T think of being Black not 50 Eros ety But as an oppositional forse oF Peete casings eo Fc eae Pree ee Rote ie ae teeny Eye ead pcoromingeras aria Sr oeiees et Rie epee Rony Paarene ned Pee ee reaper ad Pie ee ot) barge cong printed and distributed by tf Per enon b black nee ee ed anarchismIntroduction Many clnstalanarhitts rogue anatcism a 8 Poy of oF rental tut tat merely ede 0 be revoniod 1 he wae tnd beloved people would become anaehina once txpoard Te {Se iene lgie OF ho tou isa one of So onsen hay tended tobe dca. uch ober tis thet Few convert suche way ach ‘Roseman forgone snr Soy ep to her own insights and concerns, ‘he sahness of tha anarchist raion lay preialy in the long hoy of eooantnes bbwesn sneanarhit Seige {tadeary abt contrien Annrehins has gown trough 268 or ‘Sountars an now confronts sal Contato tha ware Pe ‘uty marina ote movement or example, a entry Ago the stage agalnstpatarehy Nas 8 flatoty minor concer {ormort anarchists and otis now widely aosepled a ae gpa ofour sug "irony ‘Nort Amerou have begun fo sevouay explore what I eas {fo evelop an anarthiam thet can ho Sight shila spesmacy ‘na irises a pontive vision of ural vert and cara ‘etangs,Gomcades ae orig mt ny toe ata ‘ince ana wna tn antag saree igh Io Ww "Me following plese by (AS inst or Aaron St ‘es) board membre Ashanti Alon explores nome of tees ce tion, Alaton, who was a member ef ie ack Funaber ary Sod ‘he bia Lipesion Atay doscnbes his encoun) wih an shins (wtich Bogan whe ho was ineascorsod for sclet ‘Pied isthe Sak craton Army, Hetouchs upon sme of Feleyane of anarchism to Back people, and some a Re 9 pte o bulls aew revacnary ovement ‘Piet an eted tmnscrpt of a pos y Alston on (etober it, sas a Hust Calogs in Now York GX. Thie Sven a nanny the tate tor Anarchs Stes and Scaponsored bythe Stident Liveraton Acton Movement the cerOur struggtos here inthe United States attect every ‘body inthe world. People on the bottom are going to play ‘key role and the way we relate to people on the bottom {is going to be very important. Many of us are privileged {enough to be able to avoid some ofthe most difficult chal: Tenges ana we wil need to give up some ofthis privilege in ‘order to build a new movement. The potential is there. We an still win ~and rodetin what ft means to win ~ But we hhave the opportunity to advance archer vision of freedom ‘han we havo ever had before. We have tobe willing to fy ‘AS a Panther, and as someone who went under ‘ground as an urban guerrilla, Thave put my life on the line. Ihave watched my comrades dio'and spent most of ‘my adult life in prison. But I ail Believe that we oan win. ‘Struggle is vary tough and when you ross thet line, you ‘isk going to jal, getting seriously hurt, lled, and wate Ing your comrades getting eeriounly hurt and Killed. That ‘snot a pretty piture, but thet Is what happens when you fight an entrenched oppressor. We are struggling and wil ‘make it rough for them, but struggle is also going to be ough for ue too This is why we have to find ways to love and eup- port each other through tough times. 1s more than just Bolioving that wo can win: we need to have structures in ie we a come down. It hurts us every day and we can't give up. We have to get there, We have to find new ways, ‘Anarchism, it means anything, means being open ‘to whatovort tos in thinking, living, and in our relation shipe ~to live lly and win. tn some ways, Ithink they are Doth the same ving to the fillet i to win, Of course we will and must clash with our oppressors and we need to {ind good ways of doing i. Remember those on the bottom ‘who are most impacted by this. They might have afferent perspectives on how this fight is supposed to go. Ifwe can't find ways or meting facotoface to work that stuff ou, ld ghosts will reappear and wo willbe back inthe same old Situation that we have boon in before, ‘You all oan do thi. You have the vision. You have the ereatiity.De not allow anyone to lock that down. Black Anarchism by Ashanti AlstonBlack Anarchism by Ashanti Alston. AXtosoug te niack Panther Pary was very Merron cai tered aor ny experonc inthe ogasanion ‘Move al he Pathos Impressed upon me the ned to team tom ether people sraggien I tink Ihave done {Gat end thet ico of the rane wy Tama reat tolay,Ater ll when oi stapes dont won, you need {olooi tor ther mae a ing things to ave you can get Sousa tuck cad stove forward agai nie Pathere oarow alt tom alot arsco Lenni endo Seite thm but thelr aprocebe to soeal change ha alent problems aod delved no anarchism wae it {tore ar ober wag to think about making a evolution Toned sou! snarls fo lobes tar ture sont ome whl in various pcos around th coun {Sp At at ld wan o roe any of he tara re ‘cived “it somad lke anarchism a ust aout toe nd oregbody dang thelr own ting andor hs longer ie fut gnered But noe were tints wher Iwan Soren that lant have sahng let seed and, tcf boredom. taal dug in (sepia evrything Thad oud about anarchism opie he ina), stoaly ioe ‘orprned tind analyst people’ sroggion pobloe ‘tues and peoplarorgandonafonsaons = hat Sedeeloeot enact me "toe toiyece hnlped mo a0 important things stout my spore in the Pastors that ad not boon Sieur tose tors Ror example, ening tha bore was proton wath my love for people lite Huey >. Newon, Bob Ser andthe fact at Thad pet faap aboot yout the abstract and focus what is happening on the ground, How ean we bring all these different strands toget fr? How oan we bring sn the Rastas? How can wo bring In the people on the wost coast who are stil fighting the {government stipmining of indigenous and? How enn we Dring together all ofthese peoples to begin to create a vi: ‘sion of Amerios that forall af us? ‘Oppositional thinking and oppositional risks are -noowssary, think that ie very important right now and one ‘ofthe reasone why I think anarchism has so much poten: {ial to help us move forward. Its not asking of us to dog ‘matically adhere to the founders of the tradition, but to be fopen to whatever increases our democratic participation, four creativity, and our happiness. ‘We jst had an Anarchist People of Color confor fence in Detroit on October 3rd to the 5th. One hundred ‘hidy people came from all over the country. It was grea to just soe ourselves and the interest of people of color from found the United States in finding ways of thinking out ‘ide of the norm. We saw that we could become that voice {in our communities that aay, "Wat, maybe we don't need to onganize like that. Wait, the way that you are treating people within the organization i oppressive, Wait, what is ourvinion? Would you like to hear mine?” There is enced {or those kinds of votoes within our diferent communities. [Not jut ovr communities of color. but in every community ‘there is a neod to stop edvancing ready-made plans and to trust that people can collectively igure out what todo with {his world. 1 think we have the opportunity to put aside ‘what we thought would be the anmwer and fght together to explore different viatone of the future, We ean work on that And there is no one alawer. we've got to work it out fs we go “Although we want to struggle it a going tobe vary ‘utioult beostuee of the problems that we have inherited trom this empire, For example, saw some very hard, emo- tional struggles at the protosta against the Republican National Convention, But people stick to st, even i they ‘broke down crying inthe proceas, We are not going to get through some of our internal &ynamios that have kept us ftivided unless we ace willing to go through some really tough struggles Tia sone ofthe other reasons why Tay there ia no anawer: wove just got to go through tiethe Panthers - but the other side was like, “I don’t want to ‘hea all that feminist tufL” And we said, “Thats fine you ‘don't want to hoa ft, but we want the young ole to hear Ibo they know about some ofthe things that did not wore in the Panthers, so they know that we had some intornal ‘contradictions that wo could not overcome.” We tried to ‘rose the issuo, but it became a battle and the dizosasions {Foto difficult hata pli occurred. Aa this point, eft he Collective end beyan working with anarehiet and antist. thoritarian groupe, who have really been the only es to consistently ty to deal with there dymamioe thus fat ‘One of the most important lessons T also learned from anarchism Is that you need to look for the radion! things that we already ao and try to encourage ther, This ‘is why I think there is 6 much potential for anarchism {in the Black communi: 0 much of what we eivady do is anarohistic and doesnt involve tho state, the police, or the politicians. Wo look out for each other, we care for teach other's kids, wo go tothe store for each other, we find ‘ways to protaot our communities Even eburches sill 20 ‘hinge in a very communal way to some extent. I learned ‘that there are ways to be radioal without alwaye passing ‘Out lterature and telling people, “Here isthe picture tf You read this you will atomatieally follow our organi {ion aad join the revolution.” For example, participation ‘sa very important theme for anarchism and iis also very ‘important in the Black community. Cansider jazz itis one ‘ofthe best ilustrations of an existing radieal practice be ‘cause it assumes © participatory connection between the Individual and the collective and allows forthe expression ‘of who ou are, within a collective stting. based on the {enjoyment and plearure ofthe music felt Our comin. {iow can be the same way. Wo oan bring together all Kinds ‘of diverse perspectives to make musi, to make revolution. "iow can wo nurture every act of freedom? Whether {tis with poople on the job or the flls that hang ovt on tho corer, how can we plan and work together? We need to lear from the diferent struggles around the world that fre not based on vanguards. There are examples in Bol {There are the Zapetistar There are groupe in Senegal Dutlding social centers. You really have to look at people who are trying to live and not necessarily trying to come ‘Upwith the most advanced ideas, We need to de-emphasize you allow someone to at themselves up as your leader and ‘hake all your decisions for you? What anarehism helped ‘me soe was that you, as an individual, should be respect (and that no oie io important enough to do your thinke ‘ng for you. Even if we thought of Huey P. Newion o B- Gidge Cleaver asthe baddest revolutionaries inthe wort, should see myself as the baddest revolutionary, just ke ‘hem. Hven Tam young, !have a brain. ean Uhinle Teas, 1 though about allthis while in prison and found ‘myself saying. “Man, wo really sot ourselves up in a way that was bound to create probloms and produce schisms. We were bound to follow programs without thinking ‘The history of the Black Panther Party, as great ax iti, thas those skeletons. The smallest person on the totom pole was mipposed to be a worker and the one on the top ‘yas tho one with the brains. But in prion I learned that 1 ‘ould have made some ofthese decitons myself, and that people around me could have made these decisions them elves, Although T appreciated everything that the leaders ff the Black Panther Party did, Tbeyan to tee that we ca fo things itfrentiy and thus drave more fly on our wn potentials and move even further towards real eltdovor ‘mination. Although i¢ wasn't easy at fret, T stuok with the ‘Soarchist material and found that T couldn’ put it down ‘once it started giving me insights, wrote to people in De ‘oft and Canada who had been sending me Mteratire and ‘eked them to send more However, none of what I reosived dealt with Black {olks or Latinos Maybe there were oooasional discussions ‘ofthe Mexioan revolution, but nothing deal with us, here, ‘in the United States, There was an overwhelming empha’ ‘sis on those who beeame the anarchist founding fathers “Bakunin, Kropotkin, and some others - but these Euro ‘pean figures, who wete addressing European struggles, ‘ida’ rally speak to me. Tried to figure ost how this applies to me. Tegan to look at Black history again, at Afrian history, and at the histories and strugsies of other people of color. found ‘many examples of anarchist practioes in non Buroposn so ‘ties, from the most ancient times to the present. This ‘was very important to me: T needed to know that it is not Just Buropean people who can function in an antiauthort