The Treasure
of an Uncompromising Voice
by Obi Egbuna
This article is an honest and
sincere attempt to analyze the role of our community in today's anti-war
movement. There are some concerns and criticisms that must be raised.
As a full time grass roots organizer for the last 13 years, it is easy
to see where the confusion and frustration from each sector of our community
begins.
The two most decorated traditions
in our community are the church and the military, and it appears as if,
at times, the military is held in higher regard.
When the Truman Administration
made the decision to desegregate the military, advocates of integration
hadn’t the slightest idea of the psychological damage this political
maneuver would have on our people.
Since then those who have proudly
served in the United States wars, operations and invasions have developed
a very influential network right before our very eyes that continues to
attempt to convince each coming generation that serving in the military
of their ancestor's slave masters is their patriotic duty.
They are also the driving force
behind initiatives like the building of the African-American Civil War
Museum on U Street in Washington, DC and the building of a statue honoring
the Buffalo Soldiers in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. They created a magazine
like the Bronze Warrior, which claims to be the nation's premier information
source for ethnic and cultural diversity in the U.S. Military.
One cannot understand the mentality
of Colin Powell or Condoleeza Rice, without looking at Crispus Attucks,
Peter Salem, the only female Buffalo Soldier — Cathy Williams, Dorie
Miller and Benjamin O. Davis to name a few. They belong to a long list
of people who have fallen for U.S. military propaganda, hook, line and
sinker.
The pro-military machine in
our community is very well organized and should never be taken for granted.
This is why those of our organizations who oppose the military strategies
and tactics of the U.S. government should be far more consistent.
There has been more outrage
and protest over the Bush Administration threatening to bomb Iraq, than
there was of the Clinton Administration actually bombing Iraq for 70 days
in a row. This forces any critically thinking person to wonder if the
main reason for certain activists raising their voices at this time is
to deliver the African vote to the doorsteps of the democratic party in
the next presidential election.
If this is the case, we cannot
be surprised to see organizations who do not have a sentimental attachment
to either the democratic or republican party deliberately isolated from
the planning of recent demonstrations, teach ins, and rallies where our
communities have been the target and focus.
Our brother Nelson Mandela
recently attacked Bush at a Women's Forum in Africa for his stance on
Iraq. As a result, he has received praise worldwide. We humbly suggest
the next time he is in Bill Clinton's company discussing AIDS he launches
the same attack so he doesn't appear sweet on white liberals.
This is what made the activities
of the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee and Southern Christian
Leadership Conference in the Anti-War movement of the 1960's around Vietnam
more courageous — they refused to be either intimidated or manipulated
by the Democratic President Lyndon Johnson and his liberal counterparts.
We can also learn from the Palestinian People whose resistance against
the Zionist State of Israel never waivers one bit whether the Labor or
Likud party is in power.
Our people also face another
important challenge at this juncture in history. We must understand the
difference between claiming we are against war and opposing military repression
and violence.
For example, at the height
of anti-colonial movement in Africa, armed struggle in places like Algeria,
Mozambique, Kenya, Angola and Eritrea were necessary for independence
to be won. The people of Cuba and Vietnam also chose this path with courage
and dignity. Therefore, today, when poor and oppressed people all over
the world adopt these methods against brutal and repressive regimes and
mercenary units who in many cases receive financial and military backing
from the United States, it is important to refrain from criticizing them.
We must not serve as an extended
mouthpiece of the U.S. government and its military and intelligence apparatus.
It is also obvious that homeland security and other legislation that deals
with countries and organizations labeled terrorists by the U.S. are nothing
but desperate attempts to prevent organizers within U.S. borders from
building stronger bridges with the people of Cuba, Libya, Iraq, Zimbabwe,
Colombia, Palestine, Venezuela, North Korea, Northern Island, Puerto Rico,
Japan, the Philippines and Afghanistan.
This way, instead of building
a worldwide movement against military repression and violence and maximizing
our potential, we will settle for watered down declarations of peace while
the most ruthless military on the planet earth gains momentum by the second.
We can no longer be satisfied by dealing with this issue on the surface.
It no longer is enough for our organizations to take positions on wars,
operations and invasions of the U.S. government if you don't have a program
of action confronting this problem, which simply means it must not be
that much of a priority.
I raise this contradiction
for two reasons. First, our organizations have taken the most courageous
positions against the military activity of the United States, since WWI.
Some of the voices have been A. Phillip Randolph, Elijah Muhammad, Bayard
Rustin, Paul Robeson, W.E.B. DuBois, Lucy Parsons, Claudia Jones, Dr.
King and Malcolm X, to name a few.
In more recent times, Minister
Louis Farrakhan and our fallen comrade Kwame Ture certainly have played
their role fighting military repression and violence. Secondly, at times
our organizations criticize each other about not taking positions concerning
this issue instead of discussing when our organizations that are willing
to build the most inclusive coalition around this issue possible can come
together and complete this long and overdue task.
Another concern is the tactic
of confining our political education efforts to responding to the propaganda
of the government about the countries featured on television, in newspapers,
internet, radio and other information sources. If U.S. imperialism was
an animal it would be an octopus.
While Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan
and North Korea have dominated the news, the assassination of Zimbabwe
President Robert Mugabe is being planned. Hugo Chavez in Venezuela could
easily end up like Allende in Chile in 1973.
The people in Colombia, where
Africans make up over 45 percent of the population, are feeling the wrath
of Plan Colombia — the latest U.S. military adventure. The attempt
to create an opposition party in Cuba is being carefully orchestrated
with the help of the anti-Castro terrorists in Miami.
A permanent effort against
military repression and violence is necessary and should be connected
with the resistance against police brutality within the United States,
which is nothing but the continuation of the struggle to merge the experiences
of those who endured both chattel slavery and colonialism.
The U.S. war on terrorism is
the latest aggression against Socialist and Islamic forces all over the
world. The legacy of J Edgar Hoover and McCarthy is alive and well within
the hearts of the current government officials.
The fact that we are only 12
percent of the population but still make up 22 percent of military personnel
should make anyone who dismisses charges of genocide as extreme and far-fetched
think again.
The other dynamic that should
grab our attention collectively is that Uncle Sam is not satisfied. Our
actors and actresses will be asked to play in more military movies to
show their patriotism.
Former conscientious objectors,
like Imam Warith Deen Muhammad, will be asked to continue to encourage
Muslims to join the ranks of the military to show they aren't sympathetic
to those who practice the same religion they do who are labeled terrorists.
ROTC and JROTC will be boosted at the junior high and high schools we
have traditionally attended. Spike Lee will be asked to do more public
relations campaigns for the Navy and magazines like Black Enterprises
will continue to run recruitment ads by the army like the one in their
March edition showcasing the Company 24 regiment who fought in Korea.
These examples illustrate that
we don't have the luxury of waiting until the United States is on the
verge of a war, operation or invasion to flood the streets of major cities
with demonstrations which are planned for the most part by a network external
to our community. We can't wait for grant money and employment opportunities
with health insurance plans where protesting war is in your job description.
The historical obligation to
harmonize theory and practice, improve our communication and Pan African
and International movement against military repression and violence remains.
Obi Egbuna is a member of the
Pan African Liberation Organization based in Washington, D.C. obiegbuna@yahoo.com
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