Weekend News in late April of 2014

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