Elie Domota, leader of the General Strike in Guadeloupe

To Brother Elie Domota of Guadeloupe and Brother Fignolé Saint-Cyr of Haiti: Statement by Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM):

On behalf of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM),whose struggle is for the liberation of the land and peoples of our national homeland, the Black Belt South, we greet you in solidarity.

In the spirit of unity between all Afrikan peoples, we are pleased to endorse your U.S. tour. We do so without reservation or equivocation, and call upon the Black movement, oppressed peoples and workers of all the cities you will be visiting to build for and attend your events, take heed of the message of your recent victories and ongoing battles, and to support the brave and vital work that you have undertaken in your respective homelands.

We believe that the struggle of the CATH trade union federation in Haiti for the basic rights of workers against the Bill Clinton sweatshop system is a direct continuation of the very first slave revolt in world history to overthrow white colonial rule and establish an independent Black republic. The deep hatred and contempt that European and US imperialismhold toward Black sovereignty and self-government is demonstrated by its centuries of continuing retaliation, embargoes, destabilization campaigns, invasions, occupations, and coups against the Haitian people. The recent unprovoked shooting by illegal UN occupation forces of an unarmed marcher in the funeral procession of Father Gerard Jean-Juste is only the latest example of this international white power structure’s vengeful spite.

The epic struggle and recent victorious general strike ofthe UGTG trade union federation against French colonialism in Guadeloupe is equally important to all freedom-loving people. It shines forth as a beacon ofhope to Afrikan and struggling peoples throughout the world, demonstrating that victories are possible against the imperialistic world system of capitalist exploitation and white supremacy. The French government’s continuing effort to prosecute Brother Eli Domota, spokesperson of the LKP Strike Collective and general secretary of the UGTG, and to abrogate the Jacques Bino Agreement illustrates plainly that the problems of workers’ justice and national self-determination are inseparable. The working class must unite in action with the oppressed peoples of the world to push back these vindictive measures against the workers of Guadeloupe.

The struggles of your trade unions and nations against imperialist exploitation are a matter of life and death to us as well as to you. We who live, work, and struggle in the European settler-colony that is the United States are also struggling for political, economic and social power over our own land, communities, and lives. Your enemies are our enemies; your fightis our fight. The same ruling class forces that oppress and exploit you are the same as those that oppress and exploit us, and who seek to further consolidate their oppressive system by establishing a new military command on the Afrikan continent, i.e., AFRICOM, to keep their foot on the neck of our peoples throughout the world.

Like you, we are building a movement on this continent to achieve self-determination — a Reconstruction movement to seize reparations for our people for the misery, deprivation and super-exploitation they have suffered the last 500 years. Your solidarity aided us tremendously when you worked with us to convene the International Tribunal to hear our charges against the U.S. federal, state, and local governments for their crimes against humanity and policies of ethnic cleansing in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Since then, we have brought the Tribunal’s verdict and demand for justice to various international forums and built Peoples’ Assemblies in the South. Today we are struggling to bring to fruition an independent political force, and we have successfully campaigned for and elected our peoples’ attorney, Brother Chokwe Lumumba to the Jackson, Mississippi city council.

Comrades: We regret that, due to the time constraints, you will have to return home without having the opportunity to visit us in the Black Belt. Therefore, we propose to welcome and host you and other representatives of the heroic peoples’ struggles in Haiti and Guadeloupe this coming autumn. We hope to organize a second, Southern tour in Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; Jackson; and New Orleans.

End the occupation of Haiti!

Self-determination for Guadeloupe and Martinique!

Free The Land!

In Unity and Struggle,

Malcolm X Grassroots Movement

Friday, July 3, 2009

For the past 20 years, New Afrikan people have honored Malcolm X in Atlanta. By holding this festival, we continue an important tradition – educating future generations about his principles and values.

It is a process that must be maintained in light of the elated feeling among our people with the election of Barack Hussein Obama as president of the United States. In this euphoric state of mind we must never forget our Black prince, Malcolm X, who educated us in the science of political power – nationally and internationally, and for that, weare what we’ve become today.

That said, we must focus this new generation of leadership to understand that for power there are sacrifices. So the question for this new leadership is the addressing of the present reality ofour people. The task to be determined – is there an illusion of real political power? If so, we must transform this illusion into real sustenance that addresses local, national, and international issues.

The awakening and redefining of Pan-Africanism must guide our critical thinking, planning and organizing for the future, not only within these borders but to the continent of Africa and African People wherever we exist.

In this era, this generation will be called upon, like previous generations, to make a difference by pushing for political power with Pan-Africanism as an objective. Just as the Cuban, Irish and Jewish electorate has pushed their people’s agenda for years.

Long ago Brother Malcolm told us the struggle was a question of land and as we’ve matured politically we now recognize that conflict all over the world is the struggle to control land – in pursuit of spiritual, philosophical and economic power. The current conflicts in Gaza, Sri Lanka, India, Sudan, and Pakistan are by definition for control of the land and the resources on it.

As New Afrikans, we should not only personalize the question of land as it relates to small plots, as important as they may be – victory gardens, retreats, camp grounds and all. The land of our people, on the continent of Africa, and the development of its natural resources, and the development of its people, bringing them dignity equal to this nation, must be an objective. As Malcolm taught us, New Afrikan people within the U.S. Empire should work to control the politics and economy ofterritory that we live and particularly where we are in the majority. We must strive for self-determination, self-respect and self-defense.

In the words of Kwame’ Nkrumah (the first post-colonial president of Ghana), many on both sides of the Atlantic assumed power “with no sense of obligation” to our Ancestors and people. He guided the people’s political victory towards the development and the building of the united states of Africa – unifying the economic, political and military resources. Several leaders on the African continent betrayed Nkrumah’s vision and objectives.

On this side of the Atlantic, our (so-called) leaders and elected representatives have supported policy and programs that accelerated the underdevelopment of our people, the loss of land and the diversion of natural resources, wealth and employment from our people. These “negro leaders” have abandoned the vision ofMalcolm that We control our communities and ultimately have self-determination for the New Afrikan nation. They have historically supported a white capitalist agenda. We have been bamboozled allowing the media to disconnect us from the very representatives who held true to our people and human rights worldwide, like Cynthia McKinney and MaxineWaters.

When the New Afrikan community disrespects the information that exposes our oppression we are complicit with our oppressors. We must create a process in place to hold Black elected officials who depend on our vote as political capital to support a human right, self-determination and Pan-African agenda. If not, we have only ourselves to blame. An example of the direction we must go is the campaign and victory of Chokwe Lumumba in Jackson, Mississippi. The Lumumba campaign came from a People’s Assembly in Jackson that created a Peoples platform as the basis of his campaign. The Assembly will be maintained after the election to give thepeople a voice and to hold the candidate and office accountable. The victory of Chokwe Lumumba on Malcolm’s Birthday (May 19^th) is the continuation of Malcolm’s vision.

Our crucial error is that we as Black people have failed to critically analyze and redefine our collective objective and to transmit it to the consciousness ofthe masses, as was done during the apartheid (Jim Crow) era. This would be understandable if other subgroups abandoned their Pan-Nationality objectives. But these groups, Cuban Americans, Irish Americans, and Jewish Americans have all used their political capital to influence events and the conditions of their respective homelands. They use the political process to further their predetermined pan-nationalist objectives.

This generation of New Afrikans must define and project a 2010 Pan-African agenda that can exercise real power. We must develop slogans recognizable to all Africans, which advance our principles and values: self-reliance, self-determination, economic development, and now military intervention. These concepts are the bases of Malcolm’s doctrine.

In president Obama’s 100 day press conference, he revealed in his response, to aquestion posed by a BET reporter, regarding the disproportionate job lost byAfrican-Americans, his “one for all” position. In a not so subtle response, he made it clear – do not expect any special attention from me. Obama said he’d push policies to “mitigate the pain for all the jobless”and that it’s up to them to use it.

Wemust also recognize that Obama has significant influence but limited power over the Senate and House of Representatives. So how do we exercise our political Capital to impact Black politicians from a Pan-Afrikan perspective? As with Clarence Thomas, we see that “being from us” does not translate into“being for us” – using their power or influence with our best interest at heart. The 800 pound gorilla in the room is – can Pan-Africanism and American patriotism share the same platform? Can a balance be struck? If so, when and how?

Lastly, Brother Malcolm would be livid with our organization and failure to formulate a process that would demand the freedom of our political prisoners. This single failure illustrates the lack of strategic Pan-African focus. The importance of people, no matter who they are, who are willing to invest/give their lives, is the foundation for which the progress of a people is realized.

A prime example – Barack Obama by his own admission found his political voice while organizing students to fight for the freedom of Nelson Mandela and the end of apartheid in South Africa. Now I ask – did not many become Pan-Africanists fighting for the freedom of Nelson Mandela as the focus point. Now tell me, did we not fight a struggle similar to apartheid for the freedoms we have today? For over 400 years?

Our political prisoners languish in prisons for decades because our so-called leadership fails to pass policies that would give our struggle “apartheid like”recognition. And they are afraid to use any of their political capital or clout for their own historical resistance struggle.

The newly installed Black elected officials who won their seats because of the mobilizing and involvement of the hip-hop and x-generation voters must understand that along with domestic issues, they must also champion the causeof our political prisoners and a Pan-African objective. If not, who will forward this agenda? We represent their power base and they are accountable to us. This point should be obvious but it is not.

At The Tavis Smiley yearly forum of the “state of the Black Union” and the Urban League’s “yearly report” events, major New Afrikan political and elected leadership are in attendance. Following hours of analysis, not one mention of a program to address the freedom of any of our political prisoners, prisoners of war, or prisoners-in-exile was in any of the presentations.

I applaud the Congressional Black Caucus’ recent trip to Cuba in an effort to normalize relations and discuss the Cuban exiled political prisoners. Publicly nothing has been mentioned regarding our political prisoners of the cointelpro war on the Black Liberation Army.

By contrast, an ally of the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC), congresswomen Herman of California, was overheard on wire tapes by the F.B.I. intervening to get indictments dropped against two AIPAC operatives for spying against the United States for Israel. With AIPAC promising to get her a chairmanship on the intelligence committee, the indictments were subsequently dropped.

It’s a damn shame that our own political prisoners who have dedicated their lives and sacrificed everything for the betterment of New Afrikan and African people end up in prisons for over 40 years. It represents a complete failure of our movement to redefine Pan-African thinking.

It is so important to continue to honor El Hajj Malik Shabazz, Brother Omowale Malcolm X. He reminds us all of who we should aspire to be. This new generation that is rightfully proud of the election of Barack Obama must balance the conflicting contradiction that exist between this perceived new reality and how it impacts the lives of the sisters and brothers of the Diaspora – and the responsibility to make the change that is more than just an image.

It is imperative that they act because one quarter of the world’s population and about 200 New Afrikan Political Prisoners are depending on them.

Aim high and go all out….

Long live the teachings of Brother Malcolm X ……

Stiff resistance……

Dr. Mutulu shakur

5/2009)

In the span of 24 hours between December 31st, 2008 and January 1st, 2009, three Black men were the victims of racial profiling at the hands of various law enforcement agencies throughout the US.

• Oscar Grant, a 22-year old father, was shot and killed by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police while laying face down and handcuffed after leaving a New Years Eve party.
• Adolph Grimes, was killed after being shot 14 times, 12 times in the back, by several New Orleans police officers in front of his home after leaving a New Years Eve celebration.
• Robbie Tolan was critically shot in the back by police in Bellaire, Texas, a suburb of Houston, after being falsely accused of a suspected robbery of his parents SUV.

Racial profiling is the product of the systematic denial of the human rights of non-European peoples in the United States. In “Blueprint for Change”, President Barack Obama promised to end racial profiling and to expand hate crime statutes, including the Mathew Shepard Act, which will deem crimes against gay, lesbian, and transgender people hate crimes. We demand that President Obama live up to his campaign promises and take immediate action to end the discriminatory and deadly system of racial profiling.

We demand:

1. The Federal Department of Justice (DOJ) must intervene in all three cases and charge all the officers involved with murder.
2. The creation of a special commission in the DOJ to systematically eliminate all racial profiling policies, practices, and operational procedures in all the law enforcement agencies throughout the country.
3. Legislation that eliminates racial profiling and deems it a punishable human rights violation in compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) be introduced and passed.

Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
www.mxgm.org
877.248.6095
info@mxgm.org

(Image of Oscar Grant courtesy of Jesus Barraza and Melanie Cervantes of JustSeeds.org)

On January 7th, Oscar’s friends and family laid him to rest. The spirit of Oscar Grant lives on as a powerful rally of over 1,000 strong protested and shut down Fruitvale BART Station. A crowd of Bay Area youth, adults, activists and artists demanded that charges be brought against Johannes Mehserle. The people have grown tired of the domestic militarization of Oakland’s Black and Brown communities.

Later in the evening of January 7th, a crowd of fed up youth and young adults rebelled in downtown Oakland. Mayor Ron Dellums was forced to come to downtown Oakland. Instead of responding to the crowd’s legitimate tone of outrage, the Oakland Police picked up where BART Police left off by terrorizing the crowd and arresting over 150 people.

Many youth are consistently victimized by public services, and treated like new millennium slaves by the transit services they help pay. This atrocity was caught on tape for the world to see. Many people, who have been accused of similar crimes, are immediately jailed, often with high or no bail amounts. The fact that this murder was caught on tape and involves a trained officer of the law speaks of the highest injustice. An outright execution caught on videotape, in the year 2009, with no charges brought against the officer! The United States is an empire bent on staying oppressive regardless of false claims of “change”.

The launch of 2009’s police oppression continues a racist, militarized method of no accountability. Brother Oscar’s murder is no different from the 2008 police killing of 15 year old José Buenrostro-Gonzalez, as well as the 2007 police murder of 20 year old Gary King Jr. A similar BART sponsored execution took place in 1992, when 19 year old Jerrold Hall was shot in the back of the head by Bart Officer Fred Crabtree. Hall was falsely accussed of stealing a walkman. No legal action was ever taken against Crabtree.

This is the unfortunate legacy of Oakland youth being targeted and executed. The people of the world have to stand up. We live in an empire that was built upon bloodshed. We must demand accountability. Now is the time to stop Police Terrorism in every Oakland around the world.

Free The Land! Free The People!

The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement

In response to the January 1st, 2009 Murder of Oscar Grant, the People Demand for:

• Former Bart Officer Johannes Mehserle be charged with the murder of 22 year old Oscar Grant III.
• That the U.S. Justice Department investigates the incident as a violation of civil rights.
• That BART establishes an independent citizens’ review board for its officers.
• That BART Police Officers be disarmed.
• For immediate review by County of Alameda District Attorney – Tom Orloff.

Telephone: (510) 272-6222
FAX: (510) 271-5157

Fax: (510) 271-5157
Phone: (510) 272-6222

In the following article from 1964, Malcolm X exposes the intellectual and legal illegitimacy of an Israeli Zionism operating through camouflage and dollarism that ultimately serves to undermine the self-determination of Afrikan and Arab peoples.

The continued assault upon the people of Palestine is of direct relevance to our struggle. This is yet another step of a fortified imperialism sweeping through the Middle East and headed straight towards Africa (via an Obama supported Africom).

We fully support the struggle of the Palestinian people.

Zionist Logic — Malcolm X on Zionism

Malcolm X (Omowale Malcolm X Shabazz)

Taken from The Egyptian Gazette — Sept. 17, 1964

The Zionist armies that now occupy Palestine claim their ancient Jewish prophets predicted that in the “last days of this world” their own God would raise them up a “messiah” who would lead them to their promised land, and they would set up their own “divine” government in this newly-gained land, this “divine” government would enable them to “rule all other nations with a rod of iron.”

If the Israeli Zionists believe their present occupation of Arab Palestine is the fulfillment of predictions made by their Jewish prophets, then they also religiously believe that Israel must fulfill its “divine” mission to rule all other nations with a rod of irons, which only means a different form of iron-like rule, more firmly entrenched even, than that of the former European Colonial Powers.

These Israeli Zionists religiously believe their Jewish God has chosen them to replace the outdated European colonialism with a new form of colonialism, so well disguised that it will enable them to deceive the African masses into submitting willingly to their “divine” authority and guidance, without the African masses being aware that they are still colonized.

CAMOUFLAGE

The Israeli Zionists are convinced they have successfully camouflaged their new kind of colonialism. Their colonialism appears to be more “benevolent,” more “philanthropic,” a system with which they rule simply by getting their potential victims to accept their friendly offers of economic “aid,” and other tempting gifts, that they dangle in front of the newly-independent African nations, whose economies are experiencing great difficulties. During the 19th century, when the masses here in Africa were largely illiterate it was easy for European imperialists to rule them with “force and fear,” but in this present era of enlightenment the African masses are awakening, and it is impossible to hold them in check now with the antiquated methods of the 19th century.

The imperialists, therefore, have been compelled to devise new methods. Since they can no longer force or frighten the masses into submission, they must devise modern methods that will enable them to manouevre the African masses into willing submission.

The modern 20th century weapon of neo-imperialism is “dollarism.” The Zionists have mastered the science of dollarism: the ability to come posing as a friend and benefactor, bearing gifts and all other forms of economic aid and offers of technical assistance. Thus, the power and influence of Zionist Israel in many of the newly “independent” African nations has fast-become even more unshakeable than that of the 18th century European colonialists… and this new kind of Zionist colonialism differs only in form and method, but never in motive or objective.

At the close of the 19th century when European imperialists wisely foresaw that the awakening masses of Africa would not submit to their old method of ruling through force and fears, these ever-scheming imperialists had to create a “new weapon,” and to find a “new base” for that weapon.

DOLLARISM

The number one weapon of 20th century imperialism is zionist dollarism, and one of the main bases for this weapon is Zionist Israel. The ever-scheming European imperialists wisely placed Israel where she could geographically divide the Arab world, infiltrate and sow the seed of dissension among African leaders and also divide the Africans against the Asians.

Zionist Israel’s occupation of Arab Palestine has forced the Arab world to waste billions of precious dollars on armaments, making it impossible for these newly independent Arab nations to concentrate on strengthening the economies of their countries and elevate the living standard of their people.

And the continued low standard of living in the Arab world has been skillfully used by the Zionist propagandists to make it appear to the Africans that the Arab leaders are not intellectually or technically qualified to lift the living standard of their people … thus, indirectly “enducing” Africans to turn away from the Arabs and towards the Israelis for teachers and technical assistance.

“They cripple the bird’s wing, and then condemn it for not flying as fast as they.”

The imperialists always make themselves look good, but it is only because they are competing against economically crippled newly independent countries whose economies are actually crippled by the Zionist-capitalist conspiracy. They can’t stand against fair competition, thus they dread Gamal Abdul Nasser’s call for African-Arab Unity under Socialism.

MESSIAH?

If the “religious” claim of the Zionists is true that they were to be led to the promised land by their messiah, and Israel’s present occupation of Arab Palestine is the fulfillment of that prophesy: where is their messiah whom their prophets said would get the credit for leading them there? It was Ralph Bunche who “negotiated” the Zionists into possession of Occupied Palestine! Is Ralph Bunche the messiah of Zionism? If Ralph Bunche is not their messiah, and their messsiah has not yet come, then what are they doing in Palestine ahead of their messiah?

Did the Zionists have the legal or moral right to invade Arab Palestine, uproot its Arab citizens from their homes and seize all Arab property for themselves just based on the “religious” claim that their forefathers lived there thousands of years ago? Only a thousand years ago the Moors lived in Spain. Would this give the Moors of today the legal and moral right to invade the Iberian Peninsula, drive out its Spanish citizens, and then set up a new Moroccan nation … where Spain used to be, as the European zionists have done to our Arab brothers and sisters in Palestine?…

In short the Zionist argument to justify Israel’s present occupation of Arab Palestine has no intelligent or legal basis in history … not even in their own religion. Where is their Messiah?

Source: http://www.malcolm-x.org/docs/gen_zion.htm

(Image: GRizor @ flickr.com)

The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) stands in solidarity with the Afro-Colombian community in support of the “No More Victims” March in Washington, D.C. Saturday, March 6, 2008. We condemn the systematic violence and displacement of Afro-descendent communities in Colombia at the hands of all the partisan parties – including government,
paramilitary, and rebel forces – to the long-standing civil conflict in Colombia.

We are particularly sensitive to the issues of forced internal displacement taking place in the constitutionally recognized Afro-Colombian communities at the hands of the Uribe government and the paramilitary forces. We understand that these communities are being displaced as part of a program of ethnic cleansing to secure the strategic natural resources of the Afro-Colombian collective communities for private appropriation and profit realization on the world market. Our sensitivity grows from our own struggles against forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of majority Afro-descendent communities in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Alabama following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We therefore stand opposed to the proposed Free Trade Agreement between the United States and the Uribe government and to US military initiatives like Plan Colombia, both of which underscore the displacement of Afro-Colombian communities.

The right of Afro-Colombian self-determination must be respected by all the forces of Colombian society and the Colombian government must do all it can to ensure that the human rights of Afro-Colombians, including observing the rights of internally displaced persons and the
international covenants against structural racism that permeates Colombian society.

From one oppressed Afro-descendent community to another, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement says, “Free the Land and Stop the Genocide of Afrikan peoples!”

Malcolm X Grassroots Movement

Monday, March 3, 2008

To our Sisters and Brothers in Kenya,

Your sisters and brothers of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) are deeply disturbed and saddened by the post-election violence and displacement we have witnessed via television and the world-wide-web. While we are keen to distrust the distortions and lies of the capitalist dominated media based on our own experiences, it is painfully apparent that the peoples of Kenya have reached a critical crossroads in the development of the Kenyan state and its ability to advance fundamental social, political, cultural, and economic human rights.

Given the burdens of exploitation and oppression we collectively bear as Afrikan peoples as a result of colonialism, imperialism, white supremacy and patriarchy we wish to implore all the peoples and parties of Kenya, for the sake of national stability and Pan-Afrikan unity, to seek non-violent means of resolution when and wherever possible to resolve our internal antagonisms and contradictions. We believe the current crisis to be no exception. We strongly encourage all the parties and progressive community forces in Kenya to collectively create a process and program of reconciliation that interrogates and structurally addresses the underlying causes of the violence currently eroding society, namely the growing impoverishment and resource scarcity created in large part by the debts of the state and the IMF and World Bank privatization stipulations to service it.

The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement stands with all of the progressive forces in Kenya seeking a long-term solution to the crises of the Kenyan state and society. It is our position that the root cause of the crisis in Kenya and Afrika as a whole is imperialism, particularly US imperialism and its neo-liberal policies that aim to keep Afrika and Afrikan peoples in a subjugated and exploitable position. We applaud the expansion of all the political and civil society forces resisting neo-liberalism and imperialism and demanding full political democracy, economic democracy, debt relief, reparations, women’s rights, food security, ecological justice, indigenous rights, and the end to US military expansion and Africom. We encourage these and other progressive forces to unite in the face of this crisis and put forth a genuine program for the transformation of the Kenyan state, economy, and civil society that will privilege human needs over the unending quest for profit.

Uhuru,

The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement

11 January, 08

The following is a recent statement from our mother, sister, comrade Assata Shakur:

First of all, let me say thank you, to the many people who have helped me to celebrate my 60^th birthday. Thank you for your beautiful birthday cards and for your warm and eloquent messages. Thank you for your activism, your radiant energy and most of all for your love. I am sincerely grateful for your support and for your commitment to social justice, truth and freedom.

It is somehow surprising for me to realize that I have lived on this planet for 60 years. I never imagined that I would live this long. Some of those years were very hard years, other years were happier, but I have never forgotten who I am or where I came from. For as long as I can remember, I was acutely aware of my oppression and of the oppression of my people.

In some ways it was easier for my generation. Racism was blatant and obvious. The “Whites Only” signs let us know clearly, what we were up against. Not much has changed, but the system of lies and tricknology is much more sophisticated. Today young people have to be highly informed and acutely analytical, or they will be swept up into a whirlpool of lies and deception.

Freedom, justice and liberty are words that are thrown around a lot in the United States, but for most of us, it is empty rhetoric. With each and every passing day the country becomes more repressive, the police more viciously aggressive and the so-called constitutional guarantees obliterated by scare tactics. The so-called ‘Conservatives’ are only interested in conserving their privileges and power and helping their rich friends to become richer. Black ‘Conservatives’ serve their “masters” and are basically interested in grinning, shuffling and ‘Uncle Tomming’ all the way to the bank. This is the most corrupt administration that has ever existed. They have blatantly stolen not millions, but billions of dollars. They are actively seeking to preserve the old colonial order with a new face, where the oppressed people of Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East are expected to suffer happily, and sing praises to imperialism to the tune of the star spangled banner.
It is extreme arrogance to attack and occupy a country and expect its people to rejoice and lick your feet. Not even Roman Emperors were involved in such misguided conceit. The U.S. government has no right whatsoever, to force its undemocratic “democracy” on the rest of the world. I am 60 years old and I cannot remember a time when my people ever experienced true democracy. It is still the active policy of the U.S. government to use a wide variety of tactics to prevent poor people and people of color from voting. And when we do get to vote,our votes usually do not count. For the most part, there are no decent candidates to vote for, because the U.S, government is a “dollarocracy” where candidates have to beg and pander to the corporate rich in order to be elected.

I am 60 years old, and I have never in my life seen such widespread violence and cruelty. The U.S. government has more people in prison than any other country in the world, and it is now actively involved in creating prisons all over the world. Abu Gharib is only the tip of the iceberg. People all over the world are being imprisoned in secret prisons, with no formal charges being made against them. They are imprisoned under the most inhumane conditions, and detained for indeterminate periods of time, with no rights, no trials, and no justice whatsoever. In short, the leaders of this country are war criminals. All the U.S. government has to do is call them terrorists or extremists, enemy combatants or whatever and they can do anything they want to these people. I live in Cuba, and the Cuban people watch horrified, as the U.S. Army illegally occupies their land in Guantanamo and commits unspeakable acts of torture on their soil, in the name of “freedom.” The U.S. government not only destroys the lives of people around the world, many mothers have cried because many of our young people have had their lives destroyed as well. I believe that this earth was meant for tenderness and not terror. The imperialist countries not only implement terrorist policies in the Third World, their actions also provoke terrorist activities and internal disputes between people. I believe that when Western governments learn to respect the sovereignty of Third world governments, and to offer solidarity and support rather that imperialist policies and exploitation, most of the world’s problems will be close to being solved.

Inside the belly of the beast, conditions are also disastrous. Most of the victims of Katrina are still waiting for decent housing and public services. Schools and hospitals around the country are either deteriorating or closing down. Around the country social programs to help poor and working people are mostly a thing of the past. Our young people are being marginalized, criminalized and brutalized. It is often an act of courage to go to school, or simply drive down the street. The U.S. government’s occupation of Afghanistan has produced a record increase of heroin production, and the “war on drugs” continues to be a war on poor people and people of color. The police brutality in our communities is not a simple matter of randomly “bad” cops. This government is more repressive than ever and more and more of a police state. When you have a trigger happy president, a trigger happy vice-president, a trigger happy office of homeland security, you are bound to have an increase of trigger happy police and many of our young people are bound to end up dead or imprisoned. The social policies of the United States have deteriorated from so-called benign neglect to malignant hostility or indifference.

The role the press and the media have played in all this has been increasingly malignant. There is no such thing as a free press in the United States. Journalists receive big salaries for telling “official” lies. The media both knowingly and naively became the vehicle for misinforming the people of the United States and convincing the people that it was “necessary” to go to war. Their “reporting” was based on outright lies. Now they “embedded” in the military, continuing to misinform the people, and distort the truth.

I am 60 years old and I am proud to be one of those people who stood up against the ruthless, evil, imperialist policies of the U.S. government. In my lifetime I have opposed the war against the Vietnamese people, the illegal contras – war in Nicaragua, the illegal coup in Chile, the invasion of Haiti and of Grenada, and every other illegal, immoral and genocidal war the U.S. government has ever waged. I have never been a criminal and I never will be one. I am 60 years old and in spite of government repression, in spite of the media’s lies and distortions, in spite of the U.S, government’s COINTELPRO Program to criminalize and demonize political opponents, I feel proud to count myself as someone who believes in peace and believes in freedom. I am proud to have been a member of the Black Panther Party although the U.S. government continues try to distort history and continues to persecute ex-members of the Black Panther Party. Just recently, the U.S. government has indicted and arrested 8 ex-Black Panthers in a case that was dismissed 30 years ago. The case was dismissed some 30 years ago when it became obvious that the most vicious forms of extreme torture were used to extract false confessions from some of the so-called defendants.

I am 60 years and it is doubtful that I will ever live to see my people free of oppression and repression. But I am totally convinced that our collective dream of freedom will some day be realized. I sincerely implore young people to develop their minds, to develop their skills, to expand their states of consciousness, and sharpen their abilities to analyze reality. Those Africans who conspired with the European slave trade to sell us into slavery were seduced by trinkets. I hope and pray that our young people will not continue to fall into the same traps. I have always loved my people and always loved our culture. The culture of my people has always been rich and always been filled with the seeds of resistance. I hope that young people hold fast to that tradition. I sincerely hope that all young people will have the courage and the wisdom to hold on tight to their humanity and their historical mission. Most people in the Americas, were either indigenous people whose ancestors were victims of genocide, or brought to this hemisphere as slaves, or came to this continent seeking freedom. I believe that it is our collective duty to make freedom a reality. I truly believe that it is possible to end oppression and repression on this planet. If we all see ourselves as citizens of this planet, and citizens of the world, it will be easier for us to save this planet and recognize the human rights of human beings around the world.

Much love, Much Solidarity,
May we all make freedom a reality,

Assata Shakur

July 2007

On the morning of January 23, 2006 a task force operation of local San Francisco police officers and U.S. government authorities desperately continued to uphold the legacy of Cointelrpo by kidnapping and arresting community elders: Hank Jones, Harold Taylor, Jalil Mutaquim, Richard Brown, Francisco Torres, Herman Bell, Ray Boudreaux, and Ronald Bridgeforth.

This case starts In 1973 when thirteen New Afrikan freedom fighters were arrested in New Orleans in connection to a 1971 shooting of a San Francisco police officer. With no evidence linking these men, charges were filed and the police in coordination with the FBI brutally beat and torture their captives in an attempt to get confessions. As captured in the film “A Legacy of Torture: The War Against the Black Liberation Movement”, both John Bowman and Harold Taylor give first hand, horrifying accounts of how San Francisco and New Orleans Police terrorized them by using such inhumane acts as sticking electric probes to their genitals and severely beatings them while blindfolded. With out being told what they were being tortured for, San Francisco Police Inspectors Frank McCoy and Ed Erdlatz interrogated many of these individuals for hours. The San Francisco officers would then leave the room, so New Orleans police could physically beat and torture them. This process continued for days trying to force the detainees to agree to the inconsistent testimony Rueben Scott, also a torture victim, who decided to confess to the crime to stop the beatings (he later recanted his confession and has since given several different inconsistent versions of what he says happened). Later a judge dismissed the entire case based on the documented incidents of torture.

Decades removed from the New Orleans incident, several of these former Panthers were mistreated again in 2003 and 2005. The very same San Francisco Police Officers McCoy and Erdelatz, where deputized by the authorities to interrogate several of these brothers once again. This time the aforementioned comrades and others were subpoenaed to appear in front of grand juries to lie and snitch on many of their peers. Many refused to cooperate and were cited for contempt, spending weeks and months in jail.

Some of these freedom fighters founded the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR). Our elders have been using this formation to protect themselves from the government’s continued attacks on their lives and the mainstream media’s continued spread of false information on their cases.These assaulted members of the Black Power Movement, are a living, breathing example of the contemporary terrorism being waged on the Black Community. The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement is asking all people to counter the miss information being spread to the public. For torture to end, the people must stand up, spread the truth and not let our heroes be imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. The police continue to not be held accountable for their acts of murder against the New Afrikan Community, from Fred Hampton Sr. to the killing of Sean Bell. Support our Freedom Fighters. They are not just proud black history, they are modern day political prisoners. Fight for our Heroes.

Free the Land!!!!