This is a response to the #BLM controversy, before it was
removed from one of their activists, Imani Gandy's site:
This isn't about Hillary and that you are here angrily sputtering about Clinton, and George Soros, says a lot about your "progressive values." You care more about Black votes than Black lives. Well good like trying to get Sanders elected without Black voters.
Is that the deal, alienating Bernie Sanders from Black Voters?
As usual, you have your opinion ready made, and KNOW NOTHING about me. If you want to know about me, read my blog. http://maravi.blogspot.com/ And learn something about Africa, and the newstories behind the headlines. I have been blogging about Southern Africa, economics, for more than 8 years now. And you label me a 'white progressive' before you even know my name or have read anything I wrote?
Are you saying that this is how you blundered into the Bernie Sanders rally, knowing nothing about Bernie Sanders, his track record on Civil Rights, or his voting record? Please tell me that's not so.
You'd rather believe some absurd conspiracies about BLM being Clinton shills that believe that these Black women are sincere in their protesting the deaths of Black people in our community.
I'll leave the invention of the term 'Conspiracy Theory' by the CIA alone for now. It is not a 'conspiracy theory' to point out that the leadership of BLM is part of the leadership of the NDWA, and that the NDWA took part in the Clinton Global Initiative America 2015. And lo and behold, you don't go after Hillary Clinton. Hillary gets to meet behind closed doors, without any photo ops. What a coincidence. What exactly was discussed with the Clintons? (And no, that's not a 'conspiracy theory', that is a question.)
Now to call that 'a conspiracy theory', how about calling it 'a hint'? 'A clue'?
Black people are demanding respect for our humanity and all you can retort with his "Sanders is your best friend?"
As a good friend of mine pointed out, we're talking about life and death matters and all you can talk about is political rivalries as if that is all that matters.
Clearly, you have no clue, as to who Bernie Sanders IS.
Bernie Sanders is going to be the best President since FDR, in fact he is going to better than FDR, if he gets a Congress he can work with and does something about the Supreme Court.
He might even become as good as HUEY LONG, who I'm sure you have never heard of either.
http://www.ssa.gov/history/hlong1.html
It is because of Huey Long, that FDR only even considered many of the programs that eventually built the American middle class. The fact that African Americans were specifically excluded from those programs in the South doesn't change that. It is a disgrace that must never be repeated. However, I trust Bernie Sanders more than any politician not to make such a deal in the future.
Well it doesn't. Trickle-down justice will not work this time. And Sanders cannot win without us. Clinton cannot win without us.
Oh yes they can.
And you talk about Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton as if they are the same.
They are not. Clinton is a Republican in disguise. She was a Goldwater Republican in the 1960s. Bernie Sanders calls himself a Democratic Socialist. He marched with Martin Luther King. If you can't tell the difference, it is time to hit the books again (which is a good thing and a hint, not a putdown - I hit the books every day, I love knowledge and information and the information age).
You don't get to tell Black voters that Sanders is our best friend. That's just not how this works. But continue angrily spewing nonsense if it makes you feel better.
Here are some threads I wrote on the realpolitik of politics, 'trade', and America's empire in Africa, and the role of the Clintons in it.
Rape In The Eastern DRC
http://www.thomhartmann.com/forum/2013/09/rape-eastern-drc
Bill Clinton was kept informed about what happened in Rwanda on a daily basis.
F*** The EU - Neocons And The Neonazi Ukrainian Coup
http://www.thomhartmann.com/forum/2014/02/f-eu-neocons-and-neonazi-ukrainian-coup
Hillary Clinton's subordinate Victoria Nuland's handiwork in the Ukraine. She put nazis (Svoboda) in government in Europe for the first time since WWII (of course Spain and Portugal remained fascist until the 1970s).
Labels: ACTIVISM, HILLARY CLINTON, NEOCOLONIALISM
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COMMENT - A statement from the Black Panther Party, The Huey P. Newton Foundation, on the so-called New Black Panther Party so beloved by Fox News Channel.
There Is No New Black Panther Party: An Open Letter From the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation
In response from numerous requests from individual's seeking information on the "New Black Panthers," the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation issues this public statement to correct the distorted record being made in the media by a small band of African Americans calling themselves the New Black Panthers.
As guardian of the true history of the Black Panther Party, the Foundation, which includes former leading members of the Party, denounces this group's exploitation of the Party's name and history. Failing to find its own legitimacy in the black community, this band would graft the Party's name upon itself, which we condemn.
Firstly, the people in the New Black Panthers were never members of the Black Panther Party and have no legitimate claim on the Party's name. On the contrary, they would steal the names and pretend to walk in the footsteps of the Party's true heroes, such as Black Panther founder Huey P. Newton, George Jackson and Jonathan Jackson, Bunchy Carter, John Huggins, Fred Hampton, Mark Cark, and so many others who gave their very lives to the black liberation struggle under the Party's banner.
Secondly, they denigrate the Party's name by promoting concepts absolutely counter to the revolutionary principles on which the Party was founded. Their alleged media assault on the Ku Klux Klan serves to incite hatred rather than resolve it. The Party's fundamental principle, as best articulated by the great revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, was: "A true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love." The Black Panthers were never a group of angry young militants full of fury toward the "white establishment." The Party operated on love for black people, not hatred of white people.
Furthermore, this group claims it would "teach" the black community about armed self-defense. The arrogance of this claim is overwhelmed by its reactionary nature. Blacks, especially in the South, have been armed in self-defense for a very long time; indeed, the spiritual parent of the Party itself was the Louisiana-based Deacons for Defense. However, the Party understood that the gun was not necessarily revolutionary, for the police and all other oppressive forces had guns. It was the ideology behind the gun that determined its nature.
Because the Party believed that only the masses of people would make the revolution, the Party never presumed itself to be above the people. The Party considered itself a servant of the people and taught by example. Given massive black hunger, the Party provided free breakfast for children and other free food programs. In the absence of decent medical facilities in the black community, the Party operated free medical clinics. In the face of police brutality, the Party stood up and resisted. Considering the overwhelming number of blacks facing trials and long prison terms, the Party developed free legal aids and bussing-to-prison programs.
The question the Foundation raises, then, is who are these people laying claim to the Party's history and name? Are they reactionary provocateurs, who would instigate activities counterproductive to the people's interests, causing mayhem and death? Are they entertainers, who would posture themselves before the media, and, according to numerous sources, with empty guns, to spin gold for themselves? Are they, given the history of their late-leader Khalid Muhammad, a group of anti-Semites like the very Ku Klux Klan they allegedly oppose? What is their agenda?
Conditions for blacks in America today are worse than when the Black Panther Party was formed in 1966. Blacks in the main continue to live in poverty; disproportionate percentages of blacks die from AIDS and cancer, as the black infant mortality rate continues to be double that of whites. There is a desperate need for liberation agenda. The Black Panther Party unarguably set the example, espousing principles and a history that certainly should be embraced by all those still struggling for freedom. Rather than appropriating the Party's name, however, groups that purport to represent African Americans ought to follow the Party's true historical example. In the absence of such commitment, the Foundation denounces the usurpation of the Black Panther Party name by this questionable band of self-appointed leaders.
For further reading on the Black Panther Party, please visit our website at www.blackpanther.org. Books by and about the Black Panthers can also be purchased online through this site. Suggested reading includes Revolutionary Suicide, To Die for the People, War Against the Panthers, This Side of Glory, and A Taste of Power.
Labels: ACTIVISM, NEOCOLONIALISM
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Shakafuswa attributes mine windfall tax to public pressure
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe and Joan Chirwa
Saturday January 19, 2008 [03:00]
GOVERNMENT’S decision to impose a windfall tax on mining companies has resulted from public pressure, the Ministry of Finance and National Planning has disclosed. And an international business consultant Trevor Simumba said revenue gained from the windfall tax imposed on the mines should not be used for personal emoluments for the government workers but must be channelled to basic sectors.
Finance deputy minister Jonas Shakafuswa said the government made an ‘executive decision’ to impose a windfall tax on mining companies following public concerns on revenue currently being collected from mineral resources.
Shakafuswa said the government could not wait for conclusion of the renegotiation of development agreements with the mines before increasing the new mining taxes, saying ‘the process was taking rather long’.
“Being a listening President, President Mwanawasa listened to the calls of Zambian people who were calling for increasing mineral taxes in mining sector and that is why we started renegotiating the development agreements,” Shakafuswa said. “But when we realised the renegotiation process was taking long, the President made an executive decision of imposing a windfall tax which is going to come into effect immediately after the presentation of this year’s national budget.”
Shakafuswa urged mining companies in the country not to resist the new tax regime in the mining sector as doing so would ‘tarnish the image of multinational companies’. “Our colleagues should understand that the Zambian people are in a hurry to develop and they should not frustrate this because this decision was made by the government based on the wishes of the Zambian people,” said Shakafuswa. “So if they decide to resist these changes, they will be leaving a bad legacy not only for themselves but for all international companies. And remember, these changes are a call of the people, so if they want to frustrate this decision, then they will face the wrath of Zambian people.”
A number of mining companies in the country have however not made their position known over the new mining regime, indicating that consultations were being made before public statements could be made.
And Simumba said revenue from windfall taxes from mining companies should be used to improve services in health, education and other social sectors.
“Finally the government has listened to us. I hope this time implementation will be effected because last time the three per cent royalty tax was not implemented. It is also important that the extra revenue earned is directed towards socio economic sectors such as hospitals, schools, doctor/nurse salaries and teacher salaries as well as infrastructure development that will further enhance mining, industrial and agricultural development,” said Simumba.
Labels: ACTIVISM, SHAKAFUSWA, WINDFALL TAX
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