>in their home and in their community? Why should Black
>people have to be the ones to turn the other cheek when
>this was not expected of white racists?
>
>Malcolm was one of the first to pose the question: Can you
>put an equal sign between the violence of the oppressor and
>the violence of the oppressed?
>
>As Marxists, we say that under class society, where a
>minority class of the super-rich oppresses a majority class
>of the poor and workers, there is no equality when it comes
>down to the issue of class violence.
>
>Malcolm agitated for the right to self-defense in his
>talks in Harlem and elsewhere, which made common sense to
>the oppressed. At the same time this posed a threat to the
>stability of the capitalist system.
>
>A year after Malcolm was assassinated in 1965, Huey P.
>Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party for
>Self-Defense in Oakland, Calif. They helped to carry on
>Malcolm's legacy--and not just when it came to advocating
>the right to self-defense for the most oppressed.
>
>This brings me to the other contribution Malcolm made.
>
>10-POINT PROGRAM
>
>The 10-point program of the Black Panther Party was based
>on the 10-point program of the Organization for Afro-
>American Unity that Malcolm X created in 1964 following his
>break with the Nation of Islam. Malcolm was inspired to
>start this organization based on his trip to Africa, where
>he observed the role of the Organization for African Unity,
>a coalition of leaders from all of the African countries.
>
>The Organization for Afro-American Unity called for the
>right to self-defense, and for Black people controlling
>their own destiny--the right to self-determination. It
>pledged to fight for unity, promote justice, and "transcend
>compromise."
>
>The OAAU was a vehicle to challenge the demands being made
>by the moderate program, but at the same time, the mass
>appeal of the civil-rights movement led by Dr. Martin
>Luther King Jr. It was also an attempt on Malcolm's part to
>bring together all political spectrums of the Black
>struggle, North, South, and in-between, into a united front
>based on the 10-point program.
>
>Malcolm's own class-consciousness was broadening based on
>understanding that there exists a common oppression shared
>by Black people in the U.S. and African people who were
>struggling against colonial and neocolonial oppression on
>the African continent. The struggles in Africa were taking
>center stage in the 1950s and 1960s in southern Africa,
>Congo, Ghana, and elsewhere. Malcolm came to view these two
>struggles as one and the same.
>
>He began to travel not only to what was referred to during
>this epoch as the Third World--which included Africa and
>the Middle East--but he also traveled to the imperialist
>countries to bring the message of the plight of Black
>people in the U.S. in order to build anti-imperialist
>solidarity. He once stated, "You can't understand what is
>going on in Mississippi if you don't know what is going on
>in the Congo. They're both the same. The same interests are
>at stake. The same sides are drawn up, the same schemes are
>at work in the Congo that are at work in Mississippi."
>
>And as Malcolm was developing this worldwide class view,
>the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. government
>began to scrutinize him even more intensely.
>
>Malcolm X met with the leaders of the Pan-African movement
>and other anti-imper ialist, pro-socialist leaders like
>Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, and
>Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt. In 1960, he met with Fidel
>Castro at the Hotel Teresa in Harlem following the triumph
>of the Cuban Revolution.
>
>His audiences inside the U.S. were broadening as well and
>included a growing number of anti-racist white students. In
>one of his last speeches, Malcolm told an audience at
>Columbia University, "It is incorrect to classify the
>revolt of the Negro as simply a racial conflict of Black
>against white or as a purely American problem. Rather, we
>are today seeing a global rebellion of the oppressed
>against the oppressor, the exploited against the
>exploiter."
>
>Malcolm's view towards the role of women in the struggle
>was moving in a more progressive direction, in
>contradiction to the Nation of Islam's patriarchal
>preaching which he once embraced. He learned a lot from his
>travels abroad and along the way observed the roles that
>women play in society. These experiences seemed to make him
>appreciate even more the roles that Black women played in
>the struggle inside the U.S. and the potential for further
>political development. He encouraged activists like Fannie
>Lou Hamer and poet Maya Angelou to play leadership roles in
>the OAAU.
>
>Malcolm X, under the auspices of the OAAU, was planning to
>take the plight of African Americans to the United Nations
>in order to charge the U.S. with economic and political
>genocide against Black people.
>
>The role of the United Nations during the 1960s was much
>different than its pro-imperialist role today. First of
>all, the Soviet Union and the socialist camp allied
>themselves in a revolutionary bloc with the anti-colonial
>struggles in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and
>Asia against U.S. and Western imperialism.
>
>As a build-up to bringing the plight of African Americans
>to the UN, Malcolm X stated at a number of meetings, "When
>Black Americans see that our problem is the same as the
>problem of the people who are being oppressed in South
>Vietnam and the Congo and Latin America, that the oppressed
>people of this earth make up a majority, not a minority--
>then we approach our problem as a majority that can demand,
>not as a minority that has to beg."
>
>Malcolm was killed before he was able to realize his dream
>of addressing the United Nations. The OAAU soon began to
>unravel. This was no accident but part and parcel of the
>U.S. government's plan to set back the anti-racist
>struggle. Malcolm may not have been the leader of a mass
>movement, but he was the leader of the most revolutionary
>wing of the Black movement, which was gaining significance
>and prominence worldwide by leaps and bounds.
>
>The U.S. ruling class could not allow a person of
>Malcolm's political stature to go before the United Nations
>to have him expose the U.S. government for its racist
>crimes against humanity. This would have electrified not
>only the Black movement--including the civil-rights
>movement--but the worldwide struggle of the most oppressed.
>
>BASIS FOR UNITY
>
>Had Malcolm been on the platform, his powerful message
>could have laid the basis for broader unity between the
>civil-rights movement and the entire Black liberation
>movement, meaning that Malcolm and King could have forged a
>united front against all forms of racist and class
>oppression.
>
>I think that this is more than just speculation on our
>part, when you consider that King was moving in a somewhat
>similar political direction when he came out against the
>U.S. war in Vietnam and made the connections between the
>growing poverty in the U.S. and the expansion of war in
>Southeast Asia. Those connections sparked his assassination
>three years later in 1968.
>
>How should socialists view the legacy of a Malcolm X?
>Malcolm wasn't a Marxist or socialist when he died. But he
>was certainly against imperialism and racism and, from what
>we could assess, he was moving towards a more anti-
>capitalist position.
>
>As a party, during this tremendous period of struggle, we
>defended the leaders of the Black struggle regardless of
>their program. But we had close political affinity to
>Malcolm X, the Panthers, and others because they were
>clearly against the system, especially when they became the
>targets of unspeakable racist repression. We were excited
>with what Malcolm was trying to do in terms of attempting
>to advance the class struggle and the strategic struggle
>against racism and national oppression.
>
>Malcolm was not a reformist--he was not for reforming this
>terrible system--but was for the complete transformation of
>society based on the right of self-determination for Black
>people here and in Africa and all of the most oppressed.
>That was uppermost in his mind at the time of his death.
>
>Malcolm X should be forever remembered as a revolutionary
>Black nationalist who was open to a class and anti-
>imperialist outlook, who was for the liberation of all
>humanity from the grip of capitalist oppression.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Thu, 25 May 2000 01:02:18 -0400
>Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
>Subject: [WW] Resistance Liberates Southern Lebanon
>Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the June 1, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>ISRAELI OCCUPATION OUSTED: RESISITANCE LIBERATES
>SOUTHERN LEBANON
>
>By Richard Becker
>
>After 22 years of brutal occupation, Israel's control of
>southern Lebanon has collapsed with stunning speed. On May
>23, the last units of the Israeli army withdrew from nearly
>the entire region. The 2,500-strong "South Lebanon Army," a
>puppet force set up, funded, and controlled by Israel,
>completely disintegrated, with most of its members fleeing
>southward across the border.
>
>Jubiliant Lebanese fighters and civilians poured into what
>for two decades Israel had proclaimed as its "security
>zone," now liberated territory.
>
>Lebanese TV led off the news this way: "There is only one
>headline in Lebanon tonight. The liberation of the land.
>The slinking, servile withdrawal by Israel."
>
>The Israeli army, which has occupied a nine-mile-wide
>swath of Lebanon for two decades, was forced by its heavy
>and increasing casualties to begin withdrawing. But its
>plans for a phased and orderly pullback were destroyed when
>the Lebanese resistance movement--both civilians and the
>guerrilla army--went on the offensive.
>
>The Israeli pullback precipitated the sudden and complete
>collapse of the "Southern Lebanon Army," a fascist
>mercenary militia that has terrorized the local population.
>Hundreds of SLA mercenaries, many of whom have been tried
>in absentia and sentenced to death by Lebanese courts, fled
>to the Israeli border seeking asylum and protection from
>their own people. Others were forced to surrender to the
>advancing guerrillas and people.
>
>In the town of Khiam, residents stormed the infamous SLA-
>run Khiam Prison, freeing 140 inmates who had been held for
>up to 10 years. "This immense triumph was achieved with the
>blood of our martyrs," said a Hezbollah leader, Sayyed
>Hassan Mortada.
>
>MARCHERS DEFY HELICOPTER GUNSHIPS
>
>On May 21, 500 Lebanese people carrying the flags of
>Hezbollah, the leading resistance organization, had marched
>into the village of Houla inside the Israeli-occupied zone.
>Lebanese national television showed footage of residents of
>the liberated village showering the marchers with rose
>petals and rice. At least 12 other villages in the area saw
>their brutal occupation ended in similar fashion on May 21-
>22.
>
>These were truly daring advances by the resistance.
>Israeli and SLA tanks, helicopter gunships, and artillery
>fired shells into the advancing columns of marchers,
>inflicting at least four deaths, and possibly many more.
>But the marchers were not deterred. Nor were the guerrilla
>forces, who stepped up their attacks on the Israeli army
>and disintegrating SLA positions. By May 23, virtually all
>of the villages in the 440-square-mile area were liberated.
>
>The pullout by the Israelis and the collapse of their
>puppet army constitute a tremendous victory for the
>Lebanese and all Arab people, one for which they have paid
>a heavy price.
>
>The Israeli government announced that it would reluctantly
>grant asylum to the SLA mercenaries. In an unintentionally
>ironic statement, Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim
>Sneh said, "The door is open to anyone who fought with us
>... but we do not encourage everyone to do so because it's
>very cruel to turn someone into a refugee."
>
>Cruel to turn someone into a refugee?! This from a leader
>of a country that came into being by displacing virtually
>an entire people when it turned more than 750,000
>Palestinians into refugees in 1948-49, making way for the
>state of Israel.
>
>NEW UPSURGE IN PALESTINE
>
>The failure of the U.S.-orchestrated Middle East "peace
>process" to address the right of return for those
>ethnically cleansed and their descendants, now comprising 4
>million people, is one of the causes of the new upsurge in
>occupied Palestine.
>
>The latest round of mass protests began on May 15, the
>52nd anniversary of Israel's declaration of statehood. For
>the Palestinians, May 15 marks "al-Nakba," or "the
>catastrophe."
>
>Every day for more than a week thousands of Palestinians
>have confronted Israeli troops in the still-occupied West
>Bank and Gaza. As of May 23, at least four Palestinians had
>been killed by Israeli army gunfire and more than 700
>wounded--many by steel-jacketed bullets or rubber-coated
>steel bullets. The demonstrations are the biggest in more
>than three years in the Palestinian territories.
>
>Another major issue is the continued Israeli detention of
>at least 1,650 Palestinian political prisoners, most of
>whom have endured years of torture and abuse at the hands
>of their jailers. The political prisoners should have been
>released years ago, according to the original Oslo
>agreements.
>
>ADMINISTRATION WITHOUT SOVEREIGNTY
>
>On May 16, the street fighting intensified, and in
>Ramallah it led to armed clashes between Israeli soldiers
>and police of the Palestinian Authority for the first time
>in more than three years.
>
>The fundamental cause of the new wave of demonstrations is
>the "peace process" itself. After seven years, it is
>supposed to conclude by September 2000.
>
>The Israelis--regardless of the party in office--have
>unswervingly sought to manipulate the negotiations so that
>the Palestinians are left with a powerless and dependent
>entity, broken up into tiny, disconnected pieces of land.
>The Israelis are seeking to make the PA the administrator
>of the population, while denying it sovereignty over the
>land, water, and borders of the Palestinian entity.
>
>And behind the Israelis stands the United States, the
>world's pre-eminent imperialist power. While posing as a
>"neutral broker" in the negotiations, the U.S. has pumped
>hundreds of billions of dollars into Israel's economy over
>the past half-century, without which the Israeli state
>could not have survived. No other country has received even
>a quarter of the aid that this small state has obtained.
>The Pentagon has made Israel into a major world military
>power, supplying it with nuclear, chemical, biological, and
>all kinds of conventional weapons.
>
>As the Washington Post put it on May 16: "Israel has been
>relinquishing control of portions of the West Bank and Gaza
>as part of the Oslo peace process, and most Palestinians
>now live in towns and cities controlled by [Yasir] Arafat's
>Palestinian Authority. But that control generally ends at
>or near town limits--which is where Israeli checkpoints and
>patrols begin and where Palestinians battled today with
>Israeli troops."
>
>Such a limited form of autonomy is clearly unacceptable to
>Palestinians, who have fought heroically and made great
>sacrifices to achieve a truly independent and sovereign
>state. According to United Nations statistics, between 1948
>and 1993, 261,000 Palestinians were killed, 186,000
>wounded, and 161,140 permanently disabled in the struggle.
>
>Either the collapse of the Israeli occupation in Lebanon
>or the new Palestinian uprising would have constituted a
>serious problem for the Israeli government of Gen. Ehud
>Barak. Coming at the same time, they confront Barak and the
>U.S. with a major crisis. The "peace process" has been
>thrown into disarray.
>
>It is clear that the Palestinian people have been greatly
>encouraged by Israel's forced withdrawal from Lebanon. And
>it is equally clear that they are not at all inclined to
>accept anything less than a truly independent state.
>
>Anti-war and anti-imperialist forces must be on alert in
>this critical time, and prepared to take to the streets if
>the U.S. and Israel try to resolve their new crisis by
>military means.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
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