If history should be any teacher, it has taught us this: the state has no interest in serving the needs of the masses of Black people in this country, who are poor and working class. Billions of dollars for a war abroad (from which weapons manufacturers and their shareholders profit handsomely) yet we can’t pass a minimum wage of $15 an hour — let alone a living wage — at home. COVID has exposed the horrors of having a for-profit healthcare system, with the wealthiest country on Earth having the highest infection and death rate, and with Black people in . . .
Political Education
Information Warfare for the Revolution
There are many comrades amongst the socialist, anti-imperialist, and world-wide pan-African movements doing great propaganda work on social media right now. Among the cacophony of celebrity worship, consumerism, individualism, and roasting you can find here and there gems of information – well researched and presented. Invitations to conversation and deeper exploration. A light in the dark shown by principled revolutionary socialists, revolutionary nationalists, and anti-imperialists across the globe. These comrades are to be commended for making use of these platforms in this way. But what the last three weeks have revealed is that lights in the dark here and there . . .
Imperialism and the Weaponization of Empathy
Empathy’s endurance among us says that a better and more just way of living is possible despite our current conditions and that the (re)building of that way of living is within our capacity. However, empathy, like almost every aspect of the psyche when we are disorganized and unconscious, can be weaponized and manipulated by that same genocidal global system. We are witnessing this today on a grand scale. . . .
The Indiana Prisoner Rebellion of 1985
On February 1st, 1985 guards at the Indiana Reformatory (now Pendleton Correctional Facility) sparked a rebellion with the brutal beating of defenseless inmate Lincoln Love aka Comrade Lokmar Abdul-Wadood. In a successful attempt to save his life, a politicized group of prisoners took several hostages including guards and a politician and occupied a cell block in the Indiana State Prison for 15 hours. . . .
TikTok & “Anti-Social” Media
Short videos have the ability to effortlessly expose mundane ills of capitalism. On the other hand, the premise of these exposés are often to make viewers laugh or make the creator profit, thus overshadowing the actual ills and exploitations they seek to illuminate; or, in other instances, the videos are simply so decontextualized and seemingly ‘random’ that viewers find themselves simply saying “that’s horrible” before swiping up. . . .
Bourgeois Idealism & the Promotion of Anti-Intellectualism
I know already as I’m writing this piece that it’s not going to be a piece that’s widely read and/or shared. I know this because I’ve written a number of pieces that have been read and shared by thousands. As a result, I’ve learned that the formula for that level of popularity in literature is ensuring the topic is high on the popular culture list. This relates to what bourgeois celebrities, politicians, etc. are doing. These are the people the capitalist system validates as worthwhile. And, all of us, whether we know it or not, whether we admit it or . . .
“Progressive Politicians” Shouldn’t Shut Down Dissent Like The Establishment Does
Former Congresswoman Nina Turner, left of practically every Democrat even if she isn’t as left as we are, lost to neoliberal Democrat-backed Shontal Brown in the Ohio special election for Congress last night. Brown was the choice for Hillary Clinton, James Clyburn, and the rest of the liberal elite, but she was notably also backed by the reactionary pro-Zionist lobby group Democratic Majority for Israel. DMFI obviously opposes the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction movement against Israel as anti-Semitic, and they spent $738,000 opposing Nina Turner and $203,000 supporting Shontel Brown, with a large portion of the spending ($351,000) going towards . . .
Hood Communist Radio – We Unify or We Die
Twice a month, the editorial board of Hood Communist holds live conversations on our Telegram channel where we discuss articles on the blog as well as current events. Tune in below to hear what went down at our May 27 session where we discussed Pan Africanism, African Liberation Day, and our collective statement “We Unify or We Die”. . . .