Jaunty little song

Remember, EM POC only!

Good morning, afternoon, or evening depending on where you are, comrades.

I finally reached my goal for c/mutual_aid. It was scary as hell, but we're here now. Thank you to everyone who gave support.

I'm looking forward to having some more chill EM POC vibes today!

There are very few true revolutionaries. Allowing ourselves to pretend that Angela Davis is among them is a grave mistake.

“When we engage in electoral politics, it can’t be just because a particular individual is running for office, it is to enlarge the terrain of mass struggle, to guarantee a space for the trade union movement to win victories, for the women’s movement to win victories, for people of color to win victories, for working and poor people to win victories.”

Angela Davis is certainly correct in speaking these words. They are an important reminder of how we must view and relate to the electoral process. But unfortunately, she followed those remarks with highly questionable assertions which put at risk all that she says she seeks to achieve.

Davis has a habit of engaging in some very grave contradictions, which we have analyzed over the years here at Black Agenda Report. In 2012 Angela Davis felt compelled to give fulsome praise to Barack Obama, including claiming that his rise to the presidency showed a connection with the Black radical tradition. The false statement was quite alarming, as Davis ignored the obvious, that the Obama campaign was a creation of the neo-liberal and imperialist elites who needed a more attractive face in a moment of crisis. Our late comrade Glen Ford observed that, “The ‘delusional effect’ that swept Black America with the advent of the First Black President has warped and weakened the mental powers of some of our most revered icons – and it has been painful to behold.”

It is inexplicable that Davis would claim that Obama emerged victorious in 2008 “despite the power of money.” Obama raised $750 million in his presidential campaign that year. His war chest was so full that he was able to reverse his pledge to seek public campaign financing, unlike his opponent John McCain, who raised a mere $238 million from donors and $38 million in public financing. Surely Dr. Davis was capable of researching the same easily accessible information. Yet she insisted on making claims that are plainly untrue.

Davis’ recent comments diminish her and show that she has become just another acolyte of Democratic Party policy. “It’s not just about electing Kamala Harris. … it’s about opening space for those of us who are more radical than Kamala Harris to put anti-capitalist and anti-racist programs forward and increase the pressure for change, especially in the first place when it comes to the genocide being inflicted on the people of Palestine.“

Her comments border on outright delusion. Kamala Harris brags about the republicans who support her and “welcomes” an endorsement from Dick Cheney. She pledges to include a republican in her cabinet while saying nothing about including more progressive democrats. How would anti-capitalist and anti-racist programs be put forward under such an administration?

This columnist advised ignoring Davis altogether when she declared support for Hillary Clinton in 2016: “I’m not so narcissistic to say that I wouldn’t vote for her.” The defensive and embarrassed tone of the comment was obvious, as if Davis couldn’t bring herself to be clear about her choice to vote for the war criminal who destroyed Libya and insisted that Haiti redo an election in order to get her desired result.

Again, in 2024, Davis talks out of both sides of her mouth, stating that she is still a communist and declaring, “We have to challenge capitalism; it is the enemy of all progressive movements and struggles in the world.” Indeed we must, but that certainly can’t happen while simultaneously supporting Kamala Harris, who pledges no opposition to capitalism and who is therefore, by Davis’ definition, unworthy of support.

As Black Agenda Report has pointed out many times, Kamala Harris is the latest mediocrity to grace the political sphere, put forward by rich donors hoping for a new Obama effect. She is neither intelligent nor talented in any way. Her milquetoast liberalism has given way to right wing policy making, giving slight nods to reproductive rights or other issues that are bright red lines for millions of people.

But Davis also showed herself in 2020 when she was strangely thrilled by the choice of Harris as Joe Biden’s running mate. She supported Biden and Harris despite calling them both “problematic” while concluding, “It’s really a question of who we will be able to pressure.”

There is no evidence of Angela Davis doing anything to pressure Biden or Harris on any issue. The failure of political imagination afflicts the casual voter and the erstwhile radical icon too, who pop up in election years to declare their surrender to the forces they otherwise claim to oppose.

No one is above reproach, regardless of their history. Those who remember the days of the “Free Angela” movement may be stunned by her ongoing slide into political irrelevancy. Yet that is the position that Angela Davis has chosen for herself. Now she offers empty nostalgia, political confusion, and cautionary tales about heroes with feet of clay. It seems that ignoring Angela Davis is still a sensible decision.

I remember, really recently, a quote from Ta-Nehisi Coates (and don't worry; I see the immense irony in my quoting a Marvel misleader like him) that even for all of my contempt for the Black Misleadership Complex in liberal politics, has still been sitting with me, chewing at me for a long minute; and it's not for a lack of framework.

I know there are Black outfits out here actually trying to get on one accord and properly form up for us; but I was looking for a decade; only spending up more and more time and patience tryna organize with "lemme-talk-over-you"-assed crackers. And we're only like ten percent of the population at best. So when I think about how long it took me to find folks I could unabashedly align myself with, then I look at the shit Coates was saying, my marrow runs cold.

“I have a deep-seated fear that the Black struggle will ultimately, at its root, really just be about narrow Black interest."

That's where my mind goes, every time I see a Black face trying to harangue a vote for Harris anymore. Whenever I see a Black body, shrieking that 'voot bloo no mater whoo' slogan like a true believer, that's the record spooling up in the mind palace. That we'll never see liberation as long as a fraction of us continue to aspire to the capitalist's brass ring. As long as they're trying to edge each other for the White man's chair; and trying to browbeat us back under the Big Tent™, I don't think we'll ever get around this bend in the river.

The revolution has failed. Fascism has temporarily succeeded under the guise of reform. The only way we can destroy it is to refuse to compromise with the enemy state and its ruling class.

George Jackson, born on this day in 1941, was the revolutionary author of "Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson" and co-founder of the Marxist-Leninist Black Guerilla Family.

In 1970, Jackson was charged, along with two other Soledad Brothers, with the murder of prison guard John Vincent Mills in the aftermath of a prison fight. The same year, he published "Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson", a combination of autobiography and manifesto addressed to a black American audience. The book became a bestseller and earned Jackson personal fame.

Jackson was killed during an attempted prison escape on August 21st, 1971. Quoting communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh, Jackson freed twenty-six prisoners and took hostages at gunpoint. Jackson and five other men were killed.

Fay Stender, George Jackson's former lawyer, was shot and paralyzed for her alleged betrayal of Jackson by Black Guerilla Family member Edward Glenn Brooks. Brooks entered her home, tied up her family, and forced Stender to say "I, Fay Stender, admit I betrayed George Jackson and the prison movement when they needed me most" before shooting her several times. Left paralyzed and in chronic pain, Stender testified against Brooks and committed suicide a year later.

"Settle your quarrels, come together, understand the reality of our situation, understand that fascism is already here, that people are already dying who could be saved, that generations more will live poor butchered half-lives if you fail to act. Do what must be done, discover your humanity and your love in revolution."

George Jackson

• Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson

• It's been 30 years since George Jackson died in a pool of blood at San Quentin. His death still reverberates in America SFGATE

• blood in my eye george jackson

• Day of the Gun (2002)

• George Jackson Archival Footage

• George Jackson Funeral Footage

Megathreads and spaces to hang out:

• 📀 Come listen to music and Watch movies with your fellow Hexbears nerd, in Cy.tube
• 🔥 Read and talk about a current topics in the News Megathread
• ⚔ Come talk in the New Weekly PoC thread
• ✨ Talk with fellow Trans comrades in the New Weekly Trans thread
• 👊 Share your gains and goals with your comrades in the New Weekly Improvement thread

reminders:

• 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
• 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
• 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
• 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can reserve a spot here nerd
• 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog

Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):

Aid:

• 🌈 LGBTQ+ Resource Post
• 🍉 Resources for Palestine
• 🐌☕ Zapatista Coffee

Theory:

• ❤️Foundations of Leninism
• ❤️Anarchism and Other Essays

Remember, EM POC only!

Sleepy as hell again, comrades, but I might as well get this posted up before I go ahead and rest.

That aside, let's get those weekly EM POC vibes going!

Due diligence edit: I do not agree with unc about voting for the Top Cop. In fairness, should've expected he'd couch this video; he'd always be the first to talk about how the majority of corn/breadtube creators have liberal politics first 🤷

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/3478991

video was mirrored from youtube and hosted on tankietube! (@TankieTanuki@hexbear.net my bad for the 1 GB video upload )

still a relevant topic (even if the video's outdated), and the video's also very informative.

BAMAKO, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger will introduce new biometric passports as part of their withdrawal from a West African bloc in favour of a new Sahel alliance after military leaders seized power in all three countries, Mali's leader said on Sunday.

The three junta-led Sahel neighbours jointly announced in January they would leave the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which has sought to persuade them to reconsider their decision.

Burkina Faso announced earlier this month that it was rolling out new passports without the ECOWAS logo.

"In the coming days, a new biometric passport of the AES (Alliance of Sahel States) will be put into circulation with the aim of harmonising travel documents in our common area and facilitating the mobility of our citizens throughout the world", Malian junta leader Assimi Goita announced on Sunday evening.

He spoke ahead of a meeting Monday between the three countries' foreign ministers on the anniversary of the decision to form their own alliance. Goita also said they were planning to launch a shared information channel "in order to promote a harmonious dissemination of information in our three states."

ECOWAS has warned that the three countries' withdrawal would undermine the freedom of movement and common market of the 400 million people living in the 49-year-old bloc.

Their departure comes as their armies battle groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State, whose insurgencies have destabilised the region over the past decade and threaten to spill over into coastal West African states.

Remember, EM POC only!

Just brewed up the coffee, feeling like a doomer, but at least I'm about to be a caffeinated one.

How are all my fellow EM POC comrades doing?

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5682981

I'd go as far as to call this judicial overreach on the part of the cracker's (illegitimate) 'legal' system as "liberal authoritarianism". They're now claiming, as their sycophants, water-bearers, and zealots have always done, that to protest Amerika's actions, that to detest the bloodshed Amerika aids, abets, provides comfort, and materiel for, that to stand against the genocidal butchers in Israel, in Ukraine, in every sovereign nation that AFRICOM has spidered its settler-colonial appendages through, is to be an "aGeNt Of FoReIgN pOwErS".

This conviction is a vindication of the most intellectually lazy and dishonest, most xenophobic white liberal response to pushback, the "buh, buh, ruzzian bot" response that has come to mark them no different from the crackers in the RNC. Can’t you just see the way that marquee looks over this action? In glowing, 288pt bold-italics Impact:

“If you don’t back our settler-neocolonial ambitions, we will make you into a carceral slave”.

So much for free speech, yanquis. Death to your past, death to your future; death to your Global Settlement.

Remember, EM POC only!

I'm a very tired Angel right now. It's about to be 2 AM, but since it's Monday, I might as well go ahead and get up this EM POC weekly thread.

You know how it goes! Any EM POC vibes are welcome here.

from this reddit post

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/3393636

direct quote:

In fact, if you want information to kill the police officers who are going to Haiti, I am sure we can help.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/3386889

hey yall, popping in from my hexbear break to share this map thingy the psl is doing. yes its a big doxing map but you dont have to use your real name or info, it would just be super cool to fill this out and get a map full of moving blurbs about why people want socialism. and if you dont wanna fill it out I thought some of yall would enjoy reading it, some of the statements are very moving.

Remember, EM POC only!

Welcome to EM POC weekly, comrades. Say whatever you got on your mind! Someone piss you off? Something amazing happen? You just wanna talk about how you're doing today?

Whatever it is, have at it!

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5549299

30+ years, and the only thing that's changed is this line:

"The people of my country aren't so bad".

...They are now. I think my first foray back into poetry will be a response/interpolation of this piece.

Remember, EM POC only!

How are you all doing? Anything exciting you wanna share? Anything you wanna share that's not so exciting but rather frustrating instead?

Spill it all here, comrades.

I shouldn't pass which is fine but on the rare occasion I do, it's always a white person who lives in a place without many east asians

The last white liberal I tried to befriend unironically told me I was so lucky to be Asian because I naturally already look more feminine than white transfems (like her)

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5457180

For decades, most Black political commentary has expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people, but recently, a new phenomenon has appeared, particularly on social media platforms, which accuses all Palestinians of being anti-Black racists, and asserts that aligning with them is either of no use to Black people or even that it is detrimental to our own cause. Some of these individuals are Democratic Party operatives attempting to maintain Black voter loyalty as Israeli war crimes in Gaza remain a campaign issue. Others are of a right wing tendency which either supports U.S. imperialism or asserts that Black politics can and should stand alone, and that any talk of solidarity with Palestinians or other peoples is misguided.

It's not surprising that these questions have come to the fore as the Democratic National Convention is taking place in Chicago, while so-called ceasefire talks take place in Israel, even though Israel continues to reject any talk of a real ceasefire and Kamala Harris promises to keep sending them weapons. Black Agenda Report editor and columnist Ajamu Baraka provides his analysis in conversation with Executive Editor Margaret Kimberley.

Do not be fooled, family. There's hella motherfuckers out here who want to see our solidarity split; and some of them look and act like us. This is why they want us to assimilate so badly; so we stop expressing solidarity with the enemies of the Settlement. Or not even the enemies of the Settlement; even the innocents in the way of what the Settlement's allies want!

They want you cosigning the genocide just as breathlessly as Harris, Booker, or Jeffries would; and they will dissemble, cudgel, and cajole until either you do, or until you make it clear that they'll have to chalk you out too to kill your solidarity.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5450922

While Joe Biden spoke during the opening night at the convention a group of delegates who want to end the Israeli genocide managed to sneak in a banner which read, “Stop Arming Israel .” One delegate felt compelled to hit one of the protesters on the head with a sign. Others moved to cover up the banner and then began shouting, “We love Joe!” Nadia Ahmad is the Florida delegate who was struck on the head. “They’re up there talking about fascism and like hitting me on the head with ‘I love Joe’ signs. That’s not a good look,” she said in what is perhaps the biggest understatement of the convention.

Let me just say how much it fuckin sickens me that the community has gone from "Not Like Us" to falling in around Kamala like she's not the same Cop City-repping, 1033-funding, genocide-collaborating ghoul that Genocide Joe is, just with a misleader's coat of paint.

Remember, EM POC only!

How are you all doing? Anything exciting you wanna share? Anything you wanna share that's not so exciting but rather frustrating instead?

Spill it all here, comrades.

I apologize for a bit of a delay this time around. @Othello@hexbear.net will be taking a hiatus from Hexbear to redirect focus to local organizing efforts. For the time being, I will be taking over the posting of EM POC weekly threads.

With that aside, how's everyone doing? Any exciting news, funny memes or stories, or interesting takes? We'd love to hear it all!

Remember, EM POC only!