4 Comments

1. Stan:

   Reading Murray Bookchin:

   Help the Third World by fighting capitalism at home! Don’t cop out by hiding under Ho’s and Mao’s skirts when your real job is to overthrow domestic capitalism by dealing with the real possibilities of an American revolution. Develop a revolutionary project at home because every revoutionary project here is necessarily internationalist and anti-imperialist, no matter how much its goals and language are limited to the American condition.

   He said that in 1970, the year I was in Vietnam. We had the draft then. More than half my unit was Black. De recently told me that patriarchy uses women’s bodies as sexual objects and capitalism uses classed-men’s bodies as soldiers. Around that same time, there was an outbreak of revoutionary Black nationalism. The 60s had been transformed by the Black Freedom Struggle — one that was focused simply on democratic rights (the vote) — and the polarizations of that struggle against American Apartheid created the social conditions for a pre-revolutionary turbulence that translated directly into the anti-war movement, and — after Dr. King was assassinated — the overgrowth of a deeply radical urban-based Black nationalism.

   This was not simply ideological. The conditions of Black existence in the US were reflected in this movement that was crushed directly with protracted and well-coordinated state violence.

   The situation in Jenna is yet another indication that those conditions have evolved, but the essential relation between America and African America — behind the curtain of managed “democracy” — is still deeply colonial. Imperialism is right here, right now, within arms reach… yet even white “progressives” don’t get it. That’s because privilege is still operating at full thrust.

   In fact, one reason I will never call myself “progressive” is that (1) what we call “progress” in general has been shown to be inherently exploitative, a disspative structure, and (2) the original “progressives” became great advocates for eugenics. This even included prominent “feminists”, a fact which has been used ever since by anti-feminists to tar the whole movement.

   Now, in the metropoles, we have “yuppy eugenics“.

   Rather than pushing for “progress,” we need to work on recognizing the myopias of privilege, and “fight imperialism at home.”

   Rant complete.

   20 September 2007, 6:06 am

2. xenia:

   I am looking at some wonderful, empowering pictures from Jena. You don’t have to know German (after all, it’s standardized reuters stuff, nothing subversive). Major French and Spanish media haven’t covered it yet, but they probably will, as der Spiegel is talking about tens of thousands:

   http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,506995,00.html

   20 September 2007, 3:01 pm

3. Mike J.:

   Stan,

   That was no rant. It was eloquent and timely.

   Thanks,

   Mike J.

   20 September 2007, 6:20 pm

4. Linda c:

   The 50 yr. celebrations for the “Little Rock 9″ starts this weekend. I have seen interviews with most of the “9″. They have all grown into Leaders, with a graciousness, that envelops anyone willing to listen.

   50 years – is this the same song – second verse?Hopefully out of the “Jena 6″ we will also have the strength of the “9″.

   21 September 2007, 8:11 am

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