Friday News on late November 2014

It has been one year since the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine. On Saturday was the first anniversary of when Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union. This was in the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius. Now, after one year, Ukraine is still embroiled in a civil war. More than 4,000 people have died in this civil war. NATO is almost near an armed conflict with Russia. We see nuclear issues too. The Western propaganda media services want to blame Putin for everything involved in this situation. We know that the West has broken international law and the NATO axis wants to control more politically and economically Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, etc. It is clear to see that Putin is not perfect. He is a right wing nationalist who represents the interests of the Russian oligarchs. He is opposed to massive economic justice. Yet, Russia is not responsible for the escalation of the crisis at all. Even professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, John J. Mearsheimer (in the September/October issue of the journal Foreign Affairs) admitted that Putin is not the aggressor. “The United States and its European allies share most of the responsibility for the crisis. The taproot of the trouble is NATO enlargement, the central element of a larger strategy to move Ukraine out of Russia’s orbit and INTEGRATE it into the West.” Mearsheimer CONTINUES: “Putin’s pushback should have come as no surprise…. His response to events (in Ukraine) has been defensive, not offensive.” He points out that the United States would “not tolerate distant great powers deploying military forces anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, much less on its borders. Imagine the outrage in Washington if China built an impressive military alliance and tried to include Canada and Mexico in it.” He is right that the West is encircling Russia, so it can maintain itself as a world power while Germany wants to be a world power too. Yet, we have to look at the economic and social issues that are involved in the Ukraine crisis too. NATO and the EU want to turn Ukraine and even Russia into a semi colony where its labor and raw materials are exploited. Western companies want more of a stronger market in Eastern Europe. The Association Agreement protects the assets of Ukrainian oligarchs and opens up Ukraine to western corporations and banks while luring the political elite and a small layer of the middle class with bribes from the EU. Yanukovych once supported and then he opposed the agreement. Western backed forced supported the coup. US Deputy ASSISTANT Secretary of State Victoria Nuland later admitted that the US had invested over $5 billion in such forces since 1991. Reactionary groups supported the events in the Madian. Svoboda sent its followers to Kiev. The Right Sector (with many neo-Nazis and fascists) supported the coup too. Yanukovych agreed to an interim government with early elections, but he left the Ukraine. On February 22, his opponents took power. This was not a democratic revolution, but a coup. Crimea established its independence. Pro-Russian separatists took power in Donetsk and Lugansk. They are fighting the Ukrainian new government for months. Sanctions against Russia continue. So, Ukraine should be independent without being a pro-NATO puppet state. Crimea has every right to embrace its independence too.


In any movement for justice, steps are enacted. I have no problem with the Boycott Black Friday movement. Boycotts that are determined, unified, and strong have worked from the Birmingham Bus Boycott to the boycotts found in the anti-apartheid movement (where Brothers and Sisters fought against tyranny). We should extend boycotts into other areas too. Sister Tamika Mallory is exactly right in that we need to grow our own economic (as we ought to strengthen our own institutions, so we can help our people more. We need to build and grow our collective resources. Collective power is superior to selfish individualism. African cultural tradition always teaches about community awareness and collective strength) and political power as one people and as one community. Dr. King died in the midst of an economic strike (among Memphis workers who protested for human dignity and workers’ rights). Malcolm X gave a speech in NYC (back in 1962 to support the hospital workers union Local 1199) once in favor of workers’ rights too. So, we have to support economic rights as well. We have the right to not support any institution that doesn’t respect our interests or our humanity as black people. Unity is very important. Liberation can never exist without unity and solidarity. We are an international people. So, we should advance the unity of black people in America and throughout the EARTH as well. Doing something positive is better than doing nothing. A combination of actions are needed like boycotts, the growth of cooperative enterprises, and other positive solutions. Action is very necessary for us to do. Not to mention that we are an international people. We should unite not only with black Americans, but with Afro-Brazilians, black Africans, Afro-French, Afro-British, Afro-Caribbean’s, and black people globally. One thing that evil people hate is positive, constructive unity. The more that I learn about Africans and others in the African Diaspora, the more strong I feel in my mind and in my spirit. The Black in Latin America DVD and book opened my eyes on many issues. The more that I learn about the culture of our Brothers and Sisters globally, the more connected I feel to the overall humanity of black people internationally. We are in an international movement for real social change. We should embrace political independence.


South Africa is a land with revolutionary fervor. Black people in South Africa then and now are fighting for liberation. The struggle for liberation is not over in South Africa or in the Motherland in general. Africa needs to be totally free from poverty, neoliberalism, neocolonialism, and any forms of oppression including injustice. Centuries ago, our people had their lands stolen and were killed by racist, European imperialists. The stolen wealth (which was used by these European imperialist criminals to fund their societies) from Africa was exploited by the oppressors as a means to mistreat black people including others in South Africa. That is why many Brothers and Sisters did not want reform. They wanted the end of settler colonialism and the transformation of the country to benefit the masses of the people (i.e. the workers and the poor). People like Lillian Ngoyi (she was a textile worker and a mother of three), Steve Biko, Chris Dani, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe (who had a great political spirit just like Nelson Mandela), and others fought against apartheid and deserved justice. These heroes like Ngoyi protested the immoral pass laws in the 1950’s. The evil apartheid laws harmed black women not just black men. There were many groups involved in this fight like the ANC (whose many of its members unfortunately today have followed the path of neoliberalism and compromise. Even the Truth and Reconciliation Commission didn’t go far enough), the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania (or the PAC), etc. PAC organized civil disobedience campaigns to combat the Pass Law and apartheid in general. There was the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre when apartheid forced murdered innocent black men, black women, and black children (they were protesting the unjust pass law). Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in 1964. Mandela was a brave Brother. Many Brothers and Sisters were killed, jailed, placed under house arrest, and the whole nine yards. The Soweto killings were about apartheid forces killing school students. Steve Biko inspired a new generation of revolutionaries to continue on the work that he has done. Black Americans (and other people globally) supported the anti-apartheid movement as well. We have to remember this history, because we have to know the sacrifice of what our people had to do through in the Motherland as a means for our people to end apartheid. Now, we face economic inequality and we fight that too. Izwe Lethu I Afrika.


It is very important to promote political independence as a people and as a community. Malcolm X told us that we should be political independents and not have unconditional allegiance to the Republicans or the Democrats at all. We know that the mass mobilizations by the civil rights movements and the black rebellions back in the 1960’s abolished legal segregation (Jim Crow) in America. Yet, we still face economic inequality. When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. promoted his Poor Peoples Campaign (which wanted to unify labor, black people, other peoples, anti-war people, the unemployed, the poor, etc. into one coalition), then he faced fierce opposition from the establishment. The War on Poverty failed to totally end poverty (Although, it did help many people to be fair), because it became extremely bureaucratic. It didn’t go far enough, and the Vietnam War took away resources from social programs, which could have been used to help people, and these resources were used to fund the military industrial complex. The legitimate parts of the Great Society to this very day are opposed by reactionaries. After 1968, things changed. More people joined the political establishment of the two party system instead of forming their own politically independent power base. The National Black Political Assembly on March 10, 1972 was one of the times when black people wanted to assert their independence politically from the capitalist two party system. The assembly included black people from across the political spectrum. Sincere black revolutionaries wanted to be free. The militants underestimated the reactionary views of some of the black officials who taken office. The original Preamble of the National Black Political Agenda was very radical. 8,000 people attended the conference. It ended in March 12, 1972. Many people wanted black people to have an unquestioned allegiance to the Democrats while others wanted to oppose imperialism, and stand up for more revolutionary aims. This conflict led to the creation of the watered down Black Bill of Rights as favored by the Congressional Black Caucus. Maynard Jackson, the mayor of Atlanta, demanded that the Georgia delegation withdraw its statement in support for an independent Black party. An attempt to discuss implementation of the 1972 Black Agenda was ruled out of order. The Democratic Party to this day has huge power in the black community. We should break free from the two party system, so we can be free for real. I do realize that many sincere, strong, and intelligent black people are in both parties. This fact doesn't mean that we bow down to these 2 parties as deities though. The truth is that we must oppose racism, imperialism, ecological harm, and other evils. We shouldn’t be sidetracked in following the Democrats or the Republicans unconditionally. The first National Black Political Convention in Gary, Indiana (which is a very important event in our struggle for liberation) should inspire all of us to fight for freedom and realize that our intellectual strength is important to advance. An independent Black Political voice is necessary for us to be free. We have the right to assert our independence and our self-determination.

I am happy that Brother Sekou Odinga is out of prison. The Black Panthers were courageous Brothers and Sisters who walked their talk. They were created in 1966. Their actions were similar to the actions of Robert L. Williams, and others who resisted evil. They stood up against police state terrorism and they organized to help the sick, the youth, the elderly and the community in general. The FBI have some nerve to classify certain people as “criminals” when they have illegally monitored freedom fighters, violated human rights in other ways, and did other nefarious deeds for long decades. The Black Panther Party and other pro-liberation groups showed the world that real ideals and real, revolutionary deeds have power. Yes, the FBI is still trying to capture Sister Assata Shakur. When you look at her interviews on Youtube and various clips, you can see the consciousness and the inner peace that Sister Assata Shakur possesses. She is a very intelligent Sister and she is very heroic in standing up for Black Unity and freedom for humanity. Bless you Sister Assata Shakur. Kori Dobbs needs our support. Racist comments and any form of cyberbullying should be totally condemned. White racism is a total abomination and it ought to be condemned and eradicated in the world. Those white racists are obviously jealous of the intelligence, of the integrity, and of the strength of a black high school student, who is now the Class President. The racists readily lack empathy, they lack human compassion, and they lack true honor. That is why they hate us. They hate our resilient spirit, they hate our beautiful black melanin, and they hate the truth. During this time, we will CONTINUE to handle our business, fight evil, defend our black people, and stick by our true, inspirational principles. That is why I will always support Black Love, Black Unity, and Black Solidarity. Human rights and justice are meant for all.


By Timothy