Thursday, September 25, 2014
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
The Endgame of ISIS, Crusaders, Uncle Abdullahs and the Righteous
ISIS, made in the USA. Osama Bin Laden, made in the USA. 9/11, made in the USA, terror, made in the USA, Indians, made in America, Negroes, made in America, concentration camps/reservations, made in America.
It will indeed take a rocket scientist to unravel the conundrum of the Middle East battle of Armageddon. We suspect the Crusaders are embarking on another 100 Years War to cleanse the so called filth of ISIS and related groups. But we wonder how the Crusaders can distinguish the evil and filthy ones from the good guys. Surely the Uncle Abdullahs (Arab Uncle Toms), those leading the reactionary regimes in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, cannot classify themselves as the good guys, even if they have allied themselves with Crusaders in the white hats, off to recapture the holy lands for....themselves, of course, to reinstitute their colonial ideology of domination and exploitation that is the first cause of the present situation. The second cause is those Uncle Abdullahs and their reactionary regimes that give rise to so called fanaticism, i.e., when no other outlet is available to escape poverty, ignorance and disease, sectarianism and dogmatism or shall we say simple freedom, justice and equality.
I hesitate to attempt an unravelling of the Middle East onion, for the layers are so often indistinguishable and inseparable, connected in such a symbiotic relationship that it is simply impossible to deconstruct this phenomena unless one is, again, a rocket scientist. For example, shall we say America is with the Shia, Iranian allied, Iraqi regime, or is America with the Sunni citizens allied with Saudi Arabia. Well, we are told 90% of the Saudi Arabians support ISIS and would, if able, overthrow the Saudi regime of decadent Saudi princes so backward women are not allowed to drive cars.
Much of the matter is simple tribalism, originating from the time of Prophet Muhammad. Alas, Sunni Muslims consider Shia heretics who can indeed suffer beheading for their Shia mythology. The new prime minister in Iraq is every bit a part of the Shia brotherhood of the previous prime minster Malaki, and we understand his ministers are dominated by Shia, despite the call for inclusion of Sunni in his restructured government.
ISIS marches on. The Crusaders come from heaven with their planes and drones, missiles and bombs. The Crusaders vow none of their troops shall touch the ground. But how many private contractors are on the ground, how many never departed when the US troops left Iraq? How many soldiers comprise the 16,000 workers at the US embassy in Iraq, the largest US embassy in the world?
Let us travel the road to Damascus. How can we avoid the onions on the road, and the rat packs scurrying on the road where Saul was transformed into Paul. Alas, today Paul has reverted to Saul, the Zionist.
Oh, where are the righteous in this quagmire, oh where are the holy ones who seek only justice, freedom from religious extremism and sectarianism. They have fled into the night with only the clothing on their backs, on the road away from Damascus, roads through the woods, forests, mountains, with children in hand and nothing more.
And what of the Syrian monster king, a butcher like his father who killed 30,000 in one town, Hama. The butcher Assad is amazed the Crusaders are now bombing in his land. Will he call his Russian and Iranian allies for assistance or will the Crusaders assist him by degrading ISIS and their cohorts so he can step in for that final dagger touch. We understand his doom was sealed when he refused to give up the Golan Heights, much like Saddam Hussein and poor Qaddafi in Libya, now in a dance with death as Qaddafi predicted if he was removed. His arms have found their way from Nigeria to Sinai, to Iraq and Syria.
Do you think Israel is sitting around with his dick in his hand and heart racing? Oh, no, he is most assuredly in bed with all the rats, Crusaders for sure, Uncle Abdullahs, for sure, mixed with the other spies and agents who play all sides in this classic Middle Eastern drama of political chicanery. Israel is happy the global village has shifted from observing his bloody behavior in Gaza now that the Crusaders have mobilized from the sky to save the...who, the people, or the oil fields, to prevent Shia expansion from the Tigris and Euphrates to the Mediterranean.
We support the righteous people, the suffering masses who only want a better day, the righteous caught in the middle of the geo-political, ideological and sectarian madness that will not last 100 years, we predict. Before long, the specter of nuclear weapons will enter the battlefield. The Atom bomb was dropped when I was only months old. We seem edging closer to the ultimate weapon as I grow old, I grow old.
The endgame: after the sweat, blood and tears, how 'bout sweet democracy with authoritarianism, i.e., state democracy/capitalism, Islamic democracy with a theological (Sharia law) touch. Isn't this what we wanted?
It will indeed take a rocket scientist to unravel the conundrum of the Middle East battle of Armageddon. We suspect the Crusaders are embarking on another 100 Years War to cleanse the so called filth of ISIS and related groups. But we wonder how the Crusaders can distinguish the evil and filthy ones from the good guys. Surely the Uncle Abdullahs (Arab Uncle Toms), those leading the reactionary regimes in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, cannot classify themselves as the good guys, even if they have allied themselves with Crusaders in the white hats, off to recapture the holy lands for....themselves, of course, to reinstitute their colonial ideology of domination and exploitation that is the first cause of the present situation. The second cause is those Uncle Abdullahs and their reactionary regimes that give rise to so called fanaticism, i.e., when no other outlet is available to escape poverty, ignorance and disease, sectarianism and dogmatism or shall we say simple freedom, justice and equality.
I hesitate to attempt an unravelling of the Middle East onion, for the layers are so often indistinguishable and inseparable, connected in such a symbiotic relationship that it is simply impossible to deconstruct this phenomena unless one is, again, a rocket scientist. For example, shall we say America is with the Shia, Iranian allied, Iraqi regime, or is America with the Sunni citizens allied with Saudi Arabia. Well, we are told 90% of the Saudi Arabians support ISIS and would, if able, overthrow the Saudi regime of decadent Saudi princes so backward women are not allowed to drive cars.
Much of the matter is simple tribalism, originating from the time of Prophet Muhammad. Alas, Sunni Muslims consider Shia heretics who can indeed suffer beheading for their Shia mythology. The new prime minister in Iraq is every bit a part of the Shia brotherhood of the previous prime minster Malaki, and we understand his ministers are dominated by Shia, despite the call for inclusion of Sunni in his restructured government.
ISIS marches on. The Crusaders come from heaven with their planes and drones, missiles and bombs. The Crusaders vow none of their troops shall touch the ground. But how many private contractors are on the ground, how many never departed when the US troops left Iraq? How many soldiers comprise the 16,000 workers at the US embassy in Iraq, the largest US embassy in the world?
Let us travel the road to Damascus. How can we avoid the onions on the road, and the rat packs scurrying on the road where Saul was transformed into Paul. Alas, today Paul has reverted to Saul, the Zionist.
Oh, where are the righteous in this quagmire, oh where are the holy ones who seek only justice, freedom from religious extremism and sectarianism. They have fled into the night with only the clothing on their backs, on the road away from Damascus, roads through the woods, forests, mountains, with children in hand and nothing more.
And what of the Syrian monster king, a butcher like his father who killed 30,000 in one town, Hama. The butcher Assad is amazed the Crusaders are now bombing in his land. Will he call his Russian and Iranian allies for assistance or will the Crusaders assist him by degrading ISIS and their cohorts so he can step in for that final dagger touch. We understand his doom was sealed when he refused to give up the Golan Heights, much like Saddam Hussein and poor Qaddafi in Libya, now in a dance with death as Qaddafi predicted if he was removed. His arms have found their way from Nigeria to Sinai, to Iraq and Syria.
Do you think Israel is sitting around with his dick in his hand and heart racing? Oh, no, he is most assuredly in bed with all the rats, Crusaders for sure, Uncle Abdullahs, for sure, mixed with the other spies and agents who play all sides in this classic Middle Eastern drama of political chicanery. Israel is happy the global village has shifted from observing his bloody behavior in Gaza now that the Crusaders have mobilized from the sky to save the...who, the people, or the oil fields, to prevent Shia expansion from the Tigris and Euphrates to the Mediterranean.
We support the righteous people, the suffering masses who only want a better day, the righteous caught in the middle of the geo-political, ideological and sectarian madness that will not last 100 years, we predict. Before long, the specter of nuclear weapons will enter the battlefield. The Atom bomb was dropped when I was only months old. We seem edging closer to the ultimate weapon as I grow old, I grow old.
The endgame: after the sweat, blood and tears, how 'bout sweet democracy with authoritarianism, i.e., state democracy/capitalism, Islamic democracy with a theological (Sharia law) touch. Isn't this what we wanted?
"That is not what I meant
that is not what I meant at all
In the room the women come and go
talking of Michelangelo.... "
Black Bird Press News & Review: Two Poems for the People of Syria by Marvin X and Mohja Kahf
Black Bird Press News & Review: Two Poems for the People of Syria by Marvin X and Mohja Kahf:
Oh, Mohja
how much water can run from rivers to sea
how much blood can soak the earth
the guns of tyrants know no end....
Oh, Mohja
how much water can run from rivers to sea
how much blood can soak the earth
the guns of tyrants know no end....
Syrian poet/novelist/professor Dr. Mohja Kahf invited poet/activist Marvin X to speak and read at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
The Washington DC Jazz Network supports Marvin X--will you please donate to the Marvin X Books Project/Indiegogo
Advocate for Preserving America's Classical Music, "JAZZ",
it's African American Legacy, Roots and Heritage!
MARVIN X
BAM Master Poet Marvin X and the BAM Poets Choir & Arkestra are now available for booking.
The group performed at the University of California, Merced, Feb./Mar. 2014
Oakland's Malcolm X Jazz/Art Fest, May 17, 2014.
For booking: 510-200-4164
Poet/Bandleader Marvin X, sax man David Murray and trumpet man Earl Davis
Marvin X was born May 29, 1944, Fowler CA, nine miles south of Fresno in the central valley of California. In Fresno his parents published the Fresno Voice, a black newspaper.
Marvin attended Oakland’s Merritt College where he encountered fellow students who became Black Panther Party co-founders Bobby Seale
and Huey Newton. They taught him black nationalism. Marvin’s first play Flowers for the Trashman was produced by the Drama department at San Francisco State University, 1965.
Marvin X dropped out to established his own Black Arts West Theatre in the Fillmore, 1966, along with playwright Ed Bullins.
Months later Marvin would co-found Black House with Eldridge Cleaver, 1967.
Marvin introduced Eldridge Cleaver to Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. Eldridge immediately joined the Black Panther Party. Huey Newton said, “Marvin X was my teacher, many of our comrades came from his Black Arts Theatre: Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Emory Douglas and Samuel Napier.”
One of the movers and shakers of the Black Arts Movement
Marvin X & Sun Rah
(BAM) Marvin X has published 30 books, including essays, poetry, and his autobiography
Somethin’ Proper.
Important books include Fly to Allah, poems, Beyond Religion, toward Spirituality, essays on consciousness, and
How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy, a manual based on the 12 step Recovery model.
Marvin received his MA in English/Creative writing from San Francisco State University, 1975. He has taught at San Francisco State University, Fresno State University, UC Berkeley and San Diego, Mills College, Merritt and Laney Colleges in Oakland, University of Nevada, Reno. He lectures coast to coast at such colleges and universities as University of Arkansas, University of Houston, Morehouse and Spelman, Atlanta, University of Virginia, Howard University, Univ. of Penn, Temple Univ., Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, UMASS, Boston.
His latest book is the Wisdom of Plato Negro, parables/fables, Black Bird Press, Berkeley. He currently teaches at his Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland. Ishmael Reed says, “Marvin X is Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland."
For speaking, readings and performance, contact Marvin X @ jmarvinx@yahoo.com,
510-200-4164. www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com
For speaking, readings and performance, contact Marvin X @ jmarvinx@yahoo.com,
510-200-4164. www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Review: Junious Ricardo Stanton on In the Crazy House Called America, essays by Marvin X
By
Junious Ricardo Stanton
Marvin X Offers A Healing Peek Into His Psyche
Review of In the Crazy House Called America
By Junious Ricardo Stanton
Rarely is a brother secure and honest enough with himself to reveal his innermost thoughts, emotions or his most hellacious life experiences. For most men it would be a monumental feat just to share/bare his soul with his closest friends but to do so to perfect strangers would be unthinkable, unless he had gone through the fires of life and emerged free of the dross that tarnishes his soul. Marvin X, poet, playwright, author and essayist does just that in a self-published book entitled In the Crazy House Called America.
This latest piece from Marvin X offers a peek into his soul and his psyche. He lets the reader know he is hip to the rabid oppression the West heaps upon people of color especially North American Africans while at the same time revealing the knowledge gleaned from his days as a student radical, black nationalist revolutionary forger of the Black Arts Movement, husband, father lover, a dogger of women did not spare him the degradation and agony of descending into the abyss of crack addiction, abusive and toxic relationships and family tragedy.
Perhaps because of the knowledge gained as a member of the Nation of Islam, and his experiences as one of the prime movers of the cultural revolution of the '60, the insights he shares In the Crazy House Called America are all the keener. Marvin writes candidly of his pain, bewilderment and depression of losing his son to suicide. He shares in a very powerful way, his own out of body helplessness as he wallowed in the dregs of an addiction that threatened to destroy his soul and the mess his addictions made of his life and relationships with those he loved.
But he is not preachy and this is not an autobiography. He has already been there and done that. In sharing his story and the wisdom he has gleaned from his life experiences and looking at the world through the eyes of an artist/healer, Marvin X serves as a modern day shaman/juju man who in order to heal himself and his people ventures into the spirit realm to confront the soul devouring demons and mind pulverizing dragons; he is temporarily possessed by them, heroically struggles to rebuke their power before they destroy him; which enables him to return to this realm, tell us what it is like, prove redemption is possible, thereby empowering himself/ us and helping to heal us. He touches on a myriad of topics as he raps and writes about himself and current events.
Reading this book you know he knows what it is like to come face to face with and do battle with the insanity and death this society has in store for all Africans. Marvin X talks about his sexual relations/dysfunction, drugs, media and free speech, sports, black political power or the lack thereof, the war on drugs and the current War on Terrorism, nothing is off limits. He includes reviews of music, theater as well as film, but not as some smarter/ holier than thou, elitist observer.
Marvin X writes as one actively engaged in life, including its pain and suffering. He lets us know he was a willing and active participant in his addiction, how it impacted his decision making, his role as a parent, his male-female "relationships", his ability to be creative within a movement to liberate African people and the world from the corruption of Caucasian hegemony.
Marvin X is in recovery and it has not been easy for him. As a writer/healer he still has the voice of a revolutionary poet/playwright, it is a voice we need to listen and pay attention to. He has survived his own purgatory and emerged stronger and more committed to life and saving his people. As North American Africans (his term to differentiate us from our continental and diasporic brethren) he sees the toll the insanity of this culture takes on us. His culturally induced self-destructive lifestyle choices and the death of his son is a testament to how life threatening and lethal this society can be.
But Marvin X also talks about spiritual redemption, the ability to transcend even the most horrific experiences with resiliency and determination so that one gets a glimpse of one's own divine potential. This book is an easy read which makes it all the more profound. In The Crazy House Called America is for brothers especially. It is a book all black men should grab hold of and digest, if for no other reason than to experience just how redemptively healing and liberating being honest can be.
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