[col. writ. 7/23/08] (c) '08 Mumia Abu-Jamal
If TV channels are any measure, the US presidential elections, now less than 4 months away, are the permanent stuff of headlines.
If candidate A sneezes, it's breaking news; if candidate B hiccups, it's film at eleven.
It's hardly worthy of headlines, but the beast [the media] must be fed.
For far too many people this news overdose on the elections has bred a kind of passivity among millions, as they wait in front of TV screens and computers, like deer caught in headlights.
What happened to anti-war protests?
What happened to housing rights protestors?
What happened to anti-FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) activists?
People are dulled by the almost sure expectation that the Democrats will prevail in the next election due to the low ratings of the Republican Party, and its lame duck President George W. Bush.
And those dull expectations are based upon the totally unfounded faith that a Democratic win of the White House really means an end to the war. (We might ask, which war?)
Millions have apparently forgotten the bitter lessons from the 2006 mid term election, when Democrats prevailed in congressional elections, formed a slight majority in both houses, and proceeded to do -- nothing.
Peace in Iraq? Off the table. Instead, like lemmings leaping off a cliff they voted for more and more billions for war.
And what of the recently renewed FISA bill, which legalized the law-breaking of the Bush Administration -- and gave retroactive protection to phone an communications companies which violated prior law?
FISA -- signed, sealed and delivered: and even the Democratic candidate (Sen. Barack Obama, D.IL), who blasted the measure, put his John Hancock on it, voting 'yes.'
The great abolitionist (and women's right supporter), Frederick Douglass, supported Abraham Lincoln, yet that didn't stop him from protesting against him, when he moved too slowly, or not at all. Reading his criticisms are still biting, even though over a century has passed. And yet, his teaching remains just as relevant, for Douglass said, "Power concedes nothing without demand."
If people demand nothing, that is precisely what they will get.
These lessons from history must teach us today, that protesters must PROTEST.
Elections aren't endings -- they are beginnings -- and movements mustn't stop moving; they should protest more!
-(C) '08 maj
============
The Power of Truth is Final -- Free Mumia!
PLEASE CONTACT:
International Concerned Family & Friends of MAJ
P.O. Box 19709
Philadelphia, PA 19143
Phone - 215-476-8812/ Fax - 215-476-6180
E-mail - icffmaj@aol.com
Web - www.freemumia.com
AND OFFER YOUR SERVICES!
Send our brotha some LOVE and LIGHT at:
Mumia Abu-Jamal
AM 8335
SCI-Greene
175 Progress Drive
Waynesburg, PA 15370
WE WHO BELIEVE IN FREEDOM CAN *NOT* REST!!!
Subscribe: mumiacolumns-subscribe@topica.com
Read: http://topica.com/lists/mumiacolumns/read
Subscribe ICFFMAJ email updates list by e-mailing
icffmaj@aol.com!
[Check out Mumia's latest: *WE WANT FREEDOM:
A Life in the Black Panther Party*, from South
End Press (http://www.southendpress.org);
Ph.
#1-800-533-8478.]
More Related Coverage On W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio:
Why Is Benedict Right & Wright Wrong?
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/04/why-is-benedict-right-and-wright-wrong.html
W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Special: Barack Obama & The Hip Hop Effect On American Politics:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/02/10/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio
W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Special~Eyewitness To The Crucifixion: The Last Days Of MLK:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/04/07/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-News-Radio-1
~~~~~~
Get Your Barack
Obama "A Legacy Of Hope" T-Shirt Today!!!
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/04/barack-obama-legacy-of-hope-t-shirts.htm
If TV channels are any measure, the US presidential elections, now less than 4 months away, are the permanent stuff of headlines.
If candidate A sneezes, it's breaking news; if candidate B hiccups, it's film at eleven.
It's hardly worthy of headlines, but the beast [the media] must be fed.
For far too many people this news overdose on the elections has bred a kind of passivity among millions, as they wait in front of TV screens and computers, like deer caught in headlights.
What happened to anti-war protests?
What happened to housing rights protestors?
What happened to anti-FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) activists?
People are dulled by the almost sure expectation that the Democrats will prevail in the next election due to the low ratings of the Republican Party, and its lame duck President George W. Bush.
And those dull expectations are based upon the totally unfounded faith that a Democratic win of the White House really means an end to the war. (We might ask, which war?)
Millions have apparently forgotten the bitter lessons from the 2006 mid term election, when Democrats prevailed in congressional elections, formed a slight majority in both houses, and proceeded to do -- nothing.
Peace in Iraq? Off the table. Instead, like lemmings leaping off a cliff they voted for more and more billions for war.
And what of the recently renewed FISA bill, which legalized the law-breaking of the Bush Administration -- and gave retroactive protection to phone an communications companies which violated prior law?
FISA -- signed, sealed and delivered: and even the Democratic candidate (Sen. Barack Obama, D.IL), who blasted the measure, put his John Hancock on it, voting 'yes.'
The great abolitionist (and women's right supporter), Frederick Douglass, supported Abraham Lincoln, yet that didn't stop him from protesting against him, when he moved too slowly, or not at all. Reading his criticisms are still biting, even though over a century has passed. And yet, his teaching remains just as relevant, for Douglass said, "Power concedes nothing without demand."
If people demand nothing, that is precisely what they will get.
These lessons from history must teach us today, that protesters must PROTEST.
Elections aren't endings -- they are beginnings -- and movements mustn't stop moving; they should protest more!
-(C) '08 maj
============
The Power of Truth is Final -- Free Mumia!
PLEASE CONTACT:
International Concerned Family & Friends of MAJ
P.O. Box 19709
Philadelphia, PA 19143
Phone - 215-476-8812/ Fax - 215-476-6180
E-mail - icffmaj@aol.com
Web - www.freemumia.com
AND OFFER YOUR SERVICES!
Send our brotha some LOVE and LIGHT at:
Mumia Abu-Jamal
AM 8335
SCI-Greene
175 Progress Drive
Waynesburg, PA 15370
WE WHO BELIEVE IN FREEDOM CAN *NOT* REST!!!
Subscribe: mumiacolumns-subscribe@topica.
Read: http://topica.com/lists/
Subscribe ICFFMAJ email updates list by e-mailing
icffmaj@aol.com!
[Check out Mumia's latest: *WE WANT FREEDOM:
A Life in the Black Panther Party*, from South
End Press (http://www.southendpress.org)
Ph.
#1-800-533-8478.]
For Comparisons Of Barack To Historical Black Figures Check Out The Following On W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio:
Acceptable Blackness Vs. Unforgivable Blackness...
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/06/acceptable-blackness-vs-unforgivable.html
Acceptable Blackness Vs. Unforgivable Blackness...
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/06/acceptable-blackness-vs-unforgivable.html
Barack Hussein Obama Ain't No Adam Clayton Powell Jr.!!!
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/05/barack-hussein-obama-aint-no-adam.html
Tha Artstorian Ponders:Is Barack Obama The Sam Cooke of American Politics???
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/02/tha-artstorian-pondersis-barack-obama.html
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/05/barack-hussein-obama-aint-no-adam.html
Tha Artstorian Ponders:Is Barack Obama The Sam Cooke of American Politics???
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/02/tha-artstorian-pondersis-barack-obama.html
More Related Coverage On W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio:
If Fox News Gave Cindy McCain The Michelle Obama Treatment…Thoughts Of An Outraged Negro…
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/07/if-fox-news-gave-cindy-mccain-michelle.html
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/07/if-fox-news-gave-cindy-mccain-michelle.html
Why Obama Did The Wright Thing And How Rev. Wright’s Selfless Sacrifice Saved The Obama Presidency…
The Hypocrisy Of The Media…Min. Farrakhan Was A Guest Of Honor For Key Pa. Hillary Supporter!!!
Why Is Benedict Right & Wright Wrong?
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/04/why-is-benedict-right-and-wright-wrong.html
W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Special: Black Liberation Theology 101:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/03/23/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/03/23/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio
The Rev. Wright Controversy Told Through Video Media:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/03/rev-wright-controversy-told-through.html
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/03/rev-wright-controversy-told-through.html
W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Special: Barack Obama & The Hip Hop Effect On American Politics:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/02/10/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio
W.E. A.L.L. B.E. News & Radio Special~Eyewitness To The Crucifixion: The Last Days Of MLK:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/04/07/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-News-Radio-1
~~~~~~
Get Your Barack
Obama "A Legacy Of Hope" T-Shirt Today!!!
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2008/04/barack-obama-legacy-of-hope-t-shirts.htm
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