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this is an article I wrote for the Nor'easterner, an anarchist newspaper in NE USA.
Live from Conspiring for Change:
The Politics of protest in a post 9/11 world
I went to an event in philthadelphia july 10th, it was an awareness for political prisoners conference, with a panel of great speakers. This event was to raise conciousness about political inprisonment, especially for our brothers and sisters in the RNC8 case. Luce Guillen-Givins, of the RNC8 was on the panel, out on bond. I asked her wat charges she was facing and she said,
"The original charge was just one charge, and it was Felony Conspiracy to commit riot in the second degree in furtherance of terrorism. That was just one charge, and then later they added 3 more charges, and then much later they took away 2 of those charges so that now were looking at Conspiricy charges but no terrorism enhancements."
She is facing 5 years in prison. I asked her "If you could say anything to all the people who are going to hopefully read this, just to inspire them to do something, to do anything for this reveloution, what would your message be to them?" and she said, "Thats a hard one. I mean it would be dont stop. People ask us all the time if it was worth it, was the orginizing worth it now that your facing the prison time and all of that, was it worth it? I would say as long as this is something that solidarity grows out of, as long as the movement is strengthened by supporting us and as long as we can still offer support to other people and be a part of radical movements, absolutly it was worth it. These things happen and they just make you that much more committed to being a part of things."
The highlight of the evening for me was the chance to hear Ramona Africa speak. To me, she is a legend. I know I shouldn't put anybody on a pedestal, but some people just embody archetypes, and to me she embodies the fierce African Goddess', but especially the wild sides of the two waters (i say this with no disrespect meant to any of our other african mothers or sisters, especially in the reveloution, and with much admiration for Oshun and Yemaya). Anyways im getting philosophical, better to let you burn thru her words... I recorded the event and transcribed her words for you to hear, since you probably didn't make it to the philthadelph panel--- she said..................
"On a MOVE, long live reveloution and long live John Africa, im gonna start with a quote from MOVEs founder John Africa, because nobody can analize it and say it better than John Africa. To quote John Africa, "You can be wrong, and still be legal, but when you say your right and do wrong, you aint right no more. Aint no such thing as a legal right, cause right aint legal, it's natural. If being legal was the same as being right you wouldn't have legal problems. You got a legal system and the legal system is filled with problems but if the system was right, it would be just that, right. When you officials demand people are to follow your procedures to defend themselves, you are demanding that people give up thier own procedure. MOVE is against the system, we have made it clear we are against the system. We aint benifiting nothing when we do things as the system, instead of as MOVE. Thier way is to stop us, our way is to stop them. How can we benifit by them, by doing things as them? It aint just a question of MOVE against the courts, it is an issue of MOVE against the system, and it aint procedure to help what your against, and you officials know it. Were against the system, you wanna stop us, and to ask us to go along with your procedures is to help you stop us, to volunteer our freedoms, to be imprisoned, to put handcuffs on our wrists and lock our own selves up. How else can it be? You aint for us, your against us. This aint a question of the system vs. the system, this is a very clear issue of the MOVE orginization vs. everything you officials stand for. These courts are used in a blinding deceptive and illegal way to keep poor folks like a stable boy keeps horses, a farmer keeps cattle, a shepard keeps sheep, for,like the stable boy, the farmer, and the shepard, this system keeps poor folks corralled and enslaved, dependant, mislead. We have misled folks in courts, misled folks in church, misled folks in schools. The system misled folks on jobs, a practice that is compounded at home by people who have been misled by thier parents, who have themselves been misled by the system." Now, what John Africa is saying here is very important, because the bottom line is that you can't get anything RIGHT from this system, and thats the bottom line, and anybody who thinks they can get something right from the system is confused."
.......................................... i'm gonna skip ahead to a quote about the sheeples savior complex with the current PRESS-agent................................................
"When Obama ran for president, a lot of people of color and even some white people, looked at him like a savior. But there is no savior, out there, we are our savior, as long as we understand that and got that in our heads, then were gonna get somewhere. But if we hallucinate that there is some savior out there thats going to come along and make things better for us and clear up all the injustices, then thats just what were doing, hallucinating because it aint gonna happen. We have to do that work, we have to do it. Like I said, it aint easy, its gonna take time and its not something thats gonna happen overnight, but the only way its gonna happen is for us to start walking that road. This is what the MOVE orginazation did, over 35 years ago. We are not perfect, but John Africa has put us on the road to whats right, to whats best for us, Justice, to help, you know? To righteousness, to the true principals of equality, and thats the road that weve been walking ever since"
............ehem, skipping ahead again, my bad..............
"The law of life dictates an instinct of self defense. Im not talking about picking up a gun and jumping on somebody, i'm talking about a mentality, a dangerous mentality that would have people questioning wether they have the right to defend themselves. Wether they should defend themselves or not. Of course you should, it should be instinctive in all of life. But its not always instinctive in humans. We need to get that instinct back. We need to get that understanding back. Thats what John Africa has given MOVE, thats why we can keep going despite all that the system has come at us with. They have come at us with beatings, unjust jailings, 30 to 100 year sentences, bombs, thousands on thousands on thousands of bullets, but they have NOT stopped MOVE. They aint got enough bombs, guns, judges, prosecuting attorneys, jails, or prison bars to stop MOVE. They aint got enough. No matter what they come at us with, we gonna come right back. We understand that, and I believe thanks to the teachings of John Africa, that we aint got nothing to lose. Even if they so-called kill us, they aint taking nothing from us because, if your living under the cloud of this system, you aint alive no way for real. We will fight, and fight, and keep on fighting and we aint never gonna stop fighting, and thats why when Luca emailed me, and asked me if I would come and speak here, I agreed readily."
"It's important for all of us to interact with each other, to hear information from each other, and to be encouraged by each other to keep fighting, and not to give up. To understand that there are people out here that are serious, that aint playing no games, that have set an example for close to 35 years now. Anybody that sets a consistant example of fighting the system for 35 years, thats an example that can be trusted. So, all were saying is that yall are our brothers and sisters, and any injustice done to yall is an injustice done to us and everybody. Thats how we need to feel, thats how we need to treat it, and we need to be ready to take a stand, to take a position and fight for what is right, no matter who is wrong. Thats the position of the MOVE orginization. Stay strong, stay loyal to what you know is right, long live the spirit of reveloution, long live the Luca's, and the RNC8's, and the SFC8's, long live the Peurto Rican Independistas, the Zapitistas, all those, the Leanord Peltier's, all people who have taken a stand, who stand up for what is right at the expense of thier own freedoms. Thier own lives. What they do isn't just for them, it's for all of us. The MOVE 9 could have been out of prison years ago, if they were willing to give up the fight and assimilate back into the system, and never take another stance, they would have been out in a heartbeat. When MOVE people went up for parole what they were told is "we will let you go if you agree to have no more contact with MOVE members". In other words if you leave MOVE, and be good little kids, thats the bottom line.Not one of us agreed to that. Not one of us. The remaining MOVE members in prison are coming up for parole, and we know that if they were to leave MOVE and say they didn't want nothing more to do with any kind of reveloutionary activity or anything, they would be out in a heartbeat. They are looking at 100 years maximum sentancing and not one of them, not ONE OF THEM, is willing to give up there beliefs, to give up whats right. Stay strong, stay loyal, never give up the fight, LONG live reveloution, LONG LIVE JOHN AFRICA."
So there, i present to you the words originally spoken by sisters in the reveloution who unlike most of us, are facing prison for keeping the faith. I apologize that i couldnt fit the whole speech into this tiny article, but hey, get off your tookus and get involved! Check out any local confrences, or god forbid, road trip out to one far away from you. It's well worth it.
A live report from an event in phithy, train-scribed by Roach.........IN SOLIDARITY!
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"If the America people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currencies, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their prosperity until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." ~Thomas Jefforson
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Political Prisoners
