s400/Christina%2BTaylor%2BGreen.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580268917252066146" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a3Pbp7IHq_A/TXEYgNPu07I/AAAAAAAAECI/MPTa9xjRPNk/s1600/157267_546374288_7868920_n.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 248px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a3Pbp7IHq_A/TXEYgNPu07I/AAAAAAAAECI/MPTa9xjRPNk/s400/157267_546374288_7868920_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580268354879280050" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">America's White Revolution?</span> </span><br />Is America in the birth pains of revolution, of joining the struggle of people around the world for social and economic justice? What is the end game of the Tea Party goers and the unions struggling for their definition of social economic democracy? Will there inevitably be a clash between the unionists and workers on the Left and the Tea Party Constitutionalists on the Right? Or will they merge into the American White Revolution? Events are moving fast, from the Middle East to Wisconsin, Ohio, California and elsewhere.<br /><br />And now Wall Street is under attack, hub of global finance and imperialism. Ultimately the General Strike is in order to close America down, to bring her to her knees and seize the means of production and all institutions that deprive the people of their human rights. It is time to reclaim the wealth from the blood suckers of the poor.<br /><br /><br />We know dissatisfaction brings change, real change. The unemployed, the wage slave workers and other marginalized people will inevitably reach the breaking point. As the ruling class strengthen their stranglehold on the necks and backs of the middle and lower class, the more possibility for revolution with the great possibility that other ethnic minorities will join the liberation struggle. Sam Anderson has called for more North American Africans and Indigenous people to join the battle at Wall Street, that ancient slave mart that is yet a slave mart.<br /><br />As in the Middle East and North Africa, things will hit the fan in America when youth take to the streets, suffering marginalization, high unemployment, homelessness and mental depression. The feeling of nothingness and dread shall propel them into forward motion of the radical kind.<br /><br />The workers, unemployed, students, artists, intellectuals, and religious communities shall see the need for unity and will merge their agendas for the greater good. When the people refuse to accept wage slavery and the concomitant world of make believe perpetuated by the media magicians and the Center Right Democratic and Republican parties in league with the military/corporate complex, the American White Revolution will begin.<br /><br />We should expect the reactionaries to mount the counter attack with state police power that may approach events in Libya, Egypt and elsewhere, outright mass murder under the color of law, mass incarcerations utilizing the terrorist laws under Homeland Security. The 700 people arrested this past weekend is a clear sign the police will need to get it right and decide what side they are on. Are they part of the problem or part of the solution. Just as the military in Egypt had to decide, the police of America must join the struggle or go down with the reactionaries. They cannot defend the state and the filthy capitalist swine. Their duty is to protect the people.<br /><br />The Right will attempt to defeat the masses to continue the regime of the American neo-slave system. But a people united cannot be defeated. Fanon taught that all de-colonization is successful. The reactionaries will be forced to put down their butcher knives in the face of people power. They will be forced to share the wealth, to open the coffers of the rich, the financial and corporate bandits and distribute the wealth stolen from the labor of the poor and middle class who have long suffered from the greedy blood suckers of the poor and working class.<br /><br />With a united people practicing eternal vigilance, the corporate and Wall Street bandits shall be forced to end their hoarding of the wealth they hoodwinked and bamboozled from the workers and poor; the wage slavery, the pyramid scheme loans of the housing industry, the wretched outdated white supremacy curriculum in the schools, the poor devitalized food of the petro-chemical industry and the pharmaceutical directed health care system, dominated by the insurance companies, even under President Obama's health plan that was a capitulation to the bandits.<br /><br />We smell a fresh breath of air blowing in the winds, yes, the east wind is blowing west. We think white people will be forced to stand from their stunted position, backs broken by the bloodsuckers of the poor, the working poor and middle class.<br /><br />North American Africans have long suffered a stunted life, full of poverty, ignorance and disease, even the middle class live in the world of make believe, traumatized by the hostile environment and addicted to conspicuous consumption.<br /><br />So we see the great possibility White America and North American Africans may see their way to Liberation Square, and if necessary, in the manner of the Egyptians, lay their blankets in front of tanks and take a nap, daring the tank driver to run them over, for their best poet told them not long ago: even a tank driver must serve somebody, must answer to somebody.<br />--Marvin X<br />4/5/11</td><td class="gsc-branding-img-noclear"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div id="uds-searchControl"><div id="uds-searchResults"><div class="gsc-control"><br /><div class="gsc-resultsbox-invisible"><div class="gsc-resultsRoot gsc-tabData gsc-tabdActive"><table class="gsc-resultsHeader" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gsc-twiddleRegionCell"><br /></td><td class="gsc-configLabelCell"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="display: none;" class="gsc-config gsc-blogConfig"><form class="gsc-config gsc-blogConfig"></form></div></div><div class="gsc-resultsRoot gsc-tabData gsc-tabdInactive"><table class="gsc-resultsHeader" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gsc-twiddleRegionCell"><br /></td><td class="gsc-configLabelCell"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="gsc-resultsRoot gsc-tabData gsc-tabdInactive"><table class="gsc-resultsHeader" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gsc-twiddleRegionCell"><br /></td><td class="gsc-configLabelCell"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div></div><div style="display: none;" class="gsc-clear-button" id="uds-searchClearResults"> </div></div> <h2 class="date-header"><span>Friday, March 4, 2011</span></h2> <a name="9073659060838934024"></a> <h3 class="post-title entry-title"> Reply to Marvin X from Rudolph Lewis on the American White Revolution </h3> <div class="post-header"> </div> <span style="font-size:100%;">Rudy:<br /><br />Dream on dreamer. If you wake up, you're hear the voice of the ancestors, "The worse is yet to come . . . we ain't nowhere near daylight."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Toppling a dictator and replacing it with an exceedingly wealthy military elite does not a revolution make.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Loving you madly, Rudy</span><br /><br />Marvin X:<br /><br /><div><style>.ExternalClass div { }</style> <div style=";font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt;">Rudy, you must look into the deep structure of things, far beyond the surface. When the husband beats a pregnant wife, this doesn't mean the baby won't be born. There may be some damage to the fetus but that baby is coming out for we know how much violence the woman is able to withstand, including the act of delivery itself. So we only know we are seeing things people predicted around 2012, a universal phenomenon that is beyond the imagination, and yes, we ain't seen nothing yet. Wait until the boys and girls rise up in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere on the oil lands and lanes. Wait til gas is ten dollars a gallon and a lemon five dollars. Just wait til the midnight hour.<br /><br />Rudy:<br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Marvin, you're right: I do not know about the "deep structure of things." I do have my failings. But I suppose if I am expert at anything it is the nature of white people in America. I do wonder whether the same God who made my people made them. And if he did, what was he thinking: they have been a pestilence on the face of the earth. We need to have serious talk with His divine ways.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Let me be a prophet for a moment. As soon as the working class whites settle this matter with the Wisconsin governor, however it ends, they will be back talking about the intrusion of "niggers" in Milwaukee and Madison. Tell me, how do you think Walker got into office. I'll tell you: on a racist tip. These whites falling back into the pack of the poor thought the governor was going to take the war only to the Negroes. And what did they discover belatedly, it's gonna be class warfare and the poor whites and the marginal middle class whites, they too will be a sacrifice to the Koch brothers and other such wealthy bullies. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">But this lesson will be short-lived as I suggested. As soo as these working class whites can they will betray the blacks for a farthing. That's a centuries old pattern. let us learn our history.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Hold out no hope for the struggle of black and white together, at least not in this decade.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Loving you madly, Rudy</span><br /><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></div></div></div>Marvin X:<br /><br />We can see from the Middle East that Arab zenophobia of Black Africans has tainted their freedom struggle. Yet this has been a long simmering problem in the Arab world just as it has been intractable and pervasive in the White Supremacy world of the West, especially in America. Thus, it must be clearly understood that liberation without recovery from the addiction to white supremacy, including Arab racism and American racism, will be short lived. As DuBois said, the problem in America is the color line, but we can expand this globally. Farakhan once said wherever he went on the planet earth the black man was on the bottom. When Cynthia McKinney was jailed in Israel she found Africans filled the jail, and we know the racial demographics of American gulags.<br /><br />Without a global detox and recovery from the addiction to white supremacy in all its forms, and it is cunning and vile, surfacing its head in all religions and economic systems, there shall be no real peace in the world. Racism must be attacked in the Masjed, Church, temple, and all social institutions before the New Man and Woman can stand tall in the sun, racism and gender discrimination are pervasive in the global village. The new consciousness shall not function with any residue of racism and sexism.<br /><br />We must note the Type II White Supremacy Dr. Nathan Hare speaks about that is the Black addiction to white supremacy mythology. Thus all forms of white supremacy must be eradicated before the modern world will be truly and thoroughly liberated.<br /><br />Rudy:<br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Marvin, I speak that which I know and that which I don't know I excuse myself. I wrestled with the situation of <span style="border-bottom: 2px dotted rgb(54, 99, 136); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1299345370_1">Libya</span> for days, reading and listening to as much as I could find before I finally posted the Pan-African piece. </span><br /><br /><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.nathanielturner.com/libyagettingitrightpanafrican.htm"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1299345370_2">http://www.nathanielturner.com/libyagettingitrightpanafrican.htm</span></span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">But usually I post several points of view rather than one in that I am so far away from the scenes of counter-revolution. The corporate media is of little help nor is PBS (now under attack by federal defunding). Liberals fear any clarity of things on the ground. The truth I know is somewhere in the mix.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">I</span><span style="font-size:12pt;"> shy away from ideology. I know with a certainty that foreign wars do not serve the American poor, to paraphrase MLK. We have two in the Mid-East already and an undeclared class war going on here in America. I hope Obama is not fool enough to be suckered into another Mid-East war now recommended by the Republicans and other imperial nuts.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">White Americans are a strange breed and have little restraint when it comes to their racial prejudices. We are in the Age of the Neo-Confederacy, that is, white Americans are ever ready to shoot themselves in the foot to spite their face. Liberation is faraway from the dawn. Counter-revolutionatries are on the march and winning.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Loving you madly, Rudy<br /></span>www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-64715281571776566892011-03-01T12:02:00.000-08:002011-03-01T12:05:11.064-08:00The American Beast in the Middle East<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5fBGbD_Is6g/TW1RW2Kp7-I/AAAAAAAAEAU/cJKtkUs57tI/s1600/600px-Seal_Of_The_President_Of_The_United_States_Of_America.svg.png"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5fBGbD_Is6g/TW1RW2Kp7-I/AAAAAAAAEAU/cJKtkUs57tI/s400/600px-Seal_Of_The_President_Of_The_United_States_Of_America.svg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579204966321090530" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-moRznIwExo4/TW1RMX0N7oI/AAAAAAAAEAM/0sEnMj_HnXA/s1600/54_tut.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-moRznIwExo4/TW1RMX0N7oI/AAAAAAAAEAM/0sEnMj_HnXA/s400/54_tut.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579204786375224962" border="0" /></a><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:180%;">The American Beast in the Middle East</span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">When we examine the deep structure of events in North Africa and the Middle East, we must come to understand that America is the primary reason the oppressive regimes in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman have continued their wickedness for decades. It is billions in America military aid that has gone to stem internal threats rather than external. Many of these nations have participated in American state terrorism, torturing not only their own citizens who sought liberation, but serving as dungeons for the behavior modification of so-called Muslim fundamentalists. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The American beast is thus directly responsible for the long suffering of the Middle Eastern masses now demanding freedom. Of course America has her strategic interests, namely oil and the defense of Israel. For these objectives, she conspired in the oppression of the millions of North African and Arab peoples. Thus she cannot be an honest broker, her hands are tainted with the blood of martyrs. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Whatever political institutions the people decide, whether secular or Islamic, it is no business of America, her political/economic interests be damned. Who is she to determine the destiny of other human beings in other lands, especially after her track record of wretchedness abroad and at home? There are presently 2.4 million persons incarcerated in the American gulags, Constitutional wards of the American slave system.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">It would be wise to give a general amnesty to all prisoners, since the majority of them are petty criminals, i.e., economic criminals, of which 90% suffered drug abuse at the time of their arrests. Furthermore, perhaps half are dual diagnosed, suffering drug abuse and mental illness, to say nothing of the glaring fact that too many lacked proper legal representation. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The American beast should immediately pull out of all nations in Africa and the Middle East since her hands are tainted along with those of all the petty tyrants in the area, the sheiks, presidents for life, kings and prime ministers. As they are forced from the scene of history, the American beast must depart as well. But we know the nature of the Beast is to linger, to transform itself into another persona of beneficence, yet wickedness shall linger in the deep structure, for we know political/economic interests outweigh any honest desire for democracy. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">--Marvin X</p> <p class="MsoNormal">3/1/11</p>www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-27341634592044827602011-02-12T18:03:00.000-08:002011-02-14T12:49:00.454-08:00Egypt: Surely after difficulty comes ease!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3Op3g3eealI/TVmVHo2NnSI/AAAAAAAAD3E/eU5SrRWiv7s/s1600/mlk%2Band%2Bmalcolm.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 283px; height: 380px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3Op3g3eealI/TVmVHo2NnSI/AAAAAAAAD3E/eU5SrRWiv7s/s400/mlk%2Band%2Bmalcolm.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573649972304125218" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tZywy5XOpNk/TVmUDp0NpCI/AAAAAAAAD28/CJ6jsfbmx6U/s1600/Elijah%2Band%2BMartin.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 116px; height: 82px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tZywy5XOpNk/TVmUDp0NpCI/AAAAAAAAD28/CJ6jsfbmx6U/s400/Elijah%2Band%2BMartin.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573648804333069346" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S1qsJY26sjo/TVmJSWPW-EI/AAAAAAAAD2s/SUEbY5giH-0/s1600/iakhenaten.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 217px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S1qsJY26sjo/TVmJSWPW-EI/AAAAAAAAD2s/SUEbY5giH-0/s400/iakhenaten.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573636962148350018" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:Tempus Sans ITC,ARIAL;"><center> <h1>Hymn to the Sun</h1> </center></span><span style=";font-family:Tempus Sans ITC,Arial;font-size:130%;" > </span><p><span style=";font-family:Tempus Sans ITC,Arial;font-size:130%;" > </span> </p> <p align="center"><span style=";font-family:Tempus Sans ITC,Arial;font-size:100%;" >Homage to thee, O Ra, at thy tremendous rising!<br />Thou risest! Thou shinest! the heavens are rolled aside!<br />Thou art the King of Gods, thou art the All-comprising,<br />From thee we come, in thee are deified.</span> </p><p align="center"><span style=";font-family:Tempus Sans ITC,Arial;font-size:100%;" >Thy priests go forth at dawn; they wash their hearts with laughter;<br />Divine winds move in music across thy golden strings.<br />At Sunset they embrace thee, as every cloudy rafter<br />Flames with reflected color from thy wings.</span> </p><p align="center"><span style=";font-family:Tempus Sans ITC,Arial;font-size:100%;" >Thou sailest over the zenith, and thy heart rejoices;<br />Thy Morning Boat and Evening Boat with fair winds meet together;<br />Before thy face the goddess Maat exalts her fateful Feather,<br />And at thy name the halls of Anu ring with voices.</span> </p><p align="center"><span style=";font-family:Tempus Sans ITC,Arial;font-size:100%;" >O Thou Perfect! Thou Eternal! Thou Only One!<br />Great Hawk that fliest with the flying Sun!<br />Between the Turquoise Sycamores that risest, young for ever,<br />Thine image flashing on the bright celestial river.</span> </p><p align="center"><span style=";font-family:Tempus Sans ITC,Arial;font-size:100%;" >Thy rays are on all faces; Thou art inscrutable.<br />Age after age thy life renews its eager prime.<br />Time whirls its dust beneath thee; thou art immutable,<br />Maker of Time, thyself beyond all Time.</span> </p><p align="center"><span style=";font-family:Tempus Sans ITC,Arial;font-size:100%;" >Thou passest through the portals that close behind the night,<br />Gladdening the souls of them that lay in sorrow.<br />The True of Word, the Quiet Heart, arise to drink thy light;<br />Thou art To-day and Yesterday; Thou art To-morrow!</span> </p><p align="center"><span style=";font-family:Tempus Sans ITC,Arial;font-size:100%;" >Homage to thee, O Ra, who wakest life from slumber!<br />Thou risest! Thou shinest! Thou radiant face appears!<br />Millions of years have passed, --we cannot count their number,--<br />Millions of years shall come. Thou art above the years!</span> </p><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Egypt: Surely after difficulty comes ease!</span></span><br /><br />We congratulate our brothers and sisters, but most especially the youth of Egypt who advanced the Egyptian Revolution to end forever neo-colonialism or the modern slave system. There is no doubt the role American imperialism played in the thirty year oppression of the Egyptian Nation. Down to President Obama, American imperialism would have been more than satisfied to prolong Egyptian oppression. The hypocrisy of American imperialism was evident in the wishy washy way America tried to decide what was in her national interest: to continue giving Mubarak a lifeline or let him hang since it was evident his cause was lost. America was content with the status quo, in harmony with Mubarak. America diddled and daddled til it was evident she was with Mubarak, had been for thirty years, but crossed the line to the people only after it was announced Mubarak had departed. Obama played his frequent role of Hamlet, to be or not to be with the people. When will he decide to be part of the solution or part of the problem? His schizophrenia is profound and laughable, tragi-comic, really.<br /><br />America knows her relationship with Egypt must change, that she can no longer impose her will of submitting the Muslim nation to humiliation with respect to Israeli intransigence, again, she is attempting to stall the liberation of Palestine until it will be too late. The Arab masses long ago decided Palestine must be liberated along with their own lands that must be simultaneously cleansed of putrid regimes occupied by bootlickers, running dogs and other vicious sycophants.<br /><br />What must we learn from the Egyptian revolution? Sun Ra taught me we are the Latter Day Egyptian Revisionists. Our culture is essentially Egyptian, not only by way of Greece but Africa as well. Diop taught us that culturally, linguistically, philosophically, spiritually, we are Egyptians, for what is Christianity but rehashed Egyptian religion, by way of Greece but infused with the Diaspora African sensibility, expressing the fundamental myth of Osiris, the savior god who was crucified then resurrected. After Osiris, at least sixteen crucified saviors came to the world in various countries and lands. Thus the savior god is a basic myth or story. But our very existence is a demonstration of Osirian mythology. Our essential narrative is the how we survived the cross and the lynching tree, as Rev. James Cone explained to Bill Moyers. Here in the wilderness of North America we have been almost daily crucified yet resurrected and have now ascended to the White House, but it is a Pyrrhic victory that shall be short lived in the manner of Sisyphus who went up the mountain but was forced down by his adversary. Only eternal vigilance shall enable us to maintain stability on the mountain top.<br /><br />What we learn from Egyptian Revolution is what we already know. We are the Egyptians and the Egyptians are us. In the tradition of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Egyptians exercised 18 days of non-violence, the essential Ghandi/King philosophy. How wise are the Egyptians? Surely seven thousand years of civilization can be functional once the oppressed man and woman decide to jump out the box of oppression, nothingness and dread and reconnect with their culture and civilization. Consciousness of culture and tradition can propel one forward into a another space/time dimension.<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tZywy5XOpNk/TVmUDp0NpCI/AAAAAAAAD28/CJ6jsfbmx6U/s1600/Elijah%2Band%2BMartin.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 116px; height: 82px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tZywy5XOpNk/TVmUDp0NpCI/AAAAAAAAD28/CJ6jsfbmx6U/s400/Elijah%2Band%2BMartin.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573648804333069346" border="0" /></a><br />Yes, they borrowed from the North American African Revolution of the 50s and 60s, understanding that non-violence can be a powerful weapon in the liberation of a people. Elijah Muhammad taught us our unity is the greatest weapon we have. With unity we do not need to fire a gun. The Egyptians did not fire a gun in 18 days of protest but used non-violence to seize back their humanity from the grasp of Seth or the powers of darkness, Sun set.<br /><br />And now Isis steps forward to join in the reclamation of her man's humanity, his penis has been chopped and discarded in the forests of Lebanon. And so it is, the Egyptians displayed the woman standing with her man, children, elders, at points ahead of her man, but she must reclaim her role as queen. She must advise the king in all matters of which he is ignorant. No more oppression and suppression of her dignity as a royal spiritual being in human form.<br /><br />Equally, the North American African woman is ahead of her man but she must make Jack jump out of the box of his negrocities, lethargy, passivity, sloth, negativity, jealousy and envy.<br /><br />Only in this way shall he and she be able to find their way to Tahrir Square in the Americas. Liberation can come tomorrow morning, didn't you see what the valiant people of that African Nation have done--Egypt is in Africa, for those who didn't know, last time I checked, 18 days and it was over. When the people stood up, the tyrant stood down. In physics, two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time!<br /><br />The Last Poets said all nigguhs do is party and bullshit, party and bullshit, and what else? Nigguhs are scared of revolution, nigguhs are scared of revolution.<br /><br />Fanon said revolution is the only solution to the mental health issues of the oppressed. To engage in social justice is to begin the process of healing from the manic depression of oppression. It is the stress, trauma and grief, the pervasive hostile environment the oppressed must endure that makes his and her persona a pitiful specimen of the addicted personality, addicted to the white supremacy slave system of wage slavery compounded with conspicuous consumption, to the degree we are all exactly like the Egyptian, crucified, stunted, infantisized, who no doubt only decided to revolt after seeing his little brother in Tunisia, because he too was similarly victimized, tortured, physically and mentally, by the regime of Seth, the devil, darkness, sunset.<br /><br />Let the Sun Hymn in praise of the One God be heard.<br /><br /><h2 style="text-align: center;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Hymn">Sun Hymn of Akhenaten<br /></span></h2> <dl style="text-align: center;"><dd><i>How manifold it is, what thou hast made!</i></dd><dd><i>They are hidden from the face (of man).</i></dd><dd><i>O sole god, like whom there is no other!</i></dd><dd><i>Thou didst create the world according to thy desire,</i></dd><dd><i>Whilst thou wert alone: All men, cattle, and wild beasts,</i></dd><dd><i>Whatever is on earth, going upon (its) feet,</i></dd><dd><i>And what is on high, flying with its wings.</i></dd></dl><div> </div><dl style="text-align: center;"><dd><i>The countries of Syria and Nubia, the land of Egypt,</i></dd><dd><i>Thou settest every man in his place,</i></dd><dd><i>Thou suppliest their necessities:</i></dd><dd><i>Everyone has his food, and his time of life is reckoned.</i></dd><dd><i>Their tongues are separate in speech,</i></dd><dd><i>And their natures as well;</i></dd><dd><i>Their skins are distinguished,</i></dd><dd><i>As thou distinguishest the foreign peoples.</i></dd><dd><i>Thou makest a Nile in the underworld,</i></dd><dd><i>Thou bringest forth as thou desirest</i></dd><dd><i>To maintain the people (of Egypt)</i></dd><dd><i>According as thou madest them for thyself,</i></dd><dd><i>The lord of all of them, wearying (himself) with them,</i></dd><dd><i>The lord of every land, rising for them,</i></dd><dd><i>The Aton of the day, great of majesty.</i></dd></dl><div> </div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline" id="Analysis"></span><br /></h2>www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1411908660996016288.post-38641566062427951542011-02-10T20:22:00.000-08:002011-02-14T08:43:50.267-08:00Revolution from Egypt to the Americas<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TVVhY7PGq5I/AAAAAAAAD2k/5oXPaaqnc8g/s1600/Tahrir.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TVVhY7PGq5I/AAAAAAAAD2k/5oXPaaqnc8g/s400/Tahrir.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572467194786655122" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pharoah Mubarak Falls</span></span>,<br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">All Power to the People</span></span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Long Live the Pan African Revolution!</span></span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Al Humdulilah!!!!!!!</span></span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kb9qrUo1uQU/TVVPD5HkxkI/AAAAAAAAD2M/8aPsUNxPeaA/s1600/4292_1175740834158_1247205751_30476070_5859815_n.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 354px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kb9qrUo1uQU/TVVPD5HkxkI/AAAAAAAAD2M/8aPsUNxPeaA/s400/4292_1175740834158_1247205751_30476070_5859815_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572447042231649858" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Revolution<br />from Egypt to the Americas<br /><br />Marvin X<br /><br /></span></span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TU-Ar4Xe-WI/AAAAAAAADyA/6BpcRp5bgTo/s1600/Hosni%2BMubarak.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 169px; height: 191px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TU-Ar4Xe-WI/AAAAAAAADyA/6BpcRp5bgTo/s400/Hosni%2BMubarak.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5570812755434207586" border="0" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TU-BjMQYnhI/AAAAAAAADyY/9P-38KQjmpY/s1600/King%2BFahd%2Bof%2BSaudi%2BArabia.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 103px; height: 125px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TU-BjMQYnhI/AAAAAAAADyY/9P-38KQjmpY/s400/King%2BFahd%2Bof%2BSaudi%2BArabia.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5570813705665945106" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TVNx4vx6VCI/AAAAAAAAD1g/1G17dG0hXig/s1600/Castro.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 130px; height: 149px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TVNx4vx6VCI/AAAAAAAAD1g/1G17dG0hXig/s400/Castro.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571922383699858466" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TTRv06K8PlI/AAAAAAAADiE/oJrNdEB_24g/s1600/Jean-Bertrand%2BAristide%2Band%2BRene%2BPreval.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 166px; height: 278px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TTRv06K8PlI/AAAAAAAADiE/oJrNdEB_24g/s400/Jean-Bertrand%2BAristide%2Band%2BRene%2BPreval.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563194394468433490" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" ><br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" ><br /></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TUGzv4oJnrI/AAAAAAAADnU/GfhGol6kTQc/s1600/3776798528_c77b7d783d.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TUGzv4oJnrI/AAAAAAAADnU/GfhGol6kTQc/s400/3776798528_c77b7d783d.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566928249642655410" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span><!--[if !mso]> <style> v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/S7mdz_O_-WI/AAAAAAAABkU/0T8vdtuTOn4/s1600/parrotandman.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></span></a><br /><b><span style="font-size:21.5pt;">Parable of the Parrot</span></b><br /><br /><br /><b>for <span class="blsp-spelling-error">Ngugi</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error">Wa</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error">Thiong'o</span> and the Pan African Revolution</b><br /><br /><br />The king wanted parrots around him. He wants his ministers to wear parrot masks. He said he had to do the same for the previous king. He only said what the king wanted to hear, nothing more, so he advised his ministers to do the same. In fact, they must encourage the people to become parrots. Yes, he wanted a nation of parrots.<br /><br />Don't say anything the king does not want to hear. Everything said should be music to his ears. And don't worry, he will tell you exactly what he wants to hear in his regular meetings and public addresses to the nation. Everyone will be kept informed what parrot song to sing.<br /><br />No one must be allowed to disagree with the king. This would be sacrilegious and punishable by death. The king must be allowed to carry out the dreams that come to his head. No one else should dream, only the king.<br /><br />In this manner, according to the king, the people can make real progress. There shall always be ups and downs, but have faith in the king and everything will be all right.<br /><br />Now everyone sing the national anthem, the king told the people. There must be a chorus of parrots, a choir, mass choir singing in perfect unity. Let there be parrots on every corner of the kingdom, in every branch and tree. Let all the boys sing like parrots in the beer halls.<br />Let the preacher lead the congregation in parrot songs. Let the teachers train students to sound like parrots.<br /><br />Let the university professors give good grades to those who best imitate parrot sounds. Let the journalists allow no stories over the airwaves and in print if they do not have the parrot sound.<br /><br />The king was happy when the entire nation put on their parrot masks. Those who refused suffered greatly until they agreed to join in.<br /><br />The state academics and intellectuals joined loudly in parroting the king's every wish. Thank God the masses do not hear them pontificate or read their books. After all, these intellectual and academic parrots are well paid, tenured and eat much parrot seed. Their magic song impresses the bourgeoisie who have a vested interest in keeping the song of the parrot alive.<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/S7mkIrGdv_I/AAAAAAAABkc/5ZkTQUeJP0A/s1600/hawk1.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></span></a><br />Deep down in the hood, in the bush, the parrot song is seldom heard, only the sound of the hawk gliding through the air in stone silence looking for a parrot to eat.<br />--Marvin X<br />4/5/10<a name="8449229181603365918"></a><a name="67662786487632932"></a></p><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">After Friday Prayers</span> </span><br /><br />After Friday Prayers<br />After salat<br />salaam-alaikum<br />al humdulilah<br />we shall meet in the streets<br />to shout no more pharaoh<br />no more presidents for life<br />no more American aid for guns, tear gas tanks<br />no more uncle abdullah<br />no more<br />no more reactionary theology<br />no honor killings<br />suppression of women's dignity<br />no more<br />after Friday prayers<br />in Tunisia<br />Cairo<br />Yemen<br />Sudan<br />Jordan<br />Saudi Arabia<br />Persian Gulf<br />no more<br />after Fatihah/Ikhlas<br />we shall meet the guns of Pharaoh Mubarak<br />we shall meet the tear gas<br />death even<br />we shall meet<br />and go to paradise<br />for freedom<br />no fear of Pharaoh's guns/tear gas<br />no fear no more<br />young and invincible<br />we have the model<br />wel meet in the streets<br />to live again<br />to breathe<br />to love<br />to control our lives<br />feed our families<br />to fly in the sun of freedom and liberty.<br />--Marvin X<br />1/27/11<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">To Egypt With Love</span></span><br /><br />Dedicated to my son, Abdul (Darrel P. Jackmon, RIP)<br /><br />He studied at the American University in Egypt<br />he fell in love in Egypt<br />some Ghanian ambassador's daughter<br />I told him don't give no woman the key to your apartment<br />he never did<br />not even the ambassador's daughter, he told me<br />he loved Egypt<br />he spoke the language<br />graduated from UC Berkeley in Arabic and Middle Eastern Literature<br />He said the Africans were slaves throughout the Middle East<br />The Arabs took their passports<br />making them virtual slaves<br />their racism was pervasive<br />totally unsustainable<br />yet understandable<br />for they are not the aboriginal Arabs<br />they are not the Arabs of Sabah<br />Queen of Sabah's land<br />who ruled from Canaan to Jerusalem to the Persian Gulf<br />Queen of Sabah<br />who fascinated King Solomon<br /><br />My son loved Arabic and Persian<br />He got a Fulbright fellowship to the University of Damascus<br />He said Syrian intelligence officers interrogated him daily<br />why was he hanging around those filthy Palestinians<br />Why did he go to the American embassy to swim<br /><br />He said, Daid, they tried to recruit me for the C.I.A<br />The Mormons controlled the US Embassy<br />they wanted me to be a Mormon<br /><br />Toward the end my son became a Mormon<br />He lived with Eldridge Cleaver<br />himself a Mormon, for a time<br />My son said Eldridge got strange phone calls<br />from strange people<br />we know Eldridge was dr. strangelove<br /><br />The Ghanaian woman came to see my son in Cali<br />I do not know what happened<br />but she went home<br /><br />In the end he loved a Portuguese woman<br />he loved Brazil<br />said he wanted to live in Bahia<br />dance Condomble rituals<br /><br />a man of the world<br />at his funeral came his friends<br />no black man no black woman<br />Asians whites<br />after all<br />he was a man of the world<br />what could he say to a nigguh in the ghetto<br />his travels to Africa, Egypt, Jerusalem, Brazil,Japan, what could he say to a ghetto nigguh<br />In Japan, he said they teach the women to say three things:<br />yes, thank you and I'm sorry<br />but the Japanese woman he got pregnant said no to his black baby<br />so she could go home in peace<br />her family told her don't bring no black baby home.<br /><br />Abdul loved the Middle East<br />He loved Persian<br />the poetry<br />the rhythms of the language<br />of the poets who do the dance of the dervish.<br /><br />Egypt may fall today or tomorrow<br />but my son will be pleased<br />to know Pharaoh Mubarak is no more<br />the regime is history<br />what a story to tell my son<br />who walked into a train<br />in his midnight madness<br />Dr. Hare said he was like Malcolm and Martin<br />he was 38, they were 39<br />but nonetheless he self destructed<br />suicide and homicide is the same<br />simply different sides of the same coin.<br /><br />Let Egypt arise for the sons and daughters who have suffered<br />a long suffering that has come to an end.<br />Let Mubarak be a page in history<br />a pitiful note in the eternal narrative of a people.<br />--Marvin X<br />1/31/11<br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">A Night in Tunisia</span><br /></span><br />The oppressed man lives in desperate straits, at the edge of society, marginalized without any hope. It is revolution or death. It doesn't matter any longer for we have no choice but to revolt.<br /><br />It is a sacrifice as the brother in Tunisia demonstrated by setting himself on fire. And yet a single spark can set off a prairie fire. His symbol and sacrifice set off a fire storm that swept the old dictator from the nation he'd ruled for nearly three decades, overseeing a nest of nepotism, only family members received high benefits from the society.<br /><br />The excluded go from bad to worse until many segments of society join with the struggle, the unions, workers, students, unemployed, the military, the writers and artists, the religious and/or spiritual community. Revolution is a family affair, a community affair wherein consensus is clear.<br /><br />We agree the situation is bleak unless we correct it by coming into control of it. The president flew to exile in Saudi Arabia, the refugee camp for dictators for life in the Middle East and Africa.<br />The people want justice for the terror of the last regime. And then the rebuilding of society.<br />Legitimate order must demand control. A night in Tunisia.<br /><br />Is revolution on fire in Africa and the Middle East. There have been three suicides by fire in Egypt. The desperate man is at wits end.<br />--Marvin X<br />1/18/11<span style="font-size:180%;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">1. Egypt: All <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Decolonialism</span> is Successful--the West Just Doesn't Get It</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">!</span></span><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TU-AQZTfhlI/AAAAAAAADx4/7W0H8YlDDxE/s1600/fasnon.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 166px; height: 226px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TU-AQZTfhlI/AAAAAAAADx4/7W0H8YlDDxE/s400/fasnon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5570812283239499346" border="0" /></a><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Fanon</span> taught us all <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">decolonialism</span> is successful, i.e., once the colonized man and woman determine freedom is the goal, only death itself can stop them from achieving victory. Today in Egypt we have seen people lying in front of tanks declaring the tanks shall crush them before they will leave <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Tahrir</span> or Liberation Square if Mubarak doesn't leave first. It is this ineluctable energy and will to be free that must first be implanted in the minds of the stunted men and women seeking freedom from colonialism and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">neo</span>-colonialism, which are one and the same, for Nkrumah told us <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">neo</span>-colonialism is merely colonialism playing possum, hiding in the shadows, just as America has been doing the past thirty years.<br /><br />Indeed, the crucial player is not the puppet but the puppet master. He who pays the piper calls the tunes. The Egyptian <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">kleptocracy</span> has ripped off billions of the people's money for their personal consumption. But the greater theft is stealing the soul of a people, to instill them with fear from a brutal regime acting at the request of its master playing possum in the corner, yet calling all the tunes, neutering a people of their birthright to be free. The arrogance of America is overwhelming when we consider their advice on solving matters in Egypt, a nation with ten thousand years of continuous culture and history while America has been on the scene of the world for a few seconds and is the master of modern savagery disguised as civility.<br /><br />While we focus on Mubarak and his regional <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">kleptocrats</span> of their people's humanity, we shall ultimately come to the realization he was only following orders from America and Israel. How can a president agree to imprison his Muslim brothers and sisters in Palestine for Zionism, to deny them food, water, building materials after they suffered a devastating military attack with overwhelming force executed by the Zionists in the last Gaza war of genocide? We need not ask how a Jew can create a concentration camp of 1.4 million people, then systematically slaughter them within it.<br /><br />The power Mubarak has exercised for three decades, along with similar behavior by his counterparts in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and the Persian Gulf, stem directly from the roots of Western White Supremacy. The brutality is the residue of behavior learned from the playbook of the Slave System so well practiced in America, and before America by her European brother, the English, Spanish and French, who perfected such torture, psychosocial and economic rape and robbery.<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TU92zABtTzI/AAAAAAAADxg/DEuPBY_RjGU/s1600/157267_546374288_7868920_n.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 248px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TU92zABtTzI/AAAAAAAADxg/DEuPBY_RjGU/s400/157267_546374288_7868920_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5570801882633162546" border="0" /></a><br />Thus while we watch the final dance of the puppets, our eyes must follow the strings leading to the puppet master. We must examine his behavior at this hour, his verbal contradictions, hesitations, equivocations. For he is the one really in trouble at the new day dawning before his eyes, before he ever imagined such a day would occur and he would be so utterly unprepared for the new reality that is a challenge to the core of his psyche.<br /><br />And so he requests a stalling action to delay the people's victory. He calls for stability and most of all no violence, although he paid an annual grant of nearly two billion dollars to maintain a regime with violence, including state murder, torture, robbery and the theft of a nation's soul, the most criminal act of all, to crush the spirit of a people with ten thousand years of history.<br /><br />The question is thus what shall happen to the master, not the slave. The Slave System can and shall be removed by the very nature of itself. Once the oppressed realizes his <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">conditon</span> and yearns for freedom, the matter is solved, yes, it becomes a life and death affair, and finally, he has no fear of death, for he realizes persecution is worse than slaughter, as the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Qur'an</span> teaches.<br /><br />For the West, the oppressor also is a stunted man or crazed man, drunk on power and domination, a glutton for conspicuous consumption or materialism. He and his minions shall resist and resist but they face a more determined opponent now, one who has regained his mental equilibrium and is thus fearless unto death. The military budget is useless, the bullets harmless, the tear gas a balm in Gilead, the torture chambers a hotel suite in paradise.<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TU-BD8zoaMI/AAAAAAAADyI/a0S4IFL4zzg/s1600/Hugo%2BChavez.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 226px; height: 282px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TU-BD8zoaMI/AAAAAAAADyI/a0S4IFL4zzg/s400/Hugo%2BChavez.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5570813168942868674" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Like the suicide bomber, but with a more sane objective that transcends religiosity, the oppressed cannot be persuaded or tricked out of their birthright any longer. They see clearly now that their date with destiny is achievable and within range. This is why all <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">decolonialism</span> is successful once the people are mobilized and unified.<br /><br />Facing such a formidable people, the Slave System must stand down because the people shall have it no other way. The master naturally wants a gradual dismantling of his apparatus of oppression, after all, it has been great fun this standing on the necks of people with his boots in their backs and up their asses.<br /><br />But the master is now forced to detox and enter long term recovery from the addiction to White Supremacy. He may need to take in a few of his colonial elites and servants, yes, bring them home to the Motherland with him.<br /><br />But, alas, even the Motherland is no longer a safe haven because those captured in the domestic Slave System want freedom as well. They shall have a message to the master once it is crystal clear in their minds the master only knows the slave system and is thus incapable of any other arrangement that is fair and equitable, that is true freedom, justice and equality, for no slave system wants to share the wealth, thus it must be taken by the awakened people who vow to sleep no more.<br /><br />Yes, the Million Man Marchers must return to complete their march, since they left the Washington Mall prematurely, most likely because they were ordered to get out of town before sundown and were not prepared in the manner of their Egyptian brothers and sisters, to achieve liberty or death.<br /><br />Consequently, the Million Man Marchers have only <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">treaded</span> water since their trip to Washington. It was a feel good session, a necessary brotherhood ritual, but Sun Ra said the Creator got things fixed, if you don't do the right thing you cannot go forward or backward, one is simply stuck, yes, stuck on stupid with Super Glue on our behinds. We must finish the march, like those Civil Rights marchers who had to regroup to cross that bridge into Selma, Alabama.<br /><br />The victory of Obama was a Pyrrhic victory, hollow and almost useless except for the few opportunists who shall benefit, it was a transformation but not a transaction, proving of no utilitarian value, certainly no economic value since Obama has primarily sought to placate his Wall Street bandits and Global finance benefactors, although he shall offer a few crumbs to the masses around reelection time. He must surely be aware of happenings around the world that may alter his agenda of dispensing kibbles and bits to those suffering the slave system. By 2012, it is quite possible those who suffer the slave system shall have had enough, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">kafeya</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">basta</span> ya, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">nada</span> mas!<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TU-BWsCf8kI/AAAAAAAADyQ/bxPULD58P8M/s1600/htubman.gif"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 156px; height: 237px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TU-BWsCf8kI/AAAAAAAADyQ/bxPULD58P8M/s400/htubman.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5570813490859340354" border="0" /></a><br />"I could have freed more slaves if they had known they were slaves."<br />--Harriet Tubman, the Moses of her people<br /><br /><br /><br />--Marvin X<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />2. Egypt, Take Me to Your Leader!</span> </span><br />And Jesus met a woman at the well.<br />He said, Woman, where is your husband?<br />She said, Savior, I have none.<br /><br /><br />The Western concept of leadership is being destroyed by the Egyptian revolution. The West is persistent to attach leadership to some person or group for the purpose of demonizing that person or group if it is not in harmony with American policy of supplication to oppression.<br /><br />The more it is revealed there is no leader, the more the West persists in its search, for surely the evil, terrorist, Zionist hating Muslim Brotherhood must be the leaders. Surely Al <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Quida</span> has slipped into Cairo's <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Tahrir</span> Square. There's no way the ignorant Egyptian masses could formulate a program to end three decades of oppression, even with a grounding in ten thousand years of African culture and civilization.<br /><br />We need only recall during the Vietnam war President Nixon claimed he invaded Cambodia because the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Viet</span> Cong's Central Commend moved into Cambodia. The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Viet</span> Cong came on the news with a reply, "The Americans do not understand that they cannot destroy our Central Command because we are all the Central Command!"<br /><br />And so it is today in Egypt. Does someone need to come from the moon to tell the oppressed they are oppressed, that they must rise up and throw off the chains of the slave system? We think not. We think people have common sense to stand up after a long train of abuse has drained all the sand out the hour glass.<br /><br />Leaders cannot lead before the people are ready to stand up, thus leaders are actually followers who must do the people's will, not the will of leaders. It is when leaders exercise their will over the people that we get such demonic personalities as Mubarak and his peers in the Middle East, Africa and around the world.<br /><br />We were taught in Politics 101 that leaders govern by and with the consent of the governed. It is clear to the world Mubarak has lost the consent of the governed. The people do not care about his legacy, they know all too well his legacy of absolute brutality. Yes, he has instituted peace between Arabs and Israel, but peace is useless without justice and there is no justice whatsoever with respect to the problem of Palestinian statehood and Zionist intransigence that is tolerated by the West that subjected the Arabs to three decades of peace and passivity but no justice, and certainly no democracy.<br /><br />We saw democracy destroyed in occupied Palestine after <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Hamas</span> won a democratic victory. Therefore we should not place one iota of faith in any American support for democracy in Egypt. The best thing America can do is shut up and get its own house in order.<br /><br />America is no model of democratic leadership, other than the best democracy money can buy. The Egyptian people can stand up without any advice from America and her allies in Europe and elsewhere. If the Egyptian people decide any form of government it is their business. If they decide to remain leaderless, it is up to them.<br />--Marvin X<br />2/7/11<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--6e0W0vntkQ/TVVTB1Z-_VI/AAAAAAAAD2c/hDpjxPzmzBY/s1600/Omar%2BSuleiman.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 397px; height: 224px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--6e0W0vntkQ/TVVTB1Z-_VI/AAAAAAAAD2c/hDpjxPzmzBY/s400/Omar%2BSuleiman.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572451404921896274" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" ><span>3. The Vice Devil</span></span><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> of Egypt</span></span><br /><br />Sometimes we think the President is the Man, yet often it is the Vice Man who actually controls the vice, as Sun Ra taught me.<br /><br />In the Bush Administration Dick Chaney was the man in charge, who did all the dark deeds.<br /><br />In Egypt the same scenario has been played out, for it is clear Mubarak is about to exit, yet the man he appointed Vice President is the real devil in charge, Omar Suleiman, the man who has directed the Egyptian Intelligence Service, including the torturing of American captured so called terrorists from around the world who were brought to Egypt to suffer behavior modification in the torture chambers supervised by the VP. He is thus known as America's man and Israel's man.<br /><br />Shall we not be concerned this man departs along with Mubarak, if not before?<br /><br />The VP is not calling for the departure of Mubarak, suggesting he is necessary for stability. America sent its arch devil to the scene to concur with the VP. When he announced his findings, the US State Department disassociated itself from his conclusion. We see this is a game direct from the devil's den of iniquity. Hold on until the final hour.<br /><br />The Muslim Brotherhood has agreed to enter negotiations with the despots, since the Muslim Brotherhood is recognized as the most organized political force, the longtime bogeyman of Mubarak, the US and the Zionist Entity.<br />--Marvin X<br /><br />Note FYI:<br /><p>Some developing news out of Egypt, where president Mubarak has just appointed Omar <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Soliman</span> as vice president. This is a notable event as it is the first time since 1981 that Egypt has a Vice President, indicating just how much of a pseudo-dictatorial system the Mubarak regime has been. We are rather confident that the people will not be all that excited about getting the former head of the country's intelligence (read spying) service as the second in command. And just like in Russia during the Yeltsin-Putin succession, we are confident that Mubarak will promptly fade from the scene as soon as <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Soliman</span> gives him reps and warranties (preferably better than those by Bank of America) that he will not be prosecuted. Incidentally, the last time Egypt had a VP was when <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Anwar</span> Al Sadat appointed Mubarak as VP. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_El_Sadat">Al Sadat </a>was assassinated shortly thereafter.</p><p><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Owner/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-11.png" alt="" /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">4. Oil, the Magic Word in White Supremacy America</span></span><br /></p><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TUuPbpe5jbI/AAAAAAAADuo/7wxWqsAsRGY/s1600/_46986233_gazamilitan126x71.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 415px; height: 233px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TUuPbpe5jbI/AAAAAAAADuo/7wxWqsAsRGY/s400/_46986233_gazamilitan126x71.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569703069328444850" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;">We know America cares nothing about freedom in the Middle East. The American government and the American people only care about the oil, oil, oil, will they be able to continue their conspicuous consumption and world of make believe white supremacy domination.<br /><br />Nothing else matters. We told you before he spoke in Cairo that President Barack Hussein Obama was a phony, talking peace while occupying Muslim lands, saying As-Salaam-Alaikum but practicing As-Salaam-Afakum.<br /><br />He has revealed that his hand is not open to the Muslim world but instead he has a clinched fist as Egyptian goon squads plummet to death the masses determined to stand up from thirty years of Pharaoh Mubarak's oppression.<br /><br />They say enough of infantilization, as journalist Robert Fisk described the condition of stunted men and women, almost childlike in their submission to oppression. </span><br /><br />Underneath it all is the magic word oil that presents the West with such a conundrum, to be or not to be for democracy, to stand with the people or the oppressors of the people they have supported as long as oil as been at their disposal. The oppressive Middle Eastern nations have largely endured colonialism and neo-colonialism to enable to West to enjoy its world of make believe White Supremacy domination.<br /><br />Even now, in the midst of a people's revolution of major proportion throughout the region, the West is scrambling to configure a way to maintain business as usual, yet knowing full well the game has changed overnight and that things shall never be the same again.<br /><br />The West shall not enjoy a continued infantilization of the Middle East. The little retarded children, the stunted men and woman have arrived in liberation square and it doesn't matter whether they go home again. For what was home but the domain of Pharaoh. Oppression is worse than slaughter.<br /><br />We see they face the tanks, the goon squads, the machine guns, tear gas, knives, all the madness orchestrated by Pharaoh Mubarak and his Zionist/American puppet masters.<br /><br />Watch the oil lines as we watch the people rise up. Any disruption in the oil flow shall be anathema to the West. Then we shall see how clearly America shall reveal the materialistic greed and insatiable desire for conspicuous consumption or the world of make believe described so eloquently by sociologist E. Franklin Frazier in delineating the socio-psychology of the so-called Negro but his thesis applies as well to the white master.<br /><br />Dr. Nathan Hare says Blacks or North American Africans suffer Type II White Supremacy, an over identification with Whiteness and, yes,the condition of infantilization, a childlike dependence, much like his mental state upon emancipation, what is freedom, what shall we do, where shall we go, for all we know is the plantation.<br /><br />But the white master suffers a severe form of addiction to white supremacy, Type I White Supremacy. He lives in total and absolute denial, thus he has no desire to change his behavior, but shall persist until he hits rock bottom, the classic addict delusional state of mind that is in urgent need of detoxification and long term recovery.<br /><br />He will persist in attempting to maintain the mold of the Middle East he has created at least since WWI, the end of the Ottoman Empire. It is his firm belief that he can exercise such an ambidextrous diplomatic and military maneuver that things will get back to business as usual.<br /><br />Somehow, in his mind, he shall be able to bribe and cajole another group of men and women who will claim the moderate line that insures the perpetuation of white supremacy. Neo-colonial politicians will get paid in such degree that their loyalties to the people shall quickly erode.<br /><br />The West believes anyone and everyone is up for sale. After all, in God We Trust is on the money. Money is their God and they will do all in their power to maintain the flow of oil and the oppression of the Palestinian people, along with others in Saudi Arabia, Persian Gulf, Jordan, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and elsewhere. They must and will do all they can to kiss the behind of Zionism, that is tied to global finance. But in the game of global finance there are no national concerns, only the concern of the international global finance bandits and their military machine, spearheaded by the Infidel US Army.<br /><br />The Middle East is but the beginning of America's sorrows. Wait until her own citizens rise up and cast out the Democrats and Republicans, for they are birds of a feather. The American politicians are identical to those in the Middle East who are corrupt, dictatorial, oppressive and determined to ignore the consent of the governed.<br /><br />Both parties are determined to have permanent war, for it is essential to the American economy, America, Number One Arms Merchant of the World! A trillion dollar defense budget, for what, for who is able to challenge the Beast? Who is able to make war with the Beast?<br /><br />Former generals run the corporations, especially the ones connected to the arms industry. Lobbyists absolutely control politicians who are at their beck and call, for a price of course, and those corporate dogs who pay lobbyists will spare no amount of dollars to maintain the best democracy money can buy!<br /><br />Stay tuned for the fall of Pharaoh Mubarak and Pharaoh Barack Obama, birds of a feather....<br />--Marvin X<br />2/3/11<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TULe3ytg3mI/AAAAAAAADnk/Zs4aR9O-NIs/s1600/Hosni%2BMubarak.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 339px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TULe3ytg3mI/AAAAAAAADnk/Zs4aR9O-NIs/s400/Hosni%2BMubarak.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5567257139470196322" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TULeWDLsx9I/AAAAAAAADnc/J5kLd62aqqE/s1600/barack.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TULeWDLsx9I/AAAAAAAADnc/J5kLd62aqqE/s400/barack.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5567256559776221138" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">5. Long Live the Egyptian Masses, Down with American Imperialism</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">and all Reactionaries</span></span><br /><br />As predicted, after Friday Prayers the Egyptian masses exploded into the streets signaling the end of Pharaoh Mubarak's thirty year regime and its collaboration with American imperialism. The US government has sustained the dictatorial Mubarak government with a two billion dollar annual bailout that mainly went to the military to oppress the masses.<br /><br />It was payment for the Egyptian peace deal with the Zionists in Israel, to prevent the liberation of Palestine. The US has done the same with Arab regimes throughout the region. It has forced Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Persian Gulf states to collaborate with Zionism, including the Palestinian Authority as revealed in the Palestine Papers released by Al Jazeera News.<br /><br />Hamas was democratically elected but isolated by the US, her Uncle Abdullah Arabs and the Europeans. In Labanon Hezbollah has taken de facto power through the democratic process, yet America keeps it on the terrorist list.<br /><br />America is thus on the wrong side of history and shall pay for her political blindness and backwardness fueled by capitalist greed and white supremacy notions of domination. The ultimate price shall be when the American masses stand up to the US military/corporate/university complex that has kept the American people in poverty, ignorance and disease while the top 1% own wealth equal to that of the bottom 90% of the population.<br /><br />Obama, the neo-colonial Negro is nothing but an imperialist in black face and he must be discarded along with his white cohorts on the day American masses take to the streets to demand true freedom, justice and equality--liberty or death!<br /><br />This is the mantra in the streets of the Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and elsewhere at this hour. The American people must wise up and rise up to their manhood and womanhood, not remain political cowards and economic slaves. We see when the people stand up, the reactionaries stand down, no matter their guns, tear gas, intelligence agencies, phony homeland security spies, snitches and agent provocateurs, no matter their jails, prisons and hidden dungeons throughout America and the world.<br /><br />Fear is the great monster of the slave system. Once fear is discarded, the stunted man and woman can rise to great heights, reaching the mountain top MLK, Jr. told us about in his last speech. Long live the Arab masses. Long live the American masses!<br /><br />We see the spirit of the people is greater than all the technology. The cry for freedom needs no cell phone, facebook, twitter! Not even guns can stop the people united! The only thing to fear is fear itself!!!!!<br />--Marvin X<br />1/28/11<br /><br /><!--[if !mso]> <style> v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/S8h-ye0ll7I/AAAAAAAABq8/-UdNuJvAQZM/s1600/_46986233_gazamilitan126x71.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"></span></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal"> <b><span style="font-size:21.5pt;">6. Parable of Iraq</span></b><br /><br />The war in Iraq has not begun. It shall begin when the Americans leave--now what day might that be? They are still in Germany, Japan, and elsewhere. They ain't in Vietnam, ha? But in Iraq, they have merely opened Pandora's box. As they draw down, the spirits shall dance in the desert winds.<br /><br />The Shia have power they've never had before, not since before the martyrdom of their imams after the death of the prophet. The Shia say to hell with the democratic process, there shall be Shia power until they see fit to share power with the Sunnis, their oppressors and eternal theological enemy.<br /><br />The Sunni must receive the big payback! They must suffer justice for the years of domination and destruction of Shia culture. Why should they share equal power after years of oppression. When a man beats his wife, he loses a certain power, his stature is reduced, his rights curtailed.<br />His wife will say, you blew it buddy. You're lucky I didn't kill you in your sleep. We have seen the sectarian battles in Iraq. But we ain't seen nothing yet. Of course the sectarian is in reality geo-political. The Sunni neighbors in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf States have no intention to allow Shia power to rule unobstructed, without sabotage at every turn, especially since the Shia are theological and geo-political brothers with Iran.<br /><br />The Sunni will do as they have been doing since the US invasion: collaborate with the US, while at the same time undermine the Shia at every turn. The Shia can be destroyed because they are not considered real Muslims. Just as Sunni Muslims do not consider the Nation of Islam real Muslims. They barely accept the followers of Warthideem Muhammad as real Muslims, after all, what do niggers know about Islam? This racism is no different than Christian racism. One o'clock Friday is the most racist hour in Islam, just as eleven 0'clock Sunday is the most racist hour in Christianity.<br /><br />The Sunni/Shia conflict is an eternal contradiction that cannot be resolved except by political domination, or politics by other means, as in war.<br /><br />The Shia are in a mode of expansion, from Iran, through Iraq to Lebanon, or from the Tigris and Euphrates to the Mediterranean. The Sunni will attempt to block them, and the Zionist and Christian America shall assist as they are doing at this hour.<br /><br />They will do so under the guise of stopping Iran's nuclear program. The Sunni/Zionist/US propaganda machine is in high gear preparing the world for the destruction of Iran, but the real purpose is not their fear of Iranian Nukes, but Shia geo-political expansion. Of course what we are witnessing is the rise of the Persian empire. Even with their reactionary theocracy, the Iranians/Persians have outflanked the Sunni regimes by supporting Hamas and Hezbollah, thus earning the respect of the Arab masses suffering under the yoke of reactionary Sunni Muslim regimes.<br /><br />The Iranian theocracy does not have clean hands, but they do stand closer to the Arab masses than the oppressive Sunni governments. America's mission is, of course, oil, oil, oil. She doesn't give a damn about Sunni or Shia, only as pawns in the game of geo-political/economic hegemony. As per America, even the Zionists are expendable. In the end, she will give up support of the Zionist for a barrel of oil! She will give up her mother for two barrels!<br />--Marvin X<br />4/16/10 </p><br /><br /><div class="post-header"> </div> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TFbjWEREcDI/AAAAAAAACUk/mXASmJE1ykc/s1600/030417_postwar_05_jpg.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 308px; height: 208px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TFbjWEREcDI/AAAAAAAACUk/mXASmJE1ykc/s400/030417_postwar_05_jpg.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500833963121602610" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">7. Battle of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Fallujah</span></span></span><br /><br />A former US soldier who fought in the Battle of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Fallujah</span>, Iraq, told Plato Negro he and his buddies kicked in 400 doors in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Fallujah</span>. He said they became professional home invaders. Once inside, they were able to discover a weapons cache in 90 seconds, whether hidden in the living room, bedroom, kitchen, attic , under the floor, etc.<br /><br /><br />They separated men from women then searched and seized anything of value, money, jewelery, whatever.<br /><br />After awhile, the soldier said he no longer dodged bullets. He accepted his fate for he knew he deserved death or whatever. He was wounded several times, once by an IUD, a stabbing, bullets. He showed Plato Negro is wounds.<br /><br />He said it is very difficult if not impossible to defeat a people who do not fear death, who relish death like a thirsty man craves water. He mocked the insurgents who desire to die for virgins in the sky!<br /><br />His remarks reminded Plato Negro of another former soldier who also said after a time he did not bother to stay on his post at night because he knew he deserved death, so he went to sleep.<br /><br />A Special Forces veteran told Plato Negro America deserved 9/11 for the crimes she had him doing around the world, mainly murdering in cold blood and other despicable actions. He loves Plato Negro but says he cannot read but twenty pages of his writings at a time because it inflames him and makes him again want to kill, this time the real enemy!<br /><br />As per <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Fallujah</span>, Plato Negro is aware the town is suffering an epidemic of birth defects in newborn children, supposedly from depleted uranium used in bullets, shells and bombs. The birth defect rate is higher than in Japan after the US dropped the atomic bomb in WWII.<br /><br />In <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Fallujah</span>, babies are born with no arms, no legs, no head, two heads, etc. The town was brought to its knees after being one of the most radical centers of Sunni resistance to the US occupation. It had to be broken--and it was!<br /><br />The veteran who was a master home invader is now working security at an after hours club in Oakland. He appreciated Plato's book Pull Yo Pants Up fada Black Prez and Yoself. The brother said it is ironic Plato's classroom is at 14th and Broadway and his after hours club is two blocks away at 14th and Webster, but he does not allow youth in his club to wear sagging pants. He encouraged Plato Negro to attend the after hours to distribute his literature.<br /><br />At the club, the brother is as armed as he was in Iraq, body armor, tasser and side arm. The women must be searched as well since the men hide their weapons with the women. He said the brothers and sisters don't understand he is not going to take any b.s. from them, especially after facing death angels in Iraq. And even though he is only 5'8'' or 9'', no one is going to push him aside and enter the club. He presses 400lbs. One night a tall, drunk brother tried to go pass him but it didn't happen. The brother departed but returned to apologize to the man who had faced death angels on the streets of Fallujah!<br />--Marvin X<br />8/2/10<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">8. Gaza Concentration Camp</span></span><br /><br />The Jews learned nothing from the Nazi genocide, or perhaps they learned everything since the Zionist occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is sealed tight, a land of closed borders, check points, walls and innumerable spies and snitches.<br /><br />Gaza is one giant concentration camp of 1.4 million inmates who live stunted lives, even denied the right to fish off their coast on the Mediterranean. The democratically elected government is denied recognition, though it has as much human right to exist as the state of Israel, if not more.<br />Why should Hamas recognize the Zionist entity, a usurper, land grabber, exterminator, mass killer, thugs, pirates on the high seas, state terrorist, in collusion with quisling Muslim governments and Christian America, the sycophant of sycophants, who kisses Israel's ass at every turn, even her farts America smells.<br /><br />The Muslim collaborators work in league with the Zionists, especially Egypt who sealed her border to starve the concentration camp inmates, partly because Hamas is allied with the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most formidable opposition party, and further, because Hamas is allied and supported by Shia Iran, the new/old boy on the block of Middle Eastern geo-politics.<br /><br />Iran backs Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as her neighbors in Iraq. Praise be to Allah somebody supports the Gaza inmates since they survive by tunneling underground to Egypt for basic life support.<br /><br />The Zionist slaughter of Gazens in the last invasion was a replay of Nazi horrors, 1,500 dead, many thousands wounded, homes, mosques, schools, hospitals bombed to eternity. Clearly the Zionists learned their behavior from the Nazis. It is well known if they had not collaborated with the Nazis, they would not have survived to make the trip from Europe to Palestine to displace the Arabs.<br /><br />The Gaza concentration camp is a reminder Nazism and fascism is alive and well, supported by reactionary Muslims and Christian Crusader America. Not only should Turkey dispatch ships to break the blockade, but the billion plus Muslim world should send ships to Gaza until the inmates are liberated. The irony is that the Muslim populations live under regimes no less repressive than the Zionists in occupied Palestine.<br /><br />In our romanticism, we wish the Muslim ships would sail from Gaza to America to assist the 40 million North American Africans in concentration camps called ghettos and hoods, a nation of people still 3/5ths of a man, suffering involuntary servitude (slavery) under the constitution. No matter they have a president with the middle name Hussein. He is no different than Egypt's Mubarak, for they have the same agenda that supports Zionism and oppression within their own populations. Why doesn't President Obama give a general amnesty of the two million inmates in the gulags of America, since most of them are petty criminals, mostly drug addicts, mentally ill and political prisoners.<br />--Marvin X<br />6/4/10<br /><h3><span style="font-size:16pt;">9. Afghanistan:Parable of War that is Not War </span></h3> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/S7Itlvp8nHI/AAAAAAAABis/kWmc-ssNdgY/s1600/karzai+and+obama.bmp"><span style="text-decoration: none;"></span></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal">There are wars and there are not wars. There are mock battles, turkey fights full of sound and fury, signifying nothing--or maybe something, for there are motives and agendas far beyond the battle ground, motives and agendas of presidents, prime ministers, generals and war lords in near and distant lands.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Some of these war mongers we hear about, some we don't. In Afghanistan, major players have names like India, Pakistan, Iran, China, Russia, America, Europe--and don't leave <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/S7IuU0n3koI/AAAAAAAABi0/LYHRYzvAoNk/s1600/King+Fahd+of+Saudi+Arabia.jpg"><span style="text-decoration: none;"></span></a>out Saudi Arabia, the Taliban's mother-teacher, ideological and spiritual sponsor.<br /><br />And so we have a geo-political chess game with movement for short and long term gain. And there are pawns and queens that will be sacrificed, and kings shall fall and fake falls, since alliances only last so long in the ephemeral world of war, of politics by other means.<br /><br />Yet, there is the constant sound of war, the killing, captives ,wounded, towns falling, advance and retreat, all the games of war, tactics, strategy, prognosis, analysis, policy changes, subterfuge, circumlocution. All is drama. Smoke and mirrors. Deals made in the dark of night, between warlords, generals, enemies and friends.<br /><br />It is neon lights on the strip in Las Vegas. It can be blinding, this blinking, shifting of sands, melting of snow capped mountains. We see one player, then another, arrive in town to broker a deal, departing with a bag of gold or bag of opium, an oil pipeline, a pledge of long range involvement, no matter who wins. Actually there are no winners, only losers. For a moment, one player out maneuvers another.<br /><br />One sends in a surrogate, more pliant than his superior. There is a willingness to be liberal in the new order coming soon. The conservatives will stay in the background, manage their drug money or bribe money to lay down their arms.<br /><br />The surrogates will do as told by their sponsors in nearby and distant lands. Each day the killing goes on, the spilling of blood, the breaking of bones. All drama. A scam called democracy.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">--Marvin X</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">3/30/10</p><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TVRY1f0AMBI/AAAAAAAAD14/7his1XtDkdI/s1600/Hosni%2BMubarak.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 339px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TVRY1f0AMBI/AAAAAAAAD14/7his1XtDkdI/s400/Hosni%2BMubarak.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572176315060072466" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />10. African Drama: the Reactionaries will never<br />put down their butcher knives</span></span> </div><br />We have heard the defiance of Pharaoh Mubarak. It is the arrogance of the king who refuses to leave his throne when his time has come, who is blind to the fact that his divinity arises from the consent of the governed. Such hardheadedness is one of those classic tragic flaws so well delineated repeatedly in the plays of William Shakespeare. And yet Diop told us the central theme in African drama is not tragedy but comedy, and for sure Mubarak is the clown and his actions are comedic to the extreme because his words were full of sound and fury but signified nothing except the wisdom of a fool.<br /><br />The people have decided his fate and they are absolute and resolute that his reign has ended. The only person who is not clear that a new day has dawned is the president himself. Thus, this is a classic African comedy, for in the end we know the people shall triumph. Mubarak is not alone in his intransigence, it is the same performance by the madman in the Ivory Coast who lost the election yet refuses to go. So there are African clowns from the North to the West and all points in between. Yet the comedy is that the people shall triumph, they shall win in the end. All's well that ends well. The tragic elements are the past horrors and the momentary conflagration , the comedic element is the reality of a new tomorrow, a tomorrow that will reconnect the people with their eternal history of glory.<br /><br />This Egyptian tragi-comedy of obstinacy reveals a personality totally delusional and separated from reality. We know the people shall not be moved, that their will must be done. His benefactors in the West should advise him that the show is over, that there is an airplane awaiting his arrival. And they should advise him to take his vice devil, Omar Solieman, with him. And on the same plane reserve a space for other reactionaries throughout the region and the world. Mao was right,"The reactionaries will never put down their butcher knives, they will never turn into Buddha heads!"<br /><br />This tragi-comedy is so very different from the Osirian drama that Egypt originated, and yet it is similar, for it is about change, the annual inundation of the Nile, the harvesting of the corn, the triumph of life over death, yes, we are witnessing a resurrection drama of the first order. It is the self crucifixion of the pseudo savior and the resurrection of a people.<br />--Marvin X (El Muhajir)<br />2/10/11<br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">11. Nation Time in the Sudan, What About North American African Nation?</span></span><br /></div><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TSv-fvgINFI/AAAAAAAADdc/UVjdIAGk1qY/s1600/obadele.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 114px; height: 173px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TSv-fvgINFI/AAAAAAAADdc/UVjdIAGk1qY/s400/obadele.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560817986199630930" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TSv9-ZSl8UI/AAAAAAAADdU/pE7MZmOWG2A/s1600/mlk%2Band%2Bmalcolm.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 283px; height: 380px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TSv9-ZSl8UI/AAAAAAAADdU/pE7MZmOWG2A/s400/mlk%2Band%2Bmalcolm.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560817413301596482" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TSv9o5LBlsI/AAAAAAAADdM/TUYTR9FfSgQ/s1600/matlin_fig03b.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 314px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TSv9o5LBlsI/AAAAAAAADdM/TUYTR9FfSgQ/s400/matlin_fig03b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560817043902666434" border="0" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TVVSGzf064I/AAAAAAAAD2U/V-OLpfx0NrU/s1600/Elijah%2Band%2BMartin.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 116px; height: 82px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TVVSGzf064I/AAAAAAAAD2U/V-OLpfx0NrU/s400/Elijah%2Band%2BMartin.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572450390797249410" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TSv8-Yhr_iI/AAAAAAAADdE/sy7wFk8voFk/s1600/Khalid%2BMuhammad.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 210px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TSv8-Yhr_iI/AAAAAAAADdE/sy7wFk8voFk/s400/Khalid%2BMuhammad.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560816313584844322" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TSv7AH4h0II/AAAAAAAADcs/-BEDpVqJ1hQ/s1600/157267_546374288_7868920_n.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 248px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TSv7AH4h0II/AAAAAAAADcs/-BEDpVqJ1hQ/s400/157267_546374288_7868920_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560814144453726338" border="0" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TSv8MXROgaI/AAAAAAAADc8/6e1n2WM05a0/s1600/flag-icon3.gif"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 290px; height: 184px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TSv8MXROgaI/AAAAAAAADc8/6e1n2WM05a0/s400/flag-icon3.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560815454253908386" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><br /><br /><br />On the eve of the vote in the Southern Sudan for independence, North American Africans should reconsider Nation Time for the 40 million neo-slaves in the belly of the beast, tortured victims of domestic colonialism who never exercised the right of self-determination but had their American pseudo citizenship forced upon them by the 14th Amendment. Even today they are not hardly treated as full citizens for a Voting Rights Act must be continually renewed to confirm their wretched status, no matter the neo-colonial Negro in the White House.<br /><br />As we rejoice at the coming independence of the Southern Sudan from Muslim Arab racism, surely we can imagine the possibility of self determination for ourselves in a nation of our own, yes, here in America for the 400 years of free and nearly free labor, the most inhumane treatment ever afforded human beings. Reparations must surely include more than a wage slave job, a white woman and a Cadillac . Surely land is the priority, thus there can be no reparations and independence without the partitioning of the American geography for those of us who are totally alienated from this society, those marginalized from the economic prosperity and traumatized from the hostile environment we must navigate in our daily round.<br /><br />We seriously doubt the depths of our trauma, grief and the especially the feelings for vengeance<br />is known. But it is made clear to me with each passing day there are those who feel totally alienated and marginalized from this society, who have no faith whatsoever in its promise of a better tomorrow and wish to do great harm to massa before they transition, i.e., "pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back...."<br /><br />We noticed in our Mental Health Peer Groups to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy that the Black females were the most alienated and traumatized by this society. She seems the most willing to execute justice for damage done to herself, her man and children, but most especially her sons. Now we know there are fathers who are in grief and trauma as well, the the female seems to suffer the most pervasive marginalization and thus the most pressing need to retaliate for the damages to her being.<br /><br />We recalled at the rally in Oakland after the Oscar Grant, Jr. murder sentence was announced the degree of rage and grief expressed by all segments of the North American African population, from youth to elders, males and females. Their attitude was to hell with America!<br />Yes, there were those who wished to burn it down!<br /><br />Surely we can take Oakland as a microcosm of the North American African Nation, the deep frustration, the economic deprivation, the perennial unemployment, worse now with the global economic meltdown.<br /><br />What do our leaders actually believe will suffice in the short and long term? They shall not be able to remain the gate keepers forever. We recall how they were disposed of in the 60s once the cry for Black Power was announced. Yes, they were denounced and a new crop of radicals came to the forefront of the liberation movement.<br /><br />Assassinations of leaders, co-option, infiltration, agent provocateurs, opportunists and internal contradictions aborted the movement of liberation, especially the call for Nation Time. After the 1972 Gary Convention, elected politicians replaced the radical political leadership, taking us down the road of reaction and neo-colonialism that has persisted until today.<br /><br />It seems that no amount of elected politicians can deliver the transaction to elevate our status above wretchedness, for even if we are the 16th richest nation in the world in terms of annual income, we are basically consumers rather than producers, thus most of our wealth leaves the hood to enrich White America and other ethnic groups. Despite the annual pitiful Kwanza ritual where we recite the Seven Principles, there is no practice of substance we can write home about.<br /><br />Our national consciousness seems to have retreated, especially with the selection of our first Black President by the Wall Street robber barons who emptied the treasury in the process of his donning the presidential garb. At least three trillion went to the global bankers during the sub prime crisis. Obama instituted that old black magic or voodoo economics from the first Bush era by replenishing the Wall Street global financiers, corporations and other bandits while the robbed suffer joblessness, homelessness and the mental trauma of realizing they have been thoroughly hoodwinked and bamboozled.<br /><br />As the elation of his election to the White House has not brought any benefit or relief to the suffering in the hood, surely there are those wretched of the earth who are now ready to configure an alternative, another path to escape our nothingness and dread.<br /><br />So we come again to the idea of Nation Time. We see the Southern Sudanese about to realize their long held dream of independence. Why is such a dream so utterly fantastic and impossible for us? The world is full of infinite possibilities, especially if we are in unity, if we plan, take, hold, build and exercise eternal vigilance, staying ever on the alert and never disarm as we did after the Civil War when we were an army of 200,000 strong, but gave up our guns which resulted in the virtual slavery of short-lived Reconstruction and long lived Jim Crow period thereafter unto the present hour of Neo Jim Crow.<br /><br />We must study carefully the National Liberation movement of North American Africans and others globally. We must examine the contradictions in the Nation of Islam, the Black Panther Party, the Republic of New Africa, the UNIA, the Moorish Science of Noble Drew Ali, the 19th Century Black Nationalist thinkers and come to a new vision and plan for a national configuration transcending Americana. Surely we know we must have a Plan B since it is a sad rat that has one hole. As I've said, we can plant our feet on solid ground, but still have an exit plan just in case it becomes clear to us our situation in this political climate is unsustainable, to say nothing of our economic status. This ground may suddenly turn into quicksand by the nature of unpredictable events on the world stage and especially internal events.<br /><br />For sure, the devils are planning nothing good for us. We ought to take the dead black birds as an omen. We know the death of those black birds and white fish is nothing but a highly technological experiment in warfare, so we must be prepared for the worse that should include an exit plan that should include the partitioning of this land for our Nation Time.<br /><br />We sense the great possibility that ethnic rivalries shall one day cause the Balkinization of these United States, therefore be forewarned to configure your portion of the American pie. America will try to stall the day of judgment when justice must be delivered, just as the Jews are doing in occupied Palestine, but we know the day shall come when Palestine shall be liberated, no matter what. And likewise, the day shall come when North American Africans shall enjoy a full and complete freedom on some of this earth we can call our own. If we settle for a mess of pottage, surely the ancestors shall curse us to the end of the world for the cowards we be.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">Pakistan: Ya, Benazir Bhutto</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">1953-2007 </span></strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Ya, Bhutto</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Who are these people </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Who kill fathers sons daughters</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">What God do they serve</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">What ghost in the night</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Is there money enough</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Power enough</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Greed enough</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Murder enough</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">To satisfy this beast</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Who devours all </span></strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">children of the poor are not safe</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Even children of the rich</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">This monster is vile</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">teeth a wicked bite</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Snatching like Godzilla</span></strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Ya, Bhutto</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">you came home preaching freedom</span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />there are those who cry freedom</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">But mean slavery </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">who pray in the mosque</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Then murder in the street</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">who crush the spirit</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Who silence poets </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">their freedom songs</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">deny the humanity of women</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">What God is this</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Who empowers devils </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">with venom</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Worse than cobra’s sting</span></strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Ya Bhutto</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">What now in your sacred land</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Shall your sons take mantle </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Shall children cower in fear</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Or face the guns bombs</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Paid by the Mighty Beast</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Who shouts democracy</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">But means slavery</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Who allows dictators to crush opposition</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">To be president for life.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">discards his general uniform</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">To dawn the suit and tie of Shaitan</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">persona of the puppet </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Who smiles in tears</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Choking from hanging.</span></strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Ya, Bhutto, </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">you tried</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">To bring a better day</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">demons must play their drama</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">dance in the night</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">will never put down their butcher knives</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Never turn into Buddha heads.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">More sacrifice</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">judges and lawyers are not enough</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">soldiers must accept flowers from the people</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Not slaughter in the streets</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">There are not jails enough to confine freedom</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">The torture chambers fill to overflow</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">freedom must rise.</span></strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Ya, Bhutto, your last magic word: Allah.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Surely we are from Allah</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">And to Him we return.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">12/28/07 </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></strong><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">PART TWO: Revolution in the Americas<br /><br /></span></span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kb9qrUo1uQU/TVVPD5HkxkI/AAAAAAAAD2M/8aPsUNxPeaA/s1600/4292_1175740834158_1247205751_30476070_5859815_n.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 354px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kb9qrUo1uQU/TVVPD5HkxkI/AAAAAAAAD2M/8aPsUNxPeaA/s400/4292_1175740834158_1247205751_30476070_5859815_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572447042231649858" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I Am American</span></span><br /><br />Dedicated to my brother Ollie (January 21)<br />and daughter Nefertiti (January 29) in celebration of their birthdays<br /><br />I am American<br />no citizen of the United States<br />gave that up years ago<br />in Toronto<br />protesting US in Vietnam<br />exiled in Canada<br />underground to Chicago, Harlem<br />crucified at Fresno State University<br />same time Angela Davis was on the cross at UCLA, 1969<br /><br />I am American<br />exiled a second time in Mexico City<br />with all the exiled Americans from the Americas<br />from Cuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Columbia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Brazil<br />they call me Pele Pele Pele on the streets of Mexico City<br />want to touch my hair for good luck<br /><br />I am American<br />in Mexico City founded by Africans<br />now exiled by president for life regimes<br />we are young men of resistance<br />and women too, my wife is with me<br />young men<br />put aboard planes that landed in Chapultepec Park<br />cerca de Paseo de Reforma<br />my wife and I live near the Metro by the park<br />we see the lovers in the park on Sundays<br />and we are in love<br />she is pregnant with our daughter Nefertiti<br />I am American<br />I cannot speak with my brothers in exile<br />Jorge from Choco, Columbia<br />Enrique from Venezuela<br />I speak Spanish pochito<br />muy pochito<br />no Portuguese<br />I can only say Poder Negro to my revolutionary amigos.<br />They comprende<br />I give them the black power salute<br />I am American<br />I flee Mexico City for Belize<br />I pass through Yucatan, Vera Cruz, Merida, Chetumal<br />the land of Yanga el Africano Mexicano<br />Yanga was so bad the Spanish gave him a town<br />San Lorenzo de los Negroes<br />down in Vera Cruz<br />I flee against advice of Elizabeth Catlett Mora<br />elder revolutionary artist<br />she begged me not to go<br />those negroes in raw colonialism<br />not neo-colonialism she said<br />I am American<br />young hard headed<br />easy to lead in the wrong direction<br />hard to lead in the right direction<br />I am American<br /><br />I want to hear English<br />tired of Spanish<br />basta ya!<br />I want to see los Negroes<br />in Belize<br />esclavos pero Negroes<br />yo esclavo tambien<br />I am American<br /><br />This is my land the Americas<br />all of it<br />I was here before Columbus<br />Before Maya Aztec Incas Olmec<br />I was here<br />I came by canoe from Ghana, Mali, Songhay<br />from the land of Sonni Ali, Askia the Great<br />bling bling of Mansa Musa<br />a thousand camels with gold on his haj to Mecca<br /><br />I am American<br />in Belize los Negroes speak English<br />pero muy rapido pero English<br />Espanol tambien<br />I am American<br />Norte Americano Africano<br />Simon Bolivar Americano<br />Simon Simon Simon<br /><br />I am American<br />North Central South American<br />Caribbean American<br />I am American<br />from Toronto, Montreal<br />to Georgetown, Caracas<br /><br />Slums of Mexico City are mine<br />shacks of Belize<br />madness of Kingston<br />cocaine of Port of Spain<br />yes, Trinidad<br />land of C. Eric Williams<br />victim of Capitalism and Slavery<br />Guyana is mine<br />I interviewed PM Burnham at his residence<br />Africans with AK47s at his gate<br />genocide of Jonestown<br />assassination of Dr. Walter Rodney<br />how can we forgive the reactionaries<br />who never turn into Buddha heads<br />who never put down their butcher knives<br /><br />I am American<br />in Belize I join the revolution of Evan X and Shabazz<br />on trial for sedition<br />the government is games old people play they say<br />this is sedition<br />I covered the trial for Muhammad Speaks<br />this was my sin<br />a 1970 Wikileaks<br />exposing emperor has no clothes<br />people have no clothes<br />no water no electricity no toilet<br />no nothing<br />brothers want to know why I left America with no gold<br />they want to go to American to get gold<br />why did I leave without gold<br />what is America but gold<br />nothing else there but gold<br />and slaves and gold<br /><br />I am American<br />people are rich in Belize<br />poor yet rich<br />joy and peace, sun and land<br />gardens of paradise<br />islands in the sun<br />I live on Gales Point<br />a little shack with no water no electricity no bathroom<br />but I am happy<br />my wife is pregnant and happy<br />except for the sand flies<br />mosquitoes who love her blood<br />we bathe in the river<br />the out house is on the other side of the island<br />the catfish collect waste<br />people do not swim on that side of the island<br />people do not eat catfish<br /><br />I am American<br />people beg me to teach black power<br />I do not check in with village headman<br /><br />a drunk man sings outside my house<br />day comin ta git ya in da mornin<br />been down here teachin dat black power<br />day comin to get ya in da mornin, boy<br /><br />my wife and I laugh<br />wish dat drunk nigguh git way from our door<br />but they come to get me in the morning<br /><br />I am American<br />When I get on the boat into the city<br />five hour ride through the jungle<br />police on boat<br />I am under arrest<br />but don't know it<br />police undercover<br />don't say nothing to me<br />when we get to the city<br />he don't say nothing<br />police come to my friends house<br />call me out<br />I grab rifle<br />but put it down<br />surrender<br />a mulatto greets me outside<br />I am under arrest<br />take me to Ministry of Home Affairs<br />Minister reads my deportation order<br />Your presence is not beneficial to the welfare of the British Colony of Honduras<br />therefore you shall be deported to the United States on the next plane to Miami<br />leaving at 4pm.<br />Until then you are under arrest.<br />Mulatto takes me to police station<br />I am told to sit down. No cell, no handcuffs.<br />Soon the police gather around me<br />I am in the middle of a circle of police<br />I do not know what's up.<br />Soon they say, broder man, teach us about black power!<br />I am American<br /><br />victim of the slave system<br />police victims too<br />teach us broder man.<br />I say<br />Marcus Garvey came here in 1923<br />told you to get the Queen of English off yo walls.<br />It's 1970 and you still got that white bitch on yo walls.<br />Get that bitch off yo walls!<br />police crack up<br />they say you all ite broder man<br />They point out uncle tom police<br />they say he black man wit white heart<br />black man wit white heart!<br />I am American<br /><br />Plane came for me on time. Mulatto pushed me onto the plane. I refused to leave without my wife. The plane door slammed. Fly south to Tegucigalpa, Spanish Honduras.<br />I ask for asylum . Espera un momento, Negro!<br />I am marched back onto the plane.<br />We land in Miami. Two gentlemen greet me at the airport. Escort me to my hotel suite at Dade County Jail. I am put into a pit with dead, deaf dumb and blind negroes.<br />I call them brother.<br />They say we ain't yo brother, nigguh. I am silent.<br />After a few days the gentlemen come to transfer me to Miami City jail, the Federal facility.<br />White Cuban drug dealers greet me. What do you want, my brother, they say.<br />You need money, food? We send out for food to the restaurant, what do you want.<br />I am American<br />I want hamburger, fries and milkshake!<br />No problema, hermano!<br />They give me money to call my wife.<br />She is home in America.<br />I am American<br />Cubans say again, whatever you need just let us know.<br />I am American<br />like Simon Bolivar<br />like Che<br />like Fidel<br />Toussaint<br />like Nat Turner<br />Grabriel Prosser<br />Harriet Tubman<br />Like Garvey<br />Elijah<br />Malcolm<br />Stokely (Kwame Toure)<br />CLR James<br />Padmore<br />Chavez<br />Morales<br /><br />I am American.--Marvin X1/29/11 <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TVLa7mFqr1I/AAAAAAAAD1I/JmCUR0pAFCA/s1600/600px-Seal_Of_The_President_Of_The_United_States_Of_America.svg.png"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 286px; height: 286px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TVLa7mFqr1I/AAAAAAAAD1I/JmCUR0pAFCA/s400/600px-Seal_Of_The_President_Of_The_United_States_Of_America.svg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571756406382178130" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;"><span><br />12. Obama's Fake Speech to Muslims in Cairo, Egypt</span></span></strong><br /><strong></strong></div><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><br />In his Cairo speech, President Obama's called upon the Muslim world to reach out and touch him, don't keep a clinched fist, and yet when the Egyptian revolution exploded, it was he who clinched his fist in refusing to champion the cause of the Egyptian masses for democracy. It was he who was exposed as a collaborator with oppression. It was he who called for stability rather than radical change.<br />--Marvin X<br /><br /><br />Our President will go down in history as a great actor. In Cairo we will see him pretend to address the Islamic nations, calling for moderation and cooperation with the US toward a Palestinian state and a united front against Iran.In truth, there is already a group of moderate, uncle tom Muslim nations in league with the US and Zionism and united against Iran. </strong> <div style="font-weight: bold;" align="justify"><strong>This group includes the sycophants Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Gulf states. These nations are conspiring with Israel to contain Shite expansion from Iraq, Iran, Syria and Lebanon via Hezbollah. The Sunni Muslim Nations have no intention to allow a functioning Shite government in Iraq. They are and will do everything in their power to check Iran's influence in Iraq, including sending insurgents from their countries, not only to counter Shite power but to get the young men away from home where they are potential trouble makers and might join the opposition to overthrow the reactionary Sunni regimes who are aligned with Zionism and American imperialism, now called Globalism. </strong></div> <div style="font-weight: bold;" align="justify"><strong>So send them away from Sudan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and elsewhere to be suicide bombers and blame Shite Islam as the problem, includingIran's nuclear program, while only America has used nuclear weapons in our lifetime and the Zionists are prepared to use such weapons to prevent justice in Palestine. Thus we need to be concerned about the American use of such weapons of mass destruction, more than anyone else, including North Korea. </strong></div> <div style="font-weight: bold;" align="justify"><strong>Does not America have the biggest nuclear arsenal in the world and has she not proven she will use it, especially to attack her non-white enemies?It is totally hypocritical for Obama to talk of peace with Muslim nations while the US is still occupying Muslim land in Iraq, Afghanistan and slowly but surely moving into Pakistan as he vowed to do while running for president. </strong></div> <div style="font-weight: bold;" align="justify"><strong>So, yes, we have a white imperialist in black face, a negro afraid to say the word Black, but if one million black men return to Washington DC and camp out until freedom is won, he will immediately seek out black leaders to make a deal. So called black leaders and thinkers should be planning for a post-white supremacy America. As Baraka asked years ago, "What are you going to do when white power falls?" Answer this question, Black America! Don't tell me all you want is a job, a good slave job for which you were brought here in the beginning. </strong></div> <strong style="font-weight: bold;">Are you that delusional, is your break with reality so profound that you cannot see the day of jobs in America is over and done, and that you are now on your own, finally free and independent whether you want to be or not. You are now forced to get your nuts out the sand and stand up to do something for self. You are now being called upon, yes, by God Himself/Herself, to get you black ass out the white house intoyour own house because when white power falls, including white power in black face, you may find yourself again with the scraps in the multiracial power grab or Balkanization of your land of the free and home of the brave.<br /><br /></strong><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >As Predicted</span> <div style="font-weight: bold;" align="justify"><strong><br />As I predicted, his speech was Obama Light, full of poetic sounds but no fury. How can you tell a man not to be violent when you've invaded his house for 60 years? And now you want to be recognized as the owner of his house while he is living in a tent in the backyard. I don't blame Hamas, if it takes one hundred years (as with the Crusaders who finally departed with Saladin's sword on their throats) or two hundred years. No one is going to give up his land, no matter how long it takes. And furthermore, Mr. Obama, don't tell me to be non-violent when you too have invaded the land of my brother's in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and maybe soon you will plant your feet, guns, and bombs in Iran. </strong></div> <div style="font-weight: bold;" align="justify"><strong>Yes, you spoke in the land of Pharaoh, talking of democracy while you know Pharaoh Mubarak's son is about to take over to extend the dynasty. You speak of democratic elections but Hamas was elected but you overthrew their election with money and guns delievered by that whore Condi. You said you were about truth but you hide the truth while you know. </strong></div> <div style="font-weight: bold;" align="justify"><strong>You know you are already in bed with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Gulf States to stop the spread of Shia Islam which is flowing rapidly from the Tigris to the Mediterranean. And the Jew is in the middle of the bed with you all in one giant orgy of lies, death and destruction. Can the devil fool a Muslim? No, not these days! </strong></div> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" ><strong><br />As-Salaam-Afakekum</strong></span> <strong style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />Yes, your President and mine, Barack Hussein Obama, said As-Salaam-Alaikum at Cairo University last week. But Peace be unto you is meaningless while the US is conspiring with Israel and the Uncle Abdullah regimes of Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Gulf States to undermine the resistance forces in the Middle East. Obama, peace be upon him, cannot say As-Salaam-Alaikum while aiding and abeting the oppression of Muslims in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and soon Iran. Such action is unacceptable. As-Salaam-Alaikum means peace. </strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong><div style="font-weight: bold;" align="justify"><strong>If you mean peace, depart Muslim lands and take your Jews with you, back to Europe or anywhere, does it matter? Who cares? Go to the moon. Did the Arabs or Muslims gas the Jews? This is a Christian problem, let the European Christians settle the problem in Europe, there is plenty of land. Don't wait until another Saladin arises to force you out of occupied Palestine! If it takes one hundred years, who cares! Let the Palestinian have his land, let him decide to share it or not, not at the point of a gun and nuclear bomb! Come in the name of Love and be prepared to receive love and return love. </strong></div><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"></strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;">Otherwise, you must depart. There is a new consciousness in the universe, accept it and be saved, reject it and be condemned to destruction, for you are of the unjust and wicked, who wish to oppress the poor, rejected and despised of the earth, the wretched of the earth.<br />--Marvin X<br /><br />from Pull Yo Pants Up fada Black Prez and Yosef, essays on Obama Drama,<br />Marvin X, Black Bird Press, Berkeley.</strong><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">13. Obama Drama, State of the Nation</span> </span><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TT-4_8Gv-6I/AAAAAAAADl0/c5DEt7J-Z2A/s1600/oba%2Bstate.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 309px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TT-4_8Gv-6I/AAAAAAAADl0/c5DEt7J-Z2A/s400/oba%2Bstate.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566371073058929570" border="0" /></a><br /><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Owner/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-9.png" alt="" /><br />We must admit this Harvard Negro is well skilled in the art of rhetoric, logic and lying that are so needed for all politicians since time immemorial, especially since the time of Machiavelli and his discourse on The Prince.<br /><br /><br />Tonight we heard more of the same flowery imagery and metaphors this character is known for internationally.<br /><br />His ability to stay on the plane of abstraction is remarkable, but while the corporations are flowing with profits and bonuses, and the banks and financial institutions reap new trillions from their bailout after an era of global banditry and pyramid scheme speculation, we yet hear nothing substantial for the poor, the unemployed, the homeless who were tricked by the sub prime loan scam and global outsourcing.<br /><br />Can we be clear, there is no job program to address the immediate needs of the millions of unemployed. And how shall the millions who are now homeless from foreclosures find remedy? What good is a health plan when one is unemployed and without means of payment?<br /><br />While his rhetoric seeks to flow from Center to Right, his predilection of placating the Right Wing<br />Conservatives who reject him at every turn, especially from now to the 2012 elections, he leaves his progressive base in the woods, lost and turned out on the way to grandmother's house!<br /><br />Iraq is a sham and the world knows it. When the last fifty thousand troops depart, there shall remain 200,000 mercenaries or private contractor killers and torturers, along with the grandest American embassy in the world to oversee the oil contracts and satisfy the reactionary regional regimes, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the Gulf States and of course the Zionist regime called Israel.<br /><br />Obama and his cohorts in the Congress shall be quite unnerved if Egypt suddenly crumbles in unity with the Tunisian revolution. He failed to mention Egypt tonight, while only briefly alluding to Tunisia. And hardly nothing was said about Afghanistan that is lost. We understand all but one province is under Taliban control. Nor was there any mention of so-called terrorists in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, except in the Bush/Colin Powell tradition of promising to cut them off.<br /><br />What if all these nations not only throw out their reactionary regimes but any semblance of American hegemony as well. Will Americans suddenly get a similar idea to send the White House and Congress packing<br /><br />We heard of long term plans for correcting the corrupt white supremacy educational system with its 50% drop out/push out rate. His call for teachers shall ring hollow, for why should a teacher work for the same wages as a janitor? There are very few Blacks going into teaching these days.<br />We attended a State Education conference in California with four thousand teachers, yet we doubt if 400 were Black. There are so few Black teachers in Alabama, we understand the state is importing teachers from the Philippines.<br /><br />And of course nothing was said about the high incarceration rate of young black men, and the many thousands on probation and parole that are destabilizing our community coast to coast.<br /><br />He ranted about the deficit to capitulate as is his habit. Don't worry, there shall be no shrinking of the military budget as he suggested--it is a scam in the permanent war philosophy of this military/corporate complex. But he called for the return of military recruiters on college and university campuses. Does this sound like a president who is anti-war? He sounds more like Bush with every passing moment.<br /><br />We must excuse the 18-35 youth who reportedly gave him a thumbs up, for they are simply naive and will gain political maturity with time. With every speech he moves closer to those neo-colonial leaders in Africa, Asia and the Americas. We know they are a most wretched lot and Obama is slowly falling in league with them. The torture chamber of Gitmo continues, including the torture of Bradly Manning for giving information to Wikileaks, blowing the whistle on American global subterfuge.<br /><br />His address is designed to set the stage for the 2012 election, but 2012 may prove a conundrum of major proportion, especially with all the mythology in the Mayan calendar.<br /><br />Yes, we initially hailed Obama and supported him enthusiastically, but we seem him as a spineless personality urgently in need of backbone, a man who kisses right wing asses at every turn, and we should expect more of the same going into 2012 since he will need the support of the Wall Street robber barons to finance his billion dollar election campaign.<br />--Marvin X<br />1/25/11<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">14. From Savagery to Civility</span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TS9KDTAMC_I/AAAAAAAADf0/deTOdrzTHk0/s1600/mlk%2Band%2Bmalcolm.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 283px; height: 380px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TS9KDTAMC_I/AAAAAAAADf0/deTOdrzTHk0/s400/mlk%2Band%2Bmalcolm.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561745485326978034" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TS9HAxwE-BI/AAAAAAAADfs/yHZpMHq5BNI/s1600/DSC_0298.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TS9HAxwE-BI/AAAAAAAADfs/yHZpMHq5BNI/s400/DSC_0298.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561742143506413586" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />14. From Savagery to Civility</span></span><br /><br /><br />It is imbecilic to think a nation steeped in the blood of global violence and permanent war can attain civility at home, for as Baldwin noted, "The murder of my child will not make your child safe."<br /><br />It is indeed ironic and most tragic that the nine year old girl born on 9/11 was the model of civil engagement and gave her life to the process. As she tried to exercise civility, her sick brother reflected the blow back from the deranged mentality that lurks in the deep structure of most American minds, rooted in the mythology of white supremacy that insures domination by use of the gun.<br /><br />How can America be the number one arms merchant of the world yet pretend civility? No, you are a savage who must be corralled and disarmed as must happen to the citizens in the cowboys-gone-wild state of Arizona and throughout the American states where guns are the number one past time, the cultural residue of kidnappers, rapers, robbers, land grabbers and moral hypocrites.<br /><br />The call to civility shall ring hollow for the sick savages in America shall only sink deeper into the chasm of mental darkness. The alleged mass killer in Tucson, Arizona symbolizes the general pathological state of Americans who imagine they can expend an annual trillion dollar military budget to kill, yet maintain peace at home. What goes around comes around, they say in the hood. Yes, the chickens come home to roost.<br /><br />Just as there is little mental health treatment for the soldiers returning from savagery in Iraq,<br />Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and elsewhere, there is obviously little mental health treatment for the mass killer in Tucson who wandered the streets of the city with severe mental health issues that were obvious to all.<br /><br />We can listen to Right and Left wing radio and decipher the same pathology that the mass killer actualized. The Left is simply spineless while the Right is heartless, but we can do nothing when lacking heart or spine!<br /><br />Where is the voice on the Left calling for an end to permanent wars? Where are the protests, demonstrations, mass marches? The Left hardly said a peep as the military budget was passed for the coming killing season. The American Left and Right are simply different sides of the same coin of white supremacy.<br /><br />And the silent Blacks and other ethnic groups suffer Type II White Supremacy as Dr. Nathan Hare teaches us. Their over identification with white supremacy has addicted them to singing Silent Night and Onward Christian Soldiers. They are like those monkeys who know nothing, see nothing and do nothing.<br /><br />The only hope is the children, like nine year old Christine, who indeed represented the generation that may achieve the civility of political engagement and clean up the mess of the elders. Christine was in league with my grandson, now three, who told me at two years old: "Grandpa, you can't save the world, but I can!"<br />--Marvin X<br />1/13/11<br /><br />Marvin X facilitates Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland. His Academy of da Corner Reader's Theatre will perform poetry from the Journal of Pan African Studies, Poetry Issue, Saturday, February 19, 3-6pm, at the Joyce Gordon Gallery, 14th and Franklin, Oakland.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TSySa6AbgaI/AAAAAAAADd8/bpYjuN8I7Lo/s1600/030417_postwar_05_jpg.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 135px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TSySa6AbgaI/AAAAAAAADd8/bpYjuN8I7Lo/s400/030417_postwar_05_jpg.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560980630841033122" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> 15. Obama, War Monger</span></span><br /><br />The following report by Glen Ford is something we should have known, i.e., that Obama would out do the white man to prove himself. Black police and correctional officers are known to be twice as vicious in their treatment of blacks to prove themselves to their colleagues. So it is not shocking to see President Obama get top honors for the biggest military spender in US history.<br /><br />Although we supported him initially, as Dr. Cornel West says, we must protect him, respect him but check him. We respect him for saying during his campaign that he would expand the war into Pakistan and he kept his word, even though it may be the nail in his coffin since the Pakistani loyalty to their US partner is dubious at best. The world knows they split their loyalty between the US and the Taliban, for the population, the military, intelligence services and the religious community are clearly divided if not in outright opposition to the US presence in their land.<br /><br />Glen Ford points out how spineless the Democrats are in submitting to Obama's war economy. Hardly a peep out of them, and of course the heartless Republicans support the military at all costs. Stay tuned for more Obama Drama.<br />--Marvin X<br />1/11/11<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TSySLnXi8VI/AAAAAAAADd0/Y4I89k_qiLY/s1600/22222_jpg.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TSySLnXi8VI/AAAAAAAADd0/Y4I89k_qiLY/s400/22222_jpg.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560980368139678034" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Obama War Budget Breaks All Records-- But When Will Black America Break with Him? </span><br /><br />by Glen Ford, Executive Editor, Black Agenda Report<br /><br />The Republican House majority hadn't even taken their seats yet, but their presence wasn't necessary to pass the biggest <span style="border-bottom: 2px dotted rgb(54, 99, 136); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_1">military budget</span> since <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_2">World War II</span>. Not only can't Obama blame his wars on <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_3">George Bush</span>, but the First Black President has dramatically outdone his predecessor in expenditures on the machinery of death.<br /><br />On Capitol Hill, resistance to U.S. militarism has all but collapsed -- and the Republican majority in the U.S. House has not even arrived, yet. With no opposition whatsoever in the Senate, and only 48 nay votes in the House, the Congress last week passed the biggest military budget since the end of <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_4">World War Two</span>. Only 42 Democrats, including just 12 members of the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_5">Congressional Black Caucus</span>, dared to defy their warmongering president and compliant House leadership.<br /><br />From the moment that <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_6">Barack Obama</span> won the Democratic nomination, we at Black Agenda Report have been predicting that he would become the most pro-war president in modern American history. Forget about the Obama's phony rhetoric; the proof is in the numbers.<br /><br />The military budget firmly cements Barack Obama's place as the biggest pro-war president in two generations. Today, the United States, although it is the world's only superpower, spends almost as much as all of the rest of the world's militaries, combined. The U.S. defense authorization for 2011 is $725 billion. <span style="border-bottom: 2px dotted rgb(54, 99, 136); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_7">China</span>, with the second most expensive military machine on the planet, spends less than $80 billion a year.<br /><br />If Barack Obama lasts for eight years in office, he is on track to spend $5 trillion dollars on the Pentagon, significantly more than George Bush, who in turn spent a lot more than <span style="border-bottom: 2px dotted rgb(54, 99, 136); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_8">Ronald Reagan</span>. But, as they say on the TV commercials, that's not all.<br /><br />The defense budget doesn't include expenditures for <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_9">Homeland Security</span>, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_10">Veterans Affairs</span>, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_11">nuclear weapons</span> work at the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_12">Department of Energy</span>, <span style="border-bottom: 2px dotted rgb(54, 99, 136); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_13">military aid</span> to other countries through the Department of State, NASA space programs that are really military projects, the military retirement fund run out of the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_14">Department of Treasury</span>, and the interest payments on past military expenditures that were financed by debt. Inclusion of those hidden costs of war would bring military-related spending to well over $1 trillion dollars a year -- and rising all the time.<br /><br />The Black misleadership class in general demands that African Americans sacrifice their own economic survival interests to Barack Obama's political interests.<br /><br />In real dollars, the U.S. is spending far more on the military than at any time during the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_15">Cold War</span>, when there was another superpower in competition, and more than <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_16">President Lyndon Johnson</span> spent at the height of the <span style="border-bottom: 2px dotted rgb(54, 99, 136); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_17">Vietnam War</span>. <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_18">Dr. Martin Luther King</span> broke with <span style="border-bottom: 2px dotted rgb(54, 99, 136); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_19">LBJ</span> over that war, in part because he knew, in King's words, "that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube."<br /><br />Under the First Black President, that military suction tube is far bigger and more destructive than in Dr. King's day, while the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_20">economic crisis</span> is arguably much worse, threatening the very viability of Black America as a national community.<br /><br />Yet only 12 Black <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_21">members of Congress</span> can bring themselves to vote against Obama's wars, and the Black misleadership class in general demands that African Americans sacrifice their own economic survival interests to Barack Obama's political interests.<br /><br />Obama is not merely a continuation of the Bush administration's war policies, he has accelerated the descent into a <span style="border-bottom: 2px dotted rgb(54, 99, 136); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1294766365_22">war economy</span>.<br /><br />That is nothing for any Black person to be proud about.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">16. On Reading the Constitution</span> </span><br /><br />They promised to read the Constitution, so they did, the heartless Republicans, joined by the spineless Democrats, though they skipped the original version for the revised, yes, like skipping the original Bible for the King James wickedpedia version. They skipped that 3/5ths of a man original that dehumanized the only humans in America. Yes, James Baldwin said, "We're the only thing that happened here!"<br /><br />As per a Hollywood movie script on diversity, Civil Rites Negro, Georgia Congressman John Lewis was allowed to read the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery, except for involuntary servitude for the incarcerated. Now imagine this: the founding fathers (slave owners) were smart enough to know the day would come when North American Africans would fall victim to slave catchers (police) to the extent a great portion of them would again become subjects of involuntary servitude due to incarceration. For sure, the South is rejoicing to have Africans back in chains doing hard labor in fields, roads and streets.<br /><br />Thus, does it matter whether one is a slave outside or inside the Constitution?The point is that "we got those niggers back in chains, hallelujah!" And so many products on the market today are prison made. Corporations enjoy slave labor that is cheaper than outsourcing to China and India.<br /><br />Because I could type, the short time I was in prison for refusing to go to Vietnam, my job was in the Yard Office as a clerk, but other brothers came back to the dorms each daily exhausted from hard labor.<br /><br />The 14th Amendment made us citizens without a consensus from us. We were not allowed or did not demand self determination as a free people but submitted to a pseudo US citizenship in name only. We have suffered ever since from this fake citizenship without any substance whatsoever, no economic parity, educational, health or political equality.<br /><br />After 400 years of free labor we were released with no reparations and no treatment for our post-traumatic slave syndrome, down to the present moment we yet suffer trauma and unresolved grief for enduring the behavior modification or psychological and physical torture of American democracy.<br /><br />Obviously the 15th Amendment affording us the right to vote is yet enforced since the Voting Rights Act must be renewed periodically to include North American Africans. And the millions of incarcerated who endured involuntary servitude are excluded from voting upon release.<br /><br />Don't let me search out the words of Frederick Douglass on the meaning of the Constitution to a slave.<br />--Marvin X<br />1/7/11<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >17. Neo Feudalism or Wage Slavery</span><br /><br />Ideally, capitalism desires cheap labor and resources in order to increase profits or capital to the maximum. The primary motive is profit, regarding labor as expendable or replaceable since there is an infinite supply of slaves or workers. And it assumed there will be a infinite amount of natural resources to exploit, ultimately at the point of the gun, i.e., obtainable by warfare.<br /><br />We can use the African slave trade as a recent example of how capitalists kidnapped Africans and through behavior modification or brainwashing enforced by terror, the whip and gun, made them labor from can't see to can't see til eternity without paying them one dime. African land was in turn raped of all natural resources available, gold, diamonds, ivory, and other precious minerals and metals.<br /><br />The industrial revolution made a minor change from chattel slavery to wage slavery that has persisted to today, of course for some workers wage slavery existed simultaneously with chattel slavery. The end of Reconstruction returned freed Africans to virtual chattel slavery when they became sharecroppers for racist white landowners, after the Africans were tricked out of their promised 40 acres and a mule. Landless yet forced to work the land without little compensation for their labor ultimately drove them Up South in the great migration of the latter 19th century.<br />Once there, the status of Africans was upgraded only slightly to the status of wage slaves, but never on par with the white workers, and this wage disparity has persisted to today. White labor is more important than black labor, and of course male labor more precious than female labor.<br /><br />The unions gave workers a degree of improvement in their wages although the capitalist bosses fought tooth and nail to keep wages low, ultimately conspiring with union bosses to trick workers of their new found gains in job security, health insurance and retirement benefits.<br /><br />The present economic melt down is the grand opportunity for capitalists to again approach chattel slavery in their wage war with workers. Outsourcing enabled the capitalists to destroy American workers, black and white, male and female. If American workers are prepared to enjoy the wage slavery of workers in outsourced countries, then there may be a few jobs for them. We recently heard that India is prepared to outsource jobs to America, at Indian wage slave levels, of course. An American MBA would therefore receive the same salary of his Indian counterpart, $14,000.00 per year rather than the American salary of $140,000.00.<br /><br />American corporations desire the same wages from American workers if they can get it, if not, they simply out source. Capitalism does not discriminate when it comes to exploitation of labor, i.e., it cares no more about the white worker than the black worker, except in the dumb white worker's racist mind the black has always been in competition with him, this was the great fear of emancipation among white workers.<br /><br />Today outsourcing is the cause of shrinking jobs in America, but again dumb white workers are blaming immigrant labor, blacks or even China. In the case of China, white workers do not understand American capitalists are in partnerships with Chinese corporations to rip off American jobs.<br /><br />We have thus reached a point in time wherein the stage is being set for a workers revolution, if only the workers will get it clear in their minds what's really going on, how they are being hoodwinked and bamboozled by the greedy capitalists who have been rewarded for robbery by use of the global financial system through the perennial pyramid scheme banking network guided by the banker's bank The Federal Reserve, in cahoots with Wall Street and the military/corporate/university/prison complex.<br /><br />Also understand the vital role of the petrochemical and pharmaceutical bandits who poison us with devitalized foods leading us from the dinner table to the hospital to the graveyard wherein we are laid to rest in poverty after a life of wage slavery in the hostile environment of job, home and the general society wherein we were overcome by consumerism or the world of make believe.<br /><br />The corporations and banks are again flowing with cash after getting reimbursed from their losses in the global sub prime loan scheme/scam. The bosses are receiving mega salaries with mega bonuses, meanwhile the American workers suffer salary decreases, pervasive job insecurity, loss of benefits such as health insurance and retirement.<br /><br />When will they protest, when will they demand economic justice? Never as long as the media magicians perpetuate the world of make believe and lull them to sleep watching video games, sport and play, i.e., pussy and dick stories and music videos on giant televisions. Let us not leave out fairy tale religiosity at the Ten Per Cent Club called church, the ultimate opiate of the people although they are being drugged from cradle to grave.<br /><br />The era of jobs for life is over. Corporations desire contract workers at every level to escape the cost of permanent wage slaves. The largely unqualified black worker pool is expendable and eligible for incarceration if it attempts to rebel against its social-economic insecurity through criminality and/or revolution.<br /><br />Once in the criminal justice system, the unemployed and unemployable black workers suddenly become a commodity, a valuable product of the prison/corporate complex. Rather than provide the blacks with skills to obtain jobs with living wages, they are made wards of the state at the cost of fifty to sixty thousand dollars per inmate per year, providing necessary jobs for white workers, even though many blacks are also employed at the department of corrections.<br /><br />The capitalists could provide jobs with a living wage to the two million plus inmates, more than it costs to send them to Harvard, Yale and Stanford, but they rather employ slave catchers called police to round them up, often after they have dropped out or pushed out of public schools that Dr. Julia Hare calls holding cells for the departments of correction. Why should Johnny and Johnny Mae be inspired by a curriculum based on white supremacy mythology?<br /><br />With a great percentage of black men on probation, parole or incarcerated, the destabilization of community is complete, thus neighborhoods ripe for gentrification. And even upon release from incarceration, they are only presented with mostly minimum wage jobs. In the South, many blacks must hold down three minimum wage jobs to make it. The fear of economic insecurity makes them submissive to racist bosses who will fire them at the first instance of organizing for improvements in salary and working conditions, and especially for spreading any semblance of radical consciousness on the job, or in the community for that matter. Even Up South in the north, the blacks work in fear, afraid to purchase literature during their lunch break for fear the boss will discover they have black consciousness.<br /><br />As the economy continues in meltdown, we see few opportunities for the national advancement of North American Africans. With wages shrinking, jobs disappearing, incarceration increasing, the social-psychology of the hood is reaching the breaking point. Black mental health is deteriorating rapidly. People are trying to figure a way out of the morass.<br /><br />I recently offered a woman my book How to Jump Out of the Box. She saw the title and said that's what she needs, and her friend too who was with her. Then she saw a quote by Buddha and hesitated to get the book but caught herself, "Oh, I guess it don't matter who said what, if I can get out the box." I nodded.<br /><br />But how shall we get out of the box? Where do we go from here? What shall we tell our youth searching for a job when there are none? What shall we tell those smart enough to attend college, yet their future is bleak as well, unless they configure a solution in face of the continued desire for virtual slavery by the greater society.<br /><br /><br />Economic independence is the only solution, not sitting around waiting for the rustication of capitalism that shall not occur without radical structural change in a system that perpetuates greed rather than social concern. Trillions are lost in the foreign wars that benefit none but the military related corporations headed by former generals. And the supreme irony is that America can promise terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere education, jobs and housing if they will only lay down their guns and pledge allegiance to the puppet regimes the US is backing in her so-called war against terrorism, while who can be a greater world terrorist than the USA itself. She is the number one arms merchant of the world, thus she is the greatest purveyor of global violence. According to Nelson Mandela America is the reason there is no peace in the world.<br /><br />Meanwhile cities are going broke, states as well, not to mention the looming national deficit, including the outstanding loan due China that is growing weary of the American dollar and is trading in her own currency and switching to Euros, for the Chinese are wise enough to know the American king is no more, half naked and soon to be butt naked in the sun.<br /><br />Imagine Capitalists owing Communists trillions of dollars. How could this be? We've been taught the Communists were imbeciles and Capitalists were the smart guys. But we know the capitalists practice socialism among themselves and push their rotten capitalism on the deaf, dumb and blind masses, the wage slaves who shall never inherit the earth until they bury the capitalists in their own vomit. We doubt they will suddenly decide to share the wealth, so it must be seized from them by mass unity and ultimately this may include violence. Liberty or death! If you seek a better life for yourselves and your children, you must join the revolution. Fanon said revolution is not only the solution to your economic health but your mental health as well. Mao told us the reactionaries shall never put down their butcher knives, they shall never turn into Buddha heads! Sonia Sanchez says resist, resist, resist!<br />--Marvin X<br />1/5/11<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">18. Obama Must Give General Amnesty to all Prisoners</span></span><br /><br /><br />There has been a long call to free all prisoners unjustly held in American prisons and jails. Ninety per cent were mind altered at the time of their arrest, at least 50% were likely dual diagnosed, i.e., suffer drug abuse and mental illness. The majority are in for petty crimes and if they'd had proper legal representation would serve little or no time at all.<br /><br />Not only are their crimes petty but should be seen as economic crimes due to poverty and lack of opportunity in a system that is advancing to what must be called neo-feudalism or wage slavery with little permanent employment, no health insurance, no unionism, thus they work at the whim of bosses who earn mega salaries and generous bonuses.<br /><br />Once incarcerated, they suffer sexual and physical abuse, otherwise known as torture of the worse kind, and this includes inmates of mental wards, juvenile homes, jails and prisons. Those prisoners of conscious are often the most isolated for fear they will infect the population with radical ideology. The death row inmates are usually black and poor again, again, would not be on death row with proper legal representation.<br /><br />The economic and social cost is astronomical, between fifty and sixty thousand dollars per inmate per year, more than it would cost to send them to Harvard, Yale and Stanford. But incarceration is big business in the era of de-industrialisation or the withering world of work, especially jobs with a living wage. Yet these neo-slaves, i.e., under the US Constitution involuntary servitude is legal, are a valuable commodity in the economic order. Prisons and jails are big business, in many communities the only business. They are now privatized and part of the military/corporate/university complex of institutions that perpetuate the capitalist system of free market exploitation. The incarcerated are of such value that the most powerful union in the state of California is the Correctional Officers Union that obviously has a vital stake in keeping the prison population high so they can maintain their lifestyle of conspicuous consumption. The Union will fight to the death to prevent a general amnesty.<br /><br />In cahoots with the correctional officers are police departments who must arrest a quota of persons to maintain their jobs and justify their budgets. In some cities the police departments consume the major portion of city funds, to the neglect of schools, libraries and employment projects that would decrease arrests, court costs and incarceration. Many times the police are guilty of planting false evidence, false arrests, engaging in prostitution, drug dealing and money laundering. This behavior by law enforcement is a common feature below the border in Mexico, but is rapidly becoming a feature across the border in the US.<br /><br />In some cases the police are in conspiracy with developers to destabilize neighborhoods that soon fall to gentrification. All the above applies to Oakland, California. It is a community under siege by police and gangs connected with the police. We suspect half the black on black homicide is police conspired.<br /><br />A general amnesty must become a top priority of communities, especially with so many men falling victim to the slave catching police. This leads to family disintegration by increasing single family households. It is causing personality deformations in boys and girls who suffer prolong identity crisis since they lack positive male models. A young man attending a drug recovery meeting said, "Man, you might think some of my friends are gay, but they ain't gay, they just never heard a man's voice!"<br /><br />We must reclaim are people from the dungeons , hellholes and Gulags in America. We cannot continue allowing them to be commodities in the capitalist system, similar to pork, corn, wheat and oil, to be traded on the stock exchange as neo-slaves.<br /><br />If the last act of Saddam Hussein was a general amnesty, surely President Obama can do the same. It may get him some much needed brownie points for his 2012 election bid. But he must do so because it is the right thing to do. To not do so is economically and socially unsustainable.<br />--Marvin X<br />1/4/11<br /><br /><div class="fauxcolumn-outer fauxcolumn-center-outer"> <div class="cap-top"> </div> <div class="fauxborder-left"> <div class="fauxcolumn-inner"> </div> </div> <div class="cap-bottom"> </div> </div> <div class="fauxcolumn-outer fauxcolumn-left-outer"> <div class="cap-top"> </div> <div class="fauxborder-left"> <div class="fauxcolumn-inner"> </div> </div> <div class="cap-bottom"> </div> </div> <div class="fauxcolumn-outer fauxcolumn-right-outer"> <div class="cap-top"> </div> <div class="fauxborder-left"> <div class="fauxcolumn-inner"> </div> </div> <div class="cap-bottom"> </div> </div> <div id="uds-searchControl"><a name="uds-search-results"></a><div id="uds-searchResults"><div class="gsc-control"><div class="gsc-resultsbox-invisible"><div class="gsc-resultsRoot gsc-tabData gsc-tabdInactive"><table class="gsc-resultsHeader" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gsc-twiddleRegionCell"><br /></td><td class="gsc-configLabelCell"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div></div></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ixJXFZkmebc/TVNv2Rf8QpI/AAAAAAAAD1Y/8sGlmcQMeR0/s1600/karzai%2Band%2Bobama.bmp"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 385px; height: 377px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ixJXFZkmebc/TVNv2Rf8QpI/AAAAAAAAD1Y/8sGlmcQMeR0/s400/karzai%2Band%2Bobama.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571920142188429970" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:180%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >19. Obama Drama:<br />When in trouble at home, go abroad,<br /><br />Onward Christian Soldiers</span><br /></div><br /><br />After the failure of midterm elections, Obama and his shaggy, effete neo-liberal regime fled America for a propaganda journey throughout Asia. His first stop was India that is one of the new boys and girls on the block, a member of the new global power bloc called BRIC, i.e., Brazil, Russia, India, China. He spent three days begging India to purchase weapons of mass destruction to help the staggering and stalled American economy that may continue its free-fall to the end.<br />Ironically, for those favoring the end of outsourcing, India says it is willing to outsource jobs to America, with slave wage jobs for unemployed, desperate Americans. Indian MBAs are paid $14,000 per year as opposed to American MBAs at $140,000. Will American workers accept the Indian pay scale? Take it or leave it! America needs India, India doesn't need America. For sure, India doesn't need America facilitation in its dispute with arch-rival Pakistan over Kashmir. America's failure to negotiate a two-state solution in Palestine is a pitiful example of American diplomacy and even handedness. As per Pakistan, America cannot decide if Pakistan is friend or foe. She bombs and invades Pakistan at will, yet claims Pakistan is a partner in the war against terror. An astute Indian student asked Obama why is not Pakistan declared a terrorist state?<br />Our question is why is not America declared a terrorist state? Its unmanned drone aircraft have killed an unknown toll of Pakistani civilians.<br /><span style="display: block;" id="formatbar_Buttons"><span class="" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_Add_Image" title="Add Image"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" alt="Add Image" class="gl_photo" border="0" /></span></span><br />The regional players, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, will play a vital role in the ultimate peace in the area. America will not be involved. There shall never be peace anywhere in the Muslim world as long as the Christian Crusader armies occupy the land. The Afghanistan Taliban say they will not discuss peace with the quisling government of Karsai, Mayor of Kabul, until the Crusaders depart. At present, the Taliban control 80% of the land. Why else would the US concur to hold peace talks with the Taliban. When you're losing, you want to talk. When a wife is getting her ass beat, she wants to talk!<br /><br />Obama doesn't understand that no amount of rhetoric will placate the Islamic world, thus his speech in Indonesia was poppycock, in line with his Cairo speech, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Yes, 100,000 troops may have departed Iraq since he became president, but 50,000 remain and 200,000 contractors and mercenaries, with the biggest US embassy in the world. Does it sound like America is truly ending its occupation of Iraq? Even the Defense Secretary Gates said there may be some rethinking of the departure date.<br /><br />Afghanistan is lost, so on to Pakistan and Yemen with drones, Special Ops trained killers and other mercenaries of the Christian Crusader war machine.<br />--Marvin X<br /><br />from Notes on the Wisdom of Action or How to Jump Out of the Box, Marvin X, Black Bird Press, 2011<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TUb50t44klI/AAAAAAAADsM/KrJdJCOqI30/s1600/barack.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TUb50t44klI/AAAAAAAADsM/KrJdJCOqI30/s400/barack.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568412673356894802" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TUb5KsX6gmI/AAAAAAAADr8/zrhN6adnBMo/s1600/800px-The_million_march_man.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 272px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TUb5KsX6gmI/AAAAAAAADr8/zrhN6adnBMo/s400/800px-The_million_march_man.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568411951395668578" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TUb4813W5lI/AAAAAAAADr0/I_wBGIanbCo/s1600/54_tut.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TUb4813W5lI/AAAAAAAADr0/I_wBGIanbCo/s400/54_tut.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568411713425303122" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" ><span>20. Americans Must Smash </span>Neo<span>-Slave System</span> </span><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I feel so sorry for those Egyptians.<br />--American black girl<br /><br /><br />When will Americans dance in the streets for true freedom, justice and equality? When will they decide wage slavery is enough, that the slave system must be overthrown? Yes, the corporate, global finance, military, university complex must be thrown into the dustbin of history.<br /><br />When will Americans agree to seize the wealth created from their sweat, blood and tears, the work of their hands. Why should the top 1% own wealth equal to the bottom 90% percent? When will they dispose their capitalist bosses, seize them by the necks and cast them into the streets for their greed, mega bonuses and life of conspicuous consumption, while the wage slaves are refused a living wage that will advance them above the working poor level of existence?<br /><br />Like Tunisians and Egyptians, all sectors of society must come together to end the regime of the slave system, whether in white or black face. We are not fooled by a black skin for we know a duck when we hear it. The duck in the White House is a white swan in black face. He supplicates to those in the den of iniquity, the Wall Street robber barons, the former generals who run the military/corporate machine.<br /><br />Workers, students, religious people, teachers, artists, trysexuals, all must unite. Even the police and army must unite with the people. Even the gangs must stop killing and unite with the people.<br /><br />Sadly, this phony democracy must be replaced. Yes, the best democracy money can buy is unacceptable and unsustainable. The rotten Supreme Court has agreed your vote is up for sale and can be bought by the highest bidder.<br /><br />It cost Obama 700 million dollars to be selected President. His reelection will cost one billion dollars. It will be paid for by Wall Street and the corporations of the complex who are the puppet masters. Obama is merely a puppeteer. When American cities were dying and decaying, black mayors were given pseudo power. When the American empire and Republic is dying and in her death throws, a black president is acceptable. It is an act of desperation by a dying monster, too full of hubris to remove itself peacefully, who yet claims exceptionalism that is based on white supremacy mythology. Empires come and go, but the Emperor wants to hold power forever.<br /><br />American needs a systematic and structural change, for it doesn't matter whether the Democrats or Republicans are in power, they are one and the same, no matter than they sit on opposite sides of the aisle. They are both part and parcel of the US military, corporate, global<br />finance, university, prison complex of institutions in the neo-slave system.<br /><br />All politicians are the hostage of lobbyists for whatever cause. Let us send them one million lobbyists to advocate for our cause. If the one million are not enough, we shall call the General Strike until they board a plane for some other world.<br /><br />When will Americans understand former generals run the corporations. The universities are part of the war machine. Weapons of mass destruction are invented on university labs. And now your President is calling for the return of military recruiters on campus so the permanent war machine can have its cannon fodder soldiers.<br /><br />Capitalism is against abortion because it wants your sons and daughters to grow up to be soldiers to maintain the global slave system. Let the boys and girls grow up to be 18 so they can go kill and die to maintain the empire, no matter that they come home in body bags, wounded, mentally deranged, suicidal and homicidal. They are valuable in the slave system.<br /><br />While our sons are captured by the slave catchers (police) and imprisoned by the slave system to become a valuable commodity of the corporate complex( fifty to sixty thousand dollars per inmate per year, two hundred thousand dollars per inmate per year for juveniles), simultaneously our daughters enroll in the universities, wherein they are brainwashed with white supremacy mythology, hence they too are prisoners in the slave system.<br /><br />They find themselves with advance degrees yet without an eligible mate since the pool of men is desecrated by the very nature of the slave system. Their potential men suffer the ravages of perennial unemployment, incarceration, drug abuse, mental illness and violence, whether internal or external. In short, by the very nature of the slave system, it must be overthrown, totally and absolutely, no quick fixing, no band aid, only radical systematic and structural change will suffice.<br /><br />We have no guns, no weapons except ourselves, our bodies marching in unity. So let us dance in the streets of America, coast to coast, sea to shining sea. Let the mighty beast fall.<br /><br />The government rules by the consent of the governed, they taught us in politics 1A. We must deny our consent. We must stand tall without fear, for we have been full of fear since birth. We have lived in fear, eaten fear for breakfast, lunch and dinner. No more fear. The only thing we fear is fear itself!<br /><br />The stunted man and woman must stand together for today, tomorrow and all the yesterdays. As poet Amiri Baraka says, "For every hurtful thing...."<br /><br />Surely you can see the Wall Street bandits have robbed you with pyramids schemes of pure speculation, selling toxic assets, bilking investors of trillions, extorting millions of common people of their basic wealth, their homes, depleting retirement funds of the working poor who retire after thirty years with a phony gold watch and must line up for food handouts to get through the month.<br /><br />The Federal Reserve is the chief instrument of the Global bandits, the masters of the slave system. It is the den of thieves of international capitalist greed and economic domination.<br />Your money in the bank is now worthless, it is backed by nothing, only the paper it is printed on.<br /><br />Soon, you shall go to the restaurant with a wheelbarrow full of dollars to buy a hamburger. Before you finish eating, the price shall rise. They have just released 600 billion dollars of worthless paper. We must prepare our home survival kits of emergency food and other items for survival. We can see that the universe herself is moving to rectify matters that have come to the attention of Mother Nature. If we are not in harmony with Mother, we shall we wiped from the face of the earth, and most especially those in league with the slave system.<br /><br />Many of you shall never know work, for you are expendable in the slave system. The unemployed, underemployed, homeless, mentally ill, broken hearted, let us march to the White House Gates. Let us announce the New man and woman have arrived. And we shall not be moved.<br />--Marvin X<br />1/31/11<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TQJk_d8QcbI/AAAAAAAADMo/WN_LCpnufO8/s1600/zumbi-dos-palmares.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 299px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TQJk_d8QcbI/AAAAAAAADMo/WN_LCpnufO8/s400/zumbi-dos-palmares.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549108732405772722" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TQJkxwaAULI/AAAAAAAADMg/xLyOxCO9gaU/s1600/James_Jacobians.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 202px; height: 305px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TQJkxwaAULI/AAAAAAAADMg/xLyOxCO9gaU/s400/James_Jacobians.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549108496844214450" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TQJj482jB4I/AAAAAAAADMY/o28uflawqTU/s1600/Hugo%2BChavez.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 226px; height: 282px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TQJj482jB4I/AAAAAAAADMY/o28uflawqTU/s400/Hugo%2BChavez.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549107520932611970" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TQJjyLivexI/AAAAAAAADMQ/XriWovp3lHc/s1600/Castro.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 210px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TQJjyLivexI/AAAAAAAADMQ/XriWovp3lHc/s400/Castro.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549107404616989458" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TQJjVF_qdaI/AAAAAAAADMI/FdyrCouSSVc/s1600/157267_546374288_7868920_n.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 248px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TQJjVF_qdaI/AAAAAAAADMI/FdyrCouSSVc/s400/157267_546374288_7868920_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549106904911476130" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">21. Unity With the Indigenous Peoples in the Americas</span></span><br /></div><br />There is clear evidence North American Africans were here before Columbus. We know Africans traveled here during the time (circa 900 AD) of the Ghana, Mali and Shonghay empires. Thus we have an integral relationship with the indigenous people throughout the Americas. Certainly we have a blood relationship with the kidnapped Africans who are scattered throughout the Americas, the millions in Brazil who speak Portuguese, the Spanish speaking millions in Columbia, Nicaragua, Peru, Honduras, Mexico and throughout the Caribbean.<br /><br />Our oppressed condition is more in harmony with the indigenous and Africans throughout the Americas than with the oppressor Euro-Americans. Yet we are mostly ignorant of our historic relationship with our brothers and sisters. It brought tears to my eyes to discover Afro-Mexicans, Afro-Cuban, Afro Columbians, Afro-Hondurans, Afro-Brazilians, et al. Part of the tears was because I could not communicate with them in Spanish and Portuguese. In spite of language, there was an undeniable spiritual unity and brotherhood. There was instant love between us. The tragedy was than we didn't know each other existed.<br /><br />Today, the moment has arrived for Pan American unity of us with our indigenous and African American brothers and sisters. At this hour we have much to learn from them. Yes, we have a black president for the first time in 400 years. But in Bolivia we have an indigenous man as president for the first time in 500 years and he, unlike Obama, is a revolutionary! The winds of revolutionary change are blowing throughout the Americas and we need to be in harmony with the winds blowing in Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Ecuador , Brazil, Venezuela and elsewhere.<br /><br />They are striving to destroy the raw capitalist economic model imposed on them by Yankee imperialism, that has kept them in poverty, ignorance and disease for centuries. We have been in the identical situation but out leaders would have us continue in this state of economic wretchedness. We must unite and work with our brothers and sisters throughout the Americas to create a common future for ourselves that transcends the European white supremacy culture.<br />Our ignorance of the need for Pan American unity is quite similar to our attitude toward Pan African unity (but we will deal with Pan African unity is another essay).<br /><br />We harbor racist attitudes toward our Pan American brothers and sisters just as the white man hates them, though he loves to exploit their labor and natural resources. Yes, he loves everything about them but them, to quote a poem by Paradise. But they have declared death on capitalism. They have declared that economics is not totally about profit but there is a social element, economics is for cultural development, not simply growth.<br /><br />We must detox from our addiction to raw capitalism. And we need our Pan American brothers and sisters to help us detox and recover. You may need to unite and learn from the people who survive on rice and beans, who live on dirt floors without electricity and running water. You must rid yourselves of your white supremacy mentality of arrogance and superiority. Do not hate the indigenous people for wanting to come across the border to reclaim their land, yes, their land! How can you talk about Mexicans, at least they make their own soap, their own toilet paper, their own beer and tequila , their own clothes. You don't, so yes, we must unite to defeat this horrible monster called capitalism that has enslaved us and seeks to devour us, that has kept us divided and full of hatred, jealousy and envy of each other.<a name="4587664733590362278"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I wanted to read a poem on the theme of love dedicated to Dr. King</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">but I listened to the news all night talking about a new event in Haiti</span> </span><br />We thought Haiti was in bad shape<br />poverty ignorance disease<br />after defeating the Spanish English French<br />including Napoleon<br />don't ever do that<br />beat the white man<br />you will suffer forever<br />in the deepest corner of hell<br />like Haiti<br />a freedom never realized<br />a suffering never seen<br />we thought Haiti was in bad shape<br />hurricanes earthquakes cholera<br />no government<br />no trees<br />no water<br />no housing<br />no president<br />we thought Haiti was in bad shape<br />no reconstruction a year after quake<br />we thought Haiti was in bad shape<br />rigged elections<br />but then came the worse of all possible things<br />worse than poverty ignorance disease<br />hurricanes quakes<br />cholera<br />worse than no trees water food<br />we thought Haiti was in bad shape<br />then the plane landed<br />evil will prevail he had said<br />a police escort<br />evil will prevail he had taught<br />a hero's welcome<br /><br />wasn't Aristide, priest of the poor<br />democratically elected, removed on orders of you know who<br />by you know who<br />flow away by you know who<br />I wasn't Aristide<br />we thought Haiti was in bad shape<br />then the prince of evil landed<br />worse than his Papa<br />We thought Haiti was in bad shape<br />then Baby Doc came home.<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TTRwEkkch4I/AAAAAAAADiM/S1nOobQRqxU/s1600/duvalier_9_2_07.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 272px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/TTRwEkkch4I/AAAAAAAADiM/S1nOobQRqxU/s400/duvalier_9_2_07.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563194663547733890" border="0" /></a><br />--Marvin X<br />1/1<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/S9WuFCb02YI/AAAAAAAABvE/iHgLq08Jw0c/s1600/Francois+Papa+Doc+Duvalier.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 322px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/S9WuFCb02YI/AAAAAAAABvE/iHgLq08Jw0c/s400/Francois+Papa+Doc+Duvalier.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464465124460124546" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/S9Wt2Vg5fhI/AAAAAAAABu8/Yxrr9l6DLaA/s1600/duvalier_9_2_07.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 272px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h5UOSNshqsw/S9Wt2Vg5fhI/AAAAAAAABu8/Yxrr9l6DLaA/s400/duvalier_9_2_07.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464464871883636242" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">22. Parable of the Neo-Haitian Revolution</span></span><br /><br /><br />After Palmares (1530-1653) in Brazil, Haiti was the second republic of ex-slaves in the Americas. Palmares was liberated territory for nearly a century. Haiti won its independence in 1804 after defeating the Spanish, English and French colonizers, including a crushing defeat of Napoleon, Europe's greatest military strategist.<br /><br />Haiti has never been forgiven for her victory of the European slave masters. Since her victory, she has been prescribed to poverty, ignorance and disease, military occupation and brutal dictatorships throughout the centuries. Even her attempt at democracy is perennially sabotaged by the former colonial powers. Her last duly elected president sits exiled in South Africa, seized in the night by American imperialists.<br /><br />Since the earthquake, the eagles are gathering for the carcass, making sure of American hegemony. This time she is using black face sycophants to spearhead the island's reconstruction and gentrification. Obama appears in league with Haiti's traditional mulatto ruling class, orchestrating global fundraising with the gold dust twins, former presidents Bush and Clinton. Recently, reactionary entrepreneur Robert Johnson has ingratiated himself with a billion dollar reconstruction contract.<br /><br />For sure, the neo-revolution will not benefit the Haitian masses, but is clearly designed to profit the usual suspects and those who have long coveted the islands beauty and ambiance, just as whites yearned for that precious real estate in San Francisco called Hunters Point. It is an open secret Hunters Point has the best view and best weather in San Francisco. Similarly, Haiti is that romantic island in the sun, originally the richest slave colony in the Americas, impoverished by demanding the ex-slaves pay compensation to its former masters for the loss of "their property."<br /><br />Haiti is eternally mocked and blocked by the West, namely the United States, for that original revolutionary victory. Her leaders have been depicted as incapable, paranoid personalities, best described by Eugene Oneil's classic racist drama Emperor Jones. President Aristide is the most recent "unacceptable" personality.<br /><br />We wonder when will the Haitian people come together with the Vudun version of democracy wherein all the gods are represented equally in their sacred ritual, thus all the people allowed expression of their God given right to freedom, justice and equality?<br /><br />Will they not be punished until they call forth the ancient spirits who gave them victory over the Spanish, French and English? Now they must overcome the American, that grand deceiver who comes in sheep's clothing but is a wolf of the most vicious kind.<br />--Marvin X<br />4/26/10<br /><br /><!--[if !mso]> <style> v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size:21.5pt;">23. Parable of North American Africans As Haitian</span></strong><b><span style="font-size:21.5pt;">s<br /><br /></span></b>Let us begin with the notion made by Mrs. Amina Baraka that the so-called Negro or North American African is a West Indian or has Caribbean roots since most of the kidnapped Africans were brought to the Caribbean first for the "breaking in," or brain washing/behavior modification to socialize them for eternal servitude throughout the Americas, including North America. Thus when Caribbean Africans refer to North American Africans as "you people," (meaning black American in the most derogatory sense)the North American African can shoot back that we are "you people" too.<br />But the similarities and parallels are even more glaring than our common Caribbean behavior modification. In the case of Haiti, our condition in the United States is not far different. Just as the Haitians are landless and lack an agricultural base, so are we. It is not stretching the imagination to say the North American African doesn't grow a tomato, a carrot or string bean.<br />He, like the Haitians, is a basket case, no matter that in terms of GNP he is the 16th richest nation in the world. In truth, he is a consumer who produces nothing, not even his own food, clothes, soap, beauty products or alcohol, of which he is a major consumer.<br />As a result of his being at the whim of the petrochemical agribusiness industry, he suffers a form of anorexia, starving like the Haitian, for the food he consumes is devoid of nutrients and vitamins, loaded with salt, sugar, and corn starch, leading him directly from the petrochemical (oil based) agribusiness corporations to the pharmaceutical industry/drug stores and medical facilities.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In the old Muslim mythology, the so-called Negroes food consumption causes him to fall victim to the doctor, nurse and undertaker. But unlike the Haitian middle class mulattoes, the black middle class fares no better than the poor wretched underclass, for they do not take advantage of the health care they when they pay for it.<br /><br />This is partly due to the hostile relationship all blacks have with the medical profession--they have a well deserved fear of the doctor since the medical profession is known to misdiagnose North American Africans, subjecting them to unnecessary operations or over medicating them with pills. Alas, there are more drug stores in the hood than grocery stores, and the grocery stores sell the worse quality food in the hood. A friend of mine recently retired as a truck driver for a grocery chain in southern California. He said the food he delivered to grocery stores in the hood, he didn't consider food when compared to the gourmet food he delivered to white and upscale neighborhoods.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br />But driving through the hood and seeing the plethora of drug stores, one wonders are we really this sick? Yes, our addiction to white supremacy, especially the hostile environment all blacks work in, leads to the most severe mental and physical ailments. The health director of Alameda County theorizes that life expectancy is not determined by income but rather where one lives or space and place. If one lives in or near the hood, ones life expectancy is shortened by several years compared with those who live up in the hills as opposed to the flatland here in the Bay Area.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br />The hostile environment makes all blacks susceptible to stress related diseases, especially high blood pressure, depression, schizophrenia and paranoia. As per the later psychosis, someone is, in fact, after the North American African. He, and more often now, she, is not wanted in high positions challenging the glass ceiling of corporate America.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br />Like the Haitian, the North American African is educationally challenged, to put it mildly. How can his educational system be any better than the Haitians when 50% to 70% of students in the hood either drop out or are pushed out--pushed out so they will not lower standards and disqualify schools of funding. And even if he received education on the level of whites, it would be mediocre compared with students in China and India who far excel whites, thus the reason for outsourcing of jobs. Why would the capitalist swines pay an American MBA, black or white, $140,000 per year when it can outsource to India and obtain MBAs for $14,000 per year who speak better English?<br />With respect to agribusiness, the North American African, as I've noted above, fares no better than the Haitian who was hoodwinked into leaving the land and seeking wage slavery in the capital city, thus depriving his nation of food sustenance, making Haiti the worse basket case in the world. Not only is the North American African similarly disposed, but in California he lives in the richest agricultural valley in the world, yet is not involved in agribusiness to any meaningful degree. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">How many black students in California colleges and universities are majoring in agribusiness?<br />Even in tourism, seek out the North American African in the tourist cities of San Francisco and Seattle. You will generally only see him as street musician and/or robot at Fisherman's Wharf and Pike's Market. And how does he fare on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, pre and post Katrina?<br />Just as in Haiti, decades of underdevelopment as led to the criminal society in the ghettos of North America. In America, the prisons are largely de facto drug recovery and mental health facilities. Between 80% and 90% of all inmates were under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs at the time of arrest. With 30% to 40% of inmates severely mentally ill, the jails and prisons are de facto mental wards, minus substantial mental health treatment.<br />Just as there is no political structure in Haiti, none of substance exists in North America, despite the so called black president who doesn't mention the word black. As in Haiti, the political structure is largely ruled by mulattoes, from Obama down. Poor Jesse Jackson couldn't be president if he ran a thousand times. Just as Haiti is a caste and class society, North American Africans suffer the same. The brown bag test still exists, in politics, education, religion and the arts, especially Hollywood. If you ain't looking like Halle Berry, don't even think about Hollywood. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Even the Nation of Islam is sugar coated with mulattoes in high places. And don't tell me I'm perpetuating the Willie Lynch Syndrome. No, Willie Lynch is perpetuating the Willie Lynch Syndrome.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br />Politics in Haiti is corrupt to the point of no return, as in the elected president exiled by US authorities who view Haiti as their turf, just as the cities are largely the turf of the Democratic party, with the resultant corruption of black officials on the west coast, dirty south and east coast. Take a trip from coast to coast and listen to the stories of corrupt black officials in politics, religion and education, from city halls, churches, mosques, secondary schools, colleges and universities.<br />Perhaps the earthquake shall bring about a new day in Haiti, though we doubt it. It will probably be exploited by capitalist swine developers. Their plans are already in motion. But just as Haiti needs a Marshall plan, so does North American Africans. With all the trillions given out to those who caused the global financial meltdown(they were rewarded for robbery), the filthy capitalist swine, those blood suckers of the poor, i.e., bankers, wall street robber barons, insurance companies, the poor in the hood did not receive an honorable mention. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <span style="font-size:130%;"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12pt;" >I have never encountered so many broke black people on the streets of Oakland. Think about it, North American Africans have been scammed out of their national wealth (homes) with the sub-prime loan schemes, including those blacks who qualified for prime loans.<br />The final comparison between Haiti and North American Africans is the fact that Haiti defeated the white slave masters, including the master military strategist of Europe, Napoleon. Haiti has never been forgiven for whipping the white man's ass. How ironic the white supremacist Rev. Pat Robertson said the Haitians are suffering from making a pact with the devil to defeat the slave masters to become the first free black republic in the Americas, aside from Palmares in Brazil that was independent for a century. Since the 200,000 North American African troops were decisive in the Civil War, maybe they made a pact with the devil as well. For a surety, the South has never gotten over the fact they lost the Civil War, and they are determined to put the North American African back in his place. They are making a good effort to reinstate slavery by incarcerating them and subjecting them to involuntary servitude under the US constitution, to say nothing of the wage slavery that forces blacks in the South to work two and three minimum wage jobs to survive. God save Haiti, and God save North American Africans!<br />--Marvin X<br />1/20/10<br /><br /></span><b><span style=";font-family:";font-size:21.5pt;" ><br /></span></b></span><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">Excuse Me, Mr. President!</span><br /><br />Excuse me, Mr. President; the war in Afghanistan is not in the interests of the USA There is nothing in Afghanistan that is vital to American interests unless those interests are heroin and oil pipelines around the Caspian Sea to escape Russian hegemony. Originally, the war in Afghanistan was to deny Al Quida a foothold and punish them for 9/11. The USA global bandits supplied and supported the Taliban as they ran the Russians out, but now they are fighting the Taliban to again deny Al Quida, although there is no Al Quida in Afghanistan. </strong><br /><div align="justify"><strong>Thus, there is no need to have a surge of troops in Afghanistan. It is good for the militarist US economy, for the generals who run the corporations, the university/corporate e complex that benefits with contracts and related research. The war in Iraq was a total failure simply because it was unnecessary to kill a million people over the lie that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. But again, Iraq was for oil and to check Shia expansion for the reactionary Sunni regimes throughout the Middle East, namely Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Persian Gulf states--and of course to protect Israel. </strong></div><div align="justify"><strong></strong><br /></div><div align="justify"><strong>Of course Obama is a politician looking toward the next elections so he must mollify the right wing militarists. He told you he would expand the war into Pakistan during his election campaign. At least he is true to his word. And so for political expediency he will expand the war in Afghanistan, then try to deescalate near election time. </strong></div><br /><div align="justify"><strong>He is not thinking of the American's who shall die and those sure to come home traumatized, suicidal and homicidal. He is allocating billions to buy off the Taliban's acts of violence, but here at home he does nothing to "buy off" those brothers and sisters terrorizing the hood with internecine violence, depriving the hood of any social security. How can the US pay the insurgents to stop violence yet allow brothers in the hood to wreak havoc throughout America with guns and drugs? Internal violence is the real threat to America’s interests and security. This is why the poet Amiri Baraka warns us, "In the end the Negro will be the terrorist." </strong></div><br /><div align="justify"><strong>The violence in the hood would surely one day cross over to the white community. We see black men redirecting their guns against the police in Oakland and Washington State. If this trend continues, get ready for an escalation in the police/military occupation of the hood. As the depression continues and creates more joblessness, expect the prison population to increase leading to a further destabilization of the hood. As Dr. Cornel West says, we must protect and respect the President but we must also correct the President when he goes down the path of reaction by enacting policies against our national interests as North American Africans. </strong></div><br /><div align="justify"><strong>Meanwhile, North American Africans may be oblivious to the radicalization of Latin America, but how long can we maintain our reactionary support of the US when our friends, brothers and sisters throughout the Americas are charting their own agenda and it does not include the globalist free trade policies of the US and her allies. Where is the North American African leadership that is putting our agenda in harmony with the people of Cuba, Brazil, Argentina, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Bolivia, Chile and Venezuela? Shall North American Africans continue their addiction to white supremacy domination and exploitation? </strong></div><br /><div align="justify"><strong>Or shall we unite with our brothers and sisters throughout the Americas and work toward an agenda in harmony with our national and regional interests? Further, the so-called attempt to nation build in Afghanistan is legalizing the warlords to continue their traditional tribalism, not unify as a national state. The Pashtun, Tajik, Usbek and others have tribal interests rather than national interests. The loya jurga or meeting of the tribal elders would be the way to resolve matters among the people of Afghanistan, not by a military surge that will include more killing and destruction rather than reconstruction. </strong></div><br /><div align="justify"><strong>If there is no Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, we need to get out now, but it shall not happen because white supremacy must prove its point, no matter that no armies have conquered this land, not the armies of Alexander the Great, the British, nor Russians. Obama now has his opportunity to defy history. Politics, money, oil, dope. And India is the other key player in this madness. </strong></div><div align="justify"><strong></strong><br /></div><div align="justify"><strong>India is playing on Kabul to counter the Pakistan support of Taliban. As reactionary as the Taliban are, they stopped the poppies growing. Enter the US and the poppy fields are blooming with a resultant opium addiction of the country. Whole villages and entire families are addicted, even babies are given opium for any ailment, even as a substitute for food. It is worse than the US supplied Crack addiction of North American Africans. </strong></div><br /><div align="justify"><strong>The saddest part of Obama's speech to West Point was his falsification of American history, claiming America as the good guys in the white hats who've never unjustly occupied people's land around the world. Let us hear from the Native Americans on this point. Let us recount the US support of reactionary regimes around the world, and do not fail to count the number of US military bases around the world to suppress and oppress people in order to steal their labor and resources. We suggest Obama read Howard Zinn's (RIP) People's History of the United States. President Obama is sounding as right wing as his predecessors in the White House, from the beginning to now, all of them promoted white supremacy at home and abroad.<br /></strong></div>www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00807053122116593028noreply@blogger.com0