Power to New Afrika
When i was first introduced to the concepts and ideology of NARN (New
Afrikan Revolutionary Nationalism) and New Afrikan Nationhood i
subjectively analyzed it, thinking that it was based on
narrow-nationalism that was focused on representing “race.” My
narrow-mindedness would act as an impediment to my own development,
which would ultimately prevent me from ascertaining that NARN actually
provides a complete social, political and economic theory that
constitutes a comprehensive network of principles, rules, beliefs,
values and morals that teaches Us the importance of decolonization and
National Independence.
You see many of Us profess to be all-the-way revolutionary, when in
fact We are actually robots running on dogmatism and stale formulas. i
myself was a robot running on dogmatism and stale formulas, a robot that
was inimically opposed to any and all concepts and ideologies that were
not compatible with my own.
My ignorance would persist up until recently when i had an experience
similar to the supernatural experience that all Christians claim to
have, e.g “i heard god talking to me and i seen the light.” However, my
experience was corporeal.
i use the analogy because it epitomizes exactly what transpired. i
was reading Atiba Shanna’s [AKA James Yaki Sayles] book Meditations
On Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth.(1) But it was Atiba
Shanna emself talking to me and “the light” grew brighter with each page
i read, i began to have a different perspective.
Prior to being aroused from my pontifical stupor i had wrote a
response to a poem titled, “White
in the Mix” that had been published in the No. 82 Summer 2023
edition of Under Lock & Key, wherein i criticized the
author’s idea of not seeing color as it related to “race” and proceeded
to provide what at the time i thought to be insight into what is the
criterion for the “white” revolutionary. Who else better than me to
elucidate this? A former member of the White Panther Organization and
the epitome of an anti-racist. One would assume that i was more than
capable of elucidating race/racism.
Instead of being published my letter was met with criticism, which i
automatically assumed was subjective, due to the disputes i had with the
komrades of MIM. However, this assumption was a manifestation of my own
subjectivism. The truth is my criticism was based on binary opposites
“Black” and “White” (racial categories), thusly the komrades rightfully
deemed my response to the poem as being contradictory to NARN and a
further perpetuation of the myth of “race.”
It is difficult not to perceive everything through a racialized lens
when the truth is that hundreds of years of racial oppression have
ingrained this way of thinking in our minds. Even thinking of ourselves
as “Whites” or “Blacks” testifies to the success the colonizers have had
in undermining Our conscious as human beings.
Moreover, said thinking upholds the concept of “race” and promotes
racialized thought and practice that ultimately impedes the advancement
of national and social revolution.
Even though the author of the poem claims to see no color (which is
an idea promoted by the conservative bourgeoisie that perpetuates the
concept of “white” power) it is obvious that his ideas and ideals are
based on society’s racialized paradigms, moreover, it is evident that
the komrade has yet to understand that until he commits class
suicide/white privilege suicide, that he is indeed complicit in the
oppression of the oppressed nations that is perpetuated by the oppressor
nation – the Amerikan nation.
As Komrade Atiba emphasized:
“To commit class suicide means to”Kill” the (class) consciousness of
the bourgeois/capitalist order that exercises hegemony in our lives and
minds. We tend to think of revolutionary activity as that which takes
place outside ourselves – as overthrowing the capitalist institutions
and property relations – but We seldom think of the need to uproot the
bourgeois ideas in our own minds, to repudiate the values, morals, and
the entire range of beliefs that We now hold “in so far as they are
bourgeois.”(2)
Class suicide was first a theory engendered by the great Amilcar
Cabral, therein he was referring to the Afrikan petty-bourgeoisie (a
very small elite class in 1960s-1970s Afrika). This class were the only
“natives” with a full colonial style education, had been to universities
in europe and amerikkka and had returned and been hand-picked by the
colonialists to work in the government public institutions. Similar to
DuBois’ Talented Tenth Theory, Cabral saw that the Afrikan masses would
have to be led by that petty-bourgeoisie, but to prevent the reality of
a new bourgeoisie and neo-colonial establishment in native face, the
petty-bourgeoisie had to commit “class suicide.” They had to bring what
made them “elite” and lay it at the feet of the masses, allow those
masses to gain and learn from the elite’s expertise and learn from the
masses.
What that meant was forgetting the subtle notions of white
supremacist theories they had been implanted with from youth. Forget the
notion that all things Western are superior, come back to “the source”,
return to the culture of your native people, relearn your native tongue,
remove the Western name you’ve adopted, the clothes, the wealth and
privilege. PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape
Verde) cadre were stationed in the countryside engaging with the
peasants, seeing their daily lives, creating the institutions and
programs to improve their lives (from the masses to the masses). The
peasant masses were getting political education and tools needed to
defeat the enemy. This was “class suicide” for them. Similar to Mao’s
Cultural Revolution in China around the same time.
Now as it pertains to the Euro-Amerikkkan committing “class suicide”
the process will be different, but to make it as clear as possible you
will have to objectively forget
your whiteness, while simultaneously utilizing it to gain advantages
for the New Afrikan Independence Movement (NAIM).(3) You would be
required to engage in the most extreme revolutionary factions instead of
hiding in the comfort of your whiteness.
As the Komrad Triumphant advised me: “Forget your whiteness even when
those around you (especially New Afrikans) try their damnedest to make
you remember. Forget your whiteness.”
Our class is the lumpen, and here in Amerikkka We’ll have to
simultaneously organize as a class for itself while also committing
class suicide, by abandoning the culture (ways of living/thinking) that
accompanies the lumpen, in favor of an international proletarian class
analysis. This abandonment is the fundamental function of class suicide
and white privilege suicide.
When committing to such an endeavor one must be scientific in their
thinking and not be like the “whites” Malcolm X spoke of, those who join
the struggle for New Afrikan liberation because they are seeking to
appease their conscience for all the horrible things done to New
Afrikans and other oppressed nations by the oppressor nation.
Most “whites” will not be able to make such a commitment, not until
there is a deep societal change among those who make up the oppressor
nation and this is fine, because the New Afrikan nation doesn’t need the
support of the colonial-oppressor system. In fact, as New Afrikan
Revolutionary Nationalists not only are we actively seeking to resist
all oppression and the malignant sickness of the colonial
oppressor-system but we are striving to build our own independent nation
that would enable us to provide our people with food, shelter, clothes,
education and other such essentials for Our own self-determination.
In closing, i want to express that i know there will be many who
vehemently disagree with what has been said and will assume that i’ve
taken this “wanna be” to a whole other level and i am laying the
foundation for the New Afrikan identity to be hijacked by “white”
people. My response to you is this:
Let me hasten to point out: By “New Afrikans” i don’t mean “black”
people. i mean those who came to identify their nationality as “New
Afrikan,” and who thus exhibit the consciousness and embrace the values
and philosophy… those who pursue the goals of the “New Afrikans.” To me,
to be a “New Afriakn” is not about the color of one’s skin, but about
one’s thoughts and practice. i know that not everyone agrees with this,
but that’s their problem…“(2)
Free the Land
Da Real One
Postscript: It’s only right that i give a clenched Fist Salute and a
sincere thank you to the Komrad Triumphant of T.E.A.M.O.N.E & The
Brow Box Collective for being so instrumental in my political
development as a New Afrikan Revolutionary Nationalist. Thank you,
Komrad, you walk it how you talk it.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We commend this comrade for
making a public self-criticism following the feedback ey received from
us and further study. We are all in the process of transforming
ourselves, so engaging with others with shared goals, who have studied
dialectical and historical materialism, is a necessary and ongoing part
of all of our political development. We cannot change society without
changing ourselves. We have a short study pack on the theory of
Intercommunalism, which is the ideology this author has promoted in the
past, if others are interested.
One of the main reasons we officially began using
New Afrikan in place of “Black” was for the reason this comrade
gives.(4) Similarly we have come to use Euro-Amerikan more consistently
in place of “white.” The terms Black and white have
their place and are still used and understood by the masses, but using
them too much reinforces the racial constructs of the oppressor as this
author explains.
In our study of the recently released Collected Works of the
Black Liberation Army we also came across their very explicit
inclusion of all revolutionary people into the Black or New Afrikan
nation. Again, the author rightly offers some caution here. And we’d go
further to stress the historical errors that have been forced onto
oppressed nations by integrating with oppressor nations in the
revolutionary struggle. We also believe different oppressed nations face
different conditions that often warrant separate parties, while
recognizing their struggles to be the same overall and favoring as much
unity as possible. The answer is going to have to be determined in each
situation. But clearly we must stand by the principle that
(Euro-)Amerika is an oppressor nation and an ally of imperialism and not
a base for revolution.
Notes: 1. for a review of this book see: Wiawimawo,
May 2011, Education of the Nation, Under Lock & Key 20
2.
James Yaki Sayles, 2010, Meditations On Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the
Earth, Kersplebedeb and Spear & Shield Publications.
3. A
California prisoner, February 2017, To Identify as White is to Identify
as Oppressor, Under Lock & Key 55
4. MIM(Prisons), November
2013, Terminology Debate: Black vs. New Afrikan, Under Lock & Key
No. 35.
