The Challenge of Autonomy: Prospects for Freedom Going Into 2021

1. Intro: Do For Self Politics vs. Hypothetical Radicalism

“And i prayed to God to make me strong and able to fight…”

– Harriet Tubman

“Freedom is something that you have to do for yourself.“

– Malcolm X

[see pdf for full text]

Young people getting active in the streets today are entering a desert of political options and conversations. A degenerate political left represents the only well-known alternative to openly fascist Democrats and neo-nazi-courting Republicans, a left that has grown so petty bourgeois (middle class) in its class character that it has very little relationship to the physically existing world, as outlined in section 1. For those of us who actually want to make this thing materially viable, we need to focus on building the actual material infrastructure for self-determination, independent of police and State assistance…

[see pdf for full text]

We put this together in three parts: 1. an introduction 2. an analysis of the events of 2020 and how they show us the limits and “prospects for freedom” available in the foreseeable future, and then 3. a list of concrete, tried and tested baby steps that serious comrades can start from scratch with. We speak from generations of experience and successful communal structure – not from our own personal opinions, left-wing jargon, dreams, theories or books alone…

[see pdf for full text]

No one is going to get us ready for what’s coming except ourselves. No one is going to get us free except each other…

Let’s each and every one of us, wherever we are right now, whatever we’re working with no matter how few or how poor, analyze our situation, form a plan, and start right now. And let’s see it through!

FULL TEXT BELOW

Click to access the-challenge-of-autonomy.pdf

Black Student Union Condemns Campus Zionist Group, Reaffirms Solidarity with Palestine

From Columbia University Black Student Union:

In light of recent flyering campaigns done by Aryeh: Columbia Students Association for Israel (formerly known as LionPAC), in which they use the image and words of Martin Luther King, Jr. in favor of their Zionist views, we as the Columbia University Black Students’ Organization, write to condemn their co-optation of Black liberation struggle for the purposes of genocide and oppression and we re-proclaim our unequivocal support of Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace – Columbia/Barnard Chapter, and the people of Palestine in their fight for freedom from Israeli apartheid.

Numerous Black scholars and activists, both contemporary and otherwise, have already connected the Palestinian struggle for liberation with the struggle for Black liberation. The chant “From Ferguson to Gaza” echoed this year is not hyperbole, but a unifying idea against oppressive systems that subjugate Black people and people of color globally and act as a reminder of our tradition of solidarity and support. While we as an organization also acknowledge that Black and Jewish people also share a history of oppression, we understand that zionism has no place in our solidarity and, thus, we cannot and will not excuse the actions of the Israeli state and their acts of discrimination, segregation, and genocide. This is NOT what Black liberation activists stood for. This is not what we will stand for.

We encourage Aryeh and their supporters to more deeply explore the relationship of Blackness to Palestinian liberation and Israel before they continue to leverage our legacy and heritages in their favor. Until then, from Ferguson (and Harlem and Staten Island and Chicago, and Cleveland, OH, and Port Gibson, Mississippi and…) to Gaza, WE stand on the side of liberation and justice.