Category: ThinkableWords

Today, on Democracy Now, Amy sat down and spoke with “Princeton University professor Cornel West and Carl Dix of the Revolutionary Communist Party about the current state of Black America.” What I found most memorable in said conversation was when Carl Dix spoke about Buffalo Soldiers and warned against being one. Intriguing;

“[T]he Buffalo Soldiers were the black, mostly former slaves who joined the Union army during the Civil War and played a key role in defeating the Confederate army and ensuring the abolishment of slavery through their military victory in the Civil War. […] But then the United States government took the Buffalo Soldiers and sent them out west and had them fight in what is called the ‘Indian Wars,’ which was actually carrying out genocide and the theft of the land from the native inhabitants, while black people were being re-subjugated in conditions of near slavery as sharecroppers. So here you have people oppressed by this system put into the military and then sent off by this system to oppress other people for the system. […]  Well, that was my message. Don’t be a modern-day Buffalo Soldier. Don’t let this system, which continues to oppress and exploit you, along with oppressing, exploiting many other people, turn you into a mindless killing machine and send you off to help them tighten their oppression on somebody else, while they keep oppressing you and others like you…”

As it just so happens, with the above quote, Carl was speaking about an absolutely brilliant article he wrote for The San Francisco Bay View back on December 17, 2008, “Don’t be a Buffalo Soldier;”

“DON’T DO IT! Don’t sign up for America’s wars under the leadership of “commander in chief” Barack Obama and carry forward the legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers. Instead get with a cause that’s in the interest of humanity and is something worth fighting for – making revolution to wipe imperialism off the face of the earth!”

Check it out…

Before I get into this I should state, of all the things I’ve ever written about here, this — being economics related — is the “issue” I know the least about. That said, it’s undoubtedly something I couldn’t possibly care less about changing, as well. Go figure.

Be that as it may, last nights installment of ZNet Daily Commentary: “Are Our Markets Being Manipulated By  “Rogues” Or Firms?,” was exceptionally interesting…

Who’d have thunk, a drunk Jim Lahey had it, exactly, right?

“On the morning of 29 June, the Spirit of Humanity set sail from Cyprus to the Gaza Strip carrying approximately three tons of medical aid, olive saplings, children’s toys and other humanitarian items for the area’s 1.5 million residents. The Spirit traveled through international waters when, at approximately 1:30am, several Israeli gunships surrounded the boat, jammed its GPS, navigation and radar systems and threatened to open fire. Heavily-armed Israeli naval commandos boarded the boat, ordered the Spirit’s passengers to lie face down, roughed up several, and ultimately forced the humanitarian volunteers to Israel where they were held for days in hot, crowded, cells before all but two (both Israeli citizens) were ultimately deported…”

“Is Israel guilty of piracy?” Radhika Sainath argues, quite convincingly, yes. But I think a more “accurate” question is, will Israel ever be held to account? I’m quite sure some would argue, much like the “Bush torture program,” probably not — in any meaningful way, at least.

So, indeed Jimmy, “what comes around is all around.” Or, much better still, same shit, different day…