Published in Issue 476 of The Black Commentator on June 14, 2012
\nBy Larry Pinkney<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat better way to enslave a man than to give him the vote and tell him he\u2019s free.\u201d<\/strong>
\n -Albert Camus<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cNever be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.\u201d<\/strong>
\n -Lucy Parsons<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nAs the economic and social contradictions of the corporate controlled U.S. political system deepen, the terrible pain of everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people is, and will continue, to concomitantly increase.<\/p>\n
Even so, there are those so-called \u2018progressives\u2019 and\/or \u2018leftists\u2019 who are making a comfortable living from the very pain of everyday people. Many of these pundits write, push, and sell their seemingly endless stream of books – books in which we ordinary people are given their allegedly profound observations – which observations our common sense and daily suffering have already made abundantly clear to us<\/span>. These people are the \u2018movement pimps.\u2019 They pontificate from positions of privilege. No names need to be mentioned as it is not difficult to extrapolate as to who they are.<\/p>\n
These are the people who always stop just short of calling for absolute and unequivocal systemic<\/span> change. They are, in real terms, wedded to the system, not<\/span> its abolition. In these increasingly perilous and horrendous times for everyday people; these individuals are, as the expression goes, \u2018having their cake and eating it too\u2019 at the expense of ordinary folks and the people\u2019s movement that they claim to support.<\/p>\n
These individuals are adroit at distracting everyday people by pointing out certain injustices of this political system while invariably finding a way to avoid naming, for example, the leaders of both<\/span> the Democrats and the Republicans for the culprit foxes and wolves that they actually are. These \u2018movement pimps\u2019 are in fact the fifth column of the so-called \u2018Democratic\u2019 Party.<\/p>\n
These pontificating pundits unceasingly blame the Republican Party wolves for being what they are – wolves<\/span>! Yet, they neglect to consistently and vigorously expose the Democratic Party foxes for being what they are – foxes<\/span>! These pundits play on the pain and frustration of ordinary people. Thus, their name – \u2018movement pimps.\u2019 They know full well that the Democrats and<\/span> Republicans are simply two sides of exactly the same<\/span> dirty, filthy systemic coin.<\/p>\n
Blaming the Republicans for being Republicans is tantamount to accusingly blaming a tarantula for painfully biting you. That\u2019s what tarantulas do! No surprise there. And that\u2019s also precisely what the Democrats do, but they almost always first apply a bit of numbing Novocain<\/span> on their hapless victims – before painfully biting the hell out of them. These \u2018movement pimps\u2019 are well aware of this euphemistic reality, and they play it for all it\u2019s worth<\/span>. They are cynical political opportunists.<\/p>\n
A recent example of the afore-described scenario was the recent Scott Walker electoral recall debacle in the state of Wisconsin, U.S.A.<\/p>\n
Wisconsin – Can You Hear Me Now?!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
Both the Democratic and Republican Party leadership are terrified of a genuine groundswell<\/span> people\u2019s movement. Why? Because they cannot control such a movement, and such a movement would insist upon actualized<\/span> accountability from them. Heaven forbid!!!<\/p>\n
What occurred in Wisconsin should be viewed as neither a defeat nor a victory. Rather, it should be viewed and understood as an important object lesson<\/span> for and by everyday people.<\/p>\n
The leadership of the Democratic Party deliberately and cynically sacrificed the everyday struggling people, who had worked so hard for it in Wisconsin, to the Republican machine. It was no mere coincidence that Barack Obama did not bother to go to, and vigorously support, the groundswell of ordinary people in that state. Why should he? After all, he and the DNC (Democratic National Committee) had bigger fish to fry, which did not include the needs, pains, hopes, and aspirations of the everyday people. Moreover, a groundswell of hard working grassroots organizers are too unruly to manipulate and control – so off with their heads! It was, in a sense, Wisconsin\u2019s own \u2018Jeremiah Wright moment.\u2019 Betrayal, lies, and more betrayal.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the leadership<\/span> (or more accurately mis<\/span>leadership) of the unions in Wisconsin were overwhelmingly beholden to the Democratic Party, not<\/span> to their rank and file membership. Long before \u2018election\u2019 day arrived in Wisconsin, the political dice had been cast and the game had been rigged – so off with the heads of the ordinary, everyday people!<\/p>\n
There is no sacrifice too great – of and by the ordinary people – when it comes to fulfilling the power whims of the leadership of both the Democrats and Republicans. This is the well-honed politics of cynicism in the United States<\/span>, and the \u2018movement pimps\u2019 who are blaming the Republicans for what occurred in Wisconsin are full of nonsense. What occurred in Wisconsin was simply par for the course in the ongoing cynical con game of Democratic and Republican Party electoral politics, not only in Wisconsin, but nationwide.<\/p>\n
Lessons Learned<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
It should be crystal clear that everyday ordinary people will be repeatedly betrayed in less than a heartbeat by Democrats and Republicans alike, for that is the nature and structure of the corporate-controlled U.S. political system.<\/p>\n
Mr. \u2018hope and change\u2019- predator drone missile-NDAA-\u2019Kill List\u2019 Barack Obama, will not serve or save the everyday ordinary people of this nation and neither will Mitt \u2018the glitch\u2019 Romney, or any other systemic politician. Only everyday people can do this. We must begin by recognizing that this system must be totally changed in favor of ordinary people. Do not be distracted or swayed by the \u2018movement pimps\u2019 and pundits<\/span>, for they, too, are making quite a comfortable living from the pain, suffering, and misery of the people.<\/p>\n
We must look to the collective creative abilities of us ordinary, struggling, everyday people. Yes, of ourselves, and to each other. This is not a Hollywood movie. This is real life, and the struggle is, and will be, long and hard, full of obstacles and challenges. Yet, for ourselves, our posterity, and our precious Mother Earth – we must carry on, and we shall<\/span> ultimately succeed!<\/p>\n
Remember: Each one, reach one. Each one, teach one. Onward, then, my sisters and brothers! Onward!<\/p>\n
Larry Pinkney<\/strong><\/em> is 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. 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), 107Cowgate (Ireland and Scotland), and Mayihlome News (Azania\/South Africa). For more about Larry Pinkney see the book, Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and Thinker<\/a>, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click here<\/a> to read excerpts from the book.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Published in Issue 476 of The Black Commentator on June 14, 2012
By Larry Pinkney<\/p>\n\u201cWhat better way to enslave a man than to give him the vote and tell him he\u2019s free.\u201d
-Albert Camus<\/p>\n\u201cNever be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.\u201d
-Lucy Parsons<\/p>\nAs […]<\/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\/338"}],"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=338"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":342,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions\/342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blackactivistwg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}