Because news from the Sahel has to be on our radar.

In answer to the students’ questions, he said he was honored to be on the call with them. “You act with class and class consciousness.” He was thrilled about the arrested Columbia students demanding that the arrested CCNY students be treated with the same respect as they were. “You responded as human beings! You’re on the right path of history.”

Answering Reed’s question about the rôle of music in the struggle, Mumia said: “Every movement needs music to move people. […] Find what turns you on.” He said it felt wonderful speaking to the students. It took him back to the 1960s and the Vietnam War — which “was also a war of settler-colonialism.” He added, “It’s clearer now with Gaza, that is an open air prison.”

Mumia ended by saying that the watchword was “Unity!”: “You are rocking this country. […] People are studying this movement all over the world, because it’s a moment of freedom within repression!” He quipped, “If Huey [Newton] and Eldridge [Cleaver] had had your media, we would’ve won!” But then he added, “Don’t rely on corporate media. You have your own. So people outside of the circle of students should hear it. I commend you.”

The prison recording ended the call, and when it did, the students called out triumphantly, “We did it!”

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5065645

DEATH TO AFRICOM, KILL THE BOER

This race brings up an age old political question for Black people. Should the light weight goofball be supported when in danger of losing his office because of big money pressure from a group of white people or should he be treated with the same indifference that he meted out to them? Bowman’s absence, like his presence, probably won’t matter very much.

My answer: let him be hoist upon his own petard. Play liberal games, win liberal prizes-- in this case, as swift betrayal and replacement with someone who'd play ball with the zionist-supremacist terrorists. When it first came out that Bowman lost, I footstomped that this is the fate of all misleaders-- when they need an example to execute for the edification of the rank-and-file, the true-believers, and the cynical careerists, it will be you the minute they run out of actual progressives.

...Which of course, erroneously assumes that the Democrat party has any dyed-in-the-plaid progressives. You will not catch me shedding tears for a half-stepper.

The white-supremacist counterrevolution laid the basis for today’s reality of Black people in disproportionate numbers being relegated to a second-class status, with some of the worst housing, education, health care and nutrition in the country, along with being subjected to mass incarceration and police terror.

And now with Juneteenth being elevated on a national level, the ruling class and its media mouthpieces will attempt to co-opt this holiday by finding ways to make profits and by putting their own spin on “looking back at the past,” as a diversion from granting full equality.

Instead, Juneteenth should be a clarion call for reparations for the descendants of once-enslaved people, whose unpaid labor was superexploited by white plantation owners. The inspiration of Juneteenth can inject a heavy dose of anti-racist solidarity to help move the classwide struggle forward by workers of all nationalities, ages and genders, uniting to organize for a liveable wage and more humane working conditions.

Ho Chi Minh stated: “It is well-known that the Black race is the most oppressed and the most exploited of the human family. It is well-known that the spread of capitalism and the discovery of the ‘New World’ had, as an immediate result, the rebirth of slavery. … What everyone does not perhaps know is that after 65 years of so-called emancipation, [Black people in the U.S.] still endure atrocious moral and material sufferings.” (workers.org/2015/05/19953/)

Malcolm X, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, put the Black liberation struggle in a worldwide context 40 years later, in 1964. He said: “It is incorrect to classify the revolt of [Black people] as simply a racial conflict of Black against white or as a purely American [U.S.] problem. Rather, we are today seeing a global rebellion of the oppressed against the oppressor, the exploited against the exploiter.” (Malcolm X Speaks)

Malcolm X acknowledged the centrality of the national liberation war led by Ho Chi Minh to that global rebellion, when he noted, “Viet Nam is the struggle of all Third World nations — the struggle against imperialism, colonialism and neocolonialism.” (1972 interview with Yuri Kochiyama, tinyurl.com/k93cq2n)

The voices of both these revolutionaries ring out with the clarion call of solidarity as the path to a future of justice and liberation. They remind us that we of the multinational, multigendered, global working class have a common oppressor in imperialist capitalism.

We can resist its racism, its anti-woman and anti-LGBTQ2S+ bigotry, its anti-immigrant hatred.

We can — we must — rise up in resistance.

From City Hall, the demonstrators marched to Krasner’s office where speakers included members of a French delegation who delivered the petitions. They raised that Krasner has the power — as he has shown with other unjustly incarcerated prisoners – to release Mumia. Since the 1990’s, the French Collective for the Liberation of Mumia, consisting of over 100 organizations and public figures, has fought for Mumia’s freedom. Today, Mumia is an honorary citizen of Paris and 25 other French cities.

From Krasner’s office participants marched down Market Street and ended at the regional office of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, to deliver more petitions. Unlike at the DA’s office where the French delegation was allowed to enter, security guards at this building were reluctant to let people in, despite receiving advance notice. They even tried to close the door on Bryant’s hand, only allowing the French delegates to slide the petitions through the narrow opening.

Meanwhile demonstrators kept up chants including “From Philly to Palestine, all our struggles are intertwined,” “From Philly to Mexico, all these prisons got to go,” “From Philly to the Congo, repressive systems got to go” and “Brick by brick, wall by wall, we’re going to free Mumia Abu-Jamal!”

See also: Mumia Abu-Jamal speaks at CCNY Gaza Solidarity Encampment

Houston: We will free Mumia!

The liberals call for a ceasefire. Why not go to the core of things by demanding an end to occupation? Don’t Palestinians deserve freedom? Don’t Palestinians deserve a right to exist? Don’t Palestinians deserve statehood? Or are these things only for [neocolonists]?

Perhaps I’m not being fair. Perhaps. But then I think of the words of an [imperialist] diplomat, the ambassador who was discussing peace with Palestine. Danny Danon, [Zionism’s] United Nations ambassador, in an op-ed piece for the June 24, 2019, edition of the New York Times wrote that Palestinians need only do two things to establish peace: A. Commit (his words) national suicide, and B. Surrender. Think of that. A French imperial colonial couldn’t have said it better.

The U.S. is neither a fair nor impartial arbiter. It is deeply biased and arms apartheid […] with weapons, not of defense, but of offense. The IDF stands for the Israeli Death Force.

So let us begin with a call: Cease the occupation! With love, not phear, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Mumia, his family and his supporters around the world had every reason and right to hope that all their hard work would pay off in persuading Clemons to follow and apply the law, as has been done in other cases involving Brady and Batson violations.

But as journalist Linn Washington Jr. has warned so many times in the past: “The fact that state and federal judges have consistently upheld Abu-Jamal’s conviction is cited as solid confirmation of his guilt. Brushed aside is the fact that judges have upheld Abu-Jamal’s conviction by skirting established legal procedure (precedence), creating new legal standards that undercut Abu-Jamal’s claims and rejecting newly discovered evidence of improprieties by police, prosecutors and even judges.” (WHYY, Dec. 9, 2022)

Despite Clemons’ rulings, the appeal process is not over for Mumia. His attorneys are currently awaiting decisions from higher state courts on additional legal filings in his case.

Apologies for the time away. Coursework's been a brain-melter as of late. Still ain't no compromising; still ain't no retreating.

The Biden administration, the lead gangster, is still committed to sending weapons to Israel. Biden called Andrés to offer condolences but the State Department insists that Israel has not committed any war crimes. The winks and the nudges continue, as the client state shows that it is on an equal footing with its benefactor and should not be considered an underling of any sort.

What is little known is that Dr. King took a progressive stance on the question of Palestine in response to the 1967 Six-Day War that [neocolonialism] launched, with the support of the U.S., against Egypt, Syria and Jordan, that resulted in [neocolonists] occupying Gaza, the West Bank and the Sinai Peninsula.

Dr. King remarked on the June 18, 1967, broadcast of ABC Sunday’s “Issues and Answers” that, “I think for the ultimate peace and security of the situation, it will probably be necessary for [the settlers] to give up this conquered territory, because to hold on to it will only exacerbate the tensions and deepen the bitterness of the Arabs.” (Mother Jones, Nov. 9, 2023)

Even this view — considered so controversial at that time but considered mild today — on the situation in the Middle East helped to further deepen the hatred of Dr. King on the part of the united pro-[Zionist] ruling class and government in the U.S., leading to his assassination.

Anything Dr. King said publicly that even mildly questioned U.S. [neo]imperialist foreign policy was feared by the powers that be because of his powerful influence amongst the Black masses inside the U.S. and the global respect he had rightfully earned. There is no doubt that if Dr. King were alive today, he would support an end to the genocide in Gaza.

Upon hearing this news, the movement swung into action, putting pressure on Pennsylvania Department of Corrections officials through phone calls, faxes, postcards and letters and events educating about Mumia’s case and demanding his release. This work paid off.

Noelle Hanrahan with Prison Radio, who visits Mumia regularly, reported in early March: “Mumia looked the best I have seen him since August. He is stable, his health is slowly improving. And the advocacy that you have engaged in for a healthy diet is making an impact. He is getting his prescribed medicines and advocating for alternatives as well! Yesterday he said, “In the last week, they served wheat bread three times! Usually, it is a rare Sunday, maybe once a month when I see anything but white bread. […] This week there was a heaping pile of salad in the middle of my tray, I was shocked.”

It is welcome news that Mumia’s health is improving, but 42 years of false imprisonment, including 29 on death row, are taking a toll. Mumia will be 70 on April 24, 2024.

Join us in demanding his freedom!

As usual the libs and crackers can't stop stealing from us, something dope like "woke" that used to mean being aware that we are in a country that was not built for us is now a punchline that just makes me cringe...but it's kinda hard to fuck up "conscious"; I thought it was lit when we were using it so perhaps we should just go back to that instead?

Maybe it's meaningless and there might be more important things to worry about but I think language is important and it honestly just feels like a joke calling myself woke now.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/1976670

Check it out. Also:

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“George Bush doesn’t care about Black people.” These were the words of famed rapper Kanye West during the 2005 nationally televised telethon benefit for victims of Hurricane Katrina. In this notorious quote, Kanye expressed a popular conception of the Bush administration for a whole generation of people. How is it then, that less than 15 years later the same Kanye West — son of a Black Panther who had previously made commentary on racism in the U.S. — would go on a national tour professing his love for Hitler? Even more recently, beloved star in the Black community, Nicki Minaj, cozied up to Ben Shapiro after rapper Megan Thee Stallion blasted her for misogynoir. Both of these instances illustrate the right’s newfound investment in popular culture in response to young people, people of color and the LGBTQ community’s increasing acceptance of socialism.

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Kanye was the son of a Black Panther?! Holy shit...

Anyway:

It's only a few paragraphs long and is for a pre-convention discussion (since CPUSA is in discussion period for our democratic process).

Activists concerned not just with Mumia’s health, but also with the prison conditions impacting thousands of aging incarcerated people, issued a Call to Action beginning Feb. 15.

Calls on behalf of Mumia should be made to the following prison officials, weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET: Superintendent at SCI Mahanoy Bernadette Mason, 570-773-2158; and Secretary of Corrections at PA DOC, Dr. Laurel R. Harry, 717-728-4109; and Deputy Secretary Central Region, Robert Gimble 717-728-4122, ext. 4123.

A suggested sample script is: “Mumia Abu-Jamal (aka Wesley Cook) #AM 8335, had double bypass heart surgery in 2021 and has had other serious health issues, including COVID 19 and hepatitis C. We are therefore demanding that Mumia be provided with regular daily exercise, clean water, a cardiac-healthy diet and preventive care and screening.”

The Call to Action concludes with this statement by the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics: “There are legal, ethical, social and public health reasons why prisoners, as wards of the state, must be supplied with health care. The legal reasons for providing health care to prisoners were stipulated in the 1976 Supreme Court Estelle v. Gamble decision, in which the Court held that deprivation of health care constituted cruel and unusual punishment, a violation of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution.”

We are still seeking to defend our peoples from the relentless assaults of capitalism, Zionism and [neo]imperialism and their police and military forces. We have not yet been able to realize our dreams and transform the prisons into museums of liberation. Revolutionaries across the world struggle and dream for this future, in every movement of oppressed people. Indeed, when we speak of the prisoners movement, we are in essence speaking of Resistance.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/3632023

Token minority liberals be like

The legacies of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X have been co-opted. While representing opposite sides of the political and ideological barricades, they both supported reparations for people of African descent. Both were expanding their worldview by linking economic and political issues, while exposing capitalism as a system. They were equally targets of the FBI’s repressive COINTELPRO arm, leading to both being assassinated.

Before Malcolm X began developing an anti-imperialist perspective, he advocated the right to self-defense to win national liberation, which was the basis for his “By Any Means Necessary” message. The Black Panthers credit Malcolm X for their view on the right to armed self-defense in relationship to police repression. The Panthers exposed the inability of the capitalist government to meet the needs of the Black community and established free breakfast programs, free health care clinics, free liberation schools and much more.

Many of Malcolm X’s radical perspectives have stood the test of time. For instance, back in 1964, he criticized [the] Zionist [neocolony], saying: “The Palestinian struggle is not just a cry for justice; it’s a blistering battle for the most fundamental human rights that every living soul on this planet should inherit by birthright.

“It’s an unyielding resistance against the oppressive, suffocating grip of occupation and the callous denial of the most basic human dignity. Just as the Civil Rights Movement in the United States fought against the chains of racial discrimination, so too do the Palestinian people strive to shatter the chains of occupation and tyranny.

“Never forget, my friends, that the Palestinians, much like African Americans in the United States, have been subjected to a heart-wrenching history of suffering and torment. [Neocolonization] in 1948 brought forth the mass expulsion and dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their ancestral homes and land. This is a historic injustice that continues to haunt the lives of Palestinians to this very day.

“The situation in Palestine serves as a brutal reminder of the consequences of colonialism and the ruthless dispossession of indigenous people. It is a reminder that the fight for justice knows no borders, and we must stand united in solidarity with all oppressed peoples, whether they reside in the United States, South Africa or anywhere around the world.” (https://yewtu.be/watch?v=G0DNHnQfhHg)

A great deal has been written about Eli Whitney as the inventor of the cotton gin and as a great scientist, which he certainly was. However, according to some accounts, the first gin made in Mississippi was constructed on the basis of a crude drawing by a skilled slave. This was probably not very unusual in light of the fact that even among the first slaves brought to this country from Africa, many were skilled craftsmen. Also in both the South and the North there were skilled free Blacks.

Since the slaves were never recognized in law as persons, the slave owners could appropriate their property as well as any inventions they might conceive of.

Click here for part two.

The South Africa complaint that put [a neocolony’s extermination] on trial worldwide helped to deepen this class consciousness, but it won’t stop there, because now South Africa, with the backing of almost 80 governments, has announced plans to take the U.S. and Britain to the world court for their war crimes of being complicit with this [extermination] of the Palestinian people. The governments of Indonesia, Chile and Mexico are filing their own complaints against [the extermination].

Even if these legal complaints are politically symbolic, they are important barometers that reflect the millions of outraged masses over the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people and will further isolate [Zionism] and its main backers — Western [neo]imperialism, led by the U.S. And not only must those of us inside the belly of the beast defend the resistance inside of Palestine, but beyond Palestine.

We all know that Yemen has shown solidarity with Palestine, not only in words, but in action — with literally millions in the streets. And their Naval Forces have prevented numerous [neocolonial] cargo ships from enjoying safe passage through the Red Sea until direly needed humanitarian aid is allowed into Gaza. And since then, Yemen has faced ruthless bombing from both the U.S. and its junior partner Britain against its civilian population as punishment for its principled stance.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/1646784

Apparently, Charlie Kirk wants to start a campaign against the Civil Rights Act and MLK?

I think this is why we need to guard against the ultra-right.

There's the right-wing and then there's the ultra-right.

This is a new low, however, and it portents bad changes in the body politic of the United States.

It seems they even want to do away with these concessions as well, that was fought for by the working-class.

I just love it when my OGs turn around and commit to paper things that I've been saying.

But if there is another point which is made obvious by this definition and that is that the United States has and is committing genocide domestically and internationally. Of course Black people played the biggest role in making this case beginning in 1951 when the Civil Rights Congress published the pamphlet, “We Charge Genocide ,” and documented the case against the U.S. government. The charges are still valid as Black people have been the group primarily victimized by mass incarceration and all the other impacts of racial capitalism, from denial of housing rights to decent medical care.

If Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, the United States did the same and assisted others in Libya and Syria and Somalia and Yemen and Haiti. This long list of criminality is one of the reasons that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other officials call South Africa’s charge against Israel “meritless.” If they acknowledge Israel’s genocide it would not only expose U.S. culpability but they would have to acknowledge their own misdeeds as well.