Mickey Z

Cool Observer

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Malcolm X: It was 41 years ago today...

Posted by Mickey Z on 02/21 at 06:58 AM

i did a post a while ago about malcolm x words about the million man march being apt for the make poverty history campaign…

“the negroes were out there in the streets. They were talking about how they were going to march on Washington, march on the senate, march on the Whitehouse, march on the congress and tie it up - bring it to a halt and not let the government proceed. They even said they were going out to the airport to lay down on the runway and not let any airplanes land. I’m telling you what they said - that was revolution, that was revolution, that was the black revolution. It was the grassroots out there in the street; it scared the white man to death; scared the white power structure in Washington DC to death - I was there. When they found out that this black steamroller was going to come down on the capital they called in these national negro leaders that you respect and told them call it off. Kennedy said ‘look you all are letting this thing go too far’ and old Tom said ‘Boss I can’t stop it I because I didn’t start it.’

I’m telling you what they said. They said ‘I’m not even in it much less at the head of it.’ They said ‘these negroes are doing things on their own; they’re running ahead of us.’ And that old, shrewd fox, he said ‘if you all aren’t in it I’ll put you in it. I’ll put you at the head of it, I’ll endorse it, I’ll welcome it, I’ll help it, Iâ€™ll join it.’

“This is what they did with the march on Washington, they joined it, became part of it, took it over. And as they took it over it lost its militancy. It ceased to be angry, it ceased to be hot, it ceased to be uncompromising. Why, it even ceased to be a march - it became a picnic, a circus, nothing but a circus - with clowns and all.

No, it was a sell-out. It was a takeover. They controlled it so tight the told those negroes what time to hit town, where to stop, what signs to carry , what songs to sing, what speech they could make, what speech they couldn’t make and then told them to get out of town by sundown.

Posted by michael on from scotland 02/21 at 08:24 AM

Today 41 years ago in Kenya: Pio Ghana de Pinto, who had been working with Malcolm X to coordinate poor Americans and Africans, was machinegunned in his home.

Posted by Owen on from barcelona 02/21 at 08:48 AM

Mickey,thanks for reminding us of this date. My favorite Malcolm X quote goes something like this...It is criminal to teach a man not to fight, when he is under constant attack. Maybe that is not exact. I am not at my own computer right now so I am disorganized....(more so than usual). ALSO, I like, “BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY”.

Posted by RMJ on from far away 02/21 at 09:01 AM

Good morning to you all and MZ I really like the MalcomX link to the details and landmarks of his life. I’m rather embarrassed to say that I don’t know that much about the man. - now I have no more excuses, just more reading

Captcha"dead".

Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 02/21 at 09:55 AM

Hello everyone. I have another Malcolm link to add: http://tinyurl.com/69n4z

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/21 at 11:00 AM

So since I believe it’s wrong to kill (anyone not a Repulsivecan, anyway), where does that leave me in relationship to Mr. X?

Posted by Mudge on from Austin 02/21 at 11:03 AM

Mudge: I strongly relate to Malcolm (X to Z) in that his outlook continued to evolve. Listen to a speech he gave while still aligned with Elijah Muhammad and it’ll be different from one he gave after and then there’s the post-Mecca Malcolm (not to mention: the pre-Muslim Malcolm). He evolved every step of the way and became more tolerant of “other” viewpoints.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/21 at 11:19 AM

Okay, but the “by any means necessary” speech flies in the face of all things I consider responsible uses of a public forum. If one is advocating revolution, I suppose I can see the utility of that kind of inflammatory speechifying. I’m just opposed to armed revolution for the same reasons I oppose “liberating” countries by invading and ruining them. I see this as a close cousin to the words of that Army a-hole who said, “It became necessary to destroy [this place] in order to liberate it.”

Violence breeds violence, and I ain’t okay with advocating the next cycle. Being from the culture of Murrica, I use phrases like “I’ll kill you!” and so on, meaning them in jest; it’s still a threat, and I should do more to root it out of my speech and ultimately my thoughts. It’s a foothold that meaningless violence (the kind divorced from consequences) has taken in me, and I really don’t like it at all. What does that make me, a “recovering Murrican?”

Posted by Mudge on from Austin 02/21 at 11:42 AM

I hear you, Mudge. What I do with someone like Malcolm (or perhaps Ward Churchill) is accept that—as with anyone I consider an ally—there will be issues on which we strongly disagree.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/21 at 11:45 AM

From yesterday, my mum used to have a By Any Means X T-shirt; she’s gone all liberal now, but she does important work as an advocate for disabled people (shes disabled herself), helping them work the system rather than beat it. Its not revolutionary but there are a lot of people better off than they would be if she didn’t so it. Proud of my mum :-D

Only book I’ve read about X was (if memory serves) Malcolm, Martin and America, the central thesis of which was the two leaders convergence towards a radical critique of america and capitalism. There was also some very int’restin stuff about the pre-sixties black movement.

Not relevant in any way - just finished In The Fist Of The Revolution by Jose Iglesias, about life in a small Cuban town in 1967, in the words of ordinary cubans. Fascinating stuff, can’t recommend it enough, though its probably well out of print by now. I’d love to read a modern follow-up.

Posted by Mew on from work 02/21 at 11:48 AM

MZ #9: Okay again...but when does silence on differences become the “Good German” syndrome? I ask this question in all sincerity. For me, that line gets crossed at advocating violence. Can’t hang. “Methods” matter.

Mew #10: I’m proud of Mama Mew too! I think the world needs more like her. The Iglesias is indeed out of print, but copies exist on amazon.com, alibris.com, and abebooks.com.

Posted by Mudge on from Austin 02/21 at 12:07 PM

Mudge: I didn’t say “silence on differences.” It’s an ongoing struggle among comrades.

Mew: Bravo to your Mom. I’ll say more later. Running out now.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/21 at 12:13 PM

Mudge I am totally opposed to any and all violence, but I don’t think I would be if I was living somewhere between the Tigris and Euphrates right now. As a child of privilege (white healthy well educated American middle class male) I cannot begin to imagine the challenges that others have faced. It sure is easy for me to advocate non-violence. Sometimes I have wondered if those who advocate armed struggle simply have the courage I lack.

It is fascinating to note how Malcolm and Martin’s messages began to converge before they were murdered. Owen, more about the Kenyan connection, please.

I do believe that apart from being morally repugnant, the use of violence is unnecessary in winning the changes we want. There is a disconnect between the desire for social change and using “anti-social” behavior (I shudder typing that but that’s what violence is) to achieve it. But opposition to violence is not enough. I like the image---I think I got it from Derrick Jensen---of salmon slapping their bodies up against dam walls. What else can they do? Using one’s physical self for resistance is I suppose the only method that works, and that is the teeny tiny problem with the incredible upsurge in activism via the internet; the connections aren’t physical.

Okay. I’ll be quiet now.

Posted by Keir on from The Hague 02/21 at 12:35 PM

I am totally opposed to any and all violence, but I don’t think I would be if I was living somewhere between the Tigris and Euphrates right now.

I have often struggled with this myself. I hope never to have to face the dilemma, but the question nags at me at times.
My ideology seems so far out of synch with the reality of the world, I can’t help but wonder if it’s a time during which (I’m loathe to suggest this) there are in fact ends which justify the means?
Puzzling on such moral decisions makes me wonder all the more at the courage that so many have when living through such harsh adversities in so many places.

Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 02/21 at 12:51 PM

Off topic (?) ...Too true!

Posted by Keir on from The Hague 02/21 at 01:07 PM

nice one keir

now try as if you didn’t know

Posted by michael on from scotland 02/21 at 01:33 PM

oh please…

“The Prince of Wales viewed himself as a “dissident” working against political opinion, a former aide has said.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4734798.stm

it is all apparently about the fact that he said he doesn’t like the chinese regime very much

so what is he going to do, disband the anachronism that is the instiution of his family, buy a black hoodie and start hurling bricks at mcdonalds?

F*cksake

Posted by michael on from scotland 02/21 at 02:13 PM

Amelopsis #14

I think international law refers to them as freedom fighters.

Posted by Fiona on from San Diego, CA 02/21 at 02:47 PM

Oi, Michael, relax! So the Prince objected to relinquishing part of the Empire, big woop. Since when do we expect more from hereditary monarchy?

Posted by Keir on from The Hague 02/21 at 03:46 PM

Fiona re:#14 & 18

I suppose I was speaking in a more personal sense. Since it’s such an alien concept to imagine myself going through true life and death armed struggle; I’m conflicted by my own sense that pacifism is the best way, and the shock and awe of today’s ‘democracy’ as it spreads.

‘What would Amelopsis do?’ It’s all just more navel gazing, but there it is.

Let’s think happy thoughts about the Prince of Wales and remember his encouragement of organic and sustainable farming?
Or not?

Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 02/21 at 04:13 PM

More on Pio Ghana de Pinto, also spelled as Pio Gama Pinto. I mentioned him to a Senegalese friend who was thrown by the strange name, I even thought it was Brazilian by way of Portuguese but turned out he was born in Goa. You scroll down a little on this http://tinyurl.com/hrlal and thar be a link to a larger site on him too.

Posted by Owen on from barcelona 02/21 at 04:20 PM

Hey, on the subject of disagreeing with allies. I first came across Kurt Nimmo here, and I assume a number of you know his work, which is generally very good. But yesterday he posted this, which I find disturbing. Offensive. Hard to explain...any thoughts?

Posted by Keir on from The Hague 02/21 at 04:26 PM

Hello everyone. I finally got the Mowat book today and Michele and I just signed a lease for a rent-stabilized apartment just 6 blocks from where we live now. We move in by April 1.

Back on point: I just read that Nimmo item, Keir. I like Kurt but I’m confused by his endless us of the word “Zionist.” Still, he makes a good point. Why is someone jailed for denying the Holocaust? As despicable as many will find this Mr. Irving to be, I just don’t understand why he’s going to jail.

As for the violence issues, I can relate to what the Empress says. It’s easy for us to talk of non-violence when we’re not being bombed into oblivion. The right to self-defense must exist.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/21 at 04:36 PM

MLK’s press conference about Malcolm’s death.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/21 at 04:42 PM

Hmmm. I read (over someones shoulder on the tube) in the Times that the press has officially declared that there should be a ‘backlash’ about Irving’s arrest. I dunno. With all the phoney “freedom of speech” BS lately, I guess every barely supressed hang-up is up for grabs. Open, mainstream nazism here we come? Just thinking of it because in todays Morning Star, this pearl from rent-a-loon Zhirinovsky: “the sole argument for anti-communism is that communists prevented the total destruction of the jews” (said with approval of anti-communism, natch). “Strength”, as in, give me.
None of that explains your man Nimmo. I haven’t read much of his stuff. Is he someone that just likes being ‘edgy’ at the expense of thought?

Posted by Mew on from London 02/21 at 04:44 PM

Hey Mew, I just wanted to get back to your first comment. My wife works with disabled children and I’ve been fortunate enough to know some activists in the disability rights movements. It’s powerful direct action stuff. Cause and effect.

As for the free speech deal, I know it’s a slippery slope but it’s a bigger issue than just anti-Muslim cartoons or Holocaust denial. We live on a planet with so many oppressed, desperate humans seeking scapegoats that this stuff finds a receptive audience. Without addressing this situation, the free speech issue becomes a shouting match.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/21 at 04:50 PM

Thanks for another enlightening post, Mickey! You know - some newspapers have items ‘what happened on this day’ but they are never as informative and expansive as your reminders.

And hello to all you expendables. It is warming up in Daylesford, Australia: today it will be around 77 F but tomorrow it might be up to 86F. ‘Slip, slap, slop’, as the slogan goes when it comes to sunbathing - thank God Helga does not go in for that ‘activity’ ..

Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 02/21 at 04:53 PM

I don’t think Irving should be jailed either - the Austrian laws pertaining to Holocaust denial curtail freedom of expression. Full stop.
Nimmo is right to repeat the term Zionist, I think.
It’s a term about which all to many people understand all too little. It’s an ideology that is at the heart of the Palestinian conflict - or at least at it’s lack of resolution, and has obfuscated any possible resolution.
Ugh - don’t get me going about Palestine / Israel. But here I’ve started already...I think that enough time’s passed that we should agree that Israel should be allowed to exist in the middle east. Palestine should also, with free and full access to and fro and within, granted to each of it’s citizens without control by Israel. If outside control is needed for security, Israel should ‘recuse’ itself from participation and it should be done by UN forces alone.

Sorry - ranting, zionism has a lot to answer for and it’s lobby groups do much to control and shape legislation around the world as it refers to hate speach and the like. It does so often at the expense of free speach.
On that topic I know everyone’s got dutch cartoon overload, but have any of you heard any of the drivel coming from Ezra Levant rationalising his publication in a neocon mag publication? Vapid Zionism at work.

Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 02/21 at 04:55 PM

Great cartoon indeed, Keir!
And seeing how eloquent my fellow expendables are, I’ll keep my comments brief because .. I don’t have much to say. Remember reading Malcolm X’s autobiography, though - co-written with Alex Haley.

Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 02/21 at 05:03 PM

I´m concerned about the manipulation of the Holocaust in that the family Rothschild owned four out of five of the German dailies in the Weimar and printed not a word about the camps, keeping most Germans in the dark about it. Now this family call themselves Jewish and are using the tragedy to wedge themselves into their own duchy in the Middle East. Which is my roundabout way of I understand why Nimmo criticises Zionists (which has nothing to do with Judaism or even those who suffered in the Holocaust, it is a purely political organisation - well a little bit of the occult too, to judge by their insignia)because there´s an awful lot of hate being carried out using the Holocaust as a badge.

I don´t get offended by anything, they´re just words. I´m more preoccupied when governments start using tragedies to make opinions subject to laws.

p.s. check out Norman Finklestein, whose parents were survivors, has a book called The Holocaust Industry.

p.p.s. I realise most of this is a ramble, but here´s another one: ´antisemite´ does not mean antijew, most of the Semetic (meaning related to language) people are Arab so it means antiArab.

Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 02/21 at 05:08 PM

And Amelopsis, go read Robert Fisk’s ‘The Great War for Civilisation’ - not only re zionism but about the whole sorry history of the Middle East. It is 1,283 pages long but worth every page! If you don’t like the book you can be honest with me ..

Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 02/21 at 05:12 PM

Mickey, I was typing during all those posts since Keirs´, and to answer: Irving going to jail has nothing to do with whether or not the Holocaust was real, but to soften public acceptance for thoughtcrime. I think of that Zappa song Who Are The Brain Police?

Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 02/21 at 05:12 PM

I am a huge fan of Norman Finkelstein, Owen! His book ‘The Holocaust Industry’ gives a good and scrupulously fair overview of the politics in 1920’s and 1930’s Germany.

Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 02/21 at 05:13 PM

Helga- my father has read ‘The Great War for Civilisation’ and he also HIGHLY recommends it.

Re: Freedom Fighters

Howard Zinn sez:

Haven’t we learned anything from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Car bombs planted by Palestinians bring air attacks and tanks by the Israeli government. That has been going on for years. It doesn’t work.

Posted by Fiona on from San Diego, CA 02/21 at 05:40 PM

Owen, I don’t think any event only has one consequence. Making ‘thought-crime’ acceptable may be one, especially in conjunction with the arrests of islamic cranks here in the UK; and at the same time, it seems to be emboldening some crypto-fascists (hehe, it feels good being able to use that legitimately!) Bad combo. For the record, I think it is unacceptable to jail someone for their beliefs, and I think it is politically convenient, and counterproductive.

I’d tend to think the ‘official’ (yeah, I use that as a put-down too) version of history of the holocaust is correct as far as gas-chambers and death-toll goes. It frays at the edges when you know stuff about the collaboration of zionist groups for example, but that doesn’t change the basic facts and it wasn’t what Irving went down for. My criticism of Nimmo would not be his allusion to zionists or their undoubted exploitation of the holocaust, but his apparently conflating their version of history with that of non-nazi, non-zionist historians.

I think a better way of dealing with guys like Irving would be to have high-quality education (ie, evidence based, factual and non-dogmatic), both school based and public, to rebut their generally empty claims, rather than shrieking and legal measures. Why don’t we have that? Duh. Besides, thats still palliative, I know.

Posted by Mew on from London 02/21 at 06:05 PM

Mickey - congratulations on receiving the Mowat book at long last, and of course that little detail about signing the lease - that’s great news and it must be a load off of all four of your shoulders. Many good wishes. Now of course you’ll have to dish up some vegan mac n’ cheese…

Owen - THANK YOU for bringing up another peeve - the anti semetic moniker that has been coopted and seems forever only to be misused!

Helga I do plan to read that book, I’ve got a rather large backlog of reading to do, some here, some yet to be procured. The sordid history of the middle east is such a tragic one, what bothers me most is that we (historically BIG ‘we’) become what we despise most and just keep going.

A herd of hamsters in a big wheel.

Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 02/21 at 06:24 PM

Mickey congratulations on finding a place, and a place in Queens at that.

I had a think about it, and what bothers me most about the Nimmo post is the tone. I can’t imagine who he expects to win to his cause with that tone. “Zionism"--the ideology--is repugnant to me as well, but as Mew said it seems like anyone who believes “official” records of the Holocaust is automatically a frothing Zionist.

This is a delicate issue for me--I lived in Poland for a couple of years and will again someday. I don’t believe that spending three years in jail fits the---crime? offense? indiscretion?---of claiming the gas chambers are a myth. We shouldn’t imprison people for being assholes. But wouldn’t we all love to see the whole Bush Administration go down for all of their lies?

Posted by Keir on from The Hague 02/21 at 07:01 PM

I’d like to see the Bushies go down for crimes against humanity.

Captcha sez: dead.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/21 at 07:09 PM

That too, that too.

Posted by Keir on from The Hague 02/21 at 07:44 PM

I’d like to see them go down for aggression, “the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole”.

Posted by Jeremy on from Taiwan 02/21 at 08:37 PM

Hey-- just online now, rough long day wasting money at the doctor’s office after this cold I haven’t been able to shake since starting my new job, only to pay $150 for him to basically tell me, ‘get more sleep and take better care of yourself. Pay at the receptionist’. Agh-- no insurance from new job til 6 months. Weird to spend money on medical bills on self, not just cats.

Fascinating stuff, more than can read now, going to bed early for me. But congratulations on such great sounding apartment-luck! Is there a massive vegan housewarming party on the horizon?

Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 02/21 at 09:00 PM

James, your “story” highlights precisely why I rarely visit a doctor. Hope you feel better soon.

As for the apt., yeah, we lucked out. Six blocks from where we live now. Same exact rent (well below Astoria market rate). Quiet. Nice landlords (we know their daughter). Slightly more square footage. I’ll keep you posted, re: housewarming party.

It’ll be hard to leave here after nearly 14 years. It’s the only place Michele and I have ever lived together...but time marches on.

Speaking of which: Good night, Expendables.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/21 at 10:08 PM

Hi all...dipping in before an early night.

Oh ugh. I belong to the group that says there ARE no Palestinian people, there are Jordanians who got dispossessed. That West Bank place was called Jordan on maps from the 60s, and was ruled from Amman.

I have no sympathy for these dispossessed people whatsoever, and I generally don’t bring it up because that makes me bad in lefty eyes. Resettle ‘em in Jordan. It was their country before, after all. Let Israel have all the oil-free desert that it wants. The (factual) Holocaust is the only thing I think deserves the reparations that Rosemarie and I disagree about so often.

As to why we’re supporting their ick-ptui government...why are we supporting OUR ick-ptui government? Start the changes here. There’s a biblical saying about motes in the other guy’s eye and beams in your own that has some relevance.

So yeah, I am anti-Arab. Kick me out.

Posted by Mudge on from Austin 02/21 at 10:10 PM

Well, Mudge, before the 60s, before WWII, the region was known as “Palestine”. Check maps before the creation of Israel, and you’ll see that the area was Palestine, and, consequently, the people who lived there were Palestinians. This included Jews as well as Arabs, both of whom lived together in peace (with Jews being the minority), before the onset of Zionism. Before Israel was Palestine.

I’m sorry to hear that you’re “anti-Arab” (i.e. anti-semitic). I find this unfortunate. I think it’s just as unfortunate as people who are “anti-Jew”, or any one individual or group of indivicuals are “anti” any other group of peoples.

The biblical definition of “hypocrite” does certainly have relevance, as you say, to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but I’m not quite sure I understand your use of it.

Posted by Jeremy on from Taiwan 02/22 at 02:37 AM

An excerpt from Avi Shlaim’s book ‘The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World’.

In 1897, under order of First Zionist Congress president Theodor Herzl, two Austrian rabbis traveled to Palestine to explore the possibility of locating a Jewish state there. “The bride is beautiful,” the rabbis cabled Herzl, “but she is married to another man.” That “other man” was the Palestinian Arab nation, long established in the region as a political entity. Undeterred, Herzl pressed on with his program of emigration, ignoring Palestine’s existing occupants and creating in the process what came to be known as the “Arab question.”

Posted by Fiona on from CA 02/22 at 03:55 AM

Mudge, of course you’re entitled to your opinion but as Jeremy and Fiona point out above, your opinion in this case is based on a wobbly foundation. I will post something soon on this topic and bring the entire group into the conversation.

Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/22 at 07:18 AM