No, Mr. President, compromise is not fundamentally American, belligerence is fundamentally American

Today, during his speech on the budget controversy, President Obama invoked Lincoln to say America is a nation of compromise. Really? Not sure were he got that from but the indigenous people and my African Ancestors tell a very different story.   

Obama's revisionism sounds something like this:

Slave master: We are taking you to America and enslaving you.

African: Lets compromise.

Slave master: OK.

The reality is that Native Americans and Africans experienced unbending denigration and oppression--both of which they fiercely resisted. This nation was built on principles like Manifest Destiny and the Monroe Doctrine. "Compromises" like the Tilden-Hayes Compromise and the 3/5ths Compromise perpetuated white supremacy and black subordination.

Also dig:

• Obama Invokes Lincoln To Urge Compromise On Debt Deal (blogs.abcnews.com)
• Is Obama making you feel good about your oppression?
• "When Will We Get Paid?": The Anti-Obama Song
• One Black Man's Critical Notes on Post Inauguration and Black America
• What Obama would have us ignore.  
• Lincoln's Negro Policy by Earnest Sevier Cox (Free Download)

Image Source: Brand Book Tees

Looming catastrophe in Somalia or "scarcity scare"?

Update #3 (7/26/2011) ‪What can be done to make the Horn of Africa self- sufficient?

Update #2 (7/26/2011) The NGO CARE urgently seeking donations.

Update #1 (7/24/2011)- Just discovered a piece linking US foreign policy malfeasance to Somalia famine (dap @ Prof. James Small) --> Somalia: the Real Causes of Famine by Michel Chossudovsky

There is now a steady stream of media reports warning that the Horn of Africa is, yet again, in the midst of a catastrophic famine. According to these reports, millions of Africans in Somalia and neighboring nations are in desperate need of food rations. The BBC laments that despite these dire predictions little is being done to mobilize a comprehensive response; they have put the number of those who need urgent assistance at 14.5 million.[1] 

Image via Wikipedia

SOLDIER OF ETHIOPIAN NATIONAL DEFENSE FORCE, 2006

UNICEF reports that 2 million children in the Horn are at risk and that 500,000 of those children need immediate attention or they will face certain death.[2] According to these accounts, harsh weather, "Islamic militants," and a weak national government are some of the factors that have converged to produce a bleak situation in Somalia. Others complain that violent militias make aid delivery a risky activity [3]. Predictably these accounts are often supported with stereotypical images helpless adults and bone-thin African children with swollen bellies.

TransAfrica recognizes that the current crisis in Somalia is compounded by the lingering effects of the Cold War. During that time, the U.S. supported—both militarily and economically—the autocratic rule of General Siad Barre. The entrenchment of the Barre regime created violent conflict throughout the country and a civil war which led to the eventual overthrow of the government in 1991.[4]

Of course, none of these reports make mention of the proxy war in Somalia--instigated by George W. Bush [5] and now sponsored by Barack Obama--being fought with Drones, illegal detention camps,[6] and Ethiopian troops backed by the United States. And no African should forget the ongoing aggressions against so-called Somali "pirates."[7][8] 

How are western military objectives, western NGOs and foreign aid schemes contributing to instability and food shortages in the region? None of the mainstream media reports about this latest cycle of famines raises these important questions. Libertarian, Bob Adelmann, calls the reports of a looming famine "scarcity scare"--a conspiratorial tactic used to justify a one-world government (Note: Adelmann also believes that global warming is part of the conspiracy. I don't share this view. GI).[9] TransAfrica, an NGO that advocates for equitable US-Africa relations, has not been the same since the departure its founder, Randall Robinson,[10] but at least they attempt to link famine in the Horn of Africa with the "lingering effects of the Cold War." Not a very strong statement but at least its a starting point for a more comprehensive understanding of the politics of famine. You can read their  statement, which includes a list of NGOs that are actively aiding Somalia @ United Nations States Must Step Up and Fully Fund the Somali Relief Fund | TransAfrica

Notes: 

[1] BBC NEWS | Africa | Somali catastrophe 'largely unnoticed'

[2] allAfrica.com: Resources » Hunger Crisis Hits Horn of Africa

[3] Somali militants vow to block aid groups | Deseret News

[4] TransAfrica

[5] Saline Lone, writing in 2006, predicted correctly that US policy in Somalia would only serve to embolden radical Islam in that region: "An insurgency by Somalis, millions of whom live in Kenya and Ethiopia, will surely ensue, and attract thousands of new anti-U.S. militants and terrorists." Read his essay @  In Somalia, a reckless U.S. proxy war - Opinion - International Herald Tribune - The New York Times

[6] The CIA's Secret Sites in Somalia | The Nation

[7] BBC NEWS | Africa | US captain rescued from pirates

[8] Watch this clip, Pirates of Somalia, for some insights into how western policies help create "piracy" -->  ‪PIRATES of SOMALIA Trailer‬‏ - YouTube

[9] Using the Food Crisis

[10] Quitting America

Also dig:

• How America Underdevelops Africa: Death, Plunder, Resistance
• Stones, Bombs, and Planes: A Tale of Two Barbarisms
• You: Somali children's famine has been ignored (nation.com.pk)
• Why are Somalia's militants clamping down on famine aid? (csmonitor.com)
• Antiterror laws could impede US aid for Somalia famine victims (csmonitor.com)

Bombing for "democracy" in Libya‬‏? One million Libyans say no!

Image via Wikipedia

A Million People March (BBC says "tens of thousands") in Tripoli to  support their leader Gaddafi. The rally is not likely to get much analysis in the western media because the USA-AFRICOM/NATO excuse for removing Gaddafi is that he is "killing his own people" and, presumably, most Libyans want him out--or so we are told. We are not supposed to notice that Gaddafi still has solid support in Libya. Of course none of this is about "the people" or "democracy," its about oil, lots of it and propping up compliant leaders in Libya or a partitioned Libya. And while its distressing to watch the first black president waging a senseless war in an African nation, its not surprising. All American presidents routinely violate the human rights of its citizens [1] and the global community in the service of elite white power.

I stand with Gaddafi...

...and for those Africans who say that Libya is none of our concern, that Libyans are Arabs and anti-black. Remember that your nation might be next if AFRICOM decides they want your resources.





Notes:

1. Despite centuries of black struggle, African Americans were not full citizens in the USA until the 1970s when the Equal Employment and Opportunities Act was passed. Post civil rights, the prison system has become the new slavery plantation. And many Native Americans still live in poverty on "reservations."

Related articles

• What Obama would have us ignore
• Stones, Bombs, and Planes: A Tale of Two Barbarisms
• First Nations: The Oglala Lakota (Sioux) Nation (No. 2)
• Libya War:NATO bombs Gaddafi's residence (laaska.wordpress.com)
• African Union refuses to recognize Gaddafi arrest warrant (rt.com)
• America's New Frontline - Witness - Al Jazeera English

Obama's "rebels" bad at rebelling but good at killing "black" africans

Lynch Law and Summary Executions in Rebel-Held Libya

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

“Dozens of Chadians have been ‘singled out’ and ‘executed,’ falsely accused of acting as mercenaries for Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, according to Chad.”

The African nation of Chad has called on Libya’s Euro-American “humanitarian” overseers to protect Chadian citizens from lynching at the hands of rebels backed by the West. The government in N’Djamena, which certainly has no interest in antagonizing the Euro-American juggernaut that has assumed a “responsibility to protect” whomever it designates as “civilians” in the territory of its northern neighbor, issued a formal request for “international coalition forces involved in Libya and international human rights organizations to stop these abuses against Chadians and other migrant Africa workers." Dozens of Chadians have been “singled out” and “executed,” falsely accused of acting as mercenaries for Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, according to Chad, 300,000 of whose citizens were among the 1.5 million black African migrant laborers in Libya at the time of the February revolt. 

Numerous reports from migrant workers who escaped from rebel-held areas indicate hundreds of black Africans have been lynched, including black Libyan citizens. (See “Race and Arab Nationalism in Libya,” BAR, March 9.) A Turkish oil worker related an especially horrific account to NPR: “We left behind our friends from Chad. We left behind their bodies,” he said. “We had 70 or 80 people from Chad working for our company. They cut them dead with pruning shears and axes, attacking them, saying you're providing troops for Gadhafi. The Sudanese, the Chadians were massacred. We saw it ourselves.”

Read more @ Black Agenda Report

image source: www.toonpool.com

tags: barack obama, libya, neo-colonialism

Also dig:

• Is Africa a breeding ground for terrorism?? April Ryan says yes.
• Obama kills children in Libya
• One Black Man's Critical Notes on Post Inauguration and Black America

Obama kills children in Libya

Obama is now officially a baby killer in Libya. He joins the esteemed company of Ronald Reagan whom he admires so much.  In 1986, Ronald Reagan ordered a bombing run in Tripoli that killed Gaddafi's 3 year old daughter.

Read the story @ BBC News - Libya: Coalition air strike 'killed seven civilians'

Reunited and it feels so good.

 Also dig:

• Ashamed to be an American? I am
• Who will stop America's PMDs (Policies of Mass Destruction)?
• All-African People's Conference: Resolution on Imperialism and Colonialism, Accra, December 5-13, 1958
• McChrystal: We've Shot 'An Amazing Number' Of Innocent Afghan 
• What Obama would have us ignore.
• One Black Man's Critical Notes on Post Inauguration and Black America

Tags: barack obama, libya, muammar gaddafi, ronald reagan, weapons of mass destruction, missile diplomacy

Kevin Alexander Gray: Obama and Egyptian Liberation

This piece by Kevin Alexander Gray was written before Mubarak stepped down but its still a good read. The question I have is this: Can a black imperial president (Obama) ever be anything other than hypocritical? GI

President Barack Obama needs to stop being two-faced on Egypt.

On one side of his public face he gives the impression of pressing Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak to consider his legacy and “leave power in a way that would give his country the best chance for peace and democracy.”

But then he sent presidential envoy Frank Wisner to Cairo, who later publicly urged Mubarak to remain in power, saying, “President Mubarak's continued leadership is critical.”

In the realpolitik world of Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton it made sense to send someone Mubarak knew to deliver their message. Wisner’s Washington-based law firm, Patton Boggs works for the dictator's government.

After being called out on the Egyptian streets for Wisner’s comments the Administration put out that his comments “were his own” as though Wisner were some “disavowed” member of the mythical “IMF” - Impossible Missions Force.

Yet tossing Wisner into the fray is consistent with Clinton’s initial expression of “confidence in the stability of his [Mubarak] regime” and Vice-President Joe Biden saying, “I would not refer to him as a dictator.”

Even so, it leaves Obama (and the rest of world) where we started out – what’s the United States’ response to the unraveling of neo-colonialism?

Obama should consider his own legacy and let the American people know whose side he’s on: the dictator’s, or those who clamor courageously for democracy.

The most often used word coming from the Obama Administration is “transition” which suggests they are biding their time. Which boils down to what Egyptians protesters clearly see, feel and hear. That U.S. officials “speak about their own interest, not ours.” Another said: “Tell America that we get to choose our president . . . not them.” Yet another opined: “We believe America is against us.”

Mohamed ElBaradei, Egypt’s Nobel Peace Prize recipient, has blasted Obama’s stance by saying: “To ask a dictator to implement democratic measures after thirty years in power is an oxymoron. It will not end until he leaves.”

Read More @ Counterpunch

Obama takes break from imperialism to extend Kwanzaa greetings

The Obama's (source: infotainment news)

Editor's note: I feel kinda weird posting a pic of a beautiful Black family and then criticizing the Black man of the (white) house but duty calls. GI
***
These statements are obviously more symbolic than meaningful. His 2010 message is very short. If you remove the obligatory description of Kwanzaa its a whopping two sentences long. Very short for a professor president. The 2009 statement was more substantive and George Bush's 2008 statement is the only one that actually mentions African culture (Bush could care less about Kwanzaa which just goes to show you that the messages don't mean much). [1] 

The point of Kwanzaa is not that we are all Americans but rather that we celebrate and honor our African heritage. But this statement pretty much sums up Obama's limitations. He did a similar trick in Ghana. The transatlantic slave trade suddenly became the Jewish Holocaust.[2] Likewise Kwanzaa gets reduced to "American" and "American" really means white. And if we are all just an undifferentiated mass of "Americans" then African Americans have no special grievances. 

Second, the implication is disingenuous. Obama doesn't serve the interests of Americans. He serves at the behest of wealthy elite white people like all other presidents.That formula will never change until we, African Americans, get up the courage to build a viable third party. 

African Americans imagine that jazz concerts[3] at the White House or official Kwanzaa statements means that we are "in," that Obama's ascendancy is an indicator of black progress. But I think his presidency has been harmful in the sense that we are more likely to condone things like grossly belligerent foreign policy objectives and we concede any sort of progressive domestic agenda for fear undermining the first black President.[4]

 NOTES

[1] Obama 2009, Bush 2008 Kwanzaa statements.

[2] Obama discusses the African American experience of slavery with Anderson Cooper in Ghana.
[3] YouTube - The First Lady Introduces the White House Jazz Studio

[4] This paragraph was inserted on 28 December after the original post. kzs

Statement by the President and First Lady on Kwanzaa

Michelle and I extend our warmest thoughts and wishes to all those who are celebrating Kwanzaa this holiday season.  Today [26 December] is the first of a joyful seven-day celebration of African American culture and heritage. The seven principles of Kwanzaa -- Unity, Self Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity, and Faith -- are some of the very values that make us Americans.

As families across America and around the world light the Kinara today in the spirit of umoja or unity, our family sends our well wishes and blessings for a happy and healthy new year.

source: The White House

tags: kwanzaa, barack obama, afrocentric, ancestors, ghana, slavery

Also dig:

• Its better late than never: Obama issues a Kwanzaa statement
• "Can we be a free people while taking on the values of the people that enslaved us?"
• Is Kwanzaa Still Important? | TheLoop21.com by Mark Anthony Neal

President Obama, the 50 percent mark and the battle for the House

Image by Wa-J via Flickr"The fox and the wolf"...

We can fret over polls or Michelle Obama's latest fashions or the POTUS's prettified speeches or we can "do for self." You decide. GI

<><><><><>

by Chris Cillizza for the Washington Post

Gallup recently released a study examining the correlation between a President's approval rating and the losses or gains his party incurs in midterm elections.

The results have to be worrisome for Democrats with just 81 days before the 2010 vote.
In the seven midterm elections since World War II in which the president's approval rating was under 50 percent in the run-up to the vote, his party lost an average of 36 House seats. By contrast, presidents with approval ratings over 50 percent see their party shed an average of 14 seats.

In the most recent Gallup daily tracking poll, Obama's approval stands at 46 percent, and it has hovered between 44 percent and 47 percent for much of the last three months.

Assuming Obama's numbers don't improve between now and Nov. 2 -- and the stability they have displayed over the past 90 days suggests that, barring a large-scale event, they won't -- it's clear that Democrats are headed for major losses at the ballot box this fall.

 Read entire essay @ The Fix 

tags: barack obama, do for self

 

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The Herstory of Shirley Sherrod

Shirley Sherrod CNN interview

"Black people were not supposed to speak up and defend themselves with white folks." Shirley Sherrod describes the murder of her father by a white man. (if viewing from Facebook click here.)

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tags: Black people, White people, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, barack obama, racism, white supremacy, without sanctuary, agriculture, discrimination

Obama relieves Gen. McChrystal of command

See also:


• Its the Lithium Stupid!
• Stones, Bombs, and Planes: A Tale of Two Barbarisms

Fired. Not that it will make much of a difference for the many dead Afghanis.


tags: afghanistan, barack obama, imperialism

Barack Obama and the Jim Crow Media: The Return of the Nigger Breakers By Ishmael Reed

Mr. Reed, tell us how you really feel, LOL! Dag, Ismael Reed is bringing the pain. I don't have a problem with the title but given the current political climate he might be mistaken for a tea bagger rather than a brilliant cultural critic and novelist. GI

See also:

• "Precious"--again: Jared Ball interviews Ishmael Reed

• What Obama would have us ignore.

Featured books

Barack Obama and the Jim Crow Media

The Return of the Nigger Breakers

By Ishmael Reed

Available April 15, 2010

For Ishmael Reed, Barack Obama is being tormented, like Michelangelo’s St. Anthony, but by modern reincarnations of the demonic spirits used to break slaves. They were the “Nigger Breakers”—men like Edward Covey, who was handed the job of breaking Frederick Douglass. Now the media play that role, with their whip being a custom-made yardstick that they never used to measure other politicians.

“Isn’t it ironic,” writes Reed: “A media that scolded the Jim Crow South in the 1960s now finds itself hosting the bird…. In terms of its attempt to build a media that “looks like America,” the media are as white as a KKK picnic.”

Read more @Baraka Books

barack obama, Ishmael Reed, media

Half the Congressional Black Caucus Votes For More Afghan War | Black Agenda Report

Posted by the ghetto intellectual on 3/21/2010

S-H-A-M-E on the Congressional Black Caucus! I am especially disappointed with Congresswoman Maxine Waters . My guess is that she traded jobs for war. This is yet another indicator that the Nobel Peace Prize President Obama has eroded progressive politics. What is worse, as Kevin Gray has pointed out, Black America's uncritical embrace of Obama has heightened our tolerance for war mongering. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be deeply disappointed with this turn of events. GI

See also:

• "The Novocaine Presidency": Is Barack Obama Putting Black America To Sleep? Kevin Gray interview.

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

The advent of America's first Black president has resulted in Black congresspeople voting for wars that their constituents overwhelmingly oppose, which could lead to the conclusion that Obama is “a morally corrupting influence on some Black lawmakers.” More than half the Congressional Black Caucus sided with Obama – and war – last week. Three-fourths of all House Democrats did the same. George Bush should be green with envy.

Half of Black Caucus Votes for More Afghan War

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

“When Obama surges in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Black lawmakers who purport to be for peace, retreat.”

Slightly less than half of the Congressional Black Caucus, 46 percent, broke with the Obama administration last week to vote for a bill to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year. Given that the nation’s first Black president has made the Afghanistan/Pakistan theater of war his own – depicting the ever-expanding aggression as a “good war” – getting 18 Black votes for peace was probably as much as could have been expected. Black Democrats certainly behaved with more decency and sanity than Democrats as a whole, three out of four of whom voted with their war mongering commander-in-chief. Some progressive lawmakers felt it was a victory simply to have been permitted to hold a three-hour debate on the merits of war and peace, at this time of global imperial offensive, and disarray on the Left.

Nevertheless, the Black Caucus’s near-even split on Obama’s wars reveals the gross perversion of African American politics as it is filtered through a Democratic Party lurching steadily rightward under the weight of corporate money and the guidance of a president who is, if anything, more militarily aggressive in the region than his predecessor, George Bush. When Obama surges in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Black lawmakers who purport to be for peace, retreat.

The 18 Caucus members that voted “Yes” for withdrawal from Afghanistan reflect the overwhelming sentiments of a people that polls have for generations shown to be the most pro-peace demographic group in the nation. That 19 members of the Congressional Black Caucus would support U.S. wars against poor people half a world away, is evidence of deep moral and political corruption among the Black leadership class. (See breakdown of CBC vote, below.)

Read more @ Black Agenda Report

Breakdown of Congressional Black Caucus vote on HR 248, a bill to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by end of 2010:

Yes (18)

Yvette Clarke (NY)
William Clay (MO)

Emanuel Cleaver (MO)
Danny Davis (IL)

Donna Edwards (MD)
Keith Ellison (MN)

Alcee Hastings (FL)
Jesse Jackson (IL)

Sheila Jackson Lee (TX)
Johnson, E. B. (TX)
Barbara Lee (CA)
John Lewis (GA)

Donald Payne (NJ)
Charles Rangel (NY)
Laura Richardson (CA)

Edolphus Towns (NY)
Maxine Waters (CA)
Diane Watson (CA)

No (19)

Sanford Bishop (GA)

Corrine Brown (FL)
G.K. Butterfield (NC)

Andre Carson (IN)

Elijah Cummings (MD)

Chaka Fattah (PA)

Marcia Fudge (OH)
Al Green (TX)

Hank Johnson (GA)
Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (MI)
Kendrick Meek (FL)

Gregory Meeks (NY)

Gwen Moore (WI)

Bobby Rush (IL)

David Scott (GA)
Bobby Scott (VA)

Bennie Thompson (MS)

Melvin Watt (NC)

Not Voting (2)

John Conyers (MI)

Artur Davis (AL)

[Photo: Source]


tags: barack obama, obama effect, war, afghanistan, politics

"We Count!" Tavis Smiley Declares War on Hush-yo'-Mouth Presidency (dap @ Kevin Alexander Gray)

Posted by the ghetto intellectual 2/23/2010

Dig it! 

Tavis stands accused of being a Clinton sympathizer. I have absolutely no problem interrogating and criticizing Tavis's relationship with the Clinton. But whilst we are pining for transparency we might look to Prez. Obama. Obama promised a transparent administration, but he is hardly better than bush on that regard. We need look no further than the sweet deals Obama makes with the Fat Cats. It seems to me that Obama is the one we should be pressing for disclosure, not Tavis. And even if Tavis was a dirty rotten scoundrel, he is 100% correct on this particular issue. He has simply said that Obama is ignoring black folks and that we need a Black Agenda. He is correct; he is the only prominent Black media person who has been saying it consistently. No one else is standing up to take on that role. I welcome his intervention. In fact his liabilities might make him the only candidate for this role. Whereas Boyce, Sharpton and the rest are toeing the line, Tavis now feels like he has nothing much to lose. GI

See also: "Novocaine Presidency" Tavis Smiley goes in on Rev. Al Sharpton Click on video below or go to link @ Blip TV Tavis Smiley calls out Black leadership for sleeping at the wheel and launches the We Count! campaign for a Black Agenda. To watch announcement, click here. To read the full transcript, click here. (PDF)

America has experienced its share of troubles this past year: the worst recession since World War I; the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with doubts about the exit plans; rising poverty in our inner cities, suburbs and rural communities; and the disproportionate power of corporations and special interests in Congress. In this “post racial” era, the question needs to be asked: Is there a need for a Black Agenda? The conversation will be moderated by Tavis Smiley. Invited panelists include Cornel West, Valerie Jarrett, Michael Eric Dyson, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, Barbara Lee, Tom Burrell, Marc Morial, Ben Jealous, Al Sharpton and others.

The event is free and open to the public. However, you must register to attend.

Click here to register.

Click here for more information on the event location.

We look forward to seeing you at the event!

Cartoon Source: lloydmarcus.com

tags: african american, barack obama, politics, tavis smiley