Ward Churchill Speaks at Recreate 68 Rally, End the Occupations

Ward Churchill laying it down. Thanks to Tryworks for the link.

Your Playstation Has Real Blood On It

Your Playstation Has Real Blood On It

(raimd.wordpress.com)

There has been recent interest in the news lately on a report by the liberal activist group Toward Freedom around what has been dubbed the “Playstation War.” It describes how the demand for a key metal used in the Sony Playstation 2 video game console was a driving force in the ongoing wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Stories about the demand for this metal, called coltan, and the wars behind it in sub-Saharan Africa, are nothing new (1). What is new about this report is that it links one specific consumer product to this conflict.

The Playstation video game console, like others on the market, is solely used for leisure and entertainment. Priced for hundreds of dollars and purchased by consumers in Amerika and other First World nations, the Playstation is a byproduct of the leisure time and disposable income available to Amerikans. Along with the console itself there are thousands of video games that are made for it, along with fan magazines and websites. According to the Entertainment Software Association video game sales reached $9.5 billion in 2007, and tens of thousands of people are employed in this industry to meet consumer demands (2). The indirect economics in terms of research and development, sales, advertising, and marketing are also vast. Video games are just one byproduct of imperialist parasitism, and in the case of the Playstation it is a direct contributor to war and suffering.

Imperialism is a system based upon exploitation and war. The production cycle of the Playstation illustrates the rabid bloodshed and exploitation imperialism brings, and the parasitism that it feeds in the core imperialist nations.

The African World War and the Playstation

The conflict known as Africa’s World War has involved eight nations and over 25 militias. It has killed and displaced millions of people over a ten year period, and its effects still linger today. According to Toward Freedom, this war also became known as the Playstation War. They state:

“The name came about because of a black metallic ore called coltan. Extensive evidence shows that during the war hundreds of millions of dollars worth of coltan was stolen from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The UN and several NGOs claim some of the most active thieves were the Rwandan military, several militias supported by the Rwandan government, and also a number of western-based mining companies, metal brokers, and metal processors that had allegedly partnered with these Rwandan factions…. And while allegations of plundering coltan from a nation in desperate need of revenue seem bad enough, the UN also discovered that Rwandan troops and rebels were using prisoners-of-war and children to mine for the “black gold.”

“Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms,” said British politician Oona King, who was a Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2005.”(3).

Coltan is used to make the metal tantalum, which in turn is used to make capacitors for tiny electronic devices. Up to eighty percent of the world’s coltan reserves lie in the DRC (4). Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of this metal has been stolen from the DRC during this war in order to satisfy the growing demand for electronic items like cell phones, laptops, I-Pods, and video games.

The report links the demand for the Playstation in 2000 to a spike in the price of coltan. At the same time the Rwandan military and its allied militias forcefully took over land in DRC that had coltan mines. A United Nations investigation alleged Western mining companies:

“…directly and indirectly fueled the war, paralyzing the DRC government, and [used] the conflict to keep the coltan flowing cheaply out of the Congo. Some companies were also accused by the UN of aligning with elements of the warring parties.”

Toward Freedom further states:

“David Barouski, a researcher and journalist from Wisconsin, says it is certain that the coltan from this conflict is also in SONY video game consoles across the world. ‘Sony’s PlayStation 2 launch (spring of 2000) was a big part of the huge increase in demand for coltan that began in early 1999,’ said Barouski, who has witnessed the chaos of eastern DRC firsthand.”

Sony of course engages in plausible deniability, saying it cannot really know where everything it manufactures comes from. Really, gee whiz.

Congo’s Long History of Meddling Imperialists

The DRC has one of the lowest per capita incomes in the world, despite being so rich in mineral resources. The cause of this contradiction is its long history of being a victim of imperialist intervention. It has long been a site of theft, plunder, and murder by U.$. and Western imperialism. It was once known as the Belgian Congo, named after its former colonial strangler. It achieved independence from Belgium in 1961. Its first leader after independence was Patrice Lumumba, who described 80 years of colonial oppression as a “humiliating slavery which was imposed upon us by force” (5). Lumumba, a national leader too independent for U.$. imperial interests, became a victim of an assassination orchestrated by the CIA and Belgian intelligence shortly after he took power. He was replaced by a subservient kleptocracy led by Gen. Joseph Mobutu, head of the national army. Mobutu and his cronies went on to steal billions from the nation he renamed Zaire, while starving millions of its citizens. Mobutu also allowed the CIA free use of the country as a proxy to destabilize the rest of the region for U.$. interests against the USSR during the Cold War.

After the Cold War ended Mobutu was of no use to the imperialists, and was finally overthrown in 1997. His replacement also became a pawn of the imperialists. The nation, renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo, was led by president Kabila, who made deals with Western and Amerikan mining companies for access to its valuable mines. He had the backing of neighboring armies who wanted in on its resources. The five-year war that officially ended in 2003 was known as the African World War, the deadliest war since World War II. So far over 5 million people have died as a result. This is just one symptom of the long legacy of imperialism in this region.

Who Plays, Who Works? Electronic Sweatshops

Like almost all consumer products, the Playstation and other electronics are manufactured in Third World sweatshops that take advantage of cheap labor and few regulations.

News reports state that Sony is contracting with Foxcomm, a Taiwanese contractor with factories based in China, to build their new Playstation 3 (6). Other reports about Foxcomm factories that assembled the iPods give an indication of the conditions that these toys are made in. One factory in China has 200,000 workers, and advertises for workers over age 16 (7):

“Inside Longhua, workers labor a 15-hour day building iPods, for which they usually earn about $50 per month. When they’re not on the assembly lines, they live in secluded dormitories that each house 100 people and prohibit visitors from the outside world. The workers are allowed ‘a few possessions; and a ‘bucket to wash their clothes.’”

From one worker:

” ‘We have to work too hard and I am always tired. It’s like being in the army,’ Zang Lan, one of the workers at Longhua, told the Mail. ‘They make us stand still for hours. If we move we are punished by being made to stand still for longer. The boys are made to do pushups.’ ”

The report states the iPod Nano is assembled in a five-story factory that is secured by armed police officers. The super-slim digital music player is said to include over 400 parts which arrive from component manufacturers all over the world (8).

Another factory in Suzhou, Shanghai that manufactures iPod shuffles is completely surrounded by barbed wire. The workers take home $99 a month, with half of that income going to food and shelter. The factory advertises for women workers, because it considers them more honest. China, now under capitalist imperialist exploitation, is touted for its “low wages, long hours and industrial secrecy, [making] the country attractive to business, especially as increased competition and consumer expectations force companies to deliver products at lower prices (9).”

The End Game

“Amerikan imperialism takes the products created by the exploited labor of the Third World and passes it off to Amerika’s aristocratic ‘workers.’ From here, Amerikan ‘workers’ are overpaid to basically tinker around with the products before they are sold. In turn, Amerikan ‘workers’ use their inflated wages to buy these products, thus making possible the final realization of profit for the overall system. In this manner, Amerika uses global exploitation to keep its domestic mall economy afloat and enable its existence as an entire nation of parasites.”

-Parasitism: The Economics of Imperialism (RAIMD) (10)

Amerika’s economy is a service economy. The wealth of this country comes from the exploitation of resources and labor from outside of its borders, all so Amerikans can live overly comfortable lives. The Playstation is no exception. Millions have died and billions suffer for your entertainment. The world’s majority won’t stand for it for too much longer.

Amerikan imperialism will lose in the end. So join with the world’s oppressed majority and become a revolutionary anti-imperialist. It’ll be more fun than your Playstation anyway!

======================================

Sources:

1). http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/5-high-tech-genocide-in-congo

2). http://www.theesa.com/facts/index.asp

3). Lasker, John. “Inside Africa’s Playstation War.” Toward Freedom, July 08, 2008. http://towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/1352/1. All info on the DRC and Playstations, except noted, is from the Toward Freedom article.

4). http://sitemaker.umich.edu/section002group3/coltan_mining_in_democratic_republic_of _the_congo

5). http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/history/2007/0627kinshasa.htm

6). http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/09/18/sony-appointed-foxconn-for-ps3-console-manufacturing/

7). http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/06/06/12/ipod_city_inside_apples_ipod_factories.html

8). Ibid.

9). Ibid.

10). http://raimd.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/parasitism-the-economics-of-imperialism/

Great Satan/Ang Dakilang Satanas

amihanmalaya.wordpress.com

Great artwork! We’re flattered!

“The North-South Division”

The following is an excerpt from a essay titled The Socialist Project in a Disintegrated Capitalist World, written by Greek writer Arghiri Emmanuel in 1976.

The North-South division

It is largely accepted today that development and under-development are not autonomous and juxtaposed phenomena which can be examined each within its own terms, but that they are phenomena organically and functionally interrelated.

That is a common place. What is less familiar is the observation that not only is development of the periphery blocked by the very existence of the center, and the growth of the center reinforced by the resources drawn from the periphery, but that this center is today over-developed to the very same extent that the periphery is under-developed.

What can this over or under-development be measured against? It may be measured in relation to the level of development which the existing economic system, in this case the capitalist mode of production, can, under present historical conditions, secure at the level of the whole of mankind.

This means that the United States can be the United States and Sweden can be Sweden only because others, that is, the two billion inhabitants of the Third World, are not.

This also means that every material equalization from the top down is excluded. If, by some miracle, a socialist and fraternal system, regardless of its type or model, were introduced tomorrow morning the world over, and if it wanted to integrate, to homogenize mankind by equalizing living standards, then to do this it would not only have to expropriate the capitalists of the entire world, but also dispossess large sections of the working class of the industrialized countries, of the amount of surplus value these sections appropriate today. It seems this is reason enough for these working classes not to desire this ‘socialist and fraternal’ system and to express their opposition by either openly integrating into the existing system, as in the United States of America or the Federal Republic of Germany, or by advocating national paths to socialism, as in France or Italy.

This is not a question of principles, but a question of interests. A few global figures will be enough to show this. In 1973, the average annual wage in the USA amounted to around US$10,500. The population of the entire capitalist world at that time was about 2.6 billion, and there was a little over a billion economically active. To pay all these economically active people on an American scale would require close to eleven trillion dollars. However, the total national income of these countries in 1973 amounted to only $2.7 trillion.

This means, even if all income earned without the counterparts of labor, profits, rents, interest rates, etc., (which are all components of surplus value) were abolished and mankind resolved to be satisfied from now on with simple reproduction, relinquishing all progress and consuming its entire product, it would not, under these hypothetical conditions, be able to reach more than an average wage of $2,500 per year, that is, a quarter of the American wage.

It is precisely this that severs solidarity between the working classes of the center and the periphery. While all the working classes were subjected to exploitation, no matter how disparate its degree, even when one was 90% exploited and the other 10%, they had an interest in uniting and fighting arm-in-arm, and together expropriating their exploiters, despite the fact that this expropriation improved the situation for some considerably more than for others. But from the moment the workers of certain countries ceased to be the suppliers of surplus value (no matter how little) and became recipients, the situation was reversed and the positions of the working classes became antagonistic to one another.

It might be maintained that this comparison in terms of dollars or surplus value rates is too abstract and illusory. I will suggest another, in physical terms. Today, the citizen of America consumes an extraordinary amount of basic raw materials. Were all the inhabitants of this planet to follow his example and consume the same amount per person, all known deposits of iron ore would be exhausted in forty years, copper deposits in eight years, tin deposits in six years, and petroleum in five and a half years!

However, exhaustion of deposits and reserves is not the only factor that prevents world equalization from above. Ecological limits represent another.

If today’s developed countries can still rid themselves of their wastes by dumping them into the sea or the air, this is so because they are the only ones doing it; similarly, if their citizens can still travel by plane without great difficulty, that is because others have not the means to fly and leave them the privilege of clogging the skies, etc., etc.

These calculations involve no unsubstantial and slippery concepts such as surplus value, capital, etc., or such computable categories as profit, interest rates, etc., but of the consumption of palpable materials. Hence, it is the great mass of the population, the wage-workers themselves who are involved.

It follows from this that apart from all other considerations and all other antagonisms, under today’s objective natural and technological conditions, and in the foreseeable future, the people of today’s rich countries can consume all the things that make up their material well-being and which they seem to value, only because others use them either very little or not at all. They can reprocess their wastes simply because others have nothing much to reprocess. Otherwise, the ecological balance would be fatally imperiled.

This is what makes the antagonism between the center and the periphery irresolvable and transforms the entire working class of certain countries into the worker aristocracy of the earth.

From:

”The Socialist Project in a Disintegrated Capitalist World” by Arghiri Emmanuel. From Socialist Thought and Practice : A Yugoslav Monthly, vol. 16, no. 9, 1976, pp. 69-87.

Translated by the Maoist Information Website. Read full article here.

Put A Little Love in Your Heart… Fight Imperialism!

From the Mouths of Babes…

We at RAIM like trouble-making punk kids. You know, the kind that piss off Cracker invaders who talk shit in the Mexican homeland. Below are some of our favorites.

Some 5 year olds sticking it to some Cracker-ass Minutemen:

A couple of kids stand up to adult Cracker threats:

Remember, the children are our future.

Great Satan

The Ongoing Saga: Why We Say… Fuck the Troops!

Watch the above video and listen to this limey (thats an Engli$h Cracker) fuck cream his jeans as he watches his comrades brutally beat a group of Iraqi kids.

Happy 4th of July, Enjoy the Barbecue!!!

Why We Say… Fuck the Troops!

Watch this cracker whine that he isn’t allowed to murder Iraqi kids for throwing rocks at his pig ass.

Listen carefully for the kid shouting “fuck you!” We are proud of you little RAIMer, keep it up!

Obama, “Black” Messiah for White Amerika

Liberals, even some calling themselves ’revolutionaries,’ have a chronically false ideal of Amerika. Instead of seeing historical injustices carried out by Amerika as part of its overall development, liberals see such things as disconnected aberrations which can be resolved through in a piecemeal fashion through progressive determination. They see Amerika, though flawed, as an unfinished experiment in freedom and democracy.

Revolutionaries see Amerika as a product of unending injustices carried out upon oppressed peoples. Revolutionaries see Amerika and all the decadent elements which constitute it as something that needs to be destroyed as part of the global struggle to build a better world. While revolutionaries hate Amerika, liberals love Amerika: they are always trying to save it, to reform it, to make it realize its so-called historic potential.

To this end, an Obama presidency marks a major step. White liberals are projecting their own hopes and aspirations regarding Amerika onto Obama. Having a Black man lead a nation founded on the slavery of Blacks is for many a confirmation that Amerika is still the land of hope. An Obama presidency represents evidence that even into the 21st century, Amerika is still becoming a better, more perfect democracy. Because of this, the historical narratives spun around Obama are endless. For much of Amerika, Obama is a near-messianic figure.

Within the liberal paradigm, by electing Obama, Amerika can go from a country shamed by the Bush administration to one reformed, made better. An Obama presidency proves that Amerikan democracy works. Amerika can arrive as a more pluralistic open society whose legitimacy as the leader of the world is reaffirmed. An Obama presidency represents the continuation of Amerikan supremacy without Bush’s overtly hee-haw element. Obama represents a form of imperialism which liberal Amerikans can be proud of.

But liberal love-amerika types are not the only force driving the Obama campaign. Within the imperialist camp, many view the overly belligerent Bush administration as a disaster. Over the last 8 years, Amerika’s actions have rightly inspired hate and resistance the world over.

Loosing the iron fist and taking up the velvet glove is understood by many to be a more effective approach to imperialism. Within much of the imperialist camp, a popular Obama presidency is seen as more conducive to their own long term interests. Obama is seen as a figure who can recover what power Amerika has lost over the last 8 years.

Obama, and the forces behind him, are not revolutionaries. They are not trying to end Amerikan imperialism. Rather, for those who benefit from imperialist exploitation, Obama is seen as savior, a messiah who can bring the return to Amerika’s power and so-called greatness. These are the social forces that will, in all likelihood, drive Barack Obama to be the next president of the United States.

YIPPIE!: A Blast from the Past!

Abbie Hoffman telling it like it is:

Jerry Rubin freaking out the Squares:

History of Amerikkka - Rev. Wright is Right!

Obama Shocks Arab World, Touts Imperialist Credentials

Obama Shocks Arab World, Touts Imperialist Credentials

Released by RAIM-Denver, 6/12/08

Hours after he secured the Democratic Party nomination, U.S. presidential contender Barack Obama spoke before the Amerikan Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).  “We will never compromise when it comes to Israel’s security… Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and must remain undivided,” he said, receiving standing ovations before the influential lobbying group’s annual meeting.

Israel captured and occupied 85% of the city of Jerusalem during the 1948 war. After successive years of forced relocations of Palestinian residents, Israel seized the remainder of the city, East Jerusalem, in the 1967 war. Israel continues to this day to push Palestinians into an ever-shrinking, un-occupied territory. Palestinians recently recognized the sixtieth anniversary of the 1948 event, which they call al-Nakba, or the Catastrophe.

Although Obama has thus far received much attention because of his proclaimed message of change, recent comments have left many puzzled and angry. Mahmoud Abbas, the pro-Western leader of the Palestinian Fatah Party, rejected Obama’s pro-Israel pandering stating, “We will not accept an independent Palestinian state without [East] Jerusalem as its capital.” “That should be clear,” he continued. (1)

Obama described the bond between Israel and the U.S. as “unbreakable today, unbreakable tomorrow, unbreakable forever… Those who threaten Israel threaten us.” Saying he would bring an “unshakable commitment to Israel’s security,” he promised to ensure Israel’s “qualitative military advantage” over its neighbors.

Israel has long been the largest recipient of U.S. direct foreign aid. Obama, if elected, said he will increase the amount to 3 billion dollars per year over the next decade. He highlighted the hegemonic imperialist aspect of such aid by summarizing it as “investments to Israel’s security that will not be tied to any other nation.” (2)

In the First World, the ‘green’ movement is rather large. The Democratic Party has announced that this year’s Democratic National Convention will be the first green convention of its kind. Speaking to the Zionist crowd, Obama tied his environmentalism directly to Israel and Amerika’s security and proposed joint green ventures: “We must free ourselves from the tyranny of oil. The price of a barrel of oil is one of the most dangerous weapons in the world. Petrodollars pay for weapons that kill Amerikan troops and Israeli citizens… It’s time for the United States to take real steps to end our addiction to oil. And we can join with Israel, building on last year’s U.S.-Israel Energy Cooperation Act, to deepen our partnership in developing alternative sources of energy by increasing scientific collaboration and joint research and development.” ‘Progressive’ indeed.

Obama vowed to continue George Bush’s policy towards Hamas: “We must isolate Hamas… There is no room for terrorists at the negotiating table.” In early 2006, Hamas, an anti-Western Palestinian liberation movement, won a large majority in Palestinian parliamentary elections. The Bush Administration refused to recognize the new government, retained communications only with the comprador Fatah Party and placed sanctions on Hamas-controlled areas of Palestine. Reacting to Obama’s speech, a Hamas spokesperson remarked, “These recent statements slash any hope of any change to U.S. foreign policy.” (3) (4)

Obama singled out Iran as the greatest threat in the region. “There is no greater threat to Israel or to the peace and stability of the region than Iran… the danger from Iran is grave, it is real and my goal will be to eliminate this threat.” He promised to use “aggressive, principled diplomacy… backed by real leverage.” Elaborating he said, “I will always keep the threat of military action on the table to defend our security and our ally Israel.” One can only assume that there are numerous regional threats which Obama feels should be dealt with in the same manner. (5)

Adding weight to Obama’s threats towards Iran were hints that U.S. military involvement in the Muslim world would not be ending anytime soon. Earlier in the evening during his acceptance speech for the Democratic Party nomination, Obama said that leaving our troops in Iraq was not an option, “especially at a time when our military is overstretched, our nation is isolated, and nearly every other threat to America is being ignored.” (6) At the Zionist AIPAC assembly later in the evening, Obama proposed a “phased redeployment” of the troops “from Iraq.” (7) In the past, Obama has stated that more troops are needed in Afghanistan and that incursions into Pakistan are possible. ( 8 )

Despite his hawkish language, the anti-war movement has largely rallied around Obama. Much of his campaign thus far has been focused on “change” and a “new way of doing things.” Obama has stated he is against the war in Iraq and thinks of it as a failure. Likewise, throughout his campaign he has promised to enhance the role of dialogue in foreign policy while also making token statements about issues dear to ‘progressive’ Amerikans: the environment, healthcare, education and the Amerikan economy. For these reasons, Obama has picked up the support of many anti-war progressives and even so-called radicals.

But what kind of change is Barack Obama really about? Does Barack Obama really want to create a new world based on equality and mutuality of interest, or would his presidency merely herald in years of marginally different tactics towards the same end? What is the actual change Obama wants to bring?

From Obama’s AIPAC speech: “Contrary to the claims of some, I have no interest in sitting down with our adversaries just for the sake of talking. But as president of the United States, I would be willing to lead tough and principled diplomacy with the appropriate Iranian leader at a time and place of my choosing — if, and only if, it can advance the interests of the United States.”

On Iran, Obama continued his diatribe about ‘dialogue,’ “We will present a clear choice. If you abandon your dangerous nuclear program, support for terror, and threats to Israel, there will be meaningful incentives… If you refuse, we will ratchet up the pressure.” As earlier referenced, Obama pledged to keep the threat of military intervention on the negotiating table.

What becomes clear is that Obama remains faithful to the paradigm of bullying nations into subordination, and that he maintains the right to use military force against those who resist. The change that Obama will bring is merely a difference in how to pursue such an imperialist imperative.

Particularly, Obama declares that he will find the “appropriate leaders” to talk to. While the tactic of splitting movements and nations through selective diplomacy and incentives is not new, it has not been widely or as effectively used by the Bush Administration.

Going further into the issue, Obama says he was against holding Palestinian elections in 2006, “with Hamas on the ballot.” Obama stated, “I will strongly urge Arab governments… to fulfill their responsibility to pressure extremists and provide real support for President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad.” He also said he would urge Israel to improve conditions in the Fatah-controlled West Bank as a way of further isolating Hamas.

While clearly stating he is not opposed to the most aggressive of actions, Obama presents himself as making Amerika stronger through such one-sided, bullish ‘dialogue.’ In terms of foreign policy, Obama is simply promising to be a better imperialist.

Speaking again before AIPAC he himself summed it up, “My presidency will strengthen our hand… [I will bring] change that restores America’s power and influence.” Such a message, combined with his token ‘progressive’ promises about further improving conditions for the parasitic Amerikan “working” and “middle” classes, has made Obama a candidate who garners support from both hawkish Zionists as well as Amerikan so-called anti-war ‘leftists.’ (9)

It is our sincerest hopes that those who truly seek radical humanist change will recognize and reject Obama and what he represents. Instead of embracing promises of a more effective, ‘peaceful’ imperialism, with presumably a more equitable distribution of the profits within Amerikan borders, we urge real progressives and radicals to make a complete break with imperialist politics. We urge people seeking true change to instead embrace the struggles of those actively resisting U.S. imperialism and working to build a new world. Only through the destruction of imperialism and similarly oppressive and exploitative structures can a world of true equality, mutuality and peace exist.

Notes.

1. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/018DB5D0-3C59-46D9-97AE-3F7BB909CD4F

2. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91150432

3. http://www.demconvention.com/

speaker-pelosi-dncc-announce-green-delegate-challenge-for-2008-democratic-national-convention/

4. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/93FE247B-452D-4022-8374-088D8704C1DE

5. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91150432

6. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/98FEB6B7-E363-4AD7-A5F8-200415B9924F

7. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91150432

8. http://www.ogpaper.com/news/news-0821.html

9. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91150432

Fuck The Troops: The Video [update]

We made the video shorter and faster for an enhanced ‘fuck the troops’ viewing experience.

Here for you now: Fuck the Troops v. 1.0

Also check out our pamphlet, also entitled Fuck The Troops.

Memorial Day: RAIM Remembers

We at RAIM recognize the need to memorialize those who have died in the past. However, we are not having Barbecues to memorialize the pig soldiers of Imperialist Amerika. We will spend our time on memorial day mourning the billions of people murdered by United Snakes imperialism over its bloody existence, and remembering the heroic Men, Women and Children who died in the fight against it.

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Huey P. Newton: “In Defense of Self-Defense”

(In light of ongoing and continuing debates and discussion of nonviolence, and the principle of self-defense, we present an essay written by Huey P. Newton, founder of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, the most influential revolutionary national liberation organization of recent times. The essay was overly optimistic in terms of the potential of revolution by the Black masses, as the U.$. has since this time bought off much of the Black nation into the labor aristocracy. Nevertheless, Newton gives an uncompromising statement for the right of self-defense of oppressed peoples, and shows the opposition to this is rooted in hypocrisy and white privilege by “progressives” who de-facto support the status quo. - RAIMD).

==============================================================

"In Defense of Self-Defense" 

Huey P. Newton

June 20, 1967

Men were not created in order to obey laws. Laws are created to obey men. They are established by men and should serve men. The laws and rules which officials inflict upon poor people prevent them from functioning harmoniously in society.   There is no disagreement about this function of law in any circle the disagreement arises from the question of which men laws are to serve.  Such lawmakers ignore the fact that it is the duty of the poor and unrepresented to construct rules and laws that serve their interests better. Rewriting unjust laws is a basic human right and fundamental obligation.

Before 1776 America was a British colony. The British Government had certain laws and rules that the colonized Americans rejected as not being in their best interests. In spite of the British conviction that Americans had no right to establish their own laws to promote the general welfare of the people living here in America, the colonized immigrant felt he had no choice but to raise the gun to defend his welfare. Simultaneously he made certain laws to ensure his protection from external and internal aggressions, from other governments, and his own agencies. One such form of protection was the Declaration of Independence, which states: “. . . whenever any government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundations on such principles and organizing its powers in such forms as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”

Now these same colonized White people, these bondsmen, paupers, and thieves deny the colonized Black man not only the right to abolish this oppressive system, but to even speak of abolishing it. Having carried this madness and cruelty to the four corners of the earth, there is now universal rebellion against their continued rule and power. But as long as the wheels of the imperialistic war machine are turning, there is no country that can defeat this monster of the West. It is our belief that the Black people in America are the only people who can free the world, loosen the yoke of colonialism, and destroy the war machine. Black people who are within the machine can cause it to malfunction. They can, because of their intimacy with the mechanism, destroy the engine that is enslaving the world. America will not be able to fight every Black country in the world and fight a civil war at the same time. It is militarily impossible to do both of these things at once.

The slavery of Blacks in this country provides the oil for the machinery of war that America uses to enslave the peoples of the world. Without this oil the machinery cannot function. We are the driving shaft; we are in such a strategic position in this machinery that, once we become dislocated, the functioning of the remainder of the machinery breaks down.

Penned up in the ghettos of America, surrounded by his factories and all the physical components of his economic system, we have been made into “the wretched of the earth,” relegated to the position of spectators while the White racists run their international con game on the suffering peoples. We have been brainwashed to believe that we are powerless and that there is nothing we can do for ourselves to bring about a speedy liberation for our people. We have been taught that we must please our oppressors, that we are only ten percent of the population, and therefore must confine our tactics to categories calculated not to disturb the
sleep of our tormentors.

The power structure inflicts pain and brutality upon the peoples and then provides controlled outlets for the pain in ways least likely to upset them, or interfere with the process of exploitation. The people must repudiate the established channels as tricks and deceitful snares of the exploiting oppressors. The people must oppose everything the oppressor supports, and support everything that he opposes. If Black people go about their struggle for liberation in the way that the oppressor dictates and sponsors, then we will have degenerated to the level of groveling flunkies for the oppressor himself. When the oppressor makes a vicious attack against freedom-fighters because of the way that such freedom-fighters choose to go about their liberation, then we know we are moving in the direction of our liberation. The racist dog oppressors have no rights which oppressed Black people are bound to respect. As long as the racist dogs pollute the earth with the evil of their actions, they do not deserve any respect at all, and the “rules” of their game,
written in the people’s blood, are beneath contempt.

The oppressor must be harassed until his doom. He must have no peace by day or by night. The slaves have always outnumbered the slavemasters. The power of the oppressor rests upon the submission of the people. When Black people really unite and rise up in all their splendid millions, they will have the strength to smash injustice. We do not understand the power in our numbers. We are millions and millions of Black people scattered across the continent and throughout the Western Hemisphere. There are more Black people in America than the total population of many countries now enjoying full membership in the United Nations. They have power and their power is based primarily on the fact that they are organized and united with each other. They are recognized by the powers of the world.

We, with all our numbers, are recognized by no one. In fact, we do not even recognize our own selves. We are unaware of the potential power latent in our numbers. In 1967, in the midst of a hostile racist nation whose hidden racism is rising to the surface at a phenomenal speed, we are still so blind to our critical fight for our very survival that we are continuing to function in petty, futile ways. Divided, confused, fighting among ourselves, we are still in the elementary stage of throwing rocks, sticks, empty wine bottles and beer cans at racist police who lie in wait for a chance to murder unarmed Black people. The racist police have worked out a system for suppressing these spontaneous rebellions that flare up from the anger, frustration, and desperation of the masses of Black people. We can no longer afford the dubious luxury of the terrible casualties wantonly inflicted upon us by the police during these rebellions.

Black people must now move, from the grass roots up through the perfumed circles of the Black bourgeoisie, to seize by any means necessary a proportionate share of the power vested and collected in the structure of America. We must organize and unite to combat by long resistance the brutal force used against us daily. The power structure depends upon the use of force within retaliation. This is why they have made it a felony to teach guerrilla warfare. This is why they want the people unarmed.

The racist dog oppressors fear the armed people; they fear most of all Black people armed with weapons and the ideology of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. An unarmed people are slaves or are subject to slavery at any given moment. If a government is not afraid of the people it will arm the people against foreign aggression. Black people are held captive in the midst of their oppressors. There is a world of difference between thirty million unarmed submissive Black people and thirty million Black people armed with freedom, guns, and the strategic methods of liberation.

When a mechanic wants to fix a broken-down car engine, he must have the necessary tools to do the job. When the people move for liberation they must have the basic tool of liberation: the gun. Only with the power of the gun can the Black masses halt the terror and brutality directed against them by the armed racist power structure; and in one sense only by the power of the gun can the whole world be transformed into the earthly paradise dreamed of by the people from time immemorial. One successful practitioner of the art and science of national liberation and self-defense, Brother Mao Tse-tung, put it this way: “We are advocates of the abolition of war, we do not want war; but war can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun.”

The blood, sweat, tears and suffering of Black people are the foundations of the wealth and power of the United States of America. We were forced to build America, and if forced to, we will tear it down. The immediate result of this destruction will be suffering and bloodshed. But the end result will be the perpetual peace for all mankind.

Immortal Technique: Third World

From his new album, dropping June 24th

Here is an excellent review from the Monkey Smashes Heaven blog:

reviewed by rwp (source:monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com)

Immortal Technique comes back blasting after a four-year hiatus. His new album/mixtape, The 3rd World, drops June 24th.

The latest single, which happens to be the title track, is pretty self-explanatory. One of the opening lines is “from where police brutality’s not half as nice, it makes the hood in Amerika look like paradise,” underscoring the stark contrast between the situation faced in the First-World and the Third-World. Tech describes the grim realities of the Third-World to his predominately-Western audience in jarring detail. He uses his place of birth as his frame of reference, prefixing lines with “where I’m from,” referring to Peru—his birthplace. He grew up in Harlem, New York.

It’s refreshing to hear something from Tech that doesn’t mention the Illuminati, George Bush or the word “faggot.” DJ Green Lantern’s cutting-edge production and Tech’s mesmerizing, lyrical wizardry combine to produce an agitational sucker punch. Musically, the track is in the top of its class. This will be a hit among hip-hop fans nationwide as Rock the Bells tour commences this summer.

There isn’t really anything negative to say about this particular track. Its calculated, tongue-in-cheek humor is impeccable and guaranteed to grab the attention of anyone within a listening distance. It’s very rare, if not unprecedented, that a rapper focuses his attention on the Third-World.

“Revolution will come where I’m from, the Third-World son” couldn’t be more correct. It is doubtful that Immortal Technique has a consistent, worked out view on the labor aristocracy, but, at times, his lyrics are internationalist. This is definitely a notch above the Amerika-first, chauvinist current in the Amerikan so-called left. For the same reasons, this song is a notch above Tech’s previous work.

Tech also addresses neo-colonial, comprador rulers in the Third World. Just because Third World states are led by non-Whites does not mean that Whites aren’t still pulling the strings. Third World states have nominal independence. In reality, they are controlled by imperialist capital:

“They might even have a Black president but he’s useless because he does not even control the economy, stupid.”

This is the best material from Immortal Technique yet.

ZAPATISTA play today

ZAPATISTA
Our word is our weapon!
¡Nuestra palabra es nuestra arma!

A bilingual play by Teatro Milagro

Thursday, May 1st, 1 PM
St. Cajetans
Auraria Campus

Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity Inc, in collaboration with Metro State Student Student Activities and The University of Colorado  - Denver are proud to present ZAPATISTA, the story of Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos and the Zapatista National Liberation Army.  This intriguing tale shares the struggles and successes of the man behind the mask who, in his fight for human rights, proves that the spoken word is a powerful implement for social change.  ZAPATISTA will perform for one day only in St Cajetans at 1 PM on the Auraria Campus.  For more information contact Jose Guardiola of the Sigma Lambda Beta’s at 720-629-2368.

From the mountains of Mexico’s southeast, a small band of Zapatistas made their first strike at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, 1994.  With the help of the Internet, news media and hundreds of international NGOs, their struggle still continues for indigenous rights, territorial rights, women’s rights, everything for every oppressed group that is willing to stand up for their beliefs.  “I am Mayan in San Cristobal, gay in San Francisco, black in South Africa — any human being in this world who is exploited, marginalized and oppressed, resisting and saying enough! ¡Ya basta!”

In this exciting new work, Gilberto Martin del Campo, noted actor from Mexico, plays the role of Marcos.  Omar Vargas, 8-year veteran of the Milagro troupe, plays the role of his principal Mayan cultural advisor, Don Antonio.  Jorge Madrid, from Honduras, plays the role of the Zapatista leader Comandante Tacho.  Dañel Malan, company Artistic Director, plays Comandante Ana Maria.  Milagro’s signature mural is designed and painted by Jesus Kobe from Oaxaca.

Muqtada Al-Sadr Interview

Iraqi resistance leader Muqtada Al-Sadr recently declared “open war” against the occupation forces of U.S. imperialism. He leads the Madhi army that remains a large part of the Iraqi resistance. He has clarified his call recently in a statement calling for Iraqi unity, to focus on the Amerikan occupiers.

Here is a recent interview of Al-Sadr.

Good analysis of the Sadrist movement from Monthly Review Zine:

The Sadrist Revolt
by Richard Seymour

p.s. : RAIMD will probably get attacked again for anti-Amerikanism, publishing this interview, you guys are not nice, blah blah blah. Yet this is just one voice of a movement that is fighting Amerikan aggression, and it is real, and it is winning. We reflect that reality.

p.p.s. Hate mail and death threats, while not appreciated, will be graded for spelling, grammar, form, and originality.

More Lies From Jonathan Elinoff and “truthalliance.net”

Elinoff can’t keep his lies straight, exposes himself.

by RAIMD

We are not interested in giving history lessons to Jonathan Elinoff. Needless to say, his understandings of both Gandhi and Martin Luther King in his latest post are of the typical Hollywood variety. (1) We don’t seek to have any discourse with someone who is a complete liar. If Jonathan Elinoff wants to have a debate on the history of social movements and violence, we will discuss that with him only after he publicly comes clean. We will not discuss any of our materials with Elinoff until he admits what almost everyone reading these exchanges knows already. We will not allow Elinoff to change the topic. Until Elinoff publicly explains why he completely fabricated lies about encounters and statements that never happened, we will have nothing to do with him. Also, we have no connection to DAN as Elinoff implies.

Elinoff’s words speak for themselves. Let’s take a look.

Elinoff, credible or not? You be the judge.

Our characterization of Elinoff’s interview on Alex Jones:

It was news to us that Elinoff had a beef against Recreate 68. We gather from Elinoff’s own statements that he is upset about not getting the spotlight for the 9-11 Truth Movement at the DNC protests. For Elinoff, if he doesn’t get the spotlight for 9-11 Truth, then, all of a sudden, everyone else is an agent, according to his logic. If he doesn’t get his way, then he’ll try to wreck the hard work of others. So, Elinoff spouted off a number of sensational lies against RAIMD (and others) in order to try to wreck Recreate 68. RAIMD is a natural target because our politics are already considered controversial even within the activist scene. Not to mention that in the interview Elinoff often mixes up various individuals and groups. None of this mattered to Alex Jones, who is hardly concerned about accuracy. Jones is just looking to make a sensational splash. So, Elinoff was given airtime on national radio by Jones to bully the local Denver activist community, of which Elinoff is not even a part. (Italics ours.) (2)

On April 22nd, Elinoff describes his appearance on Alex Jones:

No one from Truth Alliance or We Are Change Colorado are making accusations that because 911 Truth was not given a fair presence at the R-68 demonstrations that they must be agents. Concerns were raised as to when R-68 said they were still looking for speakers and talent for their event, many truthers include musicians and talented speakers. Why wouldn’t they want to give 911 Truth a fair presence on their stage with their speakers and talent? No one is upset that they weren’t given that opportunity, but thought that other groups should be aware that R-68 is working with many activist groups that promote all kinds of messages, including those that are extremely controversial, to say the least, to which will be granted time on the stage. (Italics ours.) (3)

Excerpts, rough transcripts from the Elinoff on Alex Jones:

17:30 Elinoff: This is RAIMD, its a violent anarchist group that is attending the Recreate 68 meetings. They are given open arms. By the way, they [Recreate 68?] gave us the stiff arm when we asked if 911 truth could have any speakers… Our movement is huge. He said, “no we don’t agree with 911, you stay away from us.” You give every activist group an invite and an open arm and you stiff arm us?

18:00 Jones: they’re operatives… they’re operatives.

18:10 Elinoff: eh. yeah. The whole thing stinks, it just not adding up this, RAIMD.

18:15 Jones: They’re state police. They’re operatives. There are Defense Intelligence… Army, Navy.. There’s Homeland security in there… Very dangerous, very dangerous.

19:15 Jones: Black ops, exposing the enemy’s tactics. (Italics ours.) (4)

Elinoff’s April 16th Statement on the Alex Jones radio show reasonably matches up with our characterization. If people can stomach hearing Elinoff and Jones attack the Denver activist scene for nearly twenty minutes, they should listen to the Jones show in its entirety. In the full show, Elinoff and Jones engage in twenty minutes worth of badjacketing against local activists. Both sought to bring the police down on local activists. This in spite of posturing as against the “police state.” Elinoff’s tame presentation of his appearance on Jones is a lie.

Elinoff makes a fool of himself, can’t keep his lies straight

As we have already stated, Elinoff simply made up the story about blood, urine, and molotov cocktails. It was based on absolutely nothing at all. In fact, RAIMD has never engaged Elinoff in a conversation.

Elinoff exposes Elinoff; he can’t keep his lies straight. In the following passage from the April 16th article, Elinoff claims that he spoke with RAIMD directly about the urine and blood:

After speaking with RAIMD, We Are Change Colorado became aware that they intend to throw bags of urine and blood on cops at the DNC protests, all under the name of the umbrella organization ReCreate 68. See their website here: http://raimd.wordpress.com/. (Italics ours.) (5)

In the following passage from his Alex Jones appearance, Elinoff again claims that he spoke with RAIMD. In addition, he claims he has a video of the exchange! Of course he doesn’t have video because the exchange with RAIMD never happened. He only says so to gain credibility with Jones, who uncritically laps up everything Elinoff says:

15:20 Elinoff: We did go to the meeting Sunday here for Recreate 68. We able to find a group — RAIMD — who we got all of this on camera and we are going to get it up on truth alliance... We are still editing it and basically they admitted to us first of all I said are you familar with Ghandi and the success of Martin Luther King being peaceful and that’s when the founder of RAIMD — these are the guys running Recreate 68 heads up — he says to me, “Violence is he only thing these f’in cops understand.” I looked at him and I said, “are you kidding me?” So that is what kicked off the whole debate about violence and nonviolence being effective. He handed me off a dvd called “Troublemaker” that he’s been handing out at Recreate 68 meetings. This DVD is put out by this RAIMD group – revolutionary anti-imperialist movement Denver — … It’s all verified, they even admit all this, they are telling people to bring bags of blood and urine and throw it on the cops no joke this is against the law. (Italics ours.) (6)

After we exposed Elinoff in our latest post, all of a sudden, Elinoff changes his story. No longer does he have a video as he claimed on the Jones show. Now, he is no longer even claiming to have heard the conversation! Rather, Elinoff now says that this is all a potential misunderstanding and that his knowledge comes from “two confidential sources.” Elinoff tries to shift the blame for the lies onto two non-existent confidential sources:

RAIMD has made statements denying that they were planning to throw bags of blood and urine on police at the DNC protests, which Truth Alliance has 2 confidential sources for, including a witness who overheard a conversation involving police. If these sources were lying or inaccurate, we apologize for the misunderstanding. (7)

Again, we don’t have to refute Elinoff because he can’t even keep his story straight. Anyone with any sense should be able to see what is going on here. Elinoff is changing his tune after being exposed.

Elinoff makes understatement of the year

In Elinoff’s April 22nd post, he actually describes a point he actually made on the Jones Show:

In the interview with Alex Jones, Jonathan did not say that RAIMD was ReCreate 68, but rather specifically identified that ReCreate 68 was an umbrella organization which is working with many different activist groups including RAIMD and that activists groups, when centralized, will be all lumped in together as one group, which is what will probably happen. ( 8 )

The above passage from the 22nd is referring to the following passage from the Jones Show:

16:40 Elinoff: This thing (RAIMD?) is designed to sabotage … this whole thing is going to drown out any message we have all this is under the umbrella of Recreate 68…

17:00 Jones: We’ve gotta blow their op.. We’ve gotta blow their op… You got to get that video up now and you have to demand the police …. they are calling for hardcore felonies.. they have shields and weapons on the website…(Italics ours) (9)

Earlier in the same Jones interview:

15:20 Elinoff: ..these are the guys running Recreate 68 heads up.. (italics ours) (10)

Elinoff may not have said that RAIMD was Recreate 68. However, he did say that RAIMD are “running Recreate 68.” And, anyone who listens to the full interview will see that Elinoff purposefully blurs the line between various organizations and individuals. Elinoff is not interested in truth, he is interested in his own petty agenda. For the record, RAIMD is not running Recreate 68. RAIMD is one of many groups within Recreate 68.

Why would Elinoff say that RAIMD is running Recreate 68? The answer is simple. Elinoff is trying scare people away from Recreate 68, something he does throughout the interview on the Jones show. He is trying to wreck Recreate 68 because he wants the spotlight for 9-11 Truth, and himself.

Elinoff on Elinoff