The Whispers at Paramount

LET'S DO THE BAM THANG!

 SOS!

Calling all Black artistic freedom fighters, groups, activists, students, educators, workers, lovers of Black Art: Please confirm your presence at Oakland City Hall, Room 3, 3:30, Monday, November 16, 2015, for the Black Arts Movement Cultural and Business District planning meeting, chaired by Oakland City Council President, Lynette McElhaney. 

Let's do the BAM Thang!

For confirmation/ information, please call me 510-200-4164. jmarvinx@yahoo.com

 SOS SOS

Calling all Black Artistic freedom fighters, persons, groups, activists, students, educators, workers, lovers of Black Art: Please confirm your presence at Oakland City Hall, Room 3, 3:30, Monday, November 16, 2015, for the Black Arts Movement Cultural and Business District planning meeting, chaired by Oakland City Council President, Lynette McElhaney. Let's do the BAM Thang!

For more information, please call me 510-200-4164. jmarvinx@yahoo.com

MTABR PROMO

BAM Planner Marvin X's notes on elements of the Black Arts Movement Cultural and Economic District for downtown Oakland

Suggested Elements of the Black Arts Movement Cultural and Economic District for downtown Oakland

The following are some of my thoughts toward the establishment of a comprehensive plan for the BAM District, downtown Oakland. Please let me know your thoughts. This project is bigger than any one person. Indeed, it must be a communal plan for the next fifty to one hundred years. 
--Marvin X, Planner, BAM District, Oakland

1. Property in the BAM District placed in land trust to ensure longevity of district, thus not subject to developers and gentrification. District placed under immediate rent control.

2. Special residents in the BAM District housing receive life estate, e.g., chronic homeless, mentally ill, addicts in recovery, artists, senior citizens, recently released from incarceration and others with special needs.

3. Artists, business persons, vendors, meet to agree on principles of understanding for those in the district, e.g., a positive attitude must prevail at all times. Keep negativity to a minimum.

4. All persons in BAM District must attend peer group mental health sessions to recover from the addiction to white supremacy Type I and II.

5. Saturday African Market Day, including Farmer's Market and Arts & Crafts vendors. Street vendors during the week as well, as in San Francisco, Berkeley and elsewhere to enable economic stability for BAM artists and craft persons, entrepreneurs and youth to acquire business acumen.

6. Banners up immediately after declaration of BAM District, e.g., flag, icons of BAM and political heroes/sheroes, local, national and international, i.e., Pan African champions of freedom and justice.

7. A children's village at Frank Ogawa/Oscar Grant Plaza.

8. Educational tour of district for all Oakland students to learn the North American African contribution to Oakland and the world.

9. Budget for planning and operating district for five to ten years.

10. Immediate pilot project between Clay and Franklin along 14th to test project virtues and flaws of business persons, vendors, artists, educators, street mental health workers, security persons.

11. Tour guides.

12. Board of Directors and bylaws for operating district.

13. Establish BAM District as tourist site.

14. Music and art display and performance along the corridor.

15. Free speech area at Frank Ogawa/Oscar Grant Plaza and/or Lake Merritt amphitheatre.

16. In honor of Marvin X (Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland--Ishmael Reed) establish a permanent structure for Academy of da Corner at 14th and Broadway, Legba Square. Establish endowment fund so Marvin X can continue his mission of educating, inspiring and motivating Oakland youth and adults.

17. Every adult member of the BAM District must mentor at least one youth so the baton can be passed to them ASAP.

18. The BAM District should acquire and maintain a fresh spirit of radical consciousness, not one steeped in reactionary and/or conservative notions from the past. For sure, the elders should dispense their wisdom freely so youth are aware of our traditions and how to expand on it as we pass the baton to them. BAM Master Sun Ra said, "The children are the elders." Indeed, at two years old, my grandson said to me as we walked to Lake Merritt from Academy of da Corner, "Grandpa, you can't save the world, but I can!" At the Laney College BAM 50th Celebration this year, my daughter's comments went viral during the panel Black Arts/Black Power Babies, an inter-generational dialogue.
"We're ready and able, so pass the baton, Dad!"

 Nefertiti, Marvin X's oldest of three daughters, jammed him at Laney College BAM 50th Celebration, "Dad, you say pass the baton but you won't pass it. We're qualified and ready, so pass the baton!"

photo Kenny Johnson

Kujichagulia said, "Yes, I brainwashed my children to prevent them from acquiring the addiction to white supremacy Type II. Her daughter Taiwo speaks on BAM/Black Power Babies panel. Mother Kujichagulia is so proud!
photo Kenny Johnson

Hello Marvin X, You are invited to the following event: Black Arts  Culture and Business District - Planning Session Event to be held at the following time, date, and location: Monday, November 16, 2015 from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM (PST) City Hall 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza Hearing Room 3 Oakland, CA 94612 View Map Attend Event Event registration is by invitation only. Register with your email address to attend this event. Council President McElhaney is bringing together a group of African American artists, culture keepers and downtown business owners to help craft a vision of a downtown that honors and lifts up our unique heritage and history as a center of black arts and culture. We hope you can make it! Cheers, Erika Broyard, Assistant to Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney

All Black Arts and vendors, entreprenuers, business persons--be at City Hall, Room 3, 3:30, Monday, Nov. 16, 2015

Hello Marvin X, You are invited to the following event: Black Arts & Culture District - Planning Session Event to be held at the following time, date, and location: Monday, November 16, 2015 from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM (PST) City Hall 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza Hearing Room 3 Oakland, CA 94612 View Map Attend Event Event registration is by invitation only. Register with your email address to attend this event. Council President McElhaney is bringing together a group of African American artists, culture keepers and downtown business owners to help craft a vision of a downtown that honors and lifts up our unique heritage and history as a center of black arts and culture. We hope you can make it! Cheers, Erika Broyard, Assistant to Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney

Calling all Black Arts Movement Poet's Choir and Arkestra members, join me in performance on Sat., Nov. 8th, 10AM, 12th and Adeline, West Oakland

The Black Arts Movement Poet's Choir and Arkestra at the University of California, Merced 

BAM Conference, 2014

A Kim McMillan/Marvin X Production

Marvin X is calling all members of the Black Arts Movement Poet's Choir and Arkestra to join him at the Silence the Noise Rally, 12th and Adeline, West Oakland, Saturday, November 8, 2015, 10AM

Marvin X will perform at the Silence the Noise rally on Saturday at the church, 12th and Adeline, West Oakland. The BAM Choir and Arkestra should arrive by 10AM and plan to perform ASAP. We should also help spread the word about the establishment of the Black Arts Movement Cultural and Economic District, along the 14th Street corridor, downtown Oakland.

If you haven't, please sign the online petition.

All conscious artists should be present, especially those who consider themselves in the tradition of Ancestor Paul Roberson, the Artistic Freedom Fighter!

In honor of Paul, we are artistic freedom fighters as well! We dedicate our art to the freedom of our people! We are not artists for arts sake in the White Supremacy tradition of Europe, but we are artists who function in harmony with our people who are oppressed and thus our primary and essential duty is to join with them in struggle for freedom, justice and equality. Somebody say Ache!

 

The Black Arts Movement Poet's Choir and Arkestra at the Malcolm X Jazz/Art Festival, Oakland, 2014, under the direction of Marvin X

STEM Education and African Development

Note: STEM Education must apply to North American Africans as well. MX

STEM Education and African Development by Dr Nkem Khumbah     Dr Nkem Khumbah The current discussion of Africa’s heralded economic growth and rise as a world power is leading to increased optimism and self-confidence on the continent. The discussion has revolved around the need to strengthen its human capabilities to sustain such growth and ensure that the growth is accompanied by significantly less poverty and greater shared prosperity for the continent. However, the foundations of the economic performance underlying this Africa rising phenomena are shallow. It has been predominantly based on the extraction of natural resources rather than an increase in productivity or expansion in economic sectors. Most African economies and societies continue to be dominated by the low-level processing of natural resources and the production of simple consumer goods for local consumption Their economies have remained substantially untransformed from the colonial phase of raw material production and export. Over the last three decades, a global wave of market liberalization has produced an interconnected world economy that has brought unprecedented structural changes that have placed Nation’s abilities to master and utilize Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) as key determinants of economic growth, development, and security. In the 1960s and 1970s, many economies in South America –such as Argentina – enjoyed significant capital accumulation. But complacency and short-term approaches resulted in the failure to transition their economies to technological innovation as the basis for development. At the same time countries such as South Korea, China, and Israel consciously decided to invest substantial government revenues in building world-class laboratories to support education and research in STEM, and to enable intellectual work and commercial exploitation of these subjects. After a generation of investment, they have seen enormous returns as evidenced by the growth of their STEM workforce, undergirding their emergence as major players in the global science-based economy. For example, Samsung of South Korea wields global prominence in electronics today, thanks to a workforce that includes over 40,000 engineers in Software development alone; China is able to leverage its large engineering workforce to establish its footprint in Africa, while some studies attribute between 50% and 85% of US GDP growth over the past 50 years to advancements in domestic science and engineering competencies. As national abilities to master and utilize science to produce technologies that enable innovation have increasingly assumed determinative influence on economic development, Africa’s failure to re-balance its educational offerings from humanities and social sciences, towards STEM subjects constitute the most serious challenge to its ability to sustain its current economic growth and be one of the world’s leading continents in manufacturing and exports. Comparative indicators of how Africa lags behind other regions of the world in scientific productivity and knowledge systems abound. Problems with higher education institutional infrastructure inputs—such as electricity and water supply, staff shortages and ever-increasing enrollments due to fast growing youth population, research infrastructure, weak governance and quality assurance, and the many material challenges to Higher Education Institutions in Africa – are also well documented.  Recent discourses about African Higher Education have tilted towards these material challenges, and less on the need to correct long-standing imbalances in the disciplinary offerings, to make up for long delays in developing STEM capabilities on the continent Even with prevailing challenges to Higher Education, Africa’s current stock of graduates with secondary- and tertiary-level skills is still highly skewed towards the humanities and social sciences, while the proportion of students in STEM averages less than 25 percent.  After some 16 years of subsidized public education, these graduates face unemployment rates of up to 90% in some instances, while their countries continue to transfer major resources to expatriate countries for construction and maintenance of its public infrastructures because of the lack of   a competent domestic STEM workforce; and at the end, the continued lack of domestic expertise means African countries cannot maintain their own infrastructures or develop new industries, lest they bring back the expatriates at more cost. For example, Nigeria requires 51,000 more engineers in its electric power infrastructure than it currently produces. Further, the increasingly technical nature of many public and private sector international negotiations on subjects pertinent to Africa’s development and security -–such as climate change, trade and finance– favors countries that use advanced scientific knowledge to inform their positions, further constraining Africa’s position in international affairs and trade. African Political leadership has yet to embrace the STEM Education imperative for transforming African society with the enthusiasm it deserves; and policies aimed at addressing Africa’s long term prospects in STEM needs to be situated within a global context, to better appreciate all the actors and forces influencing its development, as well as the level of attention and effort required for meaningful progress. Nations that have developed high technological capacities understand the importance of world-class STEM education all too well, and they are increasingly strengthening their scientists and STEM institutions to build strong reputations and compete for the best international students, faculty, and resources.  These countries have developed ever-stronger strategies for STEM education and research, as measured by their investment levels in these areas. They are also offering attractive opportunities, as employers worldwide are projected to face a shortage of over 85 million high- and medium-skilled STEM workers by 2020. African leaders’ increasing vocal support for STEM on the international stage has provided a welcome and much-needed boost for science on the continent. However, the dangers of superficiality and short-term approaches threaten the sustained and long-term planning that is requisite for any meaningful transformation of the sector. Indeed, purposeful funding for science is either meager or absent in many African countries, while some non-Africa countries dedicate as much as 4% of their GDPs to scientific research (the average of top 40 national annual budgetary allocations to STEM R&Dis $40 Billion). The effect is a widening gap between Africa’ STEM progress and that of more advanced countries, thus exacerbating prevailing disparities in income and development, amidst Africa’s positive economic “performance.” Heavy reliance on international expertise and funds results in STEM development in Africa being shaped mostly by international donor and bilateral and multilateral partnerships (e.g. US-based Foundations, the European Union–Africa Joint Strategy, the India–Africa Science and Technology Initiatives and the China–Africa Science and Technology Partnership). While these instruments bring much needed goodwill, expertise and finances in support of African development, with over half of all STEM funding coming from international partners, most of current implementation mechanisms are not structured to promote African ownership, accountability and sustainability. The heavy influence of international agencies on STEM activity in Africa also tends to fragmentize inter-African research communities, with each of the sub-regions collaborating more with international partners and less with one another, as measured through their publications output. Inter-African collaborations (collaborations without any South-African or international collaborator) comprise just 2%, 0.9%, and 2.9% of all East   African, West & Central African, and Southern African total research output. In contrast, 40% to 80% of African Regional STI publications are with external partners, with the majority in fields of most interest to international donors, such as Health and Agriculture. While these areas are of primary importance to Africa, heavy donor influence in these areas has also meant research and education activity in other complementary areas necessary to enable Africa develop a vibrant fundamental STEM space – such as frontier physics, mathematics and computer science—are neglected, or practically nonexistent. With its vast extractive resources and activity, there is hardly any activity in complementary Engineering disciplines, effectively depriving Africa from engaging in STEM research and knowledge systems that could derive from strategic advantages in associated extractive industries. If Africa is to realize its aspirations contained in the African Union’s continental agenda 2063 and Science, Technology, Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA), its governments have to forcefully revitalize their higher education systems towards STEM Education, as the next – even pivotal— frontier in the continent’s historical evolution. It is the caliber of its university graduates in STEM fields that will produce and manage the knowledge that will give relevance to its other institutions – governance, trade, defense, agriculture, health, finance, energy and diplomacy. It is through a vitalized STEM Education that Africa may turn its increasing demographics into a dividend to enhance its democracies. A way to start is for African nations and regional economic communities to establish STEM Education and Research Strategies. This will entail prescient and deliberate policies to identify and invest in select universities as national and continental assets ―perhaps their most potent assets, and as the most important ingredients in continental development objectives. The Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and its symbiotic relationship with the modern South Korean economy is exemplary.  The strategy may include investments to transform select Technical and Vocational Institutions into elite selective STEM-focused secondary schools that will train highly motivated and able students, and focus on preparing them for ambitious post secondary study and STEM careers. Youth employability, development of a STEM workforce and industrial transformation together present common challenges, with implications for STEM education that can neither be fully defined nor addressed by the public policy sector, the university systems or the business sectors alone in isolation. These challenges are best addressed by the creation of appropriate and highly effective interface between government bodies that make policies, the university community that trains the workforce, and the business community that absorbs university graduates and translates research products into improvements of the economic and social sectors. Policy makers are best positioned to institute such an interface as an ongoing convening of leadership from all three sectors – government, university, and industry – to dialogue candidly, co-define common problems and craft overarching solutions, and to commit these three communities to co-forge and co-champion execution of solutions to these common problems. Such a convening will serve to catalyze support and action across government, university, and industry to meet Africa’s critical science and technology needs for the much-desired science-led economic transformation and graduates employability. While specific African STEM initiatives—such as networks and Centers of Excellence— enable important concrete development at varying levels of impact, the vitality, stature and utility of each STEM disciplinary enterprise  (such as Physics, computer science, Engineering, etc.) depends on the space it occupies on the regional spectrum of competing interests, respectability, and resource allocation in the Higher education sector.   *Original Article published in Africa Policy Review

Iranian leader: Death to American policies, not the American people

Iranian leader: 'Death to America' refers to policies, not the nation

By Don Melvin, CNN

Updated 8:18 AM ET, Thu November 5, 2015

Iran's Supreme Leader slams 'arrogant' U.S. 01:24

Story highligh

(CNN)"Death to America" just isn't what it used to be.

On Tuesday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made a speech to university students, to which they responded with shouts of "Death to America!"

That's nothing new in Iran, particularly if the Ayatollah is speaking.

But it's not a common way to refer to a country with which you have just concluded a deal to get international sanctions lifted, perhaps. 

And what really was new was the convoluted statement the leader made attempting to redefine the meaning of the slogan.

Slogan 'backed by reason and wisdom'

Going back through more than half a century of U.S.-Iranian history, the leader said the slogan was justified and would stay.

But he added this, according to PressTV, the official Iranian broadcaster:

 

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has a new take on "Death to America."

"The slogan 'death to America' is backed by reason and wisdom; and it goes without saying that the slogan does not mean death to the American nation; this slogan means death to the U.S.'s policies, death to arrogance."

In his tour of history, Khamenei included an American-backed coup in Iran in 1953 and the spying he said was done from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, which Iranian students and radicals took over in 1979. They held dozens of American Embassy workers hostage for more than a year.

Having completed his explanation, Khamenei announced, according to his official website, that he had proved his point.

"This slogan means death to the policies of the U.S. and arrogant powers," he said, "and this logic is accepted by every nation when explained in clear terms."

Khamenei's comments came on the eve of the 36-year anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. Embassy.

Khamenei: Iran will never negotiate with U.S. on anything other than nuclear deal

National day against 'Global Arrogance'

Iran's state-run news agency IRNA reported that demonstrators in Tehran marked the anniversary Wednesday by burning U.S. flags and making a statement declaring that the United States was Satan.

"We consider U.S. as Great Satan and we believe that fighting the arrogant powers is logical," it quoted the statement as reading.

The U.S. Embassy was known as the "Den of Espionage," IRNA reported.

A day earlier, the news agency reported that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had told the Cultural Revolution Supreme Council that the embassy takeover was considered Iran's second revolution.

"The U.S. embassy takeover formed the pillars of the country's independence and fighting against the arrogant power by the Islamic Revolution in Iran," it quoted him as saying.

The November 4 anniversary was referred to as the national day against the "Global Arrogance,'" it said.

Exhibit Black Revolutionary Martyr George Jackson in Palestine

 
October 28, 2015

The response to ‘George Jackson in the Sun of Palestine’

“This is an important event for the Palestinian prisoner.” – Dr. Sari Nussibeh

“We have to reinforce solidarity with freedom-minded people all around the world.” – Issa Qaraka

“The Abu Jihad center does solidarity work movements for liberation.” – Dr. Fayed Abu Al-Hajj

The Abu Jihad museum at Al Quds University is hosting an international exhibition titled “George Jackson in the Sun of Palestine,” which opened Oct. 20, 2015. It is the first international exhibit of this center for prisoner movement affairs located in the Abu Dis village of Jerusalem. The exhibition links the Palestinian prisoner struggle with the struggles of other political prisoners around the world. It aims to raise international awareness about the reality of prisoners in general and what the Israeli Occupation State is doing to harass Palestinian prisoners in particular.

The ceremonial opening of the exhibition was preceded by a symposium focused on George Jackson, the Black revolutionary prisoner of North America, and his connection to Palestinian struggles, Palestinian writers and Palestinian prisoners. His belief in the Palestinian right to self-determination, a strong belief shared by his comrades, was a central topic of discussion.

Speakers included Dr. Fayed Abu Al-Hajj, the head of the Abu Jihad center, and Dr. Issa Qaraka, the head of the Committee of Prisoner Affairs. Also speaking were Sahar Francis, the director of Addameer (Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association), and Greg Thomas, a political activist and university professor visiting Palestine from the United States.

The launch was attended by ex-prisoners themselves, as well as Dr. Sari Nussibeh, a member of the Al Quds University Board of Trustees; Dr. Imad Abu-Kishki, the current president of the University; and Radi Al-Jarai, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Prisoners and a lecturer at Al Quds University, not to mention a range of political activists and representatives from human rights organizations and prisoner organizations. Many media outlets were on hand to cover both the opening and the symposium.

The Abu Jihad museum at Al Quds University is hosting an international exhibition titled “George Jackson in the Sun of Palestine,” which opened Oct. 20, 2015.

The exhibition generated a tremendously positive reaction, collectively confirming the importance of continuing to link people and activists who call for freedom and liberation on a worldwide level.

Dr. Sari Nussibeh expressed his appreciation for the Abu Jihad center’s enormous efforts in bringing this exhibition to fruition. He pointed out that Al Quds University, from its initial decision to house the Abu Jihad center on campus, always wanted to make it an active organization in terms of forging international connections with political and human rights movements enacting human liberation.

Nussibeh explained that enabling Palestinians to experience an exhibit on the life of a prison activist incarcerated in America is very important for the Palestinian prisoner as well as American public opinion on the matter of prisoners and imprisonment, and asserted that he will be happy to see such activity continue.

In his turn, Dr. Fayed Abu Al-Hajj expressed his sincere happiness about being able to mount such an exhibition, saying: “We, as the Abu Jihad center and the Al Quds University family, consider the hosting of this event to be like a Palestinian wedding. It is a coming together for the Palestinian people, the female prisoners as well as the male prisoners – not only the Palestinians and the Arabs, but also for prisoners all around the world.

“We are honored to host this historic exhibition that bears the name of one of the great Black freedom fighters in America, to honor his legacy as he spent his life defending the ethics of liberty and being active against oppression, injustice and exploitation.

“This exhibition will be a cornerstone of the Abu Jihad center as we practice the vision of Dr. Nussibeh. He is the one who made it possible for us to reach this stage of the center’s work, a stage in which we are able to communicate with the rest of the world, support them in their causes, and win them over to stand up for our cause.”

He pointed out that the Palestinian people know the scale of the injustice and racism befalling Black brothers and sisters in the United States. “In this regard we remind the people of the whole world, including the people of the United States, that our people are facing racism, injustice and abuse in all its forms at the hands of the Israeli occupation state. And we demand that people stand firm in the face of continued occupation and apply pressure on their government to end their support for the occupation state.”

“We are honored to host this historic exhibition that bears the name of one of the great Black freedom fighters in America, to honor his legacy as he spent his life defending the ethics of liberty and being active against oppression, injustice and exploitation.”

Abu Al-Hajj also elaborated on the fighting life of George Jackson, saying that Jackson was just like a thousand Palestinian political prisoners. “He taught himself from within his prison cell. He joined the Black Panthers, which was active in confronting racism in the United States. And we have occasion to remember their struggle, especially when we feel the racism, oppression and abuse has reached a peak.”

He also highlighted the importance of practicing solidarity between popular struggles, as this provides moral support for Palestinian prisoners who are caged in Israeli dungeons. “And let’s remember the moment after Jackson’s assassination, when the prison guards told his mother, ‘We killed one of your sons last year, and we killed yet another one of your sons today. Pretty soon you’ll have no more sons left.’ She replied, ‘I have sons all over the world wherever people are fighting for freedom.’ It is amazing how many Palestinian mothers have repeated these very words, especially when their loved ones fall into the clutches of the Israeli prisons.”

On another note, Abu Al-Hajj remarked that the Abu Jihad center is very active in networking with the international liberation movements, including those in South Africa, reporting that when the vice president of South Africa visited the center, he was astonished by the quantity of materials in the museum and the cultural and literary reservoir of the Palestinian political prisoners.

The voice of freedom is one

On behalf of Al Quds University, Dr. Imad Abu Kishek congratulated the Abu Jihad center on this great achievement, affirming that Al Quds prioritizes the issues of prisoners because they relate to such a broad swath of Palestinian society. He added further that the existence of the center’s exhibition featuring Jackson’s political struggle is also beneficial to a wide range of students and activists.

“It moves us to look at the prisoners from a wider lens and to relate our struggles to the struggles of other people who also suffer injustice and discrimination.” He hopes that Abu Jihad center will continue to host exhibitions hailing from different areas that support the Palestinian cause.

Dr. Issa Qaraka thanked the center and the university for their efforts in hosting the exhibition and the opening symposium, “especially at this time when our sons are rising up in the face of Israeli state oppression, racism and injustice.” In this regard, he pointed out that the face of oppression and injustice is one and the voice of freedom is also one, “internationally, everywhere.” “This is what unites strugglers all around the world.”

He added that Jackson was killed in prison, just like the Palestinian Abrahim Al-Raii was killed in his Israeli prison cell. “The cell in which Jackson lived under so much oppression and injustice is the same cell in which thousands of male and female Palestinian prisoners are suffering. They are suffering from injustice, the denial of rights and attempted murder.

“Just as Jackson was offered bad food on a daily basis, thousands of Palestinian prisoners are offered bad food. Just as Jackson was forbidden books and such, our female and male Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli dungeons are daily denied literature, letters and educational materials.

“The cell in which Jackson lived under so much oppression and injustice is the same cell in which thousands of male and female Palestinian prisoners are suffering. They are suffering from injustice, the denial of rights and attempted murder.”

“It is not even so strange to find a poem in Jackson’s cell that was written by the Palestinian poet Samih al-Qasim, titled ‘Enemy of the Sun.’ That poem united freedom-minded people of the world. All the systematic killing and oppression carried out by the Israeli government are just manifestations of other systems that were used against many other oppressed peoples.

“This is what guides us and strengthens our solidarity with all the freedom-minded people of the world and with the struggles of those who are on the road to freedom and justice. We consider the USA to be the father of all the oppression and injustice that befalls our people, as the USA fertilizes and bolsters the Israeli occupation state.”

Qaraka also pointed out that “Israel” is considered an Apartheid state by all the world’s experts on the subject. “Look at what’s happening now in the city of Jerusalem and what happened earlier with the building the Apartheid separation wall. Look at the ideology of racism that is constantly fed to the Israeli youth.

“Look at the legal decisions of the Israeli courts. The settlers commit crimes against Palestinian families with impunity, while our sons are being sentenced to tens of years in prison for any reaction to the violence of the Israeli army and the settlers.”

“Let us not forget the denial of our most basic rights in these courts. On this matter, Jackson had ‘put his finger on the wound,’ the Palestinian wound that continues to bleed. It is important to recognize that what makes his experience so exemplary is that he politically educated and re-socialized himself in the prison, taking inspiration from the steadfastness of Palestinian prisoners like Samih al-Qasim.

“And I believe the real reason for killing him was that he drank from the ethics of liberation and the defense of human rights.” He concluded, “We as Palestinian people bring to life the legacy of all the freedom fighters of the world through this display of Jackson’s life.”

“We as Palestinian people bring to life the legacy of all the freedom fighters of the world through this display of Jackson’s life.”

Sahar Francis was also thankful that Abu Jihad has organized this exhibit, stating that it is very important to deepen and empower the relationship between the Palestinian revolution and freedom fighters internationally. She focused on solidarity that has already been forged between many organizations, especially those that challenge prisons, policies against political activists, and the many companies that facilitate and profit from the “security” complex of the U.S. and Israeli prison systems.

Most notable here is “G4S,” the British multinational “security” company that is the world’s largest such company. “We recently learned that Bill Gates was supporting them and is investing in them. In response, we activists applied abundant pressure on him to withdraw his investment. And we succeeded.”

She added that this is proof that we can do much more when we work in partnership with international organizations. “It is necessary to network with other struggles. Then we will bring to justice all the companies that violate international law.”

Francis observed that the Israeli occupation state is benefiting from every method of oppression and exploitation that has been practiced by other governments in their attempts to destroy Palestinian society. “As we see in multiple situations and scenarios, arrest or detention is an aim in and of itself for the Israeli occupation state, which operates in exactly the same manner in the United States of America.

“An example of this is in the schools – whenever a Black student violates any kind of rule, he or she will be subjected to the worst punishment, which may entail actual imprisonment, which may then lead to denial of social services, which may further lead to denial of employment or work. This is exactly what Israel is doing by targeting school kids.

“Another example is what recently passed in the Israeli Parliament, a law that allows the force-feeding of prisoners, as practiced by the United States government in Guantanamo. All of this compels us to continue cooperation with the freedom-minded people of the world.”

The U.S.-based scholar and activist Greg Thomas presented his sincere thanks to Abu Jihad center, represented by the director, Dr. Fayed Abu Al-Hajj, whose full support led to the successful hosting of this exhibition. Thomas emphasized that the center powerfully represents the ongoing and historical struggles of the Palestinian people.

Thomas explained that many international activists regularly celebrate the legacy of George Jackson, and that Abu Jihad center, as an institution that genuinely appreciates the role of prisoners as thinkers and militants, is perhaps the best place to host an exhibition on this great revolutionary fighter for freedom.

He added that Jackson was an enemy of colonialism, racism and capitalism. He said Jackson became a legend inside the prisons and outside of them. A revolutionary role model for his fellow inmates, he completed two books in prison, one of which was published after prison guards assassinated him, on Aug. 21, 1971, when he was only 29 years old.

The French writer Jean Genet, a supporter of the Palestinian struggle, wrote the introduction for Jackson’s first book, “Soledad Brother,” describing it as “a striking poem of love and combat.” The manuscript for Jackson’s second book, “Blood in My Eye,” was smuggled out of the prison shortly before the state assassinated him.

Thomas maintained that Jackson is still alive and present in the souls of world revolutionaries against oppression. And he lives on in the nightmares of oppressive systems – a symbol of uncompromising freedom.

From prison, Jackson would join the Black Panther Party, a legendary organ for Black power in the United States and a party that supported the Palestinian struggle. This led to the establishment of a Palestinian group under the same name in the 1980s. Palestinian revolutionaries inspired Jackson and his Black Panthers, while Jackson is himself considered to be the architect of the modern anti-prison movement in the U.S.

Finally, Radi Al-Jarai agreed that this type of exhibition is very helpful for the Palestinian prisoners’ cause, since it connects this liberation struggle to those of freedom-minded people around the world. It also reminds us of the extent to which the Palestinian struggle has inspired other movements for justice, as well as other poets and writers, across the world.

But perhaps most importantly it increases the level of historical awareness among Palestinian youth of the history of oppression of Blacks in the United States, the ways they maintain opposition against it and the heavy price to be paid for freedom in the struggle for liberation.

This story was translated by Mahmoud Muna.

--
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org

PALESTINE by Marvin X (El Muhajir)

I am not an Arab, I am not a Jew
Abraham is not my father, Palestine is not my home
But I would fight any man
Who kicked me out of my house
To dwell in a tent
I would fight
To the ends of the earth
Someone who said to me
I want your house
Because my father lived here
Two thousand years ago
I want your land

Because my father lived here
Two thousand years ago.
Jets would not stop me
From returning to my home
Uncle toms would not stop me
Cluster bombs would not stop me
Bullets I would defy.
No man can take the house of another
And expect to live in peace
There is no peace for thieves
There is no peace for those who murder
For myths and ancient rituals
Wail at the wall

Settle in "Judea" and "Samaria"
But fate awaits you
You will never sleep with peace

You will never walk without listening.
I shall cross the River Jordan
With Justice in my hand
I shall return to Jerusalem
And establish my house of peace,
Thus said the Lord.  
 

© 1972 by Marvin X, Black Scholar Magazine, circa 1970 

 

Marvin X and Nubian at Academy of da Corner, BAM District, Oakland CA