A lot of people are not reporting on this story, especially from the mainstream media. The man Lassana Bathily is a hero for saving human lives. We are still fighting against not only Islamophobia, but injustice in general. Also, recently, reactionaries are targeting mosques in France (which was done as a form of revenge). For example, explosions were heard Thursday near the mosque in Le Mans. The next morning, police found a training grenade inside the mosque and a bullet that had been shot through one of its windows. Anti-Islamic graffiti has been found in mosques in France. There have been shots fired at Muslim prayer hall in Narbonne recently. The mainstream media is not reporting on these stories in a high level. We not only have to fight fascism and bigotry in America. We have to fight it in France and throughout the Earth. The murderers are certainly not Muslims. They are social nihilists and counterrevolutionaries. The best way to fight is to build up communities, protest, build up health care, fight for economic rights, etc. Fascism (as advocated by the National Front) will not be victorious forever. Freedom loving peoples have defeated fascism and bigotry in the past. We will defeat it in the future. In the end, good will triumph over evil. Many Muslims suffer discrimination in France and reactionary groups like the National Front have expressed xenophobia and bigotry for years. Islamophobia is found in America too. Irrespective of what religion someone embraces (or if someone embraces no religion), human rights ought to be protected and respected. There is no justification for the bombing of editorial offices of Charlie Hebdo. I don’t agree with all of their satire, but they have freedom of expression rights. I don’t agree with their degrading portrayal of Muslims. I don’t agree with their racist images either. So, we should oppose the violent assault of the magazine offices, but we are opposed to bigotry. I support free speech rights, but I don’t support the politics of that magazine. The Western media hypocritically talks about these attacks being an attack on Western “freedoms,” but the Iraq War involved the death of at least 15 journalists. There was the 2003 air to surface missile attack on the offices of Al-Jazeera in Baghdad. This caused 3 journalists dead and 4 wounded. Nor is anything being written or said about the July 2007 murder of two Reuters journalists working in Baghdad, staff photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and driver Saeed Chmagh. Both men were deliberately targeted by US Apache gunships while on assignment in East Baghdad. So, we should oppose the growth of right wing chauvinist movements in France. Nous devons arrêter le fascisme.
The fight for the liberation of black human lives exists from Marikana to Ferguson. The protest movement of Ferguson has captured the world’s attention. There is a new generation of radical, black organizers. There are black Americans and black South African people who want to have freedom. They need our support. We see that America, South America, and other nations are in the early stages of a new, militant mass Black Movement. In South Africa, there is the Economic Freedom Fighter or the EFF who want revolutionary change. They want the senior officials in the ruling ANC government to pay back the money. Many activists have commandeered the microphone at a march in Washington, D.C. as a means for them to protest their demands. We should respect our elders, but we should realize that we have to discuss class issues and develop our consciousness if we want to be free. Both South Africa and America developed in the midst of white settler imperialism. Each nation has had mass movements to eliminate evil racial apartheid. Yet, we still see the problem of global capitalism in existence. Global capitalism manifests itself in the world via neocolonialism, neoliberalism, and militarism. Last year, Ronnie Kasrils, a national leader of the ANC and SACP, acknowledged that in the 1980s and 1990s ANC ‘gave too much away’ during its negotiated settlement with the apartheid government. The negotiated settlement by the ANC left the land, mines, banks etc. in the hands of white monopoly capital. After 1994, the ANC promoted Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). BEE was a program that consolidated a Black capitalist class by establishing quotas in the economic sector. In essence, the ANC transitioned from a liberation movement to a neocolonial government. In America, many organizations stood silent or assisted the silence of true Black radicals like Paul Robeson, Marcus Garvey, and WEB DuBois (who was greatly radicalized during the end of his life). All of these people suffered political repression. Concessions existed in America during the 1960’s and then Nixon advanced token “black capitalism” by the late 1960’s. The neoliberal counterrevolution of the 1970’s to the present undermined progressive and radical social movements (this counterrevolutions advanced trade liberalization, privatization, deregulation, and the massive cutting of social services). That is why the EFF disagreed with the neoliberalism (via the policies of GEAR and the NDP) among some in the ANC. In America, the black neoliberals (or the black misleadership class) are not only loyal to the two party capitalist establishment. Both of the major parties have supported welfare reform, the deregulation of the radio airwaves in 1996, the repeal of Glass Steagall Act, etc. (these initiatives were agreed to by the Democratic President Bill Clinton including other Democrats. Even some of the CBC supported the funds to militarize local police). In South Africa, there was the massacre of black miners in Markiana. There must be collaborations of social movements in America, South Africa, and throughout the Earth. We need to develop more independent organizations.
Certainly, we have to do our own research. I don’t know why many people want to place all black people into one box, because there are tons of black people who respect themselves, yet they still suffer poverty, racism, discrimination, etc. The problems in the world are heavily structural, so the Horatio Alger myth is just that, a myth. If we want to be free, then we have to struggle and fight for our freedom as Frederick Douglas has said. Nothing changes without struggle. Some of our people have tried their best to submissively please mainstream white society and then they became mentally, psychologically, and socially worst off than before. We just need to continue with our own self-determination, never trust those who don’t respect us, and show our blackness unapologetically. You have to give credit to Azealia Banks in telling so many great truths about the world in which we live in. Fundamentally, I could care less if they don’t respect us. I desire to live my life, I will always respect social & economic justice, I will always love my black people, and I will stand up for justice. I had to do a double take, because David Brooks is so wrong. Poverty is a complex problem and it requires multifaceted approaches. Charities are key ingredients in combating poverty in an universal fashion. Brooks has been manipulated by the false philosophy of neoliberalism. Another historical event related to the issue of divide and conquer strategies in Africa also will be the situation of Patrice Lumumba. Patrice Lumumba was a progressive leader who wanted the people of Congo to determine their own destinies and control their own mineral resources (like uranium, cobalt, diamonds, etc. Congo back in the late 1950's was producing a great deal of the world's uranium alone). We know about how the 19th century Berlin Conference was about the Europeans trying to divide and conquer Africa without regard to the diversities of African languages, cultures, ethnic groups, etc. The historic and underrated Non-Aligned Movement was all about rejecting Western neocolonial rule of the Third World. Many are differently right to mention that every world war had major battles in Africa. The West via America, Belgium, etc. exploited factions in Congo as a means to advance a civil war. The West funded the traitors like Tsombe and Mobutu to be used as counterweights to the sincere, courageous nationalist Lumumba. Lumumba was assassinated by Western-backed forces. Patrice Lumumba is one of my personal heroes, because he stood up for independence and he had a great love for Africa including its people.
Our lives are our own and we should never allow people to dictate our lives in a despotic fashion. We have one life to live and we will live to the absolute fullest. A person can easily love black culture and black history while defending the rights of humanity in general at the same time. Getting older certainly makes a person more mature and to realize what is most important. What is most important in life is not about bigotry and irrational hatreds. It is about truth, integrity, standing up for something, doing positive social action, and believing in hope. That is why apathy is not an option. We have to fight for our people without apology. Yes, black women have every right to stand up and speak up for themselves. The truth speaks for itself. Some people who spew this sexism are angry at themselves. Others do it on purpose as a means for them to try to indoctrinate others to accept their views. There is beauty in diversity as the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has said. I like to study different cultures as many know. When I study different cultures, I do feel a better connection within my own consciousness as well. You feel better aware about how you fit in the world picture when you learn about cultures. We have the right to experience joy and to fulfill our own happiness. The trolls and others have a problem with black women, because of an obvious reason. We know the reason. One reason is that the black woman has great inner strength and that the black woman is a threat to the system of white supremacy just like the black man. That is why last year, I knew via my intuition that 2015 will be a special year. The haters have to deal with their own issues. At the end of the day, we will keep on living and keep on loving wisdom. Just before Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated, they called for the fight for human rights. Malcolm X wanted to use international collaborations among our Brothers and Sisters globally in order for us to have freedom and liberation. The movie Sarafina depicts how struggles for liberation among black people globally do have similarities.
All oppressed people ought to be free. Freedom should be birthright among the entire human race, but throughout history evil people have deprived people of their inherit freedoms. That is why we fight for the liberation of all peoples. It is as simple as that. White supremacy is the enemy without question. That system has been responsible for the country’s establishment and its illegal terrorism against black people, Native Americans, etc. The system of white supremacy is not just about the Klan, Neo-Nazis, etc. It is also about the system of oppression that permits imperialism overseas and domestic neoliberalism including the New Jim Crow in America. It can be both covert and overt. White supremacy or institutionalized racism should be opposed greatly. The system of white supremacy glamorizes European surnames while demonizing any African/black person who courageously wants to change their colonial surname into something African (or even study indigenous African languages). It is about a system that promotes the lie that white/European physical features is the standard of beauty. The truth is that Black is Beautiful. We have to promote mental liberation as advanced by Steve Biko, Malcolm X, and Marcus Garvey. It is a historical fact that African/black people and people of color in general have their native/original lands stolen (via force, brutality, and with weapons of mass destruction) by many European/white people. Today, we see imperialism in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, etc. as a means to once again for the European capitalists to steal resources and benefit capitalist power. Imperialism is evil no matter who does it. It is totally wrong for a Republican to bomb Iraq based on lies and it is wrong for the President to support the NATO bombing of Libya too. We have to speak out on social issues. Therefore, our elders gave us the blueprint. We should follow it. We should form economic, social, and political power collectively and cooperation among black people internationally. We also need to grow our consciousness, so we can not only love our blackness, but support each other as one community.
By Timothy
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