"I am an extremist. I call for extreme measures to solve extreme problems. ...
Without self-determination, I am extremely displeased....International capitalism
cannot be destroyed without the extremes of struggle...."I think in terms of long
struggle, but to me that struggle means action that changes things step by step...no
chance of ever turning back."
"Freedom means warmth and protection against harsh exposure to the elements. It
means food, not garbage. It means truth, harmony, and the social relations that
spring from these. It means the best medical attention whenever it's needed. It
means employment that is reasonable, that coincides with the individual necessities
and feelings. We will have this freedom even at the cost of total war."
Tape: (Wald/George) G: IT'S MY IMPRESSION THAT CONDITIONS IN THE BLACK COLONY,
ESPECIALLY THE BLACK COLONY IN THIS COUNTRY, ARE RIPE, ARE RIPE RIGHT NOW FOR
REVOLUTION. IT IS CLEAR THE CONDITIONS -- OF COURSE, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT ARE PEOPLE
HUNGRY? ARE PEOPLE ILL FED? ILL CLOTHED? OF COURSE THEY ARE. I'M CONVINCED THE
CONDITONS ARE RIPE.
"The capitalist Eden fits my description of hell. To destroy it will require
cooperation and communion between our related parts; communion between colongy and
colony, nation and nation.... International coordination is the key to defeating
this thing that must expand to live. Our inability to work with other peoples, other
slaves who have the same master, is a consequence of the inferiority complex we have
been conditioned into. We're afraid...the Chinese...or the White folks who support
socialism and liberation...really just want to use us, trick us....
This paranoia is a carry-over from the days when a white face in a black crowd meant
that the white brain was controlling things. It is a carry-over from the days when
some of us felt that nothing could function properly without the presence of a white
brain, when we were sufficiently convinced of our own inferiority to allow them to
take us over.....We must overcome the paranoia...We need allies, we have a powerful
enemy who cannot be defeated without an allied effort!
(Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of G.J.)
tape: (Wald/May 16, 1971 for Pacifica)
- G: DOUBLE MAX. THE PRINCIPLE CONTRADICTION BETWEEN OPPRESSOR AND OPPRESSED CAN BE
REDUCED TO THE FACT THAT THE ONLY WAY THE OPPRESSOR CAN MAINTAIN HIS POSITION IS BY
FOSTERING, NURTURING, BUILDING CONTEMPT FOR THE OPPRESSED. THAT THING GETS OUT OF
HAND AFTER A WHILE. IT LEADS TO THE EXCESSES THAT WE SEE -- THE EXCESSES THAT ARE
GROWING WITHIN THE TOTALITARIAN STATE HERE. THE EXCESSES BREED RESISTANCE, OF
COURSE. THE THING GROWS IN SPIRALS; IT CAN END IN ONLY ONE WAY--THE EXCESSES LEAD TO
RESISTANCE, RESISTANCE LEADS TO BRUTALITY, THE BRUTALITY LEADS TO MORE RESISTANCE,
AND FINALLY THE WHOLE QUESTION WILL BE RESOLVED WITH EITHER THE UNECONOMIC
DESTRUCTION OF THE OPPRESSED OR END REPRESSION, THE END OF ECONOMIC MAN. AND THAT'S
WHAT WE'RE WORKING FOR -- REVOLUTION -- MUST BE FED. IT GROWS IN SPIRALS --
CONFRONTATIONS -- I MEAN ON ALL LEVELS. THE INSTITUTIONS THAT BUTTRESS THE
ESTABLISHMENT -- I MEAN ON ALL LEVELS -- HAVE TO BE ASSAULTED. WE DON'T HAVE TO
CONTRIVE ANY...LET'S SEE, THE PARTICULAR THING I'M INVOLVED IN, THE PRISON MOVEMENT,
THE PRISON MOVEMENT STARTED BY HUEY NEWTON AND THE PARTY, HUEY AND DAVID, JUNE, PAT,
PAT GALLYOT, AND THE REST OF THE COMRADES AROUND THE COUNTRY WHO ARE WORKING WITH
ERICKA AND BOBBY, THE PRISON MOVEMENT IN GENERAL, THE MOVEMENT TO PROVE TO THE
ESTABLISHMENT THAT THE CONCENTRATION- CAMP TECHNIQUE WON'T WORK ON US, NOT IN THE
1970'S. WE DON'T HAVE TO CONTRIVE ANY IMPORTANCE TO OUR PARTICULAR MOVEMENT. IT'S A
VERY REAL, VERY, VERY REAL ISSUE, AND I'M OF THE OPINION THAT RIGHT ALONG WITH THE
STUDENT MOVEMENT, RIGHT ALONG WITH THE OLD, FAMILIAR WORKERS' MOVEMENT, YOU KNOW,
THE PRISON MOVEMENT, SUBSTRUCTURAL TO THE THING ON A WHOLE, DOES HAVE STRONG, STRONG
RELEVANCE TO THE WHOLE QUESTION -- THE MOVEMENT IN GENERAL.
"I am a Marxist-Fanonist, in other words, a realist. There is no such thing as a
spontaneous revolution, there will be no spontaneous uprising and sudden seizure of
power by the people. A mass will remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside
force."
"In all the successful class struggles and colonial wars of liberation, the vanguard
elements did get ahead of the people and pull. There is no other way in forward mass
movement. The liberalist slogan 'You can't get ahead of the people' is meaningless.
>From what other position can one lead?"
"We must never forget that it is the people who change circumstances and that the
educator himself (or herself) needs educating. 'Going among the people, learning
from the people, and serving the people' is really stating that we must find out
exactly what the people need and organize them around these needs."
"Recall: our Mao teaches that when revolution fails, it isn't the fault of the
people, it's the fault of the vanguard party. The people will never come to us and
say, 'Let's fight.' There have never been any spontaneous revolutions.
"The police state isn't coming -- it's here, glaring and threatening. How do we
raise a new revolutionary consciousness against a system programmed against our old
methods? ...As Blacks, we must function as the vanguard in any hositilities. We must
use a new approach, unite and revolutionize the black central-city commune, and
slowly provide the people with the incentive to fight by allowing them to create
programs that will meet all of their social, political and economic needs.
"We're something like 40 to 42 percent of the prison population. Perhaps more, since
I'm relying on material published by the media....These prisons have always borne a
certain resemblance to Dachau and Buchenwald, places for the bad niggers, Mexicans
and poor whites. But the last ten years have brought an increase in the percentage
of blacks for crimes that can clearly be traced to political-economic causes. There
are still some blacks here who consider themselves criminals -- but not many.
Believe me, my friend, with the time and incentive that these brothers have to read,
study, and think, you will find no class or category more aware, more embittered,
desperate, or dedicated to the ultimate remedy -- revolution. The most dedicated,
the best of our kind--you'll find them in the Folsoms, San Quentins, and Soledads.
They live like there's no tomorrow. And for most of them there isn't. Somewhere
along the line they sensed this. Life on the installment plan, three years of
prison, three years on parole; then back to start all over again...Parole officers
have sent brothers back to the joint for selling newspapers (the Black Panther
Paper). Their official reason is "failure to Maintain Gainful employment." (Soledad
Brother)
G: WELL, WE'RE ALL FAMILIAR WITH THE FUNCTION OF THE PRISON AS AN INSTITUTION WITHIN
THE TOTALITARIAN STATE....IT'S ONE OF THE STRONGEST INSTITUTIONS THAT SUPPORTS THE
TOTALITARIAN STATE. WE HAVE TO DESTROY ITS EFFECTIVENESS. AND THAT'S WHAT THE PRISON
MOVEMENT IS ALL ABOUT. WHAT I'M SAYING IS, THEY PUT US IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS. ALL
RIGHT, BUT THERE'LL BE NO PEACE IN THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS, NONE WHATSOEVER. I'M
SAYING THAT IT'S IMPOSSIBLE, IMPOSSIBLE, TO CONCENTRATION-CAMP RESISTERS. FOR
EXAMPLE, WELL WE CAN GO BACK A LITTLE DISTANCE, INTERNMENTS DURING WORLD WAR II;
LET'S GO FORWARD TO THE STRATEGIC HAMLET AND ALL THE VARIOUS MEANS OF CONCENTRATING
POPULATIONS TO BETTER CONTROL OR TO ELIMINATE, LIQUIDATE, ISOLATE THE DYNAMIC
SECTIONS OF THE MOVEMENT, THE PROTAGONISTS IN THE MOVEMENT. WE HAVE TO PROVE THAT
THAT THING WON'T WORK HERE. AND THE ONLY WAY TO PROVE IT IS RESISTANCE ONCE INSIDE.
AND THEN THAT RESISTANCE HAS TO BE SUPPORTED, OF COURSE, FROM THE STREET. IT HAS TO
BE UNDERSTOOD THAT THE FUNCTION OF THE PRISON WITHIN THE PRISON STATE, WITHIN THE
POLICE STATE, HAS TO BE EXPLAINED, HAS TO BE ELUCIDATED, HAS TO BE GOTTEN ACROSS TO
THE PEOPLE ON THE STREET, BECAUSE WE CAN'T FIGHT ALONE. WE CAN FIGHT, BUT THE
RESULTS ARE, WELL, THEY'RE NOT CONDUCIVE TO PROVING OUR POINT -- YOU KNOW, THAT THIS
THING WON'T WORK ON US. FROM INSIDE, WE FIGHT AND WE DIE. BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT.
THE POINT IS--IN THE NEW FACE OF WAR--TO FIGHT AND WIN. (Karen Wald interview, taped
3/71)
A luta continua,
Kiilu Nyasha
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