ASI 2006 Reports – United States – Chimurenga Waller

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Most of us know the history of the last 500 years in the U.S. where the settler colonialists in the U.S. brought Africans in by the millions to work for free and build a colonial society. They took the land from the Indians, built on it and called it theirs.

Nothing much has changed in the recent past. The last six or seven years have been a very significant period.

In 2000, the world heard about a presidential election where George Bush ran against another white guy, Al Gore. The majority of the African population that is registered to vote in the U.S. is registered as Democrats. Gore was the Democratic candidate. He actually won the popular vote and then lost the election.

Shortly after that election, George Bush was characterized as a bumbling idiot who stole the election. He didn’t have very high marks in the poles.

The Democratic Party had the ability to challenge the elections by raising the fact that the African vote had been stolen. They refused to do that, and of course, the Africans in the U.S. continued to wait for the next four years to come by and see if we can elect a better white guy next time.

It hasn’t happened yet, and it won’t happen. Revolution is the only thing that’s going to change it.

In 2001, a very important conference sponsored by the United Nations happened in Durban, South Africa. I and representatives of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) attended the World Conference Against Racism.

It was an important event because the question of reparations for African people and the question of the transatlantic slave trade being a crime against humanity were discussed there. The imperialist powers that were attending were forced to declare that the transatlantic slave trade was a crime against humanity.

It was a great political victory on paper. That was September 7, 2001.

On September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center was attacked. Now, this gave the imperialists the opportunity to totally change the momentum of that struggle around reparations for African people.

They used that opportunity to totally change the discussion around reparations and the oppression of Africans and other oppressed peoples to a discussion about the “war on terror.”

 

War on terror is actually war on oppressed peoples

That war on terror that’s led by U.S. white power is actually a war against oppressed people.

Now how did they use the war on terror? They said, “We’re going to hunt for Osama bin Laden because he was responsible for the World Trade Center.”

Now it’s not a coincidence that they are going to build an oil pipeline through Afghanistan. It’s always interesting to me how when the U.S. points out who’s a terrorist, it’s always someplace that has some kind of resources.

They do that because this has nothing to do with any war on terror. This is another framework in which they can steal anything that is not locked down.

That is exactly what they thought they were going to do in Iraq. As a matter of fact, they’re bumping into some serious resistance even in Afghanistan.

Their plan was clearly to seize control of the oil fields, and Halliburton and all the corporations that they sent in would get rich.

It’s not turning out the way they thought it would. White people in the U.S. see white soldiers in helicopters shot down, and that disturbs them. That’s what makes them want to end the war.

Seeing Africans getting shot down everyday by the police doesn’t disturb them. They’ll walk all over our bodies.

“This general attack on keeping society open enough for the African community to wage struggle is going to continue until African people organize. The struggle of African people in the U.S. has always been what kept society open. That struggle is what helped gays, women, and every movement in the U.S.”

It disturbs them when they watch television and see private security contractors being strung up and burned to death. That disturbs them. So there’s quite a clamor now to bring the troops home.

Africans becoming primary target

This war on terror is now being turned into a war on Africans. You may have seen on our table information on the case of the Liberty City 7, seven African men in Miami, Florida who have been locked up on terrorism charges. One of those charges is sedition, which means that you’re trying to overthrow the government.

These seven Africans living in the poorest part of Miami — sometimes not even able to keep their water and lights on — are accused of trying to overthrow the government.

They said they investigated them for a whole year and couldn’t get anything on them, so they sent in two Arab informants. Next thing you know, they lock them up and say they’re going to hold them without bond.

They’re facing 70 years in prison right now. They’re being held in solitary confinement. They can come out of their cells one hour a day and can get one 10-minute phone call per week.

Clearly, the U.S. is using this opportunity to try to close down society. They’re trying to close down the right to free speech and the right to resistance.

That’s why they’re able to lock up seven Africans, not for anything they did, but for what they allegedly were thinking and said.

The rights of African people in general are under a general threat from what the U.S. government is doing through the Patriot Act. But the fact is that, in most African communities, it’s not raising a big stir.

I believe the reason it’s not is because Africans are used to the kind of oppression that goes on every day with the regular police in our communities who shoot our people down in the streets.

This is something that’s been going on with the counterintelligence programs that they used against the Black Power Movement in the ‘60s. Thirty Black Panthers were killed and 800 of them were locked up in prisons, and other African organizations were also attacked.

This general attack on keeping society open enough for the African community to wage struggle is going to continue until African people organize. The struggle of African people in the U.S. has always been what kept society open. That struggle is what helped gays, women, and every movement in the U.S.

So now we’re reaching a new phase. You can’t keep fighting civil rights struggles over and over. Revolution is not something easy, but it is becoming the only visible way that Africans are going to get from under the oppression of the U.S.

We’ve had a Civil Rights Movement and the people who gained from that was the African middle class. They got Affirmative Action, then got it taken back.

They got the right to get some businesses and some government contracts. Of course, the government at the first opportunity is attacking to take that back.

But the African workers never got anything except locked up and more oppression for our efforts.

So it is up to the African workers to speak with one voice and to unite to help build the African Socialist International (ASI). That is what is going to move society forward and open it up enough for us to wage struggle above ground. That’s the struggle that we’re involved in in the U.S.

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