General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: WashPo: Warren just gave the speech that Black Lives Matter activists have been waiting for [View all]AOR
(692 posts)would include talking about capitalist social relations, private ownership of the means of production, and the capitalist ruling class in which not a modern politician exists (including the black capitalist political class) willing to go there in any major way. Symbolism, tokenism, and feel good speeches of "hope and change for all" will rule the day. Who benefits can then be safely glossed over in slogans of the divine right of individualism and "liberty and freedom for all." For the vast majority of the population...the "freedom and liberty" for workers of all races and creeds to work for the owners or starve under capitalist social relations. As an acquaintance once put it -- One is also free to stick their head up their ass providing they break their spine first.
You can't make the cut ? Well...economic justice is not really the problem. We're working on "social justice issues" and "opportunity and ladders into the middle class for all." "Capitalism is human nature and the end of history" and "Socialism has been tried and doesn't work" so that's about the best we can do for the foreseeable future.
Fred Hampton had it right despite the protestations of the purveyors of "Social Justice" without regards to class analysis, economic justice, and capitalism. His words ring loud and clear in contrast to the bourgeois bullshit, lip-service solutions,and platitudes of capitalist politicians and their loyal acolytes.
"It was one class - the oppressed, and that other class - the oppressor. And it's got to be a universal fact. Those that don't admit to that are those that don't want to get involved in a revolution, because they know as long as they're dealing with a race thing, they'll never be involved in a revolution."
"We never negated the fact that there was racism in America, but we said that the by-product, what comes off of capitalism, that happens to be racism. That capitalism comes first and next is racism. That when they brought slaves over here, it was to make money. So first the idea came that we want to make money, then the slaves came in order to make that money. That means, through historical fact, that racism had to come from capitalism. It had to be capitalism first and racism was a byproduct of that."
"We have to understand very clearly that there's a man in our community called a capitalist. Sometimes he's black and sometimes he's white. But that man has to be driven out of our community, because anybody who comes into the community to make profit off the people by exploiting them can be defined as a capitalist."
"We got to face some facts. That the masses are poor, that the masses belong to what you call the lower class, and when I talk about the masses, I'm talking about the white masses, I'm talking about the black masses, and the brown masses, and the yellow masses, too. We've got to face the fact that some people say you fight fire best with fire, but we say you put fire out best with water. We say you don't fight racism with racism. We're gonna fight racism with solidarity. We say you don't fight capitalism with no black capitalism; you fight capitalism with socialism."
--Fred Hampton excerpts from-- Power Anywhere Where There's People