Notes on a developing revolution

“Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.”—Lucy Parsons

“The memory of oppressed people is one thing that cannot be taken away, and for such people, with such memories, revolt is always an inch below the surface.”—Howard Zinn

There is, to be sure, a people’s revolution developing in the United States.

It is a revolution rooted in the yearning of everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people for social, economic, and judicial justice; and for an end to corporate-government / military hegemony. It is a 21st century protracted revolution whose time has come.

Despite the constant machinations on the part of the corporate-stream “news” media to distort, ignore, and/or discredit the developing collective revolution in this nation, an increasing amount of everyday people are beginning to understand that, in the words of the late Gil Scott Heron, “The revolution will not be televised . . . It will be live!” The heart and soul of this everyday people’s revolution is to be found not in the insidious and pathetic meanderings of the corporate-stream media as it attempts to manipulate, form, and shape opinion. Rather, its heart and soul is steeped in the untenable daily existence of ordinary women, men, and children. This is a revolution that is in the making in spite of the corporate-stream media, not because of it.

Neither corporate-government subterfuge or the phony manipulative ping-pong rhetoric of Republicrat [i.e. Democrat & Republican party] politicians can stop this revolution for real systemic change. This is a bottom-up revolution that begins with critically thinking people of all colors and both genders. This is a revolution of everyday people who, in the words of Fannie Lou Hamer, are “sick and tired of being sick and tired!” This is a revolution that adheres to the crystal clear understanding that one either supports the everyday people’s struggle for genuine systemic change or one opposes it. For in this matter there is no middle ground.

This is a revolution that speaks in the plain, clear, unpretentious language of everyday people, not the convoluted, aloof, double-speak rhetoric of ivory tower so-called ‘intellectuals.’ This is your revolution and mine. It is of, and belongs to us, just plain everyday people!

The primary tools in this revolution are those of being staunchly principled and engaging in the ever-constant task of raising our social and political consciousness and of truth-telling. The color of this revolution is that of humanity collectively. This is a continually evolving revolution of the mind that translates into principled action.

The everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow of this nation are not an evil people. We are not economic blood-suckers or war mongers. We are just plain ordinary people who have been politically pimped, manipulated, and played off against one another for far too long. We are hurting and our Mother Earth is hurting. Without our Mother Earth and each other collectively we are doomed. We, everyday people, must relegate this impending doom to the greedy corporate /military elite and their political surrogates nationally and internationally.

Let us organize locally and nationally and change the course of history! Let us regain a resolute belief in ourselves and each other collectively. Let us reclaim our humanity and collective memories as a part of the global family. Let us struggle for a better world, a fair and just one, based on human need and creativity, not greed. This is no easy task, but it is an absolutely essential one. Struggle as if your / our very lives depend on it. For in the final analysis they do!

Onward then, my sisters and brothers. Each one, teach one. Onward!

Intrepid Report Associate Editor, 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, Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS News Hour, formerly known as The MacNeil / Lehrer News Hour. Pinkney is a former university instructor of political science and international relations, and his writings have been published in various places, including The Boston Globe, the San Francisco BayView newspaper, the Black Commentator, Global Research (Canada), LINKE ZEITUNG (Germany), and Mayihlome News (Azania/South Africa). 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.)