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NEWS & LETTERS, January-February 2005Philosophic DialogueDialectics of development in transitionby Khalfani Malik Khaldun* DIALECTICS OF BLACK FREEDOM STRUGGLES by John Alan (News and Letters, 2004) is a masterpiece that covers race, philosophy, and the needed American Revolution. I am always encouraged when I detect material that reveals the dialectical course that the Black struggles have taken in this country. The history of Black (New Afrikan) people in this empire is one of domination and colonial oppression. These experiences have conditioned people to struggle and resist. This is an undeniable concrete dialectical reality that has propelled the New Afrikan nation to the forefront of many levels of struggle in the U.S. What I appreciate about DIALECTICS OF BLACK FREEDOM STRUGGLES is how Alan understands the importance of our success in impacting people's struggles nationally and abroad. His book invokes a spirit of self-determination and sense of purpose, enabling one to believe in one’s natural right to forge real struggles. Dialectically, the book shows the distinction between progress that has been made and moments of stagnation, thereby showing the fortitude embodied in the New Afrikan nation’s character. While it is no secret that we still face a mountain of contradictions and mental setbacks due to the post-traumatic slave syndrome, Alan would not negate the role of the vanguard being reserved for New Afrikans. That means a lot to me, knowing that we still battle for internal redemption due to being overwhelmed with nihilism. A nihilistic threat hangs over us like a cloud. Like all people colonized in Amerika, New Afrikans are greatly influenced by images of comfort, convenience, machismo, violence against women, and a host of other seductions that bombard consumers. These seductive images contribute to the predominance of market-inspired ways of life at the expense of all others, thereby edging out non-market values such as self-love and caring for others which our ancestors passed down to us. The predominance of such images among many living under the threat of poverty with a limited capacity to ward off self-contempt and self-hatred poses a nihilistic threat to our nation. DIALECTICS OF BLACK FREEDOM STRUGGLES is a profound contribution to fallen humanity. It challenges us to mature politically and embrace a holistic view in dealing with national and international approaches to self-determination. The book reveals new energy and the potential emergence of a new movement. AMERICAN CIVILIZATION ON TRIAL AMERICAN CIVILIZATION ON TRIAL by Raya Dunayevskaya (News and Letters, 2004) is another masterpiece. Its subtitle is "Black Masses as Vanguard." After reading these books two times I engaged some of my comrades in prison in lengthy discussions on them. We disagreed at times but we concluded they brought to life a host of creative ideas. AMERICAN CIVILIZATION ON TRIAL represents a wealth of facts that will help newcomers to politics and emerging struggles. It exposes the many atrocities and tragedies visited upon New Afrikans. This is a system that places more value on capitalist gains and imperialist pursuits than the empowerment of people. AMERICAN CIVILIZATION ON TRIAL places in the forefront a bloody past filled with the ugliness of white supremacy and racism. Today we remain targets of institutions wherein multi-million dollar corporations operate off of the profits obtained from slavery. This book arms the new activist with the tools of empowerment, especially for anyone who seems to be feeling that the struggle is dead. The history of New Afrikan national struggles in the U.S. dramatically exposes the Amerikan political system. Amerika’s much praised institutions of representative government, voting and constitutional laws have never proved adequate for providing universal human rights. The Declaration of Independence, a document of ambiguous practicality, was followed by the Constitution, a document filled with illusions of equality. This combination of falsehoods appeared in the 5th amendment, which reads: "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without the due process of the law." White Amerika was, and still is, protected by this rule while New Afrikans then and now are still viewed as chattel property of the state. AMERICAN CIVILIZATION ON TRIAL is equal to the call of conscience to anyone who favors ending the continued oppression/degradation of (New Afrikans and people of color). Since Dunayevskaya singled out Black masses as vanguard, she was clearly confident that we carry the rights as champions on our shoulders. We are our own liberators; this is a fundamental dialectical reality. There is a point of contention for me in this book concerning Du Bois’ theory of the "talented tenth." In the 1920s several Black intellectuals who were accepted as Black leaders by white Amerika signed a petition to the Department of Justice to have Marcus Garvey deported. They saw his "Back to Africa" proposition as "fakery." Garvey posed a threat to the established order of intellectuals like Du Bois, who acknowledged that Garvey was influential and effective among the masses whereas those around Du Bois seemed to have failed. Du Bois said: "It was a grandiose and bombastic scheme, utterly impractical as a whole. But it was sincere and had some practical features; and Garvey proved not only an astonishingly popular leader, but a master of propaganda. Within a few years, news of his movement spread, his promises and plans reached Europe and Asia and penetrated every corner of Africa." While I believe Du Bois made some notable contributions to the dialectical development of our struggle, his petition against Garvey constituted an act of betrayal. The conscious use of a racist government institution to deport Garvey was inherently wrong. They recognized the legitimacy of the state enough to make use of it. This tells me that at that moment the people should have placed the "talented tenth" on trial. Such actions are reflected today, when New Afrikans and other people of color allow themselves to be used as neo-colonialists against their own people. I admire the contributions of Garvey and his genuine love for his people. "Back to Africa" was an effective organizational strategy that awakened in New Afrikans a strong sense of pride, worth, and national identity. While it may have been impractical to many, I believe it was a vision needed to unite oppressed New Afrikans. The "talented tenth" should have let the people deal with Marcus Garvey and not have used the government to do so. There is a clear distinction between the intellectualism of the talented tenth and the nationalism of Garvey. THE NEGATION OF BLACK LEADERSHIP Today the New Afrikan masses are again faced with a choice concerning the leadership of our communities. By no means do I intend to castigate anyone. However, if we as a people are to move toward real self-empowerment we must dialectically set into motion the laws of negation. New Afrikan communities and organizations are permeated by outdated leadership. Many who currently hold leadership positions do not want to give them up, even when they openly admit that they can’t take the people to the next level of struggle. The people who have chosen these men and women as their "leaders" have to implement the dialectics of negation. Sometimes those who are politically unconscious don’t know how to make such a choice. Therefore the politically active and mature members of our communities must do it for them. We must confront all elitist tendencies and call for the recruitment of new blood in our movements. We must develop a philosophy of action and internalize it. A philosophy of action is needed to take charge of our lives and choose leaders who genuinely have the best interests of the New Afrikan masses at heart. The reason the masses do not relate to their political leaders is because they have fallen out of touch with them. Much of the leadership in the Black community has become apologistic, liberal and accommodationist. This is a result of their class-oriented commitment to infuse the New Afrikan working class into the present economic order and to perpetrate the politics of bourgeois reform. They are not prepared to repudiate the system that rewards their political accommodation. The conservatives among our leaders do not desire real power; they have no independent program worthy of the name. The interest that Black conservatives defend have little or nothing to do with the realities of New Afrikan material or social life. No public position is too extreme, no statement is too ingratiating, no act too outrageous for the Black conservative. We owe it to our nation to expose and oppose these classic patterns of petty bourgeois opportunism and accommodationism. Many Black self-empowerment organizations have promoted food shelters, public health care, child care, job training, free education, etc. Yet these programs have been abandoned by major sections of the Black elite. So it is up to us as progressives and Marxist Humanists to move the interrupted national and international struggle for human rights and social equality forward within the framework of actual revolution. The social crisis confronting New Afrikans cannot be transcended unless our politics, in theory and practice, exposes and opposes sexual exploitation, imperialism, and monopoly capitalism in an uncompromising manner. There must come a time when negation of the negation occurs by saying out with the old leadership in embracing the new. DIALECTICS OF DEVELOPING NATIONAL IDENTITY We as an oppressed poor people colonized in Amerika must remind ourselves that history is an organic process that affects and in turn is influenced by civil and political institutions, ideologies and culture. Nothing in New Afrikan or world history has ever been predetermined by any single factor or force. Marx wrote in the EIGHTEENTH BRUMAIRE OF LOUIS BONAPARTE: "Men make their own history. But they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given, and transmitted from the past." I have devoted space in these pages to Black history to show that struggles for socialism and to end Black underdevelopment did not begin in the 1980s, but in the racial and class struggles of past generations. Ever since our ancestors came to this country New Afrikan people have sought out a national identity. Having been associated with extremely derogatory statements, it has been important for my people to embrace nationalism. Every nation in the world and inside this country is properly recognized except the (Black) New Afrikan. We are not Black, we are not Americans, we are not African Americans. We constitute a disenfranchised New Afrikan nation colonized in North America. This Amerikan government doesn’t recognize us as a legitimate nation because we do not have a national territory. However, we still exist and we have struggled. No one else can define us but ourselves. There are people who say the philosophy behind the national question and concepts of New Afrikan identity are impractical. The "talented tenth" said the same things about Garvey’s "Back to Africa" movement. All concepts go through stages of development as we embrace other philosophies and study new materials. Through that process our consciousness broadens. By no means am I a racist; nor do I support a racist politic. But I am in full support of self-empowerment, educational empowerment, economic empowerment of New Afrikans by way of nationalism. There are some New Afrikans who may choose not to struggle alongside white activists because they feel their communities and struggles must be cleaned up by us. I agree with this. But once we have organized and empowered ourselves we can forge ties beyond our respective communities with whites and other people of color. We are first and foremost our own liberators. While this is my commitment, I reserve the right to support other revolutionary groups who share the same principles as I do. In order to balance our energies we need to go beyond our box and embrace new philosophies and concepts. I once thought that Marx was a racist who was only concerned with the progress of non-Black people or nations of color. I was wrong. For about four and a half years I’ve attempted to internalize Marxist-Humanism. Marxist-Humanism intellectually stimulates me. It helps me see that educational growth is possible and it helps us to envision new possibilities. Inside these prison walls men and women cling to an assortment of philosophies that in some way empowers them. However of late the lack of support for their struggles has caused a slow regression in their open affiliation and membership. Many prisoners are feeling abandoned by the organizations they’ve praised, followed, or advocated. This is a real problem. All New Afrikan, anti-imperialist and anti-authoritarian and anarchist organizations must be more hands-on in their work with prisoners. Nobody can claim to be a prison abolitionist who hasn’t established a physical presence with someone inside these walls. I am a prison activist and for this I am housed in a Special Housing Unit for 23 hours a day. I work constantly to forge ties with progressive, revolutionary minded people. I’ll work with and respect whoever works with and respects me. I support and respect the comrades in News and Letters Committees. They’ve been actively engaged in the struggle since the days of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Marxist-Humanism takes the struggle against capitalism and imperialism to the next level, where the process of dialectical stages of development takes place. We are all different, but we constitute one human family. This commonness is the foundation and vision of Marxist-Humanist perspectives in bringing a new and effective revolutionary vision to this world. Many groups and movements have used NEWS & LETTERS’ materials to advocate their message. We have followed in this tradition by becoming publishers ourselves. We cannot expect the masses to know what we have to offer unless we make it available to them. Comrade George Jackson wrote in BLOOD IN MY EYE, "Action establishes the front." We are politically conscious and this means that we must take action. Everyone has a role to play. I salute NEWS & LETTERS for being relentless in its adherence to Marxist-Humanism and in being real friends of the struggle. Let us move in the direction of a united front. The struggle continues. ------- *Khalfani Malik Khaldun is a political prisoner who is facing repeated harassment by prison authorities for his radical views. This essay is excerpted from a longer piece. For the full text, contact News & Letters. Contact Khalfani Malik Khaldun, 874304 (Leonard McQuay) at: A-207 SHU, PO Box 1111, Carlisle, IN 47838. |
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