I rarely do this, but every now and then I read a comment on the web that I have to share with other readers in the fields. The following comment comes from by good brother Asabagna,by way of a comment he dropped on the free slave blog. (Sorry Max, looks like I beat you to it). Now for the record, I don't agree with everything Asa says, I actually think that black folks brown folks, and forward thinking white folks, can all work together to make this revolution thing work. Asa seems to be coming from a more black only perspective, which is fine, but I don't quite think like that. As someone who views the revolution from a more world wide and not just American perspective, I don't see the problem only in terms of black and white. So I search for a more viable and inclusive strategy. Remember, without our Jewish brother s and sisters during the civil rights struggle, plenty of the sh** we got accomplished could not have been done. Still, I agree with the overall tone and tenor of Asa's comments, and I think this brother is not only deep, but his heart is in the right place as well.
So here are my man's comments; unedited, and just like he laid it down over at the free slave.
"Great topic Lubangakene, once again you got me going deep. When I first read you post, the first thing that popped into my head was the Beatles song ‘Revolution’: 'ou say you want a revolution… Well you know… We all want to change the world'. Now I am sure this is not what you want to hear… lol… but that is the jingle that came into my head as I thought… well what would this revolution look like? … and how would we get there?
Then, Malcolm’s speech “The Ballot or the Bullet” popped into my consciousness (hopefully this redeems by involuntary Beatles “faux pas”..lol…). You are right on with your comments on the futility of utilizing the “Ballot” to bring about real change. I always refer to this statement by a relatively well known but unappreciated political philosopher when it comes to voting: “If voting could change anything, they would outlaw it”: Ice-T. Since I don’t live in America, as an outside observer, I am shake my head time and time again on how African-Americans put so much faith and energy into the voting process. I understand the overwhelming responsibility which they feel that they must exercise their vote, because of the romanticized historical relevance of the civil/voting rights movement…. especially in honour of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in this struggle. But from my perch in Canada, I see how easily those who want to exercise their right to vote for the candidate or party of their choice, are quickly “demonized” if they don’t conform to the groupthink. Then of course there is the choice between those who will “rape” you with vaseline and those who will “rape” you without vaseline. Insert whichever party, Democrats-Republicans, as the former or latter “perpet-raper”.
So here are my man's comments; unedited, and just like he laid it down over at the free slave.
"Great topic Lubangakene, once again you got me going deep. When I first read you post, the first thing that popped into my head was the Beatles song ‘Revolution’: 'ou say you want a revolution… Well you know… We all want to change the world'. Now I am sure this is not what you want to hear… lol… but that is the jingle that came into my head as I thought… well what would this revolution look like? … and how would we get there?
Then, Malcolm’s speech “The Ballot or the Bullet” popped into my consciousness (hopefully this redeems by involuntary Beatles “faux pas”..lol…). You are right on with your comments on the futility of utilizing the “Ballot” to bring about real change. I always refer to this statement by a relatively well known but unappreciated political philosopher when it comes to voting: “If voting could change anything, they would outlaw it”: Ice-T. Since I don’t live in America, as an outside observer, I am shake my head time and time again on how African-Americans put so much faith and energy into the voting process. I understand the overwhelming responsibility which they feel that they must exercise their vote, because of the romanticized historical relevance of the civil/voting rights movement…. especially in honour of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in this struggle. But from my perch in Canada, I see how easily those who want to exercise their right to vote for the candidate or party of their choice, are quickly “demonized” if they don’t conform to the groupthink. Then of course there is the choice between those who will “rape” you with vaseline and those who will “rape” you without vaseline. Insert whichever party, Democrats-Republicans, as the former or latter “perpet-raper”.
Therefore will the revolution be brought about by the “Bullet”. Back to the Beatles: “But when you talk about destruction… Don’t you know you can count me out…. ” The reality is that for Black people to engage in widespread violent revolution to break the chains of their oppression…. well let just say… the reality is that one of the basic requirements needed in an armed struggle is communication… and most of us either have revolving issues with paying bills on time or we are on a pay as you go plan for our “cellies”…. which just won’t cut it…. especially when you are about to forward intelligence on your enemies movements or attack formations! A “puff”.. the phone gets cut off! lol!
So what are we left with… well let me suggest that we employ the mindset of the Spartans…. as seen in the movie “300” (Tafari—quit drooling!). Let’s have a real revolution of thought and practice. Let us create a community of Black/African men and women who from birth are trained to be warriors, and by this I mean have a warrior mentality where their only… I repeat and emphasize, ONLY commitment is to this community. Two very difficult choices will have to be made for this to work. First, those who can’t or don’t measure up physically, emotionally, spiritually and/or make a real contribution to the community… we cut them loose. So those who are chronic substance abusers, societal and moral deviants (i.e murderers, abusers of women and children, etc.), those who are unteachable, those who cannot/will not develop a community first attitude, those who are weak willed and/or weak minded, and anything else that is an anchor to our progress…. we turn them out. Second, we don’t get hooked into other peoples/groups struggles. Let white women (feminists) fend for themselves. Let the homosexuals fight their own battles for their civil rights. Let the Native Indians (who owned slaves and are more than willing to disentangle themselves from that history) engage the white man in their own struggle. Let the poor white trailer trash agitate for their own political/economic empowerment. F*CK THE RAINBOW COALITION! It’s a burden on our advancement! It should be all about us and ONLY us. I contend that ONLY by this type of revolution, can even START to develop a strong and progressive Black/African community. Purification of community values. Single-mindedness of community purpose. Revolution of community focus.
The alternative…. well we may as well sing along with the Beatles: 'on’t you know it’s gonna be alright, alright, alright' as we are led as sheep to the slaughter. "
~Asabagna~
Thanks for dropping knowledge yawdie. This is why I blog, and this is why I read other people's blogs; so that I can get inspiration and knowledge from cats like you.
19 comments:
Hmm. I don't know why it is that white women supposedly have a lock on feminism. Black women in America are the original feminists.
I understand the desire to unify at the expense of other groups, races, oppressed peoples, and certainly this type of organization is necessary for cultivating revolutionary politics. However, I think counting out those whose interests coincide with yours is ineffective, because in the end, all of us fighting for social, economic, and racial justice are up against the same big money and the same capital-obsessed and powerful interests.
For example, in Baltimore there is a movement to start charter schools in communities where the public schools have failed. Though some of these schools are in majority black areas, they are organized by everyone who lives there, and they are focused on addressing the needs of everyone.
I guess my point is this. There is a necessity for racially organized politics, but there is also a necessity for broad based organization. Both can work, and I think both are needed to make progress, within the political realm or outside of it.
liz - i think white feminists have a lock on feminism because that is the only image rammed down our throats by the mainstream media. even in the UK, the amount of black feminists interviewed on TV is like 2 compared to the majority of white feminists.
i do like asa's take that it is about community working together. whether that is the global community or the black/african one is an interesting topic to debate.
Black folks have to acknowledge that we have never been permitted to be unified; this is the one thing, the one threat that has been guarded against by this culture.
J. Edgar Hoover spoke of 'preventing the rise of a messiah' who could unite' us. Why they scared of us unifying? Well meaning whites should understand that we need to build up our community and then we can work together. Not before.
We've tried unifying prematurely and it has backfired. Look at where we are today?!
And feminism is a white construct like every other Ism. I don't know if it was Russell Means or not, but I read this critique of all of the European, so-called progressive ISMs - Fem, Soc, Anarch. The critique is that all of them stem from a European (material, antiseptic, de-spiritualized) orientation unsuitable for Third World peoples. I'll have to find it so I can reference it.
Asabagna really put it down. I was surprised to see my name & cracked up but totally agree & down for the cause.
FN, no you didn't go there & say "yawdie". Are you listening to too much rap from the Dirty.
Bygbaby
LOL! No bygbaby, "yawdie" is a term of endearment Jamaicans to each other. Especially those of us who now make our homes away from the "rock".
BTW, I do listen to rap from "the dirty" from time to time :)
"White people don't let us..."? The only people who don't let us is black people. White people didn't stop the civil rights movement although they tried really hard. Black people did. The middle class got comfy, moved out of the 'hood and became uninvolved. This is like black people who gripe about black history month because "they gave us the shortest month of the year." Negro, we created black history week that morphed into black history month. "They" didn't give us a darn thing. That's the slave talking.
When I read the beginnnig of this screed, I thought of the Last Poets who said when the revolution comes
*some of us will catch it on TV
with chicken hanging from our mouths
*you'll know it's revolution
because there won't be no commercials
*when the revolution comes
- excerpt from The Last Poets "When The Revolution Comes
Back to the screed,, after you have excised all the undesirables, you will one tiny army.
Black people have a lot of power and we piss it away every waking moment. I forget how much money flows throught the black US economy annually but it is stubstantial. Somewhere it ranks as a repectable world econmony on it's own.
I'm so tired of hearing black people complain about poor us. We are our own worst enemy.
Example: Clarence Thomas got nominated to the US Supreme Court. Blacks opposed the nomination 60%/40% among a major hue and cry because of his dispicable record in the US Civil Rights Department. It looked like the nomination might go down the toilet. Then the Senate hearings started and black people couldn't stand to see a "brother" getting a "high tech lynching" so the support from blacks for the Uncle Tom switched to 60%/40% for him. Bush The First was then spared the humiliation of pulling the nomination 'cos colored people were not unhappy with Thurgood Marshall's replacement after all. Even field negroes I respect said "I know he'll [Thomas] do the right by us because after all, he's one of us." Get out of here.
All I can say is that I don't know how anyone can be inspired after watching 300. That film is a brown people-killing fantasy of pornographic sensibility.
dna, to be fair, I think ASA said "employ the mindset of the Spartans". I hate to speak for him, but I don't think he was necessariy inspired by the film as you suggest in your post.
FN, thanks for the love and the vine to your page. The various comments (except the incoherent ramblings of “anonymous”) have given me cause to reflect a little more and inspire a future post on my page regarding this topic. Let me now however share a few points here if you don't mind.
Not surprisingly, Aulelia and Maxjulian aka Lubangakene covered off on the “feminism” issue adequately. They understood where I was coming from with that statement and articulated clarity.
For Andrew K, I would just say 2 things: 1. the enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend or ally; and 2. every brother/sister ain’t a brother/sister just because “dey gots a lil kulor”. nuff said.
In general FN, a “Black/African-centered” focus does not necessarily translate into a “Black only perspective” as such, if you know what I mean. Also you are correct that the “Black/African-centered” focus I am advocating is not “all-inclusive”, even within our so-called "race", but it is certainly an international rather than an American perspective. Case in point, our own yawdie Marcus Garvey, formed what I would term a “Black/African-centered” focus organization, that had a world wide membership of approximately 4 million at it’s zenith.
Finally to our “Jewish brothers and sisters” who stood behind (and I do mean “behind”) us during the civil rights struggle. We could get into the debate of whether they, collectively, were just utilizing us as “fodder” in this battle, for their own purposes and benefit… but this time and space is not “the time and place” for that discussion. I do want to mention however a very interesting book by Prof. Tony Martin called “The Jewish Onslaught”. In it he discusses, very brilliantly I might add, the relationship between the Jews and African-Americans from the time of the slave trade, to the civil rights movement, to their “onslaught” against him for daring to enlighten his student of certain dynamics of this relationship. Anyway, I do agree that our “Jewish brothers and sisters”, on an individual tip, were very sincere in their interaction with “us”. I just don’t know who were the main benefactors of their involvement with “us” in the civil rights struggle: was it the Jews themselves? Or was it white females? Or maybe.... it was Jewish white females? LOL! Maybe you or someone else can enlighten this yawdie!
Much love and respect as always.
BTW… thanks for “speaking for me” in your response to “dna”. nuff said.
Asabagna,
I'm going to explain why I find your post disturbing, even though I know that you have the best interests of the community in mind.
"First, those who can’t or don’t measure up physically, emotionally, spiritually and/or make a real contribution to the community… we cut them loose. So those who are chronic substance abusers, societal and moral deviants (i.e murderers, abusers of women and children, etc.), those who are unteachable, those who cannot/will not develop a community first attitude, those who are weak willed and/or weak minded, and anything else that is an anchor to our progress…. we turn them out."
When I think about people who I know who struggle with some of those issues(drug addiction, for example,), I think of friends and family, all of who are members of the black community. Are you suggesting that we "save" the community by abandoning those that most need help?
Second, your suggestion sounds suspiciously like eugenics; suggesting that only those of us who display positive genetic and behavioral attributes should be allowed access to this community you're trying to create. Should we sterilize those who don't fit the criteria?
Let the homosexuals fight for their own rights? what about black homosexuals? Let women fight for their own rights? what about black women? Few people in America are just one thing or another.
As for Jews and the Civil Rights movement...there is no question that Jews, and white women in particular, benefited from the sacrifices black folks made during the civil rights movement. In my opinion This largely has to do with the fact that Jews, and white women are white, and it is one of the more effective functions of American racism that it is able to assimilate white folks in a way that separates them from their past to the degree that Italians, Jews, Irish--can't even remember that they were once second class citizens too. I don't believe, as some suggest, that Jews deliberately exploited african americans in this context. Why? because most of the Jews I've met are entirely clueless as to why the black and Jewish communities are no longer close; In a nutshell, they moved out the hood, we didn't.
Garvey was ahead of his time, because he understood that blackness was a global thing. To this day, there has been no international black liberation organization that has matched the UNIA at its prime. Perhaps I've misunderstood, But what you're suggesting is the opposite of Garveyism. Garvey's understanding of blackness was inclusive, not exclusive. Dubois and his talented tenth ridiculed Garvey, but it was his message that galvanized the black and poor of not just the United States, but the world. W.E.B's little club didn't have room for Garvey, because he didn't fit the criteria.
I don't think there's a one size fits all solution to the problem of continued white supremacy in the world. But I don't think that the solution is emulating their conception of "purity", which I think you are unconsciously suggesting.
Anyway, I realize that some of the things I've said are somewhat harsh, but I mean no disrespect.
I lack the time to write as much as DNA, but I adopt the substance of those comments.
I don't find the main post inspiring and don't know why it was deemed worthy enough of a special post.
I think that the big picture of the post is being missed & over analyzed.
I would go on & explain but I's going to bed.
Anonymous comments inn general have no merit. If your have something t say show yourself. I think this forum is open enough to express yourself fully (maybe I am wrong but I like open discussion)
FN, thx or breaking down yawdie. That made me laugh when I read it the 1st time.
Bygbaby
dna, you make some good points. And I do agree with you about Garvey, and a more inclusive struggle. Even though your post seems somehwat tendentious, I, for one, do not think it is. Now on the other hand, I think you are taking Asa's post a little too literally. I am sure he wants all black people to benefit from the movement. After all, "a rising tide carries all ships". I just think, that like many of us who are tired of waiting, he is frustrated with the pace of the movement. As a result, I think he is saying -again I hate to speak for him- that we can't afford to wait any longer on those who don't, or can't participate in the struggle; for whatever reason that they may prevent them from participating.
Anonymous, I think the fact that we are discussing this issue in a positive and productive manner, is proof positive that Asa's essay was worth posting.
I have been too busy to blog anything myself, but I want all you inveterate, got to to put your thoughts out here for the rest of us, got to keep your ears to the streets and spread the word, everyday or every week blogging individuals, to know how much I appreciate being allowed to eavesdrop on the exchange of ideas. I so rarely hear anything worth listening to in real world conversation, so this may be the only thing keeping me sane (more or less) in this insane world,
FN pulled me back in with a topic that is very near and dear to my heart, Change. Like Sam Cooke said "A Change Gonna Come".
The good news is the subject matter is at heart “CHANGE”. Asa, FN, and most everybody else feels strongly that some sort of change, doing something different, is needed to bring us up from the depths we currently inhabit.
The bad news is that even in our discourse about the need for change we are still stuck in the most vicious cycle. Revolution by definition is coming back around. I think we are not really looking at this “change” thing deeply enough. Ever hear the phrase “the more things change, the more they stay the same”? That’s all revolution can bring us, is back around to the same old thing again. There have been revolutions throughout human history, but in the time since we first began recording our history, there has been very little evolution. So what if we manage to change positions somewhere during the cycle. Our “oppress or be oppressed” mentality is going to be the death of the species we know as mankind. We do not need a Revolution, we need an EVOLUTION.
P6 got me reading Octavia Butler again. Her particular genius, especially in the Xenogenesis series, is the idea that we need to evolve beyond the hierarchical social and cultural instincts that cause us to view the world the way we do; that cause us to interact with each other the way we do.
Let me give you a real world example of what I mean. Almost all religious systems currently practiced among current cultures are a derivative of ancient Egyptian Sun worship.
(Some of you desperately want to jump right in and dispute this point, thus rendering the remainder of my diatribe so much worthless drive. As Asa so eloquently put it, this is not the time or the space for that discussion, although I am more than willing to have it. For the moment, let’s just agree that you reserve the right to challenge this assertion at a later date.)
We have developed intellectually, scientifically, and technologically to the point where most things that our ancestors even 150 years ago would have relegated to mythology, legend, magic, or spirit related explanation, we now understand and consider commonplace knowledge. We have advanced to the point where we know of the existence and vastness of the universe, yet the large majority of us still cling to the mythology of the Sun (Son) God’s return.
The social and cultural instincts and drives that served to make humanity the dominant species on Earth are quite simply, genocidal in their basic principles.
This is where we have to evolve. We can’t make the same mistakes that Sparta did, however heroic they were. They were appropriate to that time, and this is a new day and age. We have got to come together simply because it is the only way to survive. We have got to make the survival of every organism on this planet our paramount driving concern. We have got to change how we think about family, money, community, society.
It shouldn’t be that hard to see that there must be a better way to live on this world than the one that currently has some people with more than they could ever possibly use, and others with not enough to live out the day. It doesn’t take a legion of social commentators, movement leaders, or messiahs to see that the entire race is in a self destructive slide, from young people killing each other in the streets, to old people pushing the buttons to kill entire cities. We haven’t changed, evolved, enough to even make this simple truth the central topic of discussion.
It isn’t really about black and white, or even rich or poor. It’s about the socio-cultural instincts that make all the nonsense seem not as bad, as long as you and yours are not the ones suffering.
I am going to give this some more ink over on ExodusMentality soon. Yall feel free to jump all down my throat now.
Warriors are harder to make than one might believe.
Although many peple refer to soldiers as warriors, the truth is that most soliers, combat veterans or not, aren't warriors. Those two things shouldn't be confused.
You can train a hundred soldiers... maybe ten of them will be warriors.
Warriors are few and far between. Good luck producing that in our soft society.
Some legit pointst. We do need an evolution and it may take a revolution to bring it forth. I dont' know.
But I don't believe that we can change the system: the system must be destroyed and replaced with a humane society. I'm feeling more and more anarchistic these days. I don't believe governments are tenable, except as super exploitative entities.
Functionally, they seem to oppress, retard, stymie far more than they liberate. We need to be having this conversation, far more than discussion about who the next president is. We have a much larger task which is - to quote Stokely - surviving American.
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I still shiver when I see photos of Bobby Seale and Hewey Newton. The first political work I did was selling the Panther Paper, when I was seven years old. Sold a hundred papers every Saturday morning, and the money went to the Free Breakfast Program, etc.
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