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/

Don’t Ever say We Censored Your F*%king Sh*t Cracker!

Yes, we get comments. Some we don’t post simply because the troglodytes that write them are altogether dumb as a fucking brick and to post them wastes precious space on the internet. However on occasion, we get some whoppers from Amerika’s proud White Proletariat. Therefore, in the spirit of free speech, we’d like to share some of them with you:

“Ronnie” said in response to: “Obama Shocks Arab World, Touts Imperialist Credentials“

The article is jewish bullshit.
Due to total jewish US mainstream media control,
Obama had to deliver this lip service before the
AIPAC. Eating crow and assuring everyone what
they want to hear is part of the election process
and does not mean anything.

“Mike” said in response to: “Why We Say… Fuck the Troops!”

Just stumbled across this website. I assume this is some sort of nigger run site, where you pretend that you’re real human beings, and not human/chimpanzee missing links, which you are, of course. Have a banana and carry on. Try not to eat each other, ok?

“Mike” also said in response to: “Yippie: A Blast from the Past!“

Ah, yeah, that Jew-boy Rubin. Did you know that you’re sorry nigger asses were brought over to America on Jewish-owned slaves ships? Jews have such love for the “schvartzes,” don’t they? Come to think of it, everybody; Whites, Jews, Asians, Hispanics; they all hate you.

No matter what, you blacks always end up at the bottom of the pile. Affirmative action and welfare, and you still can’t get your sorry black asses together.

Hey, I’m all for Black Nationalism, You chimps can go back to Africa and leave the humans alone. Just think, you could fuck monkeys, cannibalize and eat each other, put ashtrays in your lower lips, do voodoo magic to your hearts content, and do whatever it is you do in your natural state, to your hearts content!

Just think of the “black utopia” you could create! Tin shacks, starvation, murder and rape! It’s a “black paradise!”

US Marine said on: “Why We Say… Fuck the Troops!”

Fuck it throw a couple Flash Bangs out the window at those little fuckers. Or throw some Sting Gernades… That will stop the fuckers.

And finally, Fuckyou, responding to the same post said,

You call that a beating? I actually fapped while watching that. They deserved way worse you cunt.

Enlightening indeed.

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!

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.

White trash throw hissy-fit over Absolut Vodka Advertisement, re-unified Mexico

A hellofabunch of Amerikkkans are having spasmic fits over an Absolut Vodka ad that features the previous borders of Mexico before the U.$. invasion, land grab, and occupation of 1848. Under pressure, Swedish-based Absolut pulled the ad. (see: “Absolut apologizes for Mexican vodka ad,” ).

The crack analysts as Monkey Smashes Heaven look at the wider implications of the vodka ad controversy and what it means for Amerikkka:

White trash throw hissy-fit over Absolut Vodka Advertisement, re-unified Mexico

(source: monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com)

Controversy has erupted in White Trashland over a recent advertisement for Absolut Vodka. The ad features a map of Mexico prior to the losses in territory suffered between 1836 to 1848. In little over a decade, White settler imperialists stole and occupied roughly half of Mexico. Texas, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming and Colorado continue to be occupied to this day.

Predictably, racist pundits like Michelle Malkin are using the ad to whip up anti-Mexican sentiment. (1) The Drudge Report made sure to link to the L.A. Times’ blog where the story originally appeared. The L.A. Times’ blog post is sardonically entitled, “Mexico reconquers California? Absolut drinks to that!” (2) Yet more evidence of the Mexican reconquista plot planned by Lin Biao, executed by MECha. If only. (3)

Read the rest here.

Beyond Chicanismo Presents

Beyond Chicanismo Presents: The Continuing Movement for Farmworker Justice: Tomatoes, Human Rights and Fast-Food Fights.

DATE: Tuesday, April 1st

TIME: 11:30 am

PLACE: Auraria Campus-Tivoli Room 440

WHO: Romeo Ramirez from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Recipient of the 2003 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award-and Marc Rodriguez from the Student/Farmworker AllianceWHAT: An engaging presentation about the struggle of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to end modern-day slavery and sweatshop conditions in Florida agriculture and hold the fast-food industry accountable.

This event is FREE and open to the public. Sponsored by: Los Herederos of Change & Esperanza, MEChA de Auraria and the Denver Fair Food Committee.

International: $300 Million from Venezuela to Colombian Rebels a Fake

March 8th 2008, by Greg Palast - OurFuture.org

Do you believe this?

This past weekend, Colombia invaded Ecuador, killed a guerrilla chief in the jungle, opened his laptop – and what did the Colombians find? A message to Hugo Chavez that he’s sent the FARC guerrillas $300 million – which they’re using to obtain uranium to make a dirty bomb!

That’s what George Bush tells us. And he got that from his buddy, the strange right-wing President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe.

So: After the fact, Colombia justifies its attempt to provoke a border war as a to stop the threat of WMDs! Uh, where have we heard that before?

The US press snorted up this line about Chavez’ $300 million to “terrorists” quicker than the young Bush inhaling Colombia’s powdered export.

Read the rest here

Why?

Why?

From: Maoistický studijní krouže

National Liberation and Anti-Imperialism

By Nick Brown

The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist Movement- Denver is a movement for global equality. We stand for the end of the imperialist system: the system whereby a handful of powerful nations exploit the peoples of the world. We see the termination of imperialism as a necessary first step to a world of lasting peace and real equality.

Anti-imperialism is foremost a fight for national liberation. Most broadly construed, national liberation is the struggle to not be exploited by outside oppressors, but to exist as a self-determining, free nation.

National liberation struggles happen throughout the world on a variety of levels. Venezuela is an example where a progressive section of the ruling class is now leading a campaign for national salvation; providing much needed reforms for the masses while challenging U.S. supremacy on a regional level. There are the numerous armed groups in Mexico, numbering in the mid-teens (not just the Zapatistas), who are fighting a comprador government. Hezbollah, the patriotic Islamic party in Lebanon, has challenged Western influence in the country, provided social welfare for the people and aligned with various Lebanese parties [including Christian ones] in their struggle against Amerikan/Zionist aggression. And we cannot forget the heroic Iraqi resistance.

These forces, taken together, form a worldwide movement against Western imperialism. These diverse individual movements, insofar as they are challenging imperialism, should be supported by freedom and peace loving peoples everywhere.

If Third World anti-imperialist struggles are capable of cutting vital lifelines [of wealth and resources] to imperialism, national liberation struggles internal to the U.S. are capable of delivering blows from within. In the grand scheme of things, within the worldwide movement towards anti-imperialism, these national liberation movements represent a mighty ally, behind enemy lines, within what is geographically called the United States. Because of this, and because these struggles are so close to home, national liberation for internally oppressed nations hold a special significance for us.

While national liberation is not currently the dominant trend amongst oppressed nations within Amerika, national struggles themselves are part of the dialect of everyday life. These struggles manifest in a variety of ways but carry common themes.

For Mexicanos, Indigenous Peoples and Blacks, theirs is the struggle not to be criminalized and disproportionately held captive in White-Amerika’s prison system. It is the struggle to not have their cultures mocked, repressed, co-opted and whitewashed. It is the struggle to not have the lowest life expectancies within the United States. It is a struggle to practice one’s national culture with pride; to be treated as equal members of society; to exist free from the oppression leveled on them by Amerika.

Typically, national struggles take one of two routes: one, the route of liberation as a nation, and the other, integration into the imperialistic, Amerikan oppressor society.

The latter, integration into the Amerikan oppressor society, is the main trend today. This is the path favored by poverty pimps, white chauvinists and the state. The integration route was made widely available through the widening and deepening of exploitation abroad while given impetus by the explosive successes of national liberation struggles during the 1960s and 70s. The reformist integrationist route, while also a national struggle, is antithetical to revolutionary national liberation. Ending oppression through integration means being absorbed into Amerika’s “multi-cultural” oppressor society. It is the democratization of imperialist privilege and the diversification of the labor aristocracy. Integrationism is not revolutionary and is not in the least bit anti-imperialist.

For oppressed nations inside Amerika, the struggle for national liberation is mainly tied to the struggle for a territory on which a free nation can exist. Without such a land, oppressed nations are doomed to live within White-Amerika–forced to suffer oppression while at the same time being lured by trickle-down imperialist privilege. While the goal of national liberation struggles is the creation of sovereign national territories, the planting of seeds for such political power is a necessary first step.

While full-blown national power will not develop quickly or easily, national liberation movements themselves are of utmost importance today. The strengthening of national liberation movements, the expansion of networks and the creation of independent spaces from which these networks and broader movements can operate is a task for which the outcome will weigh heavily on the future.

As success for peoples of the Third World build up, national liberation struggles inside the U.S. can become a destabilizing force within the heart of imperialism. This will make the prospects of revolution greater. At the same time, national liberation struggles will be a focal point of revolutionary gravity within the First World. In the long term, successes made today in creating the basis for independent national power [for oppressed nations within the U.S.] will translate into much wider successes for all people oppressed by U.S. imperialism further down the road.

It is with these considerations in mind that we champion national liberation struggles within United States. We do so not to advance ourselves or to look edgy. We do so from our general anti-imperialist perspective. For us, any single movement for national liberation here is part of the broader international revolutionary struggle to end oppression once and for all.

RAIMD Declares People’s War On Christmas - It’s On, Fuck Yeah!

In Amerika, Christmas is a sick imperialist consumerist celebration of exploitation.
The Santa myth obscures the real origin of commodities. Santa is an imperialist!

Amerikans teach their children that if they are obedient to the system, a magic
jolly old White fat fart delivers goodies made by elves. Toys are not made by happy
elves at the North Pole! Toys are made by Third World workers, often child laborers,
toiling in slave-like conditions. Third World children are basically enslaved by
corporations so that First Worlders can have the latest idiotic toy or gadget.

Bill O’Reilly and similar idiots are always spewing nonsense about a so-called “war
against Christmas.” Truth be told, there has never been a war against Christmas —
until now.

RAIM-D is formally declaring an all out people’s war against Christmas in Amerika.
It’s on, piggies. It’s on. Fuck Yeah!

Beyond Chicanismo: Simon Sedillo on Immigration, Border Issues, and Neoliberalism

Beyond Chicanismo Presents: Fears of Aztlan, fears of the Reconquista

Fears of Aztlán, Fears of the Reconquista: Why do WASP’s think they can be Native Americans?

FEATURING DR. ARTURO J. ALDAMA.

DR. ARTURO J. ALDAMA TO SPEAK AT AURARIA CAMPUS.

WHO: Dr. Arturo J. Aldama was born in Mexico City, and grew up in northern California. He has BA in Ethnic Literatures/ English from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. He went on to receive both his M.A. and his Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, 1993 and 1996, respectively. He served as an Assistant-Associate Professor of Chicana/o Studies at Arizona State University (1996-2003) and was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara 1999-2000.

His publications include:

* Disrupting Savagism: Intersecting Chicana/o, Mexican Immigrant and Native American Struggles for Representation; Duke University Press
* Ed, Decolonial Voices: Chicana and Chicano Cultural Studies in the 21st Century; Indiana University Press
* Violence and the Body: Race, Gender and the State; Indiana University Press
* Associate contributing editor, Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art: Artists, Works, Culture, and Education, Bilingual Review Press

He was elected as the Rocky Mountain Regional Delegate of the Modern Language Association. He made an experimental digital short on the “ism’s” that Chicanas/os and immigrants negotiate on a daily basis, called Border Haiku: Scenes of Everyday Life with David Martinez. His most recent project is to serve as senior subject editor and contributor for the Encyclopedia of Latina and Latino Popular Culture, a 400,000 word, multi-volume project that is the first of its kind.

Future projects include books on the politics of subaltern representation for Latino immigrants and criminalized youth, a study of time and violence, and a book length collection of essays with images with Dr. Elisa Facio as co-editor called Hidden Legacies/ Enduring Struggles: Ethnic Histories and Cultural Survival in Colorado. The volume will consider the rich and complex histories and struggles for cultural survival in the Native American, Mexican-Chicana/o, African American, and Asian American communities in the Colorado Borderlands.

WHAT: A Discussion On Fears Of Aztlán, Fears Of The Reconquista: Why Do WASP’s Think They Can Be Native Americans?

WHERE: AURARIA CAMPUS, TIVOLI ROOM 440/540.

DATE & TIME: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2007. 11:30 A.M.

This event is FREE and open to the public.

Sponsored by: The MSCD Department of Chicana/o Studies,

Los Herederos of Change & Esperanza, and Conscious Journey.

also…

THE BEYOND CHICANISMO ORAL HISTORY PROJECT PRESENTS:

¡NO SOMOS CRIMINALES: FACTS & MYTHS ON LATINA/O IMMIGRATION!

FEATURING DR. ARTURO J. ALDAMA.

WHO: Dr. Arturo J. Aldama was born in Mexico City, and grew up in northern California. He has BA in Ethnic Literatures/ English from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. He went on to receive both his M.A. and his Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, 1993 and 1996, respectively. He served as an Assistant-Associate Professor of Chicana/o Studies at Arizona State University (1996-2003) and was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara 1999-2000.

His publications include:

* Disrupting Savagism: Intersecting Chicana/o, Mexican Immigrant and Native American Struggles for Representation; Duke University Press
* Ed, Decolonial Voices: Chicana and Chicano Cultural Studies in the 21st Century; Indiana University Press
* Violence and the Body: Race, Gender and the State; Indiana University Press
* Associate contributing editor, Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art: Artists, Works, Culture, and Education, Bilingual Review Press

He was elected as the Rocky Mountain Regional Delegate of the Modern Language Association. He made an experimental digital short on the “ism’s” that Chicanas/os and immigrants negotiate on a daily basis, called Border Haiku: Scenes of Everyday Life with David Martinez. His most recent project is to serve as senior subject editor and contributor for the Encyclopedia of Latina and Latino Popular Culture, a 400,000 word, multi-volume project that is the first of its kind.

Future projects include books on the politics of subaltern representation for Latino immigrants and criminalized youth, a study of time and violence, and a book length collection of essays with images with Dr. Elisa Facio as co-editor called Hidden Legacies/ Enduring Struggles: Ethnic Histories and Cultural Survival in Colorado. The volume will consider the rich and complex histories and struggles for cultural survival in the Native American, Mexican-Chicana/o, African American, and Asian American communities in the Colorado Borderlands.

WHAT: ¡No Somos Criminales! is a fun, informative, and interactive workshop on the facts and myths about how immigrants are criminalized through an examination of the issues around this using the census, demographics, and purchasing power.

WHERE: AURARIA CAMPUS, TIVOLI ROOM 440/540.

DATE & TIME: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2007. 2:30 P.M.

This event is FREE and open to the public.

Sponsored by: The MSCD Department of Chicana/o Studies,

Los Herederos of Change & Esperanza, and Conscious Journey.

Screening of ‘Troublemaker’

The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist Movement- Denver invites you to a special screening of ‘Troublemaker,’ a groundbreaking collection of video shorts by Shubel Morgan/Proletarian Productions. Unlike anything you have ever seen before, ‘Troublemaker’ combines music, images and speech into a politically charged message of Third World liberation and revolutionary anti-imperialism.

If you have never seen video, you do not want to miss this event. Even if you have, this is still a good opportunity to catch up with RAIM, find out what we’ve been up to and get more involved with future actions and events.

This screening will be held at 1pm in room 442 of the Tivoli building [on the Auraria campus] on Thursday the 29th of November. After the video there will be a question and answer session and discussion with members from the Revolutionary Anti Imperialist Movement- Denver.

Amerikkkans “human hunt” “niggers” in Iraq

Tryworks has beat us to the scoop again. Amerikkkans “human hunt” “niggers” in Iraq, check it:

More human hunting, Amerikkkan snipers murder scavengers and children in Iraq by tricking them:

Shubel Morgan video on the mundane reality of national oppression:

Need we say it again: FUCK AMERIKKKA FUCK THE TROOPS!

Happy Veterans Day!!!

Tryworks beat us to the punch celebrating Veterans Day. Check out their great coverage.

Here’s some more counter to the sick jingoism celebrated by Amerika today.

More fuck the troops fun:

From the great work of Shubel Morgan:

KKKolumbus Day: White trash spectacle opposed, over 80 arrests

RAIM-D report from Transform Columbus Day

The AIM/TCD march kicked off once again in Denver, the birthplace of the KKKolumbus Day holiday. This being the 100th anniversary of the celebration of genocide against the native peoples, all out efforts were made for this protest. And it came off as one of the more militant demonstrations against the holiday since protests against it began in the 90’s.

Start off, early morning, Saturday

The demonstrations began early in the morning with the Four Directions March. RAIM-Denver was in the West end of Four Directions March at Auraria campus, with a couple hundred others. All the directions had a color. RAIM-D and their allies were at this direction with a sizable contingent, with banners and sky blue and Mexican flags, including our new one “Turn the World Upside Down.” Pigs were there on red dirtbikes, possibly purchased by Homeland Security money coming for the DNC next year. These dirt bikes gave them great mobility.

The other directions converged at the State Capitol building for a short rally. Over 1000 people showed up to oppose Kolumbus Day. Glenn Morris and Russell Means, among others, spoke to the crowd. Then the march proceeded to downtown to confront the Kolumbus Day parade.

[The above video provided by FeistyAphrodite]

And It’s On!!!

From the capitol steps, the march proceeded down 16th Street Mall stopping one of the bus lanes. At the intersection of Stout and 15th St. the rally gathered to oppose the parade in the streets. The Denver Pig Department and the piglets of the Sheriff’s Department were out in force, many in riot gear. There were also pigs in tan uniforms. Perhaps state police? SWAT-type teams were present as were pigs with some new kind of gun that looked like a modified AR-15 with a bulge on top and a non-standard ammo clip. It may have been some kind of “non-lethal” modification to the weapon. They looked like the occupying army that they are.

[The above video provided by some idiot white trash racist blogger.]

Shortly after gathering at 15th and Stout, there was an odd incident. One participant was almost arrested. Another person was arrested and taken away. Undercover police were seen in the area. They were plain clothed, in bandanas and sunglasses. The undercovers were filmed talking on police radios. We later found out that this was the first arrest of the day.

A bucket of fake blood with baby doll parts was thrown into the street where the “Convoy of Conquest” was to come through.

For those that have not seen the Convoy, it is a sight to see. It is a spectacle of white trash.

The Kolumbus Day parade, supposedly a celebration of “Italian Pride,” is symbolic of the parasitism of cracker Amerikkka. It began with the Sons of Italy on motorcycles, racist bikers (it was nice that they found time between beating their wives and cooking meth to attend the parade), followed by Denver cops on their motorcycles. How appropriate, pigs on hogs. Then it followed with a procession of gas-guzzling Hummer vehicles and other cars that looked right off the dealership. Lots of flat bed semis with empty floats and shitty cover bands. A handful of paraders with signs of cities named after Kolumbus was led by two people dressed like a mascot Indian, with feathers and dress, and a Spanish conquistador — how nice. There were U$ military personnel and/or ROTC there. And, the libertarian party was there to defend white property rights. The many vehicles were needed to make up for the lack of actual people for this pathetic white garbage dump of a parade. If you needed any more reason to hate Amerikkka, this parade will do it. Most of the paraders were very old, so it is encouraging sign to know that these crackers will leave this earth very soon.

Several people placed their bodies between the Convoy and the parade route. There were several groups of people and many random individual acts to stop the racist parade. The Denver pigs used pain compliance methods against the protesters who blocked the street. In one instance, pigs may have sprayed mace into some of the arrestees eyes at close quarters — we are not sure about this yet. The pigs also beat and manhandled many individuals.

[Demented and abusive pigs smile. Photo from The Metropolitian, October 11, 2007.]

RAIM-D did not witness every brave act of that day. RAIM-D did see one woman in the first circle of arrestees badly hurt by the pigs. Her arms were twisted very badly. Another woman was hit in the face. In another group of arrests, two women got manhandled and hurt with pain compliance by the demented pigs. One of these women was dropped on her head. She looked injured. Russell Means and Glenn Morris were arrested in the streets. One elder in a wheelchair was arrested. The pigs took the AIM staff from one person in the streets. Individuals with a banner walked into the street and were arrested. The police arrested another pile of people who put their bodies on the line. One Indian had his face smashed up, swollen and bloodied by the pigs’ use of force. Pigs refused this individual medical treatment. The favorite tactics of the Denver pigs were pain compliance and dog piling the protesters with brute force.

[Photo provided by the Colorado Daily]

These brave efforts delayed the parade for over an hour.

A white-trash blogger or similar scum was in the protest crowd trying to stir up people. RAIM-D members and others confronted them many times. RAIM-D did its share of agitation to give balance to the regular liberal sentiment and chants. RAIM-D is tired of the lame “hey hey ho ho chant fill-in-the-blank has got to go” and tried to mix it up a bit with “down with all settler states, down with the united snakes.” Many asked us to tone it down, but many others appreciated our efforts.

[Photo provided by RAIM-D, please credit when using.]

After the parade, the marchers went to the City and County building to await word on their comrades arrested earlier. While gathered there, a number of people took down the Amerikan flag flying above and turned it upside down and secured it in its new position with a lock. It was flying that way for hours.

We later regrouped at the county jail awaiting releases. The sheriff piglets were dragging their feet in releasing people, even those that made bail. RAIM-D and others marched around all sides of the jail. We signaled to our comrades and friends with flags, signs, and our hands. People released said it was a big morale boost seeing us from the jail windows.

Everyone was finally released by the end of Sunday, 88 people were arrested last time we checked. Much abuse went on. Those with injuries did not receive medical treatment. One blind detainee had his cane taken away and was left without assistance. Many detainees reported their property stolen by the jailers. Lawsuits against the city and police are planned by the arrestees.

RAIM-D was happy that so many people of good conscience took a stand. We saw many of our friends and allies there.

Overall, this event was more confrontational than those of previous years. The pigs were taken by surprise by the actions of the demonstrators, not expecting this level of protest. The pigs had lots of new toys and techniques, likely to prepare them for the DNC next year. The media coverage was abysmal, no surprise to anyone here. As tryworks reported, the pig media released the arrest reports, making it easier for vigilantes to harass people. Typical.

The celebration of Kolumbus Day is one symptom of Amerikan imperialism, and the only way to end Kolumbus Day is to end Amerika.

Check out tryworks’ excellent coverage here and here.

Support the Denver 88 by TCD on Fire Witch Rising’s blog.

RAIM-D will eventually try to put up some of our video of the events.

Update 1: A video featuring Savage Family on TCD, click here

Update 2: Westword slideshow of the TCD events, click here

Ward Churchill Fired

Ward Churchill was officially fired from his position as tenured professor and head of the CU Ethnic Studies Department yesterday.

Members of RAIM-Denver made the trip up to Boulder to distribute flyers supporting Ward Churchill. The flyers that we got out pointed to the real reason that Ward has come under fire: because he dared to speak the truth- he dared to point out that amerikans are an imperial citizenry that have for the last 500 years shit on the world and now can’t seem to figure out why everyone hates them.

Ward Churchill truly is a revolutionary academic, one who is an anomaly in oppressor amerikkka. It comes as no surprise to RAIM-Denver that pigmerikkka is now bending over backwards to silence and discredit someone who has taken such a bold stand for those oppressed by amerikkkan imperialism.

In the coming days we will post a full report as well as pictures from the day’s events.