A reader asked me to elaborate a bit on the poem (no doubt she was disconcerted about the reference to "killing"). I agreed reluctantly because an important point of artistic expression is that meaning is in the eye (or ear) of the beholder. Nevertheless I noted the following:
The work of Willie Kgositile (I studied with Prof. Kgositile @ UCLA) was part of the inspiration for the Last Poets collective:
"The only poem you'll hear will be the spear point pivoted in the punctured marrow of the villain...." W. Kgositile
these are protest songs and poems about social revolution--part of what was known as the Black Arts Movement. Amiri Baraka was a founding member and key proponent of this effort.
"Are you ready to kill if necessary?"
many people have died in the black freedom struggle. many more will die. every nation has a military prepared to die for that nation. i myself served in the united states marine corps. we are trained to kill "the enemy." as malcolm x pointed out, if we can sign up to die in vietnam (or iraq or anywhere else) we should be willing to kill or be killed, if necessary for black freedom. the battle might be physical or it might be spiritual. or it might be both. but we will certainly have to kill some of the white ideas that have been implanted in our consciousness in order to create new ideas.
the poem stresses ma'at (social and sacred balance). destruction must be balanced with construction.
last, the high priestess of soul, nina simone, emphasized that the most important work of the revolution would be internal--we must critically evaluate and remake ourselves. GI
"Are you ready to kill if necessary?" "Are you ready to create life?" "Are you ready to smash white things?" "Are you ready to build black things?" "Are you ready to call the wrath of Black Gods?" "Are you ready to change yourself?"
As different as we have been taught to look at each other by colonial society, we are in the same struggle and until we realize that, we'll be fighting for scraps from the table of a system that has kept us subservient instead of being self-determined. Immortal Technique
Poverty of Philosophy Lyrics
Most of my Latino and black people who are struggling to get food, clothes and shelter in the hood are so concerned with that, that philosophising about freedom and socialist democracy is usually unfortunately beyond their rationale. They don't realize that America can't exist without separating them from their identity, because if we had some sense of who we really are, there's no way in hell we'd allow this country to push it's genocidal consensus on our homelands. This ignorance exists, but it can be destroyed.
Niggas talk about change and working within the system to achieve that. The problem with always being a conformist is that when you try to change the system from within, it's not you who changes the system; it's the system that will eventually change you. There is usually nothing wrong with compromise in a situation, but compromising yourself in a situation is another story completely, and I have seen this happen long enough in the few years that I've been alive to know that it's a serious problem. Latino America is a huge colony of countries whose presidents are cowards in the face of economic imperialism. You see, third world countries are rich places, abundant in resources, and many of these countries have the capacity to feed their starving people and the children we always see digging for food in trash on commercials. But plutocracies, in other words a government run by the rich such as this one and traditionally oppressive European states, force the third world into buying overpriced, unnecessary goods while exporting huge portions of their natural resources.
I'm quite sure that people will look upon my attitude and sentiments and look for hypocrisy and hatred in my words. My revolution is born out of love for my people, not hatred for others.
You see, most of Latinos are here because of the great inflation that was caused by American companies in Latin America. Aside from that, many are seeking a life away from the puppet democracies that were funded by the United States; places like El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Republica Dominicana, and not just Spanish-speaking countries either, but Haiti and Jamaica as well.
As different as we have been taught to look at each other by colonial society, we are in the same struggle and until we realize that, we'll be fighting for scraps from the table of a system that has kept us subservient instead of being self-determined. And that's why we have no control over when the embargo will stop in Cuba, or when the bombs will stop dropping in Vieques.
But you see, here in America the attitude that is fed to us is that outside of America there live lesser people. "Fuck them, let them fend for themselves." No, Fuck you, they are you. No matter how much you want to dye your hair blonde and put fake eyes in, or follow an anorexic standard of beauty, or no matter how many diamonds you buy from people who exploit your own brutally to get them, no matter what kind of car you drive or what kind of fancy clothes you put on, you will never be them. They're always gonna look at you as nothing but a little monkey. I'd rather be proud of what I am, rather than desperately trying to be something I'm really not, just to fit in. And whether we want to accept it or not, that's what this culture or lack of culture is feeding us.
I want a better life for my family and for my children, but it doesn't have to be at the expense of millions of lives in my homeland. We're given the idea that if we didn't have these people to exploit then America wouldn't be rich enough to let us have these little petty material things in our lives and basic standards of living. No, that's wrong. It's the business giants and the government officials who make all the real money. We have whatever they kick down to us. My enemy is not the average white man, it's not the kid down the block or the kids I see on the street; my enemy is the white man I don't see: the people in the white house, the corporate monopoly owners, fake liberal politicians those are my enemies. The generals of the armies that are mostly conservatives those are the real Mother-Fuckers that I need to bring it to, not the poor, broke country-ass soldier that's too stupid to know shit about the way things are set up.
In fact, I have more in common with most working and middle-class white people than I do with most rich black and Latino people. As much as racism bleeds America, we need to understand that classism is the real issue. Many of us are in the same boat and it's sinking, while these bougie Mother-Fuckers ride on a luxury liner, and as long as we keep fighting over kicking people out of the little boat we're all in, we're gonna miss an opportunity to gain a better standard of living as a whole.
In other words, I don't want to escape the plantation I want to come back, free all my people, hang the Mother-Fucker that kept me there and burn the house to the god damn ground. I want to take over the encomienda and give it back to the people who work the land.
You cannot change the past but you can make the future, and anyone who tells you different is a Fucking lethargic devil. I don't look at a few token Latinos and black people in the public eye as some type of achievement for my people as a whole. Most of those successful individuals are sell-outs and house Negros.
But, I don't consider brothers a sell-out if they move out of the ghetto. Poverty has nothing to do with our people. It's not in our culture to be poor. That's only been the last 500 years of our history; look at the last 2000 years of our existence and what we brought to the world in terms of science, mathematics, agriculture and forms of government. You know the idea of a confederation of provinces where one federal government controls the states? The Europeans who came to this country stole that idea from the Iroquois LEAGUE. The idea of impeaching a ruler comes from an Aztec tradition. That's why Montezuma was stoned to death by his own people 'cause he represented the agenda of white Spaniards once he was captured, not the Aztec people who would become Mexicans.
So in conclusion, I'm not gonna vote for anybody just 'cause they black or Latino they have to truly represent the community and represent what's good for all of us proletariat.
Porque sino entonces te mando por el carajo cabron gusano hijo de puta, seramos libre pronto, viva la revolucion, VIVA LA REVOLUCION!
tags: socialism, latin america, immortal technique, hiphop, economics, political economy
A water bufallo having a wollow and it sure looked good in todays heat
. Having some real probs with blogger. only on this account though. so I have to upload on the http://egyptplants.blogspot.com/ account ,save as draft, edit html and cut. bring this account up again and paste. this time I pasted saved ready to cut the bird section to go on birdingin egypt . and the lecy went off. now the birds have been moved to http://birdinginegypt.blogspot.com/
and here on banana island under the trees of the heronry I did not find a building just a few walls and what remains of the pump the boiler that drove this pump has long gone Mr afiz tells me this pump was built in 1890s and in use until the boiler itself blew in 1976, this small steam engine was fired on the abundant tree croppings banana, mango,arange,lemon and the cuttings from the sugar cane. in them days banana island was an island before the days of the high dam and the barrages along the Nile Edfu and Isna that now guvorn the rise and fall of inundation the island itself rises some 20ft above the Nile at high level. and the land has always been irugated and looked after by hand so it must have been a blessing when they brought a steam engine pump on the island ,
but alas all it is now is home to lizards rats and snakes, not to say the young heron that falls from the trees while taking its first brave flight before its feathers grow. and of course the trusted donkey no doubt has spent a few of its none working hours tied to the flywheel or the pulley wheel.
And housed next door to the old pump house is another workhorse if I may call a camel that.this young lady only works for 6 months of the year and that is in sugar harvest time,
One of the shy wildlife always running across your path to get out of your way and until it moves one will not see it a master of disguise. until it sees something that wets its appitite and caution is blown to the wind. or in this case the wind has blinded caution.
Ok wise guy! its not mine. the dog left it for the flies. and me, I eat the flies see, at least its fresh meat. unlike those poor fish in the stagnant pool;
Nice fish big enough for 2 people. these are the fish who are serviving in the stagnant pool caused by the filling of reed bed land, go to the Nile pollution page http://www.myegypt.co.uk/index.php?f=data_home&a=1 no fishermen near the pool any more, because of the smell from the pool. last year this pool was filled by fresh nile water that filtered through the reed beds giving new life to the pool. .
The trees are over populated now with the young of the Cattle And White Egrets, there are quite a few already fallen out of the trees. and looking somewhat dazed at the new surroundings that they will spend the rest of their life in.
Question from FB thread:Was there more to the article that is I am not reading? I have been a "fan" of Gates for awhile and I am disheartened to see him being blasted like this. I read what was written above and it seems, TO ME, that he is simply stating some of the issues that need to be addressed as we get closer to the resolution of reparations (in other words, preparing us for the arguments of our oppressors); as opposed to saying that because some Africans played a part in the slave trade that we don't deserve reparations. I admire Gates research and his ability thus far to open doors and minds. Of course, no one is without flaws. But I think Black Folks need to stop condeming/judging each other so harshly.
Pandering to White Folks kzs: Prof. Gates panders to white people. The article is a clear example of said pandering. And he has already condemned Afrocentric folks harshly. See hyperlink at end of post.
Prof. John Thornton, cited in the essay, is Gates's point man on this topic. He is author of Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World. The basic argument is that Africans were not victims of the slave trade, they were willing participants. This argument is misleading for many reasons. I have posted my 9 counterpoints on my blog.
The Debt. Who Owes Whom? Besides those points we, Afrikan people, have a basic problem. White people have wealthy powerful institutions that controls information about Africans and their descendants. We need more black/Afrikan power to define and declare our truth with no apology.
Several years ago I attended a lecture by Prof. Thornton. I raised the issue of reparations and Thorton replied that Africans owe us (black people in the diaspora). We should hold African elites accountable not Europeans. I challenged Thornton on this point. We went back and forth. Gates jumped into the fray and finally says "well, he is obviously not going to convince you today."
The lecture concluded shortly thereafter. As I exited the building a white administrator thanked me for questioning Thornton. The administrator said he agreed with my position and elaborated a bit (I don't remember exactly what he said.)
Apologies in Reverse Things get fuzzy after that, but I somehow wound up in Gates's office (I think it was the day after the lecture). I don't remember the details of the conversation, but I do remember that Gates informed me that I should write a letter of apology to Thornton for (presumably) disrupting his lecture.
I refused.
Several years later (2009?), Thornton and Linda Heywood gave a talk on their new book (Gates was out of town, I believe). I again raised the question of reparations. I can't recall Thornton's reply, but I remember thinking that his position on African complicity had shifted. He was less insistent on the strong position of Gates. (I recall also that immediately after Thornton stated his (in my view) modified position, his wife, Prof. Linda Heywood, also a scholar, was adament about Africans being equal partners.)
Gates Attacks Afrocentricism, Dr. Clarke Responds Gates's agenda is clear. If you want further evidence, watch his series Wonders of the African World or Google it along with the word "criticism."
Health care workers feared a free health care plan would lead to a flood of patients and longer working hours
By Umaru Fofana BBC News, Freetown
Isata Sesay is busy packing up to leave the country's main maternity referral hospital in the densely populated east end of Freetown.
She is obviously relieved that she and her two-day-old twins survived their ordeal.
Last year, I watched five women die in the space of two nights at the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital.
In March alone, 11 out of 281 pregnant women who gave birth at the hospital died of severe infection, bleeding, obstructed labour and pregnancy-induced hypertension, says Princess Christian's Medical Director Dr Ibrahim Thorlie.
The situation is no better for Sierra Leone's new-born children.
The United Nations ranks the country as the worst place in the world for a child to be born, with 159 out of 1,000 dying before they turn five.
Audio recording made by Michael Richardson, father of Mitrice. The audio is difficult to hear, but basically it documents the fact that an employee at the restaurant where Mitrice was arrested believes Mitrice was clearly either intoxicated or on drugs or both. If true his testimony suggests that Malibu police were negligent in releasing Mitrice.GI
Wow what a great month of growth April has been! I am so excited to see everyone moving and trying out new things. Check out these links of Mesi in the news:
Also the spotlight of the week for Joy of Motion - see below
Pick up April's issue of the Washington Diplomat for a promotional picture featuring Mesi Walton and Ronald Rodriguez performing Afro-Venezuelan dance!
Don't miss out on all the fun, fitness and education!
Sundays 11am-12pm Afro Venezuelan Dance Class- Joy of Motion Atlas
1333 H St. NE, Washington, DC 20002
Drop-In: $17 (ask about a Drop-In discount) All levels
Don't fret! If you missed The Afro Venezuelan Workout at the Venezuelan Embassy last Saturday...We had so much fun, the embassy asked to host the event on a weekly basis (Starting in May)! Look out for more info...
Saturdays 11am-12pm Afro Latin Aerobics - MZO Center (in Wesley United Methodist Church)
5312 Connecticut Ave.
$5 All ages, all levels. This is a workout for the whole family! Come ready to stretch,dance, and sweat while having a blast to music of the African Diaspora.
Upcoming...Presentations about my experience and the African Presence in Venezuela. I am open for locations and audiences to do this interactive and informative presentation with photos, videos and a live performance. Please contact me if you are interested. This is a free event
FREE CLASS FREE CLASS FREE CLASS FREE CLASS FREE CLASS...
Wednesday, April 28th 7pm-8pm. see below...
tags: afro-latino dance, Mesi Walton, washington d.c.
Smooth or rough surface its no problem, they make a good pet around the place, beats using fly spray to kill flies and midges . only problem is the leave the droppings on the wall then clean themselves by dragging their back end along the wall, cant have it all ways I tell myself. I mean house training.
We must demand that the government release every shred of evidence in this case. The possibility that one or more of Malcolm’s killers never left NJ is mind-blowing. These are very serious allegations. I support Bradley’s right to defend himself and answer to these charges. As it stands now these are just accusations. I wonder, too, why Bradley would kill Malcolm and then take the name Shabazz? Very odd.GI
Quoting Abdur-Rahman Muhammad: "Let the historical record forever reflect that the man pictured above,William Bradley 72 (approx.)(known today as Mustafa Shabazz) is the sawed-off shotgun assassin of Malcolm X (El Hajj Malik El Shabazz). He is the man who fired the first and deadliest shot which ripped through the chest of the powerful Black leader on that cold 21st day of February, 1965. "
Me of course.Said the billy goat ! I get fed watered and I have a harem of 12 nanny's on the last count anyway before ramadan, all have my kids, so will be busy again shortly. and the only reason I have a black coat is because I was born with it. I know it gets hot but I have plenty of shade. not that I do anything to get hot " wink wink"
. idiot kids racing on the main highway the donkey has more sense but if it does not do as its told it gets a flogging, . the slave driver just unloaded 2 ton of cement, not him personally , he is the donkey whipper a one job man. that is a piece of plastic pipe he hits the beast of burden with. . What a shy man and all I am doing is taking a photo of the hairdressers sign that he seems to be guarding.
The "idiot" kids I would say. Despite the fact that they are being enslaved by our new world order, they still found a way to put a smile on their innocent faces. I wish we all were as "idiots" as they are...my answer to egypt gift, Just the comment I would expect. what has new world order got to do with flogging a donkey to death just for a bit of fun. and what innocent face, these kids? ha ha. make me laugh again,
Gates's framing of slavery is problematic for many reasons. I will put aside the question of reparations and focus primarily on the supply side of the equation rather than the demand side. I think the number of supply side critiques has diminished as they have lost traction in recent years. kzs
1. complicity could, in some instances, reflect limited options against superior external forces. Elmina, the very first castle/slave dungeon constructed on the west coast of Africa, was imposed on the local Fante people by the Portuguese. Thus unequal power is evident early on. Not only that, the Portuguese set sail with edicts or papal bulls from the Pope authorizing the colonization and enslavement of the entire planet.
2. complicity and victimization were not necessarily mutually exclusive. Even those Africans who collaborated willingly could themselves become enslaved. Europeans slavers were never vulnerable to such consequences. This happened with the Asante (Ashanti) and the Akwamu people of what we now call Ghana. (sidenote: this means that Gates and the rest of us will likely have some ancestors who were active participants in the slave trade) Black elites did not have the power to enslave even the lowliest white person (caveat #1- there are one or two isolated instances of Africans enslaving individual euros during the transatlantic slave trade; caveat # 2- Euros were enslaved by Moors, some of whom were black, but thats a different story and a different slave route).The precarious position of African collaborators vis-à-vis their European and/or Euro-American counterparts makes highly suspect the arguments of Africanist scholars such as John Thornton (cited in the Gates essay) who uses the red herring, “agency,” to assert that Africans were equally accountable for the slave trade.
4. in most cases African participation in the slave trade represented the particular interests of the elites and/or slave brokers of any given African society. In the instance of the transatlantic slave trade, “rulers and subjects,” the scholar John Iliffe affirms, “had sharply divergent interests.” Gates does talk about African elites but he fails to mention the divergent interests of African elites versus ordinary Africans.
Triangular Trade: Africa --> Americas --> Europe
5. the interests of Euro-westerners were represented at each of the three vertices of the triangular circuit (Europe, the New World, Africa); African interests were only represented at one vertex (Africa). This 3:1 ratio was constant, or nearly so, for the duration of the slave trade and suggests that the slave trade was dominated by the interests of European and Euro-Americans, not Africans.
6. the destabilizing impact (see Two Thousand Seasons) of the far older trans-Saharan slave trade is, to date, woefully understudied. The massive involuntary movement of enslaved Africans across the Sahara and Indian Ocean most likely stimulated migrations of Africans escaping Islamicization and subsequent cycles of socio-political instability. This instability might have enhanced the efficacy of Euro-western divide-and-conquer tactics.
7. Gates's claim that African elites routinely traveled abroad to survey the demand side of the slave trade would be comical were the topic not so important. This is clearly his very clumsy effort to prove that African elites and European traders had a shared knowledge of slavery outcomes.
THANKS to an unlikely confluence of history and genetics — the fact that he is African-American and president — Barack Obama has a unique opportunity to reshape the debate over one of the most contentious issues of America’s racial legacy: reparations, the idea that the descendants of American slaves should receive compensation for their ancestors’ unpaid labor and bondage.
There are many thorny issues to resolve before we can arrive at a judicious (if symbolic) gesture to match such a sustained, heinous crime. Perhaps the most vexing is how to parcel out blame to those directly involved in the capture and sale of human beings for immense economic gain.
While we are all familiar with the role played by the United States and the European colonial powers like Britain, France, Holland, Portugal and Spain, there is very little discussion of the role Africans themselves played. And that role, it turns out, was a considerable one, especially for the slave-trading kingdoms of western and central Africa. These included the Akan of the kingdom of Asante in what is now Ghana, the Fon of Dahomey (now Benin), the Mbundu of Ndongo in modern Angola and the Kongo of today’s Congo, among several others.
For centuries, Europeans in Africa kept close to their military and trading posts on the coast. Exploration of the interior, home to the bulk of Africans sold into bondage at the height of the slave trade, came only during the colonial conquests, which is why Henry Morton Stanley’s pursuit of Dr. David Livingstone in 1871 made for such compelling press: he was going where no (white) man had gone before.
How did slaves make it to these coastal forts? The historians John Thornton and Linda Heywood of Boston University estimate that 90 percent of those shipped to the New World were enslaved by Africans and then sold to European traders. The sad truth is that without complex business partnerships between African elites and European traders and commercial agents, the slave trade to the New World would have been impossible, at least on the scale it occurred.
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egyptgift said...
