Citazioni

Spiegare e provare a riconoscerlo non è semplice. Perché nessuno crederebbe mai alla follia indotta dalla mancanza di documenti di riconoscimento validi. Non ci sono storie di italiani bianchi finiti in centri di igiene mentale per il mancato ottenimento della carta di identità. Non ci sono bianchi che danno di matto perché la questura o la prefettura non li convoca per rilevare le impronte. Ma ci sono neri che perdono la testa per queste cose. Che finiscono senza vestiti e mutande a urlare per strada che sta per arrivare la fine del mondo. Forse quella fine è reale, è la fine del *loro* mondo, ma è allo stesso tempo un mondo che si manifesta sotto gli occhi dei bianchi, senza essere mai veramente visibile. (Djarah Kan, 2020)

An action being "punishable by a fine" basically means "legal for rich people".

Apartheid was legal. The Holocaust was legal. Slavery was legal. Colonialism was legal. Legality is a matter of power, not justice. (attr. José Antonio Vargas)

MALCOLM X - Malcolm X Speaks (1965)

PDF: https://edisciplinas.usp.br/pluginfile.php...lm_X_Speaks.pdf

Our accent will be upon youth: we need new ideas, new methods, new approaches. We will call upon young students of political science throughout the nation to help us. We will encourage these young students to launch their own independent study, and then give us their analysis and their suggestions. We are completely disenchanted with the old, adult, established politicians. We want to see some new faces - more militant faces. (A Declaration of Independence, 1964)

Concerning nonviolence: it is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks. It is legal and lawful to own a shotgun or a rifle. We believe in obeying the law. (A Declaration of Independence, 1964)

No, I'm not an American. I'm one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the 22 million black people who are the victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy. So, I'm not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waver - no; not I. I'm speaking as a victim of this American system. And I see America through the eyes of the victim. I don't see any American dream; I see an American nightmare. (The Ballot or the Bullet, 1964)

If we're going to talk about police brutality, it's because police brutality exists. Why does it exist? Because our people in this particular society live in a police state. A black man in America lives in a police state. He doesn't live in any democracy, he lives in a police state. That's what it is, that's what Harlem is. [...] Any occupied territory is a police state; and this is what Harlem is. Harlem is a police state; the police in Harlem, their presence is like occupation forces, like an occupying army. They're not in Harlem to protect us; they're not in Harlem to look out for our welfare; they're in Harlem to protect the interests of the businessmen who don't even live there. (The Harlem "Hate-Gang" Scare, 1964)

The people of China grew tired of their oppressors and the people rose up against their oppressors. They didn't rise up nonviolently. It was easy to say that the odds were against them, but eleven of them started out and today those eleven control 800 million. They would have been told back then that the odds were against them. As the oppressor always points out to the oppressed, "The odds are against you." When Castro was up in the mountains of Cuba, they told him the odds were against him. Today he's sitting in Havana and all the power this country has can't remove him. (The Harlem "Hate-Gang" Scare, 1964)

When you drop a bomb, you don't look to see where it explodes. They're doing the same thing as when they dropped it on the Japanese at Hiroshima. They don't even think about dropping it on Congolese. And you, running around here getting all upset because a few white hostages die, you're out of your minds, out of your minds. They take the press with their ability to control you with image-making, and they make mass murder, cold-blooded murder, look like a humanitarian project. All these thousands of black people dying, butchered, and you have no compassion in your hearts whatsoever for them, because the victim has been made to look like he's the criminal and the criminal has been made to look like he's the victim. (At the Audubon, 1964)

They've always said that I'm anti-white. I'm for anybody who's for freedom. I'm for anybody who's for justice. I'm for anybody who's for equality. I'm not for anybody who tells me to sit around and wait for mine. I'm not for anybody who tells me to turn the other cheek when a cracker is busting up my jaw. I'm not for anybody who tells black people to be nonviolent while nobody is telling white people to be nonviolent. I know I'm in the church, I probably shouldn't be talking like this - but Jesus himself was ready to turn the synagogue inside out and upside down when things weren't going right. In fact, in the Book of Revelations, they've got Jesus sitting on a horse with a sword in his hand, getting ready to go into action. But they don't tell you or me about that Jesus. They only tell you and me about that peaceful Jesus. They never let you get down to the end of the book. They keep you up there where everything is, you know, nonviolent. No, go and read the whole book, and when you get to Revelations, you'll find that even Jesus' patience ran out. And when his patience ran out, he got the whole situation straightened out. He picked up the sword.
I believe that there are some white people who might be sincere. But I think they should prove it. And you can't prove it to me by singing with me. You can't prove it to me by being nonviolent. No, you can prove it by recognizing the law of justice. And the law of justice is "as ye sow, so shall ye reap". The law of justice is "he who kills by the sword shall be killed by the sword". This is justice. Now if you are with us, all I say is, make the same kind of contribution with us in our struggle for freedom that all white people have always made when they were struggling for their own freedom. (With Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, 1964)

As soon as these European powers lost their African possessions, Belgium had an economic crisis - the same year she turned the Congo loose. She had to rearrange her entire economy and her economic methods had to be revised, because she had lost possession of the source of most of her raw materials - raw materials that she got almost free, almost with no price or output whatsoever. When she got into a position where she didn't have access to these free raw materials anymore, it affected her economy. It affected the French economy. It affected the British economy. It drove all of these European countries to the point where they had to come together and form what's known as the European Common Market. Prior to that, you wouldn't hear anything about a European Common Market. (At the Audubon, 1964)

I read a story once where someone asked some group of people how many of them wanted freedom. They all put up their hand. Think there were about 300 of them. Then the person says, "Well, how many of you are ready to kill anybody who gets in your way for freedom?" About fifty put up their hands. And he told those fifty, "You stand over here", that left 250 sitting who wanted freedom, but weren't ready to kill for it. So he told this fifty, "Now you wanted freedom and you said you'd kill anybody who'd get in your way. You see those 250? You get them first. Some of them are your own brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers. But they're the ones who stand in the way of your freedom. They're afraid to do whatever is necessary to get it and they'll stop you from doing it. Get rid of them and freedom will come naturally." (At the Audubon, 1964)

You get freedom by letting your enemy know that you'll do anything to get your freedom; then you'll get it. It's the only way you'll get it. When you get that kind of attitude, they'll label you as a "crazy Negro", or they'll call you a "crazy nigger" - they don't say Negro. Or they'll call you an extremist or a subversive, or seditious, or a red or a radical. But when you stay radical long enough, and get enough people to be like you, you'll get your freedom. (To Mississippi Youth, 1964)

Now, for saying something like that, the press calls us racist and people who are "violent in reverse". This is how they psycho you. They make you think that if you try to stop the Klan from lynching you, you're practicing violence in reverse. Pick up on this, I hear a lot of you parrot what the man says. You say, "I don't want to be a Ku Klux Klan in reverse." Well, if a criminal comes around your house with his gun, brother, just because he's got a gun and he's robbing your house, and he's a robber, it doesn't make you a robber because you grab your gun and run him out. No, the man is using some tricky logic on you. I say it is time for black people to put together the type of action, the unity, that is necessary to pull the sheet off of them so they won't be frightening black people any longer. That's all. And when we say this, the press calls us "racist in reverse". "Don't struggle except within the ground rules that the people you're struggling against have laid down." Why, this is insane, but it shows how they can do it. With skilful manipulating of the press they're able to make the victim look like the criminal and the criminal look like the victim. (After the Bombing, 1965)

I read in a poll taken by Newsweek magazine this week, saying that Negroes are satisfied. Oh yes, Newsweek, you know, supposed to be a top magazine with a top pollster, talking about how satisfied Negroes are. Maybe I haven't met the Negroes he met. Because I know he hasn't met the ones that I've met. And this is dangerous. This is where the white man does himself the most harm. He invents statistics to create an image, thinking that that image is going to hold things in check. You know why they always say Negroes are lazy? Because they want Negroes to be lazy. They always say Negroes can't unite because they don't want Negroes to unite. And once they put this thing in the Negro's mind, they feel that he tries to fulfill their image. If they say you can't unite black people, and then you come to them to unite them, they won't unite because it's been said that they're not supposed to unite. It's a psycho that they work, and it's the same way with these statistics. (After the Bombing, 1965)

Stan Bernard: Don't you incite, Malcolm? Don't you incite?
Malcolm X: I don't think so. How are you going to incite people who are living in slums and ghettos? It's the city structure that incites. A city that continues to let people live in rat-nest dens in Harlem and pay higher rent in Harlem than they pay downtown. This is what incites it. Who lets merchants outcharge or overcharge people for their groceries and their clothing and other commodities in Harlem, while you pay less for it downtown. This is what incites it. A city that will not create some kind of employment for people who are barred from having jobs just because their skin is black. That's what incites it. Don't ever accuse a black man for voicing his resentment and dissatisfaction over the criminal condition of his people as being responsible for inciting the situation. You have to indict the society that allows these things to exist.
(Confrontation with an "Expert", 1965)

I won't permit you to call It hate. Let's say I'm going to create an awareness of what has been done to them. This awareness will produce an abundance of energy, both negative and positive, that can then be channeled constructively. [...] The greatest mistake of the movement has been trying to organize a sleeping people around specific goals. You have to wake the people up first, then you'll get action. (How to Organize the People, Village Voice, 1965)

It isn't a president who can help or hurt; it is the system. And this system is not only ruling us in America, it is ruling the world. Nowadays, when a man is running for president of the United States, he is not running for president of the United States alone; he has to be acceptable to other areas of the world where American influence rules.
If Johnson had been running all by himself, he would not have been acceptable to anyone. The only thing that made him acceptable to the world was that the shrewd capitalists, the shrewd imperialists, knew that the only way people would run toward the fox would be if you showed them a wolf. So they created a ghastly alternative. And it had the whole world - including people who call themselves Marxists - hoping that Johnson would beat Goldwater.
I have to say this: Those who claim to be enemies of the system were on their hands and knees waiting for Johnson to get elected - because he is supposed to be a man of peace. And at that moment he had troops invading the Congo and South Vietnam! He even has troops in areas where other imperialists have already withdrawn. Peace Corps to Nigeria, mercenaries to the Congo! (Answer to question, Presence Africaine meeting Paris, November 23, 1964)

The gentleman asks me if I believe in political action [...] I believe in political action, yes. Any kind of political action. I believe in action, period. Whatever kind of action is necessary. When you hear me say "by any means necessary", I mean exactly that. I believe in anything that is necessary to correct unjust conditions - political, economic, social, physical, anything that's necessary. I believe in it - as long as it's intelligently directed and designed to gel results. But I don't believe in getting involved in any kind of political action or other kind of action without sitting down and analyzing the possibilities of success or failure. (Answer to question, Militant Labor Forum, January 7, 1965)

Edited by Pendejo - 24/12/2021, 20:21

GEORGE JACKSON - Blood in My Eye (1971)

PDF: https://archive.org/stream/BloodInMyEyeByG...nMyEye_djvu.txt

I was hoping that you wouldn't get trapped in the riot stage like a great many other very sincere brothers. I have to browbeat them every day down here. They think they don't need ideology, strategy or tactics. They think being a warrior is quite enough. And yet, without discipline or direction, they'll end up washing cars, or unclaimed bodies in the city-state's morgue.

Revolutionary change means the seizure of all that is held by the 1 percent, and the transference of these holdings into the hands of the remaining 99 percent. If the 1 percent are simply displaced by another 1 percent, revolutionary change has not taken place. A social revolution after the fact of the modern corporate capitalist state can only mean the breakup of that state and a completely new form of economics and culture. As slaves, we understand that ownership and the mechanics of distribution must be reversed. The problems of the Black Colony and the Brown Colony, those of the entire 99 percent who are being manipulated, can never be redressed as long as the necessary resources for their solution are the personal property of an extraneous minority motivated solely by the need for its own survival.

To the slave, revolution is an imperative, a love-inspired, conscious act of desperation. It's aggressive. It isn't "cool" or cautious. It's bold, audacious, violent, an expression of icy, disdainful hatred!

If revolution, and especially revolution in Amerika, is anything less than an effective defense/attack weapon and a charger for the people to mount *now*, it is meaningless to the great majority of the slaves. If revolution is tied to dependence on the inscrutabilities of "long-range politics", it cannot be made relevant to the person who expects to die tomorrow.

Lenin, Guevara and Fanon, all in their particular fashion, postulate that before revolution can take place, all other forms of redress must be exhausted, clearly exhausted. Electoral processes must have broken down, the confidence of the electorate in any of the old forms completely shattered, confidence in the ability of the old system to honestly organize any aspect of public life must be shaken to the core.

It isn't revolutionary or materialist to disconnect things. To disconnect revolutionary consciousness from revolutionizing activity, to build consciousness with political agitation and educational issue-making alone is idealistic rather than materialist. The effect has been reformism rather than revolution. When any election is held it will fortify rather than destroy the credibility of the power brokers. When we participate in this election to win, instead of disrupt, we're lending to its credibility, and destroying our own. With all the factors of control over the electoral process in the hands of the minority ruling class, the people's party can always be made to seem isolated, unimportant, even extraneous.

Repression is indeed a part of revolution, a natural aspect of antithesis, the always-to-be-expected defense-attack reflex of the beleaguered, toothless tiger. All arguments against this fundamental fact are false and labored to the point of being completely illogical. Can power be seriously challenged without a response? Will the robber baron, the tycoon, the Führer allow us to seize his privilege without resistance? Can we steal it away from the greatest bandit of all time with sleight of hand alone? Incredible! The fascists understand the value of mass psychology, are familiar with its use, and hold all the important implements of its effective control.

The fascists understand the value of mass psychology, are familiar with its use, and hold all the important implements of its effective control. [...] The ruling clique approaches its task with a "what to think" program; the vanguard elements have the much more difficult job of promoting "how to think".

Prestige bars any serious attack on power. Do people attack a thing they consider with awe, with a sense of its legitimacy? In the process of things, the prestige of power emerges roughly in that period when power does not have to exercise its underlying basis - violence. Having proved and established itself, it drifts, secure from any serious challenge. Its automatic defense-attack instincts remain alert; small threats are either ignored away, laughed away, or in the cases that may build into something dangerous, slapped away. To the masters of capital, the most dreadful omen of all is revolutionary scientific socialism. The gravedigger evokes fear response. Prestige wanes if the first attacks on its power base find it wanting. Prestige dies when it cannot prevent further attacks upon itself.

Waiting for power to move to its inevitable collapse is suicidal for all concerned. Blacks and other Third World peoples have the very imminent prospect of genocidal tactics to contend with, and we can now all see that the modern industrial state, motivated by the interests of exclusive groups of capitalist masters, cannot regulate itself to make possible an inclusive production and distribution of goods, or production without a massive waste of resources and destruction of all that stands about.

We will not distract them with such empty questions as who will be elected from which political party. All political parties, as things stand, will support the power complex. Any individual elected will either be a supporter of the established politics - or an "individual". What would help us, in fact, is to allow as many right-wing elements as possible to assume "political" power. The warnings that "our thrusts toward self-determination will bring on fascism" are irresponsible - or better, unrealistic. The fascists already have power. The point is that some way must be found to expose them and combat them. An electoral choice of ten different fascists is like choosing which way one wishes to die. The holder of so-called high public office is always merely an extension of the hated ruling corporate class. It is to our benefit that this person be openly hostile, despotic, unreasoning. We are not living in a nation where left-wing parties hold eighty out of two hundred seats in a congressional body, or even eight out of two hundred. This is a huge nation dominated by the most reactionary and violent ruling class in the history of the world, where the majority of the people just simply cannot understand that they are existing on the misery and discomfort of the world. They have been hypnotized into believing that criticism of the expansionist policies of imperialism is really isolationist or injurious to both the U.S.A. and the world!!

Armed struggle is at the very heart of revolution. If the problems of the people cannot be redressed because the necessary resources are in the hands of a relatively few families and individuals, it means we are going to have to seize this property. Seizing property has always meant some form of war, some form of armed struggle. If history is our guide, it clearly records that nothing of any great value has ever changed hands without a struggle, or at least a show of, or threat of, violence. Men simply don't surrender what they think of as their privilege and property except by force. History itself is economically motivated class struggle.

Socialist governments which attempt to coexist with capitalist economics completely forget the economic motive of human social history. Revisionism has given birth to countless "socialistic" hermaphrodites, always to the detriment of people's power. Strained, tortured definitions of social existence and organization have trapped the people in so many contradictions that most have given up all hope of harnessing the modern industrial state or even understanding it.

Western civilization is dying because it's tied into an economic system that was decadent a hundred years ago. This system was certainly the calculated creation of a specific minority class. The rise of the manufacturing class was not spontaneous. It is perpetuated beyond the stage of decadence in spite of fits of outrageous disorder. Its seemingly remarkable ability to return from crisis is not proof of natural durability. Rather it is proof of a destructive will to power at any cost.

The corporation, the foundation, the association, the mass media, the state-controlled unions, the universities and primary schools are all designed to move people into very specifically pre-ordered and monitored actions. The actual monitoring is done by a broader segment of the stratified slave state but the pre-ordering is done by the one-tenth of one percent, the ruling class and governing elite of the corporative arrangement.

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Lenin, 1916

Edited by Pendejo - 2/2/2022, 23:08