Pop Goes the Race-Neutral Campaign
April 30, 2008
‘Obama’s ‘Race Neutral’ Strategy Unravels of its Own Contradictions‘, writes Black Agenda Report executive editor Glen Ford. ‘The world views of Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Sen. Barack Obama were incompatible from the start, just as the mythical American Manifest Destiny world view is directly at odds with the facts as perceived by Blacks in the United States. Wright finally forced Obama to choose sides in the conflict of racial/historical visions, and in doing so, performed a service on behalf of clarity. Obama lashed out in a startlingly personal manner, calling Wright a “caricature” of himself and linking the minister to forces that give “comfort to those who prey on hate.” Rev. Wright exposed the flimsy tissues of so-called “race neutrality” in a nation founded on racial oppression.’
Things fall apart; some things, like an ill-tied shoelace, sooner than others. Barack Obama’s strategy to win the White House was to run a “race-neutral” campaign in a society that is anything but neutral on race. The very premise – that race neutrality is possible in a nation built on white supremacy – demanded the systematic practice of the most profound race-factual denial, which is ultimately indistinguishable from rank dishonesty. From the moment Obama told the 2004 Democratic National Convention that “there is no white America, there is no Black America,” it was inevitable that the candidate would one day declare the vast body of Black opinion illegitimate.
Teaching Imperialism 101
April 29, 2008
From the indispensable TomDispatch: Chalmers Johnson on America’s University of Imperialism.
In his introduction Tom Engelhart writes: ‘The RAND Corporation was the ur-think tank, the Cold War granddaddy of them all, and it’s still with us. In the 1950s, nuclear war-gaming a conflagration for which the usual war games would have been ludicrous, it took the U.S. military into virtuality and science fiction long before there was an Internet to play with. (And it had a hand in creating the Internet, too!) In the 1960s, it helped several administrations plan and fight the Vietnam War, making antiseptic theory into an all-too-grim reality. And that’s just the beginning of the work RAND did on a range of hot-button imperial issues.’
‘For a brief period in the 1960s, Chalmers Johnson was a RAND consultant. Now, the author of the prophetic pre-9/11 book Blowback and, most recently, of Nemesis, The Last Days of the Republic, which every news day seems to make more relevant, turns to the think tank that did it all.’
A Litany of Horrors
By Chalmers JohnsonThis essay is a review of Soldiers of Reason: The RAND Corporation and the Rise of the American Empire by Alex Abella (Harcourt, 400 pp., $27)
The RAND Corporation of Santa Monica, California, was set up immediately after World War II by the U.S. Army Air Corps (soon to become the U.S. Air Force). The Air Force generals who had the idea were trying to perpetuate the wartime relationship that had developed between the scientific and intellectual communities and the American military, as exemplified by the Manhattan Project to develop and build the atomic bomb.
Soon enough, however, RAND became a key institutional building block of the Cold War American empire. As the premier think tank for the U.S.’s role as hegemon of the Western world, RAND was instrumental in giving that empire the militaristic cast it retains to this day and in hugely enlarging official demands for atomic bombs, nuclear submarines, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and long-range bombers. Without RAND, our military-industrial complex, as well as our democracy, would look quite different.
Alex Abella, the author of Soldiers of Reason, is a Cuban-American living in Los Angeles who has written several well-received action and adventure novels set in Cuba and a less successful nonfiction account of attempted Nazi sabotage within the United States during World War II. The publisher of his latest book claims that it is “the first history of the shadowy think tank that reshaped the modern world.” Such a history is long overdue. Unfortunately, this book does not exhaust the demand. We still need a less hagiographic, more critical, more penetrating analysis of RAND’s peculiar contributions to the modern world.
Talking to ‘Terrorists’
April 29, 2008
A counterproductive Washington policy in recent years has been to boycott and punish political factions or governments that refuse to accept U.S. domination. This policy deters the ability of revolutionary or uncooperative leaders to moderate their attitude and demands.
A notable example is Nepal. About twelve years ago, Maoist guerillas launched an effort to modify or overthrow the monarchy and force changes in the nation’s political and social life. Although the United States declared the revolutionaries to be terrorists, The Carter Center agreed to help mediate the dispute among the three major factions: royal family, old-line political parties and Maoists.
Six months after the oppressive monarch was removed from power, a cease-fire agreement was consummated. Maoist combatants lay down their arms and the Nepalese Army agreed to remain in barracks.
Different, Not Deficient
April 29, 2008
Jeremiah Wright at the NAACP. I hope people of the US realize that this man is a national treasure. Eloquence, erudition, performance — this guy is a mesmerizing orator. I recommend watching this in its entirety.
Note: This is an edited transcript of a speech given by Rev Jeremiah Wright at an event for the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People in Detroit on Sunday.
The NAACP has an incomparable record. It has the longest list of achievements in the history of this country as being the undisputed champion in the fight against discrimination, racial prejudice, and unjust public policies, which have caused people made in the image of God to be treated as less than human or treated as second-class citizens.
In its early days, the NAACP and the black church in the United States of America were seemingly joined at the hip in the fight against injustice and the fight for equality on behalf of all people of colour.
The IAPA v. The People
April 29, 2008
Today’s guest commentary on the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) from my friend and media scholar Jairo Lugo. Recently, when the IAPA made some damning statements against the Venezuelan government, it was reported with much fanfare by the BBC, Guardian etc. They did not see fit to reveal however that the IAPA does not, as Jairo points out, ’represent journalists or their interests in America’.
Let me be clear: the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) does not represent journalists or their interests in America (the continent, not just the US). Indeed, the last meeting of the IAPA in Caracas concluded with several resolutions pointing the finger at the usual suspects. The meeting took place in Caracas purportedly to highlight ‘problems’ in Venezuela. The IAPA has been swift to condemned Venezuela’s government for what it considers a series of threats to the freedom of expression and the ‘security condition’ of the journalists, a concern new to the IAPA’s agenda. Important members of the IAPA such as El Mercurio of Chile and Globo of Brazil remained unfased by brutalities of the dictatorships against journalists. Indeed, El Mercurio went further, actively supporting the Pinochet regime. No apologies have been forthcoming for its silence during a time where many journalists were tortured or disappeared.
Jeremiah Wright Takes on Criticis
April 29, 2008
Hallelujah! The United States found itself a truth-teller. Jeremiah Wright at the National Press Club, followed by a transcript of his speech to the NAACP. (I have put the Q&A first and the introductory remarks later)
Slave Revolt…of Sorts
April 28, 2008
End of the empire is nigh. Prior to the invasion of Iraq, US planners were hoping to find an Iraqi Karzai. Things have turned out so poorly, that even the prototype is hinting defection. ‘Afghan Leader Criticizes U.S. on Conduct of War‘, Carlotta Gall of the New York Times reports. (thanks Jairo)
KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai strongly criticized the British and American conduct of the war here on Friday, insisting in an interview that his government be given the lead in policy decisions.
Mr. Karzai said that he wanted American forces to stop arresting suspected Taliban and their sympathizers, and that the continued threat of arrest and past mistreatment were discouraging Taliban from coming forward to lay down their arms.
He criticized the American-led coalition as prosecuting the war on terrorism in Afghan villages, saying the real terrorist threat lay in sanctuaries of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Pakistan.
Heartbeat
April 28, 2008
Nneka, singing Heartbeat. So beautiful and impassioned, it leaves you speechless. This is the kind of authenticity that MTV and the like spend billions trying to imitate; they never succeed, but inevitably dilute the art in the process. This is heartfelt; a call for justice, recognition of our shared humanity and solidarity on a personal level.
“I get inspired when I take a severe look at the things going on in our world today; especially in my country. How people live, suffer and endure pain, politics and religion, when I see all that man has evoked and created out of self-centeredness and devotion to material things”.
Nneka’s voice strikes an eerie balance between rage and pain which mirror’s the abrasion of two continents, Europe and Africa, within Nneka’s life so far. Nneka reiterates her humility in the face of her musical talents.
“I do not see myself as a performer but as somebody who shares her heartfelt feelings with others. I have fortunately, by the grace of God, the opportunity to sing my message to you on stage.”
The Zionist Witch-hunt Against Muslims
April 28, 2008
A rare expose of Zionist witch-hunting of Muslims. ‘Critics Cost Muslim Educator Her Dream School’ reports Andrea Elliot. (thanks Shahid) Incidentally, Husain Haqqani, the man just appointed as the Pakistani ambassador to U.S., is a great admirer of Daniel Pipes. As a matter of fact, Daniel Pipes once established a ‘muslim’ think-tank appointing Haqqani as its head. Purpose of the think-tank? To go around the U.S. warning Jewish communities against ‘Arab influence’ on Washington, and to encourage them to get more ‘organized’ as a lobby.
Debbie Almontaser dreamed of starting a public school like no other in New York City. Children of Arab descent would join students of other ethnicities, learning Arabic together. By graduation, they would be fluent in the language and groomed for the country’s elite colleges. They would be ready, in Ms. Almontaser’s words, to become “ambassadors of peace and hope.”
Things have not gone according to plan. Only one-fifth of the 60 students at the Khalil Gibran International Academy are Arab-American. Since the school opened in Brooklyn last fall, children have been suspended for carrying weapons, repeatedly gotten into fights and taunted an Arabic teacher by calling her a “terrorist,” staff members and students said in interviews.
The academy’s troubles reach well beyond its cramped corridors in Boerum Hill. The school’s creation provoked a controversy so incendiary that Ms. Almontaser stepped down as the founding principal just weeks before classes began last September. Ms. Almontaser, a teacher by training and an activist who had carefully built ties with Christians and Jews, said she was forced to resign by the mayor’s office following a campaign that pitted her against a chorus of critics who claimed she had a militant Islamic agenda.
