history of usa interfering in elections worldwide

The U.S. is no stranger to interfering in the elections of other countries

One professor's database cites 81 attempts by the United States to influence elections in other countries, notably in Iran, Guatemala and Chile. 

Nina Agrawal

Update: President Obama on Thursday slapped Russia with new penalties for meddling in the U.S. presidential election, kicking out dozens of suspected spies and imposing banking restrictions on five people and four organizations the administration says were involved.

The CIA has accused Russia of interfering in the 2016 presidential election by hacking into Democratic and Republican computer networks and selectively releasing  emails. But critics might point out the U.S. has done similar things. 

The U.S. has a long history of attempting to influence presidential elections in other countries – it’s done so as many as 81 times between 1946 and 2000, according to a database amassed by political scientist Dov Levin of Carnegie Mellon University.

That number doesn’t include military coups and regime change efforts following the election of candidates the U.S. didn’t like, notably those in Iran, Guatemala and Chile. Nor does it include general assistance with the electoral process, such as election monitoring.

Levin defines intervention as “a costly act which is designed to determine the election results [in favor of] one of the two sides.” These acts, carried out in secret two-thirds of the time, include funding the election campaigns of specific parties, disseminating misinformation or propaganda, training locals of only one side in various campaigning or get-out-the-vote techniques, helping one side design their campaign materials, making public pronouncements or threats in favor of or against a candidate, and providing or withdrawing foreign aid.

In 59% of these cases, the side that received assistance came to power, although Levin estimates the average effect of “partisan electoral interventions” to be only about a 3% increase in vote share.

The U.S. hasn’t been the only one trying to interfere in other countries’ elections, according to Levin’s data. Russia attempted to sway 36 foreign elections from the end of World War II to the turn of the century – meaning that, in total, at least one of the two great powers of the 20th century intervened in about 1 of every 9 competitive, national-level executive elections in that time period.

Italy’s 1948 general election is an early example of a race where U.S. actions probably influenced the outcome. 

“We threw everything, including the kitchen sink” at helping the Christian Democrats beat the Communists in Italy, said Levin, including covertly delivering “bags of money”  to cover campaign expenses, sending experts to help run the campaign, subsidizing “pork” projects like land reclamation, and threatening publicly to end U.S. aid to Italy if the Communists were elected.

Levin said that U.S. intervention probably played an important role in preventing a Communist Party victory, not just in 1948, but in seven subsequent Italian elections.

Throughout the Cold War, U.S. involvement in foreign elections was mainly motivated by the goal of containing communism, said Thomas Carothers, a foreign policy expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “The U.S. didn’t want to see left-wing governments elected, and so it did engage fairly often in trying to influence elections in other countries,” Carothers said.

This approach carried over into the immediate post-Soviet period. 

In the 1990 Nicaragua elections, the CIA leaked damaging information on alleged corruption by the Marxist Sandinistas to German newspapers, according to Levin. The opposition used those reports against the Sandinista candidate, Daniel Ortega. He lost to opposition candidate Violeta Chamorro.

In Czechoslovakia that same year, the U.S. provided training and campaign funding to Vaclav Havel’s party and its Slovak affiliate as they planned for the country’s first democratic election after its transition away from communism. 

“The thinking was that we wanted to make sure communism was dead and buried,” said Levin.

Even after that, the U.S. continued trying to influence elections in its favor.

In Haiti after the 1986 overthrow of dictator and U.S. ally Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, the CIA sought to support particular candidates and undermine Jean-Bertrande Aristide, a Roman Catholic priest and proponent of liberation theology. The New York Times reported in the 1990s that the CIA had on its payroll members of the military junta that would ultimately unseat Aristide after he was democratically elected in a landslide over Marc Bazin, a former World Bank official and finance minister favored by the U.S.

The U.S. also attempted to sway Russian elections. In 1996, with the presidency of Boris Yeltsin and the Russian economy flailing, President Clinton endorsed a $10.2-billion loan from the International Monetary Fund linked to privatization, trade liberalization and other measures that would move Russia toward a capitalist economy. Yeltsin used the loan to bolster his popular support, telling voters that only he had the reformist credentials to secure such loans, according to media reports at the time. He used the money, in part, for social spending before the election, including payment of back wages and pensions. 

In the Middle East, the U.S. has aimed to bolster candidates who could further the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. In 1996, seeking to fulfill the legacy of assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the peace accords the U.S. brokered, Clinton openly supported Shimon Peres, convening a peace summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheik to boost his popular support and inviting him to a meeting at the White House a month before the election.

“We were persuaded that if [Likud candidate Benjamin] Netanyahu were elected, the peace process would be closed for the season,” said Aaron David Miller, who worked at the State Department at the time.

In 1999, in a more subtle effort to sway the election, top Clinton strategists, including James Carville, were sent to advise Labor candidate Ehud Barak in the election against Netanyahu.

In Yugoslavia, the U.S. and NATO had long sought to cut off Serbian nationalist and Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic from the international system through economic sanctions and military action. In 2000, the U.S. spent millions of dollars in aid for political parties, campaign costs and independent media. Funding and broadcast equipment provided to the media arms of the opposition were a decisive factor in electing opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica as Yugoslav president, according to Levin. “If it wouldn’t have been for overt intervention … Milosevic would have been very likely to have won another term,” he said.

from the archives--unity, criticism, unity

Marvin X on Unity, Criticism, Unity

There are those who seem to feel there are sacred cows that are beyond criticism. We do not accept this for who is without sin, no one! We thus have the right to criticize mama or daddy if and when they get down wrong. Sometimes we can doctor the patient to death, so Mao said cure the sickness to save the patient. So we must do surgery, examine the body, look for malignancies and repair contradictions.

Of course there is a time and place for the operation. Recently a young fool attacked Amiri Baraka at a breakfast in his honor. We think this was the wrong time to verbally assault an honored guest and the person should have been chastised. Baraka is our greatest living revolutionary writer and as our elder, he deserves much respect.

Now the sacred cow of the hour is our President. There are those North American Africans who want nothing critical said of Prez. Don't say nothing about him cause the white man is saying enough negative. I agree with Cornell West who says we must respect him, protect him, but check him. There is no need to be personal since it is his political policies, not his personality we must examine critically. He seems to have slowly slipped into the permanent war philosophy of his predecessors. He has no plan of substance to solve the unemployment quagmire. Capitulating to the Republicans on no taxation of the rich while extending unemployment checks for the poor is no answer for the long term problem of joblessness.

Yes, it hurts to hear the white man say our Prez has no backbone, but it's true. His concept of compromise is capitulation. Ishmael Reed is more reserved in his criticism, but let's see what Ish has to say in his New York Times op-ed column tomorrow. Ishmael pleads us to give the Prez more time in his book Obama and the Jim Crow Media and the Nigger Breakers, but I am totally disappointed in my book Pull Yo Pants Up fada Black Prez and Yoself. I'm ready to tell the brothers to pull yo pants down and show the Prez yo black unruly asses. Even our radical Congresswoman Barbara Lee has come out against his caving in to the Republication tax program. Now you don't wanna get Mama mad up in here! Unity, Criticism, Unity!

When I wrote an article about Minister Farrakhan, he sent me a message saying that I raked him over the coals, which I did, so he asked me to please contact him first when I want to write something about him so he can tell me his side of the story. I agreed.

Of course there are those who don't want anything critical written about the minister. Now the white man is exempt since he is allowed to say anything without reprisal, but we want to kill another North American African.

Don't ever think there is freedom of speech in the community of North American Africans. They want to muzzle you at every turn, especially the culture police, the gate keepers. Where is the free press in the Pan African world? Arab world--until Al Jazeera! Don't speak about the number of journalists killed in Mexico in the last few months, years.

Gary Webb and Sacramento Bee writer Fahizah Alim who interviewed him shortly before his suicide.

In America, we need only recall the supposed suicide of Gary Webb who exposed the US government Crack connection, and also the assassination of Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey in broad daylight, downtown Oakland, because he was investigating the Oakland Police Department's shakedown, drug dealing, murder squad in black face. He was also investigating corruption at then Mayor Jerry Brown's City Hall.

At this hour we await the elimination (murder) of the founder of Wikileaks. Obama has made him a dead man walking for exposing the emperor has no clothes. So much for freedom of speech in America.

I don't care what someone writes about me, true or false, because usually I will have the last word! And furthermore, I've had the unique ability to outlive my enemies. In my memoir of Eldridge Cleaver, I said some things I probably wouldn't have said if he'd been alive. But he's said things about me that were outright lies. See the collection of his writings edited by Kathleen Cleaver. I actually hesitated writing about him to respect his children who, I feel, were somewhat embarrassed at the antics of their father. I'm sure my children were embarrassed at mine.

I haven't written about my beloved friend Amiri Baraka for the same reason, although someone asked him why hasn't Marvin written about him? He replied because Marvin knows I will have something to say about him!

In my play One Day in the Life, there is a scene about my last meeting with Huey Newton in a West Oakland Crack house. The Bay Area Black Panthers were not too pleased about the scene, although they didn't mind my remarks about Eldridge in the play. When we did the play on the east coast, the New York Panthers pulled me aside to let me know they didn't give a damn about Huey Newton, that Eldridge was their man. As we know, when the Black Panther Party split, Huey's army was on the west coast, Eldridge's on the east.

In Oakland, I officiated the memorial service for Eldridge. Kathleen attended. She said it was a nice service but there were too many Muslims, which is ironic since Eldridge denounced the Muslims even before he was released from prison. Of course when he became a Born Again Christian, Muslims dominated the staff of his ministry, with myself as his chief assistant. See Eldridge Cleaver, My Friend the Devil, a memoir, Marvin X, 2009, introduction by Amiri Baraka.

Those who have sacred cows must simply keep their cows in the barn. Sometimes we have thin skin and want nothing said negative about the sacred cow.

Certainly, we felt this way about the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. We were ready to kill anyone who said something negative about the man we considered the lamb of God.


Minister Farrakhan has confessed he fanned the flames of Malcolm's murder. At the time I was critical of Malcolm but I got over it when I realized shit happens in revolution. Read the history of any revolution, African, Chinese, Russian, Cuban, Mexican, American, and you shall find similar happenings, betrayal, jealousy, envy, assassination (character and physical). As per Malcolm and Elijah, again, I love them both and always shall. They both helped form my consciousness and I cannot deny this.

I wrote a poem recently praising Clara Muhammad, first wife of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, a woman not often praised in the history of North American Africans. John Woodford, former editor of Muhammad Speaks, said it will be one of my classic poems because it honors a great woman.

A Muslim who was not part of the first resurrection got upset with the poem because of what I said about Elijah, the wretched condition he was in when Master Fard Muhammad knocked on his door in Detroit. Why did Master Fard knock on his door? Wasn't it because he was deaf, dumb and blind? Shall I say I wasn't deaf, dumb and blind when I accepted the teachings of the HEM? Shall I say I knew what was happening because I was attending San Francisco State University and the white man had hipped me to what's happening?

No, we were some blind, deaf and dumb so-called Negroes at San Francisco State University, although we had heard Malcolm rapping, but there was much Supreme wisdom we lacked that would later take our consciousness to a higher level. We (and I speak for all the black students in the Bay Area who became Muslims and/or came into black consciousness) must be eternally grateful for Brother Edward who came on campuses with Muhammad Speaks to save our lives with the teachings. In our ignut, arrogant, mis-education, we spate upon and cursed brother Edward for interrupting our Bid Whist game! Called him nigguh, motherfucker and everything under the sun for simply trying to wake up our dead, deaf, dumb and blind asses.

All the people, especially students in the Bay who came into the Nation or were influenced by the Nation in the late 60s know what I'm talking about, and this includes Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Oba T'Shaka, Donald Warden (Khalid Abdullah Tariq Al Mansour), Norman Brown, Askia Muhammad, Fahizah Alim, Joan Tarika Lewis, Timothy Allen Simon, Abdul Sabry, Mar'yam Waidai, et al.

Unity, Criticism, Unity! We must be able to criticize each other constructively, to engage in debate and dialogue. This is how civilize people conduct their affairs. Now savages want to kill, no debate, no dialogue, no comment. Man, I wanna smoke dat nigguh! Grow up, get a life! Will you hide the truth while you know? (Al Qur'an)
--Marvin X
12/10/10

prison radio breaking news

Dear Marvin X- BREAKING NEWS: We are thrilled to announce the release of two Prison Radio correspondents Reverend Edward Pinkney and Lorenzo Cat Johson.  Welcome home! Thank you for all of your support! Find more about Rev. Pinkney and Lorenzo Johnson. Happy Birthday to Assata Shakur, she has been fundamental in our movement. Feel free to listen to and share her poem, "Affirmations" read by Mumia Abu-Jamal and her message to the movement recorded in the 90's. Many blessings to you, Assata. There is also a brand new interview with Mumia Abu-Jamal concerning his new book of essays and reflections "Have Black Lives Ever Mattered? (City Lights).  This Just In: Listen, download, and broadcast by clicking commentaries in the right-hand column, or below. Mumia Abu-Jamal James Baldwin: Word Warrior Mumia's in-depth commentary on the life and significance of James Baldwin.  Hepatitis C Wars Widen Mumia discusses the impact of winning his case to receive treatment, and the ways the Pennsylvania prison system creates complication to resist the mandate for treatment.  Youth In The Streets Examining the exuberant mental and physical energy of youth, Mumia explores how young people are natural conductor of revolutionary energy.  Mumia Abu-Jamal is an award winning author and journalist who is currently imprisoned in SCI Mahanoy, Pennsylvania.  Bryant Arroyo Loving Day Bryant discusses the importance of "Loving vs. Virginia" for bi-racial relationships and its implications for non hetero-normative relationships. Bryant Arroyo is an inmate at SCI Frackville, PA.  Omar Askia Ali Pennsylvania: Lifers Without Parole Omar comments on Pennsylvania's life without parole policies.  Edward "Omar Aski Ali" Sistrunk is a lifer at SCI Coaltownship with claims of innocence. When We Fight We Win, Cuando Luchamos Ganamos   Noelle Hanrahan, P.I. Audio Engineer James Baldwin: Word Warrior (9:35) Mumia Abu-Jamal Hepatitis C Wars Widen (3:36) Mumia Abu-Jamal Youth In The Streets (2:54) Mumia Abu-Jamal What to a Slave is Your Fourth of July? Written by Mumia Abu-Jamal (4:09)  Read by Bernadette Devilin McAliskey Loving Day (3:01) Bryant Arroyo Franz Fanon Revolutionary Journalist (3:25) Mumia Abu-Jamal Pennsylvania: Lifers Without Parole (3:53) Omar Askia Ali Affirmations  (1:36) by Assata Shakur, read by Mumia Abu-Jamal Message to the Movement (3:26) Assata Shakur   Support prison journalism today! Click here to make sure people in prison have a voice!  These commentaries are FREE under creative commons license for non-commercial broadcast & personal use

from the archives--of monks and ministers by marvin x

Of Monks and Ministers

By Marvin X 

The recent march of protesting monks through the streets of Myanmar (Burma) has demonstrated once again the spiritual power of activist clergy. We suggest that ministers in America take to the streets in a show of spiritual power to attack political and social problems such as the war in Iraq and war in the hoods of our inner cities. Perhaps long lines of preachers leading their flocks to the promise land of social justice will have a healing effect on this wretched nation that somehow thinks it can bring democracy to Iraq at gunpoint and not have gun play at home. Yes, we need to see our religious leaders in the streets tending to dissocialized youth and delusional politicians who believe in unprovoked wars for oil and white supremacy.

But sadly, America is not Myanmar and ministers don’t have the courage of monks these days, rather they sermonize about prosperity rather than corruption in high places, lest they offend pharaoh and suffer the fate of the Myanmar monks who have been shot, beaten and had their monasteries surrounded with troops and barbwire. 

No, except for a few, our ministers are content to build crystal cathedrals and  travel down safe roads to prosperity, meanwhile the monks show us that spirituality is not devoid of radical political consciousness and action to liberate the oppressed rather than advocate their followers drown themselves in filthy  materialism on their way to heaven.

Having had a personal relationship with ministers as diverse as the Nation of Islam’s Farrakhan and Rev. Cecil Williams of San Francisco’s Glide Church, we know social activism can be a reality with determined and principled spiritual leaders. But perhaps it is romantic to think the majority of American clergy will step out of their comfort zone, certainly not to the degree of a Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson, although these gentlemen often seem to be ambulance chasers, showing up at every accident for media performances.

Spirituality is an awesome power when utilized for the common good, but there are communities where the religious leaders are silent and seem to collaborate with sins such as gambling, prostitution and drug dealing, even murder, for as someone noted, often if the preachers didn’t condone such vices they would have no congregation since the children of church members provide their parents with money from criminal life that is given to churches in the form of tithes, thus many ministers are silent about drug dealing and the resultant violence and mayhem in their communities. They would not dare march in monk fashion to community dope spots to pray for wayward youth, or offer to save them by providing alternative economic solutions such as micro credit that is raising millions of people out of poverty around the world.

As my daughter in Houston, Texas, boarded the bus to march in Jena, Louisiana, she noted the organization skills and discipline of activist Muslims, but when she called around to Houston’s mega churches, she said they had no knowledge of buses leaving for Jena. And we recall that when a minister named Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., attended a national Baptist convention, he was called a hoodlum and thug. And pronouncements to the contrary, we sense he would be called a hoodlum and thug by many ministers today, yes, even while they profess to love Jesus, another hoodlum and thug of his day.

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unity of language or transcending the psycho-linguistic crisis oF north american africans

Toward the Unity of North American Africans--Unity of Language

Language unifies a people, when they speak a common language, when there is a consensus on word definitions, an agreement on what terms are sacred and what words are profane and obscene.
Chaos comes into a culture when these is no longer a consensus on language, or what we call a psycholinguistic crisis, for words define reality. Words are the vehicle we use to express our interpretation of reality. When the words lose a once agreed upon meaning, it is as though the earth shifts beneath our feet, for we are no longer able to communicate with each other. We then suffer a mental paralysis, a breakdown of the psyche because we are talking loud but saying nothing.

The words thus lose their meaning for there is no agreement. If the culture in its normal state is communal but suddenly the focus shifts to the supremacy of the individual, then we have a problem. We cannot unite for freedom when there is no agreed definition of freedom. For you, freedom is a job. For her, freedom is land and economic independence. For him, freedom is being with same gender loving people, and for her it is the same. Nothing else matters. So what items can we agree upon that defines freedom? And are we going around the corner together or do we have a divisive situation that shall lead us nowhere except to tread water in a pitiful state until we drown, since we refuse to help each other push our agenda items because we don't agree.

We started out on freedom but got diverted into things not communal but individual. Or the language was polluted by class division. The bourgeoisie culture police attempted to define the terms of reality. We wonder by what right do they assume the gate keeper role. Perhaps by being placed into leadership by the oppressor.

In the 1960s, we revolted against the language of the colonial elite, the leadership of the liberation movement shifted because a new consensus on language came into vogue, the language of black power that transcended civil rights to human rights, that shifted from integration to liberation and yes, sometimes, separation. The old language was suddenly obsolete. The term Negro was cast into the dustbin of history. The Negro psycholinguistics shifted from passivity and non violence to revolution.

The Black Arts Movement helped to cause the paradigm shift in terms of language. We revolted from the bourgeoisie socalled proper speech. In our plays, poems, essays, songs, we broke free of the conservative language. We used such terms as motherfucker, yes, bitch, devil, cracker, peckerwoood, and other terms to express our rejection of the American language in favor our our Mother tongue, the raw ghetto language so despised by our culture police, for they were rejected as well. Of course we went to the extreme when we said anyone over thirty should be killed (Bobby Seale). But the expression in grass roots language advanced the freedom mentality in our people. We suddenly realized we can say what we want, we're truly free to do so.

Of course there was reaction, from the oppressor and the colonial elite. The police attempted to ban our plays, to invade our performances, to arrest us if we showed up to perform. The bourgeoisie refused to support us with their money. All this was actually good because it inspired us to continue doing our thing, realizing we were truly independent, no longer slaves to anyone.

We were not able to return to our native language as Ngugi wa Thiango has called upon African writers to do, for we have no idea what it is, though we attempted to learn Swahili, Arabic and Yoruba. And the little we learned helped advance our black consciousness and heal our psycholinguistic crisis. Yes, these languages unified some of us. We held classes in the hood with grass roots people who wanted to transcend the English or American language we called the slave master's language, so how can we ever break free speaking this devil language. This is the language of the kidnapper, the rapist, the man and woman who lynched us, who stole our very identity and replace it with his notion of our very being. Thus, it is he and his language that is profane and obscene, and must be rejected, for it is not the language of love, it is the language of violence and madness.

We thus call for silence as the language of love, since our psycholinguistic crisis is so great it is the cause of physical, emotional and verbal violence with our mates. Almost any word we say is cause for argument. And it is the same when we gather at conferences and gatherings. We must spend an inordinate amount of time debating terms, defining what we mean by freedom, liberation, reparations, gender identity. Yes, what is a woman, what is a man. Today "black brothers" is a gay term. How did "black brother" shift from revolutionary black men to gay men? Of course language is fluid and undergoing constant change. And those with power attempt to define the terms. How else did we come upon this English/American language? It was a violent act, a long process of domination and oppression. Toby was physically abused until he renounced his holy name Kunta Kinte. Muhammad Ali reversed the process, not only by renaming himself but forcing his opponent to call out his name in the ring. Ali chanted, "What's my name, what's my name?" as he beat down his opponent, but he was calling for more than name recognition but for the recognition of his being as a free black man, the member of the Nation of Islam, a transcendence of his American slave identity.

And yet today we have a reaction by the culture police such as Bill Crosby and others who would have us claim our American identity and stop naming our children African and/or Muslim names. He doesn't tell Jose to call himself Joe. He doesn't tell the Chinese who get rich in the hood selling us their food but speaking no English/American to go learn English/American.
He don't tell the Arabs who get rich selling us swine and wine in the name of Allah, to stop speaking Arabic in the hood and speak English/America.

Clearly, Bill Crosby suffers a psycholinguistic crisis of major proportion. And he is not alone. It is again for this reason that I call for the language of silence as the language of love, until we can indeed arrive at a new consensus. The Million Man March brothers took a vow to never use the term bitch. But in the hood bitch is clearly a trans-gender term, for males are called bitches these days, especially when they come incorrect in the dope culture. The dope boys will address an adult male dope fiend as punk bitch. "Punk bitch you better take this dope and get the fuck up otter here wit da quickness 'fore I smoke yo ass."

It's possible the language shifted when adults began buying dope from children, especially during the Crack era, reversing the natural order of adults serving children, thus children lost all respect for their elders and this aspect of the psycholinguistic crisis resulted. It was being addressed with this language when I was a dope fiend that made me want to recover so that I would no longer be so verbally debased by children who had every right to talk to me in this manner because I was, as a dope fiend, in the persona of a punk bitch!

There shall be no language of love until we stop behaving like a nigguh or punk bitch. Don't tell me to stop saying motherfucker while you are in bed with your mother, son, daughter. Who is the real motherfucker up in here, me or you? I'm saying it but you doing it!

Language confusion exists when there are contradictions in behavior, especially adult behavior that the children observe. And so when we hear them on the street, at school, in the clubs, in their raps, we must ask ourselves where they got this language from, and more importantly, what is the meaning of it. They are simply trying to do as we did, give order to reality by way of language. Is it better to be silent, to say nothing since the entire language is vile, polluted and corrupted. Let us not go to an examination of the political language, double speak, evasiveness,
subterfuge. See George Orwell's Politics and the English Language. Listen to the politicians lie and attempt to deceive the world with words, yes, talking loud but saying nothing. Vote for me, I'll set you free. Change we can believe in. Change is gonna come. A chicken in every pot!

Yes, silence, there are possibilities for unity if, we just be quiet. To speak is to fail the tone test, for anything we say is suspect, for we don't trust the language, the words, and most of all, we are not truthful in our expressions, in short, we have become liars too, in harmony with the ruling class and the culture police or those colonial elite gate keepers in league with the blood suckers of the poor.

Some day we shall arrive at the language of love, where we say what we mean and mean what we say, where we understand the tone test and can pass it, with the police, with a brother and with a sister, especially our mate who was going to make love with us until we said the wrong thing, even though we didn't intend to do so, something just slipped out carelessly, but we blew it. Baby's mood changed because we said the wrong word, or she took it the wrong way.

Let us strive to reach a consensus on this pitiful bastard language we speak, for these words are killing us, literally. Better to speak as little as possible until we can transcend to a language that unifies us and allows us to love each other unconditionally.

--Marvin X
12/13/10

Jul 19 at 3:31 PM

Ghost writers and other ghosts in the BAMBD

Jesse Allen Taylor is trying to improve his fact checking, but we proofread his article and made a few changes, nothing major except the glaring error that Lynette created the BAMBD by herself. Others involved in the concept must include Menuhim Ayele, Paul Cobb, Conway Jones, Jr., Anyka Barber, Joyce Gordon, Aries Jordan, Ayodele Nzinga, Eric Arnold and myself. Lynette also has ghosts she meets with in ghost meeting rooms at City Hall and other ghost locations. I am sure Ayodele Nzinga and Eric Arnold will peruse Jesse's article to correct other errors. --Marvin X

eric arnold on ghost writers

For the record, Allen-Taylor has consistently gotten this story wrong, sometimes insisting on publishing defamatory hearsay without even attempting to confirm the facts. When we brought this to his attention and demanded a retraction, he asked us to list what was false and/or misleading. We counted at least 66 errors in five separate columns. That is inexplicable for anyone who considers themselves to be a professional journalist. When the 66 errors were noted to Allen-Taylor, instead of issuing the retraction, he informed me he had simply deleted the passages--which is unethical, to say the least.

In his latest column, he repeats a mistake he has already been informed of, namely, his assertion that McElhaney created BAMBD all on her own. As many of you know, the naming came out of the Culture Keepers working group--which McElhaney has not convened in almost a year.

There are some other facts Allen-Taylor gets wrong--he misspelled "Oakulture", for one--and I have to wonder about his assertion that a staff member could be hired for the $5000 CAC designation would have brought.

Meanwhile, Ms. Nzinga and myself have negotiated CBAs which represent the only real investment in the district thusfar.  So, it is incorrect to say that there are no ongoing projects -- among the things which are, in fact, ongoing, are an Art Advisory Board, commitments to cultural retail at BMR, a technical assistance program for small businesses, an Anti-Displacement Fund, and even a youth-run art expo. BAMBD CDC has been mentioned by Cultural Arts Manager Roberto Bedoya as being in the best position of any emerging arts district in Oakland, and Ms. Nzinga will be participating  in the Downtown Oakland Specific Plan planning process on behalf of the district --which includes several official meetings over the next few months.

Apparently, Allen-Taylor has concluded that his ignorance as to what is actually going on with BAMBD can be projected onto reality, but this is an erroneous assumption, like much of his recent writings. There's a lot going on, including upcoming Town Hall meetings and non-profit certification, which will help facilitate capacity-building and greater investment in the district. We are also hearing that there is interest in BAMBD from the philanthropic community.

Although the failure to secure CAC designation appears to be a setback on paper, because of the effort, we now have a cultural asset map and inventory of public art. Not only will we not be deterred, but we plan to apply again next year, and to ensure the application is as robust and thorough as it should have been. 

As for Allen-Taylor, we are considering taking legal action against him. I would just like to advise folks not to speak with him on or off the record, until he retracts the many falsehoods and misleading statements he has made.

In community,

Eric Arnold

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: J. Douglas Allen-Taylor (Jesse Allen Taylor)

To: Jesse Douglas Allen-Taylor

Sent: Sunday, July 16, 2017, 3:48:02 PM PDT

Subject: OAKLAND'S BLACK ARTS AND BUSINESS DISTRICT LEFT OFF STATE PILOT PROJECT LIST

OAKLAND’S BLACK ARTS AND BUSINESS DISTRICT LEFT OFF STATE PILOT PROJECT LIST

A CounterPoints Column by J. Douglas Allen-Taylor

Marvin X  and Councilmember Lynette McElhaney in happier times

Oakland’s official downtown and West Oakland-based Black Arts Movement and Business District (BAMBD) received a blow last week when it failed to make the California Arts Council’s list of “14 districts that will serve as California's inaugural state-designated Cultural Districts.” Oakland’s district will not get the chance to apply for state recognition again until the California Arts Council puts its full local cultural district program in place in 2019.

Among the nearby local cultural districts that were included in the 14 member pilot project were one apiece located in Emeryville and San Rafael and two in San Francisco.

The BAMBD was the creation of Oakland Third District City Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney and was authorized by the Oakland City Council in January of 2016. On paper, it runs in an eight block corridor with Broadway at the center between Chinatown and Uptown, from the western bank of Lake Merritt to the 880 freeway. It was officially set up to “highlight, celebrate, preserve and support the contributions of Oakland’s Black artists and business owners” in that downtown/West Oakland corridor.

Besides the prestige of state recognition, making the Arts Council’s pilot project list would have meant access to state funding and the promise that the California Arts Council would assist BAMBD in receiving grants from private sources. McElhaney’s office, which was listed as the lead agency on the Arts Council application, had tentatively budgeted the small amount of money that would have immediately come with state recognition to hire a dedicated staff member to begin putting a program together to implement the BAMBD, which as yet has no ongoing projects.

But now, with the City of Oakland’s failure to provide any money for the official BAMBD and without the apparent active public support of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, it is difficult to see where funds to hire a staff for the district or to create any programs for it will come from.

Oakland Black poet/playwright and arts activist Marvin X Jackmon, who McElhaney once credited with helping her develop the BAMBD concept, immediately put the blame for the BAMBD’s failure to get state recognition directly on the Councilmember.

“[I suggest] City Councilwoman Lynette Mcelhaney take an acting class from Dr. Ayodele Nzinga's Lower Bottom Playaz,” Jackmon wrote in an email message to supporters following the Arts Council announcement. “Clearly her fake performance with the Cal Arts Council was not convincing. CAC didn't go for her top down domination of the BAMBD. She has yet acted on Marvin X's long request for banners, specifically, the African red, black and green flag, and Black/African vendors in the streets along the BAMBD corridor, 14th Street. Such a cosmetic appearance might have convinced the CAC to certify our district. Next time around, Lynette, improve your acting and stagecraft. See Dr. Nzinga at the Flight Theatre asap.”

Ayedole Nzinga is the founder and director of the Lower Bottom Playaz independent Black theater group. The group was originally based at the Black Dot Café in West Oakland’s Lower Bottom community, but has since relocated to Broadway’s Flight Deck Theater for its most recent productions. The Movement newspaper, which bills itself as the “Voice Of The Black Arts Movement International” and lists “Marvin X” as its Executive Publisher and Nzinga as its senior writer, also lists Nzinga as BAMBD’s lead planner.

Last summer, Nzinga filed the BAMBD Community Development Corporation of Oakland as a nonprofit corporation with the California Secretary of State’s office. Along with Oakland journalist Eric Arnold, who lists himself as “Co-Director of BAMBD CDC” on his oakculture website, Nzinga has been negotiating for several months under the BAMBD Community Development Corporation name with several developers for community benefits from proposed downtown development projects.