My radical being doesn’t stop when the clock hits 5:00 pm; we have shit to do. Radical organizing will never send you a W2. . . .
Organizing 101
Ideas for Preventing Counter Insurgency Against Movements
With the capitalist world in a continued state of perpetual decline we are observing all of these capitalist states moving farther and farther to the right. This strategy from them is designed to consolidate control over resources for the capitalist multi-national corporate world by squeezing any possible opportunities for working people to achieve justice out of existence. Consequently, the need for mass movement is more relevant today than ever and we will continue to see these movements develop with clear anti-oppression foundations. What will be necessary within this work is for activists and organizers to consider new ideas for how to effectively engage the work in ways that are inclusive because mass strength is our only true defense. As Kwame Ture often said “only the masses of people make history, not individuals!” . . .
The Uhuru Three, African Stream, and the Black Scare/Red Scare
Originally Published on Grassroots Thinking. On September 12, 2024, a ruling was handed down in the case of the “Uhuru Three.” Omali Yeshitela, Chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP), Penny Hess, Chairman of the African People’s Solidarity Network, and Jesse Nevel, Uhuru Solidarity Movement chair, were acquitted of failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act as agents of Russia, but were found guilty of conspiracy—that is, conspiring with the Russian government to sow discord and to interfere with elections. The charge of conspiracy is particularly nefarious because it effectively criminalizes thoughts and ideas as actions, and, as the Black Alliance . . .
Obama Represents ‘A Peak in the Strategy of Counter-Revolution’
This excerpt comes from a speech given by Onyesonwu Chatoyer, on a panel titled “Black Complicity in American Imperialism: Can Pan-Africanism Be the Solution?” at the National Black Radical Organizing Conference, summer 2023. View the full panel here. I want to specifically speak to the Obama administration and what it represented, because we have to understand as African people, that the ruling class of the U.S. The global capitalist ruling class is extremely invested in severing our connection to Africa; is extremely invested in making us believe, again, that we exist apart from the global majority and from the . . .
Rastafarianism In the Shadow of “Pan-African” Music Trends
Ghana police or koti if that’s your thing, and Rastafarianism don’t mix well. One has peace of mind, and the other is trying to maintain the “peace” through any means. I first took notice of this whilst overhearing the stories of the police raids of this or that rasta house, always a marijuana violation, and always short on the devilish details of what Rastas were up to (probably just meditating or vibing). But really and truly all Ghanaians know that the police, if they were indeed getting paid fairly, had better things to do. In fact all Africans will agree . . .
Steps to a Socialist Pan-African Movement
A recently published book by Vita books publishers Essays on Pan-Africanism edited by Shiraz Durrani & Noosim Naimasiah contains essays on Pan-Africanism written by Pan-Africanist intellectuals at various times. In its preface, Prof. Issa Shivji says writings on Pan-Africanism never become dated for the desire of Africans globally for freedom continues burning, sometimes dimming into a flicker, at other times shining bright but never stuffed out however strong winds. The book has diverse chapters dating back to Karim Essack’s publication in 1993. Nevertheless, there is an important chapter on the necessity of building a Socialist Pan-African movement by Shiraz Durrani . . .
The Election Spectacle
Advertisements are ramping up, words are becoming fiercer, and skeletons are coming out of candidates’ closets. This game is nothing new, yet we play it all the time. What does it mean to vote? What does the election spectacle do for us? Within a bourgeois fantasy, it is to elect a person who is totally accountable to the community they represent. I mean . . . this is the ideal, an ideal which has material consequences. The fantasies are, in some perverted way, a reality. The structures and institutions we all engage with organize around these principles rooted in anti-blackness . . .
Why So Few of Us Have a Good Job
A good job is obviously one that brings you a sense of fulfillment while carrying it out. Since you are going to spend so much time there, more than you will with your loved ones, than this is a pretty important requirement. Other equally important characteristics of a good job are livable wages, quality health care, and a good retirement program. This means a wage that permits you to have a roof over your head, place food on the table, pay all your necessities, and have enough left over to save for a rainy day and enjoy some of the . . .