The
proverbial fox and wolf will never admit that they ate the
chickens, but they will stealthily seek to distract and then
devour us as a part of their next meal.
In
a society that is rife with deliberate distractions and pitfalls,
we must endeavor to set our political objectives in the people�s
struggle and stay focused on them. Let us remember that this
capitalist system is steeped in, and based upon, a crude form of
21st century �social Darwinism,� i.e. the survival of the nastiest,
which is the de facto modis operandi of the corporate
government.
When
this corporate government, with the constant complicity of the corporate
media, manufactures, emphasizes, and directs the attention of everyday
people to supposed matters of import, we can be assured that the
well honed bait-and-switch strategy is being utilized against
us. It is meant to divert. This strategy, which includes
using disinformation against the people, cannot be effective
if we consistently define and disseminate the narrative
of everyday Black, Brown, Red, White, and Yellow people, and stay
focused upon that. The instant that we accept the narrative
of the Democratic Party foxes, the Republican Party wolves, and
the corporate media, we succumb to a deadly, time-tested trap.
To reiterate: Our duty and responsibility is to define and
disseminate the narrative [i.e. the reality, versus
disinformation and myth] pertaining to the struggle of everyday
people.
Disinformation and concomitant distraction are among the single most potent
weapons of the corporate government and its propaganda wing - the
corporate media. But we must meticulously avoid being distracted
and thereby neutralized by being sucked in by, and focusing
upon, disinformation.
Disinformation & Discreditation: Tactics of Distraction
The
tactics and strategies of disinformation on the part of governmental
authorities and the media are, and have long been, used against
the �American� people en mass, as well as against organizations
and individuals. This is nothing new.
The
hideously infamous U.S. government program (known as COINTELPRO)
to �frame, discredit, imprison, murder� and otherwise �neutralize�
political activists is still, more than ever, very much
in effect today under an array of seemingly
innocuous sounding names. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of these
tactics is directly proportional to the consciousness, or lack thereof,
of everyday people.
The
purpose of these above-mentioned tactics and strategies is
simple: To distract, �disrupt,� immobilize [i.e. �neutralize�]
the people�s struggle and those most active in it. Once we grasp
this fact, it becomes increasingly difficult for these tactics and
strategies to succeed. We must not be oblivious to these tactics
and strategies. However, we must never allow them to distract or
immobilize us. We must recognize these tactics for what they are:
An indication of government paranoia and repression, and
our own growing political effectiveness.
Defining & Disseminating Our - The People�s
- Narrative
We
must tell the people�s story, convey the people�s narrative, as
it has really unfolded and is unfolding every single day.
This is a crucial part of our political organizing. Each
one teach one - individually and collectively. We must expose
and emphasize the hypocrisy and subterfuge of the government and
the increasing pain of the everyday people, in addition to creating
and presenting the alternatives needed to alleviate that pain
once and for all. We must practice being creative revolutionaries.
We
must seriously organize, and in so doing, constantly make it crystal
clear to, for, and with the people that, for example; joblessness,
the U.S. wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan, etc., racism,
judicial injustice and the growing rates of incarceration, home
foreclosures, environmental degradation of Mother Earth, and ongoing
corporate Wall Street glut, etc. are all directly
and inextricably, systemically intertwined, and are in
fact the fundamental reasons for the terrible pain being experienced
by everyday people in this nation and throughout the world.
We
know that the �news� media�s job is to misinform, omit, and distract;
and it has never, nor will it ever, promote or disseminate an honest
people�s narrative. The same can be said for the many �academic�
plantations in this nation, which are essentially institutions of
and for mis-education. Thus, it is incumbent
upon us to uncompromisingly and consistently disseminate the
people�s narrative.
No Gurus in the People�s Struggle
Each
and every one of us in this people�s struggle who are committed
to bringing about real systemic change is equally important.
Ours is a collective struggle, and there are no political
gurus in it.
Each
of us, irrespective of color or gender, brings experiences, ideas,
and perspectives to this struggle. Each of us has common sense and
the potential for being creative revolutionaries. None
of us can bring about genuine systemic change by ourselves.
Certainly,
there are those among us who have garnered experience in this struggle
and have set courageous examples. But they are not political
gurus; they are long time freedom fighters and are respected
as such.
The
effectiveness of this, the people�s struggle, is rooted in, among
other things, our collective strength. We must never
lose sight of this. No one of us is as smart, strong, or
as creative as all of us.
Moving Forward
It
is obvious that we are in a society which is neither �post racial�
nor �color blind.� Indeed, the very term �color blind� is but a
code word for the intensifying and cloaked institutional racism
and economic exploitation; which is being systematically and
systemically reinforced by the corporate controlled Democratic
Party foxes and the Republican Party wolves of all
colors.
A
mythical vampire cannot be reformed to stop sucking the blood
of everyday people, and neither can this very real,
blood-sucking, capitalist system. It must be systemically
replaced.
For
too long, the pain of the everyday people has been shamelessly pimped
by these systemic, economic vampires; and the most effective way
to break this death grip is to unflinchingly organize for real
systemic change. In the words of Chicano political activist
and Brown Beret veteran, Eddie Perez, �To their demise we must
continue to ORGANIZE!� And so we shall, because we must.
A
conscious people who are politically organized will ultimately,
never be defeated. Get busy and stay focused in the people�s struggle!
Onward
my sisters and brothers. Onward!
BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board Member, Larry Pinkney,
is a veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of
Interior of the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner
and the only American to have successfully self-authored his civil/political
rights case to the United Nations under the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights. In connection with his political
organizing activities in opposition to voter suppression, etc.,
Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS
NewsHour, formerly known as The MacNeil/LehrerNewsHour. For more
about Larry Pinkney see the book, Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and
Thinker, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard Zinn].
(Click here
to read excerpts from the book). Click here
to contact Mr. Pinkney.
|