Showing posts with label Malcom X. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Malcom X. Show all posts
5/23/09
8/13/08
Wu Tang Clan - I Can't Go To Sleep Ft. Issac Hayes
"Inspired by the principles of Malcolm X / Malik El-Hajj Shabazz. A 'Third Worldist' perspective focusing on the increasing pace of south-south co-operation which is challenging US hegemony, and the struggles of those oppressed by neo-colonialism and racism who fight for their social, political and cultural freedom 'by any means necessary'"
1/18/08
MALCOLM X: Apartheid in Amerikkka
Malcolm X speaks about his experiences in Africa upon his return. He indicates that he is prepared to take the struggle for Human Rights to an International level.
http://malcolmxspeeches.blogspot.com/
12/14/07
HISTORY AS A WEAPON IN OUR PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE!
"Just as a tree without roots is dead, a People without knowledge of their history or cultural roots also becomes a dead People."
Malcolm X
By Malcolm X
(Excerpted from Malcolm X "On Afro-American History")
During the next three weeks, we're going to have a series that will be designed to give us a better understanding of the past, I should say a better knowledge of the past in order that we may understand the present and be better prepared for the future. I don't think any of you will deny the fact that it is impossible to understand the present or prepare for the future unless we have knowledge of the past. And the thing that has kept most of us, that is the (African living in America), almost crippled in this society has been our complete lack of knowledge concerning the past. The number one thing that makes us differ from other People is our lack of knowledge concerning the past.
Proof of which almost anyone else can come into this country and get around barriers and obstacles that we cannot get around; and the only difference between then and us, they know something about the past, and in knowing something about the past, they know something about themselves, they have an identity. But wherein you and I differ from them is primarily revolved around our lack of knowledge concerning the past. And tonight, this is what we would like to go into...
When you deal with the past, you're dealing actually with the origin of a thing. When you know the origin, you know the cause. If you don't know the origin, you don't know the cause. And if you don't know the cause, you don't know the reason, you're cutoff, you're left standing in midair. So the past deals with history or the origin of anything - the origin of a person, the origin of a nation, the origin of an incident.
And when you know the origin, then you get a better understanding of the causes that produce whatever originated there and its reason for originating and its reason for being. Its impossible for you and me to have a balanced mind in this society, as we function and fit into it right now, we're such an underdog, we're trampled upon, we're looked upon as almost nothing. Now if we don't go into the past and find out how we got this way, we will think that we were always this way.
And if you think that you were always in this condition that you're in right now, its impossible for you to have too much confidence in yourself, you become worthless, almost nothing. But when you go back into the past and find out where you once were, then you will know that you weren't always at this level, that you once had attained a higher level, had made great achievements, contributions to society, civilization, science and so forth. And you know that if you once did it, you can do it again; you automatically get the incentive, the inspiration and the energy necessary to duplicate what our forefathers formerly did.
But by keeping us completely cut off from our past, it Is easy for the man who has power over us to make us willing to stay at this level because we will feel that we always at this level, a low level,. That's why I say it is so important for you and me to spend time today learning something about the past so we can better understand the present, analyze it, and then do something about it...
8/20/07
Huey P. Newton:-Lumpenproletariat
Huey P. Newton argued that the black lumpenproletariat was the revolutionary class in US society and that one of the main purposes of the Black Panther Party was to organize and mobilize it. Lumpenproletariat is a termed invented by German social theorist Karl Marx to designate the members of the working-class outside of the wage-labor system who instead gain their livelihoods through crime and other aspects of the underground economy such as prostitutes, thieves, drug dealers, and gamblers.
Marx argues that not only are members of the lumpenproletariat notrevolutionary—hence deserving to be separated as a category of analysis from the rest of the proletariat—but they are, in fact, counterrevolutionary as their economic interests are tied to the prevailing capitalist structure. Martinican psychologist and revolutionary philosopher, Frantz Fanon, however, disagreed with Marx and, instead argued, that the lumpenproletariat were a revolutionary class. Huey combined the thought of Marx, Fanon, along with the Leninist concept of the vanguard party and Maoist ideas on armed insurrection, to conclude that an armed, revolutionary black lumpenproletariat was the key to revolution in the United States.
Newton’s ideas on the lumpenproletariat reflected the seemingly growing split between the Southern “Civil Rights” movement and the Northern “Black Power” movement. Newton and other more radical black activists criticized the Civil Rights Movement for its bourgeois nature. The Civil Rights Movement depended too much on the “politics of responsibility.” In an interesting note to history, Rosa Parks was not the first black woman to defy legally enforced racial segregation in the Montgomery, Alabama public bus system--Claudette Colvin preceded her. The civil rights leaders in Montgomery, however, concluded that Colvin an unwed mother, was not “respectable” enough to be the poster child for the fight against segregation of public transport. Newton and others argued that the assimilationism and passivity they decried in the Civil Rights Movement was a direct consequence of the class background of the majority of the movement’s leaders. The black middle-class, the ministers in SCLC and the lawyers for the NAACP, for example, Newton contended would always be reformist; only the black working-class could be revolutionary.
Newton believed that Malcolm X represented the revolutionary potential of the black lumpenproletariat
In his ideas, Newton was also heavily influenced by the autobiography of Malcolm X. Malcolm had been a thief and drug addict in Boston in the 1940s and served time in a Massachusetts jail for burglary. It was in prison that Malcolm joined the Nation of Islam and learned about Black Nationalism. According to Newton, Malcolm X represented the revolutionary potential of the black lumpenproletariat. The Black Panther Party (BPP) sought to organize as many “brothas off da block” as possible. Instead of trying to organize the “better” elements of black society (DuBois’ “Talented Tenth”) the BPP tried organizing gang members in LA, Chicago and Oakland. Newton’s own long criminal record solidified his status as a member of the lumpenproletariat. He was arrested as a teenager for minor crimes, was famously tried for the murder of a policeman in 1967, tried again for the murder of a 17 year-old prostitute, became a crack addict and was finally gunned down in front of an Oakland crack house in 1989. Many even claim that Newton used money earned from illegal drug sales and prostitution to fund programs offered by the Oakland BPP.
Newton’s idea of the revolutionary black lumpenproletariat is still controversial. Critics like Errol Henderson argue that the very idea of a revolutionary class is Eurocentric and cannot apply to black liberation struggles. Most of the debate today however, centers around hip-hop and the appropriate role, if any, of the “gangsta.” Hugh Pearson says Huey Newton and the BPP are partly to blame for contemporary hip-hop’s promotion of drug dealing, pimping and gun violence. Many critics, running the gamut from Black Nationalists to right-wing Republicans have criticized hip-hop for its promotion of the gangsta lifestyle. There are still those, however, who profess Newton’s beliefs.
Slain rapper Tupac Shakur was the son of Afeni Shakur, a former Black Panther. Although he was one of the first hip hop artists to be reviled for his promotion of drug dealing, pimping and gun violence in his lyrics, the critics ignored his fiercely political lyrics and his attempt to celebrate “Thug Life” not only as a criminal lifestyle but a revolutionary one as well. Similarly, Dead Prez, a revolutionary Black Nationalist hip hop group based in New York City describes their approach as “Revolutionary, But Gangsta.” Their lyrics mention that they take much of their inspiration from Newton and the BPP, and they too see the black lumpenproletariat as central to black liberation. Their song “Hell Yeah” describes the petty crime committed by the black lumpenproletariat as a form of revolutionary resistance to white supremacist capitalist America.
5/4/07
A new faith for Kooris
Finding direction … Anthony Mundine converted to Islam after his manager gave him a book about Malcolm X.
May 4, 2007
More Aborigines are finding similarities between their culture and Islamic principles, writes Linda Morris.
A FLAG is soon to flutter above the troubled suburb of Redfern, proclaiming a new religious face to Aboriginal Australia. At the centre of a backdrop of equal halves of black and red, the colours of the Aboriginal people, is a yellow crescent moon and star. It's to be the symbol of the Koori Muslim Association, which will open the only Aboriginal mushalla in NSW at a shopfront location on busy Regent Street next month.
Conversion among indigenous Australians is growing, driven by the higher visibility of Islam, a rejection of Christianity as a post-colonial religion, identification with Islamic principles, and conversions in prisons where Aborigines dominate the population.
While no one knows how many indigenous Muslims there are in Australia, Aboriginal Muslims reject suggestions they are converting to the faith in droves. Some are descendants of Afghan and Baluch cameleers, North Indian traders and Malay pearl divers and have grown up in the faith.
Many converts are from cities. The boxer Anthony Mundine is the most famous of these and has become a role model. Their first contact with Islam sometimes, but not always, comes in jail, where as many as 22 per cent of inmates are indigenous Australians.
Rocky Davis, known as Shaheed Malik, converted while serving 14 years for armed robberies and other offences. It was the story of Malcolm X, the gangster and black American nationalist leader who became a convert to Islam, that first inspired Davis.
"What does Islam stand for? Islam offers a faith untainted by colonialism and racism. It is a liberating religion," says Davis. "Though the Bible said you shalt not kill, they killed, thou shall not rape, they raped our women, thou shalt not steal, they stole our land. Islam at its essence is pure. My forefathers had no army and no guns and lived in Aboriginal townships and camps. That's the difference between the Muslim and Christian faiths: one is for the oppressed and one's for the oppressor, one's for the coloniser and one for the colonised."
Peta Stephenson, a doctoral fellow at the University of Melbourne's Asia Institute, says Islam doesn't share the baggage of missionary Christianity, and has become one path by which Aborigines can affirm their pre-colonial identity.
"Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X are role models," she says. "A lot of people see Islam as an answer to the ills of Western society. For communities suffering chronic levels of unemployment or underemployment and substance abuse it might have special appeal for those wanting to break away from the statistics."
But Eugenia Flynn, an Adelaide IT worker, says it would be a mistake to think that every Aboriginal convert has come to the faith via the narrative of Malcolm X. For many of its adherents, Islam answers a spiritual yearning, and that search is something inherent in all individuals, indigenous or not, she says.
Brought up a Catholic, Flynn, 24, converted to Islam five years ago after finding in it an intense experience of God. She would be disappointed if Islam was held to appeal solely to indigenous Australians as a marginalised community.
"My issue is that people like to stereotype black Muslims as angry militants who did jail time and left behind a life of crime and violence. The more typical story is an indigenous person was searching for a spiritual way and found Islam to be incredibly liberating."
Mundine's walk to Islam came a decade ago at the end of his football playing days. Like Flynn, his motives were spiritual, not political, and his closest friends say his faith is genuinely held.
Life was good but his soul was empty, he says. He was bought up a Christian but was not overly religious. He rejected Christianity because he could not understand its complex trinitarian theology. His manager, Khoder Nasser, introduced him to Islam by lending him a book about Malcolm X.
"Islam's given me a new perspective on the hereafter and what life is about. It's black and white and pure. We've got to ask the question, 'Where are we going and why are we here?' If you have a faith and belief in God there'd be less suicide, stress and sickness. You have a feeling and a purpose, and if you will take one step He will take two steps to you. Islam is my life, it's helped every aspect of it. Every time you see my life, my sporting successes, know that Allah is the greatest."
Flynn sees "lots of similarities" between Aboriginal culture and Islam, including Islam's emphasis on modesty and the segregation of men and women. "I think a lot of people think indigenous spirituality is based around animalism but in Aboriginal culture there is a creator god, and the way I express my spirituality is through Islam. I don't see the two as mutually exclusive. For me I choose Aboriginality as my culture and Islam as my faith."
Islam has proved a neat fit for Aboriginal Australians, says Stephenson, who is writing a book on the topic.
"Islam is a very accepting religion, no matter the race, and it's reaffirming for Aboriginal people who might not find that same sense of belonging in Australian culture," she says.
"Some Aboriginal people appreciate that Islam gives them strict guidelines on how to live their lives, especially for those who have been forced to move off their lands. Traditional indigenous culture also has codes and ethics that members are expected to follow for the betterment of the community. Those identifying with Islam have not only found some direction in their life, they are following a faith that shares many cultural overlaps with their Aboriginal identity."
Although Mundine is hailed as a role model for other Aboriginal converts, he doesn't see it as his job to bring people to faith. Kinsmen who approach him about Islam are told to educate themselves. "God willing, we do see more Aboriginal Muslims."
Flynn knows only a handful of converts in her home town. Just as Flynn is strict, Mundine is relaxed about religious practice. He tries to pray five times a day, before a bout and after, doesn't wear a beard because it interferes with his boxing, and long boxing shorts and T-shirt stand for modest dress around the home. He went on his first visit to Mecca last year and hopes to repeat it one day soon, and he tries to avoid training during Ramadan.
Islam, says Stephenson, has proved a positive experience for males. "I've consistently found men who say they were once angry but having identified with Islam they come away with a sense of peace and a real need to do good in the community. Islam teaches you to be the best person you can."
Nevertheless, the NSW Commissioner of Corrective Services, Ron Woodham, has expressed fears that inmates are falling prey to Wahabism - a fundamentalist branch of Islam practised by Osama bin Laden, without sampling more progressive traditions.
Because their first encounter with Islam is not within their community, Aboriginal converts tend to adopt the ideologies of those with whom they first connect. Davis wants it to be with an orthodox interpretation of Islam.
He does not believe Islam will become a platform for black nationalism in Australia, rather one for demanding human rights. He thinks it is likely to grow in stature within the indigenous community as a cure for economic and social disadvantage. He wants to establish a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre, a support scheme for released inmates and a program in juvenile detention centres.
4/17/07
3/29/07
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