‘Confronting Bipartisan Repression and the US-led Axis of Domination Beyond Election Day’, Nov. 4, 2020, Ajamu Baraka  (CC)

"No matter who sits in the white peoples’ house, we will have to continue to fight for social justice, democracy, and People(s)-Centered Human Rights.

“Our survival depends on seeing this violent, barbarian behemoth for what it is.”

Chaos, violence, legal challenges, voter suppression and party suppression all culminated in the pathetic display of democratic degeneration on Election Day. After two decades of losing wars, plus the economic collapse of 2008, the response to COVID-19, and now the election debacle, if there were any doubts the U.S. is a morally exhausted empire in irreversible decline, they would have been erased with yesterday’s anti-democratic spectacle.

Democratic Party propagandists and “frightened” leftists are desperate. They tell their supporters and the public that the republic will not survive another term of Donald Trump. They point to his despicable, racist descriptions of undocumented migrant workers from Mexico; his characterization of some global South nations; his misogyny; his crude and obvious white supremacy; his authoritarian proclivities; and his pathological dishonesty—among his many character flaws—as reasons why he must be stopped.

However, for those of us who have been historically subjected to the colonial fascism that is the U.S. settler project, the liberal-left argument that the Trump regime represents some fundamental departure from previous administrations that were equally committed to white power and that he is an existential threat (to whom, we are not clear) remains unpersuasive.

As the Biden and Trump drama plays out, we ask from our experiences some simple questions on what might happen when a victor emerges:

• Will either candidate really have the ability to restore the millions of jobs lost during the current economic crisis?
• Will the illegal subversion of Venezuela and Nicaragua stop, and the blockade of Cuba end?
• Will the prison-industrial complex that is housing ten of thousands of the Black and Brown economically redundant be closed?
• Will the charges be dropped against Edward Snowden and the extradition demand for Julian Assange end?
• Will Gaza continue to be the largest open-air prison on the planet?
• Will the U.S. reverse its decision to deploy new intermediate-range missiles that will be equipped with nuclear warheads targeting Russia in Europe and China in the Asia-Pacific?
• Will the Saudi and Obama-originated war on Yemen end?
• Will the U.S. settler-colonial state really defund the police and the military?

“The liberal-left argument that the Trump regime represents some fundamental departure from previous administrations remains unpersuasive.”

What is this “new fascism” the latte-left talks about? What is this “existential threat”? For most of us, the threat has always been existential. When colonial Nazism that was inspired by the U.S. Jim Crow South was applied in Europe—with its violence and racism—it was only then that it took on a different moral and political characterization.  The racist French government launches a domestic terror campaign against Muslims in the country, while bombing Africans in Africa and overthrowing their governments. The European Union gives a human rights award to a political opposition in Venezuela that burns Black people alive because those Black people are seen as Maduro supporters. Meanwhile, NATO, the military wing of U.S. and European white supremacy, expands into South America to support the Monroe Doctrine that morally justifies U.S. regional domination. But fascism is coming to the U.S., they cry!

For those of us who reside in the colonized spaces of empire, leading with uncritical emotionalism as we confront and attempt to deal with the Trump phenomenon, is a self-indulgent diversion we cannot afford. That is because, for us, the consequences truly are life threatening.

In occupied Palestine, Venezuela, Yemen, the South-side of Chicago, Haiti, the concentration camps for Indigenous peoples called “reservations,” as well as “Cancer Alley” in Louisiana, our survival depends on seeing this violent, barbarian behemoth for what it is. We must have no sentimental delusions about the difference between the governance of either of the two ruling class-dominated parties.

For us, both parties are ongoing criminal enterprises that are committed to one thing and one thing only: Ultimately serving the interests of the capitalist ruling class—by any means necessary!

It is in that commitment that we, the colonized, the excluded, the killable, who experience the murderous sanctions that deny us food and life preserving medicines, the killer cops who slowly snuff out our lives with their knee on our necks, the deadly military attacks that destroy our ancient nations and turn us into refugees, the subversion of our political systems, the theft of our precious resources, and the literal draining of the value of our lives through the super-exploitation of our labor.

“Both parties are ongoing criminal enterprises.”

For us, we ask, what will be the difference if Biden wins? Wasn’t Biden part of the administration that conspired with the Department of Homeland Security and Democratic mayors to repress the Occupy movement once it became clear the movement could not be co-opted?

Didn’t Obama place Assata Shakur as the first woman on the FBI’s “Most Wanted Terrorists” list and increase the bounty on her head? A recent release of FBI documents revealed it was during the Obama-Biden years that the “Black Identity Extremist ” label was created.

The illegal subversion of Venezuela began with Bush, but intensified under Obama. The sanctions slapped on that country—that were expanded under Trump—have resulted in tens of thousands of innocent people dying from lack of medicines. It was the Obama-Biden administration that decided to devote over $1 trillion to upgrade the U.S. nuclear arsenal over the next decade.

Democratic and Republican strategists support the white supremacist NATO structure, the “Pivot to Asia,” and the insane theory being advanced by military strategists, who are wargaming a nuclear “first-strike” strategy against Russia and China that they believe can be successful in destroying those countries’ intercontinental ballistic missiles while the missiles are still in their launchers. That is why the Trump administration pulled out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and has so far failed to renew the START nuclear treaty with Russia, scheduled to end in February 2021.

“It was during the Obama-Biden years that the ‘Black Identity Extremist’ label was created.”

Not being confused by the liberal framework that advances a cartoonish understanding of fascism that Trump’s bombastic theatrics evokes in the public imagination, it is clear the threat of increased authoritarianism, the use of military force, repression, subversion, illegal sanctions, theft, and rogue state gangsterism is on the agenda of both capitalist parties in the U.S. and the Western European colonizer states.

No matter who sits in the white peoples’ house after the election, we will have to continue to fight for social justice, democracy, and People(s)-Centered Human Rights.

It is important to re-state that last sentence because the left in the U.S. is experiencing extreme anxiety with the events around the election. They want and need to have order, stability and good feelings about their nation again. But for those of us from the colonized zones of non-being, anything that creates psychological chaos, disorder, delegitimization, disruption of the settler-colonial state and demoralization of its supporters is of no concern for us.

Unlike the house slave who will fight harder than the Massa to put out the flames in the plantation house, we call to the ancestors to send a strong breeze.”

Amen, Brother Baraka; you said it right.

‘The Contours of Resistance Beyond the Election’, November 2, 2020, Jose Monzon, blackallianceforpeace.com

“No matter which party wins the White House on November 3, one thing is certain: The objective crisis of the system will force the winning political party to be guided by a logic that concludes domestic repression and warmongering abroad are necessary.

From occupied Philadelphia to occupied Palestine, the people in the colonized spaces of empire will find it hard to discern a difference between how Democratic and Republican oppressors treat them. In Philadelphia, Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors borrowed a page from the Obama administration’s DOJ playbook. If folks recall, after the Baltimore uprisings in 2015, Obama’s DOJ slapped federal charges on the resisters Obama had referred to as “thugs and criminals.” Just last week, the Trump DOJ swept into Philly and nationalized a local law enforcement by arresting and slapping federal felony charges against four African activists.

So, while the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) takes no official position on the election or on its outcome, we have been consistent as an alliance: We are clear the fight for our people will continue. We do not have the luxury of believing any illusions to the contrary.

That is why the demands we raised as part of our Candidate Accountability Campaign will continue and will anchor our umbrella campaign, No Compromise, No Retreat: Defeat the War Against African/Black People in the U.S. and Abroad.

Those demands include:

• Opposing the militarization of U.S. police through the Department of Defense’s 1033 program
• Stopping Israeli training of U.S. police forces
• Working for the closure of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM)
• Advocating for the closure of 800+ U.S. foreign military bases
• Opposing Trump’s “Operation Relentless Pursuit” and all federal anti-crime measures
• Opposing all military, economic (including sanctions and blockades) and political interventions
• Demanding an end to U.S. participation in the white supremacist NATO structure
• Calling for at least 50% cuts to the U.S. military budget
• Requiring the U.S. Department of Justice document and investigate the use of lethal force by domestic police officers
• Demanding the passage of Congressional resolutions that commit the United States to uphold international law and the U.N. Charter
• Calling on the U.S. Congress to pass legislation and/or resolutions to support the global abolition of nuclear weapons, such as seen with the U.N. Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons

BAP is clear: It is only through the construction of alternative, independent popular power that the suffering caused by the irreversible crisis of the system can be mitigated. We must move to create a new system in which war, militarism and repression are permanently eliminated from the realm of human concerns.

For the exploited, colonized and oppressed, our fate will not be determined on November 3. The U.S. duopoly is incapable of addressing our human needs because the interests of the people and the planet—and the goal of peace—are contrary to the narrow interests both the Democratic and Republican parties are committed to upholding.

Therefore, there will be No Compromise and No Retreat in the face of evil—lesser or otherwise.

EVENTS

November 7: Margaret will speak on the No Cold War webinar, “Will the US Presidential Election Change the New Cold War?” Register here.

November 7-8: The Black Is Back Coalition calls on all to march, rally and convene in Washington, D.C., during the “Black People’s March On White House.” Registration is requested. Read their article in Black Agenda Report.

November 12: BAP member organization AfroResistance will host a webinar, “Black Migration in the Americas: An Invisible Issue”. Simultaneous English/Portuguese/Spanish interpretation will be available. Register here.

November 19: Netfa will speak on a panel, “Unpacking the Implications of American Exceptionalism.” Register at least 24 hours in advance.
November 19: AfroResistance will host a webinar, “Housing Rights as Essential to Racial and Gender Justice”. Simultaneous English/Portuguese/Spanish interpretation will be available. Register here.
December 4: Save the date for a Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Disarm Committee webinar on AFRICOM and human rights that will feature speakers from international women’s associations and Margaret. Look for registration information in an upcoming newsletter.

TAKE ACTION

• Our brother, former political prisoner Jalil Muntaqim, faces the possibility of re-incarceration for filling out a voter registration form. Sign this petition to demand charges be dropped.
• People’s Strike asks people to sign the Pledge of Resistance to take actions this week.
• The Black Latina Girls and Women Fund was created by AfroResistance, a Black Latina women-led organization in the service of Black Latinx women in the Americas. This fund offers financial support by giving money directly to Black Latin womxn, girls and femmes who are experiencing severe financial need across the region, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether in Brazil, Colombia, United States or Panama, Black Latina girls, women, and femmes are organizing in their local communities in the fight against several forms of state violence. You can donate here and people are encouraged to use the hashtag #BlackLatinaGWFund.
• Ask your local, state and federal candidates to sign BAP’s 2020 Candidate Accountability Pledge. If you are a candidate, distinguish yourself from the other corporate warmongering candidates by signing the pledge.
• Sign up to join BAP’s U.S. Out of Africa Network to receive the bi-weekly AFRICOM Watch Bulletin in your inbox.
• Make sure you keep up with us throughout the week by subscribing to our YouTube channel, liking us on Facebook, and following us on Instagram and Twitter.

No Compromise, No Retreat!

Struggle to win,
Ajamu, Dedan, Jaribu, Margaret, Netfa, Nnamdi, Paul, Vanessa, YahNé

P.S. Freedom isn’t free. Consider giving today.”

Their manifesto has  a longish section on (past) Press and Media as well.

‘Deception 2020: The Struggle Is The Same, By Eleanor Goldfield, Art Killing Apathy. November 3, 2020, Resistance Report

In this eighth and final installment of the Deception 2020 Series, we uplift the solidarity of the shaken – acknowledging how shitty things feel right now while highlighting the power and hope that rests in our actions far outside the confines of a voting booth. Jacquie Luqman, co-host of By Any Means Necessary joins us to share her fears, her hope and the long list of ways in which, regardless of who wins, our struggle remains the same.

Vimeo, about 16 minutes; hope this works.

The Struggle Is The Same from Eleanor Goldfield on Vimeo.