Our Mass Movement Must Be Revolutionary

[RWalker]

Bruce Dixon wrote the following in the article "Its Time to Build A Mass Movement":

"There is only one place America's next progressive mass movement can come from. There is only one identifiable constituency with a bedrock majority of its citizens in long term historical opposition to our nation's imperial adventures overseas. This is America's black one-eighth. While majorities of all Americans do believe in universal health care, the right to organize unions, high quality public education, a living wage, and that retirement security available to everyone ought to be government policy, and many even believe America is locking up too many people for too long, support for these propositions is virtually unanimous among African Americans.

"More than two years ago, Black Commentator named this phenomenon the "Black Consensus":

"African Americans remain in remarkable, consistent agreement on political issues, a shared commonality of views that holds strongly across lines of income, gender and age. The Black Commentator's analysis of biannual data from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies confirms the vitality of a broad Black Consensus. Most importantly, the data show that Black political behavior has not deviated from recent historical patterns, nor is any significant Black demographic group likely to diverge from these patterns in the immediate future.

"In newspaper terms, there is no "split" among African Americans on core political issues..."

"The original article, from which the above paragraph is lifted, is well worth reviewing in its entirety. It is the statistical persistence of the Black Consensus over decades of polling data and across classes, generations and regions which marks out America's black one-eighth as the likely origin, and the first indispensable core constituency of any progressive mass movement to transform American society. If such a mass movement is to succeed, it must not allow itself to be contained within the black community. But that's where it has to begin, around the core political demands of the Black Consensus. (published on July 06, 2005)
org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=1&ItemID=8237

(end of quote)

Note the words "it must not allow itself to be contained within the black community" this is the error that many have made of our long history of struggle after the conquest of Africa and the capture of so many millions and millions of her daughters and sons. Africa's children were scattered all over the world, some of suffering in North America, some in Central and South America, some in the Caribbean, some in Europe, some in other areas; and those of us at home likewise suffered as the conquest not only led to mass kidnappings of able bodied African workers, but it also meant the seizure of the land and enslavement of the Africans on the land. This must always be the central theme of our movement, and we must always defend our right to complete independence in matters pertaining to our own liberation. We must not run the risk of having our movement once again hijacked by those who claim to be our friends, but who are not in fact. Which is not to say that we do not welcome the internationalist support of non-Africans; but it is to say that we African will determine the nature and use of the support, not outside elements.

As SNCC properly understood after the emergence of the revolutionary Africanist, pro-Malcolm, pro-popular power, pro-Nationalist tendency inside of SNCC as the leadership, that is after the election of Stokely Carmichael, it is precisely the protection of our political and social movement within the context and culture of our own people that will keep our movement alive. It is not the opening up our dynamic to others, particularly the Europeans, that we need, it is the precision sequestering of our dynamism as a people that we need. That is not the same thing as saying that there can be no alliances across national/ethnic lines; on matters of universal concern, there is the need for universal cooperation. On matters of global concerns, there is an absolute necessity for global synergy among all forces who are truly committed to dealing with such concerns in a positive matter. But on matters that are the exclusive domain of the African people, the African nation, should remain and must remain the exclusive domain of the African people.

The greatest mass movement ever created in this country was the UNIA; why did it succeed? Because it correctly understood the psychological and material needs of the Africans in the western hemisphere to reestablish contact with our people at home; to reconnect ourselves with our culture and our true homeland.

Why was the Nation of Islam and Minister Malcolm X so loved by millions and millions of our people? Because just as the UNIA they understood these same needs.

This phenomena also accounts for the spontaneous and organized responses of Africans in the West on international issues such as the invasion of Ethiopia by the Italian fascists, with the overt and covert complicity of their brother imperialists. It was seen in the response to the lynching of the people of the Congo, as symbolized by the bombings, the slaughter of the innocents by white mercenaries and uncle tom Africans, and the assassinations of great political leaders and statesmen, generally symbolized by the brutal and beast like killing of PM Patrice Lumumba. It was seen in the actions initiated against the settler state in South Africa and the grief we felt every time we witness a Sharpville, Langa, or Soweto massacre.

It manifested itself in the embracing of the concept of African Liberation Day in areas outside of Africa; an embrace that was so strong that it became the dominant focus of the ideological struggle waged in the African community from 1972 until 1976 when the A-APRP decisively resolved the issue by declaring that we were taking "ALD Back To Africa" An A-APRP which by the way was essentially composed of the young activists who had studied under the direct or indirect influence of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah while Osagyefo lived, or of activists who were trained by these activists; many of these activists were among those who had embraced African nationalism in the context of their experiences in the Black Power movement, which Osagyefo correctly identified as the diaspora wing of the armed African Liberation Movement, as the Black Power movement was not limited to the US, but manifested itself in Trinidad, in Canada, in Britain, and other places; and gave birth to the aborted Black Panther movement, and gave impetus to the rise of the Black Studies movement. All the good Africans have achieved is traceable to our ability to reconnect with our roots; to reconnect with Africa. Remember that these movements and organizations we created were essential to raising the consciousness of others also, on issues such as opposition to imperialist war and the draft; the need to oppose zionism and see it for what it is more of the same old European colonialism and neocolonialism. Recall it was people like Malcolm, Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), Cleve Sellers who were among those who first pointed out the contradictions in participating in an unjust war in Indochina, or who refused to be deceived by zionism. History has demonstrated that the African people can contribute to the universal good without sacrificing the sanctity of our own independent, totally independent movement.

What do we see when we look around the world today? We see as the Cuban paper Granma points out that Africa is being targeted by the US so that it can increase its theft of our oil
(see http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2005/jul...28petro.html);

that the suffering of the Africans and others in the Caribbean/Latin America are being used to prop up the US debt
(see http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2005/feb...capital.html);

and as the noted NYC journalist Aldon Maddox wrote the Africans in America are considered and treated as "enemy combatants" by the system ...in short Africans all over the world are facing a common system that is hostile to us, no matter where we are. Logically, then we must devise and deploy a common solution that will satisfy our highest human needs, where ever we are. This is the basis of the success of the UNIA movement, and all those that followed in its footsteps...this is basis of the success of the CPP, and its founder and leader, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, this is the reason that movements and organizations, such s the PDG and the OAAU, leaders and followers such as Malcolm X and Seku Ture and the mass of African people have achieved the successes that we have had over the past three quarters of a century. This is what we have to do; and the key step is, as Nkrumah pointed out, we must create a revolutionary political party that will do the work needed to give birth and guidance to a revolutionary mass movement. For it is not just a mass movement we need, but precisely a revolutionary movement, one that will not settle for crumbs, but fight until the people are truly and securely free and prosperous. Anything else is treachery and sell-out politics.