From “The Essence of Reparations—Afro- American Self-determination & Revolutionary Democratic Struggle in the United States of America”

From “The Essence of Reparations—Afro- American Self-determination & Revolutionary Democratic Struggle in the United States of America” by Amiri Baraka 2003 amiribaraka. com

ch.4 Self-determination is the first step in the struggle for democracy and socialism

“It is necessary again and again to emphasize that revolutionary democracy is not a struggle to integrate monopoly capitalist society, but to overthrow and then replace it. The Liberal and petit bourgeoisie think democracy means they will be better placed under a reformed imperialism. This is the same kind of thinking that weakened Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s democratic movement and continues ubiquitously to this day from the Black bourgeois and petit bourgeois leadership. This type of thinking is also why the Left cannot understand the cry of Self-Determination from the oppressed nationalities because they cannot even understand that necessity for the working class itself. The call for democratic dictatorship means: It is not a reform of bourgeois society; it is a replacement of it by a more advanced form of democracy, the democratic dictatorship of workers, and their allies.

“the call for Self-determination is a reform ultimately, but it is a revolutionary democratic reform, in which the State power of imperialism is replaced by a united front state in transition to Socialism. This is the only form of majority rule previous to Socialism—a Peoples Democracy. But it is not yet socialism.

“But revolutionary democracy sets its sights and openly declares for Socialism. One person, one vote, and therefore the elimination of the United States Senate and the Electoral College, automatic voter registration, direct democracy, TV voting, access by all population centers. All elections held the same day. Reduction of politicians to civil service wages, based on the average wage of the worker. Qualifications for public work with high school preparation so that workers can run all aspects of cities. All universities will have open enrollment. There will be a creation of a peoples media. There will be education of prisoners. The vote to prisoners will be restored. The public sector will be restored; there will be elimination of privatization, except in partnership with public or peoples cooperatives.

“The exclusion of the rich and wealth from elections, by making all campaigning standard and publicly funded, excluding millionaires and their associates from running entirely. The goals will include the election of all judges, including Supreme Court judges. Replacement of the Federal Reserve with a central bank with elected trustees. The balancing of the budget will be done by the transformation of the national debt into domestic investment. The balancing by law of foreign investment by US companies, so that no foreign investment can exceed domestic investment.

“Self-determination for Akwsasne [native American], Chicano, and Afro-American nations, including Reparations and the creation of regionally autonomous cabinet-level offices to begin the real work of voluntary unity, economically, politically, and socially. There will be sweeping Constitutional reforms, particularly around main issues of employment, education, crime, health, and housing. Transformations that will include the expansion of public media to supersede private media. They will include general regulation of capital. We can go on, but these are just a few of the obviously possible transformations under a Peoples Democracy even before reaching Socialism.”



unite the many,
defeat the few!



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To: jubilee.shine@ hotmail.com; absu_movement@ yahoogroups. com; amirib@aol.com; dope_x_resistancela @yahoogroups. com; joesmithin@gmail. com; theworldstage@ yahoogroups. com
From: zenostorm@hotmail. com
Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2008 06:26:35 -0700
Subject: RE: [DopeXResistance- L.A.] "O Bama"

marx also said that only the working class can liberate itself and thats why it needs its own party. the democratic struggle he was referring to didnt entail trailing the likes of the Republicrats.

what folks know about Cynthia McKinney and the Power to the People Campaign? the Reconstruction Party?


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From: jubilee.shine@ hotmail.com
To: zenostorm@hotmail. com; absu_movement@ yahoogroups. com; amirib@aol.com; dope_x_resistancela @yahoogroups. com; joesmithin@gmail. com; theworldstage@ yahoogroups. com
Subject: RE: [DopeXResistance- L.A.] "O Bama"
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:36:09 -0700

"we have seen above, that the first step in the revolution by the working class, is to raise the proletariat to the position of ruling class, to win the battle of democracy." --marx

the insurrection needs to be built thru the democratic struggle. that is where the people are.

unite the many,
defeat the few!




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From: zenostorm@hotmail. com
To: jubilee.shine@ hotmail.com; absu_movement@ yahoogroups. com; amirib@aol.com; dope_x_resistancela @yahoogroups. com; joesmithin@gmail. com; theworldstage@ yahoogroups. com
Subject: RE: [DopeXResistance- L.A.] "O Bama"
Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2008 17:30:26 -0700

fair enough. obama represents "the artifice of bourgeois democracy." lets just be clear on that and make that point often, even as some of us work within that campaign alongside the movement for his presidency.

but the obama campaign isnt spontaneous and neither is the following it has amassed. its an orchestrated and planned spectacle. i dont blame "the masses" for buying into the charade, i blame the leftists who are so inept at engaging the masses in dialogue that they deny them a better, more intelligent option to the farce that is Obama and the Democrats. almost every left group has no idea how to effectively communicate with people and build theory through dialogue and practice. the leftist project today is not participatory, its uni-directional communication from the various vanguards toward the presumably empty-headed "masses." they start with rigid blueprints and try to cram "the masses" into it like a square block into circle hole. when the masses dont fit into our blueprints, we write them off as ignorant or reactionary because they say the b-word or the n-word and wear nikes or shop at GAP. i include myself in both the categories of the inept left and the masses, so i accept responsibility for our collective shortcomings.

as far as electoral politics goes, jubilees suggestion about organizing for city-wide voting rights for all residents regardless of citizenship status and running a left-bloc slate of candidates at the local level is much better idea than contributing to obama dreams, which only feeds back into generally backward state of consciousness that we are all stuck in.


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From: jubilee.shine@ hotmail.com
To: zenostorm@hotmail. com; absu_movement@ yahoogroups. com; amirib@aol.com; dope_x_resistancela @yahoogroups. com; joesmithin@gmail. com; theworldstage@ yahoogroups. com
Subject: RE: [DopeXResistance- L.A.] "O Bama"
Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2008 14:31:47 -0700

immortal technique shd recognize obama's value as precisely that: through his successful campaign establishing to the people the artifice of bourgeois democracy in ways they otherwise would have not so immediately percieved. the point is not to trail the masses throwing stones at their "ignorance", but to lead they spontaneous advances into a meaningful direction.



Wednesday, March 05, 2008
TONIGHT ON THE TERRORDOME: Amiri Baraka on Barack Obama
http://ia341024. us.archive. org/0/items/ BuildingBridgesR adioBarakaOnObam aAndBlackLiberat ion/barakantl_ 64kb.mp3

Take the evil out the people they'll be acting right
'cause both black and white is smokin' crack tonight
and only time we chill is when we kill each other
it takes skill to be real, time to heal each other
And although it seems heaven sent
We ain't ready, to see a black President, uhh
It ain't a secret don't conceal the fact
the penitentiary' s packed, and it's filled with blacks



tupac


unite the many,
defeat the few!



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: jubilee.shine@ hotmail.com; absu_movement@ yahoogroups. com; amirib@aol.com; dope_x_resistancela @yahoogroups. com; joesmithin@gmail. com; theworldstage@ yahoogroups. com
From: zenostorm@hotmail. com
Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2008 16:53:12 -0700
Subject: RE: [DopeXResistance- L.A.] "O Bama"


that track's funny.. but before people start identifying obama too much with "the people," with the hip-hop generation, and especially youth of color, folks should remember the diversity of views coming out of hip hop:

"But on a positive side, I think Obama provides
hope and challenges minds
of all races and colors to erase the hate
and try and love one another, so many political snakes"
- Nas, "Black President" "And they might even have a black president but he's useless
Cuz he does not control the economy, stupid!"
- Immortal Technique, "The 3rd World"
hip-hop is infused with a romantic ideal of unity and hope that is positive and meshes well (one would hope) with the revolutionary project, but the lack of a radical political element in the hip-hop culture prevents most of us from differentiating bw obama campaign and true revolutionary praxis.

im not trying to argue against voting for obama, even though he wont change shit. i understand the value in a black person opening a door like that, and he is a lesser of two evils probably. but there's more important shit to talk about than lesser of two evils vs the evilest of two lessers, and all the young folks who are supposedly ignited by obama should be led to deeper conclusions in this moment of political opening... In that sense, nader is more useful to us. Chairman Fred Hampton Jr is better yet.

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To: absu_movement@ yahoogroups. com; amirib@aol.com; dope_x_resistancela @yahoogroups. com; joesmithin@gmail. com; theworldstage@ yahoogroups. com
From: jubilee.shine@ hotmail.com
Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2008 22:35:54 -0700
Subject: [DopeXResistance- L.A.] "O Bama"

http://allhiphop. com/stories/ multimedia_ _music/archive/ 2008/07/05/ 20259474. aspx

unite the many,
defeat the few!



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