While I still see many Leninists as comrades, he really highlights the arrogance they often have. There's only one, "scientific" way to do revolution through a vanguard elite leading the so-called ignorant masses. Then they have the gall to say "Anarchism only exists in the first world." Like he said, indigenous people have their own way of doing things, and for MLs to come in and say "no, liberation only comes our way" is colonialism, yet they'll at the same time call Anarchism, which is influenced by indigenous practices and outlook, "reactionary" or "Liberal." It's extremely hypocritical chauvinism under a different name.
it's even more arrogant to think our work is inherently effective or meaningful. we need to find a synthesis analysis and this was always hard wired into dialectical materialism. we need to study revolution, let our findings inform our work, and hold one another accountable in some way to the work. we need metrics as well as room for the unknown.
Important to remember that, while the old philosophers were progressive, they still believed in colonial domination and reductive racial 'sciences'. Despite an admiration for the 'savages'. It is on the modern wave to dis arm and compile new forms of revolution. Of anarchism. Glad to be aboard and to see wonderful insight like yours!
I am very curious about anarchism, and I have to say I really loved this talk. So fascinating and really enjoyed the following things: 1) The idea of non-violent struggle can be done effectively and smartly, the Zapatista Women pushing the soldiers. And the Zapatistas being armed, they encouraged involvement of the people. 2) Indigenous people using their own cultural traditions to inform their governance/organizing 3) Rotating leaders, I find that quite intriguing. 4) His whole story. I gleaned so much from this and can't wait to learn more.
@@tictacterminator any introduction to the ideas of the EZLN is valuable I believe. This video is americentric and you're correct to say they should listen to Subcomandante Galeano's speeches directly, there's no need to be rude about it however.
That one sentence about coming out into a vacuum after being in prison for 11 years says so much about the cultural hegemony. That will stick with me for a long while
I’m going to read the collected literature of Black Anarchism. There’s a book. So much insight and every Anarchist and freedom fighter must read such an important addition to our revolutionary struggle.
I don't have heros but if I did this would definitely be one. Can't even begin to say how much he and Assata have influenced me and my anarchism! ✊👊🖤☮️🥀🏴🌐A///E
Its sad that a revolution hasn't occurred yeah, but the zapatistas are still around. It proves that they're onto something, and I doubt they've been getting less radical
@@daymanfighterofthenightman I’ve often heard “banger” (specifically, in the sense of being short for “gang banger”) used disparagingly. I’m just expressing a hope that that’s not what’s going on here, because this talk was great.
I: Upon hearing the joking mention of Soros, I jumped into the description to see when the speech was made. 2006, huh. I had no idea the talk of him dates this far, and possibly further; thought it was a recent phenomenon xD
Hey Zoe, first of thank you for your great work. I had a question and I'm not certain of how to reach you best so I'll just try like this. I'm currently working on putting together a paper on the differences between bolshevist and anarchist pedagogy and the underlying foundations of them. I was wondering if you could recomend some literature or sources regarding anarchist pedagogy, preferady from the late 19th to the mid 20th century.
Unfortionalel, while (some) older activists, like this guy learn from their past mistakes, the knowledge does not get passed down to the next generation very well. So each generation keeps making more. Or less, the same kinds.of. Mistakes decade after decade. George Orwell, an ardent Socialist and Vocal critic of other Socialists, was saying the same kind of thing about the Marxists of his time and place, which was England in the 1930s. This guy said some very interesting things, which deserve more discussion.
I will say that I think even the anarchist academic philosophers are guilty of a certain kind of elitism were there could be this underlying feeling that they must make the paper "sound academic". Of course this makes it harder to access for anyone that isn't in that world. I don't think it's necessarily done on purpose, but it's almost like they automatically switch to this other academic language. That said, I understand that the concepts they are trying to explain can be complicated but I feel like if their goal is to spread the good word then they ought to make the information as easy to understand as possible.
additionally i think writings that use both everyday and the more heady language could be written to explain why an academic writer might use particular language or terms and explain the use, context, and structure of that language jain more everyday wording. or better yet we (the ppl who’d be down to undertake such a project) attempt to do that work
Also let me add. The one thing….the ONE THING all the other revolutionary movements did NOT have to deal with…..from Lenin to Mao to Fidel to The Zapatista’s is…..the COLOR line. See…..all these other Revolutionary movements could easily BLEND IN and operate behind enemy lines because their skin color was all the SAME. Here in AmeriKKKa where color is the caste system…..we are literally running scared the WHOLE TIME because we have no COVER. With our Black skin as our “uniform” we’re out in the open fighting……that’s just not PRACTICAL. Meanwhile we romanticize these other Revolutionary movements like they have the answer and we didn’t. ALL these other groups could easily blend in with the people they were trying to overthrow and none would be the wiser. But they see US the Blacks coming from 400 miles away. And they can track us easily. This is one big reason our movements are so EASY TO DESTROY here in AmeriKKKa. 🤷🏾♂️
@@eusebioabelardo1415 anarchist credit as in "I didn't do the labor of recording and uploading it, so I'll pay respect to those who actually DID do the labor." Attribution if you'd like. I'm sure the people who originally uploaded this to the internet won't mind, but I'm sure they'd appreciate recognition for the labor they performed.
I had to turn it off 28 minutes in but I can sum it up: "We tried, we failed. A much poorer country with less resources was able to do it so we went to take lessons. Came back home, still couldn't do it." Pretty simplistic
@@sheevinopalpatino4782 They must not have been either. They took a pre-test and failed the exam. So they went out and studied. Came back and STILL failed the test. If you think I'm wrong please enlighten me, I'll be waiting...
I wonder if we anarchists can organize to truly allocate power to the people in our individual communities. I hope so. I don’t exactly know where to start but I hope that through learning from anarchists like this guy I can contribute to the movement.
I’m annotating this I don’t care if it’s annoying - 9:09 he was talking about how in black nationalism there was a push for a scientific revolution. Explained how this approach ignored the autonomy of individuals and groups that face different struggles, that viewed revolution differently. This is something I’ve been thinking about recently. I’ve come to the conclusion that the existence of a state, socialized or not, is inherently racist. Since being radicalized, I have always ideologically opposed the existence of the state. I am sad to say that I have done little to oppose it in action beyond the minor shoplifting done here and there, but I hope to change that in the near future. The first reason why was because I felt that so long as the opportunity to abuse power exists, it will be taken. The second was a realization I came upon later, that the bourgeoisie will never allow us to enact change using the very structure with which they have maintained their control. Now, I have come upon a third reason to oppose the existence of a state in a post-revolution society. Because, now after two years of learning more about the struggles of BIPOC in America and it’s territories and the struggles of those in underdeveloped (pillaged) countries, the more I think that simply socializing our resources within our borders will do nothing to stop the tyranny that occurs both in and outside of them. The path to the dictatorship of the proletariat is not only fruitless, but requires the indigenous peoples residing in what is now American territory to sit idly and continue to allow themselves to be colonized. It requires people of color to trust whomever the (majorly white) population of America elects to “save” them from capitalism. It requires them to accept a world without police or prison abolition. It requires those in the many countries around the world torn apart by corporate imperialism to do without military abolition. What are the chances that a newly established state, likely focusing on organizing itself against attacks from capitalist countries and the undoubtedly large swathes of idiots against equality and equity for all, is going to be able to repair the damage that has been done? Or that it will be willing to? Moreover, the establishment of the transitory state, again, results in the continued dependence on punitive justice and a military state to maintain control. Both of which are historically racist and classist structures. How many laws will we revise? Is it possible to enact compassionate, restorative justice with a set of rules? How much of this system will we keep? Can a system, which does not evaluate the specific individual character of a crime, really be fair? BIPOC, the unhoused, the disabled, and so many other peoples in America desperately need abolition. The prison-industrial complex is a behemoth of control, and it limits the opportunities of individuals everywhere. This applies to the military and it’s own industry as well. It is impossible to maintain control of the state while abolishing these structures, and it is impossible for me to accept the maintenance of a state that does not. Everyday it seems that the fastest, safest road to a better world is the working class peoples of the world coming together and rebelling against their oppressors all at once. I’m not sure how this would occur, but I hope with the help of the internet it can one day become a reality. Until then, the best way to change things seems not to be political campaigning, but to talk with your neighbors, the one next door and the one on your sidewalk. To join a mutual aid group and help people find whatever they need. To train up community members in self defense and means to self sufficiency. Each person in a community is unique and capable of contributing something, be it electrical work, martial training, or being a good friend and supporter. If we put our skills together we will find that we don’t need to consume. We can forcefully occupy abandoned or unused buildings and homes, turn them into communes and create our own means of production. Build bunkers for protection. Talk with the tribes whose lands we are residing upon. Ask how we can include them in this effort, how they would like the issue of the land that is rightfully theirs to be resolved. This approach, the one where everyone and anyone can simply get up and lend a hand and therefore has a role in shaping our new society, seems drastically kinder and more human than that of a revolution wherein everyone follows one face and one ideology. We didn’t always live under states, under authority. Once we abandon the notion of the state, we abandon the borders of nationality. Through this, will come cooperation to everyone’s mutual benefit. I am not so naïve as to think that such a revolution would be as simple as I described it above. But I truly think that if we reached out to those around us, from different communities, and listened to each other, we could build something close to perfect. Something so versatile and changeable that people are very rarely limited by their circumstances. I’m not sure if most of this made sense even, but this was mostly for myself. To finally articulate the feeling that has been bouncing around my tiny thick skull for some time. The idea that we *must* establish a state ignores the perspectives and interests of many different groups, particularly those who have been directly affected by American imperialism, domestically and internationally.
9:33 expanding on this, he was talking about one way R, big R, and about push. I see this a lot in leftist circles, both auth and lib leaning. We are so obsessed about doing this exactly the right way, that we destroy ourselves. We have so much anxiety about starting the revolution that we’ll soon be meeting the deadline. We alienate our allies by pushing. That isn’t to say that we should compromise with statists, but that we need to illustrate how it is possible to achieve revolution without the state. That we explain the incompatibility of the state with the liberation of all working class peoples. Those that do not listen, we let them campaign and spread leftist ideas while we recruit more folks into direct action. I absolutely love the terms he uses btw. Big R, Little R, and One-way R. They are straight to the point.
He goes on about counterintelligence, and the use of the “Black on Black crime” token argument (or at least I think it was from this sort of thing that the argument sprouted from) and how it was used to crush the spirits of black revolutionaries. I am not exactly sure what counterintelligence means, but from the sound of it and the context I will believe that it refers to federal agents planted in black communities to gather information and misinform activists. From the perspective of someone outside of the Black community, it appears that this served a purpose in white america, too. Instead of crushing spirits, it served to protect the government from the court of public opinion, to further instill anti-Black bias in the minds of people malicious and well meaning alike. White people defend the over policing of low income, black and indigenous/latinx communities by declaring, dully, that the police serve to protect these communities from themselves. Therefore, middle class whites feel no sympathy is due, and poor whites blame their neighbors of color instead of the system. I can’t imagine how crushing the death of Malcolm X must’ve been. The fact that they pushed the narrative that he was killed by a black individual instead of the FBI was a spit in the face. It makes me wonder, is a decentralized movement with more figureheads also more difficult to kill?
10:37 talking about the effects internalized racism has had upon the Black communities efforts to organize, and mobilize. This is a trend that seems to be present in many subgroups of America’s population. The internalization of stigma that results in self sabotage and self limitation. It’s the most horrific thing- I feel we have been broken into complacency.
11:03 “we could do for ourselves” As someone who isn’t well read on the history of the black panthers, it’s different seeing someone who was a part of that group speak about it than what rare unbiased sources of info I have come across when I am not going out of my way to look at that history. I knew they did ground work. Important work like free lunch, like encouraging Black self defense. But only once I heard a former Black Panther speak about the work that was done, did it really click that this work was amazing. The police truly had no accountability at all in that time (not that they have much more nowadays), and to enact such programs with the local government would have been nearly impossible. But it was done, because they did for themselves.
all power to all the people 🚩🏴✊
What would it take to make Google combine those two flag emojis? 😆
@@RichardFalkner Idk but that would be interesting 😂
@@RichardFalkner the red one is already a triangle as well.
@Dameon Launert you’re talking about power to the individuals we’re talking about all power to all the people
Right on
Glad you reuploaded this. I still remember watching it for the first time. It was possibly one of the most important speeches I have ever seen.
This is my Father. 😊. ✊🏾
While I still see many Leninists as comrades, he really highlights the arrogance they often have. There's only one, "scientific" way to do revolution through a vanguard elite leading the so-called ignorant masses. Then they have the gall to say "Anarchism only exists in the first world." Like he said, indigenous people have their own way of doing things, and for MLs to come in and say "no, liberation only comes our way" is colonialism, yet they'll at the same time call Anarchism, which is influenced by indigenous practices and outlook, "reactionary" or "Liberal." It's extremely hypocritical chauvinism under a different name.
Leninism is declining in the third world for those very reasons.
it's even more arrogant to think our work is inherently effective or meaningful. we need to find a synthesis analysis and this was always hard wired into dialectical materialism. we need to study revolution, let our findings inform our work, and hold one another accountable in some way to the work. we need metrics as well as room for the unknown.
He will be giving another interview on may 1st on black power media UA-cam channel
Important to remember that, while the old philosophers were progressive, they still believed in colonial domination and reductive racial 'sciences'. Despite an admiration for the 'savages'. It is on the modern wave to dis arm and compile new forms of revolution. Of anarchism. Glad to be aboard and to see wonderful insight like yours!
Probably the best speech on black anarchism.
I am very curious about anarchism, and I have to say I really loved this talk. So fascinating and really enjoyed the following things:
1) The idea of non-violent struggle can be done effectively and smartly, the Zapatista Women pushing the soldiers. And the Zapatistas being armed, they encouraged involvement of the people.
2) Indigenous people using their own cultural traditions to inform their governance/organizing
3) Rotating leaders, I find that quite intriguing.
4) His whole story.
I gleaned so much from this and can't wait to learn more.
i belive removing leaders and replacing them with deligates would be better.
May I ask what part of this message would be the most effective in convincing others?
if you're curious about the EZLN go listen to the words of Subcomandante Marcos-Galeano himself instead of this Americentric circlejerk
@@tictacterminator please elaborate. I too am looking to get more involved in the movement.
@@tictacterminator any introduction to the ideas of the EZLN is valuable I believe. This video is americentric and you're correct to say they should listen to Subcomandante Galeano's speeches directly, there's no need to be rude about it however.
Heart-wrenching speech. What an amazing life-story.
All Power to the People...& Not to the Oppressor ...✊🏿
This is a very practical and fascinating speech.
This is so inspiring. Much like what is happening in Rojava. We must spread the word and organize
He will be giving another interview may 1st on black power media UA-cam channel
Organize and unionize the communities. All power to the people.
Very powerful! All power to the people!
I love this speech makes me tear up every time
Such a great speech! Thank you for sharing this, Zoe!
Phenomenal speech, thank you for posting this Zoe. 🏴
That one sentence about coming out into a vacuum after being in prison for 11 years says so much about the cultural hegemony. That will stick with me for a long while
I’m going to read the collected literature of Black Anarchism. There’s a book. So much insight and every Anarchist and freedom fighter must read such an important addition to our revolutionary struggle.
Have you read anything since, or have any great recommendations?
@@ThePathOfEudaimonia following
He will be giving another interview may 1st on the black power media UA-cam channel
I don't have heros but if I did this would definitely be one. Can't even begin to say how much he and Assata have influenced me and my anarchism!
✊👊🖤☮️🥀🏴🌐A///E
I can't believe this great speech is this old, and things seem the same this much later. Sad really. LIBERTY OR DEATH!
Its sad that a revolution hasn't occurred yeah, but the zapatistas are still around. It proves that they're onto something, and I doubt they've been getting less radical
@@Mara-vc2ch There's one in Syria, it's been going on since 2012, and it's united authoritarian and libertarian socialists.
Thanks for sharing this lecture. It was very interesting to hear from these different struggles and the development of movements.
I am so glad this is online. I will be on-sharing, teach-ins, sharing widely. Thanks.
I'm new to your channel and just wanted to say thank you for all these wonderful resources. This speech really spoke to me.
I really like this guy's mindset. Plenty of common sense too. We need more people like him
His words at about the 46 minute mark are so impactful
Banger
banger x2
I hope you’re using that as a compliment.
@@DavidLindes ?
@@daymanfighterofthenightman I’ve often heard “banger” (specifically, in the sense of being short for “gang banger”) used disparagingly. I’m just expressing a hope that that’s not what’s going on here, because this talk was great.
@@DavidLindes it's a compliment lol
All power to the people.
Thank you for posting, incredible speech
Auto CC should say "junta" instead of "hunter", if anyone is confused.
Important comment for the hearing impaired
_Spread the bread, algorhithm!_
Thank you for sharing Zoe!
Thank you for uploading this
An incredible speech. Thank you for posting.
wow. he’s such a wonderful speaker.
Wow that george soros thing been a meme for a fat minute now
🚩🏴✊all power to all the people
Wonderful speech. Thank you for posting it.
New Jersey represent!
More interesting and thought (and hopefully action) provoking content. Thanks Zoe
Amazing talk 🙏🏻
love this guy ❤️
I: Upon hearing the joking mention of Soros, I jumped into the description to see when the speech was made. 2006, huh. I had no idea the talk of him dates this far, and possibly further; thought it was a recent phenomenon xD
Awesome video 🏴☠️
important content
29:14 anybody who reads postmodernist philosophy can definetely relate to this
I got a fair ‘understanding’ of Foucault. However trying to read Deleuze and Guattari was just painful.
@@gooseneck5433 if you are still at it you might like this: ua-cam.com/play/PLCh5HOS_mbjLB4U_8IviyXTcOC8Z7NkC1.html
@@davidpalm5364 Thanks I’ll give it a shot!
beautiful 🏴✨
I love this man!!! 😍😍
So great
Excellent.
Hey Zoe, first of thank you for your great work. I had a question and I'm not certain of how to reach you best so I'll just try like this.
I'm currently working on putting together a paper on the differences between bolshevist and anarchist pedagogy and the underlying foundations of them. I was wondering if you could recomend some literature or sources regarding anarchist pedagogy, preferady from the late 19th to the mid 20th century.
There's some books on libgen. Including anarchist pedagogies 2012
one day you'll grow up and realize there is no difference
you're all commies
@@tictacterminator ?
✊🏽
Unfortionalel, while (some) older activists, like this guy learn from their past mistakes, the knowledge does not get passed down to the next generation very well. So each generation keeps making more. Or less, the same kinds.of. Mistakes decade after decade. George Orwell, an ardent Socialist and Vocal critic of other Socialists, was saying the same kind of thing about the Marxists of his time and place, which was England in the 1930s.
This guy said some very interesting things, which deserve more discussion.
Bakunin and other socialist as well. 😢
✊
fukken bomb shit
There’s a speech, wow.
Amandla Ngawethu from 🇿🇦 the small “r” marathon continues.
🔥❤️🖤🔥
Based
Based + W + Iconic
based? based on what?
@@gavinn.4060 material reality
3:50 what he said here hurts inter-generationally 😩
I will say that I think even the anarchist academic philosophers are guilty of a certain kind of elitism were there could be this underlying feeling that they must make the paper "sound academic". Of course this makes it harder to access for anyone that isn't in that world. I don't think it's necessarily done on purpose, but it's almost like they automatically switch to this other academic language. That said, I understand that the concepts they are trying to explain can be complicated but I feel like if their goal is to spread the good word then they ought to make the information as easy to understand as possible.
additionally i think writings that use both everyday and the more heady language could be written to explain why an academic writer might use particular language or terms and explain the use, context, and structure of that language jain more everyday wording. or better yet we (the ppl who’d be down to undertake such a project) attempt to do that work
using** not jain oops
Also let me add. The one thing….the ONE THING all the other revolutionary movements did NOT have to deal with…..from Lenin to Mao to Fidel to The Zapatista’s is…..the COLOR line.
See…..all these other Revolutionary movements could easily BLEND IN and operate behind enemy lines because their skin color was all the SAME.
Here in AmeriKKKa where color is the caste system…..we are literally running scared the WHOLE TIME because we have no COVER. With our Black skin as our “uniform” we’re out in the open fighting……that’s just not PRACTICAL.
Meanwhile we romanticize these other Revolutionary movements like they have the answer and we didn’t. ALL these other groups could easily blend in with the people they were trying to overthrow and none would be the wiser. But they see US the Blacks coming from 400 miles away. And they can track us easily.
This is one big reason our movements are so EASY TO DESTROY here in AmeriKKKa. 🤷🏾♂️
29:45 d&g 😮
Year of the interview?
2006.
2006 is displayed at the start
@@anarchozoe ty
14:24 the George Soros joke 😂😂
¡YA BASTA!
Trying to win autonomy? I thought we were trying to win a world. How long can an autonomous zone survive?
This was already online, wasn't it? It'd be nice to credit it in the video description.
Capitalist credit?
Or anarchist credit?
I'm sure that the people who posted it first time don't mind...
No worries, omnia sunt communia
@@eusebioabelardo1415 anarchist credit as in "I didn't do the labor of recording and uploading it, so I'll pay respect to those who actually DID do the labor." Attribution if you'd like. I'm sure the people who originally uploaded this to the internet won't mind, but I'm sure they'd appreciate recognition for the labor they performed.
roblox zapatistas
I had to turn it off 28 minutes in but I can sum it up:
"We tried, we failed. A much poorer country with less resources was able to do it so we went to take lessons. Came back home, still couldn't do it."
Pretty simplistic
This is a stupid take.
@@mutex1024 it might be stupid, but it's not wrong.
@@nickfroze It is wrong, my friend. You've not the mind of the revolutionary.
@@sheevinopalpatino4782 They must not have been either. They took a pre-test and failed the exam. So they went out and studied. Came back and STILL failed the test. If you think I'm wrong please enlighten me, I'll be waiting...
@@nickfroze do you know what an iteration is
I wonder if we anarchists can organize to truly allocate power to the people in our individual communities. I hope so. I don’t exactly know where to start but I hope that through learning from anarchists like this guy I can contribute to the movement.
I’m annotating this I don’t care if it’s annoying
- 9:09 he was talking about how in black nationalism there was a push for a scientific revolution. Explained how this approach ignored the autonomy of individuals and groups that face different struggles, that viewed revolution differently.
This is something I’ve been thinking about recently. I’ve come to the conclusion that the existence of a state, socialized or not, is inherently racist.
Since being radicalized, I have always ideologically opposed the existence of the state. I am sad to say that I have done little to oppose it in action beyond the minor shoplifting done here and there, but I hope to change that in the near future. The first reason why was because I felt that so long as the opportunity to abuse power exists, it will be taken. The second was a realization I came upon later, that the bourgeoisie will never allow us to enact change using the very structure with which they have maintained their control.
Now, I have come upon a third reason to oppose the existence of a state in a post-revolution society.
Because, now after two years of learning more about the struggles of BIPOC in America and it’s territories and the struggles of those in underdeveloped (pillaged) countries, the more I think that simply socializing our resources within our borders will do nothing to stop the tyranny that occurs both in and outside of them.
The path to the dictatorship of the proletariat is not only fruitless, but requires the indigenous peoples residing in what is now American territory to sit idly and continue to allow themselves to be colonized. It requires people of color to trust whomever the (majorly white) population of America elects to “save” them from capitalism. It requires them to accept a world without police or prison abolition. It requires those in the many countries around the world torn apart by corporate imperialism to do without military abolition. What are the chances that a newly established state, likely focusing on organizing itself against attacks from capitalist countries and the undoubtedly large swathes of idiots against equality and equity for all, is going to be able to repair the damage that has been done? Or that it will be willing to?
Moreover, the establishment of the transitory state, again, results in the continued dependence on punitive justice and a military state to maintain control. Both of which are historically racist and classist structures. How many laws will we revise? Is it possible to enact compassionate, restorative justice with a set of rules? How much of this system will we keep? Can a system, which does not evaluate the specific individual character of a crime, really be fair?
BIPOC, the unhoused, the disabled, and so many other peoples in America desperately need abolition. The prison-industrial complex is a behemoth of control, and it limits the opportunities of individuals everywhere. This applies to the military and it’s own industry as well. It is impossible to maintain control of the state while abolishing these structures, and it is impossible for me to accept the maintenance of a state that does not.
Everyday it seems that the fastest, safest road to a better world is the working class peoples of the world coming together and rebelling against their oppressors all at once. I’m not sure how this would occur, but I hope with the help of the internet it can one day become a reality.
Until then, the best way to change things seems not to be political campaigning, but to talk with your neighbors, the one next door and the one on your sidewalk. To join a mutual aid group and help people find whatever they need. To train up community members in self defense and means to self sufficiency. Each person in a community is unique and capable of contributing something, be it electrical work, martial training, or being a good friend and supporter. If we put our skills together we will find that we don’t need to consume. We can forcefully occupy abandoned or unused buildings and homes, turn them into communes and create our own means of production. Build bunkers for protection.
Talk with the tribes whose lands we are residing upon. Ask how we can include them in this effort, how they would like the issue of the land that is rightfully theirs to be resolved.
This approach, the one where everyone and anyone can simply get up and lend a hand and therefore has a role in shaping our new society, seems drastically kinder and more human than that of a revolution wherein everyone follows one face and one ideology.
We didn’t always live under states, under authority. Once we abandon the notion of the state, we abandon the borders of nationality. Through this, will come cooperation to everyone’s mutual benefit.
I am not so naïve as to think that such a revolution would be as simple as I described it above. But I truly think that if we reached out to those around us, from different communities, and listened to each other, we could build something close to perfect. Something so versatile and changeable that people are very rarely limited by their circumstances.
I’m not sure if most of this made sense even, but this was mostly for myself. To finally articulate the feeling that has been bouncing around my tiny thick skull for some time. The idea that we *must* establish a state ignores the perspectives and interests of many different groups, particularly those who have been directly affected by American imperialism, domestically and internationally.
9:33 expanding on this, he was talking about one way R, big R, and about push.
I see this a lot in leftist circles, both auth and lib leaning. We are so obsessed about doing this exactly the right way, that we destroy ourselves. We have so much anxiety about starting the revolution that we’ll soon be meeting the deadline. We alienate our allies by pushing. That isn’t to say that we should compromise with statists, but that we need to illustrate how it is possible to achieve revolution without the state. That we explain the incompatibility of the state with the liberation of all working class peoples. Those that do not listen, we let them campaign and spread leftist ideas while we recruit more folks into direct action.
I absolutely love the terms he uses btw. Big R, Little R, and One-way R. They are straight to the point.
He goes on about counterintelligence, and the use of the “Black on Black crime” token argument (or at least I think it was from this sort of thing that the argument sprouted from) and how it was used to crush the spirits of black revolutionaries. I am not exactly sure what counterintelligence means, but from the sound of it and the context I will believe that it refers to federal agents planted in black communities to gather information and misinform activists.
From the perspective of someone outside of the Black community, it appears that this served a purpose in white america, too. Instead of crushing spirits, it served to protect the government from the court of public opinion, to further instill anti-Black bias in the minds of people malicious and well meaning alike. White people defend the over policing of low income, black and indigenous/latinx communities by declaring, dully, that the police serve to protect these communities from themselves. Therefore, middle class whites feel no sympathy is due, and poor whites blame their neighbors of color instead of the system.
I can’t imagine how crushing the death of Malcolm X must’ve been. The fact that they pushed the narrative that he was killed by a black individual instead of the FBI was a spit in the face. It makes me wonder, is a decentralized movement with more figureheads also more difficult to kill?
10:37 talking about the effects internalized racism has had upon the Black communities efforts to organize, and mobilize.
This is a trend that seems to be present in many subgroups of America’s population. The internalization of stigma that results in self sabotage and self limitation. It’s the most horrific thing- I feel we have been broken into complacency.
11:03 “we could do for ourselves”
As someone who isn’t well read on the history of the black panthers, it’s different seeing someone who was a part of that group speak about it than what rare unbiased sources of info I have come across when I am not going out of my way to look at that history. I knew they did ground work. Important work like free lunch, like encouraging Black self defense. But only once I heard a former Black Panther speak about the work that was done, did it really click that this work was amazing. The police truly had no accountability at all in that time (not that they have much more nowadays), and to enact such programs with the local government would have been nearly impossible. But it was done, because they did for themselves.
Que viva el pueblo