DNC Protest Poster and Public Enemy

RAIM’s nifty DNC protest poster:

PDF version

Also, Recreate ‘68 today announced that Public Enemy will be playing a free concert on Tuesday at 2pm at Civic Center Park.

It’s Not Easy Being Green: The White Nationalism of the Colorado Greens

The White Nationalism of the Colorado Greens

There has been much news as of late of the reaction of the Colorado Green Party to the stances of their presidential and vice presidential candidate ticket, Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente. For the treasonous act of attending events by Recreate 68 during the Democratic Convention protests, they have been made personas non gratas by their own party. The Colorado Green Party has been violence-baiting Recreate 68 because of their radical stances and hosting of events that agree with the politics of McKinney and Clemente. Looking further, it seems the Colorado Greens, at the very least their top leadership, is set in the white nationalist politics that affects much of the Amerikan faux-left.

Dave Chandler, anti-immigrant nativist, head of Colorado Greens

One of the co-chairs of the Colorado Greens is Dave Chandler. He was one of the key forces trying to kick McKinney off the ballot of their own party. Chandler attacks McKinney and Clemente on his blog for accepting endorsements from leftist political parties he doesn’t like, for advocating a Hip Hop political party (which he admits he does not know the definition of), and most of all their supposed advocacy of violence because they mention weapons (1). As the Black liberation struggle in the United $tates has often than not been a violent one, this would not be out of line, but for the Greens who can’t see past their white privilege, this has put them in a tizzy.

On the next item on his blog, Chandler comes out in favor of an ordinance to seize the cars of undocumented migrants who don’t have insurance, a measure supported by local right-wing groups (2). Looking at his other posts reveals Chandler is an advocate of population control via stopping immigration. In other words, let poor people in other countries starve and die so Amerikans can keep their high standard of living.

According to Chandler, immigrants lower wages, destroy the environment, and threaten the white middle class. Here’s a sample of the views of the Green Party Chairman:

” In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a skilled meat cutter could make a top wage of about $20 an hour. Today, a meat cutter might make about $11.50.

In Iowa an illegal immigrant meat cutter might make $5.00.

We make this observation in light of the protest this weekend in Postville, Iowa, against the May 2008, immigration raid at the Agriprocessors plant. The illegal, released women protesters in Iowa are way out of line; they allowed themselves to be co-conspirators in perpetrating identity theft and in undercutting decent standard of living for citizens.

This on-going story illustrates why illegal immigration is so corrosive to working class Americans — it illustrates how corporations shamelessly exploit illegals.

Especially as unemployment rises because of the deepening recession, we hope that those thinking about crossing the border into the U.S. illegally will reconsider …”(3).

And:

“I support stopping illegal immigration into Colorado and the United States.

My support for this proposition is based on two criteria: our environment and the economy.

We must stablize our population growth here in the United States (and around the world) if we are to create a sustainable natural environment for future generations.

We need to reivigorate and empower the American working and middle class if we are to remain free and prosperous” (4).

And:

“Working Americans lost in federal court. As soon as this Thursday, working Coloradoans may begin to lose in a more substantive way when Mexican trucking companies and Mexican drivers are permitted to haul Chinese-made goods and produce into the U.S. for distribution.”(5).

And:

“There he was yesterday, Colorado’s U.S. Senator Ken Salazar promoting an ‘immigration reform’ plan that will further hurt our environment and the standard of living for working class Americans… this new ‘immigration reform’ deal — if passed into law — would a dream-come-true for the oligrachical elitists who want to turn the United States into a low-wage nation. The Dimocrats …also seem to be operating under the vague impression that somehow increasing the pool of exploitable labor by millions and millions will pay-off in votes for them someday.

This plan would ‘legalize’ up to 20,000,000 illegal aliens already in the country, and in the future permit over a million new ‘guest workers’ and people with a host of various visas to enter the country every year.

My biggest objection to these ‘immigration reform’ proposals, however, has been their effect on our environment …I am willing to break the political taboo and talk about over-population and the ecology of the nation and the planet — we simply cannot afford millions and millions more human beings striving to grow into the natural-resources-consuming footprint of the American lifestyle.”(6).

Not knowing who said this, this is the same rhetoric that comes out of the Minutemen and other white nativists. This is just the left wing of white nativism. The Green Party chair serves to incite hatred and violence against migrants.

Of course there’s not going to be sealed borders. Amerikans have long been bought off by imperialism, and they get special privileges, one being they don’t have to do much real work. Amerikan capitalism is dependent upon cheap labor for lower costs, no doubt. With imperialism destabilizing Third World economies, labor comes to where that stolen money is, and business readily accepts it. Remittances are a major source of income for many Third World nations. Those crackers sitting on their lawn chairs watching the border aren’t scrambling to take jobs for $5.00 an hour doing back-breaking labor. Not to mention the issues of stolen land, exploited and oppressed nations, and reparations. No, the Green Party shows that its interests are with the white middle class. Despite rhetoric about environmental destruction, they want to keep Amerikans privileged standard of living built upon stolen wealth and environmental destruction.

It’s unclear how the rest of the membership of the Green Party feels about Chandler’s views, but as the Greens make a big emphasis on their “grassroots democracy,” we can assume these views are highly tolerated if not widely accepted. There has been no public criticism of Chandler that we know of. His views are not surprising, as the Green Party itself is committed to white populism, keeping the standard of living for white Amerikans, and the Amerikan environment preserved for their weekend hiking trips. Many still want it to be a party of the great white hope Ralph Nader, which would also explain their opposition to McKinney.

We at RAIM have no qualm about exposing the reactionary politics of the Greens and other fake leftists. We don’t support the McKinney campaign because electoral politics is a dead end for any radical politics, and have no illusions about voting in an imperialist system. But we do admire the McKinney campaign taking some principled stands against white populists within her own party, and the reactions of the Greens showing their real politics. RAIMD supports open borders, return of land to oppressed nations, and liberation of the Third World against U.S. aggression, including reparations. We put radical politics in command, and stand against reactionaries in progressive wrappings.

Sources:

(1). http://www.davechandler.us/2008/08/a-colorado-gree.html

(2). http://www.davechandler.us/2008/07/the-loony-left.html

(3). http://www.earthside.com/earthside/2008/07/blumner-lords-o.html

(4). http://www.davechandler.us/2006/06/super_highway_t.html

(5). http://www.davechandler.us/2007/09/mexican-trucker.html

(6). http://www.davechandler.us/2007/05/separation_of_c.html

Speaker and Music Highlights for the DNC

Recreate ‘68 released their list for speakers and musical acts during the DNC.

Included are speakers such as Ricardo Romero from the Mexican National Liberation Movement, Kathleen Cleaver from the Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton Jr., Pamela Africa from MOVE, and Cha Cha Jimenez from the Young Lords Party. Other speakers include Ward Churchill, Ramona Africa, Natsu Saito, Cynthia Mckinney, Mumia Abu Jamal (recorded in death row), and Ida Audeh.

Musical acts Dead Prez, David Rovics, Blue Scholars, and Rebel Diaz will all be performing.

Check out the full list here.

Great Satan/Ang Dakilang Satanas

amihanmalaya.wordpress.com

Great artwork! We’re flattered!

“The North-South Division”

The following is an excerpt from a essay titled The Socialist Project in a Disintegrated Capitalist World, written by Greek writer Arghiri Emmanuel in 1976.

The North-South division

It is largely accepted today that development and under-development are not autonomous and juxtaposed phenomena which can be examined each within its own terms, but that they are phenomena organically and functionally interrelated.

That is a common place. What is less familiar is the observation that not only is development of the periphery blocked by the very existence of the center, and the growth of the center reinforced by the resources drawn from the periphery, but that this center is today over-developed to the very same extent that the periphery is under-developed.

What can this over or under-development be measured against? It may be measured in relation to the level of development which the existing economic system, in this case the capitalist mode of production, can, under present historical conditions, secure at the level of the whole of mankind.

This means that the United States can be the United States and Sweden can be Sweden only because others, that is, the two billion inhabitants of the Third World, are not.

This also means that every material equalization from the top down is excluded. If, by some miracle, a socialist and fraternal system, regardless of its type or model, were introduced tomorrow morning the world over, and if it wanted to integrate, to homogenize mankind by equalizing living standards, then to do this it would not only have to expropriate the capitalists of the entire world, but also dispossess large sections of the working class of the industrialized countries, of the amount of surplus value these sections appropriate today. It seems this is reason enough for these working classes not to desire this ‘socialist and fraternal’ system and to express their opposition by either openly integrating into the existing system, as in the United States of America or the Federal Republic of Germany, or by advocating national paths to socialism, as in France or Italy.

This is not a question of principles, but a question of interests. A few global figures will be enough to show this. In 1973, the average annual wage in the USA amounted to around US$10,500. The population of the entire capitalist world at that time was about 2.6 billion, and there was a little over a billion economically active. To pay all these economically active people on an American scale would require close to eleven trillion dollars. However, the total national income of these countries in 1973 amounted to only $2.7 trillion.

This means, even if all income earned without the counterparts of labor, profits, rents, interest rates, etc., (which are all components of surplus value) were abolished and mankind resolved to be satisfied from now on with simple reproduction, relinquishing all progress and consuming its entire product, it would not, under these hypothetical conditions, be able to reach more than an average wage of $2,500 per year, that is, a quarter of the American wage.

It is precisely this that severs solidarity between the working classes of the center and the periphery. While all the working classes were subjected to exploitation, no matter how disparate its degree, even when one was 90% exploited and the other 10%, they had an interest in uniting and fighting arm-in-arm, and together expropriating their exploiters, despite the fact that this expropriation improved the situation for some considerably more than for others. But from the moment the workers of certain countries ceased to be the suppliers of surplus value (no matter how little) and became recipients, the situation was reversed and the positions of the working classes became antagonistic to one another.

It might be maintained that this comparison in terms of dollars or surplus value rates is too abstract and illusory. I will suggest another, in physical terms. Today, the citizen of America consumes an extraordinary amount of basic raw materials. Were all the inhabitants of this planet to follow his example and consume the same amount per person, all known deposits of iron ore would be exhausted in forty years, copper deposits in eight years, tin deposits in six years, and petroleum in five and a half years!

However, exhaustion of deposits and reserves is not the only factor that prevents world equalization from above. Ecological limits represent another.

If today’s developed countries can still rid themselves of their wastes by dumping them into the sea or the air, this is so because they are the only ones doing it; similarly, if their citizens can still travel by plane without great difficulty, that is because others have not the means to fly and leave them the privilege of clogging the skies, etc., etc.

These calculations involve no unsubstantial and slippery concepts such as surplus value, capital, etc., or such computable categories as profit, interest rates, etc., but of the consumption of palpable materials. Hence, it is the great mass of the population, the wage-workers themselves who are involved.

It follows from this that apart from all other considerations and all other antagonisms, under today’s objective natural and technological conditions, and in the foreseeable future, the people of today’s rich countries can consume all the things that make up their material well-being and which they seem to value, only because others use them either very little or not at all. They can reprocess their wastes simply because others have nothing much to reprocess. Otherwise, the ecological balance would be fatally imperiled.

This is what makes the antagonism between the center and the periphery irresolvable and transforms the entire working class of certain countries into the worker aristocracy of the earth.

From:

”The Socialist Project in a Disintegrated Capitalist World” by Arghiri Emmanuel. From Socialist Thought and Practice : A Yugoslav Monthly, vol. 16, no. 9, 1976, pp. 69-87.

Translated by the Maoist Information Website. Read full article here.

Put A Little Love in Your Heart… Fight Imperialism!

Demonstration for Iran

Demonstration against threats towards the Islamic Republic of Iran.

West steps of the capitol building (Lincoln and Colfax)

Saturday, Aug 2nd

Noon-2pm

From the Mouths of Babes…

We at RAIM like trouble-making punk kids. You know, the kind that piss off Cracker invaders who talk shit in the Mexican homeland. Below are some of our favorites.

Some 5 year olds sticking it to some Cracker-ass Minutemen:

A couple of kids stand up to adult Cracker threats:

Remember, the children are our future.

Benefit for Visualized Film Fest

Benefit for Visualized Film Fest
Wed, July 23rd
Hi-Dive, 7 South Broadway
featuring Asphodel, Pleistocene and Radical Knitting Circle
for more info check visualizedfilmfest.org

Coming Soon… Fuck the Troops 2!

Here’s a teaser:

Great Satan

Don’t Ever say We Censored Your F*%king Sh*t Cracker!

Yes, we get comments. Some we don’t post simply because the troglodytes that write them are altogether dumb as a fucking brick and to post them wastes precious space on the internet. However on occasion, we get some whoppers from Amerika’s proud White Proletariat. Therefore, in the spirit of free speech, we’d like to share some of them with you:

“Ronnie” said in response to: “Obama Shocks Arab World, Touts Imperialist Credentials“

The article is jewish bullshit.
Due to total jewish US mainstream media control,
Obama had to deliver this lip service before the
AIPAC. Eating crow and assuring everyone what
they want to hear is part of the election process
and does not mean anything.

“Mike” said in response to: “Why We Say… Fuck the Troops!”

Just stumbled across this website. I assume this is some sort of nigger run site, where you pretend that you’re real human beings, and not human/chimpanzee missing links, which you are, of course. Have a banana and carry on. Try not to eat each other, ok?

“Mike” also said in response to: “Yippie: A Blast from the Past!“

Ah, yeah, that Jew-boy Rubin. Did you know that you’re sorry nigger asses were brought over to America on Jewish-owned slaves ships? Jews have such love for the “schvartzes,” don’t they? Come to think of it, everybody; Whites, Jews, Asians, Hispanics; they all hate you.

No matter what, you blacks always end up at the bottom of the pile. Affirmative action and welfare, and you still can’t get your sorry black asses together.

Hey, I’m all for Black Nationalism, You chimps can go back to Africa and leave the humans alone. Just think, you could fuck monkeys, cannibalize and eat each other, put ashtrays in your lower lips, do voodoo magic to your hearts content, and do whatever it is you do in your natural state, to your hearts content!

Just think of the “black utopia” you could create! Tin shacks, starvation, murder and rape! It’s a “black paradise!”

US Marine said on: “Why We Say… Fuck the Troops!”

Fuck it throw a couple Flash Bangs out the window at those little fuckers. Or throw some Sting Gernades… That will stop the fuckers.

And finally, Fuckyou, responding to the same post said,

You call that a beating? I actually fapped while watching that. They deserved way worse you cunt.

Enlightening indeed.

The Ongoing Saga: Why We Say… Fuck the Troops!

Watch the above video and listen to this limey (thats an Engli$h Cracker) fuck cream his jeans as he watches his comrades brutally beat a group of Iraqi kids.

Happy 4th of July, Enjoy the Barbecue!!!

Why We Say… Fuck the Troops!

Watch this cracker whine that he isn’t allowed to murder Iraqi kids for throwing rocks at his pig ass.

Listen carefully for the kid shouting “fuck you!” We are proud of you little RAIMer, keep it up!

Recreate ‘68 Film Series for July

From Recreate 68:

Five week film series every Tuesday, benefiting Recreate 68, a coalition organizing events and protests against the Democratic National Convention.
EACH week of film will correspond with the DAYS OF RESISTANCE AT THE FESTIVAL OF DEMOCRACY, SUNDAY, August 24-THURSDAY, August 28.
We are asking for a small donation for each screening and don’t forget to support HOOKED ON COLFAX while there !!
HOOKED ON COLFAX COFFEE SHOP, BASEMENT
3215 EAST COLFAX

Tuesday, JULY 1st-7pm
END THE OCCUPATIONS DAY
1. Daylight Robbery Iraq: What happened to the $23 Billion (not released in the US)
On Tuesday, June 10, 2008 the BBC in the UK aired this informative program about the estimated $23 billion that was lost, stolen or not properly accounted for in Iraq. Most of this money came from US taxpayers, who aretotally unaware of this story.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/7438372.stm

2. Iron Wall-This documentary warns that a contiguous and viable Palestinian state is becoming no longer possible, and that the chances for a peaceful resolution of the conflict are slipping away.
www.palestineonlinestore.com/films/theironwall.htm

Tuesday, JULY 8th-7PM
PRISONER RIGHTS/HUMAN RIGHTS
1. Mission Against Terror
The Cuban Five are five Cuban men who are in U.S. prison, serving four life sentences and 75 years collectively, after being wrongly convicted in U.S. federal court in Miami, on June 8, 2001. They are Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González. The Five were falsely accused by the U.S. government of committing espionage conspiracy against the United States, and other related charges.
www.freethefive.org/
www.atasite.org/calendar/?x=2514

Tuesday, JULY 15th-7PM
IMMIGRANT RIGHTS
WETBACK
www.opencityworks.com/wetback/
Wetback: The Undocumented Documentary is an excellent film by Arturo Pereze Torres and Heather Haynes. It shows the issue of immigration into the US from the side of the undocumented worker. We all know the side of the vigilantes. All we have to do is watch anyone on Fox to get that side. But, what do we really know about the other side. The Smoking Gun’s expose of A Million Little Pieces showed us that what we think is true often isn’t.
Wetback shows us the poverty that drives workers across our borders. Poverty that causes them to literally risk life and limb to get something for their family. It also shows the gains to the US and other American countries from the undocumented workers in this country.

Tuesday, JULY 22-7PM
ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS
CRUDE-THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY OF OIL
www.abc.net.au/science/crude/
From the food on our tables to the fuel in our cars, crude oil seeps invisibly into almost every part of our modern lives. Yet many of us have little idea of the incredible journey it has made to reach our gas tanks and plastic bags. This is a special broadband companion website to this landmark documentary.

Tuesday, JULY 29-7PM
CIVIL RIGHTS
THE MURDER OF FRED HAMPTON
www.shockcinemamagazine.com/murder.html
Fred Hampton was the leader of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party. This film depicts his brutal murder by the Chicago police and its subsequent investigation, but also documents his activities in organizing the Chapter, his public speeches, and the programs he founded for children during the last eighteen months of his life.

-R68

Obama, “Black” Messiah for White Amerika

Liberals, even some calling themselves ’revolutionaries,’ have a chronically false ideal of Amerika. Instead of seeing historical injustices carried out by Amerika as part of its overall development, liberals see such things as disconnected aberrations which can be resolved through in a piecemeal fashion through progressive determination. They see Amerika, though flawed, as an unfinished experiment in freedom and democracy.

Revolutionaries see Amerika as a product of unending injustices carried out upon oppressed peoples. Revolutionaries see Amerika and all the decadent elements which constitute it as something that needs to be destroyed as part of the global struggle to build a better world. While revolutionaries hate Amerika, liberals love Amerika: they are always trying to save it, to reform it, to make it realize its so-called historic potential.

To this end, an Obama presidency marks a major step. White liberals are projecting their own hopes and aspirations regarding Amerika onto Obama. Having a Black man lead a nation founded on the slavery of Blacks is for many a confirmation that Amerika is still the land of hope. An Obama presidency represents evidence that even into the 21st century, Amerika is still becoming a better, more perfect democracy. Because of this, the historical narratives spun around Obama are endless. For much of Amerika, Obama is a near-messianic figure.

Within the liberal paradigm, by electing Obama, Amerika can go from a country shamed by the Bush administration to one reformed, made better. An Obama presidency proves that Amerikan democracy works. Amerika can arrive as a more pluralistic open society whose legitimacy as the leader of the world is reaffirmed. An Obama presidency represents the continuation of Amerikan supremacy without Bush’s overtly hee-haw element. Obama represents a form of imperialism which liberal Amerikans can be proud of.

But liberal love-amerika types are not the only force driving the Obama campaign. Within the imperialist camp, many view the overly belligerent Bush administration as a disaster. Over the last 8 years, Amerika’s actions have rightly inspired hate and resistance the world over.

Loosing the iron fist and taking up the velvet glove is understood by many to be a more effective approach to imperialism. Within much of the imperialist camp, a popular Obama presidency is seen as more conducive to their own long term interests. Obama is seen as a figure who can recover what power Amerika has lost over the last 8 years.

Obama, and the forces behind him, are not revolutionaries. They are not trying to end Amerikan imperialism. Rather, for those who benefit from imperialist exploitation, Obama is seen as savior, a messiah who can bring the return to Amerika’s power and so-called greatness. These are the social forces that will, in all likelihood, drive Barack Obama to be the next president of the United States.

YIPPIE!: A Blast from the Past!

Abbie Hoffman telling it like it is:

Jerry Rubin freaking out the Squares:

History of Amerikkka - Rev. Wright is Right!

Obama Shocks Arab World, Touts Imperialist Credentials

Obama Shocks Arab World, Touts Imperialist Credentials

Released by RAIM-Denver, 6/12/08

Hours after he secured the Democratic Party nomination, U.S. presidential contender Barack Obama spoke before the Amerikan Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).  “We will never compromise when it comes to Israel’s security… Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and must remain undivided,” he said, receiving standing ovations before the influential lobbying group’s annual meeting.

Israel captured and occupied 85% of the city of Jerusalem during the 1948 war. After successive years of forced relocations of Palestinian residents, Israel seized the remainder of the city, East Jerusalem, in the 1967 war. Israel continues to this day to push Palestinians into an ever-shrinking, un-occupied territory. Palestinians recently recognized the sixtieth anniversary of the 1948 event, which they call al-Nakba, or the Catastrophe.

Although Obama has thus far received much attention because of his proclaimed message of change, recent comments have left many puzzled and angry. Mahmoud Abbas, the pro-Western leader of the Palestinian Fatah Party, rejected Obama’s pro-Israel pandering stating, “We will not accept an independent Palestinian state without [East] Jerusalem as its capital.” “That should be clear,” he continued. (1)

Obama described the bond between Israel and the U.S. as “unbreakable today, unbreakable tomorrow, unbreakable forever… Those who threaten Israel threaten us.” Saying he would bring an “unshakable commitment to Israel’s security,” he promised to ensure Israel’s “qualitative military advantage” over its neighbors.

Israel has long been the largest recipient of U.S. direct foreign aid. Obama, if elected, said he will increase the amount to 3 billion dollars per year over the next decade. He highlighted the hegemonic imperialist aspect of such aid by summarizing it as “investments to Israel’s security that will not be tied to any other nation.” (2)

In the First World, the ‘green’ movement is rather large. The Democratic Party has announced that this year’s Democratic National Convention will be the first green convention of its kind. Speaking to the Zionist crowd, Obama tied his environmentalism directly to Israel and Amerika’s security and proposed joint green ventures: “We must free ourselves from the tyranny of oil. The price of a barrel of oil is one of the most dangerous weapons in the world. Petrodollars pay for weapons that kill Amerikan troops and Israeli citizens… It’s time for the United States to take real steps to end our addiction to oil. And we can join with Israel, building on last year’s U.S.-Israel Energy Cooperation Act, to deepen our partnership in developing alternative sources of energy by increasing scientific collaboration and joint research and development.” ‘Progressive’ indeed.

Obama vowed to continue George Bush’s policy towards Hamas: “We must isolate Hamas… There is no room for terrorists at the negotiating table.” In early 2006, Hamas, an anti-Western Palestinian liberation movement, won a large majority in Palestinian parliamentary elections. The Bush Administration refused to recognize the new government, retained communications only with the comprador Fatah Party and placed sanctions on Hamas-controlled areas of Palestine. Reacting to Obama’s speech, a Hamas spokesperson remarked, “These recent statements slash any hope of any change to U.S. foreign policy.” (3) (4)

Obama singled out Iran as the greatest threat in the region. “There is no greater threat to Israel or to the peace and stability of the region than Iran… the danger from Iran is grave, it is real and my goal will be to eliminate this threat.” He promised to use “aggressive, principled diplomacy… backed by real leverage.” Elaborating he said, “I will always keep the threat of military action on the table to defend our security and our ally Israel.” One can only assume that there are numerous regional threats which Obama feels should be dealt with in the same manner. (5)

Adding weight to Obama’s threats towards Iran were hints that U.S. military involvement in the Muslim world would not be ending anytime soon. Earlier in the evening during his acceptance speech for the Democratic Party nomination, Obama said that leaving our troops in Iraq was not an option, “especially at a time when our military is overstretched, our nation is isolated, and nearly every other threat to America is being ignored.” (6) At the Zionist AIPAC assembly later in the evening, Obama proposed a “phased redeployment” of the troops “from Iraq.” (7) In the past, Obama has stated that more troops are needed in Afghanistan and that incursions into Pakistan are possible. ( 8 )

Despite his hawkish language, the anti-war movement has largely rallied around Obama. Much of his campaign thus far has been focused on “change” and a “new way of doing things.” Obama has stated he is against the war in Iraq and thinks of it as a failure. Likewise, throughout his campaign he has promised to enhance the role of dialogue in foreign policy while also making token statements about issues dear to ‘progressive’ Amerikans: the environment, healthcare, education and the Amerikan economy. For these reasons, Obama has picked up the support of many anti-war progressives and even so-called radicals.

But what kind of change is Barack Obama really about? Does Barack Obama really want to create a new world based on equality and mutuality of interest, or would his presidency merely herald in years of marginally different tactics towards the same end? What is the actual change Obama wants to bring?

From Obama’s AIPAC speech: “Contrary to the claims of some, I have no interest in sitting down with our adversaries just for the sake of talking. But as president of the United States, I would be willing to lead tough and principled diplomacy with the appropriate Iranian leader at a time and place of my choosing — if, and only if, it can advance the interests of the United States.”

On Iran, Obama continued his diatribe about ‘dialogue,’ “We will present a clear choice. If you abandon your dangerous nuclear program, support for terror, and threats to Israel, there will be meaningful incentives… If you refuse, we will ratchet up the pressure.” As earlier referenced, Obama pledged to keep the threat of military intervention on the negotiating table.

What becomes clear is that Obama remains faithful to the paradigm of bullying nations into subordination, and that he maintains the right to use military force against those who resist. The change that Obama will bring is merely a difference in how to pursue such an imperialist imperative.

Particularly, Obama declares that he will find the “appropriate leaders” to talk to. While the tactic of splitting movements and nations through selective diplomacy and incentives is not new, it has not been widely or as effectively used by the Bush Administration.

Going further into the issue, Obama says he was against holding Palestinian elections in 2006, “with Hamas on the ballot.” Obama stated, “I will strongly urge Arab governments… to fulfill their responsibility to pressure extremists and provide real support for President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad.” He also said he would urge Israel to improve conditions in the Fatah-controlled West Bank as a way of further isolating Hamas.

While clearly stating he is not opposed to the most aggressive of actions, Obama presents himself as making Amerika stronger through such one-sided, bullish ‘dialogue.’ In terms of foreign policy, Obama is simply promising to be a better imperialist.

Speaking again before AIPAC he himself summed it up, “My presidency will strengthen our hand… [I will bring] change that restores America’s power and influence.” Such a message, combined with his token ‘progressive’ promises about further improving conditions for the parasitic Amerikan “working” and “middle” classes, has made Obama a candidate who garners support from both hawkish Zionists as well as Amerikan so-called anti-war ‘leftists.’ (9)

It is our sincerest hopes that those who truly seek radical humanist change will recognize and reject Obama and what he represents. Instead of embracing promises of a more effective, ‘peaceful’ imperialism, with presumably a more equitable distribution of the profits within Amerikan borders, we urge real progressives and radicals to make a complete break with imperialist politics. We urge people seeking true change to instead embrace the struggles of those actively resisting U.S. imperialism and working to build a new world. Only through the destruction of imperialism and similarly oppressive and exploitative structures can a world of true equality, mutuality and peace exist.

Notes.

1. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/018DB5D0-3C59-46D9-97AE-3F7BB909CD4F

2. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91150432

3. http://www.demconvention.com/

speaker-pelosi-dncc-announce-green-delegate-challenge-for-2008-democratic-national-convention/

4. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/93FE247B-452D-4022-8374-088D8704C1DE

5. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91150432

6. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/98FEB6B7-E363-4AD7-A5F8-200415B9924F

7. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91150432

8. http://www.ogpaper.com/news/news-0821.html

9. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91150432

Fuck The Troops: The Video [update]

We made the video shorter and faster for an enhanced ‘fuck the troops’ viewing experience.

Here for you now: Fuck the Troops v. 1.0

Also check out our pamphlet, also entitled Fuck The Troops.

Denver ZineFest

RAIM-Denver will be at the Denver Zinefest. This Saturday, May 31st, from 10AM to 6PM at the First Unitarian Church (1400 Lafayette)

Come by, check out our lit, grab a DVD and find out what we’re all about.

Memorial Day: RAIM Remembers

We at RAIM recognize the need to memorialize those who have died in the past. However, we are not having Barbecues to memorialize the pig soldiers of Imperialist Amerika. We will spend our time on memorial day mourning the billions of people murdered by United Snakes imperialism over its bloody existence, and remembering the heroic Men, Women and Children who died in the fight against it.

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Huey P. Newton: “In Defense of Self-Defense”

(In light of ongoing and continuing debates and discussion of nonviolence, and the principle of self-defense, we present an essay written by Huey P. Newton, founder of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, the most influential revolutionary national liberation organization of recent times. The essay was overly optimistic in terms of the potential of revolution by the Black masses, as the U.$. has since this time bought off much of the Black nation into the labor aristocracy. Nevertheless, Newton gives an uncompromising statement for the right of self-defense of oppressed peoples, and shows the opposition to this is rooted in hypocrisy and white privilege by “progressives” who de-facto support the status quo. - RAIMD).

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"In Defense of Self-Defense" 

Huey P. Newton

June 20, 1967

Men were not created in order to obey laws. Laws are created to obey men. They are established by men and should serve men. The laws and rules which officials inflict upon poor people prevent them from functioning harmoniously in society.   There is no disagreement about this function of law in any circle the disagreement arises from the question of which men laws are to serve.  Such lawmakers ignore the fact that it is the duty of the poor and unrepresented to construct rules and laws that serve their interests better. Rewriting unjust laws is a basic human right and fundamental obligation.

Before 1776 America was a British colony. The British Government had certain laws and rules that the colonized Americans rejected as not being in their best interests. In spite of the British conviction that Americans had no right to establish their own laws to promote the general welfare of the people living here in America, the colonized immigrant felt he had no choice but to raise the gun to defend his welfare. Simultaneously he made certain laws to ensure his protection from external and internal aggressions, from other governments, and his own agencies. One such form of protection was the Declaration of Independence, which states: “. . . whenever any government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundations on such principles and organizing its powers in such forms as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”

Now these same colonized White people, these bondsmen, paupers, and thieves deny the colonized Black man not only the right to abolish this oppressive system, but to even speak of abolishing it. Having carried this madness and cruelty to the four corners of the earth, there is now universal rebellion against their continued rule and power. But as long as the wheels of the imperialistic war machine are turning, there is no country that can defeat this monster of the West. It is our belief that the Black people in America are the only people who can free the world, loosen the yoke of colonialism, and destroy the war machine. Black people who are within the machine can cause it to malfunction. They can, because of their intimacy with the mechanism, destroy the engine that is enslaving the world. America will not be able to fight every Black country in the world and fight a civil war at the same time. It is militarily impossible to do both of these things at once.

The slavery of Blacks in this country provides the oil for the machinery of war that America uses to enslave the peoples of the world. Without this oil the machinery cannot function. We are the driving shaft; we are in such a strategic position in this machinery that, once we become dislocated, the functioning of the remainder of the machinery breaks down.

Penned up in the ghettos of America, surrounded by his factories and all the physical components of his economic system, we have been made into “the wretched of the earth,” relegated to the position of spectators while the White racists run their international con game on the suffering peoples. We have been brainwashed to believe that we are powerless and that there is nothing we can do for ourselves to bring about a speedy liberation for our people. We have been taught that we must please our oppressors, that we are only ten percent of the population, and therefore must confine our tactics to categories calculated not to disturb the
sleep of our tormentors.

The power structure inflicts pain and brutality upon the peoples and then provides controlled outlets for the pain in ways least likely to upset them, or interfere with the process of exploitation. The people must repudiate the established channels as tricks and deceitful snares of the exploiting oppressors. The people must oppose everything the oppressor supports, and support everything that he opposes. If Black people go about their struggle for liberation in the way that the oppressor dictates and sponsors, then we will have degenerated to the level of groveling flunkies for the oppressor himself. When the oppressor makes a vicious attack against freedom-fighters because of the way that such freedom-fighters choose to go about their liberation, then we know we are moving in the direction of our liberation. The racist dog oppressors have no rights which oppressed Black people are bound to respect. As long as the racist dogs pollute the earth with the evil of their actions, they do not deserve any respect at all, and the “rules” of their game,
written in the people’s blood, are beneath contempt.

The oppressor must be harassed until his doom. He must have no peace by day or by night. The slaves have always outnumbered the slavemasters. The power of the oppressor rests upon the submission of the people. When Black people really unite and rise up in all their splendid millions, they will have the strength to smash injustice. We do not understand the power in our numbers. We are millions and millions of Black people scattered across the continent and throughout the Western Hemisphere. There are more Black people in America than the total population of many countries now enjoying full membership in the United Nations. They have power and their power is based primarily on the fact that they are organized and united with each other. They are recognized by the powers of the world.

We, with all our numbers, are recognized by no one. In fact, we do not even recognize our own selves. We are unaware of the potential power latent in our numbers. In 1967, in the midst of a hostile racist nation whose hidden racism is rising to the surface at a phenomenal speed, we are still so blind to our critical fight for our very survival that we are continuing to function in petty, futile ways. Divided, confused, fighting among ourselves, we are still in the elementary stage of throwing rocks, sticks, empty wine bottles and beer cans at racist police who lie in wait for a chance to murder unarmed Black people. The racist police have worked out a system for suppressing these spontaneous rebellions that flare up from the anger, frustration, and desperation of the masses of Black people. We can no longer afford the dubious luxury of the terrible casualties wantonly inflicted upon us by the police during these rebellions.

Black people must now move, from the grass roots up through the perfumed circles of the Black bourgeoisie, to seize by any means necessary a proportionate share of the power vested and collected in the structure of America. We must organize and unite to combat by long resistance the brutal force used against us daily. The power structure depends upon the use of force within retaliation. This is why they have made it a felony to teach guerrilla warfare. This is why they want the people unarmed.

The racist dog oppressors fear the armed people; they fear most of all Black people armed with weapons and the ideology of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. An unarmed people are slaves or are subject to slavery at any given moment. If a government is not afraid of the people it will arm the people against foreign aggression. Black people are held captive in the midst of their oppressors. There is a world of difference between thirty million unarmed submissive Black people and thirty million Black people armed with freedom, guns, and the strategic methods of liberation.

When a mechanic wants to fix a broken-down car engine, he must have the necessary tools to do the job. When the people move for liberation they must have the basic tool of liberation: the gun. Only with the power of the gun can the Black masses halt the terror and brutality directed against them by the armed racist power structure; and in one sense only by the power of the gun can the whole world be transformed into the earthly paradise dreamed of by the people from time immemorial. One successful practitioner of the art and science of national liberation and self-defense, Brother Mao Tse-tung, put it this way: “We are advocates of the abolition of war, we do not want war; but war can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun.”

The blood, sweat, tears and suffering of Black people are the foundations of the wealth and power of the United States of America. We were forced to build America, and if forced to, we will tear it down. The immediate result of this destruction will be suffering and bloodshed. But the end result will be the perpetual peace for all mankind.

Immortal Technique: Third World

From his new album, dropping June 24th

Here is an excellent review from the Monkey Smashes Heaven blog:

reviewed by rwp (source:monkeysmashesheaven.wordpress.com)

Immortal Technique comes back blasting after a four-year hiatus. His new album/mixtape, The 3rd World, drops June 24th.

The latest single, which happens to be the title track, is pretty self-explanatory. One of the opening lines is “from where police brutality’s not half as nice, it makes the hood in Amerika look like paradise,” underscoring the stark contrast between the situation faced in the First-World and the Third-World. Tech describes the grim realities of the Third-World to his predominately-Western audience in jarring detail. He uses his place of birth as his frame of reference, prefixing lines with “where I’m from,” referring to Peru—his birthplace. He grew up in Harlem, New York.

It’s refreshing to hear something from Tech that doesn’t mention the Illuminati, George Bush or the word “faggot.” DJ Green Lantern’s cutting-edge production and Tech’s mesmerizing, lyrical wizardry combine to produce an agitational sucker punch. Musically, the track is in the top of its class. This will be a hit among hip-hop fans nationwide as Rock the Bells tour commences this summer.

There isn’t really anything negative to say about this particular track. Its calculated, tongue-in-cheek humor is impeccable and guaranteed to grab the attention of anyone within a listening distance. It’s very rare, if not unprecedented, that a rapper focuses his attention on the Third-World.

“Revolution will come where I’m from, the Third-World son” couldn’t be more correct. It is doubtful that Immortal Technique has a consistent, worked out view on the labor aristocracy, but, at times, his lyrics are internationalist. This is definitely a notch above the Amerika-first, chauvinist current in the Amerikan so-called left. For the same reasons, this song is a notch above Tech’s previous work.

Tech also addresses neo-colonial, comprador rulers in the Third World. Just because Third World states are led by non-Whites does not mean that Whites aren’t still pulling the strings. Third World states have nominal independence. In reality, they are controlled by imperialist capital:

“They might even have a Black president but he’s useless because he does not even control the economy, stupid.”

This is the best material from Immortal Technique yet.

Benefit for Big Mountain/Black Mesa Resistance

the Strength of the Earth
is my strength
the thoughts of the Earth
are my thoughts

-traditional Dine ‘song of the Earth Spirit’

Benefit will be held at the Mercury Cafe
2199 California Street
May 15th, 2008, Beginning at 9PM
Art raffle, free literature, and giveaway items included!

Hektor Munoz, Performance Artist
Sarah Morelli and gueass, traditional classical dance/music from North India
Zay and guests with World Percussion
The Asia Jazz Project
Poetry by Ted Vaca and Renee Fajardo
Raffled Art by Estevon Lucero and Eric “Elfego” Baca

Speakers include:

Elder Keith Johnson (Plingit-Alaska)
Antoinette Redwoman (Northern Cheyenne)
Glenn Morris (Prof. at UCD and AIM Activist)
Sarah Graves, member of the Villa Vilekulla collective speaking about her recent trip to Chiapas

Hosted by Big Mountain Friends and Supporters

ZAPATISTA play today

ZAPATISTA
Our word is our weapon!
¡Nuestra palabra es nuestra arma!

A bilingual play by Teatro Milagro

Thursday, May 1st, 1 PM
St. Cajetans
Auraria Campus

Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity Inc, in collaboration with Metro State Student Student Activities and The University of Colorado  - Denver are proud to present ZAPATISTA, the story of Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos and the Zapatista National Liberation Army.  This intriguing tale shares the struggles and successes of the man behind the mask who, in his fight for human rights, proves that the spoken word is a powerful implement for social change.  ZAPATISTA will perform for one day only in St Cajetans at 1 PM on the Auraria Campus.  For more information contact Jose Guardiola of the Sigma Lambda Beta’s at 720-629-2368.

From the mountains of Mexico’s southeast, a small band of Zapatistas made their first strike at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, 1994.  With the help of the Internet, news media and hundreds of international NGOs, their struggle still continues for indigenous rights, territorial rights, women’s rights, everything for every oppressed group that is willing to stand up for their beliefs.  “I am Mayan in San Cristobal, gay in San Francisco, black in South Africa — any human being in this world who is exploited, marginalized and oppressed, resisting and saying enough! ¡Ya basta!”

In this exciting new work, Gilberto Martin del Campo, noted actor from Mexico, plays the role of Marcos.  Omar Vargas, 8-year veteran of the Milagro troupe, plays the role of his principal Mayan cultural advisor, Don Antonio.  Jorge Madrid, from Honduras, plays the role of the Zapatista leader Comandante Tacho.  Dañel Malan, company Artistic Director, plays Comandante Ana Maria.  Milagro’s signature mural is designed and painted by Jesus Kobe from Oaxaca.

Muqtada Al-Sadr Interview

Iraqi resistance leader Muqtada Al-Sadr recently declared “open war” against the occupation forces of U.S. imperialism. He leads the Madhi army that remains a large part of the Iraqi resistance. He has clarified his call recently in a statement calling for Iraqi unity, to focus on the Amerikan occupiers.

Here is a recent interview of Al-Sadr.

Good analysis of the Sadrist movement from Monthly Review Zine:

The Sadrist Revolt
by Richard Seymour

p.s. : RAIMD will probably get attacked again for anti-Amerikanism, publishing this interview, you guys are not nice, blah blah blah. Yet this is just one voice of a movement that is fighting Amerikan aggression, and it is real, and it is winning. We reflect that reality.

p.p.s. Hate mail and death threats, while not appreciated, will be graded for spelling, grammar, form, and originality.

Upcoming Dead Prez Shows

Dead Prez has two shows coming up. Proceeds from both are going to Tent State University and Recreate 68 to support the ‘Festival of Democracy’ and other peaceful protests against the Democratic National Convention.

Tuesday, May 6, 8 pm at the Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder
Wednesday, May 7, 8 pm at Cervantes, 2637 Welton St., Denver

As it turns out, last February Dead Prez played at show at Evergreen College. What began as a peaceful protest when campus police arrested a concert-goer, turned into a “riot” only after the Olympia Pig Department ran in brutalizing the growing crowd.

Here’s a short documentary on it.

Here’s more footage, doesn’t include any “riot” footage

Part 1

Part 2

Fuck the Pigs

More Lies From Jonathan Elinoff and “truthalliance.net”

Elinoff can’t keep his lies straight, exposes himself.

by RAIMD

We are not interested in giving history lessons to Jonathan Elinoff. Needless to say, his understandings of both Gandhi and Martin Luther King in his latest post are of the typical Hollywood variety. (1) We don’t seek to have any discourse with someone who is a complete liar. If Jonathan Elinoff wants to have a debate on the history of social movements and violence, we will discuss that with him only after he publicly comes clean. We will not discuss any of our materials with Elinoff until he admits what almost everyone reading these exchanges knows already. We will not allow Elinoff to change the topic. Until Elinoff publicly explains why he completely fabricated lies about encounters and statements that never happened, we will have nothing to do with him. Also, we have no connection to DAN as Elinoff implies.

Elinoff’s words speak for themselves. Let’s take a look.

Elinoff, credible or not? You be the judge.

Our characterization of Elinoff’s interview on Alex Jones:

It was news to us that Elinoff had a beef against Recreate 68. We gather from Elinoff’s own statements that he is upset about not getting the spotlight for the 9-11 Truth Movement at the DNC protests. For Elinoff, if he doesn’t get the spotlight for 9-11 Truth, then, all of a sudden, everyone else is an agent, according to his logic. If he doesn’t get his way, then he’ll try to wreck the hard work of others. So, Elinoff spouted off a number of sensational lies against RAIMD (and others) in order to try to wreck Recreate 68. RAIMD is a natural target because our politics are already considered controversial even within the activist scene. Not to mention that in the interview Elinoff often mixes up various individuals and groups. None of this mattered to Alex Jones, who is hardly concerned about accuracy. Jones is just looking to make a sensational splash. So, Elinoff was given airtime on national radio by Jones to bully the local Denver activist community, of which Elinoff is not even a part. (Italics ours.) (2)

On April 22nd, Elinoff describes his appearance on Alex Jones:

No one from Truth Alliance or We Are Change Colorado are making accusations that because 911 Truth was not given a fair presence at the R-68 demonstrations that they must be agents. Concerns were raised as to when R-68 said they were still looking for speakers and talent for their event, many truthers include musicians and talented speakers. Why wouldn’t they want to give 911 Truth a fair presence on their stage with their speakers and talent? No one is upset that they weren’t given that opportunity, but thought that other groups should be aware that R-68 is working with many activist groups that promote all kinds of messages, including those that are extremely co