{"id":1634,"date":"2013-02-07T09:21:54","date_gmt":"2013-02-07T15:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/?p=1634"},"modified":"2013-02-07T09:21:54","modified_gmt":"2013-02-07T15:21:54","slug":"storming-the-bastille-takes-many-forms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/storming-the-bastille-takes-many-forms\/","title":{"rendered":"Storming the Bastille Takes Many Forms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published in Issue 503 of The Black Commentator on February 7, 2013<\/a>
\nBy Larry Pinkney<\/p>\n

“It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die.”<\/strong>
\n – Steve Biko<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nothing worth attaining comes into being without conscious struggle.<\/p>\n

Everyday ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people in this nation have been systemically and systematically indoctrinated to believe the fallacious notion that ‘change’ automatically represents ‘progress’ and that progress is somehow inevitable. The fact is that change does not\u00a0automatically<\/em>\u00a0mean progress and\u00a0real\u00a0<\/em>progress does not come about by osmosis nor is it inevitable.\u00a0Mental consciousness\u00a0<\/em>coupled with\u00a0sustained struggle\u00a0<\/em>are\u00a0essential<\/em>\u00a0in bringing about\u00a0real\u00a0<\/em>change and\u00a0real<\/em>\u00a0progress.<\/p>\n

An\u00a0unconscious people are an easily manipulated people. This is why, for example, so many were systemically duped into believing that a superficial ‘change’ of color in the occupant of the ‘White House’ would somehow mean real change and real progress. Of course, now, an increasing number of people are beginning to see that they were cynically duped by the power-elite of this irretrievably corrupt, corporate-controlled, U.S. political system. Real change and real progress cannot be brought about by an\u00a0unconscious and ahistorical\u00a0<\/em>people.<\/p>\n

The historically famous July 14th, 1789 storming of the Bastille in Paris, France, signaled the beginning of the French revolution against the\u00a0blatantly<\/em>\u00a0tyrannical power-elite of that period. The Bastille itself was known for the brutality and torture carried out within its well guarded and high fortress walls. The people were\u00a0conscious<\/em>\u00a0and they had had enough!<\/p>\n

Notwithstanding the reprehensible fact that Thomas Jefferson was a slaveholder, he was nonetheless quite correct when he noted that,\u00a0\u201cEvery generation needs a new revolution.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The power-elite of this 21st century United States is well aware of the egregious role that the notion of ‘race’ and (more accurately)\u00a0color<\/em>\u00a0has, and continues to play, in this society. Thus, it became opportune, in order to\u00a0keep\u00a0<\/em>the everyday people of\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0colors in this nation in an\u00a0unconscious, confused, and easily manipulated<\/em>\u00a0mental state,\u00a0<\/em>to\u00a0flip the script<\/em>\u00a0(as it were) by simply changing the\u00a0color<\/em>\u00a0of the ‘White House’ occupant (who is also the head of the U.S. Empire), while continuing (and indeed\u00a0expanding<\/em>) the\u00a0de facto\u00a0<\/em>murderous economic, political, and military policies of this nation’s corporate-owned government at home and abroad. This of course represented\u00a0no\u00a0<\/em>real change and\u00a0no<\/em>\u00a0real progress at all. In fact it was\u00a0just the opposite.\u00a0<\/em>And it was carried out with such alacrity by the U.S. power-elite due to political\u00a0un<\/em>consciousness<\/em>\u00a0of an inordinate number of people in this nation.<\/p>\n

The actual war\u00a0of<\/em>\u00a0terror (by the U.S. power-elite of this nation) against everyday ordinary people at home and abroad, is intensifying on a regular basis. The U.S.\u00a0corporate-stream media,<\/em>\u00a0acting in its role as the\u00a0propaganda arm<\/em>\u00a0for the corporate-owned U.S. government (be it Democrat\u00a0or<\/em>\u00a0Republican) is constantly engaged in propagating disinformation, misinformation, obfuscation, and crucial omissions – with the objective of\u00a0keeping\u00a0<\/em>everyday people\u00a0unconscious, confused, and easily manipulated.<\/em><\/p>\n

The United States government, at home and abroad, continues to be, in the paraphrased words of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., \u201cthe greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.\u201d The economic, political, physical & psychological ‘violence’ by this government\u00a0is surpassed only by its<\/em>\u00a0hypocrisy.\u00a0<\/em>Joblessness, homelessness, mass incarceration, police brutality, corporate domination, the languishing of political prisoners, and judicial injustice,\u00a0etc<\/em>.\u00a0in\u00a0this<\/em>\u00a0nation go hand-in-hand with the perpetual U.S. wars and other military acts of aggression and\/or subversion against nations including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia (East Africa), Libya (North Africa), Yemen, Palestine, and so very many more.<\/p>\n

It is time for the everyday ordinary people of this nation to take a lesson from a page in history. It is time to euphemistically\u00a0storm the U.S. corporate government Bastille!<\/em><\/p>\n

Storming the Bastille in this nation today\u00a0can and should take many and varying forms,<\/em>\u00a0and it means, among other things; utterly rejecting corporate media propaganda and creating our own everyday people’s media that informs and links the issues which affect ordinary people both at home and abroad. It means saying a profound\u00a0NO<\/em>\u00a0to economic austerity at home and U.S. wars abroad. It means understanding that the Democrat and Republican parties are corporate owned and do not genuinely (and will never) serve the economic, political, and social needs and human rights of everyday people. Therefore, it means coming to our senses and rejecting\u00a0both\u00a0<\/em>corporate-owned parties in favor of creating a real\u00a0everyday people’s national consciousness movement.\u00a0<\/em>It means struggling and organizing for ideas and ideals that \u201cwill live,\u201d rather than existing or \u201cliving for [the] idea\u201d of hypocrisy that ultimately \u201cwill die.\u201d It means being\u00a0creative<\/em>\u00a0in both how we think\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>what we do. It means striving to raise our\u00a0individual and collective consciousness \u2013<\/em>\u00a0which once raised, can spread quickly throughout this land like a cleansing prairie fire. It means\u00a0many\u00a0<\/em>things that have yet to be realized.<\/p>\n

Storming the Bastille really can indeed take many forms and it really\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0time to\u00a0storm the Bastille!\u00a0<\/em>We must do this for ourselves, each other, and in conjunction with the peoples throughout our very precious Mother Earth!<\/p>\n

Remember: Each one, reach one. Each one, teach one. Onward, then, my sisters and brothers. Onward!<\/p>\n

Larry Pinkney<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0is a veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only American to have successfully self-authored his civil\/political rights case to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In connection with his political organizing activities, Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS News Hour, formerly known as The MacNeil\/Lehrer News Hour, and more recently on the nationally syndicated Alex Jones Show. Pinkney is a former university instructor of political science and international relations, and his writings have been published in various places, including The Boston Globe, San Francisco BayView newspaper, Black Commentator, Intrepid Report, Global Research (Canada), LINKE ZEITUNG (Germany), 107 Cowgate (Ireland and Scotland), and Mayihlome News (Azania\/South Africa). He is in the archives of Dr. Huey P. Newton (Stanford University, CA), cofounder of the Black Panther Party. For more about Larry Pinkney see the book,\u00a0Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker<\/a>, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to read excerpts from the book.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Published in Issue 503 of The Black Commentator on February 7, 2013<\/a>
By Larry Pinkney<\/p>\n

“It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die.”
– Steve Biko<\/p>\n

Nothing worth attaining comes into being without […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1634"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1640,"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634\/revisions\/1640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}