New Orleans after being devastated by hurricane Katrina in 2005
Just two weeks after Hurricane Katrina, the city [of New Orleans] fired 7,500 public school teachers, launching a new push to privatize the school system and build a network of charter schools.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to put this question to Wendell Pierce. It was a piece that appeared in Chicago by an editorial board member of the Chicago Tribune. Her name was—is Kristen McQueary. She wrote a piece about Chicago’s financial crisis, titled “In Chicago, Wishing for a Hurricane Katrina.” She wrote, quote, “I find [myself] wishing for a storm in Chicago—an unpredictable, haughty, devastating swirl of fury. A dramatic levee break. Geysers bursting through manhole covers. A sleeping city, forced onto [the] rooftops.” She later apologized for offending the city of New Orleans. Wendell Pierce, you’re a New Orleans native. Your parents are from New Orleans. Your grandparents are from New Orleans. Can you respond to this? And also talk about the struggle for who has made it in the last 10 years in New Orleans and who hasn’t, what communities have thrived, and the fact that 100,000 African-American New Orleanians are no longer in New Orleans.
WENDELL PIERCE: First of all, I found that editorial so offensive. I called it “blasphemously evil” for someone to wish for a disaster that killed over 1,800 people as a way to cleanse their city of some sort of political policies that she disagreed with. Not only was the writer offensive and owed the city and all of those who lost relatives 10 years ago an apology, but I can’t believe that the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board allowed it to go into print. So that was the thing that was really offensive.
And just doubling back on what Gary was saying about the education system, I want you to remember that the United Teachers of New Orleans, the union that my mother was a part of all of her life, her 40 years of teaching in the school system, was one of the largest unions and most powerful unions in the state of Louisiana. It was predominantly African-American and women. And when the floodwaters were still rising in New Orleans, the first official—one of the first official acts that the governor did was to fire all the teachers. It wasn’t by happenstance, it was by design. You saw the political manipulations and taking advantage of the crisis, as it were.
And we should not let the education reform that is happening in New Orleans go unchallenged, because just in October of last year, the Cowen Institute at Tulane, that put out a study and released data on the progress of the charter school system now, actually had to admit that they cooked the books, that they changed the data to make sure that it looked better, because what’s happening is a raid, a raid of the treasury, of the money set aside for public education to be given to private companies, private companies in education. And then they’re changing—they’re changing the status quo to make sure that they keep their charters, to make sure that they keep the flow of money coming into the corporation. Remember, the first rule of law when it works—in a business or in a corporation, is to make a profit. And the only way you make a profit if you’re a charter school is to keep that charter. And the only way you keep that charter is to make sure that you give the appearance that you are not failing.
And they’re leaving a lot of people and a lot of kids on the way—on the side. And they’re leaving them in a worse position than they were before. If you don’t go to the most needy children in your society and help them—as Gary was saying before, the disabled and special needs and special education kids were not having any of their needs met, because it is not required in so many of the charters to even have that sort of part in your education system. So, a lot of people are being left behind.
I have, in Pontchartrain Park, a community development corporation, where we, residents, initiated our own reconstruction, but—as we got the properties that were sold back in the Road Home program in our community of Pontchartrain Park, so that we can put them back into commerce. But we are restricted to only selling to low-income, 80 percent average median income and below. I have no problem with bringing in low-income people to the community. That’s how my parents got a chance at first getting their first home in the 1950s. But what’s happening is to make sure that you displace people who have been forced out of public housing and have only certain areas that they can have access to homes, because then public housing is only one-third public housing anymore, the other two-thirds is now market rate.
And it’s taken all 10 years to rebuild those public housings. I call it displacement by delay. You know, it took so long for us to even reconstitute public housing in New Orleans, that 10 years, if somebody hasn’t, you know, placed roots in Atlanta or Texas or wherever they were displaced to, the likelihood of them coming back is very small. So, it’s by design, it’s by policy. You know, I say in my book, my grandparents always taught us there are those who don’t have your best interest at heart, and there are people in positions of power and policymakers who don’t have all the city’s best interests at heart. And they’re constituting policy and taking actions to make sure that only certain communities are coming back and other communities are suffering.
In a world experiencing increasing privatization couple with extreme climate disaster it is becoming clearer and clearer that we do not exist in their vision of the future. They will leave us behind to drown in the flood with no remorse, they’ve done it before and they will do it again.
We have to build alternatives to their capitalist system.
As climate disaster increases the most vulnerable communities being working class afrikans, indigenous peoples, and radicalized communities of the north east south and west will continue to be the ones facing the brunt of the storm.
Hurricane Beryl: and it’s impact on communities such as the “grenadines”, “st. vincent”, “texas”, “mexico”, and others.
The islands and those close to the coast will and are the first ones effected and our governments will leave them behind to sink away into the ocean.
and if we don’t fight back, once our bodies are swept away with the tides and whats left of our homes are nothing but rubble and mass graves they will plant their flags and build their new sanitized settlements and carry on as if we were nothing but pesky fly in their way
i have been thinking a lot about the idea of liberated zones and what it means to really take the land and the means of production back into our own control.
interlude – we want freedom by dead prez
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from the Columbia University Gaza Solidarity Encampment
“Rebuilding our communities and support networks is the only first of many steps: we must also push back against both liberal anti-militancy rhetoric and state intimidation, we must equip ourselves with the skills we need to actually disrupt business as usual, and we must foster the radicalization of new militants. We need agitprop, education, training. We need one-on-one conversations, we need zines, we need teach-ins, we need wheatpaste and stickers and spray paint, we need weekly self-defense practice – as our friends at CUNY put it, we need escalation trainings. We need to claim ground against the pervasive rhetoric of nonviolence and stop feeding the cowardly illusion that freedom can ever be won by merely appealing to the moral sense of the oppressor. We need to build a broader collective understanding of what it truly means to support resistance, of why it is imperative for our movements to develop teeth if we hope to even leave a scratch upon the leviathan body of imperialism. We need to remember that pigs and politicians are just as mortal as us plebeians. We need to turn cross-movement solidarity into an inviolable principle and a daily praxis instead of continuing to treat it as a bonus add-on, as something to be acted on only when convenient. We need to remind ourselves that we too live under a colonial monstrosity built on genocide, that our most paramount task in the fight for Palestinian liberation will always be to fight for the death of the settler state that exists right here on these lands. We need to teach each other how to dearrest comrades, how to use Tails, how to care for our suicidal friends, how to make unsanctioned street art, how to administer naloxone, how to liberate food from corporate megastores, how to survive a night in jail. We need to do so frequently and consistently, we need to find ways to scale up our projects, we need to bring in new people, and we need to make sure they are supported single every step of the way.”
the following text is specific to liberation on the Afrikan continent but it is still something to learn from:
The Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare by Kwame Nkrumah
Chapter One
ORGANISATION FOR REVOLUTIONARY WARFARE
A. THE MILITARY BALANCE
The dimension of our struggle is equal to the size of the African continent itself. It is in no way confined within any of the absurd limits of the micro-states created by the colonial powers, and jealously guarded by imperialist puppets during the neo-colonialist period. For although the African nation is at present split up among many separate states, it is in reality simply divided into two : our enemy and ourselves. The strategy of our struggle must be determined accordingly, and our continental territory considered as consisting of three categories of territories which correspond to the varying levels of popular organisation and to the precise measure of victory attained by the people’s forces over the enemy :
1. Liberated areas
2. Zones under enemy control
3. Contested zones (i.e. hot points).
Liberated Areas
These areas may present minimal differences due to the varying ways in which independence was obtained. However, they can be collectively defined as territories where :
(a) Independence was secured through an armed struggle, or through a positive action movement representing the majority of the population under the leadership of an anti-imperialist and well-organised mass party.
(b) A puppet regime was overthrown by a people’s movement (Zanzibar, Congo-Brazzaville, Egypt).
(c) A social revolution is taking place to consolidate political independence by:
1. promoting accelerated economic development
2. improving working conditions
3. establishing complete freedom from dependence on foreign economic interests.
It therefore follows that a liberated zone can only be organised by a radically anti-imperialist party whose duty it is :
(a) to decolonise, and
(b) to teach the theory and practice of socialism as applied to the African social milieu, and adapted to local circumstances.
The people’s socialist parties take the necessary steps to transform the united but heterogeneous front which fought for independence into an ideologically monolithic party of cadres. Thus, in a truly liberated territory, one can observe :
1. Political growth achieved as a result of discussions and agreements concluded within the party.
2. Steady progress to transform theory into practice along the ideological lines drawn by the party.
3. Constant improvement, checking and re-checking of the development plans to be carried out by the party and at state level.
4. Political maturity among party members, who are no longer content to follow a vague and general line of action. Revolutionary political maturity is the prelude to the re-organisation of the party structure along more radical lines. However, no territory may be said to be truly liberated if the party leadership, apart from consolidating the gains of national independence does not also undertake to :
( a) Support actively the detachments of revolutionary liberation movements in the contested zones of Africa.
(b) Contribute to the organisation and revolutionary practice of the people’s forces in neo-colonialist states, i.e. in zones under enemy control or in contested areas.
( c) Effect an organic liaison of its political and economic life with the other liberated zones of the African nation.
This implies a system of mutual servicing and aid between the various detachments of the liberation movements and the liberated zones, so that a continuous exchange of experience, advice and ideas will link the progressive parties in power with the parties struggling in the contested zones. Each liberated zone should be ready to offer the use of its territory to detachments of the liberation movements so that the latter may establish their rear bases on friendly soil, and benefit from the provision of communications, hospitals, schools, factories, workshops, etc. It is important to bear in mind that a liberated area is constantly exposed to the many forms of enemy action and attack. It is the duty of both the liberation movements and the liberated zones :
1. To make objective and up-to-date analyses of the enemy’s aggression.
2. To take action to recapture any base lost to the enemy, and to help correct the mistakes which enabled the enemy to gain temporary victory. In fact, the liberated areas of Africa do not yet come fully up to all the standards required of them. For example, in certain liberated zones, the level of economic liberation is clearly inferior to the high level of revolutionary awareness. But the main criterion for judging them to be liberated is the actual direction in which they are moving, since our assessment is of changing, not static phenomena.
without land we do not have a base. without a base we do not have a space to grow, learn, grieve, and most importantly have indigenous sovereignty:
Indigenous Sovereignty arises from Indigenous Traditional Knowledge, belonging to each Indigenous nation, tribe, and community. Traditional Indigenous knowledge consists of spiritual ways, culture, language, social and legal systems, political structures, and inherent relationships with lands, waters, and all upon them. Indigenous sovereignty exists regardless of what the governing nation-state does or does not do.
i have learned a lot from indigenous peoples in the western hemisphere in their fight for the return of their land. one thing i have learned well is the need for food sovereignty.
if you have never heard of Monsanto, let me introduce you to one of the most evil corporations in the world. Monsanto, now owned by Bayer, is an agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation that was one of the first pioneers of introducing genetically modified crops. Some of these crops include, corn, cotton, and soy. Most of the corn, cotton and soy we get is from them and their patented GMO seeds. Monsanto has maintained its monopoly because they convinced farmers struggling with disease and crop failure to invest in their patented seeds and to switch over to monocultural ways of growing. Farmers thinking that Monsanto was here to save them took out loans and redirected their business into GMO farming. Farmers quickly realized that these seeds were nowhere near as good as what they used before but it was too late for them because they had invested so much money into these new seeds that they had no choice but to see it through. This is especially true for farmers in India. Not only were farmers trapped financially but they were also trapped legally because Monsanto refuses farmers from reusing and saving seeds for the next harvest (which is an ancient and common practice of farming), forcing farmers to purchase new seeds every year, trapping them in a bond with Monsanto.
that’s just a brief explanation of their fuckery
this is what we are up against
how much longer are we going to let corporations like Monsanto control practically the whole worlds food supply
we need food sovereignty.
interlude – be healthy by dead prez
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What is Food Sovereignty ?
Food sovereignty is the peoples’, Countries’ or State Unions’ RIGHT to define their agricultural and food policy, without any dumping vis-à-vis third countries. Food sovereignty includes :
prioritizing local agricultural production in order to feed the people, access of peasants and landless people to land, water, seeds, and credit. Hence the need for land reforms, for fighting against GMOs ((Genetically Modified Organisms), for free access to seeds, and for safeguarding water as a public good to be sustainably distributed.
the right of farmers, peasants to produce food and the right of consumers to be able to decide what they consume, and how and by whom it is produced.
the right of Countries to protect themselves from too low priced agricultural and food imports.
agricultural prices linked to production costs : they can be achieved if the Countries or Unions of States are entitled to impose taxes on excessively cheap imports, if they commit themselves in favour of a sustainable farm production, and if they control production on the inner market so as to avoid structural surpluses.
the populations taking part in the agricultural policy choices.
the recognition of women farmers’ rights, who play a major role in agricultural production and in food.
Where does the concept of food sovereignty come from ?
The concept of food sovereignty was developed by Via Campesina and brought to the public debate during the World Food Summit in 1996 and represents an alternative to neo-liberal policies. Since then, that concept has become a major issue of the international agricultural debate, even within the United Nations bodies. It was the main theme of the NGO forum held in parallel to the FAO World Food Summit of June 2002.
we have to imagine new systems of being and we also have to learn from those who have already put the work in
LAND BACK
The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth is a political program for liberation and climate justice that emerges from the oldest class struggle in the Americas — the fight by Native people to win sovereignty, autonomy, and dignity. The following is excerpted from the book’s introduction.
Editor’s Note: The following is a condensed version of the introduction to The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth by The Red Nation. You can buy the full book, which comes out on April 20, here, and support the work of Red Media on Patreon here.
Colonialism has deprived Indigenous people, and all people who are affected by it, of the means to develop according to our needs, principles, and values. It begins with the land. We have been made “Indians” only because we have the most precious commodity to the settler states: land. Vigilante, cop, and soldier often stand between us, our connections to the land, and justice. “Land back” strikes fear in the heart of the settler. But as we show here, it’s the soundest environmental policy for a planet teetering on the brink of total ecological collapse. The path forward is simple: it’s decolonization or extinction. And that starts with land back.
In 2019, the mainstream environmental movement—largely dominated by middle- and upper-class liberals of the Global North— adopted as its symbolic leader a teenage Swedish girl who crossed the Atlantic in a boat to the Americas. But we have our own heroes. Water protectors at Standing Rock ushered in a new era of militant land defense. They are the bellwethers of our generation. The Year of the Water Protector, 2016, was also the hottest year on record and sparked a different kind of climate justice movement. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, herself a water protector, began her successful bid for Congress while in the prayer camps at Standing Rock. With Senator Ed Markey, she proposed a Green New Deal in 2019. Standing Rock, however, was part of a constellation of Indigenous-led uprisings across North America and the US-occupied Pacific: Dooda Desert Rock (2006), Unist’ot’en Camp (2010), Keystone XL (2011), Idle No More (2012), Trans Mountain (2013), Enbridge Line 3 (2014), Protect Mauna Kea (2014), Save Oak Flat (2015), Nihígaal Bee Iiná (2015), Bayou Bridge (2017), O’odham Anti-Border Collective (2019), Kumeyaay Defense Against the Wall (2020), and 1492 Land Back Lane (2020), among many more.
Each movement rises against colonial and corporate extractive projects. But what’s often downplayed is the revolutionary potency of what Indigenous resistance stands for: caretaking and creating just relations between human and other-than-human worlds on a planet thoroughly devastated by capitalism. The image of the water protector and the slogan “Water is Life!” are catalysts of this generation’s climate justice movement. Both are political positions grounded in decolonization—a project that isn’t exclusively about the Indigenous. Anyone who walked through the gates of prayer camps at Standing Rock, regardless of whether they were Indigenous or not, became a water protector. Each carried the embers of that revolutionary potential back to their home communities. Water protectors were on the frontlines of distributing mutual aid to communities in need throughout the pandemic. Water protectors were in the streets of Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, Albuquerque, and many other cities in the summer of 2020 as police stations burned and monuments to genocide collapsed. The state responds to water protectors—those who care for and defend life—with an endless barrage of batons, felonies, shackles, and chemical weapons. If they weren’t before, our eyes are now open: the police and the military, driven by settler and imperialist rage, are holding back the climate justice movement.
We will construct our own policies out of grassroots action that seeks to caretake and support one another. Through organizing around non-reformist reforms for housing, food security and sovereignty, domestic and gender violence justice, suicide prevention, land restoration, and more, we can and will build infrastructures of liberation. As the Black Panther Party decided at a certain juncture in its history, The Red Nation realizes we must undertake realistic and principled actions now that will help build our cumulative capacity for revolution in the future. We must not turn away from the truth: we do not yet possess the capacity for revolution, otherwise we would have seen a unified mass movement come out of the remarkable revolutionary energy of the past decade. And yet, we have very little time to get there. This is the contradiction and the duty of our generation: decolonization or extinction.
Liberation isn’t a theory, it’s a necessity and a right that belongs to the humble people of the Earth. How will we make it happen? We will not turn away from opportunities to organize, agitate, and build people power in spaces of state surveillance like prisons, child services, hospitals, and classrooms that are designed to dehumanize and disempower the people. The state sets its targets on poor and working-class people because it knows they pose the greatest threat to its existence. We will not let the state steal our relatives or gut our power any longer. We must swarm the state, inside and out, multiplying the threat by millions until it crumbles.
so we can learn a lot about what it takes to build new communities from people like the Afrikans who marooned from slavery (i.e. Quilombo dos Palmares) organizations like the Republik of New Afrika, Indigenous folks that have always found ways to resist occupation (i.e. The Siege of Kanehsatake) and importantly our unhoused comrades who are facing a direct war with the state on a daily basis and have still found ways to establish encampments and build homes for themselves despite all of the attacks they face.
Afrikan maroon camp in Wai’tukubuli (Dominica)
i don’t have the answers for what exactly we need to build but i know that we have more than enough history, ancient and contemporary to take note from.
