NEWS INTERNATIONAL

My Son the Fanatic

"In the end the Negro will be the terrorist."--Amiri Baraka


see review in

Film section

More details emerged about contacts between Mr. Abdulmutallab’s father and the American Embassy in Nigeria. In October, presumably while in Yemen, Mr. Abdulmutallab spoke by telephone with his father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, a prominent retired banker. His father was so alarmed by his son’s radical talk that he contacted Nigerian officials, who advised him to contact the United States Embassy. Mr. Mutallab visited the embassy on Nov. 19 and told officials his son had been radicalized, was missing and might be in Yemen, said a State Department spokesman, P. J. Crowley. Mr. Crowley said that Mr. Mutallab did not say he believed his son planned to attack Americans, but that he expressed general concern about his radical views.The information was taken seriously, Mr. Crowley said, but was judged insufficient to warrant revoking Mr. Abdulmutallab’s visa, although his file was flagged for investigation if he reapplied. Embassy officials representing several security agencies discussed the information on Nov. 20 and sent a cable to Washington. His name was added to a database of 550,000 names with suspicion of terrorism ties, but it did not go onto the 4,000-person no-fly list.

For an understanding of the father/son relationship in the era of the Islamic revolution against imperialism/globalism, check out the review of the movie My Son the fanatic in the film review section. How much distance is there between sand-nigguhs and the real nigguhs?--Marvin X

To: U.S. Citizens

WE STAND WITH CUBA

DECLARATION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ACTIVISTS, INTELLECTUALS AND ARTISTS

IN CONTINUED SOLIDARITY WITH THE CUBAN REVOLUTION

http://www.petitiononline.com/withcuba/petition.html

For endorsement and inquiries just e-mail: blackeducator@africamail.com

We, the undersigned, express our continuing solidarity with the CubanRevolution.Cuban expatriate Carlos Moore and the other signers of the December 1, 2009ACTING ON OUR CONSCIENCE: DECLARATION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN SUPPORT FOR THECIVIL RIGHTS STRUGGLE IN CUBA do not speak for or represent the vastmajority of Black radicals/progressives, nor the sentiment of the masses ofAfrican Americans in the United States. This December 1st Declarationironically makes no mention of the 50 year US blockade against Cuba, and howit seeks to derail the progress made by Cuba thus far toward eradicating theracism created by its former colonizers - Spain and the United States.We are disappointed that the signers of the Declaration, many whom have madeimportant contributions to the African American struggles against racism andfor democracy, connected their charge of racism to the claims of Dr. DarsiFerrer Ramirez and Carlos Moore, two known opponents of Cuba's revolutionarysystem. Apparently, like many opportunists both Carlos Moore and Dr. DarsiFerrer Ramirez, who resides in Cuba, saw the opportunity to solicit supportfor their position from this select group of high profile and "credible"sectors of the African American community. This action is divisive andmisguided.We, the undersigned, believe that the Carlos Moore originated petition isdesigned to create a wedge in the African American support base for Cuba.Moore's petition is also an attempt to dismiss Cuba as a modern example ofhow socialism is a practical system that ensures an equitable distributionof its resources for ALL Cubans.For more than forty years, Carlos Moore has opportunistically roamed theglobe spreading lies and slander about Cuba. Like Moore, Dr. Darsi Ferrer,who ran into trouble when he attempted to set up a medical clinic outsidethe state run medical system, has also sought to use race to undermine thegains, institutions and anti-racist direction brought about by the CubanRevolution. In 2006, Dr. Ferrer went to the US interest-section and wasgiven a US-monitored email account (i.e. access to a CIA manipulatedportal). Dr. Ferrer's reactionary blog along with links to reactionarywebsites such as Capital Hill Cubans, Blog for Cuba and killcastro.com canbe found at http://blogacionpordarsiferrer.blogspot.com/ .Moore, and the signers of the Declaration, ignore the decades-long strugglewaged by the Cuban government against all forms of racism. This includesignoring/denying Cuba's internationalist support of African, Caribbean andAfrican American liberation struggles. Moreover, Moore and his followersignore the historical and present-day fact that Afro Cubans have not been amere passive force, but have been and are central in the struggles to makeand advance the Cuban Revolution.This attack on Cuba is an attack on a country that stood fast to itsdemocratic, socialist, anti-racist and internationalist principles despitethe great pressures from US and world imperialism, which has forced othercountries to abandon these positions.It is clearly no coincidence that this attack on Cuba, comes at a time whenso many throughout the US and internationally are being victimized by thepolicies and crises of capitalism and are seeing responses in Cuba and othercountries throughout Latin America that seek to address the needs of themasses of people and not the banks and ruling classes as is being done inthe US.This attack on Cuba is an attack on efforts to forge Black and Brown workingclass unity as the cornerstone of the democratic and socialist revolutionsdeveloping throughout Latin America. It also furthers the US efforts todivide African Americans and Latinos as the major growing challenge tooppressive US domestic and foreign policies.For five hundred years prior to the Cuban Revolution, racism was the norm inCuban society. To expect that it would completely disappear even in fiftyyears is a pipe dream.Indeed, as Fidel Castro, noted in 2003 in a dialogue in Havana with Cubanand foreign teachers:"Even in societies like Cuba, that arose from a radical social revolutionwhere the people had reached full and total legal equality and a level ofrevolutionary education that threw down the subjective component ofdiscrimination, it still exists in another form."Fidel, as noted in the December 2, 2009 "Message From Cuba To Afro-AmericanIntellectuals and Artists," described this as objective discrimination, aphenomenon associated with poverty and a historical monopoly on knowledge.The criticisms about the presence of racism in Cuba are being addressedwithin the framework of the Cuban Government and civil society. There is andhas been fierce debates and policy changes INSIDE these structures when itcomes to eradicating 500 years of racism in Cuba.Cuba's policies against any form of discrimination and in favor of equalityare grounded in the Cuban Constitution. According to Afro Cubans:"As never before in the history of our nation, black and mestizo Cubans havefound opportunities for social and personal development in transformativeprocesses that have been ongoing for the past half a century. Theseopportunities are conveyed through policies and programs that made possiblethe initiation of what Cuban Anthropologist Don Fernando Ortiz, called thenon- deferrable integration phase of Cuban society." (Message from Cuba toAfrican American Intellectuals and Artists, 12/2/09)The people of Cuba, in electing their representatives to the NationalAssembly, have chosen a very diverse group, including dozens of Black Cubansprominently working in many key roles. Indeed, the National Assembly of Cubais so racially diverse that if Cuba was "suffering" from racism, how didthese brothers and sisters get elected? Unlike when the Congressional BlackCaucus was formed in 1970, this effort came out of the necessity here in theUnited States to continually defend the hard won Civil liberties and therights to equal opportunities waged for centuries by African Americans.Unlike the signers of the December 1, 2009 Declaration, we have notforgotten that in the struggles against colonialism and apartheid, whenAfrica called, Cuba answered. Unlike otherfriends of Africa, Cuba provided assistance to the people of SouthernAfrica, without brokering one deal for access to resources or anything else.Cuba‘s solidarity with the people of Southern Africa in the 1987/88 Battleof Cuito Cuanavale in Angola was the decisive turning point in the defeat ofapartheid. We remember and applaud Cuba's provision of teachers,technicians, doctors and other medical personnel along with free medicaltraining to the young people of Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa andAsia. During the past forty years, more than 35,000 African youth have beentrained free of charge while studying in Cuban medical and technical schools as well as universities.

We the undersigned believe that the true callous disregard for the rights of citizens is taking place here in the United States, with Hurricane Katrinabeing the most glaring proof. In contrast Cuba was among the first countriesto offer human and material aid during this crisis in 2005, aid that was inturn rejected by the U.S. government. The U.S. Government continues to spendbillions of dollars on war abroad while neglecting African Americans and thepoor who are generally subjected to substandard health care and education,the lack of decent and affordable housing, urban street violence and policebrutality, crippling unemployment and jobs that people need to livedecently.Cuba is the ONLY country in the world to provide free medical training toUnited States students wishing to become doctors; providing fullscholarships that include tuition, room, board and ALL incidentals. Many ofthese students are African Americans whose dreams of becoming doctors inorder to serve their communities would never have been realized.We the undersigned call on African Americans to stand up in support of theCuban Revolution and call on the U.S. Government to end its blockade on theCuban people. We also call for African Americans to build a united front inthe United States that addresses the ongoing historical callous disregardfor the rights of African Americans and all people who are subjected togross negligence in America.We call on the signers of Carlos Moore's Declaration to withdraw their namesas an act of solidarity with the Cuban Revolution and recognition of thevaliant and consistent efforts by Cuba to eradicate racism.In closing we reaffirm our respect for the Cuban people's right toself-determination and sovereignty.

We the undersigned STAND WITH CUBA!Long Live The Cuban Revolution!Abayomi Azikiwe, DetroitEditor, Pan-African News Wire

S. E. Anderson- Brooklyn, NYActivist/Educator/ Black Left Unity Network*

Kazembe Balagun, New York, NYWriter/activist/ Outreach Coordinator -Brecht Forum

blackmanwithalibrar y.com

Amina & Amiri Baraka, Newark, NJActivists/Writers/ Educators

The Rev. Luis Barrios, PhD, New York, NY

Afro-Boricua- Human Rights Activist, Priest & Professor

Department of Latin American Studies

John Jay College of Criminal Justice- City University of New York

Judy Bourne, JD, US Virgin Islands Activist Attorney

Jean Damu, San Francisco, CA
Journalist Lena Delgado de Torres, Binghamton, NY
Doctoral Candidate, Sociology Department
Binghamton UniversityJ


James Early, Washington, DC

Board Member of TransAfrica, Institute for Policy Studies and US-CubaCultural Exchange and Director of Cultural Heritage Policy at the Center forFolklife and Cultural Heritage at the Smithsonian Institution

Herman and Iyaluua Ferguson- North Carolina/New YorkActivists/Educators /Malcolm X Commemoration Committee

Franklin Flores, New York, NYArtist/Activist, Casa De Las Americas NYC

Joan P. Gibbs, Esq.- Brooklyn, NYNational Conference of Black Lawyers

Gerald Horne, JD, PhD- Austin, TXActivist/Historian/ Author

Basir Mchawi, Bronx, NYChair of the International African Arts Festival

Rosemari Mealy, JD, PhD- Brooklyn, NYEducator/Activist/ Author of Fidel and Malcolm X: Memories of a Meeting

Saladin Muhammad- Rocky Mount, NCBlack Workers For Justice

Tony Menelik Van Der Meer- Boston, MA

Activist/Educator • Africana Studies Department
University of Massachusetts Boston

Norman Richmond, Toronto, Canada
Activist/Radio Journalist


Prof. Harold Rogers, Chicago, Il
Chair, Emeritus, African American Studies Dept
City Colleges of Chicago


Aishah D. Sales, Adjunct Professor, Peekskill, NY
Dept. of Mathematics Westchester Community College (SUNY)

William W. Sales, Jr., PhD.- Peekskill, NY
Associate Professor Africana Studies Department Seton Hall University

Brenda Stokely, Brooklyn, NY
Million Worker March Movement, Labor/Community and Anti-war Activists


Tim Thomas, Oakland, CA
Community Building Program ManagerHabitat for Humanity East Bay


Willie Thompson, San Francisco, CA
Professor of Sociology, Emeritus, City College of San Francisco


Askia Toure, Boston, MA Activist/Poet
Tontongi, Boston, MA


Editor of the Review Tanbou, Boston, Massachusetts


Roy Walker- Chicago, IL
Advocate of Philosophical Consciencism

Michael Tarif Warren, Brooklyn, New York

Activist AttorneyHank Williams- New York City

Freedom Road Socialist Org/OSCL and CUNY Graduate Center

Marvin X, editor/publisher Black Bird Press