The
next Black Arts Movement Business District Town Hall is scheduled for
Sunday, June 12/2016, 3-5pm at East Side Arts Alliance, 23rd and International Blvd, Oakland.
Table of Contents
1. Summary of BAMBD Town Hall Meeting, 5/13, Aries Jordan
2. Touchstones to stand on, Dr. Ayodele Nzinga
3. Letter from City Council President, Lynette McElhaney
4. Letter of invitation for Cultural Keepers meeting, Alessia Brisbin
5. BAMBD Notes, Marvin X
6. Reply to Marvin X, Eric Arnold
7. Business Improvement District BID, Denise Pate
8. Africa Town, Zahieb Mwongozi
9. Black Bourgeoisie Art and Opportunism, Marvin X
10. Talks at Yenan Forum on Art and Literature, Mao Tse-Tung
11. BAMBD Tour, Ashley Chambers and Paul Cobb
12. Call for Papers: Black Arts Movement South Celebration, Dillard University, Kim McMillon
Touchstones to be considered as umbrellas to build under
Table of Contents
1. Summary of BAMBD Town Hall Meeting, 5/13, Aries Jordan
2. Touchstones to stand on, Dr. Ayodele Nzinga
3. Letter from City Council President, Lynette McElhaney
4. Letter of invitation for Cultural Keepers meeting, Alessia Brisbin
5. BAMBD Notes, Marvin X
6. Reply to Marvin X, Eric Arnold
7. Business Improvement District BID, Denise Pate
8. Africa Town, Zahieb Mwongozi
9. Black Bourgeoisie Art and Opportunism, Marvin X
10. Talks at Yenan Forum on Art and Literature, Mao Tse-Tung
11. BAMBD Tour, Ashley Chambers and Paul Cobb
12. Call for Papers: Black Arts Movement South Celebration, Dillard University, Kim McMillon
BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT BUSINESS DISTRICT
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
BAMBD Town Hall, Sunday, June 12, 3-6pm, Eastside Arts
San Francisco Juneteenth Festival, Saturday, June 18
Berkeley Juneteenth Festival, Sunday, June 19
West Oakland Juneteenth, June 25, San Pablo and Brockhurst
25th Oakland Black Expo, Saturday, July 23, Frank Ogawa/Oscar Grant Plaza
City of Oakland Cultural Keepers, Tuesday, July 26, 6-8pm, Oak Center Cultural Center, 14th and Adeline
Black Arts Movement Theatre Festival, Sept, Flight Deck Theatre, Broadway
Donald Lacy's play Color Struck, Laney College Theatre, Sept.
Black Arts Movement South 51st Celebration, Dillard University, New Orleans LA
September 9-11, 2016
Summary:Black Arts Movement Business District
Town Hall Meeting, May 13, 2016
Aries Jordan, poet, BAM baby 2.0
by Aries Jordan
On
Friday, May 13, Black artists, cultural workers and business owners
gathered at the Eastside Arts Alliance for the Black Art Movement
Business District Town Hall
Meeting.. The organizations represented included Kiss My Black Arts
Collective, Cal Shakespeare, BAOBOB - Bay Area Organization of Black
Owned Businesses,Betty Ono Gallery Lower Bottom Playaz, Joyce Gordon
Gallery, Reginas Door, 8 Ft Tall, Support Malonga Coalition, Cat Brooks
of Anti Police-Terror Project, 57th Street Collective and Uptown Makers
Collective. Also present was various Black Culture workers and Artist.
The five pillars of B.A.M.B.D were introduced and expanded upon by participants:
Housing
Commerce
Equity for artists and cultural workers
Proliferation and dissemination of intellectual capital
Increased access to services
Commerce
Equity for artists and cultural workers
Proliferation and dissemination of intellectual capital
Increased access to services
There
was a great deal of excitement about partaking in the building of a
community driven Black Cultural Zone and Black Arts Movement Business
District. A plethora of ideas were generated under the five pillars to
benefit the marginalized ethnic communities and Oakland at large.
Community members engaged in productive exchange about what is necessary
in building a cultural district and what skills they are willing to
contribute.
Several
key people have been identified who have the necessary skills to
implement the next steps of Black Arts Movement Business District.
Community members voiced concern about city officials and individuals
making proprietary decisions about the Black Arts Movement District
without community input.
Recently,
a couple of banners were put up in the heart of the district (14th and
Franklin Streets) featuring photos of local Black Artist stating “ I
love craft” with no mention of the Black Arts Movement Business
District.
In
prior meetings the Red, Black and Green flag was requested as the
primary banner along with arts and craft vendors in the corridor to
inspire entrepreneurship.Other concerns were projects and developments
approved prior to the establishment of district that does not
incorporate community benefits.
One
project in the BAMBD is the parking lot at 14th and Alice. According to
Eric Arnold, "The lot on 14th and Alice has been scheduled on the
Planning Commission calendar for June 1, and requested letters of
support for community benefits, BAMBD, and the Malonga Center to be
submitted to the Commission prior to the meeting. There was a community
meeting about this project a few months ago (which was covered in the
East Bay Express --- the article is here http://www.eastbayexpress.com/…/plans-unveiled-for-384-new-…
The
town hall concluded with participants pledging to synthesize efforts to
fight displacement and write letters of support for the Black Arts
Movement District. Letters of support can be sent to BAMBDistrict@gmail.com. The next BAMBD Town Hall Meeting is scheduled for Sunday, June 12, 3-6pm at Eastside Arts Alliance, located at 23rd and International, Oakland.
Helpful links to lear more about B.A.M.B.D
B.A.M.B.Historical sites within B.A.M.B.D corridor 14th street:
Post Article: legislation:https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/350bayarea/pages/2409/attachments/original/1452281545/01-06-16_Oakland_Post.pdf?1452281545Oakland
East Bay Express:
Black Bird Press:
Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, Co-founder of the Black Arts Movement Business District
Dr. Ayodele Nzinga and the 5/13 Town Hall Meeting
The
next Black Arts Movement Business District Town Hall is scheduled for
Sunday, June 12/2016, 3-5pm at East Side Arts Alliance.
Housing
Anti-Displacement
Preservation
Additional space
Land Trust
Below Market Rate Art and Live space
City Owned Property (SRO’s and other)
Engagement with ongoing Development -- Built into future housing.
Rent Moratorium on Black Cultural Spaces/ Addition to Land Trust
Commerce
Creation and support of events unique to area’s intention and cultural designation.
Micro-lending to support entrepreneurial endeavors
Sidewalk vending
Market Days
City
partner business installed in open venues owned by city where the city
contribution is the space at a steeply discounted rate
(i.e., $100.00 for a 66-year lease.)
Create tourism targeted events
Public performances in public spaces
Pop-up Art in public spaces
Plaza performances/ public installations of live art
Equitable Public Support of Artist and Cultural Workers
Actively
engage in an analysis of Oakland’s cultural funding suggest and lobby
for reforms and or enhancements as deemed necessary.
Resolve
issues of funding equity and equality in opportunity recognizing
systemic barriers such as annual budget, and the number of
volunteers etc.
Connect to cultural corridor funding and all possible funding -- leave nothing on the table
Development of Intellectual Capital
Museum - Community Access
Library
Research Centers
Archives
Historical Activity
Out of School Education & Civic Engagement
Publish, Present, Catalogue, Archive, Disseminate, Exhibit
Increase Access to Services
Mental health
Tutors
Mentorships
Internships
Substance abuse
Financial guidance
business /Entrepreneur incubator
Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, Ph. D.
Executive Producing Director,
The Lower Bottom Playaz, Inc
Season17. Ubuntu
Collected Acts 8/2016 & Mama at
Twilight: Death by Love 1/2017
Keep Up!
www.ayodelenzinga.com
Writers: Join the National Writers Union
|
Alone We are Talented. Together We are Powerful.
Visit NWU.org
We've
added new benefits for members, including new tools to help you
publicize your work. Our advocacy is just as strong as ever. Plus, we
now have one-click access to gift memberships
so you can gift a future journalism school graduate or freelance writer
with the most valuable gift he or she could ever get. Or consider just donating to NWU.
That's why we're reaching out to you, a past member of NWU.
Rejoin the NWU and get tools to build your career and build a movement of writers, freelancers, and journalists.
Renew your membership to NWU and:
- Get FREE advice on your publishing contract from trained contract advisors who know the pitfalls and the ins and outs of getting the best publishing deal
- Get FREE grievance assistance to deal with deadbeat publishers
- Access group dental and vision insurance rates
- GET a press pass: we’re the only group offering the International Federation of Journalists press pass to freelancers in the United States
- Showcase your writing services on our talent database, Find a Union Writer
- Submit articles to our website and publicize your work
Any writer can join NWU, even if you don’t have a byline, are a student, or just write as part of your normal job.
Visit NWU.org and learn about how to join or support, join, or give the gift of membership to a writer you care about.
If you itemize your taxes, dues may be tax deductable. Dues calculated on a sliding scale based on writing income.
Hello all:
Thank you for the
communication. The City has not established the governing board for the
Black Arts Movement and Business District pursuant to the resolution
that named the District. The City Administrator and City Attorney are
preparing a report to come back to the Council with legal options and
alternatives. My staff and others in the administration have also begun
to explore grants and philanthropy to support the effort.
In the meanwhile, we recognize
that the Black Arts Movement artists and others continue to hold
independent community meetings to discuss/brainstorm/plan ideas and
independent actions in support of the District.
As soon as the Administration
completes its report, my office will reconvene the Black Culture Keepers
meetings that we hosted as part of the community outreach leading up to
the adoption of the Resolution. I am hoping to reconnect
no later than July.
Thanks much, Lynette
Alessia Brisbin on upcoming Culture Keepers Meeting, Tuesday, July 26, 6-8pm, Oakland Center Cultural Center, 14th and Adeline
BAMBD co-founder Marvin X and Lynette McElhaney, President, Oakland City Council
photo Adam Turner
Alessia Brisbin on upcoming Culture Keepers Meeting, Tuesday, July 26, 6-8pm, Oakland Center Cultural Center, 14th and Adeline
Good Evening,
Please save the date for the next Culture Keepers meeting to be held at the Oak Center Cultural Center on Tuesday, July 26th from 6:00pm-8:00pm.
The Council President would like to take this
opportunity to follow-up from the last meeting and identify next steps
for the businesses and artists in the corridor.
I will send out a calendar invitation shortly, please confirm your attendance at your earliest convenience.
If you have any questions at all please feel free to either call or email me.
Thank you for your support.
Best,
Alessia Brisbin
Assistant to Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney
| ||||
| ||||
Sunday, May 22, 2016
We
cannot engage in this BMBD project without thinking and planning long
term, i.e., for the next 25 to 50 years. I have indicated in my remarks
on the Harlem Black Repertory Theatre: how and why it was de-funded by
the US government once they saw the radical agenda in the music, plays
and poetry, not to mention the internal flaws that included violence
(BAM philosopher Larry Neal was shot by psychopathic artists). The death
of Baraka’s Harlem project forced him from Harlem back to his native
Newark. While in Newark he reconstructed the BART into a cultural center
called Spirit House. But Spirit House soon transcended art and culture
into
the political realm, e.g., a group was formed called The Committee for
Unified Newark, if I’m correct. It worked to build housing, economic
projects and political engagement.
As
I think about BAMBD and how it can endure for the next 25 to 50 years,
it seems to me BAMBD must extend into the political realm. Otherwise, we
will be at the whim of reactionary politicians and the black
bourgeoisie culture police mortally afraid of “the Movement” and “black
power” among other psycholinguistic items in their world of make
believe.
When
Baraka and his associates entered Newark politics (of course Amiri
Baraka also organized on the national level, e.g., the Congress of
African People brought ten thousand people to Gary, Indiana, 1972 for a
convention) and eventually got the first
black mayor elected, Kenneth Gibson, they immediately discovered
they had supported a Trojan house. Baraka told me Gibson had sold out
before inauguration day to Newark’s massa Prudential Insurance. So even
if and when we enter local politics, we must be ever on the alert not to
waste precious time and energy on rats. Baraka continued supporting the
black mayors and every one of them was corrupt and did time in jail
and/or prison. Finally, his son Ras Baraka, won the mayorship and is
doing a job worthy of praise, according to the New York Times and his
mother, Amina Baraka, with whom we are in communication with as per
lessons BAMBD can learn about art and politics, especially since Newark
is a city much like Newark although we doubt Newark is facing the level
of gentrification in Oakland.
BAMBD
must consider entering the political arena, electing people to the
planning committee, city council, including the mayor’s office. It is
not enough to be solely “artists” and cultural workers willing to accept
mini grants from the City. I cannot stress enough BAMBD must be an
independent entity. We should therefore keep our ties to city hall to a
minimum because we cannot assume a positive relationship will not change to negative
with the political winds, especially if we don’t have people in
positions of political power.
As per Oakland, OCCUR is an example of
what I’m describing. OCCUR, a non-profit organization founded by Paul
Cobb, later directed by David Glover (RIP). Under
city funding for years, OCCUR is now being de-funded by the city and
will probably dissolve as an organization. For sure, after decades as a
non-profit organization, OCCUR should be self-sustainable by now rather
than facing dissolution due to non-funding by the City of Oakland.
FYI, we recently heard Black theatre groups in New York City have been de-funded.
BAMBD must be wise enough to think ahead about all possible pitfalls, from internal flaws to external events and other factors but especially such stinking thinking as getting tied to the umbilical cord of Oakland politricks for an ephemeral ride to nowhere. Think of a billion dollar trust fund, independent and for community benefit, not controlled by city government or individuals.
—Marvin X
Eric Arnold
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
BAMBD must consider entering the political arena,
electing people to the planning committee, city council, including the
mayor’s office. It is not enough to be solely “artists” and cultural
workers willing to accept mini grants from the City. I cannot stress
enough BAMBD must be an independent entity. We should therefore keep our ties to city hall to a minimum
because we cannot assume a positive relationship will not change to
negative with the political winds, especially if we don’t have people in
positions of political power.--MARVIN X
I
agree that BAMBD should be a factor in politics and policy. However,
what you are suggesting entails developing a greater, not lesser,
relationship with City Hall. The tricky part is maintaining a degree of
autonomy, since the reality is that we need City Hall, and we have to
show them that they need us.
My
counsel is not to take an overly-antagonistic stance toward the powers
that be, but rather work to become ubiquitous to the process of
determining Oakland's future. That means developing a policy platform
which is as realistic and pragmatic as it is ambitious and visionary.
Romanticizing grassroots efforts may result in failure to cultivate the
type of major economic investment which is necessary for BAMBD to be a
success. BAMBD should be a $20, $50, $100 million initiative worhty of
investment by philanthropic and corporate entities. Not to say that
grassroots efforts aren't important, but the game being played now is
not for small marbles.
The
most obvious thing is that 5 Council seats are up for re-election in
2016. The election is jsut a few months away. We should be thinking
about how to leverage this to further our platform. Also, Planning
Commission seats are not elected, but rather appointed.
Our
immediate next-step actions should be establishing a Steering Committee
and subcommittees, and generating implementable recommendations, as
well as collecting data which makes the case for economic investment as
part of a cultural retention strategy. This includes mapping cultural
assets as well as economic assets withing the footprint, and negotiating
for cultural benefits with any new developments within the footprint.
BAMBD
needs a Business Improvement District (BID) association. That’s who
paid for the banners that are in Uptown- The Uptown-Lake Merritt
Business Association.
These BID associations are also nonprofit arms that an apply for grants
and other subsidies. It makes it easier to raise funds. The California
Arts Council’s Business District initiative has NO FUNDS attached to it
right now. There is no commitment for funds,
so we have to find other means to raise money. There are granting
agencies that give funds to BIDs.
Denise Pate
Cultural Funding Program, Coordinator
Cultural Arts & Marketing, Department of Economic and Workforce Development
City of Oakland
1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, 9th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
510-238-7561 office
510-238-6341 office
dpate@oaklandnet.com
You may have noticed three recent occurrences that have me thinking about an idea and strategy I had 20 years ago that Black people in Oakland are still struggling to bring to fruition.
Mao on Petty-bourgeois ideas
Among the proletariat many retain petty-bourgeois ideas, while both the peasants and the urban petty bourgeoisie have backward ideas; these are burdens hampering them in their struggle. We should be patient and spend a long time in educating them and helping them to get these loads off their backs and combat their own shortcomings and errors, so that they can advance with great strides. They have remoulded themselves in struggle or are doing so, and our literature and art should depict this process. As long as they do not persist in their errors, we should not dwell on their negative side and consequently make the mistake of ridiculing them or, worse still, of being hostile to them. Our writings should help them to unite, to make progress, to press ahead with one heart and one mind, to discard what is backward and develop what is revolutionary, and should certainly not do the opposite.
The Problem of Audience
I began life as a student and at school acquired the ways of a student; I then used to feel it undignified to do even a little manual labour, such as carrying my own luggage in the presence of my fellow students, who were incapable of carrying anything, either on their shoulders or in their hands. At that time I felt that intellectuals were the only clean people in the world, while in comparison workers and peasants were dirty. I did not mind wearing the clothes of other intellectuals, believing them clean, but I would not put on clothes belonging to a worker or peasant, believing them dirty. But after I became a revolutionary and lived with workers and peasants and with soldiers of the revolutionary army, I gradually came to know them well, and they gradually came to know me well too. It was then, and only then, that I fundamentally changed the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois feelings implanted in me in the bourgeois schools. I came to feel that compared with the workers and peasants the unremoulded intellectuals were not clean and that, in the last analysis, the workers and peasants were the cleanest people and, even though their hands were soiled and their feet smeared with cow-dung, they were really cleaner than the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois intellectuals. That is what is meant by a change in feelings, a change from one class to another. If our writers and artists who come from the intelligentsia want their works to be well received by the masses, they must change and remould their thinking and their feelings. Without such a change, without such remoulding, they can do nothing well and will be misfits.
.jpg)
Many comrades concern themselves with studying the petty-bourgeois intellectuals and analysing their psychology, and they concentrate on portraying these intellectuals and excusing or defending their shortcomings, instead of guiding the intellectuals to join with them in getting closer to the masses of workers, peasants and soldiers, taking part in the practical struggles of the masses, portraying and educating the masses. Coming from the petty bourgeoisie and being themselves intellectuals, many comrades seek friends only among intellectuals and concentrate on studying and describing them. Such study and description are proper if done from a proletarian position. But that is not what they do, or not what they do fully. They take the petty-bourgeois stand and produce works that are the self-expression of the petty bourgeoisie, as can be seen in quite a number of literary and artistic products. Often they show heartfelt sympathy for intellectuals of petty-bourgeois origin, to the extent of sympathizing with or even praising their shortcomings. On the other hand, these comrades seldom come into contact with the masses of workers, peasants and soldiers, do not understand or study them, do not have intimate friends among them and are not good at portraying them; when they do depict them, the clothes are the clothes of working people but the faces are those of petty-bourgeois intellectuals. In certain respects they are fond of the workers, peasants and soldiers and the cadres stemming from them; but there are times when they do not like them and there are some respects in which they do not like them: they do not like their feelings or their manner or their nascent literature and art (the wall newspapers, murals, folk songs, folk tales, etc.).
Nevertheless, no hard and fast line can be drawn between popularization and the raising of standards. Not only is it possible to popularize some works of higher quality even now, but the cultural level of the broad masses is steadily rising. If popularization remains at the same level for ever, with the same stuff being supplied month after month and year after year, always the same "Little Cowherd" [6] and the same "man, hand, mouth, knife, cow, goat", [7] will not the educators and those being educated be six of one and half a dozen of the other? What would be the sense of such popularization? The people demand popularization and, following that, higher standards; they demand higher standards month by month and year by year. Here popularization means popularizing for the people and raising of standards means raising the level for the people. And such raising is not from mid-air, or behind closed doors, but is actually based on popularization. It is determined by and at the same time guides popularization. In China as a whole the development of the revolution and of revolutionary culture is uneven and their spread is gradual. While in one place there is popularization and then raising of standards on the basis of popularization, in other places popularization has not even begun. Hence good experience in popularization leading to higher standards in one locality can be applied in other localities and serve to guide popularization and the raising of standards there, saving many twists and turns along the road. Internationally, the good experience of foreign countries, and especially Soviet experience, can also serve to guide us. With us, therefore, the raising of standards is based on popularization, while popularization is guided by the raising of standards. Precisely for this reason, so far from being an obstacle to the raising of standards, the work of popularization we are speaking of supplies the basis for the work of raising standards which we are now doing on a limited scale, and prepares the necessary conditions for us to raise standards in the future on a much broader scale.
l
Sonia Sanchez, Lakiba Pittman, Kim McMillon and Marvin X
Contact Info:
THE MOVEMENT
PEOPLE'S NEWSLETTER OF THE BAMBD
Contact the Editor: Marvin X
Welcome to Africa Town: 20 Years After the First Attempt to Create a Black Arts and Cultural District in East Oakland
You may have noticed three recent occurrences that have me thinking about an idea and strategy I had 20 years ago that Black people in Oakland are still struggling to bring to fruition.
In 1996-97 I ran a book shop and incense/body oil, African Import and Export shop on 76th and MacArthur Blvd. in Oakland. I learned at the time that the area between 73rd and MacArthur, East to 90th and MacArthur, and North from MacArthur to Bancroft in Oakland, CA had been targeted by the federal government as only ONE OF EIGHT CITIES in the United States designated as an EMPOWERMENT ZONE.
It was called the E-MAC district also known as the CASTLEMONT CORRIDOR. There were millions of dollars targeted toward the area for development. The difference between an ENTERPRISE ZONE such as the area on San Leandro Blvd. and 85th Avenue, or the enterprise zone on Hegenberger Road which stretches from San Leandro through to the Oakland Airport, is that an EMPOWERMENT ZONE and all of the community development block grant dollars sent to that zone can be used for COMMUNITY AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT and not just business development.
My idea at the time was to establish the area of MacArthur from 73rd to 82nd as an Afro-Carribean themed area. We would all paint the fronts of our stores either red, green,black or gold and the billboard on top of COLOR ME NATURAL would be purchased and state proudly WELCOME TO AFRICA TOWN!
Now to the three recent occurrences: There was recently a meeting of individuals and groups in East Oakland around the establishing of BAMBD (Black Arts Movement Business District) on May 13,2016, and here will be further town hall style meetings for this, one scheduled in June 13, 2016 at the Eastside Arts Alliance, 2277 International Blvd, Oakland, CA . I am encouraged by this and sure enough, the progenitors of this recent thrust to establish a BAMB district are people who were around me at the time I had the idea to work to form one in 1996.
One thing to note: There’s no reason to re-invent the wheel. The work to establish the BAMB district along the Castlemont/E-MAC should continue because this area is one OF ONLY EIGHT AREAS IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY designated as an EMPOWERMENT ZONE and there must have been a good reason for that. Keep in mind that Empowerment Zones are certain urban and rural areas where employers and other taxpayers qualify for special tax incentives. This designation alone makes the Castlemont corridor an ideal spot for a BAMB. More importantly, the demographics of this area make it the de facto Africa Town. It is actually the last area that has not been gentrified to the point that so many other Oakland areas have. So think about this area first when considering where to establish a BAMBD.
However, another recent occurrence that is either a blessing or a curse is the recent fire which gutted the entryway to the E-MAC/Castlemont corridor (See photograph above. This area will now have to be rebuilt. The question is, who will benefit from the rebuilding effort? I’m sure that traditional developers in the city are chomping at the bit to get their paws on the area. Some are already saying that the long term goal of typical Oakland gentrifier-developers may HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH HOW THAT BLAZE GOT STARTED IN THE FIRST PLACE!
Be that as it may, the destruction of those buildings at the entryway to the corridor is either a blessing or a curse and what will determine either will be which steps are taken to stake a claim for that area. As I have stated above, that claim was staked by me and a few others 20 years ago in 1996. Bill Clinton was president at the time and it was his administration that designated that area as an Empowerment Zone.
Which brings me to the other occurrence which came to mind. Those millions of dollars targeted to that area WAS NEVER SPENT. If those millions of dollars that were targeted to the area are still there, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton’s wife is running for president. If she is elected, I’m sure she can ask Bill where that money is.
Marvin X on Black Bourgeoisie Art and Opportunism
The
Black Bourgeoisie is known for its opportunism and exploitation of
Grass Roots culture or the culture and art of the masses. There is often
no mention of Marcus Garvey Movement's critical influence on the Harlem
Renaissance by spreading Black consciousness, publishing poetry in his
newspaper and otherwise influencing North American art and culture.
In
the 60s, it was the Nation of Islam vie the Honorable Elijah Muhammad
that moved us from Negro to so-called Negro to Black to Aboriginal
Asiatic Man. Most academic "tenured Negro" scholars focus on Malcolm X
as the chief influence on the Black Arts Movement, relegating Elijah
Muhammad to a minor role. Alas, who was Malcolm's leader and teacher?
This myopia of understanding is partly due to what Harold Cruse called
The Crisis of Black Intellectuals (see his book by the same name). This
was much more than an intellectual crisis but a spiritual crisis very
similar to the grief Shia Muslims over the assassination of their imams,
expressed in their ritual of suffering. In short, Black intellectuals
and the Black community in general has not recovered from the death of
Malcolm X and the role of the Nation of Islam in his murder, although
little emphasis is put on the role of the American government in his
murder.
As
a result, in intellectual and academic circles, the Nation of Islam's
influence is downplayed as per the Black Arts Movement. Sadly, it took a
Near Eastern American Islamic scholar, the Syrian Dr. Mohja Kahf, to
delineate the fundamental role of the Nation of Islam in the Black Arts
Movement and the genre she calls Muslim American literature.
So
we move from the Black Arts Movement's fundamental influence by the
Nation of Islam--and its progenitor, the Marcus Garvey Movement, to the
Black bourgeoisie's interpretation of Black Art, usually a Miller Lite,
World of Make Believe (E. Franklin Frazier's Black Bourgeoisie) version
of art, devoid of artists as artistic freedom fighters.
In
the 60s, the government, foundations and corporations, supported their
version of Black Art with grants going to such commercial projects as
the Negro Ensemble Company. They tolerated the New Lafayette Theatre in
Harlem (of which I was a member as associate editor of Black Theatre
Magazine). But ultimately the New Lafayette was defunded when it was
clear it was only a step above the Black Arts Repertory Theatre founded
by LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka. Of course, Black Arts Repertory Theatre was
defunded when its message of Black liberation was clear. As we know,
Amiri Baraka departed Harlem and returned home to Newark, NJ, and
founded Spirit House, the resurrection of the Black Arts Repertory
Theatre.
Meanwhile,
the aesthetics of the Black Arts Movement was watered down and
opportunists from the movement went commercial, including many BAM
actors who moved into film and television, i.e., the Blackexploitation
genre that basically persists until today, no matter films such as
Malcolm X, Selma, 30 Years A Slave, the Butler, et al.
There
has been no film utilizing the Muslim myth of Yacub, although Amiri
Baraka adapted the myth in his drama A Black Mass. The closest we come
to a film utilizing original North American African mythology is Sun
Ra's Space is the Place. Sun Ra is the Pope of the Black Arts Movement,
Amiri Baraka its High Priest. Sun Ra is considered the father of the
genre Afro-futurism, Octavia Butler, the mother. We are thankful members
of the conscious Hip Hop recognizes Sun Ra but we doubt Hip Hop
understands he is the Pope of BAM.
Although
BAM provided the literature (see the anthology Black Fire, edited by
Amiri Baraka and Larry Neal), for the Black Power Movement and Black
Studies, BAM literature was considered too radical for academia, thus
BAM literature was suppressed and those initial radical teachers in
Black Studies were removed and replaced by more pliant "tenured Negroes"
who remain today. Many now recognize the fundamental contribution of
the Black Arts Movement to Black Studies, Gender Studies, Chicano
Studies, Native American Studies, et al. "Just don't bring them Black
Arts Movement nigguhs to campus. We glad most them nigguhs is dead so
they can't tell the truth on our punk asses who only wanted a job with
no connection to Civil Rites (Sun Ra term) or Black Liberation. See
Cecil Brown's Hey, Dude, What Happened to My Black Studies?
Ironically,
the schizophrenia of the Black Bourgeoisie is evidenced when one visits
their homes filled with Black Arts Movement radical art, especially the
art of BAM's queen Mother, Elizabeth Catlett Mora. It's truly amazing
how the Black Bourgeoisie try to separate her from the Black Arts
Movement. Perhaps, very similar to how the Black Bourgeoisie try to
separate Gwen Brooks from BAM, although no one can speak of the Chicago
BAM without noting the mentoring role of Gwen Brooks (RIP).
In
the modern era, we must note the Atlanta Black Arts Festival is the
prime example of the Black Bourgeoisie usurpation of BAM. Initially, the
Atlanta Black Arts Festival acknowledged and included members of BAM in
the festival, but not of late, it is a full blown Black Bourgeoisie,
world of make believe event.
We
suspect Oakland's Black Arts Movement Business District is headed to
Black Bourgeoisie heaven, i.e., the world of make believe. After many
months, we yet see the Black Liberation flag flying along the 14th
Street corridor. We yet see North American African vendors along the
streets of the corridor as economic self-sufficiency in the Marcus
Garvey/Elijah Muhammad tradition of do for self. We yet see the SRO
hotels in the district transferred into land trusts for the members of
the district, artists, workers and common people, many of whom live on
the precipice of homelessness and dual diagnosis, i., mentally ill and
suffering drug abuse as victims of pervasive global white supremacy.
Let's be clear, global white supremacy is not all white, alas, it can be
Asian, African, Arab, Latin, etc.
For
those who suffer the low information mentally, be informed, BAM was/is a
national movement of liberation and shall remain such. The Black
Bourgeoisie puppets of globalists, developers and gentrifiers need to
take a hike for the peoples of the world are moving into the corridor of
beauty and truth. Ugliness has no place in the movement of beauty and
truth.
On the 50th anniversary of the Oakland founded Black Panther
Party, we ask: are you part of the problem or part of the solution?
Black Panther Party Co-founder Dr. Huey P. Newton meeting
Chinese Premier Chou En Lai in China
Black Panther Party leaders Elaine Brown and Eldridge Cleaver with American delegation meeting General Giap, the man who defeated the USA in Vietnam.
Chairman Mao greeting Shirley Graham DuBois and
Dr. W.E.B. DuBois in China
Chinese Premier Chou En Lai in China
Chairman Mao greeting Shirley Graham DuBois and
Dr. W.E.B. DuBois in China
TALKS AT THE YENAN FORUM ON LITERATURE AND ART
Mao Tse-Tung
May 1942
INTRODUCTION
May 2, 1942
Comrades!
You have been invited to this forum today to exchange ideas and examine
the relationship between work in the literary and artistic fields and
revolutionary work in general. Our aim is to ensure that revolutionary
literature and art follow the correct path of development and provide
better help to other revolutionary work in facilitating the overthrow of
our national enemy and the accomplishment of the task of national
liberation.
In
our struggle for the liberation of the Chinese people there are various
fronts, among which there are the fronts of the pen and of the gun, the
cultural and the military fronts. To defeat the enemy we must rely
primarily on the army with guns. But this army alone is not enough; we
must also have a cultural army, which is absolutely indispensable for
uniting our own ranks and defeating the enemy. Since the May 4th
Movement such a cultural army has taken shape in China, and it has
helped the Chinese revolution, gradually reduced the domain of China's
feudal culture and of the comprador culture which serves imperialist
aggression, and weakened their influence.
To
oppose the new culture the Chinese reactionaries can now only "pit
quantity against quality". In other words, reactionaries have money, and
though they can produce nothing good, they can go all out and produce
in quantity. Literature and art have been an important and successful
part of the cultural front since the May 4th Movement. During the ten
years' civil war, the revolutionary literature and art movement grew
greatly.
That
movement and the revolutionary war both headed in the same general
direction, but these two fraternal armies were not linked together in
their practical work because the reactionaries had cut them off from
each other. It is very good that since the outbreak of the War of
Resistance Against Japan, more and more revolutionary writers and
artists have been coming to Yenan and our other anti-Japanese base
areas. But it does not necessarily follow that, having come to the base
areas, they have already integrated themselves completely with the
masses of the people here. The two must be completely integrated if we
are to push ahead with our revolutionary work. The purpose of our
meeting today is precisely to ensure that literature and art fit well
into the whole revolutionary machine as a component part, that they
operate as powerful weapons for uniting and educating the people and for
attacking and destroying the enemy, and that they help the people fight
the enemy with one heart and one mind. What are the problems that must
be solved to achieve this objective? I think they are the problems of
the class stand of the writers and artists, their attitude, their
audience, their work and their study.
The
problem of class stand. Our stand is that of the proletariat and of the
masses. For members of the Communist Party, this means keeping to the
stand of the Party, keeping to Party spirit and Party policy. Are there
any of our literary and art workers who are still mistaken or not clear
in their understanding of this problem? I think there are. Many of our
comrades have frequently departed from the correct stand.
The
problem of attitude. From one's stand there follow specific attitudes
towards specific matters. For instance, is one to extol or to expose?
This is a question of attitude. Which attitude is wanted? I would say
both. The question is, whom are you dealing with? There are three kinds
of persons, the enemy, our allies in the united front and our own
people; the last are the masses and their vanguard. We need to adopt a
different attitude towards each of the three. With regard to the enemy,
that is, Japanese imperialism and all the other enemies of the people,
the task of revolutionary writers and artists is to expose their
duplicity and cruelty and at the same time to point out the
inevitability of their defeat, so as to encourage the anti-Japanese army
and people to fight staunchly with one heart and one mind for their
overthrow. With regard to our different allies in the united front, our
attitude should be one of both alliance and criticism, and there should
be different kinds of alliance and different kinds of criticism. We
support them in their resistance to Japan and praise them for any
achievement. But if they are not active in the War of Resistance, we
should criticize them. If anyone opposes the Communist Party and the
people and keeps moving down the path of reaction, we will firmly oppose
him. As for the masses of the people, their toil and their struggle,
their army and their Party, we should certainly praise them. The people,
too, have their shortcomings.
Berkeley Juneteenth Festival, Sunday, June 19, 2016
Dear Friends, Supporters, Entertainers, Vendors and Program Editors:
Regarding the attached media releases, please consider promoting and covering the 29th Annual Berkeley Juneteenth Festival to be held on Sunday, June 19, 2016 from 11am-7pm (Alcatraz @ Adeline), in the city of Berkeley.
2016 Participants: Post on your social sites your performance/vending, "like us" on Facebook: berkeleycajuneteenth, and "share" with your contacts.
Vendor space is still open. Go to www.berkeleyjuneteenth.org and download an application.
Looking forward to a successful event!
Delores Nochi Cooper
Publicity Chair
Berkeley Juneteenth Association, Inc.
James Sweeney (left) and Marvin X at last year's festival. Marvin will autograph books and display his archives of the Black Arts Movement at this years event.
photo Harrison Chastan
Mao on Petty-bourgeois ideas
Among the proletariat many retain petty-bourgeois ideas, while both the peasants and the urban petty bourgeoisie have backward ideas; these are burdens hampering them in their struggle. We should be patient and spend a long time in educating them and helping them to get these loads off their backs and combat their own shortcomings and errors, so that they can advance with great strides. They have remoulded themselves in struggle or are doing so, and our literature and art should depict this process. As long as they do not persist in their errors, we should not dwell on their negative side and consequently make the mistake of ridiculing them or, worse still, of being hostile to them. Our writings should help them to unite, to make progress, to press ahead with one heart and one mind, to discard what is backward and develop what is revolutionary, and should certainly not do the opposite.
The Problem of Audience
The
problem of audience, i.e., the people for whom our works of literature
and art are produced. In the Shensi-Kansu-Ningsia Border Region and the
anti-Japanese base areas of northern and central China, this problem
differs from that in the Kuomintang areas, and differs still more from
that in Shanghai before the War of Resistance. In the Shanghai period,
the audience for works of revolutionary literature and art consisted
mainly of a section of the students, office workers and shop assistants.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance the audience in the
Kuomintang areas became somewhat wider, but it still consisted mainly of
the same kind of people because the government there prevented the
workers, peasants and soldiers from having access to revolutionary
literature and art. In our base areas the situation is entirely
different. Here the audience for works of literature and art consists of
workers, peasants, soldiers and revolutionary cadres. There are
students in the base areas, too, but they are different from students of
the old type; they are either former or future cadres.
The
cadres of all types, fighters in the army, workers in the factories and
peasants in the villages all want to read books and newspapers once
they become literate, and those who are illiterate want to see plays and
operas, look at drawings and paintings, sing songs and hear music; they
are the audience for our works of literature and art. Take the cadres
alone. Do not think they are few; they far outnumber the readers of any
book published in the Kuomintang areas. There, an edition usually runs
to only 2,000 copies, and even three editions add up to only 6,000; but
as for the cadres in the base areas, in Yenan alone there are more than
10,000 who read books. Many of them, moreover, are tempered
revolutionaries of long standing, who have come from all parts of the
country and will go out to work in different places, so it is very
important to do educational work among them. Our literary and art
workers must do a good job in this respect.
Since
the audience for our literature and art consists of workers, peasants
and soldiers and of their cadres, the problem arises of understanding
them and knowing them well. A great deal of work has to be done in order
to understand them and know them well, to understand and know well all
the different kinds of people and phenomena in the Party and government
organizations, in the villages and factories and in the Eighth Route and
New Fourth Armies. Our writers and artists have their literary and art
work to do, but their primary task is to understand people and know them
well. In this regard, how have matters stood with our writers and
artists? I would say they have been lacking in knowledge and
understanding; they have been like "a hero with no place to display his
prowess". What does lacking in knowledge mean? Not knowing people well.
The writers and artists do not have a good knowledge either of those
whom they describe or of their audience; indeed they may hardly know
them at all. They do not know the workers or peasants or soldiers well,
and do not know the cadres well either. What does lacking in
understanding mean? Not understanding the language, that is, not being
familiar with the rich, lively language of the masses.
Since
many writers and artists stand aloof from the masses and lead empty
lives, naturally they are unfamiliar with the language of the people.
Accordingly, their works are not only insipid in language but often
contain nondescript expressions of their own coining which run counter
to popular usage. Many comrades like to talk about "a mass style". But
what does it really mean? It means that the thoughts and feelings of our
writers and artists should be fused with those of the masses of
workers, peasants and soldiers. To achieve this fusion, they should
conscientiously learn the language of the masses. How can you talk of
literary and artistic creation if you find the very language of the
masses largely incomprehensible? By "a hero with no place to display his
prowess", we mean that your collection of great truths is not
appreciated by the masses. The more you put on the airs of a veteran
before the masses and play the "hero", the more you try to peddle such
stuff to the masses, the less likely they are to accept it. If you want
the masses to understand you, if you want to be one with the masses, you
must make up your mind to undergo a long and even painful process of
tempering. Here I might mention the experience of how my own feelings
changed.
Exiled Black Revolutionaries Mabel Williams, Robert F. Williams (Negroes with Guns) and Chairman Mao Tse-tung in China. When Robert F. Williams was forced into exile, he formed an organization within the USA called
Revolutionary Action Movement or RAM that published the radical Black Arts Movement journal
Soulbook,
edited by Mamadou Lumumba, aka, Kenny Freeman, with contributions by East Coast writers and students
at Oakland's Merritt College, e.g., Ernie Allen, Bobby
Seale, Carol Freeman, Marvin X. East coast writers were Bobb Hamilton,
Amiri Baraka, Askia Toure, James and Grace Boggs, Sonia Sanchez, et al. RAM
also organized the first Black Panther Party in Oakland, the Black
Panther Party of Northern California. The first BPP was dissolved on
pain of death by the Black Panther Party of Self Defense. Max Stanford,
aka Muhammad Ahmad, was RAM USA's leader.
I began life as a student and at school acquired the ways of a student; I then used to feel it undignified to do even a little manual labour, such as carrying my own luggage in the presence of my fellow students, who were incapable of carrying anything, either on their shoulders or in their hands. At that time I felt that intellectuals were the only clean people in the world, while in comparison workers and peasants were dirty. I did not mind wearing the clothes of other intellectuals, believing them clean, but I would not put on clothes belonging to a worker or peasant, believing them dirty. But after I became a revolutionary and lived with workers and peasants and with soldiers of the revolutionary army, I gradually came to know them well, and they gradually came to know me well too. It was then, and only then, that I fundamentally changed the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois feelings implanted in me in the bourgeois schools. I came to feel that compared with the workers and peasants the unremoulded intellectuals were not clean and that, in the last analysis, the workers and peasants were the cleanest people and, even though their hands were soiled and their feet smeared with cow-dung, they were really cleaner than the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois intellectuals. That is what is meant by a change in feelings, a change from one class to another. If our writers and artists who come from the intelligentsia want their works to be well received by the masses, they must change and remould their thinking and their feelings. Without such a change, without such remoulding, they can do nothing well and will be misfits.
The
last problem is study, by which I mean the study of Marxism-Leninism
and of society. Anyone who considers himself a revolutionary Marxist
writer, and especially any writer who is a member of the Communist
Party, must have a knowledge of Marxism-Leninism. At present, however,
some comrades are lacking in the basic concepts of Marxism. For
instance, it is a basic Marxist concept that being determines
consciousness, that the objective realities of class struggle and
national struggle determine our thoughts and feelings. But some of our
comrades turn this upside down and maintain that everything ought to
start from "love". Now as for love, in a class society there can be only
class love; but these comrades are seeking a love transcending classes,
love in the abstract and also freedom in the abstract, truth in the
abstract, human nature in the abstract, etc. This shows that they have
been very deeply influenced by the bourgeoisie. They should thoroughly
rid themselves of this influence and modestly study Marxism-Leninism. It
is right for writers and artists to study literary and artistic
creation, but the science of Marxism-Leninism must be studied by all
revolutionaries, writers and artists not excepted. Writers and artists
should study society, that is to say, should study the various classes
in society, their mutual relations and respective conditions, their
physiognomy and their psychology. Only when we grasp all this clearly
can we have a literature and art that is rich in content and correct in
orientation.
I
am merely raising these problems today by way of introduction; I hope
all of you will express your views on these and other relevant problems.
BH Brilliant Minds Project, Inc
Honoring and Celebrating the Brilliant Minds of the Past, Present and Future
We are excited to announce that the 8th Annual Oakland Juneteenth Celebration is fast approaching! Please join us on Saturday, June 25, 2016 at 925 Brockhurst Street Oakland, CA 94608, between Market Street and San Pablo Avenue for a day for music, free health screens, historical education and family fun. This year’s theme is “Honoring and Celebrating the Brilliant Minds of the Past, Present and Future.” Our event brings together people of all ethnicities and cultures of the Greater Bay Area to celebrate the end of slavery in the United States.
For the last eight years, the Juneteenth Celebration has brought people from all over Oakland together to commemorate this momentous event. Last year over 1,000 people enjoyed the festival that included live music, free health screenings, oral history presentations, free food, quilting, and many other symbolic activities to commemorate our African American heritage. This year we will expand the event to provide even more opportunities for the community to hear from the voices of our ancestors:
9th ANNUAL
West Oakland JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION, June 25, San Pablo and Brockhurst
Honoring and Celebrating the Brilliant Minds of the Past, Present and Future
We are excited to announce that the 8th Annual Oakland Juneteenth Celebration is fast approaching! Please join us on Saturday, June 25, 2016 at 925 Brockhurst Street Oakland, CA 94608, between Market Street and San Pablo Avenue for a day for music, free health screens, historical education and family fun. This year’s theme is “Honoring and Celebrating the Brilliant Minds of the Past, Present and Future.” Our event brings together people of all ethnicities and cultures of the Greater Bay Area to celebrate the end of slavery in the United States.
For the last eight years, the Juneteenth Celebration has brought people from all over Oakland together to commemorate this momentous event. Last year over 1,000 people enjoyed the festival that included live music, free health screenings, oral history presentations, free food, quilting, and many other symbolic activities to commemorate our African American heritage. This year we will expand the event to provide even more opportunities for the community to hear from the voices of our ancestors:
-
Live Blues and Jazz performances
-
Vendors and Community Resource displays and sales
-
Kids Zone
-
Health Zone hosted by Alameda County Public Health Department to provide health
screening & resources -
We invite local organizations and vendors to participate in this wonderful gathering of neighbors. If you would like to secure a vending booth or host a resource table, please complete the attached forms and return them by June 13, 2016. Space is limited and booths will be assigned on a first come, first served basis upon receipt of application, fees, and permits where applicable. Once all documents are received, you will receive confirmation of your space at this year’s festival. If you have any additional questions or need any additional information please contact me at (510)435-1077 or Barbarahoward47@comcast.net. Our hope is that you will seriously consider this invitation and join us as we strive to make a positive difference in our community.
Warm regards.
Barbara Howard
Director of Oakland Juneteenth Festival B.H. Brilliant Minds Project, Inc.
Chairman Mao and W.E.B. DuBois, the greatest intellectual North American Africans produced.
DuBois
became a citizen of Ghana, West Africa. As great as he was, when
Chairman Mao introduced
him before a million people in Tiananmen Square, he turned to Mao and said, "Chairman, thank you
him before a million people in Tiananmen Square, he turned to Mao and said, "Chairman, thank you
for the great introduction but in my country USA, I'm just a nigguh!"
DuBois departed the USA to become a citizen of Ghana, West Africa. Ironically, he criticized Marcus Garvey's Black to Africa Movement. Many North American Africans are leaving the USA for Ghana and other nations in Africa, among them Marvin X's daughter, Muhammida, who now lives and works in Accra, Ghana and has no plans of living again in the USA. She told her dad, "They may not have electricity 24/7 in Ghana but they don't have white supremacy 24/7. Nobody follows me around in the hotels and expensive stores! Dad, you need to get your behind to Ghana!"
DuBois departed the USA to become a citizen of Ghana, West Africa. Ironically, he criticized Marcus Garvey's Black to Africa Movement. Many North American Africans are leaving the USA for Ghana and other nations in Africa, among them Marvin X's daughter, Muhammida, who now lives and works in Accra, Ghana and has no plans of living again in the USA. She told her dad, "They may not have electricity 24/7 in Ghana but they don't have white supremacy 24/7. Nobody follows me around in the hotels and expensive stores! Dad, you need to get your behind to Ghana!"
Left
to right: Muhammida El Muhajir, creator of the Black Arts/Black Power
Babies
Conversation and CEO of Sun in Leo International, now living in Accra,
Ghana, West Africa. Right: Samantha Akwei. She visited Ghana during the
holidays,
connected with Muhammida, daughter of Marvin X and Nisa Ra. Muhammida is
a Howard University graduate, B.S., Microbiology. Samantha is a poet
and Spelman graduate working in Oakland.
muhammida el muhajir, black arts movement baby 2.0
Brand Marketing, Product Manager, and Tech Startup Founder in Brooklyn, New York
Muhammida
El Muhajir is a global brand marketing and media consultant,
entrepreneur and filmmaker with extensive travel/study/work experience
abroad including Europe, Asia, Latin America, The Caribbean, and Africa
(Ghana, Senegal, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa). She has established a
solid reputation and network in her field for her visionary strategies
for innovative brands such as Nike, Diesel, Gatorade, Volkswagen, and
Sony Japan.
As the former Music Marketing Manager at sports powerhouse, Nike, Inc., El Muhajir spearheaded pioneering marketing campaigns and programs with industry heavyweights, Eminem, Outkast, Alicia Keys, Pharrell Williams, and Island Def Jam Records.
Through the creative agency, Sun in Leo, she produced the acclaimed ‘Street Stylez ‘ international fashion tour in Sao Paulo, Tokyo, and Paris as well as the ground breaking documentary, “Hip Hop: the New World Order” exploring the global impact of hip hop establishing El Muhajir as an expert voice on international trends in music, fashion, art, and culture.
She has presented at The United Nations, Oxford University, The Brooklyn Museum, and UC Berkeley and her works have been incorporated into the curriculum at The New School, The University of Sheffield (UK) and Harvard University.
One of El Muhajir's endeavors, frank white, a Brooklyn cafe/gallery space was nominated 'Best New Coffeehouse' by Time Out NY magazine and noted in many global publications for its focus on design and cultural engagement.
El Muhajir pursued a Masters degree in International Relations at The University of Ghana and received a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology with a double minor in Chemistry and Communications from Howard University where she attended on a full athletic scholarship.
To complement her traditional marketing expertise with digital technology, El Muhajir completed a one year Fellowship at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) Incubator in Accra, providing Business Development to a portfolio of tech start ups from Ghana and Nigeria.
She currently works developing digital marketing strategies for clients in West Africa and will soon launch the beauty product review app, Beauty Radical.
As the former Music Marketing Manager at sports powerhouse, Nike, Inc., El Muhajir spearheaded pioneering marketing campaigns and programs with industry heavyweights, Eminem, Outkast, Alicia Keys, Pharrell Williams, and Island Def Jam Records.
Through the creative agency, Sun in Leo, she produced the acclaimed ‘Street Stylez ‘ international fashion tour in Sao Paulo, Tokyo, and Paris as well as the ground breaking documentary, “Hip Hop: the New World Order” exploring the global impact of hip hop establishing El Muhajir as an expert voice on international trends in music, fashion, art, and culture.
She has presented at The United Nations, Oxford University, The Brooklyn Museum, and UC Berkeley and her works have been incorporated into the curriculum at The New School, The University of Sheffield (UK) and Harvard University.
One of El Muhajir's endeavors, frank white, a Brooklyn cafe/gallery space was nominated 'Best New Coffeehouse' by Time Out NY magazine and noted in many global publications for its focus on design and cultural engagement.
El Muhajir pursued a Masters degree in International Relations at The University of Ghana and received a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology with a double minor in Chemistry and Communications from Howard University where she attended on a full athletic scholarship.
To complement her traditional marketing expertise with digital technology, El Muhajir completed a one year Fellowship at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) Incubator in Accra, providing Business Development to a portfolio of tech start ups from Ghana and Nigeria.
She currently works developing digital marketing strategies for clients in West Africa and will soon launch the beauty product review app, Beauty Radical.
CONCLUSION
May 23, 1942
Comrades!
Our forum has had three meetings this month. In the pursuit of truth we
have carried on spirited debates in which scores of Party and non-Party
comrades have spoken, laying bare the issues and making them more
concrete. This, I believe, will very much benefit the whole literary and artistic movement.
In
discussing a problem, we should start from reality and not from
definitions. We would be following a wrong method if we first looked up
definitions of literature and art in textbooks and then used them to
determine the guiding principles for the present-day literary and
artistic movement and to judge the different opinions and controversies
that arise today. We are Marxists, and Marxism teaches that in our
approach to a problem we should start from objective facts, not from
abstract definitions, and that we should derive our guiding principles,
policies and measures from an analysis of these facts. We should do the
same in our present discussion of literary and artistic work.
What
are the facts at present? The facts are: the War of Resistance Against
Japan which China has been fighting for five years; the world-wide
anti-fascist war; the vacillations of China's big landlord class and big
bourgeoisie in the War of Resistance and their policy of high-handed
oppression of the people; the revolutionary movement in literature and
art since the May 4th Movement--its great contributions to the
revolution during the last twenty-three years and its many shortcomings;
the anti-Japanese democratic base areas of the Eighth Route and New
Fourth Armies and the integration of large numbers of writers and
artists with these armies and with the workers and peasants in these
areas; the difference in both environment and tasks between the writers
and artists in the base areas and those in the Kuomintang areas; and the
controversial issues concerning literature and art which have arisen in
Yenan and the other anti-Japanese base areas. These are the actual,
undeniable facts in the light of which we have to consider our problems.
What
then is the crux of the matter? In my opinion, it consists
fundamentally of the problems of working for the masses and how to work
for the masses. Unless these two problems are solved, or solved
properly, our writers and artists will be ill-adapted to their
environment and their tasks and will come up against a series of
difficulties from without and within. My concluding remarks will centre
on these two problems and also touch upon some related ones.
I
The first problem is: literature and art for whom?
This
problem was solved long ago by Marxists, especially by Lenin. As far
back as 1905 Lenin pointed out emphatically that our literature and art
should "serve . . . the millions and tens of millions of working
people".[1] For
comrades engaged in literary and artistic work in the anti-Japanese
base areas it might seem that this problem is already solved and needs
no further discussion. Actually, that is not the case. Many comrades
have not found a clear solution. Consequently their sentiments, their
works, their actions and their views on the guiding principles for
literature and art have inevitably been more or less at variance with
the needs of the masses and of the practical struggle.
Of
course, among the numerous men of culture, writers, artists and other
literary and artistic workers engaged in the great struggle for
liberation together with the Communist Party and the Eighth Route and
New Fourth Armies, a few may be careerists who are with us only
temporarily, but the overwhelming majority are working energetically for
the common cause. By relying on these comrades, we have achieved a
great deal in our literature, drama, music and fine arts. Many of these
writers and artists have begun their work since the outbreak of the War
of Resistance; many others did much revolutionary work before the war,
endured many hardships and influenced broad masses of the people by
their activities and works. Why do we say, then, that even among these
comrades there are some who have not reached a clear solution of the
problem of whom literature and art are for? Is it conceivable that there
are still some who maintain that revolutionary literature and art are
not for the masses of the people but for the exploiters and oppressors?
Indeed
literature and art exist which are for the exploiters and oppressors.
Literature and art for the landlord class are feudal literature and art.
Such were the literature and art of the ruling class in China's feudal
era. To this day such literature and art still have considerable
influence in China. Literature and art for the bourgeoisie are bourgeois
literature and art. People like Liang Shih-chiu, [2] whom
Lu Hsun criticized, talk about literature and art as transcending
classes, but in fact they uphold bourgeois literature and art and oppose
proletarian literature and art. Then literature and art exist which
serve the imperialists--for example, the works of Chou Tsojen, Chang
Tzu-ping [3]
and their like--which we call traitor literature and art. With us,
literature and art are for the people, not for any of the above groups.
We have said that China's new culture at the present stage is an
anti-imperialist, anti-feudal culture of the masses of the people under
the leadership of the proletariat. Today, anything that is truly of the
masses must necessarily be led by the proletariat. Whatever is under the
leadership of the bourgeoisie cannot possibly be of the masses.
Naturally, the same applies to the new literature and art which are part
of the new culture. We should take over the rich legacy and the good
traditions in literature and art that have been handed down from past
ages in China and foreign countries, but the aim must still be to serve
the masses of the people. Nor do we refuse to utilize the literary and
artistic forms of the past, but in our hands these old forms, remoulded
and infused with new content, also become something revolutionary in the
service of the people.
Who,
then, are the masses of the people? The broadest sections of the
people, constituting more than 90 per cent of our total population, are
the workers, peasants, soldiers and urban petty bourgeoisie. Therefore,
our literature and art are first for the workers, the class that leads
the revolution. Secondly, they are for the peasants, the most numerous
and most steadfast of our allies in the revolution. Thirdly, they are
for the armed workers and peasants, namely, the Eighth Route and New
Fourth Armies and the other armed units of the people, which are the
main forces of the revolutionary war. Fourthly, they are for the
labouring masses of the urban petty bourgeoisie and for the
petty-bourgeois intellectuals, both of whom are also our allies in the
revolution and capable of long-term co-operation with us. These four
kinds of people constitute the overwhelming majority of the Chinese
nation, the broadest masses of the people.
Our
literature and art should be for the four kinds of people we have
enumerated. To serve them, we must take the class stand of the
proletariat and not that of the petty bourgeoisie. Today, writers who
cling to an individualist, petty-bourgeois stand cannot truly serve the
masses of revolutionary workers, peasants and soldiers. Their interest
is mainly focused on the small number of petty-bourgeois intellectuals.
This is the crucial reason why some of our comrades cannot correctly
solve the problem of "for whom?" In saying this I am not referring to
theory. In theory, or in words, no one in our ranks regards the masses
of workers, peasants and soldiers as less important than the
petty-bourgeois intellectuals. I am referring to practice, to action. In
practice, in action, do they regard petty-bourgeois intellectuals as
more important than workers, peasants and soldiers? I think they do.
**********************************************************
Through the “B.A.B.E. Stop the Violence Campaign”, we
are raising funds to
assist various Bay Area Non-profit organizations who specialize in helping women
and children (victims) of domestic violence and abuse. Statistics have proven
that 1 in every 4 women will experience some kind of physical assault in her
lifetime. It is important to bring this travesty out of the shadows and into the
light. With your assistance, we can help those directly affected; their
families and even their
communities get the
support they need.
**********************************************************
Black Arts Movement pioneer Marvin X
will speak/perform at 25th Black Expo
Marvin
X and the Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra, featuring
David Murray and Earle Davis, Malcolm X Jazz Festival, 2014, Oakland
photo Adam Turner
Marvin
X is the author of 30 books, including poetry, essays, autobiography,
memoir. He received his A.A., Sociology, Merritt College, 1964; B.A.,
M.A., English, San Francisco State University, 1974-75. He has taught at
Fresno State University, University of
California, Berkeley and San Diego, San Francisco State University,
Mills College, University of Nevada, Reno, Laney College, Merritt
College. He received writing fellowships from Columbia University (via
Harlem Cultural Council) and the National Endowment for the Arts;
planning grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, via the
Nevada Cultural Council. His archives were acquired by the Bancroft
Library, University of California, Berkeley. Most recently, Marvin
helped the City of Oakland create the Black Arts Movement Business
District along the 14th Street corridor, downtown.
Many comrades concern themselves with studying the petty-bourgeois intellectuals and analysing their psychology, and they concentrate on portraying these intellectuals and excusing or defending their shortcomings, instead of guiding the intellectuals to join with them in getting closer to the masses of workers, peasants and soldiers, taking part in the practical struggles of the masses, portraying and educating the masses. Coming from the petty bourgeoisie and being themselves intellectuals, many comrades seek friends only among intellectuals and concentrate on studying and describing them. Such study and description are proper if done from a proletarian position. But that is not what they do, or not what they do fully. They take the petty-bourgeois stand and produce works that are the self-expression of the petty bourgeoisie, as can be seen in quite a number of literary and artistic products. Often they show heartfelt sympathy for intellectuals of petty-bourgeois origin, to the extent of sympathizing with or even praising their shortcomings. On the other hand, these comrades seldom come into contact with the masses of workers, peasants and soldiers, do not understand or study them, do not have intimate friends among them and are not good at portraying them; when they do depict them, the clothes are the clothes of working people but the faces are those of petty-bourgeois intellectuals. In certain respects they are fond of the workers, peasants and soldiers and the cadres stemming from them; but there are times when they do not like them and there are some respects in which they do not like them: they do not like their feelings or their manner or their nascent literature and art (the wall newspapers, murals, folk songs, folk tales, etc.).
At
times they are fond of these things too, but that is when they are
hunting for novelty, for something with which to embellish their own
works, or even for certain backward features. At other times they openly
despise these things and are partial to what belongs to the
petty-bourgeois intellectuals or even to the bourgeoisie. These comrades
have their feet planted on the side of the petty-bourgeois
intellectuals; or, to put it more elegantly, their innermost soul is
still a kingdom of the petty-bourgeois intelligentsia. Thus they have
not yet solved, or not yet clearly solved, the problem of "for whom?"
This applies not only to newcomers to Yenan; even among comrades who
have been to the front and worked for a number of years in our base
areas and in the Eighth Route and New Fourth Armies, many have not
completely solved this problem. It requires a long period of time, at
least eight or ten years, to solve it thoroughly. But however long it
takes, solve it we must and solve it unequivocally and thoroughly. Our
literary and art workers must accomplish this task and shift their
stand; they must gradually move their feet over to the side of the
workers, peasants and soldiers, to the side of the proletariat, through
the process of going into their very midst and into the thick of
practical struggles and through the process of studying Marxism and
society. Only in this way can we have a literature and art that are
truly for the workers, peasants and soldiers, a truly proletarian
literature and art.
This
question of "for whom?" is fundamental; it is a question of principle.
The controversies and divergences, the opposition and disunity arising
among some comrades in the past were not on this fundamental question of
principle but on secondary questions, or even on issues involving no
principle. On this question of principle, however, there has been hardly
any divergence between the two contending sides and they have shown
almost complete agreement; to some extent, both tend to look down upon
the workers, peasants and soldiers and divorce themselves from the
masses. I say "to some extent" because, generally speaking, these
comrades do not look down upon the workers, peasants and soldiers or
divorce themselves from the masses in the same way as the Kuomintang
does. Nevertheless, the tendency is there. Unless this fundamental
problem is solved, many other problems will not be easy to solve. Take,
for instance, the sectarianism in literary and art circles. This too is a
question of principle, but sectarianism can only be eradicated by
putting forward and faithfully applying the slogans, "For the workers
and peasants!", "For the Eighth Route and New Fourth Armies!" and "Go
among the masses!" Otherwise the problem of sectarianism can never be
solved. Lu Hsun once said:
A
common aim is the prerequisite for a united front.... The fact that our
front is not united shows that we have not been able to unify our aims,
and that some people are working only for small groups or indeed only
for themselves. If we all aim at serving the masses of workers and
peasants, our front will of course be united.[4]
The
problem existed then in Shanghai; now it exists in Chungking too. In
such places the problem can hardly be solved thoroughly, because the
rulers oppress the revolutionary writers and artists and deny them the
freedom to go out among the masses of workers, peasants and soldiers.
Here with us the situation is entirely different. We encourage
revolutionary writers and artists to be active in forming intimate
contacts with the workers, peasants and soldiers, giving them complete
freedom to go among the masses and to create a genuinely revolutionary
literature and art. Therefore, here among us the problem is nearing
solution. But nearing solution is not the same as a complete and
thorough solution. We must study Marxism and study society, as we have
been saying, precisely in order to achieve a complete and thorough
solution. By Marxism we mean living Marxism which plays an effective
role in the life and struggle of the masses, not Marxism in words. With
Marxism in words transformed into Marxism in real life, there will be no
more sectarianism. Not only will the problem of sectarianism be solved,
but many other problems as well.
II
Having
settled the problem of whom to serve, we come to the next problem, how
to serve. To put it in the words of some of our comrades: should we
devote ourselves to raising standards, or should we devote ourselves to
popularization?
In
the past, some comrades, to a certain or even a serious extent,
belittled and neglected popularization and laid undue stress on raising
standards. Stress should be laid on raising standards, but to do so
one-sidedly and exclusively, to do so excessively, is a mistake. The
lack of a clear solution to the problem of "for whom?", which I referred
to earlier, also manifests itself in this connection. As these comrades
are not clear on the problem of "for whom?", they have no correct
criteria for the "raising of standards" and the "popularization" they
speak of, and are naturally still less able to find the correct
relationship between the two. Since our literature and art are basically
for the workers, peasants and soldiers, "popularization" means to
popularize among the workers, peasants and soldiers, and "raising
standards" means to advance from their present level.
What
should we popularize among them? Popularize what is needed and can be
readily accepted by the feudal landlord class? Popularize what is needed
and can be readily accepted by the bourgeoisie? Popularize what is
needed and can be readily accepted by the petty-bourgeois intellectuals?
No, none of these will do. We must popularize only what is needed and
can be readily accepted by the workers, peasants and soldiers
themselves. Consequently, prior to the task of educating the workers,
peasants and soldiers, there is the task of learning from them. This is
even more true of raising standards. There must be a basis from which to
raise. Take a bucket of water, for instance; where is it to be raised
from if not from the ground? From mid-air? From what basis, then, are
literature and art to be raised? From the basis of the feudal classes?
From the basis of the bourgeoisie? From the basis of the petty-bourgeois
intellectuals? No, not from any of these; only from the basis of the
masses of workers, peasants and soldiers. Nor does this mean raising the
workers, peasants and soldiers to the "heights" of the feudal classes,
the bourgeoisie or the petty-bourgeois intellectuals; it means raising
the level of literature and art in the direction in which the workers,
peasants and soldiers are themselves advancing, in the direction in
which the proletariat is advancing. Here again the task of learning from
the workers, peasants and soldiers comes in. Only by starting from the
workers, peasants and soldiers can we have a correct understanding of
popularization and of the raising of standards and find the proper
relationship between the two.
In
the last analysis, what is the source of all literature and art? Works
of literature and art, as ideological forms, are products of the
reflection in the human brain of the life of a given society.
Revolutionary literature and art are the products of the reflection of
the life of the people in the brains of revolutionary writers and
artists. The life of the people is always a mine of the raw materials
for literature and art, materials in their natural form, materials that
are crude, but most vital, rich and fundamental; they make all
literature and art seem pallid by comparison; they provide literature
and art with an inexhaustible source, their only source. They are the
only source, for there can be no other. Some may ask, is there not
another source in books, in the literature and art of ancient times and
of foreign countries? In fact, the literary and artistic works of the
past are not a source but a stream; they were created by our
predecessors and the foreigners out of the literary and artistic raw
materials they found in the life of the people of their time and place.
We must take over all the fine things in our literary and artistic
heritage, critically assimilate whatever is beneficial, and use them as
examples when we create works out of the literary and artistic raw
materials in the life of the people of our own time and place. It makes a
difference whether or not we have such examples, the difference between
crudeness and refinement, between roughness and polish, between a low
and a high level, and between slower and faster work. Therefore, we must
on no account reject the legacies of the ancients and the foreigners or
refuse to learn from them, even though they are the works of the feudal
or bourgeois classes. But taking over legacies and using them as
examples must never replace our own creative work; nothing can do that.
Uncritical transplantation or copying from the ancients and the
foreigners is the most sterile and harmful dogmatism in literature and
art.
China's
revolutionary writers and artists, writers and artists of promise, must
go among the masses; they must for a long period of time unreservedly
and whole-heartedly go among the masses of workers, peasants and
soldiers, go into the heat of the struggle, go to the only source, the
broadest and richest source, in order to observe, experience, study and
analyse all the different kinds of people, all the classes, all the
masses, all the vivid patterns of life and struggle, all the raw
materials of literature and art. Only then can they proceed to creative
work. Otherwise, you will have nothing to work with and you will be
nothing but a phoney writer or artist, the kind that Lu Hsun in his will
so earnestly cautioned his son never to become.[5]
Although
man's social life is the only source of literature and art and is
incomparably livelier and richer in content, the people are not
satisfied with life alone and demand literature and art as well. Why?
Because, while both are beautiful, life as reflected in works of
literature and art can and ought to be on a higher plane, more intense,
more concentrated, more typical, nearer the ideal, and therefore more
universal than actual everyday life. Revolutionary literature and art
should create a variety of characters out of real life and help the
masses to propel history forward. For example, there is suffering from
hunger, cold and oppression on the one hand, and exploitation and
oppression of man by man on the other. These facts exist everywhere and
people look upon them as commonplace. Writers and artists concentrate
such everyday phenomena, typify the contradictions and struggles within
them and produce works which awaken the masses, fire them with
enthusiasm and impel them to unite and struggle to transform their
environment. Without such literature and art, this task could not be
fulfilled, or at least not so effectively and speedily.
What
is meant by popularizing and by raising standards in works of
literature and art? What is the relationship between these two tasks?
Popular works are simpler and plainer, and therefore more readily
accepted by the broad masses of the people today. Works of a higher
quality, being more polished, are more difficult to produce and in
general do not circulate so easily and quickly among the masses at
present. The problem facing the workers, peasants and soldiers is this:
they are now engaged in a bitter and bloody struggle with the enemy but
are illiterate and uneducated as a result of long years of rule by the
feudal and bourgeois classes, and therefore they are eagerly demanding
enlightenment, education and works of literature and art which meet
their urgent needs and which are easy to absorb, in order to heighten
their enthusiasm in struggle and confidence in victory, strengthen their
unity and fight the enemy with one heart and one mind. For them the
prime need is not "more flowers on the brocade" but "fuel in snowy
weather". In present conditions, therefore, popularization is the more
pressing task. It is wrong to belittle or neglect popularization.
A scene from Marvin X's BAM classic Flowers for the Trashman, produced by Kim McMillon's theatre students at University of California, Merced.
Bathroom Graffiti Queen
by Opal Palmer Adisa
The Black Arts Movement Business District
presents
BAM THEATRE FESTIVAL
Flight Deck Theatre
September 2016
The plays
The Toilet by Amiri Baraka
Flowers for the Trashman by Marvin X
A scene from Marvin X's BAM classic Flowers for the Trashman, produced by Kim McMillon's theatre students at University of California, Merced.
by Opal Palmer Adisa
produced by
Dr. Ayodele Nzinga
The Lower Bottom Playaz
Collective Acts: A Black Arts One Act Play Festival
8/25 - 9/4/2016
8/25 - 9/4/2016
Flowers for the Trashman
By Marvin X
The Toliet
By Amiri Baraka
Bathroom Graffiti Queen
By Opal Palmer Adisa
*Tasha
by Cat Brooks
52 Letters
By Regina Evans
*Too Much Woman For This World
By Khyrishi Wig
*The Ideal Plain
By Reginald Wilkins
*NexPlay
by Terry Bission
*indicate World premieres
www.lowerbottomplayaz.com
By Marvin X
The Toliet
By Amiri Baraka
Bathroom Graffiti Queen
By Opal Palmer Adisa
*Tasha
by Cat Brooks
52 Letters
By Regina Evans
*Too Much Woman For This World
By Khyrishi Wig
*The Ideal Plain
By Reginald Wilkins
*NexPlay
by Terry Bission
*indicate World premieres
www.lowerbottomplayaz.com
Nevertheless, no hard and fast line can be drawn between popularization and the raising of standards. Not only is it possible to popularize some works of higher quality even now, but the cultural level of the broad masses is steadily rising. If popularization remains at the same level for ever, with the same stuff being supplied month after month and year after year, always the same "Little Cowherd" [6] and the same "man, hand, mouth, knife, cow, goat", [7] will not the educators and those being educated be six of one and half a dozen of the other? What would be the sense of such popularization? The people demand popularization and, following that, higher standards; they demand higher standards month by month and year by year. Here popularization means popularizing for the people and raising of standards means raising the level for the people. And such raising is not from mid-air, or behind closed doors, but is actually based on popularization. It is determined by and at the same time guides popularization. In China as a whole the development of the revolution and of revolutionary culture is uneven and their spread is gradual. While in one place there is popularization and then raising of standards on the basis of popularization, in other places popularization has not even begun. Hence good experience in popularization leading to higher standards in one locality can be applied in other localities and serve to guide popularization and the raising of standards there, saving many twists and turns along the road. Internationally, the good experience of foreign countries, and especially Soviet experience, can also serve to guide us. With us, therefore, the raising of standards is based on popularization, while popularization is guided by the raising of standards. Precisely for this reason, so far from being an obstacle to the raising of standards, the work of popularization we are speaking of supplies the basis for the work of raising standards which we are now doing on a limited scale, and prepares the necessary conditions for us to raise standards in the future on a much broader scale.
Besides
such raising of standards as meets the needs of the masses directly,
there is the kind which meets their needs indirectly, that is, the kind
which is needed by the cadres. The cadres are the advanced elements of
the masses and generally have received more education; literature and
art of a higher level are entirely necessary for them. To ignore this
would be a mistake. Whatever is done for the cadres is also entirely for
the masses, because it is only through the cadres that we can educate
and guide the masses. If we go against this aim, if what we give the
cadres cannot help them educate and guide the masses, our work of
raising standards will be like shooting at random and will depart from
the fundamental principle of serving the masses of the people.
To
sum up: through the creative labour of revolutionary writers and
artists, the raw materials found in the life of the people are shaped
into the ideological form of literature and art serving the masses of
the people. Included here are the more advanced literature and art as
developed on the basis of elementary literature and art and as required
by those sections of the masses whose level has been raised, or, more
immediately, by the cadres among the masses. Also included here are
elementary literature and art which, conversely, are guided by more
advanced literature and art and are needed primarily by the overwhelming
majority of the masses at present. Whether more advanced or elementary,
all our literature and art are for the masses of the people, and in the
first place for the workers, peasants and soldiers; they are created
for the workers, peasants and soldiers and are for their use.
Now
that we have settled the problem of the relationship between the
raising of standards and popularization, that of the relationship
between the specialists and the popularizers can also be settled. Our
specialists are not only for the cadres, but also, and indeed chiefly,
for the masses. Our specialists in literature should pay attention to
the wall newspapers of the masses and to the reportage written in the
army and the villages. Our specialists in drama should pay attention to
the small troupes in the army and the villages. Our specialists in music
should pay attention to the songs of the masses. Our specialists in the
fine arts should pay attention to the fine arts of the masses. All
these comrades should make close contact with comrades engaged in the
work of popularizing literature and art among the masses. On the one
hand, they should help and guide the popularizers, and on the other,
they should learn from these comrades and, through them, draw
nourishment from the masses to replenish and enrich themselves so that
their specialities do not become "ivory towers", detached from the
masses and from reality and devoid of content or life. We should esteem
the specialists, for they are very valuable to our cause. But we should
tell them that no revolutionary writer or artist can do any meaningful
work unless he is closely linked with the masses, gives expression to
their thoughts and feelings and serves them as a loyal spokesman. Only
by speaking for the masses can he educate them and only by being their
pupil can he be their teacher. If he regards himself as their master, as
an aristocrat who lords it over the "lower orders", then, no matter how
talented he may be, he will not be needed by the masses and his work
will have no future.
Is
this attitude of ours utilitarian? Materialists do not oppose
utilitarianism in general but the utilitarianism of the feudal,
bourgeois and petty-bourgeois classes; they oppose those hypocrites who
attack utilitarianism in words but in deeds embrace the most selfish and
short-sighted utilitarianism.
There
is no "ism" in the world that transcends utilitarian considerations; in
class society[8]
you will get nowhere by simply scolding them instead of trying to raise
their level. The question now is to bring about a unity between "The
Spring Snow" and the "Song of the Rustic Poor", between higher standards
and popularization. Without such a unity, the highest art of any expert
cannot help being utilitarian in the narrowest sense; you may call this
art "pure and lofty" but that is merely your own name for it which the
masses will not endorse.
Once
we have solved the problems of fundamental policy, of serving the
workers, peasants and soldiers and of how to serve them, such other
problems as whether to write about the bright or the dark side of life
and the problem of unity will also be solved. If everyone agrees on the
fundamental policy, it should be adhered to by all our workers, all our
schools, publications and organizations in the field of literature and
art and in all our literary and artistic activities. It is wrong to
depart from this policy and anything at variance with it must be duly
corrected.
III
Since our literature and art are for the masses of the people, we can proceed to discuss a problem of inner-Party relations, i.e., the
relation between the Party's work in literature and art and the Party's
work as a whole, and in addition a problem of the Party's external
relations, i.e., the
relation between the Party's work in literature and art and the work of
non-Party people in this field, a problem of the united front in
literary and art circles.
Let
us consider the first problem. In the world today all culture, all
literature and art belong to definite classes and are geared to definite
political lines. There is in fact no such thing as art for art's sake,
art that stands above classes or art that is detached from or
independent of politics. Proletarian literature and art are part of the
whole proletarian revolutionary cause; they are, as Lenin said, cogs and
wheels [9]
in the whole revolutionary machine. Therefore, Party work in literature
and art occupies a definite and assigned position in Party
revolutionary work as a whole and is subordinated to the revolutionary
tasks set by the Party in a given revolutionary period. Opposition to
this arrangement is certain to lead to dualism or pluralism, and in
essence amounts to "politics--Marxist, art--bourgeois", as with
Trotsky.
We
do not favour overstressing the importance of literature and art, but
neither do we favour underestimating their importance. Literature and
art are subordinate to politics, but in their turn exert a great
influence on politics. Revolutionary literature and art are part of the
whole revolutionary cause, they are cogs and wheels in it, and though in
comparison with certain other and more important parts they may be less
significant and less urgent and may occupy a secondary position,
nevertheless, they are indispensable cogs and wheels in the whole
machine, an indispensable part of the entire revolutionary cause. If we
had no literature and art even in the broadest and most ordinary sense,
we could not carry on the revolutionary movement and win victory.
Failure to recognize this is wrong. Furthermore, when we say that literature and art are subordinate to politics, we mean class politics, the politics of the masses, not the politics of a few so-called statesmen. Politics, whether revolutionary or counter-revolutionary, is the struggle of class against class, not the activity of a few individuals. The revolutionary struggle on the ideological and artistic fronts must be subordinate to the political struggle because only through politics can the needs of the class and the masses find expression in concentrated form. Revolutionary statesmen, the political specialists who know the science or art of revolutionary politics, are simply the leaders of millions upon millions of statesmen--the masses. Their task is to collect the opinions of these mass statesmen, sift and refine them, and return them to the masses, who then take them and put them into practice. They are therefore not the kind of aristocratic "statesmen" who work behind closed doors and fancy they have a monopoly of wisdom. Herein lies the difference in principle between proletarian statesmen and decadent bourgeois statesmen. This is precisely why there can be complete unity between the political character of our literary and artistic works and their truthfulness. It would be wrong to fail to realize this and to debase the politics and the statesmen of the proletariat.
Failure to recognize this is wrong. Furthermore, when we say that literature and art are subordinate to politics, we mean class politics, the politics of the masses, not the politics of a few so-called statesmen. Politics, whether revolutionary or counter-revolutionary, is the struggle of class against class, not the activity of a few individuals. The revolutionary struggle on the ideological and artistic fronts must be subordinate to the political struggle because only through politics can the needs of the class and the masses find expression in concentrated form. Revolutionary statesmen, the political specialists who know the science or art of revolutionary politics, are simply the leaders of millions upon millions of statesmen--the masses. Their task is to collect the opinions of these mass statesmen, sift and refine them, and return them to the masses, who then take them and put them into practice. They are therefore not the kind of aristocratic "statesmen" who work behind closed doors and fancy they have a monopoly of wisdom. Herein lies the difference in principle between proletarian statesmen and decadent bourgeois statesmen. This is precisely why there can be complete unity between the political character of our literary and artistic works and their truthfulness. It would be wrong to fail to realize this and to debase the politics and the statesmen of the proletariat.
Let
us consider next the question of the united front in the world of
literature and art. Since literature and art are subordinate to politics
and since the fundamental problem in China's politics today is
resistance to Japan, our Party writers and artists must in the first
place unite on this issue of resistance to Japan with all non-Party
writers and artists (ranging from Party sympathizers and petty-bourgeois
writers and artists to all those writers and artists of the bourgeois
and landlord classes who are in favour of resistance to Japan).
Secondly, we should unite with them on the issue of democracy. On this
issue there is a section of anti-Japanese writers and artists who do not
agree with us, so the range of unity will unavoidably be somewhat more
limited. Thirdly, we should unite with them on issues peculiar to the
literary and artistic world, questions of method and style in literature
and art; here again, as we are for socialist realism and some people do
not agree, the range of unity will be narrower still. While on one
issue there is unity, on another there is struggle, there is criticism.
The issues are at once separate and interrelated, so that even on the
very ones which give rise to unity, such as resistance to Japan, there
are at the same time struggle and criticism. In a united front, "all
unity and no struggle" and "all struggle and no unity" are both wrong
policies--as with the Right capitulationism and tailism, or the "Left"
exclusivism and sectarianism, practiced by some comrades in the past.
This is as true in literature and art as in politics.
The
petty-bourgeois writers and artists constitute an important force among
the forces of the united front in literary and art circles in China.
There are many shortcomings in both their thinking and their works, but,
comparatively speaking, they are inclined towards the revolution and
are close to the working people. Therefore, it is an especially
important task to help them overcome their shortcomings and to win them
over to the front which serves the working people.
IV
Literary
and art criticism is one of the principal methods of struggle in the
world of literature and art. It should be developed and, as comrades
have rightly pointed out, our past work in this respect has been quite
inadequate. Literary and art criticism is a complex question which
requires a great deal of special study. Here I shall concentrate only on
the basic problem of criteria in criticism. I shall also comment
briefly on a few specific problems raised by some comrades and on
certain incorrect views.
In
literary and art criticism there are two criteria, the political and
the artistic. According to the political criterion, everything is good
that is helpful to unity and resistance to Japan, that encourages the
masses to be of one heart and one mind, that opposes retrogression and
promotes progress; on the other hand, everything is bad that is
detrimental to unity and resistance to Japan, foments dissension and
discord among the masses and opposes progress and drags people back. How
can we tell the good from the bad--by the motive (the subjective
intention) or by the effect (social practice)? Idealists stress motive
and ignore effect, while mechanical materialists stress effect and
ignore motive. In contradistinction to both, we dialectical materialists
insist on the unity of motive and effect. The motive of serving the
masses is inseparably linked with the effect of winning their approval;
the two must be united. The motive of serving the individual or a small
clique is not good, nor is it good to have the motive of serving the
masses without the effect of winning their approval and benefiting them.
In examining the subjective intention of a writer or artist, that is,
whether his motive is correct and good, we do not judge by his
declarations but by the effect of his actions (mainly his works) on the
masses in society.
The criterion for judging subjective intention or motive is social practice and its effect. We want no sectarianism in our literary and art criticism and, subject to the general principle of unity for resistance to Japan, we should tolerate literary and art works with a variety of political attitudes. But at the same time, in our criticism we must adhere firmly to principle and severely criticize and repudiate all works of literature and art expressing views in opposition to the nation, to science, to the masses and to the Communist Party, because these so-called works of literature and art proceed from the motive and produce the effect of undermining unity for resistance to Japan. According to the artistic criterion, all works of a higher artistic quality are good or comparatively good, while those of a lower artistic quality are bad or comparatively bad. Here, too, of course, social effect must be taken into account. There is hardly a writer or artist who does not consider his own work beautiful, and our criticism ought to permit the free competition of all varieties of works of art; but it is also entirely necessary to subject these works to correct criticism according to the criteria of the science of aesthetics, so that art of a lower level can be gradually raised to a higher and art which does not meet the demands of the struggle of the broad masses can be transformed into art that does.
The criterion for judging subjective intention or motive is social practice and its effect. We want no sectarianism in our literary and art criticism and, subject to the general principle of unity for resistance to Japan, we should tolerate literary and art works with a variety of political attitudes. But at the same time, in our criticism we must adhere firmly to principle and severely criticize and repudiate all works of literature and art expressing views in opposition to the nation, to science, to the masses and to the Communist Party, because these so-called works of literature and art proceed from the motive and produce the effect of undermining unity for resistance to Japan. According to the artistic criterion, all works of a higher artistic quality are good or comparatively good, while those of a lower artistic quality are bad or comparatively bad. Here, too, of course, social effect must be taken into account. There is hardly a writer or artist who does not consider his own work beautiful, and our criticism ought to permit the free competition of all varieties of works of art; but it is also entirely necessary to subject these works to correct criticism according to the criteria of the science of aesthetics, so that art of a lower level can be gradually raised to a higher and art which does not meet the demands of the struggle of the broad masses can be transformed into art that does.
There
is the political criterion and there is the artistic criterion; what is
the relationship between the two? Politics cannot be equated with art,
nor can a general world outlook be equated with a method of artistic
creation and criticism. We deny not only that there is an abstract and
absolutely unchangeable political criterion, but also that there is an
abstract and absolutely unchangeable artistic criterion; each class in
every class society has its own political and artistic criteria. But all
classes in all class societies invariably put the political criterion
first and the artistic criterion second. The bourgeoisie always shuts
out proletarian literature and art, however great their artistic merit.
The proletariat must similarly distinguish among the literary and art
works of past ages and determine its attitude towards them only after
examining their attitude to the people and whether or not they had any
progressive significance historically. Some works which politically are
downright reactionary may have a certain artistic quality. The more
reactionary their content and the higher their artistic quality, the
more poisonous they are to the people, and the more necessary it is to
reject them.
A common characteristic of the literature and art of all exploiting classes in their period of decline is the contradiction between their reactionary political content and their artistic form. What we demand is the unity of politics and art, the unity of content and form, the unity of revolutionary political content and the highest possible perfection of artistic form. Works of art which lack artistic quality have no force, however progressive they are politically. Therefore, we oppose both the tendency to produce works of art with a wrong political viewpoint and the tendency towards the "poster and slogan style" which is correct in political viewpoint but lacking in artistic power. On questions of literature and art we must carry on a struggle on two fronts.
A common characteristic of the literature and art of all exploiting classes in their period of decline is the contradiction between their reactionary political content and their artistic form. What we demand is the unity of politics and art, the unity of content and form, the unity of revolutionary political content and the highest possible perfection of artistic form. Works of art which lack artistic quality have no force, however progressive they are politically. Therefore, we oppose both the tendency to produce works of art with a wrong political viewpoint and the tendency towards the "poster and slogan style" which is correct in political viewpoint but lacking in artistic power. On questions of literature and art we must carry on a struggle on two fronts.
Both
these tendencies can be found in the thinking of many comrades. A good
number of comrades tend to neglect artistic technique; it is therefore
necessary to give attention to the raising of artistic standards. But as
I see it, the political side is more of a problem at present. Some
comrades lack elementary political knowledge and consequently have all
sorts of muddled ideas. Let me cite a few examples from Yenan.
"The
theory of human nature." Is there such a thing as human nature? Of
course there is. But there is only human nature in the concrete, no
human nature in the abstract. In class society there is only human
nature of a class character; there is no human nature above classes. We
uphold the human nature of the proletariat and of the masses of the
people, while the landlord and bourgeois classes uphold the human nature
of their own classes, only they do not say so but make it out to be the
only human nature in existence. The human nature boosted by certain
petty-bourgeois intellectuals is also divorced from or opposed to the
masses; what they call human nature is in essence nothing but bourgeois
individualism, and so, in their eyes, proletarian human nature is
contrary to human nature. "The theory of human nature" which some people
in Yenan advocate as the basis of their so-called theory of literature
and art puts the matter in just this way and is wholly wrong.
"The
fundamental point of departure for literature and art is love, love of
humanity." Now love may serve as a point of departure, but there is a
more basic one. Love as an idea is a product of objective practice.
Fundamentally, we do not start from ideas but from objective practice.
Our writers and artists who come from the ranks of the intellectuals
love the proletariat because society has made them feel that they and
the proletariat share a common fate. We hate Japanese imperialism
because Japanese imperialism oppresses us. There is absolutely no such
thing in the world as love or hatred with out reason or cause. As for
the so-called love of humanity, there has been no such all-inclusive
love since humanity was divided into classes. All the ruling classes of
the past were fond of advocating it, and so were many so-called sages
and wise men, but nobody has ever really practiced it, because it is
impossible in class society. There will be genuine love of
humanity--after classes are eliminated all over the world. Classes have
split society into many antagonistic groupings; there will be love of
all humanity when classes are eliminated, but not now. We cannot love
enemies, we cannot love social evils, our aim is to destroy them. This
is common sense; can it be that some of our writers and artists still do
not understand this?
"Literary
and artistic works have always laid equal stress on the bright and the
dark, half and half." This statement contains many muddled ideas. It is
not true that literature and art have always done this. Many
petty-bourgeois writers have never discovered the bright side. Their
works only expose the dark and are known as the "literature of
exposure". Some of their works simply specialize in preaching pessimism
and world-weariness. On the other hand, Soviet literature in the period
of socialist construction portrays mainly the bright. It, too, describes
shortcomings in work and portrays negative characters, but this only
serves as a contrast to bring out the brightness of the whole picture
and is not on a so-called half-and-half basis. The writers and artists
of the bourgeoisie in its period of reaction depict the revolutionary
masses as mobs and themselves as saints, thus reversing the bright and
the dark. Only truly revolutionary writers and artists can correctly
solve the problem of whether to extol or to expose. All the dark forces
harming the masses of the people must be exposed and all the
revolutionary struggles of the masses of the people must be extolled;
this is the fundamental task of revolutionary writers and artists.
"The
task of literature and art has always been to expose." This assertion,
like the previous one, arises from ignorance of the science of history.
Literature and art, as we have shown, have never been devoted solely to
exposure. For revolutionary writers and artists the targets for exposure
can never be the masses, but only the aggressors, exploiters and
oppressors and the evil influence they have on the people. The masses
too have shortcomings, which should be overcome by criticism and
self-criticism within the people's own ranks, and such criticism and
self-criticism is also one of the most important tasks of literature and
art. But this should not be regarded as any sort of "exposure of the
people". As for the people, the question is basically one of education
and of raising their level. Only counter-revolutionary writers and
artists describe the people as "born fools" and the revolutionary masses
as "tyrannical mobs".
"This
is still the period of the satirical essay, and Lu Hsun's style of
writing is still needed." Living under the rule of the dark forces and
deprived of freedom of speech, Lu Hsun used burning satire and freezing
irony, cast in the form of essays, to do battle; and he was entirely
right. We, too, must hold up to sharp ridicule the fascists, the Chinese
reactionaries and everything that harms the people; but in the
Shensi-Kansu-Ningsia Border Region and the anti-Japanese base areas
behind the enemy lines, where democracy and freedom are granted in full
to the revolutionary writers and artists and withheld only from the
counter-revolutionaries, the style of the essay should not simply be
like Lu Hsun's. Here we can shout at the top of our voices and have no
need for veiled and roundabout expressions, which are hard for the
people to understand. When dealing with the people and not with their
enemies, Lu Hsun never ridiculed or attacked the revolutionary people
and the revolutionary Party in his "satirical essay period", and these
essays were entirely different in manner from those directed against the
enemy. To criticize the people's shortcomings is necessary, as we have
already said, but in doing so we must truly take the stand of the people
and speak out of whole-hearted eagerness to protect and educate them.
To treat comrades like enemies is to go over to the stand of the enemy.
Are we then to abolish satire? No. Satire is always necessary. But there
are several kinds of satire, each with a different attitude, satire to
deal with our enemies, satire to deal with our allies and satire to deal
with our own ranks. We are not opposed to satire in general; what we
must abolish is the abuse of satire.
"I
am not given to praise and eulogy. The works of people who eulogize
what is bright are not necessarily great and the works of those who
depict the dark are not necessarily paltry." If you are a bourgeois
writer or artist, you will eulogize not the proletariat but the
bourgeoisie, and if you are a proletarian writer or artist, you will
eulogize not the bourgeoisie but the proletariat and working people: it
must be one or the other. The works of the eulogists of the bourgeoisie
are not necessarily great, nor are the works of those who show that the
bourgeoisie is dark necessarily paltry; the works of the eulogists of
the proletariat are not necessarily not great, but the works of those
who depict the so-called "darkness" of the proletariat are bound to be
paltry--are these not facts of history as regards literature and art?
Why should we not eulogize the people, the creators of the history of
mankind? Why should we not eulogize the proletariat, the Communist
Party, New Democracy and socialism? There is a type of person who has no
enthusiasm for the people's cause and looks coldly from the side-lines
at the struggles and victories of the proletariat and its vanguard; what
he is interested in, and will never weary of eulogizing, is himself,
plus perhaps a few figures in his small coterie. Of course, such
petty-bourgeois individualists are unwilling to eulogize the deeds and
virtues of the revolutionary people or heighten their courage in
struggle and their confidence in victory. Persons of this type are
merely termites in the revolutionary ranks; of course, the revolutionary
people have no need for these "singers".
"It
is not a question of stand; my class stand is correct, my intentions
are good and I understand all right, but I am not good at expressing
myself and so the effect turns out bad." I have already spoken about the
dialectical materialist view of motive and effect. Now I want to ask,
is not the question of effect one of stand? A person who acts solely by
motive and does not inquire what effect his action will have is like a
doctor who merely writes prescriptions but does not care how many
patients die of them. Or take a political party which merely makes
declarations but does not care whether they are carried out. It may well
be asked, is this a correct stand? And is the intention here good? Of
course, mistakes may occur even though the effect has been taken into
account beforehand, but is the intention good when one continues in the
same old rut after facts have proved that the effect is bad? In judging a
party or a doctor, we must look at practice, at the effect. The same
applies in judging a writer. A person with truly good intentions must
take the effect into account, sum up experience and study the methods
or, in creative work, study the technique of expression. A person with
truly good intentions must criticize the shortcomings and mistakes in
his own work with the utmost candour and resolve to correct them. This
is precisely why Communists employ the method of self-criticism. This
alone is the correct stand. Only in this process of serious and
responsible practice is it possible gradually to understand what the
correct stand is and gradually obtain a good grasp of it. If one does
not move in this direction in practice, if there is simply the
complacent assertion that one "understands all right", then in fact one
has not understood at all.
"To
call on us to study Marxism is to repeat the mistake of the dialectical
materialist creative method, which will harm the creative mood." To
study Marxism means to apply the dialectical materialist and historical
materialist viewpoint in our observation of the world, of society and of
literature and art; it does not mean writing philosophical lectures
into our works of literature and art. Marxism embraces but cannot
replace realism in literary and artistic creation, just as it embraces
but cannot replace the atomic and electronic theories in physics. Empty,
dry dogmatic formulas do indeed destroy the creative mood; not only
that, they first destroy Marxism. Dogmatic "Marxism" is not Marxism, it
is anti-Marxism. Then does not Marxism destroy the creative mood? Yes,
it does. It definitely destroys creative moods that are feudal,
bourgeois, petty-bourgeois, liberalistic, individualist, nihilist,
art-for-art's sake, aristocratic, decadent or pessimistic, and every
other creative mood that is alien to the masses of the people and to the
proletariat. So far as proletarian writers and artists are concerned,
should not these kinds of creative moods be destroyed? I think they
should; they should be utterly destroyed. And while they are being
destroyed, something new can be constructed.
V
The
problems discussed here exist in our literary and art circles in Yenan.
What does that show? It shows that wrong styles of work still exist to a
serious extent in our literary and art circles and that there are still
many defects among our comrades, such as idealism, dogmatism, empty
illusions, empty talk, contempt for practice and aloofness from the
masses, all of which call for an effective and serious campaign of
rectification.
We
have many comrades who are still not very clear on the difference
between the proletariat and the petty bourgeoisie. There are many Party
members who have joined the Communist Party organizationally but have
not yet joined the Party wholly or at all ideologically. Those who have
not joined the Party ideologically still carry a great deal of the muck
of the exploiting classes in their heads, and have no idea at all of
what proletarian ideology, or communism, or the Party is. "Proletarian
ideology?" they think. "The same old stuff!" Little do they know that it
is no easy matter to acquire this stuff. Some will never have the
slightest Communist flavour about them as long as they live and can only
end up by leaving the Party.
Therefore,
though the majority in our Party and in our ranks are clean and honest,
we must in all seriousness put things in order both ideologically and
organizationally if we are to develop the revolutionary movement more
effectively and bring it to speedier success. To put things in order
organizationally requires our first doing so ideologically, our
launching a struggle of proletarian ideology against non-proletarian
ideology. An ideological struggle is already under way in literary and
art circles in Yenan, and it is most necessary. Intellectuals of
petty-bourgeois origin always stubbornly try in all sorts of ways,
including literary and artistic ways, to project themselves and spread
their views, and they want the Party and the world to be remoulded in
their own image. In the circumstances it is our duty to jolt these
"comrades" and tell them sharply, "That won't work! The proletariat
cannot accommodate itself to you; to yield to you would actually be to
yield to the big landlord class and the big bourgeoisie and to run the
risk of undermining our Party and our country." Whom then must we yield
to? We can mould the Party and the world only in the image of the
proletarian vanguard. We hope our comrades in literary and art circles
will realize the seriousness of this great debate and join actively in
this struggle, so that every comrade may become sound and our entire
ranks may become truly united and consolidated ideologically and
organizationally.
Because
of confusion in their thinking, many of our comrades are not quite able
to draw a real distinction between our revolutionary base areas and the
Kuomintang areas and they make many mistakes as a consequence. A good
number of comrades have come here from the garrets of Shanghai, and in
coming from those garrets to the revolutionary base areas, they have
passed not only from one kind of place to another but from one
historical epoch to another. One society is semi-feudal, semi-colonial,
under the rule of the big landlords and big bourgeoisie, the other is a
revolutionary new-democratic society under the leadership of the
proletariat. To come to the revolutionary bases means to enter an epoch
unprecedented in the thousands of years of Chinese history, an epoch in
which the masses of the people wield state power. Here the people around
us and the audience for our propaganda are totally different.
The
past epoch is gone, never to return. Therefore, we must integrate
ourselves with the new masses without any hesitation. If, living among
the new masses, some comrades, as I said before, are still "lacking in
knowledge and understanding" and remain "heroes with no place to display
their prowess", then difficulties will arise for them, and not only
when they go out to the villages; right here in Yenan difficulties will
arise for them. Some comrades may think, "Well, I had better continue
writing for the readers in the Great Rear Area; [10]
it is a job I know well and has 'national significance'." This idea is
entirely wrong. The Great Rear Area is also changing. Readers there
expect authors in the revolutionary base areas to tell about the new
people and the new world and not to bore them with the same old tales.
Therefore, the more a work is written for the masses in the
revolutionary base areas, the more national significance will it have.
Fadeyev in The Debacle [11] only
told the story of a small guerrilla unit and had no intention of
pandering to the palate of readers in the old world; yet the book has
exerted world-wide influence. At any rate in China its influence is very
great, as you know. China is moving forward, not back, and it is the
revolutionary base areas, not any of the backward, retrogressive areas,
that are leading China forward. This is a fundamental issue that, above
all, comrades must come to understand in the rectification movement.
Since
integration into the new epoch of the masses is essential, it is
necessary thoroughly to solve the problem of the relationship between
the individual and the masses. This couplet from a poem by Lu Hsun
should be our motto:
Fierce-browed, I coolly defy a thousand pointing fingers,
The
"thousand pointing fingers" are our enemies, and we will never yield to
them, no matter how ferocious. The "children" here symbolize the
proletariat and the masses. All Communists, all revolutionaries, all
revolutionary literary and art workers should learn from the example of
Lu Hsun and be "oxen" for the proletariat and the masses, bending their
backs to the task until their dying day. Intellectuals who want to
integrate themselves with the masses, who want to serve the masses, must
go through a process in which they and the masses come to know each
other well. This process may, and certainly will, involve much pain and
friction, but if you have the determination, you will be able to fulfil
these requirements.
Today
I have discussed only some of the problems of fundamental orientation
for our literature and art movement; many specific problems remain which
will require further study. I am confident that comrades here are
determined to move in the direction indicated.
I
believe that in the course of the rectification movement and in the
long period of study and work to come, you will surely be able to bring
about a transformation in yourselves and in your works, to create many
fine works which will be warmly welcomed by the masses of the people,
and to advance the literature and art movement in the revolutionary base
areas and throughout China to a glorious new stage.
NOTES
1.
See V. I. Lenin, "Party Organisation and Party Literature", in which he
described the characteristics of proletarian literature as follows:
It
will be a free literature, because the idea of socialism and sympathy
with the working people, and not greed or careerism, will bring ever new
forces to its ranks. It will be a free literature, because it will
serve, not some satiated heroine, not the bored "upper ten thousand"
suffering from fatty degeneration, but the millions and tens of millions
of working people--the flower of the country, its strength and its
future. It will be a free literature, enriching the last word in the
revolutionary thought of mankind with the experience and living work of
the socialist proletariat, bringing about permanent interaction between
the experience of the past (scientific socialism, the completion of the
development of socialism from its primitive, utopian forms) and the
experience of the present (the present struggle of the worker comrades).
(Collected Works, Eng. ed., FLPH, Moscow, 1962, Vol. X, pp. 48-49.)
2.
Liang Shih-chiu, a member of the counter-revolutionary National
Socialist Party, for a long time propagated reactionary American
bourgeois ideas on literature and art. He stubbornly opposed the
revolution and reviled revolutionary literature and art.
3.
Chou Tso-jen and Chang Tzu-ping capitulated to the Japanese aggressors
after the Japanese occupied Peking and Shanghai in 1937.
4. Lu Hsun, "My View on the League of Left-Wing Writers" in the collection Two Hearts, Complete Works, Chin. ed., Vol. IV.
5. See Lu Hsun's essay, "Death", in the "Addenda", The Last Collection of Essays Written in a Garret in the Quasi-Concession, Complete Works. Chin. ed., Vol. VI.
6.
The "Little Cowherd" is a popular Chinese folk operetta with only two
people acting in it, a cowherd and a village girl, who sing a question
and answer duet. In the early days of the War of Resistance Against
Japan, this form was used, with new words, for anti-Japanese propaganda
and for a time found great favour with the public.
7.
The Chinese characters for these six words are written simply, with
only a few strokes, and were usually included in the first lessons in
old primers.
8.
"The Spring Snow" and the "Song of the Rustic Poor" were songs of the
Kingdom of Chu in the 3rd century B.C. The music of the first was on a
higher level than that of the second. As the story is told in "Sung Yu's
Reply to the King of Chu" in Prince Chao Ming's Anthology of Prose and Poetry, when
someone sang "The Spring Snow" in the Chu capital, only a few dozen
people joined in, but when the "Song of the Rustic Poor" was sung,
thousands did so.
9. See V. I. Lenin, "Party Organisation and Party Literature": "Literature must become part of
the common cause of the proletariat, 'a cog and a screw' of one single
great Social-Democratic mechanism set in motion by the entire
politically conscious vanguard of the entire working class." (Collected Works, Eng. ea., FLPH, Moscow, I962, Vol. X, p. 45.)
10.
The Great Rear Area was the name given during the War of Resistance to
the vast areas under Kuomintang control in southwestern and northwestern
China which were not occupied by the Japanese invaders, as
distinguished from the "small rear area", the anti-Japanese base areas
behind the enemy lines under the leadership of the Communist Party.
11. The Debacle
by the famous Soviet writer Alexander Fadeyev was published in 1927 and
translated into Chinese by Lu Hsun. The novel describes the struggle of
a partisan detachment of workers, peasants and revolutionary
intellectuals in Siberia against the counter-revolutionary brigands
during the Soviet civil war.
12. This couplet is from Lu Hsun's "In Mockery of Myself" in The Collection Outside the Collection, Complete Works,Chin. ed., Vol. VII.
lBLACK ARTS MOVEMENT BUSINESS DISTRICT TOUR
BY
Ashley Chambers and Paul Cobb
Post News Group
Left to
right, Amiri Baraka, chief visionary of the Black Arts Movement; Bobby Seale,
co-founder of the Black Panther Party; theatre director Dr. Ayodele Nzinga; Ahi
Baraka; and Marvin X at his Academy of da Corner at 14th and Broadway in
downtown Oakland. Man. Photo by Gene Hazzard.
With plans underway for BAM’s ,(Bay Area Black Arts Movement) 50th anniversary celebration, BAM producer Marvin X Jackmon and Post Publisher Paul Cobb are proposing that the City Council and Mayor-elect Libby Schaaf declare 14th Street, between Martin Luther King, Jr. Way and Alice Street in downtown Oakland, as “Black Arts Movement District.”
The movement revolutionized the arts, literature and ethnic studies in America. Leading artists include Ed Bullins, Nikki Giovanni, Woodie King, Haki Madhubuti, Sonia Sanchez, Askia Touré, Marvin X, Val Gray Ward, and others.
“I think what Black Arts did was inspire a whole lot of Black people to write,” said author Ishmael Reed. “Moreover, there would be no multiculturalism movement without Black Arts. Latinos, Asian Americans, and others all say they began writing as a result of the example of the 1960s,” said Marvin.
“When the Post Newspapers were founded 50 years ago, we also founded El Mundo, a Spanish language paper as well. Many artists, writers and musicians have been covered and promoted by our publications,” said Cobb.
Cobb is optimistic that the city could designate the district because while he was Religion Editor and a columnist at the Oakland Tribune and at the Post, he proposed the renaming of 20th Street to Thomas L. Berkley Way, to honor the late Post Publisher. And now, ironically, the Oakland Tribune offices are located at Broadway and Thomas L.Berkley Way. Cobb also proposed the renaming of Cypress Street to Mandela Parkway after the freeway collapsed during the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.
Marvin and Cobb said the BAM district could start at 14th and Brush Street location, at the off ramp of the John Miller Freeway, which also borders the Oak Center District championed by the late Lillian Love. From Castro Street to Martin Luther King, Jr. Way sits the Preservation Park Development which was organized by the late Black Chamber of Commerce leaders Oscar Coffey, Leon Miller and C.J.Patterson along with the OCCUR organization led by Paul Cobb. The home of Ellen G. White, the Black prophetess of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, is located inside Preservation Park. Writer Jack London, who was raised and breast-fed by Jennie Prentice, his African American surrogate mother, studied at the Charles Greene Library, now renamed the African American Museum/Library (AAMLO) at 14th and Martin Luther King, Jr. Way.
Walking up 14th are the C. L. Dellums apartments, across the street from AAMLO, in honor of the Pullman Porters Union, the first Black union in America.
At 14th and Brush Streets which is at the edge of the Oak Center District and at the off ramp of the John Miller Freeway stands the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building with a statue of the late NAACP leader and Judge Donald McCullum in the plaza area adjacent to the Post Office named for the late Pharmacist and Senator Byron Rumford. The Elihu Harris State Building is also located on Clay Street.
City Hall Plaza which honors Japanese American vice Mayor Frank Ogawa, is adjacent to the Lionel Wilson office Building named after Oakland’s first Black Mayor.
At 14th and Broadway, we enter the outdoor classroom of Marvin X, a literacy center, site of mentoring and grief counseling. Readings and dramatic performances happen there. The Oscar Grant rebellion and Occupy Oakland occurred in his classroom, which is located above the bust of the late John B. Williams, the first Black Redevelopment Director of Oakland. Williams is celebrated for revitalizing West Oakland, Old Oakland and portions of Chinatown along with the George Scotland Convention Center housed inside the Marriott Hotel, which is diagonal to the Key System Building where Josephine Baker led a protest for workers.
Marvin plans to help conduct walking tours similar to those led by the City of Oakland’s Anna Lee Allen. The sites will include Geoffrey’s Inner Circle the premiere Black Entertainment Complex at 14th and Franklin, which faces the offices of the Post Newspaper in the Financial Center Building. Historically Geoffrey Pete’s building, the Niles Club, once denied entrance to Blacks. Other Black venues at Geoffrey’s include: The Joyce Gordon Gallery, Imagine Affairs special events, Exhale Hair Salon, Oakland Tattoos, Central Nails, When Harlem Was In Vogue, Club Vinyl, a nightclub and Halftime Sports Bar
Walking eastward toward Webster Street is the site of former Black owned Bank of Oakland, now owned by the Greenlining Institute.
The tour moves past the Club Caribee towards the Malonga Arts Center at 14th and Alice Streets, which is across the street from the site of the assassination of Post Editor Chauncey Bailey. At the end of the walking tours Marvin said they would visit the Rene C. Davidson County Courthouse where the trials Bailey’s Murderer and Black Panther co-founder Huey Newton were conducted. Davidson was the first countywide elected Black official.
The tour concludes with visits to the once Black-owned Tribune Building. Robert C. Maynard was the first Black publisher of a major metropolitan daily newspaper. Many Black editors, writers, photographers and columnists worked for the Tribune, including Delilah Beasley, Chauncey Bailey, Martin Reynolds, Pearl Stewart and Paul Cobb. The building now houses offices of the African American Chamber of Commerce and the offices of Congresswoman Barbara Lee.
Call for Papers: International Conference on the Black Arts Movement South, Dillard University, New Orleans, September 9-11, 2016
Type:
Call for Papers
Date:
July 1, 2016
Location:
Louisiana, United States
Subject Fields:
African American History / Studies, Black History / Studies, Cultural History / Studies, Ethnic History / Studies, Race Studies
Call for Papers
A
call for papers for an international conference on the Black Arts
Movement – Dillard University, New Orleans, LA, September 9-11, 2016.
CELEBRATING THE 51ST ANNIVERSARY OF BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT | 1965-2016.
Black Arts Movement
Southern Style
Students
represented some of the strongest voices of self-determination and
social change during the Black Arts Movement. As much as the Black Arts
and Black Power Movements were needed in the 1960s and 1970s, today
these movements are vital as a means of providing historical context and
to awaken our country, and particularly our youth, to issues of voter
disenfranchisement, access to education, inequality within our justice
system, poverty, systemic racism, unemployment, sexism, and to give
those that have been marginalized tools of empowerment.
This is
why the New Orleans Black Arts Movement (BAM) Conference taking place,
September 9-11, 2016 is important. The conference is designed to educate
the public on the issues facing the nation as well as to inform
participants on the historic role of the South in the creation of the
Black Arts Movement. Why does that matter? The heart pumps blood so that
the entire body operates. The South represents a vital part of the body
of the Black Arts Movement.
On the fifty-first
anniversary of the Black Arts Movement, a question must be asked, “Where
do we go from here?” This question is just one of many that will be
answered at the International Conference on the Black Arts Movement –
Southern Style at Dillard University, September 9-11, 2016. This call
for papers on a worldwide level is asking the larger questions including
and in addition to race and culture as we examine the South’s
contributions to the Black Arts Movement, and how that changed us as a
nation, and as a world. The emphasis of this conference is the South
because of its rich legacy of literature, and social activism However,
although the South is emphasized, this conference will examine the
Black Arts Movement in its entirety. The Black Arts Movement, the
spiritual twin of the Black Power Movement is noted for having changed
how Black Americans viewed themselves as a race. Black Americans in the
1960s and 1970s created a new vision of Blackness, one that celebrated
the uniqueness of Black culture. This call for papers invites people of
all cultures and racial backgrounds to submit scholarly work that
illustrates the influence of the Black Arts Movement.
Call for papers details:
The
Black Arts Movement Conference is seeking papers related to the Black
Arts Movement including the areas of history, art, music, literature,
food, dance, drama, and poetry. Proposed presentations may take a
variety of forms including research papers, personal narratives,
interviews, theatre, music, multimedia, culinary activities, and poster
presentations.
Participants should submit a one-page,
200-word abstract that includes: your name, the title of your
presentation, any academic or community affiliations, email address, and
any equipment needs. The deadline for submission is June 1, 2016. Late
submissions will not be accepted.
Selection criteria:
The
selection committee will review abstracts with regards to relevance to
the themes of the Black Arts Movement, originality of perspective or
presentation, contribution to an understanding of the Black Arts
Movement, and artistic or creative significance.
Contact:
Please email your 200-word abstract and/or paper and a brief biography to Kim McMillon at kmcmillon@ucmerced.edu.
Receipt of your submission will be acknowledged via email with 24
hours. For information on conference registration, please visit www.blackartsmovement.net.
Contact: Kim McMillon, ABD, World Cultures
University of California, Merced
5200 N. Lake Road
Merced, CA 95343
(510) 681-5652
kmcmillon@ucmerced.edu
University of California, Merced
5200 N. Lake Road
Merced, CA 95343
(510) 681-5652
kmcmillon@ucmerced.edu
Contact Email:
THE MOVEMENT
PEOPLE'S NEWSLETTER OF THE BAMBD
Contact the Editor: Marvin X
jmarvinx@yahoo.com
510-200-4164
