The agricultural and industrial strength that laid the foundation for U.S. economic power exists because of the blood, sweat and tears of the Afrikans who were enslaved.   Enslaved Africans literally built Wall Street, the very wall from which Wall Street gets its name, were Africans were bought and sold.  The sale of our Black bodies enriched the early traders and bankers. Now, everyday Wall Street bankers desecrate our ancestor’s graves and dishonor their work by trading this blood money on top of an African burial ground!

New Afrikans’ incredible contributions to the strength of the U.S. capitalist economy are continuously unacknowledged and devalued.  From numerous inventions to forms of art, the history books remain silent about our contribution to this country’s wealth. We demand reparations that honor the immeasurable value of our work!

There is a direct link between corporate profit and New Afrikan suffering.  While New Afrikan people suffer under the stress of under-resourced communities, high unemployment and high imprisonment rates, our people are kicked out of our homes, off our land, and lose small businesses. Meanwhile private and public prisons benefit off of our cheap labor to earn billions of dollars a year and media moguls make billions of dollars a year on the sexual degradation of our people and the glorification of violence in our communities.  As a result of these and other racist policies and practices, the official unemployment rate for New Afrikans in some states is higher than 34% and the wealth gap between white and New Afrikan households has grown even wider in the wake of the mass scale thievery orchestrated by Wall Street. We will continue to fight back against our economic oppression! 

We will continue our struggle for collective self-determination, human rights, and reparations!  We do not expect the powers that be to willingly change systems of exploitation that benefit the top 1% and are resolved to build our own alternatives. 

We stand in solidarity with occupy wall street’s outcry for economic justice because it speaks to the realities of Afrikan people in the U.S. and around the world, and our members are in the streets, in solidarity, from New York to the S.F. Bay Area, Atlanta to Dallas and in D.C. and Philadelphia.

The execution of Troy Davis, a New Afrikan man from the state of Georgia caused an international outcry for justice. The execution, i.e. state lynching, left many of our people in a state of shock, dismay, and anger. With so much doubt around the validity of the verdict, many of us are left trying to understand how or why the state could still decide to put Troy Davis to death.  How could they be so blatantly unconcerned with justice and so quick to take life of a Black man?

The answer to that question is written in our history here in America.  Let this serve as a teaching moment for our people.

It is clear that we, New Afrikan people (of African descent) live in a society whose political and economic structures have been built and maintained around the exploitation of our labor, the destabilization of our communities, and the marginalization of all independent thought. Although slavery formally ended many years ago, the deadly and exploitative relationships between our people and this Empire are still intact. The historic and current exploitation of our labor, from slavery to mass incarceration continues to rob us of our dignity, our ability to live freely, and in many cases live at all!

We see the execution, or rather the state murder, of Troy Davis as a direct link to the accepted and calculated killings of our people by institutions of The United States, including corporations who benefit the most from our exploitation.   Our tax dollars are what pays for the murders of Troy Davis, the housing of inmates, death row, and all of what we refer to as the Prison Industrial Complex.

Troy Davis is not an isolated incident of injustice but just the latest individual incident that has captured our attention. We have to think outside the box of accepted political discourse and find long term answers to our problem. Our problem is not only with the prison industrial complex, the market economy and the political system but also with America as a whole and how it uses these systems to control our lives, limit our resources and diminish our capacity to live as free human beings.

That is the lesson of Troy Davis and the lesson of our history in America: the only way that we can survive is for us to organize and win self-determination, so that our destiny and our lives can be in our own hands, and not in the hands of those who oppress us.

The New Southern Strategy – The Politics of Self-Determination in the South – a discrete public journal – Entry 1

Many people I know expressed surprise at me moving to Jackson Ms., being from Brooklyn (back when it was the BK- but that is another story). The surprise is even more startling for Jackson folks under 30 who with amazement in their eyes ask WHY WOULD YOU LEAVE NEW YORK? Part of the answer is that I have committed myself to the fulfillment of certain ideas. So my career is the politics of black self-determination. It does not pay well by any means; you can’t always get the most qualified people to fulfill certain positions and the hours suck; but over 20 years ago I was bitten by the bug of revolutionary black politics. Those politics have cost me financially and sanity wise, but at the same time they have led me on a life mission, some great comrades and the love of my life. So on balance I still feel as if I am coming out ahead, however back to Jackson, Ms.

I would like to believe that as a committed organizer that the work I do has a larger purpose. That it is coordinated in such a way to gain results that are tangible and that build towards greater community control of the social, economic and political institutions over them. I came to Jackson, Ms with such ideas in mind. The thinking is that the city of Jackson due to its size, demographic makeup and history could be a great place to re-test ideas both historic and current in the struggle for black self-determination.

It is way too early to suggest success; however my first twelve weeks in Jackson is a good guide to early satisfaction with the actual move. I have done more multilayered organizing here than I have in the last 5 years in either New York or Atlanta. I have met and worked with various groups and individuals from people in community civic leagues, church groups, home associations, electoral candidates, cops, preachers, politicians, farmer groups, civil rights workers, and international allies, but relatively few of the pro-black militants or overt left radicals that I have worked with most of my organizing life. Obviously most of these folks don’t necessarily share the full range of my politics but we have enough in common to work on various initiatives which can lead to progressive/radical changes in Jackson. My debates have been substantive and have led to action as opposed to conversations that only ignite plans without success because of follow thru abilities, desire, finances, scale, or scope. I have worked on achieving economic development, international solidarity, electoral strategies, and food justice issues.

More specifically we have already established the largest community garden/farm in Jackson (over 5 acres). A campaign for policy changes on healthy food is in the works. We have supported the successful election of the first Black Sheriff in Hinds County Mississippi (Hinds was incorporated in 1820) which encompasses Jackson and is over 70% black. This is a victory coming on the heels of electing Chokwe Lumumba (an MXGM founder) to the city council two years ago. We are now beginning work on a second city-council race and looking into buying property as a center and we have purchased our fist property for economic development purposes.

The overt work of struggling for self-determination in the south predates me by a few hundred years; however 40 years ago the groundwork was laid for a modern struggle that recognized the south as a battleground in an ideological and at times physical battle for self determination. In 1968 the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika (RNA) was formed and later in the 1980s the New Afrikan Peoples Organization (NAPO) provided a revolutionary nationalist position for organizing in the South where the majority of black people still live today. People have changed their lives, uprooted their families and died for attempting to convince black people that the south could be more than just a place of oppression but it could also be a place of rejuvenation and control.

Two years ago a new phase of this struggle began. Momentum has been built over that time when we got directly involved in the previously mentioned electoral candidacy of Chokwe Lumumba for City Council. We made several other attempts in nearby cities to do similar work but the time seemed overtly right this time when several months prior the US electorate, partly due to an economic meltdown, open-ended wars abroad and the changing demographics of the U.S. population, voted in a moderate Black democrat as its President, who at the time for many appeared to represent much more.

The southern black population is similarly dominated by local moderate black democratic officials. As the black power movements of the 60’s and 70’s retreated under immense attack by local and national US government forces. The void was filled by “safe” politicians who did not do much to upset the economic balance of power that favored white power brokers and embraced moderate Democratic Party rhetoric on governing. In essence making places like Jackson Ms, a post apartheid South Africa, plenty of electoral power never translated into actual political power, a black petty-bourgeoisie happy to live off the scraps of the minority white capitalist class that calls the shots.

It is in this context that MXGM saw an opening to support the candidacy of Lumumba. For the black political class the needs of the community take a back seat to their own individual career paths. With no commitment to anything, beyond getting elected these officials don’t bring any overarching principles to city-government beyond the principle of careerism. This gave us the opportunity to respond with a candidate who could highlight real choices. In no other place except the South could we play on a city wide basis, where over 50% of the U.S. black population still lives and where in major cities in the South blacks still represent over 50% of the electorate. It is here where we can highlight the politics of self-determination versus the politics of careerism and moderation.

We have also borrowed from our friends in places like Venezuela with the concept of Peoples’ Assemblies. Organizing the community into specific blocks for a more direct democracy that begins to set the agenda for what candidates that are elected should be fighting for as opposed to just hearing what candidates say they are going to do. This work must be done in an intentional way, one that involves planning for what the city/community should look like and how it should be governed. Even if candidates don’t overtly share our politics they are responsive to them for the first time. In addition the Peoples’ Assembly is a larger base where policy thru community organizing can be achieved. We are developing Assemblies for each of the seven wards in Jackson and by the beginning of 2012 we should be supporting the start of two additional Assemblies in Jackson.

On the challenging side the politicizing of young people will take a while. The ideas of politics being outside of mainstream discussions is now a foreign concept to many young people. The idea that life chances are all about personnel responsibility now once again dominate discourse and that will change only through more victories. In addition despite my needed respite from only working with “professional” organizers the need to expand what we have is great if we are to keep the momentum going. As Lenin and others have pointed out the vanguard party cannot easily be discarded when thinking through strategy and planning.

We hope to facilitate several mechanisms for people close to us to move to Jackson through some of our economic development plans but that is a few years away. Unlike the past where activist would move based on what were the strategic needs of a movement they were a part of, today’s organizer is less likely to make such a move unless it’s tied to the adventure of an international struggle or a semi-natural disaster. We don’t want to overwhelm Jackson with transplants but I believe with ten more trained organizers steep in the politics of self-determination we could test our theories that much faster. My goal and hope is that within two years this work will produce real results in making Jackson a capital of black progressive change and positioning the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement as a leading community force that even if not liked by all will certainly be recognized as one to reckon with.

http://kamaufranklin.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/the-new-southern-strategy-%e2%80%93-the-politics-of-self-determination-in-the-south-%e2%80%93-a-discrete-public-journal-%e2%80%93-entry-1/

 This attack by NYPD is not new and is becoming a more recognizable part of NYPD’s identity. Communities of color continue to fall victim to police misconduct and illegal policing tactics. 

 According to the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union]: In 2010 alone, NYPD officers made over half a million stops, 85 percent of which targeted people of color. The reason given by NYPD for what are called “stop-and-frisk” activities were guns. In all of these cases, however, less than 0.2 percent of “stop-and-frisk” resulted in guns being found.

 According to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund: Blacks and Latinos represent over 90% of all citywide trespass arrests on NYCHA [New York City Housing Authority] property although we make up only 54% of the New York City population.

 The presence of police in NYC public schools adds to this dynamic as thousands of children of color are forced to learn under the threatening presence of the very institution that will more than likely “stop-and-frisk” them.

 The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement stands with the Monumental 5 in calling for a city-wide community response. We are calling on community members to adopt a culture of observation with the NYPD. Collectively, we also suggest the following community action steps:

 1. Join the movement to demand that all charges against the Monumental 5 be dropped AND that the officers responsible for these attacks be brought to justice.

 2. Get trained in Cop Watch and Know Your Rights programs. The People’s Justice Coalition will host a session for volunteers on Thursday, July 14 from 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm at the Center for Constitutional Rights located at 666 Broadway (on the 6th Floor) in New York City. More information can be found at www.peoplesjustice.org.

 3. Attend all the upcoming court dates of the Monumental 5. A court date should not go by where they are in the court room alone.

 4. Attend the upcoming town hall meeting (to be convened in the immediate future) to discuss what happened at Tammany Hall on June 28 and to discuss the increased harassment on communities of color by NYPD. There, people will be educated on how to monitor NYPD toward getting them to develop a system of accountability. Information will be posted at www.monumental5.bucktownusa.com

 We will not continue to be victims of police misconduct! We will continue to organize for real police accountability.

Lumumba Bandele

Member, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement

www.MXGM.org

www.Monumental5.BucktownUSA.com

MONUMENTAL 5 BACKGROUND INFORMATION

 The Monumental 5 are Louis Pena, Gabriel Diaz, Cynthia Rosa, James W. Ayala, and Jade Everett

 Kenneth Montgomery, attorney for the Monumental 5, explains that friends and family gathered to celebrate the album release of Monumental, the collaborative album of Pete Rock and Smif N Wessun (the rap duo of General Steele and Tek). The sold-out event, held at Tammany Hall in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, was peaceful on the inside and outside. Earlier in the evening some guests wanted to enter Tammany Hall but were turned away by the club’s management and security. A minor argument ensued but was peacefully settled by the club’s bouncers. Thirty minutes later, approximately 15 – 20 uniformed New York City police officers from the 7th precinct arrived. There were no incidents, disturbances, nor any cause for alarm. They left quickly and joined their fellow officers in the exit area of the venue. Upon joining their fellow officers, the officers who had just left the venue began to put on black leather gloves. Simultaneously, more uniformed officers arrived and exited their vehicles.

 Montgomery also indicated that “The officers then hurried into the club and began macing and assaulting individuals inside the club, dragging one of them out and pummeling him directly in front of the club. Present at the event were artists, industry tastemakers, fans, photographers, and camera men. Several people began filming and recording the unprovoked brutality … The officers then began to mace and assault anyone within arm’s length, including several women. Their behavior was unjustified, unprovoked, and simply barbaric considering there was no provocation. Pete Rock, Tek, and Steele, fortunately were not harmed. Some of their friends and family members, however, were assaulted by the police.”

 Shara McHayle, an entertainment industry professional (who is also the wife of Pete Rock) added: “We all left the venue to be greeted outside by a sea of NYPD gloved up and very aggressive. As we began to move, we all witnessed the most brutal beating of a party patron. He was on the floor surrounded by 10 police officers with sticks out, beating him. In shock, we must have not moved quickly enough to the officers’ liking and they shouted “Move the F*** Back” and then shoved me and my daughter down to the ground. Now we were surrounded by 3 cops and 1 pinning us down. My daughter shouted “Get off my mother” and then she was handcuffed and arrested.”

 McHayle’s daughter, Jade Everett, was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct. While in police custody Ms. Everett and her friend Cynthia Rosa began their menstruation cycles yet were refused feminine hygiene products for more than a day, adding to the inhumane conditions the young women were made to endure.

STATUS

Over the July 4^th holiday weekend, Attorney Montgomery affirmed the following: “All defendants except for Mr. Ayala were charged with rioting, obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest, and assault on a police officer. Mr. Ayala was charged with obstructing governmental administration. After initially requesting substantial bail for Mr. Pena and Mr. Diaz, the Manhattan district attorney’s office consented to their release after reviewing some video footage with the defense. All defendants were released and the case was adjourned to September 27, 2011, for grand jury action. All defendants have advised the government that they intend to testify in the grand jury, when and if an indictment is sought. The Manhattan district attorney advised the court that they will continue to investigate. The defense is scheduled to meet with internal affairs investigators next week to review video footage.”

 Website: www.Monumental5.BucktownUSA.com

Video Footage: http://bit.ly/Monumental5 [or] http://bit.ly/Monumental5Press01

Media Inquiries: 718.756.8501 or pr@akilaworksongs.com

The New Afrikan Peoples Organization and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement salute the life of our brother and comrade Geronimo ji Jaga. The life of Geronimo, or “G” as he was affectionately known, represents a freedom fighter that sacrificed and loved Afrikan people and humanity.

Geronimo was given the name Elmer Gerard Pratt at birth on September 13, 1947, in Morgan City, Louisiana. He was born into a loving family that would nurture him and provide support throughout his life. He grew up in a community where he and other youth had to fight white supremacists from the “other side of the tracks.”

Geronimo said he was encouraged to go into the US military by his community Elders, who had roots in Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association and the Deacons for Defense. His objective was to learn military skills to be utilized for the defense of our community and our people. “G” was a decorated soldier in the wrong army, earning two Bronze Stars, a Silver Star and two Purple Hearts. He distinguished himself as a Sergeant and Ranger in the 82nd Airborne of the US Army.

His Elders would redeploy him, after returning from two Vietnam combat tours, to the greater Los Angeles area. There he would work with Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter, the principal organizer of the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP). Carter and Geronimo both became students at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). They participated in the Black student movement and the formation of the Black Studies department at UCLA. Geronimo rose to leadership of the Southern California Chapter and National BPP after Carter and John Huggins were murdered in a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) COINTELPRO inspired internecine conflict between the US Organization and Panthers on the UCLA campus, in September 1969. He quickly became a primary target to be eliminated by the FBI and Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) due to his organizing ability, military skills, and the popularity of his comrades.

December 8, 1969, four days after Fred Hampton and Mark Clark was assassinated in a pre-dawn raid in Chicago, Illinois; the LAPD launched a military strike in South Central LA with Geronimo as its principal focus. This raid was the first time that the infamous Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit would be deployed in the United States. The LA Panthers, comprised mostly of teenagers and young adults, engaged in a four hour long gun battle, which can be attributed to the fortification, preparation and training provided by Geronimo.

Since so many Panthers were arrested and/or killed during 1969, Geronimo decided to concentrate on building the BPP’s capacity to defend itself around the US Empire. He also collaborated and served as a consultant to other defense formations nationally and internationally. He assisted in establishing the groundwork for what would later be known as the Black or Afro-American Liberation Army, the underground of the Black Liberation Movement.

Geronimo and other comrades were arrested in Dallas, Texas in December 1970. The impact of their ideological differences, coupled with the FBI’s “divide and conquer” tactics, resulted in the BPP Oakland- based national leadership expelling Geronimo. This was the precipitating event that led to the organizational split of the BPP in 1971.

Lacking support from his organization, Geronimo was convicted in and sentenced in September 1972 for the December 18, 1968 murder and robbery of Caroline Olsen in Santa Monica, California. Geronimo steadfastly maintained his innocence, stating he was over 400 miles away from Santa Monica in Oakland, California for a BBP Central Committee meeting at the home of David Hilliard. Also among those present at that meeting was Kathleen Cleaver. MS. Cleaver testified, along with many other alibi witnesses, at the trial of Geronimo.

Government agencies, primarily the FBI, had surveillance records of Geronimo at this time. These records would prove that G was in San Francisco Bay Area from December 13, 1968 to at least December 26, 1968.

The FBI, LAPD and LA County District of Attorney’s office conspired to convict Geronimo based on the false testimony of a Paid Confidential Informant – Julius Butler, infiltrating his legal defense team, and concealing/withholding crucial evidence that would later exonerate him.

During 1971, while Geronimo was in captivity, his first wife and comrade in the revolutionary nationalist underground, Sandra Pratt (aka Nsondi ji Jaga) was murdered while eight months pregnant and left in a ditch. Her murder was considered a political assassination.

Geronimo was held captive for twenty-seven years in the State of California Penal system for a murder he did not commit. His first seven years of his captivity were in solitary confinement in an attempt to stifle his ability to organize. Geronimo remained active in his legal defense, and managed to politicize and organize other prisoners while behind bars. He maintained that he was a “Prisoner of War” because he had been targeted for organizing and instructing New Afrikan people in self-defense.

Geronimo declared his citizenship of the New Afrikan nation while incarcerated. He strongly believed that our people would choose to vote to establish an independent New Afrikan Republic, if given the opportunity. He was a strong advocate of organizing a plebiscite – an election for us to determine our relationship with the US Empire.

He choose the last name “ji Jaga” while incarcerated. “ji Jaga” is Bantu for “of the Jaga people.” The Jaga or Imbangala people of West Central Afrika formed “kilombos” or warrior societies after being dispersed from a variety of Afrikan ethnics during the period of the MAAFA (or Great Disaster) and the height of the Middle Passage.

While in prison, Geronimo met and married Ashaki ji Jaga. Two children were born from this union, a daughter Shona and eldest son Hiroji Geronimo. They also shared a beautiful granddaughter, Ashaki.

In the late 1970s, the National Task Force for COINTELPRO Litigation and Research, under the leadership of Dr. Mutulu Shakur and Afeni Shakur developed the legal strategy that would ultimately lead to the vacating of the wrongful murder conviction of Geronimo. The National Task Force believed that by invoking the Freedom of Information Act, the FBI would be forced to release confidential surveillance documents that would corroborate Geronimo’s alibi, proving that he was actually in Oakland at the time of Olsen’s murder. The National Task Force obtained attorneys, specifically Stuart Hanlon, to assist with Geronimo’s case. The original murder trial attorney, Johnnie Cochran, rejoined the legal team following the notoriety he received in the acquittal of O.J. Simpson. The international and national support Geronimo’s case received was essential in exposing the conspiracy against him, the BPP, and the Black Liberation Movement.

Victoriously, Geronimo was eventually released in 1997. The United States government and the County of Los Angeles were forced to pay a $4.5 million settlement for the premeditated calculated conspiracy against him.

Both NAPO and MXGM were central organizers of the national and international campaign to win the release of our brother comrade. We also played a role in organizing mass support, providing emotional support for the family, and performing fundraisers for Geronimo’s freedom in the Los Angeles area and throughout California. NAPO and MXGM also provided the coordination of his national victory tour following his release.

Geronimo did not stop working for his people after he was freed. He continued to offer his good name for the cause of amnesty for our Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War. He worked and provided financial support to activities for the development of neighborhood youth in his hometown of Morgan City. “G” also committed himself to putting the ideology of Pan-Afrikanism into practice. He supported economic development and educational projects in Ghanaian and Tanzanian local villages.

Geronimo married Joju Cleaver after his release. Their union produced a son, Kayode. He later married Laila Minja in Tanzania and who gave birth to his youngest son, Tkumsah.

“G” described himself as a “country boy.” He loved nature – to hunt and fish. He considered himself at home whether in rural Louisiana or with Afrikan people in the plains of Tanzania. He was a spiritual person, who was inspired by his Ancestors and the concept of MAAT. He loved life, family, comrades and human beings in general. He was generous, passionate and a humorous brother who would roll up his sleeves and do the necessary work for the betterment of Afrikan people worldwide.

Geronimo made transition to the Ancestors on June 2, 2011. We are proud to call him our Brother Comrade. “G” was one of the most humble, straightforward and self-sacrificing servants of our people. He is a New Afrikan, Pan-Afrikan and international hero. His name will live on forever in the great pantheon of freedom fighters for our liberation and self-determination.

The Youth movement in Egypt has been defined as a revolution, but to me it resembles more of an uprising against tyranny. This historical uprising in many respects reminds me of the type of Black youth uprising that occurred in the United States against the tyranny of Jim Crow segregation. Although the civil rights movement is often referred to as a Black bourgeoisie revolution challenging segregation laws and policy, it was not until Kwame Toure (formerly Stokely Carmicheal) of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), announced that the struggle is for “Black Power”, that the civil rights movement evolved into a Black liberation struggle for young people. As a result of the growing militancy of Black youth, the federal government under the auspices of the FBI-Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO) began to violently suppress the growing militant youth movement. That movement was mostly represented by the Black Panther Party, which became the principle target of the FBI Cointelpro activities, actions that included framing members for imprisonment, running them into exile and assassination.

The Black Panther movement evolved out of the political struggles of the civil rights movement to further demand control of the socio-economic and political institutions controlling the oppressed Black community in the United States.

To date, the youth uprising in Egypt resembles more the democratic demands of the civil rights movement under the leadership of Dr. Martin L. King, Jr., and the united front operations of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Urban League, Congress for Racial Equality, National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples, and Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, each of which had specific responsibilities in coordinating the civil rights movement.  The Egyptian youth movement has yet to evolve into a coordinated leadership of a united front, and because of this weakness the uprising is being defined and motivated as no more than a struggle for regime change.

The ideals of demanding democratic freedoms are laudable, but whether prospects of true democracy will manifest depends on more than simply open elections. This is especially true when the U.S. government continues to sponsor the government, especially the military, which now controls the government. Therefore, any electoral process will result in the selection of a neo-colonial representative of U.S. interests in the region. Hence, the Egyptian youth uprising will result in regime change, cosmetic change in government operations and a nominal redistribution of some of the wealth to address the most pressing issues of poverty to appease unemployed youth. In other words, the face of the regime might change but fundamentally oppressive structures will remain intact.

Very similarly, the civil rights movement in the United States initially created conditions for a more representative government, that has lead to the election of the first Black president. Obviously, the U.S. civil rights movement failed to change the fundamental conditions of oppressed peoples’ of color in the United States. This is especially significant when considering the economic disparity between blacks and whites. The disparities that existed between blacks and whites during the civil rights movement has been exacerbated by the realignment of wealth continuing to be accumulated by 1% of the American population. The rich are getting richer and the poor are growing in numbers. Ultimately, this means there needs to be a fundamental change in the capitalist system, a system that is being emulated in Egypt especially through the military’s control of the major industries in Egypt, a military that the U.S. government supports with over a billion dollars in subsidies and payments. The ouster of Hosni Mubarak will not end the military’s control of the wealth of the nation nor ensure a clear severance of this insidious relationship between the U.S. and the Egyptian military, the true rulers of the nation.

Given this reality, a good look at what is happening in Egypt can be characterized as a bourgeoisie democratic movement inspired by Egypt’s youth. Although the middle class,  as unrepresentative as they may be of the Egyptian population, is supportive of the youth seeking regime change, there is no call for ending the military control over industries, a radical redistribution of wealth or a change in the geo-political allegiance towards the United States and Israel. Hence, what is happening in Egypt cannot be characterized as a revolution.

What is the potential for revolution? Indeed, if the youth uprising post Mubarak’s ouster decides to align itself with those who want to end the U.S. neo-colonial relationship with the Egyptian government, to control the means of production, and strengthen support for the independence of Palestine, forging a united front similar to what existed in the United States during the civil rights movement, revolution is possible. Naturally, just as happened in the United States, such a development will expect to confront the full force of the government police and military to suppress the movement as was done in the United States. Therefore, it can only be hoped that the youth uprising in Egypt, builds a popular mass movement that will not be satisfied with regime change. Just as disenfranchised youth in the US cannot be satisfied merely with the election of a Black president.

In closing, permit me to say I am inspired by the youth of Egypt, Tunisia, Palestine, the struggle is hard and arduous, but from generation to generation our victory is certain. Rise-up young people, the future is calling you!

Article originally posted in the San Francisco Bay View: National Black Newspapaer www.sfbayview.com

To learn more about Jalil A. Muntaqim please check his website www.freejalil.com

Egyptian anti-Mubarak protesters dance and sing under an anti-Mubarak banner in Tahrir square in Cairo. Courtesy Of The Associated Press, Sat Feb 5, 4:38 AM ET

The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) stands in solidarity with the revolutionary spirit and action that has swept North Africa, particularly in Tunisia and Egypt, and similar uprisings in Algeria, Jordan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.  In line with the demands of the Egyptian people MXGM calls on Hosni Mubarak to step down from the Presidency immediately, for an end to neo-colonial and neo-liberal regimes propped up by US imperialism in the region, for self determination expressed through the creation of a people’s government with transparent and participatory processes and procedures (with the relevant changes to the constitution to institutionalize these reforms), the observance of human rights for all the peoples and communities living in Egypt, the end of torture and state repression, and the release of all political prisoners in Egypt.

The critical uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt represent a critical reawakening of the African and Arab revolutionary movements and processes.  As both an extension of and ally to these revolutionary movements and processes, MXGM will do everything within its power to help their advance as a critical next step in the liberation of African, Arab, and all oppressed and exploited peoples.  We call on all those who desire to see Africa and Southwest Asia (i.e. the Middle East) free from the US, European, Zionist, and neo-colonial domination to stand with the peoples of Tunisia and Egypt, and join us in our solidarity initiatives.

Peace

Solidarity Statement From MXGM

The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) takes a yearly journey in August outside the US empire as part of our Black August experience to engage with other organizers and activist of Afrikan descent. This year’s delegation was to Haiti and was one of the most important and urgent journeys we have taken.  This impoverished Afrikan nation in the Caribbean is rebuilding once again. Little more than seven months after a devastating earthquake killed over 200,000 Haitians the resiliency of the people is a marvel. Through graffiti writing the people express themselves in various ways about their post-earthquake circumstances and their distrust for their government, their elite, the UN occupation and the non-governmental organizations (ngo’s), most of which have become parasites on the Haitian body. On the walls of the crumbling National Palace statements like “Aba Ministra” down with the U.N occupation, “Aba Preval “down with Preval (the current President), to calls for Aristides return, speak volumes about the daily struggle to survive and a continued heightened political consciousness and concern about fighting for a true peoples democracy.

Over the last 20 years this generation of Haitian people has had to deal not only with the devastating effects of this earthquake, but with the continued battles to establish a popular democracy that represents the interest of the vast majority of the Haitian people. After the fall of the brutal US backed father – son Duvalier regime through the efforts of a mobilized populace. The Haitian masses have had to continue to fight their own Kreyòl, elite, for a time the U.S. propped up military and right wing militias responsible for killing thousands of pro-democracy activist and poor who created the popular organizations that battled to elect Jean Bertrand Aristide twice. After those victories the people have had their hopes dashed in two coup d’état orchestrated by Haitian elite and the US, Canadian, French and Dominican Republic government to depose Aristide and remove him from the country and the banning of the Fanmi Lavalas party from participating in Haiti elections. Lavalas is the political party of the majority of Haitian people and as Haitian human rights lawyer Mario Joseph put it “Lavalas could put up a ham sandwich in an election and win against all other parties and candidates in Haiti and everyone knows it.”

In addition the last twenty years have seen the US lead the way in making the Haitian economy bleed for supporting the wrong candidate. Imposing a Cuban style embargo on important aid and battering through structural adjustments programs via the International Monetary Fund and World Bank that destroyed state controlled aspects of the economy that supplied jobs and revenue for the Haitian government to build schools and provide some resources. What replaced sold off state properties that were then closed down or protected Haitian agricultural industries that were forced to open their markets — US cheap imports (Including in 1982 the eradication of Haitian pigs based on the demand of the US government, to be replaced with US pigs, who are smaller and die quicker because they are not conditioned to Haiti’s terrain.) Tax free cheap labor zones were set up providing “jobs” for needy Haitians leaving them even more in need after receiving a pay check that is too low to feed ones-self on. What was left of a Haitian economy has been replaced by foreign ngo’s that have no accountability to the government or people of Haiti, only to their sponsors and fundraising drives delivered off the back of the poor masses.

Haitians also have to deal with an occupation by United Nation forces, which shoot up places like City Soleil for being aligned with Aristide and Fanmi Lavalas while at the same time the so-called peace force of the U.N. nor the Haitian national Police can seem to find, arrest or take weapons away from former coup leaders who have been allowed to return to Haiti. People like Guy Phillipe, a top coup conspirator and murderer of Haitian people with strong CIA connections. Phillipe freely roams around without any interference from so-called UN peace-keepers giving interviews about his intent to run for president (As compared to Wyclef, he at least lives in Haiti.)

This is enough to wear any people out. However the Haitian people are in a literal life and death struggle for control of resources, aid and keeping the idea of a popular working democracy going. The popular organizations and the Haitian masses are recovering and assisting their people by creating and recreating indigenous community groups to support the people.  As part of the delegation trip we visited camps where Haitian people live in the thousands sometimes hundreds of thousands. Many of these places have only been visited once or twice by the UN or other so-called aid groups seven months after the earthquake. Literally billions of dollars have been collected or pledged, but the vast majority of the monies have not reached the Haitian people. Instead the Haitian people have self-organized to provide some protection against violence and rape, sought out resources for the hungry and created makeshift schools for the young. The popular organizations have worked to rebuild schools and colleges, women’s groups, micro-lending organizations, organizations dedicated to freeing Haitian political prisoners and aid sites that provide mental health and other material services and more. The people of Haiti cry out that the government has not been accountable and the Haitian elite of course never was so into this breech steps in indigenous groups as the Institute for Justice and Democracy, the Aristide Foundation, the September 30^th and others.

Amongst popular organizations there is a call to allow the people to recover before new elections are held. To delay the upcoming elections to allow for full participation from the Haiti people and Haitian political parties, instead of the cynical US and Haitian elite backed process that is moving forward requiring ids to vote, knowing full well many people lost almost everything after the earthquake including of course ids. These popular organizations with the solidarity of international groups have continued to support accountable aid efforts a just electoral process justice and human rights for the Haitian people, even through this catastrophic process.

The Black August delegation, a representation of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement expresses full support for the demands of the Haitian people. Our delegation was named for a fallen comrade Javad Jahi who as a member of MXGM dedicated himself to solidarity with the Haitian people. Our trip was built off of some of those relationships. As we support financial aid efforts sponsored by the Haiti Action Committee and Haiti Emergency Relief Fund that have direct ties to indigenous Haitian organizations we call for a new solidarity movement that will support the demands of the Haitian popular movements. Towards that end we have helped create the Haiti will Rise Again Coalition to fight against continued US foreign policy that seeks to protect interest of the Haiti elite, at the expense of the wishes of the people to have a true popular democracy.

COALITION POINTS OF UNITY

1. Be in Alliance with the Haiti Action Committee and the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund — www.haitisolidarity.net
2. Be a multi-national, multi-racial and multi-tendency alliance composed of various political, social, spiritual, and cultural organizations in the metro-Atlanta region committed to pressuring the US government, multi-lateral institutions (i.e. IMF, WB, WTO, Inter-American Bank, etc.), and
   trans-national corporations to comply with the principle demands of the progressive people’s movement in Haiti
3. Engage in organizing, mobilizing, resource generation, and educational activities that realize the demands of the Haitian people’s movement, this would include, but not be limited to, petitioning, lobbying, demonstrating, marching, direct action, and providing material aid

DEMANDS OF THE HAITIAN PEOPLE’S MOVEMENT

1. An immediate end to the United States and United Nations occupation of Haiti
2. The elimination of all IMF, World Bank, Inter-American Bank, US, and G20 debt and the structural adjustment and privatization programs required of these debts
3. The nationalization of all Haiti’s natural resources
4. Reparations and restitution from France and the United States for the forced indemnities, illegal blockades and occupations
5. Freedom for all political prisoners from the 2004 coup and its aftermath
6. Residency and amnesty for Haitian refugees
7. End the ban on the Fanmi Lavalas Party to ensure that there are legitimate “free and fair” elections
8. The immediate return of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide

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