[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Question of November 2004

[Al Kagan]

Some may be interested in this posting from the Black Radical Caucus.  
Better late than never.


> From: "BRC Web Administrator" <webadmin at blackradicalcongress.org>
> Date: November 2, 2004 2:30:15 AM CST
> To: brcannounce at lists.blackradicalcongress.org
> Subject: [BRCannounce] Question of November 2004
>
>
> Question of November 2004- Black Radicals, Activists and the 2004 
> Elections
>
>> From the International Caucus of the Black Radical Congress
>
> The Black Radical Congress adopted a motion at the National Council 
> Meeting in March 2004
> that all Black Radicals, activists and decent human beings should work 
> to defeat the George
> Bush regime. The International Caucus of the BRC supports this 
> position and call on all decent
> humans, but especially members of the left to intensify the work to 
> defeat the group that is now
> entrenched in power and is fighting against humanity in the wars at 
> home and abroad.
>
> The 2004 election is taking place in the midst of the deepening 
> militarization of the planet. The
> wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Colombia, on numerous fronts and 
> the war at home makes
> this an election one component of the war. Hence, the opposition to 
> the Bush forces is a
> component of the work of the peace movement to oppose war, racism and 
> repression. The
> election propaganda of the Bush regime is one component of the 
> psychological warfare to
> intensify the climate of fear and insecurity. Black Radicals have been 
> engaged in opposition to
> this war and it is important that all sections of the movement 
> intensify the efforts to join the
> campaign to defeat George Bush without tying ourselves to the 
> alternative.
>
> The Kerry campaign and the Democratic Party have been in the main 
> unresponsive to the
> increased exploitation and racism of the system. In many respects, the 
> Black Congressional
> Caucus, except for the courageous women such as Barbara lee and 
> (hopefully Cynthia McKinney)
> has been a silent force and these elements must be pushed in their 
> electoral districts to
> centralize the issues of the oppressed. These issues have been 
> simplified in the campaigns of
> "education, not incarceration," "books- not bombs," and the campaign 
> to end the war. The Kerry
> camp has turned its back  on the anti war movement and represents the 
> Democrats as being
> better able to manage the war and win allies for the imperial mission 
> of occupying Iraq. If
> anything, Mrs. Heinz- Kerry has been using her African links to 
> identify with the anti communist
> and racist elements of the Cuban exile community in Florida.
>
> The Kerry/Edwards team believes that in affirming One America, as 
> though these magic words
> will paper over the deep social, racial and class divisions of the 
> society. It is most significant that
> the Democratic Party has not raised the issue of the military prison 
> industrial complex in any
> serious way. The lawyers of the party are quite willing to work to 
> ensure black and Latino/Latina
> and First Nation peoples votes are counted without taking up the whole 
> issue of the
> disenfranchisement of millions of poor and black people. The BRC has 
> been involved in the
> National Campaign of Fighting for Voter Security. We support Count 
> Every Vote, which has
> trained monitors to help protect Black people's voting rights in 
> Alabama, Florida, Georgia,
> Louisiana and Mississippi.  And in all parts of the country, the BRC 
> has signed on to the Racism
> Watch 2004, especially the vote for racial justice campaign.
>
> In every locality, individuals and local organizing committees have 
> been finding their own
> modest ways to engage the process raising questions that are central 
> to the concerns of the
> oppressed. It is from the ranks of Black Radicals and from the prison 
> reform movement as a
> whole where the links between militarism abroad and the prison 
> industrial complex have been
> made. It is this cross section of the society that continues to raise 
> the question of the fate of
> Mumia and Leonard Peltier. Black Radicals have been involved in 
> opposing the color coded
> climate of fear that had been orchestrated by the regime and have been 
> on the streets opposing
> the war. In many ways, these forces have helped to shift the nature of 
> the discussion and
> reinforced the point the Abu Gharaib was not an aberration but based 
> on practices that have
> been well developed in this country. The isolation of the Bush regime 
> over the question of the
> violation of International Law on all fronts must continue. The Bush 
> forces know full well that
> they are breaking all the laws of decency and it is for this reason 
> that the Bush forces are
> adamantly against the International Criminal Court. The BRC is calling 
> for a full disclosure of the
> crimes carried out as part of the campaign against the prison military 
> system at home and
> abroad.
>
> For these reasons, the opposition to Bush does not mean a blanket 
> endorsement of the
> alternative. The most important task of the moment is to act against 
> the further entrenchment of
> the neo-conservative (some would say neo-fascist) forces. The Black 
> Radical Congress wants to
> make it clear that this is a tactical move in times of war and hence 
> the BRC will call on all to
> support the Democrats so that the neo conservatives can be removed 
> from the control over the
> Presidency. However, this call means that this opposition is not a 
> call for blanket engagement in
> the electoral process, it is a call to build a coherent position so 
> that the radical forces will be in
> touch and will be in conflict if necessary with any new government 
> after November 2, to be able
> to advance the campaign for genuine democracy and rights of all 
> peoples.
>
> The mobilizing for the elections must be part of the call for the 
> creation of the pre conditions for
> mobilization of the African Americans, oppressed immigrant groups, 
> gays and lesbians, Latino
> and First Nation peoples, oppressed and poor whites, the unemployed, 
> the racially disrespected
> and all peace loving peoples. Black activists must expose the 
> duplicity and immorality of the
> Bush campaign to make inroads into the black community on the basis 
> that this neo
> conservative government is a regime of faith. On questions of same sex 
> marriage and the right
> of women to have control over their lives, this government has sought 
> to mobilize a class of
> conservative blacks who will conveniently forget the millions of 
> ordinary citizens, especially
> peoples of color who do not have access to health care, and the basic 
> rights to a decent
> livelihood. It is a testament to the depth of the moral crisis of the 
> society that the most
> materialistic and capitalistic elements who will kill for the oil 
> wealth of other nations have been
> seeking to invoke a brand of religion (called faith) to further their 
> case for repression and war.
>
> All those who have the opportunity to vote on November 2, must go out 
> to vote to remove Bush.
> The contradictions of the massive debt, unemployment, outsourcing 
> jobs, environmental racism,
> and the tenuous nature of the dollar as the currency of world trade 
> cannot be solved by the
> Democratic Party. The challenge will be to defeat Bush and build a 
> movement that is based on
> reversing the priorities of the militarists so that the society can 
> make a break with the traditions
> of racial genocide.
>
> Horace Campbell,
> October 2004
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>

Al Kagan
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61820
USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax 217-333-2214
akagan at uiuc.edu
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