We have to know about history and the social dynamics of Iran in order for people to establish a feasible resolution. The truth is that the tensions in Iran existed via in large measure by the Western backed coup of Operation Ajax in 1953. The democratically elected President Mossadegh nationalized his oil supplies and Western oil and banking interests didn’t like that policy. So, he was overthrown and the Western-backed authoritarian, dictatorial Shah existed for decades. Today, Iran is a heavily Muslim state. Irony is here too. The West uses Iran for military support against their actions against ISIS, but they oppose Iranian-back Houthi forces (who are Shias) in Yemen. The IAEA has fairly deduced that Iran is complying with its obligations and Iran has no massive nuclear weapons at all. Iran is not Iraq. Iran has a much stronger military, air force, and navy than Iraq. A military conflict in Iran will be devastating to the entire Middle East. The neo-cons and some neo-liberal Democrats want more massive sanctions and that wrongheaded policy will definitely exacerbate tensions in the region. Iran is in the BRICS alliance and hopefully more rational heads will prevail. The mainstream media ignored John McCain’s disrespectful response to the protesters. You will notice that McCain never refuted the charge that Henry Kissinger was a war criminal and a reactionary extremist. Kissinger was one of the architects of the immoral coup against the moderate socialist Salvador Allende. That coup (which was supported by Nixon and the CIA too) allowed the fascist dictator Pinochet to rule Chile in 1973. Kissinger is pictured shaking hands with the dictator Pinochet. Kissinger oversaw the slaughter in Vietnam (the use of Agent Orange and other actions in Vietnam constitute international war crimes outright. That is why some nations have tried to bring up charges against Kissinger), Cambodia, and Laos from the late 1960’s to the early 1970’s. John McCain and Kissinger have similar worldviews on foreign policy matters. Like always, TRNN is always bringing great information on many issues.
In late January of 2015, New York Police Department Commissioner William J. Bratton said that he is forming a 350 member paramilitary police unit. This unit will deal with “disorder control and counter-terrorism.” Bratton have said that this new unit would be used to crack down on political opposition. Peaceful protests, which are protected under the First Amendment of the American Constitution, are not equivalent to acts of terrorism and mass murder at all. This new unit as the commissioner has admitted, will be involved in dealing with protests or in incidents like what happened in Mumbai or what occurred in Paris. The 2008 Mumbai, India attacks killed 164 people and the recent shooting of 11 people at the offices of the French weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo (in Paris). Bratton made it clear that members of the unit will be heavily armed. “Long rifles and machine guns… are unfortunately sometimes necessary,” he said. This announcement by Bratton comes during the era of the Democratic administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio. The actions of Bratton represent the official response to the peaceful protests in Ferguson, Missouri and in other cities. These actions are not used to rein in police terrorism, but it could intensify it. The further militarization of the local police has been an agenda of the West for decades. Political and social unrest continues in the world. Then and now, political dissent in America has been criminalized, especially when people are opposed to the forces of repression (from the police, the military, and especially the intelligence agencies). The NYPD and other police agencies are using a counteroffensive against the protest movement. A cop gunned down 16 year old Jessica Hernandez as she was sitting in a car with her friends. On Wednesday, police released footage of the January 22 shooting of 17-year-old Kristiana Coignard in a Texas police station, showing that officers made no significant effort to subdue her using non-lethal methods, and failed to give her medical aid after shooting her a half-dozen times. The Wayne County Prosecutor announced that she was dropping charges against the Detroit police officer who killed 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones in 2010. This followed further police shootings last month in St. Louis, Missouri and Albuquerque, New Mexico. This is an outright escalation of police violence in America. The government in every level then and now has shielded killer cops from prosecutions. The DOJ said that there will not bring civil rights charges against Darren Wilson. It is all the more egregious given the fact that St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch has since admitted that he knowingly presented to the grand jury perjured testimony favorable to Wilson. Since 9/11, we have seen the growth of evils like the Patriot Act, mass surveillance of the Internet and telecommunications, military tribunals, indefinite detention without charges or trials, and the use of drones, secret prisons and torture (in this era of the “war on terror”). There is the massive wealth of the super-rich increasing and the police state apparatus targeting the working class and the poor. We don’t need evil wars and repression. We have to keep promoting workers’ rights, racial justice, and an end of police state policies.
It is hypocritical for some of the reactionaries to talk about the poor in such degrading terms when they ignore how many multinational corporations have hoarded untold amounts of wealth. Many people ignore how black women are increasingly establishing their own businesses. There are tons of black men and black women with an excellent work ethic and they are doing great work in their communities nationwide. This solution will have to be multifaceted. If America can spend billions of dollars on wars overseas, then money can be spent on business startups, a living wage, and other policies to help black men including black women to have fair job opportunities. Doing these actions will help both black men and black women. We need to unite more as a community, so we can solve our problems. With great unity comes great strength. The black rich and the black upper class certainly have a responsibility to help their poorer Brothers and Sisters. It can be done. It has worked in Black Wall Street until white racist terrorists destroyed it. It can be done in our generation. We have to remember the 1969 Charleston, South Carolina strike too. This occurred in March 1969 when service workers of two county and city hospitals went out on strike for union recognition, wage increases, and grievance procedures. The strikes were affiliated with Local 1199B of the Drug and Hospital Union. The majority of the strikers were Black women and most of their leaders were Black women. The working class black community supported the strike with huge boycotts of white businesses, demonstrations, and picket lines. Governor McNair vowed that South Carolina would never recognize a public employee union. The AFL-CIO and the ILWU supported the strike. In July 1969, the hospital workers won their four month struggle. Coretta Scott King said that this victory represented the alliance of civil rights groups and organized labor as A. Philip Randolph fought for a lifetime in building. The strikers wanted black workers to be paid the same as their white counterparts. I love how many are advocating more political & economic collaboration among African Americans, Afro-Brazilians, Afro-French, Afro-Caribbeans, Afro-British, Africans, and all black people of the Diaspora. We have to keep on working and keep on fighting for liberation. In order for us to be free, then we must embrace the revolutionary ideologies of anti-imperialism, anti-prison industrial complex, and pro-black consciousness.
One thing is true. Things need to change. People have every legitimate right to be angry at the status quo. People have every justification to be angry at unarmed, innocent black people being killed by crooked police. The video called "Hands Up" is controversial. People have the right to agree with it or not. Yet, we should not use the video as an excuse for us to minimize the problems that we face as a community. We are still dealing with the serious problems of crime, police injustice (done by fascist cops who are akin to the storm troopers of old. These same cops have used tear gas, LRAD sound weapons, etc. against men, women, and children. Numerous protesters and journalists have been illegally arrested in Ferguson too months ago), economic inequality, poverty, discrimination, educational issues, housing issues, etc. We have to make the truth plain and see that we are in an emergency. We have move forward in developing rational, concrete short term and long term strategies which can solve our problems. We need not only to develop our own self-determination. We ought to develop our own economic and political power or infrastructure, so we can use our own power to help our own communities. The old school BPP had a lot of amazing ideas that we can utilize today in our generation.
The expression of a token apology (by the QVC host) is a standard operating procedure for many people. The truth is that the discussion should have been about the product in question not about a person’s hair. The product that they should have talked about explicitly was about the handbag. The two white hosts did act unprofessional. We know how the game is. When many whites get caught saying unprofessional, offensive comments, they try to either issue an “apology” or refuse to accept responsibility for their actions. When the cameras are not rolling, racists will say a lot worse comments about black people. There is nothing wrong with long natural hair on a black woman at all. Blackness is Beautiful. Many white women and other non-black human beings have used weaves and wigs for centuries. There has not been a massive outcry of criticism about non-blacks using these items for their own aesthetic purposes. Yet, when black women have either naturally long hair or use weaves, then she is criticized on a massive scale by hateful people. So, we see the double standards involving this issue. All women, no matter what their ethnicity or their color is, should have her dignity respected. That's true. It is certainly a blessing that one Sister complimented you on your hair. We need more of that in our community. We need more respect in our community. We don't need ignorant males (not men) going around spewing cavemen philosophies that have no basis in fact or reality. We need strong black men and strong black women talking, discussing on real issues, and working together, so our community can grow. Any real person will acknowledge the intellectual strength, the beauty, and the resiliency of black women. Black women wearing their hair big is their right as human beings. We have to treat each other as human beings.
By Timothy
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