As U.S.-led imperialism looks to be on the brink of a war of one-sided aggression against Venezuela that is already consuming lives throughout the Caribbean and pushing the largest military buildup in the region in at least 40 years, we must retain clarity: we are at war. We, as in all people of the Global Majority, all people who do not sit upon the thrones of finance capital and high elected office, built on the destruction of nations globally and neighborhoods domestically. At this point, it shouldn’t be controversial to say this fact. The administration has renamed it the Department of War, and declared war directly on at least one U.S. city (Chicago), and indirectly on at least two others (LA, DC).
But it is critical that we don’t exceptionalize this moment. While Trump’s administration may be accelerating and intensifying the war — it has been here, President after President. Black/African, Indigenous, working class and poor people have been at war since this settler colony was established. As Black/African human rights activists charged back in 1951, genocide has been occurring in the United States for years. That is why clarity is paramount, so that we don’t end up suing for a peace that returns us back to those lower grade, slower burn forms of warfare and genocide.
Below are some readings, writings, and audio that I’ve been engaging with over the last week or so that I think help provide clarity on the concepts they relate to. Check them out!
What’s a “Peace Deal” in the War against Colonized People? Black Agenda Report — Erica Caines, Tunde Osazua, Austin Cole
Much is being made of so-called “Gaza Peace Plan”, which has brought much sought after relief for the people of Gaza. Yet, this “peace” is simply a cessation of the most egregious widespread genocidal attacks — zionist attacks are still occurring in Gaza, settler occupation continues in the West Bank, bombings in Southern Lebanon are destroying life and livelihood. What peace can we find in this situation? This article from Black Agenda Report that I co-wrote with Erica Caines and Tunde Osazua briefly touches on this and on the colonial connections between these forms of false peace that we see in Gaza, the Congo, Haiti, and the ideas of occupying domestic cities with National Guard and ICE to bring “peace”.
Peace is a controversial word, especially when a far-right demagogue who calls for the violent overthrow of her own country’s revolution and selling of resources to the highest bidder. As the Black Alliance for Peace states in referencing the Black Radical Peace Tradition: “Peace is not the absence of conflict, but rather the achievement by popular struggle and self-defense of a world liberated from the interlocking issues of global conflict, nuclear armament and proliferation, unjust war, and subversion through the defeat of global systems of oppression that include colonialism, imperialism, patriarchy, and white supremacy.”
Black Workers for Justice: 28th Annual MLK Support for Labor Banquet — Ajamu Baraka [April 2011]
“It is not enough to for people to understand and know their rights, we must struggle for our rights. But basically in the end it is the people themselves that are the guarantors of their human rights, and that’s why the issue of building a movement is so fundamentally important.”
These are the words of our comrade Ajamu Baraka, who spoke back in 2011 on the topic of clarifying and connecting human rights, labor struggles, and the importance of building a unified moment.
Understanding human rights not as something passed down from on high by benevolent rulers, but rather as a framework to affirm our human dignity and collective self-determination. These are rights that we must fight for, together.
“‘Crime’, The Trojan Horse For Colonial Control” HoodCommunist — Erica Caines
Crime is used as the justification for the denial of our dignity and violation of our human rights. For those of us concerned about our cities and neighborhoods, planning for the realization of human dignity and basic needs, and striving toward liberatory futures, resisting the colonial reactions that talk of crime engenders is critical.
Whether we are labeled ‘superpredators’, ‘narco-terrorists’, ‘Black-identity extremists’, or plain ole ‘thugs’, the excuse of being ‘tough on crime’ is used time and time again to destroy popular movements and true democratic particpation in all aspects of society. Shedding this colonial logic is essential — from Chicago to Port-au-Prince to San Juan to Rafah to Tripoli and beyond.
“David Abdulah, political leader of Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) and on the regional executive committee of the Assembly of Caribbean People” @trinbagoforpalestine on IG (Trinbagonians for Palestine)
“The Future of Resistance w/ Ali Kadri” Guerrilla History
‘To resist is to exist’. We here that often, but what does it really mean, materially and strategically? In the face of attacks on Venezuela and the Caribbean, dozens of grassroots groups throughout the Caribbean mobilized yesterday to defend the region as a ‘Zone of Peace’.
Also, in this podcast episode of Guerilla History, “The Future of Resistance”, scholar Ali Kadri discusses how resisting imperialism and oppression, and the development of consciousness that that resistance both requires and produces, is in fact how we maintain our humanity. Check out the previous episode in the series with Kadri as well. I am actually currently in a study group on Kadri’s Accumulation of Waste, which is challenging and insightful read about how we can understand capitalism and imperialism as systems that reproduce themselves by ‘wasting’ life and nature. There’s much more there and I hope to write about it when we’re closer to finishing.
Listen to the full album. Listen again. Listen to Black Messiah. Listen again. Listen to Brown Sugar. Listen again. Love your people and show that. Rest in Peace, D’Angelo.
“Imperialism and International Law with Helyeh Doutaghi (The People’s Academy: Ch.2, Unit 4)”
I’ll finish where we started, and leave y’all with this quote from Dr. Helyeh Doutaghi where she references the clarity provided to us by the Palestinian Resistance.
“Even the most powerful states had to mask their violence in legal language. But October 7th, the Flood of Al Aqsa, forced the mask to fall. The West was faced with a choice: abandon the legal liberal facade that legitimized its power or reveal itself in its raw form the fascist, the authoritarian, the genocidal rooted in imperial violence. That forced choice, the exposure, in itself was a historic victory because only when the facade falls can humanity see clearly what it is up against, and begin to imagine what lies beyond. The clarity is part of Palestine’s gift to the world”
Peace!
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