Late Summer Information in 2013



Late Summer Information in 2013

It has been 50 years after the March on Washington. There have been huge changes in America. The struggle continues. We know that mainstream American society lives in delusion. We know that we still have the huge issue of oppression. Many reactionary whites live in fantasy land. Only one third of whites in the USA believe that the killing of Trayvon Martin was unjustified. Now, a poll says that a majority of white preposterously believe now that whites have replaces blacks as the primary of victims of racial discrimination in contemporary America. They are so deluded. That is a lie. We know that 28 percent of African Americans and 37 percent of black children are officially poor as compared to 10 percent of white and 13 percent of white children. 13 percent of blacks are officially unemployed as compared to 7 percent of whites. This silliness is brought about by a wicked, white supremacy cartel-capitalist system. Now, we have known that blacks have suffered a far bigger fall in income since 2007 than any other racial group in America. There is a clear racist criminal justice system as found by a Tuft's Harvard survey two years ago. When you have even some libertarians saying this or admitting that the justice system is evil including racist, you know that we have an issue here in America. There is still a huge income gap among ethnic groups in America. Black Americans make up 40 percent of the nation's global unmatched prison population of about 2.3 million human beings. Black Americans make up 11 percent of all human beings behind bars in the world. Now, the silly notion by the majority of whites in America in viewing themselves as discriminated more against than blacks are refuted by many means. Perhaps nobody has done more to demonstrate the persistence of anti-black racial prejudice than Princeton sociologist Devah Pager. As she explains on her faculty Web site, she “investigate[s] discrimination in low wage labor markets by hiring young men – who differ only by race, ethnicity, or criminal background – to pose as job applicants, presenting identical qualifications to employers for real entry level jobs.” Her work “shows substantial evidence of hiring discrimination, with black men receiving call-backs or job offers at only half the rate of equally qualified whites. In fact, a young black man with a clean record does no better in his search for low wage work than a white man with a felony conviction.” She found out that blacks without records will do as well as whites with criminal records. This has been found in different experiments nationwide in U.S. cities. Now, we know that we are still fighting for human rights. When a thuggish and armed half white faux police captain viciously stalks and murders an unarmed black teenager, then we should continue to fight for justice. The reactionary, proto fascist FOX New network stroke white racial fears all of the time. Some of the Tea Party ilk even considers President Barack Obama (who is neoliberal centrist man) as a Marxist Black Nationalist. That is hilarious. The two party system has been funded by corporate interests like Goldman Sachs. In the final analysis, we have to both address racial oppression and class oppression. In this era, the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Right Act and the Florida court acquitted George Zimmerman. So, we are fighting for jobs and freedom just like our forebears did during the 1963 March on Washington where over 250,000 human beings came to D.C. as a means to seek justice for all humanity. We have the right to advance economic justice and equality. Social change is not easy. It is not straight or paved with gold at all. Big business still exploits workers. Now, the demands of the 1963 march were not just about desegregation of all school districts and ending Jim Crow totally. It was about a massive federal program to train and place unemployed works with dignified jobs at decent wages. It also wanted a national minimum wage act that will give all Americans a decent standard of living. So, racial equality and economic justice are linked in a real agenda for change. The 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 came about as a result of the efforts of activists. Now, we see our current economic crisis. Today’s minimum wage of $7.25 per hour is unbelievably far from 1963′s demand for a living wage, which would be over $13 in today’s dollars. Opportunities for education and housing remain in fact, though not law, segregated and unequal. We want things done by taxing the super-rich. There are cuts to the social safety net (like cuts against Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security), banker bailouts, quantitative easing, etc. done by both major parties is real. That is why we are fighting for a federal program for guaranteeing good paying jobs for all. There should be an improvement and expansion of the social safety net. There should be justice for Trayvon Martin and all victims of extrajudicial murders. The Voting Rights Act should be restored without voter suppression. Imperialism needs to end and human needs are superior to money greed. Workers and the poor are under attack via wage cuts, health care cuts, attacks on pensions, and high rates of unemployment. We should fight for a better world. Health care is still a human right and schools should be funded as well. The super-rich should not have record tax breaks, but people should have real liberty in the world.



 The 50th Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington is nearing. The soon 2013 event is being organized at the Lincoln Memorial by the King Center, Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the National Council of Negro Women to commemorate that extraordinary and consequential demonstration. Some want to extend an invitation to the President of the United States to deliver the keynote address on the very same spot where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his legendary, "I have a dream speech." Many folks were involved in the March back then like Dr. Martin Luther King, A. Philip Randolph, Ella Baker, Bayard Rustin, Rosa Parks, and many other thousands of human beings. The March was right to call for human rights, peace, and social justice. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was right too say the following words in August 16, 1967 at the SCLC Conference in Atlanta, Georgia:

"...And the other thing is, I'm concerned about a better world. I'm concerned about justice; I'm concerned about brotherhood; I'm concerned about truth. (That’s right) And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. (Yes) Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. (That's right) Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate through violence. (All right, That’s right) Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that. [applause]..."

The President Barack Obama is a controversial figure to some. He is right on some issues and dead wrong on others, especially in terms of his views of foreign policy (which are reactionary). The March on Washington was an important chapter of our African American story since African American history is human history. It is part of our being as human beings. It ought to be strongly respected in any generational composition. The battle is not over. The evil system of white supremacy still plagues society. Many of our political leaders want to advance the agenda of the 1% and not the interests of all of the people. We have to understand that we have ideological and cultural battles in which capitalism and its minions are engaging to try to maintain their dominance. We can never allow the civil rights struggle to be merged with the interests of the U.S. military industrial complex including the capitalist order. Also, we need to reject oppression in any forms and white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy (which is the essence of Eurocentric, bigoted dogma). Now, Obama is not God even. We know that the killing of 16 year old Abdurrahman al-Alawki by a U.S. drone strike, just one of the many innocent dead and maimed civilians who have been casualties of U.S. international aggression under the banner of the War on Terror is wrong. We know that the NATO illegal and immoral invasion of Libya caused the death of more than 50,000. The West is wrong in fermenting the civil war in Syria. There has been the state murder of Troy Davis. There has been huge state repression during the time of this administration including the harm done to Haiti recently by UN peacekeeping forces. The federal government has tried to actively suppress the Occupy Wall Street movement and the National Defense Authorization Act can indefinitely detain and deny the constitutional including human rights of U.S. citizens without judicial review (under certain circumstances). The controversy over Edward Snowden outlines the complex nature of the war on terror and the need for the advancement of the right of human privacy. So, we know that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would disagree with Barack Obama on many issues. As a clergyman, he would show dignity and mutual respect to him though unlike the Tea Party crowd. So, we will continue to fight the global white supremacist capitalist domination of society. Justice, political independence, and real social movements are concepts that we love to adhere to.

 

 

South Africa

South Africa has a long history. Its history begins with black human beings as the first human beings on Earth are black. It is found in the southern tip of Africa. It has been in the international news a lot lately. Many viewers here are from South Africa, so I decided to write about South Africa. It has over 51 million human beings living there. Its population is mostly black African in about 80% of its population, but it is still highly multiethnic.  Eleven languages are recognized in the South African constitution. All ethnic and language groups have political representation in the country's constitutional democracy. It is made up of a parliamentary republic. Unlike most Parliamentary Republic, the positions of head of State and head of government are merged in a parliament-dependent President. South Africa has the largest communities of European, Asian, and racially mixed ancestry in Africa. The World Bank calls South Africa as an upper middle income economy. It has the largest economy in Africa. South Africa has been through a lot of issues in the world. Also, South Africa can make a much better future. Apartheid is gone, which is a good thing. It is good to not see reactionary mobs and the police to not massively kill university students in Soweto. It is good to not allow certain papers dictate your total travels. It is a good thing to not allow innocent activists to be jailed or face house arrest based on their opposition to South African apartheid. That is a good thing indeed. Now, it is important for us to understand real issues in the world. We should go out and learn about the rich cultures of the world. Africa has a special place in my heart like always since it the origin of human life. It has great value and beautiful fauna including flora. Its people are very strong, intelligent, insightful, and one of the strongest members of the human liberation movement in the world. I am a black American, so Africa is in my mind, body, soul, and spirit forever. More than 170,000 years ago, modern human inhabited Southern Africa. There was a huge Bantu speaking human migrations into South Africa. Many of them use iron, some were agriculturists including herdsmen. They can be found thousands of years ago in south of the Limpopo River. Some of them displaced, conquered, and absorbed the original Khoisan speakers (or the Khokhoi and San peoples). The Bantus worked in ironic work. The Xhosa is famous ethnic group in South Africa. The Xhosa and Zulu people are important in South African history as well.

In South Africa, there was the Natives' Land Act of 1913. That was the first major piece of segregation legislation passed by the Union Parliament. It remained a cornerstone of Apartheid until the 1990's when it was replaced by the current policy of land restitution. The Natives' Land Act of 1913 forced blacks to be relatively restricted from the legal ownership of land (at that stage to 7 percent of the country). This percentage later increased to 13%, at about 158, 734 km² a 1/6 bigger than Greece, resulting in an estimated population density of 30/km², the same as modern USA. The Act created a system of land tenure that deprived the majority of South Africa's inhabitants of the right to own land outside of reserves which had major socio-economic repercussions, because the owners did not develop and leverage the land into a successful commercial resource. Other segregationist legislation included the Franchise and Ballot Act of 1892. It limited the black vote by finance and education. There was the 1894 Natal Legislative Assembly Bill that deprived Indians the right to vote. The General Pass Regulations Bill of 1905 denied blacks the right to vote altogether. It limited black human beings to live in fixed areas. There was the Asiatic Registration Act (1906) requiring all Indians to register and carry passes; the South Africa Act (1910) that enfranchised whites, giving them complete political control over all other race groups; the above-mentioned Native Land Act (1913) which prevented all blacks, except those in the Cape, from buying land outside 'reserves'. The reserves were the "original homes" of the black tribes of South Africa. The reverses were later called bantusatans of which the failed objective was to make self-government, quasi-independent ethnically homogeneous states. The state reserved 87% of the land which whites exclusively could purchase. The Natives in Urban Areas Bill of 1918 was designed to move blacks living in "white" South Africa into specific 'locations' as a precautionary security measure. The Urban Areas Act of 1923 introduced residential segregation in South Africa and provided cheap unskilled labor for the white mining and farming industry. There was the 1926 Colour Bar Act of 1926 preventing blacks from practicing skilled trades. Even the Native Administration Act (1927) that made the British Crown, rather than paramount chiefs, the supreme head over all African affairs; the Native Land and Trust Act (1936) that complemented the 1913 Native Land Act and, in the same year, the Representation of Natives Act, which removed blacks from the Cape voters' roll. The final 'apartheid' legislation passed by the South African parliament before the beginning of the 'Apartheid' era was the Asiatic Land Tenure Bill (1946), which banned any further land sales to Indians. So, these unjust laws were part of the white supremacist agenda of apartheid. The Black voters' roll was abolished in 1948. In fact, universal suffrage never came into South Africa until the 1994 general election in the post-apartheid era. From 1948, the National Party administration extended the existing system of racial discrimination and the denial of human rights into the legal system of apartheid. This lasted until 1991. There was the 1950 Population Registration Act that formalized racial classification and introduced an identity card for all persons over the age of eighteen (that specifying their racial group). Official teams or Boards were established to come to an ultimate conclusion on those people whose race was unclear. Many families of the coloured people (or mixed raced folks of what we call today) had their families separated and were allocated different races. There were rules banning interracial relationships in the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949 and in the Immorality Act of 1950. Many areas provided for blacks under apartheid were inferior to those of whites. Apartheid harmed political freedom by banning any party subscribing to Communism back in 1950. A human being has the right to peacefully believe in whatever philosophy they want. There was internal opposition to apartheid for decades as well. The ANC opposed apartheid. There was the Pan Africanist Congress or the PAC that organized demonstrations against the pass laws. The pass laws were segregation laws that severely limited the movements of the nonwhite populace. The Black population was required to carry these pass books with them when outside their homelands or designated areas. Failure to produce a pass often resulted in the person being arrested. Any white person could ask a black African to produce his or her pass in the era of apartheid South Africa. So, courageous anti-apartheid activists were common in South Africa.

 

Many heroes have criticized the ANC in recent years. The ANC lost its original salt indeed. It is not 1994 any longer and the threat of corporate corruption has not ceased when the evil of overt apartheid was extinguished. The ANC has sold out South African human beings, especially those who are poor. Now, we see that corporate power and neoliberal economics have infiltrated the ANC. The Born Free generation is a classification of the current South African young human beings. They have the right to vote and choose who will govern in a democratic society. Like all nations of the world, full equality whether social or economic is not in existence in South Africa. The oligarchy controls the vast majority of the wealth of South Africa. There are challenges and frustrations with this new reality. Many veterans of the anti-apartheid struggle are speaking up against these evil conditions. Since 1994, some improvements have existed in South Africa. We witness the growth of the construction of houses, cheches, schools, roads, and infrastructure. There are water and electrical power sent to millions. There is free education and health care. There is the growth of social grants and the increase of pension. Until the year of 2008, South Africa's economy growth was consistent. Yet, we have the issues of protests of the poor and marginalized communities. There are gross inadequacies and inequalities in education and health care sectors. In recent years, South Africa has experienced a huge rise in unemployment. There has been huge police brutality and torture. Ruling parties have power struggles as well. Since the ousting of Mbeki, political uncertainty has not been abated at all. The government of South Africa since 2008 has been more secret and authoritarian. Even a top ANC member took a cheap photo in violation of Nelson Mandela's privacy and dignity. We know the events of August 16, 2012 where the police massacred 34 striking miners at Marikana mine. That mine is owned by the London based Lonmin Company. This tragedy is called Bloody Thursday. This was similar to the Sharpeville massacre of 1960. Even the South African Communist party refused to condemn the police murder at Marikana. There was a cover up of the events too. The ANC fought for its soul from 1991 to 1996. Later, the ANC lost to corporate influence and it allowed corporations to exploit the mineral resources of gold, diamonds, etc. in South Africa. South Africa took an IMF loan with strings attached like they always do. Capitalists form the UK and the US worked together as a means to advance Western economics in South Africa. The Freedom charter's nationalization of the mines has been rejected. The debt was never canceled by the ANC. There was no wealth tax on the super-rich as a means to fund developmental projects. Many domestic and international companies never paid reparations for their involvement in apartheid. Tariff protection was eliminated, austerity, and other neoliberal policies made South Africa to experience these complications. In South Africa in 2008 the poorest 50% received only 7.8% of total income. While 83% of white South Africans were among the top 20% of income receivers in 2008, only 11% of our black population was. That is why folks are having protests all over South Africa because of economic inequality and economic oppression by the powers that be. Many reasonable, strong human beings are still in the ANC. It is just that the pact that the ANC has with the elite must be broken. Therefore, it is important to note that huge institutions and independent South African human beings are fighting for real change. The fight is never easy. I respect real grassroots efforts as a means to build up a better South Africa. Every time that you have social progress, you will experience the era of counterrevolution (as Dr. Martin Luther King eloquently said). Now, we should support the South Africans in fighting this counterrevolution and allow South Africa to experience more revolutionary solutions in their own lands. It is obvious that most in South Africa reject big business interests, more privatization, and more neoliberal economics. The hope remains and the Dream shall never die.



 

 

There are a lot of South African woman that heroically fought against apartheid indeed. You can't talk about the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa without discussion about its women. Many of them fought for political justice and social equality. The fight for gender equality is linked to the fight for racial equality. Back in 1905, Charlotte Maxeke became the first black woman in South Africa to earn her Bachelor's degree. Charlotte was a schoolteacher. She continued her studies in the United States. When she returned to South Africa, she advanced the cause for racial and gender equality. That is why in 1918, she founded the Bantu Women's League of the South African Native National Congress. In 1935, she was the first President of the National Council for African Women. Cecilia Makiwane was the first black woman to register as a professional nurse. Fatima Meer became the founder and chief architect of the Federation of South African Women or the FEDSAW in 1954. The ANC officially admitted women members for the first time by 1943. A year later, Adelaide Tambo (the wife of Oliver) is elected courier for the organization. She left South Africa in 1960. She worked as a courier for Oliver Tambo in London. She became one of the most important women of the Struggle in her lifetime. The ANC Women's League was formed in 1948. Treason trial defendant Ida Mtwana is its first president. Mary Malahlela-Xakana, who becomes the first female black doctor in South Africa in 1947, and Patricia Jobodwana, who becomes the youngest black woman to enroll at a university – at Fort Hare, aged 14, for a degree in medicine.  In 1936, Zainunnisa ‘Cissie’ Gool founds the National Liberation League, and becomes its first president. She represents District Six in 1938 on the Cape Town City Council, the first coloured woman in on this all-white council, retaining the position until 1951. She is also elected president of the Non-European United Front (NEUF) in 1940. She features prominently in Cape Town’s political landscape for most of her life. The now legendary Albertina Sisulu joins the league in the same year. Fatima Meer united women from the ANC, the South African Indian Congress, trade unions, and self helps to fight the degrading pass book laws of the National Party. She is the Founder and the chief Architect of the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW) in 1954. The Black Sash was created in the 1950's. Sonia Bunting was one of the keynote speakers at the Congress of the People in Kliptown and Francis Baard is a member of the committee that produces the draft copy of the Freedom Charter. Many women suffered in the early 1960's by the evil apartheid system. The ANC was outlawed. Many folks were placed under house arrest or restricted to certain places for being members of the ANC. In 1963, Miriam Makeba, better known as a singer, speaks at the meeting of the United Nations’ Special Committee Against Apartheid in New York. She will go on to world fame as a Singer and Activist – she is awarded the Dag Hammarskjold Peace Prize in 1986. So, these Sisters deserve their real respect and praise as some of the leaders that helped to end the apartheid regime in South Africa indeed.

One of the greatest heroes of South African history was Lillian Masediba Ngoyi. She was a known South African anti-apartheid activist. The Sister Lillian lived from September 25, 1911 to March 13, 1980. She was born to six children in Pretoria. She was the first woman elected to the executive committee of the African National Congress. She was arrested for trying to use post office facilities that were reserved for whites. This was part of the 1952 Defiance Campaign, which was about activists opposing publicly the evil system of apartheid.  She helped to launch the Federation of South African Women. She joined the ANC Women's League in 1952. She was at that stage a widow with 2 children and an elderly mother to support. She worked as a seamstress. A year later, she was elected as President of the Women's League. On August 9, 1956, Ngoyi led a march along with Helen Joseph, Albertina Sisulu, and Sophia Williams-De Bruyn of 20,000 women to the Union Buildings of Pretoria in protest against the apartheid government requiring women to carry passbooks as part of the pass laws. She was internationally known globally as a human being who struggled against apartheid and sought the emancipation of black women. She traveled to Lausanne, Switzerland in 1955 to participate in the World Congress of Mothers. This was audacious and highly illegal, but she was courageous. The Congress was held by the WIDF or the Women's International Democratic Federation. She came there with her fellow activist Dora Tamana as an official delegate of FEDSAW. She traveled out of the country with Tamara. She visited England, Germany, Switzerland, Romania, China, and Russia. She meet with women leaders who were involved in progressive politics. She was a wanted woman when she arrived back into South Africa. Ngoyi was a strong orator and inspired many of her colleagues in the ANC. She was arrested in 1956, spent 71 days in solitary confinement, and was for a period of 11 years placed under severe bans and restrictions that often confined to her home in Orlando, Soweto. There is a community health center in Soweto that is named in her honor. An environmental patrol vessel was named Lillian Ngoyi in her honor (in November 16, 2004 via the South African Ministry of the Environment). By August 9, 2006, there was the 50th anniversary of the march on Pretoria, Strijidom Square from which the women marched. It was renamed Lilian Ngoyi Square and August 9 is commemorated in South Africa as Women's Day. One of the reasons why I want writing about this issue is because of the documentary about Venus Williams in the IX for IX series which is being shown now in ESPN. Venus Williams led an effort to allow women to be paid the same amount of money as men when they perform in Wimbledon. This never occurred until as late as in the 21st century. Venus Williams organized with tennis players and other leaders as a means to make equal pay a reality. A young woman from Compton showed the world that human beings from across socioeconomic backgrounds can make a huge difference in the world society via positive efforts. So, it showed the truth that many women contributed a lot to not only gender equality and equal pay movement, but the overall human rights movement in general.

By Timothy