{"id":1862,"date":"2009-10-29T14:22:33","date_gmt":"2009-10-29T20:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/?p=1862"},"modified":"2013-02-27T14:56:27","modified_gmt":"2013-02-27T20:56:27","slug":"fake-symbolism-vs-the-reality-of-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/fake-symbolism-vs-the-reality-of-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake Symbolism vs The Reality of Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published in Issue 348 of The Black Commentator on October 29, 2009<\/a><\/p>\n

By Larry Pinkney<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hope is meaningless unless it is\u00a0actualized\u00a0<\/em>(i.e. acted upon). So too, change means nothing if it is not\u00a0substantive and real<\/em>. Symbolism is\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0real change.<\/p>\n

Having been among the very few writers who, well\u00a0over<\/em>\u00a0a year ago, repeatedly cautioned and warned against being duped by the fake\u00a0corporate<\/em>\u00a0Obama brand of \u201cyes we can\u00a0hope and<\/em>\u00a0change;\u201d the correctness of those warnings is sadly, now coming to fruition. Despite its nebulous progressive sounding rhetoric, the Democratic Party has consistently and historically demonstrated that it is the graveyard of\u00a0real, substantive<\/em>\u00a0change and progressive movements by and for the masses of people; and of course the Republican Party as ever, remains\u00a0blatantly<\/em>\u00a0in opposition to such real and substantive change. The Democratic Party\u00a0foxes<\/em>\u00a0and the Republican Party\u00a0wolves<\/em>\u00a0have yet again spun their web of deceit and manipulation, around the peoples of this nation and world as their cyclical prey. Thus, the Democratic and Republican Parties are\u00a0jointly<\/em>\u00a0nothing more than\u00a0Republicrats<\/em>, political pimps of the people.<\/p>\n

This is not merely about the crucial issue of\u00a0single payer universal health care<\/em>, which assuming that any such legislation passes at all, will fundamentally<\/span>\u00a0not<\/strong><\/em> be what the people of this nation get from our trickster chief executive and Republicrat legislators. However, this is\u00a0also<\/em>\u00a0about\u00a0ongoing and increasing U.S. militarism<\/em>\u00a0in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and elsewhere – actual\u00a0corporate domination and control<\/em>\u00a0–\u00a0rising unemployment<\/em>\u00a0–\u00a0homelessness<\/em>\u00a0– worsening\u00a0global climate change<\/em>\u00a0–\u00a0political repression<\/em>\u00a0in this nation –\u00a0increased de facto racism –<\/em> and last but certainly not least, the\u00a0widening economic gap between rich and poor<\/em>\u00a0of all colors in this nation. These are incredibly serious matters that are not being\u00a0honestly, forthrightly nor<\/span><\/em>\u00a0substantively<\/em><\/span> addressed and corrected by the Democrats and Republicans (i.e. the Republicrats). These are matters that will only be substantively addressed by bringing about\u00a0real systemic change<\/em>, not by window dressing and meaningless, rhetoric.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0corporate slicksters, banksters, and robber barons<\/em>\u00a0(both<\/em> Democrats and Republicans alike) know only too well that their blood sucking system of global capitalism is in deep crisis presently. Thus, their cunning, almost total support, of almost a year ago, for the corporate\u00a0Obama brand<\/em>\u00a0of manipulation of the masses in the name of some cloudy progress, [non-actualized] \u201chope, and [fake] change.\u201d It was, and no doubt still is, the objective of the ruling elite of this nation for the chameleon corporate Obama brand of manipulation to continue to provide them (i.e. the corporate and military\u00a0elite<\/em>) with enough breathing room \/ time to stifle and neutralize any serious and organized mass movement by every day people in this nation. Be clear about this: This nation does not need a\u00a0symbol<\/em>\u00a0of change. It needs\u00a0real<\/span>\u00a0<\/em>change on behalf of every day common people.<\/p>\n

Real, substantive, systemic change, on behalf of every day people, will\u00a0never<\/em>\u00a0be brought about by the Democratic or Republican Parties (i.e. the Republicrats). Such a thing is in direct opposition to their vested corporate interests of the U.S. Empire.\u00a0Only<\/em>\u00a0an organized, mass grassroots movement –\u00a0from the bottom up<\/span>\u00a0– can and will<\/em>\u00a0accomplish this.<\/p>\n

Moreover, it is no coincidence that the massive corporate self-described\u00a0U.S.\u201cnews\u201d media is\u00a0overwhelmingly<\/em>\u00a0silent about, for example, the horrors re the ongoing and increasing\u00a0U.S.\u00a0wars in\u00a0Afghanistan,\u00a0Iraq,\u00a0Pakistan, and elsewhere on the globe. It is no mere coincidence that this same corporate so-called \u201cnews\u201d media is also overwhelmingly silent about the fact that a whopping 70% (or more) of the people in this nation want\u00a0genuine<\/em>\u00a0[not fake] single payer universal health care. The\u00a0omission,<\/em>\u00a0misinformation, and disinformation<\/em>\u00a0by said corporate media continues at full throttle.<\/p>\n

The time is here to open our eyes and use our common sense! The pro apartheid Zionist, pro corporate, and pro militarism – Obama \/ Biden \/ Rahm Emanuel administration – will\u00a0never\u00a0<\/em>bring about real systemic change for the peoples of this nation or earth,\u00a0nor was it ever intended to<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We<\/span><\/em>, the masses of every day people are the only ones who can and must educate, organize, and actualize our hopes in order to bring about\u00a0real systemic change<\/em>. Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King, Jr. understood this. Thus, in the words of the late activist Joe Hill: \u201cDon\u2019t Mourn. ORGANIZE!\u201d<\/p>\n

Onward 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 348 of The Black Commentator on October 29, 2009<\/a><\/p>\n

By Larry Pinkney<\/p>\n

Hope is meaningless unless it is\u00a0actualized\u00a0(i.e. acted upon). So too, change means nothing if it is not\u00a0substantive and real. Symbolism is\u00a0not\u00a0real change.<\/p>\n

Having been among the very few writers who, well\u00a0over\u00a0a […]<\/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":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1862"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1867,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862\/revisions\/1867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}