One aspect of Nelson Mandela’s legacy is about us to realize the strength of collective power too. South Africa still has more challenges to overall. Yet, we can celebrate the end of the white supremacist regime of apartheid. We have to work in a team in order get our problems solved. Real power should be reserved to all of the people not among a select few at all. Mandela was not fighting alone for the freedom of the people in South Africa. He organized, fought and did time alongside Walter Sisulu (whose wife Albertina was a leader in her own right), Govan Mbeki, Denis Golberg, Raymond Mhlaba, Ahmed Kathrada, Elias Motsoaledi, Tokyo Sexwale, Khehla Shubane, Florence Matomela and all those imprisoned not just at Robben Island’s maximum security jail. These great people stood up for the legitimate ideals of justice and human equality. The striking Marikana miner in 2012 stood up for not only workers’ rights, but for their own human dignity. Back in 1652, the Khoikhoi (or the Bushmen and Hottentots) fought Dutch imperialists who wanted to expand the Dutch East India Company’s interests in South Africa. Today, we witness heroes like Assata Shakur, and others rejecting the actions of the Western Empire. The captives at the Guantanamo Bay gulag and the countless victims of the War on Drugs will never be forgotten. The ANC didn’t become radicalized until Mandela, Tambo, Sisulu, Ashley Peter Mda and Anton Lembede, as its first president, formed the ANC Youth League in the 1940s. Lembede died in 1947 at 33 of a heart attack. Steve Biko’s ideological views has been related to Diasporic African voices (like Malcolm X, Kwame Ture), and other African voices like Njabulo Ndebele. Marcus Garvey was right to say that black is beautiful and WEB DuBois was right to call out white supremacy and imperialism as notorious evils. The same ones who talk about forgiveness call Winnie Mandela every name under the sun when she was held in solitary confinement for 13 months on terrorism, assaulted and abused in prison. The 1980’s anti-apartheid movement was the last major, successful global human rights battle of the 20th century since the anti-Vietnam War and the Civil Rights efforts ended. South Africa is still battling corporatist neo-liberal politics. People are still fighting huge wealth disparities. There should be more fights to end corruption, restoring land and justice to people, and create more redistribution of economic plus political power.
Joseph Cassano learned racism from
somewhere and he harbored such evil feelings for a long time. Also, his racist
tweets were ignorant. Medicare existed long before President Obama was elected.
Many of the same ones lecturing us about personal responsibility would want
this man to be rehired. The fact is that his words caused his exit. He has no
one to blame for his resignation but himself. Now, he can easily move on and
the FNDY's EMS department has the right to not take him back. The EMS job is a
serious job and they deal with saving human life. A person with racist views
can easily be biased and harm human life. So, the EMS should take no chances.
They or the white bigots claim to have a moral and intellectual superiority,
but their war crimes (against human beings of color & even against
other white people), their irrational bigotry, their imperialism &
colonialism, etc. fully make manifest their wicked agenda. They are not moral
and they are certainly war mongering. The actions of the white supremacist
murderer named Frazier Glenn Cross describe the demonic character of white supremacy itself. We as people
of black African descent have a great history and a strong legacy. We have
expressed great resiliency. Our people are global too living in locations from
Africa to Venezuela (I am researching more information about the
Afro-Venezuelan community and we have solidarity with the Afro-Venezuelan
Brothers and Sisters). Yes, many in Vietnam, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, etc. abhor
Western imperialism and Western arrogance. Too many Westerners want to dominate
others via an amoral fashion instead of learning from others (who happen to be
non-Western human beings). There are very important issues in the world. As for
education, parents should have a huge role in the education of their children.
The massive successes in Massachusetts (via stronger healthcare, improvements
in socioeconomic conditions, and high educational standards. Teachers teach
students basic information without rigid pedagogy) and Finland (via again
stronger healthcare, high educational standards, and other universal services
for students) should be greatly studied, so their solutions can be tried
nationwide in America. Also, in both locations, school authorities receive
input from the teachers and the community. All forms of legitimate education
should be strengthened and improved upon. On other issues, mental illness
should never taboo for the black community to talk about. We have to express
compassion and truth to each other on this issue and others. One thing that I
am glad about is the expansion of Medicaid in various states. That is a good
thing. Some in the GOP even opposing Medicaid expansion for political reasons
are truly desperate in my eyes. 8 million people is a large number. My views on
the ACA are known. I believe that it is a development and it is not the final
goal. The most important thing now is keep on moving in expanding health care
legitimately to all Americans in the best way possible. I believe that single
payer is superior to the ACA, but anybody who has affordable health care that
is real should be celebrated. The battle is not over and we just have to
continue to press on until we see that final goal.
Washington has used others to promote
Empire for decades. Other evidence has shown the US Agency for International
Development has a large slush fund “where millions are paid to political
figures in foreign countries.” Vladimir Putin is not perfect, but he has made
his views known about the Ukraine issue. Washington botched its support of the
Kiev coup. Many Ukrainians want to ally with Russia. The Kiev government is faux
democratic government. The media has shown propaganda into overdrive to
criticize Russia and President Putin in order to cover up Washington’s blunder
and Western war crimes throughout the world. The latest deception is about
false leaflets that are falsely issued under the name of one of the leaders of
Russian secessionists in eastern Ukraine. The leaflet calls for Jews to sign a
registration and list their property. However, no such registration office
exists. Washington’s ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt who assisted
Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland in orchestrating the overthrow of
the elected Ukrainian government and installing Washington’s stooges, declared
the leaflets to be “the real deal.” But the Jewish community is suspicious and
has issued a statement that the leaflet “smells like a provocation.” Jewish
residents of the Russian territories that Soviet leaders added to the Ukraine
Soviet Republic say that anti-Semitism has not been a feature of their lives in
the Russian speaking areas. Washington and the same mainstream media were the
same ones that said that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was
a threat to America. There have been protests in eastern Ukraine over the Kiev
junta. There have been the Geneva talks. It was between the United States, the
European Union, Ukraine, and Russia. They discussed about the call to end the
protests and building occupations in eastern Ukraine. Buildings currently
occupied by protesters were to be returned to the control of the US puppet
regime in Kiev installed by a fascist-led putsch in February. The statement
declared: “All sides must refrain from any violence, intimidation, or
provocative actions. The participants strongly condemned and rejected all
expressions of extremism, racism, and religious intolerance, including
anti-Semitism. All illegal armed groups must be disarmed; all illegally seized
buildings must be returned to legitimate owners; all illegally occupied
streets, squares, and other public places in Ukrainian cities and towns must be
vacated.” The communique wants international monitors to oversee de-escalation
measures and grant amnesty to protesters for non-capital crimes. Despite
Moscow’s decision to sign a document calling for an end to the pro-Russian
protests, Western officials indicated they would maintain and intensify
economic and military pressure on Moscow. At a press conference shortly after
the Geneva talks ended, US President Barack Obama said the United States and
its European allies would continue to prepare new economic sanctions against
Russia. So, the Geneva talks situation was a smokescreen as a means to continue
Western imperialism. NATO continues to build up its forces in Eastern Europe.
Armed protesters are still in control of the city of Slavyansk, which forces
loyal to the Kiev regime attacked earlier this week. Pro-Russian protesters
continue to control state buildings in ten major cities in eastern Ukraine. So,
the solution is independence not support for a Kiev junta at all.
It has been almost 150 years since the end
of the Civil War. We still have to finish it since the rebels are still among
us. The rebels are still in various groups. Many of the abolitionists, the
Radicals, and many in the Northern Army fought for freedom. The Emancipation
Proclamation was limited in scope, but the Union was strengthened by the
executive order. Black Union soldiers proved themselves in battle and many of
the other white comrades in arms respected them. Even the limited Emancipation
Proclamation was opposed by the Democratic Copperheads. Many of the Democrats
back then escalated racist hysteria among workers and immigrants. So, Lincoln
and others have a huge role to play in the emancipation of slaves. The reality
is that I will never support the Confederacy at all. The Civil War involved
more than about political situations or state issues. It was about whether
freedom would occur against slavery or not. Also, the Civil War dealt heavily
with slavery. It was Frederick Douglass who not only urged Lincoln to recruit black
troops, but advocated that they be treated fairly and paid the same as whites.
Douglass had met and argued with Lincoln on a number of occasions, including at
the reception after his second inaugural address, as Goodwin relates in the
chapter of her book on the Thirteenth Amendment. The Abraham Lincoln who said
he was against “remorseless revolutionary struggle” in 1861 is not the same
Lincoln who, at his second inaugural in 1865, said: “Fondly do we
hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass
away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the
bond-man’s 250 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of
blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as
was said 3,000 years ago, so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord
are true and righteous altogether’.” Abraham Lincoln was not perfect, but he
was definitely better than Jefferson Davis without question. Black troops
played a huge role in the Union victory. The heroic Massachusetts 54th Regiment
proved that black soldiers could fight the enemy. About 200,000 black soldiers
fought during the Civil War. The Black soldiers were fighting for their
families, fighting for their freedom, and fighting for truth. During
Reconstruction, land was redistributed and sent to former slaves. The
Freedmen’s Bureau assisted black people including the Union Leagues or black
militias. Many black people held state government offices. Andrew Johnson was a
disgrace by trying to reconstitute the old order. He amnestying former slave
owners and eliminated radicals out of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Forty thousand
freedmen were deprived of 485,000 acres of land. In 2014, we see a capitalist
system in its imperialist epoch of decay. To this day, the Civil War remains
unfinished business, with black people making up an oppressed race-color caste.
We witness the racist U.S. imperialist empire carrying out more than a century
filled with pillage and war globally, brutally exploiting labor at home and
abroad (while qualitatively arresting wider social and economic development). A
social revolution ended slavery, so a social revolution should end capitalist
wage oppression. Today, we are still fight for racial justice and economic
justice too.
Capitalism is a global system.
Nations globally are indirectly or directly affected by it. We know that capitalism
creates poverty and unemployment, because there must be a separation of classes
and economic disparities inherit in capitalism. This poverty and unemployment
is more severe in poor countries than richer ones. That is why that we see
millions of blacks, Hispanics, Asians, whites, etc. being impoverished in
America. The economy has been racialized too. In other words, racism has been
combined with capitalism and this has sequester people of color (like Blacks
and Latinos in the States) to certain parts of the economy where work is
harder, less secure, and more poorly paid. Poverty is found in all racial
groups and all backgrounds in general. I am opposed to fascism. Fascists like
Hitler and Mussolini banned workers’ unions, banned strikes, subsidized big corporations
including agribusiness, were anti-immigration, banned alternative political organizations,
were social Darwinists, used lies and propaganda, etc. We know which political
party uses such ideologies today in American society. It is what it is. These same people from that political party will cry "Communism" everything you will support giving food stamps to a hungry family or make college affordable for a poor student, which is a shame. Both
major parties orchestrated coups against progressive, democratically elected governments
in Iran and Guatemala including the Dominican Republic. Many of the central
players in the Central American holocaust of the 1980’s were from the Reagan
administration. We have to address issues of class in order to see the beloved
community that we all seek. Capitalism is a class system like medieval
feudalism. We all realize that neither race, color, religion, gender, nor
education secures you from the ravages or at least the danger of destitution.
This massive economic inequality is a disgrace. Even the middle class is no
longer secure. We see many of the European nations that have a social
democratic system have a high standard of living. Also, I am not opposed to
Pan-Africanism too. All those of black African descent ought to be respect and
allow their interests to be respected and advanced in the world. That it is
very important for all of us to study the works of Nkrumah, Amilcar, Cabral,
Kwame Ture, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (I respect the late Dr. King's call for an ECONOMIC BILL OF RIGHTS too), and others. I will always
respect real revolutionary Pan-Africanists like the hero Patrice Lumumba. I
will never be an apologist for right wing capitalism at all. Capitalism is the
system that gave birth to modern imperialism, which is called “free
enterprise.” That is why I believe in health care, universal education, human civil liberties, and environmental justice as well. The same corporate imperialist state that exists now existed back
then too.
By Timothy
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