#blackaugust — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #blackaugust, aggregated by home.social.
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[Chilean Prisons] 1 Year After the Departure of Tortuga and Belén. Words by the Subversive Comrade Marcelo Villarroel
The daily struggle and anti-prison resistance from the centers of extermination and isolation could not be possible without the fruitful bond of insurrectionary complicity between different comrades in different parts of reality.
In high and maximum security cells, in the clandestine mountains, in the cities and metropolises strewn with technovigilance, on the paths of the struggle to live free… there is always one of us, one who does not adapt, nor surrenders to the ups and downs of the citizens of the domain and that is where we find ourselves with Tortuga, on that path of subversive antagonism and with Belén in the free walk through Anarchy.
We walk with our dead, prisoners and escapees. It is not a slogan but pure reality. We are living with our lights and shadows that feed the eternal fire of our rebellion. We are steadily seeking to change this by making it change in us first even though we know it. We sleep without lowering our arms and we resist, we persist and nothing stops us, not even the death that embraces us inevitably on this long road.
A fraternal and complicit embrace for all those who are not stopped by anything and no one. To those who organize, to the imprisoned comrades who were exiled and to all those who resist with dignity in the prisons and cages.
1 year after the departure of Tortuga and the Belén we will continue to sow Chaos and Anarchy!!
With all our brothers and sisters and fallen comrades!!
Anarchists, Subversives and Mapuche Prisoners, out of the prisons now!!
Until destroying the last bastion of prison society!!
As long as there is misery there will be rebellion!!Marcelo Villarroel Sepúlveda
Prison/company “La Gonzalina” Rancagua
Territory occupied by the Chilean state
Black August 2025https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=21274
#AnarchistPrisoners #BelénNavarrete #BlackAugust #chile #MarceloVillarroel #southAmerica #Tortuga
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[Chilean Prisons] 1 Year After the Departure of Tortuga and Belén. Words by the Subversive Comrade Marcelo Villarroel
The daily struggle and anti-prison resistance from the centers of extermination and isolation could not be possible without the fruitful bond of insurrectionary complicity between different comrades in different parts of reality.
In high and maximum security cells, in the clandestine mountains, in the cities and metropolises strewn with technovigilance, on the paths of the struggle to live free… there is always one of us, one who does not adapt, nor surrenders to the ups and downs of the citizens of the domain and that is where we find ourselves with Tortuga, on that path of subversive antagonism and with Belén in the free walk through Anarchy.
We walk with our dead, prisoners and escapees. It is not a slogan but pure reality. We are living with our lights and shadows that feed the eternal fire of our rebellion. We are steadily seeking to change this by making it change in us first even though we know it. We sleep without lowering our arms and we resist, we persist and nothing stops us, not even the death that embraces us inevitably on this long road.
A fraternal and complicit embrace for all those who are not stopped by anything and no one. To those who organize, to the imprisoned comrades who were exiled and to all those who resist with dignity in the prisons and cages.
1 year after the departure of Tortuga and the Belén we will continue to sow Chaos and Anarchy!!
With all our brothers and sisters and fallen comrades!!
Anarchists, Subversives and Mapuche Prisoners, out of the prisons now!!
Until destroying the last bastion of prison society!!
As long as there is misery there will be rebellion!!Marcelo Villarroel Sepúlveda
Prison/company “La Gonzalina” Rancagua
Territory occupied by the Chilean state
Black August 2025https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=21274
#AnarchistPrisoners #BelénNavarrete #BlackAugust #chile #MarceloVillarroel #southAmerica #Tortuga
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Black August Commemoration in so-called Kingston, NY
From Wednesday Walk for Black Lives, this commemoration of the history and ongoing struggle for Black liberation will have free food, speakers, and community connection
Saturday, August 30, 4 PM
26 Franklin St, "Kingston, NY"
AME Zion Church parking lot -
For #BlackAugust we're rewatching the first ever episode of System Fail, Riots Across America.
This episode from 2020 chronicles the rise, repression and recuperation of the George Floyd uprising and interviews Oluchi Omeoga of the Black Visions Collective and Reclaim the Block.
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Two powerful new episodes for Black August drop this Saturday! 🎙️
Episode 1: Kwame Ture's Legacy
Dive into the life and legacy of Kwame Ture, a pivotal figure in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements.Episode 2: A Reading from In the Belly of the Beast
Join us for a special episode featuring a reading from IN THE BELLY.
Don't miss these two essential episodes. Subscribe and listen this Saturday! #BlackAugust #KwameTure #GeorgeJackson #InTheBellyOfTheBeast #Podcast #BlackHistory #BlackPower
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Two powerful new episodes for Black August drop this Saturday! 🎙️
Episode 1: Kwame Ture's Legacy
Dive into the life and legacy of Kwame Ture, a pivotal figure in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements.Episode 2: A Reading from In the Belly of the Beast
Join us for a special episode featuring a reading from IN THE BELLY.
Don't miss these two essential episodes. Subscribe and listen this Saturday! #BlackAugust #KwameTure #GeorgeJackson #InTheBellyOfTheBeast #Podcast #BlackHistory #BlackPower
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Two powerful new episodes for Black August drop this Saturday! 🎙️
Episode 1: Kwame Ture's Legacy
Dive into the life and legacy of Kwame Ture, a pivotal figure in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements.Episode 2: A Reading from In the Belly of the Beast
Join us for a special episode featuring a reading from IN THE BELLY.
Don't miss these two essential episodes. Subscribe and listen this Saturday! #BlackAugust #KwameTure #GeorgeJackson #InTheBellyOfTheBeast #Podcast #BlackHistory #BlackPower
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Two powerful new episodes for Black August drop this Saturday! 🎙️
Episode 1: Kwame Ture's Legacy
Dive into the life and legacy of Kwame Ture, a pivotal figure in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements.Episode 2: A Reading from In the Belly of the Beast
Join us for a special episode featuring a reading from IN THE BELLY.
Don't miss these two essential episodes. Subscribe and listen this Saturday! #BlackAugust #KwameTure #GeorgeJackson #InTheBellyOfTheBeast #Podcast #BlackHistory #BlackPower
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Two powerful new episodes for Black August drop this Saturday! 🎙️
Episode 1: Kwame Ture's Legacy
Dive into the life and legacy of Kwame Ture, a pivotal figure in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements.Episode 2: A Reading from In the Belly of the Beast
Join us for a special episode featuring a reading from IN THE BELLY.
Don't miss these two essential episodes. Subscribe and listen this Saturday! #BlackAugust #KwameTure #GeorgeJackson #InTheBellyOfTheBeast #Podcast #BlackHistory #BlackPower
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Chile: Political Violence. Words from Anarchist Compañera Mónica Caballero
Political violence can be understood, from an anti-authoritarian perspective, as an aggressive response that seeks to break, attack, or fracture each of the components that make up domination.
This response could be limited to damaging the symbols of authority, thus leaving a powerful propaganda message, that is, one that manages to capture each of the motivations behind the action and, ideally, causes the violent response to be repeated or spread, or at least part of it.
As I said earlier, it is possible to attack symbolically, understanding that the current system of oppression can be seen represented in different elements or physical objects, or even in people.
For example, we have the case of Sante Caserio, who stabbed French President Sadi Carnot. From my perspective, he did this because the president represented political power, which at that time had led to the deaths of his comrades Ravachol, Vaillant, and Henry. His action sought to be a direct attack on those who publicly upheld power in the territory dominated by the French state in the 1890s. In addition to carrying out revenge, Sante wanted there to be no doubt about his motivations, which is clear in his cry: “Long live anarchy!” At the time of his arrest, as well as in his court statement.
Currently, we understand that the capitalist, heteropatriarchal system of domination is intertwined with complex social and cultural relationships, in addition to material structures and the people who sustain them. Consequently, and from an anarchist perspective, I have (and have held for several years now) the following questions:
How could a decisive qualitative leap be made that goes beyond attacking the symbolic? Is it really possible to “hit where it hurts” the capitalist system, in a world where relations of domination have reached a network of networks throughout the world?
The answers to these questions have changed as I have come to understand how domination has developed and persisted, and I have tried to act on these answers by shaping the many ways in which we can destroy everything that prevents the full development of each individual.
On the long road of how anti-authoritarian political violence is exercised, the successes and failures must necessarily be a collective learning experience for those of us who stand on the same side.
Among those of us who have found ourselves in anarchist/anti-authoritarian “action,” we constantly meet new comrades, just as we painfully say goodbye to many others.
Comrades Belén, Tortuga, Lupi, your memory lives on.
Health and Anarchy!
Mónica Caballero Sepúlveda
Anarchist prisoner
Black August 2025Source: Informativo Anarquista
$hile: Political violence. Words from anarchist compañera Mónica Caballero
https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=21024
#anarchist #AnarchistPrisoners #BlackAugust #chile #MónicaCaballero #southAmerica #violence
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Chile: Political Violence. Words from Anarchist Compañera Mónica Caballero
Political violence can be understood, from an anti-authoritarian perspective, as an aggressive response that seeks to break, attack, or fracture each of the components that make up domination.
This response could be limited to damaging the symbols of authority, thus leaving a powerful propaganda message, that is, one that manages to capture each of the motivations behind the action and, ideally, causes the violent response to be repeated or spread, or at least part of it.
As I said earlier, it is possible to attack symbolically, understanding that the current system of oppression can be seen represented in different elements or physical objects, or even in people.
For example, we have the case of Sante Caserio, who stabbed French President Sadi Carnot. From my perspective, he did this because the president represented political power, which at that time had led to the deaths of his comrades Ravachol, Vaillant, and Henry. His action sought to be a direct attack on those who publicly upheld power in the territory dominated by the French state in the 1890s. In addition to carrying out revenge, Sante wanted there to be no doubt about his motivations, which is clear in his cry: “Long live anarchy!” At the time of his arrest, as well as in his court statement.
Currently, we understand that the capitalist, heteropatriarchal system of domination is intertwined with complex social and cultural relationships, in addition to material structures and the people who sustain them. Consequently, and from an anarchist perspective, I have (and have held for several years now) the following questions:
How could a decisive qualitative leap be made that goes beyond attacking the symbolic? Is it really possible to “hit where it hurts” the capitalist system, in a world where relations of domination have reached a network of networks throughout the world?
The answers to these questions have changed as I have come to understand how domination has developed and persisted, and I have tried to act on these answers by shaping the many ways in which we can destroy everything that prevents the full development of each individual.
On the long road of how anti-authoritarian political violence is exercised, the successes and failures must necessarily be a collective learning experience for those of us who stand on the same side.
Among those of us who have found ourselves in anarchist/anti-authoritarian “action,” we constantly meet new comrades, just as we painfully say goodbye to many others.
Comrades Belén, Tortuga, Lupi, your memory lives on.
Health and Anarchy!
Mónica Caballero Sepúlveda
Anarchist prisoner
Black August 2025Source: Informativo Anarquista
$hile: Political violence. Words from anarchist compañera Mónica Caballero
https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=21024
#anarchist #AnarchistPrisoners #BlackAugust #chile #MónicaCaballero #southAmerica #violence
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This #BlackAugust we're reading the zine Freeing Assata from Philly Anticap.
In it they discuss the history of the Shakur family, Assata Shakur's daring escape from prison, Russell Maroon Shoatz, the Black Liberation Army, and anti-prison struggles.
https://phlanticap.noblogs.org/zine-freeing-assata/
.pdf available here:
https://phlanticap.noblogs.org/files/2025/04/freeingassatascreen.pdf
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In Black August, We Turn Destructive Spaces into Laboratories For Liberation
This is not just a month of mourning — it’s a time for mobilization and recommitment to prison abolition.
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August 24, 4-6pm at @firestorm we're discussing the introduction and first chapter of Orisanmi Burton's "Tip Of The Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt"
It which can be purchased at Firestorm with a book club discount in-store (but only if you ask in person for it). Fitting we would begin this book club during #BlackAugust, the book discusses the wider organizing and radical thrust that contextualized the Attica Uprising as well as interesting insights from folks on the ground in the midst of the revolt.
https://brabc.noblogs.org/reading-group/
Our September session is cancelled as it falls on the Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair weekend, but we'll meet back up in October.
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Patreon supporters can hear an early release of our interview with Malik Muhammad ( @malikspeaks ) , 2020 uprising prisoner in Oregon speaking about conditions, organizing behind bars, #BlackAugust and what gives them hope. Check it out!
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Patreon supporters can hear an early release of our interview with Malik Muhammad (@malikspeaks), 2020 uprising prisoner in Oregon speaking about conditions, organizing behind bars, #BlackAugust and what gives them hope. Check it out! Ep releasing Sunday for all
https://www.patreon.com/posts/2020-uprising-dc-136518839 -
Today during #BlackAugust we're rewatching 'The Revolution Has Come' sedition of It's the End of the World as We Know It and I Feel Fine.
Made during the early stages of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, this sedition covers the history of The Black Panthers, COINTELPRO, has a rad soundtrack and features and interview with Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin and JoNina Abron-Ervin
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Black August: A Celebration of Freedom Fighters
BY DOC HOLIDAY ET AL.
Black August originated in the California penal system in the 1970s. Many significant events in the New African Nation’s struggle for justice and liberation have occurred in August. The commemoration of Black August particularly hails the advances and sacrifices of Black Freedom Fighters.
#BlackMastodon #BlackAugust #press #news #media #BreakingNews #GlobalNews
https://blackaugustpo.org/about-black-august/black-august-a-celebration-of-freedom-fighters/
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Some links for #BlackAugust:
Black August: A Celebration of Freedom Fighters: https://blackaugustpo.org/about-black-august/black-august-a-celebration-of-freedom-fighters/
Black August - A Celebration of Freedom Fighters Past and Present: https://ccrjustice.org/black-august
Black August Honors Black Political Prisoners and Freedom Fighters: https://guides.library.stanford.edu/BlackAugust
Freedom Archives' Black Liberation Collection: https://search.freedomarchives.org/search.php?view_collection=19
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Black August starts soon. Usually I have others to participate with me, but since I don’t, I’m calling on those of you out there to get together in your cohorts, do 100 of something everyday with me for the month of August, and tell me how its going for you. Burpees, push-ups, sit-ups, a mile run/walk, 100 of some exercise for 31 days with me, that’d be rad! The key is unity, solidarity, so try to do them at least with one other person. You can split things up and make 100 squats into 50, plus its more fun together, and that’s what its about, what we can do together!
Love, rage, and solidarity
— Malik
https://malikspeaks.noblogs.org/post/2025/08/01/black-august/
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#BlackFriday August 30, 2024
#BlackAugust1838
1st African American magazine begins publication, ''Mirror of Freedom''1854
John C Freemont issued proclamation freeing slaves of Missouri rebels1881
WS Campbell patents improved animal trap1966
Constance Baker Motley confirmed US district judge 1st Black Woman on federal bench1983
Lt Col Yukon S Bluford Jr enters space, 1st Black astronaut -
“We must have as long a memory as the State, because they don't forget. They do not forget. Sekou [Odinga] was in prison for 33.5 years, and when he came home, every police precinct in New York City was notified. So we need to remember the struggle, the commitment, the sacrifice that people have made, just like the State remembers their resistance.”—dequi kioni-sadiki, speaking about #BlackAugust
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"So for me, Black August is another reminder to stay the course, no matter how frustrated I get, or how bad I get done, no matter how oppressed I feel, the oppression I face, or the pain I experience, I have a duty to stay the course as Jackson did. Jackson and his sacrifices mean everything. As I sit in the hole going on a year, I stay strong because of what Jackson went through. “In my objection,” as he said, “you’ll never count me among the broken men."
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What does Black August commemorate? Well, it is a month where prisoners, specifically Black, honor George Jackson and the sacrifices he made in the California prison system. For those who don’t know, Jackson was given a 1-year-to-life term for a petty crime, as is what happened during that time with indeterminate sentences. He could have kept his head low and gotten out, but what Jackson saw as a young man in the system, was a system of oppression so bad his morals and character would not allow him to go along to get along.
Blacks at that time faced violence from guards and white supremacist groups and gangs all around. During that time, guards put glass and shit in Blacks’ food. They chained Blacks to tables and let us get stabbed by white supremacist groups. Jackson sought to change that. Jackson helped to organize the Blacks into a unit to fight back. Jackson and the other vanguard groups, BGF [Black Guerilla Family], BLA [Black Liberation Army], and the Black Panther Party, as well as the Kumi, formed the frontline to protect our people. He taught and led our people at the expense of his freedom and, ultimately, his life. He was framed for the murder of a coward guard who killed several Blacks during a riot. In fighting that case, he educated himself, taught his people, stifled several attempts on his life, wrote books, and ultimately gave his life for the people, as he left us so much, he did without question.
Jackson was so feared, as we all are, they had to portray him as a Black superman, saying he killed five guards in 30 seconds barehanded before being killed, as a way to justify it — that’s one hell of a man, so I’ll believe it! As his name echoes throughout history, those guards are not even a footnote in the life of Jackson — peanuts to an elephant.
So every August, prisoners all over honor him by doing 100 of something, standing together and working out militantly as a show of solidarity and preparedness for having to go to war if necessary. Black August and George Jackson is one of my idols, meaning more to me than one month can just display. Just like Juneteenth, and Black History Month, and Native American Heritage Month, and Mexican American Heritage Month, and AAPI Heritage Month — all of those days and , months sting and strike me as irritating that we have to have culture, history, pride and solidarity regulated to set time. It also gets to me about Black August. Of course, like all of us, I bust down, I do my 100 burpees, I also add in 100 pushups, crunches, dips and pullups, as well as whatever else I want — I also shout up Black August and Jackson for those who don’t know. But to me, Jackson and his brother and their memory and legacy are more than a month of solidarity, because Jackson put solidarity in his everyday, 365 days a week, no break, no exceptions, at all costs and by any means.
So for me, Black August is another reminder to stay the course, no matter how frustrated I get, or how bad I get done, no matter how oppressed I feel, the oppression I face, or the pain I experience, I have a duty to stay the course as Jackson did. Jackson and his sacrifices mean everything. As I sit in the hole going on a year, I stay strong because of what Jackson went through. “In my objection,” as he said, “you’ll never count me among the broken men”. If I am lucky and privileged enough, I live among the men like Jackson who paved the way for us. Those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the people, his [indistinct] for the people, we have a duty to honor and spread his legacy and fight for the people and a brighter future, or give our lives trying. To me, every day is Jackson’s Death Day, Jonathan’s too. Every month is Black August, and Black History, and Native American Heritage Month, and Mexican Heritage Month. Every day is a time to show solidarity and be more militant with purpose and focus, acting boldly and autonomously to accomplish our goals.
I do love Black August commemorating the man I hold in such regard. I hope to one day see Black August everywhere, especially outside the prisons. Power to the people, all the people!
Ending quote by George Jackson: “If my enemies and your enemies prove stronger to us, at least I want them to know they made a righteous African man extremely angry.”
And lastly, to all those out there prepared to vote for Kopmala, remember: she built her career locking up Blacks for petty crimes like truancy and weed, all the while laughing about its arbitrary nature. So this Black August, remember: among those she would have kept confined to death with us would also have been George Jackson and Jonathan. It is not in the spirit of revolution, remembrance or equity to vote for that cop. She would have been the architect of his demise. Don’t think “lesser of two evils”, ’cause that’s how we got here. The lesser of two evils for Jackson would have been to do his time and get out and take it on the chin, but no! He took the road less traveled by to see what he could do.
So dream bigger than a two-party system. Be bold, be brash, and be autonomous.
Audio file link: https://malikspeaks.noblogs.org/files/2024/08/malik-speaking-2024-08-21.mp3
From: Malik Speaks
https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/post/2024/08/23/malik-muhammad-every-month-is-black-august/
#BlackAugust #georgeJackson #malikMuhammad #northAmerica #PoliticalPrisoners
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What does Black August commemorate? Well, it is a month where prisoners, specifically Black, honor George Jackson and the sacrifices he made in the California prison system. For those who don’t know, Jackson was given a 1-year-to-life term for a petty crime, as is what happened during that time with indeterminate sentences. He could have kept his head low and gotten out, but what Jackson saw as a young man in the system, was a system of oppression so bad his morals and character would not allow him to go along to get along.
Blacks at that time faced violence from guards and white supremacist groups and gangs all around. During that time, guards put glass and shit in Blacks’ food. They chained Blacks to tables and let us get stabbed by white supremacist groups. Jackson sought to change that. Jackson helped to organize the Blacks into a unit to fight back. Jackson and the other vanguard groups, BGF [Black Guerilla Family], BLA [Black Liberation Army], and the Black Panther Party, as well as the Kumi, formed the frontline to protect our people. He taught and led our people at the expense of his freedom and, ultimately, his life. He was framed for the murder of a coward guard who killed several Blacks during a riot. In fighting that case, he educated himself, taught his people, stifled several attempts on his life, wrote books, and ultimately gave his life for the people, as he left us so much, he did without question.
Jackson was so feared, as we all are, they had to portray him as a Black superman, saying he killed five guards in 30 seconds barehanded before being killed, as a way to justify it — that’s one hell of a man, so I’ll believe it! As his name echoes throughout history, those guards are not even a footnote in the life of Jackson — peanuts to an elephant.
So every August, prisoners all over honor him by doing 100 of something, standing together and working out militantly as a show of solidarity and preparedness for having to go to war if necessary. Black August and George Jackson is one of my idols, meaning more to me than one month can just display. Just like Juneteenth, and Black History Month, and Native American Heritage Month, and Mexican American Heritage Month, and AAPI Heritage Month — all of those days and , months sting and strike me as irritating that we have to have culture, history, pride and solidarity regulated to set time. It also gets to me about Black August. Of course, like all of us, I bust down, I do my 100 burpees, I also add in 100 pushups, crunches, dips and pullups, as well as whatever else I want — I also shout up Black August and Jackson for those who don’t know. But to me, Jackson and his brother and their memory and legacy are more than a month of solidarity, because Jackson put solidarity in his everyday, 365 days a week, no break, no exceptions, at all costs and by any means.
So for me, Black August is another reminder to stay the course, no matter how frustrated I get, or how bad I get done, no matter how oppressed I feel, the oppression I face, or the pain I experience, I have a duty to stay the course as Jackson did. Jackson and his sacrifices mean everything. As I sit in the hole going on a year, I stay strong because of what Jackson went through. “In my objection,” as he said, “you’ll never count me among the broken men”. If I am lucky and privileged enough, I live among the men like Jackson who paved the way for us. Those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the people, his [indistinct] for the people, we have a duty to honor and spread his legacy and fight for the people and a brighter future, or give our lives trying. To me, every day is Jackson’s Death Day, Jonathan’s too. Every month is Black August, and Black History, and Native American Heritage Month, and Mexican Heritage Month. Every day is a time to show solidarity and be more militant with purpose and focus, acting boldly and autonomously to accomplish our goals.
I do love Black August commemorating the man I hold in such regard. I hope to one day see Black August everywhere, especially outside the prisons. Power to the people, all the people!
Ending quote by George Jackson: “If my enemies and your enemies prove stronger to us, at least I want them to know they made a righteous African man extremely angry.”
And lastly, to all those out there prepared to vote for Kopmala, remember: she built her career locking up Blacks for petty crimes like truancy and weed, all the while laughing about its arbitrary nature. So this Black August, remember: among those she would have kept confined to death with us would also have been George Jackson and Jonathan. It is not in the spirit of revolution, remembrance or equity to vote for that cop. She would have been the architect of his demise. Don’t think “lesser of two evils”, ’cause that’s how we got here. The lesser of two evils for Jackson would have been to do his time and get out and take it on the chin, but no! He took the road less traveled by to see what he could do.
So dream bigger than a two-party system. Be bold, be brash, and be autonomous.
Audio file link: https://malikspeaks.noblogs.org/files/2024/08/malik-speaking-2024-08-21.mp3
From: Malik Speaks
https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/post/2024/08/23/malik-muhammad-every-month-is-black-august/
#BlackAugust #georgeJackson #malikMuhammad #northAmerica #PoliticalPrisoners
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Published in 1972, “Blood In My Eye” is a collection of writings by George Jackson, a political prisoner and a Black freedom fighter. He finished the writings shortly before prison guards murdered him in August 1971. George had been convicted over a decade prior at age 18 — taking $70 from a gas station resulted in a conviction with an indeterminate sentence – one year to life.
While California kept him imprisoned, he read extensively, learning history and economics, discovering Marx, Lenin, Mao, Engels, Trotsky, and developing a strong material analysis and solidarity lens that he shared with his comrades incarcerated alongside him.
Blood in My Eye considers more broadly questions of armed struggle, communism, and Black revolutionary thought, or put simply “it is a book about taking the revolution that George worked and died for inside prison out into society at large.”
“Settle your quarrels, come together, understand the reality of our situation, understand that fascism is already here, that people are already dying who could be saved, that generations more will die or live poor butchered half-lives if you fail to act. do what must be done, discover your humanity and your love in revolution. Pass on the torch. Join us, give up your life for the people.”
George Jackson recognized his position as a member of the lumpenproletariat, and remained uncompromising in his approach to a revolutionary future; his view of the world from within the carceral system illuminated the depth of racism in the U.S., and its overlap with capitalist exploitation.
Behind bars he organized sit-ins against segregated cafeterias and taught martial arts to other inmates to fight back against the ever-present, abusive prison guards. He worked with the Oakland chapter of the Black Panthers to recruit members that were incarcerated, and he often highlighted the political consciousness of his comrades that were behind bars.
His work at organizing prisoners across race gained the attention of prison guards, wardens, and the FBI. The state falsely accused him (along with Fleeta Drumgo and John Clutchette), collectively known as the “Soledad Brothers,” of murdering a guard in retaliation to that guard’s murder of three Black people that were incarcerated (W. L. Nolen, Cleveland Edwards and Alvin Miller) at Soledad Prison in January 1970.
His younger brother, Jonathan Jackson, a high school student in Pasadena, staged a raid on the Marin County courthouse with a satchelful of handguns, an assault rifle, and a shotgun hidden under his coat, all registered to Angela Davis. Educated into a political revolutionary by George, Jonathan invaded the court during a hearing for three Black San Quentin inmates, not including his brother, and handed them weapons. As he left with the inmates and five hostages, including the judge, Jonathan demanded that the Soledad Brothers be released within thirty minutes. In the shootout that ensued, Jonathan was gunned down. Of Jonathan, George wrote, “He was free for a while. I guess that’s more than most of us can expect.” The state murdered Jonathan on August 7, 1970 at the Marin County Courthouse. He was 17. The sole accomplice that survived, Ruchell Magee, was imprisoned for over 50 years (released in July 2023); a manhunt for Angela Davis began, she was tried and ultimately found not guilty; the Weathermen (a militant leftist organization of students) bombed the courthouse in October 1970 in retaliation for the murders of Jonathan Jackson and his comrades.
His first publication, Soledad Brother, compiles letters he wrote between 1964 and 1970, most of which he spent in the most stringent forms of solitary confinement. George dedicated Soledad Brother to Jonathan, and many letters between them can be found within Blood in My Eye, as well as correspondence with Angela Davis.
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Fascism
An excerpt from Blood in My Eye by George Jackson
1971
Fascism
Its most advanced form is here in Amerika.
Comrade John,
I’ve just finished rereading Angela’s analysis of fascism (she’s a brilliant, “big,” beautiful revolutionary woman — ain’t she!!). I’ve studied your letters on the subject carefully. It could be productive for the three of us to get together at once and subject the whole question to a detailed historical analysis. There is some difference of opinion and interpreta- tion of history between us, but basically I think we are brought together on the principal points by the fact that the three of us could not meet without probably causing World War III.
Give her my deepest and warmest love and ask her to review these comments. This is not all that I will have to say on the subject. I’ll constantly return to myself and reexamine. I expect I will have to carry this on for another couple of hundred pages. We’ll deal with the questions as they come up, but for now this should provoke both of you to push me on to a greater effort.
The basis of Angela’s analysis is tied into several old left notions that are at least open to some question now. It is my view that out of the economic crisis of the last great depression fascism-corporativism did indeed emerge, develop and consolidate itself into its most advanced form here in Amerika. In the process, socialist consciousness suffered some very severe setbacks. Unlike Angela, I do not believe that this realization leads to a defeatist view of history. An understanding of the reality of our situation is essential to the success of future revolutionizing activity. To contend that corporativism has emerged and advanced is not to say that it has triumphed. We are not defeated. Pure fascism, absolute totalitarianism, is not possible.
Hierarchy has had six thousand years of trial. It will never succeed for long in any form. Fascism and its historical significance is the point of my whole philosophy on politics and its extension, war. My opinion is that we are at the historical climax (the flash point) of the totalitarian period. The analysis in depth that the subject deserves has yet to be done. Important as they are, both Wilhelm Reich’s and Franz Neumann’s works on the subject are limited. Reich tends to be over analytical to the point of idealism. I don’t think Neumann truly sensed the importance of the antisocialist movement. Behemoth is too narrowly based on the experience of German National Socialism. So there is so much to be done on the subject and time is running out. If I am correct, we will soon be forced into the same fight that the old left avoided.
6/20/71
It is not defeatist to acknowledge that we have lost a battle. How else can we “regroup” and even think of carrying on the fight. At the center of revolution is realism. To call one or two or a dozen setbacks defeat is to overlook the ebbing and flowing process of revolution, coming closer to our calculations and then receding, but never standing still. If a thing isn’t building, it must be decaying. As one force emerges, the opposite force must yield; as one advances, the other must retreat. There is a very significant difference between retreat and defeat. I am not saying that our parents were defeated when I contend that fascist-corporativism emerged and advanced in the U.S. At the same time it was making its advance, it caused, by its very nature, an advance in world-wide socialist consciousness: “When U.S. capitalism reached the stage of imperialism, the Western great powers had already divided among themselves almost all the important markets in the world. At the end of World War II when the other imperialist powers had been weakened, the U.S. became the most powerful and richest imperialist power. Meanwhile, the world situation was no longer the same: the balance of forces between imperialism and the socialist camps had fundamentally changed; imperialism no longer ruled over the world, nor did it play a decisive role in the development of the world situation” (Vo Nguyen Giap).
In my analysis, I’m simply taking into account the fact that the forces of reaction and counterrevolution were allowed to localize themselves and radiate their energy here in the U.S. The process has created the economic, political and cultural vortex of capitalism’s last reform. My views correspond with those of all the Third World revolutionaries. And nate in the seizure of state power. Our real purpose is to redeem not merely ourselves but the whole nation and the whole community of nations from colonial-community economic repression.
The U.S. has established itself as the mortal enemy of all people’s government, all scientific-socialist mobilization of consciousness everywhere on the globe, all anti-imperialist activity on earth. The history of this country in the last fifty years and more, the very nature of all its fundamental elements, and its economic, social, political and military mobilization distinguish it as the prototype of the international fascist counterrevolution. The U.S. is the Korean problem, the Vietnamese problem, the problem in the Congo, Angola, Mozambique, the Middle East. It’s the grease in the British and Latin Amerikan guns that operate against the masses of common people.
6/21/71
The nature of fascism, its characteristics and properties have been in dispute ever since it was first identified as a distinct phenomenon growing out of Italy’s state-supported and developed industries in 1922. Whole libraries have been written around the subject. There have been a hundred “party lines” on just exactly what fascism is. But both Marxists and non-Marxists agree on at least two of its general factors: its capitalist orientation and its anti-labor, anti-class nature. These two factors almost by themselves identify the U.S. as a fascist-corporative state.
An exact definition of fascism concerns me because it will help us identify our enemy and isolate the targets of revolution. Further, it should help us to understand the workings of the enemy’s methodology. Settling this question of whether or not a mature fascism has developed will finally clear away some of the fog in our liberation efforts. This will help us to broaden the effort. We will not succeed until we fully accept the fact that the enemy is aware, determined, disguised, totalitarian, and mercilessly counterrevolutionary. To fight effectively, we must be aware of the fact that the enemy has consolidated through reformist machination the greatest community of self-interest that has ever existed. Our insistence on military action, defensive and retaliatory, has nothing to do with romanticism or precipitous idealistic fervor. We want to be effective. We want to live. Our history teaches us that the successful liberation struggles require an armed people, a whole people, actively participating in the struggle for their liberty!
The final definition of fascism is still open, simply because it is still a developing movement. We have already discussed the defects of trying to analyze a movement outside of its process and its sequential relationships. You gain only a discolored glimpse of a dead past.
No one will fully comprehend the historical implications and strategy of fascist corporativism except the true fascist manipulator or the researcher who is able to slash through the smoke screens and disguises the fascists set up. Fascism was the product of class struggle. It is an obvious extension of capitalism, a higher form of the old struggle — capitalism versus socialism. I think our failure to clearly isolate and define it may have something to do with our insistence on a full definition — in other words, looking for exactly identical symptoms from nation to nation. We have been consistently misled by fascism’s nationalistic trappings.
We have failed to understand its basically international character. In fact, it has followed international socialism all around the globe. One of the most definite characteristics of fascism is its international quality.
6/22/71
The trends toward monopoly capital began effectively just after the close of the Civil War in Amerika. Prior to its emergence, bourgeois democratic rule could be said to have been the predominant political force inside Amerikan society. As monopoly capital matured, the role of the old bourgeois democracy faded in process. As monopoly capital forced out the small dispersed factory setup, the new corporativism assumed political supremacy. Monopoly capital can in no way be interpreted as an extension of old bourgeois democracy. The forces of monopoly capital swept across the Western world in the first half of this century. But they did not exist alone. Their opposite force was also at work, i.e., “international socialism” — Lenin’s and Fanon’s — national wars of liberation guided not by the national bourgeois but by the people, the ordinary working-class people.
At its core, fascism is an economic rearrangement. It is international capitalism’s response to the challenge of international scientific socialism. It developed from nation to nation out of differing levels of traditionalist capitalism’s dilapidation. The common feature of all instances of fascism is the opposition of a weak socialist revolution. When the fascist arrangement begins to emerge in any of the independent nation-states, it does so by default! It is simply an arrangement of an established capitalist economy, an attempt to renew, perpetuate and legitimize that economy’s rulers by circumflexing and weighing down, diffusing a revolutionary consciousness pushing from below. Fascism must be seen as an episodically logical stage in the socio-economic development of capitalism in a state of crisis. It is the result of a revolutionary thrust that was weak and miscarried — a consciousness that was compromised. “When revolution fails . . . it’s the fault of the vanguard parties.”
It is clear that class struggle is an ingredient of fascism.
It follows that where fascism emerges and develops, the anti-capitalist forces were weaker than the traditionalist forces. This weakness will become even more pronounced as fascism develops! The ultimate aim of fascism is the complete destruction of all revolutionary consciousness.
6/23/71
Our purpose here is to understand the essence of this living, moving thing so that we will understand how to move against it.
This observer is convinced that fascism not only exists in the U.S.A. but has risen out of the ruins of a once eroded and dying capitalism, phoenix-like, to its most advanced and logical arrangement.
One has to understand that the fascist arrangement tolerates the existence of no valid revolutionary activity. It has programmed into its very nature a massive, complex and automatic defense mechanism for all our old methods for raising the consciousness of a potentially revolutionary class of people. The essence of a U.S.A. totalitarian socio-political capitalism is concealed behind the illusion of a mass participatory society. We must rip away its mask. Then the debate can end, and we can enter a new phase of struggle based on the development of an armed revolutionary culture that will triumph.
On May 14, 1787, the Constitutional Convention with George Washington presiding officer, the work of framing the new nation’s constitution proceeded with fifty-five persons and only two were not employers!!!
There have been many booms and busts in the history of capitalism in this nation and across the Western Hemisphere since its formation. The accepted method of pulling the stricken economy out of its stupor has always been to expand. It was pretty clear from the outset that the surplus value factor eventually leads to a point in the business cycle when the existing implementation of the productive factors makes it impossible for the larger factor of production (labor) to buy back the “fruits of its labor.” This leads to what has been erroneously termed “overproduction.” It is, in fact, underconsumption. The remedy has always been to expand, to search out new markets and new sources of cheaper raw materials to recharge the economy (the imperialist syndrome).
Conflicts of interests develop, of course, between the various Western nations and eventually lead to competition for these markets. The result is always an ever-increasing international centralization of the various capitalists’ elites, world-wide cartels: International Telegraphic Unions (now International Tele-communications Union), universal postal union, transportation, agricultural, and scientific syndicates. Before World War I there were forty-five or fifty such international syndicates, not counting the purely business cartels. The international quality of capitalism is not happenstance.
It is clearly in the interests of the ruling class to expand and unite. I am one Marxist-Leninist-Maoist-Fanonist who does not completely accept the idea that the old capitalist competitive wars for colonial markets were actually willed by the various rulers of each nation, even though such wars stimulated their local economies and made it possible to promote nationalism among the lower classes. War taken to the point of diminishing returns weakens rather than strengthens the participants, and if the rulers of these nations were anything at all they were good businessmen. Expansion, then, which often led unavoidably to war, was the traditional recourse in the solving of problems created by a vacuous, uncontrollable system, which never considered any changes in its arrangement, its essential dynamics, until it came under a very real, directly threatening challenge from below to its very existence. Fascism in its early stages is a rearrangement of capitalist implementation in response to a sharpening, threatening, but weaker egalitarian socialist consciousness.
In regional or national economic crisis the traditional remedies also include measures which stop just short of massive expansion on the international level. Traditional controls short of expansion and war have always existed in the form of government intervention, tariffs, public expenditure, government export subsidy and limited control of the capital market and import licenses, and monopolies have always used government to help direct investment.
#BlackAugust #blackLiberation #blackPantherParty #bloodInMyEye #georgeJackson #northAmerica #soledadBrother
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Published in 1972, “Blood In My Eye” is a collection of writings by George Jackson, a political prisoner and a Black freedom fighter. He finished the writings shortly before prison guards murdered him in August 1971. George had been convicted over a decade prior at age 18 — taking $70 from a gas station resulted in a conviction with an indeterminate sentence – one year to life.
While California kept him imprisoned, he read extensively, learning history and economics, discovering Marx, Lenin, Mao, Engels, Trotsky, and developing a strong material analysis and solidarity lens that he shared with his comrades incarcerated alongside him.
Blood in My Eye considers more broadly questions of armed struggle, communism, and Black revolutionary thought, or put simply “it is a book about taking the revolution that George worked and died for inside prison out into society at large.”
“Settle your quarrels, come together, understand the reality of our situation, understand that fascism is already here, that people are already dying who could be saved, that generations more will die or live poor butchered half-lives if you fail to act. do what must be done, discover your humanity and your love in revolution. Pass on the torch. Join us, give up your life for the people.”
George Jackson recognized his position as a member of the lumpenproletariat, and remained uncompromising in his approach to a revolutionary future; his view of the world from within the carceral system illuminated the depth of racism in the U.S., and its overlap with capitalist exploitation.
Behind bars he organized sit-ins against segregated cafeterias and taught martial arts to other inmates to fight back against the ever-present, abusive prison guards. He worked with the Oakland chapter of the Black Panthers to recruit members that were incarcerated, and he often highlighted the political consciousness of his comrades that were behind bars.
His work at organizing prisoners across race gained the attention of prison guards, wardens, and the FBI. The state falsely accused him (along with Fleeta Drumgo and John Clutchette), collectively known as the “Soledad Brothers,” of murdering a guard in retaliation to that guard’s murder of three Black people that were incarcerated (W. L. Nolen, Cleveland Edwards and Alvin Miller) at Soledad Prison in January 1970.
His younger brother, Jonathan Jackson, a high school student in Pasadena, staged a raid on the Marin County courthouse with a satchelful of handguns, an assault rifle, and a shotgun hidden under his coat, all registered to Angela Davis. Educated into a political revolutionary by George, Jonathan invaded the court during a hearing for three Black San Quentin inmates, not including his brother, and handed them weapons. As he left with the inmates and five hostages, including the judge, Jonathan demanded that the Soledad Brothers be released within thirty minutes. In the shootout that ensued, Jonathan was gunned down. Of Jonathan, George wrote, “He was free for a while. I guess that’s more than most of us can expect.” The state murdered Jonathan on August 7, 1970 at the Marin County Courthouse. He was 17. The sole accomplice that survived, Ruchell Magee, was imprisoned for over 50 years (released in July 2023); a manhunt for Angela Davis began, she was tried and ultimately found not guilty; the Weathermen (a militant leftist organization of students) bombed the courthouse in October 1970 in retaliation for the murders of Jonathan Jackson and his comrades.
His first publication, Soledad Brother, compiles letters he wrote between 1964 and 1970, most of which he spent in the most stringent forms of solitary confinement. George dedicated Soledad Brother to Jonathan, and many letters between them can be found within Blood in My Eye, as well as correspondence with Angela Davis.
—
Fascism
An excerpt from Blood in My Eye by George Jackson
1971
Fascism
Its most advanced form is here in Amerika.
Comrade John,
I’ve just finished rereading Angela’s analysis of fascism (she’s a brilliant, “big,” beautiful revolutionary woman — ain’t she!!). I’ve studied your letters on the subject carefully. It could be productive for the three of us to get together at once and subject the whole question to a detailed historical analysis. There is some difference of opinion and interpreta- tion of history between us, but basically I think we are brought together on the principal points by the fact that the three of us could not meet without probably causing World War III.
Give her my deepest and warmest love and ask her to review these comments. This is not all that I will have to say on the subject. I’ll constantly return to myself and reexamine. I expect I will have to carry this on for another couple of hundred pages. We’ll deal with the questions as they come up, but for now this should provoke both of you to push me on to a greater effort.
The basis of Angela’s analysis is tied into several old left notions that are at least open to some question now. It is my view that out of the economic crisis of the last great depression fascism-corporativism did indeed emerge, develop and consolidate itself into its most advanced form here in Amerika. In the process, socialist consciousness suffered some very severe setbacks. Unlike Angela, I do not believe that this realization leads to a defeatist view of history. An understanding of the reality of our situation is essential to the success of future revolutionizing activity. To contend that corporativism has emerged and advanced is not to say that it has triumphed. We are not defeated. Pure fascism, absolute totalitarianism, is not possible.
Hierarchy has had six thousand years of trial. It will never succeed for long in any form. Fascism and its historical significance is the point of my whole philosophy on politics and its extension, war. My opinion is that we are at the historical climax (the flash point) of the totalitarian period. The analysis in depth that the subject deserves has yet to be done. Important as they are, both Wilhelm Reich’s and Franz Neumann’s works on the subject are limited. Reich tends to be over analytical to the point of idealism. I don’t think Neumann truly sensed the importance of the antisocialist movement. Behemoth is too narrowly based on the experience of German National Socialism. So there is so much to be done on the subject and time is running out. If I am correct, we will soon be forced into the same fight that the old left avoided.
6/20/71
It is not defeatist to acknowledge that we have lost a battle. How else can we “regroup” and even think of carrying on the fight. At the center of revolution is realism. To call one or two or a dozen setbacks defeat is to overlook the ebbing and flowing process of revolution, coming closer to our calculations and then receding, but never standing still. If a thing isn’t building, it must be decaying. As one force emerges, the opposite force must yield; as one advances, the other must retreat. There is a very significant difference between retreat and defeat. I am not saying that our parents were defeated when I contend that fascist-corporativism emerged and advanced in the U.S. At the same time it was making its advance, it caused, by its very nature, an advance in world-wide socialist consciousness: “When U.S. capitalism reached the stage of imperialism, the Western great powers had already divided among themselves almost all the important markets in the world. At the end of World War II when the other imperialist powers had been weakened, the U.S. became the most powerful and richest imperialist power. Meanwhile, the world situation was no longer the same: the balance of forces between imperialism and the socialist camps had fundamentally changed; imperialism no longer ruled over the world, nor did it play a decisive role in the development of the world situation” (Vo Nguyen Giap).
In my analysis, I’m simply taking into account the fact that the forces of reaction and counterrevolution were allowed to localize themselves and radiate their energy here in the U.S. The process has created the economic, political and cultural vortex of capitalism’s last reform. My views correspond with those of all the Third World revolutionaries. And nate in the seizure of state power. Our real purpose is to redeem not merely ourselves but the whole nation and the whole community of nations from colonial-community economic repression.
The U.S. has established itself as the mortal enemy of all people’s government, all scientific-socialist mobilization of consciousness everywhere on the globe, all anti-imperialist activity on earth. The history of this country in the last fifty years and more, the very nature of all its fundamental elements, and its economic, social, political and military mobilization distinguish it as the prototype of the international fascist counterrevolution. The U.S. is the Korean problem, the Vietnamese problem, the problem in the Congo, Angola, Mozambique, the Middle East. It’s the grease in the British and Latin Amerikan guns that operate against the masses of common people.
6/21/71
The nature of fascism, its characteristics and properties have been in dispute ever since it was first identified as a distinct phenomenon growing out of Italy’s state-supported and developed industries in 1922. Whole libraries have been written around the subject. There have been a hundred “party lines” on just exactly what fascism is. But both Marxists and non-Marxists agree on at least two of its general factors: its capitalist orientation and its anti-labor, anti-class nature. These two factors almost by themselves identify the U.S. as a fascist-corporative state.
An exact definition of fascism concerns me because it will help us identify our enemy and isolate the targets of revolution. Further, it should help us to understand the workings of the enemy’s methodology. Settling this question of whether or not a mature fascism has developed will finally clear away some of the fog in our liberation efforts. This will help us to broaden the effort. We will not succeed until we fully accept the fact that the enemy is aware, determined, disguised, totalitarian, and mercilessly counterrevolutionary. To fight effectively, we must be aware of the fact that the enemy has consolidated through reformist machination the greatest community of self-interest that has ever existed. Our insistence on military action, defensive and retaliatory, has nothing to do with romanticism or precipitous idealistic fervor. We want to be effective. We want to live. Our history teaches us that the successful liberation struggles require an armed people, a whole people, actively participating in the struggle for their liberty!
The final definition of fascism is still open, simply because it is still a developing movement. We have already discussed the defects of trying to analyze a movement outside of its process and its sequential relationships. You gain only a discolored glimpse of a dead past.
No one will fully comprehend the historical implications and strategy of fascist corporativism except the true fascist manipulator or the researcher who is able to slash through the smoke screens and disguises the fascists set up. Fascism was the product of class struggle. It is an obvious extension of capitalism, a higher form of the old struggle — capitalism versus socialism. I think our failure to clearly isolate and define it may have something to do with our insistence on a full definition — in other words, looking for exactly identical symptoms from nation to nation. We have been consistently misled by fascism’s nationalistic trappings.
We have failed to understand its basically international character. In fact, it has followed international socialism all around the globe. One of the most definite characteristics of fascism is its international quality.
6/22/71
The trends toward monopoly capital began effectively just after the close of the Civil War in Amerika. Prior to its emergence, bourgeois democratic rule could be said to have been the predominant political force inside Amerikan society. As monopoly capital matured, the role of the old bourgeois democracy faded in process. As monopoly capital forced out the small dispersed factory setup, the new corporativism assumed political supremacy. Monopoly capital can in no way be interpreted as an extension of old bourgeois democracy. The forces of monopoly capital swept across the Western world in the first half of this century. But they did not exist alone. Their opposite force was also at work, i.e., “international socialism” — Lenin’s and Fanon’s — national wars of liberation guided not by the national bourgeois but by the people, the ordinary working-class people.
At its core, fascism is an economic rearrangement. It is international capitalism’s response to the challenge of international scientific socialism. It developed from nation to nation out of differing levels of traditionalist capitalism’s dilapidation. The common feature of all instances of fascism is the opposition of a weak socialist revolution. When the fascist arrangement begins to emerge in any of the independent nation-states, it does so by default! It is simply an arrangement of an established capitalist economy, an attempt to renew, perpetuate and legitimize that economy’s rulers by circumflexing and weighing down, diffusing a revolutionary consciousness pushing from below. Fascism must be seen as an episodically logical stage in the socio-economic development of capitalism in a state of crisis. It is the result of a revolutionary thrust that was weak and miscarried — a consciousness that was compromised. “When revolution fails . . . it’s the fault of the vanguard parties.”
It is clear that class struggle is an ingredient of fascism.
It follows that where fascism emerges and develops, the anti-capitalist forces were weaker than the traditionalist forces. This weakness will become even more pronounced as fascism develops! The ultimate aim of fascism is the complete destruction of all revolutionary consciousness.
6/23/71
Our purpose here is to understand the essence of this living, moving thing so that we will understand how to move against it.
This observer is convinced that fascism not only exists in the U.S.A. but has risen out of the ruins of a once eroded and dying capitalism, phoenix-like, to its most advanced and logical arrangement.
One has to understand that the fascist arrangement tolerates the existence of no valid revolutionary activity. It has programmed into its very nature a massive, complex and automatic defense mechanism for all our old methods for raising the consciousness of a potentially revolutionary class of people. The essence of a U.S.A. totalitarian socio-political capitalism is concealed behind the illusion of a mass participatory society. We must rip away its mask. Then the debate can end, and we can enter a new phase of struggle based on the development of an armed revolutionary culture that will triumph.
On May 14, 1787, the Constitutional Convention with George Washington presiding officer, the work of framing the new nation’s constitution proceeded with fifty-five persons and only two were not employers!!!
There have been many booms and busts in the history of capitalism in this nation and across the Western Hemisphere since its formation. The accepted method of pulling the stricken economy out of its stupor has always been to expand. It was pretty clear from the outset that the surplus value factor eventually leads to a point in the business cycle when the existing implementation of the productive factors makes it impossible for the larger factor of production (labor) to buy back the “fruits of its labor.” This leads to what has been erroneously termed “overproduction.” It is, in fact, underconsumption. The remedy has always been to expand, to search out new markets and new sources of cheaper raw materials to recharge the economy (the imperialist syndrome).
Conflicts of interests develop, of course, between the various Western nations and eventually lead to competition for these markets. The result is always an ever-increasing international centralization of the various capitalists’ elites, world-wide cartels: International Telegraphic Unions (now International Tele-communications Union), universal postal union, transportation, agricultural, and scientific syndicates. Before World War I there were forty-five or fifty such international syndicates, not counting the purely business cartels. The international quality of capitalism is not happenstance.
It is clearly in the interests of the ruling class to expand and unite. I am one Marxist-Leninist-Maoist-Fanonist who does not completely accept the idea that the old capitalist competitive wars for colonial markets were actually willed by the various rulers of each nation, even though such wars stimulated their local economies and made it possible to promote nationalism among the lower classes. War taken to the point of diminishing returns weakens rather than strengthens the participants, and if the rulers of these nations were anything at all they were good businessmen. Expansion, then, which often led unavoidably to war, was the traditional recourse in the solving of problems created by a vacuous, uncontrollable system, which never considered any changes in its arrangement, its essential dynamics, until it came under a very real, directly threatening challenge from below to its very existence. Fascism in its early stages is a rearrangement of capitalist implementation in response to a sharpening, threatening, but weaker egalitarian socialist consciousness.
In regional or national economic crisis the traditional remedies also include measures which stop just short of massive expansion on the international level. Traditional controls short of expansion and war have always existed in the form of government intervention, tariffs, public expenditure, government export subsidy and limited control of the capital market and import licenses, and monopolies have always used government to help direct investment.
#BlackAugust #blackLiberation #blackPantherParty #bloodInMyEye #georgeJackson #northAmerica #soledadBrother
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#BlackFriday August 23, 2024
#BlackAugustWhat about #BlackJobs & Black businesses
1900
Booker T Washington founded the National Negro Business League Boston MA
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1875
John Wesley Cromwell
''Address on Difficulties of the Colored Youth in Obtaining an Education in the Virginias''
Richmond VA1962
Fannie Lou Hammer volunteers to organize for Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in Mississippi2014
Thousands peacefully protest the murder or Eric Garner NYC -
George Jackson was assassinated in San Quentin prison on August 21, 1971. The following week, the prison released an inventory of the items in his cell – including his library of 99 books.
To mark the 53rd anniversary of his murder, we have a resource to elevate the breadth of his intellectual curiosity and the way in which he understood and engaged the world – a main reason he was seen as dangerous to the government and prison system. Our goal is not only to reflect on his development as a revolutionary, but how he inspired others to engage, (un)learn and struggle too.
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Second to last book in my #BlackAugust reading list.
(comment on We Do This 'Til We Free Us)
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Black August study, fast, train, fight: Nurturing Militancy and Preparing for the Day of Action.
Black August holds a profound significance for abolitionist prisoners, as it serves as a time to honor the resistance of our fallen comrades and reflect on the ongoing struggle against the carceral system. During this month, we not only deepen our political education but also prepare ourselves militantly, inspired by the spirit of George L. Jackson, for a day when conditions may require militant actions. As members of Jailhouse Lawyers Speak [the more militant segment of our membership], we understand the importance of utilizing Black August as a catalyst for growth, education, and collective preparation.
Within the confines of U.S.A prison system, nurturing militancy becomes a pivotal aspect of our resistance. Black August provides a space for abolitionist prisoners to foster a mindset of militant preparedness, drawing inspiration from past resistance campaigns. We recognize that the struggle against the carceral system may demand actions beyond peaceful advocacy. Therefore, during this month, we engage in rigorous physical and mental training, fortifying ourselves for a day when conditions may necessitate militant resistance.
Through physical fitness routines, martial arts training, and mental conditioning, we prepare ourselves to confront the oppressive forces that seek to silence our voices. Embracing the spirit of George L. Jackson, we study his writings, such as “Soledad Brother” and “Blood in my Eyes” which not only provide us with insights into the prison-industrial slave complex but also pushes us to challenge the status quo through bold and militant actions. We understand that true liberation may require us to transcend the limitations imposed upon us and be ready to seize opportunities for radical change.
Black August serves as a potent reminder that our struggle extends beyond the confines of prison walls. It is an opportunity for abolitionist organizers to recognize the need for militant preparation and to stand in solidarity with individuals who are actively engaging in this process.
During this month, we actively seek to build bridges of solidarity and create networks that transcend the razor wires. By connecting with organizations and individuals outside the prison walls, we amplify our collective voices and join the global struggle against the carceral system.
We encourage organizers to continue centering the experiences and lessons from people like George L. Jackson. Organizers can help build a movement that understands the importance of militant preparedness as a means to challenge oppressive structures and pave the way for transformative change.
Long Live The Spirit of George L. Jackson…
Big Sike,
Jailhouse Lawyers Speak
** Big Sike is a JLS member currently confined is FBOP
#abolitionist #BlackAugust #georgeJackson #JailhouseLawyersSpeak #militancy #northAmerica #prisonStruggle
-
Black August study, fast, train, fight: Nurturing Militancy and Preparing for the Day of Action.
Black August holds a profound significance for abolitionist prisoners, as it serves as a time to honor the resistance of our fallen comrades and reflect on the ongoing struggle against the carceral system. During this month, we not only deepen our political education but also prepare ourselves militantly, inspired by the spirit of George L. Jackson, for a day when conditions may require militant actions. As members of Jailhouse Lawyers Speak [the more militant segment of our membership], we understand the importance of utilizing Black August as a catalyst for growth, education, and collective preparation.
Within the confines of U.S.A prison system, nurturing militancy becomes a pivotal aspect of our resistance. Black August provides a space for abolitionist prisoners to foster a mindset of militant preparedness, drawing inspiration from past resistance campaigns. We recognize that the struggle against the carceral system may demand actions beyond peaceful advocacy. Therefore, during this month, we engage in rigorous physical and mental training, fortifying ourselves for a day when conditions may necessitate militant resistance.
Through physical fitness routines, martial arts training, and mental conditioning, we prepare ourselves to confront the oppressive forces that seek to silence our voices. Embracing the spirit of George L. Jackson, we study his writings, such as “Soledad Brother” and “Blood in my Eyes” which not only provide us with insights into the prison-industrial slave complex but also pushes us to challenge the status quo through bold and militant actions. We understand that true liberation may require us to transcend the limitations imposed upon us and be ready to seize opportunities for radical change.
Black August serves as a potent reminder that our struggle extends beyond the confines of prison walls. It is an opportunity for abolitionist organizers to recognize the need for militant preparation and to stand in solidarity with individuals who are actively engaging in this process.
During this month, we actively seek to build bridges of solidarity and create networks that transcend the razor wires. By connecting with organizations and individuals outside the prison walls, we amplify our collective voices and join the global struggle against the carceral system.
We encourage organizers to continue centering the experiences and lessons from people like George L. Jackson. Organizers can help build a movement that understands the importance of militant preparedness as a means to challenge oppressive structures and pave the way for transformative change.
Long Live The Spirit of George L. Jackson…
Big Sike,
Jailhouse Lawyers Speak
** Big Sike is a JLS member currently confined is FBOP
#abolitionist #BlackAugust #georgeJackson #JailhouseLawyersSpeak #militancy #northAmerica #prisonStruggle
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This story was originally published Aug. 3, 2009. Kiilu Nyasha, legendary fighter for the freedom of political prisoners, often wrote a special tribute to other freedom fighters to commemorate Black August. She joined the ancestors in 2018 at the age of 78.
Black August is a month of great significance for Africans throughout the Diaspora, but particularly here in the U.S. where it originated. “August,” as Mumia Abu-Jamal noted, “is a month of meaning, of repression and radical resistance, of injustice and divine justice; of repression and righteous rebellion; of individual and collective efforts to free the slaves and break the chains that bind us.”
On this 30th [now 45th] anniversary of Black August, first organized to honor our fallen freedom fighters, Jonathan and George Jackson, Khatari Gaulden, James McClain, William Christmas and the sole survivor of the Aug. 7, 1970, Courthouse Slave Rebellion, Ruchell Cinque Magee, it is still a time to embrace the principles of unity, self-sacrifice, political education, physical fitness and/or training in martial arts, resistance and spiritual renewal.
The concept, Black August, grew out of the need to expose to the light of day the glorious and heroic deeds of those Afrikan women and men who recognized and struggled against the injustices heaped upon people of color on a daily basis in America.
One cannot tell the story of Black August without first providing the reader with a brief glimpse of the “Black Movement” behind California prison walls in the ‘60s, led by George Jackson and W.L. Nolen, among others.
As Jackson wrote: “[W]hen I was accused of robbing a gas station of $70, I accepted a deal … but when time came for sentencing, they tossed me into the penitentiary with one to life. It was 1960. I was 18 years old. … I met Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, Engels and Mao when I entered prison and they redeemed me. For the first four years I studied nothing but economics and military ideas. I met Black guerrillas, George ‘Big Jake’ Lewis and James Carr, W.L. Nolen, Bill Christmas, Torry Gibson and many, many others. We attempted to transform the Black criminal mentality into a Black revolutionary mentality. As a result, each of us has been subject to years of the most vicious reactionary violence by the state. Our mortality rate is almost what you would expect to find in a history of Dachau. Three of us [Nolen, Sweet Jugs Miller and Cleve Edwards) were murdered several months ago [Jan. 13, 1969] by a pig shooting from 30 feet above their heads with a military rifle.” – “Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson”
When the brothers first demanded the killer guard be tried for murder, they were rebuffed. Upon their insistence, the administration held a kangaroo court and three days later returned a verdict of “justifiable homicide.” Shortly afterward, a white guard was found beaten to death and thrown from a tier. Six days later, three prisoners were accused of murder and became known as The Soledad Brothers.
“I am being tried in court right now with two other brothers, John Clutchette and Fleeta Drumgo, for the alleged slaying of a prison guard. This charge carries an automatic death penalty for me. I can’t get life. I already have it.”
On Aug. 7, 1970, just a few days after George was transferred to San Quentin, his younger brother Jonathan Jackson, 17, invaded Marin County Courthouse single-handed, with a satchel full of handguns, an assault rifle and a shotgun hidden under his raincoat. “Freeze,” he commanded as he tossed guns to William Christmas, James McClain and Ruchell Magee. Magee was on the witness stand testifying for McClain, on trial for assaulting a guard in the wake of a guard’s murder of another Black prisoner, Fred Billingsley, beaten and tear gassed to death.
A jailhouse lawyer, Magee had deluged the courts with petitions for seven years contesting his illegal conviction in ‘63. The courts had refused to listen, so Magee seized the hour and joined the guerrillas as they took the judge, prosecutor and three jurors hostage to a waiting van. To reporters gathering quickly outside the courthouse, Jonathan shouted, “You can take our pictures. We are the revolutionaries!”
Operating with courage and calm even their enemies had to respect, the four Black freedom fighters commandeered their hostages out of the courthouse without a hitch. The plan was to use the hostages to take over a radio station and broadcast the racist, murderous prison conditions and demand the immediate release of The Soledad Brothers. But before Jonathan could drive the van out of the parking lot, the San Quentin guards arrived and opened fire. When the shooting stopped, Jonathan, Christmas, McClain and the judge lay dead. Magee and the prosecutor were critically wounded, and one juror suffered a minor arm wound.
Magee survived his wounds and was tried originally with co-defendant Angela Davis. Their trials were later severed and Davis was eventually acquitted of all charges. Magee was convicted of simple kidnap and remains in prison to date – 46 years with no physical assaults on his record. An incredible jailhouse lawyer, Magee has been responsible for countless prisoners being released – the main reason he was kept for nearly 20 years in one lockup after another. Currently at Corcoran State Prison, he remains strong and determined to win his freedom and that of all oppressed peoples. [Ruchell was finally freed July 21, 2023, but lived only until Oct. 17, 2023, when he joined the ancestors.]
In his second book, “Blood in My Eye,” published posthumously, George Jackson noted: “Reformism is an old story in Amerika. There have been depressions and socio-economic political crises throughout the period that marked the formation of the present upper-class ruling circle and their controlling elites. But the parties of the left were too committed to reformism to exploit their revolutionary potential. … Fascism has temporarily succeeded under the guise of reform.” Those words ring even truer today as we witness a form of fascism that has replaced gas ovens with executions and torture chambers: plantations with prison industrial complexes deployed in rural white communities to perpetuate white supremacy and Black and Brown slavery.
The concentration of wealth at the top is worse than ever: One percent now owns more wealth than that of the combined 95 percent of the U.S. population; individuals are so rich their wealth exceeds the total budgets of numerous nations – as they plunder the globe in the quest for more.
“The fascist must expand to live. Consequently he has pushed his frontiers to the farthest lands and peoples. … I’m going to bust my heart trying to stop these smug, degenerate, primitive, omnivorous, uncivil – and anyone who would aid me, I embrace you.
“International capitalism cannot be destroyed without the extremes of struggle … We are the only ones … who can get at the monster’s heart without subjecting the world to nuclear fire. We have a momentous historical role to act out if we will. The whole world for all time in the future will love us and remember us as the righteous people who made it possible for the world to live on. … I don’t want to die and leave a few sad songs and a hump in the ground as my only monument. I want to leave a world that is liberated from trash, pollution, racism, nation-states, nation-state wars and armies, from pomp, bigotry, parochialism, a thousand different brands of untruth and licentious, usurious economics.” – George Jackson, “Soledad Brother”
On Aug. 21, 1971, after numerous failed attempts on his life, the state finally succeeded in assassinating George Jackson, then field marshal of the Black Panther Party, in what was described by prison officials as an escape attempt in which Jackson allegedly smuggled a gun into San Quentin in a wig. That feat was proven impossible, and evidence subsequently suggested a setup designed by prison officials to eliminate Jackson once and for all.
However, they didn’t count on losing any of their own in the process. On that fateful day, three notoriously racist prison guards and two inmate turnkeys were also killed, presumably by Jackson, who was shot and killed by guards as he drew fire away from the other prisoners in the Adjustment Center (lockup) of San Quentin.
Subsequently, six A/C prisoners were singled out and put on trial – wearing 30 pounds of chains in Marin Courthouse – for various charges of murder and assault: Fleeta Drumgo, David Johnson, Hugo L.A. Pinell (Yogi), Luis Talamantez, Johnny Spain and Willie Sundiata Tate. Only one was convicted of murder, Johnny Spain. The others were either acquitted or convicted of assault.
Pinell is the only one remaining in prison and has suffered prolonged torture in lockups since 1969. He is currently serving his 19th year in Pelican Bay’s SHU, a torture chamber if ever there was one. A true warrior, Pinell would put his life on the line to defend his fellow captives. [Only two weeks after Yogi was released to the yard after 26 years in solitary confinement, he was killed on Aug. 12, 2015, by two white prisoners.]
As decades passed, our Black scholars, like Mumia Abu-Jamal, learned of other liberation moves that happened in Black August. For example, the first and only armed revolution whereby Africans freed themselves from chattel slavery commenced in Haiti on Aug. 21, 1791. Nat Turner’s slave rebellion began on Aug. 21, 1831 (coincidence?) and Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad started in August. As Mumia stated, “Their sacrifice, their despair, their determination and their blood has painted the month black for all time.”
Let us honor our martyred freedom fighters as George Jackson counseled: “Settle your quarrels, come together, understand the reality of our situation, understand that fascism is already here, that people are dying who could be saved, that generations more will live poor butchered half-lives if you fail to act. Do what must be done; discover your humanity and your love in revolution.”
Kiilu Nyasha, Black Panther veteran, revolutionary journalist and Bay View columnist, beloved by activists worldwide, joined the ancestors on April 10, 2018. She is sorely missed.
source: SF Bayview
https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/post/2024/08/05/black-august-a-story-of-african-freedom-fighters/
#BlackAugust #blackLiberation #blackPantherParty #georgeJackson #northAmerica #us
-
This story was originally published Aug. 3, 2009. Kiilu Nyasha, legendary fighter for the freedom of political prisoners, often wrote a special tribute to other freedom fighters to commemorate Black August. She joined the ancestors in 2018 at the age of 78.
Black August is a month of great significance for Africans throughout the Diaspora, but particularly here in the U.S. where it originated. “August,” as Mumia Abu-Jamal noted, “is a month of meaning, of repression and radical resistance, of injustice and divine justice; of repression and righteous rebellion; of individual and collective efforts to free the slaves and break the chains that bind us.”
On this 30th [now 45th] anniversary of Black August, first organized to honor our fallen freedom fighters, Jonathan and George Jackson, Khatari Gaulden, James McClain, William Christmas and the sole survivor of the Aug. 7, 1970, Courthouse Slave Rebellion, Ruchell Cinque Magee, it is still a time to embrace the principles of unity, self-sacrifice, political education, physical fitness and/or training in martial arts, resistance and spiritual renewal.
The concept, Black August, grew out of the need to expose to the light of day the glorious and heroic deeds of those Afrikan women and men who recognized and struggled against the injustices heaped upon people of color on a daily basis in America.
One cannot tell the story of Black August without first providing the reader with a brief glimpse of the “Black Movement” behind California prison walls in the ‘60s, led by George Jackson and W.L. Nolen, among others.
As Jackson wrote: “[W]hen I was accused of robbing a gas station of $70, I accepted a deal … but when time came for sentencing, they tossed me into the penitentiary with one to life. It was 1960. I was 18 years old. … I met Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, Engels and Mao when I entered prison and they redeemed me. For the first four years I studied nothing but economics and military ideas. I met Black guerrillas, George ‘Big Jake’ Lewis and James Carr, W.L. Nolen, Bill Christmas, Torry Gibson and many, many others. We attempted to transform the Black criminal mentality into a Black revolutionary mentality. As a result, each of us has been subject to years of the most vicious reactionary violence by the state. Our mortality rate is almost what you would expect to find in a history of Dachau. Three of us [Nolen, Sweet Jugs Miller and Cleve Edwards) were murdered several months ago [Jan. 13, 1969] by a pig shooting from 30 feet above their heads with a military rifle.” – “Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson”
When the brothers first demanded the killer guard be tried for murder, they were rebuffed. Upon their insistence, the administration held a kangaroo court and three days later returned a verdict of “justifiable homicide.” Shortly afterward, a white guard was found beaten to death and thrown from a tier. Six days later, three prisoners were accused of murder and became known as The Soledad Brothers.
“I am being tried in court right now with two other brothers, John Clutchette and Fleeta Drumgo, for the alleged slaying of a prison guard. This charge carries an automatic death penalty for me. I can’t get life. I already have it.”
On Aug. 7, 1970, just a few days after George was transferred to San Quentin, his younger brother Jonathan Jackson, 17, invaded Marin County Courthouse single-handed, with a satchel full of handguns, an assault rifle and a shotgun hidden under his raincoat. “Freeze,” he commanded as he tossed guns to William Christmas, James McClain and Ruchell Magee. Magee was on the witness stand testifying for McClain, on trial for assaulting a guard in the wake of a guard’s murder of another Black prisoner, Fred Billingsley, beaten and tear gassed to death.
A jailhouse lawyer, Magee had deluged the courts with petitions for seven years contesting his illegal conviction in ‘63. The courts had refused to listen, so Magee seized the hour and joined the guerrillas as they took the judge, prosecutor and three jurors hostage to a waiting van. To reporters gathering quickly outside the courthouse, Jonathan shouted, “You can take our pictures. We are the revolutionaries!”
Operating with courage and calm even their enemies had to respect, the four Black freedom fighters commandeered their hostages out of the courthouse without a hitch. The plan was to use the hostages to take over a radio station and broadcast the racist, murderous prison conditions and demand the immediate release of The Soledad Brothers. But before Jonathan could drive the van out of the parking lot, the San Quentin guards arrived and opened fire. When the shooting stopped, Jonathan, Christmas, McClain and the judge lay dead. Magee and the prosecutor were critically wounded, and one juror suffered a minor arm wound.
Magee survived his wounds and was tried originally with co-defendant Angela Davis. Their trials were later severed and Davis was eventually acquitted of all charges. Magee was convicted of simple kidnap and remains in prison to date – 46 years with no physical assaults on his record. An incredible jailhouse lawyer, Magee has been responsible for countless prisoners being released – the main reason he was kept for nearly 20 years in one lockup after another. Currently at Corcoran State Prison, he remains strong and determined to win his freedom and that of all oppressed peoples. [Ruchell was finally freed July 21, 2023, but lived only until Oct. 17, 2023, when he joined the ancestors.]
In his second book, “Blood in My Eye,” published posthumously, George Jackson noted: “Reformism is an old story in Amerika. There have been depressions and socio-economic political crises throughout the period that marked the formation of the present upper-class ruling circle and their controlling elites. But the parties of the left were too committed to reformism to exploit their revolutionary potential. … Fascism has temporarily succeeded under the guise of reform.” Those words ring even truer today as we witness a form of fascism that has replaced gas ovens with executions and torture chambers: plantations with prison industrial complexes deployed in rural white communities to perpetuate white supremacy and Black and Brown slavery.
The concentration of wealth at the top is worse than ever: One percent now owns more wealth than that of the combined 95 percent of the U.S. population; individuals are so rich their wealth exceeds the total budgets of numerous nations – as they plunder the globe in the quest for more.
“The fascist must expand to live. Consequently he has pushed his frontiers to the farthest lands and peoples. … I’m going to bust my heart trying to stop these smug, degenerate, primitive, omnivorous, uncivil – and anyone who would aid me, I embrace you.
“International capitalism cannot be destroyed without the extremes of struggle … We are the only ones … who can get at the monster’s heart without subjecting the world to nuclear fire. We have a momentous historical role to act out if we will. The whole world for all time in the future will love us and remember us as the righteous people who made it possible for the world to live on. … I don’t want to die and leave a few sad songs and a hump in the ground as my only monument. I want to leave a world that is liberated from trash, pollution, racism, nation-states, nation-state wars and armies, from pomp, bigotry, parochialism, a thousand different brands of untruth and licentious, usurious economics.” – George Jackson, “Soledad Brother”
On Aug. 21, 1971, after numerous failed attempts on his life, the state finally succeeded in assassinating George Jackson, then field marshal of the Black Panther Party, in what was described by prison officials as an escape attempt in which Jackson allegedly smuggled a gun into San Quentin in a wig. That feat was proven impossible, and evidence subsequently suggested a setup designed by prison officials to eliminate Jackson once and for all.
However, they didn’t count on losing any of their own in the process. On that fateful day, three notoriously racist prison guards and two inmate turnkeys were also killed, presumably by Jackson, who was shot and killed by guards as he drew fire away from the other prisoners in the Adjustment Center (lockup) of San Quentin.
Subsequently, six A/C prisoners were singled out and put on trial – wearing 30 pounds of chains in Marin Courthouse – for various charges of murder and assault: Fleeta Drumgo, David Johnson, Hugo L.A. Pinell (Yogi), Luis Talamantez, Johnny Spain and Willie Sundiata Tate. Only one was convicted of murder, Johnny Spain. The others were either acquitted or convicted of assault.
Pinell is the only one remaining in prison and has suffered prolonged torture in lockups since 1969. He is currently serving his 19th year in Pelican Bay’s SHU, a torture chamber if ever there was one. A true warrior, Pinell would put his life on the line to defend his fellow captives. [Only two weeks after Yogi was released to the yard after 26 years in solitary confinement, he was killed on Aug. 12, 2015, by two white prisoners.]
As decades passed, our Black scholars, like Mumia Abu-Jamal, learned of other liberation moves that happened in Black August. For example, the first and only armed revolution whereby Africans freed themselves from chattel slavery commenced in Haiti on Aug. 21, 1791. Nat Turner’s slave rebellion began on Aug. 21, 1831 (coincidence?) and Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad started in August. As Mumia stated, “Their sacrifice, their despair, their determination and their blood has painted the month black for all time.”
Let us honor our martyred freedom fighters as George Jackson counseled: “Settle your quarrels, come together, understand the reality of our situation, understand that fascism is already here, that people are dying who could be saved, that generations more will live poor butchered half-lives if you fail to act. Do what must be done; discover your humanity and your love in revolution.”
Kiilu Nyasha, Black Panther veteran, revolutionary journalist and Bay View columnist, beloved by activists worldwide, joined the ancestors on April 10, 2018. She is sorely missed.
source: SF Bayview
https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/post/2024/08/05/black-august-a-story-of-african-freedom-fighters/
#BlackAugust #blackLiberation #blackPantherParty #georgeJackson #northAmerica #us
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Jailhouse Lawyers Speak: Salute! Black August!
#BlackAugust #BlackAugust2024 #burntheprisons
Via @jaillawspeakhttps://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/post/2024/08/03/jailhouse-lawyers-speak-salute-black-august/
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This is second Black August words for Sun…
The significance and important part of Black August is that those who have joined in, with what it’s commemorations are inspired by, and identify with the deep sense of commitment and sacrifices made by this specific group of brothers, (Black men) who had grown up out of the degradations of California’s racist prison system and proclaimed their humanity in extraordinary form; to the extent that they declared and took their freedom or death in furtherance of Black people’s historical struggle plus the attempted liberation of themselves and other comrades/prisoners to further the political demands being made on Amerika by Blacks across the country and inside its prison walls. Thing is, this sort of thing builds pride in our history as a people, commemorations, builds traditions which builds cultural (group) identification and awareness of common destinies. All of our COMMON DESTINIES…
We celebrate these brothers and others of our peoples who have likewise sacrificed lives and brought progress which made this month of August worthy of standards to be emulated.
TAKE A STANCE, MAKE A DIFFERENCE MEASURED BY YOUR OWN STANDARDS ACCORDING TO THE TIMES OF TODAY. WE HAVE NO TIME NOR BROTHERS AND SISTERS TO WASTE… OUR STRUGGLES CONTINUE…
The following incidents are part of the origins of Black August’s commemorations:
On August 7th, 1971 young 16 year old Jonathan Jackson stepped into one of America’s court rooms, short trench coat with guns of liberation hidden; as he approached his position he announced “all right gentlemen I’m taking over now” and took control of the court with intent to liberate prisoners of San Quentin there going to trial. They eventually took hostages of judge and jury to further demand that other San Quentin prisoners (freedom fighters) be released including Jonathan’s brother George Jackson. Jonathon died that day August 7th, under a hail of bullets (from San Quentin’s guards and other law agencies) along with other freedom fighters; William Christmas, James McClain; one survived, Ruchell Magee, [who was eventually paroled and died]; of the hostages, the judge died; a district attorney and three female jurors survived their wounds, and the highest tribute to events of that day was given by George Jackson, Jonathon’s brother in his published book “Soledad Brothers” last pages of his letter to Joan, quoted as follows
Dear Joan
WE reckon all time in the future from the day of the man child’s death.
Man-Child, Blackman Child with submachine gun in hand, he was free for a while, I guess that is more than most of us can expect. I want people to wonder at what forces created him, terrible, vindictive, cold, calm man-child, courage in one hand, the machine gun in the other, scourge of the unrighteous “an ox for the people to ride”!
Go over all the letters I’ve sent you, any reference to Georgia (their mother) being less than a perfect revolutionary’s mama must be removed. Do it now! I want no possibility of anymore misunderstanding her as i did. She didn’t cry a tear. She is, as I am, very proud. She read two things into his rage, love and loyalty…
I cant go any further, it would just be a love story about the baddest brother this world has had the privilege to meet, and it’s just not popular or safe to say I love him. Cold and Calm, “all right gentleman, I’m takin over now” Revolution…!
(note that last sentence was George quoting Jonathan’s statement to the court on August 7th.)
On August 21st, 1971 Jonathon’s brother comrade George Jackson; having a righteous love for the People and perfect hate for the enemies of the People chose August 21st’s confrontation with the guards of San Quentin’s adjustment center to exact retribution plus to fulfill his destiny of liberation/freedom or death.
The exact unfolding of events on that day is not public knowledge : what is known is after an attempted search of George returning from a visit, an unidentifiable gun emerged, source unknown but the gun became the object of confrontation between the guards and George, who gained its possession, subdued the guards then demanded that the doors of prisoners locked in the adjustment center be opened. The aftermath of that was that two avowed white racist prisoners were killed along with three guards; before George was gunned down by San Quentin’s gun tower guards as he and Larry Spain made their way out of the adjustment center towards the North double walls of San Quentin (an unlikely route for escape attempt as the prevailing claims has it). Larry Spain was also out on the path and captured. He later won freedom and release from prison.
Black August resistance and commemoration encompasses much more as other contributions will be put forward.
CANT STOP – WONT STOP
DOC
** Doc at the time of this communication in late July 2024 was housed at FBOP USP Hazelton.
Commemorating Our New Afrikan Revolutionaries:
The FLEA Days in Black August is important as we recognize and commemorate the revolutionaries who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the liberation struggle. Within the framework of Black August, there are four significant days known as FLEA days in Weusi Agosti: the 1st, 7th, 13th, and 21st. These days hold special significance as we honor our fallen.
On the first FLEA day, August 1st, 1978, we remember the assassination and medical neglect of Khatari Gaulden. His untimely death serves as a stark reminder of the injustices faced by revolutionaries and the price they pay for their unwavering commitment.
The second FLEA day, August 7th, commemorates the Marin Court Rebellion of 1970. It is a day to reflect on the lives lost, including Jonathan Jackson, James McClain, and William Christmas. Their courageous actions during the rebellion exemplify the spirit of resistance and the lengths individuals will go to challenge oppressive systems.
Moving to the third FLEA day, August 13th, we honor the memory of W.L. Nolen, Alvin Miller, and Cleveland Edwards. These individuals were assassinated by prison guards on January 13, 1970. Their lives serve as a testament to the brutal repression faced by those who dare to fight back against white supremacy and speak truth to power.
Lastly, on the fourth FLEA day, August 21st, we pay tribute to George Jackson, who was assassinated by prison guards in 1971. His unwavering dedication to the cause of liberation and his powerful writings continue to inspire generations of activists.
These FLEA days hold immense significance within the Black August observance. They remind us of the sacrifices made by our revolutionaries and serve as a call to action to continue their legacy. As we participate in Black August, we honor their memory and reaffirm our commitment to the struggle for justice, equality, and liberation.
In conclusion, the FLEA days in Weusi Agosti are an integral part of the Black August. They provide us with opportunities to reflect, commemorate, and draw inspiration from the lives of our fallen comrades. As we engage in the fasting, abstinence, educational pursuits, and symbolic gestures of Black August, let us also remember and honor our fallen during Black August Memorial- BAM. Through our collective efforts, we strive to build a world that recognizes and upholds the ideals for which they fought and sacrificed.
New Afrikan Political Prisoner,
Sundiata Jawanza
Black August mutual aid goes 100% directly towards people inside that need commissary, law books and phone time. This mutual aid will be distributed through the Jailhouse Lawyers Speak national network.
https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/post/2024/08/03/jailhouse-lawyers-speak-salute-black-august/
#BlackAugust #blackLiberation #georgeJackson #JailhouseLawyersSpeak #northAmerica #prisonStruggle
-
This is second Black August words for Sun…
The significance and important part of Black August is that those who have joined in, with what it’s commemorations are inspired by, and identify with the deep sense of commitment and sacrifices made by this specific group of brothers, (Black men) who had grown up out of the degradations of California’s racist prison system and proclaimed their humanity in extraordinary form; to the extent that they declared and took their freedom or death in furtherance of Black people’s historical struggle plus the attempted liberation of themselves and other comrades/prisoners to further the political demands being made on Amerika by Blacks across the country and inside its prison walls. Thing is, this sort of thing builds pride in our history as a people, commemorations, builds traditions which builds cultural (group) identification and awareness of common destinies. All of our COMMON DESTINIES…
We celebrate these brothers and others of our peoples who have likewise sacrificed lives and brought progress which made this month of August worthy of standards to be emulated.
TAKE A STANCE, MAKE A DIFFERENCE MEASURED BY YOUR OWN STANDARDS ACCORDING TO THE TIMES OF TODAY. WE HAVE NO TIME NOR BROTHERS AND SISTERS TO WASTE… OUR STRUGGLES CONTINUE…
The following incidents are part of the origins of Black August’s commemorations:
On August 7th, 1971 young 16 year old Jonathan Jackson stepped into one of America’s court rooms, short trench coat with guns of liberation hidden; as he approached his position he announced “all right gentlemen I’m taking over now” and took control of the court with intent to liberate prisoners of San Quentin there going to trial. They eventually took hostages of judge and jury to further demand that other San Quentin prisoners (freedom fighters) be released including Jonathan’s brother George Jackson. Jonathon died that day August 7th, under a hail of bullets (from San Quentin’s guards and other law agencies) along with other freedom fighters; William Christmas, James McClain; one survived, Ruchell Magee, [who was eventually paroled and died]; of the hostages, the judge died; a district attorney and three female jurors survived their wounds, and the highest tribute to events of that day was given by George Jackson, Jonathon’s brother in his published book “Soledad Brothers” last pages of his letter to Joan, quoted as follows
Dear Joan
WE reckon all time in the future from the day of the man child’s death.
Man-Child, Blackman Child with submachine gun in hand, he was free for a while, I guess that is more than most of us can expect. I want people to wonder at what forces created him, terrible, vindictive, cold, calm man-child, courage in one hand, the machine gun in the other, scourge of the unrighteous “an ox for the people to ride”!
Go over all the letters I’ve sent you, any reference to Georgia (their mother) being less than a perfect revolutionary’s mama must be removed. Do it now! I want no possibility of anymore misunderstanding her as i did. She didn’t cry a tear. She is, as I am, very proud. She read two things into his rage, love and loyalty…
I cant go any further, it would just be a love story about the baddest brother this world has had the privilege to meet, and it’s just not popular or safe to say I love him. Cold and Calm, “all right gentleman, I’m takin over now” Revolution…!
(note that last sentence was George quoting Jonathan’s statement to the court on August 7th.)
On August 21st, 1971 Jonathon’s brother comrade George Jackson; having a righteous love for the People and perfect hate for the enemies of the People chose August 21st’s confrontation with the guards of San Quentin’s adjustment center to exact retribution plus to fulfill his destiny of liberation/freedom or death.
The exact unfolding of events on that day is not public knowledge : what is known is after an attempted search of George returning from a visit, an unidentifiable gun emerged, source unknown but the gun became the object of confrontation between the guards and George, who gained its possession, subdued the guards then demanded that the doors of prisoners locked in the adjustment center be opened. The aftermath of that was that two avowed white racist prisoners were killed along with three guards; before George was gunned down by San Quentin’s gun tower guards as he and Larry Spain made their way out of the adjustment center towards the North double walls of San Quentin (an unlikely route for escape attempt as the prevailing claims has it). Larry Spain was also out on the path and captured. He later won freedom and release from prison.
Black August resistance and commemoration encompasses much more as other contributions will be put forward.
CANT STOP – WONT STOP
DOC
** Doc at the time of this communication in late July 2024 was housed at FBOP USP Hazelton.
Commemorating Our New Afrikan Revolutionaries:
The FLEA Days in Black August is important as we recognize and commemorate the revolutionaries who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the liberation struggle. Within the framework of Black August, there are four significant days known as FLEA days in Weusi Agosti: the 1st, 7th, 13th, and 21st. These days hold special significance as we honor our fallen.
On the first FLEA day, August 1st, 1978, we remember the assassination and medical neglect of Khatari Gaulden. His untimely death serves as a stark reminder of the injustices faced by revolutionaries and the price they pay for their unwavering commitment.
The second FLEA day, August 7th, commemorates the Marin Court Rebellion of 1970. It is a day to reflect on the lives lost, including Jonathan Jackson, James McClain, and William Christmas. Their courageous actions during the rebellion exemplify the spirit of resistance and the lengths individuals will go to challenge oppressive systems.
Moving to the third FLEA day, August 13th, we honor the memory of W.L. Nolen, Alvin Miller, and Cleveland Edwards. These individuals were assassinated by prison guards on January 13, 1970. Their lives serve as a testament to the brutal repression faced by those who dare to fight back against white supremacy and speak truth to power.
Lastly, on the fourth FLEA day, August 21st, we pay tribute to George Jackson, who was assassinated by prison guards in 1971. His unwavering dedication to the cause of liberation and his powerful writings continue to inspire generations of activists.
These FLEA days hold immense significance within the Black August observance. They remind us of the sacrifices made by our revolutionaries and serve as a call to action to continue their legacy. As we participate in Black August, we honor their memory and reaffirm our commitment to the struggle for justice, equality, and liberation.
In conclusion, the FLEA days in Weusi Agosti are an integral part of the Black August. They provide us with opportunities to reflect, commemorate, and draw inspiration from the lives of our fallen comrades. As we engage in the fasting, abstinence, educational pursuits, and symbolic gestures of Black August, let us also remember and honor our fallen during Black August Memorial- BAM. Through our collective efforts, we strive to build a world that recognizes and upholds the ideals for which they fought and sacrificed.
New Afrikan Political Prisoner,
Sundiata Jawanza
Black August mutual aid goes 100% directly towards people inside that need commissary, law books and phone time. This mutual aid will be distributed through the Jailhouse Lawyers Speak national network.
https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/post/2024/08/03/jailhouse-lawyers-speak-salute-black-august/
#BlackAugust #blackLiberation #georgeJackson #JailhouseLawyersSpeak #northAmerica #prisonStruggle
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During #BlackAugust it is important to remember the individuals who fought tirelessly to better the lives of Black people. This next #CORESpotlight does just that. Danica Savonick reflects on bell hooks's radical pedagogy and legacy here: https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:43617/.
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Kicking off our first #BlackAugust #CORESpotlight is an article by @dmw highlighting the work of historic freedom fighters like the Black Panthers: https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:39999/
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August #CORESpotlight incoming 📨. This month, we'll be highlighting works for #BlackAugust as well as we're showcasing works for our take on #Arrgust or International Pirate's Month by focusing on works that discuss pirate-cy aka piracy. Stay tuned, matey!
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https://archive.org/details/cinque-pamphlet
"The Real Charge is Slave Rebellion". - Ruchell Magee, "Cinque": An SDS Pamphlet by Ruchell "Cinque" Magee; Students for a Democratic Society
Topics
#SDS, #showtrials, #trials, #slaverebellion, #August7thMarinCountyCourthouseRebellion, #BlackAugust, #MarinCountyCourthouseRebellion, #August7, #August7th, #prisonrebellion, #prisoneractivism, #politicalprisoner, #politicalprisoners, #antiblackness, #unitedstatesofamerikaA 1972 SDS pamphlet released sometime before November 27 (when Cinque's trial was set to begin) of that year.
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https://archive.org/details/cinque-pamphlet
"The Real Charge is Slave Rebellion". - Ruchell Magee, "Cinque": An SDS Pamphlet by Ruchell "Cinque" Magee; Students for a Democratic Society
Topics
#SDS, #showtrials, #trials, #slaverebellion, #August7thMarinCountyCourthouseRebellion, #BlackAugust, #MarinCountyCourthouseRebellion, #August7, #August7th, #prisonrebellion, #prisoneractivism, #politicalprisoner, #politicalprisoners, #antiblackness, #unitedstatesofamerikaA 1972 SDS pamphlet released sometime before November 27 (when Cinque's trial was set to begin) of that year.
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https://archive.org/details/cinque-pamphlet
"The Real Charge is Slave Rebellion". - Ruchell Magee, "Cinque": An SDS Pamphlet by Ruchell "Cinque" Magee; Students for a Democratic Society
Topics
#SDS, #showtrials, #trials, #slaverebellion, #August7thMarinCountyCourthouseRebellion, #BlackAugust, #MarinCountyCourthouseRebellion, #August7, #August7th, #prisonrebellion, #prisoneractivism, #politicalprisoner, #politicalprisoners, #antiblackness, #unitedstatesofamerikaA 1972 SDS pamphlet released sometime before November 27 (when Cinque's trial was set to begin) of that year.
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https://archive.org/details/cinque-pamphlet
"The Real Charge is Slave Rebellion". - Ruchell Magee, "Cinque": An SDS Pamphlet by Ruchell "Cinque" Magee; Students for a Democratic Society
Topics
#SDS, #showtrials, #trials, #slaverebellion, #August7thMarinCountyCourthouseRebellion, #BlackAugust, #MarinCountyCourthouseRebellion, #August7, #August7th, #prisonrebellion, #prisoneractivism, #politicalprisoner, #politicalprisoners, #antiblackness, #unitedstatesofamerikaA 1972 SDS pamphlet released sometime before November 27 (when Cinque's trial was set to begin) of that year.
-
https://archive.org/details/cinque-pamphlet
"The Real Charge is Slave Rebellion". - Ruchell Magee, "Cinque": An SDS Pamphlet by Ruchell "Cinque" Magee; Students for a Democratic Society
Topics
#SDS, #showtrials, #trials, #slaverebellion, #August7thMarinCountyCourthouseRebellion, #BlackAugust, #MarinCountyCourthouseRebellion, #August7, #August7th, #prisonrebellion, #prisoneractivism, #politicalprisoner, #politicalprisoners, #antiblackness, #unitedstatesofamerikaA 1972 SDS pamphlet released sometime before November 27 (when Cinque's trial was set to begin) of that year.